How to Create a Deserted Landscape in 3ds Max

Final Result

Create 500 x 500 width and length plane with 50 segments length and width.

Open material editor and click on diffuse small square button;  select smoke procedural map and set the values as seen in the image below.

From modifier list apply Displace modifier and set its strength to 180 and click on image map button select Mtl Editor option and select diffuse color map. This is the smoke map which we have just created.

Now you will se the plane like this.

This is a pretty low poly model of your terrain. You may increase it segments to 200 to see its high poly result if your machine support it or you can increase it later just before rendering it. Let us see how it looks after increasing 200 segments.

Now create a new material and click diffuse map button and select mix type. In the mix material set first color to R:40 G:15 B:0 and the second color to
R:255 G:200 B:100 and apply to the plane in viewport.

Now click on non-button in front of mix amount and select falloff map type. Set the Falloff direction to world z-axis and now from the mix curve tab add a point on a curve and make it Bezier smooth and set the point curve as show in the image.

You will see this result when you render it.

Drag diffuse map to bump map and copy it  to generate more details.

Go to bump map and click color 1 and add noise map to it and set values as show in the image.

In the same way go to color 2 and select noise map and set its values according to the image shown below and set the bump value to 60.

press F9 to see the result.

Apply Turbosmooth modifier and set the angle of the scene at human eye level and render it again for the time being apply a gradient background by pressing 8.

Place an omni light in the scene and turn its shadows on with .5 intensity Add a camera and set its fov to 60. This will create a wide angle view of the scene. add some Fog and background map of clouds from the Environment tab (press 8 to go to environment and effect dialog box)  and set it to Layered, a color of R:165 G:150 B:135, then set Top to 120, Bottom to -100, Density to 20-40 what you like and Falloff to Top.

Press F10 to bring up the Render options, go to the Renderer tab, and find it in the Antialiasing subtab over at the Filter dropdown list select Catmullrom for sharp rendering result.

Final Result