Ask Drecks, he had a very nice winter uniform in his map (Zhitomir revenge) (I thought that the skin was from Fennich?
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Level Design Preview of Myshkova River
- Thread starter FlashPanHunter
- Start date
After a couple of tries, I think I got a better look for the trees, and some more contrast in the map. Here are some pics of it, and of one of the clusters of houses. The one in the first pictures is the first area, the second objective after a line of foxholes on a ridge.
The map flow is linear in a sense, and I've tried to minimize long distance runs from the spawn to the objective, but at the same time each objective can be attacked in many ways. This village for example can be flanked on either side by going through the woods, or it can be attacked head on. I think most of the work on the map is nearly done, mainly detailing and fixes and such, so I hope to have it out pretty soon.
The map flow is linear in a sense, and I've tried to minimize long distance runs from the spawn to the objective, but at the same time each objective can be attacked in many ways. This village for example can be flanked on either side by going through the woods, or it can be attacked head on. I think most of the work on the map is nearly done, mainly detailing and fixes and such, so I hope to have it out pretty soon.
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I'd pile up some snow in front of those at guns. Even if they aren't usable, they stand out and don't look natural without some cover.
Otherwise, looking good
Otherwise, looking good
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Overall it looks good, very cold
The pines look a bit odd though. They don't blend well with the sky. You might wanna take another look at the custom texture you've made, especially the alpha on it. Make the diffuse part of the texture larger and the alpha border more soft...I think.
Also, I'd put in a very soft distance fog. Not for optimization, but realism. I know that you're aim is a clear cold winterday, but a very low fogsetting will create more depth (a.i. realistic distance).
The pines look a bit odd though. They don't blend well with the sky. You might wanna take another look at the custom texture you've made, especially the alpha on it. Make the diffuse part of the texture larger and the alpha border more soft...I think.
Also, I'd put in a very soft distance fog. Not for optimization, but realism. I know that you're aim is a clear cold winterday, but a very low fogsetting will create more depth (a.i. realistic distance).
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I think you have captured the real cold feeling. That's how a forest in real cold climate looks like. GJ!
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Overall it looks good, very cold
The pines look a bit odd though. They don't blend well with the sky. You might wanna take another look at the custom texture you've made, especially the alpha on it. Make the diffuse part of the texture larger and the alpha border more soft...I think.
Also, I'd put in a very soft distance fog. Not for optimization, but realism. I know that you're aim is a clear cold winterday, but a very low fogsetting will create more depth (a.i. realistic distance).
Negative, you dont want alpha's on your trees. They need to be masked. Alpha's will have a very negative effect on performance (many alpha's behind eachother when using trees)
Use masks. Please.
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I'm not sure about the trees. Other than in shops selling fake Christmas trees,
I've never seen pine trees that are totally white like that. And I've seen a lot of snow.
A tree that was totally white like that would die from lack of nourishment.
Maybe it works differently in eastern Europe.
I've never seen pine trees that are totally white like that. And I've seen a lot of snow.
A tree that was totally white like that would die from lack of nourishment.
Maybe it works differently in eastern Europe.
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I've seen trees totally covered in snow up at Tahoe many times. You couldnt recreate it in RO because IRL the tree branches get so weighed down from the snow that they dont stick outward - you cant even see individual branches. They look almost like solid cones of snow.
In regards to your screenshots.. it looks pretty good so far. Around the bases of the houses, where they meet with the snow, you should think about adding some spreckles of dirt or signs of people traffic like humans actually have lived and moved around there. It kind of looks like the house was dropped from above - the 'line' or 'edge' looks too clean. Same with the walls.
Also, keep in mind the different approaches to the objectives, and compensate the terrain to have plenty of irregularities such as dips and rises... this way soldiers can approach without being in the wide open the entire time. Obviously you need some open areas in order to create a challenging scenario, but it cant all be out in the open. It's really easy to see people moving against the snow. Consider running distance and how and where people will run out of breath... then make a dip or rise ever so slightly beyond that point.
In regards to your screenshots.. it looks pretty good so far. Around the bases of the houses, where they meet with the snow, you should think about adding some spreckles of dirt or signs of people traffic like humans actually have lived and moved around there. It kind of looks like the house was dropped from above - the 'line' or 'edge' looks too clean. Same with the walls.
Also, keep in mind the different approaches to the objectives, and compensate the terrain to have plenty of irregularities such as dips and rises... this way soldiers can approach without being in the wide open the entire time. Obviously you need some open areas in order to create a challenging scenario, but it cant all be out in the open. It's really easy to see people moving against the snow. Consider running distance and how and where people will run out of breath... then make a dip or rise ever so slightly beyond that point.
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Overall it looks good, very cold
The pines look a bit odd though. They don't blend well with the sky. You might wanna take another look at the custom texture you've made, especially the alpha on it. Make the diffuse part of the texture larger and the alpha border more soft...I think.
Also, I'd put in a very soft distance fog. Not for optimization, but realism. I know that you're aim is a clear cold winterday, but a very low fogsetting will create more depth (a.i. realistic distance).
Kind of what sas said, an alpha texture on the trees would really bring the fps down, especially because the map is very low poly to make up for the performance loss for the high depth rendering on the trees.
There is a distant fog, its a little subtle because it is nearly the same color as the trees, but it's definitely more visible in open areas like the frozen river. I might tweak it to make it more visible, I think its at about 21000 uu so it could be brought down if necessary.
Also, I've seen trees like that which were totally white, granted it was in the mountains, but I think it is possible. The main reason I've done this is to simplify the texture, it was pretty tough to get a convincing tree outline, even without details in the branches. I'll mess around with them a little bit more, see if I can get them looking better.
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What I've tried to do with the forest is give a lot of cover with out all sorts of artificial holes or piles of stuff. There are a lot of ridges and terrain based cover, but also the attackers will need to rely on going through the trees. Some of these areas are pretty heavy, so advancing should be less of a charge across open ground and more of a strategic process. To aid this I'm going to try and give the germans some snow camo, and also to add more shrubs and sticks in the forest to sort of interfere with the player visibility, hopefully making them more hidden.
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I'm sorry, I must have overlooked Sas his remarks.
Perhaps let the fog start very early and let it end at 21000 uu.
And your right, I've seen trees like this too, but I just meant that they stick out like they've been pasted in the screenshots with photoshop...using just the magic wand as selection
Will the fps drop that badly with just the alpha added?
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I'm sorry, I must have overlooked Sas his remarks.
Perhaps let the fog start very early and let it end at 21000 uu.
And your right, I've seen trees like this too, but I just meant that they stick out like they've been pasted in the screenshots with photoshop...using just the magic wand as selection
Will the fps drop that badly with just the alpha added?
He posted in reply to you, that it would slow it down a bit. I might try it, just to see, but my guess is that it would make it unplayable. I've already had to thin a couple of the tree group meshes in some areas because the depth was in the red and bringing the fps down.
Maybe some work with the texture, dark spots, green showing through, etc, will help with them blend into the map more naturally.
I'll check on the fog, it might kick in to far out to really be noticeable.
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Okay, the map is more or less done, but it would be nice if it could get a little bit of basic testing prior to being released. Anyone interested in helping me with this?
Some vital statistics for the map: germans are attacking with two stugs and a p4f1 and the soviets are defending with an su76 and a kv1. The map has nine objectives, but the time limit will probalby only be something like 30-35 minutes.
Here are some pics of the latest work. The forests have been thickened with some undergrown, so there is a bit more concealment, especially for the germans in the green/grey coats. Also there is a shot of a soviet mg manning a bunker. These positions should be pretty hard to attack with only infantry because they have a pretty good field of fire and its difficult to get grenade into them through the openning.
Some vital statistics for the map: germans are attacking with two stugs and a p4f1 and the soviets are defending with an su76 and a kv1. The map has nine objectives, but the time limit will probalby only be something like 30-35 minutes.
Here are some pics of the latest work. The forests have been thickened with some undergrown, so there is a bit more concealment, especially for the germans in the green/grey coats. Also there is a shot of a soviet mg manning a bunker. These positions should be pretty hard to attack with only infantry because they have a pretty good field of fire and its difficult to get grenade into them through the openning.
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Looks nice, I like the relatively low fog, it gives a crisp, cold feel I think. I also like the new trees.
Looking forward to this, if you do some form of arranged public test I'll attend if I'm available.
Looking forward to this, if you do some form of arranged public test I'll attend if I'm available.
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I like some of those new textures you made. Alot of nice blending jobs from what I can see. The added color to the trees and undergrowth will help the Germans in their uniforms. That's alot of objectives in a short time so I imagine the action is going to be fast. Looking forward to checking it out. Going to ask if this was made for 50 player gameplay? Did you want to test it on a 50, 44, or 32 server? Are you looking for one server or a couple to run testing on? I would like to help test as a player and will jump on if I see it out there.
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Yeah, I'm looking for a server that would help test it. It's not made specifically for 32 or 50 players, but I think both will work well. Im curious to see if it lags on a larger server, it's pretty open and there are no bsp buildings, so all the network occlusion is in the terrain and in the buildings. Gameplaywise, it's a big map with open areas, but all of the run distances are relatively short, usually objectives are within sprinting distance of the objective. The action should be pretty fast, and in a couple of instances there are two objectives in a line, not strictly linear. Once one is captured the next can be expected to fall pretty quickly.
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Got to play it today. Had a blast. Though I played with about 8-9 players, there were no lag points for frames. Everything played very smooth and was a great battle. One player said they could get lost in some of the forest areas and thought that was a bad thing. I thought that was a definite plus as far as realism as that is the way it is in a winter wilderness. The only suggestion I have is to take some of the red marks off the overhead map so your player's location icon is easier to find. Even though I like the topography lines on the map (which you find on real ones) it does make it a little hard to read some of the objective's names and looks very busy (maybe some color changes would work better.)
After taking east and west lines, the next objective could use more cover for infantry. There were a number of us infantry pinned behind a building by an enemy tank and had to wait there till a friendly tank got us out. The rest of the map was a great experience between infantry on foot running in the forest areas and tanks sticking to the roads. Great combination.
The visuals are impressive and emerging. It is a great change from the "samo-samo" arad looking landscape maps. This one is going to be top of the list for combined arms, not doubt.
After taking east and west lines, the next objective could use more cover for infantry. There were a number of us infantry pinned behind a building by an enemy tank and had to wait there till a friendly tank got us out. The rest of the map was a great experience between infantry on foot running in the forest areas and tanks sticking to the roads. Great combination.
The visuals are impressive and emerging. It is a great change from the "samo-samo" arad looking landscape maps. This one is going to be top of the list for combined arms, not doubt.
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Thanks for the comment. I liked the overhead map drawings, but I see how it makes it hard to see the player location, so I may do something about that. I've got some other good feedback on the map, and I don't think it needs any major changes (ie there are no major problems) before releasing the first beta.
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