Memory problems with fractalize

Mosk · July 2008

Hi. I'm constructing a large world map (12,000 x 10,000 miles) which has a thin ridge of continents abutting all sides of the map border; a ring of ocean inside of that; two semi-circular landmasses inside of that; another ring of ocean, and then two main continents (roughly 2-3000 miles each).

The default land mass fractalizes based on a percentage of your landmass size, so if i use default setting, i end up with relatively long, unsightly straight edges to my continents. When I changed the fractilization settings I think I ended up with so many nodes that it slowed CC3 to a crawl and crashed the program a couple of times. (I have a P4, 2.6 GhZ (NO dual or quad processor), with 3GB RAM).

Any recommendations as to how to get reasonably fractalized borders (what settings to use or other parameters to play with) that won't crush my system?

Thanks,
Mosk the Scribe (who needs to finish making his map!)

JimP · July 2008

I don't fractalize for large land areas.

But I think using fractalize as 10 percent strength should be okay.

I created several strengths, and did a save on them in CC3. So I have settings for 5, 10, 20 percent.

Mosk · July 2008

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm guessing the memory usage problem has to do with the minimal length setting (under advanced properties for creating default land mass as opposed to the actual fractalize command with the straight line and squiggly bar at the left side of the screen in tool bar). Not sure if anyone's found useful settings for a large map for minimum and maximum length; % strength; minimum strength; and depth - I've played with the parameters a bit but my trial and error method doesn't seem so efficient.

Thanks for any input,
Mosk

Latharion · July 2008

From what I understand from past conversations, the fractalize command has a hard limit on the number of nodes per path. This hard limit is actually set by Windows XP and not CC3. I have no idea why this is so, but it is. I have a P4 3.4 GHz with 2 gigs of RAM and I experience the same problem. As a work around, you could try breaking up the land mass into multiple paths and then fractalizing each one separately (as an alternative to what JimP suggested). I know that the hard number was mentioned sometime in the past on the CC2 Yahoo list (check there for the answer if you are curious).

Mosk · July 2008

Latharion,

Thanks for the advice. I'll give your method a try tonight or tomorrow morning and post back on whether or not it resolved the issue.

Mosk

JimP · July 2008

Also, sorry I forgot..., you could also draw the continents using 'polygon' the icon in CC3 that looks like a square with one side pushed in at an angle. Just below the circles on the right hand side.

Use that to draw what the continent looks like, bays, fjords, bays, then fractalize the cntinent once or twoce with a strength of 10-20. Then do the next continent.

Mosk · July 2008

Latharion, I tried breaking up the landmasses that abut the frame of my map as you suggested and that seems to have resolved any memory issues.

Jim, I'll try out your method on my interior continents.

Thanks to you both for offering some solutions.

Mosk

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Memory problems with fractalize

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