T-Bone

Another option would be for map makers to take the ED approach and use Terragen to generate terrain without good enough satellite terrain. I did a side experiment and generated a 50km x 50km slice of the Fairbanks Alaska area with Terragen and here is how it looks: While not as "photorealistic" as terrain created with photographs, it is more monochromatic and generated using fractals. These are 1024x1024 terragen textures. At lower altitudes the transitions are much more seamless, which is important for a game like A-10C where you are down low most of the time and can notice the texture issues.

Sorry Blaze, I hijacked this pic from you lol... But you can see here what is going on. The color mask of the terrain texture is overpowering the much higher resolution noise texture in the A-10C beta.

That FSX terrain is very high resolution and probably covering a much smaller area than the entire Nevada map. More than 1024x1024. While that type of imagery is available for North America, it is rarer to find for combat hotspots such as Georgia, etc. I think default FSX uses artificially generated terrain for most of their areas:

Here is a shot of the old LOMAC 1.0x Nevada map with advanced haze and different color masking. You can see the satellite imagery fades out farther away.

Here are some pictures to explain why ED's Terragen terrain doesn't have the problems those of us using satellite imagery are experiencing: Look at this pic above; the color pallete is a lot more muted and monochromatic. DCS uses the terrain textures as a color map placed on top of the noise texture. Now look below: When you are using satellite imagery there is a bigger range of colors, and the new engine tries to make the color mask sharper and stronger. Unfortunately this makes it stand out at low altitude which is why you are noticing the low resolution of the actual color mask. The noise texture itself is high resolution to give you a sensation of speed. I tried making the colors have less contrast, but that just made the terrain end up looking faded. This is something I'm sure that is still WIP, and hopefully ED finds a way to correct it. I would suggest bringing back advanced haze to maps made with Landsat or other types of aerial/satellite imagery.

Sorry the textures are not going to change, 1024x1024 for 10km x 10km is already pushing the limits with a 300km x 300km map and is close to 1GB of textures. The problem is that the transition between high altitude textures and the low altitude noise needs to be adjusted so that the color of the textures is not applied as strongly to the noise texture. This was one of the things LOMAC 1.0 actually did better than FC2 with the advanced haze. Unfortunately advanced haze was removed, I guess to produce more colorful and clear terrain from all altitudes. The colors no longer fade as much once you get down low, which is why you have a color clashing problem. Here's an example using satellite terrain textures in LOMAC 1: LOMAC 2.0/DCS BS/DCS A-10C Beta: BTW these are the exact same textures with no changes applied. The way the terrain is rendered changed between LOMAC FC 1.x and DCS/FC2

This also raises the question of whether or not to create terrain using Terragen or real satellite imagery, if the imagery has less resolution than desired.

Georgia was created using Terragen. It is not straight satellite imagery. Terragen scenery is more monochromatic so color clashing is less apparent down low.

The Nevada textures are 1024x1024, which is more than the Georgia terrain (512x512). ED is still tweaking the terrain engine since it is not good at color contrasting/clashing at low altitude. Am I right LB9?

FYI I'm considering putting this map on hold and working on a Pakistan map since the object count is lower and the available satellite imagery is easier to work with (less clouds). Also the setting is better for A-10C. Another possibility is Kazhakstan.

New terrain tools are not out yet. So far we are only making stuff that works with BS/LOMAC 2.0 until ED releases the new tools...

Can the maps created with the current tools for Black Shark/LOMAC 2.0 be converted to A-10C format with the new tools?

Hey Batou, does this map include any terrain over Northwest Pakistan? I'm considering building a Pakistan map and didn't want to overlap if you already did it.

The tools are compatible with 3ds Max only.

Iraq and Iran have always been a good spot for a scenario. The geopolitical landscape in the region is very interesting, with Iraq now being a major US ally between Syria and Iran.

The problem with introducing a major power like China is you need to create unique tanks and planes for it as well. Also I think Taiwan would be best saved for an F/A-18 sim, due to the maritime nature of the scenario.

Right now most of the people working on maps are keeping it within 500km x 500km. The creation of the land mesh is actually quite simple, which is why sparse desert maps are a pretty good option at this point in time just as map developers get into the swing of things. Populating the maps is time consuming. What would you guys like to see with A-10C? I can think of some theaters and environments for a post 2007 world which could accomodate the A-10C quite well: Iraq/Iran Border - Iran invades Iraq (moderately hard to make because of object count) Venezuela - Venezuela attacks Columbia (harder to make because of object count) Northwestern Pakistan - Defeat remnants of Taliban and Al Quaeda (relatively easier to make) Alaska - Fairbanks training (easier to make - sparse tundra/mountains, but with Nevada this would be redundant) Korean Peninsula - Self explanitory (very hard to make - lots of stuff here) Azerbaijan - Russian invades from North, Iran invades from south (hard- lots of stuff here) Kazahkstan - China invades for natural resources, Russians and US intervene (easier to make - sparse grasslands/desert)

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2010/10/15/2010-10-15_top_gun_2_in_development_with_star_tom_cruise_reportedly_set_to_return.html Paramount Pictures is feeling the need for speed again. According to Vulture, the studio has officially has made offers to producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Pirates of the Caribbean") and director Tony Scott ("The Taking of Pelham 123") to develop a sequel to 1986's "Top Gun." Christopher McQuarrie will pen the script and Tom Cruise is slated to return, albeit in limited capacity, as Maverick. McQuarrie's rep confirmed to EW.com Thursday that the screenwriter had, in fact, been approached to write the film. "Top Gun 2" has been one of the classic long-rumored sequels, but Bruckheimer only told MTV this past July that talks for the film were beginning to get serious. The problem would be setting the story in an atmosphere that focuses less and less on the dogfights that defined the original film, also directed by Scott. "The aviation community has completely changed since we made the movie a long time ago," Bruckheimer told MTV. "So we have to find a way in and how to incorporate the Maverick character into it." According to Vulture, McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects," the upcoming "The Tourist") has figured out a way to do just that. Cruise has reportedly agreed to take a smaller role in the sequel on the condition that it's not an "obvious" one, i.e. a flight instructor for the new class of pilots. Might we suggest a guest ref for the volleyball match? Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2010/10/15/2010-10-15_top_gun_2_in_development_with_star_tom_cruise_reportedly_set_to_return.html#ixzz12ml886na

LB9, What are the land texture sizes in your DCS A-10C Nevada map? 512 or 1024? Also once the terrain format in A-10 has been ironed out, will we be given access to the tools? Thanks, T-Bone

When are the new tools going to be released?

Yep it can but I advise on having a 64bit system. Maybe do 1024 and 512 versions?

All the terrain satellite/mesh data is sitting on my hard drive right now as a flyable but useless mesh without any airports or buildings. I'm waiting on the new terrain tools at the moment so it can adapt the new terrain capabilities that will be in A-10C. I'm also going to look into tweaking colors a bit more.

Batou, Is your team using ground tiles that are 512x512 or 1024x1024? Nevada guys started doing 1024x1024 for their terrain and I'm combining 30m resolution satellite imagery with terragen textures for 1024x1024. I started out using 512x512 but then tried 1024 and the detail improved drastically. You can consider 1024x1024 textures for more detail. T-Bone

Hawg11 that is a good idea with those cirrus clouds, and it can be applied when we get around to making Alaska for adding an Aurora Borealis effect:

Also, Flymar, when you export lsa2 you gotta choose the semantics as surface + noise and set the material to land. You need the materials.lma file on the wiki.