26.07.2009, 15:38
The argument that 1:1 scale maps take too long to load is only valid if the mapmaker tries to encompass too large an area for the amount of things that will be included into the map
That actually made me laugh. If realism is your main concern, then you are really contradicting yourself with this statement. Accurate 1:1 maps have to be limited in size and/or object density in order not to cause any slowdowns, and reducing the size so you can afford to populate the map more densely isn't really the best way to go. What's the point in a 1:1 scale map of just London or Berlin or the Ruhr ? You'd have to spawn US/RAF aircraft in the air, would be limited in the flyable area, and could probably no use Zoom looking down for fear you'd fry your GPU.
Whatever theatre you're most interested in, planes flew hundreds of miles from base to target, and the most intense battles took place in heavily urbanised areas. This means that for a map to be both realistic and interesting to fly in, it'd have to be enormous and very heavily populated.
It's all about making compromises. You can either have full scale, lightly populated maps or smaller, more heavily populated ones. And even when lightly populated, some 1:1 maps remain very hard on some systems and have to be so limited in size they don't allow for perfect representation of key battles. The Central_Med map by Maraz is a good example of this. Objects count has been kept low (to the strict minimm) but the map still takes some time to load, and very important places have been left out. Central Sicily or a bigger chunk of Tunisia would have been great to have, because planes operating above these areas were often based on Malta, but that would have required a much too barren map which would have just looked no good. ( Note that despite this very little 'flaw', I am completely in love with this Map and her Malta sister. )
Let's consider extreme cases :
Even the Slot, which covers an area that is mostly water and jungle, takes ages to load and causes serious slowdowns on some machines. Just imagine the same area in Europe. Unfeasable unless your towns are only just textures with no objects, no trees, just bare ground. Even then, the ground would have to use all the available texture slots in the load.ini, which the Slot doesn't, and will have to use a much more complex layout than the Slot to look good (plus if you want your flat textures to look good a lower altitudes, you'll have to make them HiRes, making it only worse...) which would result in worse performance, even if devoid of objects.
Cheers
Nico
That actually made me laugh. If realism is your main concern, then you are really contradicting yourself with this statement. Accurate 1:1 maps have to be limited in size and/or object density in order not to cause any slowdowns, and reducing the size so you can afford to populate the map more densely isn't really the best way to go. What's the point in a 1:1 scale map of just London or Berlin or the Ruhr ? You'd have to spawn US/RAF aircraft in the air, would be limited in the flyable area, and could probably no use Zoom looking down for fear you'd fry your GPU.
Whatever theatre you're most interested in, planes flew hundreds of miles from base to target, and the most intense battles took place in heavily urbanised areas. This means that for a map to be both realistic and interesting to fly in, it'd have to be enormous and very heavily populated.
It's all about making compromises. You can either have full scale, lightly populated maps or smaller, more heavily populated ones. And even when lightly populated, some 1:1 maps remain very hard on some systems and have to be so limited in size they don't allow for perfect representation of key battles. The Central_Med map by Maraz is a good example of this. Objects count has been kept low (to the strict minimm) but the map still takes some time to load, and very important places have been left out. Central Sicily or a bigger chunk of Tunisia would have been great to have, because planes operating above these areas were often based on Malta, but that would have required a much too barren map which would have just looked no good. ( Note that despite this very little 'flaw', I am completely in love with this Map and her Malta sister. )
Let's consider extreme cases :
Even the Slot, which covers an area that is mostly water and jungle, takes ages to load and causes serious slowdowns on some machines. Just imagine the same area in Europe. Unfeasable unless your towns are only just textures with no objects, no trees, just bare ground. Even then, the ground would have to use all the available texture slots in the load.ini, which the Slot doesn't, and will have to use a much more complex layout than the Slot to look good (plus if you want your flat textures to look good a lower altitudes, you'll have to make them HiRes, making it only worse...) which would result in worse performance, even if devoid of objects.
Cheers
Nico