New to the Area

[RedSatyr]

Hello all,

I'm a retired USAF member living in South Korea.

I'm a gamer from way back, started DMing in the late 70s/early 80s. I always thought it would be neat to have a computer program for mapping, since I'm not much of an artist freehand (or as my Dad says, "all I can draw is flies"). I've looked through the pages here from time to time, always thinking "one of these days, it would be nice to join".

I've been drooling over Dundjinni and Campaign Cartographer for years, and finally decided to take the plunge and buy a mapping program. I originally decided on Dundjinni, because I had tried the demo version previously, and the store was back online. As it turns out, my PayPal was charged for the program, but I never got a download link or registration. I put in a complaint with PayPal, which I am currently waiting for resolution on (apparently this isn't the first or only time this happened, so the store is largely hit or miss - mentioning it here, as it may be relevant to the community).

The reason for this story; however, is that I was bitten by the map bug, so I went ahead and purchased the Profantasy World Builder Bundle (Campaign Cartographer 3, Dungeon Designer 3, City Designer 3, and Fractal Terrains 3). If I can figure out how to use them, I'll be one happy camper...LOL. I've done some playing with Fractal Terrains 3, so far, and am looking forward to getting more experience with all of them. I'm also looking forward to spending some more time in the forums as a registered member!

RedSatyr

(P.S. The link to the quick start guide to mapping is returning a 404 error, not sure if it's the site or something to do with the Korean ISP (which does strange things from time to time))

[Vellum]

RedSatyr try looking in the tutorial section, here's a starter link http://www.cartographersguild.com/tu...y-mapping.html enjoy

[RedSatyr]

Thanks for the link, Vellum! Sadly, though, once I started looking, the links for CC3 in that post are dead as well.

[Brian Michaluk]

For dundjinni if you go into their forum and make a post about not getting the download link they can hook you up manually. Dundjinni I find wonderfully easy to make beautiful dungeon level maps and building level. though it can be one heck of a processor pig

CC3 handles maps a totally different way and its way easier on the CPU and makes large scale and city maps wonderfully.

Heres the best way to start into CC3 Map Making Made Easy - YouTube

[arsheesh]

Welcome to the Guild Red Satyr! There are a few members of the Guild that do amazing work here with the programs you've mentioned. In fact, Clerecon recently created a tutorial here on the topic of town creation that may be of use to you. I wish you all the best in your new adventure.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[RedSatyr]

Thanks for the link, Brian! I'm sure that will make things a lot easier to get my head around!

The problem with Dundjinni is that because the purchase never "completed" on the Dundjinni side, there's nothing they can do for me (Kepli and Bogie have both put an update in on the "Read This First" post about it). If I should get the software, I'll be right back here to mention it; however, as I'm not the first person this has happened to recently, I'm not holding my breath that I'll ever get a copy of the program. I have had my eye on the CC3 for a long time, but was always put off by the price (wanted to jump in with both feet and buy the whole shebang at once, but talked myself down for the actual purchase). I've played some with the Fractal Terrain program, and have enjoyed that so far. From what I've seen in the gallery, it looks like the output on the dungeon maps is somewhat similar to Dundjinni (at least in some cases). Have you found that to be the case?

Arsheesh, thank you for the welcome, and the link to Clerecon's tutorial! I'll be checking it out as soon as I have a couple of minutes to rub together. (Today has been Christmas shopping, and will be wrapping and getting gifts ready to post this evening. I am running so late this year!).

[Brian Michaluk]

Thanks for the link, Brian! I'm sure that will make things a lot easier to get my head around!

The problem with Dundjinni is that because the purchase never "completed" on the Dundjinni side, there's nothing they can do for me (Kepli and Bogie have both put an update in on the "Read This First" post about it). If I should get the software, I'll be right back here to mention it; however, as I'm not the first person this has happened to recently, I'm not holding my breath that I'll ever get a copy of the program. I have had my eye on the CC3 for a long time, but was always put off by the price (wanted to jump in with both feet and buy the whole shebang at once, but talked myself down for the actual purchase). I've played some with the Fractal Terrain program, and have enjoyed that so far. From what I've seen in the gallery, it looks like the output on the dungeon maps is somewhat similar to Dundjinni (at least in some cases). Have you found that to be the case?

Arsheesh, thank you for the welcome, and the link to Clerecon's tutorial! I'll be checking it out as soon as I have a couple of minutes to rub together. (Today has been Christmas shopping, and will be wrapping and getting gifts ready to post this evening. I am running so late this year!).

no problem dude those training videos are like instantly having months of experience dumped into your head lol

I personally recommend the tome of ultimate mapping as well I really enjoyed running through the tutorials. the basic CC3 chapter is the biggest part of the book then its got a chapter for every add on.

the results of every dungeon map I have done in cc3 has so far taken longer and not been as good a quality as the ones I can crank out in dundjinni but I have used it for a looooot more years.

[RedSatyr]

Brian,

I'm almost certainly going to wind up purchasing most of the things they have on offer for CC3 over time. Your recommendation for the Tome of Ultimate Mapping may just wind up making it my next purchase, though!

[Brian Michaluk]

This convo made me end up retrying a building in CC3 and after more effort I think I got it down a bit better myself I am going to upload my latest stab at it to my gallery

[RedSatyr]

For what it's worth, I checked out the gallery, and the island came out quite well. I'm not sure what you are talking about in regards to having trouble with the corner joints? That building looked great, though...