arma3_model

[plush trail]

I ask cause I have over 200 gb of mods

[versed cosmos]

I don't think the P drive data extraction will extract workshop data.

It'll mainly take the a3 directory game files (all the pbo's and whatnot) and unpack them

I've got my P drive on a removable SSD and don't have any workshop folders on it.

[plush trail]

ok

[plush trail]

does Alwarren's Arma Toolbox for blender work for current blender versions?

[marsh canyon]

Pretty much

I'd recommend to get the latest experimental one from the pinned

[plush trail]

I say it cause I get his on the arma 3 tab

just a checkbox

I got the one from 2021

I'll try to move my blender project to the p drive

now the things are visible

[plush trail]

is there a sample for a plane weapon? or a guide for them

[stuck oyster]

Blender files dont need to be on P drive

[stuck oyster]

no

well the Arma2 samples have some

they should be pretty much the same basically

[plush trail]

oh ok

I'm trying to see cuase for masks or items you hold there are bones

[stuck oyster]

not quite sure what you mean by this

ammo p3d does not really differ from any other p3d

all models have same rules

[plush trail]

got the stuff

[pallid island]

except pylon configs, hanger proxies and such

[plush trail]

I mean the files

I don't have an issue withcode

coding and texturing I'm ok. I make templates and stuff work

modeling not so much

[plush trail]

how do I apply my texture in object maker

I have a paa a tga and a jpeg on standby

[fluid copper]

Highlight what you want textured and press E

Use the paa

[plush trail]

after pressing E

?

I tried select all but it still kept the pink and white checkers

[charred bolt]

You'll only see textures in Object Builder if you use .tga's.

[stuck oyster]

and correctly set up P drive/Object builder settings so it can access the files

and this does not look like valid path

unless youre files are in P:\ root

which would be bad

[plush trail]

oh

it's in a folder named aim9 in the P drive

[stuck oyster]

correct path structure is the same way its on P: but without the P:\ in front

p:\ represents the root of the games internal file system

[plush trail]

so
aim9\agm113.tga

[stuck oyster]

yes

also you need to use correct texture name suffix

_co _ca _nohq etc

[plush trail]

shadows are a bit whack

[stuck oyster]

so agm113_co.tga if its the color texture

yes well OB view is not really very good

[plush trail]

oh ok

[stuck oyster]

you would want the buldozer viewer

(preferably with the real game lighting hacked in)

also OB view does not show the rvmat, only color

[plush trail]

I know

I am slowly following a one hour video

[stuck oyster]

but also yes your sharp/smooth edges are not set up right

so its trying to shade it smooth all over

[plush trail]

I did what the guy did with pressing reverse twice

[stuck oyster]

then it means your blender toolbox addong is not set up right with the O2Script exe

and your p3d will never export correctly

youll need to set that path in the addon settings

[plush trail]

In blender right?

[stuck oyster]

yes

[plush trail]

in which tab is the setting cause in the guide the guy doesn't say or show

[stuck oyster]

its in the blenders own settings

where you install the plugin

[plush trail]

Oh

[plush trail]

fixed it and made my geometry

I made it with selecting non-convexities and using component convex hull

[umbral shuttle]

how do u view the texture like that in obj builder?

[plush trail]

what you mean how to add it or how to show it

how to show

[plush trail]

how to add

[plush trail]

above

[umbral shuttle]

this part

I thought u could only view through bulldozer

[plush trail]

you can by selecting all and pressing E

and setting a texture

but bulldozer is recomended

[stuck oyster]

your geometry needs to be just a box

this is a simple object with nearly no geometry interaction

[plush trail]

Yea convex hull made something like that

Adding a bulge where the fins are

[umbral shuttle]

Yeah I get that part, but it always just shows wireframe and never the texture like that

[stuck oyster]

youll need to push some of these buttons

[umbral shuttle]

huh I dont have the colorful one next to use direct3d button

oh its greyed out,

[stuck oyster]

just press the buttons

explore the programs

thats how you learn 😅

[umbral shuttle]

yeah I tried pressing nothing happaned

lets press all the buttons and see wat happens

[charred bolt]

When in wireframe mode, either press Numpad 0 or use the menu
View > Solid Fill Faces
to get up the solid view.
Then the colourful button "Show Textures" will be available.
That will change the greyscaled solid textures into full _co textures, if you are using .tga

[umbral shuttle]

ah okay, I was reading on the forums that the texture needs to be tga inorder to show in object builder, ill try that next

its doing the pink/grey checked box since paa

[charred bolt]

You get the pink grey if using paa. Yes, use .tga instead.

Only thing to remember is that after changing .tga textures, you should delete the corresponding .paa's so that it rebuilds them on the next pack.

[plush trail]

like this?

[stuck oyster]

just a simple box that covers the tube

all this extra has no use and can cause issues

[plucky meteor]

https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/TRweNPOHIIntICe1HeeXOAEsgFXU-Ji3DAJc1oyemro/https/i.imgur.com/CURgnnb.png

Does anyone know how to fix this error?

I guess this is a model cfg thing 🤔

[stuck oyster]

You are not supposed to touch the vanilla files

[plucky meteor]

You mean the civil car skeleton?

[stuck oyster]

well that either

you should be doing your own derivate classes from any BI class

[plucky meteor]

So should I create a new class inheriting from civil_car?

Good to know 😅

[stuck oyster]

yes

[raven plover]

What's up

I'm trying to edit and merge models but most of the materials lost the effect (for example the goggles lost the transparency)

How can I fix it?

[stuck oyster]

What kind of models are they? How exactly do you merge them? How much do you know of modeling, uvmapping and texturing?

[raven plover]

They are helmets. I merge them with object builder. Not that much because this is my first model. I learned how to edit them, modify model and some other stuff

I'm taking one helmet, deleting some stuff and add that stuff to another one

[plush trail]

like this?

[plush trail]

do you think I need a FireGeometryLOD

[plush trail]

I got this error when I tried to export the model

Python: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Blender\3.5\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\__init__.py", line 247, in execute
    exportMDL(self, filePtr, self.selectionOnly,
  File "F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Blender\3.5\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 583, in exportMDL
    exportObjectListAsMDL(myself, filePtr, applyModifiers, mergeSameLOD, objects)
  File "F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Blender\3.5\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 646, in exportObjectListAsMDL
    export_lod(filePtr, newTmpObj, wm, realIndex)
  File "F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Blender\3.5\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 464, in export_lod
    writeMass(filePtr, obj, mesh)
  File "F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Blender\3.5\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 337, in writeMass
    weight_layer = bm.verts.layers.float['FHQWeights']
KeyError: 'BMLayerCollection[key]: key "FHQWeights" not found'

[pallid island]

select geo lod, go to edit mode, select all verts, set some mass to verts in Arma 3 Tools tab

[plush trail]

oh

[pallid island]

yeah, not really obvious

[plush trail]

I set it to 50

that means 50 lb or kg?

[plush trail]

did I mess up?

[marsh canyon]

Not sure what you're trying to tell

[plush trail]

I made a geometry cube. I scaled it to be the thing on the left set its LOD as geometry gave it 50 as weight. Exported it and then it came as that on the p3d

[marsh canyon]

tldr: You need to Ctrl+A and apply all transforms of the geometry and export

[plush trail]

I had the whole cube selected to make the geometry by selecting all vertices

[marsh canyon]

I'm saying about Object mode not Edit mode

tldr, Arma ToolBox doesn't take object scaling/transformations into the count (unless you're using the very latest experimental version)

[plush trail]

oh

I'm using the one in arma 3 tools (normal)

it's on object mode now

[plush trail]

how do I get that

[marsh canyon]

Check the pinned

[plush trail]

I'm looking at it and cannot see it

[marsh canyon]

#arma3_model message

[plush trail]

oh

[plush trail]

thanks now it looks nice

[plush trail]

I copied the Firegeometry and memory points from an old missile from the SU-47 open source project (the guy has the unbinarized files in it ). I took the stuff from the R-60

they fit like a glove

it's open source and he says people can use it. if it doesn't work I'll follow the video guide I was watching

[stuck oyster]

Where are the helmets from? It does not sound very practical way of doing this, Object Builder is a bit difficult to work with to begin with and other programs might be more suited to stuff like this.

[raven plover]

Another mod. For what I'm doing it's not that hard using Object Builder. I already edited the model

In-game texture works

Just the rvmat

[stuck oyster]

Just to make sure, you do have permission from the original maker?

[raven plover]

Yeah

[plush trail]

does my fire geometry look right

the object won't be shot so I made it empty of components. I duplicated the geometry

for some reason my memory points arent visible

they are there and show up when I move them

not when they are stationary

[stuck oyster]

Need to adjust the viewport drawmode

[plush trail]

how I do that?

[plush trail]

bruh

saw it now

is there a way to move the memory poin on specific axis?

[grizzled halo]

yes, use the axis buttons on that same row, they are in the left section that is left out of that screenshot

[stuck oyster]

id really really recommend using better programs for that kind of editing 😅

you are shooting yoursefl on the foot by handicapping the work on OB

[plush trail]

I make most my stuff in blender

[celest arch]

just realized discord supports sketchfab embeds

nice :)

[last spindle]

http://i.imgur.com/B57iUzp.png
almost happy with this, rushed a few bits to get it finished, but going to redo the raised bevels on the main body

[frozen stirrup]

looks very nice

will it have a mil reticle?

[last spindle]

no idea atm, it will have the same reticle as the ACE spotting scope atm, since it is replacing it

[frozen stirrup]

ah, perfect

[last spindle]

unless someone can show me what the spacemaster 15-45 X 60MM reticle looks like exactly, havent found any info on that

http://bushnell.com/wildlife/spotting-scopes/spacemaster/15-45-x-60mm,-black#

havent looked to hard yet though

[frozen stirrup]

either a mil or mildot reticle would be fine

[errant garden]

About weapon models, I'm trying to adjust its offset to touch the hand. Do they have to be adjusted in the offset via object builder or can it be done by scripting?

[stuck oyster]

Have to be done in the weapon model

[alpine matrix]

im a little lost on making shadowlods for a vest im working on, it appears to be too high poly still and im unsure if theres a specific way to make them

[stuck oyster]

there is not magic to make it, its "just making a simple model that fits inside your res lod mesh"

nothing fancy to it, just basic modeling

if you show your vest and shadow lod for comparison maybe some advice can be given based on that

[wise coral]

Kenny that hotel is in the a2SU_data_APL-sa.zip from the bi site

has anyone done a model.cfg for a baseball bat melee?

[plucky meteor]

Hey, cursorObject only returns null on a modded car. CursorTarget, on the other hand, works. But I don't want to modify all scripts. Is there a way to fix this with the mod car?

I have heard that this is a problem that occurs more often with modded cars. But what is the reason that cursorObject does not work? 🤔

Is there a specific change that needs to be made in the model?

[stuck oyster]

Does it have proper view, fire and normal geometry lods?

[plucky meteor]

https://prnt.sc/pTUdsjZpS6QF

https://prnt.sc/cI0CJiSsEyEf

[stuck oyster]

Try adding a valid view geometry to it

[plucky meteor]

And what exactly is not valid? 😅

Looks normal to me

[charred bolt]

cursorObject is working fine for me on modded vehicles.
Models have several res LOD's, View Pilot or View Cargo, SV0 and SV10, Geometry, Geo Phys, Memory (with bounding box points), LandContact, HP, View Geo and Fire Geo.
For performance reasons, you should have optimised Geo Phys and View Geo LOD's that are less complex than Geometry and FG LOD's - perhaps missing one of these upsets cursorObject.
Or could it be that you don't have the bbox memory points?

[stuck oyster]

you dont have view geometry lod

[plucky meteor]

The thing is, on vehicles that do not have this either, cursorobject works 👀

[stuck oyster]

[plucky meteor]

But we will give it a try

[woeful viper]

if you know how rifles/pistols are made, you know how to make a baseball bat

so start with the easier (conventional) things, then you can do stuff that requires some workarounds. No point in doing the 2nd step before the first

[celest arch]

is there a limit on destructable named selections?

[sterile sand]

hi, can i export a blender BSDF to an .rvmat?

[pallid island]

in my understanding: not really. .rvmat is, essentialy, a configuration values for shader that's not directly accessible by user

[sterile sand]

it can be opened like a txt file

[pallid island]

what "can be opened"? Rvmat? Yes, it can. Because it is the text representation of shader inputs

[sterile sand]

isn't that like the point? how could i export the shader then? it's pretty basic, no nodes used except the texture which i know how to set up

just edit the values in a copied rvmat i guess?

[pallid island]

yes, you prepare the textures with the proper data and you make an rvmat that tells the game to use those shaders

[stuck oyster]

you write rvmat in a text editor

blender shaders/node materials have no connection to the game

[sterile sand]

i know, and i already did

[stuck oyster]

👍

[tribal rain]

question yall whats the process for making identities? ive got a 3d model all set to go just confused as to whats the process for the config and model cfg as it seems quite different to the others ive done work on

this is just a basic place holder for now but making a rogue trooper mod

already made the helm needs textures etc though

[stuck oyster]

you mean like making a new head?

[tribal rain]

yeee

[stuck oyster]

helmet in itself has nothing to do with it since its just an item

[tribal rain]

no its just sits on top

[stuck oyster]

but basic premise is the same

you got your p3d, model.cfg for it

and configs for new head type

[tribal rain]

way i figure it the two options ive got is make a uniform which encompasses the whole body including the head but then youd get no lip/eye animations

or the other options is make a new head

[tribal rain]

any example cfg.s floating about arma samples is devoid of this info it seems

[stuck oyster]

not really no if I remember right

[tribal rain]

a shame but nevermind thanks for the swift reply as usual hope your doing well!

[stuck oyster]

the head config is not very complex though

you can trace the vanilla head classes pretty easily and make a copy of one of their classes and plug your files into it

[tribal rain]

alright ill give it a go

i wasnt sure if i was fed bad info before but i was sure i was told and or read somewhere that head cfgs were complicated

[stuck oyster]

well the head, face, identity stuff can be bit all over the place at first since its multiple classes working together

but the classes themselves are pretty simple

like around 10 lines

but then again everything Arma modding related is complex before you learn it

[tribal rain]

https://tenor.com/view/alonzo-mourning-gary-payton-miami-heat-epiphany-realization-gif-22141573

[tribal rain]

so im assuming i messed up somewhere

for context the face is supposed to blue like this

[stuck oyster]

does it still carry the HL selection?

but yes its also possible you did something wrong

id recommend adding some cube to it or something that you can easily tell its your custom one

[tribal rain]

HL?

[stuck oyster]

The skincolor/identity named selection/vertexgroup

[tribal rain]

wait one

this?

[stuck oyster]

No

it would be a vertex group in blender

[midnight verge]

sorry for the question im starting to model, any basic app for p3d? very basic one?

[stuck oyster]

people use the popular modeling tools like Blender or 3dsmax and export models to p3d

nobody (sane) makes p3d straigh

(Sentry)

👀

Blender probably would be the tool for you to learn as its free and has tons of tutorial material for generic "how to model"/"how to texture" etc

[midnight verge]

yeah so my friend sent me a p3d file (basiclly a uniform) and i want to texture it

[stuck oyster]

where did your friend get it? The kind of "friend models" often turn out to be ripped assets which lead to bans so not the best place to start learning. So best to make sure the model is something you can actually use and work with

[midnight verge]

oh ok nice to know

thx for the help

[stuck oyster]

retexturing does not require models at all either btw

[tribal rain]

ohhhhhhhh

[midnight verge]

yeah so how am i supposed to get the paa textures out of the p3d

in blender?

[stuck oyster]

paa textures are not stored in p3d..

where was the p3d from 😅

you are not really going in the right direction with this

[midnight verge]

idk i was searching for a pilot suit and someone just sent me a p3d file

[stuck oyster]

Then Id scrap that one.

you are responsible for stuff you use

and if you dont know where its from its most likely dodgy

and well you are behaving pretty dodgy too right now..

[orchid fern]

Is there a write-up of the performance implications of proxies somewhere?

[atomic nymph]

Whats PreNlod format of p3d ?

[stuck oyster]

where does it come up and what you try to do?

[atomic nymph]

Testing a p3d

[stuck oyster]

testing it how

[atomic nymph]

P3d of a vest from the internet

[stuck oyster]

from where?

this starts to feel like it may not be very legit the way you are dodging the questions

[atomic nymph]

why would i dodge ? i make my own vests lol

and you saw some of the process

[cedar coral]

Has there been any updates that would cause buldozer not launching from OB? I asm getting it crashing everytime now?

[woeful viper]

@orchid fern yes, on the bis wiki

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Section_Count

[white oak]

Has anyone used the blender toolbox over at linux?

[stuck oyster]

cant say anyone has ever reported doing so at least

[white oak]

toolbox itself should work fine I suppose, with blender being native and all
exporting using the O2 script would be the tricky part I'm guessing
going to give it a shot

[hallow steeple]

I use object builder right?
How do i make the textures appear in the editor? I think that was possible, but I forget how xD

nvm

[hallow steeple]

merge textures means merge into the model file right, or?

no- I am now confused

Why is the hidden selection not working xD

[stuck oyster]

merge textures is not really part of any common workflow

what exactly are you trying to do?

[hallow steeple]

Make a usertexture prop that's a surface decal.

https://gyazo.com/58aefc5c5421c6ec130fc371d44b7fd9
The hidden texture selection isn't working tho

[hallow steeple]

any ideas? xD

[stuck oyster]

probably dont work on decals

is my guess

or you lack one of the buidling blocks

[hallow steeple]

ok, lets try making it be a normal instead of a surface

on surface, surface*

this will sound weird, but HORRAY! It's still not working! xD

Ok, what do i need for hidden selections-
Is it the points or the face that is put into a selection?

[stuck oyster]

HorribleTip of the Day:

HIDDEN SELECTIONS

Assuming object type supports hiddenSelections,
HiddenSelections require the following components:

**#1 **UV mapped mesh surface with a named selection/vertex group (often called Camo,Camo1 etc) that does not overlap with other hiddenselections (by faces, bordering vertices can be shared) This mesh also needs to have some defautl texture and material set to give it necessary face properties

#2 Model.cfg class (class nameOfP3d connection) withs sectiosn[] array that contains the above mentioned selection (Camo etc)

#3 Config class with hiddenSelections[] array that contains the same selections as in model.cfg sections defining them to be accessible with scripting commands

#4 Config can also contain hiddenSelectionsTextures and hiddenSelectionsMaterials arrays that can overwrite the p3d default textures on that particular config class

[hallow steeple]

oh-

Horray! Also idk if the default texture is needed. I have texture field in OB as blank, then the hiddenSelections in config file give it the weird image ya see on the right

looks like it was just the lack of a model.cfg xD

ah, and on surface seems to work too! :D

[stuck oyster]

it says in my post that it is

default texture flags it with transparency flag if it supposed to be transparent

so if you wanted to have say blood splatter with transparent surrounding you would need a default texture similar to it

[hallow steeple]

oh..

[plush trail]

hello

I have a question

if I want to modify an arma 2 mag (eg stanag 30 rnd) where do I find the model

in the open source files the only I could find the mag is through the base model

[stuck oyster]

in A2 the mags were part of the models

[hallow steeple]

material too? I've never touched materials 😅

[stuck oyster]

well depeneds what you want it to look like

[hallow steeple]

basically, just the usertexture prop

[plush trail]

is there at least a sample firearm

with a sample mag

[stuck oyster]

in arma3 samples

[plush trail]

in arma 3 samples the test gun has a mag as part of the model

[stuck oyster]

then no

[plush trail]

ok

[hallow steeple]

so, leaving material blank will disable transparency, right?

[stuck oyster]

no

[hallow steeple]

wait so why is it black

[stuck oyster]

what is?

[hallow steeple]

make the texture on my object be #(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,ca) and it's completely black. but same thing on game's usertexture object and it's clear

(Green and half transparent)

wait-

Can I make the default texture be an empty image

[stuck oyster]

sure

[hallow steeple]

like this

heh- that- that doesn't show up too well xD

[stuck oyster]

sure

how are you packing the pbo?

[hallow steeple]

Arma 3 Addon Builder.

buldozer shows it correctly

[stuck oyster]

dunno. could apply some basic rvmat on it from a3\data_f\

[hallow steeple]

Do I need to extract the material from the game's pbo or?

[stuck oyster]

no

well

[hallow steeple]

how would I get the material for the OB

[stuck oyster]

preferably you had P drive and all this stuff ready..

[hallow steeple]

I have P drive, but I don't have stuff from the game in there

[plucky depot]

you can also just use the procedural texture in the model

[hallow steeple]

My head hurts and I am annoyed so I shall return to this later xD

[dapper hound]

Not sure if this is the right spot but I'll put it here since I don't now where else - making a female version of the wetsuit but for whatever reason the arm texture halfway through changes to what I assume is the default arma man arm texture. I have absolutely no idea why it's appearing (didn't even use it in blender) so it's got me super confused.

[stuck oyster]

which wetsuit?

as in whats your process to get here

[dapper hound]

it's a custom one from cgtrader like the juggernaut suit I mentioned a few days ago - Exported it to arma just the same way as I did before

[stuck oyster]

well it would likely indicate you have messed up the identity selection

so it replaces larger chunk than it should

[dapper hound]

I assume it's something with the vertexes in arma. Looking through them, this looks to be it, so I'll color out this vertex and see if that changes anything, I'm just unsure if this is the specific issue or if it could be something else

[stuck oyster]

not that one

but that one is very messed up too

[dapper hound]

ah

I did a simple weight paint transfer from the default arma one. Do you know what the vertex name is that may be causing this?

[stuck oyster]

HL

weight transfer will work only so much

it always needs manual fixing

because models are made different shaped

[dapper hound]

ah okay, fixing that vertex now - I wasn't even aware of what the HL vertex did so I didn't do anything with it

[stuck oyster]

one has to learn to walk first before running a marathon

[dapper hound]

can I drive instead

[stuck oyster]

no

[dapper hound]

[lone minnow]

I have a backpack I'm trying to add. I have successfully added some vests to the game and I'm trying to repeat the process for this backpack but it's just not appearing when I select it in arsenal (I can put stuff in it, it's just invisible). There is no obvious issue in the config and the model.cfg looks good too. The p3d files looks good to go too.

What other things should I check?

[wheat shoal]

SGTGunner, I was launching OB from my desktop shortcut for the longest time, Buldozer only works when opening OB from Steam tools for me

[stuck oyster]

turn on logging in launcher and see if it pops up any error messages?

and then check the rpt log file if there are any clues

() after trying to use the backpack

[dapper hound]

for adding new heads, does the whole head need to utilize a single texture map, or can it have multiple textures? Asking because in the config file there's a specified texture

when I add the head, the eyes don't show up for some reason

[dapper hound]

found that the eyes do show up, they're just.. for whatever reason on the floor

[stuck oyster]

wrong weighting

[dapper hound]

I fixed it by weighing it to the head

[stuck oyster]

that kinda works

but naturally they wont have any eye movement

not that it matters, the shape of the head must match the man too for those to work

[dapper hound]

yeah, it doesn't match the shape anyways, so the eyeballs would look goofy if I weighed them to the arma eyes

[cedar coral]

yeah, I think when I updated my P drive with Mikero's batch something got screwed up.

[foggy finch]

wierd I launch all tools from shortcuts, cutting out a3tools/steam

never had any issue with crashing

[cedar coral]

yeah, it is very weird. Normally rock solid.

I might just create a P drive from scratch.

[foggy finch]

only time TB has crashed via shortcut (it wodl have crashed anyway) was being a bit ambitious with mask file sizes

ob's never crashed however

[cedar coral]

humm, okay. Time to mess around with it. Argh.

[foggy finch]

enjoy :)

[dapper hound]

what the heck is going on with my shadow

[charred bolt]

Is it closed, triangulated and sharp? (as checked in Object Builder)?

[dapper hound]

I’m not entirely sure as I’ve never done any shadow stuff before. Would you be able to guide me through that process/show me where I can find that process?

[charred bolt]

sure

[stuck oyster]

way too complex and you applied hiddenselection material to it

[dapper hound]

I’ll double check to make sure there’s no textures on it

[stuck oyster]

and no HL or camo selections

[charred bolt]

Poly (tri) count, somewhere between 500 and 5000. For uniforms and vests, aim for the lower end of the scale, complex vehicles might be at the top end.

[dapper hound]

this is my stencil shadow

and my shadow volume uses the same thing

there's no hl or any hidden selection material, or camo selections

[dapper hound]

will try this

[charred bolt]

I'll defer to horriblegoat on this, as my thing is vehicles, but you generally shouldn't have proxies in shadow LOD's or you'll get duplicates.

[stuck oyster]

id recommend using the one from samples and tweaking it

[dapper hound]

I'll grab the one from samples

[hallow steeple]

if not provided, what kind of material would be used by a model?

[stuck oyster]

depends on the models and what kind of visuals is wanted

[hallow steeple]

I am wondering if my issue was the material being CO instead of CA, yesterday

The black texture when given a completely clear texture thing

Side note, when extracting Arma 3 game files, is it possible to tell it to go to a different directory? :P
I wanted to order my P drive, but it seems all the arma 3 trools dislike that xD

Also, idk where to ask this, sorry :P

oh new question, do I NEED to have a material/texture avaiable when I am using OB, or could I have it as missing?

[charred bolt]

a3 files should be extracted to p:\a3

You can tell if a problem is being caused by shadows or not, by going in game, then to graphics settings, and temporarily disable shadows.

[hallow steeple]

I'm not worried about shadows :P

[hallow steeple]

This image, they both have the same alpha. But, the usertexture works, but my own object does not allow transparency

[hallow steeple]

So, for this, in OB it is upset that material doesn't exist at [P:\Addons\]A3\Misc_F\Helpers\usertexture.rvmat

Addons folder has the stuff I am working on. [P:\Addons\]usertextureprops\empty.paa

[charred bolt]

I can only recommend you put a3 in the root of p:. If you don't, good luck.

[hallow steeple]

Well, it is, but I've changed the texture path for OB x3

My question is, can I reference something I don't have in the P drive, but do have in the game.

[charred bolt]

You mean reference a file (as opposed to a class name or function)?

[charred bolt]

Don't think so - pboProject won't build as the file is missing

that's why you have to extract a3 in the first place

[hallow steeple]

wait why don't I just try it? xD

[charred bolt]

That should be a prerequisite before anyone asks a question.

[hallow steeple]

ok, so I guess it's not the material at all?

#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,ca)
With this, I still get black, not transparent

[charred bolt]

Do you have a transparent (_ca) texture in your p3d?

[hallow steeple]

Yes, though it's not called ..._ca.paa
Is that needed?

[charred bolt]

99% of the time yes

All textures should be _co or _ca, especially if using tex2view to convert from tga to paa

If you don't have a transparent texture in the p3d, you won't be able to get one in game

[hallow steeple]

I mean, the texture shows up right it seems.

[plucky depot]

are you setting this in hidden selection or model?

[hallow steeple]

hidden selection in game

Model has an empty image

[hallow steeple]

usertextureprops\empty.paa

[plucky depot]

why don't you just put empty transparent procedural texture in the model?
#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,ca)

it should give you workng transparency.

[hallow steeple]

And I don't need to worry about lighting or Z bias or anything, right?

Or anything in model.cfg or config file, if I want transparency.

Yay!!!!

Thank you. I thought procedural textures wouldn't work right for some reason 😅

[plucky depot]

There's litteraly a color picker near the folder icon which allows you to set one from it.

[hallow steeple]

Yes there is :P

But that doesn't let you mess with alpha

[charred bolt]

So the rules are, you must have a transparency in the p3d and you should name it with _ca suffix unless you're using a procedural.

[plucky depot]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma:_Texture_Naming_Rules

[hallow steeple]

And the _CA is required, and not just for user readability?

[charred bolt]

If you are converting from another format, such as tga, yes, it is required.

[plucky depot]

and don't use TexView for img>paa conversion, in my experince ImgToPAA produces better results.

[charred bolt]

What does pboProject use vet? Never had issues with whatever that is

[plucky depot]

img2paa

or maybe its own implementation, not 100% sure

TexView is the GUI viewer thingy

[hallow steeple]

I use a website b/c I was an idiot and didn't realize I could just drag the png to the exe xD

[charred bolt]

Use tga, and put tga in the p3d. You'll then see the textures in Object Builder, and when you build it will auto-convert to paa

[plucky depot]

Grupe Adler thingy? I would use it for missions but I wouldn't trust it for mods but maybe it's okay.

[hallow steeple]

ah yes, new issue. I can't open UV editor in OB

[charred bolt]

UV editor is only showing in task bar? right?

right click, maximise

[hallow steeple]

thank you xD

[hallow steeple]

Ok, not QUITE right, but hey. I'm pretty happy with it xD

ok, normal user texture has this too. I assume it's shadow or fog or something. Maybe material.

yea looks like material.

[stuck oyster]

imageToPaa is the best tool

[hidden fern]

Is there any good videos out for blender to arma 3 ..?

[umbral shuttle]

ik a bit random and possibly unanswerable, but is poly count taken into account when changing res lods?

like lets say u have lods 0,1,2,3,4. when say deciding to use 2 or 3, will the game look at the poly count of lod 2 vs lod 3?

[charred bolt]

The game engine expects your model to roughly halve the number of triangles from 1 res LOD to the next one down.
LOD switching is automated, so you can't and shouldn't, try to force the engine to use a particular LOD.
So if you have, say a medium complex vehicle with 64k tri's in LOD 0, then make them like this:
LOD Tri's
0 64k
1 32k
2 16k
3 8k
4 4k
5 2k
6 1k

[umbral shuttle]

ah I have not been halfing, okay but does it know that lod 1 is 32k polys as one of the factors in determining to switch to it?

[charred bolt]

No I don't think so. But the game engine is presumably measuring your PC ability to display the entire scene, and based on that, decides what distance to put the LOD switching at.

[umbral shuttle]

I ask cause I have this vest, where at 10 meters it drops down to the lowest res lod (theres 5 res lods), https://streamable.com/1lkpqy
and granted, I think the poly count of 44k at res lod 0 has to do with it

[charred bolt]

If you mess up the model by say having, 64k, 64k, 64k, 1k LOD's, I guess it will also degrade overall performance.

[umbral shuttle]

res lod 0 - 44k
lod 2 - 37k
lod 4 - 32k
lod 5 - 22k
lod 10 - 3k

[charred bolt]

Section count might also be an issue to check on.

[umbral shuttle]

wowe we really did not half at all, section count is at 11

[charred bolt]

yeah, those LOD's are "bad"

[umbral shuttle]

so 44k, 22k, 11k, 5.5k, and 2.75k res lods should maybe fix the issue?

[charred bolt]

I wouldn't get fixated on the decimals at the low end, however for a vest I think you probably should be optimising quite a bit, due to the number of them that might be in scene at once.
Typically you might aim for 8k, 4k, 2k, 1k, 500

[umbral shuttle]

yeah I figured a 44k poly vest might be tooo much

[charred bolt]

Section count of 2-3 would be more suitable for a vest.

ie 2 textures/materials

[umbral shuttle]

yeah I am not sure how id do that cause I believe this vest has like 7 UVs

[charred bolt]

Combine them into less textures.

[umbral shuttle]

I can try that

[charred bolt]

With 11 sections, you might have 11 textures? So they could be all reduced in scale (the UV's) by 25% and placed into the quarters of 3 textures

[umbral shuttle]

Yes 11 textures, wouldnt that require a retexture?

changing the UV like that

[charred bolt]

No, it's possible for a non-artist to just scale and move the UV's without having to redo the topology.
It's a bit of work, because you have to do it for _co, _as, _smdi and _nohq, but definitely do-able.

[umbral shuttle]

Okay I will try to do this and if I get stuck I shall return

[charred bolt]

Does that make sense?

[umbral shuttle]

Yes, wat would I have to do in object builder to now tell it that hey this red texture is in the top left corner?

[charred bolt]

You'd select the red texture, hiding all the rest.
Then open the UV editor. Select all of the UV and scale it down by 25%. Then move it to the corner.

And of course, change the mesh so that it's using the new texture.

[umbral shuttle]

ah never used the UV editor befoe

let me ahh explore it a bit

[charred bolt]

It's much much easier if you have an artist you can go back to and tell them to reduce the textures from 11 to 3 though 🙂

but I'm guessing that might not be an option (it often isn't for "modders")

[umbral shuttle]

Yeah I could try doing that too, combine all the tiny parts into 1 uv and retexture right

its an option, if we still have the OG blend file

but it might have gotten lost to the sands of time

certainly could combine the 3 grenades and 2 shotgun shell textures into 1

fun fact the grenade belt on the armor is 15k polys 🙂 why idk but hey fancy grenade

[stuck oyster]

There is quite a bit of optimization room In there yeah. 😅

[umbral shuttle]

yeah old asset is indeed old

could be worse, the shadow lod could have more poly then the res lod

[hidden fern]

Is there any videos you can recommend for blender to arma 3?...

[old gulch]

So, working in blender before I export to p3d, if I don't want to have collisions, etc, is it better to have empty LODs for geometry and so on, or just to not even make them? I'm not actually sure.

[stuck oyster]

Empty geo lod is better

[old gulch]

Thanks. Just wanted to observe best practices.

[old gulch]

Alright, just so I remember this correctly. If I want hidden selections, I have to name the model in model.cfg, and add the selections for renaming to the skeleton, or the sections? I forget which, exactly.

Ah, it's pinned, so into sections it goes. Wonderful.

[old gulch]

Alright, last thing. I've trying to replicate the User Texture object's functionality, and while I can set to whatever I want, it seems like all objects are rendering over it. Is there something I am missing?

[old gulch]

Maybe it's a Z-Bias issue?

[stuck oyster]

Success! It's very new pin too

[old gulch]

Yep! Now just to sort this issue. I'm wondering if it's an issue with render flags in the RVMat

[stuck oyster]

So what are we looking at here?

Possibly render flags sure if you've enabled some. Typically they are used in very special cases

[old gulch]

So, objects, grass, the sky, etc, are all rendering over the top of the object, terrain is rendering behind it.

[stuck oyster]

Is the object there actually in front of the house wall?

[old gulch]

Yes, it's just tilted at an angle

[stuck oyster]

And it's not decal?

Just straight plane

[old gulch]

Yep

[stuck oyster]

Then yes render flags could be an issue. Or something g else funky happening with the material

[old gulch]

Yep! It was the flag in the rvmat. How strange, considering that's what is applied to the regular user texture object

Now I can push this update, woo

[bold flare]

tekzt

[old gulch]

Indeedilydoodily

[stuck oyster]

[old gulch]

And uploaded. Woo~ My invisible walls mod may be small and mostly unnecessary, but I find it very useful.

And this was a requested addition, so that's nice

[compact zenith]

anyone an idea? Tried everything.
Strangly if I attach myself per debug console to the command with

player setDir 0;
player setPosWorld getPosWorld player;```

it kind of works. but not via script (executed on the player, object in mission):
```player attachTo [_table, [0,0,-0.54], format["seat_%1",(_seat+1)],true];
  player setPosWorld getPosWorld player;
  player setDir _dir;```

no idea of the rotation of memory point yet

model cfg:
```class blackjack
    {
        isDiscrete = 1;
        skeletonInherit = "";
        skeletonBones[] =
        {
            "seat_1","",
            "seat_2","",
            "seat_3",""
        };
        sections[] =
        {
            "seat_1",
            "seat_2",
            "seat_3"
        };
    };```

[umbral shuttle]

😮 when did these get pinned I didnt see the message that says stuff got pinned

[stuck oyster]

You can see the timestamp on the message

[umbral shuttle]

yes yes 2 days ago wowe

where is the 28th tip of the day 😠

I have one 🙂
for somereason importing an fbx into object builder directly makes it smooth and doesnt maintaine sharpness. Only solution I was told about to make p3d via blender with arma toolbox

[stuck oyster]

28tips in one day. That would make anyone sore.

[umbral shuttle]

😮

[stuck oyster]

Fbx saves hard, smooth variation via smoothing groups which is different from how blender/Arma handle it via sharp/smooth edges. So to get fbx export sharp correct, one has to make sure smoothgroups get exported

(I'm not fan of fbx)

[umbral shuttle]

oh, how do u do make sure its exported correctly. Also would like obj work better?

[stuck oyster]

If you are working in blender I'd definitely use the toolbox to export directly to P3d.
For fbx I'd consult fbx related guide/tutorials. I believe the topic is pretty covered (not Arma related)

[umbral shuttle]

ah okay

ill stick to using blender more, at times feels easier to make selections

[stuck oyster]

You can do b
Nearly everything in it. I do verify model.cfg stuff still in buldozer but most things can be done in blender. And it's best practice to work fixes in source files so you don't branch into multiple versio files

[twilit pike]

looks good I like the log cabin aesthetic

[candid mason]

So, in blender, what's the scale of object to arma meters? If I wanted a 10m wide plane, how big is that in blender?

[young meteor]

Hello there, do someone know if the weapon_holstered proxy work on an item considered to be a backpack ?

[rose ibex]

same scale

just remember to apply the object scale before you export

aka. ctrl+A, apply scale. Or select apply transformations

[stuck oyster]

No

[stuck oyster]

To continue on this, it's best to do edits in edit mode and apply scale often. As scale of object will also affect other tools behavior

[white oak]

goat do you know if there's a sample ladder model somewhere?

especially with the memory points & config

[stuck oyster]

A2 Samples is where I took reference. Config sample can pretty easily be found in vanilla configs, especially if you get all in one config dump

[white oak]

cheers

[last spindle]

Day 3 - Finished Texture, now it just needs to be armarized
https://sketchfab.com/models/b34f5e681fad4dfc8225dbe4cd044956

[terse elm]

very nice work dude

[cedar coral]

@last spindle nice. I would put a little more wear around the edges. Especially around the tripod legs, on the edge. Given you are using substance, that would be easy. I like the top of the sight, nice effect. Not sure if you want to make it a bit more grimey...

[last spindle]

^ updated

[molten cargo]

hello guys hope you can help as i have been pointed here by exile server and a couple others i have tried,unsure which section to put this in so gonna put here until told otherwise. I have been making a model based on the test tank from arma tools and everything works except accessing driver from scroll wheel,driver works if selected in editor but cant get back to it when moved to other seat or out tank. In the editor the driver model is actually not there, (he is playable and player) the memory points are correct in the model also and even lined up with commander/gunner points which work fine. the test tank also comes with an empty 'config' which confuses me as seems to all work fine without it...strange. it is the test_tank_01 from arma samples. Thanks in advance

[stuck oyster]

seats to work they need

1. proxies for the position (in all view lods and in firegeometry at least. compare to samples)
2. driverAction/gunnerAction config paratmeters to define what pose/action to use when on the seat (no action defined = disables the seat)
3. getin(Out)Driver/Gunner etc points (memorylod) and corresponding actions (and point parameters) in config for being able to get in/out of the thing

[molten cargo]

hmm maybe i can show you? might be easier for me to compute if you are comfortable doing that?

[stuck oyster]

sorry I dont have time to get that involved in other peoples work 😅

[molten cargo]

okay no problem, i will go through this list here and double check everything again. thanks for the input though. much appreciated

hold on you mention config. But the test tank config is empty, Cfgvehicles and model seem to be the only two scripts with relevant info. is this strange? everything else works fine when testing tank in editor

[stuck oyster]

its split into multiple files

they are all added into the config.cpp via the include function

[molten cargo]

okay that's fine,same as mine then. just checked all proxy are present in the different LOD and they are. the memory is all there. It has to be the script...i will continue to dig around and hopefully crack it soon. thank you @stuck oyster

[molten cargo]

okay after long time trying everything. I realised driver can turn out and when he does i can see him...but when he's turned in i can not

[stuck oyster]

[molten cargo]

i din't even relise he turned out. totally forgot. yi live and yi learn

[woeful viper]

the bevel on the raised section on the mainbody could be a bit more angled - atm the normal doesnt catch it very well. Other then that nice

[autumn ridge]

Look great pinga

[autumn ridge]

Pinga check out Bushnell's web page download the PDF its got info on redicals ect

[umbral shuttle]

when binning a p3d, edit lods will go away correct? nvm saw that there was an entry on the lods page, gotta delete em rip

[cedar coral]

@last spindle Better on some of the worn look, but up to you it looks a bit too uniformed and I would have it a little thinner in the strokes down the legs.

[marsh canyon]

English only server (#rules) thanks

No crosspost either.

[balmy zephyr]

Sorry

[woeful viper]

put it ingame first, then judge if you want to improve it from there...

[last spindle]

the usual workflow ^ things never look the same from PBR -> Supershader

[woeful viper]

especially for subtle detail... this stuff just disappears in arma

[bleak tangle]

Say you have a sky scraper with 20 floors, each floor has 10 sections and you proxy each floor for all 20 are you now at 200 sections versus if you didn't proxy floors and included every floor into the same model you'd have 10 sections for 20 floors?

[last spindle]

yes

[bleak tangle]

So you should never proxy part of a building unless you are going over polygon limits?

[last spindle]

well not the actual building itself, you should ise the proxy to add interior objects, and then just remove it in any of the distance lods, there is no hard rules, but you have to take into account how many times the object will be placed on a terrain, if it is place 20 times in a city, then you are growing the section count very fast.................at distance 20 proxys for a single building would be too much

[bleak tangle]

Jesus some of the E76 buildings are really bad then, one of the towers has about 20 proxied floors and I think there are 5 of that type of tower in the main city on jackson county/lakeside

[woeful viper]

what's E76?

[bleak tangle]

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/162730-applegate-community-project-wip/, most of the modded life servers use them and kinda explains the frames they get

[woeful viper]

well yes theres a reason why life players constantly complain about performance when all they have going on is a few guys running around pretending to be cops or civilians
absolutely shitty optimized (as in not at all) models

not just buildings. i'm pretty sure they didnt bother to create LODs for the vehicles that a big part are ripped off from somewhere

[bleak tangle]

Well I think the E76 stuff was just never finished and it's been passed around so much at this point

[north sundial]

It was made in sketchup so it was bad from the start haha

[bleak tangle]

lol this is the first lod https://i.gyazo.com/a6ae2cc3608853685697e538d6adbab0.png

[north sundial]

To be fair, it was the first map/models made by the people working on it and it was made for a community that went under and was never acctually finished

[bleak tangle]

Yeah and for Arma 2, they were marked as WIP and I guess people said they work enough so let's use them

[pearl steeple]

Hi, I and my friend are trying to make a model for ArmA but... its tiny in blender, but massive in ArmA. Also the textures are missing. We're not sure what we're doing wrong.

Appreciate any help we can get! 🙂 ❤️

[marsh canyon]

1. Blender Materials don't apply in Arma, you need to set the menu ArmaToolbox offers
2. ArmaToolbox doesn't take objects' transformation into the count. Ctrl+A in Object mode to apply all transformations

[woeful viper]

sketchup? ewww die in a fire

[cedar coral]

@last spindle @woeful viper agree. Let's see how the shader in game handles it. :-)

[last spindle]

after messing about with rvmats http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/400053111084667745/2DDFD1FFC2D238292F83A7E7F7535FBE4DFF9722/

[cedar coral]

ah, interesting. You get the level of detail on the worn edges in game. It does look a little too uniformed. But up to you...

@last spindle I am specifically focusing on the legs. I think the neck tripod is good. I would add little grime on the lens body too. But that is my thoughts, up to you. I don't want to be an arm chair critic. ;-)

[woeful viper]

dirty optics... video game trope 101

[cedar coral]

lol

[last spindle]

well its not 3D optics anyway, so dirty lense aint going to matter, but i would expect any self respecting sniper to be cleaning the lense of the spotting scope

[cedar coral]

I like this artist's approach - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/military-storage-props

With respect to dirt/grime/wear, etc.

[last spindle]

if it was an object i was more focused on i would like to spend the time to make it better, but atm im just trying to replace http://i.imgur.com/oaZlJkC.png

[cedar coral]

oh, okay.

[pearl steeple]

Thanks!

[woeful viper]

the wood boxes look ok but the ammo box is way over the top

[last spindle]

i wonder if they are for a project or just random, because when i saw the wooden crate, i though WWII prop, but when i saw the metal container, i thought SC-FI which was strange

[cedar coral]

yeah, I did the same. I was looking at the woodern box more.

[minor cove]

Can someone transform the f14 mod into a 5/6th gen aircraft ?

[stuck oyster]

no, there is no access to models

somene could make a new one, but using old ones is not possible

[white jay]

And not to mention the hundreds of scripts they ran on those servers, but thats really other thing

[timid canyon]

So, I'm new to modeling.
I bought a gun model that has 37000 polys, which I hear is way too much.
Gun looks amazing, but def way too much detail.
Does anybody have recs for optimizing/lowering poly/tris numbers?

(like... 3-face bevels on every edge of the gun, etc)

[stuck oyster]

there may not be any simple easy way to do it without breaking it. but yes typical arma weapons are in 4000-10000 tris range

it is in a way already optimized and its textures are made for that particular shape

they might start to distort etc

so manual reducing might be the only relatively safe way

you could also just use it if you make very good distance lods for it

but that is basically same thing, reducing the quality so at distance it does not take so much power to draw it

[tribal rain]

so ive made a tank but when i try to place it down in eden it is unplaceable? it shows in the list of placeable objects but cannot be placed down?

Any advice would be great

[stuck oyster]

id first disable any other mods you have running to make sure nothing conflits with your work

[winter frost]

hello can i ask a question?

[dusk sand]

You just did

[winter frost]

i cant import models to blender

it kept saying wrong mdl

[marsh canyon]

What model?

[winter frost]

cpc vest model from spec4gear

im just testing in blender lol

and im new to it

[marsh canyon]

Is that a model from a Mod?

[winter frost]

yeah why?

[marsh canyon]

Because the model is binarized, you can't edit

[winter frost]

oh ok

can i do something about it?

[marsh canyon]

No

[winter frost]

oh ok thx

[stuck oyster]

You can make your own models. Taking someone else's work is strict no no

[pearl steeple]

Good morning,

I am having a weird issue with my object buidler not sure what I am doing wrong. My buildig has no colllision.

I've double checked that it has a Geometry LOD, and a mass. (all above 10). I've also tried placing a huge box around the building to see if it does anything and setting the mass to 500 and still nothing I can walk through the placed box in object builder.

I am not sure where to go from here would apprectiate if someoen could point me in the righ direction.

Thanks for your time and help and have a great weekend!

[marsh canyon]

How big the Geometry is?

[pearl steeple]

Sorry, still triyng to figure out object buildier. Where would I see that?

[marsh canyon]

The grid is 20x20m. Is it bigger than that?

[pearl steeple]

nope

[marsh canyon]

Seems fine. Well Arma 3 more like RV engine has an issue so bigger than 50m (?) makes it no solid anymore

[pearl steeple]

object is less than most buildings in game so I don't think that's the issue

probably the size of 2 small sheds

https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/202350-geometry-lod-not-working/

I did what he did and it fixed it

I run Structures -> Topology -> find components.

I run Structures -> Topology -> find non-closed. (No red vertices).

I run Structures -> convexity -> find non-convexities. (No red vertices).

[lone minnow]

Hey, so recently I fixed a shadowing issue on some plate carriers by closing the Topology in Object Builder. Now I have a uniform and I cannot seem to replicate the same results due to the proxies acting like mesh on the uniform. How should I go about fixing the shadow issue with a uniform in light of this?

Is there a way to hide the proxies before closing the topology on the uniform model?

[stuck oyster]

are the proxies in the shadow lod?

Id recommend not using the close mesh tool in OB as it is rare that it actually works right

fixing the mesh in where you modeled it (blender etc) is really the best way to go even if it takes more time

but if you want to use it, you can always cut paste proxies into an empty lod or edit lod and then use the close tool and cut paste the proxies back

[lone minnow]

I’ll give this a go, thanks!

[lone minnow]

The issue here for me is what exactly is the problem with the mesh in blender. I've been trying to research this all day and have come up empty. What is the same thing as closing topography in OB in Blender?

[lone minnow]

Also tried separating the proxies and pasting them back and it almost worked. I think I just really need to know or be pointed in the right direction of how to close the mesh properly in Blender

[white jay]

Is this the chat to ask if anyone would make an R32 skyline GTR and GTST mod for arma 3????

[marsh canyon]

#creators_recruiting

[white jay]

aight thanks man

[stuck oyster]

There is tool called fill holes. But usually in these cases it is not the correct way just the same as close topo in OB because it creates faces where you don't want them.

For example if you have open edge seam between a segment of faces you don't want to fill it I with 0 space faces

You want to merge the edge vertices

So don't over think it, closing mesh is just same basic modeling you've done the thing in the first place.

[lone minnow]

Awesome thank you

[tribal rain]

Figured it out.

Was pathing issue cheers for the help amigo!

[lone minnow]

Unfortunately, this doesn't work. It causes the game to crash. It's a very weird issue that seems to be an arma issue not a Blender issue. There is nothing wrong with the 3D model in blender, but when it gets to arma the textures do not interact with the lighting at all. Could it be something else like the rvmats?

What I mean by that is when I do Fill Holes, the model then crashes the game with a status access violation error

[stuck oyster]

ye you cant say model is fine in blender if its crashes

its not

[rapid tree]

Not true it works perfect for me you just need to know how to work with it

[stuck oyster]

right right

[lone minnow]

No it crashes when I try fill holes, it wont crash if I don’t do that, the uniform model appears in the game with the texture, light just wont interact with it etc.

The model is fine, arma is the problem here

Or the rvmats or something

[lone minnow]

Right it worked relatively ok for me with my plate carriers (it did cause some minor image tearing on some small textures)

[stuck oyster]

https://tenor.com/view/is-it-though-nadia-vulvokov-natasha-lyonne-russian-doll-nowhen-gif-25657992

[lone minnow]

I think you need to accept arma is a little janky compared to other games, yes

Like I said above I had little issue doing this with my plate carriers, now with the uniform closing the topology is a problem

Strum's insight is useful though I'll continue to look at trying in in OB rather than blender

[stuck oyster]

Ok. 😄

I wont stop you

Like Ive been modding arma for about 10 years

but what do I know

[lone minnow]

Sure

[woeful viper]

🤔 how do you model a plate carrier without the knowledge to fill holes without special "fill hole" tools?

[stuck oyster]

Educated guess is, this is not self modeled stuff.

[amber swift]

Guys, if i were to use vanilla magazines in my gun, how would i do it? My idea would be to use the vanila 556 stanag mags

[pallid island]

this https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Magazine_Proxies, plus cpp magazineWell[]= { "STANAG_556x45", "STANAG_556x45_Large" }; in weapon's config. Should be enough

[amber swift]

Thank you, but would i have to put some sort of proxy in the p3d?

[pallid island]

yes, the link has details

[amber swift]

Ok thanks again

[heady stirrup]

Hello people! Im coming to you with a question - I would like to have a bunch of heads that have different shapes than the default one, essentially for custom, non human races. Are there any guides on how to do that?

[stuck oyster]

0

[heady stirrup]

:(

[stuck oyster]

that does go a somewhat beyond "normal modding" so you will need to learn quite a lot

[heady stirrup]

I see. Well, that is an answer enough. Thank you

[amber swift]

What about other weapons, how would i know the lines to type under magazineWell ? Is there a list? If so i cant find it : (

[grim trail]

Something like this?
https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_CfgWeapons_Weapons

[pallid island]

check class CfgMagazineWells in the in-game config viewer (or config dump). Entries in weapon's magazineWell[] are classnames from there

[amber swift]

oh ok, thanks guys

[lone minnow]

This issue ended up not being a "fill holes" at all actually it was something else and I resolved it.

And correct I bought the models from Jota's store over at 3DMA, they're great

[tribal rain]

so ive made this moustache that has a high poly and low poly version how, ive done the necessary things in blender to put the normals onto the mesh. How do i then get the details to show up in game?

as far as i can see there is no way to do it in blender. i know im missing something im just not sure what exactly is the step im missing.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

this was the process i followed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx9TvvnxCAM

[stuck oyster]

what details you mean

have you already baked the color and normalmap textures from the HP to the LP model?

[tribal rain]

Yes

i have baked the normals & textures to the LP

[stuck oyster]

then you assign those to the LP model texture in textuyre slot, normalmap through rvmat

[tribal rain]

so this box right here?

[stuck oyster]

ye

[tribal rain]

also i thought an RVMat was like a code file?

[stuck oyster]

it is

well not code

[tribal rain]

like colour values and shit

[stuck oyster]

yes

and it tells the game what shader to use on the surface

and what technical textures the shader is using

like normalmap and others

[tribal rain]

oh ok so in pbos and such where there is co, diffuse, normals etc are those all rooted through the RVMAT?

[stuck oyster]

co is assigned on the texture slot

the rest through rvmat

well _CA or _CA on the texture slot

this is essential as if the thing is supposed to be transparent it needs to have the _CA texture on it for the engine to flag the p3d as transparent

[tribal rain]

did not know that

i need to make a glossary of what the different file extensions pertain to

[stuck oyster]

there is a wiki page

about rvmat and different texture suffixes

and sample rvmats in P:\a3\data_f\

[tribal rain]

good to know

i said it before i dont know if i said it here but i had a pdf once before that detailed how to import a weapon into arma but ive lost it 😦

[stuck oyster]

maybe one day I write the stuff down 😅

but

like

meh

[timber night]

Made a model

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225171773467796/B27B4860C0119901E3647E4DE3EC8C6011E5960C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

And this is how it turned out .. its a hat.

How do I normalize this?

Rotation, scale, location?

[marsh canyon]

Pretty much. Also make model.cfg

[timber night]

What does a model.cfg do?

Selections right?

[marsh canyon]

Basically it applies bones and animations

For a hat no animations required though

[timber night]

Ok, I included model.cfg and it was the same end result

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225171773580800/39827C6E54D8633BD40654B67AA65834699CA5B3/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Why is it so big .. ?

and not on their head

[pallid island]

make sure to apply all transforms. And assign all vertices to the target vertex group/selection ("head" or something) 🤷‍♂️

[stuck oyster]

Pinned messages have a list what helmet/headgear needs to work

[timber night]

@pallid island did all that

[hoary knoll]

what in a model defines the simulation type? for example if gravity affects the object

ok i guess each geometry selection can have a mass assigned in oxygen

[stuck oyster]

to have simulation to work right object needs valid geometry lod with parts that are named with the componentXX naming and mass (arma specific property) set to at above 1 and often above 10

[timber night]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225171775570187/2B2C9CD70221E523FA5FD9AAACBE484384824539/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Can anyone explain?

[stuck oyster]

you export your model in wrong scale

[timber night]

T.T

I reset scale like 5 times

[stuck oyster]

how do you export it

[timber night]

I fixed it @stuck oyster I'm bad at blender and never applied scale, etc.

I was reseting not applying.

[stuck oyster]

That would explain it 👍

[remote sable]

I'd wear it

[timber night]

@remote sable Thank you sir.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225756341835631/53CEAF0CD5206DA5966750F4307C2CF265299782/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Another update, any reason why I'm getting these shadow refractions?

[marsh canyon]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/LOD#ShadowVolume

[timber night]

I have 3 Lods

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225756341881184/B2EBD3E37048139A4872E0B7D19A3623D08BD354/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Ill take a look

Ok whatever I did, did not work.

I tried to change ShadowVolume to a lower value.

[marsh canyon]

LOD number doesn't do anything if your shadow volume is broken

This LOD is used to cast shadows on the ground, other objects and on the object itself. Shadow LOD should be simplified compared to resolution LOD, but can be more detailed then Geometry/Fire Geometry LOD. Shadow LOD must be slightly shrinked compared to resolution LOD (in 3dsmax you can use a push modifier to do this), otherwise the Model may look partly or completely shaded in the game. There are usually two Shadow LODs - one detailed for close range and one very simple one for long distances. LOD must be:

Closed
Triangulated
Sharp Edges

[timber night]

So I have to add sharp edges possibly to the model?

The top two are valid.

[marsh canyon]

Well, try and error

[timber night]

True, ill attempt

[timber night]

OK, so I found that a portion of my model is non closed, how do I fix that on a hat?

It's just a flat mesh that goes around the hat.

[stuck oyster]

You make it closed

Or remove it

Shadow does not need to contain every tiny bit and bob

[minor cove]

who here is very good at moddling plane

[stuck oyster]

many, but this is not really a request channel

[minor cove]

tehn where is the request chanle

[stuck oyster]

there isnt one.

we do have _makers channels for people who want to learn how

[stuck oyster]

Well there is #creators_recruiting if you want to try to hire someone

[rapid tree]

hello can someone tell me where in the sample files of Arma 2 i can find the RPK 45 Round Mag ?

[stuck oyster]

it is possible its not there.

[rapid tree]

i see thank you

[umbral shuttle]

is there a setting to make objectbuild allow for more precise digits, like 4 or 5 points after decimal point

[stuck oyster]

no dont think so. Id recommend trying snapping

or just redesinging your thing to use easier units

that sort of decimals are pretty invisible already

since it goes to 1/10 1/100 millimeters

and honestly you dont need that kind of accuracy

[umbral shuttle]

ah okay, this is for the eye point for scope. I guess maybe the image for the reticle might not be centered, it feels like its 1mm off

[stuck oyster]

Id do that kind of adjustment and centering in the source model with easier to use tools

but also make sure your points are actually in straight line too

[timber night]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225756341881184/B2EBD3E37048139A4872E0B7D19A3623D08BD354/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Still getting this refraction, cannot figure out how to make it closed.

removed it from the shadow model guess that wasn't doing it

[marsh canyon]

Closed and not closed

This is what Arma asks you

Also Object Builder have a way to detect non-closed part

[timber night]

I fixed it ..

But now my band around my hat is somehow inside the hat ..

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225838843077933/3665378A1698812D70A7DDE86E9DD9421DE72EAB/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

and it changes colors at a distance lol

[marsh canyon]

Probably the weight issue

And you may have different rvmat/texture in further LOD

[timber night]

Oh ok!

How do weights work?

[marsh canyon]

Do you know what a vertex group is?

[timber night]

Yes but I made the entire model to attach to head

[marsh canyon]

That's not the only thing you need to attach it

[timber night]

Gotcha

[marsh canyon]

You need to tell “which part of the model belongs to this bone”

It is what the bone/weight does

[timber night]

Ok but if its just a hat and I have the entire model to head why would that change the band thats on the hat model.

[marsh canyon]

How does it look in Weight paint?

[timber night]

lol looks bad prob

[marsh canyon]

Well, it is good if you can show me

[timber night]

https://gyazo.com/20a615c02344bf7d7800fbd941c2c95e

lmao

thats prob why

[marsh canyon]

Blue means it doesn't follow the bone

[timber night]

fml

[marsh canyon]

So you just need to assign the band part Head too

[timber night]

How would I fix the coloring issue at distance

up close its green and distance its brown

[marsh canyon]

As I said you may have different color/rvmat in different resolution LODs

[timber night]

I set it to the same RVMat for all LODS

https://i.gyazo.com/3ed899ed4dfe9b67a781aa241ee784b0.png

you mean here

[marsh canyon]

You sure they all share one texture/rvmat?

[timber night]

Yep

Theres only one rvmat file and one CA file

[marsh canyon]

Can you show how different in close and far LODs?

[timber night]

In game?

[marsh canyon]

Yeah

[timber night]

By the way is higher or lower weight better?

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225838843151855/2E7B30C25B7C474F3884005A776B7C431268E855/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225838843152898/69B7B294058C948502E0D9822FA99F3D61B38F0F/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Weight fixed my problem by the way

Thank you

But not the color

[marsh canyon]

I do not really see the color issue I think. Can you point where exactly it is?

[timber night]

the top of the hat

the entire top of the hat thats not the brim

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225838843245287/A8FA27239059F037A189F3F37834E102DC988376/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

[marsh canyon]

Ah

[timber night]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225838843248684/84FF1F29BA012C8F230255BCE963D51B57243300/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

its brown until you get close

LOD issue maybe?

[marsh canyon]

Must be

You should to verify all LODs have the same material

[timber night]

Where do i check that

https://i.gyazo.com/4beaa31b24d2898d9a5cbc121621708a.png

This?

[marsh canyon]

In OB

[timber night]

They do.

RVMAT issue?

[marsh canyon]

Can't really say without looking your source, but... maybe normal issue?

[timber night]

https://i.gyazo.com/b600f1f150380bf890bb886582e99866.png

[frail cloud]

What distance away from a model would LOD 2 and such come in effect?

[stuck oyster]

lod change is not set distance

it depends on overall scene complexity and video settings

[true spear]

Can someone please help me with putting an already made 3D Model into Arma 3 itself? I had a friend of mine make me a custom helmet that I can put into the game but since then we’ve part ways and I have absolutely no clue how to put the files he sent me into the game and be able to use the helmet. This is regarding custom models so I assume it goes in here but I’m at a complete loss, I’ve had these files for months and have absolutely zero idea how to put them into the game. If someone can help me please shoot me an @

[woeful viper]

ahh, the classic "the friend of mine made it for me" case

[true spear]

Well it’s true

[timber night]

The reason my color on the model keeps changing is because of LODs

Is there any way to prevent the texture from messing up on a model that has been modified for LOD use.

[charred bolt]

Apply the same texture and rvmat in all resolution LOD's, and if you're using hiddenSelections, ensure the "camo" type selections are also applied in all res LOD's.

[stuck oyster]

textures mipmap too

so make sure your textures have common background color so when it blends to lower render resolution it does not get messed up

[charred bolt]

and check your UV's in the res LOD's aren't messed up

[timber night]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2018225838848193426/63492F7398921981AC6997B436A81FBC66BE3234/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Left is mine, right was what we were using

[timid canyon]

Hey folks! New to model-making, still learning the ropes. Is 16k triangles too much for an arma weapon? Is that pushing it?

[charred bolt]

Sounds about right for the first res LOD. Add further LOD's, dividing it by 2 until you get below 1k.

[timid canyon]

Perfect, thank you.
And, well, I just finished this model in Blender.
Now I need to research and look into what the next steps are to actually make it into an arma weapon XD

So... long way to go heh

[timid canyon]

(since Im new to this)
Is there any rough rule of thumb to know what the distances will end up being for the different LODs?
Mostly to estimate which details will/won't be visible, when cutting down tri for the next LODs

For a gun model, I mean.

[charred bolt]

No, it's all automatic and will depend on each client pc.

[timid canyon]

Damn. Im gonna have a hard time cutting tris then.

[stuck oyster]

for modeling workflow it is better to use quads in source material as that simplifies easier

[timid canyon]

Yeah, that's what I have. Just been thinking in terms of tris because I originally found the suggestion of max 15/16k tris for Arma guns.

But Im completely new to modeling, so struggling. Been a (fun) trip 😅
I bought a hi-def model (86k tris) and been just trying to adjust for use in arma

[stuck oyster]

yaaah you would really want to bake some of that on the textures

[timid canyon]

So, question. I'm obviously nowhere close yet, but just for thinking/planning ahead.
When importing the 3d models to actually make the arma asset, does each model for each LOD have its own associated textures?
That is, at the more high-def LODs, I can keep some of the details in the model, and at lower LOD, bake them into the textures?

For example, in the grip, the model currently uses a LOT of faces to make it nice and detailed, for example separating the back of the grip from the front part, or as you can see, there's various spots with vent-like areas (back of the buttstock) that are nicely detailed in the model.
For the later LODs, should I just remove those details from the model, and just add them to the textures?

(Yes, Im new to this and out of my depths haha. I'm more experienced as a scripter, but once I made scripts for a Counter-UAV gun, I decided I needed models... haha)

[stuck oyster]

no you would make a textured 1st lod model and reduce that for less details so its texturing stays same

the grip there has waaayy too much for a game model that is most of the time held from that grip

you would bake such stuff on textures

[timid canyon]

Fair. It just looks like a real nice grip 😛

[pearl steeple]

~~good day, I am having a weird issue with my object builder. I tried verifying files with Steam and no luck. This happens with every single P3D that I have, includng the sample ones from Arma 3 Samples.

I am opening the files from my P drive.

Has anyone seen this befoe and knows what to do? Thanks!~~

Restarting PC fixed it

[white jay]

Can someone explain to me the process of making a vest? For example, I have a vest, I have textures, I just do not know really what to do next....

[stuck oyster]

Is it a vest you made?

as in do you knoiw how to use 3d tools

[white jay]

Yes

[stuck oyster]

if you have not found any on the workshop then no. general arma 3 questions go to #arma3_questions for future reference. this channel is for stuff related to making of models

[pearl steeple]

Hello! Is adding door geo the same as wall geo? Having no luck with doors for some reason I can walk through them

[charred bolt]

You have to give them the same selection name in the geometry LOD as in the res LOD so that the geo animates too

[pearl steeple]

Thank you for the quck response. Is geo animation required? I don't seem to see it on the sample file for Test_House

oh sorry misread your post. I'll double check that I did that

Yeah, so I named them all Door_1 (for 1 door obviously)

[charred bolt]

On the Test_House_01_f.p3d, note that the "Door_x" selections are also in Geometry, Geo Phys, View Geometry and Fire Geometry

Check especially the Geometry LOD for human/house collisions. Make sure your mesh is closed, convex and all component parts are named "ComponentXX"

Also in the Geometry LOD that all parts, including doors, have mass. Suggest >5kg each part, sample door_1 is 215kg.

[pearl steeple]

Component## for all the walls, etc minus for doors right? Those should be Door_#

[charred bolt]

No, two named selections. So BOTH ComponentXX and Door_X

[pearl steeple]

So to confirm a door component should have 2 components? 1 ComponentXX and one Door_X

[charred bolt]

Without the "ComponentXX" it won't be used in collision detection, and without the "Door_X" it won't animate open/closed. So, yes, both needed.

[pearl steeple]

Great, that's what I missed. Thank you so much! 🙂

[stuck oyster]

please try to compile your message into one in future instead of haiku

and second your picture is from blender, what exactly are you wanting to do

and third if its a huge building, it wont work in Arma

whats it from?

Im not sure we can continue then

is it something you made?

if its from some other game, then you can not use it

we take ip rights seriously and have 0 tolerance for ripping/stealing

that is no excuse.

are you serious

do you think im stupid?

this is pretty insulting you know

if you ever actually make something, come back for advice

[charred bolt]

Can we all have a go at this one? 😉

[timid canyon]

Seeing Goat's messages without the other person's made me think that Goat finally cracked and was talking to themselves 😛

[stuck oyster]

Whacha mean finally 🤪

[vast nimbus]

Bout to say

[pearl steeple]

Hey, was wondering if there is a deselect hotkey? (kinda like the ctrl one to select 1 point/face)

[charred bolt]

Ctrl Shift select

[pearl steeple]

Thank you so much

[shy hamlet]

I've got a problem. Made its own pylon for the technique as a bomb, fully customized and works but when you click on the bomb, the pylon creates a duplicate and resets and further suspended on the plane and does not disappear. Continuing to hang but at the same time shows that zero shells.
Maybe here you need model.cfg, but then what to write in the animation class?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1130544652924244029/1130763040317505586/image.png

[pallid island]

(i'm guessing you've made a bomb): make sure your new model goes into ammo's class as model and proxyShape (check something like configFile >> "CfgAmmo" >> "BombCluster_02_Ammo_F" for reference).
Then make a new magazine class with a fitting pylon hanger as its model(i.e. model="\a3\Weapons_F_Orange\DynamicLoadout\PylonMissile_1x_BombCluster_02_F.p3d";, configFile >> "CfgMagazines" >. "PylonMissile_1Rnd_BombCluster_02_F" for for reference).

(and don't mind BombCluster_02 part in magazine's model p3d name, only hanger is actually modeled there and munitions are proxies)

[stray shadow]

deleting all the ripped files and will work on a model which I own

I repent

🐸

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbBupU0uUbw

here is a model which I made

can I import to arma 3 now please

[hallow steeple]

why is my model not removing grass? 😅

I may want to make the model not be grass textured for the exmaple screenshot

it's supposed to be like a helicopter pad, it snaps to the ground, but it isn't removing the grass.

[hoary knoll]

Any idea how you can split a face with 4 vertices into 2 triangle faces with 3 vertices in oxygen/object builder?

[pearl steeple]

I don't think objects are supposed to hide other objects? You can use the hide module in Edan and in theory it should remove the grass? I never tried it on grass though