Terrain Mods and Tree Controllers

[ldvger]

How does one go about learning how to create either of these useful things?  I can't seem to find any tutorials for either, anywhere.  If such tutorials exist, could someone point me in the right direction?  If they don't exist, well, hmm...(cough, cough)...why not? 

I'm strictly a newbie when it comes to MODing anything, so I would need pretty explicit step-by-step instructions, hopefully with pictures/screenshots.

Alternately, maybe someone, anyone, can explain how to customoze existing terrain mods and/or tree controllers?  Or would that be the same process as making new ones from scratch?

Lora/LD

[timcravey]

I have this same question.  I want to mod terrain for the Moon and update the SimMars terrain.  So far no luck, but I'm still looking.

tim

[rooker1]

I think the best people to ask/PM would be c.p (who is busy with RL at the moment) or Adam (Ennedi).

Robin 

[Gaston]

I have this same question.  I want to mod terrain for the Moon and update the SimMars terrain.  So far no luck, but I'm still looking.

tim

Is anyone making stuff for the SimMars terrain?    I never saw alot about it.   Do they have thier own site somewhere?     I thought it might be interesting at one time, but I never saw any developement.    There could be some really cool stuff out there and maybe I just don't know about it.


---Gaston

[timcravey]

Well, I'm trying.  The improved quality and availability of terrain maps for Mars makes for some very interesting regions. 

The SimMars project is hosted at Simtropolis and we have a fan page on Facebook.  We are currently putting the finishing touches on the third beta release which should be available very soon.  As for the terrain textures, I've taken a stab at it but was not getting the results I would like.  The original mod is adequate and combining it with THL's Sandy Desert mod produces a very convincing martian terrain.  The real problem at this point is the proposal to create a "terraformed" terrain that will allow players to simulate the effects terraforming will have on the planet at different stages.  I've tried using THL's Green Beaches and that's okay but still not quite 'right'. If I have to reverse engineer someone else's mod to get what I want, it may be a while before we see grass out there.

This is the existing mod by itself and with THL's Sandy Desert added



This is with Green Beaches mod (also from Thalassicus)



We have permission to include Thalassicus' mods with the download but I would like to be able to tweak the parameters a bit.  Not to mention, to my knowledge there is no Lunar terrain mod and this seems indispensable to any inter-planetary gamer.

[Gaston]

Thanks Tim.    Pehaps ya'll should start a thread to keep us updated on the status of Sim Mars.   I know I'd love to see what was availlable out there.


---Gaston

[Ennedi]

Creating terrain mods and tree controllers is time-consuming and complicated. As for terrain mods, I collected all necessary information (I'm working on my own terrain mods too) and I was going to make a tutorial from at least a few months. But I had no luck, I was sick for a long time and now I have a lot of RL work.

Some basic information about modifying and creating terrain mods can be found in my MD (updates 11 - 14 and 28 - links are on the first page), and in the SC4 Landscape Designers Studio Support Thread.  If I will not have time to create a complete tutorial, I will put some information there.

As for tree controllers, the most advanced person in that area is c.p. (Cycledogg). As Robin said, he is busy at the moment. I'm working on tree controllers too, but my knowledge is still too little to create a complete tutorial.

(Although I made some attempts, one of them was a simple but nice Fukitol tree Controller  )



I will be very busy at least next few weeks, but I'm not going to disappear at all  . I will come back when I will have some free time, and the first thing I will come with will be an information about customizing terrain mods.

Adam

[timcravey]

Thank you, Adam.  It looks like I have a lot of studying to do; fortunately this is very enjoyable for me.