[Map] Bamyan (4km) [Released]

[Ason]

Looks very interesting, got a minimap?

Keep the assets light so Taliban doesn't get their asses kicked with Blufor optics and armor, even something like light CAS, helicopter transports + humvees but no APCs or any armor

Yeah That's exactly what I had in mind, the only way for blufor to get any heavy support is to call in cas.

I got a heightmap:

How about a real life location, Shok Valley comes into mind for me, doesn't have to be based on it, but you could still use the name which I think sounds dangerous, which it was.

The only problem is it's more of a big mountain than a valley but I like the name. If some dev(?) or mod see this please change the mapname to [Shok Ridge].

[IINoddyII]

name changed for you

[Ason]

Thanks Noddy

Updated first post with new pics. I also changed the heightmap to the real one.

[Rabbit]

Damn, whats your overgrowth count at? Also, I would honestly finish Grozny and then hopefully once you are done, the new afghan statics will be finished and you can use them.

[Ason]

Damn, whats your overgrowth count at? Also, I would honestly finish Grozny and then hopefully once you are done, the new afghan statics will be finished and you can use them.

OG is at 20 000, but I'm guessing it will be a bit more in the end, perhaps around 30 000.
Yeah I will finish Grozny first, I'm just starting to get tired of that map now

[Rabbit]

Well, I'll be honest with you, 30,000 is a bit much. I would try and keep it at around 20,000, and here are my arguments why. Dovre on first release had 30,000+-2000 OG, and a lot of statics, (5000+) it also had a very small view distance and a lot of people lagged. Currently, it still has a pretty short view distance, with its farthest one, still only being 550, and that is after it was reduced to around 20,000.

Now if you do something like 20,000 or just under in OG, plus lets say 5,000 statics, you could probably run a view distance of 800-1000 pretty easily.

[Ason]

Alright thanks for that Rabbit, good to know. I guess it won't be too big of a problem to keep it around 20 000, I only got a few more valleys to paint with the denser OG material

[Rudd]

OG is at 20 000, but I'm guessing it will be a bit more in the end, perhaps around 30 000.
Yeah I will finish Grozny first, I'm just starting to get tired of that map now

you definitely want to try and keep below 20,000 . Too many trees create an issue with servers because of the number of colmeshes (it's gotta figure out whats touching what). (also note that complexity of colmeshes is important too, 10,000 complex colmeshes might be worse than 20,000 simple ones)

There are some tricks I use to help with this, adding a bush or other simple OG object with a high 'distancetoothers' creates semi-random clearings in your trees which helps performance and also creates convenient landing zones. Basically balancing the distance to same/others and density can create efficient coverage without a blanket of trees.

Additionally, using some basic photoshop skill (or by hand, but you make work for yourself) you can isolate the OG areas at the edge of the map and set them as a different material that is a lower density and lacks small OG objects like bushes amongst trees, this cuts down OG numbers in areas that aren't as important to gameplay and therefore goes less noticed.

Also keep an eye on variety, you don't want to load too many different OGs since you'll run out of RAM and crash clients

[Ason]

Thanks for the advice Rudd! I think my original estimate at 30 k was a bit too high.
I'm down to 19 k after building the US main and also the many roads will remove a big chunk of OG aswell, so I guess it will be pretty easy to keep it at 20 000

Almost done with Loy Manara airfield/US main. ( I will perhaps make a better airfield in the future, this is the best I could do atm, also green grass areas around vegetation will also be added later)


Arma version:

[Rabbit]

I suggest you look at khamisiyah and do a mix or static and painting. Or if you feel comfortable modeling, you could do a modeled one like Rhino likes to do.

[AfterDune]

I like what I see so far .

[Pvt.LHeureux]

Oh an airfield? Here comes Rhino

[Rudd]

I suggest you look at khamisiyah and do a mix or static and painting. Or if you feel comfortable modeling, you could do a modeled one like Rhino likes to do.

definitely do this, it's a bore to do but it's worth it tbh, you end up with something that looks and feels more practical

I literally followed Kham's airfield structure on one of my WiP maps by putting that section of the minimap on my groundhemi.dds to use as a guide.

[Ason]

I suggest you look at khamisiyah and do a mix or static and painting. Or if you feel comfortable modeling, you could do a modeled one like Rhino likes to do.

Yeah I'll do that

Btw you say about 20 000 OG and about 5000 statics, how about 2km maps? Because I got
18000 OG and 14600 statics in Grozny (guessing statics will land at 15-16k in the end)

If someone with a average-great computer would like to test it to feel how smooth (or not) it is in the city I can give you a download link, preferably someone who got some knowledge about mapping and who has followed my project.

I got a laptop so it's not ideal to test the map with. I think if you got a laptop you can't really complain about lag, unless it's a great gaming laptop.

[Rudd]

18000 OG and 14600 statics in Grozny (guessing statics will land at 15-16k in the end)

my worry isn't FPS, my worry is server load. Particularly with the enterable statics. Your large number of statics will also require ALOT of Lightmap optimisation. Remember with 100p it'll feel alot different too.

[Ason]

my worry isn't FPS, my worry is server load. Particularly with the enterable statics. Your large number of statics will also require ALOT of Lightmap optimisation. Remember with 100p it'll feel alot different too.

Alright so you don't think I should bother generating lightmaps in the editor?
Btw if I generate object lightmaps in the editor is there a big chance of my computer crashing o overheating since its a laptop and it needs to be on for days ?

[Rudd]

Btw if I generate object lightmaps in the editor is there a big chance of my computer crashing o overheating since its a laptop and it needs to be on for days ?

if ur laptop is well ventillated then I'm sure it will be fine

the BF2 editor does allow you to resume a previous Lightmapping session, howevever this can get screwed by a crash.

3dsmax LMs are better if you have the program, easier to optimise, higher quality, faster rendering and you can conveniently split the task into managable sections so you can still play etc

However both methods will probably require you to resize some lightmaps to optimise anyway.

Shijia valley is a good example of LM optimisation

[Ason]

Alright thanks rudd, I'll see what happens, perhaps if I'm lucky someone can help me with it later.

[sylent/shooter]

Never could get the resume function to work.... How does it actually work for when you are lightmapping?

[Rudd]

Never could get the resume function to work.... How does it actually work for when you are lightmapping?

generally I think it works as long as you don't touch anything on the map at all between LM sessions