Here's an update I'm really excited about. Lonestar67 recently posted in the Request section, asking if there was any likelyhood of a New Britain map being made with some of the historic allied bases included. It was such a pity that the TG Rabaul map was cut off right over Green Island, and I've often wished that the map could be pushed that little bit farther to include it properly. Alas! I'm a duffer with that sort of stuff and would scarcely know where to begin.
Enter asheshouse, who has been in the thick of it since the earliest days of Il-2modding. He very kindly offered to help and added the necessary miles to the east, complete with the accurate outline of the Green/Nissan Islands all ready for a coat of pixels. Thanks mate!
The other outstanding thing was the release of Carsmaster's 2048x2048 texture mod. A pair of tweaked core.dll's that allow the game to accept textures up to a maximum size of 2048. This cured a MAJOR headache that I was having with some of the more detailed parts of the map. For example, Vunakanau airbase was currently retextured by me using four very complicated texure slots. Each overlapping and blending with it's neighbours to show the runways, taxiways and craters etc as a single seamless texture. It was doing my head in.
Now with Carsmaster mod I can do the entire airfield complex with a single 2048 tga, giving me three spare to use elsewhere. It even makes things more system friendly when viewing the field.
Anyway, enough yabber. Below are some recent shots of progress since the weekend, showing Green Island (also a single 2048 tga for the whole field). The strip was made of crushed coral, so it's supposed to look pretty white. I'm going for a rather distinct contrast between this and the Japanese installations. While the Japanese areas will be given a look of devastation and decay, the Green Island complex will appear almost like a resort by comparisson. White sandy beaches and clean air are the order of the day.
Once again, a big thanks to asheshouse and carsmaster who made it all posible!
Early picture of the airfield being laid out
After a busy days work. Adding landscape and coast details. Texture still very much WiP.
Gratuitous Corsair shots. just look what Jeronimo did for those cowlings. I mean, just LOOK at them!
In the interests of a bit of a practical test, I flew the F4U from Green Island to Rabaul in real time to see how long it look.
Green Island to the east coast of New Ireland was achieved at 80% throttle in precisely 20 minutes. Another ten minutes to
reach the other side, and a further 12 minutes after that to reach Rabaul/Lakunai. 42 minutes in all. Not too taxing for most players, although it'd a different story on the homeward leg of you've taken damage. Plus the mountains in New Ireland are pretty huge.
The flight from Green to Rabaul revealed a lot of problems with Tainan's depiction of New Ireland. The rivers along its 1400 mile coastline are a real mess and resemble a rollercoaster more than anything else. This will need fixing as it is a real immersion killer as you cross the country to and from the target. I think the best thing to do is complete this in stages and add patches after release, as fixing it is a daunting prospect.
Anyhow, hope you like it so far!
Author
Topic: Rabaul 1944 WiP (Read 74331 times)
