Al Tanf

[Vanguard]

Can someone explain why Al Tanf US airbase is completely modeled, yet is missing the airfield designation on the map and I can't place any aircraft there?

[shu77]

map reference?

[shu77]

nevermind, found it, cool, theres nothing stopping you using it as a FARP, but yeah its not a "field", compared to the other heliports though it is pretty small

[Vanguard]

Pretty small? Maybe we're not talking about the same thing... Its got numerous hand bunkers and the US main airbase in the region. Its the airport I would assume most missions would use, I guess I'm in the minority lol.

 

[AbuMuqawama]

The thing in the map image is a border control point, the importance of At Tanf being that it is the location where the Damascus-Baghdad highway passes through, that is the border control point that the US seeks to control due to that reason.

 

I looked and didn't find an airfield near there.

[FoxOne007]

Pretty small? Maybe we're not talking about the same thing... Its got numerous hand bunkers and the US main airbase in the region. Its the airport I would assume most missions would use, I guess I'm in the minority lol.

 

 

You are looking at 2 completely different locations

[shu77]

lol yes thats not the one I was looking at :)

[shu77]

I have to admit I am wondering what the engine limitations currently are for number of airfields.

We have 33 towered airfields in game at present by my count which is more than any other map. Leaving aside the hard ceiling on the RAM thats created by the way it currently works I was wondering how they could possibly get 9 more fields for Cyprus in without some sort of change, so this could possibly be related to that?

[QuiGon]

I have to admit I am wondering what the engine limitations currently are for number of airfields.

We have 33 towered airfields in game at present by my count which is more than any other map. Leaving aside the hard ceiling on the RAM thats created by the way it currently works I was wondering how they could possibly get 9 more fields for Cyprus in without some sort of change, so this could possibly be related to that?

Could you elobarote why ther would be a hard limit for the number of airfields?

Also I don't think they will do every single airfield on Cyprus anyway...

[shu77]

I havent seen a definitive explanation on this, but I understand the number of objects on a Map as total influences the minimum RAM requirement so there are several comments along the way about areas not being added to NTTR or PG because it would push the minimum RAM requirement over the 8GB min spec. So I have been amazed at how much has been delivered with Syria for that fact alone, but leaving it aside most computer programs work of Arrays and multiples of 2, so 32 airfields as was the case for PG is 2^5=32. That in mind it would have been reasonable to assume the engine only allowed for 32 fields but here was are with 33, so clearly, not, but you would expect there is an upper limit somewhere. At the same time its not unreasonable to speculate if the table does allow for 33 fields max that it could be modified to handle more. Having visited all 33 fields in the last few days I have been fairly impressed with the diversity and completeness of them all even if a Few of the Syrian fields are a little sparse (Though I believe this reflects how they are in real life. )

 

I dont have any baseline for this just speculating on what I have read and the comments around Cyprus. I'd be really interested in how the engine works if anyone from ED has a comment?

 

I also know that while a lot of people are agitating for Akrotiri. Theres a similar number suggesting you need Cyprus in total. I dont know the area and cant really comment, beyond there seems to be 9-10 airfields there, I've found 9 in my research but it does look like theres a 10th on the High Res Map Asherao published, so it is a big jump.

 

But would similarly be an awesome addition and would be in keeping with the kinda theme of this map of being quite large but having little self contained combat zones so it would be nice to see it modelled properly.

[Darcaem]

I havent seen a definitive explanation on this, but I understand the number of objects on a Map as total influences the minimum RAM requirement so there are several comments along the way about areas not being added to NTTR or PG because it would push the minimum RAM requirement over the 8GB min spec. So I have been amazed at how much has been delivered with Syria for that fact alone, but leaving it aside most computer programs work of Arrays and multiples of 2, so 32 airfields as was the case for PG is 2^5=32. That in mind it would have been reasonable to assume the engine only allowed for 32 fields but here was are with 33, so clearly, not, but you would expect there is an upper limit somewhere. At the same time its not unreasonable to speculate if the table does allow for 33 fields max that it could be modified to handle more. Having visited all 33 fields in the last few days I have been fairly impressed with the diversity and completeness of them all even if a Few of the Syrian fields are a little sparse (Though I believe this reflects how they are in real life. )

 

I dont have any baseline for this just speculating on what I have read and the comments around Cyprus. I'd be really interested in how the engine works if anyone from ED has a comment?

 

I also know that while a lot of people are agitating for Akrotiri. Theres a similar number suggesting you need Cyprus in total. I dont know the area and cant really comment, beyond there seems to be 9-10 airfields there, I've found 9 in my research but it does look like theres a 10th on the High Res Map Asherao published, so it is a big jump.

 

But would similarly be an awesome addition and would be in keeping with the kinda theme of this map of being quite large but having little self contained combat zones so it would be nice to see it modelled properly.

 

 

I don't really believe it has anything to do with that. Why would you implement it in such a way that limits so much the number of available objects? Also, why an array would be limited to only 32 items? It has no sense either in LUA or C.

 

 

 

If there is such limitation, I believe it would be related with the memory available on the client's hardware size, as you said, rather than the programming itseld, and thus with the number of "items" on the map, rather than number of airfields. I mean, each different item that needs memory allocation (different trees, different buildings, anything esentialy that has to be modeled on the map and is unique). I guess you can implement as many airfields as you like, the choke point are items, so you can implement a ton of very simple airfields, or a limited number of very complex ones.

 

 

 

Sorry, just mental wandering while doing a coffee break :music_whistling:

 

 

My point is, I hope there is no such limitation for the number of airfields available per map, and those not modeled are just design choices.

 

 

 

And on-topic again. Thanks for sharing the finding, I've reading about that military base on Wikipedia, good to know about it to include it on missoins :thumbup:

[QuiGon]

I havent seen a definitive explanation on this, but I understand the number of objects on a Map as total influences the minimum RAM requirement so there are several comments along the way about areas not being added to NTTR or PG because it would push the minimum RAM requirement over the 8GB min spec. So I have been amazed at how much has been delivered with Syria for that fact alone, but leaving it aside most computer programs work of Arrays and multiples of 2, so 32 airfields as was the case for PG is 2^5=32. That in mind it would have been reasonable to assume the engine only allowed for 32 fields but here was are with 33, so clearly, not, but you would expect there is an upper limit somewhere. At the same time its not unreasonable to speculate if the table does allow for 33 fields max that it could be modified to handle more. Having visited all 33 fields in the last few days I have been fairly impressed with the diversity and completeness of them all even if a Few of the Syrian fields are a little sparse (Though I believe this reflects how they are in real life. )

 

I dont have any baseline for this just speculating on what I have read and the comments around Cyprus. I'd be really interested in how the engine works if anyone from ED has a comment?

 

I also know that while a lot of people are agitating for Akrotiri. Theres a similar number suggesting you need Cyprus in total. I dont know the area and cant really comment, beyond there seems to be 9-10 airfields there, I've found 9 in my research but it does look like theres a 10th on the High Res Map Asherao published, so it is a big jump.

 

But would similarly be an awesome addition and would be in keeping with the kinda theme of this map of being quite large but having little self contained combat zones so it would be nice to see it modelled properly.

I'm a software developer myself and I don't see how there would be a hard limit on airfields. I can see a limit on map objects in general, but not for airfields as such. Airfields themselves consists of many map objects.

 

 

Edit:

Pretty much this:

If there is such limitation, I believe it would be related with the memory available on the client's hardware size, as you said, rather than the programming itseld, and thus with the number of "items" on the map, rather than number of airfields.

[FoxOne007]

I havent seen a definitive explanation on this, but I understand the number of objects on a Map as total influences the minimum RAM requirement so there are several comments along the way about areas not being added to NTTR or PG because it would push the minimum RAM requirement over the 8GB min spec. So I have been amazed at how much has been delivered with Syria for that fact alone, but leaving it aside most computer programs work of Arrays and multiples of 2, so 32 airfields as was the case for PG is 2^5=32. That in mind it would have been reasonable to assume the engine only allowed for 32 fields but here was are with 33, so clearly, not, but you would expect there is an upper limit somewhere. At the same time its not unreasonable to speculate if the table does allow for 33 fields max that it could be modified to handle more. Having visited all 33 fields in the last few days I have been fairly impressed with the diversity and completeness of them all even if a Few of the Syrian fields are a little sparse (Though I believe this reflects how they are in real life. )

 

I dont have any baseline for this just speculating on what I have read and the comments around Cyprus. I'd be really interested in how the engine works if anyone from ED has a comment?

 

I also know that while a lot of people are agitating for Akrotiri. Theres a similar number suggesting you need Cyprus in total. I dont know the area and cant really comment, beyond there seems to be 9-10 airfields there, I've found 9 in my research but it does look like theres a 10th on the High Res Map Asherao published, so it is a big jump.

 

But would similarly be an awesome addition and would be in keeping with the kinda theme of this map of being quite large but having little self contained combat zones so it would be nice to see it modelled properly.

 

If the RAM thing is in fact a factor as to why maps like NTTR and PG are so limited then ED should seriously update those min. reqs. to 16GB, it's 2020 who still has 8GB in a gaming PC....:music_whistling:

[Vanguard]

You are looking at 2 completely different locations

 

Indeed I was:doh:

 

I created a quick mission centered there, and hit F10 and that's where I was. I guess it snapped me to the closest airport in 3D view, but the map remained centered where it was in the ME. After hitting Shift-F11, I see it's not the same thing.

[Vanguard]

Re the RAM usage, the airfields are minimal. Goto DCS/Mods/terrain/<map>/AirfieldsTaxiways. Airports are less than 100Kb of metadata describing the x,y,z location of taxiways, parkings, etc. Drop in the bucket compared to the 3D rendering of the objects that make up the airport. I doubt there is a limit on number of airfields.