[Resources] How to make a Terrain

[PepinKr 3]

Terrain Builder is out !
Find quick guide here : Quick "Terrain Builder" tutorial (Edit: Link removed)

And look at visitor 4 Manual : Visitor 4 Manual

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This post will be updated constantly, so please feel free to contribute and share your links.

Before anything else, you should know that making a terrain in ArmA 3 is quite similar to ArmA 2 in many aspects, so check this amazing post :
Resourcelink collection: How to make a map, step-by-step

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TOOLS

BI Tools
Mikero's tools
Arma tools
L3DT
TerreSculptor HMES
World Tools
Crazybump
ZGM Arma3 Terrain Editing Suite

L3DT

Create your terrain with L3DT

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GETTING STARTED WITH VISITOR

Setting up your P: drive :

Mikero's "Arma32P" tool.
A3 P: drive setup
How to have 2 P: drive (A2 & A3)

Guides :

Basic Map Making Tutorial by FreakJoe
Arma 3 object placement guide
Quick Terrain builder Tutorial

Tips & Tricks :

Speed up .png to .paa conversion
Large SAT image (40960 x 40960) in Visitor
How to edit terrain in A3 buldozer

ArmA 3 new features

New road system:

Road shapefile making guide
ZGM Roadpainting source files for Global Mapper
M1lkm8ns roadpainting source files for quantum gis
Modifiying heightmaps (especially roads) with Cryengine 3 SDK

Loading Text:

How to create custom loading texts

3D Editor:

Using inbuilt 3D-Editor for map making
Toolset for 3D-editor
GID Object Positioning system

Satellite normals:

Note : We are still figuring out the process, Satellite normals replace textures's mco.

How to import a normal map sat image

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Textures :

Ground Textures sharing topic
How to make a _nopx PAA with crazybump
How to make a _mco PAA

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Other Ressources :

MapTest A3 open source
Smoothing Terrain Visitor Script

Edited July 29, 2016 by BohemiaBeck
removed outdated link

[[aps]gnat 28]

i know that some of us can be quite lazy and do not want to search

Thanks PepinKr, nice effort.

But ...... if you're "quite lazy", then Terrain Making is not for you I'd suggest LOL :D

(it terrain making, not "map" making btw)

[PepinKr 3]

Of course Terrain making is not for everyone but this post will help (i hope) people who are interested to get into terrain making faster ;)

[ZeroG 23]

Some self promotion :) for the 3D-Editor section: Toolset for 3D-editor

[m1lkm8n 411]

Well I was gonna suggest zerogs map making guide for global mapper but I then saw its the first link you got there (facepalm).

Good effort! It's nice when all the resources are together.

One thing though while the terrain making bit is quite similar one major differenc is the lack of satellite normals which I fear may not be fully intergraded until we get new tools. Currently the workaround for it, while not 100%, does let you see how it 'takes the terrain to the next level'

[PepinKr 3]

@Zerog : Link added ;)

@M1lkm8n : I added a link to your post about satellite normals.

[sgt.sev3n 10]

BIS should release new, more easy tools for terrain & map making...

for terrain and map making: something like crysis sandbox, at least for the terrain... and about object placing and making roads: the same like in crysis sandbox or atleast something like world tools and road painter but improved and implented in the terrain editor....

watch this for example what i mean and what BIS should release (or an similar tool like that in video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0Q-EHWOQc

really BIS, its time now for tools like that and not shitty visitor tool anymore...

we had visitors in arma & arma 2, but these times should be over!!

[freakjoe 3]

BIS should release new, more easy tools for terrain & map making...

for terrain and map making: something like crysis sandbox, at least for the terrain... and about object placing and making roads: the same like in crysis sandbox or atleast something like world tools and road painter but improved and implented in the terrain editor....

watch this for example what i mean and what BIS should release (or an similar tool like that in video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0Q-EHWOQc

really BIS, its time now for tools like that and not shitty visitor tool anymore...

we had visitors in arma & arma 2, but these times should be over!!

And what does that have to do with this thread?

The topic has been talked about here : http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?151784-More-Accessible-Terrain-Creator

[Sealife 22]

i would also point out this little bit of help

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?160709-GID-Object-Positioning-System

its good at moment for some expot for single object to rpt and then to Visitor script import , i think with more feedback it can become powrful tool . o course when visitor is set up with ZGM addon in A2 Setup of P:drive also

Edited August 13, 2013 by Sealife

[PepinKr 3]

Updated with "How to create custom loading texts" from M1lkm8n.

[PepinKr 3]

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A little tip to speed up the .png to .paa conversion (done by buldozer after an import of your mask and sat) :

- Go to your "TexView 2" folder

- Copy "Pal2PacE.exe" & "ijl15.dll" to your "Layers" folder

- Launch this command after pointing to your Project's Layers folder :

pal2pace *

- Wait 10 mns (instead of 20~30 mns)

- Launch your terrain in buldozer and enjoy !

Edited September 7, 2013 by PepinKr

[rip31st 98]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26293265/pal2pacet.jpg

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A little tip to speed up the .png to .paa conversion (done by buldozer after an import of your mask and sat) :

- Go to your "TexView 2" folder

- Copy "Pal2PacE.exe" & "ijl15.dll" to your "Layers" folder

- Launch this command after pointing to your Project's Layers folder :

pal2pace *

- Wait 10 mns (instead of 20~30 mns)

- Launch your terrain in buldozer and enjoy !

( don't know if this was previously mentioned )Also remember to remove all your .png files from your layers folder, otherwise buldozer will load slowly. You may also have to edit all your .rvmat files with notepad ++ and change any file extensions from .png to .paa, otherwise there will be errors.

[ZeroG 23]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26293265/pal2pacet.jpg

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A little tip to speed up the .png to .paa conversion (done by buldozer after an import of your mask and sat) :

- Go to your "TexView 2" folder

- Copy "Pal2PacE.exe" & "ijl15.dll" to your "Layers" folder

- Launch this command after pointing to your Project's Layers folder :

pal2pace *

- Wait 10 mns (instead of 20~30 mns)

- Launch your terrain in buldozer and enjoy !

Thanks to Snakeman from PMC, I made a very speedy bat that allows conversion of the png files in less than 3 minutes (on SSD). Create a new textfile in the data folder of your map project, copy the code stuff from below in there and save under a name of your choice. I experienced that you dont even have to change island names, just make sure pal2pace is also in the data folder:

rem mask - quick, as they are simple images with few colors

START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\m_*.png

rem satellite texture

rem 1st
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_00*.png

rem 2nd
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_01*.png

rem 3rd
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_02*.png

rem 4th
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_03*.png

rem 5th
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_04*.png

rem 6th
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_05*.png

rem 7th
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_06*.png

rem 8th
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_07*.png

rem 9th
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_08*.png

rem 10th
START "" /D"%CD%" /B "p:\YOURMAP\data\pal2pace" layers\s_09*.png

[rip31st 98]

Faster=better! Any way to speed up what is known by many of us to be a long drawn out process of trial and error is a good thing. Keep the tips coming! Thanks ZeroG and Snakeman!

[PepinKr 3]

ZeroG you are amazing !

If only there was a way to speed up L3DT too :'(

[lendall 10]

hello i was just wondering if there was any way do use the in game editor to create snow on the atlas map or if anyone knows an easy way to implement that because i got all these winter outfits with no winter maps thank you :)

[bushlurker 46]

Here's one... maybe not quite what you were looking for though... still, there's snow... ;)

I suspect the choice of good terrains will increase dramatically once the new tools arrive....

B

[Indigowd 10]

I am in awe of how great the modding community is surrounding Arma, but there's a BIG flaw. I have searched for and read several guides on the topic of making new terrains (or islands), but have yet to succeed. Every guide links to another guide, often outdated and often with Arma2-dependencies. Is there not one kind soul out there who has a step by step tutorial of how to make a simple terrain and get it into game? Written for someone who doesn't have a background in Arma2.

I am losing hope :/

Thanks!

[ZeroG 23]

At the moment, you are good to go with the existing tutorials, really. SgtAce's or Mondkalb's tutorials are a good place to start. Only thing different is configs and roads, but for bringing your first map ingame, the tutorials are sufficient. As soon as the new Visitor is there, I will build a nice tutorial.

[Indigowd 10]

Yeah, Mondkalbs guide got me pretty far actually. But it took a while to find it.

On another note, how come I cant create new threads in this forum? I had a question regarding placing grass, but don't really want to hijack someone elses thread :/

Thanks!

[m1lkm8n 411]

Yeah, Mondkalbs guide got me pretty far actually. But it took a while to find it.

On another note, how come I cant create new threads in this forum? I had a question regarding placing grass, but don't really want to hijack someone elses thread :/

Thanks!

You actually may be able to create a new thread now I think you just need to post comments a few times first.

What's the grass question ?

[Indigowd 10]

Thanks, yeah, I am now able to make threads.

The "grass question" is actually related to Clutter. For some reason I cannot get my clutter to appear. The ground is textured, but it is all flat. I have googled and followed instructions that have worked for others, but sadly without success. I haven't given up though, and will probably start a new test-island from scratch tonight, to see if I can get it right. You don't happen to know of a specific clutter-guide by any chance? I am using Mondkalb's terrain guide atm. Thank you :)

[m1lkm8n 411]

Search for bushlurkers guide to micro terrains. very awesome. If you still need help with clutter post a thread and someone will be along to help for sure.

[Indigowd 10]

This is awesome! Thank you kindly, M1lkm8n!

[PepinKr 3]

Post updated with a new tip from Mondkalb