Shallow ponds over roads

[mugaben 10]

Geh, another bugger on my map project.

Making a flat wetland as Denmark where muddy, puddy tracks and roads in forests is a really common thing proves to be quite tough!.

Is shallow pools of water, that goes over tracks of road really impossible to make?

Im using "ponds" and have tried with serveral small and big ones.

Any vehicle will just drop down as if there was a big hole of nothing. Also, it jumps as crazy. Not very high, just a car and a halfs height from the tracks and up once every second.

:butbut:

[shezan74 11]

A nice trap :)

The only think i can suggest to manage this kind of problem is to set your base to 0.1 meters from sea level, and then use bulldozer to "dig" the ground to find the water, like when you play at the beach searching for water.

[mugaben 10]

Yea but that would make it look like sea, with the splash sound and all wouldnt it?

Alternate I just have to end the roads with a "konec" fade, right before and right after the pond. A little less detail, but still the 'feeling'.

[shezan74 11]

Yes, you can do this way. I think is also possible to remove sea sound in some way playing with config.

[andersson 285]

The tide might mess it up then. Unless you wouldnt mind it to dry up most of the time?

[bushlurker 45]

I came across this exact same effect by accident when I tweaked some heights and screwed up a lake... it messed with the pond object heights and I ended up with one overlaying a road - a few cm above the road actually...

I found it while driving around and tried to drive thru it fast to make it splash - like you would do with a big puddle...

Same thing - the "I'm water" effect kicks in and the vehicle sinks, then "bounces" on the spot - if you get out you're swimming - in the ground it looks like! :D

Not good though... the pond object is an ongoing nightmare for me too...

I've bulldozed down and used the sea whenever possible, but then - as you say - you get the sea, and the whooshy noise... (you say the sound can be tweaked Shez? - I really need to do that I think... apart from anything else - I reckon it's too audible too far from the sea)...

Anyway - not entirely sure how to achieve the effect you want Dampet... the nearest I can think of thats been mentioned elsewhere was IceBreakr and, I think, OldBear - talking about the possibility of mangrove swamps on their Lingor/Tropica islands...

Can't remember exactly what their conclusions were but I think it did involve sea and whooshy sounds - and tidal effects :(

Other than the sea - your "konec" trick might just work from a practical point of view - if not exactly the best looking option cosmetically... I might have to pull a similar trick with an "underpass" - a road that runs under a bridge... the AI think its a crossroad and it confuses the hell out of their pathfinding...

B

Edited October 16, 2010 by Bushlurker

[oldbear 390]

Sorry, but the works involving beach noise suppression does not work ...

The pond object is a weird one, I am trying not to use it due to it's side effects :(.

The only case where it seems to work right is when you hide a "hole in water" on a continuous terrain and set the texture upon an already water area, some cm above the "sea" level.

Edited October 22, 2010 by Old Bear

[[aps]gnat 28]

Can only suggest you (or someone) make a separate addon, using the same pond make-up, textures etc, but change the class so that its inert like a bush etc.

At least it'll look like a shallow pond, you can drive/walk through it etc, but it won't make a splash sound. (well, maybe you could still mod a splash sound onto it still ... maybe)

Tip, to avoid people hiding in them and looking out, suggest;

- Another pond plane / surface (or other non-transparent texture) under to top main surface, but inverted. Less chance of player seeing out of the pond while hiding under the surface.

- Or a criss-cross of vertical "walls" under the surface so player cant see very far forward.

- or both.

[mugaben 10]

Thanks, but Ill stick with the fast solution. I dont have the experience to try out the suggestions you have.

Not so neat as the real look but this will have to do.

[mondkalb 1087]

You might want to try Plan B:

Create another surface with the properties and sounds of water. And then just paint it on the Satmap and Layermask.

This way you won't have the nice water effects, but it'll still sound like water, will have the properties of water, and - given a proper texture - will look like muddy water.

That's at least what I would try in your situation. :)

[bushlurker 45]

As a small update on the "whooshy beach noise" mentioned above...

I asked over in the sound thread in "A&M Discussion" if any of the sound guys knew anything about it...

MarkXIII came up with an informative reply with an example for redirecting the Sea sound - and others - via a config entry to custom sounds... the custom sounds could just be the BIS ones but quieter I guess, and I'm not sure what effect this would have on other loaded terrains, but its an interesting post worth an experiment I think...

Worth taking a look at the thread...

B

[mondkalb 1087]

Don't overwrite class CfgEnvSounds. Just change the values of your Island (class EnvSounds {} ) that are inherited from the CfgEnvSounds.

Here's a how-to.

[bad benson 1733]

Can only suggest you (or someone) make a separate addon, using the same pond make-up, textures etc, but change the class so that its inert like a bush etc.

At least it'll look like a shallow pond, you can drive/walk through it etc, but it won't make a splash sound. (well, maybe you could still mod a splash sound onto it still ... maybe)

Tip, to avoid people hiding in them and looking out, suggest;

- Another pond plane / surface (or other non-transparent texture) under to top main surface, but inverted. Less chance of player seeing out of the pond while hiding under the surface.

- Or a criss-cross of vertical "walls" under the surface so player cant see very far forward.

- or both.

epic!

@DampetDK

i had the same problem using cluttercutters with ponds. and since both roads and cluttercutters have the ability to block clutter due to having a roadway lod i think u might consider making a roadpart that doesn't have a roadway lod and place it right after the real road.

just an idea.

[ziiip 1]

The first picture looks so nice, you shouldnt give up.