SMOOTHER STEPPE - experimental beta

[wolfslayer]

Updated - Beta 0.93 (corrected extract path for some textures; added several textures)

This is a variation on Lusted smoother battle maps from this thread:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=161829


SMOOTHER STEPPE experimental beta SS6 by wolfslayer


BEFORE - NW of Serdobinskaya . Most of the steppe regions have rugged terrain like this..


AFTER - Same battle reloaded with new files




This file is experimental; hasn't been tested in different climates or terrains.

A small set of steppe winter textures is required and included.

DOWNLOAD --> (11.92 mb)

http://files.filefront.com/SMOOTHER+.../fileinfo.html

UNRAR to SS6/data including folders

to remove delete descr_geography_new.db or replace with Lusted geography file.

Feedback and screenshots welcome, I'm still modifying the files.

Should be compatible with most all SS6 mods and addons.


**UPDATED 0.91 with coniferous forest winter textures - (SW of Khlynov)
**UPDATED 0.92 with deciduous forest winter textures
**UPDATED 0.93 corrected extract path for deciduous textures - added bracken frond winter textures

[BigJake]

Nice work, Downloading now

[mangoo-]

Does this only change the snow terrain? I never really noticed this "steppe" problem.

[YD23]

Looks good. It looks just like that in real life.... I've had some experience...Don't ask.

[Lusted]

Wolfslayer, what values did you edit to get battlefields like that, nothing I tried managed to reduce it that much without adversly affecting other climates.

[DenniZ]

Wow this looks real good

[Giovi]

good job i will try it

[scivian]

That looks more like the steppe that Im familiar with...along the lines of what Lusted was asking, how does it differ from his?

[Byg]

Looks great.

[Nastaroth]

Great job.

+Rep

[SigniferOne]

Let's restart a discussion about this to figure out what parameters change terrain. Wolfslayer what values did you change to achieve the smooth ground?

[gracul]

I also want to restart a discussion about this, i have totally no idea of what you have been changing to achieve this, but i want to listen.

[King Sama]

Great idea! I hate how the steppes were always so full of hills. It's supposed to be the opposite:flat and very open

[Madden]

Come on tell us how you did it. I've been wanting and trying to get the world completly 99% flat and this information would be worth nothing less than gold to me.

Great job by the way!!

[Prince Vinc]

Lavanders and Lamiale's plants for mediterranean area??

[wolfslayer]

Lavanders and Lamiale's plants for mediterranean area??

Whatever that means..please post some screenshots instead of a vague whiney half-sentence.

This probably has to do with map_climates.tga, which this mod doesnt change, but part of the original SS6 that needs some work.

[uanime5]

How did you make this mod's descr_geography_new.db file? I'm asking because I want to use this mod with the Crimson Tide 4.2 mod, so I'll need to combine their descr_geography_new.db file with this one.

[wolfslayer]

The problem with this mod is I can't find my original files I modified, specifically descr_geography_new.txt. The steppes look great, but other areas, like parts of rocky desert, are thick with frame killing palm trees.

Also I need to upload a few more textures I added to variations folders so places like alpine display properly in winter.

The file I generated was from the vanilla geography.txt merged with some data from British Isles, Teutonic and Crusades, if I recall.

Hopefully I can find these files, I think I zipped and stored on some dvd discs, when I archived the other kingdoms mods to clear up some disk space; so far no luck finding them.

The main value to modify is the noise value for each terrain type, mainly wilderness. Lesser values make the terrain less extreme.

You can also modify the density of rocks and vegetation, etc..

With your modified descr_geography_new.txt , rename or move the existing descr_geography_new.db

Then you need to add:

[misc]
rebuild_geography_db = true

to SS6 cfg..and start the game.

If the new .db is created, then you need to exit the game, change the switch in .cfg to "false" and move or rename the new descr_geography_new.txt or your battlemap will crash.

The syntax needs to be perfect or the new .db generation will fail, with no "dead" spaces that notepad sometimes seems to make.

A good text editing program like UltraEdit or something comparible that shows the status of all spacing is recommended if you want to edit this file and generate a new geography db.

[ignasigh]

One suggestion, why don't you add this fantastic submod to the incoming 6.2 release? I'd like to see as many improvements there as possible.

[The Count(er)]

that looks pretty good, I think I'll download this +rep