Hi-res Desert Game World

[+Geezer]

If you like the look of the FE2 desert game world in shots below, here's how to make it.  Note the new terrain tiles replace most, but not all of the original terrain tiles, so the upgrade is not 100% uniform across the entire terrain map.

 

Start with Stephen1918's excellent Palestine Terrain:

http://combatace.com/files/file/14857-palestine-terrain/

 

Then, replace the existing terrain tile art with JSAggie's Hi-res desert tiles:

http://combatace.com/files/file/12368-hi-res-desert-tiles/

 

Then, upgrade the game lighting and clouds with my Improved Game World stuff:

http://combatace.com/files/file/15939-improved-gameworld-appearance/

 

If you have a healthy video card, then add the hi-res airfields at bottom.

 

 

 

HI-res Airfields.rar

Edited December 7, 2015 by Geezer

[Wrench]

I made some additional tiles, to fill in some missing transitions for that set, and used them on the Eritrea/Ethiopia terrain. if that's of any help to anyone...

[+Geezer]

I made some additional tiles, to fill in some missing transitions for that set, and used them on the Eritrea/Ethiopia terrain. if that's of any help to anyone...

 

Sounds tasty.  Thanks.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Geezer

[+Geezer]

I made some additional tiles, to fill in some missing transitions for that set, and used them on the Eritrea/Ethiopia terrain. if that's of any help to anyone...

 

LloydNB wants to make an Italian East Africa mod - most of the aircraft he needs are the same aircraft I need for my 1940 desert war concept.  Would it be a huge PITA to make an FE2 version of your Eritrea/Ethiopia map? 

[Silberpfeil]

Worked good, Geezer, thanks! Hi-res airfields were no problem except now I seem to have a little more "shimmering" in the buildings. Any way to cut this back?

[+Geezer]

Worked good, Geezer, thanks! Hi-res airfields were no problem except now I seem to have a little more "shimmering" in the buildings. Any way to cut this back?

 

A quick and dirty fix is go to graphics options and reduce your ground objects setting.  A better solution is to find a topic in SF2 forums about a software fix.  Unfortunately, I don't remember where it is located - I'm 70 yo and can't remember shit. 

Edited December 8, 2015 by Geezer

[+Geezer]

The large airfield tiles are 4096x4096.  Way too big for a general purpose tile, but they can be used sparingly for just airfields or other special locations.  For the first time, we can get enough pixel density for realistic airfields, showing stuff like wheel ruts, rocks, etc.  Max renders below.

 

 

[Wilches]

Awesome! A question - could the engine read the tiles as .JPG? If so, it could not only save a lot of space but increase the fpm a lot!

[+Geezer]

Awesome! A question - could the engine read the tiles as .JPG? If so, it could not only save a lot of space but increase the fpm a lot!

 

The second generation engine - FE2 and SF2 - can read JPEG files.  First generation engine cannot.

[Wrench]

 

LloydNB wants to make an Italian East Africa mod - most of the aircraft he needs are the same aircraft I need for my 1940 desert war concept.  Would it be a huge PITA to make an FE2 version of your Eritrea/Ethiopia map

 

shouldn't be an issue, as long as the desert.cat is in your FE2 core install (a simple copy/paste to the core install's /Terrains folder)

 

what I don't remember is if it covers, historically, enough area for that time frame

[+Geezer]

Wow!  Outstanding map! 

[+Geezer]

Tinkered with some desert ground objects this morning.  When Gterl and I were experimenting with a Spanish Civil War game map, he got a test version to run problem-free using 1024 art tiles and a few 2048 tiles for airfields.  Shot below doubles the "special" art tile to 4096.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2016 by Geezer