[REALSPACE MODS] "STARS" - "XRSGE" - "REM" - various

[Realspace]

MOD V 2.1 is released

The mod is updated to X4 4.2 and has a lot of improvements in the backgrounds.

Unfortunally I had to revert some gas giants back to vanilla, because the game stopped loading my custom textures (don't ask me why )
Should you find some other invisible gas giant or planet, just edit the material_library.xml, look for the sector (I put the name of the sector at the start of each section) and disable or delete the corresponding <REPLACE> </REPLACE>section

Please rename mod's folder to STARS, it is currently named STARS_release_2.1 otherwise the mod won't work
I forgot to change the name before packing

[Eriodas]

Any chance this MOD works for 5.0 and ToA DLC?

[Realspace]

Any chance this MOD works for 5.0 and ToA DLC?

I am uploading right now version 2.2
I will eventually update it for Tides of Avarice, but I still have a lot of work to do to optimize the planet's shaders and am also working on two other mods, Engine mod and a galaxy map remake
I will eventually...the pack in my mod should definetly change some texture used in ToA, probably the skyes, but I still have not the dcl to see it

[Realspace]

Version 2.2 is downloadable
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507/

New gas giants are back, new planets too

Mars has been redone, it has atmosphere, now it shows

I've added a main menu replacement, only planet Mars, no stations no ships no logo, see in the optional files

I've reduced the local fog, it's less intrusive now. If you don't like, just delete the region_definitions.xml file
There is a mod in the nexus to delete it completely, or you can edit the above file changing the parameters to zero

[Eriodas]

Thank you very much. I totally loved how space look with your mod and i was waiting to see if you had the time to update it (i know you work in other mods too).

[Mr.Freud]

Can the mod still be used if ToA is installed? I can't play without the mod but also don't want to play without Toa

[Realspace]

Can the mod still be used if ToA is installed? I can't play without the mod but also don't want to play without Toa

It is a texture and shaders replacement properly made with diff function for materials so yes, no issue is expected except that you'll have textures only partially/randomly replaced in ToA sectors.
Btw, let me know if you see a difference in those sectors with/without the mod

[Mr.Freud]

So I'm using the mod with ToA. Everything was fine until I got to Argon prime. Aa soon as I jumped there every texture/shader got broken, turned green and game started stuttering very badly with fps stuck at 22. I double checked with/without the mod. What fixed the glitch was removing region_definitions file. So it seems something is wrong with fog rendering (I read somwhere that there are changes to shader complation with 5.0 so maybe thats the issue?).

Also Im not sure if its a bug or not but The Void sector doesnt have any backround star textures so it looks pitch black with only star and multiple different collor fogs emiting light.

[Realspace]

So I'm using the mod with ToA. Everything was fine until I got to Argon prime. Aa soon as I jumped there every texture/shader got broken, turned green and game started stuttering very badly with fps stuck at 22. I double checked with/without the mod. What fixed the glitch was removing region_definitions file. So it seems something is wrong with fog rendering (I read somwhere that there are changes to shader complation with 5.0 so maybe thats the issue?).

Also Im not sure if its a bug or not but The Void sector doesnt have any backround star textures so it looks pitch black with only star and multiple different collor fogs emiting light.

Thank you for reporting, it is probably an issue with the fog reduction.

I suppose my approach is not the right one, I reduced the density to minimum possible but this approach seems to work only for totally removing (as in the mod that inspired this plus).

I'll remove this feat. in next update while looking for a better way to reduce fog (transparency?)

In the while, if you like no fog you can change all the parameters I added in region_definition.xml to zero, that should make it work as in the original fog-removal mod

[Mr.Freud]

Fog is kinda cool, but I find vanilla fog to be too dense and emitting too much light, especially if using reshade shaders

[Realspace]

Fog is kinda cool, but I find vanilla fog to be too dense and emitting too much light, especially if using reshade shaders

My idea was right that, to reduce not eliminate. If the feat. does no create issues in other sectors, you can try to only delete any reference to cluster_14 (argon prime)

[Realspace]

MOD V 2.3 is out

https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507/

Some small improvements to shaders
Corrected some missing textures
Removed the fog reduction that creates issues with ToA
Corrected the error content.xml

Seems the mod is 100% compatible with Tides of Avarice, I don't see new assets for backgrounds
ToA makes use of custom backgrounds from the mod

[Realspace]

I've spent the whole day trying to correct the visual mess that is Windfall.

I knew it... same story as in other dlcs. Frankly I have enough, this has gone into full time work by my part to resolve things that should not be in the game!
It is errors and pixelated stuff everywhere, skyboxes that are not calibrated so one side comes closer to you in multi-sectors...this game is a visual mess.

Windfall looks like a colonoscopy, not to mention its textures ..
Modding should be for changing a game to our own taste, not to correct a game that after years still has low-quality texturing everywhere

I am done with this

[Tanvaras]

I am done with this

Please don't say your done, this is a mod that is sooooo needed. Your backdrops are just to good to see go down the no longer supported track. I hope somehow you or Egosoft make something wor right to keep your mod alive.

[Mr.Freud]

Yeah, Windfall is the ugliest sector in the game. At first I thought it's inside of a asteroid that's so huge that it can fit planets and a star inside of it - I thought "WTF". But when I read one of the devs reply that the sector is inside of a nebula I was even more shocked. The sector is horrible.

But please, don't give up on it! your mod is amazing and saved me personally a lot of headache messing with reshade trying to make the game look at least somewhat realistic. Honestly your mod is 1000x times better then original.

Edit: I made a rant thread about Windfall viewtopic.php?f=146&t=446381
Maybe you can share your thoughts/research on wht you find out durring modding the sector.

[Realspace]

At least you made me laugh..imagine a day messing with that thing then thinking...wtf, why am i doing this? This is not modding, this is work ego has not done and honestly it is somehow offensive how lazy the whole design is.

I own all their games, bought some twice. I spent months of my life modding x2-3/tc ap fl, Rebirth.. now x4...you know, there are things that I did not like but they were decently conceived to start with.

X3 had lowres everywhere but its design was very good, so one can mod it...but here?

Here we have a good tech, capable of great visual effects and a visual design that seems made by a drunken man to ruin it. It is not only Windfall, it's ugly things everywhere that are the result of a lazy hand not tech limitation.

This is beyond the aim of my efforts. Visuals are not the game, but bad visuals ruin every game and a nice illusion of space should be the base of every space game.

Edit: to be constructive, I will gladly go back to help make this game great when ego eventually releases any decent modding tool to modify layouts, shaders, etc inside the game, a proper editor. Otherwise everything is too much time consuming. One can do it for some parts but when it is so many then it is demoralizing. Imagine f.i. that I have to load the game after every parameter I change in planet's shader, to see the effect. Every single one...this is ages consuming

I invite you to take a look at the galaxy design and visuals I made for x3 fl ( see signature). Despite its limitation, x3 shines there. X4 has a tech largely more capable. So if you guys are too busy (this game is complex we know) please release the tools to help us improving the visuals and layout of galaxy/sectors that (at least by my view) are very rushed. I'll gladly do my part.

[Mr.Freud]

Ar least you made me laugh..imagine a day messing with that thing then thinking...wtf, why am i doing this? This is not modding, this is work ego has not done and onestly it is somehow offensive how lazy the whole design is.

I own all their games, bought some twice. I spent months of my life modding x2-3/tc ap fl, Rebirth.. now x4...you know, there are things that I did not like but they were decent.

X3 had lowres everywhere but its design was very good, so one can mod it...but here?

Here we have a good tech, capable of great visual effects and a visual design that seems made by a drunken man to ruin it. It is not only Windfall, it's ugly things everywhere that are the result of a lazy hand not tech limitation.

This is beyond the aim of my efforts. Visuals are not the game, but bad visuals ruin every game and a nice illusion of space should be the base of every space game

I can only imagine. Trying to make something which you love better but hitting the wall of very incompetent original design.
But can you skip the sector? Leave it as it is? You can even make a note at the front page that Windfall is original.

[Realspace]

There was a voice in my head that told: don't buy that dlc, don't! I feared that the same would happen as with coh. It is demoralizing.

Actually I found a quick solution which is to completely remove the rectum...ehm..the tunnelfog nebula. Unfortunally that leaves a sector empy because volumetric fog is made to work with that.

Seems I can't mod the region_definition, if I only try to modify one parameter with proper diff then the sectors become pitch black.

Windfall iii, if I remember, that with lot of fog, is the best looking because the rectum....ehm the tunnel nebula, is invisible behind the fog. That sector looks fine. But if I remove the tunnel then the fog becomes darker. So I tried to change fog's parameters but the result is the above. Pitch black

The other solution would be to use another cluster entirely and replace it

[Mr.Freud]

There was a voice in my head that told: don't buy that dlc, don't! I feared that the same would happen as with coh. It is demoralizing.

Actually I found a quick solution which is to completely remove the rectum...ehm..the tunnelfog nebula. Unfortunally that leaves a sector empy because volumetric fog is made to work with that.

Seems I can't mod the region_definition, if I only try to modify one parameter with proper diff then the sectors become pitch black.

Windfall iii, if I remember, that with lot of fog, is the best looking because the rectum....ehm the tunnel nebula, is invisible behind the fog. That sector looks fine. But if I remove the tunnel then the fog becomes darker. So I tried to change fog's parameters but the result is the above. Pitch black

The other solution would be to use another cluster entirely and replace it

yeah I even wanted to suggest removing the rectum... I mean the nebula entirely.
I regret buying the DLC. It doesnt add anything meanigfull except for stry line that's somewhat OK IMO. But even the strory feels half baked.
Edit: maybe something like that? https://www.pinterest.com/pin/713046553482813906/

[Realspace]

You know what would have been very nice and imaginative? Using a planet debris as in Rebirth: Albion and make it the center of pirate bases.

That was very nice looking, bases hiddend inside a huge destroyed planetoid, or a proper huge asteroid (what the rectum actually resembles more than...fog, but not with planets and star inside!).

C'mon it is sci-fi cliche, pirates and asteroids. Still can't understand why they did not use assets from Rebirth, they always did in X2/3. Some designs in Rebirth were good.

I think there is a guy here in the forum that ported all those assets, like stations and cluster. It'd be nice to use the albion planetoid + fog for Windfall...