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Macisle

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Macisle last won the day on October 2 2021

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  1. Nevermind. (Question on a battle, but am going to bed and things will change will I'm asleep.)
  2. Thanks! Yeah, actually that's a big part of the reason I decided to dive into this. Rather than have folks dealing with ports of varying degrees of time and success. Basically, what happened is suddenly, totally unexpectedly, I got complete WWII burnout. So, with the port issue in mind, I decided to do just enough of the map to test combat and see if I wanted to continue. The result of the test was like, "Oh, yeah..gotta' make this happen." Despite the amount of work building from scratch, it felt less intimidating than dealing with the unknowns of porting and would allow me to get a feel for the extra tools in BS. So, I made an elevation overlay of composite screenshots from the RT map and matched all tile elevations across the whole master. Then, I set up a composite file to produce overlays to do the same thing for the general map work. I do a "row" of blocks across the map, a block at a time, filling up a row at a time. Then, I do screenshots from the RT map for the next row. As I go, I am checking Google Map and Street to look for improvement changes made possible by the extra features in BS and opportunity of doing again from scratch. That's mostly building heights and the addition of some flat rooftops. However, there are a couple of future areas that I did on the RT map before I decided to be so faithful to real Kharkiv. So, those might see big changes on the BS map as I make them conform more closely to the RL layout. One really nice thing is that the BS map is being made with finalized texture placeholders. So, I can update textures later without having to go back and rework building assignments. The RT map was done with a temporary number system and the textures are all scrambled now. So, I'm going to have to go back and reassign across the whole map. Ugh. I'm able to run RT and BS at the same time, so I flip screens back and forth between the 3D views in RT and BS, along with Google Street, to match building configurations to original and/or look for improvements. That also allow me to spot and fix any issues in the RT map, along with doing any spot improvements there as well. As for time estimates... For the BS map, I'm doing the most time-consuming blocks first. That's the northern part of the map. Those blocks take 1 to 4 hours of concentrated work each. In the row areas worked on to date, there are roughly 28 blocks. All but 3 of them are completed except for flavor objects. The last 3 are placed but I need to go through and format the buildings. They are beasts, though, and that's probably an 8-10 hour job to finish all of them. A very rough estimate of the total number of blocks on the map is 80. To be honest, I've long been kicking around asking for help on the textures to speed things up. That's not a strong area for me and is a kind of bottle neck. Also, I had originally considered doing some custom flavor objects (I know there are some interesting threads on that). However, I don't think I should spend any time on those myself. From the get-go, functionality has taken top position over everything else. Where visual presentation collides against game function, function wins. Luckily, I haven't really come up against any issues. In fact, I've been super-pleased with how well the Engine is handling the designs I'm throwing at it. Everything works at least as well as stock. My putting some kind of road path pretty much everywhere I possibly can may be part of that. The player just needs to be diligent with waypoint placement vis-a-vis which door entrance he wants and very careful to make sure his waypoint found the right column in a high-rise. Anyhoo, long post. I'll leave off here. Thanks again for your long-enduring interest and patience. Your enthusiasm for the project has certainly helped me get through those moments when I realized just how much I had bitten off to chew on!
  3. One more post and I'm back off to my cave. From today's combat testing, CM and the RL location: My guys are putting fire on an enemy ambush position (1). Later, two squads were dug out of (2) at high cost. The grenade launcher is putting rounds on location 1 in the CM image.
  4. Not yet, alas. But let me give everyone status. I have some minor bad news and some major good news. The bad news is that I'm not any further along with my work on the RT project than my last update. The good news is that I have been very active over the summer and the result is... For the Black Sea crowd, "Kharkiveskya" will be coming as "Kharkiv." Boom! No ETA yet, though. Much work done, but much left to do. I'd expect the next upgrade to hit first. If the upgrade delivers major performance enhancements, that could change what I do with the campaigns. Both the RT and BS versions will be released at the same time. I'll let folks know when I'm ready for beta testers. For now, I can say that I've been doing some combat testing in QB form on parts of the new map that are finished (minus flavor objects). And, while I was very pleased with the WWII combat, I'm even happier with how the BS kit is feeling on the map (which is not a port, but a fresh build in the BS Editor). So, sincere apologies to those who have been waiting so long for this. It is going to happen. And I think yer gonna' like it!
  5. Not using any vehicle mods at the moment. That's the stock "btr-80ak-hull.bmp" texture.
  6. Forward we go once again. Through the mists, the mighty objective awaits our greatest efforts.
  7. Looks like the Syrians are in big trouble when trooper Jeffrey unleashes his special 4G weapon! Link
  8. I'll be away from the forum for the rest of the summer. Here's one last pic for the road: Some of the new WIP textures on map, with a shot of the same view from the real world. Have a good summer, everybody!
  9. Another few adaptions of independent building textures to modular for more variety:
  10. Two more show-and-tells from today's work: The first is a blend of stock modular and independent textures. The second, an import from Berlin with the German-style wall beams removed.
  11. Thanks! With FR out, you should really think about picking it up. The Berlin map is super. Ben has used the available tools to create a ruined city environment masterfully. And, when my map comes out, you can use the in-game assets to ruin your own city! Anyhoo, it's Sunday morning where I am, and so time for as much coffee and CM as I can fill the time with. Here are a few pics of first-pass adaptations of some of the independent building textures into modular textures. I'll be doing a number of these to add the needed visual variety. These will all be tweaked (like the drain positions, if I keep them).
  12. Thanks, Artkin! I'm working on it. These days, however, I'm pretty much limited to what I can do on Sunday mornings (including any play time). So, progress is slow. I decided to wait until FR hit before looking at finishing FO additions. Currently, I'm working on a texture pack. Aside from barns, the map is composed almost entirely of custom modular constructions. So, I need to have more than 8 textures to make things look good. Long story, but the only way I've found that I can make that work is to use non-tagged modular textures in groups of 8 beginning with 9. At the moment, I have 23 slots (9 to 32). I've been pulling in the best stock textures from the titles I own, along with some Kieme stuff as placeholders. After a once-through on that, I'll be improving and finalizing in multiple passes. It's gonna' take awhile. In the meantime, here's a winter shot for everyone. Again, these are just placeholder textures. There will be much more variety and more period feel in the finals.
  13. I'm greatly enjoying your Cold War vids, too. Your presentation style works especially well there. I just watched the CMFI video last night where you went H2H against CW forces with ACs and a TD. Good viewing, if some head-scratching armor usage by your opponent. Yeah, I understand on the dicey nature of QBs vs. the AI. Sometimes, the system produces quite good battles. But, very often...not. A big culprit is AI force selection, I think.
  14. I found your YT channel fairly recently and have been enjoying your CM vids. I really like the vibe and presentation style you do. Love the retro cinematic thing! Brings back memories of going to the movies as a kid. Maybe some Fire and Rubble quick battle vids? I can't watch the scenario vids yet, as I haven't had time to play them and don't want any spoilers. Would love to see some non-spoiler F&R vids, though! Thanks very much for your work. Very cool, indeed.
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