[MOD] Mountains and Hills

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Nystul
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:31 am

Re: [MOD] Mountains and Hills

Post by Nystul »

Yagiza wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 2:26 pm Hello!
Can anyone explain a difference between this mod and Distant Terrain? The only difference I noticed so far is that Distant Terrain mod is unusabale now, 'cause I can't visit Castle Darregfall (and probably other dungeons with stairs at the entrance), cause when I leave it, my character falls through the stairs and I cannot get out anymore. There is no such bug with Monutains and Hills mod.
But for some reason, Distant Terrain is recommended. So, I wonder, why? What other differences I didn't notice yet?
I think it is a matter of taste - the terrain sampler strategy to create heights is just a bit different.

distant terrain tries to create coherent heights for the whole iliac bay region (see this post: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10&start=30#p149)

furthermore distant terrain will enhance the view distance from default 3-4km from DFU by more than a factor of 10, by extending the near terrain with far terrain (less spatial heightmap resolution) - you could not just crank up the TerrainDistance of DFU since this will kill performance. so that's where Distant Terrain comes into play

see the Distant Terrain mod thread for more details on what it does: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10

some screenshots where you can see the increased view distance are here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10&start=350#p17971

when combining the mod with Realtime Reflections you get water reflections on the distant terrain as well (if no other mod overrides water metallic gloss textures): viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10&start=220#p4822

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Yagiza
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Re: [MOD] Mountains and Hills

Post by Yagiza »

Nystul wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 2:38 pm
Yagiza wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 2:26 pm Hello!
Can anyone explain a difference between this mod and Distant Terrain? The only difference I noticed so far is that Distant Terrain mod is unusabale now, 'cause I can't visit Castle Darregfall (and probably other dungeons with stairs at the entrance), cause when I leave it, my character falls through the stairs and I cannot get out anymore. There is no such bug with Monutains and Hills mod.
But for some reason, Distant Terrain is recommended. So, I wonder, why? What other differences I didn't notice yet?
I think it is a matter of taste - the terrain sampler strategy to create heights is just a bit different.

distant terrain tries to create coherent heights for the whole iliac bay region (see this post: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10&start=30#p149)

furthermore distant terrain will enhance the view distance from default 3-4km from DFU by more than a factor of 10, by extending the near terrain with far terrain (less spatial heightmap resolution) - you could not just crank up the TerrainDistance of DFU since this will kill performance. so that's where Distant Terrain comes into play

see the Distant Terrain mod thread for more details on what it does: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10

some screenshots where you can see the increased view distance are here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10&start=350#p17971

when combining the mod with Realtime Reflections you get water reflections on the distant terrain as well (if no other mod overrides water metallic gloss textures): viewtopic.php?f=27&t=10&start=220#p4822
Thank you for detailed explanation! I guess, it would be a nice idea to publish somewhere screenshos of Mountains and Hills vs Distant Terrain of the same place for comparison...
I think, I'll try to prepare such screenshots. Do anyone mind if I post them in this thread?

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Nystul
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Re: [MOD] Mountains and Hills

Post by Nystul »

I don't mind ;)

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pango
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Re: [MOD] Mountains and Hills

Post by pango »

Yagiza wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 2:26 pm Hello!
Can anyone explain a difference between this mod and Distant Terrain? The only difference I noticed so far is that Distant Terrain mod is unusabale now, 'cause I can't visit Castle Darregfall (and probably other dungeons with stairs at the entrance), cause when I leave it, my character falls through the stairs and I cannot get out anymore. There is no such bug with Monutains and Hills mod.
There was a regression like this in 0.10.1 and 0.10.2 of Daggerfall Unity, but you should get that issue independently of mods...
Make sure you make your tests with 0.10.4
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I am a Dinosaur
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Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:57 pm
Location: Daggerfall

Re: [MOD] Mountains and Hills

Post by I am a Dinosaur »

:D I uh..I uh..I uh.. *Crying Happily Inside of joy* Thank you! Thank you!

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