Isla Balkania (aka Project Massacra)

[IceBreakr]

Thanks guys for the "moral support", it means a lot with first beta you'll get also Town of Komunovo that will be mostly empty landlots. I'll give that areas to mapmakers to make this map a joint effort. So every neighbourhood will be made by a different "architect" they'll just send me .pew file and I'll combine it with the existing map.

p.s. as mentioned in the first post, it will be possible to recreate missions from first Red Dawn movie as you'll get locations similiar to movie sets (prison camp in town, forests, road for ambush, windy road up the mountain etc.).

[IceBreakr]

New update: map is coming along nicely. First takeoff and landings were done from Portoroz airport (NW region of the map) and runway is 1/2 of RL size. It seems that Mig-21, C-130 Hercules and many other planes can successfully land there Hmm didn't test if C130 is able to actually take off, but we will make it operational - no worries

I'm shocked by the sheer size of the island (16x16km, 1:2 ratio to RL terrain). No more miniature worlds, this is 1:2 of the real size and its *huge* compared to all my previous projects. Choppers blend in the terrain when flying low, jets are able to fly through valleys and see AAA tracers from miles away when using open terrain. Thats a whole new experience for me in Arma series.

I've done the vegetation and wrapping up the road network (*sic*, a lot of work!). It seems that towns will be added with each beta release, as there's quite a lot of them, even big ones. RL towns confirmed are: Umag, Piran, Izola, Buje, Novigrad, Carigador, Dajla and Motovun. Even bigger project are probably spread out settlements on hillsides, that are always a bitch to do (using open buildings that is, not that easy-peasy Chernarus closed stuff)

I've also did a small tank battle & threw in couple of Apaches and Viggens from Duala Full (plane with Myke's realistic Maverick missiles). Enemy engages at great distances, finally some tank battles in woodland areas that are 1+ click away. I've been having fun for couple of hours just watching hellfire missiles travel below my plane and hitting far away armor

Map will remain much more open than any of my previous work. I won't repeat my mistake of "over-populating" the map, so there will be bunch of empty places for bases and long-range fights. The thing that worries me the most is the size of actual woodland terrain. Pilot that ejects will have a hard time telling the SAR team where he is. And even then it might take 10-15minutes for SAR chopper to reach his position. Infantry missions will really need FOBs set up or they'll walk for entire evening just to reach the objective

I also have scouted an area intended for non-exisiting-RL Town of Komunovo, huge town that will be built by at least 5 popular mapmakers in this community. Komunovo is a huge town that is in the middle of all three countries sharing this map. So basically each side will be able to shell it from nearby hills as Komunovo lies in the valley. A single big airport Komunovo International Aiport is in the middle of it with its single 1,3 km long runway. Each of Komunovo mapmakers will be assigned a landlot (parcel) so each suburb will look differently. Mapmakers will even use placements from their popular maps. Of course there will be billboards with credits and map markers with their landlot names. If you would like to contribute let me know via this topic or PM.

[Old Bear]

Nice to see this project coming alive !
As previously said, you can count me in ... if needed

[Tonci87]

That sounds awesome.
A few questions: Why did you choose the 1:2 scale? Why not just take a 16x16km big piece of land and build it in the game?
Will the map have that special mediteranean croatian/slovenian feeling?
I guess you would need the proper vegetation and typical buildings to make this as real as possible. Oh, don't forgett the omnipresent advertising billboards

[Kremator]

Really excited about this. Tracking this thread!

[Ei8ght]

great new, i added the thread in my favourite

[IceBreakr]

Tonci87: Istrian feeling will surely be present, but I don't want to start any stupid RL vs virtual world wars, so all three factions (yes, three) will be *fictional* & control *fictional* borders (well some will stay the same, like two border passes on river Dragonja) and have no connection to RL, except some resemblance to forces in this region. For example Cittanovans will control the area near Novigrad, but won't have Motovun (otherwise a nice old Croatian town in RL) as another faction Cecania (CCA) will control that area on SE (river Mirna) and all the way up to North.

I will probably cut the borders to make an island instead of continent on E side of map. Komunovo is being built E of Buje (center of the map, near RL-village of Martincici) and a direct highway will lead from North to it. All other areas remain the same and I'm sure this map will offer great gameplay possibilities.

I expect to finish it fully in late 2013, but of course, you'll be part of beta testing team when I feel comfortable that it offers enough. So, expect a lot of "Area under construction" signs in first couple of releases

[Snake Man]

I'm shocked by the sheer size of the island (16x16km, 1:2 ratio to RL terrain). No more miniature worlds, this is 1:2 of the real size and its *huge* compared to all my previous projects.

I am surprised but really glad you decided to take on larger terrain than earlier. Very good decision and I'm looking forward to this terrain, definitely.

Choppers blend in the terrain when flying low, jets are able to fly through valleys and see AAA tracers from miles away when using open terrain. Thats a whole new experience for me in Arma series.

Sounds excellent, I'm happy that you have found the true power of ofp/arma/arma2 engine

Can't wait for this terrain, seriously.

[Tonci87]

Finished end of 2013? So I guess it will be ported to Arma3?

[IceBreakr]

If BIS will provide necessary tools and at least partial compatibility, then the answer is Yes.
But even with A2 engine it looks the same or even better than that Greek A3 island =)