Hoopenfaust2 Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 I don't know if anybody thinks this way but a great addition to the game would be 3-d wheat tiles. Just think of the look of a Mark III roaming through a cornfield looking for his enemy. Grenadiers on either side waist or even neck high in the corn field and then........ambush. Just think of the stone wall model and fatten it up a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 Mhh...this deserves a BUMP. Great idea !!! Especially when you imagine the effects of this modification for playing by Franko´s True Combat rules Tom <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hoopenfaust 101: I don't know if anybody thinks this way but a great addition to the game would be 3-d wheat tiles. Just think of the look of a Mark III roaming through a cornfield looking for his enemy. Grenadiers on either side waist or even neck high in the corn field and then........ambush. Just think of the stone wall model and fatten it up a little.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 :Love this idea and it would also be nearly required in Pacific terrain for tall grasses. MikeT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 This is a GREAT idea! BUT I'm glad I not designing the game. Does anyone have any REAL actually useful good idea's as to how to execute this idea. I mean technically how do you make 3D wheat fields actually work? there is nothing else in the game (well "maybe" houses) that is like a 3D field of grass that infantry sticks hlaf out of. Its a WAY cool idea, especially since there MUST be lots of scenarios on Russian soil that are nothing BUT huge wheat fields (I'm guessing here) so accurate treatment of cover and concealment in wheat fields should be a priority I hope I guess we'll just wait and see. -tom w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conscript Bagger Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 I've also thought, "if they can do it with buildings, why not wheat?" but now I'm not so sure. Just guessing here, but maybe the reason this hasn't been done is because wheatfields, unlike houses, are subject to changes in elevation. It probably requires a lot more horsepower for your machine to display a rolling wheatfield in 3D than it does for a simple cube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt. Ryan Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 Maybe it can be done by making a dense little forest of wheat stalks, kind of like the trees are now, but with smaller objects packed closely together. It would probably be too processor intensive though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangover Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pvt. Ryan: Maybe it can be done by making a dense little forest of wheat stalks, kind of like the trees are now, but with smaller objects packed closely together. It would probably be too processor intensive though.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm not a game programmer, but I have some small idea of how they actually lower some of the processing needed. You'd basically have one small object representing a block of wheat in memory. This block is small enough to make wheat fields of arbitrary dimentions (even polygonal fields). Everything else is basically a reference to that single block of wheat in memory, rather than creating new objects for every block of wheat you have. So, while you'd still be rendering full wheatfields, you'd only actually have one object in memory. If you want your wheat to sway, this also will cut down on some of the processing for animation, as you only have to do calculations on one object instead of many. If people don't understand this, I can sit down later tonight and write a more coherent post about it. It's not obvious at first if you haven't done any programming. Wasn't for me when I was first learning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoopenfaust2 Posted June 12, 2001 Author Share Posted June 12, 2001 This is one of the things that bothered me about CMBO. Looking at photos of Canadians advancing in Normandy, all you can see for miles around are high grass fields. I'm not a realism freak but when it comes to having a great landscape instead of exact armour slopes on tanks I'm very happy. These wheat/grass fields would look great. Every grass field I've seen is pretty square looking so maybe modeling it wouldn't be that hard...but what do I know I'm just an industrial designer.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoopenfaust2 Posted June 12, 2001 Author Share Posted June 12, 2001 Oh I forgot. The stone walls in CM seem to have the same characteristics as a wheat field could have. p.s. hopefully everybody has seen the famous photo of the grenadiers cautiously advancing behind the Mark IV in the tall cornfields in the caucaus' That where the idea came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 Old question friends. Not at all without merit though! As I recall BTS negative answer to the suggestion of 3D wheat fields was as much due to them being processor power intensive, but rather that they felt it would be problematic to implement into the look and play of the current game engine. One thing I remember in particular was the concern of prone soldiers literally disappearing in these 3D fields. Then again, things might have changed since then and is would certainly be a nice addition if it could be done. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Galanti Posted June 12, 2001 Share Posted June 12, 2001 BTS I have a new idea regarding the WheatField Previous thread on the subject with BTS's response. Ben [ 06-12-2001: Message edited by: Ben Galanti ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoopenfaust2 Posted June 12, 2001 Author Share Posted June 12, 2001 I think soldiers who dissappear because of being prone ( to whatever) is quite realistic in high, thick grass fields. If I can't see them... I can't control them. Sounds like the real stuff to me. BTS' explanation sounds really complicated. Do wheat fields have to be so complicated when all I really want is a graphical representation...but what do I know, I just play the game cuz its fun as hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.M.O.T. Dibbler Posted June 14, 2001 Share Posted June 14, 2001 Just something I whipped up Although I know BTS doesn't approve of transparent fields, I still would like to see proper wheatfields in CM2 (CMBB?) (EDIT: And, yeah I know it look like h*ll, but anyways ) -Anders [ 06-14-2001: Message edited by: C.M.O.T. Dibbler ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoopenfaust2 Posted June 14, 2001 Author Share Posted June 14, 2001 There ya go....thats exactly what I was imagining in my head. Just to up the ante and make people mad, how about the field behind the tank. Can you make it to look like its been crushed by a 60 tonne tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted June 14, 2001 Share Posted June 14, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ben Galanti: BTS I have a new idea regarding the WheatField Previous thread on the subject with BTS's response. Ben [ 06-12-2001: Message edited by: Ben Galanti ]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> And for those too lazy to read it here it is: "Big Time Software Administrator Member # 42 posted 02-13-2000 12:25 AM Sorry, but no way Once a unit goes prone (hide, crawl, pinned) you would lose sight of it. That is a HUGE game problem, even if the wheatfields would look nicer. Cut away the area where the figures are? OK... picture a platoon in a single wheat field, crawling. That is 10 figures, or if you like 4 (one per unit). To dynamical build and rebuild the surface area of the wheat field to show the guys, so people don't kill us for horrible game problems , is not possible for us to do along with everything else. It would turn a 2 polygon (or so) wheatfield into something like 9 or so for ONE figure/unit. With each additional figure/unit in there it gets wickedly complicated, meaning dynamically disconnecting and reconnecting points, seamlessly, in realtime. Then toss in different elevations for the field's tile, units moving in opposing directions, etc. and you have a MAJOR programming nightmare. Yup, Charles and I have discussed the flatness of fields about a dozen times before, and we always come back to "not possible". We rulled out the "hole" concept a long, long time ago In short, they will remain flat for CM1 and CM2, perhaps even CM3 and on. Steve [This message has been edited by Big Time Software (edited 02-13-2000).] " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 14, 2001 Share Posted June 14, 2001 "Holing" the 3D wheat is definitely out of the question per the previous response from BTS about this. Thus showing the progress of a tank through the wheatfield would require something similar and probably won't happen (if 3D wheatfield were considered). The picture that C.M.O.T. Dibbler has created and posted is just what I was imagining would be possible in CM for 3D wheatfields (just add the dirt border around the field). It would be nice if a taller variant for corn or other high crops was also available. The major things holding this back (other than time to fit in everything that BTS has planned for CMB2B) is playability and what it would take to actually code a multi-tile 3D object over non-flat terrain with the current engine. The only way around "losing" you men in the 3D field while their prone is to have the 'base' code put the base on top of the field (and allow selection of the unit by just clicking on the base) when the units are prone. This is something suggested in the previous thread about 3D wheatfields. I imagine a similar thing could be done for "brush" tiles too; giving them a less flat appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massimorocca Posted June 15, 2001 Share Posted June 15, 2001 Hmm, I feel that BTS have planned something. I've post a question about the sunflowers field and Steve answered "Hmmm... can't remember off the top of my head what we decided to do about sunflowers. IIRC we are thinking of having two different height "fields"." Cheers Massimo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts