Merricksdad's Black Hills Tileset (First Look)

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I called it a night on this to think of some more fixes. Something is wrong in my math when detecting the tile position in the z axis. I can currently process all level 0 to 1 tiles. Anything higher gets mangled and the stream gets shoved up the center.

 

I need to spend some time not in the house tomorrow. I'm starting to feel stuffed in a tiny box and winter is coming. Before the weekend, I may have this streams package ready to export, and we can see how it works and go over the differences in placement (though I already did above). It will be interesting to see this new idea come to life.

 

Trying to figure this out, I went through a butt load of files and a stack of paper, and two pencils. But I like being challenged.

 

The image you see above is the diagonal stream cut for tile 0111. It has been processed with the streamCut script and then processed with the mountainBuilder script to noise it up. I may change the mountain builder script when used on streams to leave more of the stream center untouched. It is a simple matter of using some new functions I wrote to fetch all faces within a specified distance of the nearest point where x=y or -x=y. On a top-down graph, that makes the diagonal baseline slope top-left to bottom right or bottom-right to top-left. I'm building this library of true/false face checking functions which attach to this other function called getFacesMatchingPattern where you specify the object or specific object mesh, the face, the function you are using to match a pattern, and up to three variables you can specify which get passed to the match function. Here's a list of what I have so far (not complete):

 

getIsFaceHorizontal

getIsFacePointingMostlyNorth/South/East/West/Up/Down

getIsFaceNormalCardinalDirection

getIsFaceYNearX

getIsFaceYNearNegativeX

getIsFaceNormalEqualTo

getIsFaceAtTileBoundary

getIsFaceMatID

getIsFaceUnderWater

getIsPointInFace

getFaceRayIntersection

getIsFacePointingMostlyDirection

getIsFaceVisible/InvisibleRelativeToVector

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

This morning I got the diagonal builder to function correctly, as long as I use it on a direction the river can actually flow without mangling the tile. I tried it on tile 0022, attempting to make a diagonal from upper left 0 to bottom left 2, and it just crashed GMAX really hard. I had previously run it on 0011, and it worked ok. It made the river edge kind of puffy on level 0.

 

It works perfectly on tiles which should be able to be cut diagonally, like 0110 and 0111, as well as any combination height diagonals.

 

I even set it up for the function to accept river cut depth. At 100cm, the river has a lot of breaks in it, which could be textured as stones in the river, allowing you to assume the water is really shallow and just flows through the stones where you cannot see it. Gravel texture or jagged rocks would look good here.

 

At 150cm, the river is mostly clear of debris. Some debris seems to be really angular, and if it spans the entire river, it can look funny, so I may need to hand-edit 1/10 of the processed tiles on average.

 

At 200cm, the river is entirely clear, but takes on a shape which is so uniform it looks like a person cut it into the stone. For my purposes, that just looks weird.

 

The processes can be run in two directions. I can first cut the river into the tile prototype, and then apply a mountain texture to the whole thing. Or I can run the mountain builder script, and then follow with the stream cutter. If I do it that way, the stream is flat bottomed and forms a half-wave gradual slope by using this formula:

 

y=(-(cot (pi*x)) + 1)/2, where x is equal to distance ratio across the tile on the diagonal. It then applies the y output to the mesh z axis, and scales that number by the given height transition, offsetting by Sen's data for tile offsets.

 

This automatically calculates nearly the same slope you would have with the old Rural Soften crosser, making the slope of the stream really gradual, but not in a way that is straight from corner to corner (which I tried and it looked nasty).

 

I think that same formula may have some other uses for me in the future.

 

For the sake of having a more clear stream with less long angular parts inside, I may run the functions backward, mountain first and then stream cutter, and modify the stream cutter to simply add noise as it positions verts. This will give a more U-shaped cut, like those in OC Rural. I need to find a middle ground.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

Not much going on this next week here, or for a few months now really. Monday I'd like to finish the walkmesh to pathnode detector. Right now, the previous version detected pathing only based on the name and crossers, which worked well for me with a lower tile count, and with tiles not created using height changing noise.

 

For this next version, I'd like to detect basic pathnodes by actually walking the walkmesh faces of the mesh. To do  [AHIJLNVWXY] I will just check if a) I can get from any given edge to another, and from that edge I can reach ALL other faces on that edge. Doing [BCDEFGKMOWRSUab] should be almost as easy. I just need to figure out the best way to detect that there are two groups of walkable exits on the same side, and only two. If I can detect two, it should be almost as easy to find three, and then I can do [cde]. The key is in doing [Z] correctly, because it mixes both edge to edge travel of any kind, but needs to know that two edges have two exits.

 

I may have to break each of the pathnodes down into its constituents, counting each separately and calculating a pathnode from the parts. For instance, [c] is calculated from 1) a path from one edge to an adjacent + 2) another separate path from one edge to adjacent on the same edges as the previous + 3.) a path from any corner to any corner which is separate from the other two paths.

 

Another example is [F], where the pathnode is made from 1) two exits on one edge + 2) two exits on the opposite edge + 3.) a path that can go anywhere

 

If I have to do all that work, I can also detect in the process tiles which don't fit any of the pathing, or could somehow fit more than one description. I almost guarantee that a detection script like this could throw out some interesting information, especially on faces up against an edge which are walkable on the side of a cliff, like you can get in this granitelands set.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I've spent some time in Drakensang Online, trying to get some more ideas for stream stuff, or even just water. What I found instead was a really cool way of building the same shaped tileset over and over again, but with different visuals.

 

From what I have studied so far, this game uses the following in every tileset:

 

Terrain A

Terrain B

+1 (both)

+2 (both)

Solid (impassible rock, or a building [universal])

Chasm (universal)

Water (universal)

 

If you combine these parts, making solid/chasm/water all universal height, as if terrain level 0 will always attach to water the same way, and +1 and +2 just happen to get a water corner, then the total number of unique tiles without duplicates for variation is just over 1027.

 

Now, you can't portray a good mountain with that, unless you specifically set the height transition higher, or make some specific groups to transition faster, so that is generally incompatible with my granitelands set.

 

What you can do is something I have wanted to do for quite some time, and that is a dual terrain crypt/cavern with pits, water, and solid space to make that enclosed feel.

 

Another thing they do with the same tile combos is create a swamp/forest which feels enclosed by trees or chasm.

 

Their fog falloff is set really low, and they add additional fogging to the Z-axis, so when you look down pits, you don't see very far at all. In terms of NWN distance, their fog falloff on the Z-axis is about 600cm. That is far too low to use in game unless you have a very foggy place. Instead, I'd keep the global fog falloff higher and just add some fog layers to pits. Another alternative would be to have a blanket fog on ALL tiles with a height transition. That might look pretty cool.

 

I had originally wanted to have really super high places, or seemingly deep, yet transitional, drop-offs in my upcoming underdark sets. What I may do instead is a combo terrain style for each of the three. The karst caves was going to be the first I tinker with, and that was going to be primarily limestone pocket caves, long tunnels, and spherical/dome rooms. That would fit very well with my crypt/cavern combo, and I can keep the required tiles under 2k by omitting the other two height transitions.

 

Another thing I can do to reduce tile count in a set like that is to restrict transition change to only +1, but create groups which create a +2 transition for me in other ways. That would be far less work, but would not look as good.

 

For those of you who have played Torchlight 2 or Dungeon Siege 1, you can get an idea of the cave/crypt combos I am planning. You could also take a look at some of the first crypt areas on Drakensang Online.

 

If you do go view Drakensang, you'll also see that the quantity of tiles for just one crypt using the one tileset is probably about 2-3k, just because of the variants, especially on stairs. They also seem to have a "corridor" style crosser.

 

Another game I have been examining lately is Dungeons 2, which is an upgrade to Dungeon Keeper.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Verilazic]

               

I played Dungeon Siege (and loved it, for what it was), and I recall most of the caves there essentially being the same as outdoors bounded by tall "mountains" but with different lighting, with the possible exceptions of the goblins base and the final seck prison. Is that the aspect you're referring to?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

DS1 has that multi-level effect, but they also transitioned from crypt to catacomb in a single tile. In the first regions of DS1, multiplayer or campaign mode, there was that skeleton filled crypt, but sometimes to get to another portion of crypt, they led you through a section of gray-brown cavern. There was a similar setup later in the mines, when instead of just being in that brown mined stone, you transitioned to dwarven halls. I don't think I will have the dwarven halls be connected on my second underdark tileset, but you will find some dwarven works out in the "wild" areas, as well as door-tiles to dwarven halls.

 

In Drakensang, they built their crypt the same way, occasionally moving you into a cavern area. It is kind of built in a way that makes you feel like the whole crypt is crumbling into the underworld. They even have animations to rumble the screen, and then play some VFX with debris falling from the ceiling. Other tiles have bridges over chasms with big cave formations growing up around the edges, as if the crypts were constructed in the caverns on purpose. In many places, the floor has just caved in to a pit, sometimes with water below, sometimes just bottomless.

 

There are parts of the crypt tiles which are very much rip offs of Diablo 3, with book cases which break very similar. Those would have to be done with damageable placeables, positioned perfectly with the tile. What they appear to be doing, in terms of NWN mechanics, is having a niche into which one placeable goes. When it takes damage, that transitions to another appearance, but also gives off parts which eventually fade away.

 

Some of these tiles might make a good mini-set for this month's wizard tower CCC.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

What I loved about DS1 was there were no obvious area transitions. You could walk from one end to the other with no obvious waits, at least once you killed everything. That was the other thing I loved about that game - no re-spawning monsters.

 

As far as the actual areas go, don't forget the cellars that had lifts and the haunted crypt right at the start that was full of spiders.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

That was definitely a plus: the no transition wait. After playing zone-based MMO's for years, it was very refreshing to have tile-based maps which simply led right into the next region. I loved how in the multiplayer world map, you could go from your start area to ALL the areas by simply following a different path.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

In fact the only thing not to like is that it doesn't work for any version of windows after XP. Oh, and I couldn't find all the sp easter eggs either.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Verilazic]

               

I got it to work on Vista. Though I only remember that it was a bit of a pain to do so.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I got it to work on 7 without trying. I haven't tried 10 yet.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

It refuses to install for me (vista & 7). Says it won't work. That is one of the reasons why I have a dual boot (XP/win 7) PC. FYI, I have it on disk not a digital download (if one exists).

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tonden_Ockay]

               

Hey I seen this youtube video and thought of your (MerrickDad) project

 

 

AnOldFriend (handle/name on nexusmods) is the one that made these textures and said the following about his work.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IMPORTANT NOTE: I am happy to allow anybody to use my work in your mods. Anything I make, and release, can be considered a modders resource. 

However, this only applies to those who are providing the work freely. You may NOT use my work in any mod that you intend to accept donations for. I do not work so you can profit off my efforts. Please respect my wishes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I plan on uploading all his work (not just the mountain textures) to the vault soon.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I would certainly use those!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tonden_Ockay]

               

Just uploaded aof_skyrim_textures.rar to the Skyrim Textures project on the vault. It has AOF Detailed Mountain Textures.