Dear Friends and Patreons!
With all the knowledge emerged from working on the environments, I put time once more into vonBiomes to extend it further and improve the visual quality as well as do more optimizations. And since that would not be enough — there is also a new Biome!
Mod Downloads:
Patreon Early Access for all Supporters: https://www.patreon.com/posts/vonbiomes-23-is-128072696?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2808627355
Nexus: https://www.nexusmods.com/mechwarrior5mercenaries/mods/441
What's new?
Icy Comet Biome (Patreon Early Access)
coming from an unfinished prototype in vonMission, this biome is the first "moving" one - fight your battles on the surface of an Icy Comet, hurling through space! It also as a first features Niagara particle systems as ground emitters, which are much better for performance, especially close up. If everything works well, I will also replace the already existing particle systems for ground smoke and fire with Niagara.
The Comet biome also has an integrated check if it is in vacuum, that there is no planet visible in the sky. But it can also be closer in the solar system, passing by a planet, so there is variety.
Lighting v4: reworked parts of the lighting system once more with new lessons learned
That was a big one - I reworked parts of the lighting system for better visual quality (again), and scenes should generally more "pop", and the overhaul looks are more immersive. Since vonBiomes' goal of lighting, visuals and weather is to make everything highly dynamic, so no mission looks the same, the new version can for sure also have its hiccups. Tests have been gone well, but if you encounter anything off, please let me know.
Adjustments to fog and weather & Fix: Max. Fog Scaler back working
More adjustments and improvements to the integrated fog system, which now, especially with Volume Fog enabled, has more quality to it. The Mod Option for Maximum Fog Density are now also completely integrated, so if you prefer not to have less or no fog, you have the option to set it — or if you want to have fogs be painfully denser, too ;)
Water Towers are cool
Destroying a water towers gives now a cool shot in the missions to all Units close by.
Fix: Instant Action: MW5s biome limit in IA has been repaired
Good news everyone! Last time I played through MW5 biome modding with hitting a limit to the maximum number of biomes in the game. That is now — after many tries to find the cause — fixed. We have now basically unlimited biomes in the game with the new mod upgrade for the future.
Fortress: replaced the Orbital guns with static cannons (performance optimization)
The Orbital Guns have been reported by users to cause issues with performance. I have replaced the orbital guns on the fortress special tiles with static models, built from the gun's base and artillery barrels.
Potential 2nd level particle killer system
Some people have reported that vonBiomes ground effects particles stay over into the next mission, at least in some mod list configurations. The new add-on in extension of the already existing particle killer from vB 3.0 from 2022 (oh how time has passed;) can hopefully counteract. I myself can't reproduce the issue, not present in my mod list so far, but if you still encounter something like that, please drop me a message on the Discord: https://discord.gg/eaTa8zGbRf
New moon rock collection for gray moon biome
Gray Moon has new moon rocks of various types with craters and sometimes even minerals.
Updated window light textures for background buildings
The background building textures have been overhauled to make the lit windows in dawn/dusk and night less flat.
And more minor updates, corrections, and thingies I forgot to note;)
Other news:
New official Mod List!
I have - with the help of the Discord experts - updated the official mod list and load order.
Check it out here: https://www.vonhq.com/other/official-mod-list
I hope you like the new update, if you encounter any issue as usual, please let me know, best on Discord! Invite: https://discord.gg/eaTa8zGbRf - and please let me know you are coming from Patreon so I can add your special role!
Thank you very much for the ongoing support, I will spend some on a bit of beer tonight;)
Have a great weekend, and all the best!
- Jonathan