Winter in USSR

.... no, it's not topic about weather. We already have may :)

As we all know ( well, at least the majority), one of the most important battles on Eastern Front took place during winter. Harsh and cold one. In EF maps we would like to recreate this winter. That's why I think there is need for topic like this: how to make maps look more " snowy"?

I know trick with desaturation value, but that's not enough. It just looks... gray, like in thick fog. White sunlight also creates effect of reflections.

Has anyone other ideas how to imitate snow& ice in World Builder?

With the Atmosphere Settings you already stated, I'd also add the usage of sand textures to imitate snow (sand_rough, sand_base, sand_base_hires).
For winter-like looking trees try the dead versions of the trees (oak_dead, ...).

cephalos wrote:
.... no, it's not topic about weather. We already have may :)

As we all know ( well, at least the majority), one of the most important battles on Eastern Front took place during winter. Harsh and cold one. In EF maps we would like to recreate this winter. That's why I think there is need for topic like this: how to make maps look more " snowy"?

I know trick with desaturation value, but that's not enough. It just looks... gray, like in thick fog. White sunlight also creates effect of reflections.

Has anyone other ideas how to imitate snow& ice in World Builder?

See Kiev map.

Like this?

Hi cephalos,

I created a tutorial about winter maps at hq-coh.com.
It is in german, but the pictures should help you. ;)
(soldier and sunlight should be white)

http://hq-coh.com/forum/index.php/topic,24918.0.html

Last edited May 18, 2011 at 11:06 AM by beagletank

thanks beagle :) useful tutorial

just one question, what type of grass would you use? I'm trying to recreat Kalach, so I need all possible hints.

cephalos wrote:
thanks beagle :) useful tutorial

just one question, what type of grass would you use? I'm trying to recreat Kalach, so I need all possible hints.

Don't forget to save the map in progress frequently, and best wishes to your work!  ;)
I'm eagerly awaiting it's release, and I bet, I'm not the only one  :)

thanks, pariah gave an idea of using a USB driver and making 2 copies. I'll be safe now :)

cephalos wrote:
thanks, pariah gave an idea of using a USB driver and making 2 copies. I'll be safe now :)

Or you could just save the progress to a new file every time, like Kalach1.sga, Kalach2.sga, Kalach3.sga and so on.  ;)

For the grass: Use grass_dead01. It looks white and snow-covered.

Yup.

I made a few tests and search for some pictures. I came up with one conclusion - winter covers everything in snow, reducing available cover. But also provides additional cover:



In this picture we can see a characteristic pile of snow - I made snow brighter, because it's fresh and over the older snow ( a bit grayer).



In this picture we can see situation as above, but in "cover mode" - a pile of snow is big enough to provide additional cover for soliders.

Why I bother? Because the winter, especially when we are talking about plains, where you can hardly find cover reduces this possibility
of finding a good protection ( no trees, no bushes, no ditches or holes in ground). That's why I decided to create some additional cover using snow :)

Kalach v2.0 is going to be very realistic....

Would that happen in real life? Wouldn't the snow land pretty evenly, instead of random piles?

well, yes, but there's wind blowing  ::) in some places snow is getting blown away to finish on other snow  ;)

Well that would move all the snow, wouldn't it? :-\

Anyway, how do you turn that into cover? Just curious is all.

haha, magic trick  ;) . But I can show you if you want.

cephalos wrote:
haha, magic trick  ;) . But I can show you if you want.

A magician ought never reveal the secrets of the guild :P.

If it puts you out, don't worry about it.

pariah wrote:
If it puts you out, don't worry about it.

I was joking ;D... you know.

It's easy. Just follow this steps:

1. Make a spline in WB.
2. find DITCH_HEAVY_01 and assaign
3. make circle around hill ( you need a small hill)
4. click it and find  'Colourize' option
5. what you will see:



select lines circled in red, and make them touch each other.



in this way. now select each line and set Alpha to 0 ( it's above)



just like that. the lowest line should be black

apply and it's done  :)

Damn, I was too slow..  :(

@ceph: You're using good old XP, haha  ;D

It's a good way to create cover. Just like that, you can easily add negative cover to a big open plain by using street textures and put them the same way like what cephalos posted.

blackbishop wrote:

pariah wrote:
If it puts you out, don't worry about it.

I was joking ;D... you know.

My post was in reply to cephalos, not you. You just posted before me. ;)

So is this form of cover destructible? I was never aware of this type of cover before... So this will be exclusive to your map, right?

This type of cover is indestructible, because the texture always stays there, even if a shitload of artillery was dropped on the little snow hill.

Fantastic Havok physics, ey? ;D

Yeah. But there might be an opton to destroy the cover. IIRC, artillery craters provide yellow cover, so if the texture (which is invisible) was destroyed, there might be the option that the green cover is replaced by yellow cover where the arty hit. Going to test it this evening.

you gonna love new Kalach  ;D

Are there any screenshots yet? :D

oh, curious, huh?  ;)

Tak :D

I found a way to create frozen lake :D

Using SPLATs, exectly NM_SAND----> DITCH_SAND2

quite good effect, don't you think?

wow that looks nice. if you want to make even nicer! Use the heightmap editor make a hole in the lake put water into it and then make the terrain higher again. If a mortar hits the lake there will be a water splash instead of a simple crater.

thanks walki1  :D
I never knew that....

wow congrats ceph, that looks really amazing! :D

umm... does anyone know how to make snow falling? Like in Leningrad? I need this for my map.... Walki1  ::) pleeeeeaaaasseeeee.....

I'm not walki1, but well, here you go:

Leningrad has no snow anymore :P.

@Maxi - what should I do with this file?

Extract it, then load the .aps file using your Worldbuilder (Atmosphere Properties > Load) - if you don't have copes WB fix however, it will crash during loading. Do you own it or should I upload it for you?

well, send it to me, because it doesn't work at all  >:(

CREDITS TO COPERNICUS (I hope I won't get cope'd for this)

This is to place in C:\Users\%username%\Documents\My Games\Company of Heroes

beatiful work, keep em comin we appreciate it ;) :) :-*

If you're still wondering how to make falling snow, Cephalos, copy this under the 'Weather' tab in 'Atmosphere Properties' -



Change the density and speed to suit your needs ;)

thanks Burro... I'm gonna try both ways though  ::)

and I won't post results till thursday. My pc is coming home, and so do I ( soon).