making an apocalyptic mod.

ghost toast

Prince
Joined
Apr 29, 2022
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in this forum i will post and discuss the progress of my mod.
i will post pictures of my model's progression starting with the base model and what i call a rough import.
a rough import will have the same dds texture file for every mesh as the ground decal.
i will post progress pictures of every model as they are being created.
i will build a base model then add street dressings/ and rubble piles.
then i will make the dss files very last until then every material will be same as the ground decal dds placeholder file.

after tile models i will then do units, then the coding.

i don't have a name for it yet but i will dub this Project Aftermath.

it will be after a nuclear apocalypse, a fallout/mad max style setting.

the first era will focus on surviving and scavaging the ruins and reclaiming old technology from the modern era.

then progressing into a futuristic/steampunk/sci-fi era focused on rebuilding the world.

Spoiler first ruins :

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*edit*

i have added a few things i have not made. that i have found here and there over the years.
I would say i have only made the uncolored ruins 1-6 and project Eden and DC nothing else as to this point. the rest are of various other artists that i do not know and cant remember where it came from
 

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each one could be a little smaller but i'm happy so far.
they don't line up just right yet, but the general idea is to spread them out on a map like forests.

ill be making more models then adding rubble, vehicles, street lights ect... then the dds files.
the models are still incomplete but you can see what im going for here.

Well here's the gr2 if you want to have a look. set to 0.01 scale
1.0 scale will be beyond huge
The models are still incomplete.

also every mesh needs a dds file to be loaded into the game. you can use any dds, but my models can contain 90-170 meshes so that can be a pain. 1 of the reasons im doing dds files last for the models not after i build each one i want to just bang these out real quick then move onto all that good stuff like the unwrap and material settings and the dds.
when i do the dds files with how divided the meshes are will make the models look so great and detailed, i cant wait i might do 1 early.
 

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ruins number 4
this ruins model is meant to look like an urban residential area.
it contains over 300 meshes so far.
i wonder how many meshes can be placed in a single tile.
how much data can be imported into civ im sure ill hit these issues eventual.

Spoiler ruins 4 picture :

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you can see at the front most buildings some things are wrong you may also notice this is happening with a few of my other models like the large model with the unit standing in the building in a previous post
this is happening because i have flip objects around and inverted a few things. this has caused texture/material surface to flip inside out in a few areas its nothing that cant be fixed i just have not done so yet. this is causing certain things at certain angle to not be visible.
at a later date ill fix those to show up on the correct side and and making some double sided. that will be done around the same time i do the dds files.
these imports are only for me to see the model in game in various stages of my progress.


sorry this is so late i meant to post it yesterday but i ran into some trouble with it importing to civ and had to spend last night and some of today figuring that out.
i probably wont do another model today maybe tomorrow night ill have another.

update* i initially put the wrong file up here is the correct 4th ruins file
 

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i have also cracked the code for changing city graphics ill post some pictures for those 1 day when i come up with models for them.
unfortunately that part will have to be a dlc mod, that will have to be dropped into the correct dlc folder like the mod terrain texture enhancement 2k mod found here https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/terrain-texture-enhancement-2k.570307/
i have yet to figure out how to change these models outside of civ's game files

i wont be rushing into that aspect yet, very little testing has been done about this yet, but i have replaced the capital with things and i have changed the city building graphics but to nothing new, i only remade the amer_anc_city gr2 file but with asia city meshes. that was just to test how to set up the city gr2 models correctly. eventually ill make different scrap building city sets to fit my mod. when i go to do this part i will make and post a city graphics template for all cultures for who those want to make their own and ill make a new thread some where specifically for those templates.
its not as complicated as you think it needs 20 models set up with specific names.
but that's where the testing comes in. is it the models names, mesh names, vertex names, or it even the index number probably not, but idk yet.
 
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i need some help deciding something could you all help?

im not sure how or if i should do specific areas of importance.

Should i do recreation Washington dc?
Should it be the whole thing or just certain building white house, pentagon, capital building, Lincoln memorial, Jefferson memorial and some other fitting architecture
should it just be a ruins tile, or should certain buildings be natural wonders? (some natural wonders might will be pre-apocalyptic architecture i haven't decided yet)

Would dc be better as a natural wonder or a just a normal ruins tile?

I could even make 1 or some of those buildings the capital (replacing the palace model) of a civilization. for example i could make the pentagon a palace and make a faction that rips off fallout 3's brotherhood of steal.

if i do it as a ruins tile should i try to put it all on 1 tile. i thinking it might take 2 or 3 to be done properly. either way its not much of a problem it wouldn't be the first wonders that are next to each other it could be similar to the great barrier reef but on land and using more then 1 model. where and the barrier reef is 1 models placed adjacent to one another.

i have a few quickly gotten reference pictures of dc from the sky maybe they can help.

Spoiler pictures :














i also wouldn't be opposed to making dc a giant crater. making it completely destroyed during the apocalypse or making it with many craters leaving 1 or 2 building standing.
What would you guys like to see, you say it ill try like hell to do it.

are there any building you'd like to see ruined/destroyed?
i need more model ideas if any one has any.

i could also use apocalyptic world wonders ideas.
what great feats of engineering can be made during the apocalypse.
remember in this mod we will be going from building on ruins to tearing them down and rebuilding the world in later eras.
So also look to the future for ideas too not everything will be rubble and ruins it will just start that way.

another thing i want to ask every one if any one is even interested.
Should my game take place across the world or just in the USA or should it be a world that has nothing to do with ours?

this mod isnt going to happen over night lol.
i'm completely overhauling everything. hopefully it wont feel like civ afterwards but a new game.

feel free to throw any ideas or thoughts you have my way, i could use them. anything ideas you guys give or tell me will greatly speed up this process. if not my progress will be slow but steady.
 
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another BIG question i could use help on.

Should the mod contain tree features or should they be removed?
Should i keep them but modify the placement to place less tree tiles?
Should i mod the density of the tree tiles themselves making the number of trees per tile less?

What should i do about the trees. something or nothing?
 
i guess i should talk a little about my ideas for the mod.

Era 1 will be the blood and rubble era. (its a bad name some one help me name it lol)
it will focus on making savaging camps improvements. various ruins will give small amounts of resources/yields and ect with scavenging camps.
this will be done by making a scavenging camp per ruin tile i make. naming them in game as the same camp but they will all be different with the same named improvement and the same sort of look. this is done so certain ruins can give food/science/money/resources/weapons and ect but still use a scavengers camp named improvement. giving 1 improvement the appearance of having a lot of variety of yields.
then on top of that ill be making resources for this era the resources will be abandoned building like warehouses, military installations and research facilities. i will also make some resources destroyed vehicles, planes and other destroyed "old war" relics.
Era 1 combat will consist of melee units and gunpowder units, progressing into artillery, missiles, and phasing out of melee combat.
everything above melee will require strategic resources giving melee units an early game purpose leading into the end of that era.
ending the era combat wise with rebuilding old war vehicles

Era 2 to will the reconstruction era
This era will involve researching technology that will allow you to remove ruins and make new tile improvements. giving the appearance of rebuilding the world.
this era will consist of re-engineering more pre-war technology taking you fully to the modern era combat system and a little beyond.

Era 3 will be the last war era.
tensions will be increased, ideologies will be founded, the fate of the new world is in your hands.

how will the world be rebuilt, through co-operation, or through force?
will you bring culture back to civilization or more war?
What will the future of humanity look like?
This era will decide the future, will it be built on your ideas and philosophies or another's?

for this era i want to redo the ideologies and maybe even look into adding more ideologies, taking a small inspiration from civilization beyond earth.
i've seen a mod that allows you to take 2 ideologies perhaps ill look into how he did that idk yet. he did it by allowing you to take half of each ideology tenets. i kinda like that idea.

i do have the unit models i'm using for each era. when i do the units ill see how many i can reskin and add meshes too to make some new units, figures crossed i'ver never tried it.
i have a ton of units if i can master changing out their weapons i can have even more.
besides collecting my models i haven't done much on units yet.

i have played around with fx triggers and civilization's visual effects for a long time in my other private projects. i have never posted any of my new effects but i have some locked in the idea vault for this project
there are so many effects that can be used as other effects with simple rotation and scaling. Civ even has some unused effects if you look hard enough.
Things you never thought would be an effect if done and combined right look awesome.
 
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sorry i haven't posted any ruin progress for a few days i havent been able to find the time i got a little busy the last week.

So ill show off some units i have already made. im not going to get to the bulk of all the units im going to use until i finish making ruins tiles but here's a few i have laying around.

Spoiler First super mutants :

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Spoiler Glowing Ghoul 1 :

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I'm on the fence about giving civilizations feral ghouls i definitely will be adding it for barbs.
if you had to choose 1 glowing ghoul for the barbarians which one would it be?

if i do give feral ghouls to a civilization what model glowing ghoul should the civilization get?
 
im very indecisive if any one wants to help me decide on a few things.
feel free to comment tell me what you'd like to see in an apocalyptic mod.
tell me what i'm missing, tell me what i need, tell me what you don't like about what i've shown so far.
And please give me some model ideas to build.
 
Spoiler Ruins tile 5 :

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still no dds files.
i forgot to put a ground decal mesh on this one, but it will have streets and a large parking lot when i'm done.
 
I tried making a gr2 file to replace the trees it did not go to well. As I thought the way I'm doing it now might be the only way to do this.
The forest gr2 consists of 20 tree meshes. I was able to change them to different models but it doesn't take well to the new dds for some reason and no matter what puts the forest dds over it. Idk why.
I thought it was worth a try I could have sped this process up a lot faster by making replacement models for the forests instead of individual ruins tiles. I thought I could just do like I did for the city set model replacements I'm working on but it didn't work out for me. The models changed but the dds did not it seems to be wired and not using the materials and dds added by Nexus mod buddy. Only option would be to replace the forest dds it uses but that would make all the meshes use the same dds I can't do that for these it'll look almost as terrible as they do now.

But on the bright side pictures of my first city set graphics set will be posted in a few days.
It will be the first models for that I've done.
I know it can be done. I just need to work out how it's going to be placed and all. I need to where and when the 20 city buildings models in the gr2 are placed.
Just to make sure it looks right and to see what of the 20 models spawn when and where as the city grows.
So my first few pics Might look a little off.
But it will show me axactly which models I should switch around and resign meshes to to get a desired look and growth.
I'm pretty close to having my 20 models picked out and set up for the first city set replacement. This set will be a starting era set for America culture it will replace the ancient era set with some apocalyptic scrap building, ruined buildings, and some still somewhat livable old buildings.
Hopefully it starts with a few ruined and old livable building then as the city grows it will then spawn the scrap buildings I hope 1 of the many things I need to test out.
 
I also still need to do many many more ruins tiles I thinking I might need around 20+ for a great diverse look. Stretching from city to rural areas to industrial areas to areas with fancy architecture.
Then I also need to come up with and make natural wonders. I'm thinking stuff like the Pentagon, maybe an acid lake could be 1, a giant crater could be another.
Should I use architecture from around the world or just from the USA that I don't know about. If I did do world wide architecture the pyramids could be another, the un could be another. But I'd also need some non architecture wonder ideas.
 
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