How can I get a .bmp map into the simutrans game

[Bub]

     I have a map of the Mediterranean ready to put into my Simutrans game. I put the file named westernmediterranean.bmp in the same folder where simutrans and its components are located on my computer. But when I opened up Simutrans and looked in Load Height Map, nothing was there. If anyone knows how to put a .bmp file into Simutran's Load Height Map tab, could I have some instruction?

[Buckermann]

You need to convert your bmp into a ppm file with a image converter like IrfanView. Simutrans can only use ppm images as height maps.
And just in case your image doesn't works; maps in the right format can be found here.

[VS]

The "only ppm" part is not strictly true, but it's far easier to do this.

The other possibility is bmp in a specific format - iirc grayscale with run-length encoding. If you have some image viewer/convertor/editor such as IrfanView, GIMP, Photoshop and such, try opening your bitmap, save as (or maybe export?) and see what options are available for bmp. I can't be more specific than this - every single program will do this in a slightly different way.

[DirrrtyDirk]

I thought certain .png's also worked by now... but I may be wrong.

[Buckermann]

I stand corrected.
Is there a place which has information about the specific image formats than can be used as a height map? It's not super important; I'm just curious. The old and new wiki are not very helpful in that regard.

[prissi]

8 bit BMP bitmap (any format) and ppm will work.