Going to need some help

[Evillions8]

Hi guys, I been looking around the SC4 community hoping to find a grass with sand shore mod.  However, I was unsuccessful.  I decided that I will make my own instead.  Does anyone know where to begin with a shore mod? 

My idea is having my terrain texture being an Arabic desert texture while the shore is grass with sand.  Is it possible to have grass on certain conditions or it will apply everywhere?  I am trying to limit the grass to richer, fertile lands.

[vortext]

You might want to have a look at this tutorial for terrain modding. As for a beach, simcity only uses only one texture so have a look at an existing beach mod and then create your own texture with the same ID. Also, you can adjust the height & width of the beach in the terrain controller, so it's possible to have it extend inland for any number of tiles. Hope this will get you going 

[Evillions8]

As much I would like to do this, this seems a pretty daunting tasking for me.

Thanks anyways though.

[Lowkee33]

Have you tried Marsh's mods?  He was working on a desert mod, the result can be found Here.  I don't think it is finished, but maybe a good starting point.  He also put a cliff mod to go with it on the STEX: LINK.

If the project seems daunting, it would be better to break it into pieces.   No matter what though, you will want to be comfortable with Reader.

First I would play around with various beach mods, just installing them and then loading the game.  Then open the various beach mods in Reader.  Get a feel for what Instances match the different parts in-game (they are the same for every mod).  Once you feel comfortable with the way a beach mod works, perhaps make your own.  The texture doesn't have to be fancy, it can be any image as long at is the correct size (256x256 pixels large will work).

Then for the actual beach parameters, how high does it go, how far from water.  Check out the "exemplars related to terrain" link in my signature, I have highlighted the properties to change for your beach to appear how you want.

After you have your own texture in-game and you are comfortable changing its behavior, then for for making the rest of the terrain a desert.  The INI might be the most complicated part of a terrain, I've been modding it for about a year and a half and still get the occasional crash.  Just backup your work and no worries.

The tutorial Voxtex linked to is still the best way I can explain how to make a terrain mod.  I think I've covered everything, but don't hesitate to ask.

As for something like an oasis:  I agree with Vortext, an extended beach is the way to go.  Make it so the beach never ends, and if you want the green grass, lower the terrain a little.  Making an oasis on a plateau may be difficult.