Hey everyone,

I have done a lot of tinkering, fiddling, and tutorial reading since the release of the toolset, and have started to really develop some areas I think I'll actually use. Just remember, the link below is for YOUR EYES ONLY. Please dont share it with anyone outside of these VIP forums. Thankyou, and enjoy!

http://www.rypht.net/screenshotexclusive.htm

Also, I was wondering how you guys are defining the borders of your exterior areas. I decided I would continue the terrain beyond the "edge of the area" in order to simulate some continuity in the landscape. I figure when the player hits the edge and can go no further he/she will get the point. Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments? Leave 'em here!

Excellent pics and work.  Though I hate the idea of the edging being static...it is pleasing to the eye.

Whether I build or not under NWN2 it looks like I'll have at least one place to game on.  Will your server be open or passworded?

My team and I decided the server will be password protected. Players will be able to gain access via a simple application that will be placed on the web site. What I'm thinking of doing is registering an e-mail account under my domain to which all applications will go, and give several of my core team members the username / password so we can check and reply to applications often. That way ideally a response will take less than 12 hours.

Good work, keep it up.!!

Password may be the best route to go at the start.  With PWs slowly coming on line there will likely be more players then the capacity to handle the flow and a password may help keep your community and development team from getting stuck in line on a friday or saturday night.

I've been creating my edges to continue the landscape to add to the feel of it all.  It takes extra time, but its worth it.  Just make sure everything outside the playable area is set to be an environmental object to save on CPU while in game.  Unfortunately Speedtrees cannot be set as such so use them sparingly outside the bounds of the area (as collision is still calculated through them).

Here are some samples of what I have been doing for my SP module.

http://www.grimstavern.com/tribalwood.jpg

http://www.grimstavern.com/tribalwood2.jpg

http://www.grimstavern.com/voss.jpg

http://www.grimstavern.com/voss2.jpg

I'm finding that I have to go back now and re-do previous areas because I found new ways of doing things and improved on old techniques from when I started.

[Edited by Ithalyan at 2:06 AM on 10/9/2006]

Ithaylan,

What you've done with grass, height mapping, and textures is absolutely magnificent. Thankyou for posting those images, as they have helped illustrate to me how I can make landscape and flora much more "believable". You have done an excellent job there.

Here some screenshot of my early experience with the toolset, note that I will not built areas for our world but I sure wanted to give a shot to see what I can do even if I have limited talent as an artist.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/la_crampe/SS01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/la_crampe/SS02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/la_crampe/SS03.jpg

I am very excited with the new toolset as I can built decent areas, so I just imagine the areas built by our true designers will be awsome!

Those are pretty good, along with the OP's screenshots.  Things to keep in mind:

1) Try not to use contrasting grass against the ground color.  For example, Bright Green grass looks out of place on a muddy dark ground.  Likewise, dark weeds and reeds look out of place on a bright area.  However, if you add the proper amount of non-castrating grass you can hide darker or lighter grass within the other grass.

2) Use the color tool for shading.  You can get more out of a single texture with some coloration.  But becareful not to turn your natural looking area into a disco room (slinging bright colors everywhere)

3) Bury the roots of the speed trees in the ground, and then place a bit of grass around the trunk. 

4) If you can get away with it, first decide what type of area you are going to make.  ie: Forest, Grassland, Rocky Terrain, City.  You wouldn't do to bad to use multiple textures of the same type.  For example, in the meadow picture I used 2 grass textures, one lighter and one darker.  This helps if you spread them around in random blobs to throw off that repeat texture feet to the land scape  that can make it look unnatural.

I'll make some screenshots of this kind of thing tonight after work.