Talu Swamp Development

[morcroft]

Looking very nice, Ibsen! Well done. :goodjob:

I'm assuming the rectangular holes in my trees are your cruddy graphics card...

[Koniption]

The visual effects are quite appealing!

Yeah, if you use the bamboo of mine, I do suggest using much more fewer rocks like you are already doing, to even out the game impact. But the occasional seashell here and there are ok.

My bamboo are not very high in collision polygons like a lot of Oblivion rocks, but the mesh polycount is similar to some of the bigger and medium-sized rocks of Oblivion. So overall, I think they cause less game performance impact than if they were replaced by those particular Oblivion rocks I just mentioned.

Koniption

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Hopefully, the region generator can just modify the areas above the waterline and leave the watery parts well alone. Then this will leave me free to add the trees and bamboo by hand without being distracted by rocks. It's a lot of work normally but I can duplicate clumps and it won't harm the overall look and feel of the place if I do so.

And yes, morcroft. It's the graphics card which, in itself, isn't that bad, really. It's a 512mb Geforce 6800 and it's pretty fine even by today's standards but it's my PC that corrupted it so blame the shitty PC instead. :yes:

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Quick update: I have landscaped the whole region and already selected a sample vanilla cell on which base the region generation. Apart from the textures that I'll need to get sorted tomorrow morning (need to chill out now...it's Friday evening!) then all the other assets have been chosen for the item replacement. This means that I should be able to hand everything over to sandor this weekend.

Bear in mind that I'm going to be hand-placing the trees and flora (bamboo, mainly) for the slightly underwater parts....shouldn't actually take that long if I do it the way I have planned.

[sandor]

If you send the files by Tuesday, I'll finish it before the weekend.

I also looked into the Cyrodill LOD issue and found a solution for that.

Originally written by IG
Hopefully, the region generator can just modify the areas above the waterline and leave the watery parts well alone.

That's not a problem and noted.

[The Filthy Spaniard]

Hello All, The Filthy Spaniard here.

I noticed that you were talking about making trees a couple of posts back, and using programs like tree[d] and such. There is a much better alternative, which is "speedtree modeller". Normally this costs $10, 000, (eek) but it is packaged for free with the Unreal Development Kit. LINK HERE. I have downloaded this myself, and it is pretty amazing (you can "draw" trees as well as it having a whole load of procedural things, and forces). The only problem is that oblivion was made using Speedtree v4.2, and the free version here is v5.0, so you cant make the .spt files that are the trees used by oblivion. But you can export the tree as an .obj file, import it into blender, and export it as a .nif file.

Just thought that this might prove useful for later!

[Koniption]

Originally posted by The Filthy Spaniard
Hello All, The Filthy Spaniard here.

I noticed that you were talking about making trees a couple of posts back, and using programs like tree[d] and such. There is a much better alternative, which is "speedtree modeller". Normally this costs $10, 000, (eek) but it is packaged for free with the Unreal Development Kit. LINK HERE. I have downloaded this myself, and it is pretty amazing (you can "draw" trees as well as it having a whole load of procedural things, and forces). The only problem is that oblivion was made using Speedtree v4.2, and the free version here is v5.0, so you cant make the .spt files that are the trees used by oblivion. But you can export the tree as an .obj file, import it into blender, and export it as a .nif file.

Just thought that this might prove useful for later!

Hi TFS!!,

Sorry about this this....
Actually, according to the link's FAQ:

"Q: Can we use SpeedTree models compiled by the SpeedTreeModeler freely in our game, or we have to pay SpeedTree for that?

A: You are free to use the Speedtree models included in the UDK in your UDK application. "

Means we can only use such created trees in a game/program made with UDK application. Oblivion is not made with Unreal engine...

Koniption

[morcroft]

@ TFS: It's possible to obtain SpeedTreeCAD Lite 4.2 with a little online searching. Lite won't let you edit composite textures or custom collisions but between us KP and I have established quite a few Speedtree texture and collision tips if you want to get into treemaking for Oblivion.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Yeah, morcroft's worked wonders with trees of late. Hey, nice to see you over here, TFS! You'll notice we're planning on using the quicksand mod soon....over in the Vudai Marshes. Thanks for your help on that (and in working with Koniption as well). :goodjob:

[The Filthy Spaniard]

@Koniption: Oh well, that's one idea scuppered of course the final files would be nif files and not "speedtree models", but it's not that important to me to risk corporate anger.

@morcroft: Oh, sweet! I haven't been able to find it yet, but maybe with some time I might. I'd very much appreciate you PM'ing me a link though. Those tips look very useful too, I'll bookmark that thread.

@Ibsen: Nice to be here! Just thought it would be nice to get a closer look at what I've helped a bit with. It's a pleasure to help by the way.