Large S.T.A.L.K.E.R. inspired Island "NOVA ZONA"

[Kraun 10]

Is that possible though? Wouldn't you need the map files from BI? Not sure if they're okay with giving those away. It might be nice to do a stalkerish redesign of Altis though. Different vegetation and all, different buildings, but that would probably mean a full retexture which is still going to be a pain in the ass.

Not sure about that at all, but considering all the variations of chernarus on A2, i don't see how you couldn't atleast alter then maps good enough to make them post apocy :) Making an entirely new map from scratch and at the same time keeping the detail as high quality as his assets is going to drain him dry! :) (no idea if he's alone in the project or if he has a team).

[meshcarver 12]

Hi Adanteh and Kraun,

some good feedback there guys, thanks!

Yes, I am working on this alone. It's been something I've wanted to do for years tbh- to have a huge freeroam STALKER inspired map to play around in with creepy unsettling atmosphere in a fantastic engine...

I want to stay solo for a much of this project as I can, as I know from experience that as soon as more people come on board that it could/will lose it's initial direction and become a compromise of everyone's own vision and wants.

That is not necessarily a bad thing, but as this is very much a personal undertaking I really wouldn't like that to happen. Of course, I will have to bend the ear of many a modder out there at various points and already have, but won't be actively taking anyone on for helping me in actually producing content for this. I've already been given so much help and advice with loads of ARMA modders behind the scene- the community here is amazing.

The only reason for forming a team would be to get this out sooner- but while I'm working on this as much as I can, I'm not in a rush, I'm just enjoying the process.

In regards to the island layout, yes, I've got a vague plan in my head and yes multiple "little" islands will also feature and I'll be constructing one off bridges etc to link them were necessary. There will be the central island which will be very big, then all these little islands dotted around its coast. I'm seriously toying with the idea of using the topographical data of the isle of Anglesey for the template of the terrain, and obviously heavily editing the satmask to fit in with an Eastern European look.

And talking of swamps- I've already mentioned plans to have them feature hugely in NOVA ZONA! They're a massive part of the Stalkers world imo.

I'm not really planning on having huge "cities" so to speak, more large towns and smaller villages and hamlets, but I will be having huge Industrial Complexes and Research Areas etc, you get the idea. I can't really see a huge city fitting into this aesthetic much...

The feeling I want to try for is barren/desolate/unsettling/bleak/irradiated etc.

Anyway, I hope that clears a few things up for you lads!

[meshcarver 12]

Hello again,

good to have these forums up and running again..!

Well, I'm planning to do a few of these kind of radio masts/antenna, as they're quite quick to do and will lend a lot of atmosphere to a scene, especially at night, when their silhouettes break up the skyline and with little lights flashing on and off etc...

This one is a straight forward tall thin mast, but some of the others will be more sinister in shape, taking cues from old Soviet forms, and of course the Brain Scorcher.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9269548110/

I've tried to keep the metal structure rusty and worn, and also added a few metal "plates" and grills at various heights to break up the form and add variety.

For me, little touches like radio masts and old dis-used radars dotted around really put a location into the Stalker mindset.

[rian 10]

This looks VERY promising!

I have always been a huge fan of the STALKER series and I think ARMA3 is the ideal platform on which to build STALKER mods.

[adumb 0]

This is one of the biggest projects I've seen anyone by themselves take on. The scale of which you've put in front of you is huge! You are, in a sense, are making a whole game by yourself. Which, I find awesome. I have wanted to give life to an island for a long time, in ArmA. But was always just a bit too much for just myself. So, good luck and by the looks of it, should be in talks with BIS for a job or a stand alone game. :)

[meshcarver 12]

@Rian and Adumb,

hi guys, aye, I also think ARMA3 is the perfect vehicle for creating a STALKER inspired map. With its new volumetric clouds and updated lighting etc there's so many great opportunities here... ;)

It is a big project yes, and I've been toying it around in my head for years to be honest and so I sort of just waited to see what ARMA3 would bring, and as soon as I saw some previews of what it would include I just started to eek away at models for it and it's just gone from there.

I've a sketch pad FULL of scribbles and notes, folders full of real world ref and some ingame STALKER shots too to keep me on track.

I try to not think about the scale of what I'm doing- I'd freak if I did! You could spend a whole day just running things through in your mind and almost waste it... it's best to just treat each model as its own entity and finish it to a good degree, then forget about it and move onto the next.

Again- most of these are not ingame yet, there's no point. It breaks the flow of creating them all.

I've done a few test pieces to get them ingame like House_01 for example, and they work fine. So I know the process now and with that in mind I'm just churning out all the possible objects I need to create a full database.

Also, waiting longer to get them all ingame has the bonus of seeing whether BI come up with more mod tools etc, and also it'll be like Xmas morning for me one day getting everything in and having an explore of them on a stormy night..!!! :)

Thanks for your comments- it all helps with my motivation as I'm sure any modder for ARMA will tell you it's great to get feedback.

[giorgygr 61]

I don't know friend..

Large projects such as _this..goes with large amount of people involved.

I know the best team is 'some clones of yourself' tho..and other people having different techniques and different opinion on *quality and efficiency.

We can add in the equation the tools provided by BIS (as we know until now..) are not built to save time on artist.

I m just wishing good luck here..i know there is much work ahead.

[AlexVestin 24]

He's doing an awesome job already. The models look great and seems to be able to fit together perfectly in the end.

And to ease the thought of work needed to be done to finish it all. An island does not really need that many objects to feel like a real environment. I have no doubt that you can make something great with just a few models. 2-3 tree models, a few bushes and a rock here and there can probably go really far. Cities will take time to build up, no doubt, but the wildlife does not need the same amount of planning. Looking forward to your next blog-update :)

[cadeudo 10]

it lookds nice , gj m8 :) hope u get it done

[meshcarver 12]

Hi lads,

aye, I'm fully aware that large projects are more swiftly handled with larger teams, but I'm not doing this as a project to get out the door asap.

I look at it like this- if I was just releasing buildings packs and objects, then I'd have quite a few to release already, it'd be quite a substantial pack, so in that respect it's going quite swiftly...

But, as I'm planning to put them all together in a form then it's just simply going to take longer- factor in the size of the map I've decided on and that gets longer still.

These are all choices I've made, and I know they could turn around and bite me on the arse and if that happens there's always compromise to fall back on.

The main obstacles I think would be length of time and/or motivation and simply having enough free time at all to do it.

I'm treating it as a few things- experience of doing entirely my own work for an existing game (Which happens to be fantastic!), portfolio work which will always help / to create a world I've always wanted to play exactly as I imagined it and to immerse myself in the process as I go along as I know I keep mentioning it but I'm really enjoying doing this. It gives me a lot of satisfaction.

It's also new to me in the sense that for the first time I'm getting all this great feedback from an open and active community- I've never had that before as I've been in a closed office environment which can be a bit confining at times, but necessary yes. I find this new environment to be really motivating- something which I really didn't realise how much I'd lost with being in the industry for roughly 15 years now. It can be VERY draining at times... but that's another story..! ;)

In the end, it either comes down to saying "Yeah, ok, I'll get some other people involved in all this, making houses and objects etc.." and then I'll be in the horrible position of having to tell people what I want them to do, and not really wanting to tell them if their work is not up to snuff, or leaves mine looking like crap lol..! There'd be a visible difference in style/standard I think- and continuity also helps immersion so that's not irrelevant.

And, I'd be spending a lot of time having to designate work out which could cancel any progress made by myself in the meantime anyway...

...or, I could just continue as I am, happy and content in trying to make a good Stalker inspired map for ARMA3 for you peeps to explore, with no stress or hurry...

Anyway, thank you for all your ongoing feedback, and it is appreciated. :239:

I'm just spending a bit more time replying to it as I've had a few comments like this now and I'm getting PMs and emails also regarding me "getting this out there faster" or simply some cheeky sods asking for me to literally give them my objects as they're created..!?

"Hi, I would like you to send me your objects you are making for ARMA3 Nova Zona"... beggars belief..!!! :icon_rolleyes:

Edited July 16, 2013 by meshcarver

[Polygon 11]

Will your building packs be accessible for everyone to use on their maps?

They're amazing and atmospheric. In my opinion, perfect for a DayZ Standalone Stalker-like island, or a spin-off. The Zone, in its huge scale and variety, would feel unique.

[meshcarver 12]

Hi Polygon! :D

No mate, I'm not planning to right now.

This is simply an island I'll be making for people to play on.

I'll just be releasing this map as a map- it's not something I'm concerned with right now thinking about releasing all the individual assets etc.

I hope you're cool with that, and thank you for your comments too man. ;)

[LongshotAU 10]

Wow, nice work, can't wait to try it out!

My only question is though; what scale/units settings are you using for 3Ds Max? I'm guessing 0.25m per grid square, for doors and such? I'm not exactly new to modeling, but for ArmA it's a different beast, due to scaling and proportion.

[meshcarver 12]

Hi LongshotAU,

With things like grids etc, I change mine on the fly always, depending on what I'm modelling.

Basically, as a rule I've given myself for this project and going from some info from some sources in these forums I use doors that are 2:20 meters high and 1:10 wide.

Just search these forums and you'll now get most answers you're looking for, as I went through a phase of asking every question I could conceive that I thought I'd run into at some point and hadn't been asked before.

[scorch_052 127]

This looks great! After reading your blog and resume, it's clear that you know what you're doing and how to do it. However, I feel like your enthusiasm and passion for this subject is whats going to make it great.

[meshcarver 12]

Hey Scorch_052,

cheers man, nice one.

My only big concern is that once it all starts coming together I'll find out I've done something fundamentally wrong in the whole process and EVERYTHING will basically be unusable lol..! Like too many textures or something like that...

Jeeeez... I really hope not though..! :pray:

[scorch_052 127]

I'd say thats not going to happen, but ArmA can be a cold b**** sometimes...

Regardless, I'm sure you'll be able to put out something close to your hopes at least.

[meshcarver 12]

...damn, just to give a heads up, I was about to release another update and possible video (Dunno about that yet, might be too early!) but RL calls- got some other work on so it's gonna be a few weeks I reckon before next blog post. :(

I need to put bread on the table.

[Brain 12]

Real-life, earning money and social interactions are totally overrated when it comes to anything related to STALKER :D :p

Just kidding ;)

[LongshotAU 10]

Thanks for the advice, meshcarver, much appreciated!

Good luck with the project, look forward to the finished product!

[meshcarver 12]

No problem LonghshotAU,

hey man, I forgot this aswell- basically the unit dimensions for ARMA2, is more or less the same for ARMA3 I reckon:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Soldier_model_proportions

@Brain- lol, tbh mate, I really hate not getting a days work in on this project, really bugs me..! But alas, money is needed..!

[freakjoe 3]

This is quite possibly the most interesting project I've seen being worked on for A3 so far. And I'm not even a fan of Stalker :)

Great work.

[meshcarver 12]

Hi FreakJoe,

hey thanks man, nice of you to say that.

At the moment, I've got quite a bit or real life work on, so I'm whittling away at this still in the wee hours to keep it ticking over.

I'm currently working on another form of Radio Mast (Well, more an outlandish type of STALKER transmission tower) that when finished I'll see if I can get it fully working ingame and post a few more shots and possibly a video of it in location (Well, on Stratis!) with a few OPFOR trying to kill me on it or something similar so you can get more of an idea of what all these objects all look like ingame.

[Karl Sauer 79]

Looks quite nice, I'll be keeping my eye on it for sure.

[meshcarver 12]

Hi Stalkers,

here's another type of Radio Mast or Transmission Tower I'll use to populate NOVA ZONA.

I am planning to do about 7-8 different kinds of towers like these as they look so good against the sky, or silhouetted at night when lightening strikes- they add a lot of atmosphere. I will be adding some form of light to the tops of these towers too. I know there's the whole power situation, but some could have lights and others not.

This one is a sort of experimental tower- who knows what kind of wavelength it transmitted on when it was functional... maybe it was transmitting something else entirely... MuuuuuuuahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA..! :couch:

Anyway, this one has got two floors for the player to traverse via two long service ladders. The top floor has a missing floor panel with another also at an angle, so be sure to watch your footing if you dare venture up there for overwatch.

And who knows- maybe once you're up there you'll trigger an Anomaly... MuuuuuuuahahaahAHAHAHHHAHH..!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9350272597/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86890612@N02/9353054024/

Edited July 23, 2013 by meshcarver