Terrain Mod v3.5 - mroyer base + DasTactic Icon Overlays

[mroyer]

Scroll down for example images.

Below is a link to v3.5 of the Terrain Mod. Overall, v3.5 is a relatively minor update mainly providing some clean-ups and fixes requested by folks over the past two years. In addition, it adds a few aesthetics and map indicator enhancements. There is currently no DasTactic overlays for v3.5, but even though I haven't tried it, I'm 99.9% sure the v3.4 overlays will work fine.


Download: Terrain Mod (v3.5 Dark Blue Water) (released August 30th, 2025)
Download: Terrain Mod (v3.5 Light Blue Water) (released August 30th, 2025)
Download: DasTactic - Terrain Mod (v3.4) - Overlay
Both drop-shadow and flat icons available. 99.9% sure these will work fine with v3.5.
Thanks to DasTactic!


Download: Terrain Mod (v3.4 Dark Blue Water) (released April 1st, 2023)
Download: Terrain Mod (v3.4 Light Blue Water) (released April 1st, 2023)
Download: Terrain Mod (v3.3) (released December 24th, 2022)
Download: Terrain Mod (v3.2) (released November 22nd, 2022)
Download: Terrain Mod (v3.1) (released October 22nd, 2022)
Download: Terrain Mod (v3.0) (released October 10nd, 2022)


The 3.x updates are a significant modification of the Terrain Mod v2.4. The previous v2.4 will remain available for those who don't like the look of the added relief and darker waters of v3.x.

Terrain Mod v2.4 is here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 3&t=355544 (released February 7th, 2021)


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Download Terrain Mod Instructions

(a) Click the link above. It will bring you to a dropbox download page.
(b) Click the [download] button to the upper left of the dropbox download page.
(c) Save the zip file at your preferred location.
(d) Unpack the zip file contents to your Shadow Empire folder, typically C:\Matrix Games\Shadow Empire\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt


Download DasTactic Icons Combo Mod Instructions

Prerequisite: First, install the plain Terrain Mod per above. The DasTactic icons overlay the existing mroyer terrain.

(a) Click the link above. It will bring you to ko-fi for DasTactic.
(b) Click the [Get Now] button on the ko-fi page.
(c) Save either or both of the the zip files (one for drop-shadow icons and one for flat icons) at your preferred location.
(d) Unpack the desired zip file contents to your Shadow Empire folder, typically C:\Matrix Games\Shadow Empire\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt
Note: You can overlay either set of DasTactic icons (flat or drop-shadow) over either version of the base terrain (dark or light blue oceans).


Note: if it is your first time unpacking a mod, GraphicsAlt won't exist. It is created when you unpack.



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Release Notes

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Terrain Mod v3.5
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Overall, v3.5 is a relatively minor update mainly providing some clean-ups and fixes requested by folks over the past two years. In addition, it adds a few asthetics and map indicator enhancements.

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Terrain touch-ups
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(1) Cleaned up wooded hex edges for low-mountains to look a little less "hex-ish"
(2) Mountain snow is less over-white sterile.
(3) Ruins are sandier colored with mild bump-up texturing to reduce flat-land feel.
(4) Ruins snow is less over-white sterile.
(5) At small and medium map scales, mountains imagery is easier to distinguish from other terrains (e.g.,agriculture).
Caveat: I only feel partly successful on this update since the difference is slight.
I tried many things, but always more distinction led to poor aesthetics (to my eye at least).
(6) At small and medium map scales, a one-pixel, hex-edge gap for agriculture terrain is fixed.
It showed up as a bright rip along the agriculture hex edges when shaded for fog-of-war (the issue was only at small and medium map scales, not the large scale).
(7) For light-ocean version, swamp and tundra terrain water is light blue (I missed that in v3.4, tundra/swamp water was still dark blue)

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Map Indicators
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(8) Colorized versions of Xitax's hex perk imagery is added (Note-1).
Xitax graciously gave permission to incorporate his hex perk images. Thanks Xitax.
Xitax's originals are here: https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopic.php?t=399604
(8) Mild update to the airbase indicator.
(8) Edges of shaded hex movement indicators are softened (Note-2).
(9) Fog-of-war (FoW) shading is lightened by 35% to allow easier view of terrain in FoW areas (Note-2).

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Map Legend
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(10) A map legend is provided in the .zip file showing hex-perks and other map symbols (see Note-3).

Notes:
Note-1: If you prefer the vanilla hex-perk imagery, delete the following folders:
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\shadowSMALL\mapicons
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\shadow\mapicons
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\shadowBIG\mapicons
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\shadowSMALL\airSmallGfx
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\shadow\airSmallGfx
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\shadowBIG\airSmallGfx

Note-2: If you prefer the vanilla movement indicators and FoW shading, delete these folders:
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\systemgraphicsSMALL
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\systemgraphics
...\Shadow Empire\GraphicsAlt\systemgraphicsBIG

Note-3: Map legend image is not viewable in the game. It is a .jpg file that must be viewed separately.


=============================================
Older Versions
=============================================

Terrain Mod v3.4
(1) Reduced all forest and jungle hexside overage to make adjacent-hex terrain clearer
(2) Thinned out forest to make it more distinguishable from heavy forest
(3) Fixed some alpha layer issues that caused hex transitions to be very visible
(4) Brightened hex-grid raster so it's more visible on the terrain
(5) Made beaches more sand-colored and distinctive
(6) Light blue and dark blue water versions of v3.4 are available in separate zip downloads.


Terrain Mod v3.3
v3.3 is mainly to make the forest/jungle imagery stronger. I also made a few other secondary updates.
(1) Enlarged (125%) and emboldened all forest/snow forest imagery to make it more prominent
e.g., woods, forests, jungles, cloud forests, forested hills, savannah
(2) Increased bumpmap strength of high vs low mountains to help distinguish
(3) Whitened up clouds for cloud forests
(4) Made grassy low mountains more green
(5) Changed depth of green between jungle, heavy forest and forest to help distinguish
(6) Green of grass-covered mountains matched better to plains grass.
(7) Green of grass-covered volcanos matched better to grass-covered mountains


Terrain Mod v3.2a
v3.2a is a modification to the DasTactic icons overlay mod only. It fixes a scaling issue with the jungle and cloud-jungle imagery.
There is no change to the base Terrain Mod.


Terrain Mod v3.2
v3.2 ended up being a much bigger update than I originally intended.
(1) Forest/jungle: overhauled
(2) Lava lakes and flows: overhauled including adding lava flow banking
(3) All textures: mild update to be very slightly more 'grunty'
(4) Low mountains: updated look a less blurry
(5) Jungles/cloud forests: added a hint of blue to distinguish from forests.
(6) Tundras: adjusted colors, added water ice and whispy snow
(7) escarpments - slight adjustments to make top/bottom more easily discernable
(8) swamp: reduced drop shadow effect and got rid of line-ish artifact
(9) savannah: fewer trees and slight color change



Terrain Mod v3.1
(1) Added glacier relief texturing
(2) Added swamp relief texturing
(3) Added relief texturing for frozen rivers
(4) Added relief texturing for savannah
(5) Added river banking on all rivers (both frozen and unfrozen)
(6) Added a touch more yellow to savannah and snow savannah terrain color
(7) Modified tundra to look more like a windswept cold/icy/frozen biome
(8) Changed grass textures
(9) Darkened the gravel rail bed to make them just slightly more grey (less bright white)
(10) Enhanced canyon brightness and color slightly (it's still a little dark, seems like something in the game-engine may be driving that)



Terrain Mod v3.0
(1) De-saturated escarpment colors from v2.4 so they aren't so bright and out of place on some planets and moons
(2) Smoothed out escarpment base so it isn't pixelated (as best I could; there are game engine limitations on this)
(3) Updated the ridge texture so top of escarpment isn't so bright and out of place
(4) Savannah / snow Savannah images are less "hexy" than v2.4 and not quite so overbearing
(5) Jungle/cloud jungle de-saturated from v2.4 (less bright green) to match other vegetation a little better
(6) Changed swamp imagery completely
(7) Darkened water blue
(8) Added relief for all texture imagery
(9) Added relief for agriculture imagery
(10) Fixed a mis-colored frozen river


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Progression
For the v3.5 imagery, notice the colorized Xitax hex perks and the sandier ruins.
For the v3.5 light blue ocean imagery, notice the light blue swamps in the upper-right.

Original Terrain


mroyer Terrain v3.4 Dark Blue Water


mroyer Terrain v3.5 Dark Blue Water


mroyer Terrain v3.5 Light Blue Water



mroyer Terrain v3.5 Agriculture Hexside Rips

Notice the hex-side "rips" are gone for v3.5 (left) vs. v3.4 (right)

mroyer Terrain v3.5 Mountain Enhancement

Notice the mountain hexes for v3.5 (left) vs. v3.4 (right) are slightly more pronounced. I know... only very slightly.

mroyer Terrain v3.4 (and original vanilla) Movement Indicators


mroyer Terrain v3.5 Softened Edge Movement Indicators


Map Legend

Map Legend.jpg (116.38 KiB) Viewed 456 times

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Old Version Imagery
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mroyer Terrain v3.4 Dark Blue Water


mroyer Terrain v3.3 (for comparison)
Notice the nearly invisible hexgrid over grass/forests and notice forest/jungle over coverage in adjacent hexes. Those are improved in v3.4.


mroyer Terrain v3.4 Light Blue Water


Original (for comparison)



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mroyer Terrain v3.3


mroyer Terrain v3.2


Original




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mroyer Terrain v3.2


Original


mroyer Terrain v3.2


Original


mroyer Terrain v3.2


Original


mroyer Terrain v3.2


Original



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mroyer Terrain v3.1


Original


mroyer Terrain v3.1


Original


mroyer Terrain v3.1


Original


mroyer Terrain v3.1


Original



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Original


Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.0


Original


Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.0


Original


Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.0


Original


Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.0


Original


Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.0


-Mark R.

[ernieschwitz]

Those look great

[budd]

Looks great. Question, are you planning on adding the DAS map icons to this terrain mod like the other combo mod?

[mroyer]

Looks great. Question, are you planning on adding the DAS map icons to this terrain mod like the other combo mod?

Of course I knew that would be one of the first questions ....

It is surprisingly laborious to get it done. So I have to collect myself, get motivated and dive in when I have a bit of time.

Questions back at folks who prefer the combo-terrain -> should I use the drop-shadowed DasTactic icons again this time or leave the icons flat?

-Mark R.

[budd]

Drop shadow would be my preference. I got used to using them, i wish there was a toggle for them. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to use them, I like your map and the icons obscure the map. I just got used to them.

Thanks for sharing your work.

[solops]

Looks great. Question, are you planning on adding the DAS map icons to this terrain mod like the other combo mod?

Of course I knew that would be one of the first questions ....

It is surprisingly laborious to get it done. So I have to collect myself, get motivated and dive in when I have a bit of time.

Questions back at folks who prefer the combo-terrain -> should I use the drop-shadowed DasTactic icons again this time or leave the icons flat?

-Mark R.

I like what you did. I do not like the Das icons mod conversion. The new stuff in 3.0 is all great except the savanna snow icons. I don't care for those. They are not different enough from adjacent hexes and lack enough snowy quality.

[solops]

And a question: are the sea depths differentiated enough? When Vic rolls out the naval update I assume depth will be important.

[mroyer]

They [snow savannah hexes] are not different enough from adjacent hexes and lack enough snowy quality.

Okay, good feedback - I'm working on a v3.1, so I'll take a look to see what I can do to improve snowy savannah.

And a question: are the sea depths differentiated enough? When Vic rolls out the naval update I assume depth will be important.

Hmm... I don't have control over the sea depth color gradation - the base imagery is a single blue color and the game-engine automatically shades it darker for sea depth. If you are correct and sea depth becomes important, then the blue in v3.x may be too dark and I'll need to lighten in for future versions.

Thanks for the feedback,

-Mark R.

[mroyer]

Also, I wanted to comment that I went with that deep blue because, for me at least, it makes the Shadow Empire world look much more realistic:

Untitled.jpg (220.46 KiB) Viewed 25584 times

[DasTactic]

These look great Mark.

I had setup my overlay files in a way that I may be able to produce the result in a short time combining the mods. I'll have a quick go now.

Cheers

Das

[mroyer]

These look great Mark.

I had setup my overlay files in a way that I may be able to produce the result in a short time combining the mods. I'll have a quick go now.

Cheers

Das

That'd be awesome, Das. Thanks for that if you find the time to do it.
FYI - I do plan on a 3.1 update in a week or two or three, if it makes more sense to wait a bit.

-Mark R.

Here's preview of one of the v3.1 updates (river's with riverbanks - still needs work, the sunny bank is too bright.)

Untitled.jpg (119.48 KiB) Viewed 25549 times

[DasTactic]

That'd be awesome, Das. Thanks for that.
FYI - I do plan on a 3.1 update in a week or two or three, if it makes more sense to wait a bit.

-Mark R.

It looks like it will take only a very short time to make it so I can tweak it when those are ready.

The only files that don't line up are the Cloud Forest and Jungle tiles. But I can edit those no worries. Actually, the ShadowBig/Cloud/snow_newcloud.png still has the old icon on it with the shadow. Would be handy to have the original of that one. Do I grab that from the 2.4 pack?

[mroyer]

Would be handy to have the original of that one. Do I grab that from the 2.4 pack?

I think so.
What are you looking for, an earlier version of DasTactic icons? Or an earlier version of the mroyer cloud terrain? Either way, it should be in v2.4 which is still available in it's thread.

-Mark R.

[DasTactic]

I made a version with and without drop shadows. I've loaded them in here...

https://ko-fi.com/s/292253af91

[Pymous]

Great work guys! It's way better!

[ASHBERY76]

Great work.

[solops]

These look great Mark.

I had setup my overlay files in a way that I may be able to produce the result in a short time combining the mods. I'll have a quick go now.

Cheers

Das

That'd be awesome, Das. Thanks for that if you find the time to do it.
FYI - I do plan on a 3.1 update in a week or two or three, if it makes more sense to wait a bit.

-Mark R.

Here's preview of one of the v3.1 updates (river's with riverbanks - still needs work, the sunny bank is too bright.)

Untitled.jpg

This shot of 3.1 is just beautiful. Be sure to make the national borders visible.

[Soar_Slitherine]

3.0 looks good! I appreciate your work.

[InfoBit]

Great mod! I have a question. What is the difference between flat and drop shadow?

[mroyer]

Great mod! I have a question. What is the difference between flat and drop shadow?

Notice on the drop-shadow icons, there is a light drop-shadow "underneath" to the lower right of the icon.

The drop shadow gives the icon a little relief and sets it apart from the background terrain. Some people like it (makes the icon a little easier to see), some folks don't (makes the icon seem to hover over the terrain). Das kindly did both.

Untitled.jpg (200.66 KiB) Viewed 25037 times

-Mark R.