[VonBarb.]

Does anybody know what scale is the FB Kuban map ? All I know is it isn't 1:1... I need to have an estimation of how much it's been reduced in order to determine by how much I should reduce details...

Additionally, is there a general consensus on what to do with areas covered with woods ? Oleg's Kuban has about 60% less forest than what I've found would be accurate for Kuban. Is it preferable to leave it that way for gameplay reasons, or do I go planting trees like mad all over the Southern hills ?

Finally, if anybody has pictures of the area, written descriptions or has been to Kuban I'd be very interested in that kind of information. There's only so much Google Maps can do

Cheers

Nico

[canonuk]

I say plant the trees!

[VonBarb.]

Good. Actually I'd have been pretty bummed out by the opposite answer since I've been planting them trees like for a couple hours now Still a few hours to go...

Cheers

Nico

[Lejo]

Well, Kuban is very green according this map:



Here you have the large scale map:

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu:8085/x-ussr/...37-112.jpg

[mandrill7]

Lejo, is the entire 1940's USSR in that map library?!

There is a coastal ridge on the Kuban that may well have been left forested. I am not sure whether the rest of the Kuban would be that heavily forested.

This is MAJOR for ground attack ops! The Russians did a major amphibious landing/ bridgehead op around Novorossisk. If it's all about hitting the German defenders in concealed forest positions that is a huge change in atmosphere.

[mandrill7]

Good. Actually I'd have been pretty bummed out by the opposite answer since I've been planting them trees like for a couple hours now Still a few hours to go...

Cheers

Nico

Nico, Why plant trees? Why not modify the map_t and place more forest? I'm messing around with the Kuban map myself and would be happy to exchange ideas. I have the map currently retextured with Compans textures, but need to colour balance some of the .tga's and then fine-tune the map_t.

BTW, check out thse slideshows on Youtube about the Kuban!
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=y39n6QQPRV8

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=NpvUag14xi...re=related

[Lejo]

Lejo, is the entire 1940's USSR in that map library?!

I just did a little discovery! If you click on the link below and you change the last digits in the URL bar you get another detailed map of Russia.

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu:8085/x-ussr/...37-112.jpg

I tried it out by changing L-37-112 in L-38-112 or changing it in L-37-113 and it works. Changing L in M or so works too. So there must be a way to have an index or something like that so you can choose the area you want.
I'll try to do my best to sort it out.

[mandrill7]

Lejo,

I checked it out as well. It's part of what appears to be a general series of detailed Soviet survey maps. Great.......... but the maps are mid 1980's and some of the series - in fact, quite a lot - are missing.

Still better than nothing.

If you check through the maps, you will see that only the mountain range appears heavily forested. The interior is deforested farmland. Of course, in 1943, it could have been far less cultivated.

[VonBarb.]

LOL Mandril. By planting trees I meant adding forest on the Map_T Imagine the time It'd take tree by tree hock:

I'm nearly done, still have to add some forest in the Novorrossisk area and fine tune a few things, but with luck it'll be ready in a few days. I can send you what I've got if you'd like, I'd be interested t see what you did too.

I have added TONS of forest, narrowed mountain roads, and extended cultivated areas around towns.
The forest now covers the entire ridge area all the way down to the shoreline. The mountains now look completely different.
As I said, Novorrossisk is going to get the same treatment.

Then I'll move on to that bad boy Kurland and its 2 textures landscapes

Cheers

Nico

[VonBarb.]

Novorrossiysk :


In the mountains :


Cheers

Nico

[mandrill7]

Hi nico!

I will be glad to post some screenies in a day or two. I am still trying to get the colour balance and saturation matched on some of the Compans textures, so they work together.

I haven't touched the map_t yet, although some parts of the mountains around Novorossisk looked damned strange!

I am interested in hearing and seeing more about your work with rivers and your reforestation project.

Are you using Pacific water for the sea?

[=DFA=BeoWolf]

For quite sometime now since all the terrain mods came out in Lock On I wish we could port all the planes in IL-2 into that map, which happens to be Kuban and Crimea. Would be the ultimate MOD.

[VonBarb.]

That was my first reaction when I played LockOn too Beowulf... Damn but that map looks nice !

Mandril : No idea, haven't changed the water textures, they're still the ones from VPmedia's default maps ugrade. It does look a bit too blue though.
Maybe we could join forces : I could send you what I have, see if you might have a use for it. It's far from perfect but it may save you some time adding forest in some areas.
I'm not really happy with the fields, Italy_DF and Slovakia fields are still too small for Kuban, however Compans' French_Fields_3 and Dutch_Fields would be perfect IMO...

Cheers

Nico

[mandrill7]

Yes, I'd be happy to get your stuff. I'm using Compans French Fields 1 and 2 for the cropland textures. Both are heavily re-made with the houses and villages totally removed. Making French Fields 2 compatible is a bit of a bother, as I have had to adjust the yellow/blue scale, brightness and now saturation, as well. I'm learning about colour correction as I go.

I'm using Zdenek's version of the compans mountain textures for most of the upland.

VP Media used "Pacific" water textures for his Kuban remake. I changed the entries all back to standard. If you check the section for "Water" and change "Pacific water" to "Water", the sea and rivers will be grey.

My remaining issue is that my Compans tiles are on the "blue" side of the colour scale and the default Oleg textures are on the yellow side. This makes the scenery look a little weird. Still working on this one.

There are also some glaring errors on the original map_t.

See screenshot south of Novorossisk...

[VonBarb.]

Very interesting textures, might have a use for them in this new Kurland Map_T I worked on all afternoon

Drop me a PM with your email address and I'll gladly send you what I've done on Kuban so far. It'll be nice to have someone else's opinion.

Cheers

Nico