Tileset: Fernland

[titi]

http://www.titusgames.de/tilesets/fernland_done.7z

This is for Megaglest and I think upcoming GAE 0.4 will also work ( thanks john ). It will not work in original glest, because png and jpg are used for textures.

[John.d.h]

It doesn't work in GAE yet.  JPG support is coming in v0.4.

[-Archmage-]

Awesome looking tileset Titi! I should try it out soon.

[ultifd]

Awesome, you finished it! Can't wait to try it out...

[Omega]

I'm gonna convert it to TGAs when I have spare time... Blimmy, it will probably be large though... 9MB with PNG and JPG? Haven't checked it yet, but how the heck did it get so big? (Most tilesets are 2-7MB, and that's with TGA)

Looks very nice though, even if you make it so much harder for me (gonna have to re-export all models and textures).

[ElimiNator]

Looks cool. 

[Trappin]

Surface texture forest1-5 has weedy grass elements and tiny ground berries - nice work. The Inca artifact objects look good.

[ultifd]

Awesome tileset!!! 

[Zoythrus]

question: why isnt it GAE friendly?

arent pngs better thant jpgs?

[John.d.h]

question: why isnt it GAE friendly?

arent pngs better thant jpgs?

PNG is lossless and supports transparency, but JPG allows better compression on photo-like images.

[Omega]

question: why isnt it GAE friendly?

arent pngs better thant jpgs?

PNG is lossless and supports transparency, but JPG allows better compression on photo-like images.

True, but for mods, I consider the use of JPG to be EVIL! JPG is a lossly format, and thus, every time you (or someone else) edits it, information is lost (in order to compress it optimally). PNG is loss-less and thus can be edited without stacking degradation, and still offers better filesize than TGA. Sure, it's a bit bigger than JPG, but the loss-less file format and the ability to use alpha simply make it superior to JPG.

[John.d.h]

True, but for mods, I consider the use of JPG to be EVIL! JPG is a lossly format, and thus, every time you (or someone else) edits it, information is lost (in order to compress it optimally). PNG is loss-less and thus can be edited without stacking degradation, and still offers better filesize than TGA. Sure, it's a bit bigger than JPG, but the loss-less file format and the ability to use alpha simply make it superior to JPG.

Technically speaking, you can just keep the XCF file and modify that every time, just like you'd be doing anyway.  GAE doesn't really have any use for compressed formats except for when it comes to compatibility with MG content, since everything can be compressed anyway.

[Omega]

True, but for mods, I consider the use of JPG to be EVIL! JPG is a lossly format, and thus, every time you (or someone else) edits it, information is lost (in order to compress it optimally). PNG is loss-less and thus can be edited without stacking degradation, and still offers better filesize than TGA. Sure, it's a bit bigger than JPG, but the loss-less file format and the ability to use alpha simply make it superior to JPG.

Technically speaking, you can just keep the XCF file and modify that every time, just like you'd be doing anyway.  GAE doesn't really have any use for compressed formats except for when it comes to compatibility with MG content, since everything can be compressed anyway.

Yes, but smaller file sizes means it takes less disc space AFTER extraction/installation. Of course, you could play without extracting, but I don't do that simply because I not only have disc space to burn , but also because you can't view models, etc when it's compressed, and if you wanted to view a sole XML file, the entire thing must be decompressed to open it.

[John.d.h]

I hadn't really thought of it earlier, but maybe changing the texture on the "hanged" object to match the style of the tileset might make it look a little better.  Since there's ruins and stuff like that, making the wood look a little more weathered, and making the rocks look more red like the others, might help.  Just a thought.

you can't view models, etc when it's compressed, and if you wanted to view a sole XML file, the entire thing must be decompressed to open it.

Err... whaaa?  I view and edit individual files in archives all the time and I never have to do that.

[Trappin]

I'm absolutely opposed to changing tileset conventions, especially when those changes create conflicts with the original Glest game build. titi and silnarm need to hash this out and then present Martino with a working plan.

Standards create harmony between disciplines.

[Omega]

you can't view models, etc when it's compressed, and if you wanted to view a sole XML file, the entire thing must be decompressed to open it.

Err... whaaa?  I view and edit individual files in archives all the time and I never have to do that.

Hmm? how so? When I open an archive in 7zip, find a g3d model, and try to open it, any model that is textured (which is pretty much all of them) will crash the viewer immediately, since it can't find the texture, which should be in the same folder, but when opening files in an archive, that file is always extracted to a temporary folder, so there's no texture that it will be able to find.


I agree with trappin. Using JPGs, which renders the tileset MG only without giving any new features or changes from if TGAs were used is a bad idea. That's like making a mod for GAE just so you can use PNG textures. If you aren't going to take advantage of other features, may as well not bother. Viva la compatibility.

[titi]

Whats wrong with my tileset in GAE? It doesn't support compressed textures yet? Which texture formats are supported? I thought there were plans to support these things too?
I need compressed ones here to demonstrate what is possible with them ( zoom in and you will see ). MG upcoming version also uses Texture compression on the graphics card and this huge ( compared to the former ones ) textures show what is possible now.

I think there are many mods which don't support MG because they use GAE features, so where is the problem now if I create one MG mod which shows the possibilities of the current and upcoming MG? I always made all things compatible, but I think in this case it is not possible :-/ .

( beside of this, with xml2g and g2xml you can edit the files and add another non compressed texture )

@Trappin: Original glest is dead! I asume we will never see a new version and I cannot stay compatible with this forever.

[Zoythrus]

@Trappin: Original glest is dead! I asume we will never see a new version and I cannot stay compatible with this forever.

so...why isnt it dropped? i mean, all it does is prevent newcomers from experiencing the fullness of Glest.

[John.d.h]

Whats wrong with my tileset in GAE? It doesn't support compressed textures yet? Which texture formats are supported? I thought there were plans to support these things too?

Currently GAE supports TGA and PNG, and I think that's all.  There is a ticket for JPG support for v0.4, so it seems we won't have to wait very long for that.  I still don't like using lossy formats for textures, because then you have to make sure not to lose the XCF or you'll never be able to edit without losing quality.  Wouldn't it be more efficient to enable the engine to load content from compressed ZIP and 7z archives like GAE does, so the XMLs, icons, models, etc., would all be compressed to, while keeping things more compatible?

@Trappin: Original glest is dead! I asume we will never see a new version and I cannot stay compatible with this forever.

I have to agree with this.  I think a lot of modders are holding back and limiting themselves because they want to stay compatible with 3.2.2.

@Trappin: Original glest is dead! I asume we will never see a new version and I cannot stay compatible with this forever.

so...why isnt it dropped? i mean, all it does is prevent newcomers from experiencing the fullness of Glest.

Original vanilla Glest (OVG?) isn't a bad game.  It's simply lacking in advanced features.  The big advantage that it has is stability.  You can play OVG as much as you like and probably never have a crash, but MG and GAE are a different story because they're always adding new features.  If a player simply wants a pretty decent free game that doesn't crash all the time, OVG is not a bad choice.

[ultifd]

Well, one reason would that it would actually kinda make everything even worse in a way... The main reason is probably that's no one is really even ready for this change.Then there is the Glest Team and the problems/issues related to them. Also, there's that idea of the "better fork" that some people have... Anyways, Glest still gets hundreds of downloads everyday on Sourceforge. (If you don't believe me, check the stats yourself.) Dropping it would be bad, probably working on the site and sourceforge to have info about the two present forks would be the best thing, for now. We, the community and devs, just need to try to work on that, sometime...

[Omega]

What John said.

However, tilesets are a different picture. Using TGA would make NO difference in how it would be gameplay wise. All that using JPG affects is the filesize, and that's not a huge deal if you have support for compressed archives (such as zip). The audience can be drastically improved by simply supporting all engines. I admit, I prefer GAE for my gaming because it has more features, and my internet is lousy for multiplayer anyway (if you hicough for a split second, you get disconnected and no way to rejoin a game (now that would be a very good multiplayer update!) and my internet... loves the hicoughs ).

I agree with trappin. Using JPGs, which renders the tileset MG only without giving any new features or changes from if TGAs were used is a bad idea. That's like making a mod for GAE just so you can use PNG textures. If you aren't going to take advantage of other features, may as well not bother. Viva la compatibility.

[the warlord of the reich]

fernland? what a name. i thaught am gonna see a jungle tropical maze (which is my favourite type of maps and tilesets of all games) but here theres 2 islands with a river across. this is a nice map actually. good work mate! thank you for your hard work

cheers mates

[titi]

  ??? What? This is not a map!
Are you shure you understood what a tileset is good for ?

[will]

Are these files needed?

tilesets/fernland/models/deadtree.tga 768.0 KB
tilesets/fernland/models/texture_big_stone_.tga 192.0 KB
tilesets/fernland/models/texture_bush.tga 256.0 KB
tilesets/fernland/models/totem1a.blend1 140.7 KB
tilesets/fernland/models/totem3.blend 147.3 KB

[titi]

I bet not!
I will try.