Fuser

Ok, I will upload the Mod in a single package at CMMODs in normal ZIP format this evening. This mods completely replaces my older one. Main grass textures (and gridded ones) remain the same as Version 1 so you can safely delete my previous mod if you want. Hope that you like it, but, I understand that´s impossible to please everybody. It´s free anyway so feel free to send it to the garbage can with no guilt feelings, hehe.

Included

Winzip 15.0 allowed me to compress the Mod and achieve files of less than 75MBs. Later, I realized that the Repository doesn´t allow zip-x files Use WINZIP 15.0 TO UNZIP.

Is it? Oops, then...I will upload it again tomorrow evening , and yes, you may need zip-x...

Available at CMMODs: http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/mods

Paving roads are the most difficult part of this mod. There is NO way (with my current skills) to create roads that don´t look like chess boards. Roads, (especially roads...), have a repetitive pattern, and when the battle uses long roads the repetition its so evident, that there is no other way but to create very regular pavement. I may leave them out of this mod eventually, as the quality I am achievieng it´s crap. There is no space for creativity, hehe. P.S: Uploading as I write,...roads and some other textures will have to wait....I stopped having fun modding them,...and modding it´s enjoying it after all!

Happy birthday Gurra!!

I think you expect too much from this mod... The graphics change but the game remains the same, hehe. Seriously, there are some limitations (author´s first, and engine´s later), that prevent creating 3d effects (bump mapping, specular effects)...stock texture size, etc. I think that BFC did an awesome job with stock textures working with this graphic engine, ...in fact , mine are just an alternative depending on how you think about it...CMBN will look odd to your eyes as you load the mod the first time. It will need some time to get used to the new textures,...Even some maps I already played look very different now.

Thursday 12th

The only "bit" left it´s the paved road texture. This mod has been the most challenging task for me since I started modding CMxx! I will release it tomorrow. It will have to be 2 or 3 archives. CMMODS will have the whole file version.

Wood Bridge WIP (stone walls haven´t been modded yet...)

Mord, tree textures are the most difficult stuff to mod in CMBN IMHO. Actually, what we see in the game is the result of a single doodad (a branch with leaves) texture (and 3d Model) repeated many many times. That might be the culprit for slow performance when trees are turned on in fact. Doodads, shrubs, plants or any other foliage it´s very tough to modify, as there are barely no resources on the net for this kind of stuff, and modifying an already photoreal texture it´s often a loss of time. I did, however, modify them in terms of saturation, lightness and contrast to avoid that nuclear green and blend them with the terrain.

Sorry if I am a pest.... Some more blending:

Blending example between dirt and pavement:

I don´t know if this bridge looks convincing...I still feel there is something wrong about it...do you like it anyway? Aligning nightmares...phew.

One question for anyone out there who may know this, It´s bump mapping possible with the actual engine?

No frame hit at all Hister. Modded textures are exactly the same size as stock ones. You will run the game with the same performance as you did before.

You just found the main drawback of CMBN tile textures: the dark shadow appears only ONCE per BMP, but as the wall stretches, that shadows repeats itself once and again. In order to avoid that, I should completely erase that shadow and leave a much more homogeneous texture. That would make the wall not having those random dirt marks, and as a result the wall would be a checkerboard.

An optional Stone Wall texture (many options will be stored in an additional folder):

Railroad tracks (amongst others)are definitely very well done by BFC, don´t you think so?

Brilliant editing!! Those Photoshop filters make wonders...keep them coming Wilhelm.

Pavement N.2, FINAL version: Ok GryPhone,...I will load Carbide Carbide scenario, zoom out a little and post the screen.

Well guys, in case you want to know, all doodads and trees have been modded. Doodads have a dramatic influence in how the game looks. I tried to desaturate them and darken them a bit, applying a light sepia hue. Blending lightness and saturation between all textures and making them work together as a set has taken me hours of testing...phew...CMBN looks quite different to stock now!! I thought about modding shrubs, plants, weeds,...but that it´s a HUGE task that I may tackle later...Mod is 90% done, and possibly will be available on Wednesday.

It may seem easy hehe, but BFC included textures that don´t blend and don´t include seamless textures,...for a reason It´s not only square texture seams, it´s color seams too! If I tried to make the borders to have square cobbles, straight long roads would have an unrealistic pattern,...mixed-square-mixed-square in a very repetitive look. I tried, and I didn´t succeed. BFC textures have the same color for each and every cobble (problem 1 solved) and didn´t bother to make them seamless (problem 2 solved...hehe). Sure there is someone out there that can make them, but my skills are being put to a hard test!