[Map] Russian Farmlands (2km) [WIP]

[Machin1st]

A very early editor shot!

This isn't in anyway a completed scene, more details to be added, sky and lighting etc...

[Zeno]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]Deer

Heh im working on similar map =)

what map?

[Jonny]

You should probably double up the lines for the factory. One part for loading/unloading, the other for trains to bypass the goods yard. You could even have a single siding going into the goods yard, rather than a short doubled up length of tracks, if you want to save a little bit of space.

Move the pressure vessel in range of the crane, it is freight just like the shipping containers are, but for a liquid. If you want it to be in use then move it somewhere else in the facility, its in the way of the main access route to the goods yard where it currently is and is costing the owners money.

The container crane track should be clearly marked, and a walkway/forklift access route provided on the factory side of the crane for getting at the crane and contents of the containers, and a decent size walkway on the other side so you can get to the fence safely. You will probably need to move the factory building back a little bit for that.

Make sure you leave a decent sized gap between all containers, they all need to be opened and loaded/unloaded while in the goods yard and you just cant do that without adequate space. You see containers being packed closely on muttrah because that is a different kind of facility, its simply a hub to connect shipping lanes to motorways, so few containers need to be opened and unloaded.

Can you post up aerial SSs in future? Its far easier to spot inconsistancies/dodgy static placement with aerial SSs than with ground level SSs.

[Machin1st]

A few more shots:

EDIT: Imageshack is being retarded :/









EDIT: Some things doesnt draw properly...

Regarding the railway, yea i know there should be a way for trains to pass, the problem is that the crossing/splitting piece is insanely large and separates the rails at an angle, this can be compensated with a two bends, but then you have them 20 meters apart... I am working on this dont worry

As for the rest of your feedback, Im working on that too, this isnt in anyway a finshed scene...

[Jonny]

Image 1:
Lamp post is way out of place, you should be using industrial flood lighting systems or its a health and safety violation.

All that wood and those 2 crates are blocking what seems to be the main enterence to a warehouse. They should be moved to somewhere beside a wall that doesn't have doors in it.

That little bin there seems very out of place being right next to a skip. It would be far easier to have the bins in one designated area, and cleaners move rubbish from all the little bins inside the offices to that designated area.

Image 2:
Needs more staking of objects there. That space could hold a LOT more than what it currently does, and you dont want to have to stack anything dangerously as its going to hurt when it falls on you.

You probably shouldn't have any skips under those rooves, either, they could prove very difficult to get out. Sinse skips would only contain rubbish, it doesn't need to be under any roof at all and can be left out in the open, near the designated area for the bins.

Image 3:
The green warehouse in the background needs to be filled with something, you just cannot have an empty warehouse building like that. have a look on google for some decent refs of a factory floor and try to do something similar. You have a PR object called a mezzanine that would fit well, and I know that they can be stacked with a static to join the flights of stairs up. Remember that you will need 2 'loading bay' areas to justify the huge doors (one at each end), and you will need to seperate those from the processing area with a wall of some sort. Alternatively, see comments on image 4 for an alternative building with all that dont for you.

The stacking in front of the forklift needs to change, just like that stacking in image 2. It should really be replaced by an open container with some boxes inside. You can make good use of the single pallet object here, by using it to support a stack of boxes in a shipping container and on a forklift. You can also have a pallet half-filled, by placing no pallet under the boxes in the container, but its best not to do that if you can get enough vareity without it.

The trailer with the container on it should be removed. This seems like a single factory, rather than somewhere serving as a rail freight hub for other factories, so unless someone wants to go and pay for the hiring of the equipment and operators its unlikely that the trailer would be there.

Lamp post on the right should be replaced with industrial flood lighting.

Image 4:
Very dodgy layout. I would move the sheet-metal-rooved shelters to the right and place the reb-brick-walled factory behind them, butting the edge of it right up against the fence and having only 2 shelters. I would avoid the guard houses unless they are placed next to an enterance, otherwise they dont make sense. You then have space to double up the railway, or provide a siding to serve the factory.

On to the far side of it, Those two warehouse buildings look out of place in such a small factory. I think the SF chemical processing plant would be a better building as it has a decent amount of interior decoration. Any significant space remaining that you cant plausibly claim is a carpark can then be filled by an office building or a closed factory building.

There is a second trailer-container thing in the foreground that seems out of place, too.

Why is there a random grain silo?

This layout thing is why you should post aerial pics. Its no good getting each little area perfect if you have a silly layout.

Not image related stuff:
By doubling up the railway or adding a siding you are going to loose some real estate in the factory boundary, dont worry much about that as you can always change it into a distribution hub if it becomes too small to plausibly be a factory.

Consider using the liquid containers instead of some of the shipping ones if you switch the main factory building to the SF chemical plant. Dont have it all being one kind of container though, either way you will likely need a mixture of solids and liquids to operate the factory.

You might find it easier having a single vehicle enterance to the factory, a fence is easier to make than a decent enterance and its no less realistic if there is just a single enterance.

I advise you just block out large areas at this stage. Only place the major statics, rather than all the details you are currently trying to place. While there can still be major changes to layout (and mean really major changes, your factory could be replaced by an apartment complex) you really should not be thinking about small details. Get the main layout right before you start on the biggest part of the mapping process, or you will waste many hours of your time.

[Machin1st]

Johnny thanks for the feedback, i have ditched the warehouses ( I was going to fill them ) for the chemical plant, i must say it made it look alot better... I also found the floodlights The area will be finished later.

I will most likely have to revisit the early areas later as this is my first attempt on mapping

I also added the second railway to allow for passing trains.

Anyways the work continues and I'm working on the rest of the village, more screens to come later...

I have a few more questions!

Am I always supposed to use the LOD vegitation for performance?

Is there anyway to get under/overgrowth to render in the editor?

I have a few small green patches within the village, i was planning on using static placement for trees here, a couple of hundred maximum, will it cause any complications?

Thanks in advance!

[[R-DEV]J.F.Leusch69]

you should only use te LODs (Level Of Detail) of the trees (called something like "tree_XY_lod1" when you want overgrowth at your surrounding terrain. if you place the normal trees on the map, it might CTD (Crash To Desktop) or something else strange will happen.

the editor can render different things, under the tab in the left upper corner called "Render" and than you can selcet/disselect things like under/overgrowth, VD (view distance) to either editor (VD=1000m) or level etc

and you can place vegetation by hand without anyproblems.

for the futur if you have a certian problem (like renderfunction) you can easily search of tutorial at the bfeditor forums

cheers and keep going

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]J.F.Leusch69

and you can place vegetation by hand without anyproblems.

You will probably need to do this in the forest anyway, I think thats the only way to sink the trees into the ground so that they look like really big bushes.


When you come to lightmaping, you will find the SF chemical plant has no lightmap samples. You can LM it in 3dsmax if you have it, or ask rhino to do it when you have finished everything else. Its nothing to worry about, just dont be surprised when the editor wont LM it.

[Machin1st]

Many thanks!

I've used the BF2editor forums and google alot, but sometimes a straight answer is what i need.

So I'm supposed to place just the regular tree within each folder for the map, and the lods in the surrounding terrain?

Another question, is it possible to change the texture settings AFTER it's been painted, or do I need to know exactly which color, saturation, texture i want right from the start?

Yea I think i can manage the lightmapping, following instructions isnt really that hard :P

But the lightmapping is still somewhere on the horizon

[[R-DEV]Amok@ndy]

you can change the texture settings anytime you want !
but if you painted an area with layer 1 and then change the detailtexture the whole area will get the detailtexture you selected !