GEIST

Having some fun with some 'flyover' screengrabs. Unit placement will be tricky when adding any sort of fields as the ground is not flat. They will always be a bit sunken into - but that's for later to worry about.

Thanks! The first version will be for the Gulf map. There are large unpopulated areas in the north so it's the perfect area to customize. I am not ruling out a caucasus version if this works as expected, but probably a bit further down the line.

Started putting together assets for the upcoming AH64 Release. Plan is to build a small city/village where things look a bit more realistic. I personally do not like the villages/cities on the maps too much. Does look a bit like games from the 2000s. I wish they would spend their time making everything work med-res instead of adding all this super hi-res detail that nobody ever sees. Anyways. First item is factory. Next I'll try and get some surrounding buildings so it's not quite so lonely. The list of things to do is long but I thought I'll start a thread to share the progress and see if anyone has some ideas. cheers

Looks like that needed to get verified but is there now: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3320627/

Should now be available in the downloads section. Cheers

Looks really great! One thing that is really noticeable and hopefully easy to change is what looks like a kids drawing of grass. That's not how grass looks like irl - if you can replace that with something more realistic (and also that looks decent as a LOD it could go a long way). This is the MSFS grass. Just one alpha map that needs to be replaced and everything would look so much better. Thanks.

Please keep in mind that SSAO generally speaking looks a bit s*** - it flickers and doesn't always appear in the correct spots. BUT I do like the idea of having Raytraced AO (maybe that can be only feature to keep it fast) could help a lot for the look of the planes and the world.

More progress. I hope nobody minds me adding all this here: Found this on a ship .lua The last line would probably give some indication on how the connectors are define. Now the last missing piece is how to define a .edm file for this part of the code: set_recursive_metatable(GT.WS[ws], GT_t.WS_t.ship_TOMAHAWK ) -- Tomahawk rear ws = GT_t.inc_ws(); GT.WS[ws] = {} set_recursive_metatable(GT.WS[ws], GT_t.WS_t.ship_TOMAHAWK ) GT.WS[ws].area = 'Bort_Col_Top' GT.WS[ws].center = 'POINT_MK_41_40' GT.WS[ws].LN[1].PL[1].ammo_capacity = 16; GT.WS[ws].LN[1].max_number_of_missiles_channels = 16; -- unlimited GT.WS[ws].LN[1].BR = { {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_33', recoilArgument = 209, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_34', recoilArgument = 210, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_35', recoilArgument = 211, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_36', recoilArgument = 212, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_37', recoilArgument = 213, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_38', recoilArgument = 214, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_39', recoilArgument = 215, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_40', recoilArgument = 216, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_41', recoilArgument = 217, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_42', recoilArgument = 218, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_43', recoilArgument = 219, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_44', recoilArgument = 220, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_45', recoilArgument = 221, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_46', recoilArgument = 222, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_47', recoilArgument = 223, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, {connector_name = 'POINT_MK_41_48', recoilArgument = 224, recoilT0 = -2, recoilT1 = -1, recoilT2 = 1.0, recoilTime = 2}, } The tomahawk model is not part of the ship edm. So it must be spawned there somehow....

More code snippets: This time from the F-16 pylons. I would assume that it would need to look something like that to define the connectors in the lua file. Pylons = { pylon(1, 0, -2.2, 0.002, -4.739, { arg = 308, arg_value = 0, use_full_connector_position = true, connector = "Pylon1", }, tips, 1 ) } Now checking the payloads.lua makes everything a lot more cryptic. The previously defined pylons are mentioned but not by name. Instead by this CLSID (I had hoped it would be either the name or arg statement from above). Anyone who created pylons on a plane mod.. how did you connect the payloads to the pylons? local unitPayloads = { ["name"] = "F-16C_50", ["payloads"] = { [1] = { ["name"] = "AIM-120C*2, AIM-9X*2, MK-82*6, FUEL*2, TGP", ["pylons"] = { [1] = { ["CLSID"] = "{40EF17B7-F508-45de-8566-6FFECC0C1AB8}", ["num"] = 1, },

I found this snipped of code from the map editor titled Details & Subobjects: Obviously this is very old and from the map and not shapes.edm editor. But anyone with some lua knowledge maybe can make sense of this? test cubes lods=1. max dist=150.000000(auto=1498.201538) semantics=Sea,Undef distances: DP_MAIN=150.000000, DP_SHADOWS=0.000000, DP_REFLECTION=0.000000, DP_MAX=0.000000 No collision shape connectors: detail:barrel[5] view distance=600.000000 subobject:barrel[5] Lods: lod 0: center=(-2.500000, 1.500000, 2.500000) radius=5.852350 prior bias: 0/structured prior bias: 0/merged: 1[288-24]/boxtype=MAIN computeSemantic="" shaderDefine="STANDARTSTRUCTURE" ------Main: distance 0-0-100-160 verts=00048/00072 semantic="Building" material=VaryHouse4.1 ----------------------------------------------------------- LODS COUNT:1

I got one step closer but still need to put it all together. I added connectors and in the Modelviewer I can simply connect a new shape.edm to it. So that works well and how I'd like it to. But I couldn't find any reference on how that would look like in lua code (or maybe that can be done in a mission editor?) Is there any code ref on how that would work? connectors: GT.connector = (ConnectorA,"ModelPatchA"); GT.connector = (ConnectorB,"ModelPatchB"); Or something like that? I found the kneeboard mod which somehow managed to attach the kneeboard to the knees - but unfortunately the files are not available anymore.

Ah btw - this is for more terrain assets that I am working on. But I do need to split them out into different parts to be able to get the resolution I want to. Just trying to check on how to best approach it. Cheers!

Hi, how does one combine edm shapes into a single mod. Ships/Aircraft carriers are using several shapes merged into a single asset so it must be possible somehow. Can't seem to figure this out on how to merge them together in a .lua file. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

No luck with the foliage unfortunately without the map editor. I'll probably make 2/3 versions with different resolutions so it works on various spec machines... hopefully I can share it very soon.

Inegrated it a bit better. Still looking into the foliage thing atm

Hi, I was wondering if it's possible to add instanced objets to an .edm file? I have a small island and I'd like to instance a few pieces of foliage on top - how would that work? I am using blender for the .edm export.

Yeah, absolutely. I need to find out if it's possible to instance within an .edm file. If yes, then there wouldn't be an issue to put foliage and fine detail all over the island to make it hold up a bit better in closeups. Just starting to look into all that stuff. Down the line it would be nice to make a photobased town for the helichoppers. Could look cool I think, but would probably would only work on a 3090

I've been playing around with the integration of a few "Environment Assets" to see how DCS will handle it. There are a few issues, but overall it does work quite well and performance is holding up okay too. To be fair this thing here is not meant for closeup flyovers and you can't place any units on it but from a distance it does add a bit of realism I think. It's a fun excercise and I'll prop this up a bit more and work on a better integration if anyone's interested in the northern islands. This is Anatahan.

Playing around with the integration - still needs to be a bit better and the foliage is missing. Probably too small as well. The main problem is that the trees covering the flat island underneath cast a shadow even if they are covered by another object. But once it's complete I'll share the file and if ED wants to use please be my guest!

Hey, I'd like to see that in the game as well and put the island together earliert today. Obviously still needs the foliage and a proper integration to the map. If the team and you guys are interested, is there a way to share that with the community or pass to the ED maps team to add to the game somehow?

I guess that's what I am getting at. The planes look incredible, with detail down to last detail based on scans and reference images - the maps however have a bit of a comical look to them and for some reason not using any sort of photoscan technology. I hope they can implement sth like (UE4) Nanite to allow for this on the tech side and just send a guy (or girl) with a camera to the places (like marianas) and rent a helicopter for 2-3 days. Get all the data you need to make a photoreal environment. There is just a bit of a discrepancy between the planes and the environments...

No, don't get me wrong the map does look great! It's a big step up but I guess what I am saying is I think there is room to improve it further and I don't think this needs to take forever. It's mainly the map base that I think could need some love. The things you're pointing out will definitely help but I think updating the base terrain doesn't need to be a crazy complex task either. Threw this together today (Anatahan, another island a bit further north which didn't quite make it into the map) and I think with some dressing on top to make it work a bit more closeup that could be quite cool... and it feels maybe a bit more real. Just hoping ED will push this further. Cheerio

Interesting you say that. For me it's very clear what is what. It's particularly clear on the mountains where most of the terrain shape and texture variations are missing. Added a bit more hires version here: