Map Guide

# Basic Map Making Guide

## Making your first map

* Maps Downloads
* Maps Installation guide

### Getting the heightmap:

**First of all, you need to have avalanche to be able to play the custom maps - download here**

* **Sub avalanche for modding into original game**
* **Full Avalanche for extra lifts etc.**
* **Meta / extended avalanche - extra custom maps built in + community mods**

I personally use this site: https://tangrams.github.io/heightmapper/, you can get great quality heightmaps of any place in the world.

The exported format looks like this:

To get a playable map, we still need to do a few things.

### Editing the map

1. First we need to crop the map. We need to get 1:1 aspect ratio, I use MS paint 3d for this.
2. Then we need to change the resolution. Easiest is to use 1024\*1024 as it scales the best with different map sizes. If your map came out smaller than 1024p, you will need to upscale it. To do that you can use any software or web app you like. I use https://resizeimage.net/ as i found it to be really easy and user friendly solution. Any resolution to a power of 2 is acceptable.
3. After cropping and upscaling the map, you should be left with something like this:

### Editing meta file

Now it’s time to figure the meta file. I use Notepad++ to edit the file, but you can use any other text editor.

Note: The meta file has to have NO suffix, meta.txt won't work. To change the suffix, either go to notepad++, click save as and then delete the suffix and save the file as just meta. Other solution is using more advanced file manager like total commander. There click rename and remove the suffix.

Also you can download the example meta file here and edit in normal notpad (just press save not save as in order to keep no suffix)

   **The file looks like this, I think the structure is pretty clear, but I’ll explain it just to be complete.**

1. HEIGHTMAP refers to the map file, name is up to you but make sure it matches with what’s in the meta file
2. THUMB refers to thumbnail you can see in snowtopia. This is just cosmetic, and you can just use the heightmap as a thumbnail
3. DIFFICULTY refers to the rating which shows when creating new game, again, purely “cosmetic” and doesn’t affect the creation of the map
4. NAME is the name the map shows under in the game
5. FRONTS, I’m not sure about this as changing the number didn’t seem to affect anything
6. ACCESSABILITY, HOMOGENITY, DIVERSITY, BUILDABLE and OBSTACLES is “cosmetic” and show as the more detailed info in game
7. BASE this is what the game uses as a base map, which one of the base game maps. you can change it but its buggy for most, if not all, variants besides 0
8. HEIGHT means the maximum height of the map, how high the highest point will be
9. SIZE is how long the sides are in meters, for regular size maps 1000-2000 is enough, larger maps tend to get really laggy
10. TREESRAW is the default number of trees that are spawned when the game loads, the number should be scaled with the map size but again, the more trees you have the laggier the game will be
11. TREEUPPER is the point where Trees no longer appear (tree line) 0% occupancy above
12. TREELOWER is the point where trees are at 100% occupancy (smooth curve between TREELOWER and UPPER)
13. TREEUPPERSLOPE The max gradient trees can spawn
14. TREELOWERSLOPE The minimum gradient trees can spawn
15. USEDEFAULTFRONTS means if the game should place the normal positioned fronts
16. SNOWFRONT is the coordinates of where the entrance spawns. First one is X coordinate, the second is Y and the third is rotation in degrees. Bottom Left corner is (0,0) and Top Right is (1, 1)
17. ROCKLOWERBOUND
18. ROCKUPPERBOUND -all of these same as trees
19. ROCKSTYLE
20. ROCKS Number of rocks

Just to add, the detailed settings with trees aren't necessary and you can skip them. The table below shows how full meta file looks like. The image I provided shows what I used in one of my maps.

Example
```
HEIGHTMAP=heightmap.png
THUMB=thumb.png
DIFFICULTY=3
NAME=Copper Mountain
ACCESSABILITY=2
HOMOGENEITY=3
DIVERSITY=1
BUILDABLE=3
OBSTACLES=1
BASE=0
HEIGHT=300
SIZE=1700
USEDEFAULTFRONTS=False
TREESRAW=1500
TREEUPPERSLOPE=0.4
TREELOWERSLOPE=0.1
TREELOWER=0.600
TREEUPPER=1.000
SNOWFRONT=0.1000,0.7000,270
SNOWFRONT=0.9000,0.7250,090
SNOWFRONT=0.2125,0.1000,180

### Final touches

Now your map should be complete! All that’s left to do is to put both the meta file and the heightmap in a new folder in \moddata\maps. If it looks odd, troubleshoot by changing the relevant values in meta file.

Just a small tip, using smaller areas looks and feels way better and natural than trying to make the whole Les Quatre Valleés in one map.

## Editing the heightmap

### Editing areas in the heightmap file

Sometimes you need to change a piece of the map, perhaps make a mountaint top a bit more flat so a lift can better fit there, or make a larger flat starting area so you can expand more easily. Whatever the reason is, its actually quite simple to do!

First we need to understand how the heightmap works, I think that anyone actually making their own map already knows this but just for completion. Heightmaps work as a gradient of different shades of color, in snowtopia the most common one is black to white. Black being the lowest point and white being the highest with different shades of gray giving the gradient of the hill/mountain.

With this understanding the proces of edditing is really quite simple. to flatten an area, select the color of the layer you want the flat piece to be and use it to make the area bigger. Then with a tool like a smooth brush, smoothen the area around the part you just edited so the final map looks smooth and realistic. Too sharp of a gradient will result in a weirdly rugged terrain or "spikes/crevices". Photoshop or equivalent works well for this as it has way more tools than MS paint, but you can manage without it.