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ZeroG

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Posts posted by ZeroG

  3. Posted

    @Ulanthorn: yes. we noticed that already while playing. Problem is I never wrote down the towns where the camps would need a replacement :p If you could name me a few, I'd change it within minutes.

    @GINGER: Thanks, buddy. Yes, ranking was made by me..though it uses a quite simple code. Its also in its first stage, improved bonus/scoring system is to come during winter vacation..but I also have to do a mapmaking tutorial at the same time :)

  4. Posted

    @NYLES: Yes, unluckily they are RES. They show up red, but own AI doesn't attack. I dont know how to change that by the mission, as the side of a unit is in the config and thus would need an addon. But ill try some scripting commands to fix that.

    @GUTMASHER

    Yes, implementation of params for all of these changes is in plan for one of next versions, though I'm experiencing a problem with it I haven't found a solution for yet.

  8. Posted

    GREAT! Instantly downloaded!

    Is there a way one could get the merged satimage?! I've been doing this myself for quite some time with photoshop, stitching the zillion tiles together...but obviously, you have it at a hand?!

    I ask bcs Chernarus sat, texture and mask are a good foundation for maps in a temperate area, convering color and deatil level :)

  10. Posted

    Is there anywhere a list with images or a gallery that contains all objects ?

    The list at armatechsquad is great but too small,the images in WTools are also great but not complete.

    Sohas anyone an updated list?

    There is a library with natural objects....URL="http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=94999"]http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=94999[/url]

  11. Posted · Edited by ZeroG

    Great tuto !

    But :rolleyes: , I have some trouble to found the exact location of my map in google.

    I follow the tuto: take the coordinates on the area, and put them in the "Universal Maps Downloader", choose the elevation (12) and start the programm.

    When it was finish (without error message) I have a 256*4096 image for a 10240*10240 area ?? :confused:

    Aze

    Sounds like you made a mistake at the colons somewhere..or you made a rectabgle instead of a square in GM? should always be "a x a" not "a x b". Universal mapper allows you to do rectangles, but for Visitor they are not useful. Better check coords again..

  12. Posted

    Well, as my version is always based on Benny's most actual, it contains the same bugs ofc :p This AI problem is sth far above my actual skilllevel. Doesn't it help if you set the point for AI groups with team menu?

    About the crashes: well, sometimes I have the idea that an aongoing game creates bugs...when we start mission, everything is fine and logs shos now signs of bugs...later on in the game I often find error messages that should have been there also in the early game! It feels like the mission could would be falling apart the longer the game's been going! We don't have crashes on server with v8 or that 32P version so far!! Only thing that happens is laaaaag:rolleyes:

  13. Posted

    Mmm..14 days GM trial seems fine by me to export lots of maps for next years :-) I.e. until Arma 3 arrives or Visitor 4 comes out for us gamers.

    @OChristie: Yes, you are right...but this is just US. Every other part of the world costs a lot of money in that high resolution....far exceeding the cost of GM. Depends on what you want...in my case, I wanted to reproduce my home area...that's not US and I did not want to spend 500€ on 20km² 1m DEM.:p

  14. Posted

    As I am on a GM-less PC the next two weeks, I can't tell exactly...but I think you can export these shapefiles as pictures! The according data you find on that GEOFABRIK link I posted above. It contains the roads and forests that can be seen in OPEN STREET MAPS...and they are quite exact.

    So..load shapefiles into the same square as done before in GM, export them from the same area into a world-tool readable picture format, by thus creating a mask..place objects according to it..and when you have them imported into Visitor, simply mark them all and drag the whole selection until it fits to background mask??! Easiest way??!:eek:

  15. Posted

    Good tut, but as others found you can't export from GM without a license (will try asking for a trial license...)

    Similarly, you can't get beyond zoom level 12 with the Universal Map Download Tool unless you buy it.

    Would be great if someone has a similar tutorial but with free tools?

    Thanks though! The tut is clear and shows the steps necessary.

    As far as I know, Microdem is a similar program...it is just not so easy to use as Global Mapper.

    As I said, you dont really need a too high detailed map for background mask in Visitor 3 as you cannot place so many objects as in RL! It is just to get an Idea where every road is and woods are located in RL. I guess slopes, forests and roads are the only things you will really recognize from an area you are living in, as the available buildings are not the same as in anyones home town.

    For the satmap to be drawn in game, you rather should paste on your own textures onto the low detail RL-map with programs like PS, as even 18x zoom is not high enough to make it goodlooking in game!

    All you need in the end is the near 100% match between satellite background mask and the heightmap.

    Have you checked: maybe there are older versions of GM available that are cheaper?

  17. Posted · Edited by ZeroG

    Well, I have daily access to tanks, so my opinion has the same worth :p

    You are right that awareness in a tank is reduced...but as I said...if it was real, you would have more periscopes or a backdriving camera...maybe no camera on T55, but in TUSK for sure. As the game doesnt bring these, we use 3rd. Yes, in RL commander orders the driver over his periscopes if he shall go backwards. But again I say: forget about the driving AI. Also forget about 3 players in one tank over a whole Warfare match..does not happen. And tank users have drawbacks after all..because of the engine sound and every guy running around with a cheap 1miligram JAVELIN that comes back by respawn.

    At a certain point you have to decide what is RL, what is balance and what is cheat. That's what we did after lots of public matches on the most popular warfare server out there and thats the result of the ZGM settings.

    For more overview on infantry, use freelook. There goes your peripheral view. Body feel...hmm..you dont get to look round a corner with it, do you?! That's a shared opinion of lots of guys on our server. No tacview, no 3rd for inf.

    Commander gets only town money, no rank. But he levels up very fast by building or if the teams take cities.

    The static air defenses cost 10000 because they have TUNGUSKA missiles. With IGLA, they are not useful after all. No chance against flares/chaff etc. They are more expensive than the TUNGUSKA itself bcs they cannot be seen on radar.

    Making different vehicles accessible for certain ranks is sth I tried already and wasnt able to do. I only was able to limit whole categories so far. But you can expect that I will work on this issue, bcs I would like to change it.

    A warfare match is always a long term issue, nothing for occasionals. Nothing is more hated than guys coming on the server and instantly asking for AF etc. If people don't have time for such a long match, they shall go for a quicker gamemode but not disturb long term warfare. Normally, 75% of players that were initially there are there in the end, too. That is, if the game does run for 4 hours, not 10.

  18. Posted

    Excellent tutorial ZeroG! Very well written and easy to follow. Looks like your GM process is a few steps shorter than my microdem, might have to try that out sometime. :)

    Well done, looking forward to your world tools info! Haven't had much time to play around with that yet, really like to see what you've come up with there.

    Thanks Gnome :) Yea, Global mapper is far better than microdem..more precise and user friendly imho.

    Unluckily, I have to say that I am short on time next two weeks..but after that I'll continue with the tut.

  19. Posted

    Shezan,

    while I was doing the Tutorial, I had some ideas concerning the next steps for your tool. Today I found a site where there are so called shapefiles for roads and vegetation available for a lot of places in the world: SHAPEFILES

    These,of course, can also be read by Global Mapper and could be also exported like the xyz files for a certain area..in multiple formats! It would be great if it was possible to export these files into your World tools and from there into Visitor3. Realistic road network and forests done!

    Now if you have a look on how VBS2 does this with its landbuilder tool:

    SHAPEFILES IN VBS2

    LANDBUILDER MODULES

    could you imagine to reproduce some of these features to use existing geoinfo data?

  21. Posted · Edited by ZeroG

    Hello guys!

    I will post more and more parts of the tutorial in the same speed as I create my map, making it a kind of mapmaking BLOG :)

    Feel free to comment, feel motivated and be patient :)

    PART 1 begins with fetching real life DEM and ends with the implementation of the satellite image as background in VISITOR 3.

    PART 2 deals with the usage of shapefiles and placement of large forests.

    ZGM MAP MAKING TUTORIAL PART 1 & 2

  22. Posted

    It's true, the round I had was imbalanced, but I hardly ever had a fair round on XR servers, since HS clan players (and regulars) prefer to stack on one side, so they can communicate on TS, instead of balancing the game.

    You are absolutely right. Since last week, we began to split up more, because we've had it with the imbalance - well, maybe not today :) But in general, we have a kind of informal agreement now to split up TS..after all, it is no use with 10 guys in one channel! I will do so and so do others.

    The last rounds I played were all perfectly balanced. Longest game this week was 10 hours! Planes are up late in the game and they are rare. A lot of guys like it that way, me included.

    If we develop it further, it might become a really nice variation off the normal system.

  23. Posted · Edited by ZeroG

    Lift manned vehicles are more effective that 4 A10. One player in the gunner position in a lilfted tank can locate bases easly and destroy them in flew min.

    And Ground defenses are too expensive.

    This is a wrong way to get realism.

    1. Nobody talks about realism here. Hellfire on a KAMOV? that has only been done because of balance and to keep off mods from the server (makes it appear yellow in ingame server browser > half-full server. Seen it several times. Lots of people are even having trouble setting up shortcuts...so rather no mod and just connect is what brings people on a PVP server :j:)

    2. Ground defenses are too expensive? Well, pretty pain in the ass when someone can just buy a cheap reptruck and build cheap statics which lock on expensive tanks and expensive planes and destroy them by one shot.

    3. Correct, the chance of "airtank" exploit is there, but I don't see it that dangerous, I see and I HAVE seen more the benefit of people using it properly than exploiters.

    1) It's not made clear in the mission; people are wondering what's going on and think the game might be bugged; there could be a hint coming up, telling you about the restriction

    2) the most important point I'm trying to make: it will make teams with average/weaker players more weak, and those with better players even better - it is hard enough to even only possibly overcome a team with better players with some group-tactical maneuvers, but now if you have to fight tanks with sticks and shoot at planes with rocks, it will only frustrate people

    3) apparently you get 1 point every minute as private, but I guess as soon you rank up, you don't get any points anymore, so this "starting help" is quickly mute, which leads to

    4) join-in-progress players will only have some feeble starting help (um, 25 points in 25 minutes? hooray!) and if they eventually get wound up in camp PvP, they will get one point for a kill, lose one point for dying - rinse, lather, repeat - which makes it hard to get a higher score, if you hadn't racked up dozens of kills in the PvE town capture phase earlier, which leads to

    5) "You need help at keeping a town against human players? Sorry, I need a higher score so we can compete with the enemy team, I'll head for some PvE rather, good luck with that town, buddy!!"

    6) you say with higher ranks you will lose a few points per minute? not a big deal, when they can sit in tanks/planes/choppers and just kill off AI en masse

    Now for the "advantages" that the system should bring apparently:

    - people sitting in base; well, either players do play and have fun or they sit in the base and won't have fun - at any rate an admin can kick them, if they're really not doing a thing

    - JiP people asking for money to get a plane only; well then do NOT give them money ffs - OTOH if they're buying a transport chopper to take towns more quickly with a handfull of AI, what's so friggin' wrong about that?

    Now the constructive part:

    I like the income distribution and rank-based paycheck system, which gives incentive enough to play better and leaves more money to the commander by default.

    1. It is made clear. If you would have looked properly in the NOTES section, which BTW is being pointed at with a BIIIG hint at the beginning of the game. I admit that ranking/buying option change could haveb been made more obvious by a hint. I will have a look at it in one of the next versions.

    2. At first I wanted to restrict the buyable vehicle classes to score..i.e. higher rank = SU34, lower rank = L39. I have not been able to do that up till now. Will try to improve this system in later versions.

    3. JIP is no problem at all. JIPers have to use LF until they reach 75 points. If there is a proper commander, he will upgrade LF this way. NOW people are finally doing these upgrades. In Vanilla buy system, the tech upgrade way was always like: Barracks 1 (for gear), Gear 1 (RPG7/SMAW), Light 1 (for Ambu), then Heavy then Air...what about the rest of the LF?! NOW they finally use it to support lower rank players. And you can kill tanks with light vehicles easily. They are cheap and fast..different strategy than always "TUSKING".

    4. Making score is really not too hard. Town capture gives you 10 points! You can be flying in about an hour. Before, it was like 10 minutes when people joined the proper side and they could fly. No ground fight anymore.

    5. Either way defending a town against players or attacking another one with AI - people are forced to play and make score, otherwise they have a crap game. Btw, killing a player gives you a far bigger fee than one AI soldier. Furthermore, "hard" town defense is done by foot after all..no particular score needed for that....if you look at Stary Sobor for example.

    6. All the other stuff you are whining about is basically always there when there is no balance in team structure. With a balanced team, there is about the same amount of tanks, planes, helicopters ingame.

    After all, if you flame around like that, you don't have to play it. I can live with that. Last weeks' statistics of our servers and player's feedback speaks for itself. One opinion based on theory is nothing on a public server, vote by feet is everything. You seem to judge 80% by theoretic knowledge?! (saying "I guess" etc.) Haven't seen you that often on our server. I suggest you come and play some more rounds...you might like it.

    The system works..we have far longer and balanced games than before...far more ground fights for towns..far less players only flying around. This is a proof for me that the whole system basically is ok. At the same time, I admit that there is room for improvement (as this is always the case, eh), but hey, it is one of the first releases with the new system...give it a chance and some time to eke out some initial diseases (like money amount or buy level).

  24. Posted

    I guess that my point is that armor has its price - and that price usually is a restricted view.

    Correct. If not every infantrymen would carry autolocking JAVELIN with him. If there was a weight simulation like in ACE, people could not run with it or carry anything else. But now we are at the main problem again: game or realism?!

    Judging by our regular players, 3rd totally off people disagree of. 3rd on for all is the same. So this case is best solution imho.

  25. Posted · Edited by ZeroG

    3rd for infantry just simply gives you a more lifelike situaltial awareness.

    Lifelike? So you say you walk around in real life, your head attached to a stick floating 5m behind you? :eek:

    A lot of our people think it is a cheat. You can watch around corners, watch over walls etc. You can even overview a whole town with tactical view.

    arma22009122304115940.th.png

    arma22009122304085526.th.png

    Use freelook via a mousebutton instead. Works perfectly! If you have some money, get TrackIR. Both solutions are more realistic than 3rd on.

    I mean that way at least people would need to open the hatch once in a while and in general it would help keep vehicles in check.

    And in a battle situation? Would be better if the driver wouldn't look out through the hatch to catch bullets, would it? That would also have the even bigger benefit that the turret could be turned around without knocking the driver's head off of or aloow the gun to be fired without splatting the upper body of the guy driving that steel beast through its blast? I know, I know. Tanks are no battle vehicles...

    Enough saracasm :o

    Modern tanks have at least three driver periscopes or a camera for backward-driving. Arma2 doesn't come with that feature, there is only 1 shitty periscope. Try to move backwards through a narrow street in a tank in 1st person..or try not to knock down tress in the forest :p

    Also, you cannot rely on AI, because their driving skill is more than bad. You could solve that problem by driving a tank with 3 human players. Do you get 3 players at the same time with TS on a normal public Warfare server? In the first minutes yes, when there is capping of resistance tanks. But as soon as people can build stuff for themselves, teamwork like this is gone.

    After all, if you don't like this limit but the rest of the ZGM features, you can simply go to "limitThirdPersonView.sqf" and make the line "gameplayLimit3dview = 1" a "0". You can also modify the whole script the way you like.

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