My way to create a terrain Lesson 5

[+Gepard 11,323]

LESSON 5: The targets.ini

 

With the end of Lesson 4 we had a much better looking terrain. But

know i hear the calling "Hey in Lesson 4 you wanted to show us how

to place targets and airfields!".

I have, but you havent realized.

 

Okay. Look into your Kashmir folder and you will find the file

Kashmir_targets_proto.ini

Open this file and you will see a lot of target areas. They were

automatically created by TE by using the City List (nice powerfull tool,

isnt it?). The only thing we have to do now is to fill them with targets

and to test it.

 

But before we can do it we should bring a little bit order into the chaos

of the file. This i usual do with remarks. The reason is, that after

finishing the terrain certainly after some time you want to improve it.

But believe me in a half year or so, you has forgotten to much about

the terrain, so that remarks are very, very, very .... very helpfull.

 

Step 1:

-writing remark lines

the sytanx of a remark is simple. Behind // you can write down what

you like.

My remarks are:

// --- pakistani towns

// --- India towns

// --- pakistani airfields

// --- India Airfields

Of course i place them on the right place.

 

Step 2:

- Setting the Alignment

In the SFP1 world we have ENEMY and FRIENDLY. The red side

is ENEMY, the blue side is FRIENDLY. Even, if you want to play for

the reds, the reds are always ENEMY.

- Go through every single target area and check the Alignment.

Pakistani targets (Blue Side) are set to FRIENDLY. India (Red Side)

targets we must change into ENEMY.

 

Step 3:

- Now we should add objects to the target areas.

Step 3.1 City targets

The simplest way is to copy target objects from already existing

Terrains. I open file GERMANYCE_target.ini from WOE and search

for a good looking target area. For the first i like Bad Hersfeld. I copy

all the lines from

Target[001].Type=GeneratorBuilding1

to

Target[013].Heading=45

 

and paste them into my Target area 001 which now looks like:

 

[TargetArea001]

Name=Karachi

Position=226000.000000,305000.000000

Radius=10000.000000

ActiveYear=0

Location=1

Alignment=FRIENDLY

Target[001].Type=GeneratorBuilding1

Target[001].Offset=58.37,-101.06

Target[001].Heading=0

Target[002].Type=Warehouse1

Target[002].Offset=-48.28,-98.98

Target[002].Heading=180

Target[003].Type=Warehouse1

Target[003].Offset=-52.96,-11.75

Target[003].Heading=180

Target[004].Type=CommBuilding1

Target[004].Offset=112.91,-117.33

Target[004].Heading=0

Target[005].Type=watertower3

Target[005].Offset=1651.31,-1624.36

Target[005].Heading=0

Target[006].Type=watertower3

Target[006].Offset=-2309.11,-126.81

Target[006].Heading=0

Target[007].Type=AAA

Target[007].Offset=1432.27,-5793.68

Target[007].Heading=90

Target[008].Type=AAA

Target[008].Offset=2838.81,-3305.38

Target[008].Heading=90

Target[009].Type=AAA

Target[009].Offset=2648.81,-2277.44

Target[009].Heading=90

Target[010].Type=AAA

Target[010].Offset=490.40,999.24

Target[010].Heading=90

Target[011].Type=AAA

Target[011].Offset=546.79,317.25

Target[011].Heading=90

Target[012].Type=AAA

Target[012].Offset=1505.35,-342.73

Target[012].Heading=90

Target[013].Type=AAA

Target[013].Offset=-40.89,346.09

Target[013].Heading=45

 

This i will do with all City targets.

 

Step 3.2 airfield targets

If you now look into GermanyCE_targets.ini for airfields, you will find,

that there are two more lines in the target area header than in the

normal Target areas. The lines are:

AirfieldDataFile=

NumSquadrons=

The first line define the airfield type, the seond, the number of

squadron which can placed on this airbase.

The best way is now to copy an entire airbase from

GermanyCE_targets into Kashmir_targets. But be carefull, we need

only the lines from

AirfieldDataFile=

to the last Target[xxx]=

The rest of the header we have already in Kashmir_targets.

 

Now we have the city targets and the airfield targets.

 

Step 4:

-save the file as Kashmir_targets.ini (not as Kashmir_targets_proto.ini)

Of course we overwrite our old Kashmir_targets.ini.

 

Step 5:

The most boring part of terrain development is testing. We must test,

wheter our airbases are working properly.

How we test it? Of course we fly a mission.

Now it would be a random game to test each airfield, because the

start position is randomly selected by the game.

Thatswhy i use a help construction.

- I open Kashmir_targets.ini with notepad editor

- I press CTRL (STRG) +H and replace

FRIENDLY

with

NEUTRAL

- Then i go to the first Pakistani airbase P1 and set its Alignment back

to FRIENDLY.

- If i start now the single mission, i will start from the first Pakistani

airbase (There is no other blue base left).

Now i can see wheter all is okay. The best way to test the runway is

to drive over the entire lenght of the runway. If you dont do it, you can

suddenly face a problem like the Etzion AFB in TK's WOI terrain.

Check it out, you will see what i mean.

If you face a problem, then try to move the position of the base a little

bit and test it again. Till you find a position, wher all is okay.

-If all ist okay, then i realign the first pakistan airbase P1 to

NEUTRAL and set airbase P2 to FRIENDLY.

-If i have tested all pakistani bases i Press CTRL (STRG)+H and

replace

NEUTRAL

with

FRIENDLY

-Then i have to do the same job with all indian airbases, but now i

have to set all Alignment from ENEMY to NEURTRAL.

I know is a boring, but neccessary job.

 

 

 

Step 6:

Now you can start to open TE again and begin with terrain

improvements like placing rivers and roads on the map. I do this

manualy. Every single river or road tile is layed out by hand. I know

this is time consuming.

When i have finished one river or road i will fly a test mission to see,

wheter all is okay, that the rivers not climbing the hills etc.

Oh yeah, its time consuming. Oh yeah, its boring.

 

Thatswhy i will explane you how to make a planning map and the

 

other neccessary files in LESSON 6.