DESERT/COASTAL TERRAIN

Most of the terrain in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq will be based upon the desert coastal terrain which is comprised of pure desert base tiles. However, this is not to say that the representation of these regions will be pure desert. Instead, a great deal of variation tiling will be required to represent the regional vegetation.

Randomizing Terrain

This is basically what you start out with... the same texture of light  sand repeating itself over a wide expanse of terrain below 4000 feet relative to sea level. It doesn't take Albert Einstein to see that this looks very unrealistic because it is the same texture being repeated over.

This is how the terrain looks after it has been randomized. As you can see, the terrain looks much more realistic now. 

Randomizing the terrain is the process of replacing one terrain tile with many (even hundreds if you wished). The theater has been pre-tiled to allow the phase 1 tilers to know what type of terrain to tile in certain elevations. This section focuses on the desert and coastal terrain. If you look at the two pictures above, you can get and idea of how much better the terrain looks when it has been randomized.  If you are improvising upon phase 1 tiling and the terrain has not been randomized, you can do the same thing. Moreover, for terrain that has been previously randomized, but has been poorly done so with only a few of the required tiles... you should randomize each individual tile!

Randomizing Procedure:

1.) Click on one of the tiles in the segment display - this will allow for Terrainview to recognize that you have selected the desert terrain.

2.) Click on the "REPLACE" button in the segment display - this will allow for Terrainview to replace this single tile with several.

3.) The window that appears should ask for the new tiles that you wish to replace the old tile with. The tiles are identified by number offsets in terrainview so you need to enter in the number offsets of all of the other light mountain terrain textures that you are provided. This means you will be replacing one tile with 15 different tiles. Copy and paste (Ctrl-c and Ctrl-v) the numbers below into the "NEW TILE" box. You should be pleased with the results!

368,369,370,371,372,373,374,375,376,377,378,379,380,381,382

4.) After randomizing, you may notice that there are some tiles that are used in the terrain that were not included in the above list for randomizing. These tiles were not included because if they were repeated over the segment, they would create quilt-like patterns like in the Korea terrain. You should also go into the 3d view and see if there are any cliffs to put some of these tiles to good use! Use these tiles (ones with surface irregularities and such) by "sprinkling" them over the terrain... don't overuse them.

 

Coastal Transitions

Notice how the transition tiles in this segment seem to look straight and very unnatural? This is exactly what we are trying to avoid.

Notice how more attention was paid to making the transitions rounder and more irregular than the picture on the left? This is what we are aiming for... terrain transition tiles placed irregularly to reduce repetitiveness
Terrain transitions need to be flexible. Do not confine them to the exact boundaries set by the pretiled terrain. It is important to avoid placing the same type of border tile together more than 2 times because this will make repetition obvious. I want to see transitions that look like what is found in nature: something irregular, and unpredictable. The two pictures above serve as a guide for tiling these transitions so that they look as realistic as possible. If you are improvising phase 1 tiling and the terrain transitions are not tiled properly, then you should fix them. Use the 3d view to check to see that the transitions do not look awkward elevationwise.

Transition Tips:

1.) Transitions should be round and irregular. Squareness is not acceptable.

2.) View the transitions in the 3d view window to see if they look realistic or not from the third dimension.

3.) Use all the terrain transition tiles that are provided... (number offsets below)

Desert to Persian Gulf water coast tiles: 128,129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,139,140,1744,1745,1746,1747

 

Desert Variation

For "pure desert" regions, you should use sparse shrub vegetation (black plants) and ridges and dunes as shown above. Sprinkle them around for variation.

For desert that includes relatively more vegetation, be sure to place bushes, shrubs, and savanna terrain around rivers. In addition, within the savanna terrain you can place some farm tiles as seen above.
When you add terrain variation to these wide open spaces, you create a more natural looking terrain by adding variation in what the pilot flying over the terrain will see. Be sure to "sprinkle" slight variations over the terrain. No two segments should look the same. The "pure desert" regions require mostly dunes, shrubs, and ridges for variation while the "vegetated desert" regions should include bushes, shrubs, and some savanna.

Desert Rivers

Notice how these rivers look straight and unrealistic? Well... Falcon's terrain engine does not allow for really realistic looking rivers without a lot of branches or curves in it... look at the example on the right.

Notice how the rivers look more realistic? They are curvier and more branchy. This should serve as a model for what your work should look like. Tiling rivers should take a while... around 5-7 minutes per segment. Keep in mind that the phase 1 tilers are focused on quantity, not quality. You are focused on quality, not quantity. We only want premium quality work, and you should not rush.
Here is an example of what rivers should look like. Straight lines are what we are trying avoid here at all costs. In nature, rivers are naturally branchy, curvaceous, and unpredictable. You can change the shape of the rivers and add little branches to them to make them look realistic. Try to avoid putting two horizontal/vertical river tiles next to each other or you will create a repetitive effect. In areas where there is a large concentration of rivers, be sure to place vegetation around them! Look at the savanna terrain example in the Desert Variation tutorial above. Keep in mind you do not need to tile all of the rivers. THERE ARE TOO MANY RIVERS IN THE CURRENT L2. Most rivers in the theater are supposed to be seasonal. Those that are seasonal can be covered with regular desert base tiles to delete them or you can use dried riverbed tiles on them (when tiling with the dry riverbed tiles, tile them as if they were rivers so you can make sure that they are branchy and curvaceous). In my opinion, I think the riverbeds look even better than the rivers. Use the 3d view to check to see that the rivers do not look crazy elevationwise (IE running uphill).

Medium Altitude Cities

City tile without randomizing looks repetitive from high altitides.

The cities have much more variation when you randomize them. However, if you see one conspicuous city tile repeated too many times after randomizing, replace it by hand!
Cities are quite easy to tile. They look realistic too :) Make sure that the cities look reasonable and are not too repetitive. You can randomize city tiles with these offsets

1712,1713,1714,1715,1716,1717,1718,1719,1720

Contact
This guide to tiling light mountain terrain was written and illustrated by T-Bone, the head of the Q.A.P. Team. All questions and comments can be sent here.

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