Converting Nogovo To Arma II

[MadMardigan409 10]

Hey Mardigan I downloaded the islands and flew a few circles around it, and it seems to be the beginning of something wonderful, please accept my gratulations and convey it to your team too :)

I've been lurking around the OFP islands for some time, planning around what type of missions can be made on them? Playing with them is like going back to an old elementary school of yours, time has it shrinken drastically. Everything that was so big once, became much smaller as time passed (and visibility distance increased :D). I felt that anything I'd make would overcrowd these worlds. I was thinking about, what would be if these islands would be a bigger in the same shape?

Now they're here, gotten fat up, and grown some more hills on them :) Now they seem like areas where all kind of warfare can be conducted (armor, guerilla, infantry, you name the rest), but not where every territory can be conquered by just one type of those warfares. I can't even imagine where will it lead when they get forests, villages and cities. I think the more elevation will give many possibilites for new tactical challenges in future missions.

Some drawbacks are present of course; first, the very steep shores currently make amphibious operations very difficult, I don't know if they'll be changed, or stay, or tide cycle will make some parts accessible;

Second because of the bigger elevations, some areas became practically unusable but for sunbathing - thinking about for example the two "rocks" south of Everon; maybe they should just be left out, to spare some memory for the PC, or made flatter, so it actually can be reached with other means than a helicopter.

I'm not recommending any changes, just storming my brain with thoughts.

Keep up the good work, wish you luck!

I'm definitely open to suggestions here so thank you for the feedback. I'm also concerned about some of the things you mentioned. Specifically some of the areas too steep for beach landings. As the development unfolds, I'll be refining the map so I think this should be ok by a late beta stage. There are or should be entry areas for the two smaller islands near everon. I'll have to check it out but I think they are flattened in the newest alpha in the first post. Anyhow, thanks again for checking it out.

Now, I'm still having an issue with win 7 64 bit and Wilbur. I don't want to have to reinstall my OS but I might have to. I'm finding it difficult to manipulate the grey scale height maps without this program. I love win 7 but having a difficult time adjusting to the new layout. Ah well, back to work!

EDIT:

I really don't know what happened but I just now finished reformating and wilbur 64 bit version works. Project will resume shortly!

Edited May 13, 2010 by MadMardigan409

[luemmel 20]

any new alpha version in sight to check out? :bounce3:

[MadMardigan409 10]

hang in there guys, I'll put out another soon as I get the basic road networks done for each island. I need to rework some elevation areas a bit as well. It's going to take some time to get this done right.

Edited May 16, 2010 by MadMardigan409

[MadMardigan409 10]

Spending some time reworking modding routines here. I've got texture lines for everon's road network worked out and it's binarizing now. Also adjusted some elevation here and there.

I'm finding the switch to win 7 a real pain. It auto locks my files... and I have to do some skipping around with the damn "compatibility" option to get things working. GRRRR!

A big thank you to Mankyle, he sent me a quick mock up of the config airfield taxi/runways and has offered to help out.

Should have things moving a little quicker/smoother here soon.

[-martin- 10]

I cant wait to see this :smile: The Mladen islands for ArmA 1 wern't so nice. I didnt have time to read the whole thread, will you be using buildings from ArmA 1? If you need grey appartment blocks for towns like Petrovice I can send you them I already converted them from OFP for my island.

[MadMardigan409 10]

I'm trying to use only the vanilla objects so no addons need to be downloaded. I've been looking at the different buildings in chern and I think there are plenty of variation to make each island feel unique. Other then that I'll be most likely using the summer vegetation for these islands. Thank you for the offer though :)

[Banderas 0]

I've just quickly read the thread through (left some comments out), I saw some people recommended recreating the "original" OFP islands, I guess with the '85 settings. Well as Wolle said, they'll recreate them in CWR2, so I'm glad you decided to make something different out of it (if I understood well?), and make a rebuilt, advanced version, which did not see war for a good time. I don't know your thoughts about how you'll realize it, I think I share some of mine, and you'll consider them at your own will.

Don't know what houses will be used, but I hope not original Flashpoint ones, they too much look like a SWAT team has been practiced in it a quarter hour ago, ArmA II or even houses from Northern Sahrani from ArmA would suit better.

Everon: Some villages might turn into nice little cities, Morton and Saint Pierre would expand on the beach, with harbours, making them into frequent tourist visited places, with more and bigger block buildings in the center, some hotels. I could imagine a modern Montignac at least as big as Corazol (provided there is enough space for it). Villages along the St. Pierre-Montignac-St. Philippe highway (for example Durras, Vernon, Provins) might reflect more city life, while outlying settlements (like Le Moule, Chotain, Gravette) keep their country profile. Farms might also get one or two additional buildings. Also barracks and military installations should be kept and modernised for the "local army". Airport should reflect a smaller inernational civilian one.

Malden: As it was a NATO area, it might keep that profile, with it's airport reflecting more a military airbase with a garrison near it, also with an extended base on the eastern island (the training island). Most villages should be only grow in (house)number, some would transform into small towns (example La Trinite).

Kolgujev: First and most importantly, if possible make a separate winter version for that island(s), I always found it odd in OFP World when I went from Everon to Kolgujev, spring turned into winter within 10km :D. Other than that it could use at least one airfield, probably a military AFB. It might keep it's old profile with many military installations/garrisons, although a few farms and villages might get some life into it. At least some lumberjacks and hunters :)

Nogova: Not much to tell right now. Needs size up as you said :)

Hope I give some sane idea. Gotta go to bed now, later continue hopefully, keep faith and keep up the good work.

[mankyle 370]

I agree with banderas. This is not OFP 12 years later. ARMA 2 engine allows placing a larger quantity of objects and the steeper orography of the "evolved" islands means that even with higher view distances as a infantry soldier the computer will only have to render 1500-3000 m.

I'm now looking at the real islands and I have some ideas that could be interesting.

- Oil depots and refinery in the small peninsula on the North west coast of everon. Sat and mask would have to be changed to beton or asfalt to reflect that. And also rim the complete peninsula with piers.

- Add a couple pond objects in everon, as in RL.

- Complete airports with all kind of airport services, hangars, working lights, two layers of fences around (as in real life)

I'm doing experiments in one island I have created for messing with visitor. A sea promenade with house blocks with shops, cafes and so on could look good. I already have created an airport template so for the OFPIE airports it would only be a matter of importing the objects.

[MadMardigan409 10]

wow, all good feedback guys. Let me get this to a good place with the road networks and we can see what kind of things to add to it.

I was thinking about those oil wells in the north end of everon and planned on making a large port on the north eastern side of the island just south of the airport.

I can flatten/add/smooth or do just about whatever needs done to accommodate specific area characteristics. So once this gets to a decent late alpha we can play a bit with different ideas. Adding/removing stuff shouldn't be an issue.

One island at a time seems to be a good way to go with the dev process. Everon first then onto malden, kolgujev and finally novoga.

I need to test out the pond theory to see how it works. Currently novoga is in a very rough stage but I got the pond area lowered so I could test out the ai's behavior with the smoke and mirror effect lol. If all works well and the sea sound effect is limited, then I'll work in some ponds for everon.

Edited May 18, 2010 by MadMardigan409

[MadMardigan409 10]

Thought I would post up a pic of the recent development. I realized that it wasn't a good idea to create low quality sat images, makes the object placement a bit harder to do.

Here you can see that I've painted guide lines to make road placement and terrain smoothing prep easier. Also have a bit of higher res farms and hedgerows in there.

[mankyle 370]

Wow!!!!!!!

Madmardigan, that looks very good!!!!!!

I'm eager to see the first objects placed!!!!!

Try the world tools forest generator, seems the perfect tool for speeding the OFPIE creation

JWD!!!!

[mattxr 9]

This project looks great! cant wait to see it completed. Keep up the good work ill be sure to keep an eye on this :)

[MadMardigan409 10]

@mankyle

Thanks broski, yeah I'm eager to place the trees as well but it cause's a shizton of lag in my buldozer. I need to get the roads placed before I can get into the trees. I've expanded the airfield in everon to accommodate two runways. I'll have to work up a better airport for it here soon. I have plans for at least a dirt AF on kolgujev, I think it would throw the map off balance for CTI if there wasn't one.

@MattXR

It's coming along, slowly but surely. I honestly expected to be much further along then this. Map makings a bit more complicated then I had expected and the switch to win 7 didn't help. Thanks for the kind words :)

[Banderas 0]

@Mardigan

Nice update with those satellite images, this is getting exciting :)

I saw this tool a few days ago, wasn't sure if you might need it or not, I thought this might help you a little with your project;

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10508

[MadMardigan409 10]

Yeah guys, I need to place roads and get them smooth before I can start placing bushs/trees/rocks etc. It cause's too much screen lagg in buldozer for me if I place large amounts of trees.

Shezan is developing that here as well, I've been following the thread lol. Thank you though :)

[mankyle 370]

When placing roads be aware that the smooth roads scripts and long roads do not get along well. Try no to do road sections longer than 25 or 30 segments. Otherwise the script will freeze and will stop working.

Im eager to see the new mask and sat.

Also remember that Arma2 doesnt support more than 6 colours for segment in the mask

[MadMardigan409 10]

When placing roads be aware that the smooth roads scripts and long roads do not get along well. Try no to do road sections longer than 25 or 30 segments. Otherwise the script will freeze and will stop working.

Im eager to see the new mask and sat.

Also remember that Arma2 doesnt support more than 6 colours for segment in the mask

Very good to know. I was worried about the number of supported mask colors. I'll be placing the road segments here in the next few days so also good info, thank you.

Currently the mask/sat images are at a low level completion on about 1/3 of the island. The dual runway airport sat image is at a good testing place. I'll grind this out and upload another alpha when it's done, then upload the road networked version after that.

My PSD file for the sat image has reached 3 gigs lol.

EDIT:

I just thought of something... I have to edit the terrain for every island to accommodate the roads before I start placing them. So... its going to be awhile till I can upload the road network. Good news is the first beta release will include all islands with good sat/mask/road networks. I'm going to have to get on this pronto, way behind schedule here.

Edited May 22, 2010 by MadMardigan409

[Rg 0]

I flew around on this map with 10km VD and no lag. Felt like a poor mans flight sim, but I liked it.

This may be a stupid idea and not practical, but what if you released two versions of this island - A high object ArmAVersion & a non/low object FlightSimVersion? I am thinking that because this gigantic map would be perfect for air combat as well as armor and sea combat, but if you want to play with 10km, it will be impossible when 100's of thousands of objects are going to be placed. Maybe it could be that when you finish your sat and road networks, mark the FlightSimVersion as complete. Then continue on with the ArmAVersion. I'm not sure how big the Sat file size will be, but maybe later the FlightSimVersion's paths can be updated to use the ArmAVersion's rather then having two very large identical Sats.

------

About your WIP Sat,

You don't necessarily need white stones at the tops of Everon. Hills/Mountains like these look great. 1 2

However if you keep the white stone, just add lots of cracks in it for grass/weeds and odd shrubs/trees here and there kind of like these pics 1 2

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Keep up the good work

[MadMardigan409 10]

I flew around on this map with 10km VD and no lag. Felt like a poor mans flight sim, but I liked it.

This may be a stupid idea and not practical, but what if you released two versions of this island - A high object ArmAVersion & a non/low object FlightSimVersion? I am thinking that because this gigantic map would be perfect for air combat as well as armor and sea combat, but if you want to play with 10km, it will be impossible when 100's of thousands of objects are going to be placed. Maybe it could be that when you finish your sat and road networks, mark the FlightSimVersion as complete. Then continue on with the ArmAVersion. I'm not sure how big the Sat file size will be, but maybe later the FlightSimVersion's paths can be updated to use the ArmAVersion's rather then having two very large identical Sats.

------

About your WIP Sat,

You don't necessarily need white stones at the tops of Everon. Hills/Mountains like these look great. 1 2

However if you keep the white stone, just add lots of cracks in it for grass/weeds and odd shrubs/trees here and there kind of like these pics 1 2

------

Keep up the good work

A low object count vers does apeal to me. I recall back in the ofp days when resources were much more limited, people made "CTI vers" of maps so there wouldn't be a whole bunch of lag when multiple people roamed the map with max ai. If nothing else I can make an independent version for you and your buds to play on. It really wouldn't be hard to do, I could fork off of this version at some point before getting into a more detailed version. I could include a LOC (Low Object Count) version along with the normal version as long as the file size stays low.

I think the white rock is looking much better as I refine the texture. In this newer version I have it fits well. I've been fine tuning the landscape by hand to accommodate towns/roads. I could work in some cracks though, I do have a process to create some realistic concrete from scratch. One of the things I've been doing is using sat textures from google earth to mash and mix, then I paint from templates for specific areas like grass, rock, forest etc. I've tried to use the textures from the real world counter parts that don't have a lot of cloud cover. I plan to create custom textures for a higher detailed version when I get to the beta stage. I'll look into some form of shrubbery for some of the rock area, it does feel a little barren.

As you can see here the real everon has a sandy white rock surface. I didn't want the coverage that this pic shows so I'm limiting the area to only the steeper parts.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll put a memo in my notes for this. :)

[icebreakr 3100]

And try to use real photos (over than 1000 here) to capture the feel ;)

[-martin- 10]

And try to use real photos (over than 1000 here) to capture the feel ;)

Nice, I was in Crikvenica last year on holiday and I saw Krk from the beach, I thought I would make it for AmrA 1 but its a very big island. In one of those 1000 photos I saw a castle very simmilar to the one in ArmA 2 with the round towers, you could use it on the island :smile: I cant wait to see this.

You could re-create Krk tough instead of Everon, would be something new to the table :biggrin: But the ArmA 2 water doesnt really suit the Jadran climate

[MadMardigan409 10]

Ah man, lol. I don't think this will resemble the actual Krk island guys. It's a mini version of that place. I'll see what I can work in though. :)

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

I'm definitely looking forward to this. With certain addons that I know are coming (but can't say anything about) a map this big appeals very very much to me. :D

[ebanks129 10]

This looks amazing man! cant wait to see you progress with this!

[MadMardigan409 10]

Thanks guys :)

Currently getting down to the finer details on everon. Should have it in a good enough place that I can start to work on malden's road network/sat/mask/town names.

I drove some of the road ways for an hour, this map is much larger then I thought. I usually fly around it haha.