New FE seasoned tiles released!

[+Jan Tuma 2]

First Eagles seasonal Tiles by Jan Tuma - RELEASED!

 

http://forum.combata...&showfile=10549

 

-------------------------------------------

 

This is a set of new seasonal textures together with environmental mod (Trees, Forests, Farms, and new city objects) to enhance the look and feel of default First Eagles "Verdun" terrain; Expansion Pack 1 "Cambrai" terrain and aditional Flanders and Vogesen terrain.

 

Different textures and environmental for each of 12 months.

 

Please note that due to things work in the series terrain engine, you cannot destroy nor collide with buildings or trees.

There may be some performance drop on older systems (drop off framerate during flight).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun, again watch that Hun in the sun!

Jan

Edited February 13, 2010 by Jan Tuma

[Southside Bucky 1]

Completely and utterly MAGNIFICENT!

 

You sir, are a genius. :yes:

[+Stary 2,426]

Patient one, that's for sure

[+NeverEnough 78]

One word. Wow!!!!!!

[+peter01 2]

Just superb Jan.

 

Not only looks great, but also changes the feeling of the Verdun and Cambrai terrains - too gloomy before, not now .

 

Best thing to happen to FE for a long long time. I think you may have made FE competitive again.

 

Thanks very much.

[+quack74 329]

I just finished doing all new balloon skins that would appear for different seasons, and months for the stock Cambria and Verdun seasonal tiles (plus one more LightSnow tile set). But NOW I'm redoing them all to work with these new seasonal tiles and dates for sure. Holy crap these are going to be awsome! I have about 20 new balloon file dates to change. Arg! But looks like it will be well worth it

[JFM 18]

Thank you. Time to install the sim.

[don246 65]

Lost for words this has to be the best thing to come to FE and we have had some wonderful stuff with so many very clever people thanks to all and thanks to you Jan for all the work you have done for us with this wonderful terrain.

[deep 5]

Wow!

[A6Intruder 1]

Great work! Thanks for releasing!

Best regards

[+paulopanz 2,853]

This is simply wonderfull , mostly in new FE-2 (remember only to name 'Terrains' the folder in Your mod install) !!!!!!!!!

 

Paul

Edited February 14, 2010 by paulopanz

[pcm 0]

Where can I download from, as the link given doesn't work, and this download isn't, as yet, in the download section?

[Helmut_AUT 0]

So this works for FE2 simple by dropping the texture folder in the mod folder? Download Link doesn't work for me, though.

 

This combined with the new aircraft gfx in FE2 really closes the visual gap to RoF.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Helmut_AUT

[Helmut_AUT 0]

Okay, as the file is now online again:

 

Jan, this is a miracle! This is the terrain that FE2 should have shipped with, to finally match the great Aircraft models and textures with an fitting scenery.

 

So many thanks! FE2 really improved the last little details on the planes, but with default (non-seasonal!) scenery it simple didn't look like a sim should in 2010. Now it does!

 

I do get some weird GFX artifacts at unlimited, however (excessive HDR in some walls, white shimmering "spots" in the landscape) on my ATI 4890, Win7 64bit. Maybe some shaders don't work correctly with the new objects at unlimited?

 

But it looks awesome on high, and load times are much better too.

 

Framerate-wise - no penalty! It's quite unbelievable, actually.

[+Jan Tuma 2]

FE2 ... I do get some weird GFX artifacts at unlimited, however (excessive HDR in some walls, white shimmering "spots" in the landscape) on my ATI 4890, Win7 64bit. Maybe some shaders don't work correctly with the new objects at unlimited?

 

 

 

I'm sorry - I will fail to this problem resolve. I shan't FE2 so far .

 

Terrain was tested only with First Eagles + EP1 + nov2008 patch, on Windows XP SP2 - Athlon 62X2 Dulal Core 2,51GHz; 2 GB RAM; ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT.

 

 

Jan

[Helmut_AUT 0]

Okay, more detailed bug report:

 

1) The GFX Artifacts happen with "Effects=Unlimited".

 

2) Alpha-Textures don't seem to work. For Cows, Telegraph masts, barns and so on I see solid white where the texture should be transparent. Possibly a change with FE2's handling of alpha textures as culprit?

 

It still is the single most awesome improvement I've ever seen happen to First Eagles.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Helmut_AUT

[+Jan Tuma 2]

 

Alpha-Textures don't seem to work. For Cows, Telegraph masts, barns and so on I see solid white where the texture should be transparent. Possibly a change with FE2's handling of alpha textures as culprit?

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it is not problem with programme FE2.

 

For Alpha objects (Trees, Forest... -> Stomy.TGA, Mesto2.TGA) and Solid objects (Buildings, Cows, Telegraph masts, barns... -> Venkov.TGA, Mesto.TGA, Trosky.Tga) is namely used different way of displaying in data.ini:

 

SolidObjectTextureMaterial: -> BlendOp=BLEND_DST_ALPHA

DepthBufferCheck=TRUE

DepthBufferWrite=TRUE

RenderedInOrder=TRUE

AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE

CullMode=NO_CULL

LightEnabled=TRUE

SpecularEnabled=FALSE

EmissiveEnabled=FALSE

FogEnabled=TRUE

AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

ZBufferOffset=0.000000

BlendOp=BLEND_DST_ALPHA

NumTextureStages=1

TextureStage[01].TextureName=

TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE

TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE

TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE

 

 

AlphaObjectTextureMaterial: -> BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA

DepthBufferCheck=TRUE

DepthBufferWrite=FALSE

RenderedInOrder=false

AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE

CullMode=NO_CULL

LightEnabled=TRUE

SpecularEnabled=FALSE

EmissiveEnabled=FALSE

FogEnabled=TRUE

AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.00000

DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.00000

ZBufferOffset=2.000000

BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA

NumTextureStages=1

TextureStage[01].TextureName=

TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE

TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE

TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE

Fade=NORMAL

StartFadeDistance=50.0

EndFadeDistance=50.0

 

 

 

In stock terrain isn't for solidobjects used transparency (SolidObjectTexture=terobject_buildings1.BMP, AlphaObjectTexture=terobject_trees1.TGA)

 

 

 

 

 

Jan

 

 

[Heck 496]

In one word: Brilliant. I'm running this in my mods folder of FE2. My system is modest, to say the least:

 

Nvidia GeForce 6200 256.0 MB

 

Intel Pentium 4 2.80GHz Single core

 

2046MB System ram

 

I run these settings within the sim:

Object detail=High

Object Texture=Unlimited

Cockpit Texture=Medium

Shadow=Medium

Ground Objects=High

Effects Detail=Medium

Terrain Detail=High

Terrain Texture=High

Horizon Distance=Far

Water Detail=High

 

I get great frame rates even with sixteen aircraft on my side in single missions. Unbelievable. You really get the impression of the tiny, clostrophobic airfields of WW1 with this mod. I use my own honor system when it comes to trees around the airfield. If I'm going to hit them, I go around. My mechanics hate picking bits of tree branch from the fabric.

 

This is, bar none, the best mod for FE that I have ever seen. If you don't have this, get it now. Thank you, Jan.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Heck

[Helmut_AUT 0]

Maybe it is not problem with programme FE2.

 

For Alpha objects (Trees, Forest... -> Stomy.TGA, Mesto2.TGA) and Solid objects (Buildings, Cows, Telegraph masts, barns... -> Venkov.TGA, Mesto.TGA, Trosky.Tga) is namely used different way of displaying in data.ini.

 

In stock terrain isn't for solidobjects used transparency (SolidObjectTexture=terobject_buildings1.BMP, AlphaObjectTexture=terobject_trees1.TGA)

 

Jan

 

 

 

 

Thanks, that sounds like an idea. I'm not good at modding - where is this data ini found?

 

Thanks for a great improvement to First Eagles.

 

Edit: I just checked ww1verdun_data.ini in the folder (this file is included in the download) and these values are correct. Maybe FE2/DX10 rendering really uses a different alpha format or method.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Helmut_AUT

[TheGrimReaper 0]

In one word: Brilliant. I'm running this in my mods folder of FE2. My system is modest, to say the least:

 

Nvidia GeForce 6200 256.0 MB

 

Intel Pentium 4 2.80GHz Single core

 

2046MB System ram

 

I run these settings within the sim:

Object detail=High

Object Texture=Unlimited

Cockpit Texture=Medium

Shadow=Medium

Ground Objects=High

Effects Detail=Medium

Terrain Detail=High

Terrain Texture=High

Horizon Distance=Far

Water Detail=High

 

I get great frame rates even with sixteen aircraft on my side in single missions. Unbelievable. You really get the impression of the tiny, clostrophobic airfields of WW1 with this mod. I use my own honor system when it comes to trees around the airfield. If I'm going to hit them, I go around. My mechanics hate picking bits of tree branch from the fabric.

 

This is, bar none, the best mod for FE that I have ever seen. If you don't have this, get it now. Thank you, Jan.

 

Is there anywhere that states how to implement mods for FE2? For example, using these new terrain files, how do I implement them in FE2? Where do I put them and how do I turn them on? Sorry for all the newbie questions, but I'm completely new to the FE series.

[Heck 496]

Is there anywhere that states how to implement mods for FE2? For example, using these new terrain files, how do I implement them in FE2? Where do I put them and how do I turn them on? Sorry for all the newbie questions, but I'm completely new to the FE series.

 

Once you've installed and run FE2, go into your Documents folder. Within that, find the folder called Thirdwire. Inside that folder is a folder called First Eagles 2. Open that. Create a new folder inside called Mods. Then open the options.ini you find in the First Eagles 2 folder. Scroll down to the lines that deal with mods and make sure the directory path calls out the whole path to your mods folder. Mine is:

 

 

 

Directory=C:\Documents and Settings\heck mitchell\My Documents\ThirdWire\FirstEagles2\Mods

 

Now, run the game again.

 

After you do that, go back into the Mods folder and place the file you downloaded from Jan Tuma there. Remember to rename it Terrains (as downloaded it is terrain, that won't work in FE2). Now, open that folder and rename the Flanders and Vogesen folders to Flanders bak and Vogesen bak. Now download the Flanders and Vogesen terrains from CombatAce. Install them into the Terrains folder in Mods. Now open the Flanders bak terrain folder from Jan Tuma. Select, copy, and paste all the files you find inside into your new Flanders folder. Allow your system to overwrite. Next, do the same with the Vogesen terrain. That should be it, let me know if you have problems. Remember, install all mods into the proper folders within your mods folders and you can't screw up your game. Just delete whatever you want from your mods folder and the game will revert to originals, because you didn't mess them up.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Heck

[TheGrimReaper 0]

Thank you so much for the quick instructions.

[Helmut_AUT 0]

Heck, he doesn't really have to create a separate MODS directory inside "My saved games/Thirdwire/FirstEagles2." That IS the mod directory.

 

Reaper, to give you a basic idea how modding works and what Heck has just explained to you: In earlier days (Series 1 Games) you would just go to the game directory and drop the stuff in the correct sub folder, overwriting default files. That's how you would do it with First Eagles Gold. But since Vista didn't like modified files in install directories (it is very protective about program files), TK made it so that all default game files are in compressed .CAT archives, and modified files go in "My Saved Games" subdirectory for Thirdwire, using the same folder name as the CAT file.

 

So basically, when you start the game, it looks first into the "My Saved Games" directory if it can find any modified files there, and if it finds any, it ignores the corresponding files from the CAT archieve. That's why it's important to name the Folder "Terrains" since the default cat in FE2 is named TerrainS.

 

 

I'm still awed by the way this update revitalizes the game. I tried a few alternate terrain mods for FE Gold, but the changes here (especially the amount of objects) truly make this a "Second Gen" terrain.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Helmut_AUT

[TheGrimReaper 0]

Thanks, I got it working and people are right, this looks great. However, like others with FE2, I'm also seeing the blotchy-white effects in some of the terrain objects. I'm not a modder, so I have no idea how I can fix this. Otherwise, great stuff!

[+Stary 2,426]

for FE2 users try these settings for solidobjects:

 

[solidObjectTextureMaterial]

EffectShaderName=

//terSolidObject.fx

DepthBufferCheck=TRUE

DepthBufferWrite=TRUE

//FALSE

RenderedInOrder=TRUE

//FALSE

AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE

//FALSE

CullMode=NO_CULL

//COUNTERCLOCKWISE

LightEnabled=TRUE

SpecularEnabled=FALSE

EmissiveEnabled=FALSE

FogEnabled=TRUE

AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

ZBufferOffset=2.000000

BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA

NumTextureStages=1

TextureStage[01].TextureName=

TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE

TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE

TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE

 

works ok for me