256 demo theater

[Snake Man]

I've begun thinking that making and releasing some basic demo/test 256 theater would be approriate, so everyone can test them (and who knows, really play/enjoy). I mean test by the fact that there are some limitations, worst being the terrain shadows thing because lxnormalfix crashes immediately in this sized theater.

I checked the initial download size for the ODS 256 without any tiles and it would be 38mb, that might grow few megabytes here and there for the release condition.

But now I'm thinking, what region and theater technical file setup would be good choice. I personally would love the ODS 256, but that would mean that we must have existing official ODS installed and it causes some installing headaches. Second choice would be completely standalone Europe or Asian region theater with korean tile-set.

So would it be any use to anyone if I released 256 demo theater, or should I just forget it?

[ccc]

256 demo theater?

IMHO i don't like this idea.. reasons are..

- i still have difficulties making a fully working campaign in existing non-default korea theater mod. the larger theater won't help it.. i mean, even more complex road network and linking. of course, a 256 theater with 70-80% of ocean sounds ok.

- i doubt ppl has time and energy to fly across this demo theater.. even with 4x time compression, the flight hours are boring.. such a super theater is best for.. long-range striker/bomber/transporter simmers!

- the following work to polish such a super theater could be beyond the capability of few die-hard modders.

alright, how about a pan-meditterean sea or center-america theater?

[Pallbearer-FB-VFW]

Snakeman what a great idea!..Im sitting here thinking to myself right now..It would be great to have a theater not too large an area for medium lemgth flights-timewise that could have a lot of possibilities for
TE creation..Terrian is also a consideration..How about a theater of the Greek - Agean area?..I think someone used to be working on one but havent heard a word about it for a long time now..Anyway just a thought..You know Afganistan just doesnt seem to want to go away..That might not be a bad choice..Redo it and update the tiles themselves and see if we cpuld get the STRM data to use on it..Now that would br NICE also in my view..Im sure whatever your choice there will be a lot of people intrested..PB

[Snake Man]

Both of you miss the point, demo... a DEMO TEST theater, not anything real, not finished, not usable... just basic theater, korean tileset, quickly put together campaign, nothing even relating to real theater, just a demonstration or test version if people want to see it with their own eyes how large is 256 theater ingame.

My point is, I already have the ODS 256 ready (some might remember/find the screenshots out of it), I can do in few hours (ok one evenings) work any other area like Europe, Afghanistan (Afghanistan is actually on the ODS 256 already hmm) and Asia like Vietnam or Korea etc.

I have zero interest of committing to another theater, this would be just few hours quick work, then installer and to upload it for you guys. Thats it, nothing more.

Just to get the record straight

[87th_striker]

I think we should focus more on getting things finished. Could be a 256 , a 258 or whatever, but why not try to gather forces to finish the theaters, or some of them ?

Tiles, 3D models, Skins, bridges AB's etc, etc

[Pallbearer-FB-VFW]

I totally agree with you Striker..Its a real shame that we have all these nice theaters but none of them is completely solid..PMC has done an excellant job in initally getting the theater up and running, but theres still a ton of work left to do in each one of them to make them work and be truly finished as you say..Even if we took them one by one and threw the entire group on work at a time to each untill they are complet and working, then move on to the next and do the same..Thats a dream for sure..

[Sherlock]

I totally agree with you Striker..Its a real shame that we have all these nice theaters but none of them is completely solid..PMC has done an excellant job in initally getting the theater up and running, but theres still a ton of work left to do in each one of them to make them work and be truly finished as you say..Even if we took them one by one and threw the entire group on work at a time to each untill they are complet and working, then move on to the next and do the same..Thats a dream for sure..

This idea has been put forward before and it's a good one. The problem enters in on choosing which theater to complete first. For me it would be Iran because of the geo-political landscape in the world today! (read this as "I want to bomb Iran back to the stoneage!" )

[ccc]

i see.. a PURE demo/test theater.

the areas we missed are.. falkland-argentina, carribean sea area.. north america.. Berling strait..iceland-greenland-arctic area..flying across north america terrain would be cool too.. just joking

This idea has been put forward before and it's a good one. The problem enters in on choosing which theater to complete first.

the focus of all mod work is making a truely working campaign first, the rest are secondary. i've tried to push it in several theater mods, tweaking them with several tools, and the progress is minimal.

[Snake Man]

Alright, so there is no need for anyone to test 256 theater ingame. No problems, just wanted to provide this possibility/experience for Falcon 4 players. As of now, I wont do it if nobody sees the need for such demo theater.

Let me know if you're change your minds

[Pallbearer-FB-VFW]

Hey Snake dont leqave so soon..How about a North American theater in 256 for a demo? We never had one that should be a good idea I think..Thanks for the brain rattle CCC..LOL

[ccc]

Hey Snake dont leqave so soon..How about a North American theater in 256 for a demo? We never had one that should be a good idea I think..Thanks for the brain rattle CCC..LOL

Yeah.. from NY to SF, non-stop flying.

pick this one, the trip shouldn't take too long..

[molnibalage]

What does it mean exactly a "256 size" theater? I have only one wish, a moddable Europe theater! Can you make a theater that contains the scandinavian regions too and Iceland?

[Novum]

I can say like this..

If you give me link..
Ill download =)

A Huge map whould be lots of fun!

Maybe a bigger Korea??

[87th_striker]

Let's just vote what to finish first, then we try to do the best we can. After that we consider the next one.

[Pallbearer-FB-VFW]

Thats a good idea Striker..Lets make it a group decision and then all work together on that one theater to get it as complete as possible before we move tho the next one..Dosent matter which one we start on they all need work..I just think as much work as has been done to all of PMCs theaters we could make them really shine and all work ..

[Sherlock]

the focus of all mod work is making a truely working campaign first, the rest are secondary. i've tried to push it in several theater mods, tweaking them with several tools, and the progress is minimal.

Guys, ccc has hit the nail on the head here...if you can't get the campaign working correctly then everything else is pretty much for naught. Of course, though you have to have the objectives, links and tiles laid down though before you can put the campaign over it...it's kinda like a yen and yang sort thing I guess...they all need to come together and their relationship is synergistic, i.e., they're greater then the sum of their parts.

[87th_striker]

A lot of the VFW out here mostly do TE's as it's giving the ability to customize packages way out of camapaign range. Would anyone do more than an 8-ship, you could ask, and the answer is definately yes. Currently the 87th are preparing for maximum participants stability test, where we put in as many pilots as possible. This is done on to create routines for expanding the envelope and refining the rules for stability for huge packages.

So Campaign fixes might be very important issue for the offliners, and some onliners, too, but I think TE's are the thing mostly flown online. If we look beyond the campaign issues for now, we might get something pretty good running.

I'm sure the whole Falcon community will benefit, no matter the exe. But we need Snakeman and others to coordinate this effort.

[molnibalage]

I can say like this..

If you give me link..
Ill download =)

A Huge map whould be lots of fun!

Maybe a bigger Korea??

I think korea 128 is quite enough large.

[noname]

if this is about testing how about using the same Area as Korea 128 but as 256 theater. Ok this would require entiraly new tile sets but on the other hand this would result (please correct me if I am wrong) in a 125 m resolution? How cool would this be. Reminds me widmaks Island theater.

[Novum]

I can say like this..

If you give me link..
Ill download =)

A Huge map whould be lots of fun!

Maybe a bigger Korea??

I think korea 128 is quite enough large.

Yea.. id love to have that working aswell

http://www.pmctactical.org/f4/screenshots/ODS_256.jpg
But that thing..
Im speachless...