Dune Wars Art Thread

[Deliverator]

The thopter is the only air unit we've made for this mod so far. I edited the thopters animations to have it appear at a particular height - this is clearly not the best way since it is doesn't appear in the summary panel or pedia properly. I need to figure out a standard way for fixing air units at a consistent height. I think everything should be configured in a similar way to the vanilla Gunship - unless they are fighter/bombers.

The XML settings I was thinking of are AIR_IDLE_HEIGHT, AIR_PATROL_HEIGHT, etc in the GlobalDefines - but I don't know if these control the height of Gunship style units or just fighter/bombers. Also, I'm not sure what role <bActAsAir> in ArtDefines_Unit plays if any.

In any case - I'll fix the heightmap and "sea" based units/features/improvements first. Making air units appear at a consistent height can be done next, but I'm going to complete the tech tree buttons prior to either of these.

 

[Ajidica]

I don't know if you guys have tried this, but in the artdefines you can set the unit to use the 'flying' backdrop in the pedia using <bActAsAir>. I'm not entirely sure if it works the same way in BTS, but I used the <bActAsLand> in Warlords to the right effect, so it should work the same in reverse.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Okay, I'm finally done with the harvester - I'm a lot happier with it than before, the gloss really makes it pop and I think it fits well and makes it stand out without looking out of place. I also quickly added a button... because the current one was bothering me massively!

Since Deliverator has adjusted the terrain height, he'll need to adjust the harvester nif as well, but that's pretty easy - I just don't know what level the deep desert/desert waste currently has in Del's adjustments.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Deliverator]

Thanks LT. I'll probably take a little break from my tech tree button mission to release the changed heightmap stuff. I've fixed the spice, so I just need to adjust the worm/worm rider and make sure this harvester is OK. I'll probably post all that in the next couple of days.

 

[Deliverator]

I've finished the tech tree buttons - I'm going to do an art patch including them.

 

[Deliverator]

Here's a art patch over 1.4.8 including the following:

+ New Tech Tree buttons for all techs

+ New Heightmap
- the "sea bed" is now the floor
- adjusted Spice and Worm Rider to new level (Worm was OK)
- made the flat terrain slightly bumpy to make it look more interesting

+ New Citysets for later eras

+ New Harvester skin by Lord Tirian

+ Changed Ecaz colour/scheme and flag to turquoise

Edit: Folder structure was wrong - now corrected.

 

[davidlallen]

Can't download for another two days, but it looks great! Did you also line up the building artwork or are there still many vanilla courthouses, etc?

 

[Deliverator]

Afraid not - the building sweep is my next major mission.

 

[davidlallen]

Here's a art patch over 1.4.8 including the following:
+ New Tech Tree buttons for all techs

These are much better than the random vanilla ones, and much better looking than mine. Thanks! I tested by going into WB and seeing which ones I could visually distinguish. Many of them can be described as "basically orange with some blob in the middle", and I had trouble telling them apart. In the WB view the icons are 32x32 so this can be a hard test.

The list of ones which seem like orange + blob is kind of long, but here it is: Arrakis Habitation, Jihad, Suspensor Devices, Law of Arrakis, Sand Farms, Exploration, Desert Engineering, Desert Industry, Refining Techniques, Desert Rovers, Spice Extraction, Dune Topography, Riding the Worm, Distrans, Low Energy Vehicles, Spice Industry.

DA58. Is it possible to use some different colors, somehow, so it is easier to distinguish them?

 

[davidlallen]

DA59. I took a quick look through the thopters and carryalls to see which nifs have the units at bad heights. If they cannot be seen in the pedia, it is bad. It is "nice" but not essential to have all the units flying at the same height in game.

In the attached screenshot, we have left to right, scout, hawk, falcon, eagle, buzzard, light carryall, medium carryall, heavy carryall. As you can see the eagle and heavy carryall are higher in game compared to the others, while the scout and light carryall are lower in game compared to the others.

In the pedia, only the eagle is even visible.

I did not check in game, but in the pedia all the hornets are fine.

 

[Deliverator]

DA58. Is it possible to use some different colors, somehow, so it is easier to distinguish them?

This is probably a consequence of trying to find icons that evoke a Dunish, deserty feel. Making 90+ icons was much harder than I thought it was going to be and I was definitely getting jaded by the end. There are many icons that can be improved or replaced in the future.

Making them all distiguishable at the 32x32 size is pretty challenging. I also think once you get familiar with 64x64 icons that the tiny ones become more recognizable. That said, there are one or two quicker fixes that spring to mind. For example, I have a blue, night version of the Riding the Worm icon, and I can recolour some of the sandy ones to be more red, for example making Jihad more of a red colour seems appropriate. As I've said in the feedback thread, I'd like to rename some of the techs. If this is done, then I'll try and create more distinctive icons at the same time.

DA59. It is on my list to sort these out. With investigation it should be possible to find the best way to set up the NIFs/animations/XML to get things visible in the pedia and consistent. From memory, I think some of the Hornets are really high up in game.

I've started sweeping through Civ4ArtDefines_Buildings.xml to assign vaguely appropriate art to each building. I'm going to use a few Planetfall buildings and port a Refinery and Starport from Emperor:Battle for Dune as well.

 

[Deliverator]

I've successfully converted a Landing Stage, Spaceport and Refinery from Emperor:Battle For Dune. I'll aim to get a building patch out soon - maybe in time for 1.5 tomorrow.

 

[Ahriman]

Very nice!

 

[The_J]

Second . They look really nice .

 

[Deliverator]

Here's the building patch. I have focused on getting decent placeholders for the 3D art - the icons are still a bit of a jumble.

I've renamed Citadel to Force Shield as Ahriman suggested and used the adapted Arcology graphic for it.

Also, I've changed the qanat improvement graphic because it was bothering me. I thinking we should scrap it anyway as discussed in the feedback thread.

 

[Deliverator]

I've added some further art tweaks to the building patch - so this is an art patch with all the building changes above plus:

+ Reskinned and resized Date Palms bonus
+ Rotated Windtrap since it looks much cooler at an angle
+ Reduced size of Harvester
+ Tweaked terrain textures for Hills, Rugged and Badlands
+ Changed tech icons for Riding the Worm and Jihad

 

[Deliverator]

I have been trying out different designs and techniques for the unit icons. The stylised icons are a nice idea, but they are useless in terms of differentiating units. I am planning to make new icons using the 3D art. I've settled on this design:

It shouldn't take too long to create these for all the units - it is just a question of repeating the process over and over.

 

[davidlallen]

1.5 is all packed and ready to go. If a new set of unit buttons appears in the next 3-4 hours, I will splice it. But it is already late night England time.

 

[Deliverator]

Nevermind. They'll be ready for 1.5.1.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Nevermind. They'll be ready for 1.5.1.

Hmmm... seeing them, how do you create them? It's a nice style! Though I have to say, I'm not sure whether I'm a fan of the background, it looks a bit bland to me. What about a suitably coloured marble texture or something along these lines for the background?

Cheers, LT.