Author Topic: FH2 Modding Q&A  (Read 143177 times)

Offline hitm4k3r

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #900 on: 27-06-2016, 21:06:15 »
I think the rastered mesh is down to the file type and bit count. I fiddled a bit with this stuff and terragen files offer the best results. So I export the terrain with 3DEM as a terragen.file and not as a GeoTiff and load the terragen file into GeoControl. That's another point, where 3DEM just offers better options. The terragen file is not as much rastered as the GeoTiff file. Only thing I do afterwards is applying my terrain post production filters like errosion and some smoothing. After that all the colormaps and detailmaps in Geocontroll aswell and undergrowth based on the detail textures. I save the finished terrain in GeoControll as tiff file to split it with the BF2heightmaptool. No smoothing required after that.

I might make a more in depth tutorial/devblog about this workflow at one point, but I just lack the time right now. It is certainly very usefull, not only for BF2 engine.

Offline MajorMajor

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #901 on: 27-06-2016, 22:06:19 »
When you move around the dem with microdem it will show you the GPS coordinates at the bottom I think.  You can then correlate it with google earth.  You may have to change the coordinates format in google earth to match the numbers in microdem.

Many thanks. God, I need to start figuring out the obvious stuff by myself.  :P

I think the rastered mesh is down to the file type and bit count. I fiddled a bit with this stuff and terragen files offer the best results. So I export the terrain with 3DEM as a terragen.file and not as a GeoTiff and load the terragen file into GeoControl. That's another point, where 3DEM just offers better options. The terragen file is not as much rastered as the GeoTiff file. Only thing I do afterwards is applying my terrain post production filters like errosion and some smoothing. After that all the colormaps and detailmaps in Geocontroll aswell and undergrowth based on the detail textures. I save the finished terrain in GeoControll as tiff file to split it with the BF2heightmaptool. No smoothing required after that.

I might make a more in depth tutorial/devblog about this workflow at one point, but I just lack the time right now. It is certainly very usefull, not only for BF2 engine.

I've had a look at 3DEM and it sure seems like a much more comfortable tool. Is it possible to get GeoControl for free though? This is the first of the eleven programmes I've had to install so far for mapping that seems to be a commercial product.

Offline hitm4k3r

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #902 on: 27-06-2016, 23:06:39 »
I am not sure wether you can still get GeoControll. I think the company changed and they are planning to release a new software called World Creator. An alternative would be using Terragen:

http://planetside.co.uk/products/download-terragen-3

But I am not that used to terragen.

As with most of those softwares: they are not for free but you can try demos or get some trial time. When you are starting with mapping should be a good start. If you want to do some more advanced errosion stuff you can also import your terrain into UnrealEngine 4 and work a bit with errosion brushes. It is not as advanced as those procedural terrain tools, that are specialized for such tasks obviously, but it is a good start.
« Last Edit: 27-06-2016, 23:06:52 by hitm4k3r »

Offline 0utlaw

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #903 on: 28-06-2016, 05:06:51 »
some helpful tips here for people new to bf2 mapping in general, good luck   ;)

https://web.archive.org/web/20141006173310/http://www.bfeditor.org/forums/index.php?

Offline MajorMajor

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #904 on: 28-06-2016, 08:06:27 »
I am not sure wether you can still get GeoControll. I think the company changed and they are planning to release a new software called World Creator. An alternative would be using Terragen:

http://planetside.co.uk/products/download-terragen-3

But I am not that used to terragen.

As with most of those softwares: they are not for free but you can try demos or get some trial time. When you are starting with mapping should be a good start. If you want to do some more advanced errosion stuff you can also import your terrain into UnrealEngine 4 and work a bit with errosion brushes. It is not as advanced as those procedural terrain tools, that are specialized for such tasks obviously, but it is a good start.

Oh yes, I have indeed downloaded Terragen 3 since Ferning's tutorials make use of it. I'll fiddle around with it.


some helpful tips here for people new to bf2 mapping in general, good luck   ;)

https://web.archive.org/web/20141006173310/http://www.bfeditor.org/forums/index.php?

Thank you, I'll take a good look since I'm still confused about lots of things in mapping.

By the way, sorry for converting this thread into "Major Major Asks Questions and Gets Answered".  ;D

Offline MajorMajor

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #905 on: 02-07-2016, 15:07:51 »
While setting up the roads and railways for my map today, I realised that my heightmap doesn't reflect the elevation of this part of the village really well. The rail line is protected by an "earth wall" (sorry, I don't know how to properly transtlate this), and the main road passes over the railway. In editor it looks horrible:



(BTW: I know that I should probably place the railway spline only after the terrain is done, but I realised the problem with the heightmap after having applied it. This is the test version of the level anyway)

So, is the modify terraint tool the best way to create the "earthwall(s)"? Also, I've got no real option but changing the elevation of the surrounding terrain so the bridge just doesn't hang in the air, don't I? Other than changing their course so they are parallel, but that would be cheap, wouldn't it  ;D.

Offline Ts4EVER

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #906 on: 02-07-2016, 15:07:52 »
Heightdata is usually too low res to reflect such minute changes in elevation, you need to do that by hand.

Offline GeoPat

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #907 on: 02-07-2016, 23:07:55 »
Yeah, you should do that stuff by hand and ramp the road up enough to cover your bridgeheads.  I'm not sure that railway road template is a good idea.  There are railroad statics that everyone seems to use instead.

Offline Ts4EVER

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #908 on: 03-07-2016, 00:07:05 »
If you do it cleverly you can use road splines to edit terrain as well, by using the "apply spline" function. You will need to experiment a bit though.

Offline PapillonFH

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #909 on: 03-07-2016, 11:07:10 »
Apply spline is a very mighty tool. in the editor, from my pov the only reliable way to create slopes, ramps, ridges

Offline MajorMajor

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #910 on: 03-07-2016, 12:07:31 »
How would you create a ridge by using "apply spline", though? I have been using that to create flat roads, as shown in the Dukla Pass devblog. I'm looking right now at the spline options, and I can modify width but nothing related to height.

EDIT: Ok, nvm, you must move the nodes by hand, then apply spline.  ::)

Also yes, I agree, the railway spline didn't look good at all. I will make it out of statics as shown in the Prokhorovka devblog.
« Last Edit: 03-07-2016, 12:07:32 by MajorMajor »

Offline hitm4k3r

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #911 on: 03-07-2016, 16:07:21 »
About the height scale in general:

there is a setting called terrain height that is at 163 and a few at default. As Ts4ever allready explained, real terrain doesn't have that extreme scale that you see in computer games and it gets even more noticable when you consider the fact, that 1000 m in real life are something like 500m in the game world in BF2. The same principle applies to the height. So when you have a terrain with 100m height difference between max and min altitude you have to scale up the height accordingly and make it twice as high to get the general terrain right. Note that with 200 you get pretty steep elevations with that setting. Sometimes I feel, that you need to apply even more upscaling than that and sometimes a bit less to get a nice playable terrain. But you don't have to do that manualy and make hills with the terrain brush.

Use the mentioned terrain height setting and play around a bit with that setting, place some objects like your bridge and some buildings and use the soldier cam in the editor to run around a bit and see how the scaling works and looks. You can adjust the setting on the fly until you are happy with it. Important is that you do that at the start when you have your terrain freshly imported, because your manually brushed hills will get scalled aswell.

I hope that helps  ;)
« Last Edit: 03-07-2016, 16:07:21 by hitm4k3r »

Offline MajorMajor

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #912 on: 09-07-2016, 11:07:55 »
How do I import a colormap into the editor? I managed to do it once using tsplit so I could have an aerial photograph as the colourmap to place the most relevant statics (a mistake, since I can do that just fine with a hemimap). Now however, I want to start playing around with texturing, so I created a basic colormap in Geocontrol, but even though I pasted my colourmap into levelname/editor, it doesn't show up in-editor (it doesn't matter wether I use Ferning's way with tpaint or the alternative tsplit method).

Offline 0utlaw

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #913 on: 09-07-2016, 22:07:33 »
ive never used tsplit, instead i  always use the bf2 mod tool kit. not sure if a download of that is still available, but i may have the .exe if wanted.

Offline MajorMajor

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Re: FH2 Modding Q&A
« Reply #914 on: 10-07-2016, 09:07:57 »
ive never used tsplit, instead i  always use the bf2 mod tool kit. not sure if a download of that is still available, but i may have the .exe if wanted.

Sure, I appreciate it if you sent me the exe. I'm still confused about the tsplit thing, though. I did exactly the same thing I did the first time it worked: split the tga into smaller dds files, and paste them into levelname/editor/colormaps. And it won't work.  ???

I'm open to any alternative methods.