Can anyone point me to the .esp file that would be used to implement the visual update? (It’s not TR_Preview, is it?) I’d like to do some testing to find out what would be the least tedious, least time consuming way of pulling this of.

Thank you very much!

edit: hmmm, the InDev file seems to have only the western bank of Thirr. The Indoril side is not there. So the visual update must be made on some other file.

Ok, Preview it is then.

I've been thinking about how to go about this. Ground textures are relatively simply to change. Just decide which textures should replace which and then manually re-paint the landscape. The flora replacements (new Corkbulb, red & yellow grass replacing the current bc_grass, orange ferns, etc.) will be similarly simple: just using the CS's search and replace function in each Thirr cell will do the trick. However, the new rocks will be bit of a challenge. There are dozens of different rock and cliff meshes being used in the region (both vanilla and TR origin). Retexturing, and especially vertex painting, them will be a horribly boring and time-consuming task -- though if someone has a fast/automated method of doing it I'd be happy to hear.

I'm seriously reconsidering whether or not even the slightest visual update is worth the trouble.

What Ragox said +1

That would work, wouldn’t it! So, new flora, new ground textures, old rocks. 

Fine by others?

I'd be south, moving into Shipal Shin I'd imagine.

Just to be clear, as far as I am concerned, rock retextures were never a part of the visual update, though I had noted some confusion on that point before. The main aspects of the visual update were – and to my knowledge still are – as follows:
-new ground textures, new tree textures (the latter is already done)
-optionally, reshape and retexture the trees to look more alien/corkbulby
-optionally, create some new flora and either add it directly or via search-and-replacing.
The amount of work required is really minor, certainly if we don’t intend to add new flora. The lack of progress is due to a lack of attention and not any insurmountability of the task itself.

The intent of the visual update is largely (aside from simply making the Middle Thirr more visually interesting in and of itself) to create a smoother transition between the green Ascadian Coast region – which naturally uses the Ascadian Isles assets – and the orange Othreleth Woods region, which will (probably sparingly) use the red Shipal-shin rocks. Note that the Middle Thirr region does not (at least according to current plans, as far as I’m aware of them) come anywhere near Shipal-shin itself.
While the Middle Thirr can have touches of red, Othreleth Woods will probably not be very reddish itself, so as far as creating a transition is concerned I think yellow with – optionally, if it can be made to look good – green or orange touches – or both – would probably be the best way to go.

Personally, I would like to see grass largely – though certainly not completely – give way to lichens and other more unusual ground cover; I’d also like any flora we add to subtly go or hint towards a more fungal direction. (The best kind of direction!)

At the end of the original thread, I listed out the AI textures and which I thought needed replacing and how I thought they should be replaced. Quote:

Looking at it again, and tossing aside the palette suggestions, I’m not even sure if AI_Dirtroad needs replacing; I really think only AI_Clover, AI_Grass and AI_Grass_Dirt need to be replaced. AI_Clover would be dense lichen, AI_Grass would be mixed grass and lichen and AI_Grass_Dirt would be the same as AI_Grass with some dirt sprinked in.

Perhaps a variation of those moss models could be used to search-and-replace the ferns? I do think the ferns will need to be replaced one way or the other (unless we’re really going for the least-effort route), as their bright green will almost certainly clash with whatever palette we end up using.

A proposal for ground textures.

Here be screenies of the ground textures. The clover one looks rather bad, I will continue working on it.

I think I understand what you mean. I think the plaidness is something that the eye just learns to ‘unsee’.

Two more screenshots for a better look at the clover replacement. I’m having some issues with it. Maybe it’s a bit too saturated? Maybe it should more ‘zoomed out’ so the lichen would be smaller?