[ADO] Tropica, an African adventure

[oldbear 390]

Well ... thanks for the kind words and suggestions. I will answer about some issues found on Tropica.

First, I must tell you I am not a professional map maker , just an old timer dedicated to the game ... OFP, ArmA, ArmA2, ArmA2: OA ... what else ^^.

Next, I must add that when I started this map, it was not built to be a map publicly released but as an area to test the beautiful vegetation Berghoff has released as well as to test new ways to build maps, that's why since January to April I have build around 30 different maps based on the same base. Some were having huge jungle cover in what is called now Djo and Gha basins, but there were killing the FPS of my medium range rig, some were having navigable rivers, but were drowning or disarming AIs, some were huge there is somewhere a 40 km x 40 km version ... not really playable.

So when in April, I have decided to build a map base on the features you can see now because I have reach a compromise between many different factors.

I want an African map :

- Featuring Berghoff vegetation, (yes I have tested ported ArmA vegetation ... )

- Without too much 3rd party addons, (yes I have tested IceBreakr nice addons from Duala ...)

- AI friendly, ( yes I have a lot of experience from my Sbrodj map ...)

- FPS friendly. (yes, of course I can buy a 4 cores rig @ 3.6 Mhz with a 5890 ... )

I know I was having limitations such as :

- Still being an old dumb annimal and still a noob in map making,

- Having to use only vanilla ArmA2 and Berghoff features,

So all the map as it is now is a kind of balance between what I want to do and what I can do.

Let me show you an example :

-Those european bushes that are all over the jungle areas HAVE TO GO! From a distance they turn into a blob of orange and make the jungle areas look insanly ugly. I'm sure you could find an easy replacement for that bush. It seriously needs to go, it looks out of place.

Yes, I agree this "b_sambucus" bush model is not the plant I would like here, because here I want a bush about the same size and shape with green rounded leaves like an "Avicennia germinans" bush ... but there is no easy way to get such bush, so for a while our brownish autumn leaved sambucus from Chernarus will stay.

As I have said it's allways a balance between Desire and Reality ^^.

[miles teg 1]

First off, fantastic map. I think your answers to the critiques I think were very good and they make sense. I do hope however that you continue to update the map (like on the suggestion that the river comes from some hills or a lake).

Also, I have a question. What addon is that beautiful Russian cargo aircraft at the end of the video? At first I thought it was Footmunch's AN-72 Coalar but then I realized that it was a different type of Russian Antanov cargo plane with four engines. Is it released yet? If not, do you know when it will be released?

(I love the cinematrography and music on the video by the way).

Thanks everyone on ADO. You guys are one of my favorite mod teams in the ArmA 2 community.

Peace,

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

Edited June 15, 2010 by Miles Teg

[oldbear 390]

Well ... the rivers ...

In fact those rivers are not really rivers in the usual sense. This island is in a Tropical area and so is having a very special hydrological system.

During the Tropical storm season, rain is like deluge ant that explain the huge erosion inland, the deep valleys and why the huts village in Djo and Gha basin are build on terrain higher area. Those part are flooded by fresh water in a matter of hours. ^^

So even, if it seems incredible, those rivers are rivers only a few weeks each years. After the tropical storm season, salted water began it slow conquest and just before the rain season, the so called rivers are a place for salted or more or less brackish water that's the reason why it's populated by mangrove.

At the moment, some plants and trees are more or less trying to look like mangrove ... but I hope that with the brand new Berghoff African foliage, released today it will change for good.

The plane ...

As there are special links between some people in the North of Tropica and people from what was USSR ... remember the soviet had built the Banga airport as a spare for Buran emergency landings ... you must not beeing surprised by the landing of a Russian IL-76. ;)

[ebanks129 10]

Old bear. you can use Bushlurkers green bushes:) standalone pbo

[kdjac 19]

Excellent map really really good.

Slight problem with in the editor when i pick a place to spawn it places me about 30 feet to the left of that place.

happens most around the piers in the south the one on the small island and the one leading out to the oil rig?

other than that excellent map.

[Gutm@sher 10]

really nice stuff. Thank you sir!

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

I think the map is excellent. I can't wait to play some missions on it.

[bushlurker 45]

Hi Old Bear!

Heres a standalone retextured Sambucus that might be handy...

Higher res pic

ADO_Plants.pbo (4.8mb)

(packed as a standalone "ado_plants.pbo" but you can repath it any way you like)

B

Edited June 16, 2010 by Bushlurker

[katipo66 94]

First, I must tell you I am not a professional map maker , just an old timer dedicated to the game ... OFP, ArmA, ArmA2, ArmA2: OA ... what else ^^.

Thanks old bear!! this map is beautiful in an unassuming natrual way, just like your other work...

Benny/Oden warfare missions please :D

[WillaCHilla 10]

Tested your new island the last days-its really good!!

Since the first discovery-tour, I have a lot of ideas for some COOPs. Especially the different locations like the harbour in the south west (don´t know the exact name, I´m @ the office) are new things to "play" with.

As you said its not the final version, some more details around the main locations would be nice to give it a more fluid passage to the area around it (like bushes, some small buildings here and there).

[oldbear 390]

@Bushlurker : thanks, suggestion greatly appreciated !

But I am a bit unsure about using it on Tropica now that Berghoff has released a new updated African foliage addon ... nevertheless it will be useful somewhere ...

Some of my friends from the other side of Earth ... yes the guys walking upside-down have some questions about the map ground colour. The colour variations was one of the biggest issue during this map building. As you can see I have not mastered the thing despite my efforts ... I have stopped for a while having found a balance.

The overall colours of the map are coming from the Namibia desert xtra large pic I use. The colour of the texture is coming from a pic of the same area you can find on Wikipedia : Tropic of Capricorn:

As you can see, it's not so reddish ... of course the reddish laterite grounds are associated with humid tropics and the climate on Tropica is not so humid even if the brownish red colouration of the ground show laterite is not far away ^^.

[panda123 10]

Nice map thanks

New mission (10 players ) created and ready for test if interessted ... :)

One thing, smoke grenade doesn't work

[jay316 0]

Been enjoying this map alot, i noticed AI can have trouble crossing the heavily forested areas though.

[enad 11]

i noticed AI can have trouble crossing the heavily forested areas though.

Yeah I got this too. They can't pass thru the marshes or any heavily jungle areas. :(

[miles teg 1]

Well ... the rivers ...

In fact those rivers are not really rivers in the usual sense. This island is in a Tropical area and so is having a very special hydrological system.

During the Tropical storm season, rain is like deluge ant that explain the huge erosion inland, the deep valleys and why the huts village in Djo and Gha basin are build on terrain higher area. Those part are flooded by fresh water in a matter of hours. ^^

So even, if it seems incredible, those rivers are rivers only a few weeks each years. After the tropical storm season, salted water began it slow conquest and just before the rain season, the so called rivers are a place for salted or more or less brackish water that's the reason why it's populated by mangrove.

At the moment, some plants and trees are more or less trying to look like mangrove ... but I hope that with the brand new Berghoff African foliage, released today it will change for good.

The plane ...

As there are special links between some people in the North of Tropica and people from what was USSR ... remember the soviet had built the Banga airport as a spare for Buran emergency landings ... you must not beeing surprised by the landing of a Russian IL-76. ;)

Ah very cool. But is that IL-76 your mod's addon? If so I really hope that you guys release it soon! (Preferably as a standalone addon).

Keep up the great work guys!

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[oldbear 390]

oh, no it's not an [ADO] airplane ^^. it' the one from Sarmat Studio !

Our video maker is an Air units fan ... so he is always showing planes and chopper in his pics and videos even if they are not ours ;)

Our team is dedicated to French Special Forces ... the "COS" : "Commandement des Opérations Spéciales"

[MadMike-Brig2010- 10]

@OldBear

I have read some issues (missing plants) about Duala and Tropica when also using the new Island Lingor which includes the new plants from Berghoff. Icebreakr told to overwrite the "brg_africa.pbo" from Duala with the new one from Lingor - so the problem is gone.

Could we do it the same way with Tropica (just overwrite the "brg_africa.pbo" with the new one from Lingor)?

[BJHawk 10]

Hi,

i´ve one big issue with this map along with Isla Panthera. When i go to armory and selecting anything, even aiplaines, it spawn me as civilian somewhere on the map. And when i return to Armory, select something diferent, it spawn me to place where i exit it.

I´m running ACEX on patch 1.05, duala, panthera and tropica, BWMod and WingsRussia.

[enad 11]

Old Bear, are you planning to update this map with Berhoffs new vegetation? That would surely improve the map ALOT! :)

[oldbear 390]

@BJHawk : well, I am a bit unsure about it I believe that the armory can be played on BIS map but not on community made maps unless that "by chance" the armory items locations are the same on this community map that on BIS maps.

@Enad and MadMike.48th : I have already build a version with the awesome new African Foliage by Berghoff, but :

- this African Foliage version is still WIP, and I am waiting for an updated version.

- with this version the mangrove area is nearly impassable even for human players, of course the AI do not like the mangrove, because there are a lot of snakes and crocodiles ... too bad CSJ hasn't released a big csjconda or a csjcodile ^^. so I am building well hidden paths to help the AI.

- the map need some enhancements and I am still working on it,

- there is a problem with the tropica_objets included addon .cfg, and I must work on it also.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Awesome island Old Bear. Love the feel.

Looks great for a north vs south battles or CTI's

Thanks again.

[-=Donnerberg=- 48th-STOT- 10]

4 THIS GREAT WORK :yay::yay:

[Gutm@sher 10]

can ai infantry still pass through the mangroves in the latest version your working on Old Bear? Its a nice tactical element and may hose up the current be warfare port I've worked on for it so just curious.

Couple of observations for you: TNT mine confuses the poor ai infantry once they get inside the fence. maybe a hole or 2 would help these poor souls. Ive added a couple of "climb over" objects as with sbrodj to compensate. Also I noticed that the very narrow portions of the canyons running north/south on each side of the island (sw and se part of island) are just steep enough that ai tanks unlucky enough to go that way get their nose stuck on the canyon wall before they can start climbing out making them hopelessly stuck. You prob already know this one - when viewed at very long distances, infantry sometimes appear to walk just above the sand dune they are on.

I've really been enjoying this map, appreciate the work!

[nettrucker 142]

@BJHawk : well, I am a bit unsure about it I believe that the armory can be played on BIS map but not on community made maps unless that "by chance" the armory items locations are the same on this community map that on BIS maps.

Hi Old Bear

thanks for this fantastic map. Great Island I really love it.

Please take a look at this link which might help you with the issue of the armory in user made maps. Here you go.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Armory_configuration

Keep up the good work and thanks for all your hard work.

kind regards:D

[DnA 5029]

Please take a look at this link which might help you with the issue of the armory in user made maps.

Thanks for posting the link nettrucker. The Armory should work with user-made maps straight away, but there are several levels of support. Without additional work the most basic challenges and functionality should work (if it doesn't, I'd like to trace why not). With additional configuration it is possible to make the more complicated challenges and features work as well :)