Generating layer problem... can someone please help

[ronhillultra 14]

I am creating a custom map with custom objects.

I've used real world elevation data and satellite image to create custom terrain in L3DT. I've imported into Terrain Builder.

Now I'm getting an error message when i try to generate layers under MapFrame properties.

I'm stuck... tried messing with paths in Tool/properties (drop down menu)... didn't help

These are my settings and the last one is with the error message... can anyone help?

http://s20.postimg.org/5datf1zql/visitor_problem1.jpg

http://s20.postimg.org/llmgasj71/visitor_problem2.jpg

http://s20.postimg.org/v7km4tzql/visitor_problem3.jpg

EDIT : I've seen someone post this problem on this forum... apparently he solved the problem changing path under tools/properties drop down menu... didn't work for me... change them to what?

Also someone suggested to me that i should keep my Arma3ToolBox on C:\Program Files... but my root folder for steam is D:\Steam... I would rather not move all the gigabytes from my D: to my system drive C:

Edited July 18, 2014 by RonhillUltra

[1para{god-father} 105]

I have had that issue before and it way my layers.cfg that was the issue post yours up here as that could be your issue a missing " or something :)

[ronhillultra 14]

This is it:

class Layers

{

class grass_green

{

texture = "Esseker\data\middle_mco.paa";

material = "Esseker\data\grass_green.rvmat";

};

class JI_Seabed

{

texture = "Esseker\data\middle_mco.paa";

material = "Esseker\data\seabed.rvmat";

};

};

class Legend

{

picture="Esseker\source\mapLegend.png";

class Colors

{

grass_green[]={{0,255,0}};

seabed[]={{255,255,0}}

};

};

Its just a test so i can see how everything works.... I am planing to add some more layers...

Now that i think of it i think i can remeber having some error involving seabed.rvmat... cant really remember about what

[animander 10]

This is your problem:

seabed[]={{255,255,0}}

needs to instead be

JI_Seabed[]={{255,255,0}}

Because that's how you've defined it previously a few lines above. As you have it, it's looking for a class seabed which doesn't exist. I'd recommend changing it all to lowercase though. If I recall correctly, there can be some case sensitivity issues.

[m1lkm8n 410]

actually no need to create per surface mco textures they haven't been used since arma 1. you can leave the texture = "Esseker\data\middle_mco.paa"; blank

so it would be texture = ""; the engine ignores it

[ronhillultra 14]

Thx guys for the quick reply..... I've changed the layers.cfg and its still showing the same message...

But I just check something i have a problem with the heightmap... scale is off.... I thought it look weird for a moment there.

I have to backtrack and do the setup for visitor again... since I am new to all this i might made mistake somewhere in the process.

I will try to do everything from start again... and than if i still get the same error i will get back to you.... thx again

[m1lkm8n 410]

Hold on. Just to clarify. Are you using visitor 3 or terrain builder. Because you said v3 above.

[ronhillultra 14]

Hold on. Just to clarify. Are you using visitor 3 or terrain builder. Because you said v3 above.

Well Im using Terrain builder which I installed through Steam.... Arma3Tools... sorry for the confusion...

[ronhillultra 14]

Hold on. Just to clarify. Are you using visitor 3 or terrain builder. Because you said v3 above.

I tried setting up everything again with fixed heightmap and i get same error message... do you know any other reason this might happen?

[m1lkm8n 410]

Can not load p:\

I'm assuming your p drive is actually set properly?

And the layers config is in the correct location?

Also this:

JI_Seabed[]={{255,255,0}};<-----

You may have changed it since your last update but your missing the semicolon

Edited July 22, 2014 by M1lkm8n

[ronhillultra 14]

semicolon does the trick i guess :)... allthough i get different message Bad texel mapping for surface mask image... my guess is that colors dont match the layers.cfg

Edit: I use photoshop for this... it says its correct color for grass and seabed

Edited July 22, 2014 by RonhillUltra

[m1lkm8n 410]

I would get in the habit of using tags for everything. It will stop config overwriting which is a bad thing if it happens. So instead of grass_green use yourtag_grass_green

Also the image size of your sat/mask may be what's causing that.

Your terrain size is 2048 meters. Try a sat/mask at 4096. That's double the res and .5 meters per pixel.

[ronhillultra 14]

I would get in the habit of using tags for everything. It will stop config overwriting which is a bad thing if it happens. So instead of grass_green use yourtag_grass_green

Also the image size of your sat/mask may be what's causing that.

Your terrain size is 2048 meters. Try a sat/mask at 4096. That's double the res and .5 meters per pixel.

Thx for the advice... changing my texture to 4096 worked...

I made couple of test roads... just to see how this works...

Made .pbo with Addonbuilder, and i took a heli flight around the map.

I just got small portion of the heightmap and texture...

http://s20.postimg.org/jb26buckt/arma3_2014_07_22_16_07_24_84.jpg

My FPS droped to 5-6 and texture for the grass is just too tiled (small)... there is no grass (clutter)...

My settings are off somewhere.

Also I wanted to ask about the map edge... people told me this is automatic. But I would like that my edge of the map matches the color of grass and not just stragiht lines... I need edge like on Chernarus

Am I limited to 4096 for the terrain texture? I've red somewhere that chernarus is like 16.000x16.000... 1 px per meter...

Could I use power of two textures like 8192

Edited July 22, 2014 by RonhillUltra

[m1lkm8n 410]

Your talking for your sat image correct? 8192x8192? Yes you can do that. It would give you a super high resolution. .25 meters per pixel.

I think the problem of fps may be from the fact you are using a 1 meter cell. That's fairly taxing on the engine.

Ok for the map edge. Currently it looks like you have synthetic terrain turned off in your island config. Turning that one is supposed to make the terrain continue infinitely and look realistic. However it seems , though my testing, that it's not working right and when it's enabled the game crashes. You can however set a green texture for the outside terrain so it blends better with your terrain. There's a setting in the config where you define the picture being used.

[ronhillultra 14]

Yes 8192x8192.... since my map is 13x13km that gives me like 1.5 meters per pixel (which is very nice) ... with 4096 i got 3m per pix.

How much meters per cell would be something optimal for the map of that size? I am guessing that is under mapframe properties before i generate layers.

I am hoping that the heightmap is also gonna correct itself... because i got just a small part of my map in the game as you can see.

I was wondering why is everyone making islands.... there is no custom maps that are not Islands,at least I didnt see one. Im guessing problems with the edge... because it looks bad like this... ( actualy just remembered chernobyl zone... but it was only flat terrain)

So conclusion on the edge is that its broken atm and I have to use this edge witj just straight lines .... since my map is not an island, all four sides are land. :/ ... like takistan

Edited July 22, 2014 by RonhillUltra

[m1lkm8n 410]

Wait. What the heck. Your initial post says its 2048x1?

That's why I said to go to 4096

So what's your heightmap and cell size then?

[ronhillultra 14]

Wait. What the heck. Your initial post says its 2048x1?

That's why I said to go to 4096

So what's your heightmap and cell size then?

My height map is 2048 resolution (max for free version of L3DT). Chernarus was aparently made with this resolution.

Sat image is 4096x4096 ( hope i can use 8192x8192 without affecting performance )

My inital post has same settings as my map atm

---------- Post added at 20:08 ---------- Previous post was at 19:49 ----------

Dude so much shit to go through before i can actually get creative with the map, I just want to start modeling and importing, I got some models ready right now... not as easy as I thought.

I understand why people give up on this... im guessing people who know how to work with arma engine, make maps, do modeling properly, and not employed by bohemia .... are very very rare.

Just wanna set everything up so i can get to actual work... not fighting with error messages

[m1lkm8n 410]

http://s20.postimg.org/llmgasj71/visitor_problem2.jpg

Take a look at that picture you posted. It's says grid size 2048x2048 , cell size 1 for a total terrain size of 2048x2048.

Where are you getting 13kmx13km from?

[ronhillultra 14]

oh shit :) ... you are right.... my heightmap is 13km but under settings is just 2048 cube with 200000/0 coordinates... that explains it

Should i keep cell size at 1 ... or?

[ronhillultra 14]

http://s20.postimg.org/llmgasj71/visitor_problem2.jpg

Take a look at that picture you posted. It's says grid size 2048x2048 , cell size 1 for a total terrain size of 2048x2048.

Where are you getting 13kmx13km from?

Thank you for you patience really...

I've corrected some settings... changed some things in config.ccp...

And yet another problem...

I will show you the screens

My setup in terrain builder and config.ccp

http://s20.postimg.org/65vux7xgt/visitor_problem5.jpg

Screen from L3DT and how the map is suppose to look

http://s20.postimg.org/r420vaxbh/visitor_problem6.jpg

The addon builder reports error in config.ccp but finishes packing Esseker.pbo... this is what i get in game

http://s20.postimg.org/rjdaobj8t/visitor_problem8.jpg

Map is 2x2km in game.. .texture is freaking out and tiling of the grass is so small.... but he kept 2048 resolution of heightmap as you can see on the ground

http://s20.postimg.org/3r3zcsh7x/visitor_problem7.jpg

Edited July 23, 2014 by RonhillUltra

[m1lkm8n 410]

It's no problem at all. But it is getting hard to help you because every time you post pics your settings are different from what you actually say.

Your saying your total terrain size is 2048 when it's now 12288.

So let's get some basics down first. Height map. Think of it as a picture with each pixel(vertice) of the picture representing a value. In this case , height.

Cell size- that is the distance between each vertice. It's easy to think of it as a fish net. The knots being the vertice the rope in between each knot as the cell size. Now if you pull up on a knot you'll notice the others around it slightly raise as well.

Now your heightmap. You have a heightmap that's 2048x2048x the cell size(6)(which is the distance between each pixel(vertice) for a total terrain size of 12288meters x 12288 meters.

But....in you post you say you are using a 2048x2048 by 1 meter cell size. For a total terrain size of 2048 meters x 2048 meters.

So you can see that's a huge difference. So you need to figure out exactly what size you are using and then it will be easier to help you.

Also there is a few things that need fixing in you config. For posting config a you can either use the code brackets on the forum here or post your config to pastebin.com and put the link here.

[ronhillultra 14]

Im sorry for the confusion...

My intention is to import a 13x13km height map wich i created in L3DT (when i said 2048 terrain resolution i just ment like polycount of the terrain).

This is my first time using Terrain builder or visitor... or messing around with .cfg files. So what i am doing might be totally wrong along with the settings.... since Im just trying to figure out what is what.

Size of the map shows correctly in the Visitor itself... texture fits where its suppose to be.. that size of 2048 must be somewhere in setting.

The map size in L3DT is exactly 12740m

Also i am getting different results than the first time

---------- Post added at 14:06 ---------- Previous post was at 13:43 ----------

Hey i am one of 47 subs on that youtube chanel that is in your signature :)... didn't even know it.... I thought you know your shit when i saw couple of videos

Edited July 23, 2014 by RonhillUltra

[m1lkm8n 410]

Hehe. I thought your name looked familiar. Well first what is the cell size in l3dt.

You may want to resize it so your using a whole number. Like 2048x6 rather then a decimal like 6.223 or whatever it is to give you that 12740. It'll be easier to work with easpecially if this is your first terrain.

Also not to discourage you but if this is your first terrain I would recommend starting with something smaller to learn first. Like a 1024x5 for a total of 5120x5120 meter terrain.this way you can learn the basics then progress to a larger terrain like the one you want to do

[ronhillultra 14]

Well... to be honest... since i didnt have full scope of what it actually takes to get everything working i kinda applyed for Make arma not war contest...

I have this plan for a great apocalypse map... with custom destroyed city with high quality models....

example

http://makearmanotwar.com/entry_uploads/5269/screenshots/owhEZP8xr0afAnSlE7rIr9Ol4VLxNqvQho0iU90ok9lGXKT9p9.jpg

I got multiplayer sandbox mod in mind for the map...

I was hopping for some kind of crash course in terrain building... is it realy that more difficult to work with 12km map instead of 5km?

I am pretty good at organizing my workflow and I did a lot of architectual visualizations.... modeling, terrain editing, texturing... its all familiar ground, just not in arma

[m1lkm8n 410]

Not difficult. Just more time consuming.

But it helps to have an understanding of how the terrain process works.

There's a really good guide on bushlurker.com. His guide to microterrains is fantastic. Now while it was made for arma2 it's pretty relevant for a3 as well. And it'll give you a good understanding of all the different components that go into makeing a terrain