Most custom maps designed for Civ 5 will usually provide screenshots of the map, but they will either only show a portion of the map in the game or a zoomed out image which shows all of the cities but not the terrain. This program is designed to provide you a detailed view of the entire map in one single image.
You have the option of generating a physical map or a political map. The physical map focuses on generating the terrain, while the political map shows the civilization boundaries and major cities. This program will convert a Civ 5 map with the file extension .Civ5Map to a PNG image.
The input filename can either be a .civ5map or .json file. To start using this application, you can use any of the map files in the maps/ folder or you can load a .civ5map in your game directory.
If you generated the map image and want to modify the map, you can export the .civ5map as a .json by providing an output filename with the file extension .json and reuse the exported json as the input filename.
./Civ5MapImage.exe -input=[input filename] -mode=[drawing mode (optional)] -output=[output filename (default is output.png)]
The default map mode is physical, which shows the different types of terrain.
./Civ5MapImage.exe -input=earth.Civ5Map -output=earth.png
To generate a political map with the civilization and city state borders, you must pass in -mode=political to specify the drawing mode.
./Civ5MapImage.exe -input=maps/europe1939.json -mode=political -output=europe1939.png
To generate a replay, you will need to provide the base map and the replay file of a game.
./Civ5MapImage.exe -mode=replay -input=[map filename] -replay=[replay filename] -output=[gif filename]
To extract a replay from a save file, you will need to convert the save file into a json and use the new json as a replay file.
./Civ5MapImage.exe -mode=exportjson -input=[save filename] -output=[json filename]
Set -mode=exportjson and output to have a filename ending in .json. No image will be generated.
./Civ5MapImage.exe -mode=exportjson -input=earth.Civ5Map -output=earth.json
For detailed technical specifications of the Civ5 file formats, see FORMAT.md.
This document covers:
- Map File Format (.civ5map) - Complete structure and data types
- Replay File Format (.civ5replay) - Event data and civilization information
- Save File Format (.civ5save) - Compressed game state data
The format documentation is intended for developers who need to understand the binary structure of Civ5 files or want to extend the functionality of this tool.