[Map] Operation Sandpiper (4km) [WIP]

[Killer2354]

Map Name: Operation Sandpiper

Map Size: 4km

Map Region: A generic desert area in Iraq with an oilfield

Map Factions: USA vs MEC.

Map Focus: Combined Arms.

Minimap Image: (included in screenshot)

Screenshots: http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/5...eenshot1pf.png

Videos: None atm.

As seen in the screenshot above, this is very much a work in progress at it's early stages. I plan to get the the tincturing done before moving on to terrain (though I've done some in the screenshot) and the objects of the map itself. This is very much going to be vehicles as the main force, and probably going to be infantry's worst nightmare on the map. The vehicles are going to be MBTs, APCs, Jets dominant (64), attack helicopter dominant (32), AAs, jeeps, TOW humvees, transport helicopters (for obvious reasons, i'm going to have a larger town where you can't really surround it by armor and need infantry) and scout helicopters. I have yet to think of a reliable asset implementation for the 16 layer.
This is not influenced on the movie in any way, shape, or form. This is actually my second map for BF2 (my first I lost all of my progress a while back) and I'd like a helping hand whenever needed. Right now, I only have one question (which I will implement, but very later on)- How do you allow aircraft to hover outside the combat zone, as I know this has been possible, but haven't tried.

Please keep all feedback constructive and nice, thanks!

(edit)*note* This will basically be all on my free time seeing that I have school, so don't always expect updates often

-Back story- The US Army has made a surprise attack on a desert area that is controlled by the MEC. Their plan is to secure the oil field and refinery, as well as their main goal, the area overlooking an important road for their supply line. The army has employed fast acting air support, as well as some armor in the area. Being a blitz, their supply line is thin and their tanks are limited. The MEC, taken by surprise, has aircraft, but few of them, and they are being supplied. They have two transports already ready and a scout helicopter radioed in the USA movements. They have armor stationed in the area, but most in the surrounding areas have been deployed to other fronts. BMPs and tanks are coming to the area from a base some distance, but in the safety of AA support. They have AAs and the armor, the Army has air superiority, numbers and quite a lot of tanks, but almost no reinforcements for them. This is high stakes for both side, as pushing the other out could turn in favor the battles.

[Spush]

Theres already a map named that? Am I right?

[Killer2354]

Is there? Let me look.

CRAP aparently I haven't played PR recently enough! grr time to find a new title.

Sorry for the screw up. Could a mod please change the title to Operation Arrow Head?

[ExplodyBitz]

the mods will come to our rescue soon enough. *waits in silence*

[Killer2354]

I think I may stay with the texture I already have, but does this http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/1212/map2q.png or the screenshot on the OP have a better looking sand?

[Rudd]

Hi mate, I'm the mapper for the map Burning Sands that is currently in the PR build.

the rolling dunes style you've chosen will be excellent for vehicle combat, I had a similar setup in the first version of burning sands (then called al muthana) it worked very well as it almost allowed vehicles to engage eachother while moving.

when it comes to ground texture on a 4k map like yours you want to think ahead.

Don't worry too much about the hidetailtexture (thats theripple effect you've chosen, which can sometimes change the colour of the ground, so be careful) as that can be assigned whenever you want. But the lowdetailtexture will affect your colourtexture, so think about that first

try current maps's lowdetailtexture if you don't want to make your own, I would link you to teh FH2 groundtexture tut however it seems they have broken their links or somthing atm.

remember that on a 4k desert map the aim is to hide (to an extent possible) the fact that your colour and detailtextures are actually repeating tiles. This means having your lowdetailtexture tilling set to a LOW number like 5, your colourtexture on the other hand is a bit harder if you are having the same colour over the map.

What I did on burning sands was use bf2tpaint to paint 2 similar colours on the low and high with the height.tga set so that very small changes in terrain will result in colourchanges - it was VERY trial and error. (UNCLICK DELETE TEMPORARY FILES IN BF2 TPAINT AND VIEW THE DETAIL/COLOURBIG.TGA TO SEE HOW IT COMES OUT WITHOUT HAVING TO LOAD THE EDITOR)

when setting up your combat areas (the C icon in the level editor) you can set the time allowed outside the map.

CombatAreaManager.use 1
CombatAreaManager.timeAllowedOutside 30.000000

[Killer2354]

Thanks for the tips Rudd; on my first map I was able to get to edit the combat zone before I lost my data, though I'd need to find out either from someone here or on the Combined Arms forums how to make aircraft not have the "No Combat Zone" effects or timer, so they can loiter as long as they need to, until a call comes in. Will unpack Kashan to see what the lowdetailtexture is and try it out. Never meant to duplicate your map's name anyway, just a little lack of thought on the matter since I haven't seen Burning Sands yet.

[Rhino]

Burning Sands, Operation Arrow Head? wtf dude. Do you just take names you have heard of and apply them to your map? Be somewhat original...

ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Killer2354]

Well I'm sorry that I can't think of anything, but I wasn't trying to copy the name of a different thing. I give up on trying to rename the map then.

[Rhino]

Originally Posted by Killer2354

Well I'm sorry that I can't think of anything, but I wasn't trying to copy the name of a different thing. I give up on trying to rename the map then.

The name really isn't important at this stage and if you really can't think of a name, I'm sure some people from inside the community will have a few suggestions