[asheshouse]

Things have been on hold while I sorted out my messed up IL-2 installation, and got distracted by other work pressures.

Time to press on.

Experiments with textures have pointed the way forward but before getting too much into that I need to sort out the road/rail network properly. I extracted road and rail from my map_T and did some work on it separately in the image editor to sort out odd gaps and to insert the correct RGB values for road/rail crossings. This was pretty quick to do in Photoshop Elements.

I now have the edited network back in the game file and need to get all of the bridges put in place. This will involve adjusting the road/rail network again because you need a 4 pixel straight to insert the smallest size of bridge. The road/rail segments link to the centre of each pixel so 4 pixel=600m of straight road. In dense areas this takes a bit of "artists license" to get the links in and still retain the right appearance.

To help with planning my bridge building I've printed out a map just showing water and road/rail. At the moment the road network is only the principal roads. It will probably be necessary to add some country roads as well, but I'll do that later. I haven't counted up all the bridges yet, but there is a lot of them. I've only got about 10 put in so far, enough to learn the tricks but now I need to up the production rate.



----- Following this post, completed another 25 bridges, which covers all of the bit of England which shows, plus 15 already done in Europe. 40 total. --- This is going to be a long slog. Glad I didn't show all of the rivers! --- Total up to 64 now.

[asheshouse]

Now up to 117 bridges constructed. Still less than half way across the map area. Guess total will be around 250 -- maybe more.

This is Calais again, complete with bridges, and Calais Marck Airfield to the far left. I think I might remove the surf textures from the coastline. Doesn't look right for the North Sea.

Later I will replace the harbour moles with harbour jetty objects, but they make suitable place holders at the moment.

[duffys tavern]

Great work!

[asheshouse]

A few links for future reference

Calais 1940 http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-NW ... ders-V.jpg
Boulogne 1940 http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-NW ... ers-IV.jpg
Dunkirk 1940 http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-NW ... s-xiii.jpg
Dunkirk - Outer Harbour http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-NW ... ders-9.jpg

There's lots of other relevant stuff on that site.

http://www.anciens-aerodromes.com/
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/france/

Rotterdam Images

http://appl.gemeentearchief.rotterdam.n ... .showframe (and click on Centrum-1940-Rhijn and PlancStationBeurs-1940)

This link might help in finding some inspiration from the pictures of pre-war Rotterdam:
http://www.oud-rotterdam.nl/

[fido]

Great job! but would it be possible to dont use those old style il2 airfields, but make them like on slovakia map?

[asheshouse]

Fido -- Do you mean a bit like this.
This is not a finished version, just a quick experiment.
If you've got any actual airfield maps or plans that would be great.

[asheshouse]

174 bridges constructed --- still not half way!

[asheshouse]

332 bridges constructed --- all done for England, France and Belgium. Just a question of completing the Maas, Rhine and associated waterways. --- The end is in sight.

[Jg3_Prodigy]

:lol: yeah

[Deadparrot]

Oh, yeah. Exited about the possiblity to fly a campaign on a real map instead of the Ardennes online map, like we do in our squad now. When it is there I am going to plug it for replacement.

[fido]

Fido -- Do you mean a bit like this.
This is not a finished version, just a quick experiment.
If you've got any actual airfield maps or plans that would be great.

img

i mean dont use grass runways at all, if possible, just ground texture like slovakia and few bessarabia fields and if possible, concrete fields too. If you could do this, it will be AWESOME!

this is what i am talking about:

[Skunkmeister]

What they did for Slovakia/Bessarabia would be best IMO. The airfields like Banff and Imphal are really nice, but you can only use them once, and the map maker is limited in the number of airfields he can place like this, since they are textures, you can only insert so many.

[spud]

What did they do with slovakia, exactly? (he asks thinking he might have to redo stuff if he sees it)

I have to admit, I only barely looked at that map since I have no interest in that theater.

tater

[Skunkmeister]

Basically they did the same thing as on the Desert online map, but they did it for grass fields instead of sand ones.

[asheshouse]

Well -- bridge building is finished -- for the moment.
That is, all of the roads included on the map have got bridges where required.
374 total number.
Bridges force compromises in order to fit the 600m minimum length of strait required.
I have tried to retain the integrity of the main strategic routes while working within the game engine constraints. Its possible that I may have included some post war bridges in error. If so I'll remove them if anyone comments.

Here's a shot of Rotterdam showing the bridges included. There is one more bridge beyond the docks area to the west.



The ideas which have been put forward for airfields sound good but I think for the moment I will try to get something rough completed so that the map files can be released and then work on enhancing the details later.

I particularly want to spend some time getting the "target area" scenery developed in key areas, such as Sedan, Montherme, Dunkirk etc. Once the basic maps are released it should be possible for others to get involved if they want to, to develop scenery for specific areas.

--- I've just spent some time looking more closely at the Slovakia airfields. They are very good.