Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: eniced73

Thanks. That clears things up. I was getting confused by using the insert key to try and plot my movements from cover to cover.

You'll appreciate another feature added to PCO then - Pathing by Cover. this is another path option like fastest or direct, except when you plot the destination point or waypoint using the Cover path setting, the unit attempts to use the best cover available to reach it's destination. waypoints are also quite helpful of course, between those two options, it is now MUCH easier to move your units and taking advantage of cover.

Rick

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You'll appreciate another feature added to PCO then - Pathing by Cover. this is another path option like fastest or direct, except when you plot the destination point or waypoint using the Cover path setting, the unit attempts to use the best cover available to reach it's destination. waypoints are also quite helpful of course, between those two options, it is now MUCH easier to move your units and taking advantage of cover.

Rick

Definitely looking forward to that. I guess the 'fastest' path will follow roads first before any other terrain type. That would be great

Here's what the terrain map for Urrah looks like that Map Maker generated.

It could be all that you would want to do is draw in the roads.

Good Hunting.

MR

So I'm starting over with the Urrah map. I think it is too large for what I need. I'll keep the other map to use in the random scenarios/campaigns. This one will be a 1.5km per side instead of a 2km per side map. That cuts the area about in half.

Here is the map showing elevation as well as terrain.

You can see that I have 15 structures selected for this map. Those are all set to auto generate trees and brush.

This can be done in any order. I'm just showing you in this order so you can see the effects of 15 simple structure generations.

Notice the one with no light blue box around it. That's the one I set last. On the left of the map you'll see a description in the name box. That's a Beech of Medium stature.

Down directly under the name in the Gens box you will see I told MM to produce 5000 per kilometer of ground. Just to the right of that there is a small box with yellow coloring. That yellow color is where I want those 5000 trees on this map.

Good Hunting.

MR

When MM is finished building the map it gives me a report.

It tells me how many structures, etc. and how long it took to build the map. In this case all we've done is told MM to give us a forest. In varying degrees of density all over this map except where the village will be placed.

When it was done it shows I have 6 textures and 7971 trees. This map is now about half the size of the previous Urrah map used in the AAR. With about the same number of trees.

Let's see what difference that makes in our density.


Good Hunting.

MR

This is what the map looks like now. Do you see more density and depth? More contrast?

That's the thing with Map Maker. As the map builder YOU decide how much, what color, what texture, how sharp or shaded, which structures/where/how many....it's all optional to the designer.

This map is now ready to add a couple of labels, about a dozen houses and another 50-60 trees in the village. Make a couple of height touch ups and it will be ready to fight again. The only thing I used from the 2km map was the terrain art work. I cut it down and resized it to fit and didn't have to redraw all that. Total time so far less than 2 hours.

Good Hunting.

MR

I didn't like the way the brush was being made so I added 4000 to the order. From that I got 209 more brush.

We went from 7971 tree/brush to 8180 tree/brush and the only change I made was to the brush settings.

Now we go see what that looks like on the map.

Good Hunting.

MR

Here are the results. Not what I wanted so I'm adding another 10,000 brush to be generated until I get the density I want.

Good Hunting.

MR

Added another 738 brush to the map.

Good Hunting.

MR

The brushy area now looks like this.

Better but not heavy yet.

Good Hunting.

MR

This build added another 361. We have now added 1308 brush to this map.

Good Hunting.

MR

The brush now looks good. I'll put it in sandy soil or light mud to slow movement through it and it will do what I want.

Good Hunting.

MR

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

The brushy area now looks like this.

Better but not heavy yet.

Good Hunting.

MR

That looks good.

One other thing Harry, you can easily show different depths of the forest by the tree selection you use. You could have beech and oak in the forest, and in deep forest pine and maple. The visual effects would be there that, "this is different".

Good Hunting.

MR

Here are the list of attributes that a color can be given. This is different than the texture assigned the color or the structures assigned to that color.

The attributes are if it's an obstruction, movement factors...etc...

Good Hunting.

MR

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

The brushy area now looks like this.

Better but not heavy yet.

Good Hunting.

MR

looks great! [8D] Much closer to the real thing now.

Also did found remaining questions answered here:

Tree improvement thread

Edit: What´s the lighting condition set for this map? Looks like a somewhat hazy day in the morning. How does that look in bright summer day (noon setting, no clouds or fog? [:)]

The lighting doesn't show up in the Scene Editor where you are seeing these SS taken from.

Good Hunting.

MR

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

The lighting doesn't show up in the Scene Editor where you are seeing these SS taken from.

Good Hunting.

MR

well ok, thanks. [:)]

Well... Can you post a pic with lighting so we can compare with your AAR?

Sure, here's what the lighting looks like.

Good Hunting.

MR