Zompist Bboard Again

Here's a somewhat edited transcript of a recent conversation in my head.

I: Now that I'm getting used to krita, I can use it to redo my Maps. It'll make some things a lot easier.

Me: And you can fix some of the glaring errors, like that peninsula which is west of a meridian in one Map and east of it in another.

I: Of course. But how would I ensure all the maps remain consistent? (thinks) I know! I'll create some heightmaps of the relevant areas and write a program to manipulate them.

Me: But you'll need to find a way of storing them at different resolutions, plus a way to stop them getting bunched up closer to the poles. And what kind of a resolution are you thinking of?

I: Oh, something like one point per square kilometre.

Me: But what will you do about rivers? The Seine, for example, isn't 1km wide until it reaches the Manche. Few if any of them will show up. And what about the effects of erosion? You do want a naturalistic landscape, don't you?

I: Err...

Me: And you'll need to find a realistic way of modelling climates, so that people won't point at your Map and say "you can't put a forest there; it's in rainshadow", like with a certain popular work of modern fantasy.

I: Err...

Me: And you have, what, 750000 square kilometres of Map data to store? That's a lot of memory and processing time.

I: (sigh)

Anticipated smartarse: You do know that popular world-creating program XYZ does all of this already, don't you?

Me and I: But it costs £££, does way more than I need, and doesn't do what I actually need how I need it done.

I: But I just *know* that I'll create inconsistencies in my Maps, and I won't sleep until they're all eliminated, so I'd rather avoid them to begin with.

Me: You do know you're never going to get anything done at this rate, don't you? And what about your One Conlanging Program To Rule Them All? When is that going to appear?

And so on.


Does anybody else suffer from this kind of paralysing nonsense?

alice wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:03 pm Does anybody else suffer from this kind of paralysing nonsense?

I once, long ago, attempted to write an editing program to keep my sample sentences consistent with my dictionary. That experience was enough to convince me that it’s a stupid idea.

That said, you could store your base map in software like a GIS, or GPlates, and just export it to an image whenever you need a particular part or projection of it. Then use that exported image as the base on top of which you can draw something nicer. Some manual consistency checking will still be needed, but less than otherwise.

alice wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:03 pm Me: And you'll need to find a realistic way of modelling climates, so that people won't point at your Map and say "you can't put a forest there; it's in rainshadow", like with a certain popular work of modern fantasy.

I've found ExoPlaSim¹ very useful for the climate, as it can (just about) run on a non-supercomputer², although it doesn't model ocean currents at all, among other inaccuracies, so mild editing will be necessary. That is the only very problem of yours I know a technological solution for, although I recognise a significant chunk of them.

¹ See also this tutorial for it
² I believe it's Earth-focused progenitor, PlaSim, was designed so that many simulations could be run simultaneously on one supercomputer. The ability to run on a home computer is a happy side effect

Lērisama wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:04 am

alice wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:03 pm Me: And you'll need to find a realistic way of modelling climates, so that people won't point at your Map and say "you can't put a forest there; it's in rainshadow", like with a certain popular work of modern fantasy.

I've found ExoPlaSim¹ very useful for the climate, as it can (just about) run on a non-supercomputer², although it doesn't model ocean currents at all, among other inaccuracies, so mild editing will be necessary. That is the only very problem of yours I know a technological solution for, although I recognise a significant chunk of them.

Ooh, very nice. That said, not modelling ocean currents is a very significant limitation, due to their massive climatic effects (e.g., in controlling ice ages).

alice wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:03 pmDoes anybody else suffer from this kind of paralysing nonsense?

Yes, that has always been my problem as well. It has taken years for even my main project to progress and there are still plenty of things about it that leave me unsatisfied.

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:29 am

Lērisama wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:04 am

alice wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:03 pm Me: And you'll need to find a realistic way of modelling climates, so that people won't point at your Map and say "you can't put a forest there; it's in rainshadow", like with a certain popular work of modern fantasy.

I've found ExoPlaSim¹ very useful for the climate, as it can (just about) run on a non-supercomputer², although it doesn't model ocean currents at all, among other inaccuracies, so mild editing will be necessary. That is the only very problem of yours I know a technological solution for, although I recognise a significant chunk of them.

Ooh, very nice. That said, not modelling ocean currents is a very significant limitation, due to their massive climatic effects (e.g., in controlling ice ages).

My (admittedly not perfect) plan to work around that is to adjust the CO₂¹ to make the temperature as I want it to be² and then modify temperatures by a few degrees based on my guess of ocean currents.

¹ Using the script in the tutorial
² Including ocean current based adjustment – noöne said that the CO₂ level I told exoplasim has to be the same as the real one

Lērisama wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 10:15 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:29 am

Lērisama wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:04 am

I've found ExoPlaSim¹ very useful for the climate, as it can (just about) run on a non-supercomputer², although it doesn't model ocean currents at all, among other inaccuracies, so mild editing will be necessary. That is the only very problem of yours I know a technological solution for, although I recognise a significant chunk of them.

Ooh, very nice. That said, not modelling ocean currents is a very significant limitation, due to their massive climatic effects (e.g., in controlling ice ages).

My (admittedly not perfect) plan to work around that is to adjust the CO₂¹ to make the temperature as I want it to be² and then modify temperatures by a few degrees based on my guess of ocean currents.

Ah, makes sense. I guess it’s good enough for what is, after all, a made-up world…

(though the oceanographer in me is screaming right now)

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 11:02 am

Lērisama wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 10:15 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:29 am

Ooh, very nice. That said, not modelling ocean currents is a very significant limitation, due to their massive climatic effects (e.g., in controlling ice ages).

My (admittedly not perfect) plan to work around that is to adjust the CO₂¹ to make the temperature as I want it to be² and then modify temperatures by a few degrees based on my guess of ocean currents.

Ah, makes sense. I guess it’s good enough for what is, after all, a made-up world…

(though the oceanographer in me is screaming right now)

Oh, I'm not happy about it, only my own attempts at climate make various inner mes scream even louder, so it's a significant net benefit.

One trick that’s helped me is setting a timer for each pass-once it dings, I move on, even if it’s not “perfect.” Also, talking it out with someone (a friend or therapist) can really break the cycle and clear your head.