Map Magic World Generator - a node based procedural and infinite game map tool

Here is an example of how MapMagic can be used to create buildings, and based upon that, you can place pretty much anything.

Keep in mind that you can generate your own node types that work within the MM system.

 

I'm not sure if the node editor in the MM is free to use. In general you shouldn't disassemble assets you get from the asset store. Probably you should ask Wright if you want to extract his node editor and want to modify it. Let alone publish your results anywhere.

This is the most mature node editor I know: https://github.com/Seneral/Node_Editor_Framework (completely free).
Or this one (I haven't used it yet, so thread carefully): https://github.com/Siccity/xNode
Or you can extract the node editor legally from the assetbundle tool: https://bitbucket.org/Unity-Technologies/assetbundlegraphtool (also free, you just have to keep the copyright message in the source)

 

Fascinating - thank you for this link

yeah i read we can extend the node system so maybe i can use it to build actual buildings as well as place them, or to prebuild buildings and place different kinds in different areas, which it looks like this could do.

My big issue right now is trying to get an algorithm to analyze heightmaps to figure out where to place things automatically 0 like where would a castle go and where would villages be (high points, near water) - i think this gets me a lot of the way there and im going to look into it. Ill also try xnode and see if i can link it with map magic via code.

 

These are great - thanks!

For sure i wouldnt reveres engineer anything, i meant that Map Magic nodes you can build your own nodes like here: https://gitlab.com/denispahunov/mapmagic/wikis/community_generators

I havent looked into it too much yet but it sounds pretty flexible - i mean data is data, right?

If non landscape npc behaviour etc can be hooked into map magics terrain data that would go along way to placing cultures realistically across a map.

Thanks also for the links. I think Xnode is the one im going to try. I have heard Seneral is very popular too but maybe more heavy - i should probably try both. And i had heard a bit that unity has its own node system - i will check it out in person via your link

 

So many questions I want you to know that Map Magic is just also a lot of powerful fun, and it has really amazed me how this procedural approach can open up world design.

I have a heightmap and terrain already built for my game Nimian Legends BrightRidge, and i would like to use MapMagic to add procedural terrain around it to expand the size of the landscape.

No problem i rebuilt my terrain in Map Magic using a raw input node, textures, trees and details.

If i just add it in as a center node, the procedural terrains dont match up to the edges of mine.

Is it possible to force them to match up with the static heightmapped terrain at the center? Or maybe i could 'loosen" the edges of my heightmap terrain so that it could weld into the surrounding procedural terrain?

 

I really don't want to steer you away from MM, I like this tool, I own it myself. But, link together separate systems can be dangerous later. If there is a chance that you develop a system, which you wish to use without MM later, it's better to do it separately and than make an interface between these two (like the custom node and some custom node in your system, or something, there are countless ways to do that). If you're sure that you would only use it with MM, by all means, go ahead!

 

Use Material.GetTexture with the names from the quoted post. Store them to assets too.

It depends on what exactly you are going to do with the trees and buildings. You definitely can't use MM as PlayMaker, but you can extend MM nodes by creating your custom nodes.

There's no license limitation on how MM should be used except one - it should be an integrated component of electronic games or interactive media. This means that you can modify MM any way you like to use in your game, but cannot sell any part of it as a standalone editor or other asset.

There's no problem with disassembling since MM comes with the full source code just for that reason

You can use curve to select height, slope+blur to find the flat areas, and curve+blur to get the distance from water. You can then combine those maps with blend to mask places suitable for the villages.
Or you can modify the terrain to place the villages where you like, the way it's done in the tutorial.

EDIT:

By setting the RAW Input Wrap Mode to clamp you make the last line of your raw image to last forever out of it's bounds. However I recommend you to blur raw borders (or even fill them with uniform color) to prevent raw details stretched to infinity.

 

I think that is good advice. I will try out Xnode just so i understand what is going on. I dont even know if what i want is possible or better. I figured if you can make a terrain procedurally, you can make a culture procedurally. I already have a web game that makes cities and quests and characters procedurally, and i am porting that from html5 to unity. And i just like the node inteface so much i am thinking it could be useful as an interface. But in genral, especially with procedural design, ive learned that decoupling and atomizing information and data as much as possible pays off in the long run, so i think you are on the right track here. Anyways ill both look at custom MapMagic nodes and separate nodes for whatever workd best with whatever (how scientific is that? Thanks for the feedback.

 

Wow this sounds REALLY interesting - using Map MAgic to kind of quick analyze the terrain. I kind of get what you mean and ill look into it. I just bought Cascade, a procedural water system that JUST came out today, and i am thinking about ways to detect both flat land, height, and depressions (for lakes). It sounds like with the right amount of rules i might be able to have map magic figure out quite a few of these without writing some complicated getheights code and loping over height maps. Ill check it out what you suggested and thank you very much.

 

hey,

Just to be sure : Does mapmagic can generate a terrain completely at Runtime? I saw the infinite terrain feature but I am wondering if everything can be done at runtime.

ideally what I want is to generate a terrain that included different biomes (desert, Grassland, mountains...) that is unique each time based on a type of map. Think something ala civilization where I will add a grid on top of it.

thanks in advance.

 

Hi i got crash on android with magicmap on unity 2017.3.1 and 2018
any help is welcomme

https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-2017-3-0p1-android-crashes-using-a-terrain-galaxy-s5.513700/

 

Yes.

 

Yes.

According to the issue description it's something related with the standard terrains (MapMagic uses them internally). Hope Unity will fix it soon.

 

Hi, im trying to make a voxeland terrain using mapmagic, pero i get constantly a message telling me MAP MAGIC is not installed. But it is. No works in new proyects too.

Sorry for my english and thank you

 

@Wright Hello, I'm been getting this error for a while now and I can't solve it. I was using MegaSplat, to texture my Map Magic terrains, but ended up going with MicroSplat instead - or at least attempted to. I deleted MegaSplat from my project, and now I get the following errors:

The type or namespace name `MegaSplatTextureList' could not be found. Are you missing an assembly reference?
The type or namespace name `JBooth' could not be found. Are you missing an assembly reference?
The type or namespace name `MegaSplatTextureList' could not be found. Are you missing an assembly reference?

That is of course an import or reference to MegaSplat. I've deleted both Map Magic and MegaSplat. I've deleted the library folder, I've deleted meta data associated with Map Magic and MegaSplat. If I import MegaSplat again, then Map Magic works and my project will complile, but at this point I don't want MegaSplat in there.

What can I do? Any idea where these errors are coming from when the data should no longer exist in the project?

Thanks,
Steve

 

AdanGrotesco, In Window > MapMagic > Compatibility check both toggles for Voxeland5 and MapMagic

 

sBabb, remove everything in Edit > Project Settings > Player > Global Define Symbols (set to empty string)

 

@Wright That did it, thank you so much!!

 

Hi I have 9 different raw files I want each one to end up on a separate map magic tile. I am not sure what node to use to place them on a specific tile?

Using offsets I can place the raw files where i want them but I am not sure how join them all to one height node?

 

I've got to use 9 different RAW Inputs, setting the offset in each of them multiple by terrain size.
Or it could be easier to combine all of the raws in one and use a single RAW input node.

 

@Wright Can we assign names to node so we can tell them apart?

 

@Wright See my edit - not sure how to combine 9 raw inputs to one height output?

 

Well I got it to work. I hope I can rearrange them and possibly fill in the spaces with generated terrain?

 

Hi.

Currently working on a project using Heighmap that comes from Zbrush ( opened in Photoshop to convert to Raw file 16Bits)

I'm having this issue. Even if i use 1.8.5 release or 1.9. on Unity 5.6.4

Code (CSharp):

1. Error generating chunk: MapMagic.Coord x:0 z:0: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
2.   at MapMagic.CleanUpGenerator.Generate (CoordRect rect, MapMagic.Results results, Size terrainSize, Int32 seed, System.Func`2 stop) [0x00080] in D:\UNITY\OULTCHOGUN_5_6_4\Assets\MapMagic\Generators\ObjectGenerators.cs:315
3.   at MapMagic.GeneratorsAsset.GenerateWithPriors (MapMagic.Generator gen, CoordRect rect, MapMagic.Results results, Size terrainSize, Int32 seed, System.Func`2 stop) [0x000b2] in D:\UNITY\OULTCHOGUN_5_6_4\Assets\MapMagic\Main\GeneratorsAsset.cs:663
4.   at MapMagic.GeneratorsAsset.GenerateWithPriors (MapMagic.Generator gen, CoordRect rect, MapMagic.Results results, Size terrainSize, Int32 seed, System.Func`2 stop) [0x00057] in D:\UNITY\OULTCHOGUN_5_6_4\Assets\MapMagic\Main\GeneratorsAsset.cs:651
5.   at MapMagic.GeneratorsAsset.GenerateWithPriors (MapMagic.Generator gen, CoordRect rect, MapMagic.Results results, Size terrainSize, Int32 seed, System.Func`2 stop) [0x00057] in D:\UNITY\OULTCHOGUN_5_6_4\Assets\MapMagic\Main\GeneratorsAsset.cs:651
6.   at MapMagic.GeneratorsAsset.Generate (CoordRect rect, MapMagic.Results results, Size terrainSize, Int32 seed, System.Collections.Generic.HashSet`1& changedTypes, System.Func`2 stop) [0x00183] in D:\UNITY\OULTCHOGUN_5_6_4\Assets\MapMagic\Main\GeneratorsAsset.cs:314
7.   at MapMagic.GeneratorsAsset.Calculate (CoordRect rect, MapMagic.Results results, Size terrainSize, Int32 seed, System.Func`2 stop) [0x00011] in D:\UNITY\OULTCHOGUN_5_6_4\Assets\MapMagic\Main\GeneratorsAsset.cs:229
8.   at MapMagic.Chunk.ThreadFn () [0x0005b] in D:\UNITY\OULTCHOGUN_5_6_4\Assets\MapMagic\Main\Chunk.cs:224
9. UnityEngine.Debug:LogError(Object)
10. MapMagic.Chunk:ThreadFn() (at Assets/MapMagic/Main/Chunk.cs:227)
11. MapMagic.ThreadWorker:ThreadFn() (at Assets/MapMagic/Main/ThreadWorker.cs:533)

 

First off, gotta say... now that i've sat down and started playing with it (i purchased it just to be able to use and save for my trying stuff out), i love this tool

I've been playing around, and really like how the biomes play with my implementations. However, i'm trying to figure out the best way to implement the randomization i'm looking for.
I've gotten the basic effects of biome locations done by creating a pyramid or cone to define the biome area, and then implementing biomes from there. However, my goal is to have the biome at said locations be determined by an outside script (or even a custom generator).
At this point, i'm attempting to simply copy the biome generator code, and setup a duplicate of that, but instead of the input field to manually chose which asset to use, I would like the script to chose based off of an external variable (config,etc). I learned rather quickly that the generator's operations are not so neatly packaged within the Generator.cs file (and the operations on the Biome class are done elsewhere in the files). Is there a clean and easy way to create a secondary biome implementer? Or is it easier to just re-purpose the code for the biome generator class to do what i need (seeing as all my biome generators for this project will be operating the same--randomized). Is there any way to manually assign assets via the scripting to accomplish this goal?

(apologies if this is a very stupid question; Have spent a little bit of time, and figure someone here may be able to give direction faster than me beating my head against the problem )



also... side question: how will this tool handle the scenario if someone destroys one of the trees in game, and travels outside of the generation range, then comes back. Will the generator 'fix' any changes made to the terrain/seed assets? I'm going to be working on saving and changes like that in the next day or so...but i figure i'd ask while i'm posting

 

do the Texture Input should saved in a particular format ?

Because when i try to mask (Cleanup) seeds of trees using an8bit Grayscale PNG file from PS, it didn't show correctly in preview window


EDIT:

It looks like that if i use
PNG 8Bit greyscale it didn't work correctly. Need to save as a 24Bit PNG

 

How did you get the crystal like stuff?

 

You can create groups to name something or add a comment in graph.

I'd like to recommend you using only one Height output, combining all of the RAW inputs with a Blend node.

Seems to be related with the Objects output, not the height or heightmap. Does this error happens in a new scene using this heightmap?

You don't need a custom biome implementation. All you need is a special mask for the biome instead. This mask could be created with a standard custom generator.

This tree will be fixed. You've got to keep the changes made in-game.

You can use any texture format Unity supports. If you can see a texture preview in inspector then it will work with MM. However, you've got to enable texture "Read/Write enabled" toggle in texture import settings.

 

Does anyone have a tutorial or a setup guide to get Microsplat to work with MapMagic? Being trying to use the custom output node, but having little success. I asked Jason Booth about a builtin Output generator like there is for Megasplat, but his response was pretty useless and pretty much told me to come search these forums. Haven't found anything super useful as of yet.

Thanks in advance!

 

@docseuss You only need use the basic texture output generator but need to apply the MicroSplatTerrain script to any terrains using it and make sure the proper public references are filled. If you're doing things in runtime there is a script on here called MicroSplatMapMagicSync that will apply the script and the material to terrains in runtime for you, should show up several pages back if you search for it.

 

It's in MicroSplat thread, not here
It was written by Jason and I have not tested it myself, but all it does is apply a MicroSplat component to the new terrain, assign data and refresh the applied component. Might work.

 

@malkere and @Wright
Guys thank you both. I have added this script and I am testing things now. However on the Map Magic graph if I use the texture output node do I just select the same textures I have on the Microsplat textures? The standard texture output node does not seem to pick up the textures I have defined in the MicroSplatConfig.

@Wright Any plans to add some more support for Microsplat similar to Megasplat? I own both assets and I am going back and forth between which to use. I like the simplicity and ease of setup along with the speed of Microsplat, but Megasplat seems to have more support for the assets I want to use such as Voxeland and Map Magic. I understand Voxeland is mesh and not terrain based so Microsplat might not be an option anyways.

Thanks,
Garry

 

Thank you, and thank you @Wright - that worked like a charm - i had MicroSplat working on one terrain, now it works on all of them

Rivers and Roads are next on my list.

 

Protopop have you integrated the Microsplat wetness to with Enviro? I thought I had read on another thread on this forum you had. I can get the rain drop splashes working, but cant seem out how to have puddles form nor the landscape take on a wet appearance.

 

i had problems because it didnt work in the editor for IOS but there was a fix and i had the river propagation working, which i used to make river paths that i then photographed from the top camera to get realistic river paths for the terrain. I havent tried the puddles etc agin yet, im just using Vanilla MicroSplat, which already makes the terrain look more interesting, and i will probably revisit the rest later in development

 

I'm going to make a poll what asset to integrate next once I'll deal with Vegetation Studio integration. Here are the candidates.

Thank jbooth

 

You should setup the textures in mapmagic, then use microsplat to "pull from terrain" or whatever it offers and generate a new microsplat config. By the way I commented out these lines in OutputGenerators.cs:500

To make sure that all of the textures are always included on all terrains. Otherwise MapMagic will only use what is needed. Maybe Wright can comment on if really I should only be commenting out the prototypesList.RemoveAt(i) line and not all of those? Seems to be working fine in my case anyway =o

 

@Wright It seemed a pain to move all the raw files around by just the offset - it would be much easier for me (i know not for you) to be able to move these tiles by a unity gameobject handle. I hope you will still consider that for MapMagic 2.0

 

Thanks for your reply @Wright .

I'm trying to rotate the MM item on Y, but it's not working as expected. is there a way to completely rotate it by 180 degrees ?

also. If i'm using a large 1024 unit terrain. i've setup every graph, but now i want to see only part of the terrain. How could i Split it into multiple terrain. is there a way to do this ?

 

Has anyone had any dramas with 2017.3 For some reason the terrain doesn't pin or lock or save. I have tried reimport selecting I made a backup but still nothing. It just simply doesn't work.

 

Fixed it by resetting layout, my bad lol.

 

MM2 will have a toggle in Texture Output that can turn texture optimization on or off.

Added to list.

MapMagic uses the standard Unity terrains internally. And you can't rotate the standard terrain, so it's not possible to rotate the whole MapMagic object.

You've got to decrease both terrain size and resolution - with the same factor. For example, if terrain resolution is decreased from 1024 to 512 terrain size should be lowered 2 times too (let's say from 1000 to 500). This will keep the generated terrain the same for the same places. However some generators like Voronoi can produce a bit different result in this case (fixed in v2).

Yep, this could happen if you are using multi-monitor configuration. Resetting layout helps.

 

If I remember correctly, at some point Jason may have offered to write some code for MicroSplat integration. If I'm remembering it right, and the offer still stands, I say take him up on that offer and spend your time working on Vegetation Studio. It's not only a powerful asset for creating richly detailed terrains, it has a number of components that may take some time and tinkering to get working seamlessly together.

 

Looking for idea, mostly from @Wright but also from others on how to solve the process of what I am trying to do.

I’m looking to generate points on the map that contain entities. An entity consists of one or more buildings and is driven based upon external configuration items.

I know I will need a custom generator for this, but how do I lay it out?

Do I use a single generator that does everything?
Do I have one that determines what is built, outputs that data as a transform for other nodes to act upon?
Or do I do something completely different?


Any tips and guidance are greatly appreciated!

 

I've long wondered about this as well.. I use my own after-MM system to place things, but would it be possible to generate a worlds data, say: VillageA at x500z500 and VillageB at x1000z250. Then use a custome generator to check for villages, when it hits x500z500 it then goes into the process of flattening, placing buildings, etc.? Sometimes pure scatter / random / noise is not acceptable, I never really tried to get that to work though.

 

There is a guide on how to create a village using a scatter node in the wiki. You could write your own generator that would replace the scatter and provide the outputs for where your villages are, and then follow the rest of the guide for how to place them.

If your concern is merely that there would be too many items places (if on each terrain tile), Wright provided an additional item in the community generators section for how to randomly clear items from terrain tiles.

 

You can place an object at the given position with this custom node:

Code (CSharp):

1.     [System.Serializable]
2.     [GeneratorMenu (menu="Custom", name ="Single", disengageable = false)]
3.     public class SingleGenerator : Generator
4.     {
5.         public Output output = new Output(InoutType.Objects);
6.         public override IEnumerable<Output> Outputs() { yield return output; }
7.  
8.         public Vector2 pos = new Vector2(1500, 2000);
9.  
10.         public override void Generate (CoordRect rect, Chunk.Results results, Chunk.Size terrainSize, int seed, Func<float,bool> stop = null)
11.         {
12.             SpatialHash dst = new SpatialHash(new Vector2(rect.offset.x,rect.offset.z), rect.size.x, 16);
13.             Vector2 pixelPos = pos / terrainSize.pixelSize;
14.  
15.             if (pixelPos.x > rect.offset.x && pixelPos.x <= rect.offset.x + rect.size.x &&
16.                 pixelPos.y > rect.offset.z && pixelPos.y <= rect.offset.z + rect.size.z)
17.                  dst.Add(pixelPos, 0,0,1); //position, height, rotation, scale
18.  
19.             output.SetObject(results, dst);
20.         }
21.         public override void OnGUI (GeneratorsAsset gens)
22.         {
23.             layout.Par();
24.             output.DrawIcon(layout, "Output");
25.             layout.Par(5);
26.             layout.Field(ref pos, "Position", fieldSize:0.7f);
27.         }
28.     }
29.  

And once an object placed consider it as a village center. You can use the villages tutorial to flatten the land around it, place houses, draw village-specific splat, etc.

If you are using some external algorithms to place buildings and other objects within some area - then wouldn't it be better to use these algorithms after the object is placed? You can scatter initial (town?) meta objects and flatten the land under them with MapMagic, and place buildings using object's OnEnable.

 

The problem I foresee is that the node graph will be different depending on what is placed. I can see using something like the Biomes node for executing specific placements and flattening.

Ex: A city will take up much more space than a forestry outpost or a farm, and the method for adjusting terrain would be very different.

 

Moved my project to unity 2018 and now I get these errors:

`UnityEngine.ProceduralMaterial' is obsolete:
`Built-in support for Substance Designer materials has been removed from Unity. To continue using Substance Designer materials, you will need to install Allegorithmic's external importer from the Asset Store.'

Please help!

 

Could you paste the full error text? I have not tested MM with Unity Beta, but I can try to find out what lines to comment to make it work.