MCAGCC 29 Palms (Island and Buildings) almost ready for Public BETA

[jumpnjack]

These shots look very photo realistic. As if they were taken somewhere in Nevada/Cali region, or maybe Iraq. It will be a very awsome map! CAnt wait! Thankyou for your hard work!

[phaeden]

Here is the last group of screens I will take for now (so I can get back to working on the models) – this group of screens includes a lot of close ups of many of the buildings:

This is one of the base housing residential neighborhoods (west of mainside – when I was stationed there for comms school, this area was nearly empty). I have NOT tried to replicate each building type but instead went with a more generalized building that can be used in various area around the map. Additionally, I went with low poly models to keep the focus on high FPS play instead of really pretty houses/buildings. When I studied the psychology of simulations and training, I learned that when you are actually “fighting” in the virtual world, little details like rain gutters and such don’t actually matter much to your brain. Therefore, if you are walking the streets from the perspective of a tourist, the buildings may look horrendous. However, if you’re engaged in a firefight, you shouldn’t even notice.




Here is another building type – the larger buildings have this concrete type build whereas the smaller buildings are mostly concrete block in nature:




Another view of the city lights at night – on the left is the residential area seen above while the right is Mainside - note the reflection of the moon's light on the sand toward the right side of the image along the base and side of the hill (I remember it looking a lot like this in real life):




More city lights – this time, we are flying over the southwest section of the map (based on real world data). Buildings are spread out along dirt roads.




Flying over that same area in the daytime, you can see arroyos, several dirt roads and the main hardball the goes east-west:





Flying a little further west than the above shot, you can see more houses as the terrain gently rolls toward the horizon:




Heading west above the houses, you can see the central mountains off in the distance.





Final shot of that flight as the sun sets over that large residential section. I don’t have the data right in front of me but it is something like 5 kilometers from north to south and 10 or so from east to west:




Southern end of the central mountains:




Killing tanks at 3.5 kilometers:

[phaeden]

Final set of screens for now:

Insurgents form hasty ambush in one of the MOUT areas northeast of Mainside:




Same area – this is close to some firing ranges:




Assaulting the same area – the southern end of the central mountains are in the background:




Infantry assault the main MOUT facility. The buildings are based on real buildings used for MOUT on 29 Palms – they are not in the exact right locations but are close enough for government work:




Another view of the same assault – note the 5 story building on the right – again, this is based on real buildings used for training:




Another squad moves towards the 5 story building as the main assault moves up the roads to the interior areas of the training facility:




Aerial view of the same training area:




Another angle of the same facility:




The final screen before I get back to work (both real world and the buildings for the island):




If anyone would like to volunteer to help me finish the buildings and provide them with enough polish to make them worthy of our community, I will gladly accept your help. Please just send me a PM and we can get started.

---------- Post added at 22:55 ---------- Previous post was at 22:49 ----------

I forgot to note that all the buildings have been built with ACE's ability to "stabilize" your weapon in mind. For example, you can stabilize your rifle or MG on any of the window sills while kneeling or roof top walls while standing. You have to approach them fairly straight on as it doesn't always work if you are trying to stabilize your weapon in a corner (for example). The buildings also have "paths" for AI but, honestly, they haven't all been put in yet and don't always work (sometimes, the AI will stand outside of the building - I've been trying to figure this one out so if anyone knows what might cause that behavior, I am more than happy to listen and correct the models.

[thepiespy]

Outstanding work, I trust you've modeled Camp Wilson in all its depressing glory.

[[APS]Gnat]

Whoah .... don't know about the island, but the pictures are bloody beautiful !!

[Sup3r6F0ur]

Looking good, This is going to be the new host to my "Training Grounds" mission when I you get V 1.0 out.

[johanna]

I appreciate the positive comments! It helps to keep me focused on getting it done.


I have removed any shine the lights have so they are just points of lights. The down side is that they don't illuminate anything when you are near them (like a street light does). The up side is that they look great from a distance and through NVGs. I figured that the ups outweighed the downs and therefore have left them that way. I would like feedback on this item once I release the BETA. I have notice a few inconsistencies with the lights and I am working on it - i.e. I have to load the map twice in order for all the lights to come on - no idea what's going on there but at least I know the workaround.

I did some experiencing with putting landing strip lights inside the model of streetlights. It looked good at distance, but the color was wrong (clear yellow). And the original streetlight was shining thru at close up...
But im a noob with modding stuff, but maybe you could make something with it?

And this guys " http://forums.bistudio.com/showthrea...ack-and-Addon) " mod is fantastic ( http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=15178 ), i really think you should add it to the map!
it would be a cool thing to have the option to switch certain landing strips lights on and off for example

Phew, how many times did i wrote "lights"...

[phaeden]

Outstanding work, I trust you've modeled Camp Wilson in all its depressing glory.

Camp Wilson is in there but it is a modified version. Instead of trying to replicate every building correctly with the right style and location, I went with a method that would help keep my sanity. There is a "Camp Wilson" but it is not as ... wonderful as the real one.

Whoah .... don't know about the island, but the pictures are bloody beautiful !!

Thanks Gnat - hopefully you'll enjoy the island as your posts on the forums have helped me in making it.

@johanna - that looks really interesting. I will look at it this weekend to see how much work it would take to get it working on Palms. Thanks for the info!

[metalcraze]

Can buildings be used by AI similar to OA buildings?

[phaeden]

Can buildings be used by AI similar to OA buildings?

Theoretically, yes. I have had the AI move around in through the buildings and take up appropriate fighting positions. However, I have also had them act like complete idiots and take up positions outside the houses as well.

I haven't been able to make the Modules work correctly either yet - AI won't spawn correctly when using the Modules.

Any help is appreciated on figuring this out.