[WIP] Ground texture mod

YES ! this is looking good. i dont envy what its taking to do it but iam ashamed ive not the patience ! wow. keep going man ! if u need any help shout me. the dark border upon the roads is essential, keep doing that please.

Originally Posted by Ekar

I've been putting in some time in having a go at redoing the terrain textures.. very slow process... but here's a (detail) comparison screen of default and modified.

http://www.imageupload.org/?d=8889B8991



I realised that I really do like the tiles in higher res (currently the 1st tile is being authored at 4k), and the photographic detail looks great at low altitudes. There doesn't seem to be much of a performance hit on my computer- but I have not updated the bump maps yet.

Issues-

It's really slow going. I'm working from stitched together maps taken from Flash Earth, editing out the lighting/shadowing information, and then trying to work out how the bits need to fit into the original template.

This comparison shot isn't colour graded yet. Personally I don't have too much of a problem with the original colours, and I've tested ingame some modded textures colour graded to the originals. To me they look fine.. some people may prefer a more muted or desaturated look. Anyway, changing colours is the easy part- it's no big deal. What's really needed is to get that texture detail in there. I noticed in CloD, that anything below around about 900 feet looks awesome- it pretty much does the reverse of all other flight sims- where going higher produces a better visual result. After 900 feet, the vegetation in CloD fades out and you're left with just the plain texture, but to me the resolution isn't really holding up there. Using 4k maps takes care of that problem and things should hopefully look nice from any altitude above that range.

Anyway, just thought I'd give a preview. I'm a little busy so no idea when or if this will get done to a finished level. I'd like to imagine I have the energy for it.

in respects to what i have been doing. i have been thinking of ways to change things indirectly. i have a new update ready for the trees that uses the mipmaps to fade out the colour and introduce some fake enviromental haze, it works nicely on the trees, on the ground it may eleviate the colour problems by viewing less colour at higher distances. its worth a try and if it works it could be added to anyones mod.

[adonys]

a new trees update ready? awesome!! when, please?

It looked like this !

now its like this. Small change in all colours, with added distance haze effect. i like how it blends with the sea colours, Personally i like the colours in the high sunshine now. and at dusk there some extra blue/grey distance haze. when you get real close to the textures then the colour becomes more vibrant !!! anyway ill release this soon. itll be a pretty big DL though. 164 meg (74 meg rar)


Extra atmosphere at dusk, notice the vibrancy at differnet heights from pic 1 to pic 2.


one issue with the mod is what general texture setting you use in game higher the better the whole effect, Pictures taken with high settings. so.... yeah i hope this solves some issues for some people colours wise without actually changing things to drastically.

[Ekar]

Thanks guys, and Ali- great work with the trees! I really like the distant haze effect and overall things seem that much more realistic. Looking forward to it.

[Plt Off JRB Meaker]

Love all the hard work you guys are putting in,COD is taking shape v nicely

[adonys]

awesome ali, thanks for your hard work.

and if soon is today, it would be even better, i want to play some il2cod

a couple of folks are gona test it over the weekend. (whilst im at work) BOO !

[adonys]

Then I have volunteer for testing too, please

[David198502]

ali you are doing an awesome work!you really are a benefit to the community.
regarding your ground texture mod,...have you thought of continueing it?is it just too much work??have you thought of doing a patchwork mod, working with others like Ekar?i would offer help as well, but that would need step by step instructions, as im totally worthless when its about modding yet.

Originally Posted by David198502

ali you are doing an awesome work!you really are a benefit to the community.
regarding your ground texture mod,...have you thought of continueing it?.

thats what post 273 is about. It is continuing. i think i was tyring to drastically change the scenery before i gave up. but with some very simple changes and the haze addition i think it''ll work out untill a real overhaul can be done.