Greyhawk: Atlas of the Flanaess

[monks]

-or, if you have a computer with more than one core- such as a dual core, quad etc, the apps can process the data (do things to it) using all of those cpus at once. So for eg, a quad core would have up to 8 threads available to an app. If I wanted to do something to the entire map, the multithreaded app would take the map and split it equally bwetween all of the cpus and they would all go at it at once. It's like having lots of computers!

monks

[ravells]

Ah, I have a dual core and it's much faster! (I don't lift the hood though!)

[Anna]

Hi
Sorry for not replying sooner, but I’ve been away working far off into nowhere a while.

I looked over the apps you listed Monks and there are some gems among them! Let me add Vue6 from http://www.e-onsoftware.com/ to that list it looks like another interesting tool I will look into for the future.

My take in the “threading” discussion is to order a new QuadCore machine so soon I will have 6 CPU cores able of handling 12 threads, so hopefully my renderings will go a lot quicker in the future

Anna

[Redrobes]

Each core can process one thread but if your counting the hyper threading and similar technologies then it gets interesting when you hit the x64 bit apps as these are compiled for the x64 instruction set which states that all of the streaming SIMD extensions are natively included (They are optional in other CPUs). So now that you know you can have them then the compiler will use them. I believe - though I could well be wrong - that there are 4 SIMD pipes each. So your new shiny quadcore running a 64 bit app would be using 4 threads but each thread can sometimes do 4 operations each. So there is a very big advantage to running multi core in x64. You can get bursts of x16 processing power !

Most apps are not multithreaded though most terrain apps are. Even when they are, sometimes there are only two threads active. This would be kinda true for ViewingDale, though that is doing half of its work on the graphics card which in itself is highly parallel. However the GeoTerSys program is designed to use as many cores as you have at max capacity. It will turn anything, even a quadcore box sluggish - its burning through a lot of compute tho.

So thats why Monks highlighted whether these apps are multithreaded and 64 bit as it can chop your waiting times down by large factors if you use the fullest capacity of all the processing elements in your PC.

[RobA]

Just make sure that the application was compiled to support Intel's hyperthreading (HTT) if that is what you have. Various studies have determined that application not optimized and re-compiled will perform slower on a HTT processor than non-HTT. Very chipset dependent. I know on some of our servers we have disabled HTT for optimal performance (not x64 though).

-Rob A>

[Anna]

So much great work has been presented here so I thought it was to for me to reenter the fray again with some pictures of my current work.

Here are two previews.

First is a map of the Principality of Naerie as it is presented in the Living Greyhawk campaign.



This map is a first try to present one realm of Greyhawk in a single map with a legend. Some new symbols and markings will also be introduced, local borders for example. I thought it could be a good thing to incorporate even local lordships names and borders when available. Please send me your thoughts when you have seen the initial version.

My aim is to present my Flanaess work in 3 formats. First the area maps splitting up the Flanaess in equal sized pieces to be able to get all the detail of all areas using the same scale. Next is to make a big poster map of the whole Flanaess with towns and cities and other major features marked. Then present the different counties and realms in maps like the Naerie one. These will have different sizes and perhaps scales as needed.

The second preview is the first VERY rough rendering of Veluna and the Lortmil mountains. I will be tweaking the terrain here and there to better match the sources and the texturing is in its infancy and will need more work to get the forests, settled areas, marches and other features in the right place.

[jezelf]

Hi Anna.

love your work! So much interesting detail. It will be a fantastic accomplishment when you're done. I didn't know anything about the Living Greyhawk campaign, but your maps are very immersive.

Great stuff!

[Ascension]

After seeing the other maps, I'm sure this one will turn out just as awesome...so I don't really have anything to add other than keep up the good work and whatever you do I'm sure it will skip straight to the taking of names part as by default it already kicks.

[Anna]

Here is the initial version of my Naerie map.

http://ghmaps.net/maps/Naerie_v1.jpg

Remember that it hasn’t passed the rigorous peer review by the Greyhawk experts at Canonfire.
I also want or all you mapping (and some GH ) experts here at Cartographers Guild to scrutinize it as well.

PS. I can't get the upload picture to function at work so you have to live with a link for now. DS.

[Anna]

Here is an updated version that I've been able to upload.