Beach and Road Tile Idea / Question

[Chilli]

Idea:

Increase the realistic look of a battle worn terrain (specifically beaches and dirt roadways).  Both at low detail and high detail, have tire tread marks that show a terrain that has been under heavy traffic.  Note not all beaches on the map need to be this type.  Just thinking of additional tiles to be mixed in as the designer sees fit.  (Good possibilities for location might be surrounding ports, shore batteries, and sea side towns).



Question:

How much do custom tiles slow down game performance.  Also, would bumpmapping give a fox hole appearance without causing vehicles to roll?

[USRanger]

   A custom terrain tile does not slow down frame rates at all (says Hitech, but I agree), as it is the same amount of pixels as a default terrain tile.  Adding custom objects is where you might get a small slowdown.  As for the ground bump mapping, it's really not feasible for what you'd want to do.  The groundbump .bmp is only 64x64 pixels and gray in color.  Making variations in the lightness/darkness of the gray is how the ground bumpmap shows on the terrain.  No, it wouldn't flip vehicles, but it's not practical because that one groundbump .bmp effects the entire terrain.  I use a neutral groundbump .bmp that Skuzzy gave me so there is no groundbumping on my terrains.  IMO it ruins the look of my custom textures I always use.

So in short, replacing one of the 13 ground textures available for a terrain with the one you described would be the easiest.

[Chilli]

Thanks USRanger.   I posted here because, I thought about how deserted our terrains tend to look.  I can recall being very impressed with the bomb cratered and bombed out tree texture that you made for WWI battle terrain.

I never got back in the saddle after my old machine glitched everytime I tried to use the waterd files and then I read this http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,355152.msg4705400.html#msg4705400 a little while ago and wondered if this had been the culprit all along.

Artik, seemed to be referring to the use of Photoshop and listed another tool that he has had success with.

Anyhow, I guess that I will need to do the proper reading to be able to make this tile myself (intend to do just that), but was wondering if anyone with the proper skills had worked on anything like this or think that it is a worthwhile challenge to complete.

[USRanger]

I'll give it a shot bro.

[Chilli]

I'll give it a shot bro.

   

You and MrMidi were very patient with me in the past.  Since this is probably my 2nd computer and new OS, I think I ditched the old files that I was working on (held on to them for a while too  ). 

To refresh your memory, I was attempting an scaled up version of Iwo Jima.  The design concept was pretty close to "My Brother's Keeper" that you are currently running in the AvA.  The main island would be the shape of Iwo Jima from DEM files and enlarged to make it playable.  Axis country would have control of the island highground, including Hard Guns aimed at the landing beach.  Inland from the beaches would be Neutral Vehicle bases with maybe 1 Allies Vehicle base or *Port (* this is for gameplay convenience to keep Marine presence near the island to even out the "highground" advantages of the Axis).

Besides the shape of the map (Iwo Jima) it would feature the entrenched manned gun emplacements (and 17 lb guns have been added since then  ).  And of course the main purpose of this post was the inspiration for me to get back into the TE, battlefield terrain tiles.

Even if you could just do a quick mark up of the tile and have the patience again with me to answer my newb questions while I finally attempt to complete this terrain it would greatly be appreciated.  I hate to take you away from those beautiful girls for a minute (includin' momma) and you always are rolling out some awesome work for the community.

So thank you for any assistance at all, and of course at your convenience.  I have a lot of reading to do.

[USRanger]

I'll do it up right and be here for any questions in the future.  That's what I'm for.

[Chilli]

Warning    I am a maniac   

This is what I mean......  I was wondering if the resupply time could be ramped up to the point that AI convoys have an almost constant (every 3 minutes or so) presence on the roads? 

Next question that I wish to deal with will be air spawns, and how I can use the island crater as a low alt air spawn/ fish bowl for instant close proximity furball action?    MUuuu haaaahaaaaah