LogicSequence LogicSequence

Introducing: The High Resolution Graphics Mod by LogicSequence

▼

Introducing: The High Resolution Graphics Mod by LogicSequence

from GalCiv2 Forums
Introducing:

The High Resolution Graphics Mod by LogicSequence

Do you like eye candy? Do you wish Galactic Civilizations 2 had Higher Resolution textures? Do you wish the planets and solar systems looked more realistic? Do you think your PC can HANDLE IT?

Welcome players of Galactic Civilizations 2, to The High Resolution Graphics Mod by LogicSequence. I've been developing this mod for some weeks now, and the time is near for it's release.

In short, this mod will:
Replace the textures for all the races' homeworlds with new, original higher resolution versions.
Replace all Class 0 planet textures with new, original higher resolution versions.
Replace all ring and moon textures with new, original higher resolution versions.
Replace all cloud textures with new, original higher resolution versions.
Include authentic all-new Raw Terrain maps for all of the races' homeworlds.
Add more color variation to the background nebulae.

This mod isn't for the older PC. Some of the textures in this mod are 4096 x 2048 pixels, and many are 2048 x 1024, or 1024 x 512. If your PC meets the recommended system requirements for Galactic Civilzations 2: Dark Avatar, you should be able to run this mod without any problems.

Screenshots:

(These are some Development screenshots of the mod in the Beta stage)
(Be forewarned, the images are hosted on a free image hosting site, and i have limited bandwidth, try not to overload it!)



















[Download]
modding faq support
458,771 views 210 replies | Pinned
Reply #127 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This is a must-have for anyone with a decent graphic card. I experienced no slowdowns with my X800XL, and the planets are now a visual delight.

I am not sure though wether red stars actually radiate red light and etc. Maybe the effect is not very noticeable, at least it doesn't seem to have any effect on nearby ships.

And as someone said earlier, the new star background is really too colorful for my tastes. To be realistic, there should be color variation, but with very high luminosity, therefore every star should be pretty much white: some red-white, some blue-white, but not red-red or blue-blue. Stars of such low luminosity that they would actually glow red-red would be invisible from the distance the star background seems to be.

I know that with a powerful telescope you can create a very colorful image like this, but that's with a telescope and is not natural to the human eye.
CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #128 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I should have benched my latest game... Large galaxy with 11 opponents (9 major and 2 minor), and later in the game my frame rate took a pretty massive hit. I think part of it is because I do not have a dual-core processor and I max out all the cpu settings - and the extra texture swapping was too much. So I had to remove it temporarily... but it is odd. My VC has 512 Meg of RAM, and I think the game has a TOTAL of only that with all graphics totalled up (which I don't think would ever be fully running in texture memory), and the mod is 100 Meg. I don't program though, so maybe somsone can add some insight. Seems with 512 fast RAM the nicer graphics shouldn't affect it much it all? Note: I'm only using the them as replacement maps - not with the RAW's as a mod.

AMD FX-57
ATI Radeon X1900XTX
2 Gig RAM
Reply #129 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I am not sure though wether red stars actually radiate red light and etc. Maybe the effect is not very noticeable, at least it doesn't seem to have any effect on nearby ships.


They do, but stars only light their own planets. Ships are lit globally and are not affected by stars' light.
Reply #130 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
hey logic,
it rained today in san diego, and by our standards it was 'cold'. i realized that, now with your mod more than ever, my computer is doubling as a space heater.
cheers!
nik
Reply #131 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
hey logic,
it rained today in san diego, and by our standards it was 'cold'. i realized that, now with your mod more than ever, my computer is doubling as a space heater.
cheers!
nik


Hehe. Between this and Croc's ships it's apparent I need a lot more power. I never thought anything GC related could bring my system to it's knees.

Sure do love this mod though.
Reply #132 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Would this work with Dread Lords? I've been playing a game for the past week and just got a Tech victory, so I was hoping to install this and up the AI skill a few notches for my next game. I'll get to DA in a few months or so, once I get bored of the original and want to freshen things up more. But at this point is it possible to install this eye candy or do I have to wait for then?

I was going to try installing it, but all the questions about whether its compatible with DA and the fact it says DA all over the installer have made me nervous.

Thanks,
Peter
Reply #133 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
To make it work with DL you'd pretty much have to backport all the changes yourself into the DL files, since all the files are based on their DA versions (many of which are different from DL).
Reply #134 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i recall you saying at some point that you wanted to hear about bugs. well, i had a small one. one of the layers of clouds seemed to not load properly, and it appeared very pixelated over my planets. it was the 'thinner' upper layer of clouds that's translucent and moves faster.
Actually that's not a bug . It has nothing to do with the mod either actually. It's how GC2 draws the clouds on planets. It takes one cloud image and draws it, and takes a second, layers it over the first, and makes it more transparent. That's just how the clouds are drawn. You just notice it more with the new cloud textures.

i just saw your reply to this -- the bug wasn't the second layer of clouds. i hadn't known that that's how they work, but i assumed it wasn't a bug. the bug seemed to be that the resolution of the second layer was pitiful - worse than in normal graphics. i looked like a checkers board. but maybe that is how it works.

but i had another question. i noticed that there are only 10 random planet skins for PQ-0 planets (named C00 - C09). will the map only make use of 10? if so, that kind of sucks (not that it's your doing). i'd really like to use some of the additional skins you made for random zero-quality planets, for more variety.
Reply #135 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i recall you saying at some point that you wanted to hear about bugs. well, i had a small one. one of the layers of clouds seemed to not load properly, and it appeared very pixelated over my planets. it was the 'thinner' upper layer of clouds that's translucent and moves faster.

Actually that's not a bug . It has nothing to do with the mod either actually. It's how GC2 draws the clouds on planets. It takes one cloud image and draws it, and takes a second, layers it over the first, and makes it more transparent. That's just how the clouds are drawn. You just notice it more with the new cloud textures.

i just saw your reply to this -- the bug wasn't the second layer of clouds. i hadn't known that that's how they work, but i assumed it wasn't a bug. the bug seemed to be that the resolution of the second layer was pitiful - worse than in normal graphics. i looked like a checkers board. but maybe that is how it works.

but i had another question. i noticed that there are only 10 random planet skins for PQ-0 planets (named C00 - C09). will the map only make use of 10? if so, that kind of sucks (not that it's your doing). i'd really like to use some of the additional skins you made for random zero-quality planets, for more variety.


GC2 can only select from 10 images for the Class 0 planets at this time. I have requested that number be upgraded in the future, but there are no promises as to whether or not that will happen. As for now, there is no way to have more than 10.
Reply #136 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Let me make sure I'm reading this right. It WILL NOT work without DA? Not without installing the textures piece by piece?
Reply #137 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That is correct Gavote
Reply #138 from GalCiv2 Forums Top


UPDATE:

A patch will be released within the next 2 days to update the game to be compatible with Dark Avatar v1.5X.
Reply #139 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oof, that sucks. Thanks kyro for replying, I guess this isn't for me then. Glad I didn't try it.

Maybe I will someday, was really looking forward to it now. Wish it said somewhere more clearly that it was DA only before I got all my hopes up, I'm such a noob...

Peter
Reply #140 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Do the purple stars cast purple-ish light? It didn't seem so.
Reply #141 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Logic I'm not sure how you feel about this, but I wanted to offer this in case you're interested.

I love your mod. It is a true okeasure being able to jump around a galaxy that's so alive and vibrant, detailed and spectacular. But for myself, I pretty much only play Metaverse games and on Huge maps at that.

Having so many textures at the dimensions you use means people with machines not as fast as ours, will have a difficult time in larger maps. So just for myself, I created an alternate set of your textures that I could use for Metaverse games, and then I started to look at what I could live with (the best visuals vs. performance). The results look significantly better than the originals, yet still runs well... and of course this will work in Metaverse games.

If you'd be interested I'd be happy to send you what I've done so you can submit it. I have no interest in having any credit (not submitting it nor being mentioned)since all I did was re-size, swap around several images, and performed visual & performance testing. You did the real work and it's truly remarkable. I would have just e-mailed... but I already did that so that's why I'm posting here.

I fully understand if you're not interested - if it doesn't fit the grand vision you came up with. It'd just make me kind of sad that so many people would not be using such brilliant work in their every day games.

Best Wishes.

-Jeff
Reply #142 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
From the screens I've seen of the mod, it looks amazing, Logic. However, the mod is so large I'm having a hard time downloading it. It gets up between 96-99% and then the download times out. Yeesh.

Any help would be appreciated.
Reply #143 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Jpinard i think thats a great addition

Logic i do miss not being able to use your mod at all in MV games.

Looking forward to the outcome of this!
Reply #144 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Logic please email me ASAP as i have had to delete all ftp access to the core as we have suffered an attack! Email me and i will set up a new one for you.
Reply #145 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Logic please email me ASAP as i have had to delete all ftp access to the core as we have suffered an attack! Email me and i will set up a new one for you.


OMG. Why would someone do that?!

BTW - Is that why I didn't get an e-mail validation yet after registering at the forum yesterday?
Reply #146 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
jpinard i have activated your account for you Sorry for the delay
Reply #147 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
An oddity has occurred only since putting in the (gorgeous) HRG mod.

It seems that, in seven games now, I have yet to see a single bonus tile on a planet other than my homeworld. Not a single one. No +100%s, no +300%s...nothing, on over 60 worlds. They're all just plain-jane squares. Unloading the mod seems to correct the issue.

But it can't be that the HRG mod has anything to do with this, right? I mean, it doesn't do anything with game mechanics itself. Am I missing something? Where am I being the fool? Or am I just really really really unlucky in a very strange way? Is there a file I can tweak that will fix this? (Yes, I'm on 1.02.)

Sigh...back to basic graphics for a while.
Reply #149 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Or am I just really really really unlucky in a very strange way?


Bingo.
Reply #150 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Or am I just really really really unlucky in a very strange way?


Bingo.


Hehe. Want to konw something funny Albion? I didn't have too many bonus tiles either (for a few games). Then I loaded up a cheat game so I could do some testing... and whoa! 5 big bonus tiles on my home planet. I thought - well that just figures! hehehe. After more games it evens out. Really!