Making the heightmap data usable.

[www.usna.edu]

[www.usna.edu]

Unturned requires a heightmap image, not raw data, this section will show you how to get the heightmap image you need for your awesome map!1. Create a folder on your desktop or somewhere for you to work.2. Download MicroDEM for opening the raw heightmap data.(Windows only)(Windows only)3. Move the md64/microdem file to the folder you created.4. Open md64. When it starts it will ask you to open a project, click close.5. It will then ask to update several things, click yes to everything as it comes up.6. Once the program is updated, at the top right, click open then open DEM. 7. Navigate to where you saved extracted the zip folder you downloaded earlier. Open the file. 8. You should now have a nice heightmap image! 9. First we will check you got the right area! Right click the map and go to Export > Quick map to Google Earth. 10. This will make the image overlay on its exact coordinates on Google Earth, so you can check you got the right area where you placed your marker. If you got the wrong map section, double check your rounding on your longitude/latitude, you may of rounded them both down or both up, they should be rounded up if equal to or higher than .5 and rounded down if lower than .5. 11. Go back into MicroDEM. Were going to make sure the depth is correct for your height map.12. Go to Modify on the toolbar, then click Elevation, a window will pop up.13. What we do here is set the range of grey colours so we get nice smooth transitions and set our sea level correctly. Select Gray Scale (monochrome) The "Missing" colour block, which is black, is our sea level colour, Black = Deep, White = High.If your map shouldnt have any sea in it, and theres some black parts on your heightmap, this is missing data, you should change your Missing colour block to a grey closer to the shade around the missing area, so you dont have sudden oceans or rivers where there should be none.14. Click the z Range button. The "z Range" defines the range of heights that will map to our grayscale, 0-255 values.The Max and Min values are the range of heights picked up from the heightmap data. So in my example since 2593 is the highest elevation, that is the max for the z range. These areas will be bright white. Min is the lowest elevation in the heightmap, as such they will be black.Any "missing" data will be black as well as I have said previously.You can change these values to make a height map overall more flat, or steep. Simply raise or lower the Max value. Raising it say, to 4000, will put the range from 853 to 4000, meaning our actual highest elevation in the heightmap of 2593, will be just about halfway on the z range, so it will be a grey colour rather than white. Effectively flattening the map. Lowing the Max value will have the opposite effect.In my example I left the values default.15. Click Ok to close the z Range and Elevation window.Your image should now be a nice grayscaled heightmap.16. Click File > Save image > Name your file Heightmap > Save Type as PNG > Click SaveYou can now close MicroDEM!