Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[WxTech]

Update, Jan 27, 2023: After mastering Zuti's Actors Management utility, I replaced the ground runway plates with my new translucent plates, for far better blending with the underlying airfield textures. Get the new actors.static file here (95KB):

https://www.mediafire.com/file/me4tqft4acbcujn/WxTech_NewGuinea_actors_for_transparent_RWY.7z/file

This actors file requires my new translucent plates, available in this thread:

https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,70227.0.html

=============== END OF UPDATE ===================







Get the re-worked New Guinea map here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/93mdwx7ueekv0la/Stock_New_Guinea_by_WxTech.7z/file


From the included readme file:

This is a WIP on improving the stock New Guinea map. The changes and additions:

- Added a true DEM terrain map_h.tga; this required to remove all bridges.
- Removed bad rivers, and added more correct ones, also made more accurately narrow and following terrain elevations.
- Replaced the concrete runways with ground runway textures.
- Deleted almost all taxiways/parking aprons, and added invisible airfield plates to compensate.
- Complete re-texturing (all unique to this map), using mostly Green Hell textures (some tweaked by me).
- Deleted almost all palm tree objects (in the interior and southwest, primarily).
- Reduced Port moresby hugely in extent, from the former veritable megalopolis, and shifted some buildings.
- Deleted nearly all of the innumerable coastal villages.
- Added my custom 'highway' and 'road' textures (they do not affect any other maps).
- Added my own favourite high clouds texture.
- A provisional, first crack at an ed map (appears in FMB and on map pad in flight) is provided. It was made early in my retexturing process, to guide me nas I proceded. A much better one will accompany the final map.


(The actors.static has gone from 271KB down to 95KB, in large part due to removal of palm tree objects.)

=================================================================================

Because the bridges had to be removed (they force the ground they sit on down to sea level), this map is not compatible with campaigns. Or at least any campaigns which have bridges as mission targets. And so this is best treated as an additional map for your game.

However, in this iteration the runways maintain position, size and orientation as from the stock map, meaning that existing missions will still work from this standpoint, at least. And all stock airfield buildings remain as well.

=================================================================================

More work to do before I call this final. But as of now the great bulk of the work is done. I let loose this unfinished map into the wild so that filks can test things out and perhaps provide me some feedback and suggestions.

=================================================================================

Add to all.ini:
New_Guinea_Wx                       NewGuinea_Wx/load_Wx_tex.ini


Optional add to i18n/MAPS.properties (you can make the text on the right whatever you like):
New_Guinea_Wx                             New Guinea - WxTech

=================================================================================

I include a couple of airstart QMB missions, to get you started right away.



WxTech
Jan 26, 2023

[Kelso]

It looks great!. I'm just worried about those airports with a barely visible runway texture - it will be very difficult to get there. Thank you for your work!

There seems to be an error in the load_Wx_tex.ini file.
Instead of: Mount0 = Pacific/newguinea/Mixx_GS.tga (the map is not loading for me)
it should be:
Mount0 = Pacific/NewGuinea_Wx/Mixx_GS.tga

[stanislao]

     Nothing!  As unfortunately often happens to me with WxTech's beautiful maps, my 4.12 VP Modpach installation does not load it at all, if I insist the game crashes. I've tried the fix suggested by Kelso but to no avail... I've tried uninstalling the default NewGuinea map but the Wx one won't load. The same thing happened with the Rabaul one.   

[WxTech]

I just corrected the archive, fixing my oversight on that texture path that Kelso caught.

Stanislao, what does your log say?

[WxTech]

In the meantime...

For the past week and a bit my dreams have been polluted with texture placing activity, because of the hours involved in this repetitive task.   

The past three days have involved quite a few hours of tweaking the terrain where rivers wind their way. Things are generally fine on the low, flat plains. But as the rivers rise into the mountains, where steep canyons are the rule, it's hard to accurately trace the river so as to exactly track along the lowest points on map_h. What often occurs are instances where the winding river partly climbs up a valley wall here and there. This looks awful, and so I've gone over every river and adjusted the height of the terrain on a point by point basis to clean up these eyesores.

[Gaston]

So... seems this map does not work in some versions of the sim... and in BAT ? does it work ?

[WxTech]

If one is not running in perfect mode, is map_M.tga required?

I looked in my now ancient extractions and added map_F.tga, but saw no map_M.tga there. I suppose I should do a run in dump mode to see if this file is coughed up...

I can think no other reason why the map shouldn't open.

[stanislao]

   Correction, I was wrong in inserting the correction proposed by Kelso. Thanks to him now the NewGuinea map opens and I can see it in FMB but if I try to activate it it remains passive. The Logfile doesn't help me, it doesn't tell me about missing objects.
 Excellent job with the rivers, I would avoid the grassy runways, they are in excessive contrast with the essentially arid environment..

[WxTech]

I use my own modded 'ground' (grass) runway/taxiway/parking textures, which have the color de-saturated and are made partly transparent. This has been my treatment for many years now. For all maps using these plates, they better blend in with the underlying airfield texture. I pointed this out during the process of making up my version of the net Islands map last year. I have a mod for this available hereabouts...

[stanislao]

   Yeah! Your desaturated grassy and deserted airport runways are delightful, they just have one major flaw... they require pinpoint accuracy to avoid unpleasant overlaps in the segments. This is all very well in self-produced runways but doesn't work in those already on the web, the map makers didn't take into account the precision needed in overlapping segments at all, so all the old maps become absolutely ugly in airport scenery...what a shame.

[WxTech]

And even if placement is precise, there are maps having 'custom' taxiways, for instance, which have all manner of bends and turns that cannot avoid partial overlap. I live with it, myself.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to create a set of new plates, so as to leave the originals in their fully opaque state...

[WxTech]

Kelso,
When you write, "barely visible runway texture", do you mean the airfield terrain texture or the actual runway sitting atop?

I tend to make landscapes more 'blended' where I feel it's warranted, keeping to an earthy range of tones. A clearing on ground will tend to not differ too much from the tone and color of the dirt itself. I note that this has been pretty much been adhered to by the creators of the NGNB map set.

Note that I use my 4096 pixel PCP runway texture, which has a pretty neutral tone which really blends into the airfield in an almost camouflaged manner. I've seen actual Marsten matting in the Arctic, and the tone/hue of the gray steel certainly doesn't make it stand out. More so when the holes have the same dirt showing through and there is a patina of dust/sand/gravel scattered about on it through use.