Finished a map I had started long ago, based on expanding half of an existing map (Scenic Route) left. Came out pretty nice, it has a lot of neat little neighbourhoods. Full render here: http://aproposer.net/ra2/identitycrisis.jpg
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Now on another topic, I've been mulling making some civilian structures capturable for the purposes of earning money. Similar to the Oil Derrick mechanic, but with lesser amounts of profit, and not necessarily powered.
For example, my new Fuel Stop building can't be garrisoned, and it is easy to destroy, but it would make a great source of revenue. What I was thinking more broadly is all the various useless memorials, in the missions some dropped money crates for destroying, they could instead earn cash for protecting them?
I don't plan to make them into flagged neutral tech-like structures, they'd keep their non-descript artwork, perhaps add a working sound, but otherwise no indications of this...
Decided to give the Soviet Airbase a weee upgrade, now holds 8 aircraft!
Also my idea of capturable buildings for cash works well, so far CAWASH14 & 15, give you a small cash payout, and the Fuel Stop gives you Oil Derrick-like earnings at intervals.
I was debating making such non-tech buildings BaseNormal, but I decided against it. If any buildings will break that rule, they won't earn money.
Buick or Chevy lowrider has been on my list for a long time, as has a Paramedic version of an ambulance. The previous "convoy" truck got an upgrade to a Kraz body, and a Hummer was added because the army Jeep doesn't flesh out a military outpost well enough.
The balloons I've had on mind for some time as well, more 3ds2vxl conversions, they're going to be used for scripted decorations on maps, exactly like the airplane flybys I've done.
This map has exposed some areas I need to work on with more types of farmland, and something like 1-high bridges. Also handy would be culverts that could be added to the sides of a road when I don't need a full on bridge.
Conversions don't really save me any time, the only thing they do for me is a general size/shape to work on. The balloons walls were too thin and I had to draw in extra layers, then reset all the normals on the inner layers that existed, so they could be re-normalized, took me over an hour, then came the work of colouring which took almost as long.
The ship is the only conversion that was worthwhile, I spent 20min after to clean up the sides and make sure nothing like those portholes in the lower hull were obscured. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
Thanks, the temperate theater really needs grassy shores and more water features like shallows and reefs, but the mangroves are surprisingly good.
For inspiration I started looking at some map packs, I cut down and remade a portion of one of Cannis' maps, came out pretty good too. The bridges are really all that accurately remains.
Oh man sorry, I am so sorry that I did not notice your question so far. I just finished 164 pages of my work, and still need to work few more days, I am writing about hours and hours all day, packing and doing researches (about 10 hours daily), so somehow I skiped it.
I like that map of yours because it is nicely detailed, it has nice streets, nice choice of buildings, and temperate trees around. And lot of space for units, so it does not look like overpupulated city. Everything blends nicely.
I like those crater of yours on another pictures.
I also like that tropical I am more fan of tropical (islands) maps. I like how you put mangroves on coast or near shore. Those are keeping ground stronger, and somewhat protect shore from winds to some extend. They also collect and attracts fish and other marine life (yeah yeah I am writing about that as well), so very clever that you put this! I noticed it _________________ PPM Halloween Season 2021 QUICK_EDIT
At some point I'm going to make a map that's a real inland jungle with narrow paths and ruins buried in greenery.
It's a shame the default temperate is no good for making any urban setting, I'd like to make something in the style of Cali or Florida. Nice coastal highways with evenly spaced palms, lots of gentle curves with wide and multi-way intersections, would all give you that open air vibe. Coral reefs and other water features would be a huge plus too.
But what I have is a fantastic urban theater, and I'm enjoying mapping with it.
As for Temperate: Can't you port some stuff over?
I haven't looked too much into terrain, but I remember somehow porting something from newurban over to urban with no trouble (remember the TX fiasco I started here?).
Maybe the same holds true when porting some of newurban (or RA2 urban) to temperate... QUICK_EDIT
I am not much into mapping, but what is difference between urban and new urban? Those look same to me.
Yeah, our terrain variations are joke! War Craft Frozen throne has 12! Well technically less because some are reused with addons, but generally you have Lordean Summer (green grass, green pines forest and soem stuff), Autumn (yellow grass and pines, regardless that it is not in reality possible), winter (grass and pines and rocks covered in snow). Then you have Northrend and Icecrown Glacier where Frozen Throne itself is located, there you have snow and ice (difference between this and ordinary winter is that ordinary is mixed with regular dirt, gras etc, while icecrown is complete ice and snow, and no pines but some winter trees), and they got heavy snowfalls. There is cityscape theater, with dark grass and some ,,urban pines", different ground etc... There is Outland (red, demonic, Mars) like planet. There is barrens with savannah, barren land and grass, and some of vegetation which looks like prehistoric. Land is like canyons in those western. Water is green. Oh yeah, almost all theaters have different water tintings. And of course there is jungle/ruins/tropical theme. Palms, sands different grasses, vegetations, vinyls, shells... So you can enjoy making maps. What we got? One theater for city/temperate and tropical. Okay, we got lunar! That counts too _________________ PPM Halloween Season 2021 QUICK_EDIT
The small farms map above and these two below are about as thematically different as I can make with my urban expansion.
Boreal farming like you might find in Canada or Russia, rocky floodplain you might find in Quebec or the Rockies, and temperate desertification you'd find just east of California where dought is frequent.
"Nobody here but us trees..." _________________ One and only developer of the Command & Conquer Dune "C&C D" mod.
m7 wrote:
I tend to release things I create so that assets are never lost to hard drive problems, accidental deletion, or me having to pretend to care about rippers taking things from my project when it is done.
7 like other temperate maps with cities is horrifically bad, pointless roads, buildings unconnected by pathways, no parking spots, no cohesion, just shit scattered around. I was looking at a map of Hawaii and what I maaaay do is enlarge Oahu to the map extents to give adequate room for Honolulu and the island airbase, since there's so much irrelevant ocean on the map, but I neeeeed better road tilesets!
8 still needs testing and likely tweaking, but happily it works without crashing. The first playable iteration was getting Tanya killed as she parachuted, too close to a bridge, which was a positive since I found a better dropzone.
All the earlier missions had their par times adjusted to reflect both the difficulty and path to victory changes.
@G-E: what are you using/doing to make these new city tiles?
Fancy making a tutorial one day?
I'm a fan of your work _________________ One and only developer of the Command & Conquer Dune "C&C D" mod.
m7 wrote:
I tend to release things I create so that assets are never lost to hard drive problems, accidental deletion, or me having to pretend to care about rippers taking things from my project when it is done.
I made the map larger partly as a distraction, you have some optional paths to victory, but it's still a lot easier to die. I was honestly uninspired as to how to make the map "better" so I kept its style, and focused on the mission goals instead.
I'm still not sure what I want to do with 11, it needs a serious rethink. Mission 12 crashes, and it's not the usual suspects, need more investigating when I'm almost done the others.
Mission 10 where the Soviets invade Germany doesn't seem to work right, the MCV rolls in, deploys then disappears, but I don't remember the original behaviour to know what to diagnose. I can see the base nodes have all kinds of plans, but all I end up with is the initial invasion units to mop up, which goes really quickly.
I'm considering making the map larger and more of a skirmish fight, that is ultimately what the missions are for, to familiarize yourself with the units and tactics. Perhaps adding 2 existing bases far off to the right with full AITriggers, and the initial invasion would be for the purposes of setting up a forward base instead. It would probably require making more Allied outposts around the map to be cannon fodder, and a larger area to build your own starting base.
Mission 12 crashes, and it's not the usual suspects, need more investigating when I'm almost done the others.
Mission 10 where the Soviets invade Germany doesn't seem to work right, the MCV rolls in, deploys then disappears, but I don't remember the original behaviour to know what to diagnose.
If all else fails, restart from scratch.
I'd start with copying the terrain, see if the crash comes from there, and then work on putting the triggers one-by-one. QUICK_EDIT
You can add a train delivering the warheads for the nukes for when the map extension trigger fires. _________________ One and only developer of the Command & Conquer Dune "C&C D" mod.
m7 wrote:
I tend to release things I create so that assets are never lost to hard drive problems, accidental deletion, or me having to pretend to care about rippers taking things from my project when it is done.
Naw I don't want to get into trains, although I had considered adding purely decorative tracks, there's enough going on that it would be barely noticeable.
On a side note, with my troubles with mission 10, I'm thinking of making it a truly massive invasion by Russians, with the map expanding to reveal their base, as 11 does with Cuba. It would feel more like a survival mission, which intrigues me...
I'm not even that keen on keeping the Einstein stuff, the Mirage tanks aren't that useful in this case, but I'm gonna have to install the movies to get a better sense of what I can cut. _________________ http://www.moddb.com/mods/scorched-earth-ra2-mod-with-smart-ai QUICK_EDIT
I'm gonna have to install the movies to get a better sense of what I can cut.
Just hit YT and look for the cutscenes or let's plays. Those usually include any and all cinematics.
You might have to chk the voice message files too.
There are a few lines for Einstein where he warns you of a few troops heading for him and his lab. QUICK_EDIT
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