Thanks to Recon3, I've made some name changes in Somme. Cambra has been renamed to Cambrai (This was always a misspell) and Marquion Airfield has been renamed to Epinoy Airfield to properly reflect the historical area. The Headquarters now has been made a Zeppelin Base too.

Ok I've done some LOD tweaking on the front line additions so the FR is friendlier. Also reduced the range of the flak so it doesn't start firing until you're on that side of the front and I decreased the rate of fire on the flak cannons so patrolling the front lines is a bit more survivable.

Here are pics of the German battlefield:





There are 10 of these spread out along the German side of the front lines directly across from the Allied battlefields.

Some pics showing a few of the new features:

A new deflated and burning damage model for the balloons:




After it reaches the ground:


New tree textures






Permanent Zepp hangar

Currently I'm working on improving the look of the terrain around the airfields and the town of Cambrai. By this I mean I'm doing away with the "plateau look" of many of the airfields and making them blend in with the surrounding terrain. The same goes with Cambrai. I always hated how the fields looked like they popped out of the ground..

At the front lines inbetween the German and Allied battlefields smoke has been added to a couple of the craters. This spreads up and down the front lines and makes spotting the battlefields from a distance a bit easier as well as adds a touch of realism.

Just a bit of an update:

Lots of things happening on this front! Tons of bugs are being squashed and the Somme terrain is still undergoing vast improvements. Recon3 is actively retexturing the towns and areas around the factories. An effort has also been made to flatten out the terrain (The old Somme had mountians and plateaus which was totally unrealistic) and add many new tree objects and forests as well as to fix the old ones.

A pic:

For accurate heightmapping (assuming you are modelling a real region), you can fetch height data from ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm/version2/SRTM3/Eurasia/

using the helpful instructions and programs here
http://www.agtim.ch/fu3/BSQ.php

Thanks! This is not a totally accurate map. It is only representing the area realistically to give the user a feel for the time period and what the areas roughly looked like.

Ok lots of updates to report!!! New bridge textures (Included rail tracks and better looking brick), added more hangars for the airfields, fixed take off positions for German airfield 3 (Now named Epinoy), and a few other goodies for the airfields (Lamp posts, crates, a wind sock that moves and a AEC truck).

Thanks to Recon3's revamped and detailed texture work Marquion got an overhaul!!!



Notice the bombed out buildings and the church.

The other two towns to be worked on soon.