Lunar Graphics Set

[Beer Engine]

** last updated 11 June 2002 **

This is the new graphic set for the Lunatic Fringe mod. Lunatic Fringe features exploration and colonization of the moon. (but there's a bit more to it than that...)

This terrain conversion does not feature one-for-one substitutions. I'm using the terrain set in a slightly different way, and exploiting the ways the files are set-up to make distinct earth and moon terrain. It will only work if you make some accomodations with your maps, and will look a bit odd if used with random or normal maps.

(The Lunatic Fringe will use a custom map, so for me this 'flaw' is not a serious drawback.)

The terrain set is incomplete, but there is a fairly big chunk of it done so far. Here's a check list for you.

(from the civ2/art/terrain directory)

Water: completed 30 May 2002
files wOOO.pcx, wSSS.pcx, wCSO.pcx

Coastal: completed 30 May 2002
xdgc.pcx, xdpc.pcx, xggc.pcx, xpgc.pcx, xtgc.pcx

Land: completed 30 May 2002
xdgp.pcx, xhills.pcx, Mountains.pcx; also hill forest.pcx, hill jungle.pcx, mountain forests.pcx, mountain jungles.pcx; also tnt.pcx

Foliage: completed 5 June 2002
grassland forests.pcx, plains forests.pcx, tundra forests.pcx

Irrigation + Rivers: completed 11 June 2002
deltaRivers.pcx, mtnRivers.pcx, irrigation.pcx, irrigation DESETT.pcx, irrigation PLAINS.pcx, irrigation TUNDRA.pcx
(check out the new screenshot further down the thread)

Roads + Rails: Next up -- hopefully done soon.
Floodplains: incomplete
Goody huts etc: incomplete

unchanged: pollution.pcx, FogOfWar.pcx, Territory.pcx
not used: Mountains-snow.pcx, polarICEcaps-final.pcx

By my count I have 25 files already modified and just 7 files left to work on. My new civ3/art/terrain folder is 80% complete!

The zip file includes the altered terrain files mentioned above. You can download it from geocities:
http://www.geocities.com/thebeerengine/civ3/

I'll see about uploading it to something a bit quicker and less picky than geocities if people have problems grabbing it.

some screenshots:
#1

 

[Beer Engine]

screenshot #2

 

[Beer Engine]

screenshot #3

 

[Beer Engine]

screenshot #4

 

[Beer Engine]

Now that you've seen how it looks, let me fill you in on equivalencies:

Ocean = Deep Space
Sea = High Orbit
Coast = Low Orbit

The reasoning here is that the two 'orbits' are valid for both settings, lunar and terran. Using the current coast/sea/ocean model, you can restrict the various space units so they operate only in low orbit, only in orbital (low & high) space, or fully functional across all space types.

Grassland = Earth

Desert = Maria (the dark lunar 'seas')
Plains = Lunar Highlands
Tundra = Crater Floors
Hills = Crater Rims
Mountains = Lunar Mountains

In my proposed mod, Earth is a peripheral player, so you can see there's a heavy bias toward lunar land forms. There will be a section of Earth along one side of the map, but it's a starting point, not a major goal. The lunar terrain type assignments were made because of the way some of the graphic files are set up -- obviously the food and shield values for the terrain types will be changed in the mod.

The next couple of terrain types are special, in that they won't represent natual land forms. Here's what I'm planning to take care of next:

forest = solar array
jungles = 'blighted earth'

Forests will not be on the map to begin with, but workers can still 'plant' them. I'll design some sort of solar panel graphic to represent this terrain type. The ubiquity of forests makes them handy for this; you should be able to set up a solar panel array on any flat terrain type.

The new 'jungles' will be a major pain in the behind. Acting as a sort of tenacious pollution, the blighted areas of earth can be cleared, but global warming will bring them back. (This is the only terrain type that global warming will effect.) Early on, the player will have an impetus to go to the moon, since the local Earth terrain will need to be redeveloped continuously.

Roads, railroads, goody huts & barb camps, fortresses, colonies, and other map overlays will be next. Rivers will also be modified (obviously, there is no running water on the moon, but still...) and no doubt there will be other odds and ends to take care of as well.

Any comments on the graphics? Post 'em here.

Any ideas for the Lunar Mod? Please post 'em in this thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23646

 

[Exsanguination]

nice

 

[malik]

Nice work....now you batter start working on MARS graphics...because NASA found water on the north pole of mars....that will be much more good....

 

[Ed O'War]

Looks great!

 

[Leonel]

That is awesome. It'd be neat to make like a "galaxy" map and have Civilizations expand with ships and stuff. OR a solar system map with the Earth and Mars and stuff.

 

[Beer Engine]

Additional Changes:

The Forests are now solar panels. Examples of the solar array (on both the moon and the earth) can be seen in the screenshot below.

Jungles have been changed to blighted earth terrain. These represent burnt out areas, and are different from normal pollution. A couple of polluted squares are also in the screenshot for comparison.

check out the new screenshot in the next post...

 

[Beer Engine]

This screenshot shows the new irrigation earthside, the new irrigation domes on the moon, along with ice and rivers, solar arrays, blighted earth and pollution.

I particularly like the dome with a tree in it.

It would seem that rivers and other overlays tend to sit on *top* of solar panels. That comes from using the forest tiles for panels. -- I'm not sure if I can work around that. It may be a permanent glitch, even in the finished mod. There is currently no way to add or change the overlays, at least, none that I know of.

...and before you start complaining that the lunar ice is too hard to see: Who said finding ice on the moon was going to be easy? I think the ice is just right. Ice will be found in specific areas on the moon, and once you know what you're looking at it is easy enough to spot.

(I will take a second pass at this to add some sort of shadow or baseline to the irrigation domes, so they look a little less like soap bubbles. Check back soon for updates.)

attachment:

 

[hahntsak]

i tried the link but file link doesnt work

 

[Sheik]

That irrigation looks great!
Cant wait for you to fix the link so I can download it.

 

[Sheik]

If someone else has this graphics set could you upload it so we can download it? Beer Engine hasn't posted in this thread since Jan 2002 and his website has become outdated.

 

[GIDustin]

I agree with Sheik. This is what I get for waiting until the bugs are worked out before downloading. . . .

GIDustin

 

[kring]

I agree with both of you as well.

 

[Morfos]

Link won't work.

 

[Corey]

Geocities sucks.Upload it on CFC!

 

[hahntsak]

Originally posted by Sheik
If someone else has this graphics set could you upload it so we can download it? Beer Engine hasn't posted in this thread since Jan 2002 and his website has become outdated.

i emailed himfrom his geocities site. he says he lost the file due to pc problem. he may have lost access to site.
response below:


Subject: civ3 lunar terrain

Hahn Tsak:> could you send me the file lunatics.zip?
BeerEngine:

E-mailed to meit doesn't appear on your geocities site. is the file name right?

yes, the file name is correct, but I no longer have that file.

sorry. It's been a year or more. I tried to keep up with it,
but I don't have the altered graphics files due to computer
problems at my end. hopefully someone on a civ3 fan site saved
the file, but I couldn't say where you'd be able to find it anymore.

 

[Morfos]

Originally posted by Corey<PHT>
Geocities sucks.Upload it on CFC!

I hope he attaches the download on this site.