(WIP) Rhodesian War

[RhodesianScout 189]

 

 

 

Hi all.......

 

Some time back I had been working on a mod for the Rhodesian Bush War.

However tragedy struck and I lost all my work.

 

This post is just a quick announcement to let you know that I have restarted work on this project and work done will appear here showing the map, scenery and objects built for Rhodesia in the 1970s.

 

 

 

 

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

Instead of using 3dsmax for the models I am going to look into using Blender...... this will hopefully reduce time taken on work on each model.

 

My early aim for this map is to add African wildlife such as leopards, lions and elephants and add their sounds when you are in a given distance from them.

After they are added other models will be created and added in order.

[yevgeni89 163]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune , but glad to see you are back, if it's any solace, the Author of the Armscor mod might be sympathetic to your cause and may allow you to use some of his assets as some Rhodesian gear and equipment was shared by the sadf and so you may save yourself sometime . While you focus on animals and terrain .

[RhodesianScout 189]

With it being 21 months since I last worked on modding in Arma 3 the one issue I had to work on was having to remember how to actually do the modding. A new computer meant starting Arma 3 from scratch and when installing Arma 3 tools I can see there have been changes made to the software.

 

An error message installing tools was eventually resolved when I discovered that even changing the location of my P drive did not fix the error I was getting when extracting game date...... I had not unticked the box "Use Default" so Tools was ignoring my specified location until I unticked that box.

 

The game data is still extracting but after that I can then install Bulldozer and begin creating the map.

 

Over night I was working on creating a low res model of an African savanna elephant..... using Blender for the first time the first model could take a couplehours to do.... however I am hoping in the near future the simple models will take 10 to 30 minutes to complete.

 

i checked the DLC released since last I played Arma 3...... I don't think any of them will be needed for a mod set in the 70's.

 

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

First picture on starting work on the elephant.......

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

As had been my aim in the prior mod the look and feel of walking through my map will be to recreate the African Bush as shown in the picture below.

 

To do this I will be creating the plants, grass and trees in blender and adding it to the mod map....... if my memory is correct I can populate entire areas with specific vegetation and grass.

 

 

[Zhivets 2392]

Good luck on your project!

[RhodesianScout 189]

Testing the DEM data for the area of Rhodesia I am hoping to add to my map.

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

The Eastern Highlands of Rhodesia..........

 

This is where the map will be based and hopefully I can recreate the scenes as shown below.

 

 

[bludski 4421]

Nice project!

Some hard earned wisdom to share:

If you want to do those hills any justice..  make a small map. You will have a very bad time with anything bigger than 3m cel size. I'd recommend 8x8 or 12.8x12.8 km.

This way you avoid having floating distant objects and hovering stuff on the hillsides.

This will also reduce the leg breaking effect from player moving over hard angles in the ground mesh.

 

Not to mention the much higher terrain details that come from this.

[RhodesianScout 189]

Test of hills

 

[ineptaphid 6413]

30 minutes ago, bludski said:

Nice project!

Some hard earned wisdom to share:

If you want to do those hills any justice..  make a small map. You will have a very bad time with anything bigger than 3m cel size. I'd recommend 8x8 or 12.8x12.8 km.

This way you avoid having floating distant objects and hovering stuff on the hillsides.

This will also reduce the leg breaking effect from player moving over hard angles in the ground mesh.

I was about to suggest he talk to you :) You always seem to come up with innovative ideas regarding mapmaking.

 

Hills do always seem problematic-just look at any of the really mountainous maps around, such as Clafghan or Hindu Kush. They hills always look like they are unfinished due to the object view distance.

[RhodesianScout 189]

Keeping it Real......

 

 

As this mod is based in early 70s Rhodesia I am keeping in mind that a lot has changed in the last 45 years as far as the scenery.

So I use Google Earth Pro to give me a much closer representation of what Rhodesia looked like back in 1972.

 

In the picture below the top image shows Mazvikadei Dam which was completed in 1988.

The image below that shows what the area looked like in the 80s.

 

[ineptaphid 6413]

This is shaping up to be pretty amazing. Are you sure it is not too ambitious for one person? Animals, a map, units etc..It's a massive amount of work.

 

But on the other hand...Are you planning on making a Rhodesian chest rig? They are pretty fantastic-and fit into any time period.

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

8 minutes ago, ineptaphid said:

This is shaping up to be pretty amazing. Are you sure it is not too ambitious for one person? Animals, a map, units etc..It's a massive amount of work.

 

But on the other hand...Are you planning on making a Rhodesian chest rig? They are pretty fantastic-and fit into any time period.

 

 

 

 

Yes the chest rig and webbing will be included........

 

Too Ambitious? 

Possibly but I have worked on big mods before so am up to the challenge.

 

 

 

 

[ineptaphid 6413]

Well i am very glad to hear it-because this all looks fantastic :)

[RhodesianScout 189]

Thanks ineptaphid

 

Making more progress with the map and have recreated the textures, look and feel simiilar to what I had created early 2016.

 

My next step is to add in the kopjies and fill in the scenery using the satellite map as a canvas.

 

 

 

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

A large town will be added to the map as shown below.

 

I think this is Umtali but I have to check on that.

 

 

[RabbitSniper 757]

The map is looking really good,cant wait to see some different animals in the game also!

[SSG Halverson 98]

I love you. Rhodesians never die.

[froggyluv 2136]

 

 Cant articulate why but this looks super appetizing - good luck on your project

[outlaw2101 28]

An interesting project on a certainly overlooked conflict.

Can't wait to go to battle in a pair of thigh high shorts. :P

[Nichols 243]

Following now...can't believe I missed the announcement on this coming back. I knew a couple of guys who immigrated to the US after the Rhodesian conflict back then; both of them were pretty cool to talk with and the older I got the more I was able to learn about it.

[friendlyguy123 2]

So this is gone now?

[R0adki11 3949]

On 6/6/2021 at 4:56 PM, friendlyguy123 said:

So this is gone now?

 

I would think so, the thread was last updated in September 2017.

 

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