Limit map size

[jackass888 0]

Nothing should be limited!!! The only limit is the modders mind. Just include some smaller islands with the vanilla game, that have better performance.

[walker 0]

Nothing should be limited!!! The only limit is the modders mind. Just include some smaller islands with the vanilla game, that have better performance.

Hi all

This ^^^

Push the limits always push the limits (Yes even with Laaagdoll!)

I should point out that I have played SP games of ArmA I with in exess of 2000 AI entities.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=62327

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=62517

And have also experimented with ~800 AI plus in MP games in 30 player coop.

Kind Regards walker

Edited May 26, 2011 by walker

[jedra 11]

Nothing should be limited!!! The only limit is the modders mind. Just include some smaller islands with the vanilla game, that have better performance.

Yep, ^^^ this and double this!

If someone wants to make a small island that's great, if someone wants to model the whole planet, then great!

[Archosaurusrev 12]

Step 1: Aquire new computer

Step 2:

I agree.

Simply said but true.

[metalcraze 290]

The game is incapable of populating the world with enough units for the map size of 225 sq km. To improve performance it would be more sensible if just the mission area was rendered and more units processed in real time. Lower end machines would benefit significantly.

50 comparable AIs in any game will load lower end machines hard

[-)rStrangelove 0]

The game is incapable of populating the world with enough units for the map size of 225 sq km

And you base your personal opinion on which facts?

Seriously, the game doesn't populate the world with 'enough' units (how much is 'enough' ? could you see them all at once if there would be enough? ) because it doesn't need to.

The mod community came up with AI spawning scripts to counter that, i think the earliest i can remember came up in 2003 (for OpF).

[kylania 568]

There's also a difference between "enough units for the map size of 225 km²" and "enough units for the map size of 225 km² running custom scripts that determine their behavior".

[mattxr 9]

Bigger is better! plus how do you know that BIS havint got new Terrian Rendering making aswsomeness :D

i Love Huge Maps, i hope it has a massive city in it too! Loved sahrani

[SigintArmA 10]

Didn't think I'd say this anywhere but... -Clears throat- Go big or go home ^^ Hahaha XD

[Horner 13]

Hell to the no!!!

[Splintert 10]

Maybe using a minecraft-like chunk system? Minus the cubes, tiny view distance, and mining.

[Duhya 10]

I'm not sure if anyone read the OP but he says that the map maker would be allowed

to make a mission area in the huge map and only that area would be rendered, not

that the map should be small.

I would guess there would be a invisible wall and only the area within and a few KM

outside the mission area would be rendered.

I think this would be a good way to render a small part of the map, and would be

fine in some missions if the mission area allowed enough room to manouver around

the objectives without being stuck in a small area (like CoD.)

[SnR 1]

Find a Community made small Island and go try PvP, you would see huge improvements :p

[pathetic_berserker 4]

I'm not sure if anyone read the OP but he says that the map maker would be allowed

to make a mission area in the huge map and only that area would be rendered, not

that the map should be small.

I would guess there would be a invisible wall and only the area within and a few KM

outside the mission area would be rendered.

Yep, thats the way i read it as well, but we already have a way to do this. take a look at many PVP maps and you can see that they already use triggered no go zones and mission makers can set view distance.

Nothing new to see here.

[Alwarren 2767]

I am not quite sure why you want maps to be restricted in size. Of course you can hardly populate all of Chernarus with AI, but in any given mission, you will hardly see all of it either.

It's perfectly possible to have a very interesting infantry mission on an island like Proving Grounds. You don't need a continent sized map for that. However, having a small map also means that missions on Proving Grounds always take place around the same gas station. With a large map, you can pick which parts of the map your mission takes place on.

The bigger the map, the better. You will hardly ever use all of it in a single mission. Restricting the size of the map will only result in more repetitive scenarios. Something like ZORA could be used to restrict the mission area.

[Assasine 10]

SASrecon is right.....

Buy a new computer....a big computer....:))

Smaller maps.....please not. What will you do when you´re pilot of a Heli and you´re under fire from infantry? In ArmA you can get away......in BF2.......you get down!!!

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Bigger (main) maps, not smaller. We tend to get awesome smaller maps alongside the main one anyway. Maybe a few more of these (Utes/Desert etc)? But don't sacrifice the big map. I feel bad enough as it is limiting artillery ranges artificially so that same (whole island) mission can have artillery in some areas and not in others. Making it a tactical awareness issue.

Remember Sahrani and adjacent town spacing? Run for 30 seconds and get to a separately named location? That's just weird. I understand condensing areas are necessary, at least with that technology, but hopefully that is something of the past.

[mrcash2009 0]

From the OFP:

The game is incapable of populating the world with enough units for the map size of 225 sq km

I dont think BIS wanted this either, its not about killing a rig to populate for no reason when your not even in the area (killing CPU for no reason) its about "open ended" .. meaning that things can freely spawn on the map, plus the fact you can by simply using DAC/Patrol scripts to populate how you would like, to then make a map smaller just in the basis its hard not to populate it all the time is bloody silly and completely missing the point of it.

This is also covering Air war as well, not just on the ground, you play in the air and that map becomes smaller. And then also you have one large map that can be sectioned off into allot of smaller scenario "areas" much like campaigns, which then utilise different areas per situation and then in the end covers the whole map, think of it as lots of little maps stuck together :)

I never think of the large map as anything more than loads of little places to make situations as if the area used is the smaller map. I welcome little maps too but we do always get both anyway. The main map is also a good place for BIS to create the campaigns from too. Either way its made to tailor for all of what Arma offers, Air and ground.

Edited May 27, 2011 by mrcash2009

[mant3z 1]

Instead of demending resize of the map you should demnad an official island 100x100km2 as an second island for small missions etc.

[oldbear 390]

WTF ! Only small maps, you are joking of course :cool:

As a player and a map-maker myself, I can tell you that one of the best thing in the game is that you can play on somewhat unlimited terrains.

Of course, it's possible to play smaller terrains in order to get more dense fight experiments. That's why I have built Yapal or Brik for instance and that' also why I am building a small island blended with my player experience of BF:Bad Company.

But in building large playgrounds it's possible to create areas where this kind of feeling can be found, it's up to the missions-makers. When you build the missions you can limit the mission area or using scripts as DAC spawn hostiles as much as you want or use UPS/UPSMON scripts to make them patrol the combat area.

But more technically, from the map-maker point of view, "playability" is not related to the map size but to :

- "terrain grid size"/ map size ratio,

- Objects and clutters set on the map.

*The "terrain grid size" is defining the size of terrain features with a 2m terrain grid size you will get nice features as ditches and trenches, but you must play on a limited terrain, say 1kmx1km, and probably unable to play it in MP. That's why most of map-makers are doing maps with a 10m terrain grid size for terrain between 5km x5km and 20km x 20km. From this point of view, playability is mostly CPU dependent.

*Objects placed on the map as well as clutters -clutters being the grass or vegetation associated with a define ground texture are pulling hard on your video card, that's why -roughly- Takistan country is more playable than Chernarus and why your FPS drop when there are a lot of enter-able house/buildings or highly detailed objects as on Eletrozavodsk or Zargabad. Here playability is more GPU dependent.

So, unless you are looking for bare small terrains such as "desert" in Arma2:OA, you can find small islands such as Mana Island or Isla Del Fuego you can populate with as much villains you want using the right scripts in order to make them spawn and patrol all the area.

[Ferox 0]

I agree, no way with the limiting of the map size, however if the devs can figure out a way to not use up resources on stuff going on across the island, then that is always a positive.

[Syonco 10]

[XurdeadX 10]

He's just whining because his comp sucks, hell no. Get a better comp, but don't ruin the game for the rest of us.