Quote: "I was just browsing in the Showcase forum and your Martian landscape screenies look great."
Thanks! I'll stick to the 512x512 textures, it will ensure a smooth running game.
Quote: "Also, it might be worth sampling and clone-brushing from photographs of whatever type of terrain your using (as far as i can remember, yours is Mars, right? Google up some "mars aerial shots" and sample from them."
I'm creating a number of landscapes, Mars, Moon, Earth (Different settings) and an Alien Planet.
I've choosen not to use photo's even though photos have been used a a reference. By not using photo's, but more 'handcrafting' the landscapes it will fit in much better with the rest. After all, most of the stuff in FPSC (or created for FPSC) isn't photo realistic at all, far from it. I've tried what you suggested a while ago already and the landscapes just didn't fit in with the rest of the segments, characters and items in the game.
By doing it this way, the landscape match the rest of the items in the game perfectly and after all, that's what I wanted to achieve.