New map/terrain technology

[Corvine]

I've seen this mentioned in different places (latest was in an update on the Syria map), but never going into any detail - just that it will be coming out in a future update. Is there any more info about what this new tech means? I've noticed that the coastline in the Caucasus map is a bit "flat". Can this be a fix?

[Qiou87]

I think ED is refining their SDK to make maps further and further as time goes on ; you can clearly see it going from Caucasus to Persian Gulf for example (cities, lights, coastlines...). It goes a step further in Syria where ground/airport details go further still, or in the Channel where cities are incredibly detailed and coastlines too. The next one to showcase the best technology ED has to offer for terrain will be Marianas, albeit on a very small scale (these islands are tiny).

I could not find a source but my understanding was that Syria and the Channel were already built using a more advanced version of their SDK. On the opposite, Caucasus was built using an older version and this is the reason we are not getting the same improvements to lighting that came with 2.5.6 on this map (or in Nevada), compared to PG or Syria.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Qiou87

[Corvine]

2 hours ago, Qiou87 said:

Caucasus was built using an older version and this is the reason we are not getting the same improvements to lighting that came with 2.5.6 on this map (or in Nevada), compared to PG or Syria.

 

 

Waaaiit.. so there are lighting improvements in 2.5.6 that are unavailable to the Caucasus/Nevada map? (I don't have the Syria/PG maps)

[Mars Exulte]

2 hours ago, Corvine said:

 

Waaaiit.. so there are lighting improvements in 2.5.6 that are unavailable to the Caucasus/Nevada map? (I don't have the Syria/PG maps)

 

  The Caucasus map is a cobbled together mishmash of old and new tech. They didn't make the map from scratch, they just improved what was already there. So, no, it is probably about 50% of what the newest maps are like that have been made since then.

[REDEYE_CVW-66]

Caucasus actually have decent night-lighting after the half-done light upgrade that was done some time ago, but terrible texture work (solved to a degree by quality mods). The NTTR however, does not- with Vegas being invisible until you are practically on top of it.

[rayrayblues]

6 hours ago, REDEYE_CVW-66 said:

NTTR however, does not- with Vegas being invisible until you are practically on top of it.

 Hmmm....I don't own NTTR, but the last time I tried it for free was just after 2.5.6 came out.

I compared it with 2.5.5 and Vegas looked 1000 times better. There were noticeable improvements to PG and Caucasus also.

I made some vids back then flying up and down the strip, but I can't share them because they were lost when the HDD they were stored on died.

I thought Vegas looked great. The way you describe it sounds like how it was in 2.5.5.

[draconus]

2 hours ago, rayrayblues said:

I thought Vegas looked great. The way you describe it sounds like how it was in 2.5.5.

No, NTTR might have got some improvements but it's still a few miles circle around the camera - beyond that most night lights are gone - you don't even get to see all Vegas lights at once. We were promised it will get fixed later on.

Edited March 17, 2021 by draconus

[Northstar98]

As Mars Exulte said, the Caucasus map was basically the same map as the pre 2.5 Caucasus (which predates DCS), and all that was done to upgrade it was it had a mesh resolution increase, redone buildings and structures (some a lot better than others, and some stayed the same). We also got tunnels implemented (though, they're not the best, they seem to have crazy inclines if you go down them - even affecting the railway tunnels). Other than that, the map is basically identical.

 

The SoH/Persian Gulf map on the other hand got a much more advanced lighting system; not only have much more natural looking lights, but lights that scale properly at distance - they're visible from pretty far away, without making them giant opaque orbs like we see in other maps (Syria being the worst offender). I really hope the lighting technology employed in the SoH/Persian gulf map comes to others some day as it really looks a lot better IMO.

 

It seems that new terrain technology is being trialled for the Marianas map, which is going to be essentially a demonstrator for it (a good choice IMO, seeing as the land area is small), we've seen that it'll have a pretty fantastic mesh resolution as seen in some screenshots, not sure what else though. One of the things I'm hoping for is the transition away from flat maps and onto ones that fit on a sphere - as maps get larger, having flat maps becomes less and less accurate, not to mention things like visual LOS being accurately represented for ships out at sea. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Northstar98