Better mountain region for Piecemeals Desert4

[Centurion-1]

Hi guys, so I am really loving the new Desert 4 terrain by Piecemeal, however I found the mountain regions very bland because after about 800 meters above sea level there is only one tile set type used. Since I have been working on the Iran/Iraq terrain I had some tiles up my sleeve and did a quick hack jobb in TE  and TFDEdtior to make the mountains more interesting. Here are some results, will need to fix some TE errors by hand but is there any interest in this? There is not super many targets in that general area but it makes for some nice scenic moments flying there.

[Stratos]

As is my favourite theater I say I'm interested!!

[ValAstur]

Those pics are great. When can we expect the terrain to be released?

[Centurion-1]

Planning map as seen in TFDtool. Dont know when but if I give this priority it could be pretty soon!

[MigBuster]

Looks fantastic!

[+Menrva]

Wow! Now I wish to fly in the fictional desert, it's a lot more diverse. In the first screenshot the mountain texture seemed to me like it was a volcano.

[Centurion-1]

I forgot to say that the textures are JSF Aggies except the green mountain valleys they are by Stary.

 

Now the problem is the grey mountain regions like those around D9 and D10 airbase, they are quite bland. Maybe need to have some texture type to show up there on low sloped areas, ideas?

[+baffmeister]

Would make for a great visual update! I have some tod files using TW's stock tree TGA that would probably work well with the tiles in the last picture. Quite a few trees placed but still sparse enough to fit a semi-arid area. Let me know if your interested.

[Wrench]

I'd look at some of the Israel tiles, either stock or Stary's hi=rez. The valley tiles are a good 'in between' for the mountain and desert.

[Centurion-1]

Ok I tired adding some more of JSF Aggies textures as a new texture type for flat areas in the low mountain elevation range. Need to find a good TOD file to go with too.

 

Currently the texture types are as follows for elevation, starting at lowest:

 

Desert

Desert Hills

Mountains / Mountain plains

High Mountains / green valleys/plains

Snow capped peaks

 

Thoughts appreciated.

 

EDIT: Oh and Baffmeister i have good TOD for that one already but would need one with sparse trees for the new type shown

[Centurion-1]

So it more or less works now but dont wanna upload officially before some else puts some eyes on this, so enjoy and tell me what needs fixing. Suggestions are very welcome! Hope i got all the files.

 

Put into Terrains/Desert4 and overwrite if it asks to. Backing up might be a good idea but it should not break anything.

Desert4UpgradeBeta1.7z

[Centurion-1]

ok guys does it work? Should I upload?

[+baffmeister]

It works OK for me. I think the tile with the green dots [last screen] could use some trees on the transitions. I am also getting a floating tree problem but not sure what causes that. Will try some tod files I have with the stock TW tree and see if they float as well.

[+baffmeister]

No luck addressing the floating tree issue. Sometimes, with old terrains,  updating the terrain data file will fix the floating tree problem but the Desert data included in your upload looks up to date.

[Centurion-1]

Yeah it's something with the terrain aplha object settings.. I had a fix from Iran/Iraq will dig it up. Yeah the transitions need some TODs, tbh they are just placeholders for now.

[Centurion-1]

Found the reason why the transitions were missing their trees, a typo in the TOD file name

 

The floating trees can be fixed by commenting out the shader name in teralphaobjects like so

 

EffectShaderName=

//terAlphaObject.fx

 

Will upload full version soon, though I'd like more opinions first.

[Centurion-1]

I tried some TODs from Starys excellent Darwin repaint, just changed the hue a bit of the trees, what do you think? Too dense?

[+Menrva]

It's a nice terrain now. I guess other transition tiles might be needed, though; from the first, third and fifth screenshots I can see that some textures could be joined better, since they appear a bit misaligned. But it's not your fault, it's TK's engine's. Regarding the floating trees I didn't notice any, since I'm using slightly modded parameters, which I took from one of Stary's terrain enhancements (IIRC stock ZBufferOffset=2.000000 while Stary's is ZBufferOffset=1.000000)

 

[AlphaObjectTextureMaterial]
EffectShaderName=terAlphaObject.fx
DepthBufferCheck=TRUE
DepthBufferWrite=FALSE
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=1.000000
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

 

The new .TODs do their job. Trees are a bit too dense in some areas and the colour could be less saturated I think, but overall it is better than nothing. Now I gotta go. Keep up the good work, Centurion.

Edited March 11, 2014 by blaze95

[+baffmeister]

I have to say that tods always look best when placed for the specific tile. This can be an issue when placing buildings at an angle on a tile but for trees it's not such a big deal although still somewhat time consuming. I think the terrain deserves specific placement for the trees.

[Stratos]

The trees are ok with me!

[Hans Topp]

And for me looks fantastic, nice work ...... i want it!!!!!!!!

[Stratos]

Will this one be officially uploaded?

[+Piecemeal]

I've offered my help to Centurion. The beta release was called beta for a reason

I've been a little quiet of late for personal reasons, but last night I decided to change the tiling in the urban areas to make the towns and cities less "square" looking:

 

 

The TFD and HFD tiles have been sent to him  for approval.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Piecemeal

[Stratos]

Looks pretty cool! Looking forward to it!

[Hans Topp]

Its looks like Mogadiscio in Black Hawk Down!!!! I waiting it, very nice sir...