[Mission_bug]

Hello again, seeing as I'm back to work tommorow after twelve days off I've decided to
upload a second WIP for January because I might not get much time to work on the map
for a while,

Here is the link.

http://www.4shared.com/file/202225036/a ... pdate.html

This now includes the new ed_m01 and ed_m02 files, the coloured one is the one loaded
into the map folder but a folder containing each type is in the upload.

There are still very few objects added to the maps but these have been added in this update.

Farm buildings from Fabianfred's Thai map mark the start of the road network.



This road begins in the hills on the river at the very top of the map. This river has also been added to
the ed_m01 and ed_m02 maps as I'd not put it on previously. You can only drive one bank of this river.



The road network now runs from the very top of the map all the way down the coast to Saigon.
As the bridges are not operable there are roads along each of the rivers on the coast so if
you feel the need to take a drive all the way to Saigon you can, but it is a hell of a long way.
I've tested the roads to about half way down the map and they are all drivable, some may be a
little bumpy though.

The map works with my installs of the AAA 1.1 and with UP 2, not sure about anything else so
you should not encounter any problems with the few objects I have used, please let me know if you do.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[fabianfred]

I doubt if there were any tarmac roads in VN then...so have you used only the country tracks? I never used any hard roads on my Thailand map either.

[Mission_bug]

Hello Fabianfred, I have used the tarmac highways for the road that goes down the coast and along the rivers.

This may not be correct for the period as I've read Vietnam was 80% jungle then, but I figured the European colonists would have built decent roads at least along the coast to link all the major ports and population centres. I will use the country tracks for any roads across country though.

Maybe the ones along the rivers would be better as country tracks, thoughts anyone?

Why not download the WIP Fabianfred and let me know what you think, after all it's your map that started me along this path in the first place. I would welcome any thoughs, critical or otherwise.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Drew]

I think the Huey is the only thing missing from this awesome map. Who needs to go mach 2 to have Vietnam?, just slow it down and go below the treetops, just like my dad did 40+ yrs ago.
Oh well till we get a Huey in IL2, I guess I can still have fun with the Corsairs and stuff.

[akdavis]

Hello Fabianfred, I have used the tarmac highways for the road that goes down the coast and along the rivers.

This may not be correct for the period as I've read Vietnam was 80% jungle then, but I figured the European colonists would have built decent roads at least along the coast to link all the major ports and population centres. I will use the country tracks for any roads across country though.

Maybe the ones along the rivers would be better as country tracks, thoughts anyone?

Why not download the WIP Fabianfred and let me know what you think, after all it's your map that started me along this path in the first place. I would welcome any thoughs, critical or otherwise.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

I think river and rail met the needs of colonists in Indochina. Just looked through a bunch of USAAF strike photos from attacks on the transportation network in French Indochina and don't see any evidence of tarmac highways. Most of the targets are rail bridges and yards, coastal/river traffic and an occasional road bridge. The few road bridges appeared to be fed by dirt/crushed rock roads. Example of coastal transportation network, Dap Cau (rail bridge in background):

[RealDarko]

Wow, look at this rice paddies!! Wondering If we can have something like this one day.
BTW there are more pics like this one somewhere?

[Mission_bug]

Glad you like the map Drew, can't do anything about Hueys though I'm afraid. Why don't you get yourself over to SAS and download the Skyraider, not a Huey, but much more fun me thinks. :roll:

Thanks very much for the info akdavis, looks like I'm going to have to alter my roads following your discriptions and seeing this picture. Do you have a link to where these photographs are or do they have to be viewed in person, say in a museum collection? As of yet I've done virtually no research into how Vietnam looked during the period the map is intended for, finding good photographs would help considerably when I actually start to populate the map. Have you come across any photographs of the airfields yet? These must feature somewhere in actual intel from the period and it is information I could really do with. My searches so far have'nt turned up anything other than map references to where they once were.

Most of the work up to now has been directed at getting the rivers working and trying to create some textures to help me give a sense of the place, hope I've managed that.

These are along the river near Hue.





Once I've got the roads in place the real hard work begins as I try to populate the map with towns and villages and whatever industry there was at the time

RealDarko, a texture for the rice fields is something to dream about isn't it, there are many maps that could benefit from textures or objects that could portray the effect well. Maybe one of the community's texture masters could provide such a thing.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Bombsaway]

Hi Pete. When I first started making shallows textures I had fooled around with some rice pattie textures. If I can come up with one would want to try it? I still have the old ones I just need to make them look better. hock:
Cheers

[akdavis]

Glad you like the map Drew, can't do anything about Hueys though I'm afraid. Why don't you get yourself over to SAS and download the Skyraider, not a Huey, but much more fun me thinks. :roll:

Thanks very much for the info akdavis, looks like I'm going to have to alter my roads following your discriptions and seeing this picture. Do you have a link to where these photographs are or do they have to be viewed in person, say in a museum collection? As of yet I've done virtually no research into how Vietnam looked during the period the map is intended for, finding good photographs would help considerably when I actually start to populate the map. Have you come across any photographs of the airfields yet? These must feature somewhere in actual intel from the period and it is information I could really do with. My searches so far have'nt turned up anything other than map references to where they once were.

The pic is from the National Archives, but most are 14th AF strike photos from northern Vietnam and many are taken at very low level. Here is one from a strike on the rail bridge at Hue giving a wider view:



There is also a pretty good set of 5th AF high-level pics of Saigon, including port facilities. Also useful might be some documents from the Strategic Bombing Survey that include lower quality pics, but often labelled and accompanied by maps.

[Mission_bug]

I'm always interested in trying your textures Mark, you should know that by now. The coastal textures you made for the shallows in this map are superb, I'm sure anything else you have a go at will be also, besides it is time you stopped paddling and had a go at some land textures even if they don't work out. The only thing available is one of the textures in I think the Burma map at the moment but I find the colour a little too vivid for my liking. So if you can pull this off I'm sure there are many maps out there that would benefit from your work.

The photographs you posted akvadis really are amazing and are a credit to the airman who risked their lives to get them, this is just the sort of information that will help when I get around to populating the map. I need to take a look at some of the objects available in the sim to try and replicate that bridge at Hue, that is one of the rivers where I haven't as yet added a bridge so the photograph is most appropriate. The maps of Saigon are also very useful as they give me exact locations for the facilities along the river, the only information I have at the moment is through Google, but the area will probably have changed considerably since the 40's. Thank you very much for taking the time to post, looking at the areas around the bridge I think the textures I've added aren't to far from the reality.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[akdavis]

PM me an e-mail address and I'll send some more material along.

[Mission_bug]

Thanks akdavis e-mail in PM.

All the best, Pete.

[akdavis]

Didn't get a PM from you, mate.

[Mission_bug]

Somewhere over Vietnam 1945, recon bird A-20.



Fucking hell boss do you need to fly so low? I just picked up the rice for supper from that
last field we crossed and washed my Browning at the same time.



Our master of the coastal textures, Bombsaway has just sent me his latest masterpiece, I
thought you should see these. Rice fields. Thank you Mark.



This is not the first attempt, but Mark likes his last two, so do I they're amazing
I just can't decide which I like best. This is J. Yes there have been a few.



Here is an earlier attempt which didn't quite go with the colours in my map but I'm sure
would look superb in another.



Not actual photographs as you figured out, my attempt to replicate the superb photographs
akvadis posted, thank you Alan.





Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Bombsaway]

Thanks Pete. I'm still not quite happy with the "water" in the fields but I'm still working on it. I may need some help from someone who is better with photoshop than I am.

As you can see by these pics that the water can have a blue-ish tint to them from the air but can also be brown-ish sometimes too.