Elsweyr Resources

[The Old Ye Bard]

The planning map for region gen regions:



*The Purple region is infact broken up into smaller regions, but all of these are stock regions, so was easier to illustrate as one giant 'stock' region.

[Deeza]

Excellent work. A key to what the different regions consist of (and a brief description) would be even more useful though.

[morcroft]

@Deeza: That's what we're aiming towards. TOYB & I were discussing this earlier, and I needed a visual reference so I can get my head round what's where. So thanks, Bard - just what I needed!

I suspect there's more useful stuff in TOYB's head that we need to get up in the forum, though....

[Deeza]

Definitely. By the way, I'd just like to remind everyone that I'll be doing the number crunching for the region gen once the resource presets have been sorted out.

[morcroft]

I put together a test world and puzzled my way through a region generation to see how my landscape resource additions look in context. I started out with a copy of the "West Weald" preset, then moved to a modified Gold Coast for something like savannah (needs termite mounds) then the desert margin and finally badlands proper. Even the badlands have some trees and grass, though: I think having nothing but bare dirt and rock isn't required.

Lore permitting, I'd like to see Elsweyr's desert as rocky with little or even no sand.

I think my red rock retex looks pretty good, but will need to be kept well apart from the grey rocks of Cyrodiil. Would we want red rocks further south as well, or revert to grey for Tenmar?

All the non-vanilla textures are new and created by me. Most of the grasses are versions of Gold Coast ones I've browned and faded to suit the drier conditions. I haven't put any plants in - although I see things like Aloe Vera going very well in here; we have to work through the resource file and see what else is appropriate. Oh, and read my lips: no new cacti! I'd personally rather avoid them.

So here's a little trip through Anequina as I think it might look. Feel free to criticise: I know I'm a novice at region generation and I have a fairly thick skin.







Finally, here is a shot of my Acacia Tortilis with a retexed copy of Koniption's excellent Live Oak trunk from Murkwood in Black Marsh. Note that this is a Black Marsh resource and I do not propose pinching it! If we like the effect then I'm going to beg Koniption to make us one of our own.

[Deeza]

I agree with you that I don't think stereotypical sandy desert would be the way to go here. I recall Lady Nerevar saying that Anequina was supposed to look more like Texas than the Sahara, and few people are as knowledgeable about lore as her (though I'm sure TOYB will have his own comments on your pics).

I really like what I'm seeing so far, although I assume we'd need to have different regional variations to keep the terrain interesting to explore.

[morcroft]

I assume we'd need to have different regional variations to keep the terrain interesting to explore.

Well - for a start, I'd hope someone who knows rather more than I do about region generation will create the presets!

Texas, eh? Well a quick google of "Texas Landscape" gave me a bunch of images not too dissimilar to my test patch. I'm happy!

[The Old Ye Bard]

The Region map, now with a key:


Dune Canyons:


Wet Grasslands:


Rim Highlands:


Grasslands:


Dry Grasslands:


Desert:


Badlands:


Scrublands:


Scrublands-Rainforest Blending Region:


Light Rainforest:


Southern Elsweyr Rainforest:


Elsweyr-Valenwood Blending Region:


Valenwood Regions:

[Deeza]

Thanks for that TOYB. I've got a much clearer idea of what we're shooting for now.

[morcroft]

Yes, thanks - excellent overview. That really sets the scenery.

I think the extra landscape and grass textures I've done should top up the vanilla ones to cover all those terrain types. My red rocks should do all the bulk filler rocks of the dry parts, with some new modelling with matching texture for all the feature rocks - especially those canyons.

Rim highlands look more like one of the stock rock textures - preferably with some extra new meshes for feature pieces.

What divides the Riverhold Steppes from the West Weald? I guess we have distant land there, so do we blend the WW preset into the steppes?

By the time we reach either the dry grasslands or the Dune canyons we need to have cut over from grey to red rock - and mixing them looks wrong. If we can use grey rock in a buffer region north of the wet grasslands / steppes and few or no rocks in the actual steppes then the regular grassland can pick up the red rock theme.

Might get a bit of a texture clash going from grey rock in the Rim to red rock in the grasslands - either need a buffer region or just hand-clean the geology.

I think I'll need to add a few more landscape-on-top red rock retexes for blending in the grasslands - again, just to fill out and blend: any feature rocks will need new models. I've reviewed all the available models and Mr Siika's and Sachiels are the only resources I can find out there and they're very old-hat. I did retex them, but I didn't like the result much and don't think I'll keep them in, given TOYB's modelling more interesting stuff already.

Apart from rocks, looks like lots of new trees, shrubs and scrubby plants needed for the scrub and forests.

Did you just photoshop a copy of my savannah tree's billboard onto that badlands picture??? :eek: