Different map modes?

[Brother Nature]

Hi all,

I just got this game and am going through basic aircraft operations tutorials. So far so good, except for the fact that I'm finding it really hard to see units and text on the map.

These tutorial missions are in Israel, so lots of desert/sand/bright yellow map colours make the text, unit markers, scale marker, etc really hard to see.

I am yet to figure out how to change the map mode/etc. Is that possible?

Thanks!

[Yeti]

This is due to the higher resolution textures of Sentinel-2, which are too bright in the desert region. Go to ‘View’ and deactivate the ‘Sentinel-2 satellite map’.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Brother Nature:

These tutorial missions are in Israel, so lots of desert/sand/bright yellow map colours make the text, unit markers, scale marker, etc really hard to see.

I am yet to figure out how to change the map mode/etc. Is that possible?

The map you're looking at is actually made up from different layers, one of which being a satellite map which means.. clear view of sand and thus brighter colors. So if you check the 'View' menu you can enable and disable whatever you need.

I'm very happy with the combination of: Base Earth, BMNG layer, Borders coastline and finally Placenames.

[Brother Nature]

Oh I see, that makes sense! Base Earth, BMNG layer, Borders coastline and finally Placenames seems to work really well.

I do wish there were some more different view modes/options like Paradox series games. I understand that this game has an entirely different focus, but a bit better UX would be great.

That being said, I'm sure it'll get better as I get more used to it.

Thanks guys!

[Mark352]

If you are interest in other mapping options you might consider using the custom overlay function available in CMO. It's discussed in the manual; section 11.2 Custom Overlays 101. I got started using custom overlays after following the links below.

The Baloogan Campaign - The Power of Overlays (from 2015)
https://baloogancampaign.com/2015/03/15/power-overlays/

YouTube - CMANO Custom Overlays (from 2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjhm6eX9_gw

It's a little bit of added work but, for me being able to add custom overlays added a whole a new dimension with regards to realism; especially related to creating installations and targeting. Having said that, mapping options available in the game are excellent. Sentinel-2 is a great resource. OpenTopoMap is one of my favorites. Vast improvement from the old Harpoon days.

I still occasionally use GMAP to access imagery and have moved onto using QGIS; a powerful freeware geospatial information system software along with Google Earth. For me the software is comparable to ESRI's ArcGIS.

If you are interested in something like that, this link to a thread on the Matrix forum can help get you started .

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10201&t=398935&hilit=QGIS

Happy Gaming

PS - cut and paste links directly to your browser.

[Brother Nature]

Oh wow that's really cool! Thanks a lot for sharing - looking at it now!

[Thewood]

There is a chapter on it in the manual and several videos on youtube.

[mlmcdougal]

Originally posted by Mark352:

<snip>

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10201&t=398935&hilit=QGIS

PS - cut and paste links directly to your browser.

When clicking on your matrixgames link above all I get is "The requested topic does not exist"

I also tried cutting and pasting... same result.

[Thewood]

Did you try the manual? And searching youtube?

The copy/paste worked fine for me.

[Thewood]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjhm6eX9_gw

Before you go through all of that, have you tried the opentopo map?

[Mark352]

Copy and paste worked for me. You can do the forum and search QGIS; that will get you there too.