Question on Ascension's Atlas Tutorial

[gspRooster]

I've been using your Atlas Map Tutorial to try to draw up a continental map for an upcoming campaign, but I'm running into a few problems with getting the mountains layer to come out the way it's supposed to. I'm happy enough with the way the gradient worked out. However, I've followed the directions as written regarding the mountains but it keeps coming out like this. I'm sure it's either something I'm doing wrong or just a difference in the photoshop versions, but if you have any idea what it is that's causing this I'd love to find a way around it.
Wrong.jpg

[gspRooster]

I figured out a portion of what I was doing wrong, but I still can't get everything right.

Specifically, I already know where I need mountains and where I don't. I love the way yours look though, it's a beautiful method and I really, really want to accomplish that, I just need them to look a specific way.

Here's the current map image of the world I created independently before I started using your tutorial, I call it Outremer (the old german word for "overseas"). If you have any ideas on how to help me get my mountains where I want them while still using your method, I'd really appreciate it!

Outremer Color Map (In Progress).jpeg

[Ascension]

Mountains look fine to me so far as the lighting effects filter goes. The problem with the overall darkness, if that's what you're referring to, is one little thing. On the Land layer, the one that has the color gradient from white to green to yellow, add a layer style of color overlay, white, blend mode of soft light. That will brighten things up. The only thing left for you to do is to crop the mountains to the Base layer shape so that you don't have mountains in the ocean. If your mountains seem too large for the landmass, try working with a larger canvas...not sure how big this is and I generally work at minimum of 2,000 X 2,000 but mostly 4,000 X 4,000.

The other thing I'm seeing is that there are more mountains in the desert area than in the middle or north. If you want more control of where your mountains are then grab the Lasso tool. At the top of the screen set the feather to 50 px. Draw a circle around a chunk of mountain and then click the move tool and then drag that chunk to where you want it. Another method is to follow my mini tut here.

[gspRooster]

Thanks for the mini-tut! I think that's exactly what I need.