meshcarver

Hi Soul_Assassin, Do they mean Silence and Picnic..?

Hi Chaps, Something different for a change of pace while I'm away from my PC (sob!). I'm currently trying to make a start on some possible names for this island so would love it if any of you had any ideas you'd like to get down here. So far, these are some I like the most as they either sound (to my Western ears!) ominous or are a (probably incorrect) translation of a descriptive name: NOVA ZONA (means "New Zone" in Ukrainian and is currently my favourite) YEVA (means "Eve") CHORNA ZONA (means "Black Zone") SIRA ZONA (means "Grey Zone") STRUGATSKY (Surname of Roadside Picnic brothers who authored the book, and thanks goto Broadsword of iOGC for this one!) You can probably tell from these few I really want to go with a strange sounding one, not just something like Leninogorsk or Severobaykalsk for example..! So, if anyone has any suggestions they'd like to put forward please do and I look forwards to hearing them..!

Tbh, this is a real bummer all in all. I can fully understand that it's a big ask of BI to alter the way they handle terrain to include underground structures, but I've serious doubts I'm even going to bother trying to get some into my island with a ropey "workaround"... It's probably best not to have any at all as opposed to a real shoddy job. :( I was keeping my fingers crossed as I was planning on having huge and extensive corridors and complexes all over the place... :(

ChrisB, thanks for your input, but do you think you could draw a very basic diagram of what you mean? Just to make sure we understand that correctly? Np if not mate...

Aye, I do understand that point mate. Maybe a good compromise would be to have say, a table on its side but up against a corner in a room, so it's not in the middle of the floor?

Hehe, thanks man! The next piece I start will be a take on the classic log cabins you see in STALKER, but it'll be in about 4 weeks time as I'm away from my pc...

I think that'd be a bit weird visually maybe mate? A unit could stand inside a tabletop for example... Once I get back to my pc, I'll do a few furniture pieces then post a few interior shots here to show what amount I'll be doing it to, as it'll be quite bare- just a few broken tables and mattresses on the floor etc... So it won't really affect gameplay but will add some visual clutter.

How depressing... The thought of no underground possibilities... :(

@ Zsalheden, hi man, I'm not rendering anything at this point, the images are just print screens.

Excellent Docpet..! Sorry mate, I didn't think to check your flickr acc..! My apologies... Looking mighty damn fine..! :)

Good to hear people so enthused about STALKER in these forums..! Wax, I've PM'd you mate so I don't hijack Docpets thread! ;) Btw Docpet, are there ANY screenies you could share to keep us fans sane please..!

Hi man, Right now I'm concentrating on simply doing each necessary object to build up the library for the island so am not using any old tools although I've successfully got one test house into ARMA3 fine: http://www.meshcarver.com/screenshots/INGAME_02.png http://www.meshcarver.com/screenshots/INGAME_03.png http://www.meshcarver.com/screenshots/INGAME_04.png So going by this, I don't forsee any major problems using the old tool for now. But, by the time I've finished all major objects and start on the actual terrain, I'm hoping we'll know a bit more about the new toolset..? ;)

I'm in the process of creating an entirely new large map for ARMA3.

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I'm making every building enterable on my upcoming island and also plan on some sort of randomly spawning furnishings if that's possible by then. I would make the furniture geolods (collisions) solid and unobtusive to facilitate ease of movement in a firefight... Seems the way to go here. All in all, I will hand place some interior objects as permanent features, then let the script function randomly place a few more.

This sounds amazing mate..! :) I'll give it a look as soon as I'm back with my PC in about 4/5 weeks..! Excellent stuff..!

@astast, thanks anyway for bringing it to my attention but I think things are going ok and to plan upto now hopefully lol..! @kyle, thank you again for more elaboration man, appreciated..! I have a pretty good image of it in my mind now, but if you have any ideas for actual buildings now or more landmarks/features I'd love to hear..! ;) Either way, thanks again for taking your tine with the description! @grimwald, no problem mate, I hope it all goes to plan as it sounds interesting..!

@astast, hey thanks man..! Please could you list the poly limits for objects too if you know them, as tbh I've read a few differing sources upto now!

Hey Kyle..! :) Great to hear from you again mate, and another extensive and well explained idea..! I think it sounds great, and would be fantastic if I could follow your idea to the letter. It would be a good challenge and would probably be best if it was made in sections as I think ARMA can only handle objects upto 30 meters in size? If someone could clarify this it'd be good! I really like the idea of having part of the lower section partially submerged and this will be a theme that I'll carry across to other rotting structures... I love the idea of players having to wade through filthy waters to get to a better place on higher ground or to reach a sniping point or Artefact etc... If fully made, I'd love for this structure to be really intimidating just by looking at it, so it'd have to have a sinister form and be quite large as you say, possibly made from multiple sections... Anyway man, thanks for taking the time to explain it and feel free to keep more ideas coming, as I'll certainly put this one down in my sketchbook..!!! ;)

Hi..! Yes, great suggestions for utilising the new ARMA3 fog- this is something that I really want to go into some detail with in the final island as I reckon it'll really add some serious enhancement. I don't know if it'll be possible but ideally it'd be better to have it in patches too I think? :) A massive surface mine and other landmarks are planned aswell, also some emphasis on mining in the form of carts hanging from cables overhead, although wether these could be used as slow transport is still an issue... So yes, there'll be some huge bucket wheel excavators etc kicking about the landscape. Things like those will be almost like vast skeletal rotting structures that loom out of the distant fog... That's the plan. Talking about flocks of birds, I'm also tinkering with the idea of flocks of randomly generated rats that appear within a radius of the player and head in a random direction then eventually despawn for fps. If done correctly, these could be quite scary and damaging if they run right through your position... Keep the ideas flowing guys, it's great getting some feedback.

Hi all, This is more of a "fishing for info" post as I'm still away from my PC for awhile and trying to get some more info together in the meantime... For the people following/interested in this island, are there ANY specific objects/assets/ideas you'd love to see implemented in the final map? Things like buildings, structures, landmarks or even simple little details- every idea or suggestion will be read. Cheers guys.

...this side of editing is still far away, but that's a damn good suggestion Icewindo, thanks very much mate! :) I will certainly keep this in mind.

Aye thanks for the heads up Mr Burns! All these things will be tweaked to death to get the best possible frame rates, so it'll be one step at a time as I go. Cheers dude..!

Hi Bad Benson..! Oh yes..! EVERYTHING will be created especially for this map, even skies if it's possible for ARMA3. Hopefully it's possible to tweak around the settings for the volumetric clouds for example to be more Eastern European/dramatic/gloomy, but I'd also really love to have a few hi res dramatic cloud structure images that I could overlay into the skies, for when Emmissions start to occur etc... You get the idea mate- I really want to do a complete job on this at as high a standard as I can. So, foliage, objects, particles, sky etc... Everything will be redone just for this to fit in with the Stalker aesthetic.

Hey up Kyle..! How's it going man? I hope things have picked up for you again now... Yes, I'm really trying to keep everything as plausible as it should be considering the setting. It can be quite difficult at times! It's always a difficult task to decide where and to what extent to knock holes into buildings as they'll obviously be repeated wherever that building appears on the map. So I try to be reserved about it and also make it with "cover" in mind... For purposes of development, I've sort of come up with different classes of structures, so I can cover them all: Brick/concrete/plaster houses, Wooden/log/timber houses, Industrial, Experimental/science/research, Stalker constructs. These five more or less cover every eventuality, so I can make sure I've an even scattering of structures for my map. When creating Stalker camps, I'll populate the areas with individual buildings and then connect some with custom one-off objects like wooden bridging etc, so to give it more individuality as well. Yes, the mined areas is something I really want to go to town on so to speak. Imagine if every time you fire the map up there's randomly generated mine fields? ;) It adds such a dynamic to the gameplay too- I really had a tense time testing it out in ARMA3 engine with my houses, such good fun in an overwatch position and watching Opfor navigating the village and then triggering a mine lol..! Also, this could just as easily be applied to the Anomalies themselves- random amounts/locations every time so you just don't know where they are... Damn, I'm getting all excited again and won't be with my comp for another 5/6 weeks!!! :(

@DMarkwick, Your fire and smoke is one of the best additions to the ARMA experience mate. Good luck with fully integrating it into ARMA3 fully..! :)