Graphical Quibbles...

[Slvynn]

PaintNET is awesome small programm which suppoert this format

 

[Lord Tirian]

Ditto for the nVidia-dds plugin that photoshop uses, it also allows various settings for the compression - the highest quality settings for DXT3 seem to work pretty well (at least for the Planetfall icons, I never noticed a big loss of quality, even for the more fiddly things).

Cheers, LT.

 

[Slvynn]

I gave you layer-separated pdf if you want it DTX3 you can make full set of icons with that PDF using AI + PS or CorelDRAW.

There is difference for 1 pixel contrast color dots. Please check icons that Deliverator attached. Check Sayaddina eyes. That mean if you use smaller size of DTX3 image which have some different color 1 pixel dot, it will dissapear from small version. It will "diffuse" . A1R5G5B5 preserve more details ,as well some contrast/accent pixel-size elements.
Also multicolor gradients (as our religious building backgrounds) are translated much better from vector fill original

 

[Deliverator]

Ditto for the nVidia-dds plugin that photoshop uses, it also allows various settings for the compression - the highest quality settings for DXT3 seem to work pretty well (at least for the Planetfall icons, I never noticed a big loss of quality, even for the more fiddly things).

Cheers, LT.

Maybe the Photoshop DTX3 export does a better job than the Paint.NET one. Paint.NET (which is all I've ever used to make DDSs) doesn't give any sub options for DTX3.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Okay, the interface fiddling is "finished". There are some tidbits I'm not sure about yet (some of the icons used feel a bit archaic, because they're the standard Civ icons, like the scroll or the sword & shield - though I replaced the Roman helmet), I'd like to change them, but I'm afraid it would make the interface confusing to players - but I'm rather happy with the look & feel of the rest (see the screenshots).

Now, this is a big thing that changes a lot of files (and I just adapted it to patch D) - so I don't want to say this is ready for use yet - the attached version works for me (tested with a fresh install), but that may not mean a lot; so I'd like people to test it (preferably people who actually play instead of mod most of the time, so they actually see most screens "live" ). Also, if somebody has a different resolution than mine (1280x1024), I'd also be interested in feedback. I attempted to make it work for everything better than 800x600 (which is the minimum for CivIV anyway, AFAIK), but... somebody needs to test it!

So, everybody interested, please try it out (but backup your Planetfall install before!) and tell me whether it works as intended.

EDIT: Just remembered that not everybody here is actually a modder, so short instructions: Extract the contents of the rar-file directly into your Planetfall v12 folder (also: back up that folder!), overwriting everything.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Maniac]

I LOOOOOOVE the new interface!

 

[Panopticon]

It works fine on my widescreen monitor, 1280x800.

 

[Lord Tirian]

...four downloads of the UI so far, 2 say it works, no complains... seems to work, though I wonder how it looks on a screen wider than 1280 pixels. I don't expect it to explode or something, it's just bigger than I can test it!

Another thing, I played the Dune Wars mod a bit and found a couple of Starcraft models that either from some abandoned Starcraft mod or were converted by Deliverator or Slvynn.

The Terran Factory seems like a pretty good model to me to replace the old Assembly Hall model, so I fiddled a bit with the texture (I dislike some of the glaring white bits, they were probably team colour or something) and added a foundation and shadow to the model (420 polys in total now).

I included the LSystem-file for it (based on the 12d-version), because the new shape is better suited to a different node than before, I also made the PK and Uni use the model as well, because the generic industry facility building is used a couple of times already and isn't really more fitting than this model. The file path is in line 2027 of the LSystem file in case you want to change it. A screenshot is attached as well.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Maniac]

Thanks 2!

 

[Keeper_GFA]

...four downloads of the UI so far, 2 say it works, no complains... seems to work, though I wonder how it looks on a screen wider than 1280 pixels.

If it's the UI included in v12f, then it works fine in HD. My only wish would be for the tech advisor to fill up more of the available screen space.

 

[Lord Tirian]

If it's the UI included in v12f, then it works fine in HD. My only wish would be for the tech advisor to fill up more of the available screen space.

Yep, it's the new HUD in v12f. For the tech advisor - isn't that the same as in vanilla Civ4 (and hence almost every other mod as well)?

Another thing: I'm trying to come up with something for the coral reef resource (model-wise), perhaps something like the fossil ridge from SMAC as general fossilised coral reef (sort of like the Monsoon Jungle became Planetfall's general jungle)? I attached a screenshot of a quick attempt at it...

Cheers, LT.

 

[Maniac]

Personally I don't see Coral Reefs as fossilized. They're alive, and a source of great biodiversity, which is why they give Health: high chances something with bio-engineering or medicinal use can be found.

 

[Maniac]

Not sure about the snow symbol, but I think I could recreate it, if I don't find it again.

Have you had any luck in refinding the snow symbol?

 

[Lord Tirian]

Personally I don't see Coral Reefs as fossilized. They're alive, and a source of great biodiversity, which is why they give Health: high chances something with bio-engineering or medicinal use can be found.

Hmm... I think the model can still serve as base for something better (and I don't want to put something underwater, fungus is there already). Perhaps with a more colourful and lively texture and some coral-like "flowers" on top of it...

Have you had any luck in refinding the snow symbol?

Ah, yes, I just didn't knew what tech category it was going into... now it's clear. I've attached it (plus two other ones, that are long overdue, though I think the superstring icon would fit antimatter pretty as well). By the way, the cryogenics at the current spot feel a bit strange and late... after all, the Unity sported a lot of cryogenics bay for the colonists (and having the Unity Cryogenics Bay wonder makes this doubly strange). Sounds more like a tech that could come a lot earlier.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Maniac]

Hmm... I think the model can still serve as base for something better (and I don't want to put something underwater, fungus is there already). Perhaps with a more colourful and lively texture and some coral-like "flowers" on top of it...

Yeah, a more lively texture should be enough.

I've attached it

Thanks.

If you wish, just imagine the word 'Advanced' in the tech name.
In case it isn't obvious (which would be good), the Cryogenics tech is the mix of two completely unrelated fields: Cryogenics and Cryobiology. I'm just making use of that name confusion to make the tech tree more interesting: have two tech themes interact.

Cryogenics being reachable with Gene Splicing and giving Bioenhancement Center is the Cryobiology part of the tech.

Cryogenics being reachable by Fusion Power (think cryocooled superconductors) and providing an air unit (precooled jet engines) is the real Cryogenics part of the tech tree.

If you can find a better name which still keeps the same interesting gameplay, I'm all for it. (But I doubt one can be found.)

 

[Lord Tirian]

A quick work-in-progress screenshot of a project I'm working on and off for a while now - and really got up to speed after the UI overhaul was finished: The Believers cityset.

Doing citysets is *hard*! It still lacks shadows and a ground texture... and I need a matching HQ, but before I do that, I'd like to get feedback first (doing shadows is drudgework, I'm not doing that for something that isn't well-liked! ).

Yeah, a more lively texture should be enough.

Okay, I'll see what I can come up with.

If you can find a better name which still keeps the same interesting gameplay, I'm all for it. (But I doubt one can be found.)

Nah, I think the name is actually fine, your explanations help a lot to "get" it... at some point somebody needs to gather all that stuff for the datalinks!

Cheers, LT.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Okay, I added the lot texture and went ahead to add the shadows... tell me how it looks. There's also a screenshot of the current state of the HQ for the Believers - it shares a texture with the cityset - so I want to release them together. Comments?

(by the way, I *hate* this green-yellow stink effect for unhealth... it messes up screenshots!)

Cheers, LT.

 

[Maniac]

Looks great! In your first post I thought there were too many of those little buildings with four err spires on each corner, but the screenshots in your second post look great.
(I'd rather see that little four-spired building removed. The larger one with a flat roof looks good to me though.)

Turn of Effects under Graphical Options to get rid of the yellow fumes.

 

[GeoModder]

Looks marvelous, Lord Tirian.

On the small four-spired building: if it isn't needed as part of the cityset it could always serve a purpose as a facility.

 

[Lord Tirian]

(I'd rather see that little four-spired building removed. The larger one with a flat roof looks good to me though.)

I modified it a bit and removed the spires and gave it a slightly curved roof to add some variety. I did like the spires, they give a bit of a cathedralesque feel, but I agree that this particular building looked a bit too pointy.

I've attached the cityset (art + XML-stuff) + the new HQ and screenshots of both as well. Word of caution: The xmls are still from 12f. AFAIK, the two modified xmls weren't changed for 12g, so it should still work (it does for me, as far as I can tell), but I'd rather mention it, in case I missed something.

EDIT: Just as info, the average polycount of a building is ~145 (the highest individual count is, IIRC 190ish). That's way better than the current Believers set (average of ~260 polys per building).

Cheers, LT.