It really is all about the visual standards you want your map to hold up to. Each approach has its flaws, but some are more severe than others (sprites turning to face the player gives me Doom flashbacks!).

I quite like the look of the tree you demonstrated using the mirror-less sprites, but obviously some people will prefer the model, floating leaves and all.

At least any of those three methods are better than trying to build one out of brushes... 

A model may be more consistent with the rest of quake's style. It wouldn't necessarily have to look anything like the example madfox posted. with things like speedtree you could have model done faster than you could say "chimarvamidium".

The solution I arrived at is sprite trees like in the example, except with redesigned trees that are much more slender and taller, which minimizes the weird effect madfox mentioned. 

Instead of really goofy hacks (sprite trees? seriously?) ---

Nicely prod Quakespasm nicely to consider adding Mark V alpha masked models modification. It's a very simple/easy engine mod, it's little more than a 2 liner (10 liner?). Kinn likes it. Necros thought it was awesome.

http://quakeone.com/proquake/interims/mark_v_alpha_models.jpg

Thread with sample mod: http://quakeone.com/forums/quake-help/quake-clients/11994-alpha-masked-models.html Open lavaball.mdl in QME and look at the model.

[Palette 255 is transparent color, model must have flag 0x4000 set in the .mdl QME 3.1. In the above thread, the DarkPlaces users chime in on how to also achieve the same effect in DarkPlaces. qbism's Super8 can already do it. So can fte and Mankrip's engine.]

I can only imagine what Sock or mfx or ijed would do with this modification. Or ahem --- Kinn. ;-) 

I'm scared to even "nicely prod quakespasm nicely" considering all the politics and drama that goes on around Quake engines. Maybe it's not as severe as it seems to me but I'd prefer not to get caught up in any "purists vs. fidelity" argument :s 

I'd prefer not to get caught up in any "purists vs. fidelity" argument

Masked textures on models is a pretty chill feature and is totes quakey. It could be more of a "let's see some content first, then I'll add it to the engine" thing though.... 

IIRC, even Hexen 2 had masked textures on models. I even remember it having partially translucent models. 

Yeah, Hexen 2 that's why Spike already had it FTE. ;-) 

However, I wouldn't expect to see flowering vegetation in quake, maybe in techbase a hydroponics lab.

The fading essence of the damned lingering among the gnarled forms of some abhorrent copse is probably not enough to sustain leaf growth. Needs electrolytes. 

I see palms working well in egyptian themed maps.
Lillypads, vines in swampy type maps.
Webs.
Bushes.
Bone-bushes
Bone lattice / fencing.
Opens up some interesting choices for animated ojects such as swaying vines. 

...Alk13 from 15 years ago and met up with some old friends (enemies). Really enjoyed it.

Might wallow in some more nostalgia later on. 

...ch1sp1. Green, grungy, and rivetty. Nice. 

https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/cjhsp1.html

From the authro of ch1sp1. 

Yes, another nice map.

I think I am going to pick-off some more between 2001 and 2005. But no need to worry, I shan't give a running commentary or flood the board with 'must-play-this' type messages.

However, should I really, really enjoy the map, I may try to spread some joy... 

Did the author submit a news post or what's the plan? 

Hey Mike if you have comments, that's what the board is for!

I particularly like seeing someone's take on older maps that I may have missed or forgotten. I kind of flop back and forth between whether I'm in the mood for a super-polished modern Quake map or a really crunchy 90s-style nostalgia trip. 

O.K. Guys, I told you I was new at this......so here it goes. I'm taking screen shots of my maps as some of you have requested, however, When I take the pics it saves it to a .tga file. Do I need to convert these files to a .jpg file? Also, were is my computer saving the .tga files? Sorry guys, but I told you I was new at this. Appreciate the help. And were should I send the files so you guys can view the maps?

Pete (Gotshun) D. 

Screenshots are in the folder above your maps folders.

Convert to jpg ...
http://image.online-convert.com/convert-to-jpg 

What is even the point of spam posts if they don't have links for us to buy our Nba 2k17 Mt and Fifa 17 Coins from? Do they expect us to go out and get scammed by ourselves?