Making an 'Island" map

#1 I also need to create islands, I let TGE generate a random heightmap. Exported that to a file, opened it using The Gimp (or whatever graphics software you like). created a black edge around the outside edge using an airbrush tool. Import back into TGE. uncheck the tile feature for the terrain. Set water height for ocean. Hope this helps

#2 So far I have discovered one thing about water and waterblocks
You must have a default terrain blocksize of 8
altho you can use any (positive integer power of 2)
2,4,8,16 etc
can not use 1 for a terrain block size thats 2^0=1
0 is not a positive integer try selecting 1 for terrain blocksize
be sure everything you have going is saved :)

so basically you can change the defaults in the world terrain
but not if intend to have water blocks
or you need to edit the way the client server and world deal with water

altho just because you have water all around you doesnt mean a player
cant just walk on the bottom
water is not a movement restrictive terraincell without game code
to facilitate Drowning or floating/sinking etc

you could take a "Truman Show" type approach
a sky line that appears to be endless water meeting the sky
and then implement under water terrain that prohibits reaching the end
of mission boundary under the water surface
so basically you could walk under the surface but could not reach
the edge of the mission boundary under the water so
from the beach it would appear to be an island
and you could never walk to the edge even underwater

a gentle slope of terrain leading outward underwater with a steep slope
that can not be climbed under normal physics solutions
would do this

also another method could be implement mission teleport
the ability to exit and enter a mission area
and just do as we did in alternate reality
warp the char back 3 steps endless walking never getting anywhere
till you turn around and go back

and then you could have more than 1 mission area and a way to go between them
without a complete load of a seperate instance of the mission area

TGE appears to very flexible in many areas allowing creativity
and customization
however the terrain you walk on seems to be rigid and unflexible
raising the terrain changes the appearances of textures by streatching or shrinking
unlike a nicely skinned terrain cell with a UVW mapping definition

but seeing as my main focus is on player properties and developing a demo
to illustrate the inter-player functions of my design
the ground could be an endless sidewalk for me and
do what i need so .........i am not really trying to change it at this time

#3 This is perfect timing, I just posted an island generator to my web site.
It displays the terrain as a 3-D render where you can fly all over it for an examination.
Step through any number of random generations until you get the look you want,
then save your favorites as 8-bit BMPs (256x256x256).
You can generate lots of low islands or a larger central island for a varitey of styles.
The Torque Terraform Editor tends to have steep side with no beaches at the water line,
and they don't clump correctly.
This uses a different algorithm that generates realistic hills and flat beaches.
It's at:
www.GhostTownSoftware.com\Downloads\Island.htm
which explains it in good detail.
Give it a whorl and let me know what you think.
Mike Henry

#4 I'll give this a shot this weekend and see how it goes :)