[liamp51]

Hi all,

I think it would be really great to have an authentic China map for some Flying Tigers missions.

Thanks,
liamp51

[freakypunk1]

I think same too

[George Formby]

S~
They have some bangin maps of lower Burma and the Thailand area, which was a big part of their AO. Lower Burma is with the 1.2 upgrade.

[Panama Red]

Ya'll are way behind the times, this have been out for WEEKS: http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,1782.0.html

[George Formby]

S~
Am I reading that right, or are those maps not complete?? Ain't got much need for maps not done, I wouldn't know where to start on finishing them :lol:

[farang65]

If you are just one person maps take for ever in a day to complete.

If I completed those China maps I'd probably be around 5o years old by the time they are completed. I am 44 now.

There is a great link on the SAS page to Kevin P's map building texturing tutorials here at AAA.

His tutorials are very easy to follow and understand. Why not have a go!

Many tasks with map making take a long time to do such as the coast aligning work especially if your a sucker for detail like I am.

Building airfields from scratch take considerable time especially with testing for object collision.

Tinkering with textures until you finlly think its's right to how you want the map to look.

Placing roads and bridges within a reaonably accurate position on the map.

Making navigable lakes, rivers, and huge water basins.

Sourcing correct info on your project takes a lot of time for research like getting specific placements for cities, towns, sea barriers especially if you are making an off the beaten track region.

Racking your brains over a new object required for a map that is not in IL-2.

All these tasks take time but it is time consuming fun.

Just don't expect me to map the China Plan entirely.

It took Joe 2 years to complete his Channel Map!

Thanks for the plug Panama Red.
I'll see you at SAS on the week end.

Cheers Kirby

[fly_zo]

moved from maps download section...

please use this section for requests/questions/discussions threads

thank you
Z

[agracier]

Hi all,
I think it would be really great to have an authentic China map for some Flying Tigers missions.

I have a fairly nicely textured map of the Hankow area in China - rivers, roads, RR are all ready as are textures. It's flyable too.

But here is the snag, the inevitable holdup and bottleneck of map-making. There are no objects placed yet, no cities, towns, villages, airfields, hamlets etc etc made. That is the biggest job in map making in terms of time spent. To do it even halfway well takes an inordinate amount of time and patience.

And to make it even more difficult for Far Eastern maps - there aren't even many suitable objects either. I think 10 or a dozen houses, a temple or 2 and that's about it. So, if you don't want to see German/Russian/Slovakian looking cities in what is supposed to be China, then a whole bunch of new objects would ideally be needed as well. Or a very hefty dose of suspension of disbelief ...

But for all that, the Hankow map is just waiting for a populator or populating team. Volunteers needn't even know how to use map-maker. Objects can be placed in the regular FMB and saved as .mis files and then transferred to a map to be imbedded.

Here's a link to the non-populated Hankow map.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mzjadzgmuzm

[CzechTexan]

A couple of the above posts have stated good reasons why there isn't such a map yet.
Agracier does have the Hankow area WIP and that's all we have for now. Populating the cities and villages with buildings seems to be the holdup for China.

I wonder, how many people would fly over a map of Kunming and Hengyang where the Flying Tigers had bases...
IF...these maps were not populated but only had map textures and airfields??? The cities would not have buildings but only have the flat city and village textures.
Would flying on a map like that be appealing?

A map like that wouldn't be hard to make and shouldn't take too long.
What do YOU think?

[farang65]

I totally agree with you about a China/Japan/Asia objects pack.

I've mentioned this already in a lower post from the starter map thread.

Even using the Pacific objects you still would not get a true feeling of being in China.

You could only do sooo much with a city before they get very very repetative.

Some IL-2 fan from China said thanks for the maps.

Maybe just maybe there could be some 3d modellers in China. Hello China modders?

It would really fill a void.

These maps were made as I learned from Kevin P's tutorial many months ago.

They are there if anybody wants to tinker around with them.

Cheers Kirby

Lamphun

[agracier]

IF...these maps were not populated but only had map textures and airfields??? The cities would not have buildings but only have the flat city and village textures.
Would flying on a map like that be appealing?
A map like that wouldn't be hard to make and shouldn't take too long.
What do YOU think?

I've tried doing that but the results have never been very satisfying.

It might be because I don't have the right type of textures - although I have tried it out with some of the French/UK/Dutch city/village textures - but mostly I think because for me at least, most missions (on the rare occasions I ever do fly) are for low flyers, taking place between 1200 to 300/500 meters (above 2000m my fear of heights kicks in ... ha ha). Flat textures of buildings just don't cut it in these circumstances for me, even though I am hardly insistent on details in the general sense.

Another little handicap to populating a China map is that in the case of Hankow, it is without any ocean area in a densely populated part of the world. Many maps have up to 25-50% ocean area, greatly reducing the area needing populating. That's why I sometimes think island maps are popular, aside from their historical connections.

[agracier]

I've been thinking, that if someone were to create a few nicely done templates for Chinese villages it might be possible to proceed from there.

These can be made in the normal FMB and saved as a mis file.

But such villages would preferably need to have at least a passing resemblance to something oriental looking, even if only in layout and density. For trees, Fabianfred has some very nicely done trees like bamboo, banana and others. This is a good addition for this area.

[Riptide_One]

Agracier,

I like the Hankow Map. I have created one walled, village on the Hankow Map, near the airport. It includes a temple and trees. If you would like to see it, tell me where to e-mail the mission file.

I agree, it would be great to have more Asian objects, but I am happy enough with what's available to populate a China map. I agree with CzechTexan. Put in the airports, city and village textures, without any objects, and let people like me have a go at populating the map. I would already be doing this if that had been done.

I have not taken the time to learn how to create mods. If I had, I would put creating Asian objects high on my things to do list. However, I have been populating original and mod maps for the missions I build for a long time.

Cheers,

Riptide

[Bobbo]

Agracier,

I like the Hankow Map. I have created one walled, village on the Hankow Map, near the airport. It includes a temple and trees. If you would like to see it, tell me where to e-mail the mission file.

I agree, it would be great to have more Asian objects, but I am happy enough with what's available to populate a China map. I agree with CzechTexan. Put in the airports, city and village textures, without any objects, and let people like me have a go at populating the map. I would already be doing this if that had been done.

I have not taken the time to learn how to create mods. If I had, I would put creating Asian objects high on my things to do list. However, I have been populating original and mod maps for the missions I build for a long time.

Cheers,

Riptide

What he said,,..


Might consider Agracier the "if you build it, they will come" theory; Some other moder' cat may tell him, "Hey, there is this lovely China map by Agracier that needs Chines buildings. go make them now!" and a Chinese building mod may appear. People listen to their pets you know. :wink:

Otherwise it is a chicken and the egg thing. No Chines buildings because of no Chines map, not Chines map because of No Chines Buildings.

[agracier]

Might consider Agracier the "if you build it, they will come" theory; Some other moder' cat may tell him, "Hey, there is this lovely China map by Agracier that needs Chines buildings. go make them now!" and a Chinese building mod may appear. People listen to their pets you know. :wink:

Otherwise it is a chicken and the egg thing. No Chines buildings because of no Chines map, not Chines map because of No Chines Buildings.

Well, I've had a link up for the basic map since before the summer, and afterwards i redid the whole map to take into account newer textures and a somewhat smaller map area to facilitate the amount of populating necessary, did a remake of the river system, roads, texture areas and the whole shebang.

So, that's 2 builds for this Hankow map, both from scratch, and I've suggested new objects for the Far East both here and on SAS (for a Formosa map also available for download in basic) so many times that I don't wish to come across as a nag by asking/suggesting/hinting again ... ha ha.

Just for those who haven't noticed though - here is a link to a working basic map of Hankow.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mzjadzgmuzm

By the way - Riptide sent a good template for a Chinese village, very good considering the limited amount of objects suitable actually, and we may be on the way here, at least to making enough original looking templates for Chinese villages ... you'd need between 20 to 25 templates min to have enough variety for a map this size, but at least this is a first step on that proverbial thousand mile journey ...