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Process for creating maps


crudboy12

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How are maps made for DCS? What tools are used, what is required, ect... I am curious because it seems like not too many maps are being made for this game compared to the amount of aircraft being made. It seems like we would have more by now then just what ED is working on. Frankly the Black Sea map looks like hell, and honestly the auto-gen in x-plane 11 looks better at times. I wish there were third party devs making maps for DCS, and I would love to see Vietnam, Korea, and the middle east/Africa. I have never seen any modded terrains either. I feel like at this point the lack of map variety is the single thing holding DCS back, as we have a collection of the most badass and beautifully created sim aircraft available. I look forwards to Normandy and the Strait of Hormuz, but I would love to be getting more. I know it is probably just fantasy, but having an auto-gen world map like x-plane's would be fantastic. Does anyone know more about this process?

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To gain access to the tool set you must first be accepted as a qualified 3rd party. To do that requires a substantial amount of up front work.

 

That, and the fact that it is a significant undertaking, once you have access to the tools, is why you don't see more maps.

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To gain access to the tool set you must first be accepted as a qualified 3rd party. To do that requires a substantial amount of up front work.

 

That, and the fact that it is a significant undertaking, once you have access to the tools, is why you don't see more maps.

Same goes for aircraft, to a degree. I know that the full flight and system modeling of DCS third party aircraft are only available to third party devs. Making a map is far from easy, but I would think it would take less time then re-creating an aircraft to exact specifications. I wish more third parties were interested, for the reasons stated above. Possibly ED isn't willing to give out the toolkit to a third party at the moment, which might explain why we don't see any maps being developed outside of ED. But then again, I know quite little so this is just speculation.

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Your not going to find a step by step anywhere.

 

There is some limited information out there though. Wags put some videos on his YT a while back.

 

Interesting. These seem to have more to do with the buildings and terrain objects. I wonder if anyone has attempted to improve/modify the Black Sea map other then just the basic re-texture.

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  • 2 months later...

It's not that long ago when campaigns were also not possible for 3rd parties without tying it to a release of airplane module. The problem was with content protection and avoiding possible distribution out of ED's hands. ED created a platform where content creators are now protected and have an assurance that they will get something back for their work. Before it was not possible and charging money would be a futile attempt as people would simply share it.

 

Maps have a bit different problem now. The platform for it is already in works, ED created version 2.0 where maps are treated as modules and thus can be sold separately. But it's still in alpha phase. There are steps that need to happen before it will be possible to allow content creators access. If it will ever get into this phase anyway, maybe it will stay only as an inside thing.

 

The first step, maybe after 2.5 launch would be creating tools accessible by community for creating maps. No need to tie it to licence, everybody would be able to create maps.

 

Second step would be creating a QA process where content would undergo testing for those that would like to monetize their creations. This is the biggest part as you would probably not want to see maps that are out of fantasy world and content creators would be forced to stick to the reality. Also everybody who would like to sell their content via ED's shop would have support the product even after the release.

 

 

We would then see similar situation as it is now with missions and campaigns. A lot of free content would show up, a lot of it would be just small maps for small scenarios, but we could also see some highly sophisticated creations and it's only natural that it would in time evolve in a payware modules.

 

ED's has a big chance here. If they will release tools that will be free as is the ingame mission editor, they could only profit from it in the long run. Map creation is a long process which requires a ton of research so I do not worry that it would make any problem with their current business. They can even fish for new members of their team this way.


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ED's has a big chance here. If they will release tools that will be free as is the ingame mission editor, they could only profit from it in the long run. Map creation is a long process which requires a ton of research so I do not worry that it would make any problem with their current business. They can even fish for new members of their team this way.

 

Not sure you can compare the map tools to the ME. The tools for map making are quite extensive. If you have the ability and skill to make maps, you can get the tools free through a license agreement.

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Hmmm,

There's a chicken and egg scenario here i'm interested in Sith. I've personally been able to do anything I set my mind to, but I'm unsure what skills are required in order to demonstrate a proficiency, if that's what's required. Is this license agreement only availble if you intend to market your work? I've modelled, textured I can find elevation data, what are ED looking for precisely to go down that route?

Not sure you can compare the map tools to the ME. The tools for map making are quite extensive. If you have the ability and skill to make maps, you can get the tools free through a license agreement.

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Hmmm,

There's a chicken and egg scenario here i'm interested in Sith. I've personally been able to do anything I set my mind to, but I'm unsure what skills are required in order to demonstrate a proficiency, if that's what's required. Is this license agreement only availble if you intend to market your work? I've modelled, textured I can find elevation data, what are ED looking for precisely to go down that route?

 

Even without the ability to build a map into the sim, you can show what you can do, showing your ability to create a terrain in something like 3D Studio, textured, your ability to acquire quality elevation data, etc.

 

If you have built maps for other sims, that maybe a plus. Things like that.

 

Much like aircraft modules, this will be a steep learning curve. The tools are challenging, and still in active development as new terrain tech is already being looked at.

 

I'll ask Matt if there is an updated statement as far as map teams go.

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Whilst creating an object and importing to the game and a plugin I've done several times, the map files aren't an object created in 3DS. The creation of objects has some documentation throughout the years, including an entire sample project given by ED (Wunderluft). However we have nothing for maps, it being completely an unknown since the new terrain format was used. Acquiring elevation meshes at some basic levels is easy, you tend to have to pay for higher levels of detail. The 3D objects are also differently acquired and dealt with in maps as opposed to a static object I can simply import. None of the rules we know already, apply to maps.

 

What did strike me as quite hefty were the terrain DDS files which there were over 4000 of in Normandy alone. I had to wonder if making smaller squares was a design decision that allows updates to the map after it's been rolled out. I can't see how someone like Starway could retexture them all easily without some kind of batch processing.

 

TLDR; I think a texture artist could show their work, but there are simply no parrallels to the map creation technically that I can see and it's therefore quite challenging to demonstrate an equivalent skill on a tool that's currently closed source. I would have to wonder if this is deliberate by ED as it's still a development push (lighting methods on textures has changed several times recently) But I'm sure the community would try if it had a clearer path.

 

Even without the ability to build a map into the sim, you can show what you can do, showing your ability to create a terrain in something like 3D Studio, textured, your ability to acquire quality elevation data, etc.

 

If you have built maps for other sims, that maybe a plus. Things like that.

 

Much like aircraft modules, this will be a steep learning curve. The tools are challenging, and still in active development as new terrain tech is already being looked at.

 

I'll ask Matt if there is an updated statement as far as map teams go.

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ED statement on Map Teams:

 

In order to be granted a 3rd party map developer license, you will first need to demonstrate the following:

 

1- Proficiency in 3DS Max with examples of work.

2- Ability to create quality terrain textures with examples of work. Textures need to range from 1 meter per pixel to 64 meters per pixel.

3- Access to high resolution elevation mesh and satellite textures. Elevation mesh needs to be between 4 to 8 meters per pixel minimum.

4- Ability to create high quality 3D objects with examples of work.

5- A development plan of what you have in mind.

 

 

Thanks

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I've seen these buddy, they talk alot about objects on the terrain, which we already do as an object like a unit, but there is nothing on taking geo data and starting with a peice of ground.

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  • 5 months later...

Is there at least a rough briefing or guideline for terrain or what is still actual from the old way of doing terrain? e.g. working in meters, split chunks into X km etc.?

 

So that we don't have to bother ED before we actually got something on the way?

 

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  • 4 months later...

I'm exploring the possibilities within my reach. ive been learning modelling for race sim environments the last few years, and with lidar data explicitly. but here I have modelled wales and the mach loop. just exploring though with a view to demo of required proficiency. but mainly playing with the thought of environments at these scales. so any opinions ? worth pursuing or not ?

 

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Oh yes! Would be cool to get the machloop modelled. Even if it is only a very "tiny" area to play with ;)

 

Falklands would be nice too ;)

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