Network Rivers: Wide Plane Pack

Please read the whole description below and check out the images above before you comment with any problems. Thanks!

Welcome to Network Rivers, a set of networks designed to direct water through your maps and to look like realistic rivers.

I have always found creating rivers with the landscaping tools very difficult and the final results never look like real rivers. This is why I came up with the Network Rivers idea and why I’ve spent a long time messing around trying to make them usable and effective. The river networks can be tricky to use effectively but with trial-and-error can work well and look fantastic.

This pack is a ‘Wide Plane’ theme and has wide rivers with muddy banks recreating the rivers found in grassy flood planes. The rivers are found in the Water Structures menu.

1. Rocky Mountain
2. Green Valley
3. City River
4. Wide Plane

This pack contains ten rivers varying in width from 48 metres to 160 metres.

In addition, the rivers contain ferry routes in both directions.

The rivers generate automatic grass (Fluffy Grass Pack by MrMaison) along the river banks. The grass is listed in the ‘Required Items’ and I highly recommend subscribing to it if you want the rivers to look as good as intended.

1. Extra Landscaping Tools
2. Move It
3. Fine Road Anarchy 2
4. Extra Landscaping Tools Mod Tutorial and Overview
5. Network Rivers Mod Tutorial
6. Advanced Network Rivers with PugGaming and Macwelshman

(There are images above relating to the sections below.)

I highly recommend watching the tutorials and, at the very least, looking at the instructions for the ‘City River’ pack. The technique for these rivers can vary but they can still be used as an extension of the other packs.

1. Prepare the ground: Once you’ve identified the course of your river check that the source will be higher than the estuary. It’s better if the slope is minimal for this pack as slow moving water looks more realistic in wide rivers. Then use the ‘Slope Terrain’ tool to make an even slope from top to bottom following the route of the river, including all the curves and bends.

2. Lay the river: Next it’s time to plop the river along the ground you’ve sloped. I recommend using the ‘Freeform’ network tool to create realistic curves as the river descends.

3. Smooth the slope: Use the Move It ‘Align Slope’ tool to ensure that all the river nodes are gradually descending.

4. Correct the terrain: Use the ‘Soften Terrain’ landscaping tool to smooth out any sections that may have appeared after aligning the slope. I advise using this tool to make sure surrounding ground is not below the river height otherwise water may ‘leak’ out.

5. Add the water: Use the ‘Water Tool’ to create a water source set at the capacity of 0.004 and lower the water level quite low.

6. Control the flow: Once you get the flow at the top correct you will notice that the flow may be less as the river continues. The best way to control this is to add additional water sources where the flow needs a ‘boost’. By typing in the flow setting between 0.001 and 0.005 (rather than using the slider) the flow can be subtly controlled.

7. Joining rivers: It can be difficult to join two rivers as the close nodes can get in each others way. If you delete the indicated nodes with Elektrix’s Road Tools mod and lay the connection from the target river to the inlet it should be possible. Also delete the last-but-one node on the inlet to make the connection cleaner.

8. Wider river errors: Laying down the widest rivers (128m, 144m and 160m) can be tricky as adding to them often creates a "Too close to another canal!" error warning. If you use Move It mod to move the end nodes towards each other a small amount you should be able to fill the gap with more river. This is not an issue that I can resolve and, as far as I can tell, is caused by the nodes being relatively close to each other and the river being so wide. When low down and viewing from a narrow angle elements of the widest rivers may disappear. This visual glitch is a game issue.

9. Ferries: For ferries to work correctly the water level must be high enough. If the level is too low the ferries may stop until the water rises.

Please note that getting the flow right is more of an art than a science.

This pack contains:
1. NR Wide Plane 48m
2. NR Wide Plane 56m
3. NR Wide Plane 64m
4. NR Wide Plane 72m
5. NR Wide Plane 80m
6. NR Wide Plane 96m
7. NR Wide Plane 112m
8. NR Wide Plane 128m
9. NR Wide Plane 144m
10. NR Wide Plane 160m

River texture: 1024 x 512
LOD: 256 x 128

I have aimed to keep the file sizes as small as possible. All the rivers share textures allowing the Loading Screen Mod to share them in game and therefore reducing the load on your computer.

All files in this pack use the same naming structure to speed up ‘Find It’ searches. All elements start with NR followed by the asset name.

Please try this pack out and let me know, in the comments below, if you have any problems or suggestions. I have endeavoured to make these rivers as useable and effective as possible but there may be errors and problems that need to be addressed.

If you really, really like my assets please consider making a donation. I’m unable to work because of ill health and do this because I love the positive feedback I get from so many people.

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