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Jos Kuijpers edited this page Feb 23, 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

Snow Mask

The snow mask will keep snow from falling inside sheds, houses, rivers and on model roads. 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 FAQ)

Credits to vasylko for supplying the files and to masseyharris for writing this procedure: The mask is a new foliage layer named SeasonsSnowMask. Everywhere you paint, snow will not fall.

  • Copy the three texture files invisible_mask_diffuse, invisible_mask_diffuse0, and SeasonsSnowMask_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="100041" filename="map01/SeasonsSnowMask_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="SeasonsSnowMask" materialId="10008" 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>
  • Insert the following at the end of <Layers>:
<FoliageMultiLayer densityMapId="100041" numChannels="5" numTypeIndexChannels="0">`
     <FoliageSubLayer name="SeasonsSnowMask" numDensityMapChannels="1" materialId="10008" 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"/>
</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 SeasonsSnowMask).

  • 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.

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.

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

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