Atlas - Problem with placing vegetation on steep slopes

[Vantha]

I've run into an issue while creating the map for the tutorial campaign. Most of the terrain is quite even, but there are also some hilly parts. Now, the problem is that vegetation props don't align their rotation the slope. (I am aware that entity templates can be configured to do exactly that, like rocks and ores for example. But these props simply aren't entities, only actors). This works fine for most of them, but looks very wrong for low and wide actors (in my case underbrushes and grass):

Spoiler

I used especially those two quite a lot for the rest of the map, so simply leaving out them in affected areas is not a option. And there aren't any good replacements for them either.

Any ideas how I could work around this?

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

I'd use the small bushes then. Also, at that angle of slope, I doubt you'd see grasses like that. 

 

One thing I encourage you to do from a map design standpoint, is to think about playability and how maps should look from a video game's point of view. So, the super steep mountain sides from reality aren't so good for an RTS game. Think about using "cliffs" as map features instead of mountains, and to add dimensionality, try some nice rolling hills. 

[Lion.Kanzen]

5 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

I'd use the small bushes then. Also, at that angle of slope, I doubt you'd see grasses like that. 

 

One thing I encourage you to do from a map design standpoint, is to think about playability and how maps should look from a video game's point of view. So, the super steep mountain sides from reality aren't so good for an RTS game. Think about using "cliffs" as map features instead of mountains, and to add dimensionality, try some nice rolling hills. 

That cliff thing is good for the game, it would be an excellent transformation tool.

And it would be excellent to make it compatible with the Nabataeans.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

35 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

That cliff thing is good for the game, it would be an excellent transformation tool.

And it would be excellent to make it compatible with the Nabataeans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vantha]

On 10/01/2025 at 9:42 PM, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

I'd use the small bushes then. Also, at that angle of slope, I doubt you'd see grasses like that. 

 

One thing I encourage you to do from a map design standpoint, is to think about playability and how maps should look from a video game's point of view. So, the super steep mountain sides from reality aren't so good for an RTS game. Think about using "cliffs" as map features instead of mountains, and to add dimensionality, try some nice rolling hills. 

The slope in the screenshot is the steepest of the whole map (and lays on the very edge). There are no cliffs (in the sense of exposed rock) at all in the area, only a few hills. I'd estimate that more than 95% of the map is still fully passable and buildable.

But the same also happens on the flatter hillsides; it goes wrong basically as soon as there's an incline.