Each ADT has a 257x257 heightmap. Northshire Valley is about 1 ADT, Stormwind is 2x2, and Elwynn Forest is 2x4. A 4k heightmap would fit the top half of Eastern Kingdoms, 8k can easily fit all of Northrend, and 16k will fill every single ADT (64x64) but at that size the alphamaps can become a problem as theyre 4 times bigger.
Heightmap resolution <-> in-game map size?
in Level Design
Posted
Each ADT has a 257x257 heightmap. Northshire Valley is about 1 ADT, Stormwind is 2x2, and Elwynn Forest is 2x4. A 4k heightmap would fit the top half of Eastern Kingdoms, 8k can easily fit all of Northrend, and 16k will fill every single ADT (64x64) but at that size the alphamaps can become a problem as theyre 4 times bigger.