Hi guys,

I suppose everyone here feels insulted by the bad graphiccutoffs when zooming out and by the blury shadows, lowtexture trees, rocks, landscapes, bad lighteffects, etc. !
We, that's OzaR_MidRashim and me, Aljoscha Frensch aka TheEverfades, made a mod which fixes all those issues. You may ask: "Ain't that a total performanceoverkill?" Not as much as you might think. In total you get about 50% FPS in a worst case scenario. And with a todays graphicscard and CPU which can easily create 120 fps in FA, that shouldn't be a problem, right? Everything landscape related like trees, rocks, wreckages and the LOD for them in the "standard" version of the mod + the 4thDimension compatible trees - OzaR_MidRashim. Special thanks to him for bringing my interest in modding FA back. (with tons of PMs ) All other LOD changes, shadows, particles, 3D optimization, texturerelated stuf, compatibility with other mods and the final polish was done by me. I made three versions. "Standard" has a decent performance compared to the new effects, I use it, too. The "real experience" pack is an overkill for any dualcore or less and causes serious fps drops. With "real experience" you get full details when zooming out to the strategic map, space and ******* oblivion. On top of that shadows get a freaking large amount of pixels which make them look even more smooth than the unit itself. Not really useful but for the hell of it I made it. Last version is a lowspec version to let those people without quadcores play with the enhanced graphics, too.

Grab your copy of this great mod and play the game how it SHOULD be!

Before (nearly nothing visible, landscape sucks, water is missing effects)

After (all units,buildings, particles and shots visible, full landscape and watereffects, etc. THIS PICTURE DOESN'T SHOW THE NEW TREES! See next picture for the new trees!)

How the trees will look like

Closer view on effects and shadows (with old trees again, disabled them for this picture to allow you full view on the effects)

For the new improved 3D you have to try it yourself, you can't post a shutterglas 3D picture xD

I wanted to implent some camera and explosion altering, but most of the work was already done.
You should get Dominos Advanced Cams and 4th Dimensionmod explosions (or the whole 4thD mod). I improved the code in the graphicenhance mod to work together with those mods. 3D effects if you use them (like iz3d) now work with explosions from ANY angle Dominos Cam mod lets you choose. (before, the 3D effects got blurry or didn't work properly from different angles, espacially with particles! Now explosions have full 3D effects when using iz3d or other software! You will **** bricks!)

Terrain Deform and ShipWreckage mods work great with this mod, too. And as a little sidenote, the minimap WON'T make performanceproblems. I edited the minimap, too. But the changes aren't as large as on the real map to keep smooth gameplay.

For best graphicexperience you should play on highest graphicsettings, with coremaximizer, the graphicenhancement mod, the tree changes, 4th dimension, Dominos Advanced Cams and any 3D solution (like iz3D).



Download ONE of the files below. (ONLY ONE!) In modmanager click either Enhancementmod Trees for 4D Mod or the normal one. The mainmod automaticly activates itself. Have fun!
(PRO TIP: Press ctrl+v for freecam)

Updated to v1.1, new icons, a 170 lines script from me to make ANY other mod to work with this one, minor changes. If you want strategic icons to show up earlier, just tick "always render strategic icons" in options. (this is the fixed version)

"standard"
http://www.mediafire.com/?0n7c9ci39sguh24

"my PC sucks gimme a lowspec version"
EDIT: Not supported anymore. Mediafire deleted my files and I only used the standard version. --> I don't have the lowspec version on my PC anymore. But I reuploaded the standard version for you. Thanks for leaving a private message so I could see that the file was deleted.

Leave feedback and comment, thanks !

Did you use ModBlueprints to alter e.g. LODs, so that it works on other mods' units?

I don't know anything about emitter LOD cutoff, can that be done in the blueprints as well?

Everything is 100% modcompatible! I'm running it with 13 other mods, 4 of them unitmods, everything works!

Hi,

Loving the Tree's mod that is awesome..

yeah using 1 of the other 2 mods the gfx (specailly shadows) are cleaner and visable
from a greater distance.. there is a defo performance hit, i used to get better fps when i zoom out.. its now reversed i get better frame rates zoomed in lol..

on the whole GOOD JOB! the gfx are defo visually better, cleaner and crisp!

as long as it doesnt interferre with other mods.. ill defo use these mods in my games..

Did i say i love the trees? lol

Love the tree enhancments =p Though, It seems to be a simple hook for them, just to rescale them XD

Yea, but that's only half of what You see. Normaly bigger "only by simple hook script" trees still have same LODCutoff ...in fact they look worse on the same zoom, fill view with low-detail-annoing-ugly models and textures.
I edited EVERY Tree/Rock/Log/Bush/Wreck/TreeGroup/Cactuses/Flowers....( ) LODCutOff... value to present breath-taking experience xD

its ok guys,

dont worry as simple as it may seem.. it really does add to the detail of everything.. were not putting the mod down.. you have done something good here as long as everything is hooked in correctly..

one small thing i wouldnt mind though.. strat icons.. now i know we can see the units at a pretty far zoom.. i think strat icons should be more visable at a closer zoom than what you have set them to.. near enough full zoom out.. make it half way.. when you see them..

@Domino
Thanks alot If you have any performanceissues use the "standard" pack instead of the "real experience". And no, it doesn't interfer with other mods. As it uses intelligent overwrites and startuphooks, it will work with ANY other mod. That's why I said that you should use 4thDimension Explosions or the whole 4D mod as the "Graphicenhancemod" doesn't only work with any unit but with and gfx and explosion, too! All added explosions from any mod get improved, they don't have to be vanilla! Improvements are cleaner, crisp, 3D enhanced, less blury and slightly larger explosions.
I love using tons of mods together that's why I "wasted" alot of time making my mod fully compatible with every mod I know. It was a hard time but it was worth it

And for the stategic icons. GAZ UI has an option for that. But I can for sure change that. I prefer strategic overview from far away and "just watching" the battle when looking closer. Just enable "always render strategic icons" in options.

And don't worry about the hooking, I took care of that. I edited parts were it wasn't done right. That's what I meant with "polish".

@ brandon007
Yep, all thanks on the trees should go to MidRashim. I just polished some cutoffs from them after he was done and disallowed the lowres models to show up with a simple startuphook.

@all
DON'T use the tree mod WITHOUT the graphicenhancement mod as they will look like a pile of crap. I just made them an extra mod to allow you to choose if you want to use it with 4th Dimension mod or not!

If only the 4TH-D Dimensions Explosions mod was avalible for separate download XD

@ brandon007
*cough*
http://www.mediafire.com/?370hqh92edl15f2
*cough*

Hi,

found something strange with the trees mod..

warp you commander in dont move it, build a land fac / mex / pd, any of them.

commander goes walk about for 5 mins before he comes back and builds it..

Thats the Wreckage mod, not the Explosion mod.

Updates version to 1.1
Now you can just click either one of the Treemods in the modmanager and it will automaticly activate the mainmod On top of that many fixes and a new script to allow full compatibility with every mod out there!

Not to put a downer on any thing but increasing the LODs mite not have much effect on your graphic card but it will on a single core engine which runs slow as it is.

Changed the moddescription a tiny bit. Just use the exe overwrite "myspeed" if you run into any performancetroubles. I don't have a link to it right now but you can google it. And hey, playing FA needs a dualcore and some decent graphicscard anyways

I want to thank MidRashim again for bringing me back to FA modding:

What....so small?..........
Joke ;P

Now For Real, I'm seriously emotionally moved. It's such an honour

Without you I wouldn't have started modding Forged Alliance EVER again.

Now we finished a great mod which finally makes the game superior to any other RTS in every aspect.

If anyone here finds a problem or bug, PM me please. I WON'T check this thread. I will ONLY check PMs. (about once a week)

Thanks for all the feedback. Never got that much in just a short time. I hope you guys enjoy the mod and keep using it. Graphics may not be everything, but it's definitly something which can fill the gap between a "very good" and a "superiour" game.

Good bye guys, I had fun modding FA for a last time and bringing my moddinghistory in FA to a shining end! I may seek out for new games to mod in the future, but for now, I'm done. I liked to be a part of this community. Maybe we will see each other another time, in another game. Good luck and keep on making great mods.

Best regards from TheEverfades !

( and check out the songs I create myspace.com/TheEverfades )

Adios and goodluck!

VERY IMPORTANT!!!
THERE WAS A BUG IN TREES MOD, PLEASE COPY NEW FIXED VER AND OVERRIDE.

That's all, We are sorry for Your inconvenience.

http://www.mediafire.com/?wrqh1snw5qd14qe

Also Desert Fix for both ver.

Graphicenhancement mod - standard - Desert FIX
http://www.mediafire.com/?7w8bvcyn8k4fxlp

Graphicenhancement mod - full experience - Desert FIX
http://www.mediafire.com/?qpya6fconihat4y

Regards.

Awsome fix =p But when the mod is loaded up, this spams in the Error log



There gonna be a fix for that to?

What ver You use, what map, agaist who, what other mods...etc. You know the drill.
I dont have such problem, and I'm using 28 most common mods.
Is this Campaign?

Senton's Clutch. Skirmish. Im using only my mod, the Tree/Enhancment mods, Community bug fix, and BlackOps Icon support.

Is warning still log-spawn if You dissable other mods/Our mod? Which Part of it? Are You using 3603 patch? And most important...Do Your game crashes?

No, Im using 3599. Game doesnt crash. The Warnings still spawn even when its just your mod running. Hate to say it, but your mod is at fault...