Custom Terrain bldgs, irrigation, roads and rails. Need tips!

[ZergMazter]

I tried with just the top part of the crops covered with snow but I lose control of the white and it turns slightly too white and I feel like it looks distracting by having a strong color on the roots against the white. It seems to me like it makes the map busier. Let me know if it's just me:

 

[Vuldacon]

ZergMazter... Nice additions Having inspirational Fun is the best way to work.

I think it looks just fine.

 

[ZergMazter]

I tried to match some of the green grass in my railroads, the vanilla pine trees, and my metro's contrast level for a more cohesive look and came up with this. I removed the frozen houses from irrigation files because it opens up the whole look and deals with the clutter. This is probably my final tundra irrigation iteration. Saved the previous one just in case. I personally think this is best:

 

[ZergMazter]

And of course this is in the context of having a map fully roaded/railroaded. There is more variation in a normal map with all terrain intermixed with coasts, lakes, etc. I tried to change the vanilla squiggly look and make it stand out more than the vanilla flat look in comparison to the cities.

 

[Vuldacon]

ZergMazter... I think it all looks fine. However, the White snow color appears to distract more from its higher contrast than the White in Post 41. This causes the various squares and rectangles to stand out far more.

Your changes are all good other than the White color contrast because it distracts from the cities. The higher color at the roots with the slightly colored snow blended well and was less distracting.

There are objective factors but many factors are subjective... It is always Best to Please Yourself

 

[ZergMazter]

ZergMazter... I think it all looks fine. However, the White snow color appears to distract more from its higher contrast than the White in Post 41. This causes the various squares and rectangles to stand out far more.

Your changes are all good other than the White color contrast because it distracts from the cities. The higher color at the roots with the slightly colored snow blended well and was less distracting.

There are objective factors but many factors are subjective... It is always Best to Please Yourself

Thank you
I'm combining the green with the less contrasting snow to see the results.

 

[ZergMazter]

I have a texture glitch that has been driving me insane in my city file. If I fully remove the green transparency it goes away. Why though? Why just those lines and not the rest of the green? I have it circled in green below:

 

[ZergMazter]

@Vuldacon

 

[ZergMazter]

I updated my pollution to look like smog. I have ideas for more control of my textures to use the new districts added by the C3X patch:

 

[KingArthur]

Nice idea for pollution as it fits the theme of the terrain.

I don't have an answer for the green line glitch but I've seen it before - fortunately it's only visible in the editor and not in-game. i think you don't see the rest of green because it corresponds to an adjacent tile. All you're seeing is the border between the two tiles where the green line shows through.

 

[Civinator]

Vuldacon gave the following explanation for the green lines that can be seen only in the editor: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/lm-terrain-green-lines.303252/#post-7588555

 

[ZergMazter]

@KingArthur
@Civinator

Thank you guys you are right. Editor only.

 

[ZergMazter]

Finally got around messing with the city borders. I had to make them very thick to go with the railroads since the roads/rails cover most of the edges of each tile, layering on top of borders rendering them invisible. As a side effect of this the solid color lines would blind me when looking at them for prolonged periods of time. As a fix I applied the same checkers pattern I applied to my pollution textures to soften them up but kept an accent on the outer edge. Big cities matched with big borders and of course I havent finished them yet:

 

[ZergMazter]

Started working on resources but I was disappointed to realize I cant find them easily in a map full of railroads sometimes, so I added a mine with a cart full or the ore to make them stand out more. I made 3 versions each progressively made to stand out more against the background.

Order is 1-Normal, 2-Black edge, and 3 Black and White edge on the ores.
Ore order is coal-uranium-gold-saltpeter-aluminum-iron.

I like them all but I personally think number 1 fits the vanilla terrain best am I right?

 

[KingArthur]

I like 1. The others do somewhat stick out more but are a bit too cartoony looking for my taste.

 

[ZergMazter]

I like 1. The others do somewhat stick out more but are a bit too cartoony looking for my taste.

Lol my exact words. I thought they were too cartoony.

 

[ZergMazter]

Quick update:
I added oil, wines, carrots and my ores. Carrots are not final. I'm having difficulty converting real life images to civ3. They lose a lot of detail and I have to draw on them to correct. I plan to replace luxuries for different foods as I think more vegetation enhances my textures. I also toned down the railroads as they were making the squares look too gritty imo. Also less yellow on the highways and slight contrast. I deliberately placed foods on railroad buildings to see how they would look. This is the best i can hope for without removing railroad buildings. Same reason why food patches are so big. Too small and they dont look right overlaying a structure:

 

[ZergMazter]

I got grape, carrot, lettuce, and ginger so far. Not sure what fits best normal or with glow (Bright/Dull):

QUICK UPDATE!!!!
Touched up carrots and started drawing shadings on all of the fruits. Also added oranges and tomatoes. Need to finish shading on ginger and lettuce. I'm improving with each new fruit I add and to tell you the truth I didn't expect it to get past my rendition above:

Foods In the wild!!!

 

[KingArthur]

Nice, a repeating pattern is a great way to make the resources stand out on the map

 

[ZergMazter]

Latest version has updated textures for grapes and lettuce, re-touched lighting to make them all fit together within the theme, and lastly added red onions and potatoes. All lux resources have been replaced now. Will start working on bonus resources. My textures have enough buildings so I figured more vegetation would look nice. I tried making them smaller and proportionate to the houses, but it looked too noisy and it made it difficult to spot resources being so tiny. It's a game so no harm in not being realistic hehe: