Introduction Content Structure Tiles Elements Locations Markers Flairs Paths Borders Grounds Color Mapper Tile Builder Specification Changelog

Introduction

The asset pack Isle of Lore 2: Hex Tiles is a set of hex tiles both in a pointy-bottom and flat-bottom variant covering many biomes. The tiles are available as png files and in a data format which allows to change and re-export the tiles with the help of my tool Tile Builder. The asset pack also includes the elements from which the tiles were created, meaning trees, bushes and more. These elements are available as pngs as well as in their single parts, which allows to re-export the elements with different color palettes with my other tool Color Mapper.

This documentation will go into more detail on how to find the files you want and how to change and re-export them to fit your needs.

Please keep the license in mind, which is available as a License.txt-file in the folder you downloaded. If you have questions or feedback, you can reach me through the following channels. I especially recommend the mailing list and my Discord server to stay up-to-date respectively to chat about your and my projects!

Fun fact: Isle of Lore 2: Hex Tiles was called Isle of Lore 2: Hex Tiles Regular and included fewer tiles, only in one orientation, with no separate element files and no way to re-export the tiles without a lot of manual work!

Content Structure

The asset pack comes with a directory called HexMapMaker, which is the name of the hex tile mapping and creation tool I'm developing right now. The software isn't available yet, but I encourage you to use the directory structure inside to manage my assets, and potentially the assets of other creators and your own. Inside that folder, to which I will refer to as the User Data Folder from now on, you'll find the following directories:

Some of the directories have a Isle of Lore 2 sub-folder, in which the content can be found in their respective folders. "Isle of Lore 2" is the content pack in that case, and within are the content files like different borders, elements, grounds or tiles from this Isle of Lore 2: Hex Tiles asset pack. Do not rename or move the folders or files within the User Data Folder, as my tools like Tile Builder and later Hex Map Maker will require that structure to work correctly.

If you are not interested in changing or re-exporting the tiles, elements or anything else, you can use the pngs in that User Data Folder as they are. But if you want to make changes to the tiles and re-export them in batch, there is a dedicated section called Editing & Re-Exporting Tiles with Tile Builder further down.

Besides the User Data Folder HexMapMaker, there is another folder called Sources. This folder is not part of the user data space and can be moved freely. It contains the single parts of the elements from which the final element pngs were created. The folder contains an input and an output folder, with the latter being empty. That's because the exported pngs are already in the User Data Folder and having them duplicated would be a waste of space. Instead, you can use my Color Mapper tool to re-export the elements with their parts from the input folder and check the results in the output folder, and in case you like the result, copy the results over to their respective User Data Folder. The section Re-Exporting Elements with Color Mapper will go into further details.

Tiles

Tiles are available in the folder HexMapMaker\Tiles\Isle of Lore 2. They are divided into sub-folders named accordingly to indicate their orientation (pointy-bottom or flat-bottom), their biome and the palette. As an example, flat.pine_forest_dense.green contains 10 flat-bottom dense forest tiles in green, while pointy.pine_forest_sparse.winter contains 10 pointy-bottom sparse pine forest tiles in a winter setting. For every tile, there is both an image file (png), and a *.tile.txt-file. The *.tile.txt-file contains the data for the tile, including the positioning of its elements, and can be used together with Tile Builder to change and re-export the tiles.

Before going through all the tiles available in Isle of Lore 2: Hex Tiles, let's have a look at the sub-biome availability (sparse pine forest, dense pine forest and so on) as well as the availability of a winter variant for all the biomes. In the following table, you can infer that the "City" biome has a Clearing, Dense, Winter and Mountain variant, while the "Clouds" biome only has a Mountain variant and a special one called Clouds.

Biome Clearing Dense Lake Sparse Winter Mountain Other
City x x x x
Clouds x clouds
Desert x x x x x
Grassland x x x x x x
Hills x x x x x x
Jungle Forest x x x x x
Meadow x x x x x x
Mixed Forest x x x x x x
Oak Forest x x x x x x
Ocean x big, rocky, small
Pine Forest x x x x x x
Swamp x x x x x
Valley x x x x x x
Wheat x x x x x x

Across the two tile orientations, the biomes and their palettes, there are 2160 tiles in total (or 1080 per orientation). The following list only shows pointy-bottom tiles for the sake of brevity.

City Clearing
(Green)

City Clearing
(Winter)

City Dense
(Green)

City Dense
(Winter)

Clouds
(White)

Desert Clearing
(Yellow)

Desert Dense
(Yellow)

Desert Oasis
(Yellow)

Desert Sparse
(Yellow)

Grassland Clearing
(Green)

Grassland Clearing
(Winter)

Grassland Dense
(Green)

Grassland Dense
(Winter)

Grassland Lake
(Green)

Grassland Lake
(Winter)

Grassland Sparse
(Green)

Grassland Sparse
(Winter)

Hills Clearing
(Green)

Hills Clearing
(Winter)

Hills Dense
(Green)

Hills Dense
(Winter)

Hills Lake
(Green)

Hills Lake
(Winter)

Hills Sparse
(Green)

Hills Sparse
(Winter)

Jungle Forest Clearing
(Green)

Jungle Forest Dense
(Green)

Jungle Forest Lake
(Green)

Jungle Forest Sparse
(Green)

Meadow Clearing
(Green)

Meadow Clearing
(Winter)

Meadow Dense
(Green)

Meadow Dense
(Winter)

Meadow Lake
(Green)

Meadow Lake
(Winter)

Meadow Sparse
(Green)

Meadow Sparse
(Winter)

Mixed Forest Clearing
(Green)

Mixed Forest Clearing
(Winter)

Mixed Forest Dense
(Green)

Mixed Forest Dense
(Winter)

Mixed Forest Lake
(Green)

Mixed Forest Lake
(Winter)

Mixed Forest Sparse
(Green)

Mixed Forest Sparse
(Winter)

Mountain City
(Green)

Mountain City
(Winter)

Mountain Clouds
(White)

Mountain Desert
(Yellow)

Mountain Grassland
(Green)

Mountain Grassland
(Winter)

Mountain Hills
(Green)

Mountain Hills
(Winter)

Mountain Jungle Forest
(Green)

Mountain Meadow
(Green)

Mountain Meadow
(Winter)

Mountain Mixed Forest
(Green)

Mountain Mixed Forest
(Winter)

Mountain Oak Forest
(Green)

Mountain Oak Forest
(Winter)

Mountain Ocean
(Blue)

Mountain Pine Forest
(Green)

Mountain Pine Forest
(Winter)

Mountain Swamp
(Green)

Mountain Swamp
(Winter)

Mountain Valley
(Green)

Mountain Valley
(Winter)

Mountain Wheat
(Green)

Oak Forest Clearing
(Green)

Oak Forest Clearing
(Winter)

Oak Forest Dense
(Green)

Oak Forest Dense
(Winter)

Oak Forest Lake
(Green)

Oak Forest Lake
(Winter)

Oak Forest Sparse
(Green)

Oak Forest Sparse
(Winter)

Ocean Big
(Blue)

Ocean Rocky
(Blue)

Ocean Small
(Blue)

Pine Forest Clearing
(Green)

Pine Forest Clearing
(Winter)

Pine Forest Dense
(Green)

Pine Forest Dense
(Winter)

Pine Forest Lake
(Green)

Pine Forest Lake
(Winter)

Pine Forest Sparse
(Green)

Pine Forest Sparse
(Winter)

Swamp Clearing
(Green)

Swamp Clearing
(Winter)

Swamp Dense
(Green)

Swamp Dense
(Winter)

Swamp Sparse
(Green)

Swamp Sparse
(Winter)

Valley Clearing
(Green)

Valley Clearing
(Winter)

Valley Dense
(Green)

Valley Dense
(Winter)

Valley Lake
(Green)

Valley Lake
(Winter)

Valley Sparse
(Green)

Valley Sparse
(Winter)

Wheat Clearing
(Green)

Wheat Clearing
(Winter)

Wheat Dense
(Green)

Wheat Lake
(Green)

Wheat Lake
(Winter)

Wheat Sparse
(Green)

Wheat Sparse
(Winter)

Elements

These are the elements like trees, bushes, grass patches and many more, available at HexMapMaker\Elements\Isle of Lore 2. The folders containing the elements have a so-called Palette Name attached, for example bushes.green and bushes.winter with green and winter declaring two different palettes for the same type of element (bushes). Besides the elements listed here, which are used in the tiles, there are also special elements, namely locations (buildings), markers, flairs and roads, which are listed further below.

30x Big Waves

60x Bushes (Green)

60x Bushes (Winter)

60x Capped Rocks

60x Uncapped Rocks

60x Clouds

60x Dead Oak Trees

60x Dead Pine Trees

30x Desert Hills

60x Dirt Patches

60x Grass Bushes (Green)

60x Grass Bushes (Green Dark)

60x Grass Bushes (Red)

60x Grass Bushes (Winter)

60x Grass Bushes (Winter Dark)

60x Grass Bushes (Yellow)

60x Grass Marks (Green)

60x Grass Marks (Winter)

60x Grass Patches (Green)

60x Grass Patches (Winter)

30x Hills (Green)

30x Hills (Winter)

60x Jungle Trees

60x Lakes

12x Mountains

60x Oak Trees (Green)

60x Oak Trees (Winter)

60x Palm Trees

60x Peats (Green)

60x Peats (Winter)

60x Pine Trees (Green)

60x Pine Trees (Winter)

60x Reeds (Green)

60x Reeds (Winter)

60x Sand Marks

60x Sand Patches

60x Small Waves

60x Tall Grass (Green)

60x Tall Grass (Winter)

60x Tall Grass (Yellow)

60x Thorns

60x Water Patches

60x Wheats

Elements: Locations

Locations are icons depicting buildings. They come in three variants: with a white border around them, with a white border suspended at the bottom and no border at all. These variants appear as full, semi and none in the file names. The actual high-resolution location icons have their own folders at Elements\Isle of Lore 2\locations.standard_full, Elements\Isle of Lore 2\locations.standard_semi and Elements\Isle of Lore 2\locations.standard_none, but there is also an overlay variant, in which the icons are scaled down and centered in an image the size of a tile. They are meant to be overlaid on tiles and are available in the folders Tiles\Isle of Lore 2\overlay_locations.standard_full etc. Side note: the unusual naming scheme of location_(name)_(id).png has its origin in how Color Mapper operates.

House (0)

Village (1)

City House (2)

City (3)

Quarry (4)

Farm (5)

Windmill (6)

Witch Hut (7)

Tent (8)

Tents (9)

Tower (10)

Fort (11)

Inn (12)

Lighthouse (13)

Bridge (14)

Castle (15)

Chapel (16)

Cave (17)

Dungeon (18)

Mine (19)

Nest (20)

Waterfall (21)

Campfire (22)

Sanctuary (23)

Ruined House (24)

Military Tent (25)

Battlefield (26)

Graveyard (27)

Ship (28)

Shipwreck (29)

Elements: Markers

Markers are indicators to be placed on maps. The high-resolution markers are available at the folder Elements\Isle of Lore 2\markers.standard, but there are overlay variants in Tiles\Isle of Lore 2\flat.overlay_markers.standard and Tiles\Isle of Lore 2\pointy.overlay_markers.standard for flat-bottom respectively pointy-bottom tiles, in which the markers are properly positioned so they can be directly placed on tiles. Side note: the unusual naming scheme of marker_(name)_(id).png has its origin in how Color Mapper operates.

Empty (0)

Small Dot (1)

Big Dot (2)

Cross (3)

Question Mark (4)

Exclamation Mark (5)

Boot Track (6)

Foot Track (7)

Animal Track (8)

Bird Track (9)

Hoof Track (10)

Boot (11)

Wheel (12)

Hand (13)

Fist (14)

Coin (15)

Ship (16)

Heart (17)

Sword (18)

Shield (19)

Arrow (20)

House (21)

Campfire (22)

Anchor (23)

A-Z (24-49)

0-9 (50-59)

Elements: Flairs

Flairs are indicators originally meant to be placed at the bottom of a pointy-bottom tile with border, but they can be used as general-purpose icons on tiles, too. The high-resolution flairs are available at the folder Elements\Isle of Lore 2\flairs.standard, but there are overlay variants in Tiles\Isle of Lore 2\flat.overlay_flairs.standard and Tiles\Isle of Lore 2\pointy.overlay_flairs.standard for flat-bottom respectively pointy-bottom tiles, in which the flairs are properly positioned so they can be directly placed on tiles. Side note: the unusual naming scheme of flair_(name)_(id).png has its origin in how Color Mapper operates.

Empty (0)

Cross (1)

Question Mark (2)

Exclamation Mark (3)

Skull (4)

Horned Skull (5)

Crowned Skull (6)

Two Skulls (7)

Three Skulls (8)

Drop (9)

Corn (10)

Ghost (11)

Heart (12)

Diamond (13)

Spades (14)

Clubs (15)

Sun (16)

Cloud (17)

Rain (18)

Storm (19)

Snow (20)

Wind (21)

Moon (22)

Fire (23)

A-Z (24-49)

0-9 (50-59)

Elements: Paths, Roads & Rivers

Paths, roads and rivers are available as both a flat-bottom and a pointy-bottom variant to be overlaid over the corresponding type of tile to create paths, roads and rivers. They are available in the folders Tiles\Isle of Lore 2\flat.overlay_paths.white, Tiles\Isle of Lore 2\pointy.overlay_roads.white and so on.

21x Paths

21x Roads

21x Rivers

The files have a bit mask in their file name to indicate which sides of the hex have a connection and which not. As a hex tile has 6 sides, there are 6 numbers, which are either 0 if there is no connection or 1 if there is a connection, starting on the north side of the tile for flat-bottom tiles and on the north-east side of the tile for pointy-bottom tiles, then going clockwise. As an example, the file overlay_river_c100100_8.png connects the north with the south for a flat-bottom tile or the north-east with the south-east for a pointy-bottom tile.

Every bit in the bit mask denotes if that side of the tile has a connection (for example from a river) or not.

Borders

Thin, medium and thick borders, available at HexMapMaker\Borders\Isle of Lore 2. The tiles delivered with the asset pack use the medium border. Check the Specification for the proper positioning of the borders with Tile Builder.

1x Thin Border

1x Medium Border

1x Thick Border

Grounds

Tile grounds (or backdrops) for different biomes, available at HexMapMaker\Grounds\Isle of Lore 2.

1x Grass Ground

1x Grass Ground (Winter)

1x Swamp Ground

1x Swamp Ground (Winter)

1x City Ground

1x City Ground (Winter)

1x Desert Ground

1x Water Ground

Re-Exporting Elements with Color Mapper

If you need the tiles and the elements the way they are, you can use the png files in HexMapMaker\Tiles\Isle of Lore 2 and HexMapMaker\Elements\Isle of Lore 2 respectively. But in case you want to use different colors for the elements, I've written a tool called Color Mapper to batch-process the element files, borders and grounds and change the colors of their single parts independently from each other, and for all of them in one go. It can also re-size, re-scale and re-position the elements, for example to create scaled-down tile overlays out of the location icons.

Color Mapper assembling a pine tree from its single parts.

Color Mapper assembling a pine tree, but also switching out the colors of the single parts.

For that purpose, the Isle of Lore 2: Hex Tiles download includes a folder called Sources\input with sub-folders containing both source files (Krita *.kra and Photoshop *.psd) as well as png exports of the single layers and *.colormapper.txt-files containing information on how Color Mapper is going to assemble the files.

Color Mapper isn't a part of this asset pack and instead has to be downloaded here, which allows me to release updates for Color Mapper independently of the projects it is used in. The download includes a Documentation-folder with exact instructions on how to use Color Mapper, but the workflow in general is at follows:

  1. Setup Color Mapper's configuration file so it knows where to find the Sources\input and Sources\output folders.
  2. Running Color Mapper, which will gather all the *.colormapper.txt-files in the input folder and assemble the png files from the single layer files with colors referenced in the *.colormapper.txt-file and defined in Color Mapper's configuration file. The assembled png files will be put in the output-folder.
  3. After checking the results, the files from the output-folder can be copied over manually to HexMapMaker\Elements etc.

Color Mapper already comes with a configuration file config.txt properly setup with the colors from my Isle of Lore 2 asset packs, but for the sake of completeness, here are the proper color entries for a Color Mapper configuration file.

color: iol2_white -> #ffffff
color: iol2_cloud_light -> #dadada
color: iol2_cloud_dark -> #797979
color: iol2_dark -> #161616
color: iol2_gray_light -> #262626
color: iol2_gray_dark -> #1f1f1f
color: iol2_blue_light -> #56837f
color: iol2_blue_medium -> #3c5858
color: iol2_blue_dark -> #263236
color: iol2_brown_light -> #92744d
color: iol2_brown_dark -> #644939
color: iol2_green_light -> #e8df63
color: iol2_green_medium -> #889954
color: iol2_green_dark -> #3a5241
color: iol2_red_dark -> #662c2d
color: iol2_red -> #9c4741
color: iol2_orange -> #d09a54
color: iol2_yellow -> #edc95e
color: iol2_water_light -> #51c4b9
color: iol2_water_medium -> #35a1a0
color: iol2_water_dark -> #37838b
color: iol2_stone -> #a78979
color: iol2_fire -> #ba433a
color: iol2_fire_yellow -> #fbd050
color: iol2_fire_orange -> #df9c45
color: iol2_sand_light -> #ffd66c
color: iol2_sand_medium -> #dcb95f
color: iol2_sand_dark -> #a37f49
color: iol2_snow_light -> #a2e9de
color: iol2_snow_medium -> #4b8588
color: iol2_snow_dark -> #28434b
color: iol2_skin -> #a78979
color: iol2_smoke -> #4a4a4a
color: iol2_skyblue_light -> #50b1d8
color: iol2_skyblue_medium -> #3979bc
color: iol2_purple -> #5e40a3

If you want to make changes to the elements themselves, you can open the Krita or Photoshop files, edit them and export the single layers accordingly. Make sure to keep the naming scheme (name)_(id)_(layer).png intact, for example pine_tree_0_line.png for the line-layer of the pine tree with the id 0.

Editing & Re-Exporting Tiles with Tile Builder

Again, if you just want to use the tile image files (png), go ahead, but in case you want to make changes to the tiles, like switching out different-colored trees to make new variations of a forest tile, you can use Tile Builder to batch-edit and batch-export some or all of the tiles in one go.

For every png-file of a tile, there is a corresponding *.tile.txt-file containing information on how the tile png was assembled. The software I used to create the tiles is still in the making, but I published its export routine as an own console application called Tile Builder, which will collect all the *.tile.txt-files and the referenced elements to create a tile png from it. This process is driven by a script file.

Tile Builder generating a tile image file from its elements (ground, border, trees, bushes etc.) as well as its Tile File (which stores the tile data, like the positioning of the elements), with the help of a Script File (which performs the export among other things).

Similar to Color Mapper, Tile Builder is maintained separately and can be downloaded here. The download includes a Documentation-folder with detailed instructions on how to use Tile Builder, but the general workflow is as follows:

  1. Define the scripts to run from the HexMapMaker\Scripts-folder in Tile Builder's configuration file.
  2. Let Tile Builder run the scripts, which often includes editing, saving and exporting *.tile.txt-files in the HexMapMaker\Workbench-folder.
  3. Checking the results in the HexMapMaker\Workbench-folder and manually copying the results back to the appropriate HexMapMaker\Tiles-folder.

Tile Builder comes with several scripts in the HexMapMaker\Scripts-folder:

Specification

Colors

The following colors are used across all of my Isle of Lore 2 packs. Every color except the ones grayed out are used in Isle of Lore 2: Hex Tiles.

Color Name Color Mapper Code Hex Color Code
Blue Light iol2_blue_light 56837f
Blue Medium iol2_blue_medium 3c5858
Blue Dark iol2_blue_dark 263236
Brown Light iol2_brown_light 92744d
Brown Dark iol2_brown_dark 644939
Cloud Light iol2_cloud_light dadada
Cloud Dark iol2_cloud_dark 797979
Dark iol2_dark 161616
Fire iol2_fire ba433a
Fire Orange iol2_fire_orange df9c45
Fire Yellow iol2_fire_yellow fbd050
Gray Light iol2_gray_light 262626
Gray Dark iol2_gray_dark 1f1f1f
Green Light iol2_green_light e8df63
Green Medium iol2_green_medium 889954
Green Dark iol2_green_dark 3a5241
Orange iol2_orange d09a54
Purple iol2_purple 5e40a3
Red iol2_red 9c4741
Red Dark iol2_red_dark 662c2d
Sand Light iol2_sand_light ffd66c
Sand Medium iol2_sand_medium dcb95f
Sand Dark iol2_sand_dark a37f49
Skin iol2_skin a78979
Skyblue Light iol2_skyblue_light 50b1d8
Skyblue Medium iol2_skyblue_medium 3979bc
Smoke iol2_smoke 4a4a4a
Snow Light iol2_snow_light a2e9de
Snow Medium iol2_snow_medium 4b8588
Snow Dark iol2_snow_dark 28434b
Stone iol2_stone a78979
Water Light iol2_water_light 51c4b9
Water Medium iol2_water_medium 35a1a0
Water Dark iol2_water_dark 37838b
White iol2_white ffffff
Yellow iol2_yellow edc95e

Sizes

Entity Size (px)
Normal-Sized Elements 336x416
Big Elements (Hills, Big Waves) 1008x416
Mountains 1296x1456
Locations 800x500
Tiles 840x840
Grounds 624x728
Render Masks 840x840

Borders

Border Thickness Canvas Position (flat) Canvas Position (pointy)
Thin Border 32px 41, 76 93, 42
Medium Border 64px 22, 66 76, 24
Thick Border 80px 14, 60 66, 14

Pencils

The illustrations, including the elements, were drawn in Krita.

Application Pencil Size
Linework Basic-1 12px
Location Outline Basic-1 24px
Paths Basic-1 32px

Changelog

2.1 21. Sep 2023 Fixed the ground and border dimensions as well as ground and border positioning within a 840x840px tile for both flat-bottom and pointy-bottom tiles so they are as regular as possible (all sides being of same length): please refer to the table below for the exact changes; the actual size of a rendered tile remains 840x840. Changed flair and marker positioning for their generated tile overlays (y:-10 for flat-bottom and y:-2 for pointy-bottom tiles). New bit mask naming scheme for path, road and river file names. Fixed wrong paths in the overlay generating Color Mapper files. Updated and fixed parts of the documentation, including color config example entries and color palette table.

Entity Size Before Size Now Position Before Position Now
Ground (Flat) 725x634 725x628 57, 103 57, 106
Ground (Pointy) 624x728 628x725 108, 56 106, 57
Border Medium (Flat) 795x708 795x688 22, 66 22, 76
Border Medium (Pointy) 688x792 688x795 76, 24 76, 22
Border Thin (Flat) 758x668 758x656 41, 76 41, 92
Border Thin (Pointy) 654x756 656x758 93, 42 92, 41
Border Thick (Flat) 812x720 812x703 14, 60 14, 68
Border Thick (Pointy) 708x812 703x812 66, 14 68, 14

2.0 21. Jun 2023 Complete overhaul and redrawing of all the images, new tiles and elements as well as support for Color Mapper and Tile Builder. Adapted color palette.

1.0 26. Nov 2019 Original hex tiles.