The break-down of it all?

[starstreams 0]

Hello

I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to point me in the right direction as I think I’m missing some basic fundamental concepts. There is a lot of great information on these forums in regards to mission making, modeling and island creation. (I have an interest in all three, and at this point I can only make basic missions by placing objects, and entering some simple INT strings into infantry, trucks, and ammo, which I record in a note pad). But I'm not really just asking about missing making.

I’m finding it very confusing to make sense of some of the more in-depth things I would like to do. For example; I was reading the manual on how to use Visitor3, but the instructions are not really getting me anywhere because some of the terminology is unfamiliar to me, so I’m stuck at the set up. I’m seeing things like WRP files, (standard P) and recommended path settings for text files to the viewer. The manual seems more like a set of examples for someone who knows the basics already, but not really a step-by-step process, and this is the case what most of what I’m reading around here. I’m thinking there was a tutorial I missed somewhere along the road.

Another example is, we have a command reference chart, and I’m sure many people here understand it, but I have no idea what to do with these commands. I can only guess it’s something that goes into the INT string dialog, but that’s about it.

The two things I would really like to accomplish at the moment is: First is to start making a custom island, (just something small to start with), and then I would like to use some of my 3dsMax skills and start modeling some basic objects, texture them, and eventually make a pack to distribute. I’ve made some very good landscape layouts in other game engines so I think I have a good eye for interesting military bases, but I have no idea where to start with creating this content under this current engine. I was wondering if someone would please point me to a good source to break down some of the confusing package, and script terminology. I really want to contribute to this community; I just need a little direction. I'm even willing to make my own tutorials for others who stand where I am now, if I can just get a grip on this stuff myself.

Thank you

Edited July 10, 2009 by starstreams

[max power 21]

You can always try finding some tutorials and searching the forums / asking questions at www.OFPEC.com. It's the OFP editing centre website and it's a community resource for mod makers since the OFP days. Someone may have more detailed information for you regarding the island editing, but I think questions on that subject might be better posed on the ArmA 2: Map Editing (Visitor) forum.

http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=96

[starstreams 0]

Thanks Max, that site really looks good. I use to go there for add-ons all the time, but never looked at their tutorials.

I'll spend some time there. Thanks for that link!

btw, the only reason I posted this here was because it's not just island editing I want to learn about, and the description of this forum section says, "New to modeling in ArmA2, ask away" so I thought it was the right place. I guess, there is no order to picking this stuff up, I'll start with that depot site you posted!

Thank you again!

Edited July 10, 2009 by starstreams

[max power 21]

Yeah, no problem.

While creating new objects for islands requires modeling, the actual task of creating islands does not. It's all texture based information, as far as I know. Height maps, clutter maps, satellite masks, etc, and the actual geo of the island is created procedurally by the computer.

[starstreams 0]

Ya, I’m not an expert in modeling, but I can making some very useful things for this game, I've made enough furniture for Unreal. I think the key to making simple objects look real is all in the textures, although this game is now using more complex materials with specular effects, and reflective sub textures..ect. simply beautiful (I love it)!

I would imagine it’s not much different than the way the terrain in created in the Unreal Tournament engine,

With the old UT engine, you had to create a gray scale height map, 256 colors, which later was upgraded to 16 bit. But now days, you actually paint the height levels while viewing in a software rendered window. I know bulldozer for Visitor can be used to view the results. I guess I just need to get a grip on how the packages work.

And the scriping is so beyond me. These people around here are amazing in regards to some of the code I’ve seen pasted on these forums.

And like I said, if I can get some of the basics down, I’ll make my own lessons to give people like myself some kind of start using my own words. I think when it comes to tutorials, it’s always good to have a few different sources explained from different angles.

Anyway, I’m taking it slow and reading everything at the Depot link you posted last night Max! This looks like about the best place to start and finish!

Again, thank you for pointing that place out!

Edited July 11, 2009 by starstreams