NovaCameron

Ok ok. I need to learn DirectX C++ cause the shaders are DirectX shaders. The fact that there is a DirectX library (.dll) in Sins and the shaders look nothing like OpenGL shaders shows how much attention I was paying. Though I did learn how to set up a basic C++ program and code some windows, through something that doesn't apply here. Ah well. Starting over with that! In other news, I am know how I will package the texture data and have the game read it. I will not use alpha chann

I have been thinking and this mod may actually turn into a graphic make overhaul and upgrade as well as planets. Cause I actually like messing with the FX files. I need to learn some OpenGL/DirectX coding but it should be fun. I haven't started the data files for the planets yet and will start soon.

[quote who="DANMAN3712" reply="23" id="3614483"] Wow, incredible work...would love to learn how you are making all that magic happen. Looking forward to seeing more of your beautiful planets. DANMAN [/quote] I actually don't know really. I just know how the data flows through the fx files. So I am adding and rerouting it. Lots of copy pastes. Tweak there. Edit here. There are lots of actions that I don't know what they do or me

Successfully split rendering of day and night sides. I tried something with the bloom and broke it though. Bloom needs more tweaking.

Oops... Well I found out that each render level has a max of 64 variables. I had to tell it to render the day and night sides separately.

[quote who="Lavo_2" reply="18" id="3614416"] Good progress! A very nice change from that 100% black dark side. [/quote] It will still be possible to get black night sides. But only on planets I designate, like airless moons and planets. Bloom isn't this slap the same bloom on everything anymore but a complex equation that takes in around a dozen inputs to get.

More improvements. I fixed the bloom finally. l over did something completely different that was affecting it. I added slight texture coloring based on lighting, I fixed the night side clouds, I switched the night side land texture to the specular texture which is BW (and not bloody color like the way it was) and only shows seas faintly and ice a little better and added an effect that would make it flicker somewhat, I added an effect that would make the night side city lights twinkle, I added

[quote who="mikefacciola" reply="15" id="3614315"] o.0 I like whats happening here. [/quote] Yay! A response! I am glad you like it so far. I just tweaking the effects files till I get a look I like first. And updating and expanding it. I am trying to get a planet done so I can ask for tweaks. Bloom is being problematic but I think it has great potential at the cost of few resources.

Major Breakthrough! I got night clouds rendering. As well as night atmosphere via the bloom. Take a look. So pretty...

A new screen cap of the test planet. I think it is looking pretty good.

I really hate editing alphas. So I toss them. I am hijacking the bloom settings to serve as my glow for my planets. An added benefit is that there is now a nice gradient of light, so the edges of the light side are in twilight and the center is bright.

Nah, it isn't that it has no color. It just isn't reading the way I want it to. It either isn't pulling the texture off the mesh or it isn't reading the color off the mesh. My guess is the color. But it could also be that it doesn't know how big to make the texture. I actually think it is impossible to create a corona off a mesh because it is screen texture and not a model texture. Thus the game doesn't know what to.do with a mesh texture t

novacameron And ya I'll redo the particles to. I am slowly trying to thread the bump maps in. I dunno what is all required but I'll get there. Edit: Or might not... I dunno my textures have a nice bumpmap built in and it isn't like you can see much shadowing and large scale shadowing in high orbit. Haven't yet figured out how to merge the corona into the main planet file. It isn't quite as necessary as the shine was.

I honestly cannot see a difference between DX1, DX3, and DX5. They all look the same. That pic above is a DX1 texture.

Important update, I got clouds to render off the mesh. As well as get there color from the mesh. It is really important cause clouds were given to a planet through the planet data files. Now they are not and will render for objects not a planet. Dual planets are gonna look even.better now. The only two textures that I haven't changed yet are the ring and corona/air glow ones. Which are still done through the data files and will not render for moons, and dual p

Haha!!!! Success! I figured out how to make the spectral shine take a black and white independent texture! This, is, huge! This is partly why I gave up so long ago. And I guess time helped out. But! What this means is that I have complete control over a planet shine! I can decide what has a shine and what doesn't. It removes the problem of extra shine everywhere. Also and this is the biggest part: MOONS CAN HAVE SHINE NOW!!! (Or no shine if I desire.

Thanks I lost most of my stuff in a drive wipe a few days back. I had to take a look at the pipeline files from SOGE to remember what I did with them. It has been forever. I actually wonder what to do with the shine. I can squish the textures down to 1mb each. so each planet type would be 2mb so I can fit 100 unique planet textures in easily. To be honest the shine drives me nuts cause it inflates the texture size and is completely unrealistic. Any actual glare that str

Greetings! Since this is a new year I will start working on a new and improved version of all my planets. Or more accurately I will be scrapping all the textures and redoing them from scratch. In the intent of large and long games I will be bumping down the size of the textures back to rebellion standard of 2k/1k. This will allow me to make many, many more planets than before. I will also be rebalancing them as there will be many many more types. Now for questions I ask

If I had to guess, it would be you have too many stars. With only about four planets a star that is a very very low number. Bundle up planets in "systems" that cover the houses and sectors and you should be fine. You are also pushing the max number of playable planets. Merge some stars up and that should fix it.

No, the Low Clean industrial is basically a robotic planet. (Mechis V i think) Filled to the brim with automated factories. Not a nice place to live so it has and only needs a low population to look over the droids. The Clean Industrial planet is Basically a Terran planet with an Industry focus. (Tons of those to look over.) The Industiral Shipyard is Fondor. Edit: the Industrial have modual not ship bonuses. Ahhh yes that intentional. It's only 10* percent so it&#3

well it's either that or ANOTHER texture... ooo oops. It's supposed to have no night side... x.x

It will still be there. It is the Default. I didn't know it at the time I did the Skyboxes so I made it as the background universe radiation color so if you turned off the star lighting it turned that one on. Thus making everything a dark light red.

Just so everyone knows you can't turn off the DeepSpaceSkybox. There were no Skybox errors. I designed them that way. I don't know why people are having issues with them. Graphics failures? There are ZERO lighting issues. Everything is WAD. BUT If you really don't like the nicely colored skyboxes and rather have a bright white light for everything... go to SkyBoxProperties.skyboxbackdropdata and overwrite: properties &

I have never gotten any strange lighting. *shrug* It's always what I exactly specified for. Edit: I only get the 'copper' tinge when I DON'T use skyboxes.

You just got a red star. every star has it's own wavelengths. always having white light is boring. You just took out a realistic feature. :O