[dunkelgrun]

Many moons ago I started making a historical campaign for the Brewster Buffalo in Malaya. The project eventually folded when I got fed up with having to build a new town for the target area in every mission. So I'm starting again, this time from the ground up!

I intend to produce a larger Malaya map, extending it northward to take in Ipoh & Kuantan airfields and southward to include the islands south of Singapore and the Riau archipelago. From this I'm going to extract a 100 x 100 km DF map centred on Singapore.

Features that I will be adding or correcting when compared to the original Singapore map:

Add Naval Base
Add Keppel Harbour and Telok Ayer Basin
Add prominent buildings in Singapore and other towns
Add railway to Singapore and delete non-existent railways elsewhere
Delete mythical 2nd causeway
Portray roads as they were in 1941
Add or reposition towns and villages correctly
Position Malaya airfields correctly and delete non-existent ones
Correct depiction of Singapore airfields
Add flying boat bases at Seletar and Kallang
Vegetation! Greatly increase the tree cover over the whole map
plus whatever else crops up.

I've started work on Malaya first; when I have the topographic detail sorted (map_c, map_h etc) I'll extract the Singapore DF map from it and go to work on that in detail.

Screenshots to follow as and when. It'll be a lengthy process so please be patient. Currently working on map_c.

Cheers.

[GerritJ9]

Several years ago, before 1C released the Singapore map, I received a preview of the territory to be included (should stilll have that somewhere, will post it if I find it). Ironically, it included the areas you propose to add i.e. Riouw Archipelago and at the northern end went to well beyond Kuantan- at a rough guess as far north as Ipoh, or even Taiping (and if they were that far north, why didn't they expand it to include Kota Bharu/Alor Star? It wouldn't have added all that much area). Wonder why these extra areas weren't included in the actual release- perhaps 1C/RRG ran into a strict deadline and had to slash those areas from the map to get it ready in time?

[fabianfred]

welcome to the sub-community of Asian map-makers...

if you need to use any of my Thai trees and buildings help yourself....

[dunkelgrun]

welcome to the sub-community of Asian map-makers...

if you need to use any of my Thai trees and buildings help yourself....

Excellent! Thankyou. I've already identified at least four types of tree cover: jungle, rubber, mangrove swamp, and oil palm. Was thinking of using trees from Burma, Manchuria, Singapore for the first three, but that was just an initial idea.

Cheers!

[dunkelgrun]

Several years ago, before 1C released the Singapore map, I received a preview of the territory to be included (should stilll have that somewhere, will post it if I find it). Ironically, it included the areas you propose to add i.e. Riouw Archipelago and at the northern end went to well beyond Kuantan- at a rough guess as far north as Ipoh, or even Taiping (and if they were that far north, why didn't they expand it to include Kota Bharu/Alor Star? It wouldn't have added all that much area). Wonder why these extra areas weren't included in the actual release- perhaps 1C/RRG ran into a strict deadline and had to slash those areas from the map to get it ready in time?

I've thought about going up to Alor Star and Kota Bharu, as it would be nice to have the whole campaign area. I'll see how my existing area works first; it's a big map already.

Cheers!

[fabianfred]

On my download site is a texture for Copra plantations which I made for the slot team ...if you need it it is there.....

[GerritJ9]

Here is the preview I was sent some years ago- now, we would call it map_c!!!!
Extending this northwards to Alor Star/Kota Bharu would result in map dimensions of approx. 650 x 525 km at 1:1 scale- well within the dimensions of the Slot map and thus of what the Il2 engine will run.

[dunkelgrun]

Here is the preview I was sent some years ago- now, we would call it map_c!!!!
Extending this northwards to Alor Star/Kota Bharu would result in map dimensions of approx. 650 x 525 km at 1:1 scale- well within the dimensions of the Slot map and thus of what the Il2 engine will run.

Such a shame that it wasn't made at that size. What resolution do you have it at? I suppose that it's just a snapshot .
I'm cutting back on the rivers as shown on there and the actual map we have - even today a lot of them aren't visible under the tree canopy.

Cheers!

[GerritJ9]

It is just a jpeg file, the above is the actual size of the file. It could undoubtedly be converted into a tga file and resized using Photoshop, but it would mean guessing the current scale- though this CAN be obtained by comparing it to the actually released Singapore map_c. "Simply" expand until Singapore Island is the same size as in the 1C release. Of course, one would then have to generate map_h and map_T. Plus, this map probably has the same faults/shortcomings as Singapore Island in the current Singapore map such as the Naval Dockyard area, Keppel harbour, etc.
I'll see what I can do with it............... my East Java map is at a dead end at the moment so just as well make myself useful with this.

[dunkelgrun]

On my download site is a texture for Copra plantations which I made for the slot team ...if you need it it is there.....

Got them - thanks .

Cheers!

[GerritJ9]

Just out of curiosity, I opened the map_c for the in-sim Singapore map; this is sized at 8000 x 5408 pixels. This translates to a map_h/map_T size of 2000 x 1352 pixels, or 400 x 270.4 km at 1:1 scale.
I then converted the proposed map_c jpeg file (posted above) to tga and resized it to a width of 8000 pixels using Photoshop, then compared the size of Singapore Island to that of Singapore Island in the actually released map. Unfortunately expanding the map size resulted in significant blurring and sharpening did not improve the image, so the results of measuring do contain an error factor. However, the proposed map_c would have been approximately 9600 x 9500 pixels, giving a map_h/map_T size of 2400 x 2375 pixels, or 480 x 475 km at 1:1 scale.

And while the size of the proposed map would have been a significant improvement, it would probably have contained the same faults/shortcomings that the actually released map does.

[dunkelgrun]

Strangely enough the screenie that you posted is almost the same area that I decided on. The map_c that I have been working on is 9504 x 9504. I've overlaid the ingame map_c and although the coast is generally good I've decided to do the whole thing from scratch.

I have a perfectly good topo map of Malaya at 1:500 000 to work from; what I don't have yet is anything similar for the islands and Sumatra. With luck I'll also have some detailed maps of Singapore soon - there's already a book about the Naval Base somewhere in transit across the Atlantic!

:cheers:

[GerritJ9]

Try this source for Sumatra/islands maps:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/indonesia/index.html

The maps are from the 50s and 60s mainly, but I don't think things had changed all that much when compared to the situation in 1942.

[fabianfred]

Of course the slot map consists of a lot of ocean, whereas your map, like my Thailand map is mostly land.....but we are fortunate that these are very lowly populated areas with few roads/rails and towns compared to europe.

A 3:4 map is quite playable, as you will know if you tried my map. (if you have difficulties with 1:1..)

[dunkelgrun]

Try this source for Sumatra/islands maps:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/indonesia/index.html

The maps are from the 50s and 60s mainly, but I don't think things had changed all that much when compared to the situation in 1942.

Excellent - thanks very much. I'd already looked there for Malaya but hadn't gone back for Indonesia :roll: .

Of course the slot map consists of a lot of ocean, whereas your map, like my Thailand map is mostly land.....but we are fortunate that these are very lowly populated areas with few roads/rails and towns compared to europe.

A 3:4 map is quite playable, as you will know if you tried my map. (if you have difficulties with 1:1..)

Haven't tried your map yet, but I will. I'm hoping that 1:1 will work; to that end I'm stopping northwards at Ipoh for the moment, but if that runs ok I'll extend up to Kota Bharu and see how she flies.

:cheers: