Sugar Lake [67 sq km river delta terrain]

[major_desync 137]

Hi all,

 

Wow - you wait ages for a comment and then four come along at once. :)

 

First - thank you for the kinds comments! Glad you're enjoying what you like in the map. Now to the things that you don't... :)

 

@Von Quest: It's a fictional map based on real locations in Louisiana; but rather than say it's those locations and invite a lot of "it's not like that in real life" comments - I put a fictional "skin" on it.  

 

Channels - most, if not, all of the larger channels are designed to be navigable, and should be, with a little care and the right boats. However not every channel is designed to be navigable (not every navigable channel is navigable to the bigger gunboats, or SDVs). If there are any channels that look like they should be passable, but aren't, let me know. 

 

Underwater - there is some variation in places (deeper channels in mudflats - see the water areas south of Camp Burnside for example), but it does need some more work. That said muddy river channels and tidal flats tend to be fairly smooth and featureless, and you can't really fall back on stock terrain fillers like rocks. I'm hoping Tanoa might have some new (under)water vegetation to make that a little more varied. 

 

@PrivateEvans: Infinite terrain - This is a comment that comes up a lot and it's something I've gone back and forth on myself. The outside map terrain is beyond ugly (and I've been looking at it for several months more than everyone else!  :o). However, just watering off the top of the map would leave the north end of Sugar Lake township looking weird as well without putting in levees, ditches and some broken highway bridges, Even then, the whole thing would then look like a bunch of marshy islands in the middle of the ocean, rather than a river delta. So, on balance, I made the call to keep the delta feeling, at the expense of having to see the ugly terrain when up at the north end. 

 

Thanks again for the feedback - I've been on a sanity break from mapping for the last couple of months, and also been stymied by a technical problem that's prevented me pushing tweaks and updates. However, I may have found a solution for that. If so, then I hope to get a v1.2 with some fixes out in the (vague) near future. 

[briantyre@gmail.com 10]

Looks awesome! I can't wait to give it a try.

Thanks!

[Benoit Katecpo 2]

Congratulations ! Looks awesome :)

[sonsalt6 105]

Updated mod v1.2-beta available at withSIX. Download now by clicking:

[major_desync 137]

I'm happy/relieved to announce the release of Sugar Lake v1.2 (available on Steam, Armaholic, & Pw6).

 

Man, this was the update from hell! Nexus, Eden, switching to CUP Terrains, upgrading to Mikeros Subscription tools (worth every penny) - lots of variables changing, lots of running just to stand still (hence the modest change-log). 

 

v1.2
FIXED: Ugly artifacting on dirt textures due to new parallax mapping. 
FIXED: Various misplaced objects (floating garbage bins, sandbags etc). 
TWEAKED: Sugar Lake now uses the CUP Terrains models for all pre-Arma3 objects. It is still compatible with All in Arma Terrain Pack as of this release date. 
TWEAKED: The following objects incompatible with the latest versions of MakePbo have been removed: Shooting_range_acr, seacat, garbage_metal, powgen_big, 
TWEAKED: The positions of some of the army_hut, hotel and yellow bungalow house objects, and objects around them to compensate for inconsistent positioning in CUP Terrains.

 

A few objects got moved around in the switch to CUP, and while I think I got most of them, I may not have got 'em all.

 

Next up - probably some tweaks to the height map and  maybe the surface mask too. And of course, we'll need to keep rolling down that road to Apex and Tanoa... :moto:  

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

Sugar Lake v1.2

Community Upgrade Project - Terrains Complete

[CrazyCorky 463]

This terrain is really awesome man! Definitely something I'm considering using for Exile mod as it would add a whole different aspect with most of it being water! I love it!

 

Started working on adding some stuff to the map trying to keep with the theme.

 

http://imgur.com/a/fOAXS

[rebelvg 281]

I guess you uploaded the update as beta to the pws. So it's not available to everyone unless people change the branch for the mod to the beta branch.

Just a heads-up.

Great map btw, will look even better after the arma visual upgrade and new water shaders.

[major_desync 137]

Hi rebelvg,

 

Yes - my bad and apologies. I'm having trouble uploading a stable branch version at the moment, but I'll keep trying and see if I can fix it. 

[Focisz 3]

Great map, different than everything I`ve seen. There is one thing that bothers me. Map is mostly cover with water, making it perfect for underwater operations, yet there is nothing underneath this water. Adding some grass, trees, bushes, trash, buildings, fences, wrecks etc. would add a lot to game experience and immersion while diving.

[major_desync 137]

Cheers for the feedback! The underwater barrens are something I hope to fix in a future version.The problem is that in a delta you can't really throw down rocks and there's not a lot of good underwater vegetation currently (corals don't really cut it - although...).

 

I'm hoping Tanoa has some new water vegetation (the trailer seems to hint at that). But wrecks (cars, containers, a few more boats), trash (barrels, pipes and industrial stuff), some tilted/rotated dead trees and stumps are all good ideas, and maybe some more stands of short reeds in the shallower flats.  

 

So yeah - now that I think about it - plenty to do! :) 

[CrazyCorky 463]

Looking forward to seeing more work on this. I really like this map and the different aspects it brings to the game, allowing water missions without having to storm a beach.

[major_desync 137]

Update 1.60 has broken the sky in Sugar Lake. Efforts to repair are under way. Keep calm and carry on. :)

 

Update: Good progress on understanding what's broken - not just the skybox and lighting, but also updated surface textures. Hotfix coming soon.*

 

*: Your concept of  "soon" may vary.  ;P

 

Update II:

 

Beta v1.21 (hotfix for 1.60) is live on Steam and is coming shortly to the other mirrors

 

Changelog:

TWEAKED: Config and surface textures to come up to 1.60 standard. Fixes the 1.60 Black Sky bug.

 

Thanks to james2464 and Makhno for the necessary know-how. 

 

While I'm still not sure about how the new textures work with the sat layer - the issues seem to be less obvious on SL than Gorgona (but I think some tweaking may be required).

 

The water and night lighting effects, though, are pretty awesome.

[CrazyCorky 463]

Update 1.60 has broken the sky in Sugar Lake. Efforts to repair are under way. Keep calm and carry on. :)

 

Look forward to the update!

[sonsalt6 105]

Updated mod v1.21 available at withSIX. Download now by clicking:

[Guest]

Thanks for informing us about the updated version :)
New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

 

Sugar Lake v1.21

 

Community Upgrade Project - Terrains Complete

[khugan 24]

Thanks for the update!

[jone_kone 158]

Update 1.60 has broken the sky in Sugar Lake. Efforts to repair are under way. Keep calm and carry on. :)

 

Update: Good progress on understanding what's broken - not just the skybox and lighting, but also updated surface textures. Hotfix coming soon.*

 

*: Your concept of  "soon" may vary.  ;P

 

Update II:

 

Beta v1.21 (hotfix for 1.60) is live on Steam and is coming shortly to the other mirrors

 

 

Thanks for the update and all the hard work. :) For a complete waterworld terrain like Sugar Lake 1.60 must be pretty cool.

 

One thing I noticed that would be cool is that (if in any way possible) if some of the "pool" areas on the map would be connected underwater? I´m planning a SEAL mission and noticed that divers cannot infiltrate areas without exposing themselves while transfering from one "pool" to another.

 

I would be awsome if you could dive longer distances. Also a few more deeper (2-3 m) areas or ditches would help getting the SVD close enough. 

[major_desync 137]

Hey Jone_Kone,

 

Is there a particular part of the map you have in mind? I'm guessing you're talking about the areas enclosed by the roads leading to Tidewater and Burnside?  

[dakaodo 52]

Thanks for the quick update! I saw your questions to james2464 about the sky fix.

 

This was the first of several maps I shortlisted for post 1.60 testing to see/admire how they looked. With the broken sky box, 40% overcast, and certain times of day, the map had a pretty eerie twilight zone kind of feel with all those orange and black shadows. Pretty limited application, but it could have been a cool one-off effect for a horror survival type scenario. (not worth the hassle of keeping that effect, though)

The lighting and water make this map crazy photorealistic now.

[major_desync 137]

@dakaodo: Yeah - the black sky did look very apocalyptic or like a plane of Oblivion! :)

 

The water effects are the best part of the 1.60 update. I've spent quite a while just boating around sightseeing. If I can just get the sat map and textures to play nice together, I'll be able to relax fully and enjoy it properly.  :blink:

[CrazyCorky 463]

@dakaodo: Yeah - the black sky did look very apocalyptic or like a plane of Oblivion! :)

 

The water effects are the best part of the 1.60 update. I've spent quite a while just boating around sightseeing. If I can just get the sat map and textures to play nice together, I'll be able to relax fully and enjoy it properly.  :blink:

I loved this map before and now it looks even better!

[dakaodo 52]

cype_revenge is using some kind of tall grass for his bankside reed stands that are half submerged. I've seen others straight up use elephant grass underwater as well, with the top 1/2 to 1/3 sticking out of water. My vote would be for various similar tall grasses repurposed to freshwater aquatic plants, b/c ocean kelp and def coral don't cut it.

 

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/182805-wip-terrain-diyala-province-iraq/page-19#entry3035509

 

Any word on the street about changing the shade of the water from ocean-blue to murky-swamp-brown-green? I'm asking out of general curiosity, not immediate demand as I've flung myself down an AI scripting rabbit hole for a few days/weeks/months ahead.

[tikka 10]

1.21 from armaholic mirror:

 

Signature SugarLake.pbo.Major_Desync.bisign is wrong. Err 0x20. Test FAILED!

[major_desync 137]

@Tikka - I will look in to that! Thanks for the report.

 

@dakaodo: It's an interesting idea They'd need to be placed as objects rather than clutter though. Just been looking at Tanoa - very little in the way of underwater stuff at the moment; but it's fair to say I will be plundering it at lot for Sugar Lake. There are a tonne of awesome new objects that'll fit perfectly. Now - just need to get the lighting sorted as well...

 

Oh and - water colour - no changes planned until I get the default lighting sorted, and that won't happen until BIS stop fiddling with the settings (they've fixed the night time issues in 1.61 by the look of it, but it might not be the end of the tweaking). 

 

So there won't be a major update for a while - but it'll be a biggie - tweaks to heightmap (smoothing airbase, roughing up the underwater); tweaks to clutter, textures, mask and sat image to get the map looking decent again in the new renderer, adding/swapping in Apex assets pretty much everywhere. 

 

Update: Keys got screwed up when I updated to workdrive. I've run pboproject again and re-signed the pbo. New version on Steam at the moment and other mirrors shortly.