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Level Design Karlovka 2:

did you try by going into terrain mode and then select your heightmap in the export panel, then clicking insert in current and only heightmap?

Anyway, I often feel that laying out your terrain by hand is more efficient :)

Well the last time I did level editing was with the UnrealEd, and things are slightly different in the UDK.

And the video tutorials I kept finding were either using a different program (yet noted as being UDK) or the process shown just didn't work.

I tried to use the Terrain mode and selected the heightmap, which was a properly sized 16-bit grayscale RAW file, it added it, but my terrain remained flat as if nothing was imported.

But now it has all the hills & the river, and the basic layout is all done now.... I might have to nudge a few things around, but it's pretty well done now. Texture and land details are next.

You have to convert the heightmap into the G16 format first.
I think you can use this program to do it.
http://www.lilchips.com/hmesbeta.asp

Ah, so making the file in Photoshop doesn't cut it?

Hey mate, that's great news.
I started playing RO from ROOST, so I've never played this map, but damn, I miss that kind of open terrain maps in RO2.
Wish you luck and enough patience to finish it.

With lots of total conversion mods and mod teams, it seems that there are no level designers left in the community that might work on maps for RO2. So I'm really glad that there are still people working on something. It's also great that you keep posting updates on your progress. Keep up the good work!

Thanks.... most times when I start something, I often don't get far and never finish it due to one reason or another, but if what I start begins to unfold as I expected and I see some good progress, I usually see it through and finish it.

As mentioned before, I was going to start working on a mod, but there are a number of things I liked in previous RO's that I'd like to bring back into RO2, such as maps.

Right now, although the terrain is basically finished, it needs to scale up a lot more than what I have now. When I test out the terrain, my character is way too big.

Once I scale this out to the size I'm looking for, the map should be 2-3 times larger than the original Karlovka, so there will be piles of places to move around and with 64 players, should be pretty interesting.

Tonight, once I get the textures on the terrain, I'll make some screen shots of what I have done so far..... you should certainly see a resemblance to the original Karlovka.
 
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there are a lot of butt hurt gloom and doomers still a round.. they just cant stand that anybody could like RO2.....

That and it would appear a few members in here have it out for me specifically..... mostly because my personal opinion and how I post doesn't match up perfectly to what they expect of me.

..... must have been something I said. :D
 
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Update:

I used the TerreSculptor program and imported my height map, made some tweaks, and this is what I get:

Screenshot_0001.jpg


I think it's actually turned out better than my manually drawn out terrain.

The flat areas on the outer corners will be blocked off by trees so they're impassable and also so that players won't see the edge of the map, but everything else within will be accessible by players for sniping, MG's, AT's, riflemen, etc.

Once I add the trees and more detail to the terrain, it should start looking pretty good.
 
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Hey Praxius awesome to see people like you being motivated and having map modding as a hobby.

You guys do a big favor to the community.

Thanks, it's a hobby I kind of drifted away from for a few years, so I'm a little rusty.... but with any luck, my education in Animation/3D Modeling from college way back will come back to me :cool:

I've always wanted to be in Animation/3D Modeling/Game Development, but there wasn't much work for that where I lived and I ended up getting into Photography/Graphic Design/Advertisement instead.

It's still an enjoyable field, but not exactly what I was looking for in life.... this brings me back to what I used to enjoy.
 
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Hey Praxius awesome to see people like you being motivated and having map modding as a hobby.

You guys do a big favor to the community.

+1

You are doing an amazing job.
I can't for the life of me understand who and why anyone downvoted many of your posts on the first page... at least if they would post constructive criticism as of why... it blows my mind away because that's quite a bit of hard work you are pulling off here.
 
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Just another update:

I refined the map better than what is shown above. I brought it into UDK and started smoothing out the terrain more. The German spawn area (Where they spawned in the original map) has been refined so that the hills are easier to walk on and around and stretched out the side hills for riflemen and marksmen to access. I'll probably spend much of the weekend working on the terrain. Once I test it all out by doing a little stroll across the map and can get up and around all the areas I'd like to, I'll then move forward with textures and other details for the terrain.

Karlovka2Sample01.jpg


Oh yeah.... and the map is frick'n huge..... just slightly larger than the original Karlovka.

Speaking of which, I'm going to re-install the mod on my system so I can play around in the original Karlovka map in order to keep my reference fresh.
 
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Update:

Karlovka2Sample02.jpg


The Terrain is now smoothed out and prepped to my satisfaction. Players can now access just about every aspect of this map. Edges of the map will be blocked off by tree lines and rocks, etc.

Above is the layout of where objectives, buildings and bridges will be located. Green boxes are buildings, red X's are road blocks, gray squares are bridges, red zones are the cap objectives..... the green lines show the general approach the Germans would take as the offensive team.

Oh and the red squares are the ammo caches.

I also forgot to note the buildings at the german spawn.
 
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And what about static mg emplacments will they be added?

I'll do my best to make sure this map has every element RO2 can muster... not only do I want it to be a full combined arms map, but also have every other element in RO2, including MG placements, many things to use for cover....

Oh, and when I was testing the map by having a little stroll, just about every hill on the map has great long distance views. From the German Hill by their first spawn, you can see all the way to where the train station will be.

Of course, trees and other objects will be blocking some of the view, but people who have been wanting some long distance combat should be pleased.
 
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Very nice project, thanks!
Is it known at this stage how large will this map be? Compared to size of bridges (assuming bridge width about 10m), seems to be a rather small map.

Maraz

When I was walking around and as I was originally planning, the bridges will be more or less the same size as the original bridges. The river is also a lot deeper.... and wider at Bridge 2, thus a larger bridge will be there.

Below are two screenshots:

Bridge1FromRiver2.jpg


^ This is the view from standing at the bottom of the river, looking up at where Bridge 1 would be placed. (West)

Bridge22.jpg


^ Bridge 2 (East)

They'll be roughly the same size, but I plan to make them wider than the originals... and along the sides, there will be debris and other forms of cover for troops and anti tank classes, but the centre will be clear for tanks and HT's to get through after the roadblocks are blasted.

If things do seem small, then I'll do some scaling before I get too far.
 
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i hope we get a beta version of the map to try out and play with before its totally completed! i just want to try a new map asap.. sick of the vanilla maps =/

Praxius, do you think you could help or teach me to make my own map? im interested in making some basic even sided maps (symmetrical) that would be good for competitive play.

i sent you a PM.
 
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