arma3_model

[lone minnow]

the model.cfg is where I'm getting confused actually

[lone minnow]

Actually I think it was that Geometry LOD wasn't present

[grizzled halo]

you need autoCenter 0 in your geometry lod

[lone minnow]

When I tried that it stopped appearing at all

[lone minnow]

Alright let me wind it back. I got a few plate carriers in .fbx, .blend, .mtl, and .obj files. I would like to add these to arma as a mod. Where should I start? How should I convert these to p3ds, etc. ?

(note: same plate carrier in each file type, just highlighting that I have some options)

[lone minnow]

Another note, no I didn't rip these from anywhere I actually paid for them and they're royalty free

[spare ermine]

Please tell me how to understand what I have tied to the right guests?
It seems to me that this is due to the fact that I made a mistake in them

[steep crest]

hello, how can I add an inventory space to a model. I am using Arma default models. I have tried to add class TransportItems{};, but no luck so far. to remedy this I have been inheriting NATO_Box_Base, but that messes up the model position on the ground

the full thing class ap_BuildGarage: Land_TouristShelter_01_F { scope = 2; vehicleClass = "Ammo"; displayName = "AA BuildingGarage"; model = "\A3\Structures_F_EPC\Civ\Tourism\TouristShelter_01_F.p3d"; icon = "iconCrateWpns"; class TransportMagazines{}; class TransportWeapons{}; class TransportItems{}; };

[grizzled halo]

decide which format you are gonna use and move from there, you can import into object builder using .obj and .fbx, but blender (.blend) will probably be best to streamline your process while using the armaToolbox addon from Alwarren. Read about configuration file setup in the wiki, you also have a fairly simple follow-along tutorial video by Sokolonko to implement clothes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqU3K9m2kMc) which altough not exactly a vest, will share probably like 80% of the process.

[lone minnow]

Legendary man, thanks for the reply! Will check it out

[spare ermine]

eh, can I have a video lesson on adding a bulletproof vest?

[grizzled halo]

try the one with the helmet, I think its either Sokolonko or ElTyranos for the author of that. If i remember correctly he/they go over ballistics on it.

[spare ermine]

Sokolonko does not have a tutorial on body armor

[stuck oyster]

there probably is not tutorial for everything

some things just got to be figured out

[spare ermine]

And ElTyranos has only equipment/weapons

[spare ermine]

I was able to add any other vest, but the one above has defects, prichet made them the same

I added the same, but it was this vest that decided that it would not work correctly*

[stuck oyster]

from the look of it, just just bad weighting

probably the vest strap is part of some other bone selection by mistake

[spare ermine]

I tried to delete / fix it, but for some reason everything remained
, I can throw off the model to you, maybe you will see with a professional look what the problem is?(

[stuck oyster]

I probably could but I dont have time for that.

Id never get anything done if I fixed everyone elses stuff too

[spare ermine]

:)))

[woeful viper]

look for general weighting tutorials in blender. Once you understand the fundamentals, you can apply it to arma and any other game

[spare ermine]

ok

[lone minnow]

While I work through the sokolonko tutorial, I was playing around with the arma 3 samples and trying to add the sample vest to the game to ensure I'm doing the scripting stuff right and the vest still appears at the feet of the character in the game. Surely the example vest has the right LOD/weights right. I think the issue is in the model.cfg. Does anyone have a good example of a model.cfg for a vest? Or is this something that isn't used?

[fluid copper]

the model.cfg in the samples is correct, you just need to change the class name it uses to the name of the p3d of the vest

[stuck oyster]

these need to match

[lone minnow]

Will go try this now, thanks

[lone minnow]

It worked 👍

So when I supplanted the test vest with mine, it went down to his feet again so it's definitely a weighting issue in blender

[last spindle]

wall-of-text. Killing me on the smart phone trying to read that

[last spindle]

Welll that is a +1 for Slack, the above displays nice on the desktop app, but is nothing more than a wall of text on the phone app.... my bad for being a ass about it, Discords fault

[past canopy]

What kind of phone do you have Pinga?

Shows up fine on my iPhone 5

[last spindle]

Android

ewwww

[past canopy]

the problem

Computers > Windows

phones > Apple

Don't use Apple PCs it's horrible

[last spindle]

Phone = Computer

[past canopy]

Lol

[last spindle]

these days Toaster = Computer

[past canopy]

phone = anything the size of a laptop that makes calls

[empty vigil]

yes and no, make sure your geo level has 'autocenter=0' setting in it

by default it's set to 1 and will always show your model at ground level

[cursive sleet]

Do you need seperate UW for proxies in arma?

[atomic nymph]

why does it change scale and location when i export with blender to object builder ?

[stuck oyster]

you have moved and rotated it in object mode

[atomic nymph]

i didnt

[stuck oyster]

you have to apply all transformations for it to export out correctly

[stuck oyster]

well then someone else did

[atomic nymph]

how ?

[stuck oyster]

siince I can seee it is not in right place for starters

[atomic nymph]

idk , when i choose open .p3d , it just put it here as i shows

[stuck oyster]

where is it from?

[atomic nymph]

i made it

[stuck oyster]

blender manual/googling should get you to applying transformation, for the basic "how to use blender stuff" it is very important to be able to look up the stuff on your own

[atomic nymph]

i did and found nothing

[stuck oyster]

you typed in "blender apply transformation" into google?

[atomic nymph]

no

[stuck oyster]

well try that then

[atomic nymph]

i did , problem fixed !

thank you

[stuck oyster]

👍

[atomic nymph]

another question tho

how do i know what the memory points i made are right

by other means

[stuck oyster]

check the samples and copy paste what they have. that usually works as a solid base

[atomic nymph]

define more by "copy and paste"

you mean to check where they put the points and do the same ?

[stuck oyster]

open sample vest into blender, copy its memory lod and other lods you want to your new vest blend

[atomic nymph]

what you can do that ?

[stuck oyster]

yes

I would recommend doing some more basic blender learning 😅

[atomic nymph]

arma is confusing + i didnt say iam the best 🥲

[stuck oyster]

not an issue, but learning how the tool you use work helps in making stuff

[atomic nymph]

yes

[atomic nymph]

@stuck oyster i think copy points doesnt work with 2 diffrent models

[stuck oyster]

Copy the whole object in object mode..

[atomic nymph]

doesnt work

[stuck oyster]

well you do something wrong there. I know it works.

maybe you dont have same blender versions open for some reason

[atomic nymph]

i have 3.3.1

so in object mode you just copy object and past object in the other model ??

[stuck oyster]

into another blender instance yes

[quick terrace]

nope

[grizzled halo]

do pistol have any special attribute im missing?

Made a model and imported it into object builder incluidng geometry that is set to autoCenter 0 but for some reason the pistol offsets to the right?

using the default handAnim

[stuck oyster]

ye as unfortunate as it is, the pistol proxy is poorly positioned.

pistol weapons need to be offset

[grizzled halo]

LOL that is weird, but thanks for the info. Was wondering if i was missing something xD

[foggy finch]

whats the easiest methoed for rotating vetices in a memory LOD? rigging a ladder and for some reason they wont rotate

all vertices have thier axis' aligned

[quick terrace]

you can't rotate a vert by itself

since a point has no direction (vector)

[foggy finch]

ya

[atomic nymph]

@stuck oyster is there is a way that i cant encrypt my vest models ?

so if anyone tried to edit it it corrupts ?

or can is there is a way to hide model.cfg ?

[stuck oyster]

binarization already makes it so it does not open

@atomic nymph

pack your pbo correctly and its like any other model in game

[atomic nymph]

@stuck oyster I already know that way but it’s too easy to debinarize , but thank you anyway !

[stuck oyster]

then no there is no other way to do it

[atomic nymph]

I was looking for better way

[atomic nymph]

Oh ok , thank you

[atomic nymph]

@stuck oyster how to fix that ?

Shadow LOD is ok

[stuck oyster]

shadow lod is broken

fix shadow lod

😛

[atomic nymph]

How do i make one probably....

[stuck oyster]

it requires the mesh be built out of closed shapes

[atomic nymph]

Closed ? means no spaces ?

[stuck oyster]

no holes

[atomic nymph]

?

this is arma 3 sample

shadow lod

[atomic nymph]

and there is tons of holes

[stuck oyster]

no that kind of holes

the mesh has no holes

[atomic nymph]

there is no holes in this lod

[stuck oyster]

yes there are

[atomic nymph]

where ?

[stuck oyster]

idk

turn on backface culling maybe

so it does not draw the backside of faces

or turn on face direction draw mode

[atomic nymph]

Where

[stuck oyster]

cant be seen from this picture

but how the shadow draw behaves its clear there are holes

[stuck oyster]

Im not your personal model fixer though, you have to be able to find them yourself

[atomic nymph]

ofc , but i see you as a pro

[atomic nymph]

when i turn it on , what should i look for ? @stuck oyster

[stuck oyster]

holes

[atomic nymph]

Didn’t found any , any ideas ? Thank you very much also

[stuck oyster]

do you have camo selection on it?

[atomic nymph]

No

[stuck oyster]

then its holes in the model.

[atomic nymph]

Oh ok , will look into that

[atomic nymph]

@stuck oyster note: before adding the shadow lod it was the same , can this be caused by anything other than the shadow lod ?

[stuck oyster]

hiddenselection selections

but you said you dont have camo selection on it

so its likely holes, you just cant find them

[atomic nymph]

How about if I disabled them from model.cfg ?

[atomic nymph]

Hmmmm

[stuck oyster]

its either you try to swap textures in shadow lod or you have holes in the mesh

nothing else makes such problems

[celest arch]

"Well, I found a solution.

All I had to do was to make the start point further away from the wall than the end point. Funny that they didn't mention that in the tutorial. " might be a solution

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/31993-ladder-making/

[atomic nymph]

Probably

[stuck oyster]

with backface culling off you can enable face orientation try to spot red faces

holes can also be just unmerged vertices

mesh that looks like closed can have holes

looks closed

WRONG

look closed 2

WRONG AGAIN

[atomic nymph]

Yes that’s probably it !

@stuck oyster all blue

@stuck oyster i dont have texture on shadow lod can that be the case ?

[stuck oyster]

no shadowlod must not have texture

you can still have holes

[atomic nymph]

What ?

[atomic nymph]

so it should have texture ? you are being sarcastic ?

[stuck oyster]

No I said it MUST NOT have texture

[atomic nymph]

and it doesnt have any holes

[stuck oyster]

well Id suggest you make the shadow lod again

from 0

so it does not have holes

[atomic nymph]

can you see your memory points in object builder ?

[atomic nymph]

ok good point

[stuck oyster]

are those the TFL gloves?

[atomic nymph]

i turned off backface culling and this happened

[atomic nymph]

holy shit @stuck oyster my bad

[dapper hound]

the vest doesn't have any?

[atomic nymph]

then thats why

[dapper hound]

not sure? I got it from some steam workshop mod, but the only thing I'm modding right now is just the vest

[atomic nymph]

you need to assign the memory points

[muted tapir]

does the vest have the autocenter 0 property?

[atomic nymph]

like so

[atomic nymph]

assign each point to its correct vertices

[dapper hound]

no, let me do that

[stuck oyster]

youre not supposed to get models from mods

what are you doing exactly?

[atomic nymph]

@stuck oyster i used solidfy modifier in blender for the best , so the vest has vacuum inside , is the ok as long as i close it ?

[stuck oyster]

youll have to try

the red faces are not ok

[dapper hound]

I didn't do that though??

all I did was mod the vest

[stuck oyster]

rigth you said the gloves

which mod?

[atomic nymph]

i know , iam covering it now

[muted tapir]

i think he just loaded the glove mod alongside the mod hes making

[dapper hound]

[stuck oyster]

sure but we try to cull the TFL stuff

[muted tapir]

why?

[stuck oyster]

its ripped

[muted tapir]

ah

[stuck oyster]

the gloves and the watch are pretty similar

[atomic nymph]

@stuck oyster better ?

[stuck oyster]

hard to say from this angle sure.

you just got to try it

[atomic nymph]

ok

[short needle]

Depending on how you made the model there might be all kinds of weird duplicate verticies, inside faces, etc.

It's hard to tell from just an exterior picture

[stuck oyster]

#arma3_model message already explained above

[atomic nymph]

so its just better to remodel it

[short needle]

Mmm, not necessarily.

[atomic nymph]

then how do i fix the duplicate stuff , the vest is not simple to just find them

[short needle]

You might try some of the selection tools, but it's going to take some hand work tbh.

Hold on a sec

This thingy, you can go down to select by trait and select things like non-manifold geometry, loose verticies, etc. but it's not exactly foolproof

It can just give you a clue

[atomic nymph]

wait @short needle

i chose loose geometry

what then @short needle

[short needle]

Check to see if anything is selected

You can switch to wireframe mode maybe

All it does is select geometry that fits that description, it's up to you to decide what to do with it

[stuck oyster]

you can have loose parts

as long as all parts are closed

[atomic nymph]

nothing is selected

that mean its clear ?

[short needle]

Nope

I apologize, should have been clearer

Interior faces and non-manifold will probably be better clues

Just clues, not necessarily quick 100% fixes

[atomic nymph]

interior faces doesnt select anything

but face to face selects the whole model

[short needle]

Yeah, ignore that

Do you have an option for non-manifold? Probably the best hint

[atomic nymph]

no i dont

[short needle]

Switch to edge mode

[atomic nymph]

selects these

[short needle]

Kinda looks like you got two rows of edges butted up against each other that might just have a big ol hole in between them

Kinda hard to tell from a screenshot though

I don't know, it could be any number of things

[atomic nymph]

but if i fixed it it can fix the problem ?

[short needle]

Potentially

I'm willing to bet there's just some junky geometry in there from how you modeled it

Clean it up and try again

[atomic nymph]

ok wait

ps : when i replaced the shadow lod with a cube , the cube shadow is infront

which means ?

i did that for testing

[short needle]

Don't know. Probably has something to do with the weird geometry of the mesh

I'd fix that first tbh

And then troubleshoot again afterwards

Finding holes in your mesh is just a general Blender problem as well. If something is specific to Blender, I'd look up Blender documentation. It's really thorough.

[atomic nymph]

yes i think so

[atomic nymph]

what do you mean by wierd geometry ?

[short needle]

Sometimes the way you model can introduce duplicate verticies, edges, etc. that are right on top of each other. Faces that are inside other faces. Sometimes you might have like let's say 4 faces that look ok but then for some reason you have a 5th face that spans all 4 faces. Just some goofy things I've done while learning Blender.

Those non-manifold edges you selected earlier, zoom in on them and see if anything looks weird

[atomic nymph]

you are right 100%

i do have faces inside other tho

[short needle]

I mean like

Ok so you can have a vest that has an interior

But inside the interior in between two faces there's just a face chillin'

[atomic nymph]

looks ok after fixing a bit ?

[short needle]

I suppose. Kind of hard to tell without being able to pan around

Look for red faces like you were instructed earlier

[atomic nymph]

i found red faces inside the model because i put on solidify modifier

[short needle]

Yes, sorry, I mean do it again now that you believe you've fixed it

[atomic nymph]

yea fixed

[short needle]

No red faces?

You have to check again to verify your fix worked

[atomic nymph]

yea

[atomic nymph]

i did

you can see here the litter cap , is kinda inside the vest , attached to vertices inside the vest , thats ok ?

[short needle]

I think it should be fine provided there are no holes

I gotta bounce for a bit tho, good luck. Try to load the vest again

[atomic nymph]

i heard from people that i cant delete the shadow lod , and arma will generate one , is this true ?

[short needle]

Not sure, but if you want to try it you can. You're probably going to have to fix the shadow lod regardless

[atomic nymph]

"those should be, in the vast majority fixed already. All models should create soft shadows. Stencil shadows is A2 legacy way of dealing with shadows, and should be active only when using low shadow ingame preferences "

[short needle]

I'd definitely look up some documentation/tutorials on just general game asset workflow

A lot of this stuff isn't really Arma specific

Anywho, gotta go

[atomic nymph]

ok , cya

Way better , also it has this little flap but still

Much appreciate to you guys ❤️@short needle @stuck oyster

[stuck oyster]

there is a generated shadowlod but for units/gear its very blurry blob

so if you want yours to match everything else then the shadow lod is needed

[atomic nymph]

ah yes

[atomic nymph]

meth busted tho

after removing the solidify modifier from the shadow lod

[stuck oyster]

perhaps best to do the interior manually.

[atomic nymph]

problem fixed !

[foggy finch]

nice, thanks :D

working now

[dapper hound]

does anyone have a config file that makes a backpack become a tfar radio backpack? trying to make a new one that's compatible with tfar

[stuck oyster]

youll have to check tfar documentation

[tulip gyro]

why is my blender arma toolbox not importing materials?

[stuck oyster]

no materials at all?

does the thing have a material?

[tribal rain]

howdy people so im trying to export my model into P3d and keep getting slapped with this error

[stuck oyster]

remove empty vertex groups is my guess fix

@tribal rain

[tribal rain]

yeah i duplicated the original and deleted the original then exported and it worked

i think i used the default cube and apparently that can cause issues

[stuck oyster]

no default cube should have no issues

you just managed to do something odd 😅

[tribal rain]

as usual

[atomic nymph]

No

[atomic nymph]

You need to define the cube as a custom LOD

[tribal rain]

did that

[atomic nymph]

Is it the first time using the plugin ?

[tribal rain]

nope

[past canopy]

What we really need is a Texture artist channel with Sabre ;)

[atomic nymph]

Weird

[autumn ridge]

I'm in......

[autumn ridge]

Dose anyone have a technical or a humvee with 50 cal project file for Arma 3 that I can use as a tutorial to port over my dpv we have been getting stuck with all kinds of problems trying to create our own configs and get this thing in game thanks....

[tulip gyro]

sorry, yeah, no materials whatsoever

It's extremely inconsistent about it too

somtimes there is no issue

other times it doesn't bother importing materials/edge smoothnes

[stuck oyster]

[tulip gyro]

I have a sneaking suspicion it's due to poly count

[stuck oyster]

What kind of poly counts we talking about?

[storm bluff]

Vauge question ik but

if I had one goal

to make a mod that adds a model I have made into the game, how much would I have to learn?

assuming it does not need collision or any other sort of physics.
Just a static thing

[tulip gyro]

30k+

[stuck oyster]

should not be an issue

[grizzled halo]

I have +32k in a couple of models without issues. What version of the toolbox are we talking about?

The most latest release on 3.0.2+ versions of blender barely works

[tulip gyro]

yeah I'm using the newest version of blender

[grizzled halo]

try rolling back to previous versions for which the toolbox is intended, I did too have a lot of troubles using newer versions sadly

[stuck oyster]

do you guys have the toolbox I have linked in pinned messages?

[grizzled halo]

yes, that the latest experimental

[stuck oyster]

I run that on 3.41 no problem

[tranquil spire]

same here ^^ the only problem I get with it is if I distribute weight and instantly go to object mode, that causes a crash, solution is just to wait 1-2 seconds

[stuck oyster]

yeah that one I got crashing too

[rapid tree]

Hello, is someone from CUP here and can explain to me why they packed their vehicles in multiple pbos and not a single one ?

[sonic jay]

Hey im having an issue that im struggling to wrap my head around. I have a house structure with named selections for things like doors and windows to animate. However when I try and view the objectparams using getCursorObjectParams, no matter where I look on it no selections are shown :/. But running selectionNames on it or manually animating one of the doors, and I can see them all listed and the door animates properly

[pallid island]

i'm not a CUP staff member, but most likely for keeping PBOs under 2 GB filesize limit. And, probably, some semantics. And, less likely, some modularity shenanigans (as in: being able to delete/not dowload pbos that aren't used in some setups).

[rapid tree]

Makes sense thanks for the insight

[somber garden]

quick question, and let me know if this is the wrong place for this, but I am wanting to make a few weapons for in-game and lack the skills. Is there anywhere I could go to try and find someone willing to make some assets for me? I would be willing to pay of course.

[rapid tree]

There is an Hiring Channel in this discord

[wispy orchid]

I'm just testing the UAV Greyhawk on the Nimitz again. It keeps bumping when one building model is connected to the next one it seems. Does anyone know of a cure for this behaviour? I know that the F/A-18 and F-14 use some tricks with the supension, so they have less bumping

[cedar garden]

Working on a custom parachute, was wondering how I can go about preventing player from being put on top of the parachute during landing?

[stuck oyster]

on top?

[stuck oyster]

what do you mean by that?

[cedar garden]

When a player lands, they are literally teleported to the top of the parachute and will fall off

[stuck oyster]

is it somehow different from normal parachute?

[cedar garden]

Well, not really

It's pretty much identical to how the vanilla one is setup

[vast nimbus]

Are you using ace?

I know it might be a weird question but I remember getting told long time ago ace does something to chutes to do with animations and disembarking

Im in no way Knowledgeable other than the bare minimum level but if I remember rightly and please someone correct me if I’m wrong the parachute does a disembark on vehicle death to achieve its function

Sorry trying to dig up my notes

I had a similar issue a while ago and I can’t remember the solution I just know I never fixed it

Right sorry bout that

[stuck oyster]

sounds about right yeah

could be missing memorypoints or definitions in config for exiting.

or wrong setup in geometry lod

[vast nimbus]

Damn it can’t find it

It’s a memory point brains telling me disembark but think might actually be eject something and it has to be defined for getting out of vehicles by Ejecting which if I’m correct is the method the parachute works I just can’t find it

Guessing it’ll be on my desktop saved somewhere I can’t think of so I’ll look when I get home see if I can find the step by steps I got sent

[tawdry vale]

Tryin to make the kolibri pistol

any idea how fix the edges?

[stuck oyster]

Before doing anything that specific I'd recommend running through some basic tutorials to get but more experience with the tools and how they work.

[white oak]

hey @stuck oyster is there a way to prevent autocenter messing up memory points?

turning autocenter off breaks the door axis

[stuck oyster]

🤔

in a building?

[white oak]

Yup

[stuck oyster]

it should not

never had a problem

are you using rotation type animation?

or rotationX Y

[white oak]

Yup

Isn't that the default for doors?

[stuck oyster]

that does not work with memorypoints

use rotation

iz best

[white oak]

Still broken with rotation

[stuck oyster]

Broken how? You sure you don't have a typo?

Or multiple animated selections on same part?

[stuck oyster]

Where do you test it? Buldozer? Live game?

[white oak]

Make and export it in blender
pack and test in live game

[stuck oyster]

use buldozer to test the animations

[white oak]

Animation works fine on bulldozer

Was trying to figure out why the door was animating wrong for a while
then on a whim I decided to re-enable autocenter and that fixed it
but if possible I'd rather keep it off as it makes other things much easier

[stuck oyster]

do you test editor or terrain placed version?

and how does the "not work manifest?"

[white oak]

testing editor placed

and this is the "not working" bit
It's rotating around "an" axis, just not the one I set up

[mortal estuary]

Sorry to butt in, anyone familiar with whats causing this? Havent found the source myself

[stuck oyster]

whats "this"?

[stuck oyster]

and it works ok in buldozer?

[white oak]

yup

[mortal estuary]

Weird deformed poly's from somewhere, all the white

[stuck oyster]

is it a model you made?

[mortal estuary]

Yes

[stuck oyster]

and those dont exist in the source model?

[mortal estuary]

They dont, and as far as I could see in Object Builder no LODs have it either

[stuck oyster]

what program did you use?

[mortal estuary]

Used Blender, havent tried importing the model again

[stuck oyster]

does it have multiple resolution lods?

[mortal estuary]

In the process of doing that

[stuck oyster]

it kinda looks like theres multiple lods on top of each other

[mortal estuary]

Thats what I thought as well but I couldnt find a solution in OB

[stuck oyster]

does it have a viewpilot lod?

[mortal estuary]

Yes

Re-importing may have worked, the structure is completely different in OB now. May have accidentally fumbled and did something to it

Thanks for the help anyways

[stuck oyster]

👍

[white oak]

tried building the object into the map
door still broken with autocenter off

[stuck oyster]

I cant really see any reason why that would happen.

make sure you actually build the right folder

and that a new pbo is created

and possibly clear p3d from P:\temp\ in case its stuck

[white oak]

yup, checked all those aswell

[stuck oyster]

are there any other animated parts in that building?

[white oak]

there's a second door and some windows

[stuck oyster]

do they work?

[white oak]

windows do, the other door is similarly broken

[stuck oyster]

try comment out the bones and animations for the other door

[white oak]

no dice

[stuck oyster]

dunno. never seen it not work

did you copy the base model.cfg setup from the sample house?

with isdiscrete = parameter and all that

do your animations have memory = 1 parameter in use?

@white oak

[white oak]

yes to all of those

slightly changed the model cfg where it no longer uses default as it was throwing errors

although, I'm sure that's not the issue as another model that uses the same modelcfg works fine

[lone minnow]

Commented here a few days ago and I've gotten this far with my AVS project. Now the coloring here isn't the .paa file, it's the shadowing. The shadows don't match the lighting in game and what's on the uniform. Is this an .rvmat issue? or something I need to do in blender?

[fluid copper]

probably an rvmat or shadowlod one, what does it look like with no rvmat?

[lone minnow]

haven't checked, will do now

w/o rvmat

[fluid copper]

It just looks like your textures are darker

[stuck oyster]

could be your normalmap is in wrong way

or your vertex normals dont export right because you dont have o2script exe path set up in the ArmaToolbox addon settings

@lone minnow

[lone minnow]

Ah it could be this I couldn't find the o2script exe path when following the tutorial. I'll go digging again

[lone minnow]

Nah it's not that

[stuck oyster]

pretty sure its this. The o2script exe can be found in object builders folder

without it set up, your vertex normals dont export right and model looks like a dark lump

[lone minnow]

well what I mean is I couldn't find where to put the path in on the blender side

the UI on the tutorial I'm using is older so it's been sending me on easter egg hunts for certain things lol

[lone minnow]

Yah so I can't find the ArmaToolbox Settings to change the path

[stuck oyster]

In the blender settings addons page where you first installed it

[lone minnow]

Found it thanks. Running into another issue now where no edits I make in blender are showing up in game, even size changes to the plate carrier. Will prob start from scratch tomorrow and see where I end up

[young meteor]

Hello there, I'm creating a road sign (with variable message) and I'd like to be able to perform a "setObjectMaterial" command on it, but I don't quite understand.

I see that the command works on some objects and not others, is there something special I need to define for this? (I've already defined my "hiddenSelections" line in config.cpp

[stuck oyster]

do you mean to use it as terrain object?

[young meteor]

I'm gonna use it as mission object and be able to apply various materials on it

[stuck oyster]

there are 3 essentials. P3d with selections for the changing parts, model.cfg config class that corresponds to the p3d and contains the previously mentioned selections in its sections[] array, and last the config cpp class for the thing containing the hiddenselections[] array at least and possible hiddenselectiontexture/material arrays for set defaults (if no config default is set, whats defined as surface texture/material on p3d is used)

[young meteor]

Okay thanks! But it doesn't seem to be working on my end, even though I've defined the selections in config.cpp and model.cfg.

I tested with a simple cube modeled quickly in object builder, I don't know if it's related to the fact that it doesn't seem to work?

I'll check it out, I'm sure I've missed something.

[stuck oyster]

common error is to not name the model.cfg class exactly same as the p3d file

[young meteor]

I'm gonna check 🙂

[near tundra]

is there a limit to the number of positions (pos##) you can define in a path lod? I tend to put a lot in my models but it will only use like the first 10-12

[stuck oyster]

big vanilla buildings have mor than that I think

[pallid island]

they totally do

[gray nest]

I am making a weapon and its all working except the textures. When I go to define the paths in the OBJ builder for camo 1 and 2 they do not save and the weapon is all black and sometimes white based on how you look at it in game.

Can anyone help?

[stuck oyster]

Black/white means your paths are not right and don't correspond to what gets packed into pbo

[gray nest]

I checked paths both for cfg and the Object Builder, the OBJ builder does not seem to save them from what I can tell.

[stuck oyster]

Do you use P drive?

[gray nest]

Negative. Just juggle files on my desktop.

Fun thing is it works fine for someone else

[stuck oyster]

Yes well. That kind of workflow can work but it is pretty hit and miss. The "proper" way with P drive is more simpler imo since all the tools are created around it's use.

You do your paths wrong, that's basically what the problem is.

[gray nest]

        {
            "camo1",
            "camo2",
        };
        hiddenSelectionsTextures[]=
        {
            "TSR_Bolter\Data\Bolter_CO.paa",
            "TSR_Bolter\data\magazine_Co.paa",
        };
        hiddenSelectionsMaterials[]=
        {
            "TSR_Bolter\data\Bolter.rvmat.",
            "TSR_Bolter\data\magazine.rvmat.",
        };```

These?

[stuck oyster]

Yeah this path likely don't match the folder structure inside the created pbo

[gray nest]

hmm, there is no data folder when I pack it.

But when Its not packed its there. . .

I think I am missing something

Looking at the Steves PBOs shows more files. . .

[gray nest]

Making more did not help

[stuck oyster]

Yes well. This is basically result of the more wild workflow.

I can't really help further as I'm not familiar with how you do it. To me it's just plainly "wrong way" to do this stuff.

[gray nest]

ok, maybe I need to step back and set that up.

[gray nest]

PROGRESS, lighting is still wanky as hell though

[crisp turtle]

Hey guys I decided to send a message in this channel as I'd like help with the modeling process for Arma 3. I know how to 3d model and I've created an object and it's UV map, however I can almost find no information on the rest of the process. I'm simply looking for someone to show me and teach me the process after the modeling portion. I'd very fast to learn and pick up on things super easily, I just simply need someone to show me. If someone is willing to help PLEASE DM ME :)

[umbral shuttle]

Hello, so i noticed that if I import an fbx directly into object builder the model is all smooth. if I import the fbx into blender, use arma toolbox to make a p3d then the model has sharp edges/smooth edges where they should be. The checkbox for sharp & smooth edges is greyed out in object builder import. Any way to fix?

[compact zenith]

How to I add a rotation to a memory point (e.g. for attachTo)? I can't just see how to add a direction with only one vertex

[stuck oyster]

Needs 2 vertex

[compact zenith]

and how do the game know which one is the direction and which the position?

[stuck oyster]

Order of vertices in selection

Don't recall what way it goes butshould be easy enough to test.

Also don't recall how it determines which way is up, if it does that at all, but could also try more than 2 points (middle of vertices in a selection should be the origin of that selection)

[compact zenith]

Ok I tried to add 2 vertices but the rotation doesn't change. The player is still facing in the wrong direction when attached to the object.
(both vertices in selection seat_1)

Tried with player attachTo [_table, [0,0,-0.54], format["seat_%1",(_seat+1)],true];. Do I have to add something special to the config also?

[last spindle]

EMERY, you want a 50 cal weapon config? Use the off-road armed as a base for the turret

[rapid tree]

hi there is there a way to make a gunner of a vehicle be invisible ?

[autumn ridge]

Yea thatks pinga but ruben cracked it today got it in game with only a few small bugs to fix

[night summit]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/735203619703619634/1117262546429292626/image.png https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/735203619703619634/1117262546802581625/image.png

I am having issues with changing buldozers lighting to accurate in-game one. I've followed through the steps in this https://pmc.editing.wiki/doku.php?id=arma3:modeling:buldozer-lighting guide.

Buldozer still has the default lighting when launched, and when I remove the bin folder from my P drive, buldozer still launches with no change. I assume it is using a bin folder from elsewhere and I don't know where to define that or what could be causing it.

[stuck oyster]

It's using the bin.pbo from Arma install folder. If you temporarily Rename that it will use the p bin folder. Can't off the top of my head remember what controlled that.

[last spindle]

i mentioned a couple of fixes on Skype.....man old school

Those days when you have this kick ass plan to finish and texture a model in the eveneing after work, but get slammed with a last minute work project that has to be finsihed before you get to go home, and then your train is delayed for 30minutes when you finaly do leave, and you get home and just cbf doing anything but listen to music and play with the dog.....its just one of those days

[compact zenith]

anyone an idea?

[stuck oyster]

How is it wrong way?

[compact zenith]

it seems like the two points didn't changed anything in the model

[stuck oyster]

What command do you use for the attach?

Ah it's in the message

It's possible you would need to make it 3 points and make a face out of it. Or configure it as a bone in model.cfg.

Don't exactly remember what it required

[night summit]

Renaming the bin PBO in the game directory is having no effect, Buldozer still launches with the default lighting.

If I move the bin PBO out of the Arma 3 dta folder, then Buldozer fails to launch with CfgWorlds and shaders errors.

[plucky depot]

Is bulldozer running with file patching?

[stuck oyster]

Could mean you don't have the arma3/dta folder unpacked to P

[plucky depot]

You should be able to patch the base lighting by having files in the correct place.

[last spindle]

http://i.imgur.com/E8GgVuj.png
http://i.imgur.com/5Vka9PE.png
Low Poly rendered with iRay, 4,300 Verts

[rapid tree]

Stupid Question, do you have your Mod Folder in the pdrive ?

[night summit]

Not sure where to go about having buldozer run with filepatching. Unless I have enabled/ disabled it by accident, it is whatever is default.

The mod with the object that I am testing on are in the P drive.

I have the debinerised bin and core folders in my p drive, with the updated config from the guide. I also have the steam_appid.txt and steam_api64.dll from arma in there.

[wheat shoal]

P1NGA, is your artillery model partially configed or is it still straight out being textured?

[last spindle]

it is partly configured, but you cannot get in and shoot it yet...............the mechanics behind that is still unknow, if the cannon will be a turret, or if it will all be done via script, animating the weapon, spawning the projectiles and applying a velocity

[wheat shoal]

oh okay, I am rummaging around trying to find some inheritance classes or lines relevant to a howitzer static artillery thing. surprised I can't find anything, did they remove the black and white way of getting a simple static artilley piece in game since Arrowhead or has it always been complicated?

[orchid fern]

@wheat shoal Massi's vehicle pack has an artillery gun in it. Might be worth a look

[last spindle]

i use the base class of the Mk6 Mortar, i think it is StaticMortar_F or something, will grab it now

"class StaticHowitzer: StaticMortar{};"

that is my starting point :p

[sleek trout]

Quick one, how do I fix this?
https://i.imgur.com/EfVUMOT.png

It's using the exact same config as another helmet I have that has no issues

[fluid copper]

its either a weighting issue or not correct model.cfg file

[sleek trout]

Yeah I figured it was an issue in the model.cfg file. The class wasn't defined down the bottom

Cheers

[desert notch]

Use UAV AIs

[rapid tree]

UAV Als ?

[marsh canyon]

UAVs in Arma don't work by itself, they have their invisible AIs

[rapid tree]

oh i read it wrong, alright

[sleek trout]

Hello! How do I go about fixing this? Is it just adjusting it's position in Blender/O2 and trying again?

[marsh canyon]

Is this an helmet object?

[sleek trout]

Yessir

[marsh canyon]

Then make the empty pilot LOD

[sleek trout]

Oh okay, thanks

I assume it's a simple O2 thing to do? Sorry I am usually only doing config for my mod and don't usually touch the models

[stuck oyster]

Yes

[marsh canyon]

You can make an empty object in Blender too so you won't forget it upon exporting

[sleek trout]

Thanks heaps! Something so simple lmao

[marsh canyon]

Meanwhile the simple thing is very complex in this game 😄

[sleek trout]

Now if I wanted to add some earmuffs only on certain versions, do I add them as a selection and then define in config to display them/hide them? How would I go about that?

As an example, I want to use the same headsets as this existing helmet someone donated to me

[stuck oyster]

Variants would be separate P3d

[night summit]

@stuck oyster update on this. when I had the arma3_x64 set as the external viewer, Buldozer was throwing errors when trying to load textures from the mod in the P drive. Idk if that casts more light on where I might be going wrong.

[stuck oyster]

well not really. My setup is like that and works.

[lone minnow]

I added a pouch to a plate carrier and now I'm getting a "Data File Too Short" error and the game won't launch. Anything I'm missing?

[stuck oyster]

added a pouch to a what plate carrier and how?

[lone minnow]

I have a slick model of a carrier, I added a pouch in blender and joined it (adding it to the LODs, updating the textures +rvmats etc.). Once it was all hood exported it to p3d

In the same mod folder

Oh wait I think I need to redo the weights

[stuck oyster]

datafile too short would indicate the packing of pbo did not work right

[rapid tree]

Nah he can import the full helmet and then hide things via HiddenSelections

[stuck oyster]

Like I mentioned earlier that is not a good way to do it as it increases the polycount of the object a lot and makes gpu draw a lot of transparency

Split P3d is better

[rapid tree]

Okay thanks for the advice

[gleaming tusk]

aight lads i am running into an issue, for some reason the shadows of an object are visible through mine?
I've only run into this one other time and it was on a hat i made, but i havent seen it since then except for other mods

[stuck oyster]

you have transparency on the model textures which makes the engine count it as transparenty and the ambient shadows from other objects bleed through

first tihng would be removeing alpha channel from all your _CO textures

[gleaming tusk]

copy that boss

done, testing now

okay @stuck oyster its still doing it, i made certain i was using the _CO file, could anything in the rvmat be doing this ?

here is the start of the rvmat file, i feel like if its an issue, it might be one of these values causing it?

ambient[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
diffuse[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
forcedDiffuse[] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 };
emmisive[] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 };
specular[] = { 0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 1 };
specularPower = 2;
PixelShaderID = "Super";
VertexShaderID = "Super";

and if its not one of those then perhaps one of the AS,SMDI,NOHQ entries?

[stuck oyster]

does the _Co texture have alpha channel?

you can still have it even if you dont have visible transparency

[gleaming tusk]

no i went into substance and removed any alpha channel

well disabled them

but they are still options on the shader i have selected

[stuck oyster]

yes the shader paramterers are always like that

[stuck oyster]

substance painter does not affect that

[gleaming tusk]

okay cool

i have the opacity channel disabled

and im not used to this issue >->

[stuck oyster]

does the model also have other parts that are transparent?

[gleaming tusk]

ye, the shield bit

[stuck oyster]

you can split the force field part into separate p3d and add it to the main model as proxy

or you can try the forceNoAlpha named property in geometry lod (listed in the wiki for A3 named properties)

main issue I believe is the amount of transparency

[gleaming tusk]

is this how they get the big aircraft carriers to have collision? im working on a side project that is a very large object, if i can just have the other bits spawn in like that as they are in blender so the person in the editor doesnt have to mess with aligning things > -> would be awesome

gonna give the no transparency thing a shot first

[stuck oyster]

dimension limit is 50x50 meters (height can be more, but the larger the object the more simulation it triggers)

[gleaming tusk]

on the wiki it said 36 from center point is the max

but that extends to -36 from center as well so 72 total,
But if i can avoid that by just having it in pieces then put together via proxies?

sorry, those are the limits for roadway LODs

but this thing is ungodly masive > ->

[stuck oyster]

no proxies wont allow increasing it

you will have to split that into parts

[gleaming tusk]

do you know how they do it with the aircraft carrier then?

[stuck oyster]

yeah roadway can extend bit further

but 50x50 is safe

[stuck oyster]

its split in many parts

the config is written so they all are created together

[gleaming tusk]

okay so i just have to do that 😄

i didnt know if it was a proxy thing or config thing

for now ill just leave it as is, since its not like breaking the game or anything and ill just fix it when i figure out how to do ambient sounds.
The shield wall thing i mean.
thanks for the help as usual @stuck oyster ❤️

[stuck oyster]

https://tenor.com/view/thumbs-up-shaun-the-sheep-approved-excellent-gif-14556560

[crisp turtle]

so uh Is this supposed to happen when I import a .obj into object builder? I open it up in buldozer and Im pretty sure it's not supposed to be see through, anyone know what I didw rong? IS IT suppsoed to be see through?

[pallid island]

yaaay, flipped normals

[crisp turtle]

Oh shit how do I fix that?

[pallid island]

if i've found the correct manual, then Object Builder should use F5 hotkey to recalculate normals and W hotkey to flip normals (probably at selected verts?)

[crisp turtle]

Okay! Thank you so much! Im gonna try that tomorrow when it’s Not 5:40AM

[stuck oyster]

You would really want to fix it in Blender though. Always fix stuff in the source

[pastel heath]

Hi sorry guys i dont know where to ask so i ask here.
This is my first time running object builder.
And i have imported a simple box to view in Object builder. But when i go to view > Viewers > Buldozer > Start / restart
I have this error/warning and it dosent start the buldozer:
https://imgur.com/a/rD2hvh2

[pastel heath]

Ok nvm i managed to fix it.

[stuck oyster]

quest completed!

what was the problem?

[crisp turtle]

Okay how would I fix it in blender? Cause it’s normal in blender

[stuck oyster]

its inverted in blender too but you dont have backface culling on

or its scale is negative

by default blender draws both front and back of a face

[crisp turtle]

I checked the face’s, they’re all blue

[stuck oyster]

but typically games dont

then its scale is negative

[crisp turtle]

Okay what’s that? Lol

[stuck oyster]

and it gets applied on export turning it upside down

[crisp turtle]

That sounds like it might be it

[stuck oyster]

for game modeling one should only do edits in edit mode

[crisp turtle]

Right

[stuck oyster]

at least for starters

there are of course all kinds of things one can do withing object mode too if one knows how to work the transfer to game properly

but before that, its simpler to only do things in edit mode

[crisp turtle]

I only edit my shape in edit mode

[ocean glacier]

@stuck oyster Oooh, you're awake. Mind if I pick your brain about something orientation/terrain builder related? 😛

[crisp turtle]

Explain the scale being negative, is this the scale you’re talking about?

[stuck oyster]

https://tenor.com/view/skyrim-intro-awake-finally-awake-gif-22633549

[stuck oyster]

this scale being negative would result in what you see in OB yes

[crisp turtle]

Okay I’ll check it when I finish cleaning my kitchen

‘Ppreciate it

[crisp turtle]

Side question: do I need to triangulate my object before I import it into object builder?

As in turn it into triangles and not polygons

[stuck oyster]

OB technically supports quads too but not surfaces with more polies

but triangulation will ensure all faces form correctly

it should also be done prior UV mapping so that the uv shapes stay correct

[stuck oyster]

and sure

[ocean glacier]

So your name was one of the ones that popped up while looking into an issue I think you might've run into previously; the weird terrain builder orientations when compared to game-provided coordinates. This is actually for DayZ rather than Arma, but I'm hoping there's at least some crossover.

For an object rotated in game with SetOrientation(45, 45, 45), the orientation shown in Terrain Builder is just... wildly different. This is only approximate since I can't actually rotate numerically inside Buldozer, but I'm getting something around Yaw=9, Pitch=62, Roll=35

[crisp turtle]

So it’s at 1:1:1 and the faces were inverted? Or you inverted them to show?

[crisp turtle]

I got someone to explain the UV mapping and watched me do it, that part is right

[ocean glacier]

Visually it looks to be the same orientation, but the coordinates are just...

[stuck oyster]

yes it follows different coordinate system

[crisp turtle]

I’ll come back when im done irl

Brb

[stuck oyster]

used ctrl+A menu to apply scale

[ocean glacier]

That I was pretty sure of, but any idea what the actual specifics are of the coordinate system? I've tried with a different rotation operation order, different coordinate order, extracted direction/directionup/directionaside on the DayZ side and tried calculating based on E2TB, and literally nothing makes any sense

[stuck oyster]

I wrote something to do it for my own use a while back. Unfortunately I cant really properly explain it as it was basically a christmas miracle one night in december couple years back when I had some sort of epiffany and got it working.

but Blender uses XYZ right handed system where TB uses XZY left handed system if I remember right

or was it ZYX

its different anyway 😅

[ocean glacier]

I have a nasty feeling this is going to end after manually trying hundreds of permutations, either with success or a broken monitor and a sore hand

[stuck oyster]

I do have a thing called magicNumber in my setup

😅

[ocean glacier]

As in a constant, or as in incantations?

[stuck oyster]

a magic transformation matrix

[ocean glacier]

Makes sense 😛 As if this problem wasn't bad enough, DayZ uses 0 1 0 for up rather than 0 0 1, so that's another step in any conversion nonsense lol

[stuck oyster]

ye exactly

[pastel heath]

I didnt put the path to the buldozer in Object Builder.

[stuck oyster]

👍 that would indeed cause the isseu 😄

[crisp turtle]

@stuck oyster I pulled my model up and it's scale is not negative

and here is a photo showing that the faces are right

Did you mention that I must have backface culling on? Cause I do not see it enabled here

[stuck oyster]

best to enable backface culling too yesh

[crisp turtle]

Okay

[crisp turtle]

and what's the process for making everything triangles?

[stuck oyster]

editmode, select all, triangulate

I do recommend browsing through Blender manual and watching workflow tutorials a bit

[crisp turtle]

Okay

I was told the workflow for Arma is outdated and I havcent exactly found one

Okay even with backface culling on, and my object is triangulated, it's still messed up

[pallid island]

dumb(-ish) question: why .obj and not toolbox addon and direct .p3d export?

and back to the topic: can you maybe share a resulting/problematic file so i can poke it a bit?

[stuck oyster]

well basically its just modeling

texturing is different from "todays PBR standard"

but modeling side is pretty much "just regular modeling"

[crisp turtle]

Uhh simply put I was following a tutorial and that's what they said to import it as

Do you want me to try that?

I dont see p3d as an option unless it's "3d studio"

[stuck oyster]

its just open

and save

p3d is Object Builders native format

[pallid island]

and this ^ is Blender importer/exporter for that

[stuck oyster]

yes 👆

[stuck oyster]

whats that from?

[crisp turtle]

Oh Yes I have arma toolbox

that's me clicking open in object builder

and trying to improt my p3d

[pallid island]

and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJGyDyto-kg&list=PLWL6YGBg0MItYV7m6s-Qj5_qvm4loLTT8&index=2 looks like mostly-sane tutorial from what i see (?)
P.S. looks mostly insane when actually watching it

[stuck oyster]

no import

OPEN

XD

[crisp turtle]

YES

I CLICKED OPEN

XD

[stuck oyster]

then your p3d is broken or binarized

[pallid island]

or object isn't marked with any p3d LOD and exported file is empty 🙃

[crisp turtle]

I havent used that but it was my second option

[crisp turtle]

wdym?

[pallid island]

red-green-blue for order

[crisp turtle]

O

Yeah I didnt do that

[stuck oyster]

then the p3d exports empty

and is broken

[crisp turtle]

okay

lemme try to export it now

we have progress

IT WORKS

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/803772783040921620/1094551950575538176/3dgifmaker64860.gif

[pallid island]

oof, normals look funky after exporting from Blender and opening in OB

before/after recalc

[crisp turtle]

Lmao

[pallid island]

so probably drag-selecting all verts, hitting F5 and saving after that can help if you see shading mishaps

[stuck oyster]

you will need to set the O2Script exe path in Blender Addon settings for the toolblox

to get it to fully work

[crisp turtle]

Im not sure what that is to be honest

[crisp turtle]

Okay

So what is my next step after I successfully get it into Obj Builder? should i continue my tutorial? Lmao considering it led me astray

[pallid island]

i suppose OB part should work alright, i doubt OB had any breaking workflow changes in the last decade

[pallid island]

looks like my problem as well

after setting the path normals seem to be okay

[pastel heath]

Where is o2script located at ?

or do i have to download that as well ?

Nvm i found it its in \steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\O2Script.exe

[stuck oyster]

dis yes

another quest completed

you sir are on fire today!

https://tenor.com/view/goku-dragon-ball-level-up-anime-gif-gif-22760068

[pastel heath]

You have no clue how much hours i have spent today to make a simple box in arma with difrent colours.
This is what i manage to make it: https://imgur.com/a/Hg4H0HX
But i have 3 diffrent colors and i dont know why they arent showing.

[stuck oyster]

in this journey of creation, time is irrelevant

https://tenor.com/view/patrick-zen-meditation-gif-13277341

[pastel heath]

https://tenor.com/view/sensei-goku-bow-dragon-ball-super-yes-sensei-gif-16748834

[pallid island]

*color

[crisp turtle]

I'll do this in a little bit

[pallid island]

Now that i actually watch it, it seems to contain some... controversial takes. Like setting P-drive working directory to game root (why?). Or installing the toolbox addon by manually unzipping it into Blender folder (more why?).
And some editing errors. Like where the addon preferences aren't in the video.

Or using a goddamn chipmunk voice modulator

[crisp turtle]

I put my p drive to my game root

Where should it be?

[stuck oyster]

in separate place

that there is verrry bad

[crisp turtle]

Shit XD

Okay uhm

Can it be a random empty folder on the same drive that the P drive is virtually on? @stuck oyster

[pallid island]

Any random empty folder anywhere

Continuing the list: or using decimals for LOD numbers and setting them in reverse order... Holy guacamole

[crisp turtle]

Okay I changed my directiory and cliked Register

it good now? or do I need to re-do anything?

[pallid island]

Remount and reunpack

[crisp turtle]

remount my p drive and re-unpack what?

and this is the tutorial I used (for reference) https://youtu.be/v7cdG2sc0zk I was recommended this one by an OPTRE dev

[pallid island]

Game files

[crisp turtle]

I cant launch my arma 3 tools anymore

it says cloud status unable to sync, it wont re-sync even after a restart of steam

Okay that's weird but I remounted my P drive and Im re-extracting my game data rn

[pallid island]

The longer i watch that playlist the stronger i want to record my own tutorial. Except i don't know how to model and how to properly prepare/import stuff 🤣

[pastel heath]

Learn it then do it. Its hard to find a up to date tutorial written or video for a model import or not.

[crisp turtle]

Yeah that was exactly what I was gonna do

I was gonna learn everything sicne there's nothing good out there or up to date

and I was gonna make a tutorial on it

also guys can one of you confirm that this is what a P drive is supposed to look like when it's done + a fresh install of Buldozer?

[pallid island]

Yes, looks sane

[crisp turtle]

Sane, Roger that

XD

[pastel heath]

Yea looks about right.

[crisp turtle]

Okay so I turned on backface culling for my model, triangulated the object and I DID NOT re-map the UV map because when I did I could not figure out how to fix it since Im still learning and I left it be. I also gave it it's arma 3 LOD property?this thing

and here is the mapping

Can you let me know if this is fine?

Im simply trying to learn how it import a basic object into Arma to get the process down before I learn all of the detail and nitty gritty, but I am trying to set good habits if I did something wrong

And also Should I re-map it after I make the faces into triangles? or do I map it first -> then make it into triangles?

[pastel heath]

Here is a bit older tutorail that i followed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaQElVHtu5Y&ab_channel=EgilBallestad also i would recommend to use a simple cube for now as a model to learn UV and other things in blender and arma.

[crisp turtle]

likely a fair reply regarding using a simpler cube like a cube with an inset into the core (which I have as well)

I was following his tutorial the other night actually

I couldnt wrap my head around some of the things he was doing though

he didnt exactly explain the maps or _files very well

[crisp turtle]

7:31/38:25

[pastel heath]

Oh so its simple in arma files have to end with something that designates that as a cirtan type of texture for example:
box_co.paa is Texture of Object.
box_as.paa is Ambient Occlusion.
box_nohq.paa is Normal map
box_smdi.paa is Specular map of a object.

[crisp turtle]

right right I knew that, I jsut didnt know what the extensions meant so thank you, I did need that second part

gonna screenshtoi that

I also didnt understand the process of him getting those mappings and etc

he mentioned "baking" the object in blender, but the tutorial is so old I couldnt find any way whatsoever to do his way of baking so I straightup just ignored that part

[pallid island]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Texture_Map_Types it's almost coherent 😉

[crisp turtle]

almost 😉

[pastel heath]

So for that part of tutorial i followed this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChxGAcKO92Y&ab_channel=UnrealMatter
And for the Normal maps plugin for GIMP i used this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXsBKjqFxeQ&ab_channel=HipolitoRodrigues

[crisp turtle]

appreciate it

I'll check those out ina bit

regarding texture, I can jsut do a color to be basic right?

[pastel heath]

Yea just a simple 512x512 color or 1024x1024 just name it box_co.paa

[crisp turtle]

Okay

[crisp turtle]

this video here, what does it stop at?

does it cover configing and OB as well?

[pastel heath]

I mean you can watch the video for your self and see what it does.

[crisp turtle]

Fair answer

Im currently working on some college work for a class that's kicking my ass so I've jsut been slightly working on stuff everyonce in a while

Really appreciate everyone's help here you've all been a tremendous help

[woeful viper]

its just a static weapon with a turret, that's it

[still trail]

QQ, what are the pros and cons of using proxies vs AttachTo with large models? Any thoughts?

key difference seems to be that selections within a proxy cannot be animated?

[woeful viper]

LOD can be influenced for proxies (you can remove it at certain LOD -> can remove them at far distant LOD to save performance)

[sleek trout]

What’s considered the max poly count for a vehicle (interior and all)?

[woeful viper]

idk how performance taxing attach to is, can't be too much i guess. It's certainly more then using a proxy though.

also, proxies can be animated within the model. You'd have a hard time animating the attached model via script

[still trail]

so there isn't an issue with animation of a proxy?

[woeful viper]

you can animate the entirety of the proxy. You can't animate something that is inside the proxy

[still trail]

right

[stuck oyster]

100k

[crisp turtle]

Hey are you still awake?

Im in hell rn and cant figure out something

[marsh canyon]

That's not how to ask in IRC/Discord. Just ask the question already so anyone here can answer

[crisp turtle]

So the tutorial im following shows him saving his config file as a .cpp, but when I go to do the same my text file doesnt change, it stays a .txt, and Im trying to make it a .cpp

[stuck oyster]

You'll need to turn file extension hiding off in windows folder settings

[crisp turtle]

Okaaay lemme try

where do I go to find windows folder settings?

[stuck oyster]

Google 😅

[crisp turtle]

okay

I think this is it?

but im gonna google it real quick'

[stuck oyster]

Ye

[crisp turtle]

YAY

Thank you

[pallid island]

saving with name enclosed in " quotes works as well (at least in Notepad)

[white jay]

Proxies are useful for things with basic animations (road wheels) or parts which are not animated (Boxes that are attached to the body). Depends on what you are using the Proxy for

[lone minnow]

So I got a slick version of the AVS model I'm working on into Arma 3 and it works great, but adding one with pouches is adding some complexity that's giving me a lot of texture issues. Are there best practices for joining the pouches etc. to the main vest in blender that will preserve where the textures are going?

[fluid copper]

Blender should have them as seperate material selections that follow when merging, but depending on how you acquired it, those materials might be saved as vertex selections, which should also transfer

[stuck oyster]

oh my god that is a nightmare performance eater

[lone minnow]

How so?

[lone minnow]

I noticed that when i join the PRC and PRC Pouch it will no longer show textures even in blender

They only show when they are separated

Same texture file for both the pouch and radio

[fluid copper]

It looks like theres atleast 9 textures there, it consumes a lot more performance to force the engine to grab 9 different texures everytime instead of 1 or 2

[fluid copper]

Where is the texture located? In materials? If so are the 2 materials named the same

[lone minnow]

I have the mod folder labeled "AVS\data" the model and textures are in the same folder

[fluid copper]

I mean in blender

[lone minnow]

The texture file is the same for both parts of the PRC model

OH

[fluid copper]

Where is it defined and told where that filepath is

[lone minnow]

The highlighted one

What's weird is that the radio and pouch are three models before the join

[fluid copper]

Are the screenshots you're sending before or after the merge?

[lone minnow]

after

I'll grab some before as well

[fluid copper]

Its fine, im not at my computer rn but can you select where that material is defined?

I think theres something called 'select' or similar

To select the part of the mesh that its applied to

[lone minnow]

Not sure I'm following, when I selected by linked material it just highlights the whole mesh

[stuck oyster]

you have huge number of separate rvmats on it

which will make the section count of the thing very large

which will affect performance

[fluid copper]

I believe it should just select the radio and pouch where its applied

[lone minnow]

It would before the join but now I don’t see that option

Tried looking on how to on the blend substack but it’s down for maintenance

I gotta step away but I’ll keep playing around and see what I can do

[lone minnow]

So from what I can tell you can do that before they're joined, but not after

[fluid copper]

So it looks like the material isnt assigned correctly then

[lone minnow]

Right

The model maker has a discord and I've been chatting back and forth there with some people the consensus is the model is hard to get into arma, most modders there use it for Fallout 4. But I have seen this guys AVS' in Reforger

[woeful viper]

you should never proxy wheels...

[pallid island]

To highlight the impact of section count, a quote from modeller "P1nGa" about a test he did with a Performance Testscript created by JonBons on reddit: you can find some surprising results, like my Minimi Mk3 has almost 5k more verts, than the most common used M249 at the moment, but in almost all of the tests i get 5-10fps better, essentially because the other one has like 13 sections, and mine as 4 . That is 5-10 fps for just one weapon.
https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Section_Count
i wonder what hardware was used and what were testing conditions in 2015 when that got added?

can result in increased section count even if the texture and rvmat match < Guide or link how to fix it>
that's cute

[white jay]

Not even road wheels on a tracked vehicle?

[woeful viper]

especially not road wheels on tracked vehicles

as few proxies as possible is the rule (none is preferred... exceptions are muzzle flashes)

[north sundial]

I want to convert this hotel: https://gyazo.com/665889fda3cb0e3e89a94c80dacb1272 to arma 3 to use on my island
But i cant find loads of the textures for it, i extracted all the textures from the a2/oa files and his building is pathing the textures to the right place but the textures aren't there
Here is the texture list, https://gyazo.com/b2f679acd5d7a70c3ba27270b06a76ce some i have and others i don't (I know about the tga and paa thing) does anyone know where they are/do you have them and can give them to me or does anyone know a mod that has them

[lone minnow]

This seems to be an issue in blender, I noticed when playing around in blender that the pouches exhibiting the texture issues will also not emit an image texture in blender once joined

But some will, like the MPU5 on the chest will join just fine and there will be no issue with the texture

[fluid copper]

odd, try joining and then removing the material and texture and adding both back

[stuck oyster]

could be they all have different named uvsets

which messes up teh uvmapping

[north sundial]

same story for this other hotel building https://gyazo.com/d2705ab5e0a983ef542b59d4b364da76 https://gyazo.com/372c0561b085dd887d29397818f71779

The model names are "Hotel.p3d" for the first and "hotel_riviera1.p3d" & "hotel_riviera2.p3d" for the second one in ca\buildings

[lone minnow]

It was the UV Maps, some had dif names

fixed it!

Thanks gents!

[stuck oyster]

👍

[icy dirge]

I think E76 made a Object pack of these

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/162730-applegate-community-project-wip/

[north sundial]

Na E76 stuff is from sketchup i think, i'll check anyway though

[celest arch]

Kenny, just movefolder it from ca

different story if you also want to retexture it

which honestly you should do

[north sundial]

yeah i know, i just like having the textures as a reference or whatnot

[fluid copper]

Yay good job

[crisp turtle]

Well Im down to the last few steps now of getting an object into Arma, and the video Im following is using addon builder, now Ive heard a lot of people say it's not stable and to use a type of mikero tool. Problem is I dont know which one, and if I do go to use it will I be able to figure it out by myself or should i jsut continue the video and use addon builder?

[marsh canyon]

AB = good if you're touching only the surface of modding
Mikero's Tools = fundamental if you're getting deeper

There's also HEMTT but I haven't used it yet. I may try it some time

[north sundial]

nvm i found a mod with all the textures in

[crisp turtle]

Ahh okay, yeah this is surface level so I used addon builder, but Im having issues actually finding my object in the game

[crisp turtle]

is this extension supposed to be a .cpp?

[marsh canyon]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/LOD#Geometry
<- collision

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Model_Config
<- model.cfg

[crisp turtle]

Okay lemme read over these

okay so I'm trying to apply Mass to the object but when I hit Alt M and it pulls this up, I'm not sure what to do with it since it doesn't allow me to type into it

[marsh canyon]

You need the LOD

[crisp turtle]

like that?

[marsh canyon]

Yes

[crisp turtle]

Awesome thanks

[marsh canyon]

Also you also need the visual LOD too

[crisp turtle]

Is it a "view geometry" type through properties?

[marsh canyon]

No

Resolution

[crisp turtle]

I see

I added a resolution of 1 but now the object has disappeared

[pallid island]

a) you need to have both "1" and "Geometry" LODs

[crisp turtle]

Got it

[pallid island]

b) i only see one Component on the screenshot for obviously non-convex model

[crisp turtle]

Im not sure why but whenever I would re-add the resolution it would remove my compenents

[crisp turtle]

does it need something other than component?

so this is odd, when I click the box with component01 in it, my object disappears, and my 1 resolution sometimes just disappears from existence. is this a bug?

Yeah I dont know why but whenever I add anything after the geometry property the object jsut disappears

[stuck oyster]

You are doing something fundamentally wrong

Hard to say what exactly though.

[crisp turtle]

Yeah.. I bet

here's a video of what Im doing

[stuck oyster]

So yes. You create an empty resolution lod

Each lod is like a independent layer

If you want something in it

You have to model it

[crisp turtle]

RIGHT you're right

[stuck oyster]

I'd recommend doing that in blender though

[crisp turtle]

so how would I attach a model to the 1.0 res?

[stuck oyster]

Each lod would have its own object in blender

Each object would have its own lod property that defines what it exports as

Check out El tyranos and sokolonkos and battlestads videos for the principles

[crisp turtle]

Okay

so Im assuming it's this

[stuck oyster]

Yes

You can also import some of the arma 3 sample p3ds into blender and see how they are structured

[crisp turtle]

I just dont understand how to give the 1.0 res a new model, like the process

[pallid island]

if you want one model in multiple LODs, then the closest thing would be to duplicate the model and set the duplicate to different LOD. Or duplicate LOD in OB

[crisp turtle]

I think it worked?

i made a 1.0 res and pasted the geometry property onto it

is this all the "Named Properties" I need for a simple "box-like" object? or is there others that are recommended?

Nevermind I dont know what Im doing

[pallid island]

i mean. It would work without any named properties at all 🤷‍♂️

[crisp turtle]

It's really late at night and this whole like, object disappearing when I add a new property is really confusing me

I just re-paste the object into the object view

[crisp turtle]

Im going to sleep

[shadow root]

Hey. Is there any good tutorial that shows how to make vehicle mod?

[wraith tendon]

@north sundial Simply unpack the A1/A2 incl. Addon Files.

[north sundial]

I forgot i owned a1 XD

[wraith tendon]

:D

[warm blade]

is there such things as vehicle exit points? as in determines where a player exits a vehicle?

[stuck oyster]

Yes

[stuck oyster]

Look up El tyranos, sokolonkos and
Battlestads tutorials.

[drowsy sail]

So I have a uniform model, and in said model I have a proxy for A3\characters_f\Heads\bysta (Taken from the A3 samples) in the resolution LOD, but my character is still missing a head

Weapons appear fine, as do vests and backpacks

But no head, and no headgear

Is there another proxy for a head?

Oh... the SHADOW for the helmet appears too, but no actual head/headgear

[alpine bramble]

hello so everytime i import a fbx model and then add a texture to it inside the game the texture is blury like this

[stuck oyster]

Wheres the model from?

[alpine bramble]

nvm i just found a fix i needed to reback the textures

[rich vigil]

Hi, when i drop my CD object from my inventory it falls on its side. In blender is laying down. Ignore the size as its an easy fix

https://gyazo.com/248bafb7391fc4d784bfdca2cdf6708c

[stuck oyster]

Some items have their dropped version sideway. If you want it be lying down on ground you need to rotate it in the model

[rich vigil]

okay no worries, thx

[lone minnow]

I have a backpack model that's all squared away but I can't get it to appear in arma, I think my configs are wrong. Are there any good backpack mod examples out there? The stuff on the wiki doesn't help all that much

[ocean patio]

I have a building that has ~2700 convex components. This exceeds the 999 limit. Is separating the geometry LOD into three P3Ds with 999, 999, and ~600 components each, that are then referenced via proxies in the main model's Geometry LOD, a viable option? I've heard CUP does something similar

[pallid island]

iirc CUP moved the visuals of one story into the proxy, but the buildings that use it have full geo lods of their own

Vanilla has some buildings/objects split into multiple models/classes. Like aircraft carrier or, iirc, big airport building

[ocean patio]

Ah damn, true, I forgot about those vanilla buildings

I'm glad you mentioned the aircraft carrier, I think I'm gonna do something like what it does to overcome the max horizontal size issue with spawning the other models/classes automagically (via scripts I imagine)

[stuck oyster]

Component limit is 2048 parts.

But you have pretty insane hefty amount of them there yeah

Any chance you could simplify it?

But proxies won't help

I'd recommend splitting that big building in smaller parts

[ocean patio]

Oh huh, Object Builder seems to enforce a 999 one instead of that. Deleted the LOD if it had more than that upon loading a file, and only created up to 999.

[ocean patio]

No, only option is splitting it unfortunately. It's a complex building with a full interior (no furniture) and an elaborate brutalist exterior to top it off

[stuck oyster]

It should go up to 2048

But if? You hit any kind of limit, only option is to split it

[woeful viper]

you could probably get away with some simplifications on the exterior. Not every nook is worth modelling.
For geolod i explicitly only model where it is important that grenades bounce correctly, and how people collide with it.

[plush trail]

hello I started modeling a AGM-133 sidearm and made things needed (found a cc atribution model) and painted it properly when making a p drive will "extract data" copy also all my workshop mods to the p drive