Hi All,
Finally I finished my sub-project for My Own Mod, where I've implemented dozens of various Gold and Stone mines in all RMS of the standard maps that changes depending on the map.
There are all the graphics with separated shadows for 13 different kinds of Gold mines, based on currency value and trading merchandise of various precious minerals and gems and 11 different kinds of Stone Mines based on merchant and architectural values and the Mohs scale of minerals hardness; all minerals, stones and gems based on historically and geographical locations!
The references canons where all the others minerals are based on, is the following one:
So the list of Minerals and gems are divided in 13 different types of Gold mines in order from the lesser valuable to the better one:
_______________________________HEMATITE_______________________________
It contains500 Gold and it is the lesser valuable Gold mine in the whole game.
Usually found onTropical maps as Near Gold.
It was usually used by precolombian civilizations as a kind of primitive pencil used to draws pictograms on walls. The terms origantes then the latin-italian term Matita, wich means pencil.
_______________________________IRON_______________________________
It contains600 Gold.
Usually found onRivers maps and as a extra gold scattered all over the map.
Being usually originated near waters zones it present rust on most part of it surface, being used as a scrap metal for merchandise and repairing, so it has not so good value until tranformed into steel, being used so for hiring and equipping the best soldiers.
_______________________________MAGNETITE AND CHALCOPYRITE_______________________________
It contains700 Gold.
Commonly found onSalt Marsh map.
It is a common iron-originated metal with the intrusion of Chalcopyrite, made up of calcium, mineral rich present in water and humid zones, but with goldish appearence. In past this like-gold minerals was also knows has "Fools' Gold" because it was uslessy gathered by fools peoples.
_______________________________RED OCHRE_______________________________
It contains800 Gold.
Only present inYucatan map.
Huge deposits of Red Ochre has been found in the Yucatan peninsula, where still today has been discovered submerged caves with plenty of this mineral.
It was used by Olmecs and Mayans peoples as a precious powder, commonly used for tattoos and cosmetics, arts draws and religious rituals.
_______________________________DESERT ROSES_______________________________
It contains900 Gold.
It is the Farest gold onDesertic maps
Desert roses are a formation of Gypsum with sand powder, common in most of the desertic zones, especially the north-Saharian part of Africa and even in some Appenninian mounts in Italy, originated in this case, with a mixture of clay deposits.
It was common for desert nomads hunting down these minerals, becoming precious due their lack of availability and rarity of natural discovering, because the best of these minerals appears on surface, already freed by the action of the wind, but, if not gathered in time, the first rain will melt the gypsum component of the Desert Roses, turn them nothing but sand.
_______________________________COPPER_______________________________
It contains1000 Gold.
Usually it is the nearest gold in most of the map, especially inDesertic and Frozen maps, as well as in Arena and Fortress maps.
In some others maps it is the extra gold scattered all over the map like the Iron mine
_______________________________CHIAPAS AMBER_______________________________
It contains1200 Gold.
Only present on theYucatan Map.
Forming the 90% of the Central American Amber reserve, the Chiapas region was largely habitated by a plant Hymenaea, today extinted, able to drop a resin that, once essicated, will form the Chiapas Amber well known and used by Mayans as a decorative stone for jewelry.
_______________________________BALTIC AMBER_______________________________
It contains1300 Gold.
It appear as Far Gold on allFrozen Maps.
Commonly travels through the Amber Road, a route that starts from Baltics Regions and Russia, it was traded from north Europe to Aegean and Estern-Mediterranean regions since the VI century B.C., it is a common an large resin deposit formed by specific northen europe tree, usually traded as a coin or for making jewelry.
_______________________________OBSIDIAN_______________________________
It contains1400 Gold.
It is the medium distance gold on mostTropical maps.
The Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass generated by the quick cooling down of the emerging lava.
It was largely used by Mesoamerican civilizations as a jewelry, decorative object, working tools and especially weaponry, such as Macuahuitl swords and Tepoztopilli spears as well arrows heads, like the Mitl, made by Flint point head, and the Yaomitl, the Obsidian point head.
It was also used as obsidian ritual stabbing knives for carving hearts from the chests of sacrifical prisoner or volounteers victims, used in these rituals there's also a polished version of large glass sheets of obsidian, used as a kind of mirror for conjuring mystical visions and make prophecies.
_______________________________SILVER_______________________________
It contains1500 Gold.
It is the middle canon of gold, usually the medium distance gold on most maps.
_______________________________JADEITE_______________________________
It contains1700 Gold.
Is one of the 3 major gold source in game, it commonly represents the farest gold on mostTropical maps.
The Jade divides itself into 2 sub-categories, the Jadeite and the Nephrite.
The terms Jade cames from Spanish "Piedra de ijada" that litterally means stone of the side, known for its good proprieties on hips and lower back.
The Green Jadeite (Maya), and the Blueish Jadeite (Olmecs) was a rare and hard minerals well used by Olmecs and Mayans as earrings and necklaces, as well as pectoral plates, tools and weapons, other than various decorative objects and rituals icons.
_______________________________NEPHRITE_______________________________
It contains1800 Gold.
Is one of the 3 major gold source in game, it commonly represents the farest gold on mostAsian maps.
The Jade divides itself into 2 sub-categories, the Jadeite and the Nephrite.
White Jade (Nephrite), to not be confused with Gray Jade originated of the Middle-East zone, was used to create many utilitarian and ceremonial objects, ranging from indoor decorative items to jade burial suits. Nephrite was considered the "imperial gem" from about the earliest Chinese dynasties until present.
On the southern part of the Silk Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white jade were made to the Chinese Imperial Court and there transformed into works of arts objects by skilled artisans, as Nephrite was considered more valuable than gold or silver.
_______________________________GOLD_______________________________
It contains2000 Gold.
Is one of the 3 major gold source in game and absolutely the most valuable gold source in the whole game, it commonly represents the farest gold on most maps.
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Now about the Stone, there are 11 differents types of minerals and stones in order from the lesser valuable to the better one:
_______________________________TUFF_______________________________
It contains200 Stone and it is the lesser valuable Stone mine in the whole game.
Usually a derivation of limestone, it is abundant in humid territories shuch as marshes and Tropical maps, it is commonly the nearest stone source of mostTropical maps.
Most houses and especially temples in the Central America were build up by Limestones and Tuffs, easily worked with simple tools and very resistant to the time test.
_______________________________SANDSTONE_______________________________
It contains250 Stone
It commonly forms the nearest stones in most ofDesertic maps.
Essentially a mixture of different layers of sand, clay, mud and oter small parts of various intrusive rocks, it is a common and abundant rock in desertic and arid zones, easy to work with water, then resistant once cooked or let driyng under the sun, making good bricks for masonry.
_______________________________STONE_______________________________
It contains300 Stone
Standard rock common in most map as a nearest or medium stone source or as an extra source scattered all over the map.
_______________________________LIMESTONE_______________________________
It contains350 Stone
Commonly it is abundant in humid territories shuch as marshes and Tropical maps, it is commonly the medium stone source of mostTropical maps and Salt Marsh.
Most houses and especially temples in the Central America were build up by Limestones and Tuffs, easily worked with simple tools and very resistant to the time test.
_______________________________SLATE_______________________________
It contains400 Stone
It is the common stone source forFortress, Arena and most Alpine maps as well mediterranean ones, being the nearest or the unique stone source of these maps
It is a foliated metamorphic rock, composed most by a mixture of clay and volcanic ash, commonly found in Europe, used for walling end especially roofing buildings; also used as decorative and religious monoliths and artistic purposes in place of canvans, making good uses for lithography (the art of carving and drawing stones).
_______________________________BASALT_______________________________
It contains450 Stone
It forms the common stone source onIslands, Archipelago and Rivers Maps, while form the Near and Medium distance stone source on Scandinavia Map.
(Personally my favoured one because it was really entartaining make it geometrical shapes pixel-by-pixel and then merging them together, astonishingly!!! )
It is an extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of lava rich in magnesium and iron exposed at or very near the surface of the Earth's Crust. More than 90% of all volcanic rocks on Earth are basalt.
During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing, it cannot easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns. These structures are predominantly hexagonal in cross-section, but polygons with three to twelve or more sides can be observed. The size of the columns depends loosely on the rate of cooling; very rapid cooling may result in very small columns, while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.
_______________________________ALABASTER_______________________________
It contains500 Stone
It forms the farest stone source onDesertic maps and the unique stone in the standard version (not Tropical) of the Salt Marsh map.
It is a mediterranean rock very similar to marble, made up by Gypsum and Calcite, making it softer than other stones and easy to work.
It has different varieties of colour, but the most common are the White-pinkish variety, used since the egyptian and greek civilizations as a decorative and ornamental object (indeed the greek term "Alabastron" indicate a jar specifically made by Alabaster rock) and jewelry, and especially for carving statues and temple columns.
_______________________________WATER ALABASTER_______________________________
It contains500 Stone
Commonly present on mostWater maps, especially Salt Marsh, Mediterranean and Rivers Maps.
It is a water variation of the previous Alabaster, but in this case is based on Shore Fishes unit, but instead of food it contains stone, don't know why AI simply don't consider them as a resource, even if added in the villagers abilities tab, and don't gather them, they are manually clickable by human player, but not the AI, so it has most an aestetic value on the maps, even because it is randomly spawned in single unit of water alabaster, so it will not give you a good incoming in the overall gameplay.
_______________________________MARBLE_______________________________
It contains550 Stone
A common stone source, especialy on mostMediterranean and Standard maps as a farest stone source.
Like alabaster, a common mediterranean stone used for carving statues and build up temples in the mediterranean zone.
_______________________________GRANITE_______________________________
It contains600 Stone
Specifically the Asian Red Variation of Granite, this hard rock forms most of the farest stone source on all theAsian maps.
_______________________________DIORITE_______________________________
It contains650 Stone
It is a common rock formation in northen emisphere and frozen landscapes, so it is commonly the farest stone source of all theFrozen maps.
It is a very hard rock compared to the other listed above, so, for this reason, it is the best stone source in the whole game.
===========THE STORY SO FAR============
Obviously a good work can't be done without proper research, inspiration and workarts as a base, so I need to say I spent near the last 2 weeks of my life by costantly "study" and search in first place, then taking notes on paper sheets like old good labourers as ever done by writing evrithing necessary for carrying on the project...
Everything started once a day, playing a simple game in Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriot (being here I suggest all of you to play this game very similar to our beloved Age of Empires) and I noted a resource on terrain.... it was the Amber, so I just opened the installation folder of Rise of Nations and discovered all the various Resources in TGA format, open them and just saw the graphics of the Amber with the transparent background, just copied it on a Gold Mine frame extracted from AoE 2 and.... oh my... that's astonishing, that Amber fits so well in game and also don't suffer from the colour loss due the limitating 8-bit palette (256 colours).... so I start gathering all useful graphics from here and there, others completely made from scratch hand made pixel-by-pixel, and researches starts in every places, at home with lapot I've accumulated near 100 files from pictures, graphics and search links, then the researches keeps on every where they could, every time I got a bit o free space during my day, through mobile phone at the bus stop, at bar, restaurant ecc...
So, once the researches ended, and the block notes was filled and complete, with all the necessary info and ordered list from statistics and regional location, I started making graphics, then making all separated shadows, because most of these new minerals are taller than a villager, like you can see in this photo:
So, then I implemented in the Data, by also adding the ability to mine the new mineral IDs for both the male and female stone and gold miners, so added the ability list for 4 villager units, and once all minerals has been tested and properly works with the AI (apart the Water Alabaster already stated above) I've insert all of them in the constant list in the 54000.bina file in the gamedata_x1.drs file and then just added as a variation for each climate for various map just like the tree variation is applied in every map.
Example of the bina code:
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/* FAR GOLD */
if FROZEN_MAP
create_objectBALTIC_AMBER
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif DESERT_MAP
create_objectDESERT_ROSE
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif ALPINE_MAP
create_objectGOLD
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif ASIAN_MAP
create_objectNEPHRITE
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif TROPICAL_MAP
create_objectJADEITE
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
else
create_objectGOLD
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
endif
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Easy and satisfying enough to entartain my self in the deep of RMS!
===========NOW THE CREDITS SO FAR=========================
I need to say that, first of all, most of the descriptions, scientific and historical infos came directly from the various google researches i've made.
HEMATITE
Made as a base of the Titanium resource from Rise of Nation Thrones and Patriot, then cut a bit and manually added the rust part on surface.
The metal column are hand-made by me pixel-by-pixel.
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IRON
A part of the Marble resource from Rise of Nation Thrones and Patriot, just cut the upper part and manually recolored and added the rusty part on the surface and the various iron's sheets layers.
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MAGNETITE AND CHALCOPYRITE
Just the purple Ore Mineral resource (equivalent of AoE stone) taken from Star Wars Galactic Battelgrounds: The Clone Campaign and then manually recolored.
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RED OCHRE
Taken from the rocky debris of destroyed great buildings from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, then i just sharpened some frames, recoloured( at best chance to get the Red Ochre colour, due 8-bit palette limitation) and added dust and ochre powder around the base of the mineral.
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DESERT ROSE
To be honest, I didn't expected such a good result once ended, especially on the white pieces, but yes these don't came from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, eh!
I just searched google pictures, then masked, resized and put on proportion in order to fit in the AoE 2 engine.
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COPPER
Just another Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots resource, just a bit cut and resized in order to make different frames composition.
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CHIAPAS AMBER
As I said in the above "Story so Far" section, this was the spark that starts the thunderstorm in my mind, so the first Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots resource tested with good result, and the one that incitate me to carrying on the project.
Like Copper, just a bit cut and resized in order to get different frames composition.
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BALTIC AMBER
Is just a recolored version of the above Chiapas Amber, nothing too complicated.
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OBSIDIAN
Just took few tiny rocks from the Titanium resource from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, all the rest biggest, pointy and ground stripes are completely hand made by me.
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SILVER
It is just the Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots resource Titanium, just a bit cut and resized in order to make different frames composition.
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JADEITE
Just pictures taken from google and then resized and a bit increased the brightness/contrast in order to fit with AoE 2 palette.
One of the frames has been took from the big pictiures posted above in the "Story so Far" section.
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NEPHRITE
Like Jadeite, a couple of frames has been taken from google and adapted to AoE 2 engine, then other frames has been made completely from scratch by hand by me.
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GOLD
It is just a recolored version of the above Silver, just took me a bit of time to find the right shape of gold that fits with the AoE 2 palette.
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TUFF
Part of these frames has been taken from the Stonehenge resource of Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots,then recoloured based on the Original The Conquerors "Ancient Stone Head" Eye-Candy in order to fit with Tropical landscapes and Mesoamerican Buildings.
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SANDSTONE
All frames taken from Canyon rocks Eye-Candy from African Kingdoms Expansion, instead one of the frames has been edited and lowered in heigh by me because it was too towering.
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STONE
Just a resized and cut parts of the The Conquerors Rock Eye-Candy, nothing special, but better than the original stone mine's plastic gray.
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LIMESTONE
Taken inspiration by google pictures without any copy/paste or resize/recolour, but this time made completely by hand pixel-by-pixel by me.
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SLATE
Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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BASALT
Absolutely my favoured one, like Limestone, just taken inspiration by google pictures without any copy/paste or resize/recolour, but this time made completely by hand pixel-by-pixel by me.
It was really entartaining merging all the colums together and gazing upon the satisfying result!
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ALABASTER
Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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WATER ALABASTER
Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
But then, added an underwater pixelated layer out of anchor in order to create the illusion of emerging objects from water.
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MARBLE
A mixture of 2 resources taken from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, the Stonehenge and the Marble resources, just cut and resized a bit in order to create different frames combination.
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GRANITE
Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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DIORITE
Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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==========IN GAME APPEARENCE===========
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A northen-Saharian zone, presentingAlabaster on the rocky cliff, Sandstone that emerges from sand clums and a Copper deposit recently discovered by the wind's action.
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As rarest as gold, thisDesert Roses deposit has been eroded by desert gusts of wind, really difficoult to find in such perfect conditions on surface, will be your scout enough skilled to map all the borders in searching of precious resources!?
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A mediterranean river coast presenting landAlabaster and a more white variant of Water Alabaster.
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Some Mayans Kab Ob villagers has been sent in the deep of the Jungle for gathering moreTuff for further expand the Mayan Empire strenght by build up more temples for the Sun God.
Still, they didn't discovered theHematite deposit lying in the near woods.
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An undiscovered frozen landscape, the uncatchedBaltic Amber emerges from the once-wood hill, and the Diorite rocky formation stand near the frozen coast... Will you be able to gather these precious resources in time, while surrounded by unbuildable ice?!
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This is how Gold Rush appears right now... it makes me really greedy for shiny objects like magpies, so I need to stop gazing upon this picture! AAAHHHRGH!!!
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A volcanic isle near the Yucatan peninsula, a driedChiapas Amber has been found at the feet of a coastal woods, while on the other part of the bay, a Basalt formation stands towering the water... it will be a good spot for another Sun Temple?!
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A Mongolian steppe landscape, showing a mixture of standardStone and precious Silver near a meadow where, the new Moschus are feeding themselves, but beware the woody hills, fierce Snow Leopards predators are lurking for the hunt!
Will be this harsh ground a good place where to grow up your khövgüüd?!
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A river coast during autumn, it show a fell dead tree on the shallows, blocking the already-narrow passage near aWater Alabaster rock, while exposed to oxygen and water, a surface layers of pure Iron ore is getting rusty.
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A Yucatan coast, showingTuff debris standing under the humid shadow of a tree near an old deposit of Chiapas Amber.
On the shore some crumblyRed Ochre rocks appears since the last high tide, while fishes and turtles enjoying the still-fresh water of the sunrise!
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A Salty Marsh featured by varieties of mineral forms, most based on calcite and gypsum ores predominant in humid and water zones.
Here you can see aWater Alabaster near the shoreline and a frail Limestone near it, also a Magnetite and Chalcopyrite fake gold.
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Here, a deep jungle space hosting a good and precious combo ofHematite, multi-purpose Obsidian emerging from the underground and a really rare and huge fomation of Jadeite, maybe more valuable than gold!
These are perfect natural resources for putting on the best ritual for Quetzalcoatl that even the Sun itself will never fall at night! Hurry up, or you will be the next sacrifice if your Tlamacazqui will not receive these resources in time!
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An asian Bamboo glade, still keeping undiscovered natural resources such as theRed Granite and the most important of them all, an Imperial Gem, that Nephrite formation will surely give you a good pass through the Silk Road, if you really want to come back to your Venezia, Mr. Polo!
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A mediterranean gypsum coast, made up byWater Alabaster and the hard and precious Marble on land.
These forms the best stone source on the mediterranean coast, so, will be your navy enough strong to keep protection on these quarries, or your miners will fall, killed or enslaved by mediterranean pirates?!
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An European continental mountaneous zone, made up by landsliding slopes, theseSlate cliffs will be a suitable trench mine, where, maybe some villager will never came back to their wives and sons.
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A northen Europe island where most of the coast is formed byBasalt rocky shoreline, could be this Ireland, or be specific a postcard sent from the Giant's Causeway to you by a villager in holidays when you PC is switched off?!
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That's all guys and girls, hope you like them and please let me know if I'm wrong somewhere in this project, I surely think that here in this forum lurks some expert student of mineralogy and geology that will surely give me good feedbacks in order to improve this project!
Greetings
AƒƒÄ the Cleric
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MY GAME VERSION:
Age of Empires II The Conquerors 1.0 without any patches, just the ES release in August 24th 2000, proud to playing this game version!
Finally I finished my sub-project for My Own Mod, where I've implemented dozens of various Gold and Stone mines in all RMS of the standard maps that changes depending on the map.
There are all the graphics with separated shadows for 13 different kinds of Gold mines, based on currency value and trading merchandise of various precious minerals and gems and 11 different kinds of Stone Mines based on merchant and architectural values and the Mohs scale of minerals hardness; all minerals, stones and gems based on historically and geographical locations!
The references canons where all the others minerals are based on, is the following one:
So the list of Minerals and gems are divided in 13 different types of Gold mines in order from the lesser valuable to the better one:
It contains
Usually found on
It was usually used by precolombian civilizations as a kind of primitive pencil used to draws pictograms on walls. The terms origantes then the latin-italian term Matita, wich means pencil.
It contains
Usually found on
Being usually originated near waters zones it present rust on most part of it surface, being used as a scrap metal for merchandise and repairing, so it has not so good value until tranformed into steel, being used so for hiring and equipping the best soldiers.
It contains
Commonly found on
It is a common iron-originated metal with the intrusion of Chalcopyrite, made up of calcium, mineral rich present in water and humid zones, but with goldish appearence. In past this like-gold minerals was also knows has "Fools' Gold" because it was uslessy gathered by fools peoples.
It contains
Only present in
Huge deposits of Red Ochre has been found in the Yucatan peninsula, where still today has been discovered submerged caves with plenty of this mineral.
It was used by Olmecs and Mayans peoples as a precious powder, commonly used for tattoos and cosmetics, arts draws and religious rituals.
It contains
It is the Farest gold on
Desert roses are a formation of Gypsum with sand powder, common in most of the desertic zones, especially the north-Saharian part of Africa and even in some Appenninian mounts in Italy, originated in this case, with a mixture of clay deposits.
It was common for desert nomads hunting down these minerals, becoming precious due their lack of availability and rarity of natural discovering, because the best of these minerals appears on surface, already freed by the action of the wind, but, if not gathered in time, the first rain will melt the gypsum component of the Desert Roses, turn them nothing but sand.
It contains
Usually it is the nearest gold in most of the map, especially in
In some others maps it is the extra gold scattered all over the map like the Iron mine
It contains
Only present on the
Forming the 90% of the Central American Amber reserve, the Chiapas region was largely habitated by a plant Hymenaea, today extinted, able to drop a resin that, once essicated, will form the Chiapas Amber well known and used by Mayans as a decorative stone for jewelry.
It contains
It appear as Far Gold on all
Commonly travels through the Amber Road, a route that starts from Baltics Regions and Russia, it was traded from north Europe to Aegean and Estern-Mediterranean regions since the VI century B.C., it is a common an large resin deposit formed by specific northen europe tree, usually traded as a coin or for making jewelry.
It contains
It is the medium distance gold on most
The Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass generated by the quick cooling down of the emerging lava.
It was largely used by Mesoamerican civilizations as a jewelry, decorative object, working tools and especially weaponry, such as Macuahuitl swords and Tepoztopilli spears as well arrows heads, like the Mitl, made by Flint point head, and the Yaomitl, the Obsidian point head.
It was also used as obsidian ritual stabbing knives for carving hearts from the chests of sacrifical prisoner or volounteers victims, used in these rituals there's also a polished version of large glass sheets of obsidian, used as a kind of mirror for conjuring mystical visions and make prophecies.
It contains
It is the middle canon of gold, usually the medium distance gold on most maps.
It contains
Is one of the 3 major gold source in game, it commonly represents the farest gold on most
The Jade divides itself into 2 sub-categories, the Jadeite and the Nephrite.
The terms Jade cames from Spanish "Piedra de ijada" that litterally means stone of the side, known for its good proprieties on hips and lower back.
The Green Jadeite (Maya), and the Blueish Jadeite (Olmecs) was a rare and hard minerals well used by Olmecs and Mayans as earrings and necklaces, as well as pectoral plates, tools and weapons, other than various decorative objects and rituals icons.
It contains
Is one of the 3 major gold source in game, it commonly represents the farest gold on most
The Jade divides itself into 2 sub-categories, the Jadeite and the Nephrite.
White Jade (Nephrite), to not be confused with Gray Jade originated of the Middle-East zone, was used to create many utilitarian and ceremonial objects, ranging from indoor decorative items to jade burial suits. Nephrite was considered the "imperial gem" from about the earliest Chinese dynasties until present.
On the southern part of the Silk Road, yearly tribute payments consisting of the most precious white jade were made to the Chinese Imperial Court and there transformed into works of arts objects by skilled artisans, as Nephrite was considered more valuable than gold or silver.
It contains
Is one of the 3 major gold source in game and absolutely the most valuable gold source in the whole game, it commonly represents the farest gold on most maps.
===========================================================================
Now about the Stone, there are 11 differents types of minerals and stones in order from the lesser valuable to the better one:
It contains
Usually a derivation of limestone, it is abundant in humid territories shuch as marshes and Tropical maps, it is commonly the nearest stone source of most
Most houses and especially temples in the Central America were build up by Limestones and Tuffs, easily worked with simple tools and very resistant to the time test.
It contains
It commonly forms the nearest stones in most of
Essentially a mixture of different layers of sand, clay, mud and oter small parts of various intrusive rocks, it is a common and abundant rock in desertic and arid zones, easy to work with water, then resistant once cooked or let driyng under the sun, making good bricks for masonry.
It contains
Standard rock common in most map as a nearest or medium stone source or as an extra source scattered all over the map.
It contains
Commonly it is abundant in humid territories shuch as marshes and Tropical maps, it is commonly the medium stone source of most
Most houses and especially temples in the Central America were build up by Limestones and Tuffs, easily worked with simple tools and very resistant to the time test.
It contains
It is the common stone source for
It is a foliated metamorphic rock, composed most by a mixture of clay and volcanic ash, commonly found in Europe, used for walling end especially roofing buildings; also used as decorative and religious monoliths and artistic purposes in place of canvans, making good uses for lithography (the art of carving and drawing stones).
It contains
It forms the common stone source on
(Personally my favoured one because it was really entartaining make it geometrical shapes pixel-by-pixel and then merging them together, astonishingly!!!
It is an extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of lava rich in magnesium and iron exposed at or very near the surface of the Earth's Crust. More than 90% of all volcanic rocks on Earth are basalt.
During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing, it cannot easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns. These structures are predominantly hexagonal in cross-section, but polygons with three to twelve or more sides can be observed. The size of the columns depends loosely on the rate of cooling; very rapid cooling may result in very small columns, while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.
It contains
It forms the farest stone source on
It is a mediterranean rock very similar to marble, made up by Gypsum and Calcite, making it softer than other stones and easy to work.
It has different varieties of colour, but the most common are the White-pinkish variety, used since the egyptian and greek civilizations as a decorative and ornamental object (indeed the greek term "Alabastron" indicate a jar specifically made by Alabaster rock) and jewelry, and especially for carving statues and temple columns.
It contains
Commonly present on most
It is a water variation of the previous Alabaster, but in this case is based on Shore Fishes unit, but instead of food it contains stone, don't know why AI simply don't consider them as a resource, even if added in the villagers abilities tab, and don't gather them, they are manually clickable by human player, but not the AI, so it has most an aestetic value on the maps, even because it is randomly spawned in single unit of water alabaster, so it will not give you a good incoming in the overall gameplay.
It contains
A common stone source, especialy on most
Like alabaster, a common mediterranean stone used for carving statues and build up temples in the mediterranean zone.
It contains
Specifically the Asian Red Variation of Granite, this hard rock forms most of the farest stone source on all the
It contains
It is a common rock formation in northen emisphere and frozen landscapes, so it is commonly the farest stone source of all the
It is a very hard rock compared to the other listed above, so, for this reason, it is the best stone source in the whole game.
Obviously a good work can't be done without proper research, inspiration and workarts as a base, so I need to say I spent near the last 2 weeks of my life by costantly "study" and search in first place, then taking notes on paper sheets like old good labourers as ever done by writing evrithing necessary for carrying on the project...
Everything started once a day, playing a simple game in Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriot (being here I suggest all of you to play this game very similar to our beloved Age of Empires) and I noted a resource on terrain.... it was the Amber, so I just opened the installation folder of Rise of Nations and discovered all the various Resources in TGA format, open them and just saw the graphics of the Amber with the transparent background, just copied it on a Gold Mine frame extracted from AoE 2 and.... oh my... that's astonishing, that Amber fits so well in game and also don't suffer from the colour loss due the limitating 8-bit palette (256 colours).... so I start gathering all useful graphics from here and there, others completely made from scratch hand made pixel-by-pixel, and researches starts in every places, at home with lapot I've accumulated near 100 files from pictures, graphics and search links, then the researches keeps on every where they could, every time I got a bit o free space during my day, through mobile phone at the bus stop, at bar, restaurant ecc...
So, once the researches ended, and the block notes was filled and complete, with all the necessary info and ordered list from statistics and regional location, I started making graphics, then making all separated shadows, because most of these new minerals are taller than a villager, like you can see in this photo:
So, then I implemented in the Data, by also adding the ability to mine the new mineral IDs for both the male and female stone and gold miners, so added the ability list for 4 villager units, and once all minerals has been tested and properly works with the AI (apart the Water Alabaster already stated above) I've insert all of them in the constant list in the 54000.bina file in the gamedata_x1.drs file and then just added as a variation for each climate for various map just like the tree variation is applied in every map.
Example of the bina code:
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/* FAR GOLD */
if FROZEN_MAP
create_object
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif DESERT_MAP
create_object
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif ALPINE_MAP
create_object
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif ASIAN_MAP
create_object
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
elseif TROPICAL_MAP
create_object
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
else
create_object
{
number_of_objects 4
group_placement_radius 3
set_tight_grouping
set_gaia_object_only
set_place_for_every_player
min_distance_to_players 25
max_distance_to_players 35
min_distance_group_placement 7
max_distance_to_other_zones 7
}
endif
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Easy and satisfying enough to entartain my self in the deep of RMS!
Made as a base of the Titanium resource from Rise of Nation Thrones and Patriot, then cut a bit and manually added the rust part on surface.
The metal column are hand-made by me pixel-by-pixel.
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A part of the Marble resource from Rise of Nation Thrones and Patriot, just cut the upper part and manually recolored and added the rusty part on the surface and the various iron's sheets layers.
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Just the purple Ore Mineral resource (equivalent of AoE stone) taken from Star Wars Galactic Battelgrounds: The Clone Campaign and then manually recolored.
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Taken from the rocky debris of destroyed great buildings from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, then i just sharpened some frames, recoloured( at best chance to get the Red Ochre colour, due 8-bit palette limitation) and added dust and ochre powder around the base of the mineral.
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To be honest, I didn't expected such a good result once ended, especially on the white pieces, but yes these don't came from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, eh!
I just searched google pictures, then masked, resized and put on proportion in order to fit in the AoE 2 engine.
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Just another Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots resource, just a bit cut and resized in order to make different frames composition.
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As I said in the above "Story so Far" section, this was the spark that starts the thunderstorm in my mind, so the first Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots resource tested with good result, and the one that incitate me to carrying on the project.
Like Copper, just a bit cut and resized in order to get different frames composition.
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Is just a recolored version of the above Chiapas Amber, nothing too complicated.
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Just took few tiny rocks from the Titanium resource from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, all the rest biggest, pointy and ground stripes are completely hand made by me.
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It is just the Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots resource Titanium, just a bit cut and resized in order to make different frames composition.
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Just pictures taken from google and then resized and a bit increased the brightness/contrast in order to fit with AoE 2 palette.
One of the frames has been took from the big pictiures posted above in the "Story so Far" section.
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Like Jadeite, a couple of frames has been taken from google and adapted to AoE 2 engine, then other frames has been made completely from scratch by hand by me.
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It is just a recolored version of the above Silver, just took me a bit of time to find the right shape of gold that fits with the AoE 2 palette.
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Part of these frames has been taken from the Stonehenge resource of Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots,then recoloured based on the Original The Conquerors "Ancient Stone Head" Eye-Candy in order to fit with Tropical landscapes and Mesoamerican Buildings.
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All frames taken from Canyon rocks Eye-Candy from African Kingdoms Expansion, instead one of the frames has been edited and lowered in heigh by me because it was too towering.
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Just a resized and cut parts of the The Conquerors Rock Eye-Candy, nothing special, but better than the original stone mine's plastic gray.
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Taken inspiration by google pictures without any copy/paste or resize/recolour, but this time made completely by hand pixel-by-pixel by me.
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Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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It was really entartaining merging all the colums together and gazing upon the satisfying result!
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Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
But then, added an underwater pixelated layer out of anchor in order to create the illusion of emerging objects from water.
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A mixture of 2 resources taken from Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots, the Stonehenge and the Marble resources, just cut and resized a bit in order to create different frames combination.
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Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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Just pictures taken from google and then resized and cut in order to fit with AoE 2 engine.
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A northen-Saharian zone, presenting
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As rarest as gold, this
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A mediterranean river coast presenting land
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Some Mayans Kab Ob villagers has been sent in the deep of the Jungle for gathering more
Still, they didn't discovered the
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An undiscovered frozen landscape, the uncatched
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This is how Gold Rush appears right now... it makes me really greedy for shiny objects like magpies, so I need to stop gazing upon this picture! AAAHHHRGH!!!
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A volcanic isle near the Yucatan peninsula, a dried
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A Mongolian steppe landscape, showing a mixture of standard
Will be this harsh ground a good place where to grow up your khövgüüd?!
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A river coast during autumn, it show a fell dead tree on the shallows, blocking the already-narrow passage near a
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A Yucatan coast, showing
On the shore some crumbly
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A Salty Marsh featured by varieties of mineral forms, most based on calcite and gypsum ores predominant in humid and water zones.
Here you can see a
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Here, a deep jungle space hosting a good and precious combo of
These are perfect natural resources for putting on the best ritual for Quetzalcoatl that even the Sun itself will never fall at night! Hurry up, or you will be the next sacrifice if your Tlamacazqui will not receive these resources in time!
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An asian Bamboo glade, still keeping undiscovered natural resources such as the
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A mediterranean gypsum coast, made up by
These forms the best stone source on the mediterranean coast, so, will be your navy enough strong to keep protection on these quarries, or your miners will fall, killed or enslaved by mediterranean pirates?!
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An European continental mountaneous zone, made up by landsliding slopes, these
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A northen Europe island where most of the coast is formed by
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That's all guys and girls, hope you like them and please let me know if I'm wrong somewhere in this project, I surely think that here in this forum lurks some expert student of mineralogy and geology that will surely give me good feedbacks in order to improve this project!
Greetings
AƒƒÄ the Cleric
MY GAME VERSION:
Age of Empires II The Conquerors 1.0 without any patches, just the ES release in August 24th 2000, proud to playing this game version!
[This message has been edited by AFFA the Cleric (edited 08-20-2020 @ 05:50 PM).]