Well, official word from Speedtree is that they're not set up to handle giving out individual trees. So that's out. They also can't provide an older version of the program, even for evaluation, and apparently any such downloads no matter where they come from or who provides them is something they consider a violation of their license.

Which leaves retexturing Dogwood parts, or a new static model for an apple tree being made. No offense intended toward the model from Qarl's Harvest, but its detail level is far too low and the tree looks badly out of place when encountered in the game. Not to mention a ton of UV errors and no actual apples attached to the model. Using havok apples to fill that in doesn't work, they do indeed fall off the tree long before you can touch them.

I'll see if I can get in touch with some of the folks mentioned who have Speedtree and see if they'd be willing to help out.

If speedtree isnt an option and you'd accept a .nif tree i could try making a apple tree in NGplant for you.

As luck would have it, I've got someone who was able to do a modification of the Dogwood leaf texture and produced a working apple tree in game by retexturing the Dogwood. It even retained a good portion of the blossoms as well.

Hmm. Can you not rename a .spt file as something else, make a CS entry for it, and use that for a new tree? So far attempting to do so is crashing the CS when trying to place a renamed Dogwood.

Oh, bugger, forgot to mention this.

The texture *name* is hardcoded into the spt file. Actually, a texture path is there, but the program ignores the folder path and the extension (typically spt files use tgas). You need to use a hex editor to change the filename (you can change the filepath too if you so desire.

vac

You can actually change leaf textures from within the CS. If you've renamed the tree itself, you'll also have to rename all its peripheries (LOD, etc.) for it to work.

This never worked for me. :shrug: I always got the crash like Arthmoor described. When I looked at things in TES4Edit, I realised that there was no texture field for any Tree entries, so I figured maybe the texture info was inside the spt file. Et voila.

Vac

Oh, how silly. I guess I should have seen that coming, all things considered.

Figured it out. You can rename the .spt file, but the billboard texture file must match it AND follow the same folder tree layout. The leaf texture file can come from wherever you want. The BRANCH texture is what appears to be encoded inside the .spt file and that MUST be in the branches folder, no subfolders allowed, and you can't rename the branch texture without the hex editing. Dogwood bark looks good, but if the hex editing can make it use something more appropriate I'm all for it.

@Vacuity: TES4Edit lists it as the icon path for the tree, which should be your leaf texture.

Ahh, all too long ago and too little time spent on it in the first place. Sounds like you've got it working though and that's good.

Vac

http://img574.imageshack.us/img574/5131/appleorchard.jpg

Thanks Hana, I know you're watching, and I'm quite pleased with the results

Ooooh! Coming along well! Much better than the Qarl's ones that I used to use.

Out of interest, are the apples havoked or did you decide to go for the tree as a container?

Is it just or does the tree seem incredibly small? - I've got an apple tree in my back garden, and these ones seem almost bonsai-like in comparison! Any chance they could be a little bigger?

Any chance of a slight variation in texture on the apples to make them look more organic - - they all seem very uniform like that - I was thinking more along the lines of http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.daynamacy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/221908814_ec24e77c1e.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.daynamacy.com/blog/&usg=___TMSBMjstM1B7u_X1tBCEPG1POo=&h=462&w=500&sz=171&hl=en&start=87&zoom=1&tbnid=82_Qkr_T7l1zcM:&tbnh=152&tbnw=164&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dapples%2Bon%2Btree%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1600%26bih%3D1036%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1482&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=585&ei=ovzYTJ6DOciOjAfX4sGdCg&oei=kfzYTJrOGoSQjAfLrJHeCA&esq=3&page=3&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:87&tx=77&ty=45&biw=1600&bih=1036 or http://www.stemcellfacecream.com/images/apple%20tree%201%20copy.jpg. Sorry to be picky, but if I don't ask now...

Apple overload? Man hose trees are loaded...

Next you know, they would be dropping ipads... :hubbahubba: :hubbahubba: :hubbahubba:

The apples are part of the leaf texture. It's just a renamed Dogwood. The small size is somewhat misleading, they're plenty big http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/11466-mmmm-yummies/. Given the limitations, it's probably the best that can be done without access to Speedtree.

Though who knows, I haven't had the pleasure of being near an apple tree in a very long time. I made a best guess match based on what I could find in Google searches, and all the pics I found made apple trees look really small.

That second set of apples does look more natural, and that part can be adjusted since it's just the leaf texture.

Also, the resource status of this is up to Hana, my particular use is going to be for OC Reborn, with that orchard in the revamp for Chorrol.

Fair enough, it's probably just the original screenshot that made it look small - and if they're to be in a cultivated orchard it makes sense that they'd be pruned to be a reachable size - no mechanical shakers that I'm aware of in Cyrodiil!

I look forward to seeing the final result!

These apples could be all imports.

If you have time and will, I'm sure some would love it. I would and I'd used it as a replacement for Qarl's.



Looks good, only like someone said apples look too artificial. Could you write a short summary of the procedure? Like:
- first this
- then that
- ...
:)

Cyrodillians wax their apples - that is how they stay fresh even in the dankest dungeons.

seriously though - looks good so far, but I like granny apples.

I have 2 different dwarf stock apple trees, a cox and a spartan. They are actually annoying, they don't grow very high before branching out, so mowing around them you have to duck really low. the shortest is like 3m tall i suppose. When they fruit, they have got to have somewhere like 500 apples on each of them, something like a big wheel barrow full each, heh maybe even 2. I'm not seeing apple over load.

I personally wouldn't try to make it completely realistic, I would more lean for artist license for this sort of asset. getting a good looking growth pattern of apples along the branches, rather than a realistic one, if you see what I mean. apples tend to clump a bit together- like little groups of them, with the odd one here or there. and hug the branches when they grow, and don't really hang/dangle very much. well mine don't, but i'm sure there are all kinds

http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/data/500/apple_tree_at_tangmarg.JPG

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1553/screenshot714z.jpg

Someone was kind enough to send along exports of the apple tree in the Speedtree library.

Wow! Fantastic!

Just one thing - the model is very distinctive - those (3) branches sticking out to one side make the orchard look at little too unnatural - maybe rotate the trees around a bit so it's not so noticeable in the final version?

Speedtrees can't be rotated unfortunately. When hand placing trees, you're stuck with what the CS gives you, which is always oriented in the same direction.

That is sweet! Pun intended... Guess I'll be checking out OCR

Yes, I'd suggest tweaking the random seeds in the CS to find something a little less lop-sided.

Vac

Edit: too many "the"s...

Nice apple trees. I like them Arthmoor and I think they will be just fine in OCR. :celebration:

This is a very damm good reason for me to start a new character in Oblivion with this awesome OCR mod. :drool:

Speedtrees can be rotated... but indirectly. All you need to do is to position one of objects (table, chair, etc.) in the place where your want your tree to be, and rotate it, then you can use replace function in CS - this will exchange that static rotated object with the tree of your choice. And that tree will retain all rotations of that object. While rotations along X and Y axis work well, on the other hand, if you try to rotate tree along Z axis, then its leaves may disappear in game when seen from certain angles. Anyway XY rotations are enough to provide some variety in that repeatable world of trees...