The Dominions 3 Mapmaking Manual v3.22
The Dominions 3 Mapmaking Manual v3.22
Mapmaking Manual
v3.22
Table of Contents
1 Requirements..................................................1 5 God Commands..............................................6
2 Map Commands..............................................1 6 The Map Image File........................................7
2-1 Required Map Commands......................1 6-1 Defining Provinces.................................7
2-2 Basic Map Commands............................1 6-2 Province Borders.....................................7
2-3 Setting Terrain for Provinces..................2 6-3 Transparency...........................................7
2-4 Advanced Map Commands.....................2 6-4 Map Image Dimensions..........................7
2-5 Setting Start Locations............................3 7 Obsolete Commands.......................................7
3 Province Commands.......................................4 8 Troubleshooting..............................................8
4 Commander Commands.................................5 9 Tables..............................................................9
Content
Johan Karlsson
Kristoffer Osterman
Esko Halttunen
Table Formatting
Arralen
1 Requirements 1
2.4.5 #nohomelandnames
When this switch is used, homelands will no
longer be named after their starting nations. For 2-5 Setting Start Locations
example, the home of Abysia might be called The
These commands allow you to set or deny
Summer Lands or whatever.
specific provinces as start locations and to
control which nations starts where on a map. The
2.4.6 #nonamefilter specstart locations will be used if you create a
Map filter that displays province names is game with the “Use special starting locations”
disabled when this command is used. Does not option enabled.
work correctly.
2.5.1 #start <province nbr>
2.4.7 #computerplayer <nation nbr> By creating at least one start location for each
<difficulty> player, every player will start at one of these
This nation will always be controlled by the locations. If #start provinces are set, nations will
computer. Difficulty ranges from one to five. One start at these locations unless there are more
is Easy AI. Two is Standard difficulty, followed by nations than #start provinces. If there are more
Difficult (3), Mighty (4) and Impossible (5) AI. nations than #start provinces, the extra nations
will start in eligible random locations.
2.4.8 #allies <nation nbr> <nation nbr>
These two players will not attack each other. This If a province is set as a #start province but its
command will only affect computer players. terrain mask includes the value 512 (nostart), the
nostart will override the #start command and no
2.4.9 #victorycondition <condition nbr> nation will start there.
<attribute> If no #start provinces are set, all provinces are
The game will end when one player fulfills a available as random starting locations unless set
special condition, see Table 3. Dominion score is nonstartable with the #nostart command or in
11-20 points per converted province, depending the map editor.
on the strength of the dominion. <condition nbr>
should be a number from 0 to 5. 2.5.2 #nostart <province nbr>
Tags a province as nonstartable. No player will
Nbr Condition Attribute
start here when placed at random. This command
0 Standard - can also be set from the map editor, which adds
1 Victory Points Total VPs required 512 to the province's terrain mask, making it
2 Dominion Dominion score required nonstartable.
3 Provinces Provinces required
4 Research Research points required 2.5.3 #specstart <nation nbr> <province
5 VPs (cumulative) VPs added every summer nbr>
Use this command to assign a specific nation to a
Table 3: Possible victory conditions specific start location. Nation numbers can be
found in Table 4 and the three following tables.
2.4.10 #cannotwin <nation nbr> If you use the #specstart command, please note
that using the #land command to select the
This nation will not win when they fulfill a special
starting province of the nation for further
victory condition. Nation numbers can be found in
modification results in the nation starting with no
Table 4 and the three following tables.
troops and a dead god (unless dormant or
imprisoned) that must be recalled with the Call
2.4.11 #victorypoints <province nbr> <1- God order for priests, because the #land
7> command kills all units initially placed in the
The player who has control over this province will province. In such situations the #setland
control from one to seven victory points. If the command should be used instead.
province has a fort then the controller of the fort
controls the victory points.
3 Province Commands 4
If only some attributes of a nation's pretender, 5.6 #scale_death <nation nbr> <(-3)-3>
such as Dominion strength and scales, are Forces the Growth / Death dominion scale of a
modified using the commands in this section but nation to a value between -3 and 3. A value of 3
the #god command is not used to set the means that the scale is fully tipped to the right
pretender type, cheat detection will be triggered if (Death) and -3 means it is fully tipped to the left
the total point cost of the pretender chassis and (Growth).
the modifications in the map file do not conform
to the normal design point limits for awake 5.7 #scale_unluck <nation nbr> <(-3)-3>
pretenders. Forces the Luck / Misfortune dominion scale of a
nation to a value between -3 and 3. A value of 3
means that the scale is fully tipped to the right
5.1 #god <nation nbr> “<commander (Misfortune) and -3 means it is fully tipped to the
type>” left (Luck).
Forces the god of one nation to be this monster.
The god becomes the active commander and can 5.8 #scale_unmagic <nation nbr> <(-3)-3>
be manipulated with the Commander Forces the Magic / Drain dominion scale of a
Commands. The same limitations on defining the nation to a value between -3 and 3. A value of 3
commander type apply, meaning that modded means that the scale is fully tipped to the right
monsters must be defined by their name instead (Drain) and -3 means it is fully tipped to the left
of monster number. Nation numbers can be (Magic).
found in Table 4 and the three following tables.
6-3 Transparency
6 The Map Image File A targa file saved with improper alpha channel
settings can result in Dominions treating the
image as being transparent and showing only the
As explained in section 2.1.2, the image file of
map background instead of the map graphic. This
the map should be in Targa (.tga) or SGI (.rgb)
problem is removed by saving the image file
format. The file should be at least 256x256 pixels
again in RLE compressed format and removing
large and saved in 24 or 32 bit color,
the alpha channel.
uncompressed or RLE. A suitable size for a map
might be about 1600x1200 pixels. This section
discusses issues and common problems related 6-4 Map Image Dimensions
to or caused by something in the map image file It is worthwhile to pay attention to map
or interactions between the map image file and dimensions in pixels relative to the number of
map file. provinces meant to be on the map. Targa files
sizes get significantly larger in when the
dimensions go up, but the #defaultmapzoom
6-1 Defining Provinces command can allow a resized map with half the
dimensions of the original to look just as good
Provinces are defined by white pixels (RGB value
when used properly when used on maps with
255, 255, 255). Each single white pixel is
larger dimensions. Experimentation with the
considered a separate province. If you need
defaultmapzoom is recommended.
some white color on your map, use something
like (253, 253, 253) for white. It will look white to
the human eye, but will not cause extra provinces
to appear.
8 Troubleshooting
8.1 The game crashes when I try to play
on my map
Try running dominions with the -dd switch to
enable maximum debug mode. Then read the
log.txt file that has been created, At the end it will
say where on the map this problem occurred.
Linux and OS X versions will print the debug
output to the console/terminal instead.
9 Tables
Table 4: Nation numbers, Early Era Table 5: Nation numbers, Middle Era
9 Tables 10
Nbr Fort
Nbr Nation Epithet
1 Simple Hillfort
49 Arcoscephale Sibylline Guidance
2 Simple Fortress
50 Ermor Ashen Empire
3 Fortified City
51 Man Towers of Chelms
4 Tel City
52 Ulm Black Forest
5 Swamp City
53 Marignon Conquerors of the Sea
6 Peg Castle
54 Mictlan Blood and Rain
7 Motte-and-Bailey
55 T’ien Ch’i Barbarian Kings
8 Citadel
56 Jomon Human Daimyos
9 Mountain Citadel
57 Agartha Ktonian Dead
10 Simple Fortress
58 Abysia Blood of Humans
11 Swamp Fort
59 Caelum Return of the Raptors
12 Kelp Fortress
60 C’tis Desert Tombs
13 Kelp Citadel
61 Pangaea New Era
14 Dark Citadel
62 Midgård Age of Men
15 Cave City
63 Utgård Well of Urd
16 Cave Castle
64 Patala Reign of the Nagas
17 Wizard's Tower
65 Gath Last of the Giants
18 Dark Citadel (underwater)
66 Atlantis Frozen Sea
19 Living Castle
67 R’lyeh Dreamlands
20 River Fortress
70 Pythium Serpent Cult
21 Jervellan Wall
71 Bogarus Age of Heroes
22 Archaic Fortress
23 Firbolg Fortress
Table 6: Nation numbers, Late Era
24 Crystal Citadel
25 Obsidian Citadel
26 Dead City
27 Ermorian Castle
Nbr Nation 28 Ermorian Citadel
23 Special Monsters 29 Woodland Citadel
24 Special Monsters 30 Cave Fort
25 Independents 31 Great City
32 Ramparts
Table 7: Special nations used by AI
33 Forest Ramparts
34 Forest Fortress
35 Forest Castle
36 Hillfort
37 Hill Fortress
38 Hill Castle
39 Fortification
40 Fortress
41 Castle
42 Mountain City
43 Jeweled City