Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
bigshotking

Visitor 3 Problem

Recommended Posts

I'm having a problem with visitor 3. I cant get any of my satellite images to show on my map so that I can place roads, trees, etc.

Here is a screen shot: http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/p...ScreenShot.jpg

Here is the tutorial I'm following, I'm stuck on getting your BMP image to show up on: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=94222

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

-Bigshot

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

picture link doesn't work, and the forum link just points to the resources sticky where theres lots of tutorials - some better than others... could you be a bit more detailed? is it a Visitor background image you're trying to load? or a Satellite layer?

B

Edited by Bushlurker

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@Bushlurker - Thanks for sharing your Falkan's source! It's been immensely helpful in seeing how a real config, layers and textures should be laid out. Going through your source should be like the next step in "Learning how to map 101", after the basic tutorial is mastered! The only thing I found odd was that I couldn't seem to find a mapLegends.png in it. Anyway, if you ever make it to the 'states I owe you pint!

@bigshotking

Try converting it to .png and make sure it's called "sat_lco.png", *exactly*, as per tutorial. I didn't even know V3 would accept .bmp as sat_lco...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
@Oktyabr BMP is the only file it recognizes!

@Bushlurker Here is the link to the actual tutorial: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=109978

and here is the screenshot: http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp177/bigshotking/ScreenShot.jpg

Oh, you didn't say "background images" in your first post!

A quick search of the forums brought the answer: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=86818&highlight=background+images&page=2

Basically V3 doesn't like the bmp if you point at your "P:" drive to locate it. Locate the bmp through your hard named partition instead, the one that you installed the BIS TOOLS in... (drive letter)/BIS TOOLS 2/ArmAWork/(namespace)/(mapdir)/Source/your_background_image.bmp

Someone else said that your background image shouldn't be any larger than your sat_lco.png (in pixels) but I keep mine the same. Also remember the entry dialog is asking for the size of the image in Meters, not pixels!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well here is my BIS TOOLS path:

G:\BIS Tools 2

Here is my "supposed" P: drive path:

C:\Users\(Username)\Documents\ArmAWork

Which one do i put the the BMP in?

(Sorry I'm a noob and want to learn this!!!!)

Edited by bigshotking

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oktyabr covered it all... for some reason Visitor doesn't like you calling on the file from the P:\ drive - put it in "My Pictures" or somewhere - it doesn't matter - when you install it in Visitor'll make its own copy in your project folder - but it likes to put it there itself... just another Visitor weirdness...

You do have a virtual "P" drive, don't you? - the tools generally dislike you using any other letter, by the way...

Another Visitor background image you may occasionally encounter is that when you load in the image you get the area selected with a sort of white overlay grid, but no image... Save the project at that point - close and reopen Visitor and the project - the "BK" button should now work... seen that one reported once or twice... needs that save & restart to show up...

... oh... and... I think Visitor doesn't like background images any bigger than 10240x10240... pretty sure I've seen that mentioned somehwere once or twice too...

@Oktyabr

Glad you found it helpful...

B

Edited by Bushlurker

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ok well I have the image on my desktop... The folder is: Arma 2/Map Tools/TestMap1 Images/TestMap1.BMP

Is that to complicated? Oh and what do you mean by a project folder? I don't see any P: drive icons, I see that there is stuff in my Arma Works in my documents folder.. Is that right? Oh I've tried that save and quit thing... Is there a specific type of save it needs to be??? And my map size is 8000x8000, the BMP image size is 8192x8192...

Still no luck....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Ok well I have the image on my desktop... The folder is: Arma 2/Map Tools/TestMap1 Images/TestMap1.BMP

Is that to complicated? Oh and what do you mean by a project folder? I don't see any P: drive icons, I see that there is stuff in my Arma Works in my documents folder.. Is that right? Oh I've tried that save and quit thing... Is there a specific type of save it needs to be??? And my map size is 8000x8000, the BMP image size is 8192x8192...

Still no luck....

I'm pretty new at this too but I'll try to help... According to the tutorial installing the BIS TOOLS 2 package on an empty partition is "highly recommended". I know not everyone does that (I did) but I've also read threads where guys ended up having to entirely reinstall windows when V3 or some other tool took a particularly hard dump! That scared me enough to go with a different drive/partition (I had a small spare laying around). YMMV.

That said, if your tools were installed correctly (and they seem to be, if you have gotten this far), you will find a folder titled "ArmAWork" in your BIS TOOLS 2 folder. This is where the "P" drive lives, sort of... The "P" drive is a virtual drive that is created when the "BIS TOOLS 2" are properly installed and is apparently needed for the tools to work correctly. The path /BIS TOOLS 2/ArmAWork/(your map) is the same as P:/(your map). The only difference is the links to the folder contents are different whether you drop a file in one way or the other. Everything in your map must be put in that folder via the "P" drive to work properly, AFAIK, *except* the bmps you want to use backgrounds. Those can pretty much be placed anywhere except "P:/(some folder)"... Get it?

If your tools were installed and are working properly you should be able to see the "P" drive under "My Computer" just as if you stuffed another drive (or partitioned an existing one) and called it "P:". If it's not there you have more serious problems than getting a background image to work, I'm afraid...

If it IS there, great! Put your background images anywhere BUT in that "P:" drive. Visitor will make a copy of it and put it where it belongs once you've loaded the image. Some posts I've read say that those BMP images need to go in your map "Source" folder, others seem to suggest that they can be anywhere on your harddrive. Since I like keeping all my stuff together I use the first method. The drive that my BIS TOOLS are installed in is called "terrain (F:)" and for this example my map will be called "OKTY/OKTY_map". I put my background source bmp in "F:/BIS TOOLS 2/ArmAWork/OKTY/OKTY_map/Source/"

Last but not least, again, I've read that the bmps need to be no larger than your map. Maybe you should try using a copy of that bmp resized to 8000x8000?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think he is on about the background image to add in the visitor3! thats the only image that accepts BMP.

It wont accept you put this there until you have at least saved it once, then add the image,

its got to be the same size as your map/sat_lco then once you add it, name it ask bck then show the path to your background image,

I put mine in the source folder, then just click it and it should be on your visitor3 then, save and done.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
its got to be the same size as your map/sat_lco

Tried that - my Sat_lco is 20480x20480 - Visitor doesn't like it as a background image - biggest I could get it to accept was about 10240x10240... so I tried that - not bad but a bit low res... then I discovered you can have multiples and "tile" them... you can even import a .bmp of - say - a small village drawn to scale on a bit of paper then scanned

as long as you know where that bottom left corner is supposed to go - plus the width and height of the sketch in meters, you can drop in heavily detailed little "spot backgrounds" just about anywhere...

The "placement" X & Y values control that bottom left corner of the image - then the other two values - in meters, notice! - dictates how many meters away the top right corner is.....

Notice how - with this arrangement - you might install an image that's say 1000x1000px - anchor it's bottom left corner in an appropriate place, then say - stretch this image 100m to the X and Y - so it's only covering a 100x100m terrain area - but its a 1000x1000px image - super detailed layout guide or something maybe?... The point is - that second set of X & Y's is in "terrain meters" - not pixels - pixels can be different - you can scale background images... but... afaik... 10240x10240 maximum...

Other than that - everything Oktyabr says is pretty much spot-on...

B

Edited by Bushlurker

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Tried that - my Sat_lco is 20480x20480 - Visitor doesn't like it as a background image - biggest I could get it to accept was about 10240x10240... so I tried that - not bad but a bit low res... then I discovered you can have multiples and "tile" them... you can even import a .bmp of - say - a small village drawn to scale on a bit of paper then scanned

as long as you know where that bottom left corner is supposed to go - plus the width and height of the sketch in meters, you can drop in heavily detailed little "spot backgrounds" just about anywhere...

The "placement" X & Y values control that bottom left corner of the image - then the other two values - in meters, notice! - dictates how many meters away the top right corner is.....

Notice how - with this arrangement - you might install an image that's say 1000x1000px - anchor it's bottom left corner in an appropriate place, then say - stretch this image 100m to the X and Y - so it's only covering a 100x100m terrain area - but its a 1000x1000px image - super detailed layout guide or something maybe?... The point is - that second set of X & Y's is in meters - not pixels - pixels can be different - you can scale background images... but... afaik... 10240x10240 maximum...

Other than that - everything Oktyabr says is pretty much spot-on...

B

See?!?!?

Even though I'm "new" I don't just hound you guys for answers... I try to share what I've learned when I can. Helps carve it into my long term memory too... I'm 44 and wonder if I don't sometimes forget things faster than I learned them :j:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ok, I finally got my P: drive showing on my PC, but I'm not see any project folder, or anything like that. Also there is no Bulldozer.exe in the P: drive

Edited by bigshotking

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Ok, I finally got my P: drive showing on my PC, but I'm not see any project folder, or anything like that. Also there is no Bulldozer.exe in the P: drive

Go back to any of the tutorials out there and they will show you what is supposed to be in the "P:" drive.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really wish there was a straight up tutorial to this stuff! It really seems that there are many different types of tutorials, I wish I could find a straight up tutorial that gets you from beginning to end. I've been following this tutorial, but it leaves me hanging on what to do with terrain etc. Not to mention I want to make this map for OA, not Arma 2. I've been searching for a week now and still nothing that really meets what I need!

---------- Post added at 05:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 AM ----------

I really wish there was a straight up tutorial to this stuff! It really seems that there are many different types of tutorials, I wish I could find a straight up tutorial that gets you from beginning to end. I've been following this tutorial, but it leaves me hanging on what to do with terrain etc. Not to mention I want to make this map for OA, not Arma 2. I've been searching for a week now and still nothing that really meets what I need! The people that have helped me so far have been great and I greatly appreciate it!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bigshot,

Everything is out there you need. I know because I started from scratch and now am close to finishing an OA based map. Keep at it, there are about 2-3 tutorials which pretty much cover everything you need.

Tup

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi bigshotking...

OK - you're obviously struggling a little so I'll try to do a brief summary which might be helpful... all of this stuff is a little bit of a fuss to setup at first - but once you're done it should all be pretty straightforward, and it only needs done once, so it's worth persevering...

First thing to do is - install the tools... ALL of them - even if you think you don't need them it's best to have a complete install...

So - download the tools...

A separate partition is recommended - I think you mentioned using a G:\ drive or something? - either a separate drive or a partition of around 30GB will do fine... ( I use an old spare D:\ drive)...

Install all the tools one after the other to somewhere like "G:\BIS TOOLS... then REBOOT!

You should find that you now have a "virtual" P:\ drive - preloaded with some files... ("drive P:\" is actually the "ArmaWork" folder which is located in your G:\BIS TOOLS\ install - but Visitor really likes to work with the "pretend" P:\ drive - so you'll hear it mentioned all the time..

OK - if you look in that P:\ drive you'll see a few ready-installed files - your default "buldozer" viewer is in here - plus there's a VERY important folder called "CA" - you'll have some special unbinarised road models in here specially for Visitor, and soon you'll unpack basically most of your game into here - thus creating an "unpacked build environment" in which you'll build your terrain... soon, but not yet...

Assuming you've managed all that properly then it's on to THE tutorial... there's a few - but the first and most important one is Sgt Ace's Tutorial - check that link out right away - you'll find a link for the tools download, and a decent explanation of what they are, what the P:\ drive is, and how to install everything... there's even a "installing the tools" video...

Then it leads you on to the tutorial itself....

This is an ultrabasic introduction which will lead you thru the process of creating a single-surface island - complete with all necessary files - all the way thru proper binarization to a working in-game terrain...

Do this tutorial - slowly and carefully - all the way thru to running around on the final terrain in-game! - it introduces quite a few key concepts and relationships between the files that you need to have at least a basic understanding of...

Sgt Ace's Tutorial DOES work - if you hit a snag - and we all did when we were learning - then it's because you misread something, or skipped a bit, or just did something wrong... read thru the "sticky" thread for this tutorial at the top of this forum section - all the obvious mistakes have been made, and there's explanations and replies there...

Assuming you get thru all of that successfully, and it may take you a couple of goes - then you're well on your way...

Don't skimp on this intro stage, even if you "waste" a week... this is a long-haul occupation - some basic understanding now will save you a lot of hassle later on... walk before you run...

Anyway - lets assume you now have a fully working and binarizable "Tut Samplemap" with no errors... Make a backup of it - the whole "tut_samplemap" project folder... then you can start "making it your own"... this is a good way to get your first original project off the ground.....

Go thru all the tutorial files - ALL of them, every config file, the texture names (from "sm" to "yourtag" for these), the .rvmat names and contents - EVERYWHERE - and change "TUT" to "yourtag" (make something up, like "BSK" or something - and stick with it)...

Then... do the exact same thing all over again - finding every mention of "tut_samplemap", and renaming it to "test_project" or whatever name you decide...

Go right thru binarization again... you'll get errors - everyone misses a path somewhere... fix it and try again...

When you finally get the damned thing in-game and you're running around on the terrain with no errors then you're sorted... you have a "shell" project now which is entirely your own - even if it's all Sgt Ace's data, and it just looks like the Tut Samplemap you're sick of seeing by now - it's pathed to you now.... and working!!! that's a big step, trust me....

Next step is to introduce your own heightmap - resetting the Visitor parameters you learned about in the tutorial to appropriate values to suit... and also the beginnings of your first matching Mask_lco and Sat_lco... You may find downloading the Free L3DT Standard edition handy at this stage... plus of course, you'll have been searching this forum section and reading about heightmaps, sats & masks - their proportions to each other for different resolutions, etc, etc...

After that will be - in no particular order... Adding more surfaces to your terrain - with matching layers definitions, clutter & surface definitions and texture files, filling out that P:\CA folder, installing all the road parts into Visitors road tool to have a first go at adding buildings and roads...

For all these different aspects there's tutorials available - some are a little out of date, some are better than others - probably the best thing to read is - this section of the forum!... search a lot and read everything you find - this is where we discuss - and argue! - and iron out good ways (there's rarely one "best" way") of doing things... no matter what aspect of terrain making you're tackling, we've discussed the hell out of it already, and all of that is right here...

Take your time to understand what you're doing as you do it - you'll be making your project for months, and, like all complex learning experiences, it's frustrating, rewarding fun all the way...

B

Edited by Bushlurker

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

After some searching with Google <====(BFF) I found that you needed to provide your own .exe file. So I used Arma2OA.exe and changed it to Buldozer.exe and now I have buldozer working! I was finally able to get the TUT files working after a couple of tries and now I'm playing on it! I would like to thank everyone again for all the help that has been given to me so far! I will start tweaking with this tut map to see if I can get my own working! But first I need to figure out how he got to where he was already!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×