Graphics Enhancement Mod (GEM) v2.4. Updated: December 22, 2012

[necaradan666]

That's a nice civfade button. I made my own local GEM 2.5 version with only a few handpicked bits left, included the Buio civfade button, the shadows folder deleted, my own favourites out of the planet landscapes.. the game only uses a few of them so there's no need for so many. I only picked the most photorealistic ones and numbered them properly so they look good in the backgrounds of certain racial characters. I also deleted all the modded sun files, I think the originals are far more violent looking.. and when you're zoomed in on star.. they should be.

For some reason 2.4 also includes the folders full of gas/frozen giants which are useless because he didn't mod them.

[Yonathan the Zealot]

Hey guys. I'm new...not really been ghosting for awhile. Bought the last two expansions last night. This mod looks awesome, downloaded, backed up files, overwrote old per instructions, launched and nothing. Same old rocks. Any suggestions?

[dostillevi]

@Yonathan the Zealot if you installed the mod to your customization folder (recommended), then you have to activate it by switching themes within the game. Also note that if you have shadows you MUST delete the planet shadow that comes with this mod, and I recommend you download the fade civilian ships icon fix a few posts back (nice work on that Buio!).

[Yonathan the Zealot]

Ok. Great will try your suggestions. Forgive me, where exactly do I find planet shadows?

I must be daft. Placed in customization folder. Same old rocks...This must mean I need to just play the game regular.

Thank you however.

[Sirian]

What do you mean by "same old rocks"? Same old planets or same old asteroids?

If you want the new planets you must install them into your Distant Worlds\images\environment\planets\[type] folders plus the overlays in Distand Worlds\images\environment\overlays except the \shadows folder. This will overwrite the original planets, so make a backup first. Do not use the mods planet shadow image (Distant Worlds\images\environment\overlays\shadow\shading.png)this will goof up the display.

[Computica]

ORIGINAL: Buio

ORIGINAL: MizzouRah0971
So is this mod good to go for Shadows?

Yes, just delete the shadow folder (under \Images\environment\overlays\) after unpacking the zip. Apparently it's not compatible.

You can just customize what you don't want to use by removing stuff before copying.

As always do a full backup of your original game folder before starting to use mods that overwrite original game file (many do but not all). That way you can just copy back original files if you make a mistake or isn't happy with everything. I got two backups, one with all original files after installing Shadows, and one with my default image mods I always want to use.

Planet shader fix!

[CyclopsSlayer]

ORIGINAL: Computica

ORIGINAL: Buio

ORIGINAL: MizzouRah0971
So is this mod good to go for Shadows?

Yes, just delete the shadow folder (under \Images\environment\overlays\) after unpacking the zip. Apparently it's not compatible.

You can just customize what you don't want to use by removing stuff before copying.

As always do a full backup of your original game folder before starting to use mods that overwrite original game file (many do but not all). That way you can just copy back original files if you make a mistake or isn't happy with everything. I got two backups, one with all original files after installing Shadows, and one with my default image mods I always want to use.

Planet shader fix!

Thanks! GEM was always one of my favorite mods.

[Buio]

ORIGINAL: Computica
Planet shader fix!

Thanks! Adding it now.

[Tcby]

Edit: Nevermind! Sorted. Thanks for the mod

[w1p]

Anybody fancy making a new zip file, with the updated civilian fade and shading fixs, and a new forum post?

Perhaps blending in with sirian's mods? I use all and it makes the game so much more enjoyable!

And for the person asking about late game performance, it's doesn't make a noticeable difference (I don't use the shipsets here, I prefer default ones)

[OldLost]

Anybody have issues with GEM 2.4 and the new patch? I ask because all the stars in the galaxy look about the same, except for some with slightly different hues. Here is what they look like. Most stars are grey like this one.

[OldLost]

Looking at it some more, this might not have anything to do with GEM. It's almost like the game is now ignoring the "mapstars" folder where I'm guessing it looked to before for sun graphics, and now is only looking in the "stars" folder.

I could be wrong though, of course. I've never modded DW.

[CyclopsSlayer]

Since updating have you tried reinstalling the GEM mod? The update might have overwritten some of the changed graphics.

[OldLost]

Yep, that was the first thing I did after updating.

[chrisol]

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm presuming the GEM 2.4 mod will work fine with Universe (?)

bw
Chris

[FireLion1983]

Absolutely, nothing has changed, AFAIK, with this mod.

[richieelias]

Tried the mod, it *works*, naturally, but there are graphic glitches with the planets. Looks like the way shadow bitmaps are handled have changed in distant worlds universe.

Fortunately it is a very easy fix:

assuming you backed up the "images" folder before installing - copy the "shadow" folder from "images/environment/overlays" and replace the corresponding folder from GEM

[FireLion1983]

ORIGINAL: richieelias

Tried the mod, it *works*, naturally, but there are graphic glitches with the planets. Looks like the way shadow bitmaps are handled have changed in distant worlds universe.

Fortunately it is a very easy fix:

assuming you backed up the "images" folder before installing - copy the "shadow" folder from "images/environment/overlays" and replace the corresponding folder from GEM

I think this change actually happened in, no pun intended, Shadows! Check in the thread previously for this error.

[Buio]

ORIGINAL: OldLost

Anybody have issues with GEM 2.4 and the new patch? I ask because all the stars in the galaxy look about the same, except for some with slightly different hues. Here is what they look like. Most stars are grey like this one.

Yeah, also got this issue. Removed the folder to use default stars instead.

[CyclopsSlayer]

I also am having an issue with some of the ringed Gas Giants, they appear all blotchy and pixelated, almost like old 8bit images.