MadMardigan409 10 Posted June 6, 2010 I don't suffer the low FPS while flying over the ocean problems. I have a middle end machine but if I keep the Viewdistance under 6000 m I get very good FPSAny updates worthy of mentioning, Madmardigan? I'm eager to see the sats you have created for malden, Nogova and Kolguyev. I'm working pretty hard right now on the terrain elevation. I had to redo malden several times but it's starting to get to a good place I think. Currently working out some of the steeper roadways. The sat still needs to be refined to match up with the level of everon. It's just taking me allot of time to prep the roadways right now. Each island is going to be unique in terms of vegetation and features. Malden will have a large beach area to the north along with some swampy areas. Some of the description of the original ofp version mentions that the soil isn't very good for farms but I want to have a few in there. Maybe a apple tree farm/hay farm, just some small and simple areas. I'm considering a beach resort for the north-western area with a hotel etc. In terms of the next alpha upload, I'll wait till I think all the islands are ready for roadways. I will definitely need some peeps to check out the islands for changes before I proceed. I don't want to be forced to change elevation after I start in on the road networks etc. Hows your map coming bro? I'm eager to check it out :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bad benson 1733 Posted June 7, 2010 this might be a bit late but concerning the issue u had when placing a lot of objects in visitor: the lag in buldozer should disapear when u deselect all the objects before in visitor. then they don't have the 3d selection arrow on top of them in buldozer anymore. i don't know if this is what u mean but i thought i might share since i had that problem too before. so if u make forests and stuff, it's best to adjust in visitor, deselect the objects and then check in buldozer. for some reason buldozer lags when there are many objects selected:rolleyes: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-martin- 10 Posted June 7, 2010 Maybe a apple tree farm/hay farm, To make a good hay farm do it like me, 1) On the satellite map colour the place with a yellowish textre like a real hay field. 2) On the Mask_Lco colour that field in with a colour that you will use only for fields, I use Pink for that. 3) Download these textures and use them for that mask colour for the fields: http://www.mediafire.com/?wwndnwh0m3m 4) Finally for the clutter of the area use this: class *your tag here*_grasstall: DefaultClutter { model=ca\plants2\clutter\c_grasstall.p3d; affectedByWind = 0.3; swLighting = true; scaleMin = 0.75; scaleMax = 1.5; }; *your tag here* = e.g. "Everon_grasstall" I will show a screenshot later, I F'd up my config now so the island doesnt load :mad: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadMardigan409 10 Posted June 7, 2010 @ Bad Benson Now that you say that, I was highlighting whole forrests of trees so that could have been the reason. Thanks for the info! @Martin After or during road placement I'll be messing with the masks. I'll also be swapping out the road guide lines for sat overlays soon. I've currently color coded the road network for double lane concrete, single lane concrete, dirt and gravel roads. While I work on the terrain elevation I'm thinking up approaches to the farms. The 6 mask limit per square kinda kills me here so I may end up with two types of farm masks. One for tan colored farms and one for greenish colored farms. Then use static vegetation to give some variation to the individual farms. I think there are hay rolls and piles that can be used for farmed fields. I'm concerned about using the clutter for the actual plants in the fields. Some people don't use the terrain detail at all during mp game play. I will definitely look into it though, if nothing else then to see what can be done with this approach. Thanks for the info and upload! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bushlurker 45 Posted June 7, 2010 Hi MM... Thread moved, huh? The Alpha of course... a weel... rules are rules, and... you're an "ongoing-updates and feedback" kind of guy... this section is probably better for that! a couple of random points... I've currently color coded the road network for double lane concrete, single lane concrete, dirt and gravel roads Well done... do the same to the road networks in Visitor when you define them (before you start laying - they can't be changed afterwards), makes it a lot easier to keep track of in the "overview" map display... The 6 mask limit per square kinda kills me here You might find it's actually still 4 colours/textures max... BIS have talked about using more, but are either being very coy about how they achieved it, or it didn't actually work out... currently, everyone still seems to be hitting the limit at 4... so... sand, rock, grass, ashphalt... you're out - except in areas where you don't need one of those 4... There was a thread about this I think - search the islands section... I'm concerned about using the clutter for the actual plants in the fields. Yup... clutter can be turned off completely - zeros the effect you might want all people to see... However - clutter objects can be placed like bushes and trees are, and vice versa even, so you could scatter a small percentage of the clutter object around the fields as actual placed objects which can't be turned off... kindof like an enforced minimum clutter... worth a play around with when the time comes... Roads first tho.... they'll take longer than you think..... Looking good though - roadguides are definitely the way to go and they'll save you a ton of time... repairing the damage the "road smoothing" script does (especially on NE>SW roads :() will likely take you longer than laying the roads themselves... B Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-martin- 10 Posted June 7, 2010 (edited) Then use static vegetation to give some variation to the individual farm Anyone know of some plants like tomatoes or potatoes? You might find it's actually still 4 colours/textures max... BIS have talked about using more, but are either being very coy about how they achieved it, or it didn't actually work out... currently, everyone still seems to be hitting the limit at 4... so... sand, rock, grass, ashphalt... you're out - except in areas where you don't need one of those 4... There was a thread about this I think - search the islands section... Thats true I had trouble with that when I came to arma 2 and Bushlurker was kind enough to help me with it :smile: But now I seem to notice that when using this in an area with lots of objects or where the mask colours dont take up such a big area this problem occurs where as in areas like fields I comfortably use 5 - 6 colours, who knows just try it first. Here are some of the screenshots of the hay on my island. I think it looks pretty realistic. I dont know why BIS didnt do that, guess they didnt think of it. I think definitly make good vegetation and dont cater to MP players, if they dont want it they can turn it off but for single player I think its good, why did we come to arma 2 anyway if we turn it in to OFP :biggrin: EDIT: I also wanted to ask, does anyone know how to make like a large screenshot of the map in Visitor or in game so I can then paste it over the masks in photoshop and see where the roads are? At the moment I have to make a screenshot in game, then paste it in to photoshop and resize it so I cna kind of roughly see where the roads are. Edited June 7, 2010 by -Martin- added a question Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadMardigan409 10 Posted June 7, 2010 I don't mind this thread got moved, just wish I could edit the thread title. I'll repost when the beta's start pumping out. hmmm, this limitation of 4 masks just won't do. So plan "B"... create object tiles to place onto the surface like the concrete tiles they made for the airport on chern... good thing I think is that I'll be able to make every farm field unique, it's just going to be one hell of a pain I think. I'm not even sure how this will look with objects popping/flickering but maybe it'll be ok if I can match the sat color and object surface texture close. I better stay focused on the roads for now, I'll tackle these issues later lol. Thanks for the infos bush and martin! @ martin Love the pics bro! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mankyle 370 Posted June 7, 2010 Well done... do the same to the road networks in Visitor when you define them (before you start laying - they can't be changed afterwards), makes it a lot easier to keep track of in the "overview" map display... There is a trick I use because I had a problem while laying the road net for RStratton's Skarikiska and I had to change from asphalt1 to asphalt3 What I did was export the road net I wanted to substitute The I opened the export file with notepad and substitute all asf1 references for asf3. I reimported the road net and voila!!!! But obviously, if you plan in advance wich road you are going to use you don't have to do that And I agree, those NW-> SE or any other diagonally laid roads are a PITA for the smoothing scripts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bushlurker 45 Posted June 7, 2010 Anyone know of some plants like tomatoes or potatoes? Someone had an excellent custom potato plant on their island... I was planning on asking permission to use it myself, but I can't remember now who it was or which island... I think it might have been Celle or Kellu... I also wanted to ask, does anyone know how to make like a large screenshot of the map in Visitor In Visitor... Project/Export Map As Image... you can pick your size... *Exports in .emf vector format - use EmfToPng to convert to bitmap... B Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-martin- 10 Posted June 8, 2010 In Visitor... Project/Export Map As Image... you can pick your size...*Exports in .emf vector format - use EmfToPng to convert to bitmap... Thanks man you just saved me a good couple of weeks of work :cheers: but the EmfToPng convert takes long when working with images higher then 10000x10000 pixels Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bushlurker 45 Posted June 8, 2010 (edited) Guess I'd better explain "Blue Edge " at this point... In Visitor and on the final .png you'll get after the .emf conversion you'll see a "Blue Edge" on the left and bottom edges... this is basically because the ground textures have to overlap slightly... you need to take this into account when you export the .emf file... The Blue Edge is one elevation cells worth of satellite texture pixels in width eg: on my Scotland map, the terrain is 2048x2048 with a 10m cell size... the Satellite is 20480x20480 20480/2048 = 10... so Blue Edge = 10 pixels in my case... So I export 20490x20490 to .emf - convert to .png - then crop the 10 pixels off to give 20480x20480... (use image/canvas size, and lose 10 pixels off the left and bottom edges)... You have to figure out what size your own "Blue Edge" is depending on your terrain/texture size as above... Then this image will overlap perfectly with your actual satellite image in photoshop or whatever... B Edited June 8, 2010 by Bushlurker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gutm@sher 10 Posted June 8, 2010 Someone had an excellent custom potato plant on their island... I was planning on asking permission to use it myself, but I can't remember now who it was or which island... I think it might have been Celle or Kellu... I believe the potato plant was on kellu made by Monkalb I think. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-martin- 10 Posted June 8, 2010 Guess I'd better explain "Blue Edge " at this point...In Visitor and on the final .png you'll get after the .emf conversion you'll see a "Blue Edge" on the left and bottom edges... this is basically because the ground textures have to overlap slightly... you need to take this into account when you export the .emf file... The Blue Edge is one elevation cells worth of satellite texture pixels in width eg: on my Scotland map, the terrain is 2048x2048 with a 10m cell size... the Satellite is 20480x20480 20480/2048 = 10... so Blue Edge = 10 pixels in my case... So I export 20490x20490 to .emf - convert to .png - then crop the 10 pixels off to give 20480x20480... (use image/canvas size, and lose 10 pixels off the left and bottom edges)... You have to figure out what size your own "Blue Edge" is depending on your terrain/texture size as above... Then this image will overlap perfectly with your actual satellite image in photoshop or whatever... B Thanks for the explenation B :smile:, unfortunetly I found out the hard way because I didnt read this in time :biggrin: I think that this little issue isnt anything to complain about by looking at all the time saved by this. I believe the potato plant was on kellu made by Monkalb I think. Yep its on Kellu island I just downloaded it, but the potatoe plant it self isnt as nice as the one in OFP from the Farmlands mod I think, I'll email them for permission and see how it looks in ArmA 2. Anyway, any new screenshots or progress on the island? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadMardigan409 10 Posted June 9, 2010 Well, I was enjoying the potato plant discussion when I saw this gangly mother f-ing spider crawl up my wall near my monitor. I grabbed my pad of paper and tried to smash him... he JUMPED AND TOUCHED MY %@#* ARM MAN! HE TOUCHED MY ARM! I injured him though, captured him in a jar for identification. As far as I can tell he could be a brown recluse... I cannot continue under these conditions. I would feel a million times better if I had a clear line of sight and a lazer gun that would fry those little bastages like boogers on a light bulb. Suffice to say, war has been declared! Project cannot resume until I'm satisfied that all the nasty bastages are dead. It's been awhile since I've looked behind my desk and monitor area. My mind is running wild with images of miniature spider strongholds... there little shiny black eyes peering back at me... fuzzy little fangs twitching... GAWD I hate spiders... As far as progress, I'm still rehashing the elevation for malden and kolgujev. Sat images are adjusted with forests and road guide lines on all islands. If all goes well with "Operation: Kill All Bugs With Extreme Prejudice" then I should have another alpha upload and/or updated pics by Sunday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darkhorse 1-6 16 Posted June 9, 2010 Have no fear, reinforcements are en route! Expect the first shipment of Agent Orange to reach your house by midday tomorrow. I too hate spiders, and have gone on numerous campaigns against them. I have also tried to shy away from ones that aren't in my house. Agent Orange may be good, but to REALLY kill those gawd awful things, you need Sarin gas. Good luck Comrade! May your campaign be bless with success! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadMardigan409 10 Posted June 9, 2010 Have no fear, reinforcements are en route! Expect the first shipment of Agent Orange to reach your house by midday tomorrow.I too hate spiders, and have gone on numerous campaigns against them. I have also tried to shy away from ones that aren't in my house. Agent Orange may be good, but to REALLY kill those gawd awful things, you need Sarin gas. Good luck Comrade! May your campaign be bless with success! Operational phase "clean sweep" started off with a small skirmish. Scratch one tango. Alas their psych-ops are taking their toll... I cannot sit near my PC without lifting my legs up in my chair, nightmarish images of the small hoard are causing sleep deprivation as well. Careful examination of captive has proved useless and self defeating. The damn thing has fangs... FANGS! A well placed gas attack seems to be the best approach. Operation: "Gas'm all till their tiny insect brains melt like that guy's face in Indiana Jones and the Lost Arch" shall begin at 1100 hours tomorrow! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
R0adki11 3945 Posted June 9, 2010 So hows the project going, can we expect any more screenshots or even a beta? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darkhorse 1-6 16 Posted June 9, 2010 Alas their psych-ops are taking their toll... I cannot sit near my PC without lifting my legs up in my chair, nightmarish images of the small hoard are causing sleep deprivation as well. 'Nuff said. :cool: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ACPL Jon 68 Posted June 9, 2010 Can't wait for the remake (as CWR guys didn't showed any islandpack progress), is there any newer version then 0.6? I'm off to drool all over it, brb Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadMardigan409 10 Posted June 9, 2010 There is more added in the version I have, but it's just not enough to upload for testing yet. There are allot of changes on the other islands but not really things I think you guys would really notice other then the sat lco additions like road networks, forests and farms. I'm currently working on a critical issue right now that I've been putting off. The sea level isn't deep enough for most of the map and it's too sharp of a transition for the sea area close to novoga. The approach I took to add novoga is different then the other three islands and that's causing some issues. If all goes well, I should have an upload or at least screen shot updates on Sunday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M.Andersson(SWE) 4 Posted June 13, 2010 Almost a week and no replys.. Hows it coming Mr.MadM? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gossamersolid 155 Posted June 13, 2010 ;1649589']Almost a week and no replys..Hows it coming Mr.MadM? ummmm more like half a week leave the man alone, good work doesn't get done in a hurry. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadMardigan409 10 Posted June 13, 2010 Still working on it. The changes made just isn't something I think you guys would really notice. I'm just doing to the rest of the map what I've done to everon so I think I'll wait till the whole thing is refined to upload. Just having a hard time with the terrain under the sea level. I do have a way to adjust it but it creates visible blocks on the water surface. I'm left with either this approach or redoing the whole thing, and I really really really don't want to do that. At this point I'm setting it aside for now and working on the other three islands. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
luemmel 20 Posted July 3, 2010 a little progress update possible at this stage? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadMardigan409 10 Posted July 4, 2010 I took a break for sometime and just recently started back in on this. I honestly thought I could rush the world building process but that just isn't going to happen. The road smoothing gets a little tedious so I'm kinda jumping around in the work load. Currently I'm adding some finer details like rock walls and ditches in areas lacking character. I'm going to wait till the road network is placed and at least some buildings and bush's till I upload another update. Looking at maybe 1-2 months. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
