[C4:AC][Programming][Graphics] Terrain textures

[Rubin]

gkclarkson, just tested the hi_res texture. While scaled to fit the look of Planet rainy tiles better, it does produce some odd effects.

In particular, the terrain texture changes when zooming in and out--looks like some kind of transition effect. Additionally, the grid pattern of the surface is now very apparant--as if each tile is textured individually.

Perhaps cut the size of the texture to match the original grassland.dds--after all, what I did was to simply copy & paste the original SMACX textures into the grassland.dds texture, and because of the size of the original textures, I had to paste the copies several times in order to fill out the entire texture.

Please note that I left the alpha channel as default.

Oh, and your 3d graphics are very convincing, gkclarkson!

[GeoModder]

Thanks for the link, Rubin and Illuminatus.

[gkclarkson]

yeah.. I think i'll probably stick with the 3d stuff, and leave the 2d work to others

[wgabrie]

I haven't loaded anything into Civ 4 yet. Has anyone decided on a mod directory layout? I'm feeling left out. Also, how are you guys placeing the files so the game reads them? I don't yet understand how to pack files.

Anyway, I see in the screenshots that the textures aren't lining up. Can we put symbols or doodles on each texture to find where they show up in the game? I'm also curious, I've uploaded a picture showing the alpha mask, maybe we can see if the top half the file is only used for transitions.

[Rubin]

wgabrie, I've unpacked the entire graphics file "Art0.FPK" into a folder on my desktop and use the same file structure when adding new graphics to the mod. When replacing a specific graphics part, I simply add the new file in a mod directory--no need to pack anything. This seems to override the particular file within the "Art0.FPK" file. So far, I see no reason to change the default folder/file structure.

The 3 textures I've worked on here are easy to indentify in the game, but you can add symbols to the texture to maybe help identify exactly which part of the texture is use on particular tiles. A similar procedure could be applied to the alpha masks.

However, I've only looked into the *blend.dds files. I am sure there are additional files used for texturing a single tile.

You can try adding the 3 files I've uploaded into a new mod folder and see how they work (look) in the game.

The files were done very quickly, and my reasoning for changing the textures was that I simply could not sense anything of the SMACX atmosphere when trying out some of the other aspects I've been trying to mod.

(Particularly saddening was when Centauri Ecology was discovered and Deirdre's voice sounded for the first time in my Civilization IV. Those sunny textures really made me longing to revisit Planet.)

[Illuminatus]

You've already added voiceovers for technologies?

[GeoModder]

Wow, you really seem in a hurry to have the "bells and whisles" done Rubin.

[gkclarkson]

OMG!!!

We need a way to coordinate internal releases of the alpha
It sounds like we need a server or something

[wgabrie]

Can you guys give me a step by step walkthrough to get the textures into a mod folder and how to load them into Civ 4?

When I make a new folder in the Mod folder of Civ4 and put the DDS files into it, they don't show up when I load the mod from the game.

[Illuminatus]

Indeed, one of assignments should be documenting the process so that it can be repeated by others.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by wgabrie
When I make a new folder in the Mod folder of Civ4 and put the DDS files into it, they don't show up when I load the mod from the game.

I seem to be having the same problem with Rubin's files. The game says it loads them, but they never show up!


btw Happy B-Day wgabrie!


D

[wgabrie]

Originally posted by Darsnan
btw Happy B-Day wgabrie!

Thank you!

Anyway, as soon as I get some info on the texture placement I can begin testing the alpha mask.

[Rubin]

wgabrie, here is what I am doing to get the new textures to show up:

On my desktop, I have a "documents" folder. From this folder, place the 3 .dds files in:

...\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\MODS\SMACX Texture\Assets\Art\Terrain\Textures

I had to create the "SMACX Texture", "Assets", "Art", "Terrain" and "Textures" folders manually.

Earlier, I had a nasty series of crashes (and MODs failing to load properly) and spent a few hours figuring what was wrong. Eventually, I deleted the "cache" folder generated by the game and everything went smoothly after that.

I am running WinXP and just tried adding the .dds files using the procedure I just described. The textures show up fine when I load the "SMACX Texture" MOD.

Perhaps you can add the textures to the main Civiliztion IV folder or even replace the original ones. However, I would not recommend messing with the original files.

I believe someone qualified should do a "How-to install the MOD" guide for the C4:AC project.

[wgabrie]

I still cannot get the graphics to show up in the game screen. Are you loading the "SMAX textures" MOD then opening a single player game to take screen shots? Because that's what I'm doing and it just shows the original Civ4 terrain.

I have already made my test image but can't load it. Can one of you do me a favor by converting this to DDS and testing this file in Civ 4? Post screenshots if you can. I'm especially interested in transition points between differant terrains.

moist2test.gif (98 KB)

[Rubin]

wgabrie, I am doing exactly what you describe you do to get the textures into the game. Of course, you need not have the grid showing in the game (that is a different texture)--but I believe you already know that. Also, delete the Civ4 cache folder (in documents & settings)--that cache folder caused me a lot of problems.

Maybe try adding the correct folder and file to an already existing MOD and try from there? There really is no point in me trying to provide new textures if I am the only one able to load them into the game.

Here's an example of how your texture looks (I should have used the default terrain, sorry). This part of the map had the most "transition" tiles:

Edit: Did a few extra screenshots using default terrain.

Edit 2: Images deleted.