A DUNDERHEADS GUIDE PLEASE!!!!!!!!&#33

[dsm 0]

OK. Is there any chance of some REAL in depth info of how to get into map making, either as a thread or Biki. I've only used selfcontained progs before like Hammer(nice but tiny,...and boring gameplay). I see Unreal editor has been used by someone else as well. The thing is I've no experience with the Windows side of all this, eg copying .file types etc that I haven't a clue what they do, and using .txt files (I didn't know .txt files could be used to program with. What is the language?) etc. A run down of the file types, their job and how they were made would be a start. Great fan of OFP (awesome game, totally underrated)but never edited it so I'm technically years behind. A project layout would be good too, showing the progs you need before you start, and what parts you will be tackling with them. An example of the process involved in say getting to a 3D landscape from an O.S. map. I know it sounds like moronic stuff but there must be loads of people totally thrown by Visitor.

Anyway Santa, I know there's a lot of boys&girls with long letters of selfish want and greed, but just a few off the list would be great

[AnIm8oR_8 0]

Much of what you asked is detailed in the Tutorial for Visitor3 ? thread, although the thread got a bit out control, so you will have to read carefully through it from page 1.

I, along with many others are working on a tutorial for Noobs, and there are many popping up all over the place. Also, the BI Wiki/Manual is getting updated as more and more people are figuring out the nuts and bolts of visitor.

Programs I use:

Vistor 3

MicroDEM - Converts DEM (digital elevation maps) to grayscale

Terragen - Terrain editing and manipulation program (import to Visitor)

Notepad++ - Text editor for editing multiple text documents

GIMP 2 - Free image editor

TexView2 - BIS official tool (including pal2pac)

Structure:

P:\Ca\MyIsland\

P:\Ca\MyIsland\data - Textures (layers/scenes)

P:\Ca\MyIsland\source - Satellite.png, mask.png, maplegend.png, layers config and MyIsland.PEW

My advice to you is to read the relevant threads and BI documentation and start with the basics (don't worry too much about satellite masks etc. for now). There is much to get your head around at first, but once you get started it gets a lot easier!

If after all that reading you still have questions, post them here and I will do my best to answer them simply and swiftly. I have only just conquered the beast myself so I know were your coming from and found these forums extremely useful.

Best of luck.

If you get to this stage, your laughing!

[dsm 0]

Nice one.

Thanks for the clues.

I hope Visitor3 projects will be compatible with ArmA2 as once I get into this I think it maybe a long one!

[ck-claw 1]

I, along with many others are working on a tutorial for Noobs

That is good to hear!

[baddo 0]

You must go to

http://www.ofpec.com/

and read everything there.

Also if you have Operation Flashpoint then it is not a bad idea at all to make an island for that game first. The process is not as heavy as making islands for Armed Assault.

[AnIm8oR_8 0]

To all the Noobs out there, I have been helped by many in these forums and it is my duty to help those who follow, so I am in the process of writing a Newbie tutorial.

However, writing a tutorial is a tedious process (especially whilst creating my own maps), so if people could tell me the main areas they're having trouble getting their head around, I can focus on those and hopefully release a noob-torial alot earlier than if I were to explain every detail step-by-step.

The worst thing would be to spend hours writing a tutorial, only to find someone has already released one moments before.

I still plan to release a full, in-depth tute one day soon, but would like to put something out there to at least get people started and update it from there.

One of the biggest headaches is Satellite maps and Visitors new texturing techniques, which will be in the tute, but are not 'required' to get started.

Any feedback would be greatly aprecciated.

"The beast is conquerable, make V3 your friend!"

[dsm 0]

This is great folks. I have to say the OFP/ArmA community understands the meaning of community. The encouragement and freedom of knowledge is really cool. A couple of years back whilst footling around with Hammer editor I posted a problem on the Hl2 forum only to recieve about 18 replies, all of them insults and sarcasm. Cheers people!

lol

[DBO_ 0]

Quote[/b] ]problem on the Hl2 forum only to recieve about 18 replies, all of them insults and sarcasm. Cheers people!

lol

That kind of behaviour is reserved for the release thread lol.

Check that poor guy who made some unusual guns , he got ripped to pieces by the elite #+%$ers.

On a serious note its now real easy to make maps with reading the visitor thread ,but i think there is a stage missing , to get better transitions i have begun to take ingame pictures of my map and then making this into a satellite png i will also take all the mask layers and piece these together to make a new mask.png now i am beggining to see why it says several months to make a nice terrain .

[Chip360 0]

Hi Everyone, I was working on a very simple nooby tutorial (still am). I just kind of got bogged down in school so I apologize for the delay. Im at about 55%...

[csj 0]

Great news, the more tuts the better. Everybody looks at things with a different perspective.

One thing to remember when writing for beginners is

asume they have no understanding of the topic whatsoever.

Once you asume that somebody already understands something and you omit it from the tutorial,

then they are lost and you have wasted your time.

[A.J.Sawyer 0]

I have no idea what so ever when it comes to mapping. The main things I have toruble with understanding in the wiki is that theres just to much jargon and jiberish. To many big words and no real explanation for what then mean.

For example in the wiki theres a line that says

Quote[/b] ]"edit layer map mask in Photoshop (file Layer-map_lco.png). Note: you need to use _lco or _draftlco as a texture type."

Then I close visitor 3, turn off my computer and cry.

[Edge 2]

A.J.Sawyer, did you try to look at the sample data while reading that tutorial? It'd help you a lot, I'd say...

I understand that the tutorial we made was not perfect at all for total beginners, but honestly, it was not the aim. I simply cannot spend too much time describing the best ways to paint satellite texture in Photoshop or go into vast depths of editing terrain in all the tools available for such task, or teach people how to handle Windows.

As you see, there are already many people here who are able to realize what beginners need (because they were new to it themselves few weeks ago) and more than able to create decent tutorial. I could have written a book about it but it would be as full of jargon and gibberish as the small tutorial.

If any of you making a tutorial send me a PM, I would be glad to answer the questions on more "advanced" techniques. Good luck with your projects.

Quote[/b] ]I hope Visitor3 projects will be compatible with ArmA2 as once I get into this I think it maybe a long one!

Yes, they most probably will, or it wouldn't be a big issue to port them.

[-HUNTER- 1]

Sattelite textures...

Where the hell do I get those...

Ive made some islands for OFP, but with wrptool, which was 290381 easier to work with. I dont understand the difficult explanation at the biki aswell.

Would also like some proper noob tutes.

Or just some other less complicated tool like wrptool was for ofp.

[dsm 0]

Nice to see plenty of thickies out there. We're safer in numbers guys! And good to see the hardcore are pushing out some tuts for us, as like Edge says, the official writers simply can't go into that kind of detail, and the manual would be so thick that we of greater density would puke just looking at it!!

A.J.Sawyer, I turn my computer off and cry too. You are not alone soldier.

[fasad 1]

Sattelite textures...

Where the hell do I get those...

You need to create a suitably sized PNG format image yourself, using whatever resources you have. This is obviously going to involve a lot of work, and there is no magic shortcut.

[dmarkwick 261]

I'd like to add that a comprehensive config explanation would go a long way to weeding out basic problems too. Configs always get me.