Grebbeberg - WIP terrain

[chrisb 196]

Feet up, cup of coco, pair of headphones and some nice music. Rest up, get back to good health. Mod can wait, as can all of us.:).

[DualJoe 10]

Okay it turns out it was not because of the medication that I could not see well with my uninfected left eye. I just never realized how badly scarred my left eye was till now. Luckily the infection in my right eye seems to be healing well and today my eyesight was good enough to do a bit of modeling.

So I made a rough sketch/demo of my modular-map-object concept, with a base building (which would have all the roadway-, ai-lod and memorypoints and such) and some modular exterior parts. I wasted most of my time creating the procedural roof-tile texture, so there aren't as many variations as I had planned on making.

Never the less, with a bit of imagination this should illustrate some of the possibilities of this idea.

I've heard rumors that it is possible to scale buildings, which could possibly add another level of differentiation.

As far as I understand how the RV-engine works, this method should allow for an impressive amount of visual variation for a relatively small cost in terms of data-streaming.

Edited November 11, 2012 by DualJoe

[Robster 11]

well, you can change default size (value=100) for any given model... (max =500) but doing like that sometimes produces some issues... geo lods do not work properly... killing objects... bumping roadways... etc... you might try some custom sizes and then run a test to see if there is any trouble with your new values... take care mate!

[larsiano 12]

This looks really nice and modular even the texture does not look that bad. But ill try to enhance them for you if needed tough i have never painted a house before. I'm not sure whats easier to do work from textures in PS or directly from O2? This looks like a very modern house but i guess this is a basic build? Just give me an example and the file / texture and ill give it my best shot ... i mean paint :) And good luck with the eye!

[DualJoe 10]

Ah pardon if I didn't make myself clear enough.

These models are nowhere near finished. I'm just trying to work out a modular system and posting the results as I go.

This isn't even at the proof of concept stage. I'm just showing my progress as I go along. This is a pretty complex 3d puzzle and all pieces need to fit. Also keep in mind that I've got a terrible memory so I'm unable to plan far ahead, it also means I can't work this out in my head. (It's also why I tend to repeat myself a lot, for which I apologize in advance.)

Before my eye-infection I had already made a more detailed version with rooms, stairways and walls, but due to my terrible memory I have no idea where it is. So now I'm posting these updates, not only in the hope that I can get feedback and ideas, but this thread is also my online log/diary. It's the only reliable way so far in which I can keep track of what I was doing and what I discovered.

The textures are just a couple of very quick procedural ones I made in Blender to help people visualize where I'm trying to go. I've noticed that quite a few people aren't able to visualize the finished product if I leave things completely untextured (present company excluded of course).

The thing I'm trying to sell here is that it's not only easier to generate a number different looking buildings, with these modular parts. But it should also be relatively easy add or modify these modular parts which can very rapidly increase your options.

For example the buildings in the gif-animation below are made with 2 roof parts and 3 facades. Imagine if you can change the textures as well for example to painted brick, plaster or wood and you'd have all these combinations times 3.

Edited November 12, 2012 by DualJoe

[larsiano 12]

Ah sorry i should read better. During my search for addons for the DAFmod i found this : World War 2 Environment Addon the houses look quite nice and maybe will reduce the time needed to do all the models?

[DualJoe 10]

I'll look at them later this evening to see if I can use them.

On the other hand, if I'm able to work out this modular system, anyone should be able to produce new buildings by the truckload. I was a bit worried at the start that the modularity would impose generic and dull looking buildings, but now that I've tried a couple of different building designs my expectations have flipped completely.

On me at least it has the effect of increasing creativity, because you can focus on single areas, without having to worry about the rest. I'm getting loads more new ideas now, whereas before thinking about all the little stuff like lods and stairs and such got in the way. As long as the part fits, you can go wild as much as you want. It shows a bit in the gif above, I obviously made more variants than strictly necessary for testing purposes. I've updated the image-link above this morning, couldn't resist making another roof-variant, upping the current combination total to 9. I'll make a few more facades and maybe a couple more upper-floor variants before forcing myself to test the concept ingame.

Worst case scenario it will only work inside Blender, but for me that only increases the options, because that just removes the limitations of current arma-map-tools. Don't worry, I'll do my utmost to make sure that non-blenderhead arma-addon-makers can use it.

Edited November 12, 2012 by DualJoe

[Robster 11]

@dualJoe: regarding those FPS drops because of water behaviour you might try to increase your river shores level a bit, let's say above 3.5 meters and even 2.5 meters should work... that way you will get rid of those water "shades" and it will look better at medium/far distances... saludos!

[DualJoe 10]

Raising the shorelines will not solve the issue unfortunately, already tried it plus I can't just add 2/3 meters without ruining the map or have unscaleable channel-banks because of the steep angles. Could be a nice dynamic to mimic slippery slopes, but don't know if the AI could handle it.

Also on my map the LOD system reduces the cellsizes further away which means it will automatically lower/raise terrain further away depending on your terrain-detail-setting ingame.

[DualJoe 10]

To keep things clear I've started a separate thread for the modular object idea and I'll try to focus solely on the terrain-specific parts in this thread.

[larsiano 12]

Concerning the intro-screen for the DAFmod i was thinking of using the Grebbeberg map as a dynamic background like we are used to from Chernarus and Takistan. For this reason i was wondering if there is a new version available that can be used for this purpose and what coordinates would be ideal for this task.

Warning Message: No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgWorlds/JDP_TeufelbergTest.Sounds'.Warning Message: No entry '.sounds'.
Warning Message: Size: '/' not an array
Warning Message: No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgWorlds/CAWorld/Grid.offsetX'.
Warning Message: '/' is not a value
Warning Message: No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgWorlds/CAWorld/Grid.offsetY'.
Warning Message: '/' is not a value
No grid info given in bin\config.bin/CfgWorlds/CAWorld/Grid/
bin\config.bin/CfgMaterials/JDP_Teufelsberg_Shore.vertexShaderID: Unknown enum value BasicAlpha
bin\config.bin/CfgMaterials/JDP_Teufelsberg_ShoreFoam.vertexShaderID: Unknown enum value BasicAlpha
bin\config.bin/CfgMaterials/JDP_Teufelsberg_ShoreWet.vertexShaderID: Unknown enum value BasicAlpha
Warning Message: No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgWorlds/JDP_TeufelbergTest.Sounds'.
Warning Message: No entry '.sounds'.
Warning Message: Size: '/' not an array
Error: Vertex shader ID out of limits

Error: Vertex shader ID out of limits: This error repeats itself every second making a very big arma2oa.RPT. This is the latest version of your Google drive file_date: 23-10-2012. Maybe i'm doin something wrong?

Example of a menu:

http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq141/larsiano/Dutch%20Forces%20Mod/arma2oa2012-11-2719-32-43-82.jpg

[DualJoe 10]

No I'm the one doing things wrong. I was mucking around with the sea-water shorefoam shaders and those errors are from defining empty textures.

Work on pc's has been on hold for a while, because I'm still having some problems looking at bright computer screens after my eye infection. Probably because of a combination of eye-drops and my brain having to readjust for the difference between both eyes.

I'm slowly trying to pick things up again and I'll fix those empty textureslots asap. Give me a bit of time though, because real life obligations have also been stacking up.

[larsiano 12]

There is no rush i just had this idea a couple of days ago and i was just doin some tests. I've managed to get the intro goin with your map and it doesnt look too bad (see pic below) for a first try if i say so myself.

http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq141/larsiano/Dutch%20Forces%20Mod/arma2oa2012-11-2802-09-49-01.jpg

Speaking about monitors: I'm not sure what screen type you use now (TN, PVA or IPS)? But i prefer the bit more xpensive and pixel perfect IPS & PVA screens. There is now a IPS LED screen ( Dell Ultrasharp U2412M ) for a reasonable price, but be sure to take proper rest before spending long nights behind the screen!

[DualJoe 10]

Yeah I'm making sure this heals up well, I'm pretty nervous when it comes to my eyesight. I'm not to keen about losing another one of my senses.

I've always used the best screen displays I could afford, all pc-hardware is secondary to me. My current monitor is a 27inch wide-gamut DELL screen. I can't stand TN, but I have to admit I've been very impressed by the latest cheap IPS screens from LG for example. Especially compared to the prices of our Dells. Color quality is still far superior on our Dells, but for gaming I'd recommend those IPS-screens. (We could have made a virtual surround cockpit with a couple of 24 inch LG's for the price of one Dell) I was so impressed I've bought 2 this year, one for my arcade-cabinet-multimedia-coffeetable and one for my parents.

[Rob_Mayall 1]

mensen van invasion 1944 hebben mij hierna toe gestuurd omdat ik op hun forum het over market garden had ik gebruik momenteel de invasion 1944 Neaville map omdat ik het wel iets nederlands vind hebben ik gebruik ook de hell in the pacific mod omdat zij onder andere een draw bridge hebben de moerdijk brug een typisch nederlandse molen een typisch nederlandse boerderij een typisch nederlands huis een tulpebedden mischien als je het aan hun vraagt kan je de bruggen mischien gebruiken en de huizen en molen miscchien ook komen er rivieren in de map ik kan niet wachten om market garden te spelen en nog een vraagje aangezien het DE grebbeberg is maak je ook nederlandse leger units (vroegoorlogs) en nederlands verzet jeweetwel blauwe overallen zelfde helm als de russen (oud) en een ornje armband? kijk erg naar deze map uit

[Guest]

^^ Have you noticed how the rest of this forum is in the English language? Only the few posts above yours should be a good indication in what language you should try to communicate here.

§13) Write in English

Please write only in English on the public forums. Avoid writing in any other language or any kind of slang or txt speak since the majority of the members most likely won't understand. In private messages you are of course welcome to write in any language you wish.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Guest

[Rob_Mayall 1]

TRANSALATED - the modmaers of invaison 1944 told me about this map becuase I was talking about MArket Garden on there forum I PLay INvasion 1944 at the moment and use the I44 Neaville map because somehow it reminds me of holland a little bit! I recently downloaded the Hell in the Pacific MOD and it look sreally nice it also somehow includs Dutch object maybe you can use some of them if you ask the mod maker: " Mr Pedersen " the things in the mod are the following things :

a draw bridge

the Moerdijk bridge

a windmill

a typical dutch FARM

a typical dutch HOUSE

2 different kinds of tulp beds

because these are dutch things you maybe can use them on your map! Is there going to be arive in the map and seeing the fact it is THE grebbeberg is there gonig to be erarly dutch army ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Landmacht1937.jpg ) and dutch resistance

( http://www.flickr.com/photos/schonhose/5945550393/ ) it is basiccly a blue overall a brown leather belt a orange band aroun the upper arm in orange with the Dutch word : "Oranje" what means Oranje and a black helmet the same as the early dutch army? I am looking forward to this map

[dimitri_harkov 10]

The map you are talking about is by Waxbutter, as are all the objects in question and most in Hell in the Pacific.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Dimitri_Harkov
type-o!

[DualJoe 10]

Sorry I've been away for a while, I'm still having trouble with my vision especially with windows-os and small fonts.

Can't seem to find an easy way to zoom in in all applications, like I can in linux. Also the default black text on white is a major pain in the rear end. Maybe because I'm more familiar with linux, but I miss the easy negative color toggle and easy zooming in windows 7.

Not only am I getting massive, massive headaches, but it drains energy like you wouldn't believe.

Either I manage to get the entire BI-studio pipeline working on linux or more likely I'll have to wait till my brain adjust enough so I can work on this project for more extended periods of time.

After that I'll look into the projects mentioned. I can understand the Dutchies here are getting impatient for some Dutch stuff, trust me I'm frustrated as well at the moment. It's also causing me some serious challenges in real life.

[DualJoe 10]

Sorry for the lack of updates but my eyesight problem messed up my RL-schedule big time, leaving me with a lot less free time to spend on this. You could also say that I have too many projects running simultaneously. Pick whichever you prefer.

Anyway I'm now fairly confident I'll be able to look at bright screens again, so I'll be slowly picking this up where I left off, starting with materials and the following effect which I may have mentioned earlier in this thread.

Look at the sails, this is a video of the opengl 3d-view in Blender. I forgot to set the sail-planes to single-sided and discovered this effect by accident. If I'm able to get the scripting worked out, including on for rotation based on windspeed and direction, I might also be able to implement an animation to switch the backlighting effect on and off depending on the position of the viewer and the windmill relative to the sun. Otherwise you would also see backlighting when standing behind the windmill looking towards it, but with the sun in your back.

[chrisb 196]

Great to hear your getting better and that you are starting to advance this great project.

Of course health always comes first, so take it easy, not too much eye strain. Sitting in front of a pc screen can make hours almost seem like minutes, very easy to get sucked in and not realise it, well of course you know, take it easy anyway.

Great project.:)

[larsiano 12]

Hope the eye is getting better :) The progress is looking very nice. Cant wait to try the house texturing ;)

[DualJoe 10]

@Iarsiano: Right I'll make the buildings my first priority after I've solved a little windows feature.

Finally sat down to get things set up and running in windows again. After a restart windows decided to drop support for USB all-together, for no apparent reason. I did update my bios, but the first few times booting after that I had no problems.

This is what happened: I started windows no problems, got a phone call which would take a while, so I let windows poweroff the pc. After the call was finished, started windows again, usb gone. I've tried just about everything, but windows refuses to enable both usb2 as well as my usb3. (Btw ever tried navigating windows hidden options without a mouse and only with a ps2 keyboard?) Since everything works just fine in linux I can pretty much rule out any problems with the hardware. It's really hard not to hate windows when stuff like this happens. In my case I sort of exploded and it took every last bit of restraint I could muster to not stomp my pc to kingdom come.

After I cooled down, I've been trying to find a solution, with no luck so far. Chances are I'll be using this opportunity to switch to virtualmachines combined with pci/vga-passthrough, which my hardware should support just fine. At least then the consequences of windows features can be contained and a windows crash won't necessarily result in a wiped bios or other absurdities like that. Anyway I'll need a bit of time to work this out, I hadn't really looked into virtualmachines before, but running windows on the bare metal is bad for my bloodpressure and my pc might not survive another windows feature.

Excuse me for sounding a bit pissed of, but that's because I am really very pissed off at the moment.

[domokun 515]

@DualJoe: chill out mate. I know how you feel. My board with its new-fangled UEFI bios would'nt boot for some reason yesterday. As usual I was in a hurry. Convinced I hadn't done anything wrong I blamed my boys. The I blamed myself for not locking my office. The wife starts complaining that I'm getting too stressed again . ARrggh! When it gets like that, I go walk outside, preferably in the rain. Up there there's no shortage of rain right? ;) Hope your eyesight's getting better. Funnily or rather unfunnily my right eye is twitching more than ever... :(

BTW I love your windmill and can't wait to listen to the SFX. Now that he's released JSRS 1.5 you might want to contact Lord JarHead. He might be burnt out or simply enjoy the change of material (quality sfx of a working windmill can't be that common).

[DualJoe 10]

@Domokun: Thanks, I've cooled down a bit and I did indeed take a walk in the freezing rain. I also suspect this problem to be caused by the new UEFI rubbish on my mainboard as well. The thing that gets to me, is that no matter what I do (or don't do) Windows always seems to self-destruct just by running it. My hobby OS Linux on the other hand only breaks if I personally break it. I'll figure it out eventually, I always do. Funny how your pc always breaks down at the worst possible moment, just when you need it and don't have time to fix it.

By the way, good point about the SFX, hadn't even thought of that. But having the mill turn without sound would indeed be weird.