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Alpha 19 Dev Diary


madmole

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MM

 

It's not just the image texture of the Plains that makes

a real difference. Nor would just the mix and match of

sub biomes. They would be short lived wow factor. If you

added 10 plus visual terrain textures it would only be a

partial upgrade or solution.

 

The original plains visually offered a feeling of respite,

or a pause between chapters.

 

Going back to the posted conversations they were balked

against because the overall map favored Libnoise Billow.

 

 

Using visual mods added degrees of separation but I didn't

start figuring out what was still missing until A17 and

paintable raw heightmaps were incorporated. So I started PS

painting.

 

Taking the combination visual of the mixed\combined

biome structure from Tin's mod "Dying Lands", Dust2death's

"HDHQ Overhaul" my Lighting tutorial and gw::TerraNoise. I

created a hybrid of the ideas.

 

 

 

If you apply a specific terrain or terrain stamp to to each

of the biomes and sub-biomes cutouts it gives each it's own

natural personality.

 

I know most of it is subjective but as an overall thought,

City landscape follows a certain pattern, plains, mountainous

regions, forests burnt pine or lush, desert, streets, paths,

town cutouts and natural paths both level and elevated, and

stripmined wastelands also.

 

Alpha 16 has a good Altitude template for terrain\tempreature.

So in Vanilla if Rwgmixer.xml applied a variable Libnoise

algorithm based on height and biome mask, no matter how the

biomes.png is painted each time it will create a cohesive

visual of layout. Prime example is Navezgane, just look at it

as a template.

 

 

I used PS to make layers of Each biome cutout, city streets,

paths, highways, occupied and unoccupied wilderness, city nonpoi

areas, and waterways.

 

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MM

 

It's not just the image texture of the Plains that makes

a real difference. Nor would just the mix and match of

sub biomes. They would be short lived wow factor. If you

added 10 plus visual terrain textures it would only be a

partial upgrade or solution.

 

The original plains visually offered a feeling of respite,

or a pause between chapters.

 

I loved how gold everything looked in the plains. It was warm, everything was bathed in yellow. The hills kinda rolled, giving sight breaks. It just felt so inviting compared to most of the biomes. It had plenty of corn and yucca everywhere to eat and you never needed to worry about temperature there. There was also coal EVERWHERE. It was perfect place to spawn as a new character.

 

It also helped balance out the biomes a lot. There was Plains, Maple Forest and Pine Forest as biomes that weren't environmentally hostile. Then there was Wasteland, Burned, Snow, and Desert as biomes that were environmentally hostile.

 

Now in the early game people mostly all huddle up in the one Forest biome until they get on their feet. It really just makes me sad.

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When we played and had plains we were also using a mod that added unique animals to it so they weren't just bland and boring. The hyenas were brutal, and the rhinos were a nasty surprise to be avoided. Modders were what made the plains really interesting to us, combined with unique resources in the different biomes.

 

I DO miss that as well.. having to travel to specific biomes for specific elements. Its too easy now to find everything you need within a city block.

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I'm saying don't let the fact that you can take a trader quest that restores the loot for you .3 miles away stop you from exploring the entire map because of efficiency or min maxing play style. Role play that you could care less what he's offering you are looking for your lost daughter or whatever role play reason and go exploring. "Sorry Rekt, I don't have time for your crap, I don't care what you are paying I have my own problems right now."

 

The argument that traders keep you from exploring is not true, if your mind is creative. People make stupid choices all the time. Make a few for your character, you might have more fun.

 

I tried roleplaying that I was looking for my daughter but I could never find her until I realized that Trader Jen was my daughter but then that just forced me back to the traders again...

 

(She never gives me the family discount either)

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I tried roleplaying that I was looking for my daughter but I could never find her until I realized that Trader Jen was my daughter but then that just forced me back to the traders again...

 

(She never gives me the family discount either)

 

Since she is your daughter I will Ask respectfully, Can I date trader Jen?

 

and would you mind being my father in law?

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I loved how gold everything looked in the plains. It was warm, everything was bathed in yellow. The hills kinda rolled, giving sight breaks. It just felt so inviting compared to most of the biomes. It had plenty of corn and yucca everywhere to eat and you never needed to worry about temperature there. There was also coal EVERWHERE. It was perfect place to spawn as a new character.

 

It also helped balance out the biomes a lot. There was Plains, Maple Forest and Pine Forest as biomes that weren't environmentally hostile. Then there was Wasteland, Burned, Snow, and Desert as biomes that were environmentally hostile.

 

Now in the early game people mostly all huddle up in the one Forest biome until they get on their feet. It really just makes me sad.

 

I know how you feel...

 

 

 

plains2.png

 

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I tried roleplaying that I was looking for my daughter but I could never find her until I realized that Trader Jen was my daughter but then that just forced me back to the traders again...

 

(She never gives me the family discount either)

 

So before the surgery it was your voice she had.

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