I often vacation at Acadia National Park in Maine US. There's a section of the park that I find spectacular... a rugged peninsula called Great Head. It has 150 foot cliffs that drop into the ocean, and the peninsula forms a cove and a sand beach. A bit inland a small cliff-bound mountain with steel ladders on the trail up. From the top you have this incredible overview of Great Head, the beach Bar Harbor to the north and Frenchmans Bay to the east.

I have a dream about constructing a GR mod but I'm not sure what the limitations are. How big can they be? Some large levels look like they might cover about .5 to .75 square miles. Does that sound right? That would be much too small for my purposes. At a bare minimum I'd need at least 2 square miles. Are there limitations to map size? How about height of mountains? I'd like convincing surf but GR's is not convincing. The surf in Halo's Silent Cartographer is much more convincing. Can GR make convincing forests? What's the densest vegetation in GR?

I don't have much experience with Igor except to create some insane firefights. But Igor only works with existing maps... right? Are there other tools to create GR maps? Am I nuts to dream? How long does a map take... not that I'd ever be finished with it. I'd want to make it bigger. There would always be more tinkering to try to fine tune it. But I can dream. Someone tell me I'm nuts!

You're nuts!!

Just kidding... IGOR only works on "existing" maps, and you need 3dSX, of 3dSM, or something like that, to create maps. Problem is, that's an expensive chunk (!!) of change. And, I've never personally made a map, so I can't say how long it would take, but judging by "wait dates" and such on some mods, it takes quite some time to create the map, and then even more time to add missions to the map, and in some cases GR2 itself will be released before some mods make it out (*cough* Gav *cough*).

GR1 has small maps, limitation with the engine, I believe. GR2 will allow for bigger maps, and better scenery, and better vegetation, and possibly better water and better surf, so it may make more sense for you to put your dream up on a shelf for now and wait for GR2 to be completed, then try to mod that engine instead.


GRTwo.com - Staff
Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre

Are you talking about your mod again Chunk? Not finished before GR2 is out?? Lol...

Mine is a labour of love. These things take time. And patience. Two things I seem to be ever short of. It's coming along - slowly - and I'm hoping to finish it soon.

For making maps, it takes ages. I haven't got the software to do it, but Cobaka has. I just play with Igor.

To make maps in GR, you will need 3D Studio Max versions 3, 3.1, 4, 5 or 5.1.
The plugins that are on the expansion CD's and a lot of time:
1. For learning on how to use the software.
2. Practicing making levels.
3. loading some basic levels that you made into the game.
Once you get the hang of that, then
4. Making your map for GR.
There ARE tutorials out there that will help you
http://members.lycos.co.uk/sansite/