I made some tools to convert bitmaps to .vxl maps. Currently, you can make flat maps or use a heightmap.

Binaries for 32-bit Windows:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17109687/bct.zip

The tools save to a file named "map.vxl" by default; if you have UAC enabled, you might need to run a batch file as administrator.

I could easily add a tool to convert 3D raw data, but the input files need to be a whopping 64 MB.

Post bugs/comments, please.

I've no constructive criticism except for one word: epic.

So how does this differ from the insert tool special mode in voxed?
It loads a 32 bit png and uses the alpha channel for the height and the rest for the color.

Well, it seems the insert tool special mode is lacking. It only accepts 256 x 256 max, leaves one row empty, and won't use the color values for transparent pixels, meaning water must be colored manually.
I guess I'll be converting my map for use with this utility now.

I tried using your utility, but with no success. The moon example works fine, but when I tried mine I encountered two problems.
The first occurred during flat and heightmap conversion, where some blue pixels would turn pink.
The second is that using my heightmap resulted in extremely warped maps.
Here is a link to screenshots of the maps.
http://www.mediafire.com/?mot5ffkefetv7el
I suspect my .bmp's could be causing the problems, so I have included them too.
Any help would be appreciated.

Loaf, I have had similar problems to you. There was always a wall about 4 voxels thick and the max height (64?) at one side, even though I had checked and double-checked there was no white space in the heightmap. Even trying my own heightmap of plain black with 3 dots of different grey shades resulted in major warping.

The utility looks promising, but I find it unusable at the moment.

Yesterday saw map Hitler, made ​​by this program.

anyone know how we can transfer minecraft maps yet?

Those are problems are weird. I believe I know what causes some of them, though.

EDIT: I figured it out, exactly what Lexsym below me said. I changed the hacky bitmap loading code, too. Posting 1.1 in a few minutes.

EDITEDIT: posted 1.1, same link.

HEY GUYS SUPER SECRET FIX TIME!!

You can't use plain black, or plain white.

It has to be a shade. Lowest you can go is like (RGB) 5,5,5 and the highest is like 250,250,250

Just make another post so it get's bumped to the top. Then everyone can stop asking me how I did it and I can stop having to find the link to it.

Trying out v1.1 now.

If this works, this could be the most powerful mapping tool for AoS yet.

... it already is.

Well, I'm happy to report it works almost flawlessly, the only minor detail is that for some reason, it builds small towers about halfway along each edge, but they are easily deleted.

... it already is.

If something doesn't work properly, it doesn't matter how powerful it is. Anyway, I was paying bildramer a compliment, so no need to be all tetchy over my lexicon.

Doubting it working as advertised isn't exactly a compliment.

Doubting it working as advertised isn't exactly a compliment.

If you had read the thread, you might have spotted that I had trouble with the first release.

But, of course, that would be expecting too much from some people...

The moon example clearly showed it working, the heightmap range is easily discovered with even the smallest amount of trial and error.

didn't try it with the new version, but I forgot to give my thanks for the old version. Thanks. It appears I was the only one able to actually use it. I loved it.

this is shit

hmm i cant work out how to actually start up the conversion process. i read the readme, but unfotunately being the fool i am i dont know how to actually start a batch process :/

hmm i cant work out how to actually start up the conversion process. i read the readme, but unfotunately being the fool i am i dont know how to actually start a batch process :/

What I do is edit example.bat in Notepad to read;

converth.exe terrain.bmp terrainh.bmp
pause

Then, I place my heightmap (terrainh.bmp) and my terrain texture (terrain.bmp) into the folder, run example.bat, and it spits out my map for me.

After renaming it, all you have to do to generate a map is to drop a heightmap and a texture into the folder, rename them, and run the .bat.

I can't get it to work :/ Oh well.

Ohhhh... I see... new version! Facepalm.

How can I get this to work? I did what the readme said, and it still won't work. Any actual tuts?

@rooster What do you mean by "won't work"?

The Batch file won't work for me even after I've created my own.

You probably did it with notepad which would save it with a .TXT extension instead of a .BAT... for example, you edited a new batch file with notepad and save it as test1.bat but what notepad, sneaky devil, did was save it as test1.bat.txt. See what I am saying?

When you click your "batch file" does it open a command window or does it just reopen in notepad. If not notepad, then paste the contents of your batch file into a message here and maybe I can see what is wrong.

Please please please bildramer, Add an external tool to convert 3D raw data to a map!
That would be AWESOME!

Whenever I attempt to use this it shows this:
convert.exe city.bmp 4 (like in the readme because I just want a flat map)
Invalid Parameter - 4
I run it as an administrator and I have made sure its a 24-bit map.
Any ideas as to why it is doing this?
I double checked everything but maybe I've done something wrong.

Hmmm. No idea why isn;t working. Did you try 5?