HELLO EVERYONE!

After a week of hard studying on vanilla water normals map, I managed how to make different maps look like vanilla one. Probably it will not work for all kind of normals maps because everything affects the visual.



Are angular colours (Green & Red) have enough difference between them?
If they have, and the image is not so much flat blue, probably you can use that one.

I've watched a video which demonstrate new vanilla terrain themes creator mod. I could not see water Normals option to change it. It inclueds only waterFoam option. So you may not need custom normals for vanilla TTC but @TPB's perfect Terrain Themes Creator stands still and solid!

Before we start I have to remind you one important thing. As some of you know there is checker waves problem on this. They're basic, circular, unchangeable and inevitable water animation tiled like a texture, move in and out. But we can make them less obvious.

Let us start with the easiest one.

• Open the Normals map you choosed in Adobe PS.
  
  
• Go to Channels Tab > Click on "Blue Channel" - invert it (image > adjustments > invert)
  
  
  
• Click on "Red Channel" > Open "Levels (Ctrl + L)" > Adjust the Shadow Input to the Midtone Input (to the value that hits peak point)
  
  
  
• Click on "Green Channel" and do the same
  
  
  
• Save as waterFoam.png to the specified location as instructed by TPB

If foams are too hard to see in game close difference between highest value and highlight adjustment value by pulling it to the left in "Levels (Crtl + L)" for each channel Red & Green. And you re done!

You can use different Normals for foams but I dont suggest.

Now let's step into Normals which is more complicated.

100% white makes the water reflect cityview reflection map that you can see on windows of buildings.
100% black makes the water reflect the sunlight.
So, we must reduce the whiteness

• Load your normals map
  
  
• Make it B&W - image > adjustments > Black & White or (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + B)
  
  
• Open "Curves" panel (Ctrl + M) > move the black input to the first value on Histogram and set its output level to 105. > move the white input to last value on it and set its output level to 250 > OK
  
  
  
• (Ctrl + A) > (Ctrl + Shift + C) Copy All.
  
  
• Create an Alpha (Transparency) Mask > (Alt + Click) on the mask to edit it.
  
  
  
• Paste with (Ctrl + Shift + V) > Invert the mask.
  
  -We did it because we want to reduce the whiteness. It's all about transparency and right values. Vanilla Normals map has 15%Opacity as lowest on white and 85%Opacity as highest on black. So all we have to do is set those values really carefully on alpha mask. Let's get started-
  
  
• Hit (Ctrl + M) again to open "Curves" for alpha mask
  
  
• Move black and white inputs to the first and last values on histogram like you did before.
  
  
• Set black output value to 35
  
  -15% of 255 is something like 38 so a value around it should work-
  
  
• Set white output value to 215 > OK
  
  -Also you can curve a bit down or up to increase/decrease difference between opacity-
  
  
• Swap to the main image
  
  
• Show Info Panel
  
  
• Hoover over your cursor on most white and black pixels of image and check the Opacity level on "Info Panel"
  
  -Remember, lowest should be around 10%-15% and highest %80-%85-
  
  
• Save it as waterNormal.png into specified folder and see the result in-game
  
  If waves are making back & forth movement too much and checker waves are more visible than expected;
  
  
• Double Click on Alpha Mask > Lower the Density (Bottom limit should be around 80%-85%) and check again.
  
  

YOU CAN CHANGE THOSE OUTPUT VALUES OF MAIN NORMALS MAP TO A LITTLE BIT DARKER BECAUSE ALPHA MASK CAN MAKE THE COLOR VALUES OF NORMALS MAP BRIGHTER BLACK & WHITE ONCE THE OPACITY HAS BEEN SET.

darkest value output: 90-95 105
Brightest val. output: 240-245 250

I HOPE IT HELPS YOU PEOPLE. PLEASE FEEDBACK FOR EVERY DISCOVERY YOU DID.
HAVE A GREAT DAY!