Blue_Flight 0 Posted May 4, 2007 An idea came into my mind and i would really like to know your opinions about it. As in OFP, ArmA´s landscape is based on an island. When the tools are released, especially the new visitor a lot of new custom made islands will appear from the great community. Wouldn´t it now be possible to make a really big map with Sahrani combined with some other custom made islands? There was a mod like this for OFP, which included all the official islands in one big map, but was at least for me quite laggy. Seeing now that the ArmA engine uses streaming, shouldn´t it be possible to do something like this? Of course there would be the problem about the loading time to even get into the map. But if we say it´s ok to wait some minutes, it should be possible to have a fairly big map. Then it would be possible to make map packages with a limit from 5 or sth. like this islands in it to ensure the loading time is accectable. The possibilities for the game and the addon makers could reach new dimensions that way: - The use of fast fighter or bomber aircraft makes much more sense - Different Airports on different islands - You could make real war scenarios with an enemy holding a complete island - Landing crafts and Transport planes would make much more sense because of the needed transport from units from one island to another - The use of real Anti-Air Systems with somewhat real range - etc... Now i´m really excited about your thoughts. I know this is a bit early atm. but it got me very excited for the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MehMan 0 Posted May 4, 2007 AFAIK multiple airfields/airports are still not possible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
plasman 0 Posted May 4, 2007 Sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately for me I guess I’ll never be able to experiment it myself: My Intel Dual Core 2.3 Ghz + ATI Radeon X1600 is already laggy when playing Sahrani alone, a bigger island will simply fry the graphic card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blue_Flight 0 Posted May 4, 2007 (MehMan @ May 04 2007,12:37) said: AFAIK multiple airfields/airports are still not possible. I think i read that too but it would still make sense for human players then or someone can come up with a solution for this. Plasman: That´s the thing i´m not sure about. If the streaming allows more islands without a direct performance impact. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UNN 0 Posted May 4, 2007 [b said: Quote[/b] ]it would still make sense for human players then or someone can come up with a solution for this. Yes to both. [b said: Quote[/b] ]That´s the thing i´m not sure about. If the streaming allows more islands without a direct performance impact. I would have thought the main impact would the size of the actual pbo, and the length of time it takes to pre-load areas of the island that are currently not in memory. At least if map streaming works the way it should. People have been thinking about such large scale maps and mission for a while. Without the tools all we can do for now is try and provide some of the addons required to cover the list of "Things you can do" on larger maps. Incidentally you can add long range cargo vehicles to the list. What does concern me is the sheer amount of work involved in making an island such as Sahrani. I think some sort of compromise with maps x times larger than Sahrani, would have to be found. For one, reducing the amount of objects, per squarer kilometre. Which might actually make it run faster on some people’s computers. The first thing I would like to try, when the tools arrive. Is to find out just how big an island you can have in Arma. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bravo 6 0 Posted May 4, 2007 im sure alot of us are waiting for those big maps, big citys like in vbs2.. Iraqui citys.. the question is how good is the engine to support this type or islands or maps as we speak. maybe we can only see that in GAME 2, running fluid without lagging Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
telejunky 0 Posted May 4, 2007 Yep a 2nd BIG CTI would be great VBS is able to manage up to 1000km², so why shouldn't it be possible with ArmA? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr_Tea 0 Posted May 4, 2007 (plasman @ May 04 2007,12:43) said: Sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately for me I guess I’ll never be able to experiment it myself: My Intel Dual Core 2.3 Ghz + ATI Radeon X1600 is already laggy when playing Sahrani alone, a bigger island will simply fry the graphic card. The area outside you`re viewdistance will not do anything to you`re graphic card. The south Sahrani "stand alone" islands are less detailed than the original Sahrani, that`s why they run smoother and not because of that they are smaller. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blue_Flight 0 Posted May 7, 2007 (UNN @ May 04 2007,13:06) said: [b said: Quote[/b] ]it would still make sense for human players then or someone can come up with a solution for this. Yes to both. Sounds like a plan Mr_Tea: If that´s really the case with the streaming, then this island combinations could really be possible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
perineum 0 Posted May 17, 2007 The original poster mentioned something about a mod for flashpoint that had all the original islands on one map. For real? How awesome is that. Could somebody point me in the direction of that mod with a link or something? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr_Tea 0 Posted May 17, 2007 Search for AEC Islands. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snake Man 407 Posted May 17, 2007 Look for PMC Tactical and you'll find. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
perineum 0 Posted May 18, 2007 Thanks Snake Man for the reply and link. I read on the flashpoint forums where you said, "If we would be adding Nogova there it would go way over the 512 texture limit." Does that mean its not possible to have all the islands on one map even if you have a computer mean enough to run it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snake Man 407 Posted May 18, 2007 This topic is located in ArmA disucssions, so I have to reply in ArmA in mind... what I understand now from the WRP format and island texturing in ArmA, yes you can have all BIS islands ingame and in the same map with identical ground texturing to the originals. However for OFP my previous statement stands, the texture limit in OFP is 512 and all islands combined exceeds that limit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nastros 0 Posted May 18, 2007 i think if this is possible it would be a great idea Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
perineum 0 Posted May 19, 2007 Before Arma was released I had read that it was going to be shipped with all the islands from Flashpoint rebuilt with the new graphics. Hopefully someone will make a project out of this and build a super world. For me that would be like birthday's and christmas wrapped up for like a decade. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites