Terrain [mod idea]

[jayhova]

So I was thinking about cities, towns, villages, etc., and how terrain was flattened to make them workable but then the terrain jumps back to a dramatic incline right at the border making for a somewhat immersion-breaking transition along a straight line. I was thinking wouldn't it be nice to instead have terrain gradually reassert itself as a sort of transition. This then got me to thinking about the different types of terrain and how the terrain textures are pretty much ignored by the terrain generator. So here is my thought in relation to three textures: Rocky, Grassy, Sandy.

• Rocky textures should always sit proud of other textures. The logic here is that the texture represents ground with no soil present on it. Over time erosion would wash dirt either on top of a rocky area (making it either sandy or grassy) or would wash any dirt away leaving the rock exposed. This means that the rocky area must be an area where soil cannot gather
• Grassy areas are composed of soil that is held together by vegetation. These areas can have a significant slope to them but not so much that erosion would wash away the topsoil underneath
• Sandy areas have no vegetation to prevent them from being flattened out by erosion. The more wet sand gets the more it is likely to flow. Sandy beaches have a very gentle slope to them as the wet sand is to a great extent self-leveling. Sandy areas outside of deserts tend to be quite flat or at least far less hilly than grassy areas. Sandy areas near water are likely

Let me know what you think

[monobelisk]

So I was thinking about cities, towns, villages, etc., and how terrain was flattened to make them workable but then the terrain jumps back to a dramatic incline right at the border making for a somewhat immersion-breaking transition along a straight line. I was thinking wouldn't it be nice to instead have terrain gradually reassert itself as a sort of transition. This then got me to thinking about the different types of terrain and how the terrain textures are pretty much ignored by the terrain generator. So here is my thought in relation to three textures: Rocky, Grassy, Sandy.

• Rocky textures should always sit proud of other textures. The logic here is that the texture represents ground with no soil present on it. Over time erosion would wash dirt either on top of a rocky area (making it either sandy or grassy) or would wash any dirt away leaving the rock exposed. This means that the rocky area must be an area where soil cannot gather
• Grassy areas are composed of soil that is held together by vegetation. These areas can have a significant slope to them but not so much that erosion would wash away the topsoil underneath
• Sandy areas have no vegetation to prevent them from being flattened out by erosion. The more wet sand gets the more it is likely to flow. Sandy beaches have a very gentle slope to them as the wet sand is to a great extent self-leveling. Sandy areas outside of deserts tend to be quite flat or at least far less hilly than grassy areas. Sandy areas near water are likely

Let me know what you think

I'm doing location smoothing much like you describe it in my mod Interesting Terrains, and to some degree, a distribution between rock and grass/dirt textures based on steepness. But the latter is very basic, and the alteration between grass and dirt is purely random. It would be interesting to make it more realistic at some point. Just to understand, your suggestion is that rock is for steep slopes and the top of peaks, grass is for less steep slopes and dirt/sand is for flat terrain and beaches?

[jayhova]

I'm doing location smoothing much like you describe it in my mod Interesting Terrains, and to some degree, a distribution between rock and grass/dirt textures based on steepness. But the latter is very basic, and the alteration between grass and dirt is purely random. It would be interesting to make it more realistic at some point. Just to understand, your suggestion is that rock is for steep slopes and the top of peaks, grass is for less steep slopes and dirt/sand is for flat terrain and beaches?

Here is the way to think about it:
Rocky areas are rocky because they are not covered in soil. Anywhere all the soil has washed away will be rocky. This means that all rocky areas must be proud of the surrounding area enough that soil could not cover them. So they will either be raised like part of giant boulder buried in the ground or part of a slope so steep that soil is washed away.

Green areas can be rolling or flat because the grass will hold the soil in place Areas that are too steep will suffer from erosion until rock is revealed.

Sandy areas have nothing to counteract the forces of erosion and will therefore be flatter especially when exposed to water. You can see the tendency of sandy areas to 'dish' in response to erosion, The majority in the sandy area is relatively flat then slopes up steeply at the edges. This is how sand traps at golf courses are constructed.

Storms_Response_Grain06[1].jpg (126.06 KiB) Viewed 1106 times

[Daniel87]

Having a though here: Would it be possible to have rivers and creeks flowing down through valleys into the ocean? I was thinking that the same way the streets are being generated between the cities and settlements, rivers could potentially be created, allowing for unique vegetation along rivers. In Deserts, this would look quite amazing, having palm trees and lush grass along the few existing rivers and oasis.