"Real" islands.

[klavan]

I'm quite surprised by the incredible number of new or redone and modified fictional islands at our disposal.....
And I'm more surprised by the substantial lack of "real islands" at our disposal.....
Comparing the incredible amount of addons (tanks, choppers, etc.) released untill now and the low number of released missions wich uses 'em, well, I wonder if one of the causes could be the absence of isles which feautures "real-word" environment and terrain features....
Think how many missions it should be possible to create with good and large maps of: Fulda region, the Norvegian/Russian border, Italian/Yugoslavian border, for example....
Anyone is workin on something similar?
I think that having 1098556348 versions of Nogova is quite boring.....

PS
Sorry for the bad english. Hope to be understood.

[The Cobra]

Since it is easier to just make an island without anything that must be followed, that's probably why the majority of islands is fictional. Even small suburbs nowadays is more detailed then Nogova..
Am I right? ***

[CJE]

I'm quite surprised by the incredible number of new or redone and modified fictional islands at our disposal.....
And I'm more surprised by the substantial lack of "real islands" at our disposal.....
Comparing the incredible amount of addons (tanks, choppers, etc.) released untill now and the low number of released missions wich uses 'em, well, I wonder if one of the causes could be the absence of isles which feautures "real-word" environment and terrain features....
Think how many missions it should be possible to create with good and large maps of: Fulda region, the Norvegian/Russian border, Italian/Yugoslavian border, for example....
Anyone is workin on something similar?
I think that having 1098556348 versions of Nogova is quite boring.....

PS
Sorry for the bad english. Hope to be understood.

The fact that we have a lot of redone islands is because they only take 1% of the effort new islands take to make.

1. If you want a totally new island, that's exceptional, you'll have to look in a Mod.
2. If you want a new island, make it yourself, after all, wrptool isnt hard to use, it's designing a believable island that's the problem.



And if you dont like the redone islands, don't use them, but I think they do give a whole new look to ofp.

[Silent N Deadly]

Real Islands, and varity is nice, but at least we got something, thanks to the hard work of many. Even redoing an island isn't easy especially when new textures/models are involved. But overall I agree, new and unique island are needed.

[CJE]

Yeah they are needed, what I'm saying is a complete new island isn't likely to be accomplished by one (Sane) person alone.
You start an island with good intentions, open up wrptool, start making terrain and ground elevations maybe or import them from wilbur. Then you start placing your houses (Which is tedious) making sure they fit to ground, making sure they face the right way.
Then you say to yourself, hey i could make some new ground textures and spend hours doing them.

Then maybe you think you'll need houses.

And the list goes on.
To a single person, all that work can be very disheartening.
If you haven't got a talented addon maker and/or texturer behind you, then your chances of succeeding or slim, unless your all of those....

But I do agree with the fact that new islands are needed, but all Im saying is, dont expect one unless its from a mod.

[Jakerod]

Fulda Gap Demo (385k)

Small thing I made with accurate roads. Elevations and buildings are off because I had no good source material for them. I have no intention of ever finishing this island. If you want to try to persuade me to go ahead.

I wanted to finish this a long time ago but I had lack of support in the modeling and texturing department so there is no way I could make it realistic.

[klavan]

@The cobra
I don't think we need complex urban areas a s OFP's AI is all but usefull in MOUT-type scenarios.....

@CJE & Silent n Deadly
Never thought it's easy to modified an existing map. Personally I haven't enough free time to make one by myself. No blame or criticisms on those who improved already existing islands: some are really good some less, but all the island makers have my respect for the amount of work such efforts required to be done.
But sometimes I've got the impression that's an incredible amount of energy wasted in doing something that the community doesn't really needs as I think of the usage the same communty do of these stuffs. Mapfact Nogova is a good example, I think....

[Garcia]

Real islands ain't easy to make compared to a fictional island. A island which ain't based on a real life area can be made by mind, and you don't have to care too much about getting the terrain to look as it should look. Besides, there's a lot of good islands out with totally new objects. And Norwegian/Russian border...better using FDF Mod, which already got a island that's Finland/Russia border. It's better because: 1) FDF Mod got all you need. 2) Almost none norwegian units or vehicles out. 3) Much bigger chance of a war between Finland and Russia than between Norway and Russia.

Besides, making a island based on norwegian terrain ain't easy, cause there's shitloads of mountains everywhere

[CJE]

Yep, you try mapping that terrain.
And then getting rivers, etc.
The ofp engine that handles terrain is a let down.

[klavan]

@Garcia
You're right about the FDF mod, but you should consider that one of the major problem for a mission editor for his mission to be d/l and played are the number (and the amount in tersm of MBs) of addons required to play his mission. Personally I've got a DSL connection but there's a lot of people who avoid missions with certain addons requirements. Forcing to d/l only a map is much better than forcing to d/l an entire mod. At least, I think so.