Biomes Redux

[Lord Tirian]

Biomes Redux is a terrain graphics mod that aims at updating the vanilla Civ:BE biome textures to match the richness and high contrast of the Primordial biome in Rising Tide. At the same time, the textures are geared towards thematically appropriate colour palettes while keeping the different tiles distinct.

This is the first release only containing new textures for the Arid biome. New textures for Lush and Fungal are a work-in-progress and will make it into the mod in the coming weeks.

CivFanatics Download
Steam Workshop

Spoiler Sample Screenshots :

 

[Ryika]

Gotta say: The final product looks impressive. Well done!

 

[Makenshi]

Only for Arid biome?

 

[DefiantMars]

Well done. Far less yellow than the original version. The water in the Ocean shot is really blue by compared to the original which has nice contrast with the orange tones of the new desert and mountains.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Only for Arid biome?

Yeah, updated the description to reflect that. I'm working on the Lush and Fungal biome as well but nothing that's ready for release yet. I'll update the mod with them as they become ready.

Might take a little bit, though, as I need to figure out what colours and themes I want to go for. Fungal is based on Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and the fungal forest in it, I plan to use its colours (blues, teals, whites).

Lush is a bit harder. At the moment, it's very "swamp-themed". Not sure whether to double-down on that or go more for a rainforest/Avatar (the James Cameron one) theme. Both fit "lush" and there's some overlap but I need to figure out how to make it work as a cohesive whole.

 

[poom3619]

Great job, partly because it remind me how much green in Firaxis desert

 

[Draffin]

Looks great!

 

[Ghostofkuji]

Looking forward to installing this once you have the three original biomes done. Looking great so far!

 

[Azem.Ocram]

The Arid Biome looks amazing now! I look forward to your continued progress and my next holiday from University (Nov20-29).

 

[durfal]

Well done, it looks very impressive.
I like your colors way better then the original.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Little update on the work-in-progress for the Lush biome (imgur album). Fairly happy with the overall colour palette now (trying to really layer in some emerald tones reminiscent of rainforests) but still rather unsure about the desert.

Spoiler Lush WIP :

I'm pleased with how making canyons and tundras cyan/teal-tinted makes them fit better with the other textures, make it feel less "dry"... but they look more "alien" that way. Personally, I like that, but I'm not sure how much people like it as one of the features of the lush biome is the "earth-like" feel. Opinions?

 

[Starrynite120]

Wow that definitely looks better. Perhaps the desert could be a little more yellow? The canyons and tundra look great though.

 

[jlc22]

I really like the Lush colours, how did you get the purple and teal/green flowers(?) in the forests? Agree with Starrynite120, personally I think the desert could still be yellowish, the green is pretty close to plains (I think those are plains at the top of the 2nd pic).

 

[Lord Tirian]

Just updated the mod with the release of the Lush biome textures. After the general feedback, I shifted the deserts back to a yellow colour, though a bit more saturated than the default to match the rest of the textures.

Here are some screenshots of the new textures (more on the Steam Workshop, see thread start for links):

Spoiler Lush Update Screenshots :

 

[Ghostofkuji]

Looking great and I can't wait to try this out. As for my current game on your arid biome redux... wow. You really hit it out of the park there. I feel like I'm colonizing a slightly damp Arrakis!

Do you just have the fungal biome left?

 

[Lord Tirian]

Do you just have the fungal biome left?

I might experiment a bit with the Frigid biome. I like the look but I feel it's a bit too blue overall, making tiles hard to tell apart. Not sure whether that will go anywhere, though.

 

[Ghostofkuji]

Perhaps you could take some inspiration from the latest Pluto pics. There is some VERY interesting terrain going on there!

 

[Doviello]

I started a game this week, and the graphics bugged out, the water was invisible. I could see the bottom of the ocean very clearly, and my boats floated above them, really funny. Very interesting game, but i got a CTD after a while.

Can you change the color of the ocean while still making it transparent?