[agracier]

If this "secret" was already out there in some tutorial then I missed it. Anyhow, now I know the secret and sharing this info might help others.

Thanks for sharing this ... I've always wondered how on some maps texts would appear when zooming in ...

[fritzofpeace]

Great job, Czech Texan!

[katdog5]

Looking sweet...thanks for geography lesson too. Cant wait to try it, downloading now

[Phil_K]

CT - are you going to include a readme with the final version? Some info on battles/frontlines/air units/bases would be very helpful to users of your map.

[lowfighter]

Downloaded. Many thanks! Will fly tonight

[CzechTexan]

Thanks for all the comments and you're all welcome. This was another interesting lesson in geography for me. Studying battles on 2D black/white map drawings from a book is like elementary compared to seeing it in IL2 view. Here you can see the geography of the land and follow the paths of the armies as they move around hills, mountains and rivers. It gives you a much better perspective from the viewpoint of the guys who were doing the fighting. This map and colors may not be exactly reality but it's sort of what these men saw. It's all fascinating to me and I just love it!

Phil_K, I think adding an historical readme would be a good idea. I could gather some facts from my sources and do that. There are also little tidbits of info that I think are interesting and might be helpful to others. Books are the best sources and are easy to reference. Here are some with good info about the battles in the Caucasus...
BATTLE FOR THE CAUCASUS by Grechko (first-hand Russian account of the battles, in english)
THE CAUCASUS AND THE OIL by Tieke (German account)
BLACK CROSS RED STAR volume 3

New from David M. Glantz:
TO THE GATES OF STALINGRAD
ARMAGEDDON IN STALINGRAD
AFTER STALINGRAD
...cover the entire campaign from Voronezh-Stalingrad-Caucasus to give you the complete picture of the eastern front during that time period. The greatest thing is that Glantz does not just focus on Stalingrad city.

It's a lot of reading but very detailed if you want to really know what happened.


I found a couple corrections that need to be made at Nevinnomyssk so no need to report on that if you find them.
I did not populate Budennovsk because I felt that it was out of the way and almost off the map and I kinda forgot about it. I guess it should be done in the next map version.
Any other errors? comments?

[Phil_K]

Thanks CT.

I've checked out the map and think it's wonderful. The only comment I would make is that for the summer map, the ambient light seems a bit dim (as though late autumnal) - is this deliberate?

[CzechTexan]

Thanks CT.

I've checked out the map and think it's wonderful. The only comment I would make is that for the summer map, the ambient light seems a bit dim (as though late autumnal) - is this deliberate?

Yes, I think I set the month for September, autumn. Fighting there was August-February. I also noticed the lighting is not what I'm used to. Should I change it?

[Phil_K]

Well, I'd personally prefer it to be brighter - this is quite far south (I think on a level with the Mediterranean) so suspect the ambient light would tend to be fairly strong.

[cgagan]

Great job! I just completed a recon flight over the mountains, and the scenery is almost 3D! Breathtaking! Many thanks for yet another work of art! 8)

[CzechTexan]

Thanks cgagan, Glad you like it so much. I don't think there will be any major changes to airfields or to the static objects so I think it's pretty safe to go ahead and start building missions on this map for future use.

Well, I'd personally prefer it to be brighter - this is quite far south (I think on a level with the Mediterranean) so suspect the ambient light would tend to be fairly strong.

I think you're right. It should be brighter in my opinion too. I think I have the same settings as the Kuban map (maybe Vpmedia's Kuban map has altered settings?)
I'll see what I can do to fix the lighting.
BTW thanks for pointing that out to me. I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought.

[CzechTexan]

I changed the settings so it's a little brighter. Fixed Budennovsk and Nevinnomyssk populations. I'm going to attempt to fix missing surf on some of the coastline.

The Mediafire has 141 downloads but only a few persons have made comments. Sometimes that makes me wonder if most people are not happy with the map. But then again, I guess that's a normal reaction. Oh well, I'll have the Finalized version up soon, perhaps next weekend. Enjoy the flying!

[agracier]

I changed the settings so it's a little brighter. Fixed Budennovsk and Nevinnomyssk populations. I'm going to attempt to fix missing surf on some of the coastline.

The Mediafire has 141 downloads but only a few persons have made comments. Sometimes that makes me wonder if most people are not happy with the map. But then again, I guess that's a normal reaction. Oh well, I'll have the Finalized version up soon, perhaps next weekend. Enjoy the flying!

That's about a normal amount of downloads for a new map. Over a few months it will probably climb to over 200 ... and a little secret.A large number of posts about a map usually means members can't get it installed properly ... ha ha. So I wouldn't consider few posts a sign of anything but an easy to install map that causes no problems ...

[fritzofpeace]

Ag's right about the lack of posts, CT.
The both of you have made maps which improve the game tremendously, while at the same time presenting few issues with which us "less than technical" gamers must wrestle.
Thanks to both of you

[Gumpy]

I changed the settings so it's a little brighter. Fixed Budennovsk and Nevinnomyssk populations. I'm going to attempt to fix missing surf on some of the coastline.

The Mediafire has 141 downloads but only a few persons have made comments. Sometimes that makes me wonder if most people are not happy with the map. But then again, I guess that's a normal reaction. Oh well, I'll have the Finalized version up soon, perhaps next weekend. Enjoy the flying!

Are you kidding CzechTexan? This is one of the nicest maps that has come out in awhile,don't knock yourself down. I think most people who have downloaded and installed it are just to busy flying and making missions for it, either that or their busy picking their jaws of the floor.BIG THANKS! CzechTexan this is a beautiful map and a real work of art.