Theatrum Orbis Terrarum version 2.0

[Pishtaco]

This is an old thread. The new one is here:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...52#post7782052


This should be considered a beta version.

Features:

-Inspired by the look of early atlases
-New textures and pixelshaders
-Hills and forests are shown on the political maps
-A more stylized, more informative terrain map
-Stationary water, smaller flags and less glaring terra incognita
-Optional new font (Aquiline Two by Manfred Klein)
-Optional dynamic minimap, which changes to show what has been discovered

This mod makes much larger demands of your video card than version 1 and is not recommended for people who have performance problems with EU3's graphics. Version 1.2 is here.

Screenshots









Download: TOT20b.zip

Installation:

** For EU3 version 1.3 (without the NA expansion) **

Place the TOT20 folder and the TOT20.mod file in the mod subdirectory of your Europa Universalis III directory, then activate the mod from the game launcher.

If you would like to use the new font: The mod switcher doesn't like new fonts, so you have to copy tahoma_60.fnt and tahoma_60.dds from the /fonts directory of this package into the /gfx/fonts subdirectory of your main EU3 directory.

If you would like to use the dynamic minimap: Copy minimap_bg.dds and minimap.dds from the /minimap directory of this package into the /gfx/interface subdirectory of your main EU3 directory. Open the file borders_2_0.fx in the /minimap directory of this package in notepad and change the two lines at the top to match your screen resolution. Then use this file instead of the /gfx/fx/borders_2_0.fx file of the plain TOT20 mod. There is a known bug with the dynamic minimap: province names and zoomed-out army flags will show in front of the minimap, rather than being obscured by it.

If you would like to use this mod permanently or to combine it with other mods, it may be simplest to overwrite the game files entirely rather than to use the mod switcher. In this case, copy the .fx files from /TOT20/gfx/FX over the files in the /gfx/FX subdirectory of your EU3 directory, and copy the .dds files from /TOT20/map/terrain over the files in the /map/terrain subdirectory of your EU3 directory. This will not change your checksum and you will still be able to play multiplayer games.

Please make backups of any files or directories you are going to overwrite.

** For EU3 2.0 and 2.1 (with the NA expansion) **

There is an issue with the mod-switcher in this version. It will not use the files rivers.fx and borders_2_0.fx from the mod (and possibly some other files as well). I recommend that you install the mod directly, overwriting the game files. Follow the instructions above and please make backups.

** For the Magna Mundi mod (with any version of EU3) **

In the /MM directory are two files, colormap.dds and colormap_water.dds, to use if you are combining TOT with the Magna Mundi mod. If you are using this mod I suggest you install TOT over the game files directly, as above. Then make a /terrain subdirectory in the /map subdirectory of the /mod/magnamundi directory (if there is not one already) and put these two files in there.

Other notes:

If you are modding country colours and want to change a country's colour to a grey close to 50% grey, do not use exactly the same value for red, green and blue. E.g. use (128,128,127) rather than (128,128,128). Otherwise it will appear as a tan colour in the data map modes.

Revision history:

2.0a: New versions of terrain_2_0.fx and stripes.dds to fix a bug with the diagonal stripes in diplomatic map mode.
2.0b: Added MM files and new version of water.fx with fainter dots

[Pishtaco]

As I said, this should be considered a beta. In particular I'm a little concerned with some of the large texture files. I get odd effects when I compress them the way some files were compressed in version 1 and vanilla. Still, they're not that big in the grand scheme of things. I have noticed some oddities with other textures when I am playing. It could be to do with the mod, but more likely I have just hosed my installation by fiddling with other things too much.

I am having problems with my ISP and have no internet at home at the moment, so I'm not modding at peak efficiency.

[Woad-Warrier]

Nice, I prefer the original TOT map though.

[Alexspeed]

Great Work, looks really good, is this the continuation of the Oldmap that was worked on?

I will deffinatly give it a try when i have the time, thank you!

=)

[extox]

trying now.

[Darken]

Great work, this looks awesome!

I have been wanting a new font like this for OldMap, can I distribute your font if i give credit to you and the original maker?

Also, I like your TI/PTI textures. I may try to modify them for OldMap, do you mind if I do this?

did you have to extend the textures on the TI/PTI in TOT2.0 like you had to in Flatmap? if so, did you find a solution to the problem where the extended textures cover up too much of the beaches (I can live with some land province cover-up)?

Other than these things, I plan on keeping OldMap as it is.

[Pishtaco]

Great work, this looks awesome!

I have been wanting a new font like this for OldMap, can I distribute your font if i give credit to you and the original maker?

Also, I like your TI/PTI textures. I may try to modify them for OldMap, do you mind if I do this?

did you have to extend the textures on the TI/PTI in TOT2.0 like you had to in Flatmap? if so, did you find a solution to the problem where the extended textures cover up too much of the beaches (I can live with some land province cover-up)?

Other than these things, I plan on keeping OldMap as it is.

Go ahead. I don't think there's a problem with using the font in this form, since it's not for profit and I'm not redistributing the font files. See the author's site here: http://moorstation.org/typoasis/desi...in07/index.htm . I tried various things with the edges of TI, but ended up leaving it overlapping things. However I put a faint hatching effect where there is a coast at the edge of TI; I think this is the last line in water.fx.

[Darken]

Go ahead. I don't think there's a problem with using the font in this form, since it's not for profit and I'm not redistributing the font files. See the author's site here: http://moorstation.org/typoasis/desi...in07/index.htm . I tried various things with the edges of TI, but ended up leaving it overlapping things. However I put a faint hatching effect where there is a coast at the edge of TI; I think this is the last line in water.fx.

cool, thanks I added TOT2.0 to the mod list, let me know if you want the description changed.

[Pishtaco]

cool, thanks I added TOT2.0 to the mod list, let me know if you want the description changed.

Thanks. How about "Old atlas theme, with terrain shown on the political map"

[Darken]

Thanks. How about "Old atlas theme, with terrain shown on the political map"

Ok, Mod list is updated with this for your TOT2.0.

[ZmajOgnjeniVuk]

Subscribed. Now waiting for the new computer to arrive, due in two weeks.

[Moquia]

Looks great, I really like how it all has a consistent look to it.

[spl]

Quick question, Is it possible to only use the dynamic mini-map for the game? I'm guessing it is somewhere in those files, but I have no idea where or where it would go.

[dharper]

Sadly, my computer isn't much better than the minimum system requirements, so I won't be using this.

Some feedback:

The font looks fantastic, but is harder to read at a glance than the default font. Hard to say whether that's a deal-breaker without playing; I suspect I'd get used to it quickly.

Having physical features on the political map is be a huge draw for me, as I play almost exclusively in political and religious mode, and rarely remember to check the terrain map at all. Will you be able to show weather on it? The main issue for me not using the political map is not realizing that a province has been hit by a harsh winter. That said, it's going to take getting used to the way it looks - looking at your sample map of England, it's very hard to tell what the shades mean. Looking at the map of the East Coast of the USA it's much clearer at a glance, but the close-up of England just looked splotchy. In comparison, Sweden and Norway seemed much clearer, and I wonder how much of it is the color chosen for the nation. I'm almost certain it's impossible, but I'd far prefer to look at a relief map - bordered rings at different altitudes.

The water is a bit of a turn-off; I don't like the white lace covering them. It might look better if there wasn't such a stark difference with the coastlines, but as it is it looks very artificial.

The physical map of New England looks very nice, much better than Original TOT. On the other hand, I usually play with trees off, even with TOT.

Overall a very impressive job! I'm sorry I won't be able to play with it.

[Alexspeed]

Okay downloaded it and tryed it out.

Sadly i didnt could get used to the new map and how its looking.
I think i just like the cleaner map from TOT 1.2 more, so i will stay with it i guess.

BUT what i love is the new FONT, it works so well also on the TOT 1.2 mod,
i add a screenshot here:



Looks much better than the other font to me ^^
So i will combine it for me =)

The ONLY think i have seen that isnt working as i expected it, is the Japan Islands...
somehow the shadow around them has decided to get a new position.
This happens but only when the tot is used with MM 1.71 and the other mods i have combined with it,
with vanilla and overwritten originals it works fine!

here 2 pics showing it:





Altough that is a very minor error for me, wont stop me from using your mod or MM

[Capibara]

Excellent work, very good look of the map, I'll download it ASAP.

[gigau]

The ONLY think i have seen that isnt working as i expected it, is the Japan Islands...
somehow the shadow around them has decided to get a new position.
This happens but only when the tot is used with MM 1.71 and the other mods i have combined with it,
with vanilla and overwritten originals it works fine!

here 2 pics showing it:

[IMG]

[IMG]

Altough that is a very minor error for me, wont stop me from using your mod or MM

That's because the map in MM has been changed for Japan (you might have a slight glitch around Portugal too). For MM, you need to alter the colormap.dds and the colormap_water.dds files to correct the position of Japan.

[gigau]

This should be considered a beta version.

Features:

-Inspired by the look of early atlases
-New textures and pixelshaders
-Hills and forests are shown on the political maps
-A more stylized, more informative terrain map
-Stationary water, smaller flags and less glaring terra incognita
-Optional new font (Aquiline Two by Manfred Klein)
-Optional dynamic minimap, which changes to show what has been discovered.

Awesome, i'll test it when i get home tonight... and try to adapt it to my MEIOU map.

[Pishtaco]

The font looks fantastic, but is harder to read at a glance than the default font. Hard to say whether that's a deal-breaker without playing; I suspect I'd get used to it quickly.

Having physical features on the political map is be a huge draw for me, as I play almost exclusively in political and religious mode, and rarely remember to check the terrain map at all. Will you be able to show weather on it? The main issue for me not using the political map is not realizing that a province has been hit by a harsh winter. That said, it's going to take getting used to the way it looks - looking at your sample map of England, it's very hard to tell what the shades mean. Looking at the map of the East Coast of the USA it's much clearer at a glance, but the close-up of England just looked splotchy. In comparison, Sweden and Norway seemed much clearer, and I wonder how much of it is the color chosen for the nation. I'm almost certain it's impossible, but I'd far prefer to look at a relief map - bordered rings at different altitudes.

The water is a bit of a turn-off; I don't like the white lace covering them. It might look better if there wasn't such a stark difference with the coastlines, but as it is it looks very artificial.

The physical map of New England looks very nice, much better than Original TOT. On the other hand, I usually play with trees off, even with TOT.

Overall a very impressive job! I'm sorry I won't be able to play with it.

Thanks very much for the feedback.

Relief is already shown by the 3dness of the map. There's no point showing it any more clearly, as it's only the terrain type that affects the gameplay. I played around with having a flat map with the terrain shown by pictures of hills, but getting that right would take more artistic and programming talent than I have.

It might just be possible to put winter effects on the political map, but I haven't tried it yet as what I have is already at the upper limit of the number of commands allowed. Then there's the problem of what winter should look like; a scattering of snowflakes? Fading to white would make the map difficult to read.

That's an interesting comment about the water. What it's meant to be is a messy dark outline at the coast, and then a pattern of dots to indicate the open sea. Like this:



But now that you've mentioned it I can twist my eyes and see it as a lace .

[Pishtaco]

Quick question, Is it possible to only use the dynamic mini-map for the game? I'm guessing it is somewhere in those files, but I have no idea where or where it would go.

There's a version here for TOT 1: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...d.php?t=291343

I hadn't thought about it before, but it's possible that the minimap files for TOT 2 in this thread will also work with vanilla EU3. Although it will probably have odd looking rivers and things on it.

Just use the instructions above or in the readme file for the old one.