VertexColorMapEmissive

VertexColorMapEmissive is a custom PQS Mod intended for use by planet modders to give more control over planetary emissives than can be achieved with the current alternatives: EVE CityLights and Kopernicus Expansion EmissiveFX

Installation and Use

• Install ALL listed dependencies, following the links below
• Download and extract the VertexColorMapEmissive zip file
• Place the GameData folder into your KSP directory
• Once installed, simply add VertexColorMapEmissive nodes to the Mods subnode of your PQS Node and/or the Mods subnode of your Ocean Node, and to your ScaledVersion node

Reasoning behind creation:

• Qualities I believe an emissive mod should have
• It should cover ScaledSpace, PQS, and Ocean emissives with a single unified and coherent format.
• It should allow the use of a full color texture.
• it should not have visual artifacts with stock ScaledSpace, PQS, or Oceans.

Features and comparison to alternatives:

• VertexColorMapEmissive
• Pros
  • Full RGB(A) colormap support
  • Unified solution for ScaledSpace, PQS, and Ocean emissives
  • No ocean z-fighting
• Cons
  • No detail texture for close range variation
• Kopernicus Expansion EmissiveFX
• Pros
  • Supports ScaledSpace, PQS, and Ocean emissives
• Cons
  • Flat color value
  • Map controls only alpha and brightness
  • Ocean z-fighting
• EVE CityLights
• Pros
  • Detail texture for fine detailing up close
• Cons
  • Flat color value
  • Map controls only alpha and brightness
  • Detail texture tiling can become apparent when map covers a large contiguous portion of the surface
  • Does not support Ocean emissives

Parameters and expected values:

• blendMode: controls how the emissive texture is blended with the existing planet color
• Additive: Directly add the emissive texture color values to the color values of the existing texture.
• AlphaBlend: (legacy, default) Blend between the emissive texture color and the existing texture color, weighted by the emissive texture alpha chanel and the transparency value. Will be removed in a future update.
• map: The texture to use as the emissive map. Recommended formats:
• blendMode - Additive: dxt1 (no alpha channel, smaller file size)
• blendMode - AlphaBlend: dxt5 (has alpha channel, larger file size)
• brightness: global multiplier to the color channels of the map. Optional.
• default value: 1
• values greater 1 increase brightness, values less than 1 decrease brightness
• transparency: (legacy) global multiplier to the alpha channel of the map. Optional, use only with blendMode - AlphaBlend. Will be removed in a future update.
• default value: 0.5
• values greater 1 decrease transparency, values less than 1 increase transparency

Examples

• ScaledSpace:
• Place a VertexColorMapEmissive node in your ScaledVersion node

* PQS and/or Ocean * Place a VertexColorMapEmissive node in the Mods subnode of your PQS Node and/or the Mods subnode of your Ocean Node

Requirements

• ModuleManager
• Kopernicus

FAQ

• Q. I'm not a planet modder? Do I need this?
• A. You do not need to install it manually yourself, but if you found this in your GameData, it is because a planet pack you have/had needs/needed it and so it was either included with the mod or auto installed through CKAN
• Q. Is this compatible with Parallax Continued?
• A. No, VertexColorMapEmissive is not compatible with Parallax Continued, which includes its own method of handling terrain emissives.
• Q. Is this compatible with Scatterer oceans?
• A. No, it will not function with Scatterer oceans, only stock oceans.

Licensing

• VertexColorMapEmissive is licensed under the MIT License