Best quote on the forum.

Just in like with what SinsPlus has done add some flavor versus just Terran, Volcanic, Ice, etc plus with some variation in what/when/how bonuses and traits are applied to planets. Under the hood they still have the same research requirements as this is all hardcoded.

I agree and I surely wasn't throwing stones, so I can only assume you mean this in general. In fact their way of mapping the planet textures results in a very high quality render at the cost of unused space in the texture. As I'm mixing your model against sins the 2.7 meg is medium resolution for my purposes (2048x1024) while 4096x2048 would be high resolution (again for my purposes). The medium resolution texture in this case comes out to 2.7 meg which is a net savings against the way Sins maps their planets for similar quality.

Thanks. I'm more proud of the generation script I developed which will allow me to create lots of fictional universes without too much effort

nice

Was not directed to you or anybody in particular ( well, maybe to myself :p )... i have wish to remember people that sins was made by a little team, in a short time and with a small budget... for a great final result...

Lately, some people forget it and complain ( happen to me too )... it was simply a way for thank Ironclad ( who is usually  forgotten ) for their good work and very long term support of the game... after all, without then, we will have nothing to mod...

By the way, if some Stardock/Ironclad devs read these topic, maybe they can use your planet and modify the .mesh and planet fx file... will be great to be able to select different type of cloud map via a texture line in the .mesh... or modified fx in a way who allow to use the non used da alpha ( dark side map ) for a grey scale bump map who will add more details to the planet  without increasing the memory use by texture itself ( since the texture is already DXT5 RGBA )... example using your cl-02.jpg from the top post : http://www.love-from-russia.be/earth_cl.jpg without bump, http://www.love-from-russia.be/earth_cl-bump.jpg with bump ... there are thing that modders cannot make because it is internal to the game engine... maybe for Rebellion ???

This would be cool.

The 5 planet (meshInfo) limit per entity file would be nice to up as well.

Future Earth I found...

18 new planets completed with custom icons and pictures

Ok darn it--these are genuinely really nice.  Hurry up!

No pressure...

I was serious when I started this. I like the Sins planets and replayability is really good even with only two textures per planet type, but there are so many interesting planet textures out there, why not have them in Sins. With this setup I can release an 20+/- planet package in less than a day now by my estimation including custom pictures and icons (assuming I have the textures, which there are plenty of).

Also, as I'm not interested in changing sins gameplay this will be more like a sins plus mod that can be easily encorporated with other mods. In fact if a mod likes one of the planet packs I can integrate the planets with their mod just by modifying my build script to use their mod as the base versus Entrenchment or Diplomacy (re-balancing excluded)

This pack is actually ready except for some custom planet bonuses I am looking at doing. Just still doing a little research in this regard. I'm looking at using the bonuses as a way to describe the planets as well as providing bonuses +/-'s depending on the type of planet. I just need to understand the current planet bonus system a little more to better predict the impacts.

We may even use your mod ZombieRus5. Nova's planet mod is awesome but a bit overdone for our mod. Oh and yeah use Distant Stars in conjunction with your mod is allowed.

May I suggest considering going with the differing planet sizes as well? Similar to DS.

A dwarf, normal and gas giant size model?  This gives you 3 ranges for planet sizes.

I wouldn't want to add tons of load onto the game but the differing planet sizes are really enjoyable.

Is there a future earth texture (all the cities) that doesnt involve all the global warming shenanigans?

They look great though

Well, that particular effect is just the night side, so it could be applied to a normal earth texture without the global warming farce

Cool, and thanks. I'll take a look at a Distant Stars + Fictional Sol to see how it comes out. I'll have to think about how to deal with PlanetBonuses for different mods, but that won't be to tough an egg to crack.

Nice work there ZombiesRus5. I particularly like the future city version also.

 The other day I had bit of mess around doing some sculpting and texturing so I thought why not have a go at a moon or planet or something. Anyway this is what I created http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24068635/MoonType1.zip It has been baked onto the mesh that Thoumsin created. That is the 1 you have been using yeh? 

Maybee you could use it IDK.

Yep, that's the plan currently.

Yep, I'm using that model. I'll take a look at it

That'd be rather awesome. you also try reversing the texture so it rotates the right way

Not sure that it can help... but i have the wiki code for all the planet bonus from 7DS 2.1 ... 7DS wiki have die long time ago but i have keep the pages that i have made... if you wish it, simply ask it...

By the way, when i have made the model/UV, i have take care that it was compatible with everything created for Celestia ( http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ )... so, any texture resource made for Celestia will be compatible with your .mesh...

For example, all Star Trek planet found at http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/fic_startrek.php will work, or the Babylon 5 plannet found at http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/fic_babylon5.php , or the hundred other found at http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/fictional.php#1800 ( the lower left one on the pic below seem great for a vulcano planet )

So, what kind of planet modifications are you guys looking at doing? Just going through your galaxy scenario def entries related to planets and trying to see what you might be looking for...

It would still rotate the wrong way though. I'd rather view Earth correctly and ignore the rotation myself.

No worries yet. I'm not sure what I want to do now really. The PlanetBonus system is kind of meh, and there are already a good amount of bonuses readily available. I was considering a required planet bonus for each planet type, but this would appear to cause issues with the random bonus placement if I'm understanding correctly. I may only muck with the planet bonuses and abilities for my own mod.

On the celestia site, it's where I've pulled the fictional earth textures as well as some other fictional variations. Lots of good stuff there. And ya, I'll check out the star trek and babylon portions.

The 7DS textures from Thoumsin are stunningly good.

Well, it is not really complex... each bonus group have two number who range from -1 to 2... -1 reveal bonus when scouting, 0 reveal bonus when colonize, 1 reveal bonus when explore level 1 and 2 reveal bonus when explore level 2... artifact are always level 2... for the rest, you make what you will, simply keep some logic... by example, a planet with a population bonus because it is a big planet can be detected at level -1 but a old temple who increase religious fanatism ( culture resistance ) will be 0 or 1...

Now, it is not really random but in the min/max level that you choose... if you use 0/0, it will be discover during colonization... if you use 0-2, it can be discover during colonization, exploration 1 or exploration 2...

Well, i have no idea if any of my models have make it to the recent 7DS... seem that the download system with membership refuse me because i was members without being registered ???

And i have not make a lot of texturing for 7DS... lately, it was for B5 mod or Halo mod...

If you mean the earth screenshot, it is not a ingame render but a firefly render... have setup a few shader node in poser pro who allow to render like it will be with the game engine... only difference is that the texture used are the original .tga (dds lead to loose quality )... when i have create the planet .obj, i was not knowing how work the planet fx and have work in the same way that for ship... cl map for texture, 3 grey scale map ( da ) for illumination/specular/cloud and a bump map ( nm )... have maybe 10 planet ready using this way... hmm, will need to test something... duplicate the GS_Ship.fx  and rename it GS_Planet.fx... if it work, i will be able to use real illumination, specular, and normal map on planet too... something to test when i have more time...

Don't get me wrong... I understand how it works technically. The issue is the default 40% bonus coverage detailed in the majority of maps that would be used up if I provided required bonuses (assuming it would eat up a portion of the 40% as I haven't had time to test). Adding more optional bonuses would seem to be unnecessary as most mods have a significant number of random bonuses. As my goal is to make these planet packages as reusable as possible, I don't want to add additional items that will overly conflict with other mods.

The other issue is the creative side associated with bonuses. There are 16 fixed bonuses that can be applied which does result in quite a few different possible combinations. However, the same situation arises in that do they add to the planets or just simply put more fat into the existing set of bonuses already offered.

My original thought was to add planet bonuses that help describe the planet initially and then have random bonuses apply when researched. This would most likely involve an increase in the planet bonus percent for the maps to have a significant coverage. I could also weight any new planet specific bonuses so they are more likely to occur. I'd like something in the end that makes researching planet exploration desirable and semi-predictable though with some randomness of bonuses applied.

Just trying to work out the details before I commit time to building something.

If I come up with something I like it will most likely only make it into my mod unless requested by someone else. I'll also release standalone versions that only have vanilla bonuses and no abilities that anyone can use without my help or as a standalone mod to make things simple.

zobiesrus, the map default ARE IN ADDITION to the random and fixed bonuses from the entities, so it is possible for a single planet to have five or six bonuses apply, example in the stock game I have  seen several times in most versions in a single planet the 33% reduction of gw, 33% increase gw size, metal miners, an artifact and culture resistance.

harpo

I'll digest this and do some testing when things free up a bit. However, this seems counter intuitive for the possibleRandomPlanetBonuses defined in the entity files which reaches upwards of 50+/- in some mods. It may very well be required bonuses are in addition to the map default bonus percentage. If this theory is confirmed then I will be in business with my original plan (probably still for my mod)...