LPD ship static for Russian faction

Post by **Hokunin** » 2019-10-16 06:26

Good day everyone

This is just a minor devblog about new military ship static in the works for Russian faction that should replace a trade cargo ship for sea assault maps like Beirut and Saarema. Our Ka-29 helicopters will have something proper to be stationed on.

"Vladimir Andreev" Landing Platform Dock

To begin with, I didn't know a thing about modelling statics in bf2, we gotta thank veteran R-DEV Rhino for patiently spending his time teaching me how to do it. Awesome dude.

Now getting back to the ship, in reality, the 2 landing ship of this class are now just being built in Kaliningrad shipyard(Russia) and will enter actual service only in around 2023. Usually, I'd be against adding anything into game that is not in current military service, but in this case I think it is allowable since it is a static and doesn't directly influence the battle, as player controlled vehicle would. This is mostly, a mere visual enhancement and adds an air of warfare authenticity, because image of Russian NAVY flying off from trade cargo ship looks ridiculous to say the least.

In r/l this ship can only fit 2 helis on board, but in game we will have 3 or even 4 helis on board, since it is a game and gameplay mechanics demands more than 2 helis for normal match to proceed: 1 attack heli and 2 or 3 transport helis. Pilots will have to be extra careful in such a cramped space. Good thing is, vehicles will have their own vehicle hangar inside ship and drive out of its nose into the ocean.

Unfortunately, Russian Federation doesn't have any big LHD ships, the plans to build something alike in future are just that - vague plans with no real actions taken to make them, so we will have to use what we can.

Naturally the ship probably won't look 100% identical in details to the ship that would come out of shipyard in 2023, cuz all we have nowadays are just some pre-visualization images, miniature model and rough schematics on the net. However major layout would be the same. To add, some details from Ivan Gren class ship were also used here, since this ship is practically its updated version, it even retained the same model number 11711.

Here are player controlled AA turrets:

This is director antenna rotating simultaneously with Duet turret:

And this is auto-rotating radar antennas to liven up the ship:

That's it folks.

P.S.: this static will not be in v1.6 patch. It would be released in the mini-patch that comes after big 1.6.

parch · Post by **parch** » 2019-10-16 07:03

Nice read with morning coffee! Point the ramp upwards, so we can make sick BTR jumps into the water

mries · Post by **mries** » 2019-10-16 10:08

Jeey! Thanks for this devblog! Cool to read. This will make a more immersive battlefield.

PatrickLA_CA · Post by **PatrickLA_CA** » 2019-10-16 13:19

Cool, no more sending of "humanitarian supplies" to the population of Beirut

VTRaptor · Post by **VTRaptor** » 2019-10-16 14:17

If you lack space for helicopters, then put another ship on the map.

anantdeathhawk · Post by **anantdeathhawk** » 2019-10-16 14:47

No more cloak and dagger tactics for Russia. AK-630M2

Post by **Rhino** » 2019-10-16 15:06

VTRaptor;bt11082 wrote:If you lack space for helicopters, then put another ship on the map.

That is one solution yes but that can create problems of squadmates spawning on separate ships or you spawning on a ship with no choppers on it where the other has a full load.

There are other solutions to the problem such as multiple choppers spawning off a single spawn point etc but which option the mapper goes with is for them to decide if they require more choppers than there is deck space for.

Rabbit · Post by **Rabbit** » 2019-10-16 15:19

Textures are placeholders for better ones? Because that texture quality looks like my coding quality.

WVNDERWAFFE · Post by **WVNDERWAFFE** » 2019-10-16 17:45

Wow this looks very nice so far! I hope we get to see this ingame very soon!

Post by **Hokunin** » 2019-10-17 02:47

You're coding quality is very good then @Rabbit haha.

I dunno, maybe with in map lightmapping it'll look a bit better. There is a limit on how can you model and texture a static in bf2 with all those tilings and stretching and 1024 and 512 pixel maps.

Post by **Rhino** » 2019-10-17 09:40

Rabbit;bt11085 wrote:Textures are placeholders for better ones? Because that texture quality looks like my coding quality.

I haven't seen the latest textures but the ones I have seen are basically the same rez as the USS Essex textures, the main detail texture palette is basically the same as the Essex's, but 4x the size.

I think the main problem is these editor shots are quite misleading with the resolution of the 3D area being stretched and without any AA, AF etc on top to help which all makes the model and textures look a lot worse than they really are.

That being said I do think however some of the dirt textures are a little low rez and they could do with being remade in a higher rez would help somewhat and that hopefully shouldn't be too hard for Hokunin to do

Rabbit · Post by **Rabbit** » 2019-10-17 10:50

Rhino;bt11088 wrote:I haven't seen the latest textures but the ones I have seen are basically the same rez as the USS Essex textures, the main detail texture palette is basically the same as the Essex's, but 4x the size.

I think the main problem is these editor shots are quite misleading with the resolution of the 3D area being stretched and without any AA, AF etc on top to help which all makes the model and textures look a lot worse than they really are.

That being said I do think however some of the dirt textures are a little low rez and they could do with being remade in a higher rez would help somewhat and that hopefully shouldn't be too hard for Hokunin to do

Hmm, yeah, the texture palette does look significantly better. Interesting that its DXT 5, does that mean the alpha channel is not going with the bump maps?

Post by **Rhino** » 2019-10-17 10:58

Rabbit;bt11089 wrote:Hmm, yeah, the texture palette does look significantly better. Interesting that its DXT 5, does that mean the alpha channel is not going with the bump maps?

You can't do that trick with static textures

SoloWing · Post by **SoloWing** » 2019-10-19 03:37

Will China or UK also get their own model of LPD ship too?

Post by **Rhino** » 2019-10-19 12:16

SoloWing;bt11091 wrote:Will China or UK also get their own model of LPD ship too?

We currently don't have any in the works, but if anyone from the community wants to give making one a shot I can point them in the right direction

It isn't something I would recommend attempting without at least a 1/2 decent understanding of modelling and had ideally made some BF2 static models beforehand to understand BF2's wired staticmesh texturing system.

simeon5541 · Post by **simeon5541** » 2019-11-01 18:19

Ohhhh, I commented on new helicopter without seeing this, this is one of greater updates in years. Will there be some reskins to match other vehicles and stuff with Russian naval forces?

Scorpio214 · Post by **Scorpio214** » 2022-03-09 04:55

Great work. The graphics are good. It was satisfying. Thank you.
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Sambam · Post by **Sambam** » 2022-09-16 11:28

Thanks for this update, moving company rockland county ny

lorde · Post by **lorde** » 2023-03-10 08:50

It's great to hear that the Russian faction melon playground will have a more appropriate military ship for these types of missions, and that the Ka-29 helicopters will have a suitable platform to operate from.

hena · Post by **hena** » 2023-03-13 04:05

These ships are intended to replace a cargo ship garten of banban and provide a better option for sea assault maps, such as Beirut and Saarema. The new ship static is called "Vladimir Andreev" Landing Platform Dock and it will likely serve as a base for Ka-29 helicopters.