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reallogger edited this page May 2, 2017 · 47 revisions

Animals and Growth Data

WIP - this needs updating

If you would like to add your own animals and growth data for your map, then you need to do the following

  1. Copy animals.xml and growth.xml (both of these files can be found in the /data directory under the season mod into the root folder of your map) and then modify them.
  2. Rename the files to seasons_animals.xml and seasons_growth.xml

Texture Replacements

TODO The texture replacement (Replace Visuals) system is a powerful system to replace textures dependent on the season. It is used to replace grass and foliage (grasses).

Note: Even though it is season dependent, the autumn, spring and winter textures might be shown earlier or later, depending on the temperatures. The trees could be bare for longer after winter if the temperatures have been too cold.

To be able to replace textures in the game, the textures need to be loaded into materials. To keep them around they have to be bound to a shape. At last there is an XML file that defines what shapes are used as replacement in each season. It is easiest to take a look at the files in the data/ and resources/ folders to get an idea.

Like any other XML-part we have in Seasons, there are two ways to get new replacement visuals in the game: by adding it to the map or by making a separate mod. Ideally, a map maker incorporates it into the map. If that has not been done it is possible to make a Seasons Texture Mod (STM), as can be found on our GitHub for a couple of popular maps.

Snow Mask

Note: This section has been updated with a new snow system. If you convert from the old, remove all old xml from your map and start anew. You can rename your existing snowmask file (gdm) to seasons_density.gdm (or grle) and it should keep working.

The snow mask will keep snow from falling inside sheds, houses, rivers and on model roads. The snow mask is also used to determine if an object is 'inside' our 'outside', for example with bales and vehicles. It is important that you supply a snow mask so that Seasons can use snow up to 0.5 meter. (It will otherwise default to 0.06m. See the F.A.Q.) The mask is a new foliage layer named ssSnowMask. Everywhere you paint, snow will not fall.

There are also some other layers that we use for other purposes or for the future.

  • Copy the three texture files invisible_mask_diffuse, invisible_mask_diffuse0, and seasons_density into your map01 folder.
  • The code to use is also supplied in the map01.i3d file.
  • Insert the following two lines under <Files>:
<File fileId="100050" filename="map01/invisible_mask_diffuse.png" relativePath="true"/>
<File fileId="100051" filename="map01/seasons_density.png" relativePath="true"/>
  • Search for windrowFoliageShader.xml and copy the fileId
  • Insert the following at the end of <Materials> and replace ???? with the fileId of the windrowFoliageShader:
<Material name="seasons_mask_mat" materialId="100610" ambientColor="1 1 1" customShaderId="????">
    <Texture fileId="100050"/>
    <CustomParameter name="alphaBlendStartEnd" value="70 75 0 0"/>
    <CustomParameter name="cellSizeTerrainSizeScaleXZScaleY" value="16 1024 2 255"/>
</Material>
<Material name="seasons_empty_mat" materialId="100611" diffuseColor="1 1 1 1" ambientColor="1 1 1">
    <CustomParameter name="dummyStartEnd" value="0 0 0 0"/>
</Material>
  • Insert the following at the end of <Layers>:
<FoliageMultiLayer densityMapId="100051" numChannels="5" numTypeIndexChannels="0">`
    <FoliageSubLayer name="ssSnowMask"  densityMapChannelOffset="0" numDensityMapChannels="1" materialId="100610" cellSize="8" viewDistance="80" objectMask="16711935" decalLayer="0" atlasSize="1" atlasOffsets="1 0" numBlocksPerUnitDefault="1.8" numBlocksPerUnitMin="1.8" numBlocksPerUnitMax="1.8" width="0.8" height="0.3" widthVariance="0.1" heightVariance="0.1" horizontalPositionVariance="0.3" blockShapeId="1"/>
    <FoliageSubLayer name="ssTempMask" materialId="100611" densityMapChannelOffset="1" numDensityMapChannels="1" cellSize="8" viewDistance="0"  terrainOffset="0.0" objectMask="0" atlasSize="1" numBlocksPerUnit="0" width="0" widthVariance="0" heightVariance="0" horizontalPositionVariance="0" height="0" />
    <FoliageSubLayer name="ssReserved1" materialId="100611" densityMapChannelOffset="2" numDensityMapChannels="1" cellSize="8" viewDistance="0"  terrainOffset="0.0" objectMask="0" atlasSize="1" numBlocksPerUnit="0" width="0" widthVariance="0" heightVariance="0" horizontalPositionVariance="0" height="0" />
    <FoliageSubLayer name="ssReserved2" materialId="100611" densityMapChannelOffset="3" numDensityMapChannels="2" cellSize="8" viewDistance="0"  terrainOffset="0.0" objectMask="0" atlasSize="1" numBlocksPerUnit="0" width="0" widthVariance="0" heightVariance="0" horizontalPositionVariance="0" height="0" />
</FoliageMultiLayer>

  • Now, in Giants Editor, use terrain foliage paint mode to paint windrowfoliage wherever snow must NOT appear (roads, inside buildings) (it appears in list as ssSnowMask).

  • Note: make sure you only paint the first layer (ssSnowMask). All other layers must remain empty.

  • Save in Giants Editor before launching the game

  • Rename invisible_mask_diffuse to invisible_mask_diffuse1 (to switch off the 'windrow paint')

  • Rename invisible_mask_diffuse0 to invisibe_mask_diffuse (to switch on 'invisible texture' )

  • After you finished editing in GE, change the viewDistance from 80 to 0 to hide it correctly. When you want to do changes again, set it back to 80.

  • Snow should now appear correctly and not where the windrow was painted.

  • In case you have downloading the .gdm file for a map, it should be placed in the map01 folder together with the other .gdm files.

Adding frozen lakes and waters

You can add frozen lakes by using the FrozenLake object. There are a couple of steps to make this work:

  • Make a new shape that covers your lake / rivers / waters. Place it a tad higher than your actual water. NOTE: this includes the GE waterPlane (defined by setting the water height of the map).
  • If you want vehicles to be able to ride on top of it, give it a collision plane, .
    • As of now, there is no traction adjustments when riding on ice
    • Be sure that this works, and vehicles don't glitch into some unbounded map area
  • Make it a ssIcePlane object. Now, it will only be visible when Seasons tells it to
  • Give it a nice frozen-lake texture.
  • Test it

Note: giving it transparency might look odd because there is still water below it. Note: Snow can't fall on top of the ice, so make sure you keep a tipCol and snowMask on the lake.

If you don't want drivable lakes, only add the object, no collision and don't let snow fall on it.

Custom weather

It is possible to supply a custom seasons_weather.xml with the map. In the 12 periods (period 1 = early spring, period 12 = late winter), there are three temperatures values to be specified (min, mode, max). Min and max values are not used at the moment, but needs to be given. The mode of the temperature is monthly average daily maximum temperature. So if you take the average of the daily high temperature for all days in January in your 20-30 data series you get the value for mode for January.

probRain is the daily average probability of occurrence for rain probClouds is the daily average probability of occurrence for overcast and has per definition to be higher than probRain mu and sigma are mean and standard deviation for a probability distribution that is used to determine the duration of a rain event.

Adding season-based objects

It is possible to add objects that are only visible in one or more seasons, by using the SeasonAdmirer object.

Console commands

There are 4 console commands for testing your map:

  • ssResetGrowth resets all growth
  • ssAddSnow adds a layer of snow
  • ssRemoveSnow removes a layer of snow
  • ssResetSnow removes all snow on the map
  • ssSetVisuals <season> sets the visual season, where is autumn, summer, winter, spring.

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