Coastal Seeds

Note: Interpretation of the type word is dependent on the class of the seed.

This topic describes coastal seeds of class 33h (outside seeds) and 44h (inside seeds). A flat land seed placed next to a type 00 flat water seed creates a sharp division between land and water that looks very unnatural. Coastal seeds solve this problem and smooth transitions between land and water.

There are many kinds of coastal seeds, all with different combinations of land and water. For example, some seeds have land on two sides and water on two sides, some seeds have water on only one side, and some seeds have water on three sides. You can tile different land and water combinations together to create smooth, bending coastlines. The following table describes the texture characteristics of coastal seeds as defined by the type word's least-significant byte.

Coastal seeds are generated using 256x256 x 8-bit texture maps. There are two sets of coastal seeds: one set depicts the land part of the seed as a green forested area, and the other set depicts the land portion of the seed as a tan desert coastline. The least-significant byte of the type word specifies the land type in the same way the type byte of the flat seed does (see the table included in the topic Flat Seeds). As the preceding table indicates, the desert coastline is substituted for arid and desert land types. The following table describes coastal outside seed design as defined by type word's most-significant byte.

Important: The best way to learn the designs and textures of coastal seeds is by example. The Seed Design Example topic lays out all the coastal seeds visually. By taking a look at the designs in the example, you can determine which coastal seeds are appropriate for your application.

Inside coastal seeds are similar to outside coastal seeds, but the areas that depict land and water are switched, as shown in the following table. The following table describes coastal inside seed design as defined by type word's most-significant byte.