Uro's MB Billboards [Retexture][@Addon]

[Uro]

So I made a little addon comprising of billboard re-textures you can use in your terrains,. They are created in homage to Map Builder, using screenshots of terrains created with MB

 

You can find the full scoop, screenshots and the download link in my BI Forums thread here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?190092-Uro-s-MB-Billboards-Retexture

 

 

Just giving a little something back to the Arma community :)

[Richie]

Awesome work mate, I'll be including them as a thank you to the terrain builders group :)

[RC_Robio]

Very nice. How is the map building going for you guys anyway? I think I'm going to jump in when I finish building my new pc.

[Richie]

It's a nightmare Robio, total fucking nightmare :lol:

 

First you have to be a mathematician, working out all your height fields, cell and grid sizes.

Next you have to be a graphics designer, you need a high quality satellite image and mask.

Lastly you have to be an artist, your towns, forests and roads all have to look right, how things would be in real life, be it man made or mother natures doing.

 

Then you're dealing with ArmA Tools, not the most reliable and comes with no manual.

It's the most annoying, stressful and complicated project i've ever started :lol: but then you crunch it all together and explore the world you created and it brings a huge smile to your face :D

[TheKnightTemplar]

^^^ Couldn't agree more with everything Richie said

[axeman]

I'll stick to programming AI, have looked at maps and definitely got the simpler option :)

[Uro]

I wouldnt say it's a complete nightmare,. for terrain creation you need patience,. lots of patience :blink:

 

It's a very steep learning curve (more of a mountain climb than a curve :D ) - Some of the processes involved take a lot of time/patience/cpu/more patience.

 

Quite a lot of the time I've set programs up to do various things then went out to work for the day and they're still running when I get back, hell I've even left Visitor3/Terrain-Builder running for days importing hieghtfields/masks. - Then only to not like the outcome and start from my base hieghtfield and rebuild everything from there :D

 

I've spent hours & hours downloading DEM hieghtfield data for real-world locations, only to not like the way they flow in-game.

 

I've rebuilt my entire map / masks various times, switched surface textures, regenerated layers, incorporated entire road networks and removed them just because I wasnt happy with the way they appeared in-game.

 

Once you get over these hurdles and have your basic map setup things become a little easier though - however it is sometimes frustrating due to a lack of default objects contained within A3 - Not everyone likes nor has any use for Mediterranean buildings in thier terrain :rolleyes:

 

This is where the Arma community steps in with other content authors with addons and tools such as AIA / JBAD / MGB / Map Builder / Mikerotools and scouring Armaholic / BI Forums for objects/model packs, and then when you delve deeper you get into the BIS A1/A2 Sample packs in a search for more content you can use / customise / retexture to your liking. 

 

Most authors of these packs are happy for you to get the use out of them and include them in your project - All it takes is a PM to them on the BI Forums asking for permission to use thier content, 99.9% of the time you'll get a "hellyeah!" and obviously credit them when you get to the point of releasing :)   If your stuck for objects / need something created - there is always the ARMA 3 Addon Request thread on the BI Forums where you can post your request and someone may pick it up and create it for you - ask and you never know :)

 

Hell you may even delve into modelling yourself! :D

 

 

Regarding the Arma3 Toolset:

 

I do like Terrain-Builder over Visitor3 (Arma2), there are far more features that are easier to use - once you understand them and know all the little tricks/tweaks. 

 

In Visitor3 your roads/paths  were created out of thousands of road pieces/objects, which is laborious as hell.  In TB, you simply use the polyline/vertices tool to paint and connect you road/path networks, then export it as a shapfile for inclusion in your terrain when you compile it - they are then "painted" onto your map at the init stage.  This also helps to keep your overall object counts for your map lower.

 

I like the fact that you can use object layers to define different structure types - I.E. have one layer for your roads, one for your forests, another for each town you create etc - you can then export these layers as imagery - to use as an overlay in Photoshop/GIMP to assist in painting your roads/towns onto your satellite/surface masks. 

 

This is only the tip of the iceberg with TB - They have done quite a lot to ease the pain of terrain creation in Arma3 over Arma2 - they still have a ways to go in simplifying some processes but obviously nothing is ever going to be "point and click, map completed".

 

Everything takes time & patience, some trial & error, and figuring out different techniques for all the various aspects of terrain creation.  And at the end of all that, you end up knowing a bucketload more about Arma - from simple configs to more advanced configs, terrain creation & BIS logic than you did to begin with.

 

And Richie is quite right  -  When you crunch it all together and get all your time/sweat/blood/frustrations compiled & into the game and see it in Arma3  -  There's that sweet sense of satisfaction that only people who create terrains will know about  -  and boy is it good! :D