[0.90] Custom Biomes 1.7.0 [17 Dec]

[Trueborn]

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, as it now shows on the first post.

[Raven.]

Ok, last night I did some rather intensive testing with Custom Biomes 1.5 with a biome map that incorporated 20+ biomes for Kerbin. I found some interesting things out.

Me personally, I do not think that the ExactMatch variable does what we were thinking it does. Even with the variable enabled, it still attempts to smooth the transition between biomes. However, instead of every biome with in-between RGB values being reported as the player is transitioning from one biome to the next, it instead reports the first biome in the .att file during the transfer. Basically the current RGB values are still making a smooth transfer between different regions on the map, but the game does not report the current biome unless the RGB values match exactly with a defined biome in the att file. If the RGB values do not match, the game reports the first biome defined in the att file. With ExactMatch disabled, if the RGB values do not match, the game rounds to the nearest defined biome.

The ExactMatchThreshold value does not seem to have any effect on the biomes and biomes detection method. In fact, it seems to be a pure boolean value; if the value is zero, then ExactMatch is false, if the value is something other than zero, then ExactMatch is true.

The ExactMatch variable does have a lot of usefulness, just not in the way we were expecting. For example the first biome listed in an att file can be a "Transitioning" biome, or a "Middle of Nowhere" biome with zero science value. That way the player is aware that the game is transitioning from one biome to the next, and won't automatically report the transition as a bug. Basically the first biome listed is the default biome when ExactMatch is enabled.

In my own personal experience of working with biomes thus far, it my personal recommendation that ExactMatch be enabled (with threshold set to 1.0) for biome maps that have biomes that are generally very large in surface area, and that a default biome be defined as the first biome for that particular biome map. ExactMatch should be turned off for maps that contain biomes that are very small in surface area, as the game has a hard time picking up small biomes when ExactMatch is enabled for some odd reason. The threshold value does not appear to matter. I also strongly recommend that as part of a biome map's design, that special attention is paid to contrast and what colors are being used. Choosing colors that are close to each other in RGB values directly next to each other (low contrast) will minimize the transitioning effects where as much higher contrast will cause transitioning issues. I've noticed that a difference of ten is recognizable by the game, where as with smaller value differences the game gets confused. For example, the game will recognize the difference between two biomes with values 255, 255, 255 and 245, 255, 255. But the game will get confused with values 255, 255, 255 and 250, 255, 255 unless ExactMatch is enabled.

I hope this helps with anyone wanting to develop biome maps. Also, special thanks to Trueborn for creating this resource and for implementing the ExactMatch feature, as my current project would not be possible otherwise .

Edited March 26, 2014 by Raven.

[Starstrider42]

Does this work with 0.23.5?

[Raven.]

Does this work with 0.23.5?

I have not personally had any problems with it, but I haven't messed with it much either. I would say for now that it works but don't be surprised if there's bugs.

[Ignath]

Does this work with 0.23.5?

My GUI is messed up, but other than that, I think the biomes are actually working.

[Starstrider42]

Good to know, I don't use the GUI anyway.

[Trueborn]

My GUI is messed up, but other than that, I think the biomes are actually working.

What is messed up about your GUI? Any chance you could post a screen shot?

And also under somewhat limited testing, 1.5 doesn't look any less stable to me under 0.23.5.

[Ignath]

What is messed up about your GUI? Any chance you could post a screen shot?

And also under somewhat limited testing, 1.5 doesn't look any less stable to me under 0.23.5.

Hey Trueborn, upon further inspection (actually, just closed out my game and restarted it) all the GUI was fixed.

The first time I started up KSP and was setting up toolbar and all that stuff (including buttons, etc...) the Custom Biomes GUI was all messed up. All the words were crammed on the top-left corner of the GUI and it appeared that all the words were being rendered over the top of a single line in the top left corner of the GUI. As I found out later, however, a simple restart fixed the situation. Strange, but must have been some weird init issue or something. I couldn't find anything in the logs at the time it happened, but if it happens again, I will get screencaps and try to fish out relevant logging.

On a side note, love the mod. Thanks for all the time and effort you've given to make these possible!

[Trueborn]

Thanks. Glad its working for you.

[SVarg]

Does anyone have biome maps compatible with RSS v6?

[Raven.]

It is compatible with RSS. However, you will need to find a biome pack for it. I think someone previously in this thread mentioned that they were developing one, but I can't say if it was ever finished or not.

[Nemesis1-1]

Could someone make biome maps for Erin, Skelton and Thud from Planet Factory for me? I've had little free time recently and I'd really appreciate it. Also my gimp skills are practically non-existent. Thanks in advance!

[waffleface]

This may be a dumb question, but does this work with SCANSAT's biome mapping if i have both installed? If not, is there a way to get them to work together?

[Raven.]

This may be a dumb question, but does this work with SCANSAT's biome mapping if i have both installed? If not, is there a way to get them to work together?

I believe that it does work .

[waffleface]

Followup: Is there a way to hide the GUI? Even with 000_toolbar I can't seem to minimize/hide the biome menu

[Trueborn]

Does the toolbar show up for you in the flight scene? The first time you run it, no buttons are actually visible in the toolbar. There is a multi-colored button that you have to press, and then you can select the custom biomes button for display. Once the button is visible, clicking it will open and close the custom biomes menu. If you don't see any evidence of toolbar, it probably isn't installed correctly. 000_toolbar should go in the GameData folder next to CustomBiomes, not inside it. If none of that fixes the problem I'll need some more details to figure it out.

The next release will include an option to semi-permanently disable the GUI, and will also default to having the menu closed when the game launches.

[Hotblack Desiato]

feature idea: is it possible to alter the biome map, like an animated gif? or switch between various similar biome maps.

reason for that: if it is possible to do that, planets could have seasons. research could be done through various seasons, and not once per location.

and if it is possible to alter the biome map depending on events, one could smash an asteroid on the moon (or other celestrial body), and do research on the impact site.

just as an idea...

[undercoveryankee]

feature idea: is it possible to alter the biome map, like an animated gif? or switch between various similar biome maps.

reason for that: if it is possible to do that, planets could have seasons. research could be done through various seasons, and not once per location.

and if it is possible to alter the biome map depending on events, one could smash an asteroid on the moon (or other celestrial body), and do research on the impact site.

just as an idea...

The list of possible biomes should probably be static so as not to confuse the Science Archives, but I don't think it would hurt the stock game to switch to a map with different boundaries. SCANSat might be less than happy with you, though.

[EleSigma]

Is anyone else having issues with the science reports not showing up in the science archives after you obtain them? I did a small test and logged/transferred 3 reports. When I go to the archive it simply says 0 out of 3 science reports found when I click on Kerbin with no listings of the reports.

[Trueborn]

Did you still get credit for the science you did? I think it has to do with the way I'm adding the experiment results into the game, but I'm not immediately sure how to fix it.

[jalapen0]

How about special biomes for the moholes of moho?

[Trueborn]

All you need is paint and a text editor and you can put 'em in yourself. But I'll look at it for the 0.24 release.

[jalapen0]

I can see where it would be fairly easy. Unfortunately, I don't have time to figure it out. Instead, I'll look forward to your .24 release. Plus then it'll be done right, vs my hacking.

BTW, this is a must have mod. I advertise it all the time on the KSP group facebook page.

[NathanKell]

Trueborn, since RSS is going around changing all sorts of things and therefore basically needs Custom Biomes to have working biomes at all, would it be ok if I bundled Custom Biomes with RSS so it worked with the supplied biomes out-of-the-box?

(I promise to maintain your directory structure, and readme, and keep things up to date, obviously.)

Also, do I need to include files for planets whose terrains aren't changed yet, for which the stock biomes would work?

[Trueborn]

Yes, you can bundle Custom Biomes with RSS.

As far as which planets to include, CB will only modify planets for which it finds a biome file. If you want to include the current set of biomes I created, that's fine as well. So if you have modified Kerbin's terrain, you'll want to include a new biome map (though not necessarily a new definition file, if you use the stock colors). For an entirely new planet, a biome map and definition file would both be needed.