making an apocalyptic mod. "Project Aftermath"

[ghost toast]

I should add space ships to the landing pads right?
before you answer i cant make em move they would just sit there.
i with i could do animations i would make ships come and go or try really hard too

 

[ghost toast]

ill start testing too see if i can have the workers remove my ruin features it should work easily and be straight forward using the below code lines from civ5builds file in civ5's files.
i dont want to get into the bulk of the coding but i do want to make sure what i do have so far is complete fictional.

        <Row>
            <BuildType>BUILD_FARM</BuildType>
            <FeatureType>FEATURE_MARSH</FeatureType>
            <PrereqTech>TECH_MASONRY</PrereqTech>
            <Time>600</Time>
            <Remove>true</Remove>
        </Row>
        <Row>
            <BuildType>BUILD_MINE</BuildType>
            <FeatureType>FEATURE_JUNGLE</FeatureType>
            <PrereqTech>TECH_BRONZE_WORKING</PrereqTech>
            <Time>700</Time>
            <Remove>true</Remove>
        </Row>
        <Row>
            <BuildType>BUILD_MINE</BuildType>
            <FeatureType>FEATURE_FOREST</FeatureType>
            <PrereqTech>TECH_MINING</PrereqTech>
            <Time>400</Time>
            <Production>20</Production>
            <Remove>true</Remove>
        </Row>

i should be able to just add in my new features designating the new ones to be removed as well doing it for all current then adding in my new improvements as i design them.

 

[ghost toast]

Spoiler graphic resource and improvement testing pics :

for some reason the mine is removing the graphic completely unlike the farm and camp improvement.

its not removing it through the command line. its not set too do so.
ill have to look into the how and why.
i believe it is the landmarkshader_stencil asigned too it in something like nexusbuddy granny editor. the mine one is much larger then the rest.
i believe it is used to remove the trees occasionally poor out of the tiles and to remove trees under a model so the things like the lumbermill and camp can sit inside a forest with out having the tree poke through your model.

like in the this picture here. you can see the model and the trees are overlapping.
having a flat mesh assigned landmarkshader_stencil fixes that.
the mesh must be added using something like blender then assigned as landmarkshader_stencil in nexusbuddy

Spoiler :

 

[ghost toast]

here is an example of the landmarkshader_stencil i mentioned this is one of the civ5 mine models

Spoiler :

 

[ghost toast]

I'm just going to start making observations as I go through this thread.

The first thing I noticed early on was that your buildings all look very similar, too similar. But, maybe you change that later on, so I'll wait until I reach the end to comment more on that.

As to Washington D.C.? My gut says don't make it right now. Maybe later, but for the time being I'd worry about getting the main basics of you mod figured out. Later on I would consider it.

And since you specifically ask about what we think your mod should do--regarding being the USA or even Earth--I would say, make multiple versions of the same mod. Again, first start with the basics, the framework of the mod, that could be applied to any post-apocalyptic planet. When all of that is done, release it as a standalone mod. Call it Ghost Coast Apocalypse or something.


Later, add in Washington DC, the Statue of Liberty, whatever other things you want that are specific to Earth. Release that stuff in a second mod called GC Apocalypse: Cool Scenario Name Here.

Gives players more choice when it comes to deciding what they want to play.

Buildable world wonders:
Mad Max Thunderdome
Half Life 2 Citadel and Black Mesa East

Natural wonders:
Walking Dead--Center for Disease Control & Prison
Planet of the Apes--Statue of Liberty Hand
The Postman--Bridge City
Zombieland
Half Life--Black Mesa
Left 4 Dead--Mercy Hospital
Left 4 Dead 2--Whispering Oaks
Resident Evil--Looking Glass House
28 Days Later--Balfron Tower
The Mist--Arrowhead Project
The Tripods--White Mountains




Lots of cities as well you could include in the mix--City 17 from Half Life 2, Bridge City and Pineview from The Postman, Raccoon City.


Regarding trees, I'd say reduce their numbers. But you might also consider another mod with few or none.

Eras
1: Survival
2: Fighting Back
3. Rebuild
4. Last War



I don't know where you've looking besides Fallout for ideas, but here are some I'm familiar with:

Games:
Rebuild 1 & 2
Half Life 2
Neo Scavenger (mostly forests, you may look at the buildings in that game for inspiration)
Caravaneer 1 & 2 (almost entirely desert settings)

Movies:
The Postman
World War Z
I Am Legend
28 Days Later
Shaun of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead


I'd look at some pictures of these games and movies.

28 Days Later Henry West great general, probably lots of others from other media

President Madagascar from game Pandemic.

I am legend Great Doctor Robert Neville--you could have a zombie virus spreading through cities or something, and doctors would help to treat the virus, with great doctors getting closer to cures to varying extents.


Feral ghouls--can't you just have the game randomize which type barbarians get?




Ok, I finished going through the thread. The big thing that stuck out to me was that the tone of gray for your buildings is too boring--I would have more variety, slightly different tones of gray, brown, etc, instead of the same color for all your buildings.

Ok, so I think that's good for now, should serve to give you some fuel for your mod for a while

""
Later, add in Washington DC, the Statue of Liberty, whatever other things you want that are specific to Earth. Release that stuff in a second mod called GC Apocalypse: Cool Scenario Name Here.

Gives players more choice when it comes to deciding what they want to play.

Buildable world wonders:
Mad Max Thunderdome

Natural wonders:
Walking Dead--Center for Disease Control & Prison
Planet of the Apes--Statue of Liberty Hand
The Postman--Bridge City
Zombieland
Half Life--Black Mesa
Left 4 Dead--Mercy Hospital
Left 4 Dead 2--Whispering Oaks
Resident Evil--Looking Glass House
28 Days Later--Balfron Tower
The Mist--Arrowhead Project
The Tripods--White Mountains

""

"Gives players more choice when it comes to deciding what they want to play."

yes i love choices. i can do that. ill make the base like i'm doing and make a few expansions and scenarios.

that would allow me to have the liberty of making things that would normally conflict with one another putting them in as 2 different expansions that are incompatible with one another that would be loaded as one or the other.

""Buildable world wonders:
Mad Max Thunderdome
Half Life 2 Citadel and Black Mesa East""

Spoiler mad max thunder dome concept art pics :

Spoiler half life 2 citadel concept art pictures :

 

[ghost toast]

Spoiler project arrow head concept art :

https://stephenking.fandom.com/wiki/Arrowhead_Project

Spoiler The Postman--Bridge City concept art :

unrelated while searching i found this pic

i have (or had if i can find it) a model of this a very good one. it might be to detailed for civ idk. ill see later.




"Half Life--Black Mesa"

i never played the game. maybe i should 1 day. i was unable to find a satisfactory picture. i don't know what the black mesa is cause never played the game so i also don't know what i was looking for.

Spoiler zombieland concept art :

"Wild Adventures
The family hotspot has one of the South's largest ride collections. Indie hit "Zombieland" filmed throughout the state, including Atlanta, Hapeville, Newnan and Powder Springs. But, the most iconic scenes were at a zombie-infested theme park, played by the Valdosta attraction."

i was unable to find any good suitable pictures but i found the theme park map. would have been nice to find a good sky view picture but i couldn't find one.
ill just use that map as a layout design and wing the rest just making a random theme park

Spoiler Balfron tower concept art :

 

[ghost toast]

"Planet of the Apes--Statue of Liberty Hand"

i like that idea i was thinking of making a destroyed or old statue of liberty along with a few other things like the eiffel tower, the pentagon, iconic skyscrapers like the Chrysler building, 40 wall street, shanghai tower, shanghai world financial center, Torre Glòries, space needle, cn tower, the shard, Burj Khalifa, marina bay sands, and Aldar's HQ in Abu Dhabi
ill do some of these as world wonders to build and some will be natural wonders

ill do other buildings like the lotus temple, and The Eden Project

ill do some ports too.
ill do some regular ruined port tiles but i believe the port of shanghai is large enough to be a natural wonder taking up the entirety of a tile

 

[ghost toast]

Besides buildings i would also like to use and make more things like the crater natural wonder civ5 has.
Some sort of acid pond or acid lake wonder.
I want more natural wonders that are also kinda natural not just ruined large left over buildings.

i also need to fix the fallout terrain feature bug. where fallout removes natural wonders, forests, jungles, flood plains, and all other features. as civ 5 allows for 1 feature per tile.
i guess ill redo it and rework the whole fallout concept. it can no longer stay a feature unless i fix the feature issue.

i want fallout in many places and over many things.

i was gonna try and change the look of the fallout too and see how that goes. its a psb effect type if i remember correctly. i just need a suitable more pleasing replacement.
whether i find one inside civ or try to add a new one.

it would probably be easier to have it stay a feature.
add it in as and improvement aswell to add over features with out improvements.

ill also just cut out the middle man and just add the fallout effect to a few things. using an lua to swap in and out the same 2 versions of the same model 1 with the fallout effect added to its fx trigger and one with out that effect.

 

[ghost toast]

i really need to organize files i have for blender better. and organize the piles of unorganized stuff i have here and there.
for right now i added civilization beyond earth models to my collections ill be importing them to blender and get them all pieced out and stored for later use.
ill be using a few resources from it. the water resources are great for what i need.
The beyond earth units i believe are already game ready for civ 5 and interchangeable for each game ill find out ill guess.

The aliens from it are gonna be great for the tyrranid race i want to do it would really improve their model diversity i have very few actual tyrranids
i never envisioned the race being "the tyrranids". but i do want them to be a hive species.

 

[ghost toast]

water feature idea garbage patches.

Spoiler :

maybe even the fantasy garbage island from family guy. where they poked fun at the pacific garbage patches taking the nick name garbage island and made it into a real island.
I could make the garbage patches as features and make a garbage island that's a natural wonder.
i could make certain water resources only spawn on garbage patches.

am i onto something with that concept or is it dumb?

 

[ghost toast]

I'm thinking about world wonder.

I think i should do a metropolis type deal for the late game.

Using the 3 alien city models i previously posted for the aliens.
having that one progress through the 3 models getting larger. i probably wont make a progression for the rest.

Using this one as a human one.
Ill make more if that's a good idea.

mutants and tyrranids civilizations probably get these.
but those civilizations will be way more militarily focused, the mutants more then the tyrranids.
I'm really not sure if i can do those or not it would require having an imagination. and i don't have one.

Spoiler Metropolis human 1 :

The city doesn't have a dds file yet and needs a lot of work in blender.
but here's a sneak peak
i think i should also add some sort of floating thing to the middle to top it off.
Some of the model surface is flipped inside out and needs to be fixed.

 

[ghost toast]

Spoiler Metropolis Human 2 idea The Mega center :

If i introduce this one it would be a mid game metropolis probable one of the first ones.
i can make this one progress through the eras.
i can start with the center, and a few building then add more and more to the full city you see.

Does this one look and sound good or not?

im thinking of making a few spots in-between the roads and building that are blank into parks

 

[ghost toast]

I've liked this model ever since i laid eyes on it.

Help me come up with a reason and a story as to why this is in the apocalypse.

i want to make this a starting capital for a civilization

tell me if you like it or not

i would like to have a few civilizations that start off kinda technologically advanced civilizations
that seemed like they some how survived the apocalypse one way or another.

I was thinking some sort of mad turtle obsessed scientists civ leader for this one.
"they called him mad when he built turtletopia to survive the apocalypse.
History would show Its those who denied the coming apocalypse who were truly mad, unable to see the inevitable"

Help me come up with a better background for this piece or tell me if its a dumb idea?

Spoiler :

"is it turtley enough for the turtle club? turtle! turtle!" lol

I also have a fantasy version if any one is interested in fantasy variant. its on alive turtle not a robot one

i might go the route of making this civ an aquatic civilization starting in the under water turtle city and getting access to ocean cities earlier. not starting off with that capability. but starting off with one ocean city with out the ability to found more right away. they will have to attempt to gain a foot hold on the land for early expansion. but unlike other civs they start off able to traverse the ocean like Polynesia. so they could snag some early islands with little to contest them.

ocean city code examples found here.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=321319743

 

[ghost toast]

Desert Raider capital Building.
how's it look
i have 3 different variants. they are all slightly different. the difference is only in the sref i used
which one looks better i like Letter C
which one do you all like?

Spoiler A :

Spoiler B :

Spoiler C :

 

[Iconian]

You have quite the imagination with some of this stuff. I really hope your mod works out. I wish more people were interested in mine.

Now, to address some of the things you wrote.

I'm afraid actually that there probably aren't any good aerial views of Black Mesa. Huge on the inside, but I don't think there were any good views from the outside. In that regard, I think it's probably very similar to Civ 5's Petra wonder.

I've never heard of the Lotus Temple or Eden Project--they look amazing! They should be wonders for the rest of Civ 5 probably.


Now, here was something I was looking for last week for you but couldn't find:

https://greg.org/archive/2008/08/04...-mines-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music.html

This is from a scene early in The Postman. The evil army watches The Sound of Music in a big strip mine. And you were talking about having a giant crater or acid pit. What you're describing sounds a whole lot like that.


Here's an idea for your fallout bug: maybe you could create alternate versions of all the standard features. There's forests, jungles, marshes, etc, so just add in radiated forests, jungles, marshes, etc. Not sure if that would work or not because the game would have to know to replace a forest feature with a radiated forest, a jungle with a radiated jungle, etc.

You might also consider variable fallout strength--some that do 5 damage a turn, some 10, some 20 or 30.



If you're going to make a garbage island or something, I would say it should probably be a detrimental feature, reducing the food of whatever tile it's on.


I think the turtle fits right in with the rest of the mod. If you're going to have all these different apocalyptic natural wonders and everything, why not a giant metal turtle too?

And again, you could reserve some of these for a separate mod if you feel it necessary.

For the desert raider capital, I think I prefer the color of the first one. It looks the reddest to me, and I think it should probably be redder still. I'd make it bigger though if you can.


Ok, last thing.

Once again, how do you zoom in so close? What setting do you use to do that? Is it some particular editor or something?

 

[ghost toast]

You have quite the imagination with some of this stuff. I really hope your mod works out. I wish more people were interested in mine.

Now, to address some of the things you wrote.

I'm afraid actually that there probably aren't any good aerial views of Black Mesa. Huge on the inside, but I don't think there were any good views from the outside. In that regard, I think it's probably very similar to Civ 5's Petra wonder.

I've never heard of the Lotus Temple or Eden Project--they look amazing! They should be wonders for the rest of Civ 5 probably.


Now, here was something I was looking for last week for you but couldn't find:

https://greg.org/archive/2008/08/04...-mines-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music.html

This is from a scene early in The Postman. The evil army watches The Sound of Music in a big strip mine. And you were talking about having a giant crater or acid pit. What you're describing sounds a whole lot like that.


Here's an idea for your fallout bug: maybe you could create alternate versions of all the standard features. There's forests, jungles, marshes, etc, so just add in radiated forests, jungles, marshes, etc. Not sure if that would work or not because the game would have to know to replace a forest feature with a radiated forest, a jungle with a radiated jungle, etc.

You might also consider variable fallout strength--some that do 5 damage a turn, some 10, some 20 or 30.



If you're going to make a garbage island or something, I would say it should probably be a detrimental feature, reducing the food of whatever tile it's on.


I think the turtle fits right in with the rest of the mod. If you're going to have all these different apocalyptic natural wonders and everything, why not a giant metal turtle too?

And again, you could reserve some of these for a separate mod if you feel it necessary.

For the desert raider capital, I think I prefer the color of the first one. It looks the reddest to me, and I think it should probably be redder still. I'd make it bigger though if you can.


Ok, last thing.

Once again, how do you zoom in so close? What setting do you use to do that? Is it some particular editor or something?

I didn't see you ask until now sorry about the delay.
To change your zoom level go to...
Documents/my games/sid Meier's civilization 5
Then in that folder find the config.ini file.
Then in that file find minimum zoom level change it to be a lower number I use 1.5
I'll aslo pm you that.

Again some great feed back from you thank your for the picture and ideas.

I like the different fallout levels ideas.

Ill use the first varient of the desert raider capital.

I'll see about recoloring Petra or doing a Petra like structure for the black mesa

Thanks for the comment you are really helping me out discussing this and talking it out with me.
It really helps the ideas to flow.

 

[ghost toast]

I would really love to learn unit rigging.
I've made a few attempts that failed.
But once I do get it the first thing I want to do is add a bunch of opacolyptic vehicles for the desert raiders faction I really pictured them being sorta mad max style and vehicle based.

I have a few things Ideas for them that would just be some reskins of units for them, but it would be nothing compared to what I could add if I figure this out.

 

[ghost toast]

Here's my take on project Edan.

here is a pic of the real one to compare

Spoiler :

I didn't go full on recreation. i changed out some things. i didn't not included the tent looking building in the center. i changed a other few things.
I don't feel like i need to go full on exact replica.
i wanted wanted to rip off the look a little bit but i mainly want to take the idea the Eden project represents some how and mix it in the game.

i think it should be some sort of world wonder perhaps.
or it could be put in as a natural wonder so people can find it and benefit in that random chance kind of way. sorta like Eldorado maybe not as powerful or and not having the gold benefit it would have to be a different benefit.

Here you can read about project Edan
https://www.edenproject.com/visit

 

[Iconian]

To change your zoom level go to...
Documents/my games/sid Meier's civilization 5
Then in that folder find the config.ini file.

Now that's really great to know. I'll have to go through that config file carefully some time, see what interesting stuff is in it.

Thanks for the comment you are really helping me out discussing this and talking it out with me.
It really helps the ideas to flow.

I'm glad to help out. Hopefully it will also start to bring in other people to this thread as well. Heaven knows I can only go so far when it comes to this kind of stuff.

You know, maybe you should try to post this to the General Discussion forum too? You're likely to get a completely new set of eyes on it.

All I can say beyond that is I'm impressed by your work. I really don't understand how Civ 5 graphics work, but it looks you've got the hang of it. I love your Project Eden graphics. Project Eden just looks amazing . . . and actually that reminds me, in Chrono Trigger there are a few post-apocalyptic domes you can go to, like Arris Dome:

One more thing, on the topic of graphics, do you think you'd be willing to do a little artwork modding for me? I've had a few small ideas, but I really don't know how to implement them myself. Nor do I know how long it would take to implement them. If so, I'd just ask that you upload them to the Steam Workshop and give me a credit for the ideas. Do you think you'd like to take a swing at it?

 

[ghost toast]

Now that's really great to know. I'll have to go through that config file carefully some time, see what interesting stuff is in it.




I'm glad to help out. Hopefully it will also start to bring in other people to this thread as well. Heaven knows I can only go so far when it comes to this kind of stuff.

You know, maybe you should try to post this to the General Discussion forum too? You're likely to get a completely new set of eyes on it.

All I can say beyond that is I'm impressed by your work. I really don't understand how Civ 5 graphics work, but it looks you've got the hang of it. I love your Project Eden graphics. Project Eden just looks amazing . . . and actually that reminds me, in Chrono Trigger there are a few post-apocalyptic domes you can go to, like Arris Dome:


View attachment 633902


One more thing, on the topic of graphics, do you think you'd be willing to do a little artwork modding for me? I've had a few small ideas, but I really don't know how to implement them myself. Nor do I know how long it would take to implement them. If so, I'd just ask that you upload them to the Steam Workshop and give me a credit for the ideas. Do you think you'd like to take a swing at it?

Ya actual I have thread I'll link below and I can post them to the workshop. But you can just pm if you'd prefer.
I should have mentioned the thread to you sorry about that.

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/im-taking-for-requests-for-models.677754/#post-16304568