[Mod] lib_ecology [lib_ecology][git]

[ShadMOrdre]

MAJOR UPDATE: 2019-04-19
Change log.
200+ Biomes each with unique groundcover.
Ecosystems. Within each biome are multiple, seperate ecosystems, so that within a single biome, you may encounter different flora and fauna.
50+ trees
100+ plants
No Biome_lib dependencies, runs very light.
2 ABMS, leaf decay, and some saplings. Saplings will get updated to use node timers.
All trees are now Lua schematics.
Textures reduced to 16x16 4bit(16 color).

Combines trees and plants from default, flowers, flowers_plus, nettles, more_plants, moretrees, plant_lib, ethereal, valleys/valleys_c, trees, and basic_trees. Some ethereal and valleys biomes continue to exist, albeit, with refined definitions to place them appropriately. There are still some code relics from ethereal and valleys_c, but all items are renamed, and so should not conflict with any of the above mention mods. However, due to many of those mods clearing ores, decorations, and/or biomes, you may or may not see what you expect. This mod does clear biomes and decorations, to get rid of the defaults. I'll add a setting to enable user selection of this option.

Biomes are defined by 5 temperature points over 5 humidity points for 25 climate zones. Each climate zone is then subdivided based on altitude, for a total of 200+ biomes. Now included are Ecosystems. Each biome can include multiple ecosystems, to break up the monotony of most current biomes.

Can be ran with Australia and Aeotora (with a modification to those mods to not clear biomes) to really pack a visual punch. Working on making this a little easier via settings, and perhaps pull requests to those mods.

This should be ran on a new world, but will work on existing worlds where the map has not yet been generated.

NEWEST DOWNLOAD: lib_ecology_v5
Version 2: https://github.com/ShadMOrdre/lib_ecology/tree/ShadMOrdre-v2.0
Version 1: https://github.com/ShadMOrdre/lib_ecology/archive/master.zip
Browse Code: https://github.com/ShadMOrdre/lib_ecology/tree/lib_ecology_v5

DEPENDENCIES: farming, lib_materials?
OPTIONAL DEP:

LICENSES: LGPLv2.1, for code by me, CC-BY-SA-3.0 for graphics by me. Other licenses apply for code and graphics done by others. Where found, those licenses included.

SCREENSHOTS:

[azekill_DIABLO]

very green mod ;)

+1 because we need more plants in this world!

[ShadMOrdre]

More screenshots.

[texmex]

Looks great, will try out!

[Gael de Sailly]

Interesting, very good work. This is really the kind of things I'd like to see in the game.
There was a small bug for which I propose a fix in a pull request.
Then I launched the game and started exploring the world for several minutes. This mix between Valleys and Ethereal seems a great idea.

I was walking in the bamboo forest as far as I could see, and suddenly this amazing green valley opened to my view, emerging from the fog.


But, as you said, this is very expensive in terms of memory usage, and my very weak computer has nearly completely filled its RAM + swap. I don't really understand why it needs so much memory, there may be some possible optimizations. That said, I've not seen the code in details and don't know exactly what it does.

I'd would be very interested in working with you on this project.

[ShadMOrdre]

Firstly, thanks for valleys. And also to duane, for his contributions. This work is really still mostly ethereal and valleys_c code, so you should be able to dig right in. I hope I didn't garble it up too much. Filenames and variables are still pretty much the same. I must admit, some of the code is still foreign to me at this time, ie, mapgen and tree generation.

I like how you generated and colored some trees by code. I'd like to think that between your code and sofars luscious mod, I also might be able to come up with better biome blending as well as tree uniqueness and colorization.

My goal is to get this more modularized, getting each of the plant nodes, tree nodes, and ground nodes culled, sorted and working at least as they do now. Also, by adding both biome sets, I have found some biomes to either be too similar, or overlapping to the point that I don't know if all biomes are being generated. But by digging in to all this, I can sort them out, and get them to blend better. I also want to get the mapgen down to just terrain, so that it's parameters can be played with easier. Adding custom settings to enable/disable aspects or breadth of this mod can also help users on more modest devices, while still getting the experience.

I must admit, I originally used this mod on mg_valleys, but using custom params on mgv7 with the mapgen from this mod using noise values from your valleys lua mapgen is providing some interesting locations as well. Flatter terrains with more gentle hilly areas.

Thanks for your interest Gael, I'm flattered that this caught your attention.

Oh, by the way, I merged the pull request.

Shad

[ShadMOrdre]

Major update.

[ShadMOrdre]

Added new screenshots.

[FrostRanger]

Looks great! There are some issues with some of the ethereal stuff creating unknown nodes when mined though. Are there any plans to get it to work better with farming redo and mobs redo?

[ShadMOrdre]

FrostRanger,

Thanks for the feedback.

I am still in the process of reclassifying some of the items from the underlying mods. The fishing aspect of ethereal, IMHO, should be a seperate mod, or part of a tools mod. As for some ethereal nodes dropping unknown items, this is most likely due to a defined drop within the node definition. I'll get that issue resolved quickly, and upload a version 2.1 update within the next week. This update will include new nodes, and other changes that may lead to new unknown nodes. An example is that I have renamed some tree definitions.

As for supporting Farming Redo, that has been in my crosshairs for some time now. After briefly reviewing the forum topic for Farming Redo, I've noticed what might be causing bugs with growing plants. I will also try to address this before the 2.1 update.

Shad

[uwu]

Just tested it a little, after about an hour of flying around, my memory usage was close to 2GB.

I noticed a few issues:
- sometimes, palm trees will just have one leaf block on top
- some kinds of trees have disjointed stems separated by leaf blocks
- it generated a lava vein in the ocean a few times
- "simple leaves" setting doesn't work, only opaque and fancy do

tested it with valleys mapgen on MT(G) 5.0.1

This was the first time a jungle in MT felt like an actual jungle, absolutely gigantic with lots of plant variety like in real life.

[ShadMOrdre]

VERSION 5 IS HERE!!! Must see to believe.

[Tikilou]

Hi thanks !
I've tried this update from ShadMOrdre-v2.0 lib_ecology branch ( https://github.com/ShadMOrdre/lib_ecolo ... Ordre-v2.0 ) map, now i have lot of unknow objects on the map on my server...
Same problem about lib_material from previous version, many unknow objects on the maps. Especially Ethereal ground blocks from Ethereal.

There is missing textures too for somes things.

[ShadMOrdre]

@ uwu,

Yes, there are some minor issues. Some of this has been addressed in the latest release. Both issues you stated regarding the trees are actually part of the model for those trees. This can be corrected, it just hasn't been high on the list yet.

Only some of the trees that I found had all the relevant textures included. Most did not have a simple_leaves texture, and I have not tried to create any. So yes, only opaque and fancy leaf types work.

I'm not sure about the lava vein in the ocean. I do not generate lava anywhere in any version prior to yesterdays update.

@Tikilou,

As stated in the first post, this should only be used on a new world. Many nodes defined in this mod were renamed in the most recent update, for conformity.

You should be able to safely replace the newest version with the v2 version to get you world looking correct again. The newest version was a major rewrite of code, node definitions, and many other things, and so should only be used on a new world, or at least, a world that can be suddenly and drastically altered.

[Tikilou]

Thanks for the answer, hope you gonna update the ShadMordre branch pack too later.
I've tried your V5 on new map, there is any way to have young trees after cutting all trunks on a tree ? Leaves don't fall when i'm trying to do that, so nothing on the ground.

There is any ester egg too ? =D



Edit : there is any way to stop mapgen from your mod without disable it ? (don't want to have unknow objects on already generated area with your mod) I would like to alternate original mapgen V7 and your Ethereal fork Valley, sometimes.
I'm trying to build a multi-mapgen world on my server, with V7, ShadMordre V2 and original Valley.

[ShadMOrdre]

Tikilou,

I was not sure if tree cutting worked as it should. I'll try to address this as soon as possible.

As for mapgen issues, remember, any mod that makes modifications to the map or the generation of the map, will ultimately create issues on existing worlds. This has always been the case with MT, it is how it works.

Since you've been using the v2 branch, you'll have to reenable that version, and disable the v5 branch for the world at issue.

There are no plans to backport any of the newest changes to the v2 branch, as that would basically upgrade you to the v5 branch.

The v5 update is a major rewrite, with node name changes, additional plants, and coincides with the updates to lib_materials, from which many of the more visible changes actually occur. If you are interested, the new v5 branch includes a chat command, /emerge_area, that enables both map generation. I use this feature to emerge maps, which makes it slightly faster when traveling around the map, looking for code issues and testing features and additions.

The v2 branch is also only a few months old, as I only released it around Christmas time. I would recommend that you create a new world, with the features from the other mods that you want, and the v5 branch of both lib_materials and lib_ecology, to get all of the features that you want. If you use the same world seed, you can quickly reemerge the map that you've been using, with the above mentioned chat command.

You should also see some performance increases, since the v2 branch still uses the original textures, in most cases, instead of the 16x16 px, 16 color indexed files that I updated for the v5 branch. There are also many other additions and features to both mods that you would otherwise miss out on by continuing to use the v2 branch, while the v5 branch includes all the same nodes, (just renamed for consistency and organization), as well as, numerous new plants, and the use of the new "plantlike_rooted" draw type.

[twoelk]

mind adding the Red trees mod?
maybe from the version at minetest_madman_server

[lestrol]

Hi ShadMOrdre, I just logged on with a series of questions, only to find that lib_ecology and lib_materials have been updated. Which is fantastic news, as lib_ecology/lib_materials are definitely the Best Minetest Mods Ever Written, but also bad news, as these questions may now be out of date.

1. Do saplings actually work? I've cut down at least a thousand trees of different varieties, and I haven't seen a single sapling yet.

Perhaps some types of trees produce saplings, and others don't. If so, would it be feasible to enable saplings for all tree types? Could I edit the lib_ecology code myself to enable this? (I am not asking, 'Do I have permission', I am asking, 'is that feasible')

2. Some of the ethereal-ng biomes (for example, the bamboo biome and the mushroom biome) are never generated, as far as I can tell. Would it be feasible for me to edit the lib_ecology code to add the biomes I like? (Specifically, I like the bamboo biome, but I hate the mushroom biome, so I only want to enable one of them)

3. Do you have any more big changes planned? I might start a lib_ecology server, but I will wait if you are planning another big release within the next few days...

4. Related to question 3, are there any plans to make lib_ecology compatible with farming_redo? I don't want to attempt my own patch, if you've already completed 90% of the changes yourself...

5. In viewtopic.php?f=47&t=22134, you wrote:

"And.....it does NOT clear the registered decorations, so should be compatible with the other biome type mods mentioned at the top, as long as you add those mods as a dependency for lib_ecology, so that lib_ecology biomes are not overwritten by the other mod."

What does this mean? I couldn't see any way to add mods as a dependency in minetest's menus. Did you mean to edit the source code of either lib_ecology or the other biome-type mods?

[twoelk]

hilly horizon using mg-flat with farming-redo, cooltrees and some other plant mods activated.
Note the bamboos on the ridge at the left and the

+ mahogany grove in the far center

[ShadMOrdre]

twoelk,

Thanks for the suggestion about the Red trees mod. I'll get those folded in. In the meantime, look for cherry blossoms from the valleys mapgen in temperate temperate highlands. A generic red tree can be found in warm temperate lowland areas. More features coming, as detailed below.

lestrol,

Thanks for all the great questions. I hope these are some great answers for you:)

This mod is still WIP, as there is still much ongoing development on this mod. Some things may not yet work correctly, like saplings. I do use farming_redo, but just realized, plant names in lib_ecology mod use underscores, and that must make farming_redo not work for the lib_ecology defined plants. I had previously considered breaking out the plants from the farming mod, leaving just the API part of farming, while integrating all the plants into lib_ecology. I'll add this to the priority list.

As for clearing the biomes, this is no longer correct. For the time being, I clear biomes in lib_ecology, to eliminate the default biomes. This mod, and others in my arsenal, are all part of a soon to be released game. As such, while I've integrated a large portion of default into lib_ecology, I've yet to clear the default biomes from within my own modified default. This can easily be uncommented in init.lua.

I will soon be adding cool_trees by runs (need to scale textures to 16x16/16 color) and xocean by StarNinjas, and various new random plants and trees. I have also heavily considered integrating nsspf, Aotearoa and Australia mods, to help balance the plant life in general, but also specifically from the Southern Hemisphere. This is also one of my priorities.

Bamboos can be found in the hotter biomes of the new v5 branch of lib_ecology. I also added the bamboo from the Farlands game, to give some variety to bamboo, and I think you'll like the effect. Mushrooms, not being a "natural" biome, will be given special treatment, as will other non natural ecosystems.

The newest version includes a limited introduction of ecosystems. In this case, each biome is define by a unique ground cover, (for example, dirt_with_grass_hot_humid_lowland). The italicized part of the name is the biome name. Within this dirt type, I generate up to 7 other dirt types, providing "ecosystem" dirt upon which to decorate with plants and trees. In this setup, plants and trees can be mixed/matched, and also have custom densities and altitudes.

I am frantically working to get most of this done, and want to also get bugs fixed along the way. I can't provide a timeframe, and I'd say a couple of days might be well short, but I am hoping to get most of the above stuff done within a about a week or so. nsspf, aoteara, australia and the farming_redo mods will not be integrated for the next update, although I do intend to get the plants in this mod that use farming_redo to work.

Saplings, leaf decay, and some of those bug fixes are certainly at the top of my list. I am also focusing, at the moment, on adding the few new plants and trees, and cleaning up the plant definitions and some schematic models. Many biomes and ecosystems are still very incomplete. Plants and trees are defined that are not generated on the map, and I've been focused heavily in getting more of this completed. With all this....

I would like to suggest, that if you do intend to make any code changes, that you fork this project on Github, and push your changes back to this project. I would gladly appreciate help in any area of this mod. It is light on the processing, and I'd like to keep that aspect, but is heavy on the details, which is where, IMHO, most of the work now remains.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Please, keep 'em comin'!

Shad

[lestrol]

> I can't provide a timeframe, and I'd say a couple of days might be well short, but I am hoping to get most of the above stuff done within a about a week or so.

Oh, that's just great! Never mind a couple of days, if all that stuff is ready within a couple of months, that would be even quicker than I thought!

[Brian Gaucher]

Thank you for submitting your mod to the Modding Competition: Ocean