WRP editing

[Snake Man]

WRP terrain editing in ArmA 2

So far I have found out that ArmA 2 seems to freeze when it loads 4WVR terrain file, to fix this, you need to binarize it. I am not sure if the 4WVR is broken (it should not be, I've done hundreds of them and they work fine in OFP/ArmA (1)).

Also I get many errors on the rvmat's like these:

Code: Select all

Old style material flags used - 202 (with texture path\filename.paa)
Old style material flags used - 203 
Old style material flags used - 1
Old style material flags used - 20

The 102km and 204km terrains (cell 50m, grid 2048 and 4096) doesn't work, they eventually crashes in ArmA (1) and now they crash immediately when player starts to access areas beyond 1023 region.

Also on my released PMC ArmA 2 WRP Demo you can see some weird "shadow box" in bottom of the viewport.

Here is one new ArmA 2 terrain feature, check out this config:

Code: Select all

class CfgWorlds 
{
	class Utes;
	class VTE_Ilo: Utes
	{
		worldName = "\VTE_terrain\VTE_Ilo.wrp";
		description = "VTE Ilo";
		cutscenes[] = {};
		pictureMap = "";
		pictureShot = "";
		icon = "";
		centerPosition[] = {6343, 6127,0};
		landgrid = 50;
		latitude = 15;
		longitude = 109;
		midDetailTexture = "";
	};
};

As you can see, the midDetailTexture is new value, when I had it with the default Utes texture I got some bad flickering ingame, now that I left it out (I think its out with "" value), there is no such flicker anymore. Honestly I have not such clear picture as of yet where this texture is shown, I believe its between the clutter textures and satellite texture.

I just really hope that BIS has not taken us step back from ArmA (1) terrain editing.

I'll post more when I discover something.

[DMarkwick]

So would you say that the problems in the main are related to the physical size of the terrain?

[Snake Man]

Here is the ArmA 2 reference:

Utes
Texture Size 128 x 128
TerrainSize 512 x 512
GridSize 40.000000
-----------
nTextures/Materials 122
nObjects 17474


Chernarus
Texture Size 512 x 512
TerrainSize 2048 x 2048
GridSize 30.000000
-----------
nTextures/Materials 1025
nObjects 1055109

[Snake Man]

I've now played around with WRP editing some more and got 51km terrains nicely ingame with more than one million objects, causes no slow downs or problems that I can see off.

In a nutshell you can easily;

- edit terrain + objects in WrpTool.
- export terrain + objects with Roller into .xyz + visitor objects script.
- build the whole terrain from these parts in visitor and make sat/mask.
- binarize and throw to ArmA 2.

Or you can go with the usual 1 texture method we all grown so custom to. ArmA 2 reads these just as fine as the v3 build terrain.

If anyone has any specific questions they need help with, just ask and I'll try to provide more details.

[Snake Man]

The idiots who ran around screaming about infinite dynamic terrain, are just that.

It appears that the new terrain features outside of the map boundary, are just the lower left corner texture copied to infinity.

So there is no magical "Dynamic infinite terrain" what some of these guys claim. Yes I think it looks better than nothing, sort of, but its just what it is, nothing more.

In fact... the demo chernarus lite looks quite ugly as the texture on lower left hand corner is very distinctive, so when its repeated endlessly, the result is very ugly.

[seafire6]

Any sucess getting the larger terrains into AA2? Also has anyone attempted to import the old Tonal map into ArmA 1 or 2 ?

[Snake Man]

I have now these following terrains in ArmA 2:

Porto
Rahmadi
Sahrani
South Sahrani
PMC Rugen
PMC Rattler
PMC ArmA 2 WRP Demo
PMC Euro 51km
PMC Desert Hardcore
PMC Desert 102km
PMC Desert 204km
PMC Mogadishu (25km)
VTE Ilo
+ few experimental projects just for testing some specific stuff.

So in other words; yes we (PMC) can get all sorts of terrains in ArmA 2.

Tonal, well I don't have personal interest of Tonal, also the bas guys don't much like it to be ported.

If you are truly interested of terrains (no, I mean really a terrain "nut") I could always find a use for terrain beta tester...

[seafire6]

Its great that you were able to import those terrains. So no trouble with the large 204 km map? Forgive the likely noobish question but can you use your WRP Tool for object placement/terrain modification as well with these ported maps ? As to my terrain fascination, since ofp I've always regarded the development of new realistic enviroments as critical to the continued success of the community. It seems there are a plethora of different weapons, units and vehicles developed by the community but high quality terrain addons are few in number. Unfortunately my 'day job' skills as a surgeon don't necessarily translate well into the world of 3D design, but I'm learning. At this point, learning these skills is my only hobby away from my practice and family. I'll be attending the VBS2 terrain course in Dayton Ohio in October to be able to use Vistor3 etc.as well. I will be happy to be of any assitance to you in the future. Its actually an honor considering the tremendous additions you've brought to the OFP/Arma world.

[Snake Man]

So no trouble with the large 204 km map?

I cannot say about "no trouble" as I haven't done extensive testing, one thing that I do know is the usual OFP effect in the BIS engines that the larger your terrain is the more "vibration" weapons and stuff has. Yeah sounds weird and its difficult to explain but to put it simply; in very large terrain when your view moves say left/right, the weapon in your hands "vibrates" during the move. Its the weirdest thing.

But yes it runs, no crashes so far, but I have done only minimal of testing.

In reality, I think 204km or even 102km might be too large for practical use. Don't get me wrong I'm the big dog of large terrains, but so far I've found that 51km is excellent size as its huge and it works perfectly. I've had more ArmA time in my 51km desert terrain than in Sahrani and VTE terrains (combined?), so I have extensive experience on the 51km terrain stability.

Download the ArmA (yes arma one) PMC WRP Demo terrains and see for yourself.

Forgive the likely noobish question but can you use your WRP Tool for object placement/terrain modification as well with these ported maps ?

Direct answer to your direct question: no.

Practical answer: yes.

You follow me?

Okay... you cannot edit the BIS ArmA terrains in WrpTool, only the 4WVR or OPRW OFP terrains without satellite mask. In my list of terrains ingame you'll see that most of the stuff is custom made, by me, so obviously its WrpTool created and it has no problems editing them. But you cant edit Sahrani on WrpTool for example.

WrpTool cannot save satellite mask terrains, only the old system for texturing. Usually the workflow is that from WrpTool I'll export the stuff into Visitor 3 and create the satellite mask in photoshop and then save everything through Visitor 3. I do NOT edit terrains in Visitor 3

since ofp I've always regarded the development of new realistic enviroments as critical to the continued success of the community. It seems there are a plethora of different weapons, units and vehicles developed by the community but high quality terrain addons are few in number

Oh you don't think M4 addons is more valuable than good 25km terrain?

[seafire6]

I have a nice terrain created with L3DT Pro software that I can get into Visitor 3 but I can't seem to get the sat image to be imported.What process do you follow when porting a map over?

[Snake Man]

If the sat_lco wont import, then there might be bad resolution, have you checked its proper size?

[seafire6]

Is the sat_lco map the same as my sat .png image ? So far I have a ' .pew' map which loads up nicely and a ' .png' sat image to which I get an error messege when attempting to import. I've reallty tried to follow those tutorials available but I'm screwing something up along the way. My png image size is 16384 * 16384 and everything looks good in parameters section as far as I can see.... I swear taking out a lung is easier than this stuff !

[Snake Man]

Is the sat_lco map the same as my sat .png image ?

Excuse me?

a ' .png' sat image to which I get an error messege when attempting to import.

What is the error message?

[seafire6]

I know it sounds foolish, but I'm not certain as to what the sat_lco is as compared to the sat image. The error messege I get is 'Error loading C:\users\michael\documents\mdr_sahel.png' The resolution on my terrain map, which is the pew file is 4096 * 4096. Thank you for the help.

[Snake Man]

Obviously you have not even configured the visitor 3 tool directory properly. I suggest you take a deep breath and read few visitor tutorials first before trying to proceed.