DC39

Hello all! I'm following the ZGM Arma 2 Map Making Tutorial (can be found on armaholic but I can't post links yet) in my first attempt at a terrain project for Arma 2. I haven't gotten very far into the tutorial as it says to use 'Global Mapper' to convert my DEM file to xyz, but Global Mapper isn't free and I can't find a trial key for it, so instead I am using MicroDEM. This has presented a big problem because I haven't been able to find any in depth guides for the program relating to Arma 2 and Visitor 3 compatibility - yes I HAVE searched the forums, and armaholic, and google... lol SO, basically I have a DEM file, which I know how to open in MicroDEM, and I think I've worked out how to crop (or 'subset') the area of terrain that I want. (But I'm not sure about that :/) My first question is how can I crop or subset part of my DEM at a specific size? I want to make a map 15km by 15km, I have the long & lat co-ords for the area I want to use from my DEM but not sure how to get an exact size - which I think is necessary for Visitor. Next i obviously want to export it as an xyz file, so my second question is what settings I need in the export process to make the xyz suitable for Visitor. Again I've played around with the software and have a vague idea of what to do, but don't know what settings I need to make it visitor compatible, I've tried a few different combos but no luck so far. When I try to import the xyzs I create with MicroDEM the width and height are not what expected (don't know how to get exact measurements) and my 'square size' is 1.0 instead of 10. (so atm result size = 4096 sqm) Any help or pointing me towards where I might find a solution would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! DC

I'm glad it's not just me resurrecting an old thread here lol. I've spent a lot of time this week stitching and editing the sat image for my first ever map :), not a very rewarding task, but has been made much easier through scripting the print screen process. Basically, I've been using google earth and a few other aerial photo / satellite image websites at high res to put together a massive high res file in GIMP2 with different layers for the mask & road maps etc, and a nifty joystick hotkey software called "xpadder" (see http://xpadder.com/ - my version was free but it's now £5.99). I use this software to script several lengthy button presses and actions (print screen, switch tab, paste, new layer, merge down, save as etc) into one simple action so that I press Print Screen then a single button on my old xbox 360 controller repeatedly on different images and quickly build a large satellite picture. Also, it doesn't always work, but if each print screen has a decent overlap you can use Microsoft's ICE (free and elegant) panorama stitcher to put it all together quickly. So a quick summary & some useful websites - source websites: google earth /// www.arcgis.com /// www.openstreetmap.org /// www.zonums.com/gmaps/maptool.php /// www.earthtools.org Software: Universal Maps Downloader, Google Earth, Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor), xpadder, GIMP 2

Hi Rocket, yes I have tried Global Mapper, it's the program advised in ZGM's tut so it was my first stop - trouble is he uses an older version than I could download, and AFAIK the new version wont let you save or export ANYTHING, quite annoying really, which is why I've been trying out other soft. like microDEM. Maybe you know a way around this using L3DT? I haven't really had a chance to use either yet, I'm VERY new to the whole mapping thing, still getting to grips with how the directories and tools work.

Map's looking good fella, can't wait to see it with some proper green English foliage! I've just started work on a Western Europe map myself, mine's the other side of London though, and I've only just finished my Sat image tonight so I'm a waaaay off release lol, I'm sure interested in how your planning to tackle your map's theme, the mail boxes etc that others have been talking about - my map is a built up urban area and I'm starting to worry about getting the English feel across without too much resource hogging detail and objects :/ One question / thought btw, is your terrain all finished now? Just looks a little flat to me - for good game play I'd suggest you break up the map a little more, doesn't really matter how but you normally need some sort of cover, whether it's buildings and walls, vegetation, elevation variation etc. Large open areas with no cover or variation don't lend themselves well to varied game play. Having said that, it DOES look good for vehicle and armor use :). Anyways, Good Luck! DC

Bushlurker: So I found the corners bit you were talking about, in my version of MicroDEM; 'Modify' - 'Map Area' - 'Keyboard Corners' and then when I got to export the only option I can find that you listed is .TIF - options are save as image - (colour or grayscale geotiff) & save as DEM - ASCII XYZ, DTED, USGS ASCII, BIL, ASCII Arc Grid, Grid Float, and then a list of options under 'Caveat Emptor', so I've got as far as exporting my Height map DEM as a smaller Geotiff image. I think I need to look through the l3dt instructions a bit more because there is a baffling array of options for projects etc which look very interesting - I'll get back to you properly when I've worked out how to convert, as at the moment it says the area I want to use as a height map is too big for the free version. Thanks for the advice, I think using L3DT should make things easier, I'll give a full description of what I did when I get it done right so others searching the forums will have a little guide. Lecholas: Not sure quite what you mean by 'define a projection' but I've downloaded the Opensource Quantum GIS and I'm having a look at that next, thanks/ :) Cheers guys, get back to you in a couple days with final thoughts, sorry I took so long to reply - hectic work schedule this month :( DC