More natural landscapes

[Bizman]

Now that we are testing new graphics, I would like to make a wish for fixing certain abnormalities in the current terrain system: It would look more natural, if the mountain tops and steep cliffs were rocky and the fields and lakes/ponds in the valleys and other flatlands. I would like to see the farmer who can plough a 90 degree slope with a pre WW2 tractor or better even, a horse!

On the other hand, I have been told by an agricultural engineer, that cows pasturing in alpine terrains have shorter legs on their uphill side.

But would it be too difficult to add a script into the texture lottery machine, telling to prefer suitable textures in certain spots like mountain tops or steep slopes? IMO it would add a sense of reality to SA when flying and fighting in narrow valleys; when seeing a field means in front of you really means you're diving.

[Motherland]

Steep slopes are a gray rocky color, and some mountains are snow-capped in the new NDISLES that HTC released for testing.

[phatzo]

although high alt cows have legs shorter on one side than the other (due to the fact cows all face the same direction) sheep don't. Sheep will face whatever direction the closest sheep to them are facing. So as far as grazing animals are concerned it is no problem on a hill in AHII as we only have sheep. If HiTech were to incorporate cows into the game a consensus would have to be reached as to which direction high altitude cows must face.









 

[Larry]

I really wish they would smooth the terrain out.

[Motherland]

I really wish they would smooth the terrain out.

Even though Hitech said that they had not changed the elevation resolution, they must have changed something because the new terrain is all very smooth.

[Kazaa]

Even though Hitech said that they had not changed the elevation resolution, they must have changed something because the new terrain is all very smooth.

Yeah, it's called textures.

[Motherland]

Yeah, it's called textures.

The textures don't make any difference in the shape of the environment.

[Larry]

The new textures make it look smoother when at alt but when you zoom into GV level it looks the same.

[Greebo]

In the AH terrain editor the only way of avoiding the "farms on cliffs" problem is to set each tile by hand. Note there are around 65000 tiles on a small terrain and even a lot of those might be water, that's still a lot of work. However I vaguely recall there is a setting in Machnix's excellent Tilesetter tool for the maximum allowable angle a farm tile can be set to which sorts this out.

[Larry]

Greebo can you PM me the link to that and any other tool that would make creating a terrain easier for a first timer.

[Greebo]

Machnix's tile setting tool can be found here:

Tile Setter: www.wildandfreed.com/ah/tileset.exe
User Manual: www.wildandfreed.com/ah/tileset.txt

The only other non-HTC software I used on my terrain is Paintshop Pro, although Photoshop or whatever would work just as well. I started by making a multi layer elevation map with a different colour and layer for each altitude. I then greyscaled these, 0,0,0 (black) is S/L with progressively lighter shades of grey going up to the max alt layer 256,256,256 (white), which was 15K on my terrain. Then I gaussian blurred each layer and saved them as a merged bmp. This was imported into the TE to create the terrain's elevation. I also used this elevation map as the basis for my arena clipboard map.

[lyric1]

On the other hand, I have been told by an agricultural engineer, that cows pasturing in alpine terrains have shorter legs on their uphill side.

So if the cow was to turn around 180 degrees he would be lob sided & roll down the hill? What happens if he walks up or down the hill at 90 degrees to his shorter legs. It sounds more like urban legend to me. How ever if any one can find those facts of cows with 2 legs shorter than the other 2 please post those facts. I am sure the creators of the game will go to work on the sheep immediately.

[Kazaa]

The new textures make it look smoother when at alt but when you zoom into GV level it looks the same.

+1

[Chilli]

I really wish they would smooth the terrain out.

+ 1  Rolling hills instead of speed bumps and tire spikes!  I agree!  Not meant to be harsh, noting all the complexities involved.  It would be LEGEN  (wait for it) DARY 

[USCH]

shootable DEER like the old Janes WWII i used to fly  somtimes we would just go hunting deer and never fight eachother