EB2 Vegetation&lighting 2.0 testing

[alin]

The focus of this was to adress some of the issues with the lighting and vegetation from the first release.
Thus the following areas have undergone changes:
-fog and lighting
-grass and ground textures
-vegetation distribution tweaks

Comparisons:

Vanila:




EB 1.0:




New:




More screenshots:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Download link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b722b1lerk...on_v2.rar?dl=0

Install:
Simply extract it in the EB2 data folder, eg.:
M2TW\mods\EBII\data

Any feedback is as always welcome.

[asplenc]

What a significant improvement! will this update also be built into future release of EB2?

[alin]

What a significant improvement! will this update also be built into future release of EB2?

Yes, the purpose of this is to get feedback from everyone such that it undergoes some iterations before integrating it.

[stevietheconquer]

yes it is for sure better then before,it looks more darker green now, i liked before too but now it looks even better sometimes when i walking with mine army around the battlefield i discover new trees and plants that i never saw before,and it looks very good even with graphics on medium(with vanilla vegetation it looks on medium a little blury)

thank you for this quality.

[alin]

I'm experimenting with a different type of grass texture:








I would like to hear everyone's opinion on this one compared to the previous one.

[_Tartaros_]

I'm experimenting with a different type of grass texture:








I would like to hear everyone's opinion on this one compared to the previous one.

i think the grass looks very good now. i personally like the vanilla grass, because of it´s single bushes. it don´t look like lines of green all around, it look more like alot of small green bushes everywhere, like in your new version too.
the best grass i´ve seen so far is the RSII

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[alin]

Thanks to everyone for the input, I've uploaded a new version with further tweaks.
So check the main post.

Feedback is as always welcome.

i think the grass looks very good now. i personally like the vanilla grass, because of it´s single bushes. it don´t look like lines of green all around, it look more like alot of small green bushes everywhere, like in your new version too.
the best grass i´ve seen so far is the RSII

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Rendering of alpha textures has changed with M2TW, they seem to use binary alpha(probably due to memory limitations or other reasons) even if your texture does not.
That means a part of the texture is either fully transparent or opaque.
Also the mipmapping is a bit messed up they pop-up sooner than they should making the textures blurry.

So it's not that easy to get good or even decent looking grass.

[xHolyCrusader]

not sure about this... looks good but also not good xD

[Wulfburk]

I think that last grass looks good, but still the ground texture itself feels kinda weird when you look at it, specially from above with all those brown spots. Honestly the first vanilla pic in the OP looks the best because the 2d'ness of the grass is not so evident and the ground matches the grass better.

[alin]

I think that last grass looks good, but still the ground texture itself feels kinda weird when you look at it, specially from above with all those brown spots. Honestly the first vanilla pic in the OP looks the best because the 2d'ness of the grass is not so evident and the ground matches the grass better.

I can't understand how you can like the vanilla grass, it just looks cartooney.
But I do get what you mean.

The ground textures and blending with the grass can be easily fixed, but first you need to create an appropriate grass texture that looks good on the engine.
Which is difficult since based on viewer distance it blurs the textures a lot, so you're limited in what you can do.
Thus I'm personally trying to achieve a finer grass look like this:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XNGB6FoA8d...Grass+Moss.jpg

Instead of the cartoon grass(notice straw width) like vanilla:
https://0.s3.envato.com/files/295332.jpg

[Sarkiss]

The ground textures and blending with the grass can be easily fixed, but first you need to create an appropriate grass texture that looks good on the engine.
Which is difficult since based on viewer distance it blurs the textures a lot, so you're limited in what you can do.
Thus I'm personally trying to achieve a finer grass look like this:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XNGB6FoA8d...Grass+Moss.jpg

this ^ looks great. your previos ones looked like something resembling tiny bushes rather than grass, imho.

[Orphydian]

My impression also. Vanila vegetation and lighting looks better

[Orphydian]

so why we want bushes instead of uniform grass?

[jim600]

Would using the files from Third Age or Stainless Steel work.? They look great.

Also in EBII vanilla the green in the grass and foliage looks very blue

All in all great mod that will only get better, When might we see v2.02....

[alin]

Would using the files from Third Age or Stainless Steel work.? They look great.

Also in EBII vanilla the green in the grass and foliage looks very blue

All in all great mod that will only get better, When might we see v2.02....

Those are vanilla textures with colour changes, from what I can see.

[Feanor21]

Perhaps using aesthetically pleasing looking grass would be the better option. I Personally very much think the look of the grass in third age is great. If EB2 had grass like that I don't think anyone would complain.

Its quality would carry through to later versions very well. Would probably never need to be changed.

[xHolyCrusader]

Im not sure if the new environment of eb2 would fit the tatw grass, but might be worth a try :/

I really like the way the grass and lighting looks with this update, would be cool to see them in other mods too:

(picture posted by mr mojo risin in the TATW screenshots section http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post14176675)

[alin]

Im not sure if the new environment of eb2 would fit the tatw grass, but might be worth a try :/

I really like the way the grass and lighting looks with this update, would be cool to see them in other mods too:

Exactly, it's just not the style we're aiming, we're going towards a bit more realism rather than stylish.
The vanilla grass isn't that but it is stylish and designed for the engine.

However with the latest update I think I finally found the right balance:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Well you can easily use this mod and use the indications posted here to create a personal use mod:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...BII-Vegetation

[Wulfburk]

My problem is with the terrain. Those at the last and 3rd picture in the spoiler above. The brown area near the forest in the 3rd pic (top down) specially. The ground texture gets a steep decline when not looking closely, something that you cant, for example, see at that TATW pic in xHolyCrusader post. The green areas also look kinda oversaturated or too dark. IDK but i'd prefer if it was like that TATW screenshot. The terrain looks much more natural.

[alin]

My problem is with the terrain. Those at the last and 3rd picture in the spoiler above. The brown area near the forest in the 3rd pic (top down) specially. The ground texture gets a steep decline when not looking closely, something that you cant, for example, see at that TATW pic in xHolyCrusader post. The green areas also look kinda oversaturated or too dark. IDK but i'd prefer if it was like that TATW screenshot. The terrain looks much more natural.

Ok, agreed.