dpabrams Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) I was thinking of updating some of the foliage in the old sim. I have piles of it in my train sims that convert easily to .dds. Some textures need to be built as they contain textures for numerous shapes in the sim, but it's easy enough. I have a series of maps that I use that are of a western US feel, so I added some sagebrush to the mix of grasses. Edited January 23, 2018 by dpabrams 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Colossus Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) steel beasts needs a wheat field. there are textures for wheat in the textures directory, but the program doesn't appear to actually use them. i tried replacing some grass types that i don't use very often with the wheat files, but it didn't give very good results (that is, instead of dense wheat blocks, it looked more patchy like the grass in your last screen shot). Edited January 23, 2018 by Captain_Colossus 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ssnake Posted January 24, 2018 Members Share Posted January 24, 2018 Be aware that with the next major update we'll switch to single-bit transparency for foliage/ground clutter (to enable instancing). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 8 hours ago, Ssnake said: Be aware that with the next major update we'll switch to single-bit transparency for foliage/ground clutter (to enable instancing). Ssnake for a man who prides himself on his CS (customer service) you should know better than to talk over the heads of your consumers. I would like 100 words of WTF all the above means in layman terms. I looked it up on Google and got a migraine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotareneg Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 14 hours ago, Ssnake said: (to enable instancing) My antique CPU is happy to read that. Dpabrams, it just means texture pixels are either 100% transparent or 100% opaque, no partially transparent pixels. Instancing is where the program tells the video card to draw this clump of grass in every location in this list, which is much more efficient than the way it works now which is to say: draw this clump of grass in this one spot, draw another clump of grass in this next spot, and so on, one clump of grass at a time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wax Savage Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 On 1/24/2018 at 3:20 PM, Rotareneg said: My antique CPU is happy to read that. Dpabrams, it just means texture pixels are either 100% transparent or 100% opaque, no partially transparent pixels. Instancing is where the program tells the video card to draw this clump of grass in every location in this list, which is much more efficient than the way it works now which is to say: draw this clump of grass in this one spot, draw another clump of grass in this next spot, and so on, one clump of grass at a time. Okay Rotareneg, thanks for the technical. So , armed with all that knowledge , can you incorporate your cool grass graphics or not? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 6 minutes ago, Wax Savage said: Okay Rotareneg, thanks for the technical. So , armed with all that knowledge , can you incorporate your cool grass graphics or not? It is I, who has created the cool grass and yes they work splendidly . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wax Savage Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 On 1/24/2018 at 9:23 AM, dpabrams said: Ssnake for a man who prides himself on his CS (customer service) you should know better than to talk over the heads of your consumers. I would like 100 words of WTF all the above means in layman terms. I looked it up on Google and got a migraine. Geometry Instancing just increases performance in games where you encounter many similar/same polygonal models (usually trees or grass). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted April 25, 2018 Author Share Posted April 25, 2018 I am getting close to a release. I have done the TIS files and am just tweaking a few things. It amounts to a complete redo of the grasses, lily pads and some bushes. Only those experienced with mods, map editing and theme editing should mess with this but I promise the results will be impressive. ALL of your maps will look different, so you should understand that your themes will have to be adjusted to correspond with the new grasses. I mess with it all including the ground textures to get a look I like. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Looks excellent. Good stuff dpabrams, sure it took some doing. Would like to try it out. Nice one. Cheers for keeping us in the loop, look forward to a release. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 (edited) Here is a folder with tis and woodland replacement grasses and bushes. This is a BETA test if you will. You will be placing the textures in the X:\Documents\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\mods\textures. Understand that your themes will need to be adjusted on your maps as this vegetation will no doubt change the look of your maps and usual themes. This is typically an exercise designed for those that are comfortable replacing files and editing maps and themes. I promise however, that your immersion in the sim will be greatly enhanced. XDocumentseSim GamesSteel Beastsmodstextures.zip Edited April 27, 2018 by dpabrams fix 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splash Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 I'm curious about the recommendation to put these in the Program Files installation folders. I've been using your earlier drafts of these files (thank you) and they work just fine when placed in the mod folders. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Personally im happy with backing up and replacing files etc but as Splash has said if we can use via mod folder even better, especially for those who may be uncomfortable replacing files. Either way i am looking forward to using your files they look great. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibsonm Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Just now, Wardog said: Personally im happy with backing up and replacing files etc The only downside to this is remembering when 4.xxx comes out to re-install these, because if they are installed in the Installation folders they will be destroyed in the upgrade process and need to be re-installed. "Caveat Emptor". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ssnake Posted April 27, 2018 Members Share Posted April 27, 2018 Also, 4.1 does away with the gradual (8 bit) transparency for foliage. What's more, 4.1 will bring the option to have map-specific texture sets. This is a prime example where this would be hugely beneficial. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotareneg Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, Splash said: I'm curious about the recommendation to put these in the Program Files installation folders. I've been using your earlier drafts of these files (thank you) and they work just fine when placed in the mod folders. Yes, I just tested and you do not need to overwrite the originals, just the new textures in the equivalent mod folder and it works (and looks) good. Edited April 27, 2018 by Rotareneg 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 53 minutes ago, Rotareneg said: Yes, I just tested and you do not need to overwrite the originals, just the new textures in the equivalent mod folder and it works (and looks) good. No shit? I thought I tried that. Great to here Rot, thanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 6 hours ago, Splash said: I'm curious about the recommendation to put these in the Program Files installation folders. I've been using your earlier drafts of these files (thank you) and they work just fine when placed in the mod folders. I edited and updated the Beta offering. Thanks for the input Splash and Gibs. As for 4.1 I eagerly await.................... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 I also forgot the grass_dry woodland texture. It's in the updated zip. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Good to hear. Mods folder it is then. Happy with that. Cheers 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t3redundee Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 I've placed the your files into c:\users\username\documents\esimgames\steelbeasts\mods\textures\tis and woodland ...originally tis was empty and woodland had a lot of empty folders. I don't see any difference. What am I missing? Thanks Allan 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 6 hours ago, t3redundee said: I've placed the your files into c:\users\username\documents\esimgames\steelbeasts\mods\textures\tis and woodland ...originally tis was empty and woodland had a lot of empty folders. I don't see any difference. What am I missing? Thanks Allan place the CONTENTS of the woodland folder here (not the folder): X:\Documents\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\mods\textures\woodland place the CONTENTS of the tis folder here (not the folder): X:\Documents\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\mods\textures\tis 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotareneg Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Found a little problem: the nettles and grassy.dds files are mismatched/swapped so that the grassy one is a nettle plant and the nettles is grass. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted April 29, 2018 Author Share Posted April 29, 2018 28 minutes ago, Rotareneg said: Found a little problem: the nettles and grassy.dds files are mismatched/swapped so that the grassy one is a nettle plant and the nettles is grass. Can't explain that one, except that grassy.dds is a stand alone plant and nettles.dds is a bunch of grass clumps. You will have to play with your theme. I switched them to check and it just din't work. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSe419E Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Tried these out today during the Kanium multiplayer session. Looked good and seemed to cause no issues with frame rates that I could see. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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