posted 06-04- 09:07 PM               

Nat,
Could you fix the edge tiles?

One of Mussolini's defenders over Northern Italy.

posted 06-04- 09:54 PM            

Regardless, it looks incredible. So does that plane...

Werner

posted 06-04- 11:51 PM            

Was Nat allowed to keep the tools used to scratch build the terrain?

Werner

posted 06-05- 02:56 AM               

Really though, I use Max3.1 to build and split the terrain, and Max4 to centre all the tiles on the X/Y Axis (Max3 can't do that far as I know)

I wish things had've gotten far enough for me to get Terragen, it was planned through Stormbird, but alsas it wasn't to be so I struggled on through using Max.

I'm sure I've mentioned it in the past, but dogfighting through these mountains is a real challange as sustaining engine power is of the utmost importance, those mountains have a tendancy to get in the way, and if you've just pulled a stunt that bleeds all your E then you're in trouble

Diego, I'm sure you mean the mirror tiles right? I'll get them sorted out

posted 06-05- 09:28 AM            

Anyways, I vote bw too then.

Werner

posted 06-05- 11:18 AM            

Werner

posted 06-05- 01:17 PM               

thats great. It looks like some miles south from my home.

Whats with some nice castles, like "Neuschwanstein"?

Steffen

posted 06-05- 02:12 PM               

I've gotten to the point with Terragen, that I can make a good basic texture, so painting really isnt the problem. Its getting the airfield edges to blend in seamlessly that I spend so much time now.

posted 06-05- 02:37 PM            

My question above was trying to see if there was something I could help out with, but it sounds like you need software I don't have. Oh well, I've got loads to do with AF and Nv3 anyways.

Werner

posted 06-05- 02:54 PM               

Iīm currently working at a railroad, with a moving train(someone remember the story)
,cliffs and bridges.
I hope to finished this this week.

If someone can make Neuschwanstein, i will place it into Bavaria.

posted 06-05- 06:11 PM               

Make a quad patch grid thats just over 40x40 miles square, using (if memory serves) 6 literations (big boxes diveided into 6 smaller boxes)

(Displacement map applied here)

Next, convert it to an editable mesh. Select the bottom left 6 small squares in Face mode, and detach them, naming them object00, them select the next 6 and no the same, repeat this working from left to right/bottom to top until your detached all 400.

Save the scene now and close Max3.1

Open the scene with Max4, select all objects and then in the co-ords boxes at the bottom, type 0 into the X and 0 into the Y (stacking them on top of each other), this will centre all objects on this axis.

Export this now as a 3DS and close Max4

Open max3.1 and import the 3DS, select all objects and use Mesh Select, select all faces, and the TMap with a terrain texture of 256x256.

Export this now as a Obj file

Open a terrain SM in OPS, zoom right out and go into top view

Select tile 0 making sur you select the actual tile 0 and not the mirror tile 0 (this make sense to those "in the know")
import object00 from the previous Max export to tile0. Repeat this process for all 400 tiles.

OK, thats the basic build process, what I've left out is using a displacement map of the terrain your building to form the hills ect on the Quad patch, I've also missed out the 5 or 6 failed attempts to judge the altitudes correctly when applying tyhe displacement map, and the fact that you only find that out once you've imported most of the tiles into OPS (thats fun )

I've also left off the part on how to add water to the terrain, which using max is even more tedious than the process above.

OK, sounds bad I know, and it's damn frustrating work.. that being said though, terrains have to be a team effort, and let me tell you, there's nothing better than seeing your terrain all tarted up with a great texture by Diego, and the towns and airfields added by WTG or Ren, by far a better feeling than building an aircraft becuase relatively speaking planes are easy work, just hard to perfect, but terrains are a serious pain in the ass from start to finish.

Werner, the main reason all terrains are on indefinate hold is as I'm sure you can tell from above, they only give enjoyment to the builders when it's finished, unlike an aircraft that from 2 days into the build you can start flying around etc, a terrain can only be used when it's about 80% finished, and only looks and feels right around 90% finished. With all the tedium I personaly lose interest pretty quickly, work is very slow and hard on the mouse hand, just building up the drive to build the terrains to their current standard is hard, but I know they have to be done to stop SDOE becomming boring, planes are great, but we need the extra terrains.

I know that there are very few people actualy realise the amount of work thats needed to build a terrain with limited tools, and may not appreciate the amount of time and commitment thats put into them even if they don't actualy get finished, and hell, lets not forget that currently as far as I know, I'm the only person that can (or is stupid enough) to build a terrain 100% from scratch, model upwards, and even then, I don't have the knowledge of skill to do the whole job, thats why we have Diego, our awsome artist who's name I pump to evey game developer I coome across and WTG and Ren that know how to place towns and airfields.

To put a cap on it... we don't have enough people that know how to build them.. there's only me, and yes, I often feel under pressure because of that, a dream come true would be for even just 5 people to be able to build them, against the 20 or so people that can build aircraft.

Anyway, damn that all sounds intensive lol, sorry, been a long day But since Werner didn't quiet understand the problems and process, I kinda think it was a good time to list out the basics so that you can all have a basic understanding of the work and problems.

Hope it helped guys

~Nat~

posted 06-05- 08:22 PM            

Rend - if you need help painting a castle or towns let me know, otherwise I won't be of much use to you guys until Nv3 is done. *breaks out laughing uncontrollably*

I was actually thinking that maybe as my first project I could team up with a 3d modeller and do everything but the 3d modelling required to replace the villages with more location-realistic stuff, particularly in Calais.

Werner

posted 06-05- 09:29 PM            

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Misfits_Squadron_RB3D

posted 06-06- 05:45 AM               

Werner,what whe need first is a castle
I donīt have a pic of Neuschwanstein,except in my brian LOL.
If anyone can post or send me a pic or weblink, he should do this!

I want to finished my part of Bavaria this week,because i left to holidays next week!

posted 06-06- 10:56 AM               

And here are the plans :

I love this castle! I've been to visit each time I've been to Germany. Bavaria is breathtakingly beautiful!

Lovely work, Diego!

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-=TheReaper=-

posted 06-06- 10:49 PM               

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Brought to you by the campaign for a better Dauntless!

posted 06-07- 09:42 AM            

Werner

posted 06-07- 12:14 PM            

Werner

posted 06-07- 03:01 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jeeves:
Oh the Snicking that could be done around those ramparts!!!

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A _very_ BIG