This is a tricky problem that comes as an unwanted result of some of the positive increases in flexibility, power, and ultimately realism in TG2. I believe this is largely to do with two things. Frst the availability of a much wider variety of noise functions, which means it is much more difficult to create specialized systems that operate on reasonable assumptions about the scene (the settings you're referring to in TG 0.9 worked the way they did because it was possible to have a fairly good idea of the possible range of settings that would be used - in TG2 it's much more wide open). Second, the use of displacements rather than simple bump maps means that your changes to the landscape texture can actually change the height and underlying shape. Restoring this to a smooth version is a challenge, so the best approach is to start with the smoother terrain and use this for your snow, sand, etc. and then add layers on top of that with additional displacement for other things like rock, using the fractal breakup or other masking approaches to leave your base snow/sand/etc. layers showing where you want them. It's a bit counterintuitive since you'd think you could build up surfaces in a real-world analogue way, with dirt/rock being the logical base, then vegetation, then snow or sand. It just so happens that's a more difficult approach at this point.
All that being said the nice thing about TG2 (and a part of its curse in a way) is that there are always several different ways of doing things. You can for example create 2 entirely different terrain network branches, then merge them together with a Merge Shader, using a mix controller to decide where your smooth network elements would go for example (which would be your "snow"). Use of positive and negative displacement offsets also ties into all this.
There have been many good attempts at snow here on the forums, and some good techniques shared. I suggest doing a bit of searching (search function, or check the File Sharing area perhaps) as I think you'll find a number of options. If you still need more guidance let us know.
- Oshyan
