high mountain cas location

[Mountainhouzhe]

Hello,

I would like to change the strat appearance of high mountains (more than the texture). I unpacked the game files and looked in terrain\aerial_map\tile_models , where is the cas file mountain_tile_set.cas .
In descr_aerial_map_tile_models.txt : are setups of rivers, cliffs, hills and mountains described, but no special reference to high_mountains.
In descr_terrain_blocks.txt, \models_terrain_blocks and in \models_strat is also nothing.

Does anybody know if there is a high_mountain.cas file or other references to the strat appearance?

Thanks in advance.
Best regards

[Gigantus]

From descr_aerial_map_tile_models.txt:

tile_set mountains
{
    allow_duplicate_vertices
    seperate_overlay_normals
    surpress_warnings
    advanced_edge_calculation
    underlay_up_normals

    model_files
    {
        mountain_tile_set.cas
    }

Your confusion is most likely based on the differentiation between mountain and high mountain texture in descr_aerial_map_ground_types. Ground types are textures, not tile sets\models.

...\data\terrain\aerial_map\tile_models\mountains\mountain_tile_set.cas - that's the relevant file, uses the ...\data\terrain\aerial_map\tile_textures\mountain4.tga texture.

If you have issues unpacking the game the traditional way then try my method (outside the game directory).

[Mountainhouzhe]

Thank you for your reply Gigantus,

I dont like the weird peaks of high mountains and wanted them to be less spiky and use them for glaciers. So I am more interested in changing the cas model, or the generation of the strat model appearance, than the textures from descr_aerial_map_ground_types.

Now I use a kind of unused climate and low mountains for glaciers.

Do you know where the cas, or texture reference, for river crossing, i.e. the "yellow beaches" is located?

Best regards

[Gigantus]

Well, the peak for the high mountain model will be in the mountain_tile_set.cas file.
The river section you are looking for will be in river_a.cas as per the same file:

tile_set river_a
{
    allow_duplicate_vertices
;    underlay_up_normals

    model_files
    {
        river_a.cas
    }

If you open any CAS file with Notepad you will see at the bottom which default texture(s) it is using, here is the river one:

           ¯         
    textures\dummy.tga   €?  €?  €?  €?  €?  €?  €?            ÍÌL=ÍÌL=ÍÌL=  ÈA

    textures\river1.tga   €?  €?  €?  €?  €?  €?  €?            ÍÌL=ÍÌL=ÍÌL=  ÈA

[Mountainhouzhe]

Thanks, I was searching for the dummy.tga file, but couldnt find it. Do you know where it is?
I made changes to river1.tga but it didnt change in game. I also renamed the file in the vanilla folder. But still no changes.
Do I need a special startup parameter in the config file?

[Gigantus]

Indeed you do need a special configuration - I suggest you use my mod set up (it removes a number of issues, see version history) and then copy files there to modify them. Run that set up instead of the main game to test your changes.
If you rename files then the game will revert to use the default file from the packed files.
I couldn't find dummy.tga either so I am guessing it's not a valid entry.

[Mountainhouzhe]

Sorry that I didnt mention it earlier, I already use baregeomod as my mod base. (I dont know if newest version)
The thing is that not all files are present in baregemod folder, like descr_aerial_map_bases.txt
descr_aerial_map_tile_models.txt
(think also descr_campaign_db.xml, which can change a lot of things.)
So I unpacked the game files and looked through the files there.

Actually I was able to change the river crossing texture by using IWTE change texture function. I will try a bit more later (I dont know yet which folders the texture file need to be saved (\texture\ )).
I changed the texture to dummy.tga in IWTE (because other texture entries used this file) and the crossing became grey so mybe this file is a grey texture. Thanks for your discussion.

[Gigantus]

Bare Geomod (haven't done any updates for a while) contains the basic files that you will need for most modding. Other then that you will need to unpack the game as you did and then copy additional files over into Bare Geomod. descr_campaign_db should be already present.

dummy.tga should go into the same directory as river1.tga (the yellowish river bed texture) I would think.

[Mountainhouzhe]

I still couldnt figure out the texture location that is specified in the file, but as a workaround I converted the river_a.cas file with IWTE and deleted the crossing mesh.
Maybe later I will delete only some parts to easier identify the crossings.
But it looks way better for the mountain river valleys.

[Gigantus]

I am not sure if the 'dummy' tga actually has a function or is assigned to a model part. The 'river1.tga' file will be the one that is essential and yu can find it in data\terrain\aerial_map\tile_textures

[Mountainhouzhe]

Yes I also guessed that the folder is there but changing 'river1.tga' file (setting all alpha values such that the tga is empty) didnt change anything in game also it is weird that in the cas file it is specified as texture/river1.tga , even this folder/file combination doesnt exist anywhere....

[Gigantus]

I am not presuming to know how the texture lookup actually works in this case (see video below): that yellowish color is the color of the 3D river bed - in game you barely see anything of it, but on occasion (a glitch) the water isn't generated and then you get that dry river bed in all it's glory.