Quesion about terrain editor?

[oakranger]

What dose it take to make a terrain?  And if you make one, can it be used in the game?  I supposed that this is just like submitting skin in. 

[ghostdancer]

What does it take to make a terrain is sort of an open ended question that can't quickly be answered.

As for use of the terrain in the game it depends on what you are designing for. HTC does take submission for terrains for the MA which have certain standards and requirements. Then there is the AvA which has a different set of standards and requirements. For the SEA there is another set of requirements and standards and it gets reviewed first by the CM Terrain Team.

So it sort of comes down to which arena you want to design your terrain for. For the AvA talk to USranger and I think MrMidi advises. For the SEA that would be me. For the MA, well that would be no one person that I can think of.

[oakranger]

What does it take to make a terrain is sort of an open ended question that can't quickly be answered.

As for use of the terrain in the game it depends on what you are designing for. HTC does take submission for terrains for the MA which have certain standards and requirements. Then there is the AvA which has a different set of standards and requirements. For the SEA there is another set of requirements and standards and it gets reviewed first by the CM Terrain Team.

So it sort of comes down to which arena you want to design your terrain for. For the AvA talk to USranger and I think MrMidi advises. For the SEA that would be me. For the MA, well that would be no one person that I can think of.

I am going for SEA.

[Molsman]

i just started toying around with the terrains man I respect all the people who make them here never really realized how hard they could really be to make, but I am having fun so far  good luck

[ghostdancer]

Okay, I can send you the list of requirements for a SEA terrain. Before I do that though what area are you thinking of building? I ask because one of the main differences between the SEA, AvA, and MA is that SEA terrains are built for running managed events on (FSO, Scenarios, Snapshorts, etc.). So I keep an eye toward fleshing out the terrains we have for events and overall use (how many different designs and different eras can be used on a terrain).

For example a Ceylon terrain would be nice but really it is a one shot terrain for use in events since it only really saw one action during the way. While a China terrain would be of more use for events. Cecylon is not automatically ruled out but unless the scenario guys say we want to do that as an event it much less priority than other terrains. This is why Midway is high on the list right now ... it is really a one use terrain but the scenario guys want to run a Midway event.

Outside of Midway we also have Hawaii, Borneo, New Britain, Solomons and a Channel / Normandy terrain in production. Plus, rebuilds of Italy and Karelia are wrapping up.

So what are you thinking you want to take a stab at?

[oakranger]

Okay, I can send you the list of requirements for a SEA terrain. Before I do that though what area are you thinking of building? I ask because one of the main differences between the SEA, AvA, and MA is that SEA terrains are built for running managed events on (FSO, Scenarios, Snapshorts, etc.). So I keep an eye toward fleshing out the terrains we have for events and overall use (how many different designs and different eras can be used on a terrain).

For example a Ceylon terrain would be nice but really it is a one shot terrain for use in events since it only really saw one action during the way. While a China terrain would be of more use for events. Cecylon is not automatically ruled out but unless the scenario guys say we want to do that as an event it much less priority than other terrains. This is why Midway is high on the list right now ... it is really a one use terrain but the scenario guys want to run a Midway event.

Outside of Midway we also have Hawaii, Borneo, New Britain, Solomons and a Channel / Normandy terrain in production. Plus, rebuilds of Italy and Karelia are wrapping up.

So what are you thinking you want to take a stab at?

I am looking in doing the Northern Italy-southern Germany and western Austria for one map.  For the PTO, now that we have the B-29 I like to do the China-Japan or Mariana Islands-japan. 

[oakranger]

i just started toying around with the terrains man I respect all the people who make them here never really realized how hard they could really be to make, but I am having fun so far  good luck

Yes, i will mess around with it till i know what i am doing.  Thanks.   

[ghostdancer]

99% of the time the SEA is looking for 1:1 scale mape (1 mile on the terrain equals 1 real mile ... some times we will go with a 2/3rd mile in terrain equals 1 mile in real life). Also we want to maximize coverage so we are looking at the 512 by 512 maps (512 miles by 512 miles).

The China Japan map would be a good choice. You just need to take a look at the area of conflict and make sure you have some Japan and Chinese bases in the same terrain. You can cover the long distances by air starts.

The Northern Italy, Souther Germany could also be interesting. Again take a look at the campaigns actually fought there to see if the Allies conduct operations against southern Germany. Also see which would be better showing more of the south of France or Austria and Yugoslavia.

A lot of the SEA terrain building is first research to see what a good area is to cover before even starting the terrain. If the allies never really conducted operations say against Austria from Italy then you might want to shift your focus a bit. Research would tell.

I would pick one of those two to do. Don't try to do both at once.

As for Marianas I think it might be problematic to try to get both them and Japan on the map. Right now with the rebuilt Japan terrain just sent to Skuzzy we have air spawns simulating B29 strikes coming from the Marianas. So they are covered. Unless you wanted to focus just on the Marianas campaign.

[oakranger]

I will focus on the ETO/MTO.  The 15th AF had the duty of flying mission in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Attacked such targets as oil refineries, marshalling yards, aircraft factories, bridges, and airfields in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece.

[ghostdancer]

Nice and like you I would probably focus on seeing how much of Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, etc. I could get since it really is not an area we cover a lot or has been covered before.

Also what I prefer for terrains is what I call a Phase I terrain. This is a terrain with no custom objects. Basically get the elevation, coastlines, vegetations, strat, roads/railroads/barges, etc. in place first. Once a terrain is built Skuzzy can update it relatively quickly. So for the SEA we have a two phase approach. Phase I basic terrain no custom objects (there are some exceptions to this on a case by case basis). After it is built then you can move onto making custom objects and placing them in the terrain.

Are whole thing is we want to get a terrain into production for use. Custom objects can drastically slow that down. Also custom objects can drastically complicate the terrain when it comes to testing it since we need to visually inspect in a build of the terrain, check in the OE, and also test to see if it affects functionality. One case we had a custom field built but somehow it affect the AA guns rounds so the round didn't line up with the gun sight.

So as said we first get the Phase I (plane jane version out) then as a designer you can go back and start adding more and more things into it.

[Molsman]

I was just messing around with another snow terrain , We have the italy map but it would be great breaking it down to the area's where the major battles were fought during the war, I am just messing around til I get the hang of it and will try a specific area once I know and understand what I am doing good luck Oak

[USRanger]

One case we had a custom field built but somehow it affect the AA guns rounds so the round didn't line up with the gun sight.

I had the same thing happen to me with my last terrain that had custom fields.  Only the first laid manned ack lined up correctly, the rest were 30-40 degrees off target.  Ended up just keeping the one functioning manned ack & adding more auto ack.  The bug also affected the manned 15 lbser.

[oakranger]

Nice and like you I would probably focus on seeing how much of Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, etc. I could get since it really is not an area we cover a lot or has been covered before.

Austria has seen hundreds of bombing raids from 15th, Vienna subject to 52 of them.  That along can create a few events.  I will have to do some research on bombing raids in Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia.  We have just one Greece event that we just did not long ago.

[ghostdancer]

Yep, I would concentrate on Northern Italy and then East. I would prefer Austria, Hungary, Romania, etc. over the South of France currently.

[oakranger]

Yep, I would concentrate on Northern Italy and then East. I would prefer Austria, Hungary, Romania, etc. over the South of France currently.

I could do 2-3 maps.  See how it plays out as far as size.  mrmidi going to help me out to get started.