[MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

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Daniel87
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by Daniel87 »

Freak2121 wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 12:10 am I had no idea this mod is open source! I've been messing around and experimenting with it for the past day and I'm getting some pretty happy results.
Spoiler!
Before:
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After:
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The way the mod used RGB to differentiate between mountains, hills and deserts is quite elegant. I also love how it just reads PSB files, it makes editing the files very quick and easy. I don't know if I'll be able to generate a river map for the terrain in this mod, as it only loosely follows its base height map, mountains and such are generated in real-time. If someone is able to extract the generated height map of each cell, then I could definitely do it.
Please please please, improve this mod and bring it back to life, as my mod is also depending on it. The better or both mods work together, the more awesome Daggerfall will look in the end :D
In Julianos we Trust.

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Freak2121
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by Freak2121 »

I've worked on it a bit more.

Here's a comparison of the mod's vanilla map-files and my attempt to improve them:
Spoiler!
Image
I increased the draw distance to 11 cells (as opposed to the default of 3) to better showcase the results and it turned out so pretty that I actually spent 5 hours going all around the game-world to take in the sights.

Image

Image

Image

Image

More pictures here.

I would upload my version of the mod but I don't know how to do so while also respecting the original author. There's only four or five files that need changing, does anyone know how I might go about making a mod for a mod or something?

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Daniel87
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by Daniel87 »

Freak2121 wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 5:38 am I've worked on it a bit more.

Here's a comparison of the mod's vanilla map-files and my attempt to improve them:
Spoiler!
Image
I increased the draw distance to 11 cells (as opposed to the default of 3) to better showcase the results and it turned out so pretty that I actually spent 5 hours going all around the game-world to take in the sights.
Spoiler!
I would upload my version of the mod but I don't know how to do so while also respecting the original author. There's only four or five files that need changing, does anyone know how I might go about making a mod for a mod or something?
This will look so kick-ass with my mod, omg!
I have no idea about the legal implications, but from a technical point of view, the tutorials in this forum explain pretty well how to pack up the mod as dfmod file.

Does GitHub state anything about the legal status, if it can be reused, etc. ?

What exactly did you change in those 5 files? Was ist just some constants/variables or did you actually change any algorithms that generate the terrain or insert new algorithms?
In Julianos we Trust.

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Freak2121
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by Freak2121 »

I'm not on my computer right now so I can't be exact with the details, but all the files changed are in the assets folder. I can't really edit shaders, shader code is in a realm of its own when it comes to reading and understanding, at least for me.

One file is an ini that controls the variables and parameters of the terrain generation algorithms. This is pretty standard stuff for terrain generation (ie, max height, octaves, amplitude, offset, etc.) My changes here were to change the max heights of mountains and hills to IIRC 2500 and 1250 respectively. I also set the amplitude of the random terrain generators to zero (these ones create mountains and hills in random locations.)

Another file is just an ordinary heightmap, except flipped vertically. I don't know if this one is actually used but I edited it accordingly, just in case.

Two files are Photoshop PSBs.

One PSB (deriv) is a normal map with the colours inverted and the blue channel stripped. It has the heightmap overlayed onto the (now empty) blue channel. From what I've seen the normal map, in conjunction with the blue heightmap overlay, control the steepness of slopes.

The other PSB (height) controls which terrain generator(s) are used in which part of the map. Black represents ordinary terrain, red is mountains, green is desert, and blue is hills. This file in particular has a massive impact on how the terrain is generated and it's where I've experimented and worked on the most.

Hope this might help.

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carademono
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by carademono »

Wow.

Legally speaking, I don't think anyone's coming after you for modifying a mod for a 26 year old video game. And besides, there's a reason why monobelisk made the mod open source in the first place. I'd say describe your mod as a fork of Interesting Terrains, give proper attribution, and let us explore those beautiful landscapes!

Jarlyjarljarl
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by Jarlyjarljarl »

Freak2121 wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 7:01 am I'm not on my computer right now so I can't be exact with the details, but all the files changed are in the assets folder. I can't really edit shaders, shader code is in a realm of its own when it comes to reading and understanding, at least for me.

One file is an ini that controls the variables and parameters of the terrain generation algorithms. This is pretty standard stuff for terrain generation (ie, max height, octaves, amplitude, offset, etc.) My changes here were to change the max heights of mountains and hills to IIRC 2500 and 1250 respectively. I also set the amplitude of the random terrain generators to zero (these ones create mountains and hills in random locations.)

Another file is just an ordinary heightmap, except flipped vertically. I don't know if this one is actually used but I edited it accordingly, just in case.

Two files are Photoshop PSBs.

One PSB (deriv) is a normal map with the colours inverted and the blue channel stripped. It has the heightmap overlayed onto the (now empty) blue channel. From what I've seen the normal map, in conjunction with the blue heightmap overlay, control the steepness of slopes.

The other PSB (height) controls which terrain generator(s) are used in which part of the map. Black represents ordinary terrain, red is mountains, green is desert, and blue is hills. This file in particular has a massive impact on how the terrain is generated and it's where I've experimented and worked on the most.

Hope this might help.
General rule of thumb with open-source modifications is to publish your version while giving credit where credit is due, whilst remaining open to the idea that if the original author comes along and asks you to take it down that you will.

General "etiquette" of the modding scene on this stuff is to just post your modifications, send the guy a message letting him know, put credit on the front page, and put a disclaimer that you'll take it down if the original author asks.

Considering that he hasn't been online for months *and* that he made it open source, I doubt anyone will consider this foul play. And I mean, it's open-source.

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carademono
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by carademono »

Freak2121 wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 5:38 am
Image
I'm just imagining one of Kamer's bandit camp's on the far slope of this valley here...

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King of Worms
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by King of Worms »

The screens are incredible, and indeed play with ones imagination, thats great!

Ad the mod etiquette, agreed with what was said. This mod was put on git and made opensource for a reason. I cant imagine - IF - the author returns after a while and he will see that his mod was taken to another level by the community, that he will not be glad about it. Just give credits where its due - also - if you decide to work on this mod you are technically keeping it alive and preventing it from getting obsolete. Nothing wrong with that, quite contrary! :ugeek:

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Freak2121
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by Freak2121 »

Thanks for your input, everyone. :D I wasn't worried about legal action, that would definitely be absurd lol, I just didn't want to step on the toes of Monobelisk.

I've gone ahead and created my own fork of the mod. I also disabled part of the compatibility layer between this mod and the Basic Roads mod, as the big mounds and pits it created around roads got on my nerves. I'll be uploading it soon, I have a few things to take care of in real life right now.

Before:

Image

After:

Image

While I was doing that, however, I noticed that Monobelisk had added what seems like preliminary support for rivers and streams. I think it's supposed to use the same type of data as Basic Roads. If that's the case, its ability to make those pits (and not so much the mounds) would come in extremely handy for adding rivers into the game.
Spoiler!
Image
Edit:

Also, does anyone know of a mod to increase the render distance outside of the Unity Editor? Taking it to 11 like in my screenshots makes the game somewhat slow and very unstable, but I think a modest amount like 5 or 7 would really help with the look and feel of this mod.

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Hazelnut
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Re: [MOD] Interesting Terrains [WIP]

Post by Hazelnut »

Yeah doesn't look like the roads terrain modification was finished so best disabled for now. Rivers and streams are in the Basic Roads mod already, just disabled currently since no pathing has been done yet. (and I have not created the editor for doing that)

Not sure what you mean about view distance of 11 here? The maxumum view distance is 4 in settings and I am fairly sure that 4 is the max allowed by the core streaming world code regardless of what you put in the settings ini.
See my mod code for examples of how to change various aspects of DFU: https://github.com/ajrb/dfunity-mods

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