FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

by **paramat** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 07:44

Version 0.2.8. Needs tuning but makes good looking vein structures ... one 'ore' is gravel.

by **paramat** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 06:46

Version 0.2.10
Flower colour areas, faults/cliffs, desert stone as layer, climbable jungletrees.
https://github.com/paramat/watershed/commit/9f0b9d6137bd1f803c396b372fa9cdefc44256c2

by **LazyJ** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:42

Howdy ;)

I've been waiting a long time for a mapgen like this. Mountain ranges that blend with the foothills. Floatlands that don't look like they were entirely a mapgen glitch. Rivers that are above sea level and flow with the contours of the land. Snow biomes that are large enough to look like they are supposed to be there instead of undersized, random splotches on the map. More variety of biomes, tree shapes, and even a cactus shape that looks like it came from the desert.

Version 0.2.10 'Bald Spots'
I plan to use 'Watershed' for my new, long-term singleplayer worlds. Before making the switch I wanted to thoroughly test 'Watershed' to make sure it would be suitable for long-term world use. I test with individual worlds that all use the same map seed so I can more easily make comparissons. Version 0.2.09 turned out wonderfully. Version 0.2.10 had a few, large area 'bald spots' and the edges of mountains and cliffs were more frequently all stone.

When I started a new test world with the same map seed but with 'Watershed' v. 0.2.09, I went back to the same coordinates and the bald spots and stone-only cliff sides didn't appear.

Rose Water
There was a graphics glitch with the 'Watershed' water code that caused the water tiles to be randomly replaced with other node tiles. Rivers of floating flowers, dirt, sand, and junglegrass. I noticed this happened when 'new_style_water' was enabled. I prefer the new_style_water. Swapping out the 'Watershed' water code for the default, minetest_game water code fixed the graphics glitch.

Version 0.2.09 - Tweaked and with Mods
Instead of using the 'mapgen v6' option, I used 'singlenode' and changed the parameters of 'Watershed' so everything was based off of sea level at y0. Since I was using 'singlenode' I swapped all the 'Watershed' nodes that were duplicates of default, minetest_game nodes with their minetest_game counterparts.

Then I installed all of my favorite plant and tree mods to enhance the scenery even more.

The final touch was to create textures in GIMP that fit with my favorite texture pack, Calinou's conversion of Misa's texture pack.

The results...

Emerald Floatlands

Snow Forest

Golden Tundra Canyon

Just flying around to make these screenshots was a visual treat. 2D screenshots just don't do justice to the scenic beauty I saw appearing on my screen.

Thanks for an amazing mod, paramat!

by **Inocudom** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 13:34

This mapgen really does deserve to be on a server. It is stuff like this that keeps the fire of hope in Minetest alive.

As I said before, see if you can find a way for plant-generating and ore-generating mods to work with this mapgen. Put a big smile on the face of VanessaE.

by **paramat** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 23:31

Thanks LazyJ, beautiful screenshots, i like the trees you have added in your own version, although i coded this i am still blown away by peoples's screenshots, and it is good to see textures other than my own or default. Perhaps i will change this mod to use singlenode as this perhaps seems to be the players' preference?

The bare stone areas are a result of adding paragen type faults / cliffs, i have vertically stretched the 3D noise to try and keep these cliffs near-vertical, but it is unavoidable to have a few horizontal bare areas. You are of course welcome to maintain your own fork of this mod if you don't like those. I need to work on the strata system to get stripy-strata visible in the cliffs (as in paragen).

The rose water is funny. I think i removed the fancy water texture from the node definition, i will check and probably put that back in.

by **paramat** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 01:32

LazyJ, the next version will have special tiles re-added to water, it's important to use watershed water because it has a spread range of 3 and is non-renewable, normal water will make a mess of the rivers. The fix is to add back in the 'special tiles' to the node definition:

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Code: Select all: special_tiles = { { name="default_water_source_animated.png", animation={type="vertical_frames", aspect_w=16, aspect_h=16, length=2.0}, backface_culling = false, } },

by **spillz** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 01:48

paramat: this is great stuff. I'm finally going to check this out...

by **paramat** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 02:11

Thats cool spillz.

I should mention this, perhaps people may have seen this mysterioius parameter:

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Code: Select all: local XLSAMP = 0 -- Extra large scale height variation amplitude

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Code: Select all: -- 2D noise for extra large scale height variation local np_xlscale = { offset = 0, scale = 1, spread = {x=8192, y=8192, z=8192}, seed = -72, octaves = 3, persist = 0.4 }

This is the continental scale height variation that creates large adjacent continents and archipelagos, this could perhaps create the nation states of a server, 8000x8000 goes into 64000x64000 64 times, i thought that was enough.
So at the moment it's zero because i wanted it neutralised while tuning everything else.
LazyJ this needs to be tuned to a good value before starting your long term world, problem is every tweak needs several hours of world generating to see the result, but i will start with a good estimate of ...

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Code: Select all: local XLSAMP = 0.4 -- Extra large scale height variation amplitude

by **paramat** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 02:42

Version 0.2.11 is at github.
Fix water tiles, new jungletrees, set continent parameters.
https://github.com/paramat/watershed/commit/6c11296ebadc4a710b1855807f8b9a4dda4760f6

by **spillz** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 03:34

Is there any way to force generate a big chunk of terrain? (I think I read about some mod that basically walks a player around for hours, but that seems really hacky)

by **paramat** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 04:17

Yep the 'explore map' mod by Echo.

by **paramat** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 23:48

LazyJ, the sandstone strata were unfinished, more strata will appear angled across the cliffs and bare stone areas in the next version.

by **spillz** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 00:22

So cool. Look forward to trying the new version. What colors.txt are you using? When I drew a world based on your mods, lots of blocks were blacked out.

by **spillz** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 01:57

PS: Any interest in writing a worldgen modding tutorial? I think it would be very instructive, as it's not straightforward from just looking at the code.

by **paramat** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 03:44

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Code: Select all: paragen:permafrost 181 144 107 paragen:dirt 181 144 107 paragen:desertstone 105 56 43 paragen:needles 47 80 41 paragen:jungleleaf 119 132 50 paragen:cactus 95 255 0 paragen:grass 27 35 25 paragen:swampwater 48 108 48 paragen:swampwaterflow 48 108 48 paragen:stone 97 93 92 paragen:sand 218 180 106 paragen:luxblock 255 218 90 paragen:goldengrass 188 160 0 paragen:drygrass 147 119 71 paragen:activelayer 147 119 71 paragen:water 11 53 115 paragen:waterflow 11 53 115 paragen:snow 221 223 255 paragenv7:dirt 181 144 107 paragenv7:permafrost 181 144 107 paragenv7:acacialeaf 47 80 41 paragenv7:needles 47 80 41 paragenv7:jungleleaf 119 132 50 paragenv7:ssapling 95 255 0 paragenv7:psapling 95 255 0 paragenv7:cactus 95 255 0 paragenv7:grass 27 35 25 paragenv7:goldengrass 188 160 0 paragenv7:drygrass 147 119 71 flexrealm:perfrost 181 144 107 flexrealm:dirt 181 144 107 flexrealm:destone 105 56 43 flexrealm:needles 47 80 41 flexrealm:junleaf 119 132 50 flexrealm:grass 27 35 25 flexrealm:swatzero 48 108 48 flexrealm:swatfour 48 108 48 flexrealm:swatflow 48 108 48 flexrealm:stone 97 93 92 flexrealm:sand 218 180 106 flexrealm:desand 227 138 73 flexrealm:drygrass 147 119 71 flexrealm:frograss 87 76 45 flexrealm:watzero 11 53 115 flexrealm:watfour 11 53 115 flexrealm:watflow 11 53 115 flexrealm:cloud 227 233 240 flexrealm:lavazero 255 221 88 watershed:dirt 84 51 35 watershed:redstone 105 56 43 watershed:needles 47 80 41 watershed:jungleleaf 119 132 50 watershed:stone 97 93 92 watershed:grass 27 35 25 watershed:water 11 53 115 watershed:waterflow 11 53 115 watershed:drygrass 147 119 71 watershed:permafrost 181 144 107 moonrealm:stone 97 93 92 moonrealm:dust 132 132 132 moonrealm:luxore 255 255 0 moonrealm:luxnode 255 255 0 moonrealm:waterice 155 155 255 asteroid:snowblock 221 223 255 asteroid:waterice 155 155 255 asteroid:stone 97 93 92 asteroid:cobble 116 112 111 asteroid:gravel 137 125 112 asteroid:dust 132 132 132 trail:dirt_walked 181 144 107 trail:dirt_with_grass_walked 255 0 0 trail:desert_sand_walked 255 0 0 trail:snow_walked 255 0 0 trail:snow_block_walked 255 0 0 trail:sand_walked 255 0 0 conifers:trunk 234 207 156 conifers:trunk_reversed 234 207 156 conifers:leaves 47 80 41 conifers:leaves_special 47 80 41 conifers:sapling 95 255 0 volcano:magma_source 255 51 0 volcano:magma_slow 255 51 0 volcano:magma_flowing 255 51 0 volcano:ash 132 132 132 slabrealm:redstone 105 56 43 slabrealm:jleaf 47 80 41 slabrealm:needles 47 80 41 slabrealm:jsapling 95 255 0 slabrealm:psapling 95 255 0 slabrealm:grassslab 27 35 25 slabrealm:stone 97 93 92 slabrealm:slith 204 204 204 slabrealm:desertsandslab 227 138 73 slabrealm:sandslab 218 180 106 slabrealm:snowslab 221 223 255 slabrealm:snowblock 221 223 255 slabrealm:ice 155 155 255 slabrealm:cloud 227 233 240 landup:destone 105 56 43 landup:stone 97 93 92 landup:grass 27 35 25 floatindev:desertstone 105 56 43 floatindev:stone 97 93 92 jungletree:leaves_green 47 80 41 jungletree:leaves_red 47 80 41 jungletree:leaves_yellow 47 80 41 jungletree:sapling 95 255 0 slabworld:slabstone 97 93 92 slabworld:slith 204 204 204 slabworld:cslith 204 204 204 slabworld:cslithslab 204 204 204 slabworld:cslithstair 204 204 204 slabworld:lighton 255 218 90 slabworld:light 255 218 90 slabworld:slabcloud 227 233 240 slabworld:redslabstone 105 56 43 vrealm:sand 218 180 106 vrealm:grass 27 35 25 vrealm:desert_sand 227 138 73 moonlet:lighton 255 218 90 moonlet:light 255 218 90 moonlet:omsand 227 138 73 moonlet:omstone 206 113 68 flolands:floatstone 66 72 97 flolands:floatsand 106 218 196 noise23:flosand 106 218 196 noise23:stone 97 93 92 rainforest:jungleleaf 119 132 50

These 2 mods are simplified versions of my mapgens, written and commented as sort-of tutorials:
https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?id=8483
https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?id=8628
In the stability thread i describe 3D noise mapgen as used in Minetest mapgen v5.
;)

EDIT
Version 0.2.12
Fix/more sandstone strata, testing new mapgen params

by **spillz** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 21:48

So what does

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Code: Select all: minetest.get_perlin_map(np_terrain, chulens):get3dMap_flat(minpos)

do?

get_perlin_map returns some sort of array, then get3DMap converts to table? (not helping that I find lua syntax confusing)

by **paramat** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 01:56

Yeah, the new perlin functions calculate a whole chunks' worth of noise values in bulk, the old slow way was a separate call to C++ for every noise calculation, for every node.
For 3D the 'nvals' table is in (z(y(x))) order, so the first 80 values are the lowest southernmost x-line across a chunk, the following x-lines work upwards. The first 80*80 values are the southernmost vertical xy-plane, the following xy planes work northwards. Roughly half a million values per chunk!
I learnt all this by finding an old IRC log where hmmmm describes the perlin maps :)

by **spillz** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 02:59

Ok, more questions:

1. The perlin data values are doubles between 0.0 and 1.0? And this is regular perlin noise?
2. A chunk at 0,0,0 to 80,80,80 will generate the same way every time for a given world seed? Or is it different every time?
3. Still don't quite understand what stability does... are you placing nodes in empty space starting with enough stone to make it stable? I guess I need to take a look at a cross-section.
4. Assume this one is one of your fastest (haven't tested)? How much time to generate the noise vs do the stuff in LUA? I did test watershed, which is more complicated and on my good pc with luajit got about 0.6s per chunk, and on my slower laptop around 1.2s, both with luajit. Luajit cut time by about half. So assume the Lua time is substantial, but not everything otherwise the saving due to jit would be bigger.

by **paramat** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 04:18

1. In the noise parameters, 'offset' is the centre value and 'scale' is the very approximate amplitude, because i'm used to the old perlin functions i always set these to 0 and 1, the result is the noise values will be mostly between -1.5 and +1.5, depending on number of 'octaves' and 'persistence'.
2. Yes same way every time.
3. The 3D noise defines the terrain shape as well as the proposed sand layer surrounding the stone, a sand node is only placed in a column if supported by 2 stone nodes, or a solid pillar of sand on 2 stone nodes.
4. Hm not sure that could easily be timed though.

by **paramat** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 01:03

Version 0.2.13
Added perlin map overgeneration from 'overgen' mod, solves some problems at chunk borders but needs more work.
Lowered sea level, still trying to find good continental scale parameters.
Removed the soil table that checked soil depth to be deeper than tree root depth, clever idea but not worth the complexity and extra processing.

by **spillz** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 02:10

Do you really want continents or island fiefdoms? Think about the gaming implications?

by **paramat** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 22:08

spillz, this mod does both, now i've 'turned on' the XL scale (8000 node) height variation:
"a web of winding mountain ranges / ridges that surround large smooth lowland areas and lakes. All this is placed on top of a very large scale height variation that creates alternating contients and archipelagos, the island chains being the tops of the submerged mountain ranges."

by **paramat** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 00:50

Version 0.2.16 (will be 0.3.0 soon)
Big change, this is now a singlenode mapgen realm with sea level at y = 1.

There is a spawn player function that searches for low land, occasionally you may spawn in a river, swim up.
Singlenode is selected automatically, no need to specify in minetest.conf or the ingame menu.
Many other code improvements, slightly faster mapgen.
Turquoise river water / freshwater to contrast with the blue sea water.
Magma rises from an underground layer towards the ridges, i'm still working on making the magma rise to the surface occasionally (see image) ... generative volcanoes? i will try.
Lava cooling by water.
The mod's own lava has range 2, same as the river/fresh water.
Buckets are registered for mod water and lava.

I'm considering a gamemode version of this because there's lots in the default mods i can clear out for a smoother game, also because new games are required for the minetest engine.

by **philipbenr** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 01:18

Awesome. I can't wait for release.

Keep up the good work! ;)

by **spillz** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 03:14

Great stuff! and good idea to make into a game. Would be nice to include some critters in it...

Some maps:

Top view

Cross Section -- Facing south at -1600Z:

by **spillz** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 03:20

So my one question is whether the scale of things is slightly too big. It takes a long time to walk between the various biomes. And the forest is impenetrable (but mostly in a good way). Would love to see some trails built into the game.

by **paramat** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 03:54

Version 0.3.0
Added snowy plains biome to make 9 biomes in the temperature / humidity grid.

I might thin the pine trees a bit, i could also use a noise to create some paths and clearings in the forests.
Nice maps, you have missing apple and acacia leaves, new nodes for colors.txt:

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Code: Select all: watershed:acacialeaf 47 80 41 watershed:appleleaf 47 80 41

The biomes feel big, but i find smaller biomes don't suit this large scale mapgen. I chose a spread of 512 for temp and humidity because a temp / humidity biome system tends to produce biomes down to half that size.

by **LazyJ** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 08:47

Paramat, you do amazing work! ;)

by **paramat** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 22:42

Version 0.3.1
You should all update, a month ago i made a change to rivers which broke the way they thinned to a stream in the highlands, no one noticed lol, now fixed.
Started work on obsidian-walled volcanos, currently abstract and sinister (see image).
At at a certain depth everything is lava, the lava surface has a shell of obsidian and gentle undulations, under the ridges these undulations become taller blobs of lava that break the surface, becoming an obsidian walled volcano. Since this mapgen models continental plates edged by mountain ranges/archipelagos, i realised lava should rise in walls under the ridges, it then seemed natural to make the whole realm float on a deep sea of lava, this can then become a challenging obstacle to build through to reach any realms stacked below.
Thanks LazyJ, i do appreciate everyone's support. The most difficult thing about this mod is tuning the large scale parameters, each tweak theoretically needs a 16kmx16km area to see the result, so all i can do is make a good guess from the noise code. Unfortunately for you people using this the only certainty is that there will be no certainties, but i am happy to explain any changes and help people maintain a reasonable compatibility with their long-term worlds.

by **RHR** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 09:13

Paramat your mod/mods and the speed you are creating new features is amazing!!
The results are amazing too!
[^_^]

FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

[Mod] River / mountain range mapgen [0.7.1] [watershed]

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