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Dwarf Fortress => DF Modding => Topic started by: Naryar on December 08, 2014, 03:34:54 pm

Title: Pleistocene Mod: Alpha 0.1 released ! (expect bugs)
Post by: Naryar on December 08, 2014, 03:34:54 pm
Hello, I am making a mod so we have more interesting creatures in savage biomes.

First Release : http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=10275

Extinct pleistocene megafauna only. This mod makes savage biomes (and only savage biomes) more fun, and have more interesting creatures.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Ladygolem on December 08, 2014, 08:29:37 pm
Ooh, I've always wanted a mod like this. Extinct mammalian megafauna are so cool, honestly.

Suggestions: brontotheres, indricotheres, shrub ox, terrorbird, sabertooth salmon (yes, those are real), andrewsarchus, glyptodonts, chalicotheres, entelodonts, macrauchenia, and my personal favorite, the platybelodon. Ridiculous looking buggers.

A neat idea, to increase immersion, would be to try finding/figuring out natural sounding names for these creatures. It'd seem rather cumbersome to be referring to everything by Latin species names.

Anyhow, best of luck in this endeavor!
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Button on December 09, 2014, 02:24:09 pm
PTW.

Are you limiting it to just the Pleistocene, or the whole Cenozoic? I think Rodhocetus would be a great addition, but he's from the Eocene, so I don't know if he qualifies.

Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Naryar on December 09, 2014, 04:49:47 pm
Quote from: Button on December 09, 2014, 02:24:09 pm
PTW.

Are you limiting it to just the Pleistocene, or the whole Cenozoic? I think Rodhocetus would be a great addition, but he's from the Eocene, so I don't know if he qualifies.

I wanted to limit it to just species that live in the Pleistocene, but I'll have to see. Mostly I want to have a more prehistoric feel to animals.

But no dinosaurs. As cool as they are  :P
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Button on December 09, 2014, 05:48:35 pm
Yeah, I figured you would limit it at least to the Cenozoic; that's why I didn't suggest eurypterids :D. But whales were already in pretty much their modern form by the Pleistocene, so I had to go back a few epochs to find a cetacean with a "prehistoric feel."
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Kilumanjaro on December 09, 2014, 08:52:29 pm
Loving the sound of this...  SAVAGE really needs that little boost.

May I recommend adding badger-like fits of rage to your rhinos?  Their legendary temperament and propensity to use them horns just begs inclusion for the fun of your dwarves.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Wannabehero on December 10, 2014, 01:46:24 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_megafauna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_megafauna)

Stag-moose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag-moose) would be cool, and giant deer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_elk).  And sabre-tooth tigers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilodon), and giant beavers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoroides), and saber-tooth salmon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncorhynchus_rastrosus) (9 foot long fanged salmon, carp eat your heart out), and mother-freakin' Terror birds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae), and the grand-daddy to the unicorn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium), and giant vultures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratornithidae), and giant monitor lizards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania)
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Naryar on December 10, 2014, 03:34:07 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

some new creatures have been done

also now most creatures are NOFEAR. Mostly the carnivores or large herbivores.

edit: oh wow that jabberer clone must be obvious now. Fixed so terror birds are now tropical.

edit 2: short-faced bear and aurochs are done as well.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Button on December 10, 2014, 04:50:14 pm
On the "awwww" end of the spectrum, may I suggest the dwarf elephant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant)?
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Naryar on December 10, 2014, 04:55:37 pm
Quote from: Button on December 10, 2014, 04:50:14 pm
On the "awwww" end of the spectrum, may I suggest the dwarf elephant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant)?

it's so tiny !

But i'm afraid it would not give more fun to players. Well, apart from the "aww" feeling, but two-legged rhino lizards already got that covered up. And they're savage.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Button on December 10, 2014, 05:16:44 pm
Quote from: Naryar on December 10, 2014, 04:55:37 pm
Quote from: Button on December 10, 2014, 04:50:14 pm
On the "awwww" end of the spectrum, may I suggest the dwarf elephant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant)?

it's so tiny !

But i'm afraid it would not give more fun to players. Well, apart from the "aww" feeling

Herds of tiny, ivory-producing, squee-inducing aminols! Especially since insular dwarfism reduces time to adulthood, so they'd be much quicker to breed than elephants or mammoths. They'd also make great guard animals, since they're about the size of a pony and have those big sharp tusks.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: kopout on December 11, 2014, 02:25:39 pm
I found some bugs in your ground sloth

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Edit: reread the post, they are supposed to be forest dwellers
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Naryar on December 11, 2014, 03:43:21 pm
Wow I really made that in a rush. I'll need to check it so there are no obvious typos.

Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Ladygolem on December 11, 2014, 07:42:34 pm
You might want to take note that sloths and 'giant sloths' are already in the vanilla files. These giant sloths are simply scaled up regular sloths, not true Megatherium, however, so your creature still has a niche to fill. I'd suggest simply calling it 'ground sloth' in this case, as the 'giant' prefix implies it's a iant version of a regular, smaller 'ground sloth'.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: StupidElves on December 15, 2014, 12:03:19 pm
PTW, and hoping that all of these will be moved to a file on DFFD.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Naryar on December 19, 2014, 07:07:31 pm
Yeah, will try and fix them gaits (first i must UNDERSTAND what gaits are) then I will save up a file and load it in DFFD.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: StupidElves on December 19, 2014, 07:29:04 pm
Gaits are, as I understand it, how quickly a creature move based on how much time there is inbetween steps.
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Naryar on December 19, 2014, 07:29:55 pm
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=10275

There it is ! There must be some bugs in it. Feel free to feedback, good or bad, it doesn't matter !
Title: Re: Pleistocene Mod: in development
Post by: Thundercraft on December 20, 2014, 08:04:48 pm
Quote from: Naryar on December 19, 2014, 07:29:55 pm
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=10275

There it is ! There must be some bugs in it. Feel free to feedback, good or bad, it doesn't matter !

PTW. Also, I may get a chance to test this soon.

BTW: I suggest that you include a link to this forum thread on the DFFD page. There is a place there to list your "home page"... (As someone who browses DFFD for mods and such, it's frustrating when I have to hunt for the forum thread.)

And, while you're at it, it would be nice if you included a list of what this version of this mod actually adds - a simple list of the creature names, at the very least. The DFFD page seems so... empty without any details.

Edit: Looking at the file, I compiled a list of what it adds.

Spoiler: Creature list (click to show/hide)

BTW: I'm glad to see that you added the Aurochs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs). Ancient cattle over 2 meters tall at the shoulder, with huge horns?! Frankly, I was surprised this was not part of Vanilla and that nobody bothered to sponsor it via the Animal Sponsorship Drive.

And here are a few suggestions:

* Diprotodon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodon) - Meaning "two forward teeth", is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived. The largest specimens were hippopotamus-sized: about 3 meters (10 ft) from nose to tail, standing 2 meters (6.6 ft) tall at the shoulder and weighing about 2,800 kilograms (6,200 lb). Interestingly, some Aboriginal tribes identify Diprotodon bones as those of "bunyips".

* Thylacoleo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacoleo) - An extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials:
Quote
Pound for pound, Thylacoleo carnifex had the strongest bite of any mammal species living or extinct; a T. carnifex weighing 101 kg (223 lb) had a bite comparable to that of a 250-kg African lion, and research suggests that Thylacoleo could hunt and take prey much larger than itself. Larger animals it may have hunted include Diprotodon spp. and giant kangaroos. It also had extremely strong fore limbs, with retractable, cat-like claws, a trait previously unseen in marsupials. Thylacoleo also possessed enormous hooded claws set on large semiopposable thumbs, which were used to capture and disembowel prey.

* Meiolania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiolania) (or "Great Horned Turtle") - an extinct land turtle from the Oligocene to Holocene periods. (It died out about 2,000 years ago.) The head "sported many knob-like and horn-like protrusions." And the tail "was protected by armored 'rings', and sported thorn-like spikes at the end." The species measured 8.2 ft in length, making it the 2nd largest land turtle on record. (An illustrated size comparison can be seen here (http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/m/meiolania.html).)
[Note: There are larger turtles on record. But all but one of those were marine turtles. Considering that you're adding them to the Savage biome, I wouldn't mind if the size was boosted slightly.]