EVO island - WIP

I have always wanted a truely huge map for Arma. So I decided that I would learn how to make a map myself. The result is a 204km by 204km map that I am currently making which is a mix of desert and sea.

It is not actually based upon any real world location. I am building it using OA and A2 buildings and roads so you will need CO in order to use this map.

The map has wide open space and takes about 45mins to cross entirely in a c-130. The map is primarily desgined for use with the town constructor set but does include the following:

-several large airbases featuring 3.7km long runways (2 of them) and multiple hangers which have been made 3 times bigger then they are by default, with plenty of space to park aircraft and vehicles outside on a skirt and plenty of room to nav the airfield with even the largest of aircraft, without fear of getting stuck no any objects.

-some smaller airfields

-a town or two

-some forests

-some trees

Since this map was primarily designed with long range ops / flying in mind it has a very simple terrain mask. Also it is pretty much flat but there is a lot of water around and between the 3 big islands that make up this map. It would be ideal with a navy mod and for long range ops.

Pictures link to album

http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk299/sgtscuba/EVO%20Island/

An alpha will probably be released in a few weeks and I do plan on updating this for Arma3 when it comes out just using the buildings from that game.

I am also looking for a new name for the map as the current name is only a working name for the map for the moment. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

neat, looking forward to the project :)

200km :eek:

:D J/K Good luck with it, a mostly empty map sounds great.

45mins to cross entirely in a c-130. :eek:

I really like the idea of having such a big map. But i think it will take ages to place objects on it so it looks like a finished map and it will take a lot of time to load the map.

I really wish there will be sometimes a generator like it was in command and Conquer Tiberian sun that easyly generat maps random with a few setupable settings

Wow.... what an ambitious project!

Can you give us an idea of map load times and CPU usage?

Bearing in mind I run on min specs, it doesn't take that long to load (its got a very simple sand texture all over it and not many buildings) so about a min with ACE running, which for me is slightly quicker then Taki or Cherno. On those maps I can only normally get a 6 or 7k view distance and then its a little suttery but with 10km on my map, it runs fine, even when i am doing 1000kph in the su27. Its because there is very little on the map at the moment, and the mask is very simple, which was one of the main design critiria for the map.

Be aware I am not going to entirely fill the map, but am putting in terrain features an airbases and some towns and forests so that you can experience true long range ops. So don't expect it to ever be full, ubti nstead with empty spaces for you to put things in yourself if you want to (using arma editors building or town builder module).

Will post pictures tonight once I get back from lectures.

How big can city's get with the town Module? Is there a limit?

I belive filling the entire map with that would be insane :D

Sound very ambitiuos. Looking forward to the screens then.

Its not really that amibitous, most of the space is empty and uses a very simple terrain mask. I have it working in Arma2 CO atm, but am going to add more things before releasing it on here for beta testing. Just bear in mind I am not going to fill this map, the map will be largely empty and I am only using objects from Arma2 CO so its just a case of placing them down.

IMHO, a version of the map with just the airfields and no towns (and by the same logic, since it's a desert, no forests) would a good idea, but in the end, it's your call ;)

Great sounding project, any images available?

My advice would be to let the clutter do the work of filling in the map. Only occasionally add rocks. Just have a few major roads and a few nearby settlements.

Callsign

http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk299/sgtscuba/EVO%20Island/

Updated first post with pics.

I am going to add some small towns and airfields, along with some roads where needed, some trees for cover and some rocks too, gonna try add some hills at sometime as well that at least look half decent.

Still got a few issues with the terrain and some of the place names, but hopefully they will be easy enough fixes (places names is almost fixed atm)

A good way of filling the map would be some properly big mountain ranges, varying between rugged and steep terrain to sweeping valleys.

its not that easy to do that with Vistor 3, but i am going to add hills and mountains in some places once i get used to making them. (one of the picy's shows the height map for it.

How big can city's get with the town Module? Is there a limit?

I belive filling the entire map with that would be insane :D

From looking at he GITA module code there does not appear to be a limit on the size of the town or the number of buildings...however, I am pretty sure a 120,000m radius would cause some lag! :D

Quick update on my progress:

I have sorted out some of the names which were causing errors within the map. I am also trying to find a white patch that is in a L shape too. I am also going to sort out the runway ILS at some point although this may be after the alpha is released. - edit : cannot find the white patch, may just have been my laptop playing up.

I have also been having a go at building hills that look kind of convincing to the eye so that at least there is something around points that I have placed down, although i may add some in the middle of nowhere as well at some point.

Planning on releasing an Alpha version of the map in roughly 2 weeks time as well.

so.... any updates in the last month?