[MOD] (Alpha 2) Clean Sand

[Nasikabatrachus]

I don't know why I never thought of it before, but today I made a very simple mod to solve a pet peeve of mine.

Usually, after many days in game, the desert ends up looking kind of, well, hairy:

http://puu.sh/7Cjrs.png

Not only does it look kind of ugly, it also doesn't make any sense. Why would the grass be growing like that if it wasn't that way already? On a newly generated map, the sand is clear of grass, giving it a strong desert-y feeling, but that is eventually erased.

I much prefer my maps like this:

http://puu.sh/7Cjxv.png

This mod solves the problem by reducing the fertility level of sand to .01, below any plant's threshold for growing. To use this, simply load the clean sand folder into your mod folder. Or, if you prefer, just copy and paste its TerrainDefs folder into another mod.

NOTE: cannot be used with existing saves.

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[ItchyFlea]

That grass-free desert... it looks, beautiful. 

[Nasikabatrachus]

Modified OP to reflect save incompatibility.

Also, I think there may be a performance benefit to this mod. Running the game in accelerated ecology mode without the mod, I notice the game starts to slow down as more and more grass fills in the sandy regions. With the mod, accelerated ecology mode runs at a consistent speed. I suspect, but have not confirmed, that this might mean the game will run smoother overall, especially in long-lasting games on slower computers.

[ousire]

I do agree that the "hairy" deserts, as you put it, don't look the greatest. But grass and other plants CAN grow on sand, but it's usually very sparse, or specially adapted species. perhaps you could change it so grass grows, say, three or four times as slowly on sand if that's possible?

[OnyxShadow]

Terraforming OP.

[Ribas]

I do agree that the "hairy" deserts, as you put it, don't look the greatest. But grass and other plants CAN grow on sand, but it's usually very sparse, or specially adapted species. perhaps you could change it so grass grows, say, three or four times as slowly on sand if that's possible?

You can fix this modifying desert zones for cactus grows only.

[Tynan]

Yeah, there is an imbalance in the ecology where sand will get more and more grass over time. I need to rethink how the ecology works because atm it's very hard to balance properly.

[Nasikabatrachus]

I do agree that the "hairy" deserts, as you put it, don't look the greatest. But grass and other plants CAN grow on sand, but it's usually very sparse, or specially adapted species. perhaps you could change it so grass grows, say, three or four times as slowly on sand if that's possible?

You can fix this modifying desert zones for cactus grows only.

One problem is that if you set it so that only, say, saguaro cactus can grow on sand, you'll get a hell of a lot of saguaro cactus. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's hard to balance. I'm not 100% clear on how ecology works, but the game seems to balance every factor automatically. Remove one thing, you get a lot of something else. There are certainly many alternate ways to structure ecology that would be just as good, though, so there's a modding project in there somewhere.

[Vas]

I saw grass in your desert in that second screenshot!   The edges of the desert at least.  I do like this though.  Might put it in soon.

[Thunder Rahja]

Perhaps when a seed hits a tile it should use the fertility of that tile as the percentage chance of it taking.

[mrofa]

You could always create another plant that have invisible texture, is not selectable and have same grow rate as grass but only on desert.

[Vas]

You could always create another plant that have invisible texture, is not selectable and have same grow rate as grass but only on desert.

What exactly would the point of that be?  That'd just add more lag.  If you can say "Only in desert" then you can say "Not in desert".

[mrofa]

Its to couter cactus growth, and i doubt that a invisible object that have no effects would make more lag than grass

[Vas]

Its to couter cactus growth, and i doubt that a invisible object that have no effects would make more lag than grass

Graphic lag is not what I was talking about.  You're telling the game to have 1000+ invisible objects constantly processing.  They still have active grow counters and everything, even if they are invisible.  If you don't want cactus to grow, go kill all cactus and poof, they can't grow.  They only grow if one exists somewhere on the map.

Think of it this way.  You have a grid of 100 squares.  Now you have each grid process a line of code to tell the grid to update the invisible plant's life span, and cactus in grid 97.  Now it has to process all 100 squares before the game will render the next frame, this is just an example mind you.  And another grid side by side that is also 100 squares and has a cactus in grid 97, but nothing in all other 99 squares.  So it only needs to run 1 thing, while the other grid needs to run 100 things.  Which will finish first do you think?  Which one is less stressful on the system?  It's better to have nothing, than to place some invisible object there that will constantly run.

As I said, you can just kill cactus and they won't grow anymore if you eliminate them all.  At least, if they work the way I think they do.  Besides, I think a desert looks natural with them and I've never seen them grow to much.  I've never once had a plant problem and I've gotten to day 100, even with the tree mod (wood economy).  People must be using that fast ecology cheat because I've never ever encountered plant problems.  I just don't like the grass growing in the desert but that's about it.

[mrofa]

So basicly a grass with active growth cycle, graphic, wind effect, that grows on the desert eats more that other plant that grows in the desert with -1 grow cycle, graphic(opacity 0 is stil procesed as a color, black eats least memory) and no wind effect ?
Im not a programer so most likley im missing something. My point was a workaround for

One problem is that if you set it so that only, say, saguaro cactus can grow on sand, you'll get a hell of a lot of saguaro cactus. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's hard to balance. I'm not 100% clear on how ecology works, but the game seems to balance every factor automatically. Remove one thing, you get a lot of something else. There are certainly many alternate ways to structure ecology that would be just as good, though, so there's a modding project in there somewhere.