[Map] Kurram (2km) [WIP]

[=]H[= JakCurse]

PROJECT CLOSED, I LOST ALL DATA PERTAINING TO THE MAP WHEN MY HARD DRIVE DID A POOPIE RECENTLY. I will be starting a new map project within the next few weeks.




For quite a while I've been wanting to see a Talib/Mec Insurgency map, where the MEC are standing in for the Pakistani armed forces on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. I've decided to take it upon myself to make it, and being a complete mapping noob I'm going to need a helping hand. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated

The Story so Far; It's going to be set in the Kurram FATA of Pakistan, which looks a little like the pic below, I can't decide yet what map it'll resemble, but I'm thinking something of a mix between Archer and Lashkar (I see them as the maps most closely resembling the "surrounded" athmosphere of forces in afghanistan, especially with the roads being more or less definately mined.)




A View from the entrance of one of the cave caches out into one of the map's many valleys.

Fields that will eventually be full of crops, with Mangrove and Olive farm fields in the distance.



The beginnings of one of the first villages MEC forces will encounter in the map.


Who doesn't love hilltop mosque-convent-cloister-monastery style places?



Can you guess what it used to look like?


The beginnings of the MEC main


Village + Artillery strike = Hole

[Rudd]

Hi mate, one of the problems atm is that a few tut repositories need their links updated etc

but I'm planning on rectifying that with a new tut thread soon that will contain all the tuts I found useful and and advice etc.

All mappers do this in their own unique way, you can see quite clearly when you load their maps in to the editor that there is a kind of art to it, so you'll have to find you own way that works for you in the end
For example, myself I learned to map using map audits https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-m ... audit.html (just using the link incase your interested)

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-m ... ricks.html
that thread contains some real jewels of the basics of mapping for bf2, though some of the links are no longer working.

Tips, think things through before you do them or you'll waste time fixing them later
backup OFTEN, don't lose work over accidents or whatever, uploading stuff to a a file service is a great way to keep your work safe and also distribute it to testers when you need to
think about assets and other gameplay objects later, not at the start, thats the easy part.
Save often, more than 15mins of work, and the editor might crash - it'll piss you off no end.

use simple tricks to save time, e.g. use roads to raise and lower terrain for ramps etc, hold down CTRL and click the x/y/z arrows on the object to copy it and or the entire selection at once, saves TONNES of time, Stamp an object means that when you click and object and click aline, it will move to the same location - Great for statics that are made of several parts - alines them perfectly.

Photoshop is super useful for mapping, or you'll ahve to do stuff by hand all the time.

Whenever you wonder 'how do I do tunnels?' or whatever, the first thing I do is load up a PR map with tunnels and see how the mapper did it.

It'll take as long as it takes tbh mate, depends how adept you are with learning computer things.
start with a smaller map, a 1k or 2k (2k has more chance of being useable, but is ofc harder imo)

GL!

[=]H[= JakCurse]

I WAS intending on doing a 4k, but that'll be a nightmare on Insurgency, especially with the MEC.

[J.F.Leusch69]

moved and renamed.

please read this:
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f354-c ... w-map.html

[ChiefRyza]

I would suggest picking a couple hours every week set aside for working on the map. In my case, it gives me time to work on other things but I still keep it flowing, adding to it bit by bit.

Don't expect phenomenal progress to start off with, generally, you should start off working on a general heightmap, maybe even sketch out some ideas for the map, then have a look at some programs like Geocontrol 2 or Terragen. TPAINT is extremely useful and I prefer using it over painting in Terragen or other programs, but each person has their own preferences and ways of doing things - you'll find this out soon enough It's pretty much like Rudd said, there is no one way of doing things in mapping, because you end up picking up your own preferences etc. Don't get disappointed if you don't pick it up right away though, stick with it, and you'll either hate mapping or love it.

I can't decide yet what map it'll resemble, but I'm thinking something of a mix between Archer and Lashkar (I see them as the maps most closely resembling the "surrounded" athmosphere of forces in afghanistan, especially with the roads being more or less definately mined.)

Try something unique is all I can say! You'll become much more attached to your map and feel obliged to work on it if you can truly call it your own.

[=]H[= JakCurse]

Cheers Leusch. What do you gents think of the idea then, I mean, Talib vs MEC?

[ChiefRyza]

Would be a great start, already seeing the appeal! If you want to have something to work with off the bat, maybe a 4km/2km mountainous type map, with big interlinking-cave systems? Give the Taliban the mountains, and the MEC the armour, air support and general asset superiority. Lashkar and Korengal incorporate caves, but maybe make them on a much more influential scale on your map?

[=]H[= JakCurse]

I'm liking the whole cave thing. And from experience modding mount & blade I'm aware of how the caves will function. I'd rather not have them to the extent lashkar has them though, where some of them are never fully explored (As in the ones in... E6ish? under the villa style thing?)

[Zimmer]

I'm liking the whole cave thing. And from experience modding mount & blade I'm aware of how the caves will function. I'd rather not have them to the extent lashkar has them though, where some of them are never fully explored (As in the ones in... E6ish? under the villa style thing?)

Isnt that alittle charming though, I believe many maps have a sort of mystique around them when the players finds out there are more to the map.

I dont think I have been in every cave in Korengal for example.

[AFsoccer]

If your leaning toward mountainous terrain (like Afghanistan), I would highly recommend a 2km map. I'm doing a 4km map with some mountains/hills and I'm constantly battling against terrain morphing (where the BF2 engine tries to average out heights). It's a real problem that has yet to be solved, so mappers making 4km maps have to do a lot of smoothing, which makes it almost impossible to have steep mountains or create underground areas without pulling your hair out.

[ChiefRyza]

If your leaning toward mountainous terrain (like Afghanistan), I would highly recommend a 2km map. I'm doing a 4km map with some mountains/hills and I'm constantly battling against terrain morphing (where the BF2 engine tries to average out heights). It's a real problem that has yet to be solved, so mappers making 4km maps have to do a lot of smoothing, which makes it almost impossible to have steep mountains or create underground areas without pulling your hair out.

Something I totally forgot to mention, you'll find this one of the most noticeable problems with the BF2 engine when mapping. Terrain warping and the fact the the terrain is stretched to twice it's size (4km maps) makes elaborate terrain very hard to get right. You can make a mountainous map in 4kmx4km though, it will just be a big pain in the *** but in the end, you get all the advantages of it being a 4km map.

[Rudd]

create underground areas

yeah if your doing alot of underground areas you gotta work around the 4k problems pretty heavily.

[=]H[= JakCurse]

I'm going to be aiming for a 2k. I'm ambitious enough to not feel the need to make a 1km to start off with, but a 4km is definately going to need some practice beforehand. BTW, if I'm making terrain for a PR map in BF editor, does the starting mod have to be PR, or can it be Bf2?



This is the initial idea of how I'm wanting the map to play out. Red circles are villiages, green X's are caves.

[BloodBane611]

You can do terrain in BF2, then edit the rest using your pr_edit.

[badmojo420]

One tip would be to edit your terrain in grid mode. And try to keep the grids somewhat square. What I mean is, if your doing a cliff, use 5-6 grid squares to do the slope, instead of just one square stretched out from top to bottom. It makes the textures look better and helps hide terrain morphing.

[=]H[= JakCurse]

I've got the terrain to a workable level where i'd like to start texturing, but whenever I try, either clicking anywhere on the map results in a BFEditor crash, or half of the map goes all black and horrible. Wtf?

[AFsoccer]

I get crashes with the coloring/texturing tool once in a while, but if you're getting it every time you'll want to do a search at bfeditor.org. I think I remember seeing forum postings from guys that had the "everything turns black" issue but I don't remember what the solution was. Swing over to bfeditor.org and take a look.

[=]H[= JakCurse]

Will do. Here's an updated version of the map with descriptions of where I'd like things to be.

[=]H[= JakCurse]

Head has been thoroughly removed from arse, actually working on the correct scale of map now. The idea's changed a bit due to feedback from my clan, the intention's now to have the Kurram Agency Highway bordering a river delta with numerous villiages scattered around.

[=]H[= JakCurse]

Sorry to triple post, but I wanted to bump to get a response; can Undergrowth and Overgrowth be done BEFORE texturing a map?