nanobot

Question regarding this, the Satellite/Surface (mask) tile's are spread across the actual in game terrain right? So if you have the size set to "512 x 512" and a Map grid size of 2048 and terrain cell size of 2 m (for a total terrain size of 4096) you would have a 8x8 grid of Sat/Surf mask tiles? If so what does "Texture layer" size(m)" do? Is there a way to view these cells in Buldozer or Terrain Builder? I want to make sure I'm visualizing the grids correctly when determining best how to paint the surface map.

Ok I seem to have solved my problem. Not exactly sure what fixed it, but I made sure all my files were consistent by getting rid of the tag folder. Now I just have the map project folder sitting on my P drive instead of in a work folder.

I use a combination of programs (some of which are professional "paid" versions but have free trials or limited use versions.) Programs are L3DT, World Machine, Universal Maps Downloader, Google Earth, and Photoshop. Use L3DT in combination with World Machine to generate your initial heightmap. Worldmachine is great at creating the first heightmap if you want something more procedural. L3DT is great if you want to use the design map to have more control over your landmasses. World Machine is also great at doing things such as erosion. I generally get my basic landmasses in L3DT then export to World Machine. Then use WM to run some erosion passes. The Terragen file format works well between the two but you need to make sure you have your project settings set correctly in Wm and L3DT (world size, scale, coordinates, etc.) Then export back to L3DT to do any manual terrain work. Back to WM to generate masks or textures based on the erosion channels, bake a erosion flow map (and perhaps a deposition map if you want), then back to L3DT. Universal Maps Downloader (UMD) is a great (paid) program. It allows you to choose coordinates and download image files from Google, Yandex, or bing. And depending on the service you can choose satallite images or terrain (low resolution topo. Which is usefull if you want to do a real terrain but lack the DEM.) The program also saves the coordinates of each image tile it downloads and can stitch them all together for you. MUCH easier then manually screen grabbing areas from google earth and more accurate. If you are creating a non real terrain you can use UMD (or google earth if you must ) to get images of terrain that is typical for your terrain then cut out areas in photoshop, arranging them how you want. L3DT is great for generating a base texture map. It can generate a map larger then the base terrain (for example a 8192 px map on a terrain of only 1024. The program includes a small number of sample textures but it's true power lays in the ability to make new climates (basically the system used for laying out the textures procedurally) as well as import your own unique textures. Many people don't realize you can actually manually paint textures (and attribute maps [masks]) in L3DT as well straight onto the 3D terrain then export out the 2d map. In photoshop, or other paint program, combine your texture map from L3DT, erosion maps from WM, and colorMap from google to create your sat image. I like to overlay everything on top of the base texture map from L3DT, using the erosion map to color the erosion channels lighter or darker. Here's a recent sat image I did using the method above to show results. (Though much smaller then it actually is.)

Link to map download: Warning! Over 300mbs zipped! https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-TYi_kAL4s2fmllMnV1d2s1QVM4SlplREtQOVZtS3ZOSkxJVG9qbHNDbDF3QWg2NjFXbHc&usp=sharing A few more hours spent playing with file locations and directories and still nothing. I did try changing my world file location to TAG\projectFolder\projectName.wrp and the map won't show up in the map list now. Perhaps the missing texture issue was actually brought on by my attempt to get the map to just show up in the list by changing that path. Essentially I created a problem as a result of trying to fix another. But that still leaves a problem at hand then, being I can't see the map in the map list. And yes I'm not using pboProject - it gives me an error when installing. I'll sort that out eventually. Sooner if this problem isn't sorted out. Here's a detailed breakdown of . . . everything. File Structure: TAG: E4R Project Name: E4R_Kayak addons folder: @E4r\addons P:\E4R\E4R_Kayak . . . cfgClutter.hpp . . . cfgSurfaces.hpp . . . config.cpp . . . E4R_Kayak.hpp . . . E4R_Kayak.wrp P:\E4R\E4R_Kayak\data . . . E4R_Kayak_rock.rvmat . . . E4R_Kayak_gravel.rvmat . . . E4R_Kayak_grass_green.rvmat . . . E4R_Kayak_rock_co.paa . . . E4R_Kayak_rock_nopx.paa . . . E4R_Kayak_gravel_co.paa . . . E4R_Kayak_gravel_nopx.paa . . . E4R_Kayak_grass_green_co.paa . . . E4R_Kayak_grass_green_nopx.paa P:\E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\layers . . . [containes .rvmat, .png, and .paa generated by TB] P:\E4R\E4R_Kayak\source . . . HF.asc (my heightmap) . . . layers.cfg . . . mapLegend.png . . . mask_ico.bmp . . . sat_ico.bmp cfgClutter.hpp class Clutter { class E4R_StrGrassGreenGroup: DefaultClutter { model = "A3\plants_f\Clutter\c_StrGrassGreen_group.p3d"; affectedByWind = 0.6; swLighting = "true"; scaleMin = 0.7; scaleMax = 1.0; }; }; cfgSurfaces.hpp class CfgSurfaces { class Default {}; class E4R_Kayak_grass_green_Surface : Default { files = "E4R_Kayak_grass_green_*"; rough = 0.1; dust = 0.05; soundEnviron = "grass"; character = "E4R_Kayak_grass_green_Character"; soundHit = "soft_ground"; }; }; class CfgSurfaceCharacters { class E4R_Kayak_grass_green_Character { probability[]={1.00}; names[]={"E4R_StrGrassGreenGroup"}; }; }; config.cpp #define _ARMA_ //Class config.bin{ class CfgPatches { class E4R_Kayak { units[] = {"E4R_Kayak"}; weapons[] = {}; requiredVersion = 1.0; version = "15/7/15"; fileName = "E4R_Kayak.pbo"; author = "E4R"; }; }; class CfgWorlds { class CAWorld; class Stratis: CAWorld { class Grid; class DefaultClutter; }; class E4R_Kayak: Stratis { cutscenes[] = {}; description = "Kayak Island, AK"; worldName = "\E4R\E4R_Kayak\E4R_Kayak.wrp"; startTime = "11:00"; startDate = "05/03/2001"; startWeather = 0.2; startFog = 0.0; forecastWeather = 0.6; forecastFog = 0.0; centerPosition[] = {2560,2560,500}; seagullPos[] = {2560,2560,500}; longitude = 65; latitude = -34; elevationOffset = 2000; envTexture = "A3\Data_f\env_land_ca.tga"; minTreesInForestSquare = 2; minRocksInRockSquare = 2; newRoadsShape = ""; ilsPosition[] = {1024,1024}; ilsDirection[] = {0.5075,0.08,-0.8616}; ilsTaxiIn[] = {}; ilsTaxiOff[] = {}; drawTaxiway = 0; class SecondaryAirports {}; class Sea { seaTexture = "a3\data_f\seatexture_co.paa"; seaMaterial = "#water"; shoreMaterial = "#shore"; shoreFoamMaterial = "#shorefoam"; shoreWetMaterial = "#shorewet"; WaterMapScale = 20; WaterGrid = 50; MaxTide = 0; MaxWave = 0; SeaWaveXScale = "2.0/50"; SeaWaveZScale = "1.0/50"; SeaWaveHScale = 2.0; SeaWaveXDuration = 5000; SeaWaveZDuration = 10000; }; /* class OutsideTerrain { satellite = "E4R\E4R_Kayak\Data\s_satout_co.paa"; enableTerrainSynth = 1; class Layers { class Layer0 { nopx = "E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_grass_green_nopx.paa"; texture = "E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_grass_green_co.paa"; }; }; }; */ class Grid: Grid { offsetX = 0; offsetY = 5120; class Zoom1 { zoomMax = 0.15; format = "XY"; formatX = "000"; formatY = "000"; stepX = 100; stepY = -100; }; class Zoom2 { zoomMax = 0.85; format = "XY"; formatX = "00"; formatY = "00"; stepX = 1000; stepY = -1000; }; class Zoom3 { zoomMax = 1e+030.0; format = "XY"; formatX = "0"; formatY = "0"; stepX = 10000; stepY = -10000; }; }; #include "cfgClutter.hpp" class Names { #include "E4R_Kayak.hpp" }; }; }; class CfgWorldList { class E4R_Kayak{}; }; class CfgMissions { class Cutscenes { }; }; //SURFACES #include "cfgSurfaces.hpp" E4R_Kayak.hpp empty Layers.cfg class Layers { class E4R_Kayak_gravel { texture = #(rgb,1,1,1)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,cdt); material = "E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_gravel.rvmat"; }; class E4R_Kayak_rock { texture = #(rgb,1,1,1)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,cdt); material = "E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_rock.rvmat"; }; class E4R_Kayak_grass_green { texture = #(rgb,1,1,1)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,cdt); material = "E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_grass_green.rvmat"; }; }; class Legend { picture="E4R\E4R_kayak\source\mapLegend.png"; class Colors { E4R_kayak_gravel[]={{255,255,0}}; E4R_kayak_rock[]={{0,255,255}}; E4R_kayak_grass_green[]={{0,255,0}}; }; }; sample .rvmat (others follow same structure) ambient[]={1.5,1.5,1.5,1}; diffuse[]={0.5,0.5,0.5,1}; forcedDiffuse[]={0,0,0,0}; emmisive[]={0,0,0,0}; specular[]={0,0,0,0}; specularPower=1; PixelShaderID="NormalMapDiffuse"; VertexShaderID="NormalMapDiffuseAlpha"; class Stage1 { texture="E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_rock_nopx.paa"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={10,0,0}; up[]={0,10,0}; dir[]={0,0,10}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; }; class Stage2 { texture="E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_rock_co.paa"; uvSource="tex"; class uvTransform { aside[]={10,0,0}; up[]={0,10,0}; dir[]={0,0,10}; pos[]={0,0,0}; }; };

Which file locations did you change and to where? Could someone please, perhaps Michael, elaborate on how they actually fixed this. I have worldName in my config set to "projectFolder\project.wrp" but my materials in the layers .cfg pointing to "tag\projectname\data\material.rvmat. If I try staying consistant as suggested by changing my worldName location to "Tag\projectName.wrp" then the game can't find the file. If I change the layers.cfg to look for material files in just "projectname\material.rvmat" then TB and Buldozer can't find the rvMats. What directory is the game and TB looking for and when? It seems inconsistant to me. Perhaps I have a path setting incorrect? It's like sometimes it knows to start looking in the project folder and sometimes it only starts looking in P drive. In my TB settings I have data directory and project directory point to P:\. Changing Data to point to my maps data folder and project to my project directory just seems to keep TB from working correctly so I think this is correct? Though I tried setting project directory to P:\tag\projectFolder and this didn't seem to either help or hinder. Having the config point to projectname\map.wrp and the layers cfg look for materials beginning with "tag\projectName" EXAMPLE: (material = "E4R\E4R_Kayak\data\E4R_Kayak_grass_green.rvmat";) allows everything to load in Buldozer and TB fine but throws the "cant load material" error in game. Though the world file does load and everything else works. I just get a bunch of white terrain in game. I'm on my third map trying to find something wrong and it's elluding me.

This is very interesting. I've been wondering for years, literally, if someone would be able to pull off some sort of 'mech beyond the simple district 9 one that's been shown a little. I've been trying to ascertain the viability of a battleTech/Mechwarrior mod but I'm still not sure if the engine could handle multiple weapon systems the way MW does it or if you could get each leg to respond to different terrain elevations like a human biped would. I would imagine that we would need to be able to use a custom vehicle rig, though a hacked together version of the tank one might work.

I guess its shift + F<#> I wasn't aware of this, thanks for the info. Its a bit of a reach for me on my keyboard though (luckily I have a G510 so I have extra keys that I can rebind.)

Just a easy suggestion, it would be nice if there was a hotkey to quick select a colored AI group, similiar to how most RTS games do group selections. Cntrl+1= RED group, Cntrl+2= GREEN group, etc. It would also be very useful if some of the most common AI control actions could be accessed easily through the default AI menu (the menu you get when you select an AI or AI group - I don't know the specific name.) For example formations and postures. In addition I prefer to use my mouse and wheel through options so it would be great if there was a way to simply navigate through the AI control menus without having to look at my keyboard or memorize what menu is what number. This would probably also make the AI control more accessible to newer players.