Hey how did you get the height of the mountains from your images of the map or textures? Did u use any height maps? Or did you model them manually? : D
Im really interested ind how you made yr maps !!!
Fred/K.S
Sorry Fredā¦ the moderator has instructed me to use the completed games forum so I will post there āas requestedā.
This will be the last shunt though, and pleased to discuss anything relative. I will start a new thread there and give further details there and copy and past you query there.
Also 25 ācompletedā games details
hes explained several times that he uses satellite imagery to generate height and textures from computed coordinates.
i dont think anyones kicking you out of this section, i think that was in response to suggesting a simulations section.
wip sims go in the wip games section
finished sims go in the finished games.
from what i see here, this looks wip. i enjoy visiting this thread to see your progress.
Daedalus : OK thanks so hope the moderator understands!
Fred as Daedalus? mentions I have described the details previously but if really interested I can go through it in stages.
The first stage is to check Blender to see if it has the srtm script.
Also perhaps save versions 2.78(b) and 2.79 as I think both have the script?
User Preferences/ Import-Export srtm this is an .hgt file.
This should then appear in File/Import/srtm. left hand column. All stages very easy.
Tick box and save.
The srtm program should then appear in the left hand column.
Incidentallyā¦ but you donāt need to use. 3DEM a dem editor will show the hgt details and you can make all the heights any colour you chose.
It is no longer supported and about 12 years old but still seems to work. A search should find it on a couple of websites.
Let me know when/if you get this far then we will move on to the next stageā¦seems the easiest way to continue.
Barry
General
With complex docks I think I will go back to ready made docks sections, 2m,5m,10m, 50m,100m, 200m otherwise existing sections might not work in the future and difficult to texture as each part varies. Also the original map no longer available on the internet so using my own overhead view of the Liverpool docks of about 1830s
Starting from iimages as planes then scaling up. (2 to 3 milles on meter and half plane. Mentioned as this script is next to the srtm script.
I could email bits and pieces as a very small section of route at 1.5 megs zipped emailed OK and the sailing flat emailed to a forum member of Trainz which he is adapting to apeaar in Trainz download manager, needed LOD, etc.
Still got the schooner to try and remakeā¦again.
B
if you wanted, i could host your files on my google drive. i have more space on there then i know what to do with. you would have to make a google account if you wanted to keep them updated yourself, otherwise i wouldnt mind updating stuff for you.
Fweeb (i think thats his username?) is one of the top level moderators, so unless you get trouble from him i wouldnt sweat it.
Many Thanks for the offer but I donāt want to get involved with registering etc, with Google.
I had the last web site for many years but cancelled it recently.
I started to rotate the routes for download as the basics routes are easily made for working on later.
Regarding maritime commercial simulators, only Virtual Sailor left now I think as the others no longer make them.
Routes worked out at about 7 to 15 megs with basics and some ports and harbours etc, at 25km square route but a lot was sea.
Barry
So 25 routes made calling them all work in progress.
If eventually made available for download I will start them at version 1 in the completed routes section. When/if updated and re-uploaded they will become version 2 and so onā¦endless.
I would rotate just a few routes at any one time.i.e remove one from the beginning and add one to the end.
This was the method I used previously before and during my association with blender artists. Over about a dozen years.
25 routes x 25 km approx is several hunded miles. Previously I had made the range form Solway Firth around to the Thames Esttuary. However the Thames area is very low lying so if I continue I think I would carry them down to Lands End and stop there. Then perhaps work upwards from the starting point of the Solway Firth which divides England from Scotland, then continue along coastal Scotlandā¦if the software and my computer continues to work OK.
The alternative if I am unable to make them available for download from my ISP, I could possibly select a very small section from a route, add a drivable sailing ship and create a scenario such as rescue crewman from water, collect cargo of barrels, push drifting barge into harbour, etcā¦all these I have made and deleted previously. Possibly these could be emailed at about 1 and half to 2 megs eachā¦perhaps.
If Blender Game Engine alters too much then it will be a case of exploring the possibilities with what becomes availableā¦maybe small sections and single harbours etcā¦depending on any revised Blender Game Engine Format, as the person downloading needs to be able to open and run the the routes, basic or otherwise. I also have been posting on the UKTS train simulator forum for a good few years in the shipsim and Blender section. Most of the posts are mine on that forum and should any difficulties arise with blenderartists I will continue posting there.
I think that summarises everything, from my point of view.
Barry
It is possible to make routes up to say 45 km but depends on computer and graphics card as could grind to a halt when making/
This is the image that should have gone on, showing the view in the game engine from the small island the Calf of Man in the Isle of Man. Basic coloured route only as an example and photo textures not added.
I donāt think there is much else to explain, so should others wish to make similar routes and adapt/improve/experiment themselves with details perhaps I could use their ideas on this āprojectā (for want of a better word). However it would need similar size routes to experiment on. Also any queries I can answer if relevant (if not relevant I probaby wonāt know the anwer! ) .
I think any further posts from me would be in the completed games forumā¦but as mentioned several times, simulations of this type are NEVER completed as continual adjustments can be made, so will call them ver01, if updated ver02, etc.
If I make any small sections available perhaps by email to known people, as these wonāt be updated I will regard them as ācompletedā. and will detail them on the completed section until/if I arrange some downloads of full routes with ISP.
That is if these details fit into the forum etiquette and if not, thatās that ( smile).
I need to add although the route has 393,798 vertices this could possibly be reduced by half by removing most of the seabed and adding a flat plane seabed. Sea selected and lowered to minus 9 meters with linked flat planes. Leave a border of vertices of a few miles around the island and new seabed of 4 vertices set to say -7 meters.
The sea needs collisiion properties box around it. sailing ship uses riigid body setting not dynamic. Also depends on your computer and graphics card whether your computer might lock or grind to a halt at 45km size. 25km seems to work fineā¦for me at default 60 vert symc.
Possibly small computers would be better with reduced size route at maybe 3 to 10 km? It will also work with no seabed just the sea flat plane of 4 vertices the same size as route.
Barry
and
Happy Sailing
With the Isle of Man route as an experiment I have NOT deleted the seabed at 45km.
So frame rate still vert. syc at 60 with one drivable sailing barge.
With the 25km routes I will leave the seabed in case I make them tidal as it needs the sandbanks etc.
The Isle of Man route is just an experiment which I will probably delete at 45km size.
25km about a usable sizeā¦at present time.
If Game Engine alters it will be early 19th Century rivers, ports, harbours, as tiny routesā¦perhaps
B
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To improve the frame rates on any of the routes you could use the following methodā¦if you wish remove most of the seabed set at -9 meters but leave a margin around the terrain. Next if it effects the floating/drivable ships make a seabed as a single 4 vertices plane same size as route set to say -7 meters. I left a frame around the Isle of Man to position a texture whether osm overlay to open up rivers etc or 3DEM colour height overlay as a guide to add photo textures.
The Isle of Man route has yellow a the seabed margins and frame set to minus 9 meters.
The vertices/polygons are less than half of the other example.
B
For now I canāt see any more to add so leave it at that.
If I get a new site I will probaby make a link to it and to any downloads,
but my main interest are the past ages and bygone times including coastal.
Blender helps to provide the details relating to the coastal past with the content I make.
Many thanks to those that helped.
B
My bad i think youāve stated it clearly !!!
Fred/K.S
Hi Fred no problem.
Thanks
Barry
Time to alter my approach to route making and make larger routes not smaller. New size would be 35 km to 45 km. No drivable ships as a waste of time with Blender, but possibly AI between harbours. Add content and ports and photo textures at my leisure, era setting say mid Victorian, I doubt if larger routes would run on others lower end laptops etc, so doubtful if it would be worthwhile to make downloads availableā¦that is if I get a new domain siteā¦and have no idea what the future structure of Blender will be.
I think more like a model train set only ships and boats and keep the scale size the same as what I have made but 35 to 45 km size. As regards reducing vettices, except the seabed, and usiing LODā¦ I wonāt bother with, only if the route starts to run sluggih on my own 7 year old computer and would just then use limited dissolve on inland areas. flat sea 4 vertices possibly animated a meter to simulate wave swell.
The Isle of Man route above shows the method.
B
To thin out the vertices you can remove most of the seabed except for a margin around land, also selected dissolve for inland areas away from the coast.
Remade Solway Firth area at 34 km. About half the total vertices removed.
B
P.S. End of the current sagaā¦but perhaps will see what the first version of 2.8 entails and mabe make objects quarter size and reduce image sizeā¦before zippingā¦routes themselves mainly ports and harbours of bygone time with a mesh of 5 to 10kmā¦or less. Whether mesh size would work in 2.8 of that size we will see. So sailing ships and boats are not yet laid up in a backwater or muddy creek.
It is possible to email 1.5 megsā¦but I have no idea of the limitation for other as regards receiving them?
B
Difficult to try and read in advance the happenings with Blender, as the best size to make these routes. To have two harbours they would need to be reasonable size. At present routes nos 1 to 25 made at approx. 25 km size.Solway Firth to St Davids.
With 2 threads running Maritime Blender might be the better option to use as the other thread is called large size routes which might have to become small size routes ā¦depending on Blender. Maritime Blender could also covers all types of maritime animated scenes and not just what I make.
However critiques are of no interest to me as I know and have used and made content for other ship and train simulators. So I am not making a ship simulator as such but basic interactive sailing ship scenes and scenariosā¦ based on real life. Basic is the key word at this stage with frame rates still at 60 with no optimistaion and limited with time for making content.
What would be of interest is if other made similar and described in detail the methods used in an actual route. Incidentally it was mentioned the routes would only have one or a few buildingsā¦but they are bound to have as only me making them and many routes. Would need a few lifetimes otherwise. As long as harbours made, cargoes, warehouses and a few houses maybe in the long termā¦and scenarios maybe. Also early 19th century would only have a few houses, hamlets, etc.
I think a minimum of 20 km size for a sailing ship route although they can be set in any era and any country of the world. At present trying to future proof a bit such as basic criss-cross trees made back to back and reverse flipped and single sided texture. Multisided polygons not used ā¦ony 3 or 4 vertices polygons.
