config.bmp?

[Alky]

What does this mean...

SC4Terraformer
1.Unzip this file.
2. Create a new region folder in your SimCity 4\Region directory.
3. Copy the config.bmp into the folder and overwrite the old one. Feel free to edit the config.bmp now.
4. Open the new region you created with SC4Terraformer.

The config.bmp is just a little colored square, what does it mean to "edit it"?

[mitch]

I'm pretty sure the config.bmp is the image that is used for the region layout with regard to city tiles. If you look at other regions config's you will see blue for large city tiles, green for medium and red for small. You can manipulate it to creat the tile layout you want. There's a little more to it than that, but i hope this gives you the idea.

cheers,
Mitch

[Lowkee33]

You've really got to zoom in on those suckers, they are often 16x16 pixels.  A 4x4 blue area is a large city, 2x2 green is medium, and 1 red pixel is small.  Just make sure that you keep the config the same size, and that you don't do something like make a 3x3 blue area.   

[Alky]

You've really got to zoom in on those suckers, they are often 16x16 pixels.  A 4x4 blue area is a large city, 2x2 green is medium, and 1 red pixel is small.  Just make sure that you keep the config the same size, and that you don't do something like make a 3x3 blue area.

Ok, I see where the existing in-game maps have a multi-colored config.bmp and the ones you download seem to be just an all blue square which probably changes after it's imported.  There's not much chance I'll be doing any editing since it mostly makes no sense, but I thank you for describing what it actually is. 

[FrankU]

Hi Alky,

Let's put things together.

The squares in hte image give you the locations of the city tiles. You can make a config.bmp yourself.

Like Lowkee33 said:
Blue is a large city, meaning you need to make 4x4 pixels blue (in RGB code this is exactly: 0,0,256).
Green is a medium city, meaning you need to make 2x2 pixels green (RGB: 0,256,0).
Red is a small city, meaning you need to make one pixel red (RGB: 256,0,0).

If you make a set of 4x4 pixels red, you get 4x4=16 small cities.

You can make the config.bmp as large as you want. The larger the region, the slower your game will become when you develop the region, but that's obvious I guess. Just take care that you don't use 5x5 or 7x3 or so for blue or green. I guess you will have a region with large holes in it.
I once was fooling around and accidentally made the tiles with the RGB color not 256 but 254. I got holes in my region where the city had this color. So if you like you can make a region with holes.

Many citybuilders use only large cities, hence the blue of the config.bmp flies.

I guess this is all there is to know.

[Alky]

Like Lowkee33 said:
Blue is a large city, meaning you need to make 4x4 pixels blue (in RGB code this is exactly: 0,0,256).
Green is a medium city, meaning you need to make 2x2 pixels green (RGB: 0,256,0).
Red is a small city, meaning you need to make one pixel red (RGB: 256,0,0).

Ok, I think I have a grip on what this means. 

You can make the config.bmp as large as you want. The larger the region, the slower your game will become when you develop the region

Does the size of the config.bmp determine the size of the region?  I find the size of the Maxis regions to be comfortably workable and the ones I've downloaded seem huge in comparison.  Will reducing the size of the config.bmp in the downloaded map make the imported region smaller?
Thanx!   

[FrankU]

Hi Alky,

Yes, the size of the config.bmp determines the size of the region. And the larger the region is the slower your game will become when you start developing. But of course there is more to develop in a large region. When your computer is not that speedy it might be good to consider several smaller regions.

What will happen when you cut out a piece of a config.bmp from a downloaded region I don't know. Probably some part of the region will show up when you start the game. I'd say try out and tell us what happens. I have never done it.

[mike3775]

Hi Alky,

Yes, the size of the config.bmp determines the size of the region. And the larger the region is the slower your game will become when you start developing. But of course there is more to develop in a large region. When your computer is not that speedy it might be good to consider several smaller regions.

What will happen when you cut out a piece of a config.bmp from a downloaded region I don't know. Probably some part of the region will show up when you start the game. I'd say try out and tell us what happens. I have never done it.

I have found on my game, if I adjust the config to all medium or all small, the imported map tends to get all weird looking.  I did it a few times as the map I love to play on(an older map called San Juan which is flipped upside down) has a config that is all large tiles(16 I believe), and when I changed the config to make it into medium cities to try and make all R,C,I with none of the others in them at all without needing a feeder city with them, it took my PC way longer to import the map and it cut off a good chunk of the bottom portion(which is mostly flat w/water).  I have also tried varying it with small and large cities as well, to the same effect, good chunks of the map get cut off

[Alky]

Yes, the size of the config.bmp determines the size of the region. And the larger the region is the slower your game will become when you start developing.

Well changing the size of the image in the config.bmp doesn't seem to work to change the size of a region. I understand now about the colors determining the size of the city tiles in the region, but what I'm looking for is a way to change the actual size of the entire region. Perhaps that's not possible once the author of a region (map) has put it up for download.  In the Maxis region, Fairview which I find to be a nice size, the config.bmp is only 8X8. When I re-sized the config.bmp in a downloaded map it made an error in Terraformer when trying to import it and said something to the effect that it might be too big for my memory and the only option was to shut it down. 

[jigsaw]

i dont think you can resize a region that's made from .SC4M files. (like expand it or shrink it)

if you are going to change the size of a region that has already been started, you can it's shape and size by changing the config.bmp... i do it all the time. the changes will be blank green flat city tiles that can be edited in TF.

it can only be done from the right hand side, or from the bottom if you plan on adding tiles. you can also remove tiles but you cannot move tiles. trying to add tiles to the left side of the region is a very messy process and very time consuming.

[Lowkee33]

[quote author=mike3775 link=topic=13927.msg401152#msg401152
I have found on my game, if I adjust the config to all medium or all small, the imported map tends to get all weird looking...  ...I have also tried varying it with small and large cities as well, to the same effect, good chunks of the map get cut off[/quote

This happens to me when trying to render large regions in-game.  Judging by what you have said, perhaps it has to do with the amount of cities, rather then the size.  Anyway, properly changing the config shouldn't mess up your region at all.  I would recommend making the config the way you want, opening the region in terraformer, and inserting your image in there.  At least you wont have to render all at once.

Well changing the size of the image in the config.bmp doesn't seem to work to change the size of a region... ...but what I'm looking for is a way to change the actual size of the entire region.

Each region image edge is  (64 * Pixels of Config) + 1 pixels long.  Else you will get the error that you had.

I guess there are two possibilities.  You scale down the entire region, or you break the region into smaller regions.  Scaling down the entire region will require an image editor that can do 16bit PNGs (like photoshop, but not gimp).  You will loose a bunch of data this way, I don't think I would recommend it.

Breaking it into pieces might be easier, and you dont need any special program (terraformer and paint only).
 
All you need for SC4 to register a region is a folder in your regions folder that has a config.bmp in it.  This means that you can copy/paste pieces of a config, and save them as another config and make a new region.  At least, you will have a flat region with the right configuration of cities.

You can import cities from other regions in-game.  Make your large region, and then import the cities that you feel you will want to play.  Some prep work will be needed (naming cities so you know what and where to move).  Also note that cities are cut/pasted when you do the import, not copied.

I haven't imported a large amount of established cities, so I don't know how well it will go for neighbor connections/demand.  If all you have is terrain then you are pretty flexible

@Jigsaw:  You can't change the SC4M, but you can export the region as a 16bit PNG.  I do this a lot, because then I can change configs around.

[whatevermind]

Eh, I'm getting dizzy just reading this.  Hope I can clear things up a little on how to resize your region with a mini-tutorial here.

First, starting with SC4M files:
If you are creating a region from an SC4M file you downloaded, you cannot change the size of the region before you import it.  Instead, keep the config and the SC4M files as they are, import the region into SC4T, then use the Export button (in the menu on the left in SC4T, under the Global Tools tab) to export the region as a .png file.  Save the file somewhere you can easily find it again.  Close SC4T, do not save the region.  See below for what to do next.

Second, starting with image files:
If the region you downloaded came as a config file and an image file (jpeg, png, etc.), then you can edit both files directly before you load them into SC4T.  This is a much easier arrangement to work with than SC4M files.

OK, so you have now two files: config.bmp (as you downloaded it), and a grayscale image file (jpg, png) that either came in the download, or you created from your SC4M file as I described above.  Put both of these files in your region folder.  Make sure your also have region.ini in this folder as well.  Anything else in the folder you can delete.

Next, you will need an image editing program that can accurately resize images (I use Irfanview, but something like PSP or Photoshop will do, newer versions of MSPaint can do this too).

The trick to region size is that the config and region image files are proportional to each other.  Your region image (the grayscale picture of your terrain) has dimensions that are equal to the config file's dimensions X 64 + 1.

For example, your region file is 1025x1025 pixels, your config file needs to be 16x16 pixels.  (16 * 64) + 1 = 1025
If your region file is 1281x1281 pixels, your config file will be 20x20 pixels.   (20 * 64) + 1 = 1281
And so on.

While you can make SC4 and SC4T sometimes recognize regions where the region image and the config don't fit this rule, you're just asking for trouble.  So make your life easier and use these sizing rules.  Note: your region does not need to be a square, but that's an advanced topic, for now, make square regions.

Here's what you need to know:
1.  Decide how large of a region you want.  The default SC4 region has a 16x16 config file, which fits 4 large cities across, or 8 medium cities, or 16 small cities.
2.  We're going to keep it simple and just use large cities for now.  Open config.bmp in your image editing software.  If you want a region that is 4 large cities across by 4 large cities down (16 total cities), resize your config file to be 16x16.  It should be solid blue since we're using only large cities.  If you want 5 cities x 5 cities, resize your config file to be 20x20, and so on.  Save and exit.
3.  Open your grayscale region image in your image editing software.  Using the formulas above, resize your region image to the appropriate size.  For example, if you chose to make your config 4 cities x 4 cities (16px X 16px), your region file needs to be 1025 pixels X 1025 pixels.  Save and exit.
4.  Open SC4T, and open the region folder you have your config and region images in.  It automatically loads the config file in that folder and creates an appropriately sized, completely flat, region to match the config.
5.  Click on "Import image" under Global Tools in the menu at left, find and select your region image (the grayscale you resized in step 3 above), and hit OK (default scale factor is OK for now).
6.  Sit and wait a few seconds.
7.  You should notice your terrain now on the previously flat region.  Congratulations!
8.  SAVE your region.  And terraform to your heart's content.

That's the basics of resizing a region.  You can of course get far more complex in laying out and setting up your regions, but this should get you something that looks like what you want and are able to play with.  This assumes you know how to use SC4T and whatever image editing software you're using, if not, there are tutorials and help files out there to help you with this.  I suggest you learn at least the basics of SC4T and a simple image editing program, both are invaluable in creating SC4 regions.  Depending on your terrain, you may find yourself facing a region that is mostly underwater (just raise the terrain), or mostly black (press 'g') after your terrain loads.

Good luck and happy terraforming!