Merricksdad's Red Desert Tileset (EE)

This is a stand-alone tileset for use as a red sandstone canyon setting within a desert. Based on the Granite Lands 2 tileset, this set follows the same basic layout, including up to +4 raise/lower functionality, as well as both shallow and deep water. Single elevation change is of 3 m height, and uses a rounded sand dune, while all other height changes produce the red sandstone cliff appearance.

3 VERSIONS

There are three versions of this tileset so far. The first version is the prototype, which has all the original bugs, such as incomplete shadows.

LITE

The second version is the LITE version. This version has 3 variations of each tile if only two terrains are mixed. It has 1 variation otherwise. This helps reduce the hak  file sizes. The total tile count before any groups or features is 600.

Known Issues:

• SET file issues remain
• Some textures applied backward right-to-left
• SET tile entry order has changed since the prototype such that entries 1-546 are the first variant, while the subsequent entries are variations of those tiles. Variations beyond x2 are at the end

STANDARD

The third version is almost more of an expansion to the LITE version, but I'll just call it STANDARD. It has 6 variation of each base tile, 2 variations of 3-terrain mixers, and 1 variation of any other tile. The total tile count before groups and features is 960.

Known Issues:

• SET file issues remain
• Some textures applied backward right-to-left
• SET tile entries beyond x2 variations are at the end.

PROTOTYPE

This version is a prototype. It has known pathing issues in the SET file as well as known depth issues in deep water around cliff edges. Feel free to explore the set and start building. SET entries for this set may change if updated which may cause trouble for builders. The original SET file contains 1200 tiles.

Known Issues:

• Prototype MDL files are not compiled.
• Prototype MDL files are not shadow-corrected,
• Prototype AABB/WOK pathing information is incorrect around where cliffs and water meet
• SET file has some pathing and visibility mistakes

As always, feel free to modify models and textures. I've purposely made these tiles very simple so that they can be retextured quickly.

BUILDER SCRIPT

The GMAX builder script for this tileset is now available.

Within a single zipped file you will find two MS files. Extract both of these to your gmax/scripts folder or wherever 3DSMax keeps the similar folder. You will also find the GMAX file which I don't believe will run in 3dsMax, but could probably be converted somehow. You can extract the GMAX file to the gmax/scenes folder.

After opening the GMAX file in nwmax/gmax, you will see the scene listed in the trd_builder image on this page. The parts within that scene are labeled on that image based on what they are for.

• Indices 1 thru 6 are variations of the cliff meshes which will be used for variants made by this script.
• "base" isn't used at all, but if you want a clean base from which to produce another variant, you can start from that set
• "walkmesh" is the base walkmesh used by the script. If you want a less complex walkmesh, feel free to modify that mesh. If you need to make changes to the edge size, this is where to do that.
• "water" is the base water mesh used as the water plane. It must have the water texture applied that you want on your final output.
• "decor" is a dummy node under which all child nodes will be picked from during decor placement. Child nodes can have ONE and only one sub-child level. When a child node is picked, every sub-child will also be grabbed with the child. For example, grass decor starts with a "Plant" dummy and contains 6 sub-children using different textures. Adding more children to the decor dummy will increase the variety of decor picked, but will not increase the number of decor put down.
• "textures" are printed on the spheres. These spheres will be referenced when painting picked meshes and constructing walkable ground. If you need to change a texture, simply change the texture ON the sphere, but leave the sphere intact. Think of them like paint globs on Bob Ross' palette.

Notes:

1. The script "Desert Lands 1.MS" has an options section at the top. Please read through the options carefully before you use it.
2. Any decor child prefixed with the text "Plant" will be considered to grow contrary to gravity. If such decor is placed on a slope, 40% of the the slope will be used, while 60% of global UP will be used so that the plant always appears to point mostly upward. Still, some tall grass decor can clip into rock faces.
3. If tall grass clipping into rock faces is unsightly, simply scale down the grass part nodes and reset their transform.
4. Gmax is a memory hog and is not good at keeping itself clean. You will want to allocate at least 500 M of heap in your options menu within Gmax. Warning: allocating too much higher than that can cause Gmax to crash on load, and you'll have to manually find and modify its INI files.
5. Since Gmax is a memory waster, it is better to do small batches of models at once. Within the options section of the builder script, you will find four different ways to pick and produce tiles. A) by corner height; B) by tile indices; C) by text within the tile name; D) by corner terrain type.
6. The included Granitelands 3 Terrain Data MS file contains large arrays of all the information needed to produce a +4 Multi-Rise tileset similar to those that SEN and I have built, such as Granitelands 1 and 2, as well as my Placeholder Tileset. It contains information about height offset adjustments and corner data. However, it only includes data for water, shallows, and base ground at up to +4 height, as well as all mixing tiles to use any combination thereof. One whole set of such tiles is 546 unique tiles.
7. This script comes primed to make you two sets using your options chosen. The included SET and ITP files are made to handle 2 sets of every tile, and 6 sets of the most common base tiles. If you need to have more variety of other tiles, you'll have to add those to the SET and ITP files yourself.
8. Unless all the parts are available, don't try to make 6 sets of anything with this script beyond the base tile only option.
9. Big warning. GMAX is a heavy memory leaker. If you run too much at once and the script cannot be cancelled, it can crap or steal memory outside it's allocated positions, causing video and audio issues to persist until you restart your computer.
10. Use the script at your own risk. I'm not responsible for GMAX issues which may harm your computer or corrupt data of other running programs.
11. Feel free to modify and redistribute the code within both MS files, under the rule "Free & open only if project also open". If you try to sell this code I will come after you with an army of cyborg honeybadgers, and you will not survive.