Author Topic: joining the gods (Read 666 times)

crowbaby · « **on:** July 08, 2002, 04:29:19 PM »

I've been impressed as hell by some of the maps i've seen made by the community for AH, and i'd like to have a go for myself. I've read through alot of the posts on this BB and i'm grateful for all the knowledge that folk have shared. Apart from my gratitude you're reward is in the fact that i'll only be pestering you with a couple of questions

I'm looking at making an Aleutians map: 512*512 size, but mostly empty sea so not too much work for a newbie like myself.

I'd like to make a map that would be usable in the CT for both early war Japanese invasion, and late war U.S. recovery scenarios.

The Aleutians also appeal to me because despite their length, there would ordinarily be a very narrow front, thus keeping the fight concentrated when there are low numbers in the CT.

I don't actually expect my first map to be any good, but i might as well aim for something relevant.

I've collected a few score photos and maps of the terrain, plus a ton of historic info which i'm wading through.

I've got three questions for the Terrain gurus:

1. Do you think the Aleutians would be a worthwhile CT terrain (long straight island chain, lots of sea, probably a couple of fleets each)

2. Does anyone know much about the next release of the Terrain Editor, what changes, etc, should i wait for it?

3. Clouds. I've been messing around with these offline:

the cloud editor says 900 max? i can get more to work but will it cause frame rate issues online?

Cloud layers can't pass over each other without ugly graphic glitches: anyone found a way around this? I've tried plugging the 'holes' with fluffy coluds, but it's too unreliable.

I'd really like a LOT of weather in the Aleutians, fields overcast, CVs hiding in fog banks, nasty wind interfaces, etc. but i don't know how messy this will be online? Has anyone else tried this sort of thing?

I appreciate that this terrain, and the playing style that will result, won't suit everyone, but i love the flexibility of AH, and i wanted to try something quite distinctive.

I'd appreciate any feedback/abuse/discouragement/gnomic prophecies....thanks

crowbaby · « **Reply #1 on:** July 10, 2002, 06:37:35 AM »

Have been playing around with Ogre's mapmaker as it seems to be the best way to get naturally contoured hills. It seemes to me that if i compress a 1,000 mile real world area into a 512 mile terrain, all the gradients should double. I think this will help mountains look a little more dramatic on a 2d screen.

My problem now is this: the mapmaker won't go across the dateline without crashing. I can take maps from 180 degrees west, or up to 180 east, but not straddling that. I'm wondering if anyone has found a fix for this?

Failing a solution i'll be using a truncated Aleutians, with the Japanese invasion occuring on Adak rather than Attu and Kiska.

crowbaby · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2002, 06:22:14 PM »

i've knocked up some tiles for the Aleutians, transitions are a bit untidy, but i wanted to have an idea what they'd look like ingame before i spent aeons getting them to blend perfectly with each other.

This is the summer scheme, for June of '42. I'm thinking of making another set of tiles for exactly the same map as a winter scheme, more snow, parched grass, heavier seas.

crowbaby · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2002, 06:33:14 PM »

and another, stop me if i bore you....

crowbaby · « **Reply #4 on:** July 23, 2002, 06:30:30 AM »

After messing around with clouds i found this
http://www.hlswilliwaw.com/aleutians/Aleutians/html/summerfogs-winterwinds.htm

.

which is a set of 1943 pilots notes for flying in the Aleutians.

It solves my cloud layer problem for me. Based on this information i can create fairly realistic seasonal weather.

In the summer i will be using a lot of small cloud layers under 1,000 feet to simulate fog over water, where clipping seems not to be a problem. Above these i'll use normal cumulus cloud fronts and there'll be blue sky. The idea here is to obscure the ground for some of the time, hiding ships, even closing fields or preventing bombing. Targets will be clustered on the islands so dive bombers will have alternatives. i'd like to see people use the weather, strategically as well as tactically.

In winter, a single cloud layer will cover entire map at about 12,000ft. Both above and below this will be large quantities of cumulus. Every wind layer will be used. It will be worthwhile gaining the 12k of alt, and varied wind layers (15-30 mph, changing directions) should make it take a little longer.

Level bombing will be very hard, unfortunately, but it was barely used historically in this area

crowbaby · « **Reply #5 on:** July 30, 2002, 05:45:56 PM »

I've moved on to actually putting objects in my terrain. Not that i'm all that happy with my terrain or my tiles yet - but i figure i might as well have a crack at everything while i'm waiting to see what the new terrain editor brings....

I've tried to make Anchorage look like a big town, so i've crushed a city, a port, a radar factory and a fuel dump each into the corner of their tiles. I think it looks quite nice on the ground, and at the moment it gives good frame rates with my antique pc.

To make it fair on bombers i've made a clipboard photo-recon style map of the city.

I still have a few questions though -

Is it possible to use clipboard maps with anything other than the default names, city/ammofact/port/etc?

Is it possible to put different roads/trainlines through adjacent or even the same grid square without ugly anomalies?

Has anyone found a way around the "you have ditched" problem when making your own fields?

pokie · « **Reply #6 on:** July 30, 2002, 08:30:04 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by crowbaby

I still have a few questions though -

1) Is it possible to use clipboard maps with anything other than the default names, city/ammofact/port/etc?

2) Is it possible to put different roads/trainlines through adjacent or even the same grid square without ugly anomalies?

3) Has anyone found a way around the "you have ditched" problem when making your own fields?

1) You could always just place a name on the clipboard map where your items are.

2) Not that I'm aware but you can cheat alittle, like cross over a road and then place either Road1, River1 or Track1 to fix up your broken tracks. You can even run a track on top of another track, like run a track from a station going north xxx miles and then go east , place another track on top of it at the same starting point and go north xxx miles then go west .

3) Use

LAIRFLD
LARFLD2
MAIRFLD
MARFLD2
SAIRFLD
SARFLD2
RUNWAY

CITY
FTMPLT
VDEPOT

All of these will give you "you have landed successfully"
SET as Runways and "Can Collide " box is checked

You can also use

RNWY1
RNWY2
RNWY3

But the "Can Collide " box is unchecked and then you can lay a Runway ( SET as Runway and "Can Collide " box is checked ) on top of the existing runways.

Pokie

oboe · « **Reply #7 on:** July 30, 2002, 08:33:06 PM »

Those pics look real good crowbaby. I haven't played at all with the terrain editor, but I'm really thinking an Okinawa or Southern
Japan terrain would be nice to have.

What's the best way to get started? Is it even worth it with a new terrain editor version coming??

crowbaby · « **Reply #8 on:** July 31, 2002, 02:45:43 PM »

Thanks for the tips Pokie! I'm having a lot more fun with trains now

I hope we can set taxiways etc. to have the property 'runway' in the new editor. I like making new fields but I don't want people to be peed off if they get a ditch through not landing on the runway proper.

Glad you like it Oboe. I'm waiting for the new TE myself, but I don't think i can give you much advice - so far I've broken every sensible rule of making terrains. I don't even have an exact map of what the finished terrain should look like yet - I'm researching each field as i go along - then i want to playtest it for Strat etc. before finalising field size and placement.

I'm just making it up as I go along, but, I would recommend reading back through ALL of this board - there's some fab advice from too many people to list.

BenDover · « **Reply #9 on:** July 31, 2002, 03:22:31 PM »

erm, you know we can't see those pics if they're on your hard drive:rolleyes:

crowbaby · « **Reply #10 on:** July 31, 2002, 04:24:14 PM »

uh..thanks BenDover...now i feel really stupid...

Anchorage:

crowbaby · « **Reply #11 on:** July 31, 2002, 04:32:09 PM »

and range of map....

CDR Akira · « **Reply #12 on:** August 26, 2002, 06:02:36 PM »

(Snore)When will the terrain be finished by the way it looks it is finished and I love alaska

So how is the progress?

Answer soon hopefuly with the terrain;)

crowbaby · « **Reply #13 on:** August 29, 2002, 03:29:48 PM »

Sorry.

Glad you're interested Akira, but my life has caught up with me temporarily and I haven't even had time to fly all month.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back onto this project in earnest in September.

steely07 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 29, 2002, 06:05:51 PM »

looking nice Crow,let us know when u need it tested,i would be glad to help