The envelope is pushed even further......ingame water at higher elevation level

[Filasimo]

Hey guys,
As my nag and disappointment that SC4 developers failed to have water at higher levels other than at the base level there was no way but to use ploppable water as an alternative. With inspiration from the sc4cheats.dll that the infamous buggi had given to us to test and to tweak, and with the help of rayden and especially travis (beskhu3epnm) for giving me that opening and also goaskin for posting the idea that you can override the maxis default sealevel and with my desire to have water at higher elevation levels. I have been able to make it a reality. This breakthrough although still in the development stages due to the fact that other settings will have to be adjust for this to work properly, players will now have that privilege to have water at higher terrains. Soon as more testing and tweaking are performed, There will be a tutorial soon to explain how this was performed and the steps to take so you the player can customize your terrain settings. The key factor in adjusting the sealevel is through guesstimation at the moment by using the sc4cheats.dll in the console box.

Also if you want to customize the settings, experience in Ilive Reader is very important. One of the mistakes i made that nearly costed me losing the whole game was tweaking the wrong file in my early stages of finding the certain setting. Note to self: make sure you back up the simcity1.dat file if you ever dare to tweak the settings.....anyways in the pics i am about to show will make your jaw drop and make you want to shout and leap for joy. keep in mind that there are still some settings that will have to be tweaked such as the temp settings,shoreline settings, and any other settings that needs to be adjusted. Travis (beskhu3epnm), has offered his help and further knowledge of terrain mods and together, we will remod the terrain packs available but keep in mind that each remod will take time and will be released when its released...now enough of me rambling and onto the goodies:

Before:





After:




Some adjustments will have to be made such as the shoreline settings:




Your jaw dropped yet? you will when the finished remod is available to all terrain mods.....make sure to keep posted and to visit for further developments as it occurs!

[mikeseith]

Another great addition to the game that Maxis "forgot".

In another couple of years this game will be almost unrecognizable.  Amazing.

[moganite]

I remeber an idea similar to this but it was through altering the climatic parameters to do something similar.
This looks like it was implemented differently through altering the sea level it means that you still cant have river channels over a signifigant drop.

The breaking waves at the shore line has its own exemplar but i am not sure how it can be altered so that the terrain will be right.

Hope this goes well and that you can get land that is not part of the river and below the water level to still be land. the problem with changing the sealevel is it raises the water level every where and no land below the water level is ever land.

[Filasimo]

moganite: perhaps from what you know about that area and what me and travis knows we can work together and find a way to make this ultimately work. anyone else that is familiar with terrain properties post your interest here and let us know what you are familiar with. there are so many settings that will have to be tweaked and tested so the more the merrier! 

[flame1396]

It is changed by tile? Or what?

[Tarkus]

This is absolutely amazing stuff here.     I had messed around a little with those parameters at one point and thought it had some potential, so it's really good to see this being pursued more. 

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Pat]

WOW i know you was telling me about this in MSN ryan and to see the effects.... This is something else omg i know im excited.... thank you to both of you guys ryan and travis great job 

[Derbert]

There is a weather effect mod available on Gizmo's website, for which you'll have to register, here:

http://gizmo.lunarpages.com/index.php

It allows you to create flat bodies of water at any height, at multiple levels, but unfortunately they cannot be saved and have to be re-done when you open your city.
Very good for creating lakes and reservoirs, but you will have to use ploppable water to create any rivers on slopes etc.
Here's an example (I hope!)

[url=http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=newcity28may15118846320il5.png

It can also be used for re-creating floods!

[Shadow Assassin]

There's that, but this is another way of implementing it, and it's done in such a way that it allows the end result to be saved (does it?).

I have quite a few q's about this, because I'm not sure how you implemented it...

- How?
- What is the difference between this and Gizmo's mod?
- What is the exact effect of this?

[Tolsome]

There are water at 0 m, too? Or only water higher?

[Serkanner]

I hate to be a pessimist about this, but I don't see any difference with "normal" sea level values. The thing Maxis forgot was not water on different levels, but water on multiple levels.
If that is however what you have accomplished, then many kudo's to you and this will be modd of the year, but I am afraid it isn't but a change of terrain parameters ...


 

[mjig_dudy]

I'm slightly confused. Whats the difference between this and altering the 'sea level' property in the terrain controller of one's terrain mod?

I do this all the time without problems.

If i am missing something and this is in fact breakthrough modding with amazing potential, then i say; excellent work. 

[dragonshardz]

please, please let it be multiple levels

[gt6282]

Fila/Flip: OMG! Are you sh*toot*ing me?! This is promising bro.. This is promising

[toxicpiano]

Well the rain mod was at multiple levels... It's just that teiresu could never figure out how to make it permanent.

[Pat]

And that is where Filasimo is figuring out to make it a permanent body of water at higher elevations

[dedgren]

It would truly be a breakthrough simply to get the game to save "game" water at different terrain levels.  I don't see any mod out there that would allow water to "descend" across tiles as it would in a normal watercourse.  With available rapids and waterfall effects to provide transitions, though, some pretty amazing things could be done.

Thanks, Ryan (Filasimo) and all for working on this.


David

[jacqulina]

wow this is very interesting i will keep an eye on this 

[dragonshardz]

wow very cool.  i really hope this is a mod to put water on multiple levels.

[jeronij]

This is a really interesting idea, but some also interesting questions have not been answered.... 

There's that, but this is another way of implementing it, and it's done in such a way that it allows the end result to be saved (does it?).

I have quite a few q's about this, because I'm not sure how you implemented it...

- How?
- What is the difference between this and Gizmo's mod?
- What is the exact effect of this?