Barathor
Emperor
- Joined
- May 7, 2011
- Messages
- 1,202
If anybody knows how to code it and is interested, I can supply the graphics needed so we can get a little more snow in those tundra zones. 
forest_europe
forest_europe_snow
It's not perfect, they're not conifers, but I think it would still have a nice effect over having the regular forests there (especially the bright green version) and it takes little effort to create (because, who knows, maybe Firaxis will include a nice graphical change to these in a future patch or expansion anyway).
I would imagine all that would be needed is a function which is called when the map is created and regions are assigned to it. It checks tiles to see if they're tundra (with or without hills) and that they also contain the forest feature. Then, whatever region texture which was assigned to it (European, Asian, etc.) gets replaced by the "snow" version (which is exactly the same, it just has white mixed-in, so there shouldn't be any conflicts with resources and things).
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If one prefers to work and tackle this project alone, adding the snow is very simple in Photoshop, here's an example:
1) Make sure you save the original file as a new one with the snow affix immediately.
2) Apply an adjustment layer to the trees using a photo filter. Use a slate color (Pantone 8201 C) at a strength of 50%. Just to differentiate a little bit the "colder" trees from the "warmer" trees in the same region.
3) Create a new layer to apply the snow.
4) Load a selection using the alpha channel. Then inverse the selection so only the trees are selected. Now you won't have to worry about keeping your paint "in the lines". Not that you really need to, because the alpha channel won't show the extra paint anyway, but you get a better view of your work if you paint with an active selection instead of just smudging it all up.
3) Change your brush to one of the funky-shaped brushes that imitate a real brush. It shouldn't paint too solid, it should create a speckled effect as you stroke the brush. I used one labeled as "chaulk".
4) Make the brush size a bit larger and speckle all over the tree.
5) Now make the brush size smaller and focus more "snow" into the upper area, especially along the top edges.
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Also, I'm not sure how the snow forest I created will actually look once it's implemented on the map. As in, I'm not sure if I went too low with the snow cap (too much snow) and it'll just make the whole forest clump white (except for the front ones) and I should increase the height a bit more. Or, who knows, maybe that'll actually look better. We just need to see it in action to critique it.
I'm also not sure yet if I should increase the opacity of the snow layer to lighten it up a bit. I don't know if the white snow will look too bold yet on the map.
Also, I just gave one example of how to do it and what I did, there's probably even better methods out there if anybody would like to share them here.
forest_europe
forest_europe_snow
It's not perfect, they're not conifers, but I think it would still have a nice effect over having the regular forests there (especially the bright green version) and it takes little effort to create (because, who knows, maybe Firaxis will include a nice graphical change to these in a future patch or expansion anyway).
I would imagine all that would be needed is a function which is called when the map is created and regions are assigned to it. It checks tiles to see if they're tundra (with or without hills) and that they also contain the forest feature. Then, whatever region texture which was assigned to it (European, Asian, etc.) gets replaced by the "snow" version (which is exactly the same, it just has white mixed-in, so there shouldn't be any conflicts with resources and things).
-----
If one prefers to work and tackle this project alone, adding the snow is very simple in Photoshop, here's an example:
1) Make sure you save the original file as a new one with the snow affix immediately.
2) Apply an adjustment layer to the trees using a photo filter. Use a slate color (Pantone 8201 C) at a strength of 50%. Just to differentiate a little bit the "colder" trees from the "warmer" trees in the same region.
3) Create a new layer to apply the snow.
4) Load a selection using the alpha channel. Then inverse the selection so only the trees are selected. Now you won't have to worry about keeping your paint "in the lines". Not that you really need to, because the alpha channel won't show the extra paint anyway, but you get a better view of your work if you paint with an active selection instead of just smudging it all up.
3) Change your brush to one of the funky-shaped brushes that imitate a real brush. It shouldn't paint too solid, it should create a speckled effect as you stroke the brush. I used one labeled as "chaulk".
4) Make the brush size a bit larger and speckle all over the tree.
5) Now make the brush size smaller and focus more "snow" into the upper area, especially along the top edges.
-----
Also, I'm not sure how the snow forest I created will actually look once it's implemented on the map. As in, I'm not sure if I went too low with the snow cap (too much snow) and it'll just make the whole forest clump white (except for the front ones) and I should increase the height a bit more. Or, who knows, maybe that'll actually look better. We just need to see it in action to critique it.
I'm also not sure yet if I should increase the opacity of the snow layer to lighten it up a bit. I don't know if the white snow will look too bold yet on the map.
Also, I just gave one example of how to do it and what I did, there's probably even better methods out there if anybody would like to share them here.
Thanks for the info.
