Directory of Planet Mods

from Sins Forums

This thread is a directory of sorts providing links to various planet and star mods.  Given the nature of the Sins community, many mods may pool graphics from the same sources, and often conversion mods include their own planetary graphics without standalone versions.  Nevertheless, this is an attempt to provide links and downloads to mods that are predominantly textures and graphics used for new planetary content.

Let me be clear: I am by no means trying to "appropriate" others' works.  Rather, I'm trying to make it easier to find these planet mods (something difficult given how many threads are under the "Mod" section)...

Please, please, please post links to mods that are not already listed...a comprehensive list for the community would be great...

Clicking on the name of the mod will take you to the official thread or website.  Direct downloads to the most recent/applicable/pure version have also been provided.  Please note that the date indicates when the download link was established, and not when the mod was most recently updated.

Some of these threads are dead, and some are managed by modders who, while active, are very busy with other projects.  Therefore, questions pertinent to a particular mod probably should be posted here as well as the mod's actual thread.

TO THE MODDERS:

If your mod is listed here and you would like to have it referenced in a different way, please let me know.  If improper credit has been given please let me know so I can fix it right away.  All downloads located below are hosted by me on MediaFire; they are not hosted by the original creators, but are the same versions I have acquired through the provided links.  This has been done for the convenience of those reading this thread and to serve as backups for any of these mods.  If you do not want a copy of your mod hosted by me, let me know and I will change the link.

Sins Plus

Sins Plus is an old classic, one that has been incorporated into many mod projects.  Created by Uzii, the thread is long dead and the original mod is no longer supported.  Fortunately, various forms of Sins Plus have been updated and repackaged by a variety of people over the years.  One such version by rjhughes67 packages it with ManShOOter's Volumetric Explosions, Bailknight's Graphics Mod, and the Sins Optimization Project.  A version exists for both entrenchment and diplomacy.

Rick's Galaxy (has links to both versions)

A more "pure" form of Sins Plus for Diplomacy also exists (Check out dolynick's Galaxy Mod or Cosmos Ad Infinitum)

Infinite Space

This currently is a work in progress.  AxelDude has released a series of new content, including both new textures/meshes as well as revamped versions of Sins Plus and the vanilla assets.  These textures are extremely well done, and avoid the polar pinching that many planet mods often suffer from.  Eventually all of the textures will be coupled with icons as well.

The thread is still active so watch for updates and new content!  AxelDude also has his own website with pictures, links, and details.

dolynick's Galaxy Mod 

This is an updated version of Uzii's Sins Plus.  Created by dolynick, Galaxy Mod is a complete and playable standalone mod that is also incorporated in Stargate Races.

dolynick's Galaxy Mod v1.06 (12/06/2011)

Additionally, dolynick has created a Planetsize Mod that increases the size of planets and gravity wells for realistic purposes.  Ship speeds are changed accordingly.  For details on how to stack this with Galaxy Mod see dolynick's thread. 

dolynick's Planetsize Mod v1.03 (12/07/2011)

Cosmos Ad Infinitum

Created by ZombiesRus5, Cosmos Ad Infinitum is currently 4 separate standalone mods, each with its own unique planets and textures.  Features include different planet sizes, fantastic textures, and an updated version of Sins Plus.

Cosmos Ad Infinitum has been incorporated into Sins of the Fallen and is hosted on MODDB.

Novus Universum

Made by NovaCameron, this mod adds a lot of new content.  Noted for its realism and high detail, Novus Universum features moons, 8 planet sizes, a variety of stars, and much more!  Much of NovaCameron's work has been incorporated into the conversion mod Star Wars: Sins of a Galactic Empire.

Novus Universum v1.2 (12/06/2011)

A set of Galaxy Forge planet icons for Novus Universum has been created by Ludo Kreesh.

SoGE Galaxy Forge Planet Icons v1.0 (1/03/2012)

Celestial Bodies

Created by TohKlidan, Celestial Bodies offers a host of new planets and stars.  Features of this mod include different planet sizes (Moon, Dwarf, Normal, and Huge), black holes, new scenarios, and companion stars.

The related thread provides more details regarding the mod, but unfortunately has not been kept up to date.  However, an updated version (Entrenchment 1.053) has been created by rjhughes67.  Adaptation to Diplomacy will have to be done on your own.

Celestial Bodies v0.9.2 (12/06/2011)

Multiple Stars Graphics Mod

A nice little change by boshimi336, this mod removes the colored spiral each star system is represented by when zoomed out.  This mod makes for a much cleaner map and better experience when playing on multi-star maps, especially those with lots of stars.  This work has been incorporated into Distant Stars, though a slightly different version is used for that mod.

Multiple Stars Graphics Mod v0.3 (12/06/2011)

modding
69,583 views 98 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Zombie Rus was working on this and I believe MyFist0 contributed as well.  there were also a coouple of others I don't remember exactly which were what.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Was it Novus Universum? Had a ton of planets and pretty dark set of slightly different skyboxes.

Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

No it was not Novus, I know about that one...this was the other one I really liked...

Sinperium, do you happen to remember the name?  For some reason I feel like I remember Zombie commenting on the mod in ways that implied he wasn't part of it (IIRC in regards to polar pinching)....

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 3
Sinperium, do you happen to remember the name? For some reason I feel like I remember Zombie commenting on the mod in ways that implied he wasn't part of it (IIRC in regards to polar pinching)....
End of Seleuceia's quote

Well Zombie's is here. On the second page you can see some of myfist's early work, I know he redid the planet meshes so he might of fixed the polar distortion. I don't think he's released it as a mod though.

If its not either of them I have no idea. ;)

Edit: Actually it seems using the original planet mesh might prevent polar distortion.

Quoting kryo, reply 7
The terrestrial planets use the cross shape so that the textures don't end up distorted at the poles (without having to do a polar distortion on the texture image itself). The middle part wraps around the center of the planet, and a circle is cut from the top and bottom parts and goes on the poles. IIRC the gas giants use the more typical mapping since you wouldn't notice the polar pinching.

You should be free to use whichever mapping method you prefer if you're making your own planet models.
End of kryo's quote

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

That is it!  Thanks!  Shows how awesomely wonderful my memory is...

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 6
https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/407916

This also was another one I wanted to hunt down....
End of Seleuceia's quote

Yup, I've been keeping track of that one as well, I hope he puts up a download link before he forgets about it all or his computer crashes again. :S

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Yep that one Zomb's and MyFist0's are all really good.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Sinperium, reply 8
Yep that one Zomb's and MyFist0's are all really good.
End of Sinperium's quote

Did myfist ever make a thread for his? May as well post that here so we have them all in one place for future reference. May as well change the thread title to "A directory of planet mods" or something Seleucia. ;) Here's Novus Universum as well.

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 4
Well Zombie's is here. On the second page you can see some of myfist's early work, I know he redid the planet meshes so he might of fixed the polar distortion...
End of GoaFan77's quote

Redde Caesari quae sunt Caesaris

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/378149/page/31/#773

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/378149/page/38/#928

 

 

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

The planets were very nice, were recent (so we aren't talking like old, outdated stuff)...one key feature that distinguished them from other planet mods is that there was no pinching at the poles....I'm pretty sure this was a planet only mod, but I could be wrong...
End of quote

The Cosmos Ad Infinitum mod uses Thoumsin's mesh and uv-map indicated in his link. 

Depending on the 2:1 texture there can be very very minimal to almost unnoticeable pole pinch.

Some 2:1 textures don't have a good polar region defined which tend to make the pinch much more visible.

Novus's mod also has the same pole pinch potential as my mod.

 

The cross uv-map may be the best way to avoid the pinching, however the texture sheets are much larger and harder to make than finding good pre-made 2:1 textures.

By example I have 14 systems worth of textures that match the 2:1 ration. I think for a mod the 2:1 texture is good and reduces some of the memory overhead required. 

 

 

Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 9
Did myfist ever make a thread for his? May as well post that here so we have them all in one place for future reference. May as well change the thread title to "A directory of planet mods" or something
End of GoaFan77's quote

myfist has a website for this http://soase.weebly.com/new-planets.html .

Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 9

Quoting Sinperium, reply 8Yep that one Zomb's and MyFist0's are all really good.

Did myfist ever make a thread for his? May as well post that here so we have them all in one place for future reference. May as well change the thread title to "A directory of planet mods" or something Seleucia. Here's Novus Universum as well.
End of GoaFan77's quote

When I have more than a fleeting moment, I will do that...

Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 2
Was it Novus Universum? Had a ton of planets and pretty dark set of slightly different skyboxes.
End of GoaFan77's quote

NU killed skyboxes for the most part (that is, disable the skybox options in the effects menu for it to work right), some are pretty bright at times.

Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top

Okay....what is the best/most recent/most complete link/page or whatever for Sins Plus?  There are a lot of places it is supposedly at...

Also, Zombie/myfist0, what exactly would be best for Ad Infinitum?  Is there another location you have been putting that stuff that may be a better place to link to?

Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top

Not sure yet what to do with Thoumsin's links yet...seems more like a "how to do" thing than actually a mod....but maybe I'm missing something?  I was in a rush when I looked at it and I didn't read the entire thread....

Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 16
Not sure yet what to do with Thoumsin's links yet...seems more like a "how to do" thing than actually a mod....but maybe I'm missing something?  I was in a rush when I looked at it and I didn't read the entire thread....
End of Seleuceia's quote

You don't need to make anything with the link... post was for Goafan77, showing that i was at the origin of the equilateral projection ( UV ) used by ZombiesRus5 and a few other...

Don't know if it have remain updated somewhere else but the "father" of all planet mods is the Uzi's sins plus mod ( https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/301574 )... as today, it is integrated in a lot of the big mod...

When Uzi's sins+ was transfered to 7DS, it have lead to solar sins ( https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/308755 ) but support for it was ended when it have be fully integrated in the 7DS mod...

Well, enough about history... as today, i think that the most used mod with new planets is called "Distant Star" ( https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/335474 )... it include the sins+ from Uzi, the celestial bodies of Thoklidan and the multiple star graphic mod from Boshimi336.... along some graphic enhancement, the TSOP project, etc...

Since the DS mod is keep updated and it is fully functional, i think that it have a place in the listing of your opening post...

 

 

 

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top

Not sure who exactly to credit here, ZombieRus5 and/or myfist0...in any case they both did something, I'll get more details later...what I do know is that a lot of this work has been incorporated into SotF...
End of quote

Cosmos Ad Infinitum is my planet mod. Myfist posted some of the textures he was putting together in that thread to help lead people to his weebly. I don't think he has released any mod though. 

I'll update that thread to link to the moddb which is the standalone versions of the planets and to SotF which as them integrated. 

An up to date version of Sins Plus and Celestial Bodies can be found at Rick's Galaxy.

Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Thoumsin, reply 10
Redde Caesari quae sunt Caesaris
End of Thoumsin's quote

My apologies, Imparator Thoumsin, from now on I will rightly credit your greatness instead of assuming myfist creates half the things on his weebly. ;)

Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GoaFan77, reply 20
My apologies, Imparator Thoumsin, from now on I will rightly credit your greatness instead of assuming myfist creates half the things on his weebly.
End of GoaFan77's quote

Well, myfist has created his own spherical planet and uv-map which is somewhat different from Thoumsin's both in polycounts and uv-map.

I believe I went back to Thoumsins mesh because of some of the texturing baking I did but can't fully recall now.

In either case my planet mod contains meshes from Thoumsin (pretty sure thats still the case), textures from Celestial Bodies or Sins Plus, and icon/picture template from myfist0.

The other majority of my mod is the coding I created to generate the required entries to edit the GalaxyScenarioDef. With the code I created all I need to do is feed it a texture that fit's an expected name like Planet[System Name][Planet Type]-cl.dds and optionally provide a -da.dds with the same name.

In the case of the Rigel planet mod over 290 entries are generated into the GalaxyScenarioDef.

The other remaining manual steps I need to do are create the icon sheet and string names (the *.brushes files are generated from simplified templates).

I don't make any claims to the textures or mesh which is why there aren't any restrictions to their use other than crediting Celestial Bodies and Thoumsin said he didn't want credit for the planet mesh but I try to point out that's what prompted making the mod whenever I can.

Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top

Is there a "pure" form of Sins Plus?  The one on Rick's Galaxy apparently includes a bunch of stuff other than planets....

Also, is there a version of Celestial Bodies that is meant for diplomacy?  I'd assume the textures are still valid but the text files would have to be updated for diplomacy...

Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ZombiesRus5, reply 21
...and icon/picture template from Thoumsin...

...Thoumsin said he didn't want credit for the planet mesh...
End of ZombiesRus5's quote

Well, icon/picture cannot be from me, i sµck with 2D...

I don't really care about credit... for some mod, if credit was made for everybody who have work on it, the list will be to much long...

But i don't like when other take credit from my work... recently, i have found on moddb somebody who have release a singleship mod and credit himself for the model... model was stolen/extracted from a now dead mod and was created by me...

In short : no credit=no problem, wrong credit=problem...

By the way, i don't feel like a "imperator"... Redde Caesari quae sunt Caesaris is a usual latin expression... like the "etc" that i use a lot who is the short version of "Et cetera"... or "CV" who is the short version of "Curriculum vitae"...

Reply #24 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Thoumsin, reply 23
Well, icon/picture cannot be from me, i sµck with 2D...

End of Thoumsin's quote

Whoops, hate it when I write something different from what I was thinking. Corrected above (I meant to write myfist0 for the icon template).

Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top

You know this is where DLC would actually make sense.

If Stardock/Ironclad wanted a little extra cash why can't they hire a couple of extra people and deliver us some new planets from time to time for a small sum?