[Map] Assault on Grozny (2km) [Released]

[Ason]

I just did a quick object lightmap with one of the small dest_houses. I noticed that it seems to generate lightmaps for the destroyed version of the house aswell, will that be a problem? I'm thinking of file size and stuff like that.

Also is it perhaps possible to make it not generate them for the destroyed version? I think that would save me alot of time.

I'm basing my assumptions on the fact that when I pressed generate, the house immediately switched to the destroyed version.

When it finished generating this pops up and when I click OK it pops up again and again.
Someone know what it means?

[Psyrus]

I just did a quick object lightmap with one of the small dest_houses. I noticed that it seems to generate lightmaps for the destroyed version of the house aswell, will that be a problem? I'm thinking of file size and stuff like that.

Also is it perhaps possible to make it not generate them for the destroyed version? I think that would save me alot of time.

I believe what you can do is go through and manually resize it's lightmap to something like 8x8 pixels or something. Rhino or the rest of the mapping team knows more about it.

[Mineral]

You'll need lightmaps for each lod(including the destroyed geometry), otherwise it won't show up lightmaps in-game for the entire static no matter what state.

As Psyrus said you can resize the destroyed geometry lightmaps to 8x8 as they never show ingame anyway. This will save you space on your final lightmap atlas files.

A lightmap file has the following naming:

static_name=AB=C=D=E.dds

A is the geometry, 0 being the normal geometry, 1 being the destroyed geometry
B is the lod number. 0,1,2,3,...
C,D,E are the coordinates respectively(X,Y,Z).

So for example if you want to go and re-size the destroyed-version LM's of a house_dest(as you will never see them and it will save you lots of space), you go and look for a lightmap with

house_dest_4a=10=70=26=-291.dds
house_dest_4a=11=70=26=-291.dds
house_dest_4a=12=70=26=-291.dds
...

and you go ahead and resize them to 8x8 and save them in the right DDS format again. (DXT1,8mipmaps).

You can automate this process by using batch resizing and saving in photoshop. Should be explained quite well here:
Batch resizing in Photoshop | Shape Shed

So you just put all to resize LM's in a seperate folder, you make a resize/save action and you use that to batch resize the files in said new folder.

[Ason]

Thanks guys Do you think it will make a big difference? I'm thinking of just keeping them the way they are just in case someone manages to make it so we can use Geo 1 in-game. I'm not sure how likely that is, but if by resizing them I can save just a couple of MB I think it's better to just keep them?

[Rudd]

It is really quite important to resize them, it's not about the size of the map but how much RAM you are asking of the client computer

more RAM you ask for, the higher the likelihood that it'll run bad and crash more often

The thing about lightmaps is that they aren't loaded individually, they are formed up into atlases, so if you have a bunch of lightmaps you don't need (or at least larger than you need) in there, you could be adding on another lightmap atlas for no reason since the entire atlas is being loaded.

Removing that atlas saves loading a 2048x2048 texture, which in PR is a BIG win for optimisation

resizing them is always best you might even find one of the mappers here has got a batch script they can share with you, I accidentally deleted mine however

[Ason]

Alright, I'll see if I can figure it out

Could someone tell me what I should set these values to ?
I tried it with these settings but the editor crashed after a couple of minutes... after it crashed I looked in my map folder and there is a 1 kB file named groundhemi.dds so it might have worked after all? (not sure if the file was there from the beginning though)

[Rudd]

if it crashed then it's probably running out of RAM, don't load your overgrowth or undergrowth or GPO when making your groundhemi (you might not even need your staticobjects either, since I think the groundhemi will incorporate only lightmaps and colourmaps)

the groundhemi will decide how bright (or coloured) things are on gameplay objects on their underneath sides (this makes them look alot more natural in that map's environment)

the settings you posted are fine, you only need to change them if the map has terrain going beyond 200 in height (like if you had a mountain)

if your map is having RAM trouble you can simply create a groundhemi that is 8x8px and manually set how bright it is, this can make the map alot more lightweight for performance but also removes something that can aid in making things look 'right'.

[Ason]

Thanks rudd, I'll give it another try, btw should groundhemi be made after terrain & Objects -lightmaps?

[Rudd]

honestly I'm not sure if it bothers with object lightmaps, but I'm sure you need the terrain lightmaps.

Look at a groundhemi from another map and look at it's alpha layer, you'll see the groundhemi takes shadows into account.

[sylent/shooter]

AFAIK it doesn't take into consideration object lightmaps, because an object LM file only captures the data that is made from lights casting shadows onto the specific object. In other words, they only affect the objects.

However as Rudd suggested, you must do it after terrain lightmaps have finished.

[Ason]

It worked, thanks

So I'm getting close to finishing the map, is there anything special I should know or do before I generate objects lightmaps?

Basically my check-list looks like this(please tell me if I'm missing something):

1. Terrain heightmap and color
2. Staticobjects placement
3. OG and UG
4. Layers (2x AAS, 2x skirmish)
5. Terrain lightmaps
6. Groundhemi
7. Objects lightmaps <----I'm here.
8. Envmaps
9. Fixing minimap
10. fixing init.con etc.
11. packing map
done.

I saw a couple of things in the compile tab that I have never heard of before.
Particle Atlas, Decal Atlas and OG Atlas. Could someone tell me a little bit about these and if I need to do anything with them or not

[sylent/shooter]

Particle atlas does exactly what it sounds like it does. it makes an atlas map of the particles on the map. In other words, all mapper placed smoke effects, water effects etc.

Decal atlas I haven't a clue what that does. Best to just leave it as I don't think there are any maps with decal atlas'.

OG atlas you need to compile.

[Ason]

Thanks Sylent, only took a second for the editor to generate them

I guess I will be generating object lightmaps some time this week and then it's not long until testing

[Rudd]

might have asked this before, but just checking.

What are the sizes of the OGatlas and UGatlas atm? (in pixels)

[Ason]

might have asked this before, but just checking.

What are the sizes of the OGatlas and UGatlas atm? (in pixels)

Not entirely sure how I can see that but I opened the them in photoshop and pressed image size and there are already numbers in the boxes:
OvergrowthAtlas0.dds: 2048x2048
UndergrowthAtlas0.dds: 2048x1024

I'll post these just in case you can tell me something about them, can they be made much better etc?
OG-atlas:

UG-atlas:

[sylent/shooter]

Ya... that's gonna need fixing. See all that black space? It needs to be removed because it's just wasted file size. There is a tutorial on manually fixing that... but I'm too lazy to find it right now.

EDIT: found it. https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-modding-tutorials/96871-tutorial-hand-packing-og-ug-atlases.html

[Rudd]

yeah I think you'll be able to decrease both of those by half, which is a big win for optimisation

[Ason]

Hey guys, Assault on Grozny is soon ready for testing, I just got lightmaps and OG atlas fixing and some small things left. Here is how I've set up the layers and assets. What do you think?
(One of the linked flags will be chosen, I think it will be too hard to defend 2 flags while also attacking a third?)
AAS 64
Russian Forces:
2 x Transport truck
2 x Logi truck
2 x MTLB
2 x BTR80
2 x BMP-2 (non-ATGM version)
1 x T-90

Chechen Forces:
4 x civi car
2 x support car (militia unarmed pickup)
1 x Zastava van
1 x Transport truck
2 x Logi truck
1 x BRDM-2
1 x BMP-1 (+ respawn time)
1 x T-62 (+ respawn time)
chechens controls all flags from 2-5


AAS 32
Russian Forces:
3 x Transport truck
2 x Logi truck
2 x MTLB
2 x BTR80

Chechen Forces:
4 x civi car
1 x Zastava van
2 x Transport truck
2 x Logi truck
1 x BRDM-2
1 x MTLB
chechens controls all flags from 3-5


Skirmish 16
Russian Forces:
-no assets
Chechen Forces:
-no assets


Skirmish 32
Russian Forces:
-no assets
Chechen Forces:
-no assets

[Rabbit]

In the words of Rhino

getting one good route is better than 3 bad ones

Its much better if you change them from random groups, to actual routes as it would prevent problem routes like the one in purple.


As you can see in that possible route 1 is closer to 4 than it is to 2 or 3. Also 3 is closer to 5 than it is 4. Creating 2 or 3 actual routes rather than random flags will stop a lot of gameplay problems.

[Ason]

Yeah I see what you mean, I'll change that