[1.3.1] Pood's OPM-VO (Outer Planets Mod - Visual Overhaul) [v0.3.5] [2017-09-23]

[Poodmund]

Pood's OPM-VO (Outer Planets Mod - Visual Overhaul)

Latest Release - v.0.3.5 "The Matoro" Pre-Release Beta - 23rd Sept. 17

Due to some users having issues with compatibility, please find below a list of the dependencies and the current builds used to run OPM-VO. Please ensure that you are running at least these versions of the dependencies or later releases:

Dependencies:

EVE: https://github.com/WazWaz/EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements/releases/download/EVE-1.2.2-1/EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements-1.2.2.1.zip (Release build 1.2.2-1)

Scatterer: https://spacedock.info/mod/141/scatterer/download/0.0320b (Release build 0.0320b)

Kopernicus: https://github.com/Kopernicus/Kopernicus/releases/download/release-1.3.1-3/Kopernicus-1.3.1-3.zip (Release build 1.3.1-3)

Module Manager: https://github.com/sarbian/ModuleManager/releases (Get latest release build)

Outer Planets Mod: https://github.com/Galileo88/OPM_Galileo/releases/download/1.2.4/OPM_Galileo.v1.2.4.zip (Unofficial KSP 1.3.1 build 1.2.4)

Suggested Mods:

Stock Visual Enhancements: https://github.com/Galileo88/StockVisualEnhancements/releases/latest - Galileo and I work together to ensure our mods are compatible and SVE gives the stock planets great atmospheric and visual effects.

Stock Visual Terrain: https://github.com/Galileo88/Stock-Visual-Terrain/releases/latest - The texture pack that's built alongside SVE to make the stock bodies look amazing.

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For all information regarding downloading/installing/using/licensing etc. for this mod, please refer to the Readme.

This mod includes version checking using MiniAVC. If you opt-in, it will use the internet to check whether there is a new version available. Data is only read from the internet and no personal information is sent. For a more comprehensive version checking experience, please download the KSP-AVC Plugin.

Changelog:

• v0.3.4 - 08th Apr. 17 - Edited Tekto's & Urlums EVE cloud layers slightly, amended SVE integration due to SVE's new file structure and added in Kopernicus' new Ring Shader effects for all bodies (if Jool rings are present, they are maintained). Kopernicus' Ring Shader update is not incorporated in the latest Kopernicus release yet, however, the patch can be downloaded here to be installed into your Kopernicus directory: https://mega.nz/#!vUowhKgB!PAIeK8M1KlBOXhcBNglxGTq6MzSiqFxF27fAXYOD8_w
• v0.3.3 - 02nd Apr. 17 - Added Sigma OPM-Tilt support, slight change to Urlum's rim exposure and now leveraging SVE's cloud detail textures if SVE is installed, if not, uses own placeholder texture as before.
• v0.3.2 - 01st Apr. 17 - Forgot to render Tekto's oceans... doh! Ocean shaders on Tekto have been enabled by adjusting Ocean Alpha values.
• v0.3.1 - 01st Apr. 17 - Fixed scatterer's configs so they play well with other mods and don't repeatedly add OPM body configs to other body's ones.
• v0.3.0 - 30th Mar. 17 - KSP 1.2.2 Compatibility update.
• v0.2.0 - 8th May. 16 - Rebuilt from ground up for KSP 1.1.2; Thatmo work has not been included.
• v0.1.2 - 11th Jan. 16 - Included support for OPM Tilt and Kopernicus Expansion. Compatibility with KSPRC has been fixed by including updated pqs.cfg file for KSPRC (bundled in distribution).
• v0.1.1 - 8th Jan. 16 - Forgot to include Scatterer files within .zip (Doh!)
• v0.1.0 - 6th Jan. 16 - Initial Release - First GitHub commit & beta release

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Original Initial Post:

With the release of EVE for 1.0.5 and Scatterer gaining multi-planet support I decided to jump right in and start messing around with configs for OPM as I rarely play KSP without it. As the two mods are still very much in their infancy really with respect to 1.0.5 and their latest releases I am learning as I go and have never shown any of my previous tinkerings with EVE in the past on these forums (I used to run a modified AVP-I, AVP-EoO and KSPRC mashup in previous versions of KSP).

I initally started working on Tekto as it has a pretty crazy atmosphere in OPM canon. Current progress can be seen here:

 

I also have very hazy mist clouds rumbling over the lowlands that look a lot like heat haze up close. These are very much still WIP and I am still learning new tricks/techniques with EVE's new volumetric cloud options. The look I have gone for is a very chaotic, dense atmosphere that is suffering from a sever over abundance of a toxic gas that could be generated from underwater plant life or similar.

After visiting MatoroIgnika's Twitch stream he commented to me that he loves Thatmo and how it should look like a Triton analog, so... next on to Thatmo!

Like Triton, Thatmo has a very think atmosphere but it can be visualised from orbit. It is very hard to convey through screenshots but a very thin, wispy cloud cover has been added, viewable from orbit. Down on the moon's surface, clouds are visible somewhat more than they are from orbit purely for the fun aspect of actually seeing the atmosphere present. Triton's albedo coefficient is one of the highest in our whole solar system and so I decided to make Thatmo very reflective and bright to convey the shiny, ice like nature of the moon. Its pretty blinding down on the surface. As the surface of the moon is refracting light through its ice layers I have also introduced a chromatic aberration-like quality, visible when in orbit.

Finally at this point I have been tinkering heavily with texture generation for Gas Giants (as OPM has 3 of them!) using curling noise for procedural fluid flow to try and create some really interesting base texture maps for the gas planets. It has been pretty laborious switching between Linux running the generations and Windows for Photoshop texturing (I don't like GIMP at all) but its getting a lot easier to manage now I am use to the process. I should be able to utilise this technique to also create completely procedural cloud texture maps also with a bit of work that could range from thick stormy stuff ala Venus down to very light, high atmo wisps.

As you can see there are a lot of different style outcomes using the same texture by changing the input parameters. Let me know what you like and what you think would suit each gas planet as I can create a variety of effects. Generation takes around 20 minutes and then I have to wrap a cubemap back into an rectilinear texture for use within KSP.

All of this is really in its infancy and I created this thread as a place to store my ongoing efforts whilst also being able to receive some feedback. Progress may come in fits and spurts around work; I get two weeks off over the Christmas period I may be able to cram a load of texturing in. Depending on how far I continue the final piece of the long-term puzzle would be re-texturing the base moon textures to hi-res variants.

Feedback is greatly appreciated and any thoughts or critiques are appreciated, even though at the moment all you are able to look at is screenshots. Once things become more substantial I will upload configs and textures in a pack for testing out within KSP. At this point I will apply a suitable license.

Update 12th Dec. 15 - Been doing a little tinkering to test some different variables in the texture generation and thought... "why not upload some short clips on Steamable?"

So:

Sarnus - Test WIP

Neidon - Test WIP

Update 3rd Jan. 16 - Porting Tekto to new EVE syntax.

Fog on Tekto 1 - Showing fog and dust clouds at low level.

Fog on Tekto 2 - Showing the post processing depth buffer level at low level.

Update: 6th Jan. 16 - v0.1.0 Beta Release - Initial Release (see changelog for further updates)

Whad'ya think?

Edited January 5, 2018 by Poodmund

[Manwith Noname]

[quote name='Poodmund']Whad'ya think?[/QUOTE]

Very nice.

So, your plan is to just focus on the OPM planets so we would merge with something like KSPRC or AVP for vanilla coverage?

[Nookos]

This looks really good! As you wrote your work on Thatmo is hard to see in those screenshots but Tekto and the gas giants are great. Neidon's first and Sarnus' first screenshots are the best in my opinion.
Looks promising. Keep it up.

[Nansuchao]

Beautiful!!!!

[Poodmund]

Quote

So, your plan is to just focus on the OPM planets so we would merge with something like KSPRC or AVP for vanilla coverage?

Yes that would be the idea, there are many great Artists out there right now developing visual packs for the new EVE with Scatterer and all the trimmings that I do not need to get involved here... they are doing a great job as is.

Thank you for your kind words so far, is there anything you'd like to see in particular? Any personalities that you'd like portrayed on any planets/moons, etc.?

Edited December 10, 2015 by Poodmund
New forum formatting.

[Manwith Noname]

[quote name='Poodmund']Any personalities that you'd like portrayed on any planets/moons, etc.?[/QUOTE]

Donald Trump ;p

[sDaZe]

I'll be following this

[Svm420]

Wow those gas giants look like photographs. Thats amazing!

[COLOR=silver][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR]

I like shot 2 the best, then 1, then 3, then 8 rest are a bit too much for my taste.

[COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR]

And Tekto is beyond words :D :D

[Eudae55]

Tekto does look very good in those images in the OP. You've created a really cool aesthetic with the clouds there.

I might mention that Titan in real life is too small to support the multiple weather cells that Earth has. Instead, it has a single planet-wide weather cell where warm air rises in the hemisphere experiencing summer and flows north or south depending on the season to the opposite pole where it cools and sinks back down to sea level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Titan

If you are intending to make your Tekto analogous to the real Titan, then Earth-like cloud maps probably won't do it.

PM me if you have any questions btw

[sDaZe]

Any news when there will be a download link??

[Poodmund]

On 12/7/2015, 6:42:21, Eudae55 said:

If you are intending to make your Tekto analogous to the real Titan, then Earth-like cloud maps probably won't do it.

PM me if you have any questions btw

Thank you for your kind words. I am not really going for a total analogue overhaul but will be taking cool features from the real life counterparts where I think it is a nice idea to do so. NASA recently released new images of Titan and it turns out its weather system is more Earth-like than previously thought: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-10/nasa-releases-detailed-image-of-titan/7015678

19 minutes ago, DaZeInBok said:

Any news when there will be a download link??

I am currently waiting on EVE and Scatterer to be updated to the point that most of their feature set and syntax is nailed down enough that I won't be spending a long time redoing previous of work to make it compatible with new releases. The new features of the two said mods are really going to help with mods like this so I feel it is prudent to wait.

That said, I am still working on textures at the moment and in the up and coming holiday season when I have some time off work I will be showing some more screenshots. If EVE and Scatterer are at a stable build point, I may also release an Alpha of this for testing.

DaZeInBok, to save your sanity, the thread title will be updated when I release an Alpha build so you can see quickly if anything has happened. 

Edited December 10, 2015 by Poodmund

[CaptRobau]

Very nice!

[Gatrnerd]

This looks amazing and finally the outer planets will look just as fancy as the stock ones with EVE installed. Can't wait for a release!

[Poodmund]

Been doing a little tinkering to test some different variables in the texture generation and thought... "why not upload some short clips on Steamable?"

So:

Sarnus - Test WIP

Neidon - Test WIP

I'm cringing at the horrible compression of Streamable but I don't really have a quick way to get screen recording uploaded at I only have 0.2mbps upload.

What do you think about the colour palettes? Too little/much contrast, too little/much saturation, too little/much colour variance?

[The White Guardian]

Oh my God... *Faints*

Edited December 12, 2015 by The White Guardian

[Thomassino]

Holy noodles, I can't wait to try it!

[Sigma88]

On 11/12/2015, 23:37:08, Poodmund said:

Been doing a little tinkering to test some different variables in the texture generation and thought... "why not upload some short clips on Steamable?"

So:

Sarnus - Test WIP

Neidon - Test WIP

I'm cringing at the horrible compression of Streamable but I don't really have a quick way to get screen recording uploaded at I only have 0.2mbps upload.

What do you think about the colour palettes? Too little/much contrast, too little/much saturation, too little/much colour variance?

I love the cartoony style

[DangerouslyDave]

On 12/11/2015, 2:37:08, Poodmund said:

Been doing a little tinkering to test some different variables in the texture generation and thought... "why not upload some short clips on Steamable?"

So:

Sarnus - Test WIP

Neidon - Test WIP

I'm cringing at the horrible compression of Streamable but I don't really have a quick way to get screen recording uploaded at I only have 0.2mbps upload.

What do you think about the colour palettes? Too little/much contrast, too little/much saturation, too little/much colour variance?

These are both great! Neidon might benefit from a tiny bit more variation in the hues. I love the atmosphere on Sarnus. So often the color of the atmosphere matches the planet's surface exactly and it winds up being a bit dull, but  the contrast between the two here is beautiful!

[drtedastro]

Looks great.

Hope we can start using it soon.

 

cheers.

[Grunf911]

Beautiful looking mod, here is some crazy ideas for gas giants, in terms of atmospheric flight

From Titan A.E.

 

(a man can dream :-) )

Edited December 17, 2015 by Grunf911

[Chimer4]

This looks absolutely fantastic! What a christmas present it would be if this and KSPRC were to be released in time for christmas.

[Fedeskidrow]

This is really amazing, i love this, i cant play without opm either, keep the good work its really good

as for the gas textures i can only say that i dont like the 4th one, i cant decide for others

[Mr Betelgeuse]

Man, I just want a download link to try it out, just to see if this is legit or fake.

[potetr]

Those planets all look amazingly beautiful! You seem to put a lot of effort into nailing details, something that really pays of.

Of the screenshots of the purple/pink gas giant I liked the third texture best, it looks the most realistic:)

Feedback on the second set of gas giant textures (pink one): #1: Looks very good, my favorite. #2: Chaotic, but not too much. Looks interesting. #3: Something feels off about that one. Looks to uniform while at the same time being random. #4: I like this approach as well, but still doesn't beat #1!

Edited January 1, 2016 by potetr

[Poodmund]

I've spent some time recently porting over the stuff from my previous work on Tekto using the old EVE style syntax to the new style. I think I have Tekto set up now in a good enough configuration to be happy with it for the time being. There are a couple of links below showing video of Tekto at ground level.

Fog on Tekto 1 - Showing fog and dust clouds at low level.

Fog on Tekto 2 - Showing the post processing depth buffer level at low level.