arma3_model

[mortal pelican]

"for collision to work the lod needs:+ to be built from CONVEX and CLOSED shapes,+ each shape that is wanted to have collision needs to be named ComponentXXX (both OB and blender toolbox have automated tools for this) + vertices of each shape need to have mass"

[stuck oyster]

👍 progress

shpere is a convex shape

a cube is a convex shape

[mortal pelican]

ok what ab the names?

[stuck oyster]

a cube with a hole through it is not convex

there is a tool under structure to automatically make component names

[stuck oyster]

in topology

also convexity has a tool to make separate parts convex and it also gives them component names

but sometimes it dont work right

[mortal pelican]

topology -> find components?

and its good like this?

[stuck oyster]

yes.

though geometry lod should not really have all the other named selections in it

to keep things neat and in order

[mortal pelican]

hm still lets me run threw it in editor

would the way I spawn the object in make a difference?

_pos = getPosWorld this;

createSimpleObject [getMissionPath "" + "SnowManF_7.p3d", _pos];

[stuck oyster]

youll also need mass

for the components

in geometry lod

you dont need separate physX lod unless you make the shape different

[mortal pelican]

mass?

i found it

does it matter what i set it to?

[stuck oyster]

for satic things something like 1000 is fine

it needs to be more accurate and balanced on vehicles if you ever make those

[mortal pelican]

gotcha

u r the best again btw

thanks for the help, its working as intended

[maiden hearth]

Anybody knows what camo this is and from what mod? (The shirt and helmet)

[mossy mulch]

Helmet is VSM, but #arma3_questions for stuff like this

[granite berry]

Is exporting .p3d with armatoolbox 4.05 and blender 4.1 working for you guys?

[unkempt token]

Working fine for me on Blender 4.3 with 4.05 toolbox

Are you getting an error?

[granite berry]

yes i will get 4.3 and try that

[unkempt token]

What is the error? Maybe it doesn't relate to the toolbox.

[granite berry]

Python: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.1\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 938, in execute
exportObjectListAsMDL(
File "C:\Users<redacted>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.1\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 741, in exportObjectListAsMDL
bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(coll)
RuntimeError: Error: Collection 'tempStuff' already in collection 'Scene Collection'

[unkempt token]

Ah, if you had a failed export previously I noticed it doesnt clean up the export stuff properly. You likely have a collection called tempStuff that you can remove

[granite berry]

ahh oh well that fixes it

[unkempt token]

Yes, but also it means that your export failed at some point or another. In my own case, it's usually n-gons in models

So after deleting it, if you export to P3D and it doesnt work and gives a new error, see what it says in the last line RuntimeError:

[granite berry]

didnt give error this time

[unkempt token]

Oh, then lucky break. Good to go. 🎉

[stuck oyster]

Also failed export may lock the P3d being written so you may need to restart blender

[warped locust]

I'm unsure if this is the right channel, but I'm looking for info on how to change the hitbox size for a helicopter's tail rotor.

[stuck oyster]

it can be modeled as hit geometry lod component and hitpoint config can be configured to use that component shape for hit detection

older way is with hitpoint lod hitpoint verticles

and hitgeometry component combination

the hitpoint radius is defined in the config

but it needs also geometry to hit

so just making the radious larger wont result in a hit, if there is no geometry to hit

[warped locust]

Hmmm. You seem smart, and might be able to help me with my issue. I downloaded a very nice mod that inherits the UH-60 from RHS, but makes some modifications to it. It has two versions (one with weapon pylons and one without). The one with weapons will always have its tail rotor break several seconds after starting the engine while on the ground. However, if I'm in Zeus and drag the heli into the air when it has AI pilots, it'll be fine until it lands. Visibly, the tail rotor doesn't hit anything, and looks identical to the other variant that works fine. With your experience, what do you think the problem is?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039710638

[charred bolt]

lol

[stuck oyster]

I am smart and I can tell you, you cant edit someone elses models

this isnt really something you can fix

it would have to be done by the author

and from looking at it, Im going to guess its mashed up in so dirty way its not worth using

[warped locust]

Makes sense, but since this guy has inherited it from RHS, then the problem shouldn't be related to the model, right?

[stuck oyster]

im not really interested in fixing other peoples mod in that way

its usually complete nightmare

also for fucks sake that dude has tons of forbidden shit on his workshop

definitely not worth using anything from a guy like that

even if I were interested in fixing other peoples mods, this kind of worm bucket I would not touch even with a stick

[stuck oyster]

and the guy isnt even the maker of the mod

just a reuploader

ffs

so no, not worth any effort

[sharp halo]

Is there a way to modify and reload rvmat, while game is running? For development purposes?

[marsh canyon]

Check pinned

[dusk frost]

been encountering a minor issue with a hat I’ve added and I don’t know if it’s a LOD error or not - I got a cowboy hat working, but noticed that in first person the brim tends to obscure much of the player’s view. I thought maybe it was an issue with the view model (or lack thereof) so I added a blank View Pilot LOD but the brim is still visible. Is this just a problem resulting from it being a large object or do I need to do something else to ensure the brim doesn’t get in the way?

(Part of the problem I think is the discrepancy between FP camera position and the actual player model itself; the camera is always pointing straight forward from the middle of the head but the actual player model tilts its head forward when it walks around with weapon readied. this means the brim is constantly down at an angle in front of the FP camera)

[marsh canyon]

Blank pilot LOD should work. So I'd suggest if you're actually updating your P3D properly

[dusk frost]

alright, I'm looking at it in object builder. all necessary LODs (afaik) are there as well as the view pilot LOD. does that need a named property or something?

[marsh canyon]

I don't think extra named property would be required

[maiden hearth]

Oh mb

[stuck oyster]

It just needs to be completely empty.

Head wear is not meant to be drawn in first person view

The eye camera is not like real eyes

[dusk frost]

it was empty, the view pilot lod was added in Object Builder and contained nothing

[stuck oyster]

Perhaps it did not pack

[dusk frost]

what might cause that to happen?

[stuck oyster]

Did you use pboproject?

If yes try pack with full build on

And make sure you edited right file and saved it

[charred bolt]

Put a large red cube in the Pilot LOD in front of where the players eyes will be and check that it shows up in game.
If not, you could imply that the pbo is not being packed or loaded as expected.
The most common cause for this is the pbo is being packed to the wrong "Mod Folder Output".

[dusk frost]

I will try both those suggestions, thank you

[west haven]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1291116171051139082/1307060162833678436/20241115202921_1.jpg?ex=6738ee22&is=67379ca2&hm=b3e5ee99b631cd7dd74778eb4122c09b0d505dadaf5916949557c0df6ad3eef7&

funny PS1 suppressor

[sharp halo]

I've read pinned comment about hiddenSelections
I have defined them in model.cfg and in config, and now my mes is invisible 😐 (all materials)
Do I have to define hiddenSelectionsTextures and hiddenSelectionsMaterials as well?

[stuck oyster]

no unless you want to change them

do you have textures applied on the p3d?

for default textures?

[sharp halo]

Yes

[stuck oyster]

and they work alright?

without the hiddenselections in config

[sharp halo]

They worked before I added hiddenSelections

[stuck oyster]

is the path to another set of textures or same ones?

if new ones then it likely indicates the path is not right

as in does not match the path in pbo

[sharp halo]

You mean In config? I haven't added hiddenSelectionsTextures to my config

[stuck oyster]

oh then I misunderstood

however if you dont define new path hiddenSelectionTextures the default ones on the p3d should apply

is it possible you inherit them?

[sharp halo]

Maybe the issue is amount of hiddenSelections, I have 26

[stuck oyster]

that is quite a lot yeah

I dont think it should be a porblem as such

but like typical things have 2-3

do you have overlapping hiddenselections?

[sharp halo]

Hmm maybe it is an inheritance issue. I'll try to reduce it and see if that helps, then i"ll look if it inherits anything

No overlapping for sure

[stuck oyster]

add 1 and see if that works

then next etc

[sharp halo]

Funny thing, I can add texture in game with setObjectTexture normally

[granite berry]

I get "ModelInfo.MemSphere is not a float" warning/error with pboproject when packing a model of a house, anyone know what this could be about?

[stuck oyster]

update pboproject

[granite berry]

ok sir

[stuck oyster]

get the all in one installer

[granite berry]

yah i got that im always worried to update any tools fearing theyll break lmao

[granite berry]

weird aio installer only changes or adds 4 files idk

[stuck oyster]

try pack it again

[granite berry]

manually one-by-one reinstalled every tool since for some reason AIO installer didnt and now it packs successfully ty

[cedar jacinth]

Warning: p:\mp41\model\mp41.p3d:1, vertex: 0, sum of weights is 200, should be 100
How can i fix this? What setting do i need to change in Blender or Object Builder?

[south badge]

You have a vertex that is a direct part of two bones at the same time

You need to utilise parent bones if your child bone selection needs to be part of two or more different animations.

[pallid island]

    // Skeleton of undamaged variant of the house, containing doors and windows. Note that glass #3 is not a window but the glass pane of glass door (door #1). Therefore
    // (similar to door handles) it's bones need to be appropriately linked to bones of the door so that it moves along with it when the door is opened/closed.
    class Test_House_01_F_skeleton: Default
    {
        skeletonInherit = "Default";
        skeletonBones[] =
        {
            // Pairs: 1st is newly defined bone, second is it`s "parent" in the skeleton (bone hierarchy).
            "Door_1",                "",

            "Door_2",                "",
            "Door_Handle_2",        "Door_2", // Door handle is linked to the door itself so that it moves with the door when the door is opened or closed.``` 🍿

"Door_1", "" = "Bone Door_1 is by itself"
"Door_Handle_2", "Door_2" = "When bone Door_2 moves - move bone Door_Handle_2 with it"

[cedar jacinth]

Is there a tutorial for this? I did not understand anything 😄😭

[stuck oyster]

Nothing that explains everything in simple terms

[south badge]

Whatever bro posted above

[cedar jacinth]

But how on earth did all the others create guns without any tutorials or resources to use? Man i just want to add a new weapon 😦

[stuck oyster]

Studying the samples, experimenting

Reading the wiki about model.cfg

Practising animations with simpler setups

[cedar jacinth]

So its a progress of months to learn on how to maybe understand everything?
But i have not found anything about this vertex weight stuff - i tried adjusting the Weight in Blender under Edit mode from 1.0 to 0.5 and 0.0 but that just did nothing :/

[stuck oyster]

Yes

[pallid island]

assigning a vertex group to vert = weight.
Weight painting = weight.
🤷‍♂️

[cedar jacinth]

Wow - i never thought creating a weapon is so hard 😄
Have only created really small mods for ACE like removing grass and trees.. But im very thankful that so many people help out “newcomers” 🙂

[stuck oyster]

Weapon is not perhaps the best startup thing due to its complexity

I typically recommend starting from simpler things

Like a box

Then animating lid to it

Then couple more parts

Working progressively towards more complex setups

[cedar jacinth]

:/ i understand and that is the right way of doing it - but i just wanted to get my weapon up and running for the boys 😄
Ill give it all a try again, maybe found a useful forum entry for my weight issue - and im using pboProject now instead of AddonBuilder

[stuck oyster]

Weapons rarely need less than 1 weight

For animations

[pallid island]

(explains the amount of hidden openable storage boxes in CUP buildings 🤣)

[stuck oyster]

What are you trying to do there?

[stuck oyster]

🤣🤣

[cedar jacinth]

I have never added any weights 😄
? what im trying to do where?

[stuck oyster]

You mention here 0.5 weight

I am little lost now what you try to do

[cedar jacinth]

Oh yeah, i thought that this was the weight stuff i needed to change - when you go into edit mode in Blender - it was default 1.0 so i thought that was 200 and i needed to change it to 0.5 so its maybe 100

[stuck oyster]

You have 2 selections that animate

For one part

You need to remove one of them from it

Both of those have 1.0/100% weight

[cedar jacinth]

That animate? I have not yet animated any parts of the gun since im still clueless on that part 😄
Ill take a look at the forum entry - maybe that is my solution there

I have only added vertexes for like magazine, bolt, trigger, upper_receiver and wooden_stock - i assigned them to the vertex and joined all parts to one model - thats basically all i did in Blender - i then exported that to p3d with the good blender to arma tool

[stuck oyster]

Bolt trigger etc animate

[south badge]

Well, I´ll try to give you an example.

Lets say you have a tank turret and a tank gun within this turret.
For the turret you want to have a horizontal rotation animation, and for the gun you want to have a vertical rotation animation.

In your resolution LOD, you need to have two selections (vertex groups), one for the turret and one for the gun. Lets say they are named mainTurret and mainGun.

In your model.cfg, you also want to have two bones created, one for the mainTurret and one for the mainGun.
In reality, you want the turret to only move horizontally, but the gun needs to move both horizontally and vertically.

So in order for this to work correctly in Arma, you need to have the mainGun bone be a child to the parent bone mainTurret. Child bones inherit all movement from the parent bones.

In the screen from model.cfg the bone "mainTurret" is defined first. The "" after it are empty, which indicates there is no parent bone. The bone "mainGun" has the bone "mainTurret" defined after it in the quotes, which means mainGun is a child bone to the parent bone mainTurret.

So in this scenario, when the parent bone of the turret moves horizontally, the child bone gun inherits this horizontal movement.
But since gun is a child bone, it does not transfer its movement to the parent, which means the gun moves vertically without transferring this vertical movement to the turret.

I hope this at least a little bit clears up how the bones work in Arma.
But your problem is in the resolution LOD in Blender.

I can give you an example of a howitzer. The red selection is assigned to vertex group "mainGun" and the blue one to "mainTurret". You can ignore the white part. This way, every vertex within these selections is only assigned to a single bone within your model (either gun or turret), which is how it should be done.

[stuck oyster]

Right now you need to remove all selections

And clear your model.cfg

And build it from 0

Adding one part at a time

[pallid island]

and you can check what weights the vertex has here in Blender

[cedar jacinth]

Ill try that too!

[stuck oyster]

No

Start the animation things from 0

You need to get your basics straight

You have copy pasted things without any understanding what you did

And it end up here.

[cedar jacinth]

So i add all to “main_weapon”
Then i add for example my magazine
Then i add an entry for magazine in my model.cfg?
And then i continue to add stuff?

[stuck oyster]

Start from animating the bolt

Main weapon selection is not needed

[pallid island]

(especially if it's listed as a separate bone in model.cfg)

[stuck oyster]

You need 1 line in skeleton

[south badge]

Yeah, create a bolt selection and then create a translation animation for it

[stuck oyster]

"bolt", ""

That's your bone pair for bolt

Bolt being parented to the root of the model

[cedar jacinth]

This is good - im going to screenshot that 😄 ty man!

[stuck oyster]

Then you read the wiki pages about model.cfg

[south badge]

Well, I hope it explains it. I struggled to grasp to concept a bit at first as well

[cedar jacinth]

Roger! Ill give that a try - but root of my model? Sorry to ask that, but isnt that the thing i intended with “main_weapon” where everything is one vertex, and i just then add a new vertex for “bolt” where i assign the bolt to it?

[pallid island]

mandatory mention of human skeleton and matrix stacks

[stuck oyster]

No

[cedar jacinth]

Oh so i dont add “main_weapon” and im still able to export with only the “bolt” vertex?

[stuck oyster]

Correct

[cedar jacinth]

Ahhhhhh

Got it

[pallid island]

on screenshot here white part = no bone assigned
blue = only "mainTurret" assigned
red = only "mainGun" assigned
btw, i'm bad at reading

[cedar jacinth]

Yeah, was pretty good, i screenshot it 🙂

[pallid island]

and "mainGun", "mainTurret", pair in config takes care of rotating the gun to follow the turret

[cedar jacinth]

Thanks for the input guys! Ill try to animate the bolt now ^^

[cedar jacinth]

Hello im back 😄
now im getting these errors in pboProject:

• p:\mp41\model\mp41.p3d: Opposite edge to P(34, 33) was not found - shadow geometry is not closed.

• Subskeleton index out of range. There seems to be a SubSkeleton index that is greater than the number of sub skeletons, this should not be happening. Please report it with reproduction steps/files

• Geometry LOD has UVSet, it is useless, consider removing it.

I have removed the UVSet from Geometry LOD but it still shows this error
Only my Weapon models have a UVSet and its names "automap"
Also only have a vertex of "Bolt" now for ViewPilot and Resolution1

The weight issue is fixed

[south badge]

Sounds like your shadow geometry is not closed

In Blender in Overlays enable Mesh check and "Non manifold". Your shadow LOD should not show any non manifold parts.

I have no clue about the subskeleton error. I have been getting it lately as well, but it doesnt seem to cause any issues.

[cedar jacinth]

I use the testWeapon_01 shadow LOD - so i did not change anything there 😄

[charred bolt]

The "subSkeleton" and "Geo LOD with UVSet" are currently false errors being thrown out by binarise and reported by mikero's tools - just ignore them.

[cedar jacinth]

Ok

[charred bolt]

Those samples are so bad unfortunately.
You should remove the proxy triangles from the Shadow LOD.

[cedar jacinth]

😂 ironic - ill give that a try later

[woeful sluice]

Hello, I am converting a ready 3D file to P3D by installing an add-on from fbx to the blender application, but it cannot be opened because it shows 0mb in object builder.

[stuck oyster]

You'll need to set up the Arma properties and make all the technical lods.

Ready 3d files are not really ready for arma

It's not way to skip learning how to make models.

[woeful sluice]

Is there a video or written text?

[stuck oyster]

There are some good ones for making stuff from El tyranos, battlestad and sokolonko

You'll still need to learn to make stuff though

[woeful sluice]

I tried a lot, it would work if it wasn't just 0mb, but I couldn't figure it out.

[stuck oyster]

From experience I'm gonna say I doubt a lot that it will work straight up.

[woeful sluice]

From experience I'm gonna say I doubt a lot that it will work straight up.

[stuck oyster]

Wut?

[woeful sluice]

If the file does not show as 0mb, everything will be fine.

[stuck oyster]

Ok..

[steep lantern]

Would anyone have any idea why my shadow 2 LOD is appearing outside/disconnected from the model? All other LODs, including shadow 1 seem to work just fine. The item is indeed on the ground. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/995780557717913681/1307229622261252177/image.png?ex=67398bf5&is=67383a75&hm=26a8869964f15d2d911f835d29cdb4aeec6b7cb6f6457c00854a182dadc68982&

[charred bolt]

Name the LOD's Shadow 0.000 and 10.000

[steep lantern]

That didn't work

[charred bolt]

It wasn't the fix but it was a start.

Screenshot your LOD SV 10

[stuck oyster]

Is the lod actually in right place or offset in model space?

[charred bolt]

Also not gonna fix things, but you shouldn't have a UV on a shadow LOD, so you can delete that.,

[steep lantern]

Yes. Lod is in right spot. Its a bit hard to show, but the highlighted the SV10.

[charred bolt]

If you look at the sample car SV10 in Object Builder, you can see the yellow background of LOD 1. Why isn't yours showing that?

[stuck oyster]

Background lod draw could be turned off

[steep lantern]

Because I've disabled that setting so I can only the current LOD im on for clarity.

[charred bolt]

Turn it back on and rescreen shot please, it's the key item of info we needed to see

Show the whole OB window also, including poly count etc

[charred bolt]

Is it flat?

[steep lantern]

yes

[charred bolt]

It needs to be "closed"

So give it some volume with faces on all sides

Look at the sample car SV10 above for reference

[polar fiber]

Yea, Don't think you can have a 2D plane as a SVLOD. Need some minimal perimeter geometry even if it's a triangle/wedge cross-section rather than a box/casket

[steep lantern]

Giving it thickness had no effect. Yes it is all sharp and proper face orientation.

[polar fiber]

your extruded sides aren't triangulated tho

[steep lantern]

sigh

[charred bolt]

Closed, Triangulated, Sharp, Not Degenerated

[steep lantern]

alright. That fixed it. Thank you.

[tribal rain]

question for yall ive got this model its weight painted and things like that but still getting these artifacting issues

nevermind the missing head thats a config issue

im guessing its a case of weighting issue but how do i check which areas are weighted correctly vs which ones are not

[onyx mountain]

By looking at it in weight paint mode in blender and going through the vertex groups to see where everything is assigned

[tribal rain]

copy

[onyx mountain]

I would start with the hand groups 😂

[tribal rain]

it might be an issue with the selections im noticing as well they arent matching the model cfg which is weird

[onyx mountain]

That above is a weight painting issue

[tribal rain]

coolio also just so i know shades of red is weighted shades of blue is unweighted

then the scale between em is like how much influence it has right

[onyx mountain]

Something like that yeah

You might be better served importing the man template in the samples and transferring the weights

[stuck oyster]

Correct

Typically a weight transfer from Arma sample man sorts it out pretty close

And then you would need to tweak rest manually

[smoky lava]

Hello gentlemens. Please help. For many days I can't figure out the configuration of turrets. I make a tank with an interior with a dependence on IFA3. Problem in
Driver: TurnedIn - only scope is available, no free view. TurnedOut - free view in ViewPilot, although it should be CargoView
Gunner: TurnedIn - There is free view, but no switch to sights, although there should be 3 sights there
Commander: ok
Loader: ok

also error in .rpt Warning Message: No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgVehicles/SHC_MY_TANK/Turrets/MainTurret/OpticsIn/ViewOptics.gunnerOpticsModel'
😭

[charred bolt]

We probably need to see your full config, as the turret class you have provided doesn't give enough detail of what is (or is not) being inherited. For example, the contents of ViewOptics in OpticsIn are unknown to us.

The driver issues are not dealt with inside a turret class. They are in the main config.

[smoky lava]

okay. I thought the problem was some kind of turret parameter. Would you look at this, please? Is the original class LIB_Tank_base config needed?

[charred bolt]

FULL CAPITALS should be reserved for macro #defines. When your code is full of things like SHC_QF17 it's hard to know if they're macro's or actual class names. Would be better to use shc_qf17.

Your rpt error on CfgVehicles/SHC_MY_TANK/Turrets/MainTurret... does not seem to tie in to anything in your config?

Driver LOD's are controlled by these config entries, but they are missing in your code - check what is being inherited.

lodDriverTurnedIn = 1100;
lodDriverTurnedOut = 0;```

Similarly, this entry is missing in your config, check what is inherited. Try changing to 0 if set to 1.
```driverForceOptics = 0;```

[smoky lava]

I'll take your advice
Ooh, thanks, that helped. It works now.
Any idea what the problem is with the main gunner? On the right mouse button it only zooms without switching to the scope

[charred bolt]

Can you update and show your rpt error messages, as the one you posted doesn't relate to your config.

[smoky lava]

 2:27:04 Starting mission:
 2:27:04  Mission file: introExp
 2:27:04  Mission world: Stratis
 2:27:04  Mission directory: a3\map_stratis_scenes_f\scenes\introExp.Stratis\
 2:27:04 No more slot to add connection at 033057 (3386.8,5735.4)
 2:27:06 Strange convex component145 in a3\plants_f\tree\t_pinuss2s_b_f.p3d:geometryView
 2:27:06 Strange convex component149 in a3\plants_f\tree\t_pinuss2s_b_f.p3d:geometryView
 2:27:06 Weather was forced to change
 2:27:08 Fresnel k must be >0, given n=2.51,k=0
 2:27:08 Loading movesType CfgMovesSnakes_F
 2:27:08 Reading cached action map data
 2:27:10 Loading movesType CfgMovesButterfly
 2:27:10 Reading cached action map data
 2:27:11 Loading movesType CfgMovesRabbit_F
 2:27:11 Reading cached action map data
 2:27:25 String STR_SHC_S_76QF17_APMk4 not found
 2:27:25 String STR_SHC_S_76QF17_APMk4 not found
 2:27:26 SHC_M4A4_FIREFLY: hide_ex_armor_body - unknown animation source hide_ex_body_armor
 2:27:26 SHC_M4A4_FIREFLY: hide_ex_armor_body_tracks - unknown animation source hide_ex_armor_body_tracks
 2:27:26 SHC_M4A4_FIREFLY: hide_ex_armor_turret_tracks - unknown animation source hide_ex_armor_turret_tracks
 2:27:26 SHC_M4A4_FIREFLY: back_mg_gun - unknown animation source gun_2
 2:27:26 SHC_M4A4_FIREFLY: hatchmgunner - unknown animation source hatchmgunner
 2:27:26 Warning Message: No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgVehicles/SHC_M4A4_FIREFLY/Turrets/MainTurret/OpticsIn/ViewOptics.gunnerOpticsModel'
 2:27:26 Warning Message: '/' is not a value

[smoky lava]

Before I started doing the interior version of tank. Switching sights on the gunner worked

[charred bolt]

Should your class ViewOptics: ViewOptics be outside of class OpticsIn? line 272

[smoky lava]

Maybe...I'll check it out now)

[charred bolt]

Not sure why I made that a question - I know it's in the wrong place 😉

[smoky lava]

Awesome. Thank you so much. I must have copied something mindlessly. Everything works fine now)

[charred bolt]

Glad to help, well done.

[smoky lava]

@charred bolt and I think you've already answered that problem. I've got the tracks going in the opposite direction. Even though the wheels are spinning forward...Maybe there is some way to change the direction for pasoffsetl and pasoffsetR?

[charred bolt]

Reverse the UV's

They're UV animations, just sliding up/down over the texture, so you just need to flip the UV in the vertical (I think, haven't double checked detail)

[smoky lava]

it works thanks again

[woeful sluice]

How can I make 3D suitable for gaming?

[south badge]

You take the pain and learn how to model game-ready assets

[dusk frost]

watch some of the video tutorials on YouTube that cover importing stuff into arma because the engine has extremely specific requirements that most “game ready” models available for sale or download will not have

[stuck oyster]

The model from this distance and resolution looks pretty high poly too.

[tribal rain]

got this issue where my guys head is between his legs on my custom uniform i dont know what the issue would be like as far as i can tell the areas are all weighted and the proxy is in the right place?

on another note as well im getting an error regarding my proxies

one of the proxy classes that it is calling does not exist in the A3 folders anywhere i checked the code and it looks like its a dummy class in place of a model but either way mikeros pbo is getting upset because it cant find this missing item because techincally it doesnt exist?

its the "Bysta" proxy for those wondering

[round prawn]

Does somebody know how i can import my retextured uniforms and other things on my mod?

[stuck oyster]

bysta is the proxy for the head

and BI moved it to different folder

you can either repath it or just call the proxy bysta, without any path

the path is irrelevant, the name of the proxy is all that matters

[tribal rain]

How do i rename the proxy?

[stuck oyster]

in OB just double click the proxy selection name

in blender probably just path it as bysta

or find the new file location

[tribal rain]

Copy

[shadow root]

Is there a way to make textures glow via script like this? Or without having to write a config mod?

[shadow root]

Is there a way to set a object's rvmat using a rvmat from a mission file?

[tribal rain]

managed to find it would it be the same for everyone or would it be specific to each user?

mentioning as if it has been moved might be handy to know the path:

\a3\characters_f\TemplateRTM\bysta

[tribal rain]

that fixed the issue thank you as always my guy ❤️

[stuck oyster]

like I said the path to it does not matter

the p3d is just for visual representation of it in buldozer

the name is only thing the game reads

[tribal rain]

ahhhh ok fair

[marsh canyon]

Yes, you can load a RVMAT from the mission

[south badge]

Is it useless to include proxies for passengers in the shadow lod if they are sitting inside the vehicle? I assume so, right?

[stuck oyster]

I recall they are not needed, they should cast shadows without that

or was that just for head selection/proxy 🤔

[charred bolt]

Never put proxies in the shadow LOD, or you'll get duplicates. It's handled automatically.

[south badge]

Oh

Sounds good to me

[daring thunder]

I'm keep getting this error. Can anybody help?

[stuck oyster]

there is no info on what the error is unfortunately

make sure you are running latest tools

[daring thunder]

I did

[stuck oyster]

what is it you try to do? theres many different paths refered there

oh the memsphere not float thing is there actually

and that indicates you are not running latest mikero tools

[daring thunder]

Just trying to export a simple model i designed in blender

ah okay

[cedar jacinth]

any idea why my bullets come from below instead of from the barrel? I have double checked that the points are in line

[stuck oyster]

do you have geometry lod with autocenter 0 named property?

[cedar jacinth]

yeah

Rifle_Short_Base_F is my base class for my weapon in config.cpp

[spark obsidian]

maybe?

[stuck oyster]

👍

cool plane!

[spark obsidian]

tryina figure out the perfect medium-size widebody

[stuck oyster]

interesting challenge!

what kind of requirements are you thinking of?

[spark obsidian]

something like what the Embr C-390 does

or An-178

[spark obsidian]

i just know nothing about A3 modeling

[stuck oyster]

Well you probably need to first complete the model here unless you want to remake it from scratch in vertex/polyogons already and finish it with that. You dont need to worry about Arma for a while, first youll want to just figure out which program you want to learn (like Blender) and just start learning the basics of that

Arma specifcs open up much easier after you know how the modeling and texturing stuff works

[spark obsidian]

oh, i'm already proficient in blender

[stuck oyster]

excellent!

then you still dont need to worry about the arma stuff untill you have finished the model

typically game assets are done via highpoly->lowpoly workflow

[spark obsidian]

i've already got a retopo flow.
I'm more wondering about the actual implementation.
What to name certain empties... How to make arma3 collider models, etc.

How to animate, that's a big deal

[stuck oyster]

Arma3 dont really use any kind of empties references

it has system of proxies similar to that

you will want the armatoolbox addon to be able to easily export p3d

there are some tutorials that can give you a leg up figuring that out

though those are made with older UI, the principles are still the same

for animation stuff you can read the wiki about model.cfg and "how to animate a model"

and possibly make a simpler test model you try out things with first

like a box

[spark obsidian]

ah, i see

thanks for the info

[stuck oyster]

there are also arma3 samples on steam you can study

they are little outdated at places

but still helpful

[cedar jacinth]

any clue? i have autocenter 0 in my geometry lod

[stuck oyster]

just to make sure as a namedProperty, not namedSelection/vertex group

[cedar jacinth]

Yes it is, look here 😄

[charred bolt]

In Object Builder
Show the memory LOD with the memory points responsible for the bullets highlighted and their named selections visible, with the res LOD as a background.
Also show the weapon config where it defines those memory points.

[cedar jacinth]

i dont know how to make LOD as background? I did it via the window on the right "show as Background" but that does not do anything

[stuck oyster]

check the settings menu

I recall theres button for it

[charred bolt]

RIght click LOD 1 and set it as background.
Also highlight the mem points as requested

and not model.cfg, but CONFIG

[cedar jacinth]

It is not working.... i have every Background setting on, i right click on LOD1, highlighted mem and show as Background - does nothing

[charred bolt]

Is there anything in your res LOD 1?

[cedar jacinth]

what exactly? dont have memorys there ofc
I only have my parts like bolt, camo_metal, camo_wood, magazine, muzzle proxy, trigger and zasleh

[charred bolt]

This is what I'm asking to see, using the A3 Sample Test_weapon as an example.

See the yellow background showing LOD 1 behind the memory points

[cedar jacinth]

its not turning yellow for me 🤷‍♂️

my settings

[charred bolt]

maybe

[cedar jacinth]

lol

[charred bolt]

now make your screenshot look like mine

[cedar jacinth]

i think this is better?

[charred bolt]

no

[cedar jacinth]

like this? what do you need to see?

[charred bolt]

#arma3_model message
#arma3_model message

[charred bolt]

That's good thanks

[charred bolt]

Double check they are in this order?

Can you highlight those two points and paste them into a new empty LOD.
Check what other named selections are present besides usti hlavne and konec hlavne and how are they assigned (to which points)?

[spark obsidian]

getting somewhere

[south badge]

how many vertices do you have there?

[spark obsidian]

before retopo, it's 54k

[south badge]

not too bad

[spark obsidian]

after retopo, expecting about 20-25k

[south badge]

Are there any measures I can take to prevent material bloat in Blender? Particularly if I am working with a vehicle that uses many materials and I copy / paste selections between LODs my material count goes through the roof since they keep creating copies of themselves over and over again...

[stuck oyster]

use duplicates

instead of copy paste

(non linked duplicates that is)

[cedar jacinth]

They are named correctly - usti at front and konec at back

[white jay]

Hey would anybody be willing to make a simple patch (as in insignia) mod for me and an edit one of the RHSUSF uniforms for me, I’ll tip 10 bucks on Venmo

[stuck oyster]

#creators_recruiting would be the channel. And RHS uniform models can not be edited. only possibly retextured. You can not offer payment for full mod making though, since the tools are non commercial.

[white jay]

Ok thank you

[sharp halo]

When I run game with diag exe, I get tons of [AssertUsr] Area of texture is less than 0, missing UV set?: uvStage=1 but not on normal version of the exe.

1. What does this error indicate? How do I know which part of model should I fix?
2. Can this error be skipped via some launch params?

[cedar jacinth]

LOD 1: Shadow Volume 0
Type: Shadow Volume 0
Failed validation -> skipping LOD (run manual validation for details)
Done in 0.000000 sec

Any idea what i might be doing wrong? Its 1:1 the same as in my MP41, but i tried to make it fit my G41 more properly and added a few loop cuts to form it better

Shadow Volume 10 is copy pasted from Shadow Volume 0

[stuck oyster]

diag exe has more debug messaging. so the error is in the model, normal exe just might not report it.

area of texture could indicate part(s) of mesh that are no unwrapped and are all squeeczed at the bottomLeft corner of the uvmap area

or possibly it has no uvmapping at all

such thing should not pop up if everything is right

so Id try to fix the source of it

[stuck oyster]

its not triangulated

[sharp halo]

Damn, gonna be hard to do on complex mesh ;d

[stuck oyster]

open uv editor

see if theres a spot at the bottom left corner

[charred bolt]

Check your rvmat's for uvSource = "tex1"; and change to uvSource = "tex";

[sharp halo]

I don't see anything like that unfortunately

[sharp halo]

Oh yeah, every of my Rvmat has tex1 set

[charred bolt]

You would put tex1 if you were using UV Set 1, but 99.9% of times you will be using UV Set 0.

Only if doing multimat's might use extra UV sets. But as you don't have UV Set 1, rvmat throws error when looking for it.

[sharp halo]

Understood. Trying it now

Worked flawlessly. Thank you both very much

[stuck oyster]

👍

[spark obsidian]

progress

[formal rose]

Rather random since this is from months ago but found it through research.

Is the black charred ground decal available on the workshop by chance? Or do you know of anything with similar effect?

Looks really cool

[stuck oyster]

its part of the SOGPF dlc

[formal rose]

Ahh alright thanks

[stuck oyster]

unfortunately I could not figure out way to control the draw order after all.

[formal rose]

Aww man thats a bummer! I am working on a dragon drone so I was trying to figure out a way to char / blacken the ground and I remember seeing that original post months back and spent about 30 minutes trying to find it lol

Looks very cool

[stuck oyster]

it worked quite fine for few years 😅

then latest patch broke it

at least thats how it looks like

maybe it was same way broken before but just now the order changed for reason X

[formal rose]

Ouch. Do you know what this could be?

I was considering creating a decal model to spawn under the drone when it passes with some form of burnt textures

[formal rose]

Yeah thats irritating lol

[stuck oyster]

yeah no idea why. but there does not seem to be anything that we can access that controls it

[formal rose]

Interesting, and those were particles made with an emitter right?

[stuck oyster]

the embers?

no they are just decal texture

[formal rose]

Oh wow I was under the impression you were using a decal in conjunction with the embers being from particles

[stuck oyster]

no it was 2 decals

Id guess one could have burned ground decal with the ember mesh also joined into it so they both are in same object

but its not as dynamic as Id like it to be

[mossy mulch]

is it possible to remove bits of geometry with model.cfg/damage amounts?

(not asking how, just if its possible before i start making this model)

[pallid island]

Like a building's windows?

[south badge]

It works for me in the case of a vehicle

[west haven]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/429652783977857034/1307057839789047889/fde08d526e65f0159daef7acd734401c.png?ex=67402c38&is=673edab8&hm=43dabb87f78652f9195701ba98ad3086452fdea2d366ce4546734bb2a6eeea79&

hoping to work on getting this in next week. Suppressor already works

[mossy mulch]

oh ofc... yeah thanks lol

gripen time 👽

[charred bolt]

Yes, hide animations work on geometry too.

[gleaming tusk]

does arma automatically do this even without the properties set?

[stuck oyster]

occlusion happens by default yes

[gleaming tusk]

okay baller

im working on improving performance of my halls, so im going through all the LOD properties to try and find stuff that might help, i already got the lodnoshadow one active on all of them

if i add editor attributes to hide things in the halls will that also help performance since it wouldnt be rendering said part?

or is it just "hiding" it

[stuck oyster]

if its hide animation it might have some effect

but like, not a lot

maybe not even noticeable

probably partly reason why BI did not incorporate furniture in most of the buildings as it can bloat the resource demand

separate mission objects where needed on the other hand can be managed in different way

even on demand

[gleaming tusk]

copy copy, makes sense

[stuck oyster]

as you may have noticed interiors can be tricky to manage

separate objects have chance to be occluded too which can save some rendering

also there are geometric occluders in Arma3

[stuck oyster]

but their use is a bit unknown

[gleaming tusk]

oh i see

[stuck oyster]

this dont look overly complex

[gleaming tusk]

they are pretty simple but every frame counts

[stuck oyster]

for sure yeah

[gleaming tusk]

they are also all using the same rvmat/material

[stuck oyster]

how much can you lod it for distance draw??

[gleaming tusk]

and each have 0-2 lod layers

should i do 1-3?

[stuck oyster]

are they like tunnels so they are not seen into from outside

[stuck oyster]

no starting from 0 is fine

[gleaming tusk]

they have enclosures

[stuck oyster]

it can be 5 23 35 too if youlike

[gleaming tusk]

XD

[stuck oyster]

you could experiment with the geometric occluders

have 1 on each side

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

[gleaming tusk]

oh heyyy

this might b what im looking for

current properties

[stuck oyster]

note the part in text that a lot of small occluders in scene might be more heavy than drawing things

which is why I said experiment 😅

[gleaming tusk]

haha

ill def have to take a gander at it

main worry is that a lot of my stuff has transparent doors, so i put the occlusion on the view geo lod like it says i can, and then just delete the door's section in that layer

hopefully that keeps the door from occluding anything on either side

but tb i think its only on my large hq building rn for testing

god i love arma modding

[cedar jacinth]

Any clue what i have done wrong? Firegeometry, Geometry and Fire Beauncy or how it is called are all setup properly - i also have component 01-04 and magazine as vertex groups - for the Fire Beauncy i have just component 01 - i get no error from pboProject

[stuck oyster]

no mass in geometry lod perhaps

[cedar jacinth]

Oh, that could be true - i never added that again 😄 is that the thing with weight 100?

[stuck oyster]

no its separate mass thing

vertex weight != arma vertex mass

[cedar jacinth]

Is this weight on the right correct? Is there a tutorial?
If its correct it did not fix it

[stuck oyster]

this is the mentioned vertex weight that is not the same as arma vertex mass

it has its own dialog

you need to have the lod object set to be geometry type

which toolbox were you using again?

Alwarrens or Clocks?

looks like clocks

or both actually

[cedar jacinth]

Alwarrens to export

[stuck oyster]

so youll have to decide which one to use

their properties dont mix I think

so it might be better to disalbe the other one so you dont accidentally try to use features that are not availbalbe for the export you use

[cedar jacinth]

No, the other way around 😄 I use Clocks mainly

[stuck oyster]

check out clocks manual for how to set lod type

and geometry mass

and use clocks export

[cedar jacinth]

There is tutorial there?

[stuck oyster]

manual

[cedar jacinth]

found it - will take a look - ty

[stuck oyster]

he actually might have done some videos too now that I think of it

[cedar jacinth]

yep!

[cedar jacinth]

i have followed the clocks Vertex Mass Editing video and applied it to my model. The issue is still there - i have only applied it to my Geometry LOD like he said in the video. I am so lost....

[stuck oyster]

check in Object builder that the mass is there

[cedar jacinth]

It is

i set it to 3.25 in Blender, its there for my Geometry

[stuck oyster]

does this geometry lod now have the autocenter 0 named property

[cedar jacinth]

hahahah it had not..

ty once again...!

[formal halo]

His docs are comprehensive enough where a video isn’t really needed imo

[umbral shuttle]

Is it possible for mag proxies to work for underbarrel attachments in addition to the main gun it self? I am assuming not otherwise stuff like the MSBS grot shotgun attachment version would have

[stuck oyster]

it should work yes.

example from sogpf, rifle magazine and underbarrel launcher magazine both work

[bright echo]

yeah it does work

you can even have like the primary muzzle not have a magazine proxy but the secondary does

[sour bough]

Huh! I thought because the vanilla stuff didn't have it, it didn't work.

I couldn't get multiple muzzle flashes to work either (ie, same selection but two proxy flashes); is that a limitation or did I do it wrong in ages past?

[bright echo]

Idk about muzzle flashes, my gut says 'probably not' as the weapon only has one muzzleflash selection in config, maybe if defined in the secondary muzzle, idk. can always using revolving/reload tho but that has its own share of problems

[sour bough]

Vanilla solutions for ugl's don't use proxies, far as I know. I also wanted to have two flashes at once with the same selection once and it didn't work when proxy'd.

For my alternating ones I just move the flash proxy anyway

[polar fiber]

Doesn't the weird CSAT rifle from Apex with an underslung .50 cal have a muzzle flash?

[stuck oyster]

secong flash needs animated model.cfg hiding if I recall right

the engine drive solution does not even seem to recognize multiple proxies

[bright echo]

oh yeah i forgot about that thing

my kingdom for a model animation source that plays 1-0/0-1 everytime a gun is fired

unlike reload which doesn't play on the last round

[sour bough]

revolving with a loop?

[bright echo]

Yeah that works if you have a fixed magazine size

[sour bough]

You can make it work via a loop

Hang on lemme

#arma3_model message

This kind of thing works with any mag size, for alternating

You can just tweak the values for it

To make it not alternate

[bright echo]

yeah I'm not looking for alternating

it was for having a muzzleflash appear at all or like

[sour bough]

Just make it 0-1 instead of 0-1.0000001

The small bit after it is so the math works out right

[bright echo]

for example in spearhead, the M1 carbines (and this goes for all guns in arma) the action doesnt cycle on the last shot of a magazine

[sour bough]

and revolving instead of ammo

[bright echo]

because the M1 carbine doesn't lock open on empty

most weapons in arma hide this because they lock open on empty

and the reason this happens is because reload doesn't play on the last round of a magazine

[sour bough]

Yeah this is solvable I think

Ammo is nice but discrete

But maybe combine it with the bolt thing?

[bright echo]

ammo wouldnt work for it as it goes from ie. 2 to 1 immediately, not 2, 1.9, 1.8, etc which is what you want and is how reload/revolving works

[sour bough]

I think a multiple sources could get you most of the way there

[umbral shuttle]

Very pog sog

Ty

[sour bough]

Does the IsADS anim source work on attachments as well?

[stuck oyster]

scope cant be animated

🙏

[sour bough]

Truly, we must bug dedmen about this inshallah

[spark obsidian]

What would be the possible causes of ObjectBuilder logging these errors, after trying to import a P3D model, exported from blender?

00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Plugin successfully loaded
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\gifload.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Invalid module. Missing link to InitPluginModule function (127)
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\jpgload.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Invalid module. Missing link to InitPluginModule function (127)
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\licenseMgr.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Invalid module. Missing link to InitPluginModule function (127)
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\MAT.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Plugin successfully loaded
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\ModelConfigEditor.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Plugin successfully loaded
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\pacload.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Invalid module. Missing link to InitPluginModule function (127)
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\Pal2Pac.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Invalid module. Missing link to InitPluginModule function (127)
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Loading A:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\UIDebugger.dll
00:58:52 - [5A1C](Plugins) Invalid module. Missing link to InitPluginModule function (127)
00:58:52 - [5A1C](ExtViewer) External viewer init```

[stuck oyster]

theres not really any info on Object Builder errors

but did the export actually complete?

is the p3d 0kb in size?

[spark obsidian]

it's 1kb

[stuck oyster]

then its broken export

[spark obsidian]

ah. What can cause that?

[stuck oyster]

it should show error message in blender

and write in in the debug console

typically Ngons in model, no objects set as exportable lods, empty material slots

[spark obsidian]

oh, i'm currently experimenting with exporting a model with just vertex groups set. Nothing else.

also, just checked - no errors or debug logs after export

[stuck oyster]

have you set the object as some arma lod?

which toolbox you use?

[spark obsidian]

in blender?

[stuck oyster]

👍

Alwarrens tool expects you to set the objects you want to export with ArmaProperties

where you can select the lod that object is part of

[spark obsidian]

this?

[stuck oyster]

no

[spark obsidian]

oh i found it

and now i'm getting some errors on export

  File "C:\Users\DRAGON\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.3\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 947, in execute
    exportMDL(self, filePtr, False,
  File "C:\Users\DRAGON\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.3\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 716, in exportMDL
    exportObjectListAsMDL(myself, filePtr, applyModifiers,
  File "C:\Users\DRAGON\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.3\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 814, in exportObjectListAsMDL
    exportLodLevelWithModifiers(
  File "C:\Users\DRAGON\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.3\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 680, in exportLodLevelWithModifiers
    export_lod(filePtr, tmpObj, wm, idx)
  File "C:\Users\DRAGON\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.3\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 523, in export_lod
    writeMass(filePtr, obj, mesh)
  File "C:\Users\DRAGON\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.3\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox\..\ArmaToolbox\MDLexporter.py", line 396, in writeMass
    weight_layer = bm.verts.layers.float['FHQWeights']
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
KeyError: 'BMLayerCollection[key]: key "FHQWeights" not found'

[stuck oyster]

if you are exporting geometry lod youll need to give it mass

through the mass manipulation dialog

select geometry lod, go to edit mode

select all

and look into the arma 3 tools tab under arma3 tab

[spark obsidian]

mass in kg?

[stuck oyster]

yes

[spark obsidian]

me happy

now to figure out the rest

[stuck oyster]

have fun

[spark obsidian]

hopefully i can rework my substance materials to arma

[mossy mulch]

Are there any useful guides for weightpainting about? Going to do it for the first time soon ☹️

[mossy mulch]

Scout has some good export presents for arma gimme a sec

[stuck oyster]

for general weight painting and rigging stuff youtube has quite a lot

[spark obsidian]

that'd be sick

[mossy mulch]

https://github.com/Scouter407/Arma-3-PBR-Workflow

[mossy mulch]

Nothing specific needed for arma beyond the rig?

[stuck oyster]

no vertex painting is very straight forward standard stuff luckily

[spark obsidian]

banger!

[slow pine]

How can i change the default texture a 3d model is trying to use?
I got a Obloha model that tries to load a texture from CUP, since i'm not using CUP, it will always give this error message.

[stuck oyster]

wheres the p3d from then?

thats a Arma 2 path basically

and why do you use it if you dont want to use cup

why not use vanilla one?

[marsh canyon]

ca prefix is used in CUP

[stuck oyster]

sure yes but its still Arma2 path originally

[slow pine]

obloha is the skydome model.
Arma 3 Vanilla one has a very crazy UV mapping.

so i'm using the arma 2 one that works better

[marsh canyon]

What are you trying to do, is one question

[slow pine]

I think that the lack of this textures, is what gives me some small bugs when messing with lighting configs.
So, the idea would be to put the texture on my addon.

[stuck oyster]

first of all, are you trying to use some kind of new sky textures?

[slow pine]

yes

[marsh canyon]

And why?

[slow pine]

i believe the obloha model loads two textures.
one is default (the one from the error message), and the other is changed based on configs

[stuck oyster]

well sure yes

but like

maybe you dont need to use it

lets go back to that bug with the lights

thats what you try to fix?

[slow pine]

to get some cool skyboxes.

[slow pine]

Default lighting config has two RGB values for sky.
Sky, and SkyAroundSun (the names are very self explanatory)

by default (vanilla), they work fine with different values on them.

[stuck oyster]

I am familiar with those yes

[slow pine]

but, when i put the arma 2 model, it give me artifacts like this if the Sky and SkyAroundSun colors are different

[stuck oyster]

yeeah

[slow pine]

while i can avoid the artifacts by just using the same color for both values, this makes the sky quite flat.

[stuck oyster]

I would recommend sticking to the vanilla A3 sky object

make your life easier

[marsh canyon]

aroundSunCoefMultiplier = 1.0;
aroundSunCoefExponent = 4.0;```
I don't know what exactly they do but this does something with the artifact

[slow pine]

issue with it, is that it's not really meant to work with proper skybox textures, it works with a gradient texture instead

[stuck oyster]

correct

[slow pine]

i don't have screenshots anymore, but basically it deforms a lot the textures at the top of the model.
The model is also partially below the horizon line.

[stuck oyster]

The textures would neet to be made for it yes

just some skydome texture from the web wont work

[slow pine]

will give it a look.

[slow pine]

well, that's the issue.
i doesn't really use a know method of texture.

arma 2 one use panoramas for example.

[stuck oyster]

yes

and in A3 the clouds etc are supposed to be set with the actual clouds

not static images

[slow pine]

they actually changed the way it works, with the visual upgrade that came with apex.

using the splendid lighting mod, i can actually get different colors for the parameters.
i just don't know why.

[marsh canyon]

Likely this

But at this point, it's not a P3D issue anyways

[stuck oyster]

yeah no its basically the new lighting system being incompatible with the panoramic sky textures

you can probably disable parts

but that may have other undesireable effects

anyway, it is quite undocumented territory

if the Arma2 sky object is in the released datapack samples in unbinarized form, you can open it in Object builder and change the texture path on it

and keep trying to fiddle with the lighting configs and try to get it back closer to Arma2 lighting

[spark obsidian]

Question - Can i split my model in blender into multiple objects, or am i restricted to working on a joined object?

[marsh canyon]

Not quite sure what is the question. Multiple objects, as in?

[spark obsidian]

As in split objects, not a joined object

[stuck oyster]

yes

they can be separate objects

that get joined into same lod at export

[spark obsidian]

ah! cuz i was thinking about, how i'm gonna attach the textures to them...

[stuck oyster]

each object just needs to have correct lod definiton in them

and their UVset names must match

[spark obsidian]

didn't make sense to have it be a joined object

[stuck oyster]

single object can have multiple materials

[spark obsidian]

thanks for the info!

[stuck oyster]

and each blender material can be given a arma material/texture to be exported assigned on the faces the blender material is on

[spark obsidian]

wait a minute... does the addon use blender material selection as a base to apply textures?

ah i see!

[stuck oyster]

yes

[spark obsidian]

if that's the case, it'd prolly be best for me to do it that way

hmm, the RVMAT selector in blender isn't seeing the rvmat files in the folder

disregard! it'd be best for me to look in the right folder next time...

[stuck oyster]

that does help. 😅

[spark obsidian]

in blender - what kind of object do i need to add, that will work as a memory point?

or is it any kind of geometry?

[granite berry]

Probably best to make a triangle and when importing to OB delete the 2 vertices that are not part of the mem point

idk not sure how the 'pros' here do it

[south badge]

I usually set my 3D cursor to where I want the memory point to be, then add a plane and merge vertices at center

[spark obsidian]

hmm i see, thanks for the info!

also - do memorypoints need the "NamedProperties"?

hmm, it appears to show the lower LODs, instead of the main geometry

[slow pine]

is that a c-390 👀

[spark obsidian]

heavily inspired by it, yes. But it's a fictional craft

[south badge]

Not as far as I know

[south badge]

Did you set up the resolution LODs in Blender?

[spark obsidian]

yep

[south badge]

Try using values 0 -> 1 -> 2

[spark obsidian]

0 being main geo?

[south badge]

also try zooming in, maybe it is showing a lower LOD

0 is the main one, yes

Well, "whichever number is the lowest is the main one" as far as I know

[spark obsidian]

[south badge]

what value do you have in the "plane_body" mesh?

[spark obsidian]

this, because some guy on youtube told me to add it

[south badge]

no, no

Geometry LOD is something completely different

Geometry LOD is used for collision detection

[spark obsidian]

[south badge]

Put "Custom" in there, with a value of 0

and remove the "autocenter", vehicles aren´t supposed to have it afaik

[spark obsidian]

resolution 0?

[south badge]

yes

You main LOD should have resolution 0, the 1st distance LOD should have resolution 1, 2nd distance should be 2, etc

[spark obsidian]

oh, so it's the other way around

[south badge]

the lower the number, the higher quality the LOD

[spark obsidian]

and the shadow lod?

like 1?

[south badge]

At least for me that one is quite odd, it changes to 1000 and 1020 when I import it into OB

You should have two shadow LODs generally - One more detailed for close range, one less detailed for long range

[spark obsidian]

ah, makes sense

another question

if this is my pathing to mats/textures - in the RVMats files, do i include the Drive Letter, or not?

[south badge]

uh I am unsure sorry, this is how mine looks like, but I use hemtt

[south badge]

I guess you will see whether you get an error or not

[spark obsidian]

yikes

[south badge]

I guess you did get an error 😄

[spark obsidian]

hmm, the way i set the paths for the textures/materials in blender, it does full paths, but i need relative paths right?

[south badge]

I think so? I looked at some other stuff of mine, and I did not have the drive letter included

[spark obsidian]

maybe it's because my mod location is not in the P drive?

i'll try working from the P drive this time

[stuck oyster]

always build addons from P drive

[spark obsidian]

https://tenor.com/view/noted-gif-20569892

also - this is how my RVMAT files look like, if there's any issues anyone can spot

[sour bough]

Those paths should be relative paths

[spark obsidian]

so those are NOT the paths, defined in blender?

[sour bough]

Blender is irrelevant to this; those need to be valid relative paths

Think, same path you would use for hiddenselectionstextures

[charred bolt]

Do you intend to not use "super shader" which is by far the most common shader type?

[spark obsidian]

i'm about 3 days into modding arma, and 2 1/2 of those has been modeling/texturing

tell me about super shader please

[charred bolt]

Here's a link: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Super_shader

Check the example shown.
Stage 1 is your normal map (_nohq)
Stage 4 is your ambient occlusion map (_ao)
Stage 5 is your specular map (_smdi)
Set Fresnel to suit your material.

[spark obsidian]

wait, which stage is colormap?

7?

[charred bolt]

neither, it's set by the face properties in the p3d

[spark obsidian]

now i'm confused

[south badge]

colour map = face texture in Blender

[charred bolt]

your texture (_co) is set in the p3d, along with a material (rvmat)
the rvmat maps the other textures such as normals, ao and specular

[spark obsidian]

so i don't have to include the colormap in RVMAT at all?

[charred bolt]

correct

[spark obsidian]

gotcha, i'll experiment

why would this be happening?

this is my setup in blender

[stuck oyster]

...

why is your project folder called A3_retail?

[spark obsidian]

no idea. That's how the tooblox populated the Pdrive

[stuck oyster]

what toolbox?

[spark obsidian]

arma3tools

[stuck oyster]

🤮

ok so basically your setup is bad

and arma3Tools dont seemingly make any kind of good P drive

if it adds such crap in there

your folder structure should be abouts like P:\YourTag(this is your project folder)\YourTag_YourMod\(config, p3d go here)\data\(textures/rvmats etc go here)

[spark obsidian]

nice, but how do i unmount and remount now

and what should i be using to do this

[stuck oyster]

we recommend simple bat file with subst command in it to mount the drive

https://pmc.editing.wiki/doku.php?id=arma3:tools:setup-p-drive

and using mikerotools pboProject to pack will save you from quite a lot of trouble

unfortunately the vanilla ArmaTools launcher method seems to be broken most of the time

[spark obsidian]

yes, but the drive is already mounted...

wouldn't overriding mount break things?

[stuck oyster]

youll have to disable the auto mounting from the launcher and you can reboot to make sure it does not mount

[spark obsidian]

ah, right

[stuck oyster]

the example in the link has a command in the beginning to first unmount P drive

in case it is mounted

[charred bolt]

I mount p drive from A3 tools launcher, never had a problem with it. Really doubt the tools created an a3_retail folder in p for him unprompted. But I do use mikeros tools to unpack a3 data to p:\

[stuck oyster]

you have the rare working one then xD

or using arma3p to populate it might have something to do with it too Id suppose

but most of the time it has issues

[charred bolt]

This is something like your p drive and your mod folders could look like - everything you do is inside "lynx" folder, and you can separate different assets inside that.
relative path in such a case would be

lynx\c390\data\c390_body_co.paa
lynx\c390\data\c390_body.rvmat```

[spark obsidian]

interesting! will try that.

[spark obsidian]

in mikero's tools, it's trying to look for my game installation in the wrong path. How to fix that?

figured it out. Had some leftover arma files in another drive.

[spark obsidian]

i don't get it. why is it loading from N drive... i don't even have such a drive letter.

[stuck oyster]

did you press N at the beginning of Arma3P

[spark obsidian]

Nope, pressed E, for the drive where my arma install is

the bad file format file only apppeared when i didn't run the p3d file through ObjectBuilder.

But after i re-save it through OB, it still doesn't load the textures.

also it's using the old paths, even though i reset them to the new location in the P drive

[stuck oyster]

should have done P

it asks what drive letter to use for the virtual drive

it probably picked next available N

[spark obsidian]

sheesh

[stuck oyster]

you mount P drive first with the simple bat

then run arma3p on the mounted P drive

[stuck oyster]

it happens.

after few times you'll be good to go 😅

[spark obsidian]

trial and error, i guess. And a bit of stupidity on my end, of course.

[stuck oyster]

never leave home without that.

😅

[spark obsidian]

fair fair

[umbral shuttle]

I have a section count question. lets say I have a simple gun and a scope for it and its all on 1 uv. The scope can be removed so any other base game scope/modded scope can go on it. Is there any point then having the scope be on the same UV as the gun? might as well have the scope on its own uv so it has more uv space for texturing.

[mossy mulch]

performance

file opening is very expensive

fewer textures usually = better performance

[umbral shuttle]

👍

oh so then what is preferred, 4 1k textures vs 1 4k texture, or where is the line were its better to have a higher res texture. or is this too nitpicky

[marsh canyon]

4 1k textures is as big as 1 2k texture

[umbral shuttle]

oh okay

[marsh canyon]

And a 4k is 16 1k

[umbral shuttle]

so then the 1 2k texture would be better since 3 less textures to call

[marsh canyon]

Well, performance wise it should be

[umbral shuttle]

and the tradeoff would be maybe I guess the quality of the texture

[stuck oyster]

Quality is same

It's same amount of pixels

[umbral shuttle]

ima be real I forgot how to do math, I was thinking 2 1k should be the same as 1 2k but I forgot to multiply by 2

very cool tho

[stuck oyster]

Maths

[umbral shuttle]

very hard

[stuck oyster]

Modding is good hobby. Makes brain bigger.

[crude meadow]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1177201978007375984/1310039418567917638/Arma_3_2024.11.24_-_02.21.07.03.Dvr.mp4?ex=6743c4c8&is=67427348&hm=b751329a9288a05e429e8dea30936f430d80625ead10f71ac1370e26971e4274&

im guessing my weights are off

[sacred perch]

Before you possibly goband fix this, can i have it?

Ill look after it i promise lol

[crude meadow]

im afraid its gone

but i can recreate it if you so desire

[sacred perch]

[sacred perch]

Lol i mean, i wouldnt be opposed to it, just know it might be used no more then 5 times lol

[crude meadow]

good enough for me

[spark obsidian]

so i reinstalled the P drive, and it's still trying to load from the N drive...

i'm suspecting something to be wrong with my blend, and the p3d in general

[marsh canyon]

P3D itself does not do anything with P itself

[marsh canyon]

I'd make it sure if P:\ is accessible on your end

[spark obsidian]

i don't even have an N drive....

my P drive

mod source

mod packed

armatools paths

[marsh canyon]

Do you have any N:\ mention in your config?

[spark obsidian]

nope

[charred bolt]

Don't put that @ in front of your p:\lynx folder
or if that's your output folder, move it somewhere else other than the p: drive

Then open your p3d in Object Builder
In the Resource Window, open Current LOD > Textures and check whether they have the green mark showing that their paths are found. Screenshot for us to check.

[spark obsidian]

yeah it looks like it's not finding them

[charred bolt]

Select one of the textures, press E for face properties, lets see the path that is set

[spark obsidian]

i'm pressing E, but nothing happens

[charred bolt]

Select the texture first (right click, select in object)

[spark obsidian]

ah, ok. that did it

[spark obsidian]

hmm... interesting

[charred bolt]

Ah, ok, can you right click the texture and choose "rename (in object)" so we see the full path.

[spark obsidian]

i did some replacing with my actual paths

[charred bolt]

that looks much better now

[spark obsidian]

so this is my folder now

[charred bolt]

there shouldn't be an addons folder in there

[spark obsidian]

how do i load it then?

[charred bolt]

put your own created or downloaded mods (@mod_name) on another drive, not p:\

[spark obsidian]

ah

yeah, still getting the same errors...

[charred bolt]

You're building with mikero's pboProject?
Open the packing log and the bin log and have a look for any messages

[grand notch]

Sorry if this is not the correct place to ask this but I didn't find any usable information by googling. I have a 3D model of a weapon I would wish to implement to ARMA 3, however, I have exactly 0 experience in ARMA 3 modding (nor modding any game for that matter) so suffice to say I have absolutely no idea how to do this. Does there exist a repository of information for creating a weapon for A3 (absolute beginner friendly) or is this idea doomed from the start? Cheers

[spark obsidian]

a3 addon builder

doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary

[spark obsidian]

...interesting

[charred bolt]

This is the kind of situation which demonstrates why using Addon Builder is vastly inferior to something with error checking such as mikero's tools. Download the free tools now and you'll immediately find what the issue is, and how to fix it.

[spark obsidian]

i have most of them downloaded

i have to use "MakePbo"?

[charred bolt]

There's an All-In-One installer if you're feeling brave

[stuck oyster]

Unfortunately absolute beginner friendly guides don't quite exist. 😅. There are some video material that can put you on right track. (from El tyranos, sokolonko, battlestad for example)

You'll also want to look up P Drive and mikero tools setup (PMCwiki has simple instructions)

And then the arma3 samples on steam have some base info

[pallid island]

(which samples aren't always to the community's standards of convention abidance) 🤣

[stuck oyster]

True. They can act as a starting point though. 😅

[spark obsidian]

i don't get it

literally all there

[stuck oyster]

doest the path in the p3d have P:\

[spark obsidian]

yep

[stuck oyster]

toolbox export should cull the P;\ from them automatically

yeh thats the problem

remove the p:\

odd that it dont get culled :L

[spark obsidian]

but then it goes yellow

[stuck oyster]

your object builder settings need "path to textures" set to P:\

[charred bolt]

No it's correct to have p:\ in that particular dialog window

[stuck oyster]

so inside the program it simulates the game engine folder structure with P drive

[spark obsidian]

oh, now it's green

[stuck oyster]

oh true

I do have that too

[charred bolt]

Rename in Object has the p:\ showing, but Face Properies (sic) doesn't

[stuck oyster]

correct

[charred bolt]

but not having p:\ set as path for textures in OB settings, well done HG

[stuck oyster]

one day I'll do a count how many times Ive said that in here xD

I dont remember how I learned it in the distant past

might be some guide back then mentioned it

or some forum post

[spark obsidian]

does this make sense?

it's not screaming about the rest, which are made the same exact way

[charred bolt]

missing lynx\

[spark obsidian]

ok, i see what it is

[charred bolt]

and I'm not sure what the effect is of missing out stages 2, 3 etc - should be in there

[spark obsidian]

it only chose to show errors for those mats/textures

the rest don't work either

[charred bolt]

#arma3_model message

[spark obsidian]

yes that worked, i'm just sayin

the log didn't show errors with the rest of my rvmats

[charred bolt]

It probably stops at the first error

[spark obsidian]

[charred bolt]

Sounds like the textures are bad? Did you convert them to paa from png or tga? Did they have the _co suffix in the source?
Can you drop one of them here?

[bold flare]

or not found

[charred bolt]

Wouldn't it normally say "missing files" though if not found?

[bold flare]

no

[spark obsidian]

maybe it's a path issue? because i don't have the "lynx" folder in my packed structure

[charred bolt]

yes, you were supposedly building @lynx

[bold flare]

its always the pbo prefix

[spark obsidian]

so then it should be like this?

[cloud zealot]

What would be an appropriate polygon count for uniform LOD 0, 1, 2, 3... ?

[stuck oyster]

it kinda varies a lot. BI stuff lod0 for uniforms is maybe 8K tris tops and usually less if I rememeber right

[stuck oyster]

the output yes. did you have pboPrefix file in your folder with the config?

[cloud zealot]

hmm that's very few polygon count, i'm trying to use Marvelous Designer to make a soldier uniform but thickness has so many polygons, a lot a work to correct it

[stuck oyster]

lol yea you need a lowpoly game model and bake the details

[spark obsidian]

what should i put in the prefix file?

[cloud zealot]

the model itself is a low poly model but thickness of the fabric is made of a lot of polygons

[unkempt token]

[spark obsidian]

[unkempt token]

Ideally there's not even an inner layer to your clothes, just an 'endcap' of sorts to the sleeve that maybe goes in slightly. Marvelous designer is not exactly made for making game-ready topology

by inner layer I mean inner faces/triangles or a hollow space.

Here's a similar area from the a3 character example .p3d in arma 3 samples:

[spark obsidian]

oh boy!!!

[cloud zealot]

Yeah, i think i gonna have to remake all clothe edges, but that's sad because marvelous designer has an option to generate non curved side geometry, then sides should be made of one quad

[unkempt token]

You could always manually go through all of those sides and select them, then do limited dissolve, then triangulate

[spark obsidian]

now how does one animate the flaps, elevons, spoilers, etc.

and gear

[cloud zealot]

I dont have the choice but to do that

[cloud zealot]

Probably using these animation source name https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Model_Config

there are predefined animation names for gear, flaps etc...

[spark obsidian]

so i set up the memory points first, and then use the vertex groups?

[cloud zealot]

I don't think you need a memory point, just your selection names in your p3d to make your animation in model.cfg

[spark obsidian]

but for a rudder like this, it has to rotate on very specific axis, to avoid clipping. Is that doable without the mem points?

[cloud zealot]

oh yeah, you need memory points for the axis

[spark obsidian]

and this is all i need, right?

[cloud zealot]

but when you create your animation, give it the appropriate animationSource name

[cloud zealot]

usually i use 2 points to make an axis, but if you can do it with a single point go ahead

[spark obsidian]

why is there mention of bones?

i don't have an armature

[cloud zealot]

In order to use a selection in you animations, you need to create a skeleton first.

[spark obsidian]

skeleton... for a plane?

that's a first in my modeling ventures

something like that?

[cloud zealot]

Yes, in order to understand how to articulate your model, Arma 3 needs skeleton, check Test_plane_F in Arma 3 Samples

[cloud zealot]

no

the skeleton i'm talking about is config

for example

{
    class Default
    {
        isDiscrete = 1;
        skeletonInherit = "";
        skeletonBones[] = {};
    };
    class Vehicle : Default {};    
    class Plane: Vehicle
    {
        skeletonInherit="Vehicle";
        skeletonBones[]=
        {
            "alt","",
            "alt2","",
            "mph","",
            "mph2","",
            "vert_speed","",
            "vert_speed2","",
            "nm_alt","",
            "hud_alt","",
            "hud_speed","",
            "rpm","",
            "kompas","",
            "kompas2","",
            "hodinova","",
            "hodinova2","",
            "minutova","",
            "minutova2","",
            "lkh klapka","",
            "pkh klapka","",
            "lkd klapka","",
            "pkd klapka","",
            "leva smerovka","",
            "leva vejskovka","",
            "prava smerovka","",
            "prava vejskovka","",
            "ls klapka","",
            "ps klapka","",
            "predni kolo","",
            "levy kolo","",
            "pravy kolo","",
            "vrtule 1","",
            "vrtule","",
            "damageHide",""
        };
    };```

[spark obsidian]

so i'm looking at this sample plane

i'm not seeing any bones though... or am i not understanding something

i mean i can see the vert groups

[cloud zealot]

read this page https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Model_Config

you dont need any bones in your model

You need to define bones in your model.cfg file

[cloud zealot]

let's say your rudder is called "rudder", your model.cfg would be like

class CfgSkeletons
{
    class Default;

    class MyPersonalPlaneSkeleton : Default
    {
        skeletonInherit = "";
        skeletonBones[] =
        {                                    
            "rudder", ""
        };
        pivotsModel = "";
        isDiscrete = 1;    
    };
};

class CfgModels
{
  class MyPersonalPlane
  {
    sectionsInherit="";
    sections[]=
      {
    };
    skeletonName="MyPersonalPlaneSkeleton";
      class Animations
    {
                        class LRudder
            {
                type="rotation";
                source="rudder";
                selection="rudder";
                axis="rudder_rotate_axis";
                minValue=-1;
                maxValue=1;
                angle0="rad 22.9";
                angle1="rad -22.9";
            };
          };
    };
};

[spark obsidian]

a very...interesting approach, to say the least

but much thanks for the info

i'll mess around

[cloud zealot]

Just remember the name of your p3d must match the name of your CfgModels class. In the example i gave you, your p3d must be called MyPersonalPlane.p3d

[spark obsidian]

yeah, i got that vibe already

maaaan i don't get it.

arma 3 modding really be busting my balls

[cloud zealot]

model = "\lynx_ra_52\plane1.p3d"

[spark obsidian]

if that actually works, i'll break my chair

[cloud zealot]

change backslash to slashes

[unkempt token]

\lynx\lynx_ra_51\plane1.p3d, you dont seem to have \lynx\ in front of \lynx_ra_52\

[spark obsidian]

yeah i literally just thought of that

[cloud zealot]

oh my bad, keep backslashes, just remove the first one

but by the way, if you need to test the animation, you can do it in Object Builder

[spark obsidian]

how is that done?

[cloud zealot]

launch bulldozer and use your scroll wheel

[spark obsidian]

oh boy, i don't think i even have buldozer