sttp

Ah yes, I remember. This is the kind of thing that makes scenarios much more playable IMHO, having a terrain that is natural and reminiscent of something remembered or something seen. Basing scenarios on real topographical information makes a massive difference to this, and having something like your script to do a lot of the heavy lifting is a great advantage.

And since I've already shown you a bit of the map, here's a litter teaser:

No new features, I just like the autumn looks on this map. Btw. this where I grew up. Well, at the base of the hill in the background in the middle. 😉 

I decided to have a small intermediate release. It is also officially version 1.0.0. 😊
https://github.com/DerButschi/CMAutoEditor/releases/tag/1.0.0
The main change is that I added a tool to convert official German digital elevation models into a CMAutoEditor compatible format. You can find it in the folder data_conversion. It has several command line arguments:
--dgm-dir (required): path to the directory in which you stored the dgm*.xyz.gz files --bounding-box (required): xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax coordinates of the box you want to extract. The coordinates have to be in the coordinate system the data points are stored in (e.g. for NRW EPSG:25832, i.e. UTM zone 32N). There are lots of tools in the internet with which you can convert from latitude/longitude to UTM, e.g. here. --contour (optional): set the distance between contour levels. 5 means you will have a contour line every 5m in elevation. You will get a two output files, one with a value for each square and another one with elevation value only for contour lines. --output-name (optional): a common name for output files. You will get several output files with a name that starts with this string. --water-level-correction (optional): xlow, ylow, xhigh, yhigh Sets the low and high point for water level correction (see below for an explanation). There will be four output files: output-name.csv, output-name_contour.csv, output-name.png (a heat map of the elevation values. units are CM squares.) and output-name_contour.png, which has contour lines of the data you extracted.
The actual data is availble separately for each German federal state, e.g.
North Rhine-Westphalia
Hessen (Fulda, etc. ...)
Brandenburg & Berlin
... I just realized that only the data from North Rhine-Westphalia is in .gz files, the others seem to zipped. I'll make that work in the next update. Oh well.
 
Water level correction:
This is an odd one. While you are all well aware that water usually flows downhill, rivers in CM are actually lakes, i.e. every square belonging to the same water body has the same water level. In reality, this is of course not the case. But on the map I am currently experimenting with, the difference in elevation along the river is roughly 6m. This leads to the river looking fine at one side:
mg]https://i.imgur.com/DNrYDfO.png[/img]
And being in a deep ravine on the other side:

Water level correction is still a bit experimental but it should in principle get rid of this. You provide the lowest point of the river on the map (UTM coordinates) and the highest point and the tool will calculate a calculate a plain and lower the higher side (and all the other terrain accordingly) to the level of the lower side.
Contour Lines:
@Bulletpoint
I added this option because there were concerns about performance and stair-step effects. And of course it takes much less time to only set contour lines. I tested versions and could not observe any difference in performance. And for stair-step effects...
Every point set:

5m contours:

10m

Doesn't look precisely stair-step effect free to me... Am I doing something wrong?
Ah, one final thing: I changed the license under which the code is published. I can't really see how this affects you but I don't want anyone thinking I'm sneaking an evil ninja license in 😉. You can do whatever you want with the code, you can even sell maps you made with it (as long as BF is ok with it, that is). I only speak broken legalese but I thought the new license might be a bit more fitting for community made stuff: the only restriction is, if you modify the code and make something new with it, you have to make it open source just like the original one.
Right, have fun making maps! 🙂
 
.

Elevation data is already available and working. Is it too complicated? I agree, using the current OSM is more useful for the modern titles. My vision here is twofold:
1. Easy integration of OSM via Overpass API, i.e. you just provide a bounding box and the API will just download the relevant content from the internet, nothing else for you to do. -> Modern Titles
2. Importing xml based map files. This would mean you can download a map area from OSM and manipulate it via e.g. QGIS or JOSM. -> WW2 Titles. Would be easier to remove or add content (to fit your scenario) or even entirely make up a map from scratch. I think it would be easier to use real map overlays, aerial imagery etc and just draw areas were a forest is supposed to be.
Currently I'm working on part 1 but I think part 2 is quite doable, as much of part 1 can be used for this, too.
Anyway, I think this belongs in a different thread. 😉

Thank you all! 😊 You should dial down the level of praise a bit, though, because otherwise it will go to my head. 😇
And please, please don't get your expectations up too much, I don't want you to be disappointed. This is not a random map generator. It will use randomneIss to decide which tree or crop or grass and so on it puts into a square. The information that there should be a tree comes from OpenStreetMap.
I keep wondering if they don't have something like this, at least for the professional edition? I have a hard time imagining that the British Army (or whoever is their customer) employs CM scenario designers...

This x3000.
I so miss the random map generator from CMx1 and this looks like the road to having it back.

Wow, this is awesomeness, I can't say how many clicks I've suffered making 'random' forest and grassland. I really hope that BF see this and pay you a big wedge to incorporate this into the game editor in the future. In the meantime thanks! 

Yes, correct. In OpenStreetMap a forest is a polygon with some tags that mark it as a forest. CMAutoEditor has currently two options for such cases. It either randomly chooses a tree type and density individually for each square within this polygon or an identical one for all squares. The latter is useful for other farmland, for instance. The tool works in a way that you can configure what should go into an area of a specific type. So, if the map contains different grassland types you can have differently looking areas. For forests there are, e.g. tags that say 'broadleaved', so you could select only specific tree types instead of the general mix.
Ok, let's not derail this thread, here is a little sneak peek (mildly cherry-picked of course but everything generated automatically), I'll make a dedicated thread once the code is good enough to present.

I'd contribute a CMAutoEditor map. There is still some work to be done but currently I'm in the process of integrating OpenStreetMap content. Currently importing forests/bushes (with randomized tree types), farmland (with randomized crop types) and water works quite well. Importing roads/foot paths works... in many cases (converting lines on a map into those road tiles is algorithmically less than trivial and, sorry BFC, the line drawing tool sucks). I am thinking about integrating buildings (would have to be very randomized!) but no promises as that is a tough nut to crack and there's no guarantee that it would look adequate in any way...
Anyway, how about we do this: You suggest any area of, say, max. 3km x 3km, preferrably in Germany because there I know how to get good free terrain models in many cases. Name a Combat Mission Title. I'll do the script foo and provide the map. Someone else would have to make a scenario out of it - learning AI plans and all that would currently be a little too much for my schedule. 😉

Thanks @Butschi If you got it all working then you´ll likely trigger many map makers releasing stuff that was deemed impossible or too laborous. Me included. 😁😎

So, just to give you a quick update, everything below refers to importing stuff from OpenStreetMap
Wot Is Done Already:
Forests, randomized tree types and densities, tree types configurable, weights for types and densities configurable Bushes as above Grass as above Farmland as above water etc. (basically everything that is just a polygon in OSM can be done in this way) Wot I'm Working On:
roads, Roads, ROADS!!! I became a little obsessed with them. By now I'd like a word with the sadist at Battlefront who decided that doing the road tiles the way they are was a good idea. Most designers don't bother, because it is a royal PITA that you can't just combine most of the tiles, because the widths don't fit (so, you can't go from W<->E to NW<->SE directly, there has to be a tile in between. Not even the official Line Drawing Tool in the editor does it right. Oh well. After rather excessive use of graphs and shortest path finding in there and so on, I found a solution that works. I am just fixing edge cases. And then I will have to destroy it because while correct most people will not like the sometimes resulting wiggly roads instead of just diagonal ones. I guess I'm going insane! 🤪 Once that's done though, railways and streams will be easy to implement and fences and walls should also be relatively straightforward. Wot May Come:
Areas (like forests, grass, etc, see above) with configurable cores/borders, such that you can have forests that are more dense on the inside or have different ground, fields with crops but just plowed ground on the edges (randomly) walled or fenced areas - good for having fences around fields, hedges around residential areas, ... Houses, but only types, I can't do 3D-view Flavour Objects (which you will have to fine tune yourself, no automatic stuff in 3D-view): Bus stops where there are bus stops on the map, power poles, etc.) Well, that escalated quickly from nice little project for a weekend or two...

when?🙂
when??😐
when???🤔
when!😒
when!!👿
when.🥺
when.........😵
when?!?!?!?!🤪

McCarthy isn't the fringe. He's the leader of the GOP in the House. Here's more reporting below: 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/18/house-republicans-ukraine-mccarthy/

Well at least they were showing off some of the maps from the CMBN Battle Pack 2 while talking.  

Quite disgusting remark. With a father as Dan he must be. Gay or straight, who cares?
 

It's not the terrain, but rather the nature of the combat. The Pacific War was largely made up of static set piece battles with very little maneuvre and combined arms combat.

I cannot state how important update 5/performance improvements are. As a relatively new player to the series, I am heart-broken at being unable to enjoy the Cold War campaigns on my modern machine. I have already tried every trick in the book, and nothing helps. The game simply overloads one core but does not utilize the core boost functionality that you see in modern AMD cpus so even when it stutters to a standstill my CPU is still only at "4%" utilization at most. 
I know many of you think that it is still okay that a game these days needs a single core at 5+Ghz to run efficiently but...it's simply not.
I know the devs are aware of the issues but honestly...battle packs and PBEM tournaments should be last on the list way after performance gains because as a new player owning Cold War and wishing to buy the rest of the titles, I simply cannot in good faith spend any more cash on this series until we see results. 

They actually did try it but according to Steve it cratered the frames per second.

Rather than trying to mod 8 titles + expansions on the same engine with the mods that I think all should have; I gave up.  You may not have noticed, but the CMBO/CMBB/CMAK community was larger and more prolific.
It is too hard to find something essential like a grid for all.  Like trees and smoke, it should have just been a player aid in the UI.  I am a retired software engineer and understand limited resources.  But I think this should have been an engine feature, and not a mod.  The action square and lack of a topo map view; make a grid an essential feature.  Can you play without?  No choice really.
I've purchased everything they have self developed here.  I feel entitled to express an opinion by virtue of my investment, and continued investment.  CM is excellent with no directly rival.  But that does not mean it couldn't be better.

(Two questions in one day!  I have my CM hat on.)
There are tree options, smoke options ...
Wouldn't it have been simple for BFC to provide an engine based terrain grid?  Of all the possible mods, I think gridded has the greatest game play utility.  But as it must be done for each tile type, and games updates and expansions break it ... it is not really feasible to have gridded for all my games ... so I gave up.
But still, I don't understand why such wasn't an engine option?
Thanks.

In CM games our commanders (WW2) seem to very vulnerable to small arms fire. It seems to me to be lopped sided. Almost always the tank commander gets picked off. Watched a you tube video not about CM in particular. What they talked about was a tank commander in allied camp operating from an open hatch during combat. Where the Soviet forces kept buttoned up. In built up urban areas I get it even with infantry in close support the tank commander makes a juicy target. But, out in the countryside? I was just wondering if the game engine is somewhat off as far as the frequency of my Wardaddy's getting smoked every time it seems to me.

No we can not.
Today you can load a map into the editor and tweak/resize that map as you please.  What you can not do is to load two different maps (or sections of maps) at the same time and combine them into a larger one. 
Currently you can only work on ONE map at the time.
When i say i would like to be able to import premade templates into the map i'm not talking about loading entire maps but rather smaller sections of a map with specific terrainfeatures on them...maybe 10X10 actionsquares in size or 15X5 actionsquares and paste these sections onto the map i'm currently working on.
For example...
I want to design a map with a number of farms, a chuch and a small village.
Today you have to design each farm your self individually...placing maybe 6-8 buildings, fences, some trees and various flavoured objects. With a template system you would simply look in your template library and choose from 10-15 different farm templates (or however many you might have stored in the library). With one click you place that entire farm on YOUR map...rotate it as desired and finally make any tweaks you might feel is needed....add a building or two...remove a building if desired.
Do the same with the next farm.
Instead of designing a nice looking church with walls and a graveyard your self simply look in you library and chose from a number of church templates and click that into place on YOUR map.
Instead of designing an entire village all by your self...look in your library and chosse from a number of different village templates and combine them together on your map as you like....add a few extra buildings and other features as needed at various locations.
Your map will be finished 10 times faster then today...😎
When designing 100 % historically accurate maps this template feature might not be all that useful but when designing fictional or semi historical maps i think a feature like this would be most useful.
 
 
 
 
 

What CM3 really needs is a completally new AI programing design...Not a slightely updated CM2 version.
If people still like to play CM2 scenarios when CM3 is released...play them in your CM2 games.
 
 

But the old system is prehistoric. 
Real time multiplayer really does not exist to 99.9% of the CM playerbase. It is such a hassle. And even then, I've played a game where my opponent claimed we were desynched. 
The challenge lobby idea is good, but I remember the system offering me absolutely no information about the game I was going to play in. I don't even remember an option for map preview. 
Having to log in EVERY single time you enter the pbem+ screen. Even if you dont close the program. 

Sadly, this is something that should have been fixed 7 or 8 years ago, before BFC even moved on to Engine 3. But, they couldn't be derriered The introduction of having "Squads" spreading out further, and giving them the ability to peek around buildings which came with Engine 4 just made the hedgerow problem worse. Now they don't just have problems moving through the gaps in hedgerows, they also have trouble moving straight along aside them. Ho hum.