Combined Middle East map

[upyr1]

With the release of the Iraq map, it looks like we have mapped out a good chunk of the area between Egypt and parts of Iran. As DCS now has some code that enables developers to split a map into different regions and gives users the option to fly a low-resolution version of a sub-map they don't have, it would be nice to have a Mideast Map that is built from the Sinai, Syria, Iraq, and Persian Gulf Maps. I know different developers are working on the different maps I don't know enough about the contracts to know if that would be an issue. I could understand there might be technical limits as the combined middle east map would be huge.  Although those issues aside it would be cool to have a  single map that combines all the Mid-East maps.

 

Edited December 14, 2024 by upyr1

[Furiz]

Not sure how it would work with devs but good idea.

Stumbled upon a video recently that shows how to combine maps with trigger zones, really cool.

 

[Mr_sukebe]

I watched that vid earlier. Interesting idea.  Would be even better if the status of the aircraft could be ported from one mission to the next (eg fuel, damage, weapons loaded).

[sirrah]

3 hours ago, Furiz said:

Not sure how it would work with devs but good idea.

Stumbled upon a video recently that shows how to combine maps with trigger zones, really cool.

 

This has been possible already for a very long time and isn't something new (well, the video is, but the functionality isn't).

Also works good for Sinai/Syria. Afghanistan map will be expanded with some sea, but before that, this method allowed coupling PG and Afghanistan, to allow carrier ops.

 

Anyways..

This all works okay-ish as long as the player follows the planned waypoint routes. Not much room for improvised gameplay.

And, of course, not an option for MP.

 

But yes, until we have a global map, it's a workaround

[upyr1]

2 hours ago, Furiz said:

Not sure how it would work with devs but good idea.

Stumbled upon a video recently that shows how to combine maps with trigger zones, really cool.

 

If you don't mind a loading screen, it would work for a single-player mission. Anyway as to how to work with the devs there are two issues at play first is how many developers are involved and second how much overlap is there between the maps.

 

ED is developing the following maps- Persian Gulf, Iraq, so the only reason not to link those two would be ram requirements. 

Sinai is Urga and Syria is One Retech. The first question with these maps is how much (inhabited) overlap is there? As that would take some coordination to make the maps seamless.   

[SharpeXB]

Two factors that would seem to make this impractical or impossible are:

- Performance

- The spherical projection incorporated into these flat maps not aligning with one another.

I assume new technology for the planned global map would be necessary for something like this. Using these existing maps without some substantial rework doesn’t seem possible.

Also I think the game needs a save feature before introducing maps which are too large to be playable. There’s no point in being able to fly from England to Berlin and back if you can save the progress of the mission.

Edited December 14, 2024 by SharpeXB

[upyr1]

29 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

Two factors that would seem to make this impractical or impossible are:

- Performance

- The spherical projection incorporated into these flat maps not aligning with one another.

 

These are two reasons I could see the idea not working, as the maps would be huge and some care would need to be taken to get them seamless. The map developer would really need to corodinate

29 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

I assume new technology for the planned global map would be necessary for something like this. Using these existing maps without some substantial rework doesn’t seem possible.

I don't know enough about the tech side to say one way or the other

29 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

Also I think the game needs a save feature before introducing maps which are too large to be playable. There’s no point in being able to fly from England to Berlin and back if you can save the progress of the mission.

I think this would be necessary for any large mission. If this idea is doable I think it would benefit multiplayer the most. 

[SharpeXB]

1 hour ago, upyr1 said:

I don't know enough about the tech side to say one way or the other

It’s a reasonable guess that this would involve making spherical maps and the ability to stream the content. 

1 hour ago, upyr1 said:

I think this would be necessary for any large mission. If this idea is doable I think it would benefit multiplayer the most.

I figure multiplayer is least likely to use such large maps as this game mode can’t be paused. Such long flights wouldn’t be practical. SP would really need a save game feature IMO to make the use of any larger maps practical. 
 

Edited December 15, 2024 by SharpeXB

[upyr1]

8 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

I figure multiplayer is least likely to use such large maps as this game mode can’t be paused. Such long flights wouldn’t be practical. SP would really need a save game feature IMO to make the use of any larger maps practical. 

While you can't pause a server, there are a lot of servers out there where people connect fly random sorties then one side or the other gets declared the victor. I could see why a server like this might like a mega map but I also see the potential problems. Any way you don't need to use very last inch of the map to make it worth having you would just need a mission that crosses some point where the maps meet. The first objection I could see someone having is that a mega map would just eat a ton of resources. 

[Mr_sukebe]

One thought would be that if you have sufficient spare resources (eg a spare PC), it would be viable to run a couple of servers.

Server 1 could host part A

Server 2 could host part B

Server 1 could have a trigger to load the “return” part of the mission once the player has finished Part A, but then pause and wait for the player to complete Part B

 

That might make the switchover for the player more seamless

[cfrag]

6 hours ago, Mr_sukebe said:

Server 1 could have a trigger to load the “return” part of the mission once the player has finished Part A, but then pause and wait for the player to complete Part B

 

That might make the switchover for the player more seamless

That might work if each server was hosting a mission for only a single player. Even if that was possible, it would also have to mess with player log-in (on return vs initial start) to assign the plane, of which there would have to be two: one to start the entire mission, one for return. That looks incredibly messy, even if it was possible to implement. Having two servers wait on on a single player also looks very wasteful. And how would server A handle a situation if the player was downed on server B? DCS player slot handling is bad enough as it is today, I don't think that making it more complex would make it better.