How to Create Your OWN Modular Ground?

DEM2rwx is a program that helps to create landscapes for AW from real map data.

It converts real world mapping data into a set of rwx objects or a single ground object or AW terrain that can be placed in a world with a building bot or through propload. Textures can be added to these objects to create realistic terrain models. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) standard format (and several other terrain format) is supported by dem2rwx. Numerous parameters can be set to control exactly how dem2rwx generates the objects and the propfile.
 

Help - Tutorial. Thanks IngieBee!!!!!

I wrote a simple tutorial how to hide eggs for egghunt or just plant trees on an existing AW terrain.

Important links

Version History:

DEM to RWX converter latest (6.8.5):

Change in 6.8.5: dem2rwx.41.641.zip (1/7/2010)

Change in 6.8.4: dem2rwx.41.640.zip (8/31/2009)

Change in 6.8.3: dem2rwx.41.639.zip (5/6/2008)

Change in 6.7.1: dem2rwx.41.636.zip
    - Changed Tree generation object naming method. One can now specify C style print formatting in the model field.
      E.g.: you have models:murpres1a.rwx, murpres2a.rwx then you can combine it as murpres%da.rwx.
    - Single object name doesnt get the ".rwx" appended any longer to accept .cob formats too.
    - Added .txt automatic selection to any saved file's suffix

Fix in 6.6.9: dem2rwx.41.635.zip
    - Fixed Terragen scaling, so it matches with AW Terrain scaling.

Fix in 6.6.7: dem2rwx.41.632.zip
    - Fixed tree generating when the zone height set to negative value.
    - Added scroll bars to the RWX and the Tree zones tabs.

Fix in 6.6.5: dem2rwx.41.630.zip
    - Fixed tree generating addresses when not using bot but the bot had an offset defined.

Fix in 6.6.3: dem2rwx.41.627.zip
    - Fixed terrain import for V4 elevdumps (thanks Talisan for finding the bug)

Fix in 6.6.2: dem2rwx.41.626.zip
    - Added terrain rotating override feature for the V4.1 worlds (thanks Talisan for the idea!)

Fix in 6.6.1: dem2rwx.41.625.zip
    - Fixed terrain rotating for the V4.1 worlds

Fix in 6.5.9: dem2rwx.41.624.zip
    - Recompiled with AW SDK build 60 (Version 4.1 worlds only)

Fix in 6.5.7: dem2rwx623b.zip

    - Added Max elevation check when generating terrain.
    - Fixed wrong bubble help for vertical offset settings.

Fix in 6.5.7: dem2rwx622b.zip     - Fixed terrain buffer size calculation causing crash in large terrains.

New feature in 6.5.6: dem2rwx621b.zip

New feature in 6.5.5: dem2rwx620b.zip 

Bug fix in 6.5.4: dem2rwx619b.zip

Bug fix in 6.5.3: dem2rwx618b.zip

New feature in 6.5.2: dem2rwx617b.zip

    - Added feature to save the Terrain elevation in AW_Terrain mode into a standard elevdump file.
    - Streamlined Texture zone settings, changed bubble helps

New feature in 6.5.1: dem2rwx616b.zip

Bug fix in 6.4.2:   dem2rwx601b.zip  
    -Fixed SDK limitation in terrain creation when the terrain exceeded 1000 gridpoints.

New feature in 6.4.1:   dem2rwx599b.zip  
    - Reinstated older Leveller world scaling handling
    - Added DTED file format (still in alpha phase!!)

Bug fix in 6.3.8:   dem2rwx593b.zip  
    -Changed ArcInfo read to float from integer, fixed possible illegal values if there are missing elevation points in the ArcInfo file.

New feature in 6.3.7:   dem2rwx590b.zip  
    - Modified number of texture zones and number of tree zones to 32.

Fix in 6.3.6:   dem2rwx585b.zip  
    - Fixed the max window size to 800x600.

New feature in 6.3.5:   dem2rwx581b.zip  
    - Fixed the window size to 640x480 due to some strange Windows XP behavior.

New feature in 6.3.3:   dem2rwx576b.zip  
    - Updater to Leveller TER5 format . This new format can have a hf_worldspacinglabel chunk which describes the unit the heightfield made:

Measurement             Conversion Factor to convert it to meter
-------------------     -----------------------------
fm (femtometer)         1.0e-15
pm (picometer)          1.0e-12
A (angstrom)            1.0e-10
nm (nanometer)          1.0e-9
u (micron)              1.0e-6
um (micrometer)         1.0e-6 
mm (millimeter)         1.0e-3 
cm (centimeter)         1.0e-2
in (inch)               0.0254
dm (decimeter)          1.0e-1 
sp (span)               0.2286
ft (foot)               0.3048
sft (survey foot)       1200.0 / 3937.0
yd (yard)               0.9144
m (meter)               1.0
r (rod)                 5.029
f (furlong)             201.168
km (kilometer)          1.0e+3
mi (mile)               1609.344 
nmi (nautical mile)     1853.0
ls (light second)       9.4608953536e+15 / 3.16E+07
lm (light minute)       9.4608953536e+15 / 5.26E+05
AU (astronomical unit)  1.50e+11
lhr (light hour)        9.4608953536e+15 / 5.26E+05 * 60
ld (light day)          9.4608953536e+15 / 5.26E+05 * 60 * 24
ly (light year)         9.4608953536e+15
pc (parsec)             9.4608953536e+15 * 3.26
kly (kilo light year)   9.4608953536e+18

New feature in 6.3.1:   dem2rwx572b.zip  
    - Added bitmap format as an input. The bitmap can be either greyscale or color one. The program averages the 3 color components for elevation. Paletted (8 bit) color format can have unexpected results!

New feature in 6.2.1:   dem2rwx568b.zip  
     - Added refined gridpoint skipping and scaling factors for the Leveller format

New feature in 6.1.2:   dem2rwx562b.zip  
    - Added terrain rotating
    - fine tuned GUI for terrain generating
    - Fixed "Non-specified" world selection (long time overdue!)
----------------------------------------
How to generate a terrain?
On the WorldParameters tab select "AW_Terrain" Checkbox. Be sure to fill out on the Prop/Build Option Tab the Bot parameters. You have to be a CT on the world where you generate the terrain. Specify the center of it inworld if you don't want to change all terrain only a portion of it. You can select the "DeleteOldTerrain" checkbox on this tab which first will delete ALL terrain in the world. (This option is not saved in the settings file).
Use the texture zones like you do in a normal mod-ground operation, except there will be no texture names - only numbers from 0-63. If you use transitional textures between two textures, you want to select the Corner and the Edge checkboxes and specify the sequence number of the Corner and the Edge textures. The program will insert the Corner/Edge piece if the current zone and the next zone are joining at the gridpoint. If the gridpoint jons to another zone but not the next one on the zone list, it has no effect.
The Corner texture has to has the lower right corner the first zone and the upper left corner the second zone:

The Edge texture has to has the upper side the second zone, while the other 3 sides the first zone:

 
 

New feature in 6.1.1:   dem2rwx556b.zip  
    - Added transitional texturing feature for AW Terrain generating.

New feature in 6.0.1:   dem2rwx552b.zip  

    - Added support for generating terrain for AW 3.3 or higher! Warning! This new feature is not disabling several actions within the program and it is not tested that they will work together. E.g. don't generate trees while doing terrain.

New feature in 5.3.4:   dem2rwx543b.zip  

    - Added delete objects by citizen number

Fixes in 5.3.2:  dem2rwx540b.zip  
    - Added Universe URL and Port for Bot login - so the program can build in different universes

Fixes in 5.3.1:
    - The USGS changed the SDTS file format so now dem2rwx will attempt to distinguish between the old and the new SDTS format.
    - Flush with ground caused strange artifacts when a single ground object generated.

New features in 5.2.1:   dem2rwx534b.zip  
    - Added "Single ground object" checkbox to create one single object for AW3.2 browser. This settings uses the same configuration the original one except the "ObjectSize" selection selects the clump size within the object. This is needed to speed up the collision detection algorithm within the browser. After several tests it seems that the 50m object size is a good compromize.
    - Increased the object size selection from 10,20 and 30m to 10 ... 120 m objects (Can be used as a single object for a smaller world.)
Take a look at Lightfoot's world - Light's (55K jpeg)

Moon landing base project (1000x1000m world):

BMP file it was made from. Used AccuTrans to convert to ASCII file

 
 

New features in 4.4.2:
    - Added a "Stop" button to interrupt gracefully the generation
    - Added "Overhanging" object option where the user can specify 0,1 or 2 rows hanging outside of their world
        Very handy feature if your world is small but you don't want the terrain endign abruptly (Thanks ScottyDM for the idea)

DEM to RWX converter latest (4.3.11):  dem2rwxb.zip  

Fix in 4.3.11:
    - TreeZone in Percentage variable was not saved properly in the ini file.

Fix in 4.3.10:
    - Save type ASCII and Terragen was swapped on the RadioBox.

New feature in 4.3.9:
    - Added Terragen output filter with scaling-down capability

Fix in 4.3.8:
    - Fixed the VistaPro ASCII settings. Looks like in the heavy fixing I managed to screw it up. Sorry folks!

Fix in 4.3.7:
    - Fixed the generated number of objects based on the world size selection to fully cover the selected world size.
 

New feature in 4.3.6:
    - Added all official AW world sizes
    - Added an option to set the texture zones not by absolute meter but by percentage (as per Young Phalpha).
    - Same feature added to Tree Zones.

Fix in 4.3.5:
    - Added the new world size terminology to the world size selector.

New feature in 4.3.4:
    - Added smooth world edges option to blend the generated world into the ground gradually through the bordering objects.
.
New feature in 4.3.3:
    - Fixed odd DEM sizes where the length is not equal to the width.
    - Added import filter for ArcInfo exported DEM files (uses CR/LF pair but not fixed record length as it defined in the DEM standard)

New feature in 4.3.2:
    - Added import filter for the Hungarian DEM standard.
    - Fixed several bugs reported but I forgot which ones :(( Apologies!!

New feature in 4.2.1:
    - Added import filter for Binary Terrain (BT) format - the standard Virtual Terrain Project (Intel) uses.
    - added Port option to the FTP client.
    - fixed ASCII import.

Fix in version 4.1.2:
    - Finally I made the tree generation working properly (I hope)

New feature in version 4.1.1:
    - The program now reads terrains generated by Levellerwithout any special exporting/conversion tool

Fix in version 4.0.6:
    - When Cliff texturing was checked the "Show Picture" did not show any zones.

New features/fixes in version 4.0.5:
    - Changed the texture zone tab's layout

New features/fixes in version 4.0.3:
    - When the log file couldn't be created the program did not generate anything.
    - Added fields to display the world size to be generated  based on the bounding box and the World Parameter settings.
    - Improved the field selection with faster rectangle movement, instant GZ, min and max elevation calculation.

Fixes in 4.0.2:
    - When using the maximum vertex number for an object, the program caused a GPF - fixed.
    - Edge rounding did not work properly at N and S. Fixed.

New features in version 4.0.1:
    - Added option to "round" the edge of the world to the ground. This option will change the vertices at the world's edges to 0 elevation effectively "closing" down the terrain to ground.
    - Added option to use the Prelight feature of the AW 3.0 browser (probably needs some additional feature like make it gradually changing based on the elevation, etc. Feedback welcome)
    - Increased the object's vertex count up to 1089 to create smother surface (or to create nice small hills only). Use it only with AW3.0 browser!
 

Important note: All directories referenced within the program (the rwx and the propfile targets) has to exist. The program will NOT create them for you!

Fixes in 3.3.0:
1, - Fixed the Uploaded filename discrepancy - the program used the unique texture for the uploaded filename during FTP
2, - Increased the FTP TimeOut value from 5 second to 30 seconds. Added one time retry feature to the upload.
 

Fixes and new features in 3.2.0:
1, - Fixed annoying auto-rounding bug in the world bounding box
2, - Added visual feedback for the Robot building.

• The Robot window keeps track the robot activities in real time
• The Robot Log holds the objects datas as it would be in the propfile. With saving it you can use the data to rebuild, delete, etc with any robot which can handle the propfile syntax (like Xelagot)

• The delete feature will not start until you specify all information needed to run a robot
• The Robot Delete dialog will ask you to specify the bounding rectangle of the area you want to delete. You have to give two corners' coordinate on the opposite edge if the rectangle you want to clear and
• The dialog asks for the list of objects you want to delete. The deleting masks (filters) are case sensitive and interprets the "*" and the "?" wildchars properly. Be careful with the wildchar use!!!

New feature in Version 3.0.4 (Beta):
  - Added Opacity feature for the texture zones.

Fixes and new features in Version 3.0.3 (Beta):
1, - Fixed the input filter for the new Terragen (0.811) version.
2, - Added the Skip feature for Terragen files.
3, - Fixed rwx file output when no texture defined.
4, - Fixed bounding box automatic adjustment based on the object sizes
5, - Fixed "bottom" texturing (I hope). Restriction: only works if you generate triangles ONLY!
        Learned in a hard way that the polygon sequence within the rwx file is IMPORTANT! if you mox the front and the back face of the polygons - creates unpredictable transparent polygons!!!
 

Found - not resolved issues:
1, - If no materialmodes double used, the flat objects' surface lighting are off from the complex objects lighting. Anyone has a clue why?
 
 

Fixes in Version 3.0.2 (Beta):
1, Introduced an additional vertical offset - the PropElevation - which is in effect only when you generate the propfile (and maybe build with bot). Disadvantage is only that it is difficult to "reuse" the prop.
2, If you change anything which is recorded within the settings file, and you did not close it, it will ask you if you want to save them.

Version 3.0 has powerful new features:
1, - You can upload to the object server straight from the program with FTP protocol.
2, - You can build the newly generated terrain anywhere in your world with the built in robot. No messing with the propfile!

Not implemented yet:
 - the robot can't delete the old mod ground objects
 - the robot can't clean up the land before the build.

Do we need those features??

Sample gradient textures can be loaded from : gndtext.zip

Fixes in Version 2.8.5 (Beta):
- Reinstated the warp panel at GZ (select with the CreateBumpAtGZ checkbox)

Fixes in Version 2.8.4 (Beta):
 - Added more error checking for non-existing target/source files to decrease the "Access violation" messages.
 - Added grid skip feature for DEM files (reduces the number of vertices by 3 by the cost of decreasing the resolution) This feature is preliminary only.

Fixes in Version 2.8.3 (Beta):
 - Generating flat panels put bad texture lines to the RWX file
 - Eliminated the "path" within the Zip files
 

Demo database (created with Terraformer) : dem2demo.zip

New Feature / Fixes in Version 2.8.2 (Beta):
 - Tree generator did not work on 20 or 30 meter objects. Fixed? (I'm still not sure it works properly.)
 - Triangle/Quad selection (optimization) was broken. Fixed.
 - Added texture - polygon optimization (each textures appear only once with the corresponding polygons).
 - Added TAG feature for zones. Each zones can be tagged now for using animate tag=xxx me commands (tho something is wrong with the browser properly implementing it?)
 - Added automatic rounding into object grid size for the bounding box size.
 - Increased the maximum object vertices to 256 (since AW supports it now).
 - Added random rotating option to the "Tree" generator. (Useful for rocks!)
 

New Features / Fixes in Version 2.7.5 (Beta):
 - Added choice for flattened zones where to round it (to the high or the low value)
 - Added VistaPro ASCII input filter
 - Fixed ground leveling for the flattened objects

From Sado:Yes, it's true...
I'm a real person... and I'm gonna upload HF-lab, a truly useful height-field generator.
Please note, that it -is- under the GPL, so I am not, by doing this, breaking any laws, etc.
The .oct files it exports can be imported into dem2rwx. HF-LAB
 

Fixes in Version 2.7.4 (Beta):
 - Fixed texturing for zones for the flattened objects

Fixes in Version 2.7.3 (Beta):
 - Fixed texturing for zones (corrupted while introducing cliffs)

Fixes in Version 2.7.2 (Beta):
 - Fixed height offset (Leveled with ground) which was corrupted by the introduction of the Zones :(

New Features in Version 2.7.1 (Beta):
 - Added "Cliffs". If the polygon is steeper than the predefined value it will have a special texture assigned to it. (Thanks Young Shamus for the idea!)

New Features in Version 2.6.1 (Beta):
 - Added import filter for Terragen"terrain" output file
 - Added unique texturing feature for each individual objects (naming convention is the same as the rwx naming method) Each object has one single tile.
New Features/Bug Fixes in Version 2.5.5 (Beta):
 - Known problem: Different textures for the bottom side of the object has trouble with a few polygons (shows inside out)
 - User selectable Quad/Triangle generation
 - Fixed zone flattening
 - Unified settings files read/write operation (made it version independent)
New Features/Bug Fixes in Version 2.5.4 (Beta):
 - Created different textures for the bottom side of the object (not a gradient texturing tho!)
 - Fixed (hopefully) the zones minimum comparison.

New Features in Version 2.5.3 (Beta):
 - Added hf-lab normalized format to the supported elevation formats.
New Features in Version 2.5.2 (Beta):
 - Added colored view for the texturing zones

New Features in Version 2.5.1 (Beta):
 - Redesigned GUI - probably a better organized one.
 - Object size choice now 10,20 and 30m  (for the 30m objects you shoud specify 500 cm offset in the propfile's center to keep the collision detection working.
 - Scaling (object resolution) has two added range (49 and 64 vertices)
     - the two features above produces a scaling range from 1:1 to 1:20
 - New / Enchanced Gradient texturing - 5 zones for different texture sets.
 - Flatten an elevation range (zone) for building or for water.
 - Save and Restore Settings (don't have to remember your settings any longer)
 - Added "TextureModes" options ?warning: up to two of them can be used at once (RenderWare limitation)!>
 - Multiple "Tree" generating zones for different kind of objects planted in one run.
 
 

DEM to RWX converter V2.2.3 dem2rwx.zip 
 
 

New Features/Bug Fixes in Version  2.2.3:
- Added object size choice 10m and 20m. Smaller number of loaded objects and still can have enough details.
- Fixed minor cosmetic bugs in the Tree Generating.

New Features/Bug Fixes in Version  2.2.2:
- Save your world's elevation datums in VistaPro ASCII format (for use in TerraFormer (c) Young Shamus)
- Fixed access violation is prematurely terminated CDO files.

New Features in Version  2.2.1:
- Automatic Tree/Rock/Younameit generation:
   - select the minimal level from where the objects are planted
   - select the maximal level untill where the objects are planted
   - select the object's name prefix (similar notation than the "animate" command)
   - select the number of zones between the minimal and maximal level (it will generate different object names for each zone)
 This generating only affect the generated prop file. You can pick to generate the "Trees" only.
Any Feedback/Ideas?

New Features in Version 2.1.1:
 - The program supports now the ETOPO5 format - 5 minutes grid - disappointingly low resolution (Appr. 2km/point!)
      I could remove it, but ....
 - You can select now if you want the object double sided solid
 - You can select if you want the object visible from the back

Bugs fixed in Version 2.0.2:
- When using SDTS format, the UV mapping did not work
- The program never filled the proper "surface" settings  - I'm sorry.
 

New features in Version 2.0.1:
- Finally - It can read SDTS files!
    - the downloaded SDTS tar.gz file has to be expanded into it's own folder before dem2rwx can read it.
 

Bugs fixed in Version 1.4.3:
- The program did not generate the last rows/columns for the objects and within the propfile
- If "Flush with ground" was unchecked the generated propfile held an incorrect height value.
 

Bug fixed in Version 1.4.2:
- Certain CDO files in the Californian database has one less row - caused the program to crash. Supposedly fixed now.

New features in Version 1.4.1:
- Modified the DEM file processing - reading immediately after the user opens it.
- Added "World Size" feature to clip a region from the full DEM file to the user world - Go to the Show Picture window where you'll have a slow square moving with your cursor. If you left-click - the program prefills the bounding box rectangle values based on the WorldSize and on the Scaling.
- Changed the arrangment on the main window to group together the corresponding controls.

Version 1.4.0 still available:  dem2rwx.140.zip 

New features in Version 1.4.0:
- User selectable "surface" parameters for the objects.
- User selectable "lightsampling" options.
- Define your OWN scaling! Now it is possible to set 1:3, 1:5, 1:10, 1:12.5 and 1:15 scaling for the cost of details but it makes rendering faster and the world scale is closer to the reality.

New features in Version 1.3.2:
  - added lighting and changed the lightsamling in the objest - result is more realistic view!!

Bug fixes in Version 1.3.1:
   - bad "flat panel" object generation fixed
   - due to that fix, the regular object generation was broken :))   Fixed.
New in Version 1.3.1:
   - You can provide now a series of textures for gradially texturing the ground
 

New in Version 1.3:
   - modified naming convention for the rwx files. - Now the files name actually carries it's cell coordinates (e.g.  g43s_36e.zip will be placed at 43S 36E in the world)
   - Visual implementation: you can view the terrain as a grayscale 2D map.
   - autodetection of the CDO files
 

Notes for the dem2rwx program.
What the program does:
- reads Digital Elevation Model files for a map (which is essentially an orthogonal  grid containing the elevation values. The 1 degree (square) format holds 1200x1200 points with the elevation values in 1 meter increments. The distance  between the grid dots is 30 meter. The same is valid for the 7.5 minutes files but some should have 10m resolution (only in SDTS format)
- creates RWX objects 10x10 meter size to represent 150mx150m original dem data. The objects has 36 vertices and 25 quads except the ones are optimized. (only a very simple optimization is implemented yet)
- zips the rwx files with password
- creates the corresponding "prop" file.
- fixed the orientation bug (the generated world was upside down :))
- added bubble help to the fields (still no help file or description)
 
 
 

DEM files are the USGS standard for Digital Elevation Models. There are several
other buzzword in this arena - read those URLs:

DEM Files (USGS) source:http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html
DEM files 10m resolution!!! http://duff.geology.washington.edu/data/raster/tenmeter/
DEM File viewer: http://www.monumental.com/rshorne/3dem.html
Leveller (not a free product but has excellent terrain making features - try the demo version first!)  http://www.daylongraphics.com/products/leveller/
Terragen (Draw your own terrain): http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/
   - The website is back to operation and the development resumed!!! Current version is 0.8.44 .
Virtual Terrain Project   http://vterrain.org   Excellent source of information!

http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html
http://mapping.usgs.gov/standards/index.html

I found the DEM standard format only for the 1 degree resolution or higher.

All the 7.5 minutes resolution is converted the the "SDTS" (Spatial Data Transfer
Standard) format. Tho it is much smaller than the DEM format it's complexity
gives me a hard time (especially understanding all "fields"within that standard)

The only state I found so far which has the DEM format for the 7.5 minutes data
is California. The database accessible through:
http://geogdata.csun.edu/  or  http://130.166.124.2/cart.html

They use (used?) a modified DEM format and it adds some 128 bytes to the header
for the DEM file. This is the CDO format I distinguish in my program.
I discovered recently that at least a bunch I tested now uses the original DEM
format!  (so uncheck the "CDO File" checkbox before processing). - this is not needed vith the latest version posted here!
 

New features:
 - Reads DEM or CDO files.
 - Enclosing rectangle can be set.
 - Gradient coloring.
 - Possible to make all objects flush with ground and add the elevation value to the prop file.
 - About 50 times faster then the previous version (darned Microslop)