Skarikiska, Island from OFP: Sunken Dragon

[twisted 127]

this is a really good island. thanks!

[Rg 0]

Thanks for this release and the source. The terrain is pretty cool and bigger then I expected.

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Since I'm not a fan of the color tone of this real island, I tweaked the the Sat to make it a bit closer to the color tone of Sap's Eve (Darker greens and darker brown areas). The darker color tone (and some yellowish visual "noise" added) works a lot better for the camouflage of units and the blending of plants with the more barren environment.

Here's an example pic..

Can you find waldo?

I'll post the new addon or source sat if anyone wants it.

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Hopefully someone puts the final touches on this map, since it looks mostly done other then a few details like needing some more bushes around the map and under the forests/tree patches, a little bit bigger villages, and a few bug fixes here and there.

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Again, good job and thanks to you mankyle & 9thAircav for all the work you guys put into this.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Looks good, rg. Throw it up - I'll gladly grab it.

[*zeewolf* 4]

I agree about the colour tone, if anything DR's colours are even more extreme. But one of the biggest problems with Skarikiska at the moment is that very few of the structures in villages can be entered. In DR about 90% of the buildings are enterable making firefights much more interesting. While the Chernarus buildings look the part they don't allow for the level of house to house fighting seen in Dragon Rising.

Also Skira has far more shrubs and boulders, it's a challenge to drive off-road in a jeep at full speed without hitting a rock. Again this affects missions by making the few roads more important.

Finally Skirinka/Little Kiska island is not present. The first campaign mission and two fire team engagements take place here making it an important location. The island is within spitting distance of Skira's southern peninsula, so it would be much nicer for this to be added to the existing map.

Edited December 20, 2010 by *Zeewolf*

[twisted 127]

this is a new arrival in my personal top 10 islands, awesome

[mankyle 370]

Since I'm not a fan of the color tone of this real island, I tweaked the the Sat to make it a bit closer to the color tone of Sap's Eve (Darker greens and darker brown areas). The darker color tone (and some yellowish visual "noise" added) works a lot better for the camouflage of units and the blending of plants with the more barren environment.

Very nice. Besides the rocky areas, the new sat looks quite better. The real problem of this island is the tree placement.

The truth is that someone (I'm too lazy to do it myself) should take world tools and apply its magic to this map to add trees in all the areas. For that using the sat map is quite easy, because all evergreen trees are located in areas of the sat mask with a rose like colour and all deciduous are in areas of the sat with an slight brownish colour.

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

I don't really like the newer satmap, so I hope it isn't used in an update. It looks like the island was diarrheaed on.

Guess what! Camo rarely works as well as intended, especially at 200+ meters. The experts are as good at arriving at a working camo pattern for a variety of ranges as they are at coming up with good tire and shoe tread or dietary habits.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Well I for 1 wouldnt be designing an island colour scheme based on what Camo units are wearing !!

I too also like the new darker colour.

And considering where the REAL island is located, its likely more in line and not the normal "sun baked" colours we have in many other terrains.

[Fox '09 14]

in fact the reason i didn't download it is because it looked like the greenest place i've ever seen. greener than my neighbors lawn.

+1 to the new satmap

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

Gnat;1812726']Well I for 1 wouldnt be designing an island colour scheme based on what Camo units are wearing !!

Read the comments of the guy who did it. He did it because the older one didn't match unit camo!

Your reasoning should lead you to appreciate the original satmap. :P

Contrary to popular opinion' date=' the whole world doesn't look like the snow just melted. YES, some places are extremely green and your neighbor's lawn isn't the measuring stick. Do you even KNOW what type of grass is covering his lawn?

Like the English countryside, for example...

[img']http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs228.snc3/21570_1289068939667_1018521989_831683_5031973_n.jpg[/img]

Notice how the only camo we're wearing that approaches matching the bright green fields in the background is my olive green T-shirt?

Edited December 15, 2010 by Uziyahu--IDF

[max power 21]

Kiska itself seems pretty green in some photos, and pretty yellow in others. I wonder if it's a time of year thing or a soil quality thing or what.

http://www.kensblog.com/aspx/m/463430/beid/32467

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/airfields/usa/kiska/1986/twin-25mm-kiska.html

[Rg 0]

@Uziyahu--IDF

The color change was not done for camouflage. It was to make the island look closer to Sap's Eve, since that map has the best color tone of all the arma maps....imo. The better camouflage due to the darker sat and usually darker units when rendered at a far is just an added benefit to the gameplay experience.

@Max Power

It looks like the real color of the island is somewhere in between two, so maybe someone wants to take a stab at that. Maybe in 10 years we can have all that rendered grass at very far ranges. :p

@CameronMcDonald & whoever else

Addon form (83mb)

http://www.filefront.com/17651469/skarikiska_darkgreen.rar

[[aps]gnat 28]

Thanks Rg

[instagoat 133]

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9805/arma2oa2010121623080879.png

Is there any way to increase the detail of the terrain mesh? It´s really itching me to see these kind of jagged edges. Even OF:DR itself did a better job at this. MIND, I´m not doubting that this map is yet another example of the supreme craftsmanship prevalent in the community, this seems to be a limitation of the tools we´re provided with.

Or is this -really- the best the engine can do?

[max power 21]

You can, but from reading what other people say about doing that, it really messes with the way the island is set up and you basically have to rebuild it.

[mankyle 370]

Well, Skarikiska is a 10 meter cell that uses a 2048 x 2048 terrain, so that amounts to a 20480 x 20480 map

I have tried to convert it to a 5 meter cell map based on a 4096 x 4096 terrain. I can load the topography, no problems, but I'm having problems loading the sat and the mask.

Also RStratton told me that he had already tried that and that the results were not good.

That would be the only way for improving resolution. That's the only point in which the EGO engine from OFP: DR is superior to that of Arma 2.

[ArmAriffic 10]

This + OHPLA = Better than the whole Failpoint 2 game

[[aps]gnat 28]

Mankyle, any idea why my Visitor crashes as soon as I try to load the pew file ?

[supergruntsb78 67]

first off all OFP DR was kind of ok (don't get me wrong OFP and ARMA series kick its *ss) it has its + sides (good cqb / nice story) i whould like to see some parts of DR combined with ARMA 3 (better CQB etc..) now back on the island

i like the island and hope it will be finished sometime by whoever

[clawhammer 10]

Is someone continue working on this?

[Cyper 18]

Is someone continue working on this?

I wonder exactly the same thing. I'm actually really excited for this one. But it won't be playable on the orginal arma? Either way, I'll have to fix my computer so I can play arma 2 properly. When it comes to ofp I wonder if it's possible to use the island in red river.

[ACPL Jon 68]

Cyper, it was already released...

and yes as far as I remember it worked on vanillah.

[hotzenplotz 138]

I would like to continue the work on this island if its allowed.

Greez Hotze

[mankyle 370]

Hi Hotzenplotz

It was me who continued working on this island.

There is a lot to do:

-Improve the sat and the mask on the airport.

- Add mor buildings to the airport, plus fences

- Improve terrain in some places

- Add SILVIE/ALICE/WAR modules compatibility

- Use Operation Arrowhead oil pumps so they can be added to the island

- Level the terrain so some bridges are correctly placed

- Wood mapper (typo?) could be used to improve the looks of the woods

- Etc...

As long as you give credit to 9thCavalry, who was who first released the visitor files, I think it's ok for you to continue with this island.

I would love to get this island more finished.

You can count on me to continue working on this BTW

[[aps]gnat 28]

Huh, but the provided PEW file didnt work, errors of some sort, right?