Upgrading From Parallax 2.0 Configs

Planet packs that aren't currently compatible with Parallax Continued, but have Parallax support, are likely running Parallax 2.0.

The PQSMods

Parallax's PQSMods (terrain modifiers) have changed. Old parallax configs have 3 PQSMods: ScatterDistribute, ParallaxScatter, and Subdivide. These have been rolled into one PQSMod 'Parallax' which handles everything now. Here are the steps you should follow

1. Remove the ParallaxDistribute, ParallaxScatter and Subdivide PQSMods from your existing configs that add them. They might be in different files. If your configs never supported scatters and only supported terrain, you will only have the Subdivide PQSMod

2. Add a new PQSMod "Parallax":

Parallax
{
	subdivisionLevel = 6
	subdivisionRadius = 500
	order = 999999
}

SubdivisionLevel and subdivisionRadius will depend on the planet's size and its max level. As a general rule, Kerbin sized planets with MaxLevel 10 have subdivisionLevel = 7 and sudivisionRadius = 700. Using Ctrl+P and browsing to the terrain editor, you can adjust these values manually - But they won't save - you must apply them manually. A subdivisionRange too low will cause gaps in the ground.

In ParallaxGlobalSettings.cfg, you can enable Wireframe Mode to display the subdivision levels as a mesh. You should absolutely do this to make sure you're not wasting performance on too high, or too far subdivision

The Auto Upgrader

The config upgrader will attempt to upgrade configs from the Parallax 2.0 to Parallax Continued. The upgrader will upgrade both terrain and scatter configs, but it has to do a lot of guesswork. These configs should load once activated, but you will need to make manual adjustments by hand or using the in-game GUI (Ctrl + P) to make them look good

Usage

1. Install Parallax 2.0 alongside the planet pack that has configs that need upgrading
2. Delete the Parallax folder from GameData (keeping Parallax_StockTextures)
3. Download Parallax Continued, but only install its Parallax folder
4. Launch the game to the main menu
5. The config loader should have attempted to upgrade your configs, and will save them to GameData/Parallax/Exports/LegacyUpgrades

Activating Upgraded Configs

Upgraded configs will look like this:

ParallaxScatters-UPGRADED
{
	Body
	{
		name = Dasar // To activate this config, replace ParallaxScatters-UPGRADED with ParallaxScatters
		configVersion = 2
                Scatter
                {
                        //[...]
                }
        }
}

Note that configVersion = 2 indicates that the upgrade was successful.

The example above is for Scatters, but you'll notice a very similar format for Terrain configs too - follow the same steps.

You will need to replace ParallaxScatters-UPGRADED with ParallaxScatters to activate the config. It's worth moving the upgraded config from LegacyUpgrades to the actual location you'll save your configs.

Note that the upgrader has to do some guesswork with new parameters, so some manual editing with the ingame GUI (Ctrl + P) is recommended.

File Path Changes

If you are using your own custom textures and not relying on Parallax_StockTextures, you can skip this section

Parallax 2.0 stored its textures in the Parallax_StockTextures folder. Parallax Continued stores them in two separate folders: Parallax_StockTerrainTextures and Parallax_StockScatterTextures.

Using a find-and-replace command, this is how you can point the texture file paths to their new location:

1. Open all of your scatter configs
2. In your text editor of choice (I like Visual Studio Code), search for "Parallax_StockTextures/_Scatters"
3. Replace with "Parallax_StockScatterTextures"

And you're done! Manual editing is recommended using the in-game GUI to finalise your changes.