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

[InfoBit]

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

-Mark R.

Thanks a lot for the explanation! Before your screenshots, I could not tell the difference. Now, I cannot unsee it, but I am definitely on the "flat icons team."

[mroyer]

Terrain Mod v3.1 released in opening post.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 3&t=389032


Thanks to everyone for all the encouragement.

-Mark R.

[Moat_Man]

In the new 3.1 GraphicsAlt folder there is a DasTactic folder that wasn't in the 3.0 folder. Is that supposed to be there?

[mroyer]

In the new 3.1 GraphicsAlt folder there is a DasTactic folder that wasn't in the 3.0 folder. Is that supposed to be there?

Good catch!! I accidentally copied in a bunch of my source material into the zipped download file. The /DasTactic folder and the .xcf extension files shouldn't be there. However, they are benign; just extra clutter - you can delete them. Sorry for that. I've removed them from the zip (as of 7:30am ET USA) - the zipped download should be clean now.

The v3.1 zip file download is fixed.

Thanks for noticing and reporting!

-Mark R.

[budd]

This is excellent, thank you. I just enjoy games so much more with a nice looking map. With your map the world looks some how more alive. Thanks for your work.

Waiting for the DLC to release before jumping in properly, but I did just generate some worlds just to look at the maps.

Now I preface this by saying I feel like a bit of an A hole for asking and this is a minor request, but do you have any creative ideas about the forests, both regular/heavy and cloud. I don't think the forest graphics keep up with the rest. Of course I speak this from the cheap seats and a perfectly acceptable response is flashing a certain finger my way

thanks again

[DasTactic]

I've just updated my mod-mod with the icons for version 3.1 as well replacing the 3.0 files. The same link as before will work.

@Mark: When processing the images the large snow-cloud forest image is an old one. I've been pulling back in the original. All the other images seem fine.

Cheers

Das

[mroyer]

but do you have any creative ideas about the forests, both regular/heavy and cloud.

Oddly, just last night before I release v3.1, I was thinking about other things that could be touched up and forests/jungles crossed my mind. I think it will be very different from the ground-based, short or no-vegetation terrain I've been working on and will require development of new skills on my part.

That said, I might give it a go. What we have now is just a slight modification of the original - darkened up the shadows, if I recall correctly.

I also forgot to add river-banks to lava rivers! (I've haven't played on a lava world, yet, so I wasn't thinking about them.) So, at the risk of becoming an annoyance from too many release versions, I might put river banks on on lava rivers too.

-Mark R.

[mroyer]

@Mark: When processing the images the large snow-cloud forest image is an old one. I've been pulling back in the original. All the other images seem fine.

Hmmm.... not sure how that could have happened. I'll check it out - thanks for reporting.

-Mark R.

[DasTactic]

Swamp.jpg (106.37 KiB) Viewed 2922 times

As feedback, there is a bit of an annoying line in the middle swamp PNG file. I just bodged it out as a test but have left it in my mod-mod files.

[mroyer]

As feedback, there is a bit of an annoying line in the middle swamp PNG file. I just bodged it out as a test but have left it in my mod-mod files.

I see it. That might be just random bad luck that it lined up like that. I'll fix.
Thanks for highlighting it.

-Mark R.

[mroyer]

do you have any creative ideas about the forests, both regular/heavy and cloud. I don't think the forest graphics keep up with the rest.

Thoughts on the following?
I've been going back-n-forth in my head whether I like it or not.
At the end is a little, real-life satellite image of forests which is the sort of thing I was shooting for.

-Mark R.


Here is one of the real-life satellite images of forests to give a comparative example of the sort of thing I was shooting for.

Real-life satellite image of forest

forests-satellite-example.png (308.2 KiB) Viewed 2762 times

Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.2p (pre-release working version)

forests1.png (2.1 MiB) Viewed 2762 times

Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.0


Original




And here's another example showing rain/cloud forests and forested mountains:

Terrain Mod - mroyer v3.2p (pre-release working version)

forests1.png (2.1 MiB) Viewed 2762 times

[mroyer]

I can't figure out why it's showing one of the new v3.2 forest images twice... I don't see anything in the edit-markup text that's causing that.

-Mark R.

[budd]

for sure is an improvement. Do you have a screen shot with as many different types of terrain you can get in one shot? Wondering if there is to much green.

[AntoneT]

do you have any creative ideas about the forests, both regular/heavy and cloud. I don't think the forest graphics keep up with the rest.

Thoughts on the following?
I've been going back-n-forth in my head whether I like it or not.
At the end is a little, real-life satellite image of forests which is the sort of thing I was shooting for.

-Mark R.


I'm loving all the green!

[Don_Kiyote]

Its cool. Darker, as well

The legibility problem, ie. ease of being able to tell terrain type at a glance, wont bother me after so many hours playing with it. I'm hoping to try your set-up one day soon.

[mroyer]

The legibility problem...

This is my biggest concern as well. I don't want to be engaging in creating change just for the sake of change, but for improved play-ability (at least from my perspective and perhaps the in eyes of some others too) and enjoyment. Indeed, my original purpose for creating terrain mods for SE (like Das) was to make the terrain easier to identify at a glance.

Now, I've sort of gone past that into pure aesthetics, which is okay I guess, but at the same time I don't want to erode the original purpose: improved play-ability.

-Mark R.

[budd]

There's a balance for sure but a nice looking map makes a game more enjoyable to play. Comparing the two maps your map is just more alive looking, which helps with immersion into the world. As always i'm just tossing stuff out from the cheap seats. Thanks again for your efforts.

[Don_Kiyote]

my original purpose for creating terrain mods for SE (like Das) was to make the terrain easier to identify at a glance.

This is better.

It seems that the process of design, graphic or otherwise, means one makes discoveries along the way which were not possible at the beginning. Including the discovery that ones original ideas were not as good as they seemed at first.

I'm more concerned about colours, here. ...how the map's palette is supposed to shift depending on planet generated and atmospheric composition. So I hope your satellite imagery will shift its spectrum, at least a little bit, for frozen fluorine versus incandescent argon; blue dwarf versus 'G' type, and such.

Good luck.

[mroyer]

I'm more concerned about colours, here. ...how the map's palette is supposed to shift depending on planet generated and atmospheric composition. So I hope your satellite imagery will shift its spectrum, at least a little bit, for frozen fluorine versus incandescent argon; blue dwarf versus 'G' type, and such.

Yeah, I double check the color-shifts on a pile of saved files from different star types. See the figure below for example of different world color shadings. I even have a violet-purple one that I can't locate at the moment.

So I hope your satellite imagery

Actually, I don't use any satellite imagery - it's surprisingly difficult to get it to match up and be consistent across different terrains. Never looks very good.

Most of what I have is the original textures and terrains enhanced (sometimes heavily). A few things, like the new forests, are 100% new textures I created with the various tools in GIMP.

I only use the satellite imagery to provide a visual reference.

Untitled.jpg (860.39 KiB) Viewed 2616 times

[JohnRa]

Oh, wow. After circling for quite some time around this thread I finally came to trying it out. That looks so damn good! My deepest respect. Only as mentioned before water depth looses a little, while everything else gains a lot.