Nicholas Bell

The only way is to use the object pond.p3d found in the ca/misc folder. Â You can enlarge it up to 500 percent and use several to cover a larger area. Â Note the getting pond objects set at the correct height is dependent on the elevation of the surface beneath - the bottom of the lake. You can check out my usage of the pond.p3d by checking out the Schmalfelden source files. Â Opteryx has also made use of them - you can find one on his Avgani map. EDIT: Opteryx answered while I was typing

The "fix" works fine, although it was a problem only on one system. Â On the other computer the "black" was just a deeper brown - I didn't even notice it as a problem. I love your attention to accuracy and detail on this map, Opteryx. Â Outstanding work - you're "The Man" Â

Recently revised a 10 x 10 km map from 512 pixel segments to 256 pixel and I'm getting "stutters" - normally not an issue with my system. Â I want to increase the number of textures I can squeeze in small areas. Was wondering if anyone has any experience or comments on whether the segment resizing is the problem. Â I don't have any objects on the map when this happens so I know that is not the issue. Â Nor does dropping the visibility range make a difference. Hoping someone can save me a little time attempting to isolate the problem. Working with a map this size is a real time-killer in V3. Thanks!

Okay, I dropped back to 512 pixel segments and the stuttering went away. Â It also loads much faster. However, I also reinstalled ArmA on my old computer and I do not have the stuttering problem when using 256 pixel segments. Â Go figure.

Thanks, guys! All the images are in game. Â There isn't any real difference in the terrain between eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, so my thinking was that it would be a good area for both fields of operation. The terrain works well for AI soldiers (vehicles is another issue - they seem to want to climb up cliffs instead of going around the hill). Â I've had long range battles from hilltops and between ridgelines. Â At the same time the terrain is rough enough in most places that it is easy to close with the enemy if one side does not have a height advantage. Â Even so, the vegetation and rocky terrain provides plenty of cover & concealment without causing any pathfinding problems for the AI. Â Makes them look smarter than they really are and provides a good challenge. Â I've played up to platoon size engagements without any framerate problems, keeping the view range around 7 km. There will be plenty of habitations on the map...eventually. Â There are towns: Scattered compounds: And mountaintop compounds. Â These folks take the expression "a man's home is his fortress" literally. I plan to get most everything done except the buildings and then release this as a beta. Â That way everyone can get some use out of it sooner rather than later, and with a real time editor it possible to setup your own compounds. Â I will continue adding the towns and compounds and releasing updates as I complete areas. Â At least, that's what I'm thinking at the moment. While recreating the caves of a Tora Bora type complex would be great, it would require modeling skills I truly lack. Â I'm behind the power curve on this as it seems many mappers have also taken on creating their own models. Â Looks like I may in the future eventually have to break down and go down that road too. Â Never enough time to do everything I would like to.

This is the unedited raw STRM DEM data as viewed in Leveler, a heightmap editor. Â This is not an accurate representation of the terrain - the 90 meter grid misses too much data. Here is the current edited heightmap I have created which still is not rough enough in many places.

No luck with binarizing - the stutter is still there. Very noticeable while flying. Every couple of seconds. The log file is clean - no problems. Guess I will spend the time I was hoping to save and drop back to a 512 pixel segment and see what happens.

Only in game with this map. I don't even have problems with my own Schmalfelden XHV.

It might take until next spring to finish it - just in time to update everything to ArmA2 standards  Satmap is also 10240,x10240.  Satellite Grid is 24. Texture Size is 20 x 20 meters - it won't validate with the normal 40x40 meters. It's a big, complicated map - I'm not surprised there is a performance hit.  But I was expecting it until I started adding objects. Dropping back to 512 pixel segment isn't life and death.  I am attempting to get the texture color to match the satellite image color better - thus the need to have multiple textures.  ArmA2 will handle this for me as I understand it will "pick up" the color of the satellite and apply it to the texture to some extent.  It's all very pretty now - I just hate to have to give up the variations. I may need to "borrow" your wheat with your permission.  It will look great on Schmalfelden. Â

Nice T-55, Rygugu. A more representative vehicle for 3rd World type conflicts - it will be greatly appreciated.

Wow! This gets better all the time. Apart from all the "big" things you have done, I especially like the wounded guys writhing in pain. Small but realistic touch.

Try Desert2. Kind of ironic we are both working on maps of almost the same area, although I'm across the border in Pakistan.

Yep, I can see how right you are - thanks!

Check your Tools | Project Preferences to make sure your folder - textures is correct. Â You may want to check your P: drive to locate the missing files. Â I've made this error a few time myself Â

Any particular reason you recommend this, Opteryx? Since I know so little about this, I'm sure I wouldn't know the reason looking at output of either. I bow to your experience.

You got me thinking and found the answer - and it works: The plug-in for PS is here, thanks to Kegetys: http://www.kegetys.net/arma/ Linker Split did a tutorial on making normal maps: http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depo....cat=xyz Knowing the proper terminology for the file type was the info I needed.

Well, I would appreciate knowing how you do it, although I sense you are angry about the lack of response and may not want to. Â I didn't respond because I don't have a clue. Â All I've ever done myself is adjust the color of the detail_co.paa files and renamed stuff. Â But any insight as to how one creates a new nohq.paa file would be a tremendous help to me.

"Wilbur" has a decent selection of good erosion routines which you can run on your heightmap. http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/software.html I've never been able to figure out good settings for the V3 erosion routines either. Â It's always all or nothing, ie flatten the terrain way too much or I see nothing at all. Â I'm sure it works great for those who programmed it, I just wish they would have shared some of the many secrets of V3 with us. Wilbur also has a function which nicely fixes the DEM stepping. Check out the "Filter | Fill | Deterrace" function.

I understand your point and what you want, however, this leaves you with only the BIS maps. Â While creating enormous maps is technically possible, actually doing it is another matter. Â If one looks through the Addon Discussion and the Visitor folder there are many announcements of huge new islands under construction, some with early construction images. Â Yet the number of islands/maps released is few and their size is small or moderate. Â This is the unfortunate reality. Â It's still better than nothing at all. Â

Sorry to disappoint, but it will be another map. Â I do have 2 real islands roughed out too but with Uhao's release it seemed a bit redundant. Â On the plus side it is larger than Schmalfelden - 10 x 10 km. Â Real terrain, and relevant. Â More details to follow.

Beautiful map, Opteryx. You never cease to amaze (and inspire) me with your work. Thanks!

Hah, I've had this problem too and like the rest of you I can't remember what I did to fix it!

Blackknight63- Remember the source files for Schmalfelden are available: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ajnv6m Not only can you get some ideas and learn about the variables involved in placing objects and other things, you can cut and paste anything you think might be useful on your map if that makes it easier. Be sure to import templates to get the objects in your .pew file first. After that you could, for example, copy a block of woods, paste it on your map and then trim it down to fit the area on your map. No need to recreate the wheel, so to speak. Good luck!

I changed the segment size in Schmalfelden around v.94 from 512 to 256 pixels and didn't see changes in the frame rate. Loading time may be a bit longer because of the additional files. Bravo 6- I found the easiest way to figure this out is to open the chopped up .png files in the Layers folder. Overlaying adjacent "s" files allows you to determine the amount of overlap. The exact formula is in the Biki but the translation to English there makes it difficult to understand. Thus my workaround.