Port St Claire (#36)

[rambuckel]

That's far too high for me but the result is brilliant!!!!!!! I'm really happy that most of the Scottish shores fall steep into the sea =)

I wonder what will come next!!!!!! 

[noahclem]

The terrain work continues nicely and it looks as though you might be able to tackle your project yet. This strikes me as something you must already have though of, but can the effect of sand on one side of the barrier island and vegetation on the other be created by having the shore on the bay side all rise immediately over the max beach altitude? That should stop any beach textures from popping up on that side and if your sandy hill textures aren't related to beach textures they should still work just fine above 252m elevation. I usually keep my max beach altitude at 2m or less to make it extra easy to stop beaches from showing up where i don't want them. The water color difference could easily be solved by having the depth of the bays around half of the water depth for max alpha property setting.

Keep up the great work 

[benedict]

Congratulations on your first OSITM selection. What an amazing start to the month - great updates, and some fascinating insights into how terrain is coded in the game. Looking forward to more.

[art128]

Nice work experimenting with the different layers of the coast, Willy.  It looks pretty good already and seems ready to get load of MMPs. Though if you're going to get back at it later, that means we are in for more epicness!

[vortext]

Interesting stuff Willy. Though I'm wondering, as Noah, if a similar result couldn't be achieved with the beach width and hight and some additional terraforming. That's how I've gotten some nice dunes in the past.

And you're right modding is all well and good, getting things ready for release is another ballgame alltogether. 

Keep it up! 

[Swordmaster]

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#4

Not that I'm letting you hang right here but. . . we're moving back to the country. The beach experiment is mostly finished, the report on the way.

Here are some screens from a new little town called Logan, after its founder Charles Logan. It finds itself midway between Barton and St Claire, on the increasingly busy highway between them.

I've made the terrain a little greener following suggestions. I think it's nicely in between summer and fall, and should fit both. Maybe you have a different opinion – let me know.

I have to thank Noah for pointing me to those VIP trees you'll see here and there (not Girafe's, the other ones). I don't think they're on the LEX, so you can't blame me for not finding them earlier. . .

These pics are HD again. Note, the small versions are not just resized, but also cropped a bit, so "click to see more" can be interpreted literally. There's actually more to see on the big ones.

1.  Let's see. . . a freshly drawn road. No frills here.
Click to see more!


2.  The T21s develop with the seasons. Spring-time. I think the willows make a nice contrast here. MMPs don't have spring versions, unfortunately (or, more correctly, can only have three seasons, so usually spring is left out).
Click to see more!


3.  Summer.
Click to see more!


4.  Fall.
Click to see more!


5.  These pastures are on the east side of town. Facing west here.
Click to see more!


6.  Different angle. Facing east, towards St Claire.
Click to see more!


7.  One entrance to the pasture. I really like this scene, but no angle gives the best view.
Click to see more!


8.  Further east. The willows don't appear in unzoned areas. That would be overkill.
Click to see more!


9.  Overview, facing north. Barton is to the left, St Claire to the right. I was fiddling with the water texture again, this color is not quite right – sorry.
Click to see more!


10.  But it fits this stream quite well, I think.
Click to see more!


I have some more, but I'm saving those.

Replies

Great teraforming and texturing.

Thanks!

Great work here, it must be hard doing this kind of work! Can't wait to see what the final product will be like.

What beach is that in North Carolina? I live in NC and i might have been there!

Thanks! Probably somewhere just north of Hatteras. That was just a random shot I took. I wouldn't say it's hard, just frustrating at times.

Sorry, I can't see it at all. It's a much too complex concept for me to wrap my wee little mouse brain around. I'm glad someone has an adventurous-enough spirit to tackle terrain mods and other such mysterious elements, though. Truly, it is Maxis' customers who have kept SC4 alive and well for so many years, not the company's expertise at software design. The city-building concept has always been fascinating, but the overall eye appeal of the finished product definitely needed some work.

Interesting update this...
-Joan

Don't worry, I probably didn't explain it well enough after all. Your little mouse brain seems to be coping fine with things entirely lost on me (BAT, to name one). And with all these talents you've got I'm sure you won't even need these tricks to get your beaches right.

Wonder how you will manage to get two different water colors...
I'll have to stay tuned to see if that can actually happen

Magic. . . ! Erm, not really, just some fiddling. It's the easier one of the things I want to try.

To see my neighbour here 
Natural scenes are really great, your attempt of MMPing certainly turns out well. I'm also looking forward to see the way you deal with the seashore terrain. 

Cheers,
Nick

Hello, Nick, great to see you paying a visit. Welcome! A nice month for us, isn't it?

That's far too high for me but the result is brilliant!!!!!!! I'm really happy that most of the Scottish shores fall steep into the sea =)

I wonder what will come next!!!!!! 

Thanks! The terraforming was experimental, so the actual dune size will vary along the shore. No cliffs here, though.

The terrain work continues nicely and it looks as though you might be able to tackle your project yet. This strikes me as something you must already have though of, but can the effect of sand on one side of the barrier island and vegetation on the other be created by having the shore on the bay side all rise immediately over the max beach altitude? That should stop any beach textures from popping up on that side and if your sandy hill textures aren't related to beach textures they should still work just fine above 252m elevation. I usually keep my max beach altitude at 2m or less to make it extra easy to stop beaches from showing up where i don't want them. The water color difference could easily be solved by having the depth of the bays around half of the water depth for max alpha property setting.

Keep up the great work 

Thanks Noah. Like you know by now, the problem there is that the dune texture will pop up near the shore because of moisture, whatever the height. If only you could get a second type of beach that appears behind the first, the would be so much easier. I've explored a couple of simpler options than what I'm trying now, but this seems to be the best route still. As for the water color. . . well, you know that one, too. (Cliffhanger for the rest )

Congratulations on your first OSITM selection. What an amazing start to the month - great updates, and some fascinating insights into how terrain is coded in the game. Looking forward to more.

Thanks. You're assuming there will be more OSITMs? One is quite the honor, already. Glad you decided the stop by again!

Nice work experimenting with the different layers of the coast, Willy.  It looks pretty good already and seems ready to get load of MMPs. Though if you're going to get back at it later, that means we are in for more epicness!

Thanks Art. You're right on the flora, but MMPing beaches is not that easy. At least not for me. Heh, I'm no Framly.

Interesting stuff Willy. Though I'm wondering, as Noah, if a similar result couldn't be achieved with the beach width and hight and some additional terraforming. That's how I've gotten some nice dunes in the past.

And you're right modding is all well and good, getting things ready for release is another ballgame alltogether. 

Keep it up! 

Good point, Vortext. But that would only work if I used the beach texture to make dunes, like Adam in this legendary post – not sure if you ever visited that thread. (Should be obligatory literature for every SC4 player.)

And what I release would depend on interest and applicability. I don't think this particular beach modding is anywhere near that. Rest assured, though, there's some more fancy projects coming up (in my head at least).



Thanks for reading and commenting. Your support makes this thread what it is.

Cheers
Willy

[Girafe]

Lovely pictures 

[vortext]

Nice rural shots, I like the last two overviews the best! 

[kelis]

WOW my friend !! why I have not seen this before ? Your region is fantastic, very realistic !! I like so much how you are doing every part of your region, the flora, the animals, the houses, the terrain...I think it's one of the best regions I've seen in a long time, congratulations my friend and keep up the good work !!

Groeten 

PD: You've got a PM my friend  !!

[Uzil]

Sorry but the words are missing me for describe your awesome pictures. Continues like that.

[sunv123]

Oh, it seems pretty hard to me. North of Hatteras? I might have been there if i remember anything.

Great work, enjoyed every picture of it. I think that the water texture could work in the river.

[mave94]

The American east coast looks a bit similar to the Dutch Wadden, except that the Wadden islands are inhabited. I've been trying to make a nice and realistic Wadden island for some time, but since the Terraformer and such programs are still a bit magic to me, I haven't succeeded yet. You're doing a great job on that terrain there. That RL photo was made at the same angle as SC4 does. Initially I thought, what!? is that in game?, but it wasn't. It would be nice to see something like that in the game, though. I think that might be possible, looking at other members' creations.
That road mod looks very great. Those textures are overriding the road textures, isn't it? Well, to me, it looks very realistic. Great work, as always!

-Matthijs

[nas-t]

very nice village! 

[MTT9]

So theres no magic involved? Interesting...
Loved pic 9, the little town next to the farms looks great.

[bat]

Some nice new updates there. And your rural views are really beautiful.

[Jmouse]

These latest rural scenes are beautiful, Willy, and I like the terrain mod you've used. It looks very realistic because it isn't "perfect." By that I mean, it has enough variation in the overall pattern to give it a natural look, and it seems to look good at all zoom levels. Just one little question: Is that bright green space next to the house in photo 8 a garden?

I really like the fifth photo because of the vibrant fall colors, and I like the uneven shapes of the fields, too. Even though I live in the shadow of the Ozarks, there is a lot of flat land around here, and boring rectangular farm fields seem to stretch on forever. Of course, farmers making a living off the land can't afford to concern themselves with aesthetics.

Very nice update. I hope there will be plenty more of your lovely rural scenes in the future...
-Joan

[Schulmanator]

Delightful rural pix! A pleasure to read this one. 

[wallasey]

I WANT fields like that!!! 

Stunning rural views in your last update, I could feel the atmosphere in a big way there.

Well done for achieving OSITM, It is very much deserved!

[art128]

Excellent bunch of pictures Willy! Fall picture (#4) is awesome.

[Swordmaster]

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#5

I've had a conversation with our good friend Jonathan (kelis). If you haven't read his wonderful MD, it's high time for you to do so!

But he made me realize that even for talented folks like him, some of what I'm doing is much more of a mystery than I would guess at first. So, let me do a step-by-step approach to how I got my own little pasture-friendly terrain mod.

There are only three things you need in your life for this tutorial:
- the reader
- your favorite graphics editor
- a FSH plugin. This allows you to edit FSH files in the GIMP.  You can also use Fishman to export and import FSH textures, but it's a hassle. I really recommend using the GIMP with this plugin. There's also a plugin for photoshop.

All the folks who've run away now, please stay. I've got candy.


So, you have this fine new terrain set made by your favorite modder. All is well, but you don't like this one texture there, or if only it were a little brighter. Or even better, you want to use parts of two different terrain mods at once. The great thing is that you don't need to be an expert modder to change things (I'm surely not). Let's see. . .


1. Nice, but a little green.




2. How can we change this? First, let's find what we need. We need the two essential parts of any terrain mod, which are the textures and the INI file. This particular terrain is Gobias' Berner Oberland mod, but it applies to every other one out there.




3. It's very simple: the INI file determines which texture to put where on the map. Let's open that file in the reader.




4. It's actually a plain text file with a bunch of tables in it. In the right hand pane, scroll down until you find a table called "[TropicalTextureMapTable]". This is the only one enabled by Maxis.



There are 32 rows and 16 columns in the table. In each cell, a texture is named. For instance, in the first row, first column, texture "0xCE" is called. This is a shorthand for the full IID of the texture, 0x000000CE. In the IID, the third-to-last digit determines the zoom level, with "XX" being the shorthand:

[tabular type=4]
[row]
[head]Texture IID[/head]
[head]Zoom level[/head]
[/row]

[row]
[data]0x00000XX[/data]
[data]Zoom 1[/data]
[/row]

[row]
[data]0x00001XX[/data]
[data]Zoom 2[/data]
[/row]

[row]
[data]0x00002XX[/data]
[data]Zoom 3[/data]
[/row]

[row]
[data]0x00003XX[/data]
[data]Zoom 4[/data]
[/row]

[row]
[data]0x00004XX[/data]
[data]Zoom 5 & 6[/data]
[/row]
[/tabular]

So the shorthand 0xCE calls an entire family of textures that cover all zoom levels, this being 0x000000CE, 0x000001CE, 0x000002CE, 0x000003CE, and 0x000004CE. You get the gist.


Back to the table. What does it do in game terms? Well, each row represents a height range. The bottom row is the lowest terrain, ranging from 250m to 280m. The next-to-last row comes above that. So the first row is the highest terrain. Each column, then, represents a particular level of moisture. The first column is the driest terrain, the last is the wettest. Moisture, you ask? Yes, the game distributes moisture over the map based on not-so-clear principles. For instance, one side of a hill will be moist, the opposite will be dry. So the first cell refers to the highest, driest terrain on the map.


5. Let's check all of this out in less theoretical terms. Open the texture file. You see all textures listed in the left hand pane, and a preview on the right side.




6. Bring order in the chaos by sorting on instance. You probably need to click twice to get it right.



Aha, that looks familiar! You can browse through the textures and see if you find what you need. If so, that's easy. But mostly, you won't be sure. Some textures may look pretty similar. So how do we know which texture we're looking for? That's where the INI comes in.


7. Let me tell you exactly which two textures appear on perfectly flat land at sea level: the 7th and 8th textures called in the bottom row. #8 will dominate any flat plain, #7 will appear in a few spots that are slightly more moist. The neighboring textures to the left and right will appear in sloping places.



But, they're the same texture! Yes, in this mod, the 0xC0 texture occupies both these slots. But in others, there may be different ones.

So, it appears that if we change the 0xC0 texture into something else, we will get that something else in our flat sea-level terrain, right? Well, let's prove it ain't just bluster.


8. Right click on the 0x000000C0 texture and save the texture as a file to someplace. Be careful to give it a full name, with extension. I always name my textures after the full IID, so this one becomes "0x000000C0.fsh". A file called "0x000000C0.fsh.tgi" will also be created. This contains the TGI (type, group, instance) information that gives your file a location for the game to find it, so just leave it alone.



Find this file. If you've installed the FSH plugin for GIMP, you should be able to open it right away.


9. Now, you're looking at the texture that appears at zoom 1 on flat terrain. Simple, eh? You can edit this thing any way you like. If this is your first time in the GIMP, take a while to find your way around. It's quite a good editor. One thing I need to say: don't use "save" or "save as". Instead, go straight to "overwrite" which will keep the same name for the edited file.




10. This little dialog will pop up. Simply hit OK with these settings.




11. Now, create a new blank file in the reader (file > new). Right click in the left pane and "insert & compress file". Select your edited FSH file.




12. The .TGI file that came with it will make sure that the new texture in the file automatically gets the correct TGI information, which is the same as the original texture. Because we want to override it.




13. Save this file (file > save as...) with a clever name, like "zzz_test.dat". The "zzz" in front will make sure it loads last. Now put this file in your terrain mod's directory. Let's see. . .



Oh boy. . . this board is taking over your game. . .  This test should give you a good idea of how these textures go from being an image file to your game's terrain. You'll also notice that nothing changes at lower zoom levels. . . because you only edited the zoom 1 texture. Moreover, you're certain now that you've got the correct texture you want to edit.

Let's try to make a full replacement of this texture.


14. Go back to the mod textures in reader. Find the textures of all zoom levels of 0xC0.



You can save them one by one, which is easiest, or all at once, which is fastest but you may lose track of the correct names. That's not a big problem, though. In fact, you can give them any name you like, as long as the .fsh extension is present.


15. Now open any of these new files in the GIMP. Go to the "colors" menu and select the first option, "color balance". Play around with the settings. I did something like this:




16. And in the fourth menu item, "brightness and contrast", I did this:



Save your file by overwriting again. Repeat this exact same process for the textures of the other zoom levels.


17. Then, like before, create a new file in reader again, and import these files. You should have this, the five textures for each zoom level:



Save like before, with a clever file name in your terrain folder and fire up the game again.


18. There, something new.

.


You can edit the textures any way you want, of course. Play around with the options in the colors menu, or with the effects, or whatever. You can fine-tune your terrain exactly to what it is you want.




How about that candy, dude?

Okay, you've all been good. . .    Some HD shots from the same scene. This is the western edge of Logan.

19. Facing east.
Click to see more!


20. Facing north.
Click to see more!


21. Facing west.
Click to see more!


22. West again, up close.
Click to see more!


23. Facing south.
Click to see more!

Replies

Lovely pictures 

Thanks! Lovely trees

Nice rural shots, I like the last two overviews the best! 

Thanks buddy. I'm an overview guy by trade, but since going MD I've spent more time detailing things than I would ever have planned. It's great.

WOW my friend !! why I have not seen this before ? Your region is fantastic, very realistic !! I like so much how you are doing every part of your region, the flora, the animals, the houses, the terrain...I think it's one of the best regions I've seen in a long time, congratulations my friend and keep up the good work !!

Groeten 

PD: You've got a PM my friend  !!

Thanks a lot, Jonathan. Those are great compliments coming from you. Your questions gave me this idea; they were all great and I hope I've helped you out in some way. Thanks also for waiting a little so I could include everyone here.

Sorry but the words are missing me for describe your awesome pictures. Continues like that.

Thanks! I'll certainly try to keep it up. Comments like this give me most of the energy I need in order to do so.

Oh, it seems pretty hard to me. North of Hatteras? I might have been there if i remember anything.

Great work, enjoyed every picture of it. I think that the water texture could work in the river.

Thank you. I try to make it look hard, just to show off    The water is way too blue for the rivers. It needs to be greener, and darker. I've tried a bunch of colors now, I'm not entirely sure yet. Please keep giving your opinion; it matters a lot to me.

The American east coast looks a bit similar to the Dutch Wadden, except that the Wadden islands are inhabited. I've been trying to make a nice and realistic Wadden island for some time, but since the Terraformer and such programs are still a bit magic to me, I haven't succeeded yet. You're doing a great job on that terrain there. That RL photo was made at the same angle as SC4 does. Initially I thought, what!? is that in game?, but it wasn't. It would be nice to see something like that in the game, though. I think that might be possible, looking at other members' creations.
That road mod looks very great. Those textures are overriding the road textures, isn't it? Well, to me, it looks very realistic. Great work, as always!

-Matthijs

I'll have to check on this first, but I think the US east coast is also inhabited. Not sure, though.   

Jokes aside, though, thanks for the comment. I have a wall map of one of the Wadden islands, coincidentally. I should visit your country more often; a lot of interesting places so close to home.

I don't think terraformer is indispensable, though; the game tools should do a good job there as well. I, for one, haven't used terraformer on this map. It's surely possible to recreate that image quite perfectly, but I have a couple of other ideas I also want to include in my sea shores.

Yes, the road mod is simply a bunch of textures that override the originals. I'm in puzzle piece country now. FAR sandy tracks should be interesting.

very nice village! 

Thank you. It should have an interesting history ahead.

So theres no magic involved? Interesting...
Loved pic 9, the little town next to the farms looks great.

Thanks! No magic at all. Just a lot of love

Some nice new updates there. And your rural views are really beautiful.

Thank you; great to see you're coming back.

These latest rural scenes are beautiful, Willy, and I like the terrain mod you've used. It looks very realistic because it isn't "perfect." By that I mean, it has enough variation in the overall pattern to give it a natural look, and it seems to look good at all zoom levels. Just one little question: Is that bright green space next to the house in photo 8 a garden?

I really like the fifth photo because of the vibrant fall colors, and I like the uneven shapes of the fields, too. Even though I live in the shadow of the Ozarks, there is a lot of flat land around here, and boring rectangular farm fields seem to stretch on forever. Of course, farmers making a living off the land can't afford to concern themselves with aesthetics.

Very nice update. I hope there will be plenty more of your lovely rural scenes in the future...
-Joan

Thanks Joan! Credit for this amazing terrain texture goes entirely to Gobias – I simply changed the hues. What I'm trying here is to have terrain that is interesting enough in itself so that it doesn't require every pasture to have a ton of MMP flora in it to spice it up. While I'll continue to touch up some areas here and there, I'm hoping I can make acceptably nice pastures without having to spend a lot of time on them. That's why I started modding my terrain in the first place.

The downside with all this modding, of course, is that you make other elements in the game a bit out of balance. The bright green texture (I'd say it's probably some kind of lawn) may be getting a bit out of place. But you know, "perfect" won't build me my Port St Claire. . .

I believe PSC's farms will be old enough to precede the big industrialization of agriculture here. By the time farmers would really start to focus on efficient land use, most of the region's shape will have settled down.

Anyway, I hope this tutorial wasn't too hostile to folks who don't live in the reader all week. Let me know if you think of anything I should explain better.

Delightful rural pix! A pleasure to read this one. 

Thank you, 'Nator. That's great to hear.

I WANT fields like that!!! 

Stunning rural views in your last update, I could feel the atmosphere in a big way there.

Well done for achieving OSITM, It is very much deserved!

Thanks! Atmosphere is what I'm trying to build here. I always picture myself standing in one of those areas and thinking of ways it's lacking or how it could be better. On the fields, I hope this tutorial gave you some ideas.

Excellent bunch of pictures Willy! Fall picture (#4) is awesome.

Thanks Arthur. Good to hear about your favorites, it gives me a good idea on how to proceed.





Thanks everyone. Any questions lingering? Ask away. We'll be back soon enough.

Cheers
Willy