Graphics Modification Requests Thread

[raystuttgart]

Hi guys,

I am looking for "quality graphics" to create "Large Rivers" (technical concept see here).
(It is for our Civ4Col mod "We the People" - but once the graphics exist, they could be used for Civ4BTS as well.)

It is not going to be a "River Type", it is actually going to be a "Terrain Type" (and a "Plot Type").
(For explanations on that, please read the technical concept linked.)

In our development team, we would have the skills to do the coding.
(We have at least 3 really experienced programmers on board.)

But currently we completely lack the necessary graphical skills in our team ...
(We would really like to make it look good.)

------

I know that "Strategic Rivers" mod comp exist, but there are reasons why we do not want to use it as a base.
(Our concept looks completely different and we really want to use better graphics.)

So if there is any skilled graphical modder that would like to cooperate with us, please contact us.
(And of course once it is implemented we would share it with anybody interested - like we always do.)

Of course, if there are skilled programmers interested to cooperate, we would also appreciate.
(This "feature project" will be quite some work and any help is appreciated.)

------

Thanks in advance for any offer to help.

 

[raystuttgart]

For our feature "Large Rivers" we are looking for the following 2 graphics that might already exist.

It is a Civ4Col game, so the graphics should fit the colonial time period.
Those graphics are placed on a Water Terrain.

1. Improvement graphics for a "Raft Station" (that allows to cross a Large River)
2. Terrain Feature graphics for "Sand Banks" (that allows to cross a Large River)

@Zeta Nexus has kindly offered to help us with this, but maybe such graphics already exist and can save him some effort.

All help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[<Nexus>]

Yep, that's me.
I have a problem with the attached files:
I tried to render the graphics bellow water but failed so far.
I was editing Z coordinates in Nifscope but in the game it either disappeared or nothing happened. I tried -5 and -10. Maybe I was looking at the wrong place?

 

[SaibotLieh]

Yep, that's me.
I have a problem with the attached files:
I tried to render the graphics bellow water but failed so far.
I was editing Z coordinates in Nifscope but in the game it either disappeared or nothing happened. I tried -5 and -10. Maybe I was looking at the wrong place?

From the kf files I can see that the nodes 'cultivated', 'wild', 'master' and 'master NonAccum' will be set to certain values, so any changes in the nif will most likely be overwritten. Maybe if you add a dummy node between 'master' and 'master NonAccum' and change the z with that node you get an effect in-game.

Since the texture uses the Alpha channel for transparency and the meshes have therefore a NiAlphaProperty node, you might run into trouble with everything that is located below water level, since I think water does something similar and overlaying transparency can cause problems. But that is only a guess from my side. You can test if this is causing your graphics to disappear by removing the NiAlphaProperty from the meshes.

 

[<Nexus>]

Since the texture uses the Alpha channel for transparency and the meshes have therefore a NiAlphaProperty node, you might run into trouble with everything that is located below water level, since I think water does something similar and overlaying transparency can cause problems. But that is only a guess from my side. You can test if this is causing your graphics to disappear by removing the NiAlphaProperty from the meshes.

I don't see any NiAlphaProperty

From the kf files I can see that the nodes 'cultivated', 'wild', 'master' and 'master NonAccum' will be set to certain values, so any changes in the nif will most likely be overwritten. Maybe if you add a dummy node between 'master' and 'master NonAccum' and change the z with that node you get an effect in-game.

Attach Node or Attach Parent Node? Where exactly should it be?
Sorry for being so lame

 

[SaibotLieh]

I don't see any NiAlphaProperty
View attachment 571881


Attach Node or Attach Parent Node? Where exactly should it be?
Sorry for being so lame

No worries at all.

You need to go a bit deeper in the node structure to reach the mesh (NiTriStrips) node: Scene Root - master - wild - Plane03. Plane03 then has a NiAlphaProperty node as child.

About the dummy node, this is what I would do with my NifSkope (Version 1.1.3): Right-click on the 'master' node, then Node -> Attach Node. Choose a NiNode and call it something like "Dummy_master NonAccum". Add the 'master NonAccum' node as a child to that node and then remove it child-status from the 'master' node. For more details, maybe this old post of mine might be helpful: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/swedish-carolean.420758/#post-10456518

 

[<Nexus>]

No, that didn't work unfortunately
But thank you for your help. I greatly appreciate it

 

[<Nexus>]

So I tried something totally different but ran into a problem again
Can someone tell me why these sand-like colours in GIMP...

...turn to cyan in Col???

EDIT:
It looks good even in Nifscope:

 

[raystuttgart]

So I tried something totally different but ran into a problem again

Is it stil a Terrain Feature?

Can someone tell me why these sand-like colours in GIMP...
...turn to cyan in Col???

It might be because the Water (added by Civ4Col graphics engine) above is transparent Light Blue.

Light Blue + Yellow = Cyan
(depends on the mixture rate)

@Zeta Nexus:
By the way:
That "Cyan" Colour is also exactly what happens in reality if flat Blue Water is above Yellow Sand.

See here:

 

[<Nexus>]

Is it stil a Terrain Feature?

A kind of forest from Planet fall mod.

It might be because the Water Terrain below is Dark Blue.

Dark Blue + Yellow = Cyan (basically somewhere between Blue and Green)
(depends on the mixture rate)

But the largriver terrain's color is unchanged.

 

[raystuttgart]

But the largriver terrain's color is unchanged.

I know, but

• the Water itself is transparent blue (Water and Water effects added by Civ4Col Water graphic engine)
  
• the yellow sand is below it (due to heightmaps of our new Civ4Col Terrain Large Rivers) on which this new Terrain Feature is placed on

So the 2 colours mix. (see my picture above)
At least that is my current explanation. (might be wrong with it though)

So nothing wrong is happening:
Actually you are probalby on a good and realistic way.

You might just need to tune the colours a bit (e.g. making the yellow a bit darker) in the .dds so the mixture will become a tiny bit less cyan.
If you then also succeed putting a flat "sand hill" in the .nif graphics that sticks out of the water, it is probably perfect.

Edit:
I also corrected my post here.
(What I had written first was misleading.)

 

[<Nexus>]

I think you are completely wrong in this regard, because even those parts of the model that are out of water (see red circles) are also cyan.
OTOH the sandy part of the coast (blue circles) not, although under the water.

 

[raystuttgart]

I think you are completely wrong in this regard, because even those parts of the model that are out of water (see red circles) are also cyan.

Ok.
It just seemed plausible to me, but of course I am not a graphics expert.
Sorry for misleading then.

 

[SaibotLieh]

I know you can have a colour change if you have a some wrong settings with gloss or shaders, but that normally goes pink and is probably both not activated for a terrain feature. Maybe the NiMaterialProperty of the mesh is set to colourise the mesh? You could try to exchange that with a NiMaterialProperty from a vanilla terrain feature.

 

[<Nexus>]

I know you can have a colour change if you have a some wrong settings with gloss or shaders, but that normally goes pink and is probably both not activated for a terrain feature. Maybe the NiMaterialProperty of the mesh is set to colourise the mesh? You could try to exchange that with a NiMaterialProperty from a vanilla terrain feature.

It actually has 15+1 nif files:

Can boundshape.nif be in control of all the rest?
I hope I don't need to edit them all individually.

 

[<Nexus>]

Here's what I see in fungus01_01.nif:

I'm not an expert but that shows me no colouring.

 

[SaibotLieh]

I think boundshape has to do something with NifViewer, but is not important for Civ 4: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/boundshape-nif.363243/

Normally objects in Civ 4 consist only of one nif. How do your xml entries look like?

Edit: Okay, I had a quick look myself in the CIV4FeatureInfos.xml file and it seems like the graphics are defined in "SymbolPaths".

<SymbolPaths>
               <SymbolPath>Art/Terrain/Features/Jungle/Jungle</SymbolPath>
           </SymbolPaths>

And I guess it randomly chooses one of the numbered "Jungle" nif files if Civ4 wants to display a jungle feature. So yes, if you need to change something in the nif files, you would need to change it in all of them.

 

[SaibotLieh]

Here's what I see in fungus01_01.nif:
View attachment 572019
I'm not an expert but that shows me no colouring.

Hm, looks okay as far as I can tell. It has no NiAlphaController, but I think that is not really necessary.

Edit: At least that is the case for Civ 4, it might be the case that Colonization does things differently in some ways.

 

[<Nexus>]

Hm, looks okay as far as I can tell. It has no NiAlphaController, but I think that is not really necessary.

Edit: At least that is the case for Civ 4, it might be the case that Colonization does things differently in some ways.

Yes, I just checked it. In Conflict on Chiron it works as intended. Damn...

 

[<Nexus>]

Could someone create a Fushimi Inari shrine wonder model?
I don't need the building to be the same (reusing jingu building model is fine for me) but the torii path would be important. The best solution would be if it could work like an Aqueduct - placing the shrine part on the nearest hill/peak and running a torii path to it from the city.

Something like this:

Spoiler :

Anyone?
I have created a wonder movie for it already: Fushimi Inari (16sec)