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VIP Terrain Mod

Started by Badsim, March 08, 2017, 01:38:00 PM

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Badsim

Hi ,

As announced at my MD AntigOne's project , I've started  to build a terrain mod dedicated to mountainous environment ... as it will be stamped VIP Team , I decided to open a thread in our team subforum to show my advancement and  hear your opinions and suggestions ... and what you would dislike as well ... ;)

Pictures already shown at AntigOne :

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Since , and that's going to be my priority for the next an last 3 weeks I've to devote to this , I've added new textures and re-worked some others , still have to manage with tiling defects here and there -  I'm using  textures coming from real photographies so not originally seamless . If I had  time  I would  explain in details what I'm doing , but for the technical part , there's already good threads to read about that subject-matter from Lowkee33on BSC board and Ennedi in his MD notably , and  I'm going to use the MODing ( with slight modifications ) of the Pyrenean Terrain Mod from Orange as basis . I have still a lot of properties to study & understand and that's primordial because the same textures applied to Lowkee33's Appalachian Terrain Mod MODing , for example , give totally different results ... what I regret the most is to do not have time to show the Photoshop work ; for example , I spent several hours to re-work an HD rock texture to make it seamless and the result is beyond my hopes :

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That 15 tiles long coastal granitic cliff is the result of a single texture ( so a single 1024x1024 FSH ) which allows ( with X,Y,Z terrain slight variations ) almost endless subtle variations :

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Magic wand involved here  : TerrainTexTilingFactor property ...

New textures means new results , so new batch of pictures :

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I do not expect to finish this Terrain MOD in 3 weeks , but it should be enough advanced for intensive testing ( the most time consuming part ) so I'll need 2 or 3 beta testers , let's say for the end of the month ... some volunteers ?

All pictures are clickable to full sizes .

C.

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mrbisonm

Wow, that would actually be very nice to use this in my regions. No time for testing though, since I work on my own project. Would love to see citytile and regional pics of this.

Good work! I must say....

Fred


....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

mgb204

That's seriously awesome... I don't think I've seen a rock texture that comes close to what you've achieved there.

I'm a big fan of HD terrains, it would be great to add a 5th (or is it 6th) choice for players, there really are few. But I can see this potentially being my terrain mod of choice, seeing as how it's got a lovely European feel to it. My main requirements for terrain is for a lot of nice greenery and I think you've nailed a good balance between the dark green SV and some of the warmer terrains like Pyrenean.

I'm happy to try and help you with testing if you need people to do so. I know it's not your style, but don't rush this... I think it's going to be incredible to see the finished results.

mrbisonm

Quote from: mgb204 on March 08, 2017, 03:48:13 PM
it's got a lovely European feel to it.

It could be anywhere, it looks like the Canadian and Alaskan Rockies also and pretty sure like the ones in South America too.

Fred



....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

Simmer2

Fantastic terrain  &apls

I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" that rock tile.
I may be able to make some 3D rocks to go with your terrain.

Nick
________________________________________________________________________________

Kitsune

I'm from Calgary living in Toronto, and those textures are so realistic to the Rockies they've made me homesick !
~ NAM Team Member

belfastsocrates

Absolutely stunning! I'd be very happy to use this as it reminds of the Irish landscape with its exposed granite and basalt rock cliffs and mountains.

Gorgeous work.
A unique nation fusing technological prowess and unparalleled grandeur

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination" - Oscar Wilde

Missvanleider

This is spectacular.  &apls The rocks are fantastic, I would love to use this whenever it is ready, if you have a shortage of volunteers to look at the beta (which I can't imagine) I would certainly put my hand up. Otherwise look forward to seeing it when it is properly ready.

Badsim

Thank you so much , your enthusiasm is truly supportive so I don't see how I could not finish this ...  ::) Yes Robin , I hear you : I know that I've got something never seen so far in my hands and I'll take the necessary time to be as perfect than awaited .  :-[ With Antoine , I think I can already count on 2 beta testers when that time will come . :thumbsup:

Time to add HD snow on these Rockies , wherever they come from . ;D  There's only 3 textures needed , a plain snow and 2 scattered snow ones at lower altitude ... I thought It would have been a simple formality , they needed 5 hours between Photoshop and game testings . The snow tracks has been the most complicated as I have had to create  layers to place over a stones texture .

Plain snow :

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Snow tracks :

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Working together :

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Other views :

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OK , still have to implement 2 beach textures ( I do intend to test shingle ones  :-\ ) , all other textures are implemented ( almost all grass ones  need some re-work to be truly seamless ...)


@Nick , no problem about borrowing the rock texture , the corresponding rock MOD is done and it must stay  a separate .dat  like water textures , but both will be included as optional ( and highly recommended ...  $%Grinno$% ) Of course you can use it from now  for your personal use but whatever Terrain Mod you're using , the TerrainTexTilingFactor property must be set to 0.09 if you want to get the same results than mine ( and then , all your other textures will work differently ...  ::) ) .

@Fred , of course the views you're requested for will be shown ... once I will have corrected visible tiling defects on farest views , because for the time being , most of grass textures aren't perfectly seamless . ;)

All pictures clickable full sizes , as usual ... :)

C.

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Simmer2

Oh Cedric.

I borrowed that tile to make stone MMPs which will go hand in hand with your terrain. No time to mess with making another terrain mod  :D
Once I have a working prototype you will be the first one to use it and if you are happy with the results, I will release it in to the wild....

Nick
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vortext

#10
Gorgeous snow textures!  &apls &apls

The cliff texture is also impressive achievement with the tiling factor.  :thumbsup: 

Long had this idea of making region with high seaside cliffs (like Dover UK) but never could pull it of. Looks very promising and also makes me wonder, how do the cliff & beach textures play together?
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

Badsim

So  , the « Beach » :


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This one is only accessible by boat ... a cove :

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Those terraformings have been quickly made and that's not my speciality , I just wonder what some people like Yan077 ( Corsica ) would have been able to do with that ...

@Erik , Yes Dover ( and many other places like that ) ... I had the same thing in mind so I tried a stratified limestone texture :

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Not that bad for a first attempt ( even with a texture not yet perfectly seamless ) but :

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When you rotate the view , horizontal lines become vertical ones and that's simply ugly ... so I gave up with that kind of textures ( but  I'll try with some other limestone styles . $%#Ninj2 )

@Nick , OK , since you have edited your post , I understand ... so what a nice initiative !  :thumbsup:

Have still many things to test , so back to my merry chaos of .jpeg .bmp .psd .fsh , original ones  , resized , rotated , singles or on canvas ... what a mess !  :'(


C.

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vortext

Oh darn rotations yeah, that's a shame. .  That aside, the beach texture works really good with the cliffs!  &apls
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

kbieniu7

#13
Yeah, sad hat rotation messed up everything there :( But, anyway, your effect is spectacular!
I'd have just to remarks, by the way:
1. The textures of loose rocks and stones, for me seems a little bit too stretched, I mean, those single rocks looks to big for me, what if you scale them down a little?
2. As far as I know, beach textures are easily exchangeable, like rock on steep slopes, right? Personally for me, what I miss (and wanted to explore on my own hand eventuall) is having a normal grass by the water (or with some slight addition of sand/mud) instead of a separate sand texure as usual. Sand is useful in coastal area, but when shaping rivers it actually an obstacle. Banks of regulated rivers are usually covered by grass and if you want sand in particular place, xannepann's terrain paint might be the best thing and using it might allow to get the highest flexibilty in lanscape shaping. He made sand, rock and pebbles textures, but no green grass ones.

So - could you make a version with just extending grass (or a texture of grass with slight addition of sand/mud) instead of pure sand/rocks for beaches? :)
Thank you for visiting Kolbrów, and for being for last ten years!

feyss

Wooow, it's not even necessary anymore to plop rocks on beaches with this!

It looks really great  ;)

_Michael

I may have found my new terrain mod. :D
Looks truly wonderful.

Girafe

Looks wonderful.  &apls &apls

You will never stop amazing me with all your projects  :P sometimes I am thimking that you are a team behind your computer

This Terrain mod sounds massive and starts really well. I am curious where you will end up with it  :P

I think that the texture of the snow is too close up and granular.

If you need me for testing, I am around (fixing the train and I have good news for it).  :thumbsup:
The Floraler

This is the end, hold your breath and count to ten, feel the earth move, and then...

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Krasner

#17
Absolutely great  &apls &apls &apls Like @vortext said it's quite a shame that this limestone texture goes wrong on some angles, because it would have been awesome.

Maybe I'm not completely legitimate to criticize your work as HD terrain mods make my current computer stutter and smoke, but if you authorize me to make a remark, maybe the texture used on the banks isn't the best choice as it's quite obvious that it comes from a close photo of very small rocks. Maybe high-quality air photos of large rocky aeras could look better ? That's just a suggestion, I know that this type of photos could be hard to find in high quality without people or plants on it. However I have an idea, maybe some close photos of the Mont Ventoux rocks could lead to some good results? I have one I took a couple of years ago with a basic digital camera, but it's quite good, it only shows rocky slopes, I can send it to you if you are interested, I don't think it's usable but you will certainly have a better judgment than me towards it. An other option could be to reduce its size like @kbieniu7 suggested.

Anyway all this looks absolutely great, you certainly work very well and very fast  :thumbsup: I wish you to reach the highest success with this project  ;D
ANARCHIST !!

vinlabsc3k

Quote from: Badsim on March 10, 2017, 06:20:54 AM
So  , the « Beach » :

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Not that bad for a first attempt ( even with a texture not yet perfectly seamless ) but :

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When you rotate the view , horizontal lines become vertical ones and that's simply ugly ... so I gave up with that kind of textures ( but  I'll try with some other limestone styles . $%#Ninj2 )

@Nick , OK , since you have edited your post , I understand ... so what a nice initiative !  :thumbsup:

Have still many things to test , so back to my merry chaos of .jpeg .bmp .psd .fsh , original ones  , resized , rotated , singles or on canvas ... what a mess !  :'(


C.

For the rotation "bug", can you adjust them manually?
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Badsim

#19
Hi,

@vinlabsc3k : While I'm playing SC4 since 14 years , that rotation dysfunction is something I didn't notice before  ::) ... maybe a bug , or something not planned ... but , as far a I know , there's no property to control textures orientation . %wrd

Quote from: Krasner on March 10, 2017, 03:58:36 PM

...Maybe I'm not completely legitimate to criticize your work as HD terrain mods make my current computer stutter and smoke, but if you authorize me to make a remark ...


I've opened this thread not only as a display gallery ... You certainly know , as a BATer , that when you spend a lot of time on something , at a  point , you need external opinions ... so remarks and suggestions are  , of course , all welcomed . I'm  waiting for your pictures , via my email adress . For sure I'll be pleased to test them . :thumbsup:

@kbieniu7 : what you request doesn't require any grass texture nor « No Beach » Mod , I saw that your Terrain Mod is CP Italia so this is simply what you have to do ( It takes a few seconds ) : with IliveReader , open the file CPT_No6_ItaliaTerrainController_Essential.dat , then the Exemplar file 00000001 where Terrain Properties are listed as following :

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Near the end of the list , you'll find two properties regarding beaches ; MaxBeachWidth and MaxBeachAltitude , you can edit both but MaxBeachAltitude is enough , in our case the current value = 1.5 , edit it and give it 0 as value ( you can also give it a negative value ) :

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....save and quit and you're done  ;D :

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To summarize your remarks ; the snow is too close up , stones ( of screes ) are too big , like pebbles on beach ... all these sizes depend not only of the scale used for the textures but also depend of  the TerrainTexTilingFactor property . That's how Ilives defines that factor : « 100 meters of terrain corresponds to this fraction of texture in farthest zoom , default value 0.170 » Let's say that's rather abstruse when you haven't a particular mathematical mind ...  :D  Currently I'm using factor 0.09 ( for another example Appalachian Terrain Mod from Lowkee33 is using 0.048828 ) that's hard to explain but the question here is to find the right compromise because a low factor is good for the Rock texture but all other textures are so stretchable  as well  ( so their details are enlarged ). On the other side , higher is that factor and  less your textures are stretched and so , in a way , are rightly scaled ... but  then repetitions become quickly visible and I'm using real photographies not originally tilable seamlessly .Once I will be sure to stick with my 0.09 value and textures , I'll adapt my textures scale ... GoFSH considerably eases that task , but , in any case ,  that's a lot more work ahead than these first spectacular pictures let you guess .

Thank you for your enthusiasm .  :thumbsup:

C.

P.S. 3 Beta testers so far when that time will come : Robin , Antoine and Jonathan (kelis) .

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