max terrain size in arma 2 ?

[shephart 1]

hey guys, after making a long search in internet to find out "what is the max terrain size in arma 2?", i didnt found anything, so i ask here :

what is the max terrain size in arma 2 ? is it possible to have unlimited world size in arma ? if not, are we able to do a script to connect maps to have one big map while saving the state of all the other maps that have been connected ?

[PuFu 4600]

hey guys, after making a long search in internet to find out "what is the max terrain size in arma 2?", i didnt found anything, so i ask here :

what is the max terrain size in arma 2 ?

depends on cell size and the mask resolution. But you would trade terrain detail for size. You could easily have quite a large (but flat and low res texture map)...

is it possible to have unlimited world size in arma ?

no, it isn't, not in the sense of procedural generated one anyways.

if not, are we able to do a script to connect maps to have one big map while saving the state of all the other maps that have been connected ?

you obviously know very little about what you are talking about...

to answer your question: no, it isn't possible.

[mondkalb 1087]

I wouldn't say its impossible. Just use the Campaign structure, specific endings and persistent variables to link worlds together. So if you leave the world to the left edge, the mission ends, and a new mission on the new terrain starts. Scripts take care of the position and unit states. Should even work in MP.

Some months ago I made something similar to this, I'd have to dig it up, though.

[shephart 1]

I wouldn't say its impossible. Just use the Campaign structure, specific endings and persistent variables to link worlds together. So if you leave the world to the left edge, the mission ends, and a new mission on the new terrain starts. Scripts take care of the position and unit states. Should even work in MP.

Some months ago I made something similar to this, I'd have to dig it up, though.

is it possible without any loadscreen or mission change ?

depends on cell size and the mask resolution. But you would trade terrain detail for size. You could easily have quite a large (but flat and low res texture map)...

yeah and what is the maximum terrain size and cell size ?

[bushlurker 46]

Maximum heightmap size Visitor will accept is 4096 x 4096... however, it seems there's issues with object placement and manipulation on 4096 sized grids...

2048x2048 is the next size down, and that size seems relatively hassle-free....

With "cell size" it's more of a practical limitation.... anything above 50m per cell is gonna look pretty crude in-game... Even 50m will look a little clumsy if you have a lot of hills, etc...

So, for example....

Theoretically at least, you could have a 4096x4096x50m cell - assuming no object difficulties, that would give you a terrain of 204.8km x 2048km

2048x2048x50m would be object problem-free so is perhaps a safer bet - that would produce a 102.4km x 102.4km terrain...

With a 50m cell size it's gonna look a little crude though - like a large Operation Flashpoint map basically.... 10m would be a more usual cell size, which would produce a 2048x2048x10m = 20km x 20km terrain... that's bigger than Takistan, or Chernarus, and would take a long time to complete to any significant level of detail.....

B

[shephart 1]

Maximum heightmap size Visitor will accept is 4096 x 4096... however, it seems there's issues with object placement and manipulation on 4096 sized grids...

2048x2048 is the next size down, and that size seems relatively hassle-free....

With "cell size" it's more of a practical limitation.... anything above 50m per cell is gonna look pretty crude in-game... Even 50m will look a little clumsy if you have a lot of hills, etc...

So, for example....

Theoretically at least, you could have a 4096x4096x50m cell - assuming no object difficulties, that would give you a terrain of 204.8km x 2048km

2048x2048x50m would be object problem-free so is perhaps a safer bet - that would produce a 102.4km x 102.4km terrain...

With a 50m cell size it's gonna look a little crude though - like a large Operation Flashpoint map basically.... 10m would be a more usual cell size, which would produce a 2048x2048x10m = 20km x 20km terrain... that's bigger than Takistan, or Chernarus, and would take a long time to complete to any significant level of detail.....

B

thanks :)

[PuFu 4600]

I wouldn't say its impossible. Just use the Campaign structure, specific endings and persistent variables to link worlds together. So if you leave the world to the left edge, the mission ends, and a new mission on the new terrain starts. Scripts take care of the position and unit states. Should even work in MP.

Hmm, MP compatible you say? But campaign structure mean linking a series of missions in a set order (even if you keep some variable and use them to affect the next mission depending on the previous outcome). Still, you'll have loading screens and is gonna be, in the end, a mission change.

so, while this could be used as a workaround, you can "merge" a number of existing maps into a single one to use.

Maximum heightmap size Visitor will accept is 4096 x 4096... however, it seems there's issues with object placement and manipulation on 4096 sized grids...

2048x2048 is the next size down, and that size seems relatively hassle-free....

With "cell size" it's more of a practical limitation.... anything above 50m per cell is gonna look pretty crude in-game... Even 50m will look a little clumsy if you have a lot of hills, etc..

Depends on the scope really. If for instance one would like a huge area to play with jets and choppers and alike, the 50m cell size might be ok for a desert oriented map (not that it makes things very interesting), where cities and villages and terrain deformation are minimal.

[VGD 10]

The maximum size of the maps also may be limited:

1. The tools that are used to process satellite maps and layer masks. For example, the latest release of Photoshop not allow save a PNG file larger than 30,000x30,000 px. But really, saves the file smaller than 16,000x16,000 px;

2. An used system memory amount. For example, only a height map of XYZ file with 4096x4096 tx grid has a size of 447 MB (!) NOTE that without the rest.

Edited April 15, 2012 by VGD

[shephart 1]

i also checked the max terrain size (downloaded visitor, installed it and tested it there) and its 4096x4096 and cell size was 999.99999 or something like that and i got 4096000 (4 million) x 4096000 (4 million) km which would produce an 16777216000000 km2 terrain size, so bigger than the real world, but its only good for flying and we cant place objects (hope in arma 3 its fixed)