Author: Bella
Original Thread: How-To: Add a New Climate Zone

How-To: Add a New Climate Zone
Tutorial: How To Add a New Climate:

- You will need (V) Vercingetorix's PAK Extractor and (A) Alpaca's Strings.Bin Converter to access these files.

1. First, gather up the files needed. Here's your shopping list:

· ../data/descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt (V)
· ../data/descr_climates.txt (V)
· ../data/descr_climates_lookup.txt (V)

· ../data/text/climates.txt (A)

· ../data/world/maps/base/map_climates.tga
· ../data/world/maps/base/map_ground_types.tga

2. Now, open descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt and add your new climate to the bottom. Mine, for example, was:

Code:
climate frozen_arctic
{
	cultivated_low		snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	cultivated_medium	snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	cultivated_high		snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	fertility_low		snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	fertility_medium	snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	fertility_high		snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	forest_dense		snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	forest_sparse		snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	hills				snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	mountains_high		snow_thick.tga	snow_mountain.tga
	mountains_low		snow_thick.tga	snow_mountain.tga
	swamp				snow_thick.tga	arctic.tga
	beach				beach.tga
	scorched			scorched.tga
	impassable_land		impassable_land.tga
	impassable_sea		impassable_sea.tga
}
The codename of your new climate zone, i.e. - frozen_arctic
Ground type specified in ../data/world/maps/base/map_ground_types.tga
*Ground type texture used in Summer strat map
*Ground type used in Winter strat map

*Notes:
- These tga's can be found in ..\data\terrain\aerial_map\ground_types\ so you can choose which you want to use.
- When setting your summer/winter texture, if you only set summer's that will used for both summer and winter.
i.e.:
Code:
beach				beach.tga
3. Now open descr_climates.txt. First, add your new climate to bottom of the list at the very top, for example:
Code:
climates
{
	mediterranean
	sandy_desert
	rocky_desert
	unused1
	steppe
	temperate_deciduous_forest
	temperate_coniferous_forest
	unused2
	highland
	alpine
	tropical
	semi_arid
	arctic
	frozen_arctic
}
Now add your climate section to the very bottom of the file, for example:
Code:
climate frozen_arctic
{
	colour	207 132 255
	heat	2
	winter

	strategy	summer	sparse_tree	conifer_a_winter.cas				7
	strategy	summer	dense_tree	conifer_a_impassable_winter.cas		6
	strategy	summer	canopy		conifer_a_canopy_winter.cas			15
	
	strategy	winter	sparse_tree	conifer_a_winter.cas				7
	strategy	winter	dense_tree	conifer_a_impassable_winter.cas		6
	strategy	winter	canopy		conifer_a_canopy_winter.cas			15
	
	battle_vegetation
	dense_forest	highland_dense_forest_win
	dense_scrub		highland_dense_scrub_win	

	battle_winter_vegetation
	dense_forest	highland_dense_forest_win
	dense_scrub		highland_dense_scrub_win
	env_map			data/battlefield/envmaps/grass.dds	
}
The codename of your new climate zone, i.e. - frozen_arctic
The unique RGB color that will declare your new climate in ..\data\world\maps\base\map_climates.tga
The effect (fatigue) value your climate will have on armored units. Ranges from 0-4, with zero being no effect at all.
The summer/winter tree models used in the specified ground types (sparse trees, dense trees)
I'm not sure what these numbers are for at the moment.
This specifies the vegetation models used on a summer battle map.
This specifies the vegetation models used on a winter battle map.

4. Now open descr_climates_lookup.txt and add your new climate code name to the bottom of the list, for example:
Code:
mediterranean
sandy_desert
rocky_desert
unused1
steppe
temperate_deciduous_forest
temperate_coniferous_forest
unused2
highland
alpine
tropical
volcanic
semi_arid
frozen_arctic
5. Now open climates.txt and add your new climate code name and *in-game display name to the bottom of the list, for example:
Code:
{alpine}Alpine
{highland}Highland
{mediterranean}Mediterranean
{rocky_desert}Rocky Desert
{sandy_desert}Sandy Desert
{semi_arid}Semi-arid
{steppe}Steppe
{temperate_coniferous_forest}Temperate Coniferous Forest
{temperate_deciduous_forest}Temperate Deciduous Forest
{tropical}Tropical
{volcanic}Volcanic
{frozen_arctic}Frozen Arctic
*Notes:
- I'm not sure where the in-game display name for a climate is used during play, but you should go ahead and put this in anyways.

6. Now open map_climates.tga and add your new climate RGB to your map where you wish it to be used on the strat map. The strat map tree models and battle map tree/vegetation models you specified in descr_climates.txt will be displayed in the areas you paint in with your new RGB color.

7. Finally, open up map_ground_types.tga and add in the ground types where you wish them to be displayed in the strat map. The .tga textures you specified in descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt will be displayed where you paint your ground textures, depending upon the type used. Use this portion of Myrddraal's excellent mapping guide to select what ground types to use and where:
Code:
map_ground_types.tga
- This is where you set the textures for your campaign map (i.e. Fertile, desert etc). There are 14 different ground types defined using different RGB values. The dimensions of this file should be twice the size of map_regions.tga + 1 pixel

The RGB values are:
Fertile Low - Grey-Blue (0, 128, 128)
Fertile Medium - Light Green (96, 160, 64)
Fertile High - Olive (101, 124, 0)
Wilderness - Black (0, 0, 0)
Mountains High - Light Brown (196, 128, 128)
Mountains Low - Brown (98, 65, 65)
Hills - Olive-Brown (128, 128, 64)
Forest Dense - Dark Green (0, 64, 0)
Forest Sparse - Green (0, 128, 0)
Swamp - Bright Green (0, 255, 128)
Ocean - Dark Maroon (64, 0, 0)
Sea Deep - Dark Red (128, 0, 0)
Sea Shallow - Red (196, 0, 0)
Beach - White (0, 0, 0)
Impassable Desert? - Grey (64, 64, 64)
Now, fire your map up and take a look. You should see your new climate zone in the area you added it to. Hardcore mappers can design their own .tga ground textures to use in your new climate zone. Put them in ..\data\terrain\aerial_map\ground_types\ and reference them in descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt. Hopefully this tutorial will help. Thanks again to all who helped me figure this one out. Special thanks to Vercingetorix and Alpaca for their excellent tools and Myrddraal for his invaluable mapping guide.