Yeah, I wanted to make this a long time ago, I just never knew where the file was located, I will make mine from scratch, and wait a couple weeks to give yours a chance to cycle through the front page and such. I have a completely different look in mind conceptually.
Yours is good, so don't take this as a knock, but mine will be more lore friendly. Also, each moon will have the same phase. Your moons are different phases, which is physically impossible. They would both be full or both be waxing/waning.
You know what would be cool? Because we have to reduce the size of the moon to fit a second one, I would really like it if we could make the texture in the sky larger to compensate, but I don't know how to do that. Any clues?
Ehm, can we just pretend that it's some kind of permanent lunar eclipse? Joke aside, I did actually wonder if the two moons would be in sync, so I did some searching but couldn't find a satisfying answer (or sources I'm sure are reliable, for that matter). Wouldn't the moon's phasing depend on its orbit and actual position in the sky?
Anyway, now that I really think about it the crescent just looks silly behind that full moon. It's bothering me so much I'm itching to make an alternative version with a gibbous moon .
I thought about the size too! I'm not sure how it works though. If it's just a texture slapped on a plane, we'd have to rescale the mesh, but I've had no luck finding it.
Both moons are in the same phase, the smaller moon is just being partially eclipsed by the larger one.
In adding a second moon, our standard method of determining phases can no longer apply, not to both moons anyway. The phases of the moon we experience on earth are caused by the angle of the moon to the earth to the sun, we see only what the sun is lighting up from our and the moons current angle. Putting a second moon in the sky is adding a fourth element, where one or both moons can cause shadows on the other moon, same as the earth can cause shadows on the moon during a lunar eclipse. The fact that the entirety of the second moon is visible, even with half of it in shadow, makes this seem more plausible. On earth during a lunar eclipse you can still see the moon in shadow where you cannot see it at all during the "new moon" phase. (I do not know what all telescopes can do, I am talking about people just looking up from their backyards or something). Without knowing the moons orbits around the planet or in relation to each other I cannot say how the phases and eclipses would work in Thedas, but I can confidently say that mod portrays a perfectly plausible two moon scenario.
I'd love to add stars too, but I don't think it's that simple. There's already a moon texture in the game so I knew exactly what to edit, but I have no idea how to actually add things to the sky.
The mod looks lovely, but since when has Thedas had a second moon? The one source I've seen listing it, a fandom page, sites a source that... doesn't mention moons at all. It mentions a constellation; a star group. Tell me what I'm missing, oh wise one!
If the wiki can be believed, it looks to have been added during Inquisition. The codex entry seems to imply that the constellation is named after the second moon, as the first moon is just named "the moon" according to a comic. Much like Qunari having horns, the Darkspawn, Flemeth, the Chantry aesthetics that change every game, Elf aesthetics that change every game, Cullen's face changing every game, etc. Bioware has already set a precedent of retconning their own world to make things look cooler. Only one moon being visible in the past three games means nothing; if they say there's two moons, there's two moons now.
Looks absolutely gorgeous! Also, lore friendliness aside, the two moons captures a certain otherworldly feel much better than the original.
I've had something like this in mind since I made my Afternoon Sun mod, but never could find out what the file was called. Now you've made sure I don't have to. :-D Kudos.
Thank You! I waited around to make sure I remembered to Endorse this, because this makes me so happy. I am excited to use it for my next origins playthrough and have the sky match the lore. Plus its really pretty, you did a good job on it. Thank You!
"There are two moons of Thedas, the first one seemingly known only as "the moon" and the second one known as Satina." (quoted from here)
I do not know of any other existing mods like this but "World of Thedas volume 1" describes 2 moons, not just 1. Satina being behind the naming of Satinalia the holiday. Yet all 3 video games only depict the one moon, seemingly forgetting that Satina exists as well.? So with this mod the visual matches the written and the cannon facts Bioware presented.
A page on Thedosian Holidays taken from World of Thedas Volume 1 can be found Here on the official Bioware site. It references the 2 moons under Satinalia.
I don't allow ports (unless they're for private use), so I'd do it myself if I only knew what to replace (I've unpacked a fair amount of data, but for some reason I just can't seem to find that damn moon texture ).
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(Don't feel you have to wait before publishing it! It wasn't even my idea to begin with, I only made it because someone mentioned it on Discord
You know what would be cool? Because we have to reduce the size of the moon to fit a second one, I would really like it if we could make the texture in the sky larger to compensate, but I don't know how to do that. Any clues?
Anyway, now that I really think about it the crescent just looks silly behind that full moon. It's bothering me so much I'm itching to make an alternative version with a gibbous moon
I thought about the size too! I'm not sure how it works though. If it's just a texture slapped on a plane, we'd have to rescale the mesh, but I've had no luck finding it.
In adding a second moon, our standard method of determining phases can no longer apply, not to both moons anyway. The phases of the moon we experience on earth are caused by the angle of the moon to the earth to the sun, we see only what the sun is lighting up from our and the moons current angle. Putting a second moon in the sky is adding a fourth element, where one or both moons can cause shadows on the other moon, same as the earth can cause shadows on the moon during a lunar eclipse. The fact that the entirety of the second moon is visible, even with half of it in shadow, makes this seem more plausible. On earth during a lunar eclipse you can still see the moon in shadow where you cannot see it at all during the "new moon" phase. (I do not know what all telescopes can do, I am talking about people just looking up from their backyards or something). Without knowing the moons orbits around the planet or in relation to each other I cannot say how the phases and eclipses would work in Thedas, but I can confidently say that mod portrays a perfectly plausible two moon scenario.
I've had something like this in mind since I made my Afternoon Sun mod, but never could find out what the file was called. Now you've made sure I don't have to. :-D Kudos.
I do not know of any other existing mods like this but "World of Thedas volume 1" describes 2 moons, not just 1. Satina being behind the naming of Satinalia the holiday. Yet all 3 video games only depict the one moon, seemingly forgetting that Satina exists as well.? So with this mod the visual matches the written and the cannon facts Bioware presented.
A page on Thedosian Holidays taken from World of Thedas Volume 1 can be found Here on the official Bioware site. It references the 2 moons under Satinalia.
how hard would it be to make this for DA2? Either for you or for someone to port it
I don't allow ports (unless they're for private use), so I'd do it myself if I only knew what to replace (I've unpacked a fair amount of data, but for some reason I just can't seem to find that damn moon texture