It's a nice mod, but i'd like the panels to look darker, somewhat matching the icon in the tech tree.

I dunno, it does make sense for them to be darker, but I also like them as they are. I'll take it into consideration, but no promises, since it's more difficult to properly modify the graphics than it might seem.

Yes, I'm aware of that. I tried to subtly darken the textures and you can find the results here: https://ryder17z.github.io/test-site/docs/etc/projects/solarpanels-dark/solarpanels-dark.html

It's not great but maybe good enough?

Thank you, but I think it needs greater precision than that. All parts (including heat pipe connections and shadows) have been darkened and seems to have received a blue color cast, and the range of color seems too narrowed.

I have a bit of time and energy for it, so I am looking into creating a darker color variant, but it seems I can only push things so far, before the color combinations begin to look wrong. We'll have to see if I come up with something that I feel is worth adding to the mod.

since the shadows aren't just a mask, it's extra difficult to work with

Yeah. I have tried to do some very careful masking, but even then, I am not really satisfied with the looks of a darker color variant. For now, I am just working on retouching the graphics, since I noticed some errors.

I have just uploaded a new version (2.1.17) in which I have retouched the graphics of the solar panels. I originally tried many different AI-upscaling methods and chose the one I liked the best, but I only fixed some of the many graphical glitches that this introduced (even that was a lot of work). I think I have improved it a lot more now. This will serve as a better basis for any colored variants, but I am taking a break from the matter right now.

Hi again. I've decided not to make a darker colored variant of the thermal solar panels, because it's too much work, and it doesn't really seem possible to modify the colors to that extent without degrading the overall visual impression of them (at least not with my level of skill). In the end, I am content with the graphics as they are.