Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Open Beta Test => Topic started by: USRanger on September 30, 2015, 07:57:08 PM
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Regarding terrains and settings, I have a few requests. Just wanting some stuff back that we've always had that is missing from the new version, and is a step backwards imho.
1-Can we please have the ability to change the water color back? It makes a big difference, especially in PTO terrains. The single blue water color we have in the alpha won't work as a one size fits all if you want as much variety in the game as we want to give you.
2-Can we please have underwater textures back? It made such a beautiful difference in terrains in AH2. IL-2 has basically the same water, with waves on the shorelines & such, and you can change the water color and add underwater textures, so I know it's possible. I just want to make the terrains as beautiful as possible to bring in new players and keep the "vets" happy.
3-Currently the "page" on the clipboard map under Arena Settings to change the colors of the sky, fog, etc. is totally blank. Can we please have this ability back? Having the same shy color in every terrain, every time ruins the "feel" of many terrains. No variety=boring to players, especially when the game had these features before. Losing all these things I've just mentioned is a huge step backwards imo.
Nicer trees & building models is good for the game, but losing all the variety we were previously able to implement is going to make all the terrains look the same, just with the landmass in different spots. Without the ability to use the variations we have always had until now, terrains are just going to become blah. They will all look the same. As I always have, I want to push the limits of the TE to make this game look as beautiful as possible. Sadly, that's what attracts new players nowadays. Without getting back these functions we always had before, I (we) can no longer deliver that to/for Aces High. I want this for you so that the game lives on, but I(we) can't by taking away all the variety we had before. :pray
:salute
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Example:
avaAtoll in AH2:
(http://s17.postimg.org/ke0jf5ejj/bay1.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/jbqcwlvq3/full/)
avaAtoll in AH3:
(http://s18.postimg.org/98ni7yojd/baycrap.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/z478r5qd1/full/)
I could give pics of probably 30 more examples, but I think everyone can see what I'm talking about. :salute
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I noticed the missing color settings...I figured it's early in the Alpha and these types of things will make it back eventually.
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I agree Dot. It's Alpha.
Hence I make do with water at zero because there's so much to do before it can be put back to higher elevations, if ever. Colors on the other hand, and textures, well that seems trivial by comparison, and I know they want it to look good.
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Or they haven't added more dept in water because it would allow you to see the submarines!
:bolt:
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I know it's the alpha, but the sooner I ask, the better. ;)
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I know it's the alpha, but the sooner I ask, the better. ;)
That's alright, I have a dry land project for you. :bolt:
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Dang that's pretty! Doesn't look like anything I've seen ingame!
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Dang that's pretty! Doesn't look like anything I've seen ingame!
You can create a custom arena and see it. The AvA has special terrains. Not all but most have the ava prefix.
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Regarding terrains and settings, I have a few requests. Just wanting some stuff back that we've always had that is missing from the new version, and is a step backwards imho.
1-Can we please have the ability to change the water color back? It makes a big difference, especially in PTO terrains. The single blue water color we have in the alpha won't work as a one size fits all if you want as much variety in the game as we want to give you.
Very very doubtfull, the water doesn't really have a color associated with it.
2-Can we please have underwater textures back? It made such a beautiful difference in terrains in AH2. IL-2 has basically the same water, with waves on the shorelines & such, and you can change the water color and add underwater textures, so I know it's possible. I just want to make the terrains as beautiful as possible to bring in new players and keep the "vets" happy.
Not sure, the system again just dosn't work like the old did. Since we now have real elevations, the blending and elevations would cause drivabilty issues.
3-Currently the "page" on the clipboard map under Arena Settings to change the colors of the sky, fog, etc. is totally blank. Can we please have this ability back? Having the same shy color in every terrain, every time ruins the "feel" of many terrains. No variety=boring to players, especially when the game had these features before. Losing all these things I've just mentioned is a huge step backwards imo.
No. Again there is no concept of sky color. The system calculates air density /reflectivity excetera and ends up with a color based on where the sun is.
Nicer trees & building models is good for the game, but losing all the variety we were previously able to implement is going to make all the terrains look the same, just with the landmass in different spots. Without the ability to use the variations we have always had until now, terrains are just going to become blah. They will all look the same. As I always have, I want to push the limits of the TE to make this game look as beautiful as possible. Sadly, that's what attracts new players nowadays. Without getting back these functions we always had before, I (we) can no longer deliver that to/for Aces High. I want this for you so that the game lives on, but I(we) can't by taking away all the variety we had before. :pray
:salute
Actually for localization now, you can make anything you wish. The large 4x4 air base is a good example of what can be done with out the terrain system. You could if you wish make a perfect clifs of Dover as several 4x4 objects. You still can make all your own tiles.
HiTech
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...the water doesn't really have a color associated with it.
Do think there could ever be some way to assign a water type, like "tropical" or "north sea" or "inland lake", etc.?
...no concept of sky color. The system calculates air density /reflectivity excetera and ends up with a color based on where the sun is.
Very cool. I was wondering how you got the dawn/dusk colors to work so nicely.
Do you think there might be a way to have a setting (lat/long, or some other way) to describe a geographic area so the sun's angle from the horizon will change based on simulated location on the Earth for the terrain? So for instance, an "equatorial" terrain would have the sun high overhead at noon but a "northern" terrain would see the noon sun lower in the sky?
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Do you think there might be a way to have a setting (lat/long, or some other way) to describe a geographic area so the sun's angle from the horizon will change based on simulated location on the Earth for the terrain? So for instance, an "equatorial" terrain would have the sun high overhead at noon but a "northern" terrain would see the noon sun lower in the sky?
That is doable. Something I always wished to do, along with night sky, just never have. It mostly just involves me doing the research for the calculations. The writing it self would go fairly quickly.
HiTech
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Again there is no concept of sky color. The system calculates air density /reflectivity excetera and ends up with a color based on where the sun is.
I have one last question along these lines. Will we be able to dabble with the color / intensity of the sun, :cool: or the density / reflectivity of the air? :pray
Okay I fibbed, second question; is there anyway to dabble with the reflectivity of objects (not vehicles) and assuming this can already be done for terrain tiles (via bmp layers).
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I have one last question along these lines. Will we be able to dabble with the color / intensity of the sun, :cool: or the density / reflectivity of the air? :pray
No
Okay I fibbed, second question; is there anyway to dabble with the reflectivity of objects (not vehicles) and assuming this can already be done for terrain tiles (via bmp layers).
With skins and such, yes.
HiTech
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Ohhhh I want the Cliffs of Dover. Get on that Ranger :P
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Does the water reflect the sky above as in real life? For example, graying out under clouds.
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Yes on the sky, a few lines yet for the clouds.
HiTech
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Sounds good HT. That should take care of the water color issue for most people.
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Heyaaa Rrrranger!
You interested in Christmas in October?
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:banana: :banana: :banana:
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I hate being color blind. It's mostly a reflection of the sky. Still working on a proof of concept.
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Okay, over the concept hump.
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Okay, over the concept hump.
Yessss!! :rock
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The new river system is a great improvement as it gives nice high resolution smooth edges; no more jagged edged rivers. However, instead of a WaterD.bmp bitmap file, which allowed water anywhere, rivers are now objects, well paths actually. That means you have to draw them on the terrain. This brings up a wish and some questions:
1) Can we have the current mouse position on the terrain echoed as a little cross cursor on the map window so we know where we are and can trace rivers or features when editing them in the main window?
1a) Can we have the cursor also have a line that is perpendicular to the current river path direction and whose length is equal to the current river width. (OK that one seems hard.)
2) I'm mostly interested creating real terrains, i.e. based on DEM and other GIS data sources like bodies of water. One thing you learn from looking at those is that the Earth has an awful lot of rivers and lakes and ponds. If water features that aren't the ocean are going to be objects, is there some limit to the number and complexity of them? Can we add water features by editing the MyTerrain.tra file so we can essentially import GIS water body data (converted, of course, to AH3 format of X,W,Y)?
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The new river system is a great improvement as it gives nice high resolution smooth edges; no more jagged edged rivers. However, instead of a WaterD.bmp bitmap file, which allowed water anywhere, rivers are now objects, well paths actually. That means you have to draw them on the terrain. This brings up a wish and some questions:
1) Can we have the current mouse position on the terrain echoed as a little cross cursor on the map window so we know where we are and can trace rivers or features when editing them in the main window?
Are you asking for something similar to how the brush is now display but as an cross hair?
1a) Can we have the cursor also have a line that is perpendicular to the current river path direction and whose length is equal to the current river width. (OK that one seems hard.)
Not sure what your asking but ,you wish to set the river width other then the mouse wheel, i.e. by line and clicking?
2) I'm mostly interested creating real terrains, i.e. based on DEM and other GIS data sources like bodies of water. One thing you learn from looking at those is that the Earth has an awful lot of rivers and lakes and ponds. If water features that aren't the ocean are going to be objects, is there some limit to the number and complexity of them? Can we add water features by editing the MyTerrain.tra file so we can essentially import GIS water body data (converted, of course, to AH3 format of X,W,Y)?
I'm not sure about the quantity yet, the limiting factor will most likely be the collision testing. As to editing the .tra file, that should be no problem assuming you keep the correct format. At the moment the reader is not rugidized for abnormalities.
I also plan on adding widgets type functions that carve out terrain for your with rivers, and create switch backs for roads,rr and hills.
HiTech
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Are you asking for something similar to how the brush is now display but as an cross hair?
On my system, when drawing a river in the terrain no cursor shows up on the map window, just the red outline box. I was asking for a live cursor to show on the map that tracks where I'm moving the mouse on the terrain so I know where the river control points are going.
Not sure what your asking but ,you wish to set the river width other then the mouse wheel, i.e. by line and clicking?
No, I am not asking for a change in the way the river width is set. I am asking for the width that I am setting be mirrored on the map window by a line so I can sort of trace wide or narrow parts of the river shown on the map window.
I'm not sure about the quantity yet, the limiting factor will most likely be the collision testing. As to editing the .tra file, that should be no problem assuming you keep the correct format. At the moment the reader is not rugidized for abnormalities.
Cool. I'll start working on ways to convert GSHHG vector data to AH3 river format. Will you be adding lakes as well? (GSHHG treats everything, including rivers, as lakes; i.e. it gives the shoreline vector data of each segment of a river. At least that is how I remember it.)
I also plan on adding widgets type functions that carve out terrain for your with rivers, and create switch backs for roads,rr and hills.
HiTech
Cool! Cool! Cool!
715
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On my system, when drawing a river in the terrain no cursor shows up on the map window, just the red outline box. I was asking for a live cursor to show on the map that tracks where I'm moving the mouse on the terrain so I know where the river control points are going.
Do you see a white cursor in any of the modes? You should have a normal Arrow cursor when in the paths tab.
HiTech
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Just had a thought, we are using all custom cursors in the editors. Does windows have an option for larger or smaller cursors based on screen res?
HiTech
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I like what I'm seeing in the new paths. Ninety percent of my water issues are solved very nicely.
I'm still experimenting, seeing what can do the things I'd try and which might break the program. My comments based only on the editor.
One thing I wanted to see is whether a lake can be made with the rivers. I would level the whole lake to the appropriate elevation of course, but the attached jpg doesn't suggest it will work. :pray
In the roads, the lowest elevation possible is 0.50... feet. Visual inspection in the editor shows the road much higher then that. For the actual roadbed, I'm hoping for a max around 0.04 (1/2") or 0.08 if not actually 0.0 (which might cause zbuffer issues) feet above ground level. This would allow the visual only roads to meet a bridge, a town road etc or the terrain without the 6+ inch difference and without (an embankment?) on the end of the road. Bridges will look much better with actual roads, and roads going somewhere and meeting the terrain elevation will make more sense. :rock
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I like what I'm seeing in the new paths. Ninety percent of my water issues are solved very nicely.
I'm still experimenting, seeing what can do the things I'd try and which might break the program. My comments based only on the editor.
One thing I wanted to see is whether a lake can be made with the rivers. I would level the whole lake to the appropriate elevation of course, but the attached jpg doesn't suggest it will work. :pray
In the roads, the lowest elevation possible is 0.50... feet. Visual inspection in the editor shows the road much higher then that. For the actual roadbed, I'm hoping for a max around 0.04 (1/2") or 0.08 if not actually 0.0 (which might cause zbuffer issues) feet above ground level. This would allow the visual only roads to meet a bridge, a town road etc or the terrain without the 6+ inch difference and without (an embankment?) on the end of the road. Bridges will look much better with actual roads, and roads going somewhere and meeting the terrain elevation will make more sense. :rock
Simply make many more segments,each one short (about 1/4 mile) and wide, and do not try turn them on them selfs,
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Do you see a white cursor in any of the modes? You should have a normal Arrow cursor when in the paths tab.
HiTech
I see proper cursors in the 3D Terrain window. I never see any cursors in the map window on the left (i.e. the separate window where the 8-bit MyTerrain.bmp shows up).
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I see proper cursors in the 3D Terrain window. I never see any cursors in the map window on the left (i.e. the separate window where the 8-bit MyTerrain.bmp shows up).
Now i understand, thanks.
HiTech
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(Patch 78)
Thanks, I'll try that. I'll be looking to see if the segments can be made to merge.
I did notice that in this edition the rivers are above ground with the riverbanks unpainted.
Here are a couple of (jpg) things to watch out for, especially in-game.
When I drop a bridge across the river, or set a radar tower next to it, they are hidden where they intersect.
I built a quick terrain with the Alps, then threw a river into it. The river shows through the mountains.
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(Patch 78)
Thanks, I'll try that. I'll be looking to see if the segments can be made to merge.
I did notice that in this edition the rivers are above ground with the riverbanks unpainted.
Here are a couple of (jpg) things to watch out for, especially in-game.
When I drop a bridge across the river, or set a radar tower next to it, they are hidden where they intersect.
I built a quick terrain with the Alps, then threw a river into it. The river shows through the mountains.
Rivers will be above ground.
HiTech
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Rivers will be above ground.
HiTech
How high above ground? Half inch? :pray
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2 to 5 feet, not sure of the minimum yet, it is simply a z buffer fighting issue.
HiTech
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2 to 5 feet, not sure of the minimum yet, it is simply a z buffer fighting issue. You lake attempt shows the banks being drawn.
HiTech
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I feared as much. Glad I don't have to do that balancing act between the terrain and the nearby objects.
:cheers: