Maximus Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Not to sound too harsh, but... Try installing them! It seems that several people have downloaded and attempted to install the sky mods only to find out that they can't see them. This goes for other mods as well, actually. You'll see what I mean. With the advent of the Mod Manager, people are getting lazy when they download and install mods. ie. They don't look at them first. In this particular instance, Tiger's Sky Mod included three separate zips which you must first unzip or load those zips into the Mod Manager. This trend seems to happen every now and then when a slightly complicated mod "package" is published such as Marco's Allied stuff. So to prevent this confusion it is a WISE and also a GOOD idea to unzip each mod into their own folder at least once to see if there are any special options or additional zips within the original zip file. I here stories that say that, "Well, I installed the mod, yet I still see the original graphics." If you truly installed the mod, there is NO POSSIBLE way that you could see the original graphics. Because CM pull textures fron ONLY the BMP folder (on PCs) so if you truly overwrite the files, then you WILL see the new mod. The problem is that if you simply unzip the mod zip into the bmp folder, then you may not be actually installing it. That is why it always a good idea to unzip them into their own folder before to make sure that you just not unziping additional zips into the BMP folder upon which the mod won't show up. Also, apparently if you have a low-end machine or a low-end video card of which CM will display the low-res versions of certain textures like sky and grass, what can I say? UPGRADE and get with the 21st Century! ------------------ For your dream car click here. For a Close Encounter click here. Hey look! I can see my house! And for all you Hamster Lovers out there, check this out! Kitty, this one's for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Williams Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 What he said. -Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porajkl Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 I never use Mod manager, because I'm from old DOS school and I rather do things which are not automated. I copied new Tigers files into right directory but the game doesn't show them. Is 16MB voodoo3 really so obsolete that it can't show those new skies??? I thought that low end is 4MB... Anyone with 16MB card who can see the new skies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ckoharik Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Originally posted by Porajkl: I never use Mod manager, because I'm from old DOS school and I rather do things which are not automated. I copied new Tigers files into right directory but the game doesn't show them. Is 16MB voodoo3 really so obsolete that it can't show those new skies??? I thought that low end is 4MB... Anyone with 16MB card who can see the new skies? FWIW, I'm running on a laptop with an 8MB video system and can see them just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 I am running AMD Athlon 600 with Voodoo 3 3000 and cannot see the skies. What's more, the skies that are getting loaded are the CM default skies, despite the fact that they no longer exist. Ihave a full install on my HDD and the CD is not being accessed, so how am I still getting the old skies. Do the BMPs need re-numbering or something? I check the BMP 1400 for instance (in the BMP folder) - new sky. Load game, old sky. Doesn't matter whether it's a scenario or QB, old skies. Pulling hair out and stamping round a lot now. Other mods work fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Porajkl - see the thread under Tigers name re new skies. It gives detail about re-numbering and re-sizing the skies. Clearly not such a straight forward process for some. I'm not sure why this mod needs tinkering with (for some to be able to run it), and I don't want to sound harsh, but 'Install them' isn't perhaps a helpful guide in this case. [This message has been edited by Apache (edited 03-26-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 I had to both renumber and resize the new sky textures in order to see them. Once that is done, they look better than the originals (that come with CM.) I also have a V3 3000 16MB card. It seems to automatically select the lower quality sky BMP's... which can easily make it seem as though the new textures did not install correctly. The lower quality sky BMP's are a LOT smaller filesize than the High quality BMP's, so I'm actually glad the game is using that extra texture space for something other than Hi-Res skies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 I am out of my league here, not being a techie, but couldn't you be having problems seeing the new skies because you toggled "fast and whatever" intstead of "best quality" for graphics in game. IT is one of the hot-keys. I do not understand the need to renumber and/or resize. And for the rest of you, the zipfile must be opened and EACH INDIVIDUAL zipfile within the download must be unzipped to the BMP folder, just like Maximus so rudely pointed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx_CM Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 As being (probably), the first "user" to install this mod, i can honestly say that i had no trouble whatsoever with it's installation. Unzipped them to the BMP folder and took the screenshots. I don't know what the problem could be - i run CM with ALL graphic setting on full, weather, fog etc., etc. Perhaps it's something to do with the Voodoo 3 cards. I have a Matrox G400 Max running Cm @ 1600x1400. ------------------ Manx - COMBAT MISSIONS Resources for Big Time Softwares "COMBAT MISSION" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurlyBen Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Sounds like something to do with the voodoo cards. I have a voodoo 3 3000 and I've never been able to get the 1400-1414 bmps to show up. This is the reason my blue skies come with both versions... It means I've never seen what my skies look like high res. One thing I noticed was that when I resized Tigers skies (so I could see them at all), I noticed a seam at the edges... that is, the skies are mapped onto the walls of a big box, and I could see where the corners are. I'm wondering if people who can see the big skies notice this. If so it probably means my 1400, 1405 and 1410 bmp have weird looking effects at the corners as well. Oh well. SurlyBen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcobbler Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 I also have Voodoo 3, 16 mb. It seems to always default to the low-res sky. To see the new Tiger skies, you need to unzip the bmp's, rename 1400 (as example)to 1430. Overlay the new 1430 into the game BMP file and you WILL see the new summer sky. It may not be good looking though, don't know. Resolution? Results? It is the same as upgrading a bmp from low-res to hi-res with a mod. Shoeman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Not to sound too harsh (or labour the point), perhaps before posting comments like 'Try installing them' in bold, members should make sure they have their facts right first and that there are not hardware conflicts of which they know little or nothing about! Lecturing from the top of a soap box is fine - until you fall off!!!! [This message has been edited by Apache (edited 03-26-2001).] [This message has been edited by Apache (edited 03-26-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 All this makes me wonder if there isn't some "switch" us Voodoo 3 3000 users can flip to make it accept the Higher Res textures, when choices are available. I'm also fairly certain that a Voodoo 3 3000 will never default to the Hi-Res grass texture set... not that I want that goo slowing down my game anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 The seams do not show up in the larger sky textures as I mirrored the textures. You will see the seams if you've resized without doing this, that's because the "sky" really is just a 4-sided box. I'm working on some replacements for the smaller sky bmps, though try and resize the big ones if you want. One reason you may be getting the smaller sky bmps is that you are running in 800 by 600 screen resolution. I have a voodoo5 and it always uses the higher resolution larger textures. Hope this helps, Tiger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 I suspect you're probably right. There are quite a few bits and pieces within 3dfx 'tools' that I haven't quite got to grips with working at all, everything else plays fine so I've left well alone. I have some very demanding stuff on the system and it seems to cope with all that. Many will say 8Mb+ should be fine and the other fellow says he can see the skies as they are on an 8M without re-numbering etc. [This message has been edited by Apache (edited 03-26-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Tiger - My desktop is set to 1024x768 (16 bit) and that is what my CM prefs are too. I may try deleting that folder and re-starting CM, just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurlyBen Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 I'm not seeing seams caused by the textures not meshing, I'm seeing them because of perspective effects caused by the fact that the textures are mapped onto a big square. Where the textures meet, the clouds make "v" shapes. I was wondering if this is an artifact of resizing them or if it happens on the big versions too. SurlyBen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von_M Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 Is the sky mod larger than 256x256? AFAIK Voodoo 2 & 3's don't support textures larger than 256x256, that could be the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmac@work Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 Hi Ben! Not to worry. You're skies look just fine, as I've been using them since you gave them to me. They really do look good. I haven't grabbed John's new one's yet, but looking forward to doing just that once I get out of this infernal cubefarm (work). They looked fine on my 16MB TNT, and obviously they still look just fine on my GeForce2 32MB card. John, outstanding set of sky maps BTW! Can't wait to see what your Lynx looks like as it brews up with them in the background! hehe... Bigmac out! ------------------ All CM All the time! Check out the Dogs of War CM Players Community Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maximus Posted March 27, 2001 Author Share Posted March 27, 2001 Just another reason to drop that Voodoo product and go Nvidia. This reminds me of the old pissing matches we had on here about 3Dfx Voodoos and Nvidia-based cards. Well I guess we all know who won that ultimate debate as 3Dfx was bought out by Nvidia. Apparently the problem is that it's not the video memory it was 3Dfx's out-look on 3D acceleration. Speed over Quality. Use low-rez visuals for speed over hi-res visuals for eye candy. Again the old qauntity over quality debate. I'll take one Cadillac over 3 Fords anyday. ------------------ For your dream car click here. For a Close Encounter click here. Hey look! I can see my house! And for all you Hamster Lovers out there, check this out! Kitty, this one's for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 Yes, Yes, Yes, 3DFX sold out... BUT, it still makes no sense that us 3DFX owners are seeing only the small sky graphics. The statement that V3's only use 256X256 textures or less is not correct, as I experimented with a larger texture and it worked fine. Voodoo 3 cards were the top of the line card when CM was finishing production, so why would the game be "dumbed down" for that card? ALSO, the video card itself would not be automatically AWARE that the Lo-Res textures set even existed w/o CM telling it that... for some unknown reason. Whatever the reason... it has to be the CM engine that is pointing the way to the Lo-Res skies for some of us. I just wish I knew why... [This message has been edited by Mr. Clark (edited 03-27-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rex_Bellator Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 I don't want to dis' the mighty Tiger after all the incredible Mod's I've downloaded courtesy of your much appreciated work, but any chance you could work on the 'v' perspective problem in the corners which I get as well? I have a voodoo4 and 750mhz Athlon2 if that is the problem, however the clouds look flawless so I'm guessing I have the 'big' version so this may be a generic problem which I & SurleyBen see. Thanks in advance. ------------------ In blossom today then scattered, life is so like a delicate flower, how can one expect the fragrance to last forever Vice Admiral Takijiro Ohnishi - Commander Kamikaze Special Attack Force Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurlyBen Posted March 28, 2001 Share Posted March 28, 2001 Hmm. That's what I thought. The reason you see the v shape at the corners has to do with the fact that the skies are mapped onto a big square. There are several ways to get rid of it: running it through a panorama filter in, say, photoshop (although IIRC photoshop doesn't actually *come* with a panorama filter...); carefully drawing everything by hand; using the shear filter in photoshop (this looks like how the original skies may have been done). It wouldn't surprise me if there was an easy push button way to fix it in bryce... FYI, my blue skies shouldn't have much of a problem with the 'v' effect, and they come in versions for people with voodoo 3 cards and people without. You can get them over at the dogs of war website http://members.tripod.com/johnnocmdow/ in the downloads section. The downside being that they only replace the blue skies, and they may be too bright for some peoples taste. SurlyBen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted March 28, 2001 Share Posted March 28, 2001 Just going off at a tangent a little, there are 5 skies in each pack but I seem only able to use 2-3. For example, the winter pack contains a spectacular shot of a blue sky, clouds in air and snow on ground. I have only really dabbled using QBs to test the skies but what settings should I be using to see that sky? When I select Dec - Feb and 'snow' I get falling snow, never a clear sky. Is it perhaps soemthing that it only available if you design your own scenarios (e.g. are you then able to select 'snow on ground' and 'clear day')? [This message has been edited by Apache (edited 03-28-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jd Posted March 28, 2001 Share Posted March 28, 2001 For Mac users only: (you can turn over and go back to sleep maximus ) After installing the Tiger sky mods, they still did not show up. They were installed in Graphic 9 just fine but my iMac still kept showing the old sky views. I discovered that Graphic 10 also had a set of textures. The solution is then easy.. Re-number the bmp's (1400 -->) to 1430-1444. Use either MacMod manager to install them into Graphic 10 and there you are. [This message has been edited by jd (edited 03-28-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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