Generate is creating an all blue terrain (perhaps flat too?)

[pwilliams]

Hello. I'm using the demo version of the software after installing it last night. I'd used it before, months ago, but recently had to redo my computer.

Last night after doing the install, I jumped right into the program and was eager to create some terrains to use as part of my development of a map for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. However, when I hit the generate button all I get is what appears to be a flat terrain that is all blue in color.

After that I decided that I should try it with some presets for the color and terrain that a helpful fellow Oblivion developer had put online for folks to use. After putting those in, I still get the same result. I did mess with the settings for max, min, and mid height, but that did not help either.

One thing I noticed was that if I move the view to the upper-left corner, there's a small patch of pixels, for lack of a better term (they appear bigger than actual pixels on the screen, but maybe they represent a unit of space in the terrain?) that is 2 high by 10 wide, and it changes every time I hit generate. For example it might start off with some of the pixels shaded white and others black, and hitting generate will color other ones white and the rest black.

Is there any way to fix this? Or is there something I am doing wrong? I did check out a few tutorials and they all said that you can just hit generate as soon as the program loads and you should see a terrain. But that hasn't been the case for me. I know I had no problems like this last time I installed the program, so why it is happening now is really puzzling to me.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Jules Verne]

Try reinstalling it. Can't say I've seen this happen to me so far, but if it worked when you installed it before, but not this time, that could be it. Or you might also need to update files on your computer somewhere that you had before but don't on this new setup?

[cajomi]

That should not happen. Did you try to change the terrain size? What you are describing would normally happen, if you cancel the generation.

[pwilliams]

Jules and cajomi, thanks for replying.

No, I haven't canceled the generation. Actually when I hit the Generate button the process finishes nearly instantly. It's as if it is not doing anything. I did change the terrain sizes and a variety of the terrain settings, but none of that made a difference.

[cajomi]

You wrote, you redid your pc. The demo runs only one time on a pc. To run it again you need a new hard disc.

[pwilliams]

Well I just purchased the software, then downloaded version 1.13. It's still doing the same thing. Kind of disappointing...I assumed that buying it would get around the "one install per PC" problem that the demo presents.

[cajomi]

Are you using vista?

[pwilliams]

Windows XP.

Are there any requirements other than the software itself? Such as, for example, the .NET framework? I have the framework installed, but just wonder if there is something I am missing.

By the way, thanks for the quick response cajomi. I really appreciate the help.

[pwilliams]

This just gets stranger and stranger. I decided to see if the GeoControl 2 prerelease 30 would work, and it is doing the same thing as well. Man, how strange!

[pwilliams]

Here is a screenshot of what I described in my original post. You can see the upper-left corner has the weird colored blocks. They change whenever I press Generate, but it's always that cluster of them in the upper-left.

[cajomi]

This is the first time, this problem is reported.
Very strange.
and you get this flat terrain with opening GeoControl2?

[pwilliams]

Yes, Geocontrol2 does the same thing. When I run the software, then hit Generate without changing anything, all I see is a flat gray terrain. Changing the zoom/fit slider makes the render window show a solid blue square. So when I zoom into the upper-left corner of that blue square I see what is in this screenshot.

[cajomi]

And you get also a flat terrain with the start of GeoControl2? Then the terrain size is 1024.

[pwilliams]

Correct. It's flat from the moment the software loads up, and the size is 1024 by default.

Here's a screenshot of what Geocontrol looks like when I run it. I haven't changed anything in terms of settings or sizes.

[cajomi]

Did you install it into a different folder than it was automatically suggested?

[pwilliams]

Nope, I stuck with the defaults for the installation.

I just tried something. I uninstalled everything, the demo, the full version, and the version 2 beta. Then reinstalled just the full version and, after trying that and getting the same problem, the version 2 beta as well which still has the problem.

I'm not sure what else to try. Let me know if you think of anything. I am at home on my lunch break right now, so I can't do anything else for a few hours.

Again, thanks so much for your assistance on this. Hopefully we can solve it.

[cajomi]

So, let us do it systematically with GeoControl2:
First try the "protect...." slider in the general panel. Set it to 8, generate, set it to zero, generate.
Then the same with the "random noise" slider (0,8).

If that all gives the same flat result, use the preset browser and load the test setting "settings for standard terrain" and generate.

Btw: Here is evening and I am now finishing work. So next answer in about 12 hours.