World.dat by Bladum

[Falko]

I'm still not sure of how to add additional textures to TEXTURE.DAT though to how the file is organized, since there are 3 versions for each texture, to be used depending on the zoom level on the Geoscape:

texture dat is easy to make
go here https://falkooxc2.pythonanywhere.com/spriteconvert
to make more than the 13 existing ones
open options and change

Code: [Select]

- name: KnownFiles2PNG
  maxcolnr: 8to

Code: [Select]

- name: KnownFiles2PNG
  maxcolnr: 13and upload geograph/texture.dat (pallete=ufo-geo)
convert
download
then put it in the imageeditor of your choice and add 32 pixelcolumns per new texture
use it similar to the example here https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=2835.msg30054#msg30054

[bladum]

and that is great start for a community edition.

Difference between mega mod and community edition is that there is no one that can be called "mod owner". Every one is responsible for part of a "edition". For example i am doing the "world.dat" file and "mission Zones" and you are doing terrains textures. If you add additional terrain then i should optimize world.dat file and vice verse.

Tom

[Hobbes]

Just tried it and I'm guess the game engine will know which ones are the zoomed versions once you add new textures. But the question then is how to use the new textures on the editor.

[yrizoud]

at the moment I'm not really seeing a situation (i.e. other mods) where keeping the old texture index would be an advantage.

I imagine additional battle maps that are "add-ons" for existing lands have a ruleset provided like:

Code: [Select]

terrains:
  name: STR_EXTRAMAPS_POLAR_STATION
  textures: 12 # id of polar texture in vanilla
...If 12 becomes jungle for example, this extra map will be chosen (sometimes) in jungle missions.

[Hobbes]

and that is great start for a community edition.

Difference between mega mod and community edition is that there is no one that can be called "mod owner". Every one is responsible for part of a "edition". For example i am doing the "world.dat" file and "mission Zones" and you are doing terrains textures. If you add additional terrain then i should optimize world.dat file and vice verse.

Tom

Both are not what I'm looking for the Terrain Pack.

Megamods or community editions imply a lot of changes and 'improvements' to several areas of a game. My base idea behind the Terrain Pack is to both a modular resource to be used when playing vanilla or other mods. When playing vanilla it gives more variety of terrains, and other mod creators can use the ruleset and/or the terrain files as they want.

A very important issue for me is to keep gameplay changes to a minimum: for instance, battlescape sizes have remained at vanilla 50x50 squares since bigger sizes make missions take forever; I've introduced new mission types but I've moved them to another ruleset because of the strategic changes they introduce (and eventually I may remove them all together); and when redesigning the globe, adding new countries is a no, because of all the funding and strategic changes that it would imply.

These two aspects mean that the usual 'improvements' or 'additions' of megamods or community editions don't really fit since they usually imply new weapons, aliens, craft. And changes to the game mechanics usually start from the wrong assumption that the vanilla mechanics are flawed because we don't agree with them or believe that our own idea 'would be soooo much better'.

Finally, someone really needs to be in charge to make decisions to ensure that these principles are applied and that quality is retained. I only add terrains that I consider well thought and that add something new and I've not included several of my own terrains that I had designed in the past for that reason. And I try to listen to a lot of feedback because my great ideas can also be junk for other players.

I don't consider the Terrain Pack to be 'my mod' but a team work that wouldn't be possible without several people, all of them listed in the ruleset with their specific contributions. And quite honestly, I could simply have done all the work myself but I prefer to keep it open to contributions since they enrich the pack, as long as they keep to the principles stated above.

I imagine additional battle maps that are "add-ons" for existing lands have a ruleset provided like:

Code: [Select]

terrains:
  name: STR_EXTRAMAPS_POLAR_STATION
  textures: 12 # id of polar texture in vanilla
...If 12 becomes jungle for example, this extra map will be chosen (sometimes) in jungle missions.

OK, I think I see what you mean, to keep the deprecated numbers might retain the compatibility with older mods. But at the same time, it will always be necessary for the authors to update the ruleset of any other mods if they want to use the Terrain Pack. For instance, look at the MiB ruleset:

Code: [Select]

terrains:
  - name: URBANA
    mapDataSets:
      - BLANKS
      - ROADS
      - URBITS
      - URBAN
      - FRNITURE
    textures: [3]
If texture 3 is deprecated on the Terrain Pack, then this map will never be generated on the MiB mod when using the new globe since there aren't any polygons with the texture 3 assigned.

Any changes to the globe or the textures will always make mod authors have to do changes to their mods if they want to also use the Terrain Pack with their mods. If they don't want to use the new globe then they can simply reassign the new terrains to the old textures.

[Falko]

But the question then is how to use the new textures on the editor.

webversion:
Select optionals -> set options -> open options
there you can add more  lines with colors
the new textures/colors should be available after reimporting the data

world.dat editor
open world.cfg
add further "terrain #XXYYZZ" lines
restart world.cfg?

[Hobbes]

webversion:
Select optionals -> set options -> open options
there you can add more  lines with colors
the new textures/colors should be available after reimporting the data

world.dat editor
open world.cfg
add further "terrain #XXYYZZ" lines
restart world.cfg?

Well all we need then is a deck of cards. Thanks.

--- posts merge ---

OK, this is an image I've made using a map that shows Earth's biomes and using the Geoscape's palette, but since they are single colors rather than textures the appearance will be different (and the pink will be replaced by the textures of Forest/Polar/Desert Mountains) but it won't have this much detail. Next step is to finish the textures and to redo the polygons.

[Mariner]

Any updates to this?

[bladum]

try this, original and modified

[Hollow_Fang]

The issue is that the texture numbers have assigned textures on the TEXTURE.DAT file:



So assigning texture #10 to Polar gets you that result on the new globe. It would required to create a new TEXTURE.DAT file to get a better color match for the textures since I'm not sure you can define those in the ruleset.

I may try to use new version of the Globe later on the Terrain Pack, since updating the Globe has been on my list of things to do, but getting proper textures would be something that needs to be worked out.

Volutar, can you post a pic? I've downloaded your version but I can't figure out how to visualize it.

Is it possible to add terrains of different  textures or add to TEXTURE.DAT?

[Hobbes]

Is it possible to add terrains of different  textures or add to TEXTURE.DAT?

Yes. I've suspended my work on the Terrain Pack since I needed a break from it but one planned update was to add new textures to the globe and design corresponding terrains.

[beng]

P.S. I might edited my high-detailed version myself and didn't post it here.

volutar, your website does not work, the SSL version is not supported in modern browsers so no https.  Any new updates to your world.dat?