[RELEASED] Kieme's CMSF in HD - links thread

[Kieme(ITA)]

Hi all,

I messed up the releases of several files. Partly because of my mistakes in creating the uploads, partly because of the horrible interface and lack of post-control that the approval system brings in and its delay.

Moreover, I really don't like the announcement system that clogs the forum and treats every corrected file as a "new release" while in truth is an updated version.

I strongly suggest BFC to rework the repository system from the uploader point of view.

I am only using it this time because I have access to no other distribution system and CMMODS has no CMSF page available (otherwise the best interface for uploaders).

For the reasons above I will post in this thread every single direct link to the download page. I will check each file before posting here the link so you might just keep a look at this thread and download the stuff from here, so to say.

The process might take several days because of approval time laps, which makes a mess when it comes to verification after each uppload for the uploader.

Please disregard and ignore "forum announcements" of new files and refer to this thread only (my replies with the links).

Unfortunately, I can not edit this starting thread after some time (another feature I don't really like and makes releases very difficult for me), so new replies will contain new links. If you look for previews and such, and you have the right to, please refer to other forum threads.

Also, please excuse the lack of images and text descriptions, I have troubles with the interface and don't want to use other browsers to work it out.

[Kieme(ITA)]

First 4 parts of terrain checked and up:

terrain 1

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3284

terrain 2

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3285

terrain 3

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3286

terrain 4

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3300

[Kieme(ITA)]

paved roads checked and up:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3280

[Kieme(ITA)]

buildings add-ons 1, 2 and 3 checked and up:

1

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3282

2

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3283

3

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3295

[Kieme(ITA)]

optional highway, checked and up:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3294

[Kieme(ITA)]

First two parts of buildings checked and up:

buildings 1

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3298

buildings 2

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3277

[Kieme(ITA)]

Last two parts of buildings checked and up:

buildings 3

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3278

buildings 4

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3279

[Erwin]

Thanks for doing this. It is much appreciated.

However, which of the above mods are ok/identical to the ones you already posted at BFC, and which are new as of today and need to be re-downloaded???

eg: I already have "Ground6, 7, 8, 9. So, now I should d/l Ground 1, 2, 3, 4? Where is #5??

I also already had Buildings1-4, Optional Highway, PavedRoads, and BuildingsAddOn1-3.

Not sure if they are ok or if I need to d/l and reinstall everything you just posted in the previous posts.

[Kieme(ITA)]

Walls checked and up:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3315

Doodads and other checked and up:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3314

[Kieme(ITA)]

Last 6 parts of terrain checked and up:

terrain 5

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3312

terrain 6

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3299

terrain 7

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3290

terrain 8

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3291

terrain 9

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3292

terrain 10

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3313

[Kieme(ITA)]

Sky and mountains checked and up:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3316

[Erwin]

Man, does the goodness ever stop...?

(Seriously... how much more is there?)

[Kieme(ITA)]

eh, it's done. looking at my Z folder I don't really see much rather than a few vehicles partly modded. I might release those as standard mods.

The HD project is over, since there's nothing else I'd change. The foliage in CMSF is very nice in my opinion, both at distance and in close ups. Besides, foliage is something I haven't learned to mod.

I might need to take a look at the marsh textures + doodads but considering how rare it is I'm not sure.

I'll keep experimenting with buildings, especially to obtain something like an in-construction modern building which is very common all around.

[Erwin]

I had resisted firing up CMSF until I had all your mods in place. 95% really looks great.

A couple of issues I noticed however.

On large buildings especially, having all the damaged windows looks identical looks strange.

The roads option doesn't seem to work. They look like rough tracks close up and roads when the camera is far away - strange. The highway option is the opposite as when you get close you can see the highways and lines on them don't work at an angle.

The swampy ground seems very green and completely featureless from a distance. As the camera gets closer it abruptly changes from featureless green to green with doodads.

It could be I have other mods interfering. The buildings and walls look much better.

Will these mods work in CMA??

[Kieme(ITA)]

Thanks for feedback Erwin.

Let's see, yes, the buildings Windows tend to be a bit too similar, problem is that a 8 storey modular building, with the game we have now, can have only 2 types of Windows, one for the ground floor and another for the other 7 top floors.

So you either use a very plain, featureless window texture that won't be too bad from distance or you add a window with some more details but these will pop out the "clone" effect more... all in all I went for some more complex Windows with most of the buildings because I noticed that the majority of game structures have no more than 2/3 levels, so it would not be too bad. I designed 2 additional buildings with modern Windows walls that should be much more nicer for 8-level buildings.

About the roads I think that paved ones are rendered at distance by the game engine somehow, so i can't do much for how they look like from far away. But I'll look at roads again from distance. Paved roads that is?

Swampy ground was not modded, neither was the swamp plants.

About the highway, can't do anything about the distortion effect of the lines, I did some tests with vanilla roads and they had the same problem, unfortunately it's a matter related to the game engine, some kind of visual glitch that I cannot identify because I am not an expert. But yes, it's there, unfortunately. It's the same with the "pavements", they tend to make that distortion effect.

IF they work in CMA? Maybe, but I don't have CMA, you might need to rename the files, but if you want you can do that, takes some patience, I see no reason they shouldn't work.

[Erwin]

Ah, I see....

The problem is with 2nd floors and above as all the windows are identical which is more "distracting" than the original default. On small single-floor buildings the windows look terrific.

Can you simply make those higher windows a black hole - like they have already been blown out? I rarely saw damaged windows in the ME, but many simply didn't have any frames or glass, so looked like "black squares".

Yes, it's the paved roads that act "funny" re how far away the camera is. IIRC, close up it looked like the default "track". Further away, you got a pristine main road. The opposite of what one would expect. (I checked my mods and did NOT see any other road mods that could be interfering.)

But, I suspect that the large "highway" roads will have to be removed. They look terrible when you get close.

[Kieme(ITA)]

I did a check and indeed the paved roads and highway are all rendered at distance as a plain, large, grey road, by the game. I didn't find any texture dedicated to distance rendering. So I belive there's no way to fix the roads at distance.

[Erwin]

Yeah, I just loaded "USMC RAMADI - Relief of JOKER 3" which is the best ever urban map. I recommend the scenario and for testing our what a ME urban map looks like.

I made an error re the regular roads, they are better close up, but become vague paths at a distance. Doesn't blend well.

The highway tiles just don't work at all if there is diagonal highway, and unless the designer has specifically designed the roads for your mod, one gets strange results - like the "centerline" is not in the center of the highway etc.

So, I would not recommend using the optional roads and highways mod files.

The windows of small single floor houses look very good as the fact that there is a great variety of buildings each with different windows, and the fact that each small building has identical windows is not especially troubling.

The 2nd floor windows of the larger two-floor houses start to look weird as the identical nature of the windows stands out more.

Once one gets into the large multi-story buildings the identical windows is rather distracting. I would prefer the default or just black openings to simulate windows being blown out.

So, I presume with the window graphics all the windows of a single building of any size will always be identical?

[Kieme(ITA)]

Windows are tied to building texture number, there are 8 varieties of these in vanilla game.

Each texture number has the option of 1 window for 1st and higher levels or 1 Windows for the lower level and 1 for the upper levels.

Also, the wall texture for the 3rd floor to 7th floor is the same, so there's no way to mod each facade level separately, all in all they are 3: lower, middle, top.

If you want to remove the Windows, you might try to make a black window by painting over the original ones. I went for some variety with my buildings and I'm pleased with them, although they indeed look nicer with max 3 story buildings, but in general all 4/8 story buildings have a certain repetitiveness due to the middle texture being very labored. Maybe a featureless middle texture might make taller buildings look better in the larger picture but I belive that a detailed middle texture gives a lot better result in the most common 3 story building.

[Erwin]

The long windows all seem to work very well. Maybe because you don't see them side by side. It's when you have a beautifully destroyed/shot up window and then you see many more identical windows immediately next to it and above it. Maybe it's better to leave those windows looking "vague" and undistinguished so that they don't immediately pop out as identical.

I didn't notice anything obviously weird about any wall textures. They all look realistic to me at first glance, and that is good.

BTW: I had a looks at the doodads. I know they have cactus in the ME, but I don't recall seeing the optional cactus that you have included. I see a lot of that sort of cactus in the US west deserts.

The tall grass options you have look good.

Also, the reason that the regular paved roads don't look right to me is that they are way too lovely and new. They look European. The default CMSF roads look more real imo. And even those default roads are in "too good condition". I would recommend messing them up a lot more with LOTS of cracks and potholes and a poorer center line paint job (that one can barely see) + ragged edges to the road (if possible) as they pour the tarmac poorly. Definitely no nice clean yellow lines on the road sides! Then your HD roads would look a lot better/more realistic.

(PS: The lovely Highway tiles you did maybe would only be seen in the most modern urban settings in wealthy nations like UAE, and not in your "average" ME country.)

[Erwin]

I had another thought re ME roads. When I was playing "Zawiya Uprising" I realized that the roads were wonderfully and realistically "potholed" through the effect of bombardment.

Is it possible to create a damaged road mod like there are for buildings?

If not, is it possible to damage roads with perhaps 81mm and 120mm arty and then somehow copy that map into a mission? That would create almost perfect-looking secondary highway roads.

[Kieme(ITA)]

Meh, the problem with roads in general is the cloning effect. we have 1 road section, that single section has to be used for any road, and if it is a bit longer it will cause an unrealistic effect where something gets repeated over and over.

If I place 1 hole in the middle, and make it stand out, you'll see a road section with a series of perfectly spaced holes...

When it comes to textures we need to keep them so that when used in large numbers of Tiles they don't show up a repetitive element which would pop out a lot.

In the end it's more up to scenario designers to come out with clever ideas than what the modder can do, as the modder needs to think in a wider way, so to say. Unless you use the new [tag] system, that lets you mod something even for a single scenario (on the other hand it is quite an effort to mod for a single use).

[Erwin]

Is it possible to "bomb" a road on a map and import that into a scenario so one has pot-holed roads?

[Kieme(ITA)]

Not really. You can't mod the 3d surface of a road, you must manually place the craters when making the scenario.

On another thought you might mod the crater texture to blend perfectly with the road, but you'd get similar craters in all terrain types.

[Erwin]

"...must manually place the craters when making the scenario..."

I know that must be a pain, but that would definitely improve the look of the poorly maintained roads. The default shell holes I see in my CMSF roads after shelling look almost perfectly like potholes. (I don't mean huge craters from IED's or large caliber HE shells, just 81mm, maybe 120mm.)