Infinite Terrain Pack

[Crion87]

This is gonna be one extremely useful pack for my own mod projects. Kudos!

 

[rightfuture]

Awesome find. Hope it makes it's way into C2C.
Looking forward to see what I can do with it.

 

[Darthrafael]

Sorry if I sound stupid, but how do I make this work for Civilization IV without replacing another terrain?

 

[orlanth]

rightfuture Awesome find. Hope it makes it's way into C2C.
Looking forward to see what I can do with it.
Mar 04, 2013 05:53 AM
Crion87 This is gonna be one extremely useful pack for my own mod projects. Kudos!

Thank you! I hope so many new terrains will help reinvigorate development of new total conversion mods in Civ4 and Civ4Col. Some modded terrains have already made it into the new Battle for Barsoom mod by keldath which should be in alpha soon so be sure to check it out . I'd be interested to hear of any new mods getting made that incorporate some of these - no need to credit me since I don't care about that & didn't draw them myself anyway

Darthrafael Sorry if I sound stupid, but how do I make this work for Civilization IV without replacing another terrain?

It's pretty easy once you get familiar with the basics of XML - if you're new to XML, you can look over some tutorials such as here. If you're new to Civ4 modding, you can check out the XML Reference page and there are some Civ-specific tutorials there.

Basically, to make a new terrain open your mod's copy of Assets/XML/Art/CIV4ArtDefines_Terrain.xml in a text editor and make a duplicate of any chunk from <TerrainArtInfo> to </TerrainArtInfo>, then replace the text between <Type> and </Type> with a new art name (e.g <Type>ART_DEF_TERRAIN_SWAMP</Type> ). Then open your mod's copy of Assets/XML/Terrain/CIV4TerrainInfos.xml in a text editor, make a duplicate of any chunk from <TerrainInfo> to </TerrainInfo>, and update <ArtDefineTag> to use the art name you just defined. If modding in Civ4, make sure to use the instructions and extra zip file from the top post on this thread. You can look at the modiki page for civ4terraininfos.xml to see the various ways you can customize your new terrain using just XML editing. Good luck and happy modding!

 

[Darthrafael]

Okay, I managed to add a new terrain type, but whatever I do, this is what I get: http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/DarthrafaelM/media/Civ4ScreenShot0002_zpsea64f7c6.jpg.html

 

[The_J]

In the XML file, add your new terrain BEFORE the hills and mountains, then it should work.

 

[Darthrafael]

In the XML file, add your new terrain BEFORE the hills and mountains, then it should work.

Thanks! It worked!

 

[Darthrafael]

Could you please make me a sky texture? A blue sky with some clouds would be good. I would really appreciate it if you could do that.
I want to be able to replace sea with this texture.

 

[orlanth]

Ok, here you go! (converted from http://textures101.com/textures/Nature/Sky/2011/7/4/tn1_4718496431c27c8e1a74oseamless_rvodf.jpg)

To make a new terrain texture, first find a seamless graphic you want to use (e.g. google image search for "seamless sky texture"), then open it in GIMP or Photoshop, resize to 512 x 512 pixels, and save as a dds file. (select DXT3 and no Mipmaps as options while saving.)

Are you going to make a total conversion mod with land masses suspended in a "sea" of sky? Colonization 2071 uses a sea of space in a similar way.. Sounds like fun & I'll look forward to it!

 

[Darthrafael]

Well, right now I'm just trying things out, but I might make a full mod later on, thanks for the file!

 

[tesb]

(select DXT3 and no Mipmaps as options while saving.)

i heavily advice against that:
First you need no alpha layer for the detail textures, meaning you can use DXT1 and save about 50% memory. Secondly you absolutely need mipmaps for terrain!

If you do not have mipmaps you will get aliasing artifacts, especially on lower resolutions. And especially when zooming. The reason is that one tile takes on fourth of the texture, i.e. 256*256, but the actual tile on your monitor is usually much smaller, so the computer has to manually scale the texture meaning it takes more resources to render (this is minor) and you will get constant flickering due to recalculations if the size of the tile changes on your monitor (mostly due to zooming). on higher resolution this is not as noticeable (but still is to a degree even for 1900*1200) because the tile size roughly approaches the texture size.

personally i only advice using no mipmaps for textures that do not change in size, i.e. static 2d images, like custom leaders, events, buttons, interface and so on.

 

[orlanth]

Hmm thanks tesb, I didn't know that! TBH I'm not entirely sure what settings I'd used when exporting these in Photoshop, so I posted the default DDS export settings on my copy currently. Are there any other particular settings you'd recommend? Photoshop shows plenty of export options & subscreens where I'm not sure what to choose (Mip Map Filtering, Fading Mip Maps, Normal Map Settings, etc etc).

I actually did add an alpha channel to some of these terrains for use in Colonization; mostly the ones with lakes/pools of water or shiny gem or metal deposits, where I selected the "highlights" brightness range in Photoshop and saved that as an alpha channel. In Civ4Col that works with the shader system to give a "glistening" specular effect like the water as the light source & camera move, which turned out rather nicely if I say so myself But in base Civ4 that doesn't seem to have any effects as you mention.

 

[tesb]

if you use dxt3 you always have an alpha layer (default = all white), dxt1 never has an alpha layer.

Are there any other particular settings you'd recommend?

i save textures as follows:

no alpha layer -> dxt1
alpha layer with soft gradients (lots of gray) -> dxt5
alpha layer with hard gradients (black/white) -> dxt3


is static 2d image (e.g. button, leader head,ui, ...) -> no mipmaps
is texture for a 3d model (also terrain) -> with mipmaps

i don't have any experience with col. though.

 

[primem0ver]

I am getting a problem with these textures. When placed on textures from the same mod, they don't blend with surrounding textures and the actual place that gets changed is often offset from the plot I place the texture on.

 

[orlanth]

Hi primem0ver,
That's odd, I haven't encountered that issue.
Did you try TheJ's tip above (add your new terrain before the hills and mountains in CIV4artdefines_terrain.xml)? Also try adjusting the <LayerOrder> tags of your terrains so they're different from each other and in ascending order.

 

[primem0ver]

Thanks. The layer assignment was the problem. Mine were all the same.

 

[BenZL43]

Do you take requests?

I'd like to see a strait as a graphic tile, so it's a 1 tile of plain with slightly wider river in the middle. It could then be adjusted to be a land tile but also passable to naval units or vice versa.

 

[orlanth]

Sorry, I wouldn't at all know how to draw something like that myself from scratch lol. However many of the terrain types in the Fertile pack have mixed land and water, you could trying using one of those for ship passable lands if you like.

 

[cfan]

Can anyone add upload or paste xml file with the required settings at the default location "C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Complete" I can not understand the instructions


I added that information before the hills, and I do not know what to do next (my folder textures location C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Complete\Assets\Art\Terrain\Textures\fertile):
</TerrainArtInfo>
<TerrainArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_TERRAIN_AGRARIAN</Type>
<Path>Art/Terrain/Textures/Fertile/LandBlend.dds</Path>
<Grid>Art/Terrain/Textures/Fertile/LandGrids.dds</Grid>
<Detail>Art/Terrain/Textures/Fertile/Agrarian.dds</Detail>
<LayerOrder>80</LayerOrder>
<TextureBlend01>8,0</TextureBlend01>
<TextureBlend02>1,0</TextureBlend02>
<TextureBlend04>6,0</TextureBlend04>
<TextureBlend08>5,0</TextureBlend08>
<TextureBlend03>2,0</TextureBlend03>
<TextureBlend06>10,0</TextureBlend06>
<TextureBlend12>12,0</TextureBlend12>
<TextureBlend09>9,0</TextureBlend09>
<TextureBlend07>3,0</TextureBlend07>
<TextureBlend14>14,0</TextureBlend14>
<TextureBlend13>11,0</TextureBlend13>
<TextureBlend11>4,0</TextureBlend11>
<TextureBlend10>7,0</TextureBlend10>
<TextureBlend05>13,0</TextureBlend05>
<TextureBlend15>15,0 16,0</TextureBlend15>
</TerrainArtInfo>
<TerrainArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_TERRAIN_HILL</Type>
<Path>Art/Terrain/Textures/HillBlend.dds</Path>
<Detail>Art/Terrain/Textures/IceDetail.dds</Detail>
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/BaseTerrain/Hill.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/BaseTerrain_TerrainFeatures_Atlas.dds,4,1</Button>
<LayerOrder>79</LayerOrder>
<TextureBlend01>8,0</TextureBlend01>
<TextureBlend02>1,0</TextureBlend02>
<TextureBlend04>6,0</TextureBlend04>
<TextureBlend08>5,0</TextureBlend08>
<TextureBlend03>2,0</TextureBlend03>
<TextureBlend06>10,0</TextureBlend06>
<TextureBlend12>12,0</TextureBlend12>
<TextureBlend09>9,0</TextureBlend09>
<TextureBlend07>3,0</TextureBlend07>
<TextureBlend14>14,0</TextureBlend14>
<TextureBlend13>11,0</TextureBlend13>
<TextureBlend11>4,0</TextureBlend11>
<TextureBlend10>7,0</TextureBlend10>
<TextureBlend05>13,0</TextureBlend05>
<TextureBlend15>15,0 16,0</TextureBlend15>
</TerrainArtInfo>
</TerrainArtInfos>
</Civ4ArtDefines>

 

[tanish]

LINK TO mod is down, plz reupload link

@tesb I like your terrain pack can u please share textures set I can see from your screens (this thread)