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—Reference11

Masks

Masks let you drive the world from images instead of from noise. Draw a coastline in a paint program, import it, and the generator uses your shape rather than the one it would have produced.

Two independent systems live here:

SystemReplacesGranularity
Stratum overridesThe shape of one elevation bandOne image per band, 9 bands
Biome layersBiome assignmentAn ordered stack, one biome per layer
The Masks panel — cliquer pour agrandirFig. 11.1

Stratum overrides​

Open by default.

Replaces a stratum's shape with an image. One row per elevation band:

One row per band; the Import button opens the file browser
One row per band; the Import button opens the file browserFig. 11.2
StateThe row shows
EmptyThe band name, dimmed, and an Import… button
LoadedThe name, a switch, and Clear

The switch enables or disables an override without unloading it, so you can compare with and without. Clear removes it entirely.

What the image should look like​

Greyscale, or any image that reads light/dark. Bright pixels are inside the band, dark ones outside. Anti-aliased edges are fine.

Aspect ratio is handled by the import settings below.

Biome layers​

Open by default.

An ordered stack. Each layer carries an image and a target biome, and layers above paint over layers below — the same model as layers in a paint program.

Each row shows the layer name, an arrow to its target biome, and:

ControlEffect
SwitchShow or hide this layer
▲ / ▼Move it in the stack
🗑Remove it

A hidden layer's name is dimmed.

Regenerate biomes from masks re-runs biome assignment with the current stack.

Import a biome mask​

Collapsed by default.

One button per enabled biome. Pressing one opens the file browser; the image you choose becomes a new layer painting that biome.

The buttons carry an ellipsis — Forest… — because they open a browser rather than acting immediately.

Import and export​

Collapsed by default.

Aspect ratio​

Strategy maps are usually 2:1; images are often square. Two settings reconcile them:

SettingEffect
Pad exports to squareWrites a 2:1 map into a 1:1 image, padding rather than stretching
Crop square importsTakes the top 2:1 band of a square image instead of squashing it

Turn both on if you round-trip through a tool that insists on square textures. Turn both off if your images already match the map's aspect ratio.

Export all masks​

Writes every mask the world holds into Export/Masks/:

  • one greyscale PNG per biome present in the map
  • one greyscale PNG per stratum present in the map

That is the outbound half of the round trip.

Clear all masks​

Removes every override and every layer. Destructive, and presented as such.

Applying changes​

Mask edits do not take effect until the world is regenerated. When something is pending, a warning appears at the bottom of the panel with an Apply changes button that regenerates with the masks in place.

A typical round trip​

  1. Generate a world you are broadly happy with.
  2. Export all masks to Export/Masks/.
  3. Open Low Plains.png in a paint program and redraw the coastline.
  4. Back in Stratum overrides, Import… on Low Plains and pick your file.
  5. Apply changes.

The rest of the world — every other band, the biomes, the provinces — regenerates around your hand-drawn shape.

Masks and saves​

Masks are stored inside the .wgen. Saving a world saves its overrides and its layer stack, images included: a saved world does not depend on the PNGs still being on disk.

See also​