Tree rotation ...

[W1der]

Just a heads up to all the map creators out there ...

Please ... rotate the trees "randomly" ...
When every single tree on a map is looking exactly the same ... I get sad inside ...

[Ntw1986]

They do that to stop lag as the game only needs to load 1 type of tree and then replicate it. Is much better the trees are the same than you get unplayable lag

[W1der]

Is this true !?
I mean ... it is still the same tree no matter how it is rotated ...

[cr41g_1965]

W1der... i think the poster misunderstood that you wanted to use the same tree.... but rotated in various increments when placed so they all don't look the same... I agree with you.. nothing worse than carbon copy placement

[W1der]

OK ... thanks for clearing that out!

I know it is extra work to do this ... (not that much really, as there is a function for it when placing them).
Maybe GIANTS could include a "script" in the editor, that one could run, to rotate all placed trees randomly in one go?
... (just a thought)

[juf.de]

For those mapper who understand german or can handle google translator: there's a script for the GE to place objects on a spline with random rotation, which in return will solve W1der's problem:
http://marhu.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=204&t=5311
(I just found it, but didn't use it, so don't ask me for help )

[chaseydog]

There's already an interactive placement tool built into GE that will randomly rotate trees. It works well but your still placing trees one at a time. There's a script floating around on the FSUK forum that helps randomize tree placement but I didn't find it until after I'd place most of my trees so I didn't really test it our. In addition to rotation I found that varying the scale of the tree +/- 10% really breaks up the tree line in a pleasing way. It's quite a bit of extra work as the interactive tool won't change scale and my scripting abilities aren't quite up to the task but I think the effort was well worth it. I was warned that varying the scale would have a negative impact on frame rate but even with a 1100 or so trees on my map I haven't noticed any loss of performance.

Here's a link to a blog post I did on tree placement https://www.chaseydog.net/blog/2017/3/6 ... d8q3djm67f

[W1der]

Interesting stuff ... Thanks for the info!

Regarding scaling the trees ...
I guess doing this to the "pine trees" is a big NO NO if you want to be able to use a tree harvester!?
However ... If placing two similar trees close to each other, I not only rotate them, I also lower them differently in to the ground to make them appear more different.

I use this tecnique (scaling) for stones a lot though ... to get a bigger variety!
But I should probably be a bit careful with it, not to make to many different variations (to avoid issues with frame drops) or is this not a problem (as it is still "the same rock")?

[juf.de]

Since you only scale the same object with the same textures on it i guess there is no difference for you gpu and since the harvester is with a small change in its script able to handle all the trees, scaling them should not be considered a problem if you do no change the width (i didn't test it though).