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daringd

New 15.36 x 15.36 island map WIP (since October '12)

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Hello people,

So since October I've been banging away at an island map that I want to finish off at around the same time as the release of DayZ SA, but obviously make the map available to ARMA users, with a mind to also spending some time updating the map in the future for ARMA 3 aswell.

So far I've managed to all but finish off the terrain and sat map, and I'm now beginning to go town to town, adding in the buildings and trouble shooting terrain issues I find along the way, and updating the sat map and layers as I go, it's a constant process, and as I'm not as experienced as the likes of Icebreakr or Bushlurker it's taking me some time.

I'm popping some screen shots so far, some map views so you can get an idea of the size, road system and so on.

I'm looking for a few things along the way, suggestions, critics, help, models... etc. All and any of this will be greatly appreciated.

Is it based on anything?

Yes! The map is based loosely on Bamberg (map)in upper Frankonia in Germany, a small city famed for it's beer and basketball team. I took the liberty of turning it into an island, with the help of some coastline stolen from the mid north of the Cardigan Bay (wales) (map), an area just east of Braemar, Scotland (map), Sutton Park, Birmingham (UK) (map), and the rest was added to try and bring some elements to the map that would otherwise have been missing, such as smaller islands, isolated hills, flatland, forest, etc. The map has a working name of 'Bamgorsk' and I may or may not change that, but it's geographic location will potentially be in the Caspian sea, at about 43 degrees north, giving it longer days, and the island's industry would be based on the export of limestone, so I'm looking to add some quarries to try and tie everything up and give the island a believable feel.

Do I need any help?

Yes! In terms of models I'm looking to also recreate with a soviet edge, as best as the engine can handle, Bamberg's old town and identifying features such as the Altes Rathaus, Bambeger Dom, Altenburg and various other landmarks such as bridges and statues, and right now all of my energy is going into the production of the terrain so I would be very appreciative of any help in terms of model makers or suggestions!

Well, I really hope that this might get a few of you excited, raise questions or issues and if you have any questions or suggestions then PLEASE fire them at me, I'm more than willing to answer, or explain myself further.

on to the pictures!

A shadowed map of the elevation

daringunnamedWIP10_zpsae133176.jpg

a clear view of the road system so far

BG_plan_view_zps0794c1a3.jpg

current state of sat map (the underwater texture WILL be cleaned up

daringunnamedWIP9_zps5aa032b4.jpg

Various views of the island and some of the newly placed towns

daringunnamedWIP4_zps6cc4c908.jpg

daringunnamedWIP3_zpsaa5b7832.jpg

daringunnamedWIP2_zpsdbd9f777.jpg

daringunnamedWIP1_zps78a968ca.jpg

daringunnamedWIP5_zps061747f2.jpg

daringunnamedWIP6_zpsfb2bbf87.jpg

daringunnamedWIP7_zpsf2f67fab.jpg

peas!

Daring

Edited by daringd

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Wow! This impressed me! Absolutely amazing job mate. The appearance is great and I really like the map every way – it has gradients in many ways, like populated areas vs. dense forests, it has also diverse and rich nature etc. Maps that have dense and rich nature and e.g. topography have been always the most interesting ones, and this is totally a map that fulfills those terms. I'm looking forward this, really! :)

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Thanks for the comments, you may notice the pictures are going to be down for a little while, I just realised they break forum rules due to the size, I'm about to correct that! should be about 10 mins!

D

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@ WA - Thanks for the heads up, I've already started addressing the 'blue grass' on some of the smaller islands, it's really obvious when I've done a few tests with clutter because it shades it quite a funny teal colour, I'll deal with it as I'm adding in buildings and more detail, but good spot though, the trouble I face looking at this day in, day out, is I begin not to see obvious trouble areas and problems... the proverbial ticking clock that you can't hear anymore. I still keep finding terrible bumps and 'jaggies' in the terrain it's self too... it begins to feel like a never ending story.

@ Leaulux - I love them too! that's why i wanted to do something big, I could've had a smaller island finished by now, but it's life span in terms of playability would be too short, I like the feeling of having real space to explore, I'm also (as I go through the island populating the towns) going to add in a few easter eggs and in jokes too.

D

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Great looking progress, keep it up :)

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If I can make a recommendation. Have a look a my island Schwemlitz, specifically for the grass and wheat objects I used on it. If you are interested in using it in your fields or using it at all contact me or just use it. I don't care. I just recommend having a look, they add a whole lot to the useable concealment on the terrain around you.

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This looks nice mate.

Good work.

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I suggest you avoid big hills (maximum equal highest building in game is enough) as game not good with physics and narrow places,as ai not good with path finding and it might be cause of lag.

Obviously runways should be free of trees and hills.I also suggest island type of maps (ofp,arma) not like chernarus.

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AH... I didn't realise this was yours, Good work on that by the way, I was looking through other people's custom maps a few days ago to get a bit of inspiration and see how people dealt with certain limitations. I'm going to download the extras you used and your grass and wheat, and I'll do a few tests and see how I can use it, I'm always really keen on using as much as I can and people allow me too, not only becaue it makes it easy for me, but I think it's good for the community and I'd be stoked if someone used some of the stuff I'd made in their map too. As ever, I usually play around with how things look and then contact the author of the model/texture/script/etc to ask if it's cool to use it with my terrain.

D

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Very nice, good luck with your project.

I will look forward to your release..:)

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I've already started addressing the 'blue grass' on some of the smaller islands, it's really obvious when I've done a few tests with clutter because it shades it quite a funny teal colour,

The clutter "tinting" can totally work to your advantage once you get the hang of tweaking the sat layer shading... Try "Image > Adjustments > Curves" (if you use photoshop) either on the full RGB image or even just the Green channel - you should be able to ease the overall image away from that atmospheric-filtered "bluey-green" most raw sat images have, towards a more natural "yellowy-green"...

PS - picture #9 is my favourite! - I'm a big fan of back yards... :)

B

Edited by Bushlurker

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keep up the AWESOME work... shots were very detailed... if the whole Island gets this attention like that, this would make a serious impact on the community for map standards... especially those with forests. Keep it up... if you need a tester, please let me know.

-VRCRator

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Thank you VRCRator,

The real problem I am having here is that to try and give each area of the map the detail in terms of buildings, layout.. a bin for each house, car parks... just stuff that people will not even see because it will be hidden by normality, can take a really really long time, and that is exactly what it is doing right now, I'm trying as hard as possible to be quick, without sacrificing anything.

Plus, I think the standard of maps is great, I've used Chernarus and other people's maps as a sort of benchmark for my own, constantly looking at them and thinking to myself "is this as good as a similar thing is in (x, y or z's) map?", so I'm not sure my map is any new standard, though my ego enjoyed reading your reply very much.

I also can not wait for this map to be finished! I can barely remember what it feels like to have a life outside of map making.

D

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What I've seen of this map so far is looking great, keep up the good work!

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Amazing work so far mate , looking forward to seeing some new screenshots !

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Screenshot updates will be a little while again, right now I'm taking a little break from the terrain and building placement, to get to grips with Oxygen, and begin to recreate some those afforementioned land marks of Bamberg, so far I've been following Mondkalb's tutorial and applying it to my my own creations, so you'll have to forgive me if I suddenly appear to stop progress for a little while.

So far I'm working on the Altes Rathaus, which is a complicated building, encompassing bridges and retro added sections, statues and has bells on it... now if some experienced O2 modeller was to offer some help with recreating some of this stuff (nudge, nudge) I'd be super happy! also, if someone knows of any building packs that might come in useful then let me know!

It's worth noting that I found I hate Oxygen 2 a little less than I hate Visitor 3 at this point, seems a lot more user friendly and straight forward. I would prefer to use Maya and then export, but I'm not sure what that involves yet, anyone familier with this process?

D

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