Vogesen WIP

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

I have contacted Gepard, and he gave me permission to make a revision of his Vogesen Terrain. Gepard did a beautiful job on the Alsace Valley and the Rhine Valley in the north. I will keep all his targets as they are. I will also keep all the targets Ojcar added - so Armchair Aces will still work.

 

I am adding targets to the Lorraine plateau and the north-west part of the map. I will make some changes to the tiles, but not many. Mostly I will add a lot of the ground and terrain objects that have become available since Gepard first made the terrain eight years ago.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Stephen1918

[+Geezer 3,569]

Delightful!  I wondered what you were up to. 

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

AS you can see, I'm incorporating some of your forts and airfield objects into the terrain.

[Silberpfeil 363]

Looks great, Stephen1918 - thank you!

[+Geezer 3,569]

Steve -

 

I've never gotten the Vogesen map to work, so I have a question.  Is it adapted from SF, and thus has 2000 meter ground tiles?  Or, is it a true FE map with 500 meter ground tiles? 

 

If its the latter, I might consider making new 1024 ground art that would be based on the existing ground art.  If that's the case, would you have any suggestions?

[Wrench 9,811]

that really look good!!!

 

has it really been that long since it came out??? wow...time DOES fly!!

[+Gepard 11,242]

Steve -

 

I've never gotten the Vogesen map to work, so I have a question.  Is it adapted from SF, and thus has 2000 meter ground tiles?  Or, is it a true FE map with 500 meter ground tiles? 

 

If its the latter, I might consider making new 1024 ground art that would be based on the existing ground art.  If that's the case, would you have any suggestions?

 

This map is made for First Eagles. Tile size 500x500 meters.

This is the reason, why it will not work with SF properly.

[+Geezer 3,569]

This map is made for First Eagles. Tile size 500x500 meters.

This is the reason, why it will not work with SF properly.

 

Thanks!  If you don't mind, I'll take a look at it's tile art.

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

I've been placing targets and roads in the Vogesen terrain. It overlaps the Verdun Map quite a bit - I'm concentrating on areas along the front line that were missing before. I'm using the Cambrai tile set so we can have a more-or-less uniform look for the entire Western Front, from the North Sea all the way to the Swiss border.

 

I have the military targets (airfields, supply depots, balloon and AA stations, and trench lines) pretty much done - but I still have a lot of work to do in the mountains. Next I want to add more civilian targets - villages, train stations, factories and warehouses in the towns, etc.

 

I'm thinking it will be a few more weeks before it's ready.

[Silberpfeil 363]

Nicely done - looking forward to it!

[+ojcar 157]

Very good idea!

 

Have you seen if Jan Tuma tiles work in it?

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Jan Tuma's tiles do work in it. Except, I did make one new tile, I can make one to match Jan Tuma's tiles and include it in the upload. I am also placing AA guns in some of the farms and forests, I don't know if they will be intersecting trees when Jan's tiles are used.

[+whiteknight06604 934]

I will be looking forward to this. Thank you Stephen!

[+quack74 329]

Might I recommend "Independent Force" by Keith Rennles. It's a log book or diary if you will from the British Independent Air Force (IAF). I used it to create an IAF campaign. A wealth of information as far as important locations (targets), aerodromes, Jastas, Kests, and even maps. Also I was able to get a huge amount of names to add to the squadrons, escadrilles, kest and Jastas. I use the campaign on my highly revamped Vedun map. I never got around to messing with the Vogesen map. So you might like this book just for the research. Great accounts of aerial combat from the IAF crews. Sometimes with great detail. Staggering loses too. Great book.

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Thanks Quack, I'll check it out. Until now, I've been using some maps I found online. Most of them just deal with the first year of the war, when there were major campaigns being fought in the area. After that, activity on the Vogesen Front seems to have slowed down and I haven't found much, but I know the air war continued.

 

Are you planning to upload the IAF campaign and the Verdun Terrain? You mentioned them some time ago, but I haven't seen anything recently. Are you still working on them?

[+quack74 329]

I wanted to add and clean up some target areas before I tried to bundle this monster. But I just havnt had the time. It's a lot of work. As you know. Then you and Geezer made so many great terrain objects. I wanted to go back and edit in some new buildings and factories. But that is so time consuming. After Geezer posted all the new airfield objects I tried to go back and edit airfields and other places. But it's a snowball effect. It never ends and gets more and more involved. But what I have so far is good enough for now. I can always edit the Targets.INI later. I'll try to get on it. Like I said though it will be a big file. I'll have to do it in several parts. So many new tiles in every season. I may have too many things going on too (960 TargetAreas). Frame rates take a hit in dense areas. But I cant just delete TargetArea's. Then the number sequence will be off. I would have to put something in it place that doesn't take up any memory. We'll see. I wanted to do this to the Vogesen terrain a while back. But there was no simple terrain editor then. Now it's so easy. The Vogesen terrain would have been the perfect terrain for the IAF campaign. I can send you my campaign. You can add the important airfields. And just add the important targets that the IAF targeted. Your Vogesen upgrade will be great.

[+Geezer 3,569]

You guys lemme know if you need any more ground objects. 

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

I know what you mean about how a project gets bigger and bigger. And it seems like every good idea leads to a lot more work. Right now I'm putting buildings into the cities - which for me is very tedious, a lot of trial and error. I'm starting to prioritize - some things will have to wait for a future version, or I will never get done.

 

Maybe you could get Verdun good enough for now and plan on an upgrade later? I noticed in the stock Verdun Terrain, there are some target locations without any actual targets in them. I wonder if they ran into the same problem you have - trying to lower the frame rate without having to renumber everything in the target ini.

 

Send me what you have for the IAF Campaign. If you made it for the Verdun Terrain, it may not fit Vogesen very well, but I'm sure it will be helpful. I'm am not going to fill the parts of Vogesen that overlap Verdun (not in this version anyway) so your campaign probably has a lot of places that are not on my map.

 

I'm trying hard not to break Ojcar's Armchair Aces Campaigns. Adding new locations to the target.ini shouldn't be a problem, but I'm trying not to rename or re-position any of Gepard's or Ojcar's targets.

 

My biggest problem at the moment is that I keep getting ideas for new ground objects, which are fun to make and become a welcome distraction. But then I have to add them to the targets in the target ini and the amount of work grows. I did make some new boats for the Rhine River, because it seemed like a good idea, but I have to limit that or I will never finish. (Thanks for the offer Geezer.)

Edited February 28, 2016 by Stephen1918

[Wrench 9,811]

those boats look great!

I'm really liking the barge being towed ... is that a one piece lod, or 2 seperate items?

 

(those could be usefuell for FRPigeon's more modern Euro map, too! To say nothing of ww2!)

 

are you using the Target Area Editor, or the old fashioned way?

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

The tugboat and barge are all one piece, centered on the boat's funnel. I'm placing the targets the old fashioned way, using Notepad. In the cities it's the only way I can see how things fit between the TOD buildings.

[Silberpfeil 363]

Great stuff!  I wish I had half the talent you guys must have!

[Wrench 9,811]

the target area editor shows all the TOD items!!

it is a godsend!!! (like the lod viewer!!)

 

 

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

I tracked down the Target Area Editor that Wrench recommended (It's part of Mues Toolbox - http://combatace.com/topic/87780-mues-toolbox/ ) but I haven't got it running yet. Meanwhile, I'm still placing targets using Notepad.

 

Currently, I'm working on the trench line through the mountains.  I'm trying to get the trenches to follow the terrain, with most of the devastation in the valleys, and with bunkers and AA guns on the ridges. I'm adjusting the tiles, adjusting the height map, and placing the targets simultaneously. It's slow work, but I'm making progress. I'm using some of Geezer's bunkers, and I made some new bunkers and AA guns for the mountains.

 

From a game-play standpoint, the terrain is playable - all the airfields and military targets are placed. I need to do a lot of eye candy work - putting more buildings in the cities, adding ground objects to the airfields and bases, and making sure all the mountain targets are reasonably level (there are still some AA guns sitting at a 45 degrees angle.) And I need to make the seasonal tiles for the 5 new tiles I made.

 

I'm expecting my real world workload to pick up next week, so I may not get this polished off until May. Shall I upload what I have so far? (It's use-able, but not perfect.)

Edited March 4, 2016 by Stephen1918

[+ojcar 157]

Don't be in a hurry, Stephen! I'm sure you'll do outstanding work. Take your time.

[+Geezer 3,569]

Agree with ojcar.  Take your time, and work 'til you are happy with it.