Trench Mound --- Idea

[Mraah]

Bumped from Stridors MM Thread ...

ORIGINAL: Stridor

Actually Rob trenches which sit in the terrain can be done without altering the mesh right now.

Each map has a png called foundation.png created. By default this is 100% non transparent. What you do is to place your trench in the ground (in MM) and then in a paint editor draw transparency over the foundation.png where the trench is and there you go!

However it is not a perfect solution becuase the resolution of the png is not high enough to correctly cover the trench (it almost is). However it is an easy fix to simply extend the ground cover of the trench model such that it covers over the "steps in the png foundation mask resolution". You wouldn't need to extend it by very much either. This is kinda like what you have proposed expect this solution will keep the trench under ground so there won't be any LOS issues.

You're always thinking Rob [:D]

Yeah ... I think too much[;)] .... OK, I built the darn mounds anyway ... but I'll leave the dirt piles for now .... if folks have problems messing with the foundationPNG I can expand on the idea ... SS below are just examples (sorry to clutter your MM thread) ... at the very least they can be used for , say, dirt mounds, yeah we need dirt mounds [:D].

[Mraah]

Junk2drive's suggestion .... sandbags ... which I think is a great suggestion!

[Stridor]

Looks great Rob,

May want to tidy up the UV mapping on the sandbags [;)]

Also worthwhile checking that LOS is ok indside and outside the trench.

Great

S.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Stridor

May want to tidy up the UV mapping on the sandbags [;)]

Yeah, the bags are quite huge ... I'll have to redo the sandbag DDS so when it "wraps" it will look better ... but it does have ridges in the mesh, like near the firing mounds. The bags are from PCOWS so the top part wasn't included, this contains the snowy cap. I suppose I could UV the mesh faces individually with the bags.

Also worthwhile checking that LOS is ok indside and outside the trench.

LOS should work fine ... it will be a mountable object with "hasheight" and my previous testing with LOS and polygons etc ... it should be ok ... But as always, yes, an LOS check needs to be done [:)]

At any rate ... it's an idea to move along with and I can detail the bags and tidy it up if anyone seems interested in the whole thing. I just slapped the thing together right quick.

Thanks for looking!
Rob

[benpark]

I like it.

Will there be a gun pit?

[Mraah]

Benpark,

Yeah, I could redo the AT & Tank dugout's too ... kharkov_dugout_AT01, kharkov_dugout_tank01.

From the screenshot in MS3D you can see where the ground level is and how much extra I would have to add after resetting the ground level. Again, this will allow folks to plop the new dugouts onto the map without having to mess with the foundationPNG. I've never messed with the foundation thing like Stidor mentioned ... I never knew about it in the first place!

Rob

[benpark]

I like this solution. They look great. The easier it is for people to just drop them onto their map, the better.

It's just harder for the person making it in the first place...

[junk2drive]

Pillboxes and bunkers must be next?

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: junk2drive

Pillboxes and bunkers must be next?

Yeah ... Earlier I took the Pillbox from PCOWS and mapped Saf Bifa's windmill texture on. This created a wooden pillbox/bunker type structure.

To make this into a pillbox for an AT Gun I would have to modify the gun slits along the front and side. Also, to prevent the AT Gun inside the pillbox from rotating more than 90 degress (45 either side) there would have to be an obstruction behind it covering the remaining 270 degrees. An obstuction could be more bunker type complexes behind it with the "red" terrain map (ie like the houses). This should prevent the AT gun from swinging around to target units behind it. Of course, the pillbox by itself would cause the gun to engage 360 degrees ... so, if we wanted a pillbox to have 360 degrees of coverage then I'd have to make a cylindrical (octagon,hexagon) type pillbox with a 360 degree slit.

Also, back to the trench-mound idea ... I could modify the original design to allow it to be modular with several different variaties ... this way you could make a huge interconnecting trench complex with each "piece" mountable. And, since the pieces are given "HasHeight" your troops can run along the top and still benefit from the cover before actually mounting the trench ... I do believe you get better cover mounted but I'm not too sure, ie an extra -1 to accuracy ... I dunno.

Rob