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[WxTech]

I've just created a new set of transparent ground plates.

Before going through the pain of replacing all the runway plates manually, I would like to know if there's a more painless way of doing a simple text substitution in the actors.static.

[Kelso]

Excuse me. I expressed myself wrong. I mean one airport. Specifically - Boera field (close to Port Moresby). The rest of the runways of your idea are OK.

[stanislao]

Sorry if perhaps my suggestion is inappropriate...there are some magnificent airport runways in both the _Tex folder of the "Rabaul" map and the "Ambon_Darwin" map, are well structured and above all with a very good resolution to fully satisfy the side view while taxiing, nothing to do with the muddy and blurry runways of the "Green_Hell" maps.  Would it really be complicated to use those overlaying the terrain texture in NewGuinea maps?

[WxTech]

A few years back I started the process of learning how to use Zuti's Actors Management utility. I didn't get terribly far in the involved process, but now I have a stronger motivation to proceed. I guess it's 'back to school' time! 😀

In the meantime, if there is an experienced old hand at this who's willing to take on the task, I could supply the replacement names for the ground runway objects... And of course I would release the new transparent plates.

[WxTech]

Stanislao,
In this iteration I'm maintaining the same runway points for mission compatibility. Being forced to not change those positions, making up a runway terrain texture would involve careful design so that there is correct positioning. And this would require to make several of these textures, essentially one for each runway to so treat. Many hours of labor for just that aspect.

I'm leaning heavily toward putting to use a dedicated, new set of partially transparent ground plates. For simple runways, I find them to be pretty effective because they blend with and become part of the underlying terrain texture put down for the airfield. And the neutral hue makes them useful for a wide variety of underlying textures. And they don't take up any precious terrain texture slots. 😉

[tomoose]

WxTech;
dopey question (and forgive me if I asked this already, can't remember), is there any way to make the roads and railways stand out more on maps?  The reason I ask is that they seem to be really difficult to spot from the virtual air the majority of the time.  I realize it will vary from map to map depending on terrain but for example, the European maps...the roads and rails that AI vehs follow aren't that clear at all whereas in real life from the air you can see most roads and tracks (with exceptions).  Just curious.

[WxTech]

I wanted the tracks (which use the "Road" texture slot) that run all over the place out in the hinterlands to be subtle. And so I gave the NG_track.tga a fairly transparent alpha channel. If you have a graphics program that can handle and save image alpha channels (like Photoshop or GIMP, to name two), you can adjust the alpha channel so as to bring up the gray tones to a brighter white.

The only more proper roads are around Port Moresby, and are assigned to the "Highway" texture slot. These have a slight partial transparency, which by itself does not make the road less prominent to any meaningful degree. The tone has been made more similar to the brightest parts of the ground texture upon which they run. You could boost the brightness, from the somewhat dull tan to a lighter tan.

[9078roman]

WxTech?

Hi. It's just a question...

Or maybe when retexturing the map, use real textures. Say from GOOGLE EARTH. I had a period experimenting with Wake Island. The sand is especially cool. Unfortunately, the work has not been preserved. Due to burnt media. And I hit completely in the skins.
But maybe things like realistic textures will convey a lot more realism? And I also want to ask you, do you use the TGA "ImageConver" file editing program?

[WxTech]

OK, I've figured out Zuti's Actors management tool, and created another actors.static that uses my new transparent ground runway plates.

I'll very shortly make available this actors file and the new plates. Stand by...

[WxTech]

Update: I supply a new actors.static file that incorporates my new translucent runway plates. Go to the top of the top post for the link, as well as the pointer to the thread in which to find the new runway plates mod (absolutely necessary for the use of the new actors file).

[WxTech]

WxTech?

Hi. It's just a question...

Or maybe when retexturing the map, use real textures. Say from GOOGLE EARTH. I had a period experimenting with Wake Island. The sand is especially cool. Unfortunately, the work has not been preserved. Due to burnt media. And I hit completely in the skins.
But maybe things like realistic textures will convey a lot more realism? And I also want to ask you, do you use the TGA "ImageConver" file editing program?

It appears to me that the bulk of the textures I use, taken from the Green Hell map, are based on actual images.

I use Photoshop for all of my image editing needs.

[9078roman]

WxTech?

Hi. It's just a question...

Or maybe when retexturing the map, use real textures. Say from GOOGLE EARTH. I had a period experimenting with Wake Island. The sand is especially cool. Unfortunately, the work has not been preserved. Due to burnt media. And I hit completely in the skins.
But maybe things like realistic textures will convey a lot more realism? And I also want to ask you, do you use the TGA "ImageConver" file editing program?

It appears to me that the bulk of the textures I use, taken from the Green Hell map, are based on actual images.

I use Photoshop for all of my image editing needs.

Weird... I can't work with TGA files directly in Photoshop. When processing, even if everything is set to its original position. The game does not see the file. In fact, I now use three programs. For example, I cannot imagine my work without the standard Paint or Krita.
Okay, thanks anyway for the answer.