Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Open Beta Test => Topic started by: Waffle on September 28, 2015, 03:08:28 PM
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I'm working on a write up for atlas creation and eventually hope to encompass the entire process of creating a terrain set from top to bottom.
I've attached a file for your review and any questions, suggestions would be appreciated. You welcome to add on to it - just post stuff here in this thread.
Thanks,
W
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/waffle/terredit.pdf (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/waffle/terredit.pdf)
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Thank you Waffle, been wanting to learn how to make maps, but everyone is too busy learning the New TE to help a beginner right now (and I understand). This will be a good first step for me. :rock
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I'm working on a write up for atlas creation and eventually hope to encompass the entire process of creating a terrain set from top to bottom.
I've attached a file for your review and any questions, suggestions would be appreciated. You welcome to add on to it - just post stuff here in this thread.
Thanks,
W
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/waffle/terredit.pdf (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/waffle/terredit.pdf)
Oh thank gawd!! :cheers:
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Thanks for the writeup. Please forgive me for asking a bunch of stupid questions, but I don't quite understand the new terrain structure. Can someone tell me if I have the wrong ideas and fill in some blanks please?
I am mostly interested in the files that get imported as I was working on a DEM => AH terrain program when the new version was announced. (I know artik made, and is probably updating, a better one, but I want to do my own just to keep my brain from atrophying). The new height file is apparently a 4K x 4K signed 16 bit integer with a unit of feet. (That's lucky for me because my program internally stores height in exactly that format.) I also presume that negative height is allowed now (for example I can drive a Jeep below sea level in the shallow water near the port). Is negative height allowable on dry land? (The DEM datasets have a surprising number of holes in the ground that turn out to be open pit mines.)
The old AH used water.bmp, waterc.bmp, and waterd.bmp to define water location, color, and "depth". Those appear to be gone now and shorelines appear to be smoothed using splines. How does one specify water, specifically in an import file? Is it part of the terrain type file (which I presume is splattype.bmp). How does one specify lakes and rivers? Also, is it true that anything at alt <= 0 ft is rendered as ocean? I tried that in my program, but it turned too much low lying coastal areas into ocean due to round off error (DEM resolution is 1 meter).
Sorry for all the questions, but I want to understand the structure, especially for adding water so I can make use of GSHHS vector datasets.
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So if I read right, to create one custom texture it will require 5 .bmps of the various types? Can you make just one or a couple custom textures, or do you have to do them all for it to work? Let's say I made the 5 diferent .bmps for a custom texture. Where do I put them? In the main folder for the terrain? In the texsrc folder? In a folder by themselves? If so, what do you name the folder? Since you can name the texture(s) whatever you want, how does the TE know where to place them in the texture selection box in the TE? Let me use avaatoll as an example. Since they got rid of underwater textures (boo!!!) I only need to use two custom textures on the islands. Can I just make two custom textures, or do I need to make all of the to fill out the entire terrset?
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You have to make the entire set but at some point we may ship the originals
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snip
Can someone tell me if I have the wrong ideas and fill in some blanks please?
Sorry for all the questions, but I want to understand the structure, especially for adding water so I can make use of GSHHS vector datasets.
PM me.
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You have to make the entire set but at some point we may ship the originals
Yes please!!! If I only need to add one custom texture, I'd rather just have to make the 5 associated .bmps and copy & paste the other original 95, instead of having to make 100 new .bmps just to add one texture. Please! :pray
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I think it would be nice to have an online repository of stock terrain typez and user submitted / created terrain types. That way map makers could pick and download terrain types for their atlas.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
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I think it would be nice to have an online repository of stock terrain typez and user submitted / created terrain types. That way map makers could pick and download terrain types for their atlas.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
I'm down with sharing all my stuff. :cheers:
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Yes please!!! If I only need to add one custom texture, I'd rather just have to make the 5 associated .bmps and copy & paste the other original 95, instead of having to make 100 new .bmps just to add one texture. Please! :pray
You will need to make the entire 5 textures for one tile type.
HiTech
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Right! :aok
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I was surprised that the default clutter stays in the terrain once you build it. It didn't show in the TE, probably because I must have had clutter disabled.
I expected the type0clutter.bmp to change the clutter in the built terrain but did I missed something?
Is the type0clutter.bmp active in the TE and will it eventually change the trees and other ground clutter?
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It is supposed to be
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Right, I guess. The default clutter is supposed to be in the built terrain. We can't modify it yet.
hehe, the OE didn't like it when I tried to force it to build a clutter set. Nice recovery! Now I'm thinking about what that would look like.
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Right, I guess. The default clutter is supposed to be in the built terrain. We can't modify it yet.
hehe, the OE didn't like it when I tried to force it to build a clutter set. Nice recovery! Now I'm thinking about what that would look like.
By clutter do you mean tree type stuff or grass.
For clutter/grass you can modify both the clutter it's self and what type and where on the terrain. Also the selection of type to random what type.
For trees you can not change the basic tree set / city building stuff but you can modify there placement on terrain tiles and square objects.
HiTech
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By clutter do you mean tree type stuff or grass.
For clutter/grass you can modify both the clutter it's self and what type and where on the terrain. Also the selection of type to random what type.
For trees you can not change the basic tree set / city building stuff but you can modify there placement on terrain tiles and square objects.
HiTech
By clutter, I always mean trees, building and grass as opposed to a bare ground type tile. Anything that obstructs your view or movement.
I get that we can't change the tree set, , but do you also mean we can't add user's custom objects to tiles? Keep in mind I won't know how my idea will look until I try it... I was thinking of very short LOD screening saplings in the 100 to 200 feet visible range for GV battles with compensating aerial views, pictures of denser forest scenes on the diffuse ground tile. I have in mind no-collide 2D objects to infill certain tiles, forest and jungle. At ground level, twenty or thirty feet high saplings etc. don't need to sway in the breeze. If it doesn't work, it wouldn't be the first time I've tried something that failed.
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You will not be able to add custom objects to the tile set. But you will be able to place the existing items. Any thing listed as trees under the object editor.
HiTech
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You will not be able to add custom objects to the tile set. But you will be able to place the existing items. Any thing listed as trees under the object editor.
HiTech
Thanks (runs off to cry) ;)
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Dang, there goes my hopes to keep snow covered trees on winter terrains.
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Perhaps HTC could add some snow covered trees to the existing set.
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The trees were brought in from somewhere else and have a copyright on them, so no editing of them. To get around that, I was hoping for some static winter trees made in AC3D to get around that, but that's not going to be allowed either. Bah!
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a big disappointment .
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The skys not falling....
So far, all we've done is a pac tree set and a european tree set. we only have terrsets 0-3 right now.
If you guys are bored, you can go here and browse: https://store.speedtree.com/product-category/visual_effects/trees-v6/
If you want, it would be nice to have a list of about 5-6 tree types for different terrains / season. Ill let the botanist side of you guys pick out trees for terrains. Ex: North Africa / Mediterranean, Europe winter, ect.... Just call it a wishlist for now as we are busy on other things, but we do plan on having other terrsets
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The skys not falling....
So far, all we've done is a pac tree set and a european tree set. we only have terrsets 0-3 right now.
If you guys are bored, you can go here and browse: https://store.speedtree.com/product-category/visual_effects/trees-v6/
If you want, it would be nice to have a list of about 5-6 tree types for different terrains / season. Ill let the botanist side of you guys pick out trees for terrains. Ex: North Africa / Mediterranean, Europe winter, ect.... Just call it a wishlist for now as we are busy on other things, but we do plan on having other terrsets
Cool, Alaska Cedar! Conifer Winter! and Burnt Tree! I feel like the Pope just visited our terrains and given his blessings. :pray
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The Pope's got NOTHING on these guys!
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Cool, Alaska Cedar! Conifer Winter! and Burnt Tree! I feel like the Pope just visited our terrains and given his blessings. :pray
Also:
We already have purchased all the items you see on those pages. And thats why we can not let you at the source to modify them.
HiTech
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Ooh! European White Birch, European Aspen, Norway Spruce and Scots Pine would be nice for the Baltic map. Some maples, elms and beeches especially in the southern half. Where's alder, how come they don't have it?
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Also:
We already have purchased all the items you see on those pages. And thats why we can not let you at the source to modify them.
HiTech
:aok My guess, is that the custom build crowd, would like some sort of ability to "MIX" in snow capped winter terrain set trees or marine set plants, with the other standard tree (types) sets.
My best analogy (since I don't have a clue) would be an addition to the existing terrain sets to include certain winter type trees for snow capped regions of a non winter terrain, etc.
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:aok My guess, is that the custom build crowd, would like some sort of ability to "MIX" in snow capped winter terrain set trees or marine set plants, with the other standard tree (types) sets.
My best analogy (since I don't have a clue) would be an addition to the existing terrain sets to include certain winter type trees for snow capped regions of a non winter terrain, etc.
There are limitations on how may types of trees can be in one set. We can not simply add more trees to existing sets with out increasing video mem requirements.
HiTech
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Happy dance!! :x
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The skys not falling....
So far, all we've done is a pac tree set and a european tree set. we only have terrsets 0-3 right now.
If you guys are bored, you can go here and browse: https://store.speedtree.com/product-category/visual_effects/trees-v6/
If you want, it would be nice to have a list of about 5-6 tree types for different terrains / season. Ill let the botanist side of you guys pick out trees for terrains. Ex: North Africa / Mediterranean, Europe winter, ect.... Just call it a wishlist for now as we are busy on other things, but we do plan on having other terrsets
Looks like some of the tree packages have snow covered variations. Package's run $19.00 - $49.00.
If these guys go nutz with terrain clutter and trees, only the 12 guys with Godzilla class PC will be able to play on their terrains. But, they will be 12 very happy guys. I remember the very closely packed trees on one of the early NDisles tests. It looked like a real forest, and a tank would disappear by the 3rd row of trees into a clump. I watched guys from the air ambush each other by turning off their engine and sitting 600yds away 3 trees deep. Even with me on VOX telling them exactly where the hidden tank was in the trees, they never saw it. Many times once a tank got into the middle of the trees, you could no longer find it from the air. Now for playability FPS, the forest density has been cut way back and you need to hide behind buildings.
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No worries. We take fps seriously. No point in making a terrain if most can't use it. That's what's great about only having a mid/lower range pc to build & test on. ;) The plan, at least for terrains we are making for the AvA, is to use the ground texture to help simulate thick woods from the air, instead of packing it full of trees.
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If you have a tank only map, thickening the forests will become a GVer's wonderland of possibilities. They will have to turn off clutter and possibly post lighting. But, the forest thickness is the magic.
Back in the old closed alpha, once stampf was on the ground in his tank at TT in the thick forests. We could never get him and other testers to up in planes to help us test the closed alpha. They played GV in the realistic thick forest all the time. I had to carpet bomb them with lancs to get them to test the alpha. It was the only way I had any chance of hitting them because of the trees. Using an IL2 or a Hurri bomber was useless once they got nestled in.
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Wait, I'm confused, which is it? Do you want more trees or less?
:)
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Easycor,
This is just conversation, but I have a similar impression about having separate ground and air war arenas. The most fantasy full idea would be connected by base capture, basically the fantasy would be the ability to "spawn" into an entirely different "ground or air challenge" arena from the current arena.
Bustr is simply saying that when there were more trees, it was very much a ground war utopia. No one wants the ground war to "ground" any potential pilots due to the cost in their video resources. The air war should always take top consideration, and a separate arena concept may allow the best of both to co exist on the servers.
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Maybe, but that doesn't describe an Aces High I'd want to play.
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Not really a well thought out fantasy anyway...... but it might end some of the bickering :police: back and forth on country about who is doing what....... or not doing.....
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The skys not falling....
So far, all we've done is a pac tree set and a european tree set. we only have terrsets 0-3 right now.
If you guys are bored, you can go here and browse: https://store.speedtree.com/product-category/visual_effects/trees-v6/
If you want, it would be nice to have a list of about 5-6 tree types for different terrains / season. Ill let the botanist side of you guys pick out trees for terrains. Ex: North Africa / Mediterranean, Europe winter, ect.... Just call it a wishlist for now as we are busy on other things, but we do plan on having other terrsets
May I submit choices here? I figure three tree types for two different environments, desert (covering N. Africa & Middle East needs) and winter to cover Europe & Russian (both as best as possible with 3 tree types).
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We definitely need a winter set. Two unless there are enough tree varieties to cover everything from Finland to Stalingrad.
I agree on the Desert set as well. Then there might be a preconfigured Mediterranean set, but we could probably create one combining the PTO set and a desert set.
I made one pass at the OE Friday afternoon and now I'm afraid to touch either the TE or OE until the next patch but I did take a short tour. I looked at one of the birch tree. I'm looking forward to spending more time with the OE.
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Working on converting a AH2 winter terrain to AH3 right now. So a few questions to just see if I understand things right.
Currently there are only 4 tilesets:
- Europe Summer
- Mediterrean / Desert
- Pacific Summer
- WWI Summer
In AH2 you could override the default texture files in a terrain by adding your own BMP in the txtsrc directory of your terrain. Is that still the case? So that if I drop in BMPs in the texsrc directory with the same names of the default textures that they will use those instead of say the Europe Summer texture BMP just like back in AH2. Is this still the case with AH3?
Just asking because I haven't gotten to testing that yet and instead am wrapped up with other areas of terrains and AH2 to AH3 terrain conversion.
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Working on converting a AH2 winter terrain to AH3 right now. So a few questions to just see if I understand things right.
Currently there are only 4 tilesets:
- Europe Summer
- Mediterrean / Desert
- Pacific Summer
- WWI Summer
In AH2 you could override the default texture files in a terrain by adding your own BMP in the txtsrc directory of your terrain. Is that still the case? So that if I drop in BMPs in the texsrc directory with the same names of the default textures that they will use those instead of say the Europe Summer texture BMP just like back in AH2. Is this still the case with AH3?
Just asking because I haven't gotten to testing that yet and instead am wrapped up with other areas of terrains and AH2 to AH3 terrain conversion.
Yes you can build your own texture sets in the terrain but it is a more evolved process now.
See this thread for the documentation.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,376440.msg5034382.html#msg5034382
And this thread for some sample texture sets.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,370041.0.html
HiTech