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Author Topic: Any way to view the land pre-embark?  (Read 2208 times)

InfinityOrNone

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Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« on: August 01, 2013, 02:47:57 pm »
I believe the title says it all, but to elaborate: I was working on my current Megaproject when I realized it was accidentally built on a tiny-ass island. As such, my Massive Castle of Doom would be useless there, as the only sentient life on the island was dwarven.

Now, having gone back to the drawing board, I've tried embarking at 11 separate sites now, but they all have the same problem: the land isn't flat enough. As is, I'd have to do even more construction than is feasible, and I'd rather not have to add anything new to it. Thus, I ask; is there any way in vanilla DF to be free of this curse? Is there any tool that will let me view the lay of the land without waiting for my computer to slog through all this?
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Tevish Szat

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2013, 03:15:32 pm »
The tab key, when choosing your embark site, can show elevations and cliff indicator.
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Tevish Szat likes books, computers, board games, and cats for their aloofness. When possible, he prefers to consume hamburgers and macaroni and cheese. He needs caffeine to get through the working day.

smjjames

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2013, 03:38:34 pm »
You can also try messing around with the advanced worldgen perameters.

What I like to do is to copy and paste the worldfile and use that to look at the embark before I embark for real.
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jcochran

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2013, 05:35:29 pm »
You could perform the worldgen and then immediately exit and perform a backup. Then go back in, do a trial embark (don't bother to do anything special) and take a quick look around. If it meets your requirements, then exit once again and restore from the backup and perform your real embark. If it looks bad, abandon and send off another trial embark until you find something suitable. And of course, then exit, restore from backup and do it for real.
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ORCACommander

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2013, 05:47:37 pm »
dfhack prospect function and regioncount for populations
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Bandreus

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2013, 05:53:23 pm »
You could also try IsoWorld (which comes bundled with the Expanded LNP by the way)
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gchristopher

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2013, 06:29:14 pm »
Flatten it with the magic of dfhackery. The upper left x,y is 0,0. Type "lua" in dfhack to get started.

Code: [Select]
df.global.world.world_data.region_details[0].elevation[x][y] = 100
100 is just above sea level. You can

Code: [Select]
print(df.global.world.world_data.region_details[0].elevation[x][y])
to figure out what the local elevation starts as.

Be sure to also flatten the squares adjacent to your embark if you want perfect flatness.

River altitudes are in
Code: [Select]
df.global.world.world_data.region_details[0].rivers_horizontal.local_id[x][y]
df.global.world.world_data.region_details[0].rivers_vertical.local_id[x][y]
I'm totally convinced that searching for ideal embarks is a preposterous waste of time. The only thing dfhack doesn't cover adequately is if you want to mess with geology. For a custom, from-scratch geology, I have to edit world.dat by hand.
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smjjames

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2013, 06:37:05 pm »
Also, if the land isn't flat enough, then MAKE it flat, by using your miners to level the terrain.

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InfinityOrNone

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2013, 06:47:26 pm »
I'm currently downloading the upgraded LNP as I type. As for why I don't channel flatten it, I actually do, but can only do so much. My goal involves a perfect ring on the outer edge of the map that has to be %100 flat. Anything after the first 10 squares from the edge I can demolish away, bet the outermost 10 MUST be uniform.
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smjjames

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2013, 07:02:02 pm »
Your best bet would be to embark in swamps and jungles or if you don't want to deal with the scattered murky pools, a desert (whether it's a sandy desert, wasteland, or badlands) would be where you should look. Just make sure you have a source of water if you do embark on a desert.

As Tevish said, use the tab key to look for areas with all 0s. Having some 1s might be ok.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2013, 07:05:28 pm by smjjames »
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vjek

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2013, 07:48:18 pm »
Quote from: InfinityOrNone on August 01, 2013, 06:47:26 pm
I'm currently downloading the upgraded LNP as I type. As for why I don't channel flatten it, I actually do, but can only do so much. My goal involves a perfect ring on the outer edge of the map that has to be %100 flat. Anything after the first 10 squares from the edge I can demolish away, bet the outermost 10 MUST be uniform.
Can you PM or reply here with a list of your requirements for your megaproject embark?
size? 3x3? 5x5?
temp?
aquifer?
biome?
ore? flux?
wood?
surface water?
# of caverns?
# of above ground (air) levels?
savagery?
volcanism?
beasts/titans?
races?

I've seen entire regions that are 100% flat, so we can certainly meet that criteria.
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InfinityOrNone

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #11 on: August 01, 2013, 08:12:28 pm »
A 5x5, heavily wooded, deep soil, plentiful metal, flux is nice but not required, any number of caverns but they must be more than 50z deep, NO AQUIFERS, biome is any nonevil, and no volcanism. Also, civilizations are a must. My megaproject is the ultimate in anti-siege warfare, and it'd be pointless without Greenskins and Hippies.
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vjek

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #12 on: August 01, 2013, 08:55:02 pm »
Quote from: InfinityOrNone on August 01, 2013, 08:12:28 pm
A 5x5, heavily wooded, deep soil, plentiful metal, flux is nice but not required, any number of caverns but they must be more than 50z deep, NO AQUIFERS, biome is any nonevil, and no volcanism. Also, civilizations are a must. My megaproject is the ultimate in anti-siege warfare, and it'd be pointless without Greenskins and Hippies.

This one seems to match...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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slink

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2013, 12:16:57 pm »
What an interesting site.  You got me back to playing DF!   :D
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vjek

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Re: Any way to view the land pre-embark?
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2013, 12:33:02 pm »
Quote from: slink on August 02, 2013, 12:16:57 pm
What an interesting site.  You got me back to playing DF!   :D
woot!  :P
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