Sands - 41km Desert Terrain

[Black1ron 10]

Just had an idea and thought i threw it in here.

When aircraft crashes there is rubble/debris in 3d model, couldnt that model be scripted where bombs impact? It would be great for runway bombing, as it would make a bombed runway inoperable. Maybe restrict it for LGB´s (maybe satchels also for sf missions) only to keep amount of debris low for lag issues. To clear the debris get enginers (or just any soldiers) within a certain radius for a certain amount of time and it gets "repaired".

I would think it would be better to make a tool available, for often times after a carpet bomb there are often troop movement, and craters and debris (if big enough) make excellent cover. But it would suck if, say a soldier was under heavy fire, jumped behind a piece of rubble, and the rubble disappeared, causing his untimely demise.

[Jezza5555 10]

I really like this, it'll be perfect for some large scale tank and air battles and i cannot wait! :) I think the only thing a large map of the desert requires is a little variation in ground textures and to minimize any absolutely flat area's. Just slight undulations would do as the ground clutter looks great. TBH i'd be happy with it as it is now, I just want a large theater of war i can get lost in :)

[odjob 0]

I would think it would be better to make a tool available, for often times after a carpet bomb there are often troop movement, and craters and debris (if big enough) make excellent cover. But it would suck if, say a soldier was under heavy fire, jumped behind a piece of rubble, and the rubble disappeared, causing his untimely demise.

Yeah i was only throwing in an idea i had, good point about the disappearing rubble:).

My main point is that in vanilla there is just a texture for craters, if there was some kind of debris it would make it more interesting as you could do airfield denial missions and delaying groundtroops by bombing roads.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Interesting idea Odjob.

Anyone know the object name for the "crash craters" ?

I'm wondering if they have that nice ArmA2 "retexture" feature. Would make it easy to wash them with a sandy colour.

[Daniel 0]

Sounds good! If it's going to be mainly flight based, please try your best to get as convincing a terrain colour as possible. Also, please add as much natural cover as possible, mainly rocks of varying sizes. That way users can add small objectives like villages and bases for infantry relatively easily.

[odjob 0]

Gnat;1452674']Interesting idea Odjob.

Anyone know the object name for the "crash craters" ?

I'm wondering if they have that nice ArmA2 "retexture" feature. Would make it easy to wash them with a sandy colour.

Glad you like the idea :).

It would be interesting to see if lots of those "crash craters" creates any lag. I dont know if they disapear over time in vanilla, but if they dont create any lag it would be cool if they remained for the duration of the mission (or "fixed" by engineers).

Edit:

If you or anybody else can get this working it would be awesome to have as a standalone addon as well.

[[aps]gnat 28]

.

:( I'm away for a month for work, without any ArmAII tools (sucky laptop)

Soooo ... thought I'd slap together the beta as is and get a months worth of feedback.

SANDS - BETA 0.1

FILEFRONT DOWNLOAD

Also includes a very rushed crCTI Warefare (last tweaked prior by Squeeze) to suit.

Air transport added to start, along with cheap Aircraft

God knows its probably badly unbalanced :D

Obvious the ISLAND is a BETA, BETA , I repeat Beta

i.e. thats just one little step more than an Alpha release

The South West area contains some experimental terrains (ie object dumps), so interested to see which people think a) looks ok b) works ok

All airfields are AI friendly

Have fun :)

[Guest]

I hope to try this one out soon, it should run smoothly with this terrain :)

Release frontpaged at the Armaholic homepage.

Sands beta 0.1

[soldier2390 0]

wow this looks so alsome, man now i really wish i had a2! and will make for making great fob\bases! your a god gnat! great job bud, and good luck!

Edited October 3, 2009 by soldier2390

[b00ce 160]

I just noticed the B-52s. DO. WANT.

Great work, can't wait to "test" in a few minutes. :p

[Whiskey27 1]

I've been playing through the island so far gnat, and even with my computer (not to shabby, q9300, 4gig ram, 9600gtx2sli, I've been getting really good performance, with high viewdistance. And yah the clutter looks nice!

[[aps]gnat 28]

Oh! yeh, thanks Ebolax

I forgot to mention, try 10km ViewDistance, even on my crappy computer (2.13 Duo, 2gb ram, 8800GTS) it works great.

[Snake Man 401]

Congratulations on the quick release of this terrain, by the starting of this topic I assumed it will be usual months of not more before anything is released. Very nice surprise, thank you.

It is amazing to see someone releasing decent size terrain, could this perhaps be a new beginning for ArmA 2 terrain trends? :)

[Lhowon 10]

Thanks a lot for this, it looks great so far.

[Snake Man 401]

Having extensive experience on making large desert terrains myself, I'm very impressed by your work, good job man, very nice. Its really refreshing to see terrain addon and not have anything to complain about.

Did you do the whole and complete terrain elevations in the L3DT software?

Did L3DT create the satellite texture also and if so, how much did you have to GIMP/Photoshop it?

How did you create satellite mask?

How did you place the objects?

Without looking the config, are all the small bushes just ground clutter or did you manually add bushes too?

[LoLL 10]

Looks good. These addons from these forums will improve this game so good. No wonder why people play ArmA 2 and OFP 1 :P

[EMERY 10]

great map but it seems that cars seem to lose speed when on the dirt alot even my buggies get boged down in the sand something going on with the terrain i can go 120+ of road in Chernarus but in your map i struggle to do 100

but i do like it heeps i hate that crappy Chernarus ,thanks for this cant wait for an update

[Callsign 128]

Hey Gnat, great map!

I've played on it for most of the morning now with no issues, setting view distance up really high. I figure you might like more help in regards to objects and terrain shizz etc.

I'm not sure where the map is supposed to be based off of but I couldn't help feeling like it was somewhere like North Africa, in which case Google image Tunisia and the Atlas Mountains (The buildings look similar to those in Op Arrowhead but Opteryx's buildings look just as similar). I'd even go as far as saying the CAA1 South Sahrani buildings might not look out of place, especially the airport huts and control tower instead of the Chernarus ones.

In terms of rock placement, it looks a bit wierd having spherical rocks half way up mountains. It might be worth having boulder fields at the bottom of the mountains, as they will have eroded and rolled down.

The clutter works well, its just annoying you can't see it very far but thats more an Arma2 issue.

I'm not sure about the forests really, they don't seem to feel right. I think instead of the Firs you might like to try the CAA1 Sahrani deciduous trees and the palms, they might look a little more appropriate in smaller tighter clusters instead of forests.

For a good read or film, try Ice Cold in Alex. Feels similar!

[Stewy 1]

Looks great Gnat - would you ever consider an A1 release? Pretty please? :)

[[aps]gnat 28]

@Stewy

Probably not sorry. I'll look, but its hard enough doing it for 1 game.

@Callsign

I might have to wait for the new ArmAII Expansion pack before I finish this map. No, I won't be using CAA1, not my plan to have it dependant on a huge download.

Real Terrain? Sorry, real terrain is probably a) boring b) very difficult to mimic / do it justice. I think I can be more creative with custom terrain.

Thanks for the feedback on the rocks/forrest .... I tend to agree ;)

@EMERY

hmmm ... though I remember doing 120 in your vehicles. Certainly the AI keep the foot to the floor most of the time :)

You use the "E" key to go flat out?

Did you do the whole and complete terrain elevations in the L3DT software?

Yep

Did L3DT create the satellite texture also and if so, how much did you have to GIMP/Photoshop it?

Yes. Not much, just increased the contrast a bit.

How did you create satellite mask?

Used the individual single layer files L3DT creates, used PSP7 to layer 4 of them into 1 coloured layer file. Easy

How did you place the objects?

Visitor, using the Random 1.1.1 script a few times.

are all the small bushes just ground clutter or did you manually add bushes too?

Both;

- 2 small bushes are used as clutter

- 1 of the same bushes is also used (only in SW corner) as normal objects, placed with the random script also.

Yes, I too think the clutter works very well on this map. I already increased the radius it spreads out, but I may increase it even further in the next release.

Unfortunately on my computer (when it used to work :D ) the small brown bushes darken a fair bit at distance (ie a lod issue probably). It looks a little odd. Anyone else notice this?

[EMERY 10]

hay its all good with me i love this map

[eble 3]

this is my new fav jet testing map, 10,000 VD, high settings and massive FPS, makes it perfect.

[Stalker15 10]

Hi , i have problem with this map , when the launch the game and trying play this map game crash to desktop , please help me sory for my bad english ;)

[major woody 11]

I'm sure this map will be perfect for a Gulf War 91' war theatre/mod - Scud Hunt missions ect... :)

[M3th0s 10]

Hi Gnat.... wonderful map but... could you give realistic numbers at the runways please?

Because 2 runways with the same number are impossible!

http://img98.imageshack.us/i/sandsc.jpg/

(I know there are only 2 runway head in the editor :S or maybe don't use the numbers... :butbut:)

Any runway is are given a number between 01 and 36. This indicates the runway's heading: A runway with the number 36 points to the north (360°), runway 09 points east (90°), runway 18 is south (180°), and runway 27 points west (270°). Thus, the runway number is one tenth of the runway centerline's magnetic azimuth, measured clockwise from the magnetic declination.

A runway can be used in two directions, which means the same strip of tarmac has two names: "runway 33" and "runway 15". Naturally, the two numbers always differ by 18 (= 180°).

Runway 31R/13L

Runways in North America that lie within the Northern Domestic Airspace are, because of the magnetic north pole, usually numbered according to true north.[1]

For clarity in radio communications, each digit is pronounced individually: runway three six, runway one four, etc. A leading zero, for example in "runway zero six" or "runway zero one left", is included for International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and some United States military airports (such as Edwards Air Force Base). However in the United States at most civil aviation airports, the leading zero is often dropped: "runway nine" or "runway four right". This also includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield. This American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is very common in a country such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, Runway 04, and the pilot read back the clearance as Runway 4. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U.S. usage to airports around the world. For example Runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05.

Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire, England. The runway is 08

Runway designations change over time because the magnetic poles slowly drift on the Earth's surface and the magnetic bearing will change. Depending on the airport location and how much drift takes place, it may be necessary over time to change the runway designation. As runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, this will affect some runways more than others. For example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233 degrees, it would be designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changed downwards by 5 degrees, the Runway would still be Runway 23. If on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226 (Runway 23), and the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224, the runway should become Runway 22. Because the drift itself is quite slow, runway designation changes are uncommon, and not welcomed, as they require an accompanying change in aeronautical charts and descriptive documents. When runway designations do change, especially at major airports, it is often changed overnight as taxiway signs need to be changed and the huge numbers at each end of the runway need to be repainted to the new runway designators. In July 2009 for example, London Stansted Airport in the United Kingdom changed its runway designations from 05/23 to 04/22 overnight.

If there is more than one runway pointing in the same direction (parallel runways), each runway is identified by appending Left (L), Center © and Right ® to the number — for example, Runways One Five Left (15L), One Five Center (15C), and One Five Right (15R). Runway Zero Three Left (03L) becomes Runway Two One Right (21R) when used in the opposite direction (derived from adding 18 to the original number for the 180 degrees when approaching from the opposite direction).

At large airports with more than three parallel runways (for example, at Los Angeles, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Denver, and Dallas-Fort Worth), some runway identifiers are shifted by 10 degrees to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this system results in Runways 6L, 6R, 7L, and 7R, even though all four runways are exactly parallel (approximately 69 degrees). At Dallas-Fort Worth, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, and 18R, all oriented at a heading of 175.4 degrees.

For fixed-wing aircraft it is advantageous to perform take-offs and landings into the wind to reduce takeoff roll and reduce the ground speed needed to attain flying speed. Larger airports usually have several runways in different directions, so that one can be selected that is most nearly aligned with the wind. Airports with one runway are often constructed to be aligned with the prevailing wind.

Runway dimensions vary from as small as 245 m (804 ft) long and 8 m (26 ft) wide in smaller general aviation airports, to 5,500 m (18,045 ft) long and 80 m (262 ft) wide at large international airports built to accommodate the largest jets, to the huge 11,917 m (39,098 ft) x 274 m (899 ft) lake bed runway 17/35 at Edwards Air Force Base in California - a landing site for the Space Shuttle. (wikipedia)

Thankyou!