"Way too Many Point Lights"

[Sabranic]

^ Very much agree! I have been relying heavily on photos of cool locations as I've been building areas. Literally in my case, I've been working on a mountain castle.

[TheWilloughbian]

It takes a lot of practice. It's worth having a look at the prefabs by NIceThugBert.

 

https://neverwintervault.org/tags/nicethugbert

 

He used software which takes real map data to create a set of large areas with good fine detail in the terrain.

 

These will save you time and there's plenty of chance to practice your texturing cos it's pants in the prefabs.

 

Grey shading and colour are your friends when your doing exteriors, you can get some very good effects off just a single texture base.

 

PJ

 

I was wondering how he did some of those maps.

 

SGK73 does nice work as well

https://neverwintervault.org/catalog/nwn2?field_category_tid=All&field_category_tid_1=All&field_tags_tid=SGK73&=Apply

[TheWilloughbian]

My only suggestion would be to work from photos of real-world terrains to see how the areas are broken up with different vegetation, rocky areas, muddy areas, wet and dry soils, etc., and how slope and elevation are involved in that variation, and how channels form from water runoff, erosion, etc. Just looking at a real-world picture can help you simulate those effects without needing to actually take them into account.

 

Yes, working from pictures has helped a good bit.

[TheWilloughbian]

My woods are shaping up.

 

http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj565/TheWilloughbian/NWN2/woods_zpsej0axg33.jpg

[Sabranic]

I like it, very good ground textures/grass. Careful when adding grass... I found out the hard way if you add too much and try to remove it, you quickly turn the toolset into a crash-o-matic. :sad:

Edited November 19, 2016 by Sabranic

[TheWilloughbian]

So far I've only overloaded one metatile with one grass, so I had to switch to the next one down on the list.

[Tchos]

Best thing to do is just to save before using the brush that removes grass, and save after each successful click that removes the grass you didn't want. Actually having the grass isn't what makes it crash, it's just the act of trying to remove some.

[TheWilloughbian]

Saving is where I run into wierdness with the toolset. I often get get an error message about some path being denied and I end with a messed up temp file in my install directory. I have to exit out of the toolset or risk corrupting my modual. Doesn't do it all the time, but.....

[PJ156]

The woodland looks good. It's hard to get them looking anything like real.

 

I find colour helps a lot (a warm brown under the tree), as well as placing a slight rise under the tree.

 

PJ

[rjshae]

Yes, and I also try to make the ground a little hummocky (from long decaying tree trunks) and add in fallen branches and logs scattered about.