and for large objects (say large building where window frames are proxies) what happens when same proxies on object switch to different LOD
#arma3_model
woeful viper
bold flare
What is the max number of faces/verticies in a lod? It once was 32767 but I think I remember that being increased recently?
bold flare
Thanks o7
plain jackal
When importing models to O2, what's the best format to do it in? I'm having trouble when importing .objs where they lose their hard edges and the textures comes out reversed
polar fiber
.obj sometimes imports with inverted X axis so you get some reversed normals. You can correct that with the import settings in Object Builder
plain jackal
ah, howso?
alot of my models the whole uv seems mirrrored
its especially noticable when theres any text as its backwards
polar fiber
When you import the .obj there's a box that comes up with import settings
scale
invert axis. Edge smoothing angle
plain jackal
so is there an angle in particular i should be choosing or is just kind of on a per model basis
charred bolt
Blender exports good p3d's using Alwarrens toolbox plugin. If you use 3ds and can't get the obj to work well, export as fbx to Blender, then export p3d?
plain jackal
hmm
may try that
yeah ill probably just go that route
seems like less potential for error
cobalt pawn
Does eliteness show the actual poly count of binarized p3d's?
I noticed that my vertices and tris are alot higher after being binarized compared to what object builder shows.
woeful viper
after binarization you have the true vertex count. Everything split apart that needs to be split. Every face triangularized.
http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/provost/byf2.html#wts
object builder vertcount is always lower
cobalt pawn
ooof, probably should redo the shadow lod then. now it has as 19000 verts instead of 2900.
woeful viper
the fuck
oh wait, thats to be expected - everything triangulated and all hard edges
that means the vert count will be 3x the triangle count, once it's split up after binning
polar fiber
yup, should be fairly normal. The process of making shadow LOD kind of necessitates that
but you can see why you don't want to make a SVLOD that is too dense
formal vapor
How do you import an FBX with LODs?
velvet chasm
@formal vapor its not possible you should have a Fbx for each LOD and import em by creating each LOD
Or you can use Blender and creat LOD's then export it as p3d
bold flare
@formal vapor you need to name your LODs correctly. In 3ds max for example... I'll grab a screenshot
You can get the lod names by exporting a fbx from OB, and loading that in 3ds max. You just need to replicate the same names when you export fbx
https://s.sqf.ovh/3dsmax_2018-12-02_08-34-02.png here Pretty self explanatory I think? single points for memory lod don't work though, so you have to make 3sided faces
formal vapor
Oh man that makes thinks so much easier! Thanks!
Works perfectly with groups, which is how I group my LODs.
formal vapor
Is there a way to assign multiple names to objects in 3ds max that will import with FBX?
woeful viper
nope. You can do selection names but it wont export to my knowledge
deft heron
Hey guys, Is there any reason to have any geometry or physx geometry when you have a road LOD in the same place?
velvet chasm
@formal vapor you may group em in group as i know
But for texturing you must creat selection in OB
quick terrace
@formal vapor unfortunatelly @woeful viper is right, saved named selections are not exported over
bold flare
https://dev.arma3.com/post/techrep-00043
Object builder
Added: Ability to render proxies in D3D mode
WUT
tacit shard
polar fiber
I suppose it's necessary now the non-D3D mode is being abandoned
twin urchin
only if they fixed the FBX plugin and make PAA textures visible in the window instead being TGA
rough idol
FBX plugin was updated to 2015 version so if you spot any errors please don't forget to make bug report
bold flare
What was it before? I was always exporting v2014/2015
rough idol
If I remember correctly it was 2008 variant
twin urchin
hmm when that was?
deft heron
Hey guys, Is there any reason to have any geometry or physx geometry when you have a road LOD in the same place?
charred bolt
Does Road Lod have mass?
deft heron
OK thankyou
Blody stairs in a high rise a nightmare>im finding it hard to stop the landing above each staircasr from being in the way.Oh well now I know its an issue I guess back to the start of making a staircase.LOL.
rough idol
@twin urchin tools were updated today
twin urchin
good 😛
rough idol
roadway lod would be used for physx only for editor/script created objects
on map placed objects it's using only geo/geo physx
spiral solstice
@charred bolt High poly models are allowed now with the new update? That's pretty awesome
woeful viper
i wouldnt call it "new"
sturdy parcel
polycounts greater than 32k have been avaiable since type 72 p3ds
they probably meant they started using them.
woeful viper
i updated biki vert limit info in June 2016 and that change was made even before that...
sturdy parcel
yep
bold flare
since 72? armake is on 71 and already has 32bit face/vertex indicies
sturdy parcel
but people are also reporting the TP update is broken, and are using the dayz version instead
your are right dedmen
bold flare
Do you know which version exactly that was changed?
I like to keep notes on that stuff
bold flare
спасибо 🙇
You already said the same last week 😄
I would change the name.. But I like it this way :u
sturdy parcel
@bold flare , if you want examples of earlier p3d types I will supply them to you.
bold flare
Don't need examples. I just kinda like.. Wanna keep a history book of what changed in the past. Just roughly. Armake will never (atleast I don't plan it) provide compatability for older p3d versions. People can use your tools if they need that
sturdy parcel
i'll paste you my history log via pm
charred bolt
Poly limit changed in Tech Report 26, 18th Feb 2016.
quick terrace
there is no hardcoded limit anymore
bold flare
@deep quiver I have just a geo lod with one component and mass. nothing special
inherits from ReammoBox
deep quiver
@bold flare hm, thank you. I tryed change my model, but for now - use arma basic bag 😃
mighty geyser
Using ArmA toolkit for Blender, does anyone know why my imported test_weapon_01's proxies are all listed as "@@armaproxy.01" under vertex groups and not given appropriate names like "MUZZLE","SIDE","TOP"? I really don't want to be guessing which is which.
stuck oyster
likely because Arma toolkit is unofficial tool and no-one has noticed/complained/reported that it could work differently before.
you can quite easily compare the model in Blender to to the one in OB
and wont have to guess
mighty geyser
That's what I've been doing
stuck oyster
You can drop any improvement suggestion on the toolbox BIForums thread. Id say that would be the best way to pass them on to Alwarren
unless you want to message him directly
Proxies are very Arma specific entities so it might be difficult to represent them in Blender
mighty geyser
I assumed it was an issue with my setup somewhere
stuck oyster
hmm actually there were new proxy tools added to the toolbox
are you running the latest version?
mighty geyser
I'd assume not
stuck oyster
mighty geyser
I have that actually
stuck oyster
there is a new toolbar utility that controls which proxy is which
you can see the proxy arma names there and the @@armaproxy name on top of the active dialog
stuck oyster
I got these great dried frog pills @sturdy parcel 💊 🐸 🔥
stuck oyster
the frog ate the banana. Sorry
olive quiver
heya guys, anyone know if it is possible to add ground clutter to a model space via proxy or other means?
stuck oyster
not so that it works exactly like clutter
but you can add polyplanes that use same textures as your clutter
and they should look about the same
using proxies might not be optimal though
olive quiver
ok something to try out, just toying with some bunker/ trench system that will actually blend in nicley
lusty ginkgo
https://i.imgur.com/m0k7o3m.jpg
No more glowing shed
I didn't realize how bad some of these old objects looked
tulip beacon
lusty ginkgo
I darkened the textures and set the materials diffuse and ambient all to 1
Pretty much what was done to vanilla objects
near orchid
Hello is anyone able to find a video that explains memory lods, as i cannot find one that would explain memory lods as i find them confusing and i cant get them to work with them :L
outer condor
@near orchid what type of asset/model are you working on?
near orchid
Like a door
outer condor
did you look at the sample models from BI or A2/OA data packs?
stuck oyster
👆 Arma 3 samples on Steam contain very good examples for a building with interactive doors
lusty ginkgo
Based on the a3 samples I still can't get my windows to work properly
I have everything set up like in the model and I have the hitpoints configured like the ones on a3 buildings
other than that, everything seems to work fine
bleak tangle
What about them isn't working? You can use this command to get a list of the hitpoints damage to see if it's taking any damage https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/getAllHitPointsDamage. Then you can try to break the window by setting one of the windows hitpoints to 1 using this https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/setHitPointDamage.
lusty ginkgo
the hitpoints work, the glass breaks, the texture changes, but I have to shoot each window like 4 or 5 times for them to shatter completely
the hitpoints use the same conifiguration as a3 houses, and the fire geometry uses the same penetration material
I was talking about this a week or two back but nothing seemed to make a difference
bleak tangle
How does the armor of your building and the armor of the hitpoints compare with the A3 houses? Did you also copy the hitpoints directly from the sample house model? I faintly recall having a similar issue with windows taking a lot of bullets to break and it had to do with the hitpoints not being the correct distance from each other. Though I don't remember if they were too close or too far.
lusty ginkgo
that's what I thought as well but when I examined them in the diag exe I tweaked them until they looked about like what ones on a vanilla building looked
the armor values are the same as well
just about the same amount of overlap
lusty ginkgo
maybe the geometry isn't thick enough?
sudden chasm
make sure the geometry is as thick as the vanilla one
for the line in the config that defines the armor of the glass i changed my windows to the following
NORMAL_GLASS_HITPOINT(01,0.001,0.175)
seems to break with 2 or 3 pistol or rifle shots
at least for the thickness of the geometry I'm using
lusty ginkgo
I guess lowering the armor could be a solution
I just don't understand what the difference is
lusty ginkgo
https://i.imgur.com/4jvTxef.png
Does the scale look off anywhere here?
lusty ginkgo
Also is it possible to select faces in blender based on the assigned texture, but not the material?
near orchid
@outer condor i just dont understand it properly, been trying to find a decent video that explains it but no luck :/
outer condor
@near orchid you may want to check the video series from El Tyranos. it should talk about it too (more complex as its with vehicles)
near orchid
@outer condor any chance of a link G? cant find it on youtube
lusty ginkgo
Anyone who uses blender, what is your method for making ADS textures?
near orchid
Thank you 😃
hushed apex
Why this happening?
http://puu.sh/CdkaW/df637dcf6d.jpg
LOD 1.0000 has polys inside and they are visible when item is on the ground, but when i wear it -- inner side become transparent
bold flare
is the camera inside the model?
hushed apex
yeah, there was the problem (not all parts was in head selection)! Thanks all of yor for patients :3
stuck oyster
@lusty ginkgo what do you mean by selecting by texture not material?
all faces of single material share all the textures of that material
you can select by the UV layout though from the UV editor
lusty ginkgo
I mean selecting by the texture assigned when you select a face in edit mode and load a texture in the uv editor
stuck oyster
material should work for that?
oh now I see what you mean
or not
under the material list there are select/ deselect buttons when editmode is active
in the material tab
placid relic
Hello guys, i have a question : How can I apply a custom-made arm texture (with a tatoo) on my uniform with the color changing like the Stavrou's one ? (this one : https://puu.sh/Cdx3j/6ec2acc1f4.gif) I tried to apply the texture in the 'hl' selection but when i try it, it take the identity's one instead of the tatoo :(
Is there a config-parameter to set or something ?
stuck oyster
you need to create an identity for it and set it that way
or you need to check the Stravou characters rvmat if its set there
placid relic
Ok thx, i'll try with the identity 😃
stuck oyster
now that I think of it, it may be the rvmat
lusty ginkgo
@stuck oyster I know you can select vertex groups and faces by their assigned materials but if the object has a single material but some faces have different textures assigned in the uv editor there doesn't seem to be a way to select those
lusty ginkgo
I was creating the uvset
fallen quiver
I'm just gonna ask it here cause no one responds on the dayz one. Does anyone know if there's DayZ SA sample models anywhere?
stuck oyster
porobably not
sturdy parcel
no. there are no sample models available., and they probably, more than probably, won't be supplied or even thought of until the release of 1.0 Everything is liable to change until then.
the only major difference. read MAJOr is the config and animations. You can do like most folks and use a2 samples for the p3d itself
white jay
quick question guys does it matter if i use an old 3ds max like 2016 is that even a problem (just asking to make sure)
stuck oyster
no problem
fallen quiver
Thanks mikero
median bough
@sturdy parcel
how is signing pbo's handled with pboProject?
is it using BI stuff for it, or is it something from you?
quick terrace
@white jay 2016 old? lol, you can use max 7 to 9 if you want to (that is max versions before they went with years, first one 2008 if i am not mistaken) so yeah indeed no problemo
white jay
thanks @quick terrace
sturdy parcel
for arma3 i use the latest updates from steam tools. this means your pbos will now be signed as V3
for amra2 i use the dll's copies of dsSignfile.rar >>>IF<<<< the user has not downloaded them herself
For Dayz I use steam tools for dayz
golden parrot
hey, question. so when editing a texture for armor that i want to independently upload to the workshop.. how would i set up the file?
drowsy lantern
My models aren't showing up in the Eden Editor, this is my config class CfgEditorCategories
{
class Things // Category class, you point to it in editorCategory property
{
displayName = "Kojixus Objects"; // Name visible in the list
};
};
class CfgEditorSubcategories
{
class Lamps // Category class, you point to it in editorSubcategory property
{
displayName = "Kojixus Street Objects"; // Name visible in the list
};
};
sturdy parcel
pretty simple answers:
+scope != 2
+one, the other, or both above clasess are not in class NamOfModel as
editorCategory=
editorSubCategory=
twin hawk
Quick question for you guys: is there any sort of tutorial like this one but just in English? This guy is doing exactly what I am trying to learn, but following along in French is pretty rough.
obsidian sphinx
Anyone able to help out a fledgling modeller in their spare time?
formal wind
@obsidian sphinx depends
obsidian sphinx
On?
median bough
Your problem i guess?
obsidian sphinx
I just need help with the mesh of a C-17, I’m familiar enough with Blender and 3D modelling to have fixed problems and edited stuff, but I need help making new parts
dapper ruin
Having trouble working with a helicopter. I have points defined in the land contact lod for the wheels and those are referenced in the driveOnComponents in the config. Still, it makes the skids sound when touching down and doesn't roll. Any ideas?
wary cove
Whats the best way to create an icon for an added custom item (example helmet), is there a tool available?
dim mica
How road signs with changing text are made? Is it like i have base model with correct textures and then have plane floating top of that with changing texture according desired text?
bleak tangle
Yes, that's how BI does it as far as I'm aware. For Tanoa at least they use a transparent texture for the plane and change the UV for the sign to match where the name of that city is on the texture https://gyazo.com/ee5cebb540a97db9da4fb35b956630cc
I don't think there are any tools available at the moment to generate them automatically either
lusty ginkgo
they should be easy enough to make in PS
and you can make a batch file to make separate sign models so you don't need to do those manually
lusty ginkgo
I just found an easy way to make shadow volumes in blender
similar to the "push" modifier from max
just duplicate the main LOD, and press 'alt + s' to use the 'shrink fatten' scaling mode and scale it down a tiny bit
@stuck oyster did you know about this?
of course it doesn't create a perfect shape but it gives you something to start with for sure
works like a charm
stuck oyster
no have not used that. I'll try to rembember to try it! Always good to find new ways to do things better
lusty ginkgo
the results are a bit "curvy" but it isn't too noticeable if you use a small value
obsidian sphinx
Yeah, it's a nice little trick
lusty ginkgo
if only I knew about this a year ago
obsidian sphinx
I still need to finish the main LOD of my C-17 😦
And I need help finishing it, because I’m not too great at modelling
plain jackal
is there a simple way to line your weapon up with handanims or is it just a matter of trial and error?
obsidian sphinx
Isn't it a memory point or something?
plain jackal
hmm?
obsidian sphinx
The connection point between the gun and the hand, isn't it a memory point or something?
plain jackal
it is in the handanim
theres a selection for the weapon
but the only way i know of to confirm they line up properly is by checking in-game
obsidian sphinx
Can't check it in something like Buldozer?
plain jackal
not that i know of
obsidian sphinx
How curious
stuck oyster
You can use buldozer or use the blender or max rig and copy your weapon model to them and create the hand anim with that. Main thing to keep note of is the weapon model centerpoint that is where the weapon model connects to the weapon proxy
fallen quiver
does anyone know what the required door sizes are for DayZ SA?
they seem a lot smaller then in arma
sturdy parcel
since we don't have dayz sample buildings (yet) we don't know. You could use an a2 sample model and binarise it with dayz to find out on the in game map. That is of course if you don't minding p*ssing about without a game editor to do it with. Unbelievable.
stuck oyster
Create a measurement object that has black and white 1cm grid and use that to measure stuff.
It also depends on what kind of geometry collision the characters have
fallen quiver
allrighty thanks
lavish reef
If you had the choice between 3DS MAX and Blender 2.8 what would you choose? In my case I have some amount of experience with Blender and none at all with 3DS MAX but I could use both. Through the educational license I could use 3DS MAX for 3 years. After that Ill probably have to go back to Blender though.
I also already started work on a model in Blender and would have to redo or import it into 3DS MAX.
obsidian sphinx
I like Blender, takes some getting used to, but it's free and has an addon for Arma
stuck oyster
Blender offers pretty much everything Max does these days. Some things of course are different but Blender has come far in the past few years. Imo best program however is what you know how to use.
lavish reef
Thats what I was thinking. And I like Blender too. But since Ill be able to use 3DS MAX for free rn Ill give it a try.
Blender also looks better UI-wise since 2.8
imo
quick terrace
@fallen quiver there is an day SA discord channel, might be worth checking there
@lavish reef - best software is always the one you know how to use. And i hear 2.8 comes with a proper implementation of OpenSubDiv as well
@lusty ginkgo - yeah but the SVLod will be a bit heavy on most things - ideally it should be 3000 verts
@obsidian sphinx #creators_recruiting
fallen quiver
@quick terrace I might be blind but where is the DayZ SA discord channel?
quick terrace
have look in #channel_invites_list
obsidian sphinx
Thanks @quick terrace
fallen quiver
found it, thanks
dapper ruin
Working with a model and anytime I save it from object builder (even if I make no edits, just saving under a different filename) all the animations stop working. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
quick terrace
because name of the p3d needs to be exact in your model.cfg
drowsy lantern
whats the max Polygons for a model?
bold flare
models are made up of triangles or quads.
Max polygon could literally be 1 depending on how many triangles it has to be split into
Can you specify what exactly you mean?
stuck oyster
@drowsy lantern limits are in millions but that does not mean you should have an object with millions of tris/vertexx
drowsy lantern
looking to buy models for arma 3, how many polygons or verticies can it have?
stuck oyster
not a great idea if you have no idea what you are doing
polar fiber
do you know how to make LODs?
drowsy lantern
yes
polar fiber
if not, don't even bother
what ever the original poly count, you kind of need to make as many LODs as it takes to get the item under 400-1000 polygons
drowsy lantern
im not the one converting them into arma have a guy for that however when looking at models on 3d websites they are listed in polygons and vertices so i need to know how many polygons or vertices are too high for my guy to import ?
polar fiber
technically there isn't a limit
but doesn't mean that high poly models are appropriate for game use
drowsy lantern
okay
bold flare
You should ask that the guy that does the importing. He should know what he wants to handle
polar fiber
and the suitable number for their use, depends on all sorts of different factors
stuck oyster
also dont buy ripped/stolen/illegal models
quick terrace
😦
sick matrix
So, looking at a model of starbucks for example it has 172,874 polygons and 181,620 vertices would that work!
?*
quick terrace
this is #arma3_model channel, not #i_wanna_buy_model_for_my_life_server channel
if you have no idea what the average polycount for a game model is
don't bother buying 3d models from various 3d websites
sick matrix
@quick terrace I came here to talk to people who know what they are doing when creating models, I wanted to know what the max polycount or vertices are for a model, is there no like stay under 50K polygons?
quick terrace
it depends on a number of factors
sick matrix
Like what may i ask?
quick terrace
a helmet is not the same density as a tank
sick matrix
So buildings for example
quick terrace
in fact it is, but whatever, size matters
quick terrace
^^
drowsy lantern
stay below 11k?
quick terrace
10k or so
drowsy lantern
okay
bold flare
Like the Arma 3 samples example house has 4241 triangles and 3139 verticies in lod0
quick terrace
for an average building
sick matrix
So don’t go above 10k in any building model
drowsy lantern
so below 10k is safe for a model
quick terrace
it is not set in stone
stuck oyster
guys you are probably from the same team here, let one of you do the talking
quick terrace
if the said building is the size pentagon 10k will not suffice
drowsy lantern
okay so like don't go above 20k ?
bold flare
If you have something the size of a tin can with 10k poly's vs a a huge skyscraper with 10k poly's is a big difference
quick terrace
how many times is that same building gonna be seen at the same time
how many of the same building is gonna be used across a map
etc
all these things matters
drowsy lantern
thanks guys
bold flare
Less is always better (for performance)
stuck oyster
also dont buy stuff with someone elses IP like Starbucks, Macdonalds etc
quick terrace
and check the license
most of the buildings across these markets are not meant for games
drowsy lantern
well Hum3D is a good place to buy models?
quick terrace
not for games, no
even less so for buildings due to the way building materials are different from other props in arma
bold flare
Hah that actually matches my example. hum3d main page shows a model of a red bull can with 10k poly's.
That's 10k quads. So 20k tri's in arma
drowsy lantern
yea
median bough
So, lowpoly then?
😄
bold flare
You can buy game ready models on Hum3D though. For more expensive
sick matrix
However there is also buildings which have like 9000 polys would they work?
quick terrace
link me a specific model from hum3d
sick matrix
So just stay with buildings under like 5k for example
Play it safe and then get good lods of the model
However if I wanted the Empire State Building for example 5k won’t be enough so your allowed to go up higher as the size is much bigger?
median bough
A building like this would be several parts patched together
See the Hospital buildings for example
woven osprey
Hello Arma Developer, after the last Arma update Blender can't read the FBX anymore Can anyone help me?
And is it wanted if you open the UV Map I can't specify a size anymore
UV > UV editor > export...
sacred grail
I wouldn't recommend buying models off the internet for Arma given the way textures are handled for buildings. i.e. multi mats
stuck oyster
Arma update has nothing to do with Blender
two separate programs
also FBX is not arma format
or are you talking about P3D?
woven osprey
u miss understand my question
when i export a fbx from objectbuilder my blender cant read it
woven osprey
its ok ...
stuck oyster
?
bold flare
fbx export worked previously. But @rough idol said FBX version was updated?
Maybe that broke it. Would certainly be unfortunate
stuck oyster
Blenders FBX plugin is ancient I think
woven osprey
@bold flare can u help me with the UV problem !?
bold flare
what UV problem?
stuck oyster
Sharki get FHQBlender Arma Toolbox addon so you can import and export p3d
woven osprey
before the update I was able to export the uv and specify now not more
charred bolt
@woven osprey If you are using the new Blender 2.8 beta, Alwarren's toolbox addon does not work. We are hoping Alwarren will update it in due course.
median bough
Alwarren has a beta for the toolbox, but not released. If you guys want to test the beta for blender 2.80 i suggest shooting him a msg
white jay
So I've been having an issue with buldozer all night and can't find out how to fix the issue. Currently when I try to open buldozer with object builder I get the error "External Viewer: Unable to create viewer" anyone know how to fix this
quick terrace
wrong channel | too little info ^
calm forum
@white jay
Make sure that Steam is active before starting Bulldozer
white jay
if you don't want to help please don't waste my time @quick terrace
quick terrace
@white jay you seem to be new around here. there is a huge number of things relates to that particular error
is the error new, did it used to work
how did you install your p drive
white jay
yea, it worked fine a while back
quick terrace
see, getting there
white jay
used arma 3 tools
quick terrace
it is you who is wasting other people’s time because you do not get into detail
i wanna help but don’t feel like pulling your tongue
median bough
@white jay
That's your problem... arma 3 tools.
Google for the guide on the pmc wiki how to set up your pdrive and most of your errors are gone
stuck oyster
Also the arms data should be unpacked after each arms update
charred bolt
When we're talking about (x,y,z) coordinates in config, where is the origin (0,0,0) on the p3d model? Is it the Object Builder origin? Or centre of bounding box? Something else?
Specifically related to setting @normal surge3 refuel points.
bold flare
depends... center of the model.
if autocenter then it's that generated center, if no autocenter then it's in center of viewport in OB
charred bolt
Thanks - so if autocenter is not specified in the p3d, which would it be?
bold flare
should be 0,0,0 coords in OB then
charred bolt
presume it defaults to 1, so will be OB centre? EDIT - 1 should be bounding box centre
bold flare
afaik you can use memory points too for ACE refuel points
if autocenter is not 1 it might not be OB center
charred bolt
Not really a question for this channel, but the ace3 wiki seems to say to use xyz - would be interested if you have a reference for using memory points, that would be very nice.
bold flare
can you link me that wiki page?
bold flare
Oh okey. I thought of ace interaction
So if autocenter=1 then it will be center of bounding box.
if autocenter=0 then it will be 0,0,0 in OB.
I don't know what the default value is right now
charred bolt
I think it must be 1.
Bounding box is calculated from which LOD?
I guess Geometry LOD, but not sure.
bold flare
okey autocenter is default enabled.
Uses non-visual bbox which is... All lods it seems
bold flare
Ace uses modelToWorld script command. You could just trial and error ingame I guess 😄
charred bolt
That's what I'm doing now, what fun we have!
polar fiber
put one of the sphere markers down in the editor, call it "helper" and run helper attachto [vehicle player,[0,0,0]]
charred bolt
I asked on the ace slack and it turns out you can't define a point on the receiving vehicle for the fuel hose. It just goes where you point it.
stuck oyster
Armawoman project took a little step forward
They are all the same height as they are in A2
And they all animate with the new skeleton and converted animations
lusty ginkgo
https://i.imgur.com/Vbpba4h.png
one of my house models was based off of an actual house plan, which resulted in this
it is annoying to deal with with them in such close proximity, so instead of modifying the model, I just made new icons:
now the player can actually tell what door they are opening (the action also has the words written so it's easier that way as well)
maybe not the best solution but it seems more practical
Also @stuck oyster they will function just like the men do, right? Not like in A2 lol
median bough
@stuck oyster
Good work! Are the anims also reworked?
stuck oyster
All functions of ArmaMen should be useable! And animations are not reworked yet, just converted. I will still have to figure out the best adjustments for the skeleton so that the converter would get the animations as good as they can be without manual editing. Weapon bone locations are one major issue. And the characters float a little bit off ground right now.
I'm quite sure the floating is easy to correct but the weapon one's may be more tricky. Also there was a 100 or so 1 frame cargo poses and weapon animations that the converter did not yet work through.
also all the A2 female character ports are "quick n' dirty" as in no facial animations or proxies on them yet.
Conversion of the 5000 or so .rtms takes now a bit shy 12 hours I think. Could maybe have multiple processes running for that too to speed it up.
But that contains all of the animations. Cutscene stuff included
cobalt pawn
is your female skeleton a scaled down version of the armaman skeleton?
stuck oyster
To simplify it yes
cobalt pawn
with my scaled up version i was able to get the weapon bone locations working correctly when importing rtm's.
stuck oyster
It's recreated closely to the size of the A2 woman skeleton
Its not just scaled
Some proportions are different
Narrower shoulders and such
But I have some ideas on how to fix it so that the conversion is close enough to be used.
cobalt pawn
my method works with blender so no idea if it'll work with your conversion. I use an import and an export skeleton. the export one is the new size with constraints and transformations applied and the import one i scale to the new size but don't apply the transformations. when importing the rtms to the import skeleton the weapon bones are in the correct location.
and the export skeleton uses the constaints to copy the rotations with the weapon/launcher bone copying the rotation and location.
stuck oyster
Yeah that's pretty much how I do it too.
Or wait you use 2 skeletons?
Import on one, transfer transformation to the other and export that?
cobalt pawn
yep
stuck oyster
I just import straight on the new sized skeleton
cobalt pawn
yeah when i do that the weapon and launcher bones are out of position.
stuck oyster
Yep, what I'm facing right now. Might have to try the 2 skeletons.
cobalt pawn
also i moved the weapon and launcher bones back a little bit on both skeletons so they would fit good on the bigger skeletons hands.
with yours you may have to move it forward a little.
stuck oyster
Yeah I've had some success with moving the bones pre conversion. I'll try that route first as it's simpler to set up
Just did not tinker with it much yet
Also since I intend this to be a base for all community made female characters, I trust that the community will then help to tweak the converted animations when needed. So the conversion does not have to get them 100% right. Just close enough. xD
cinder pivot
that will be the main issue, you can get it like 95% of the way there then the last 5% perfecting it all will take like 3x as long as the first 95%
and to top, most of the players probably wont notice that last 5% or care too much 😛
awesome work so far 😄
slate epoch
@lusty ginkgo Use new method of opening doors then? It doesn't work just by proximity but on which geometry you look at
winged wharf
Please forgive me for asking a possibly stupid question. Someone just asked me if we could share our Arma models for them to use in VBS. Is this at all possible?
obsidian sphinx
Hello Johan! Fancy seeing you here 😛
winged wharf
Hi King!
Hehe. Yeah someone that is helping us out with the Recce Arma Mission Challenge, is also working in the VBS environment. So, he asked if our mod creator could share some of his models with them. I know it can't be done between Arma and VBS, but I was wondering if it could be done at the level where it is exported from Blender?
stuck oyster
@winged wharf his self made models?
winged wharf
@stuck oyster Yes
He made Lions, Crocodiles and Elephants.
and also some vehicles. (All in Blender)
stuck oyster
Then yes as long he recreates the work to make them useable in VBS with VBS tools.
Anything touched with Arma tools is a nono
winged wharf
No, I reckoned that he would have to export his model into 2 different formats -1 for Arma and 1 for VBS. The problem is, our mod creator does not know anything about VBS. I'm trying to point him in the right direction.
stuck oyster
If there is a payment involved I'd make sure he's not selling exclusive rights to them or anything like that
winged wharf
No, our alliance is willing to help us with our project, if we share our mod creator's models with them.
stuck oyster
Well that gets tricky as VBS tools can only be bought from BISIM and that's not cheap. Also there is no longer any developer reference online
winged wharf
Our models are very unique (South African military only), and are very hard to come by.
stuck oyster
If you just provide them with the models then you should not really need to know anything about VBS I think.
winged wharf
They already have VBS (tools included). I'm trying to position our mod creator so that he can supply them with something they could import and use.
stuck oyster
Then the weighted model and animated skeleton should be enough. Just make sure you don't get ripped off here. Such models are worth $$
winged wharf
Ok, thank you very much HG. 😃
Thanks for telling me. Hehe, now we've got more leverage on them to help us out more.
lusty ginkgo
@slate epoch I realized I could do that shortly after making the icons
ionic brook
Any of us that use blender, how can I split an object into 4 UV maps and have those UV maps imported into O2? I seem to get an error when trying to export to .p3d when I convert to .obj first then to import it into O2 it only shows one UVmap set.
stuck oyster
you use ArmaToolbox and export to p3d
ionic brook
tried that, doesn't seem to work for me for whatever reason.
is there a report file for it?
stuck oyster
no but you have to use it correctly
ionic brook
By allocating the correct path to the scripts and hitting export to .p3d?
D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder\o2script.exe
stuck oyster
that and setting the objects ArmaProperties correctly
look up the FHQ toolbox thread on BI forums
ionic brook
didnt tick the fuckin arma properties box, did I? easy error to make. Now it seems to have merged them all to set 0. is there any way to move selections to the next UV set?
got it
copy and paste function.
bold flare
arma only supports 2 uv sets tho
ionic brook
mainly for detail
stuck oyster
how do you intend to use them?
ionic brook
A tank with 4 UV sets, one each for turret, hull, tracks and wheels
stuck oyster
you dont need separate uvsets for that
you use different materials for each part
and have all the uvs in 1 uvset
it does not matter that they overlap
as they dont use the same texture/material
stuck oyster
also bear in mind that 4 materials will cost performance
what resolution textures are you using?
ionic brook
low for the tracks 512 probably and 1k/2k for the rest.
1 k for wheels, 2k for the hull/turret
I wish I could upload a picture but the internet here is terrible.
charred bolt
That'll be fine. Just give them their own materials and put it all on UV 0.
stuck oyster
tracks need to be separate yes, but you should compare to how vanilla tanks are set up so you dont go overboard with the materials
ionic brook
Thanks, issue resolved.
stuck oyster
👌
deft heron
Hey guys, I am struggling to get a door working.I am using the BIS sample and I am trying to add a new door. Do I need to make a new Class OpenDoor_6 like the one for Door_1 or should can I just use the others that refer back to Door_1?
deft heron
Failing that what would be a common problem ( minus the spelling errors , I have triple checked it all ) ?
deft heron
Could it be to do with this?
""C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\Binarize\Binarize.exe" -targetBonesInterval=56 -textures=p:\temp -binPath=P:\ "samples_f\Test_House_03" "p:\temp\samples_f\Test_House_03""
" WARNING: Binarise found 'errors'. View the binlog"
?
sturdy parcel
well. why don't you 'view the binlog'
as for a new door, other than providing a bone and an axis, nothing much too it
deft heron
If I post the code will you look at it? Also where do we post code again?
I dont want to post it all I feel it would be wrong to put such a large chunk of text into this channel .
I have viewed binlog.
deft heron
Im lost brothers.
strong plaza
sturdy parcel
pastebin is a better option. dropBox is a pain in the *rse nagging at you to sign in
no way, i'm not downloading a half gig file
charred bolt
@deft heron You haven't given much information about what is wrong with your project, but I can summarise some problems (as detailed in the binlog) you have:
- Unsupported UV sets 2-4 - in the p3d's your UV's should be on UV set 0, and possibly set 1. It appears that your UV's 1-4 are blank, so delete them.
- Vertices of some bones in the doors are shared with parents - don't put multiple bones that are already linked by the model.cfg skeleton in the same named selections in the p3d.
- Your shadow geometry is not closed - p3d, Shadow LOD, ensure all faces are closed.
- You have some degenerated faces in the Shadow LOD
- Your Shadow LOD 0 is too detailed (eg 9342 faces) and cannot be used - simplify to something like 2k faces
- Your Shadow LOD 10 has the same face count as Shadow LOD 0
- Your Geometry Phys LOD is far too detailed at 443 components - reduce to less than 10? lol
- Neither your View Geometry or Fire Geometry LODs are closed or convex.
- You only have a LOD1 with very high poly count - but I assume you'll probably add lower detail LOD's at a later date
tropic jewel
Does anyone know of another tutorial I can use to help with importing weapons into Arma, I have been working with this one https://youtu.be/TJhOk5DGGK4 but have been finding it difficult and would like to watch someone else.
sturdy parcel
video. 1st mistale. look up reliable information in the biki.
if it's not reliable. change it. for the beneit of those who follow
tropic jewel
I’m more a monkey see, monkey learn, monkey do sort of person that’s why I asked for videos if anyone had them
stuck oyster
Those are likely the best you get. Could be worth watching the whole series to see more of the whole process. Basically all models follow same principles and just some details differ.
deft heron
@Appollo .Thankyou very much for your indepth look at what I posted Im guessing the shared bone is the key to the door not working.I will act upon this and fix the problem, Love Sparklekitten.
charred bolt
@deft heron You're welcome. I built it and put it in game - all the doors I tried seemed to work, but perhaps I missed one? Yes, the shared bone will be the problem most likely.
wispy orchid
what could that be: The H-21 helo of Unsung has a model with the wheels touching y=-1 . If we raise the complete model by 1 meter, the rotors get stuck upon spool up. When the helo starts airborne (21 meter), the rotors work fine
config is here: https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/p/sJMrZkPgg9/
tulip beacon
has anyone used any o2 scripts?
bold flare
yes. I tried a auto proxy placer thing once
bold flare
yeah there was a thingy... comref. in object builder directory I think
And also many examples in there
bold flare
works fine in firefox for me
outer condor
you can just open the xml in some text editor
@tulip beacon you can find ours here
https://gitlab.com/arma3_ww2_projects/WW2_Public/ww2-dev-tools/tree/master/O2Script
tulip beacon
@outer condor whoa, custom scripts. I'll check'em out, but apparently that stuff is way too advanced for me, and i need very specific task, so i guess i'll have to do it manually
outer condor
what do you want to do
tulip beacon
mass reassign of textures and materials, rescale and transform of 2 sets of UVs of multiple lods, some sharp/smooth edges and remove unnecessary geometry
i suspect it is possible, because all these actions go through named selections and/or selecting by material, all scale/translate stuff is the same
bold flare
mass reassign of textures and materials mikeros moveobject can do that
tulip beacon
well, it's specific kind of reassing/rename
basically i need texmerge wich supports processing of 2 uv set and 4096 texture
outer condor
might be easier with another modeling software which scripting/automation
o2script is somewhat of a hassle to work with for more complex stuff
one would need a decent IDE for that
tulip beacon
Any suggestions regarding software?
sturdy parcel
one would need a decent IDE for that
in actual fact, o2script does indeed have a 'decent' gui. BinPbo (the fore-runner of addon breaker) , and pboProject were originally written in o2script
tulip beacon
anyway, is it possible to do with o2script? is it worth studying?
sturdy parcel
i thought my prevous comment would have answered that.
it's sqx (not shitty sqf) with added verbs for gui displays.
outer condor
@sturdy parcel my point was coding it a bit difficult with it in my experience
sturdy parcel
yes, but, 1) it's documented, 2) it's good old familiar sqf
tulip beacon
can't find command for selecting isolated points, is there any?
obsidian sphinx
Kinda curious, is it possible to have geometric occluders for a vehicle?
obsidian sphinx
Wonderful to hear, not really documented in the wiki, so I figured I'd ask
outer condor
@tulip beacon it might be done in one of the o2 scripts
probably by checking of all points vs "connected"
tulip beacon
yay, managed to remove some faces from named selection
polar gyro
is there any way to convert .max file to a .blender file? arma 3 samples are all .max files
kinda dissapointing
im using arma tools and the object is kinda broken
polar gyro
So how do I load the sample models into blender? im importing it through the plugin
bold flare
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14808/how-to-import-a-max-model-into-blender
PM me the .max file I'll convert it to fbx for you
stuck oyster
Or use the sample files that have the whole body.
tulip beacon
mesh smoothEdges [a,b,a,b,a,b ...] Operand types: mesh: ObjectData [a,b,a,b,a,b ...]: Array
what is a,b,? what are the elements of that array?
tulip beacon
so in theory if i could extract all the vertices from say selection then i could sharpen them with this command, right?
rough idol
smooth them you mean?
those points still needs to make sense
if there is no line between point a & b then it's not going to work obviously
tulip beacon
well, what i need in general is select some faces by material and sharpen them, then invert selection and smooth the rest
is it possible?
rough idol
it should be
tulip beacon
couldn't find anything but selectDoublePolyWithTexture (which selects polygons with specified texture) and you can't even apply sharpen to it because sharpen/smooth wants array of vertices as input
lol, my dodgy script half-did what i wanted
rough idol
isn't there selectPointsFromFace command?
tulip beacon
yep, that's how i did it
_points = getSelectedPoints (selectPointsFromFaces _selectionByName);
_lod sharpEdges _points;
and it does only "half" i guess because of "a,b a,b a,b" thing. It expects edge to be clearly "a,b" so if there is a triangle with vertices 1,2 and 3 it expects [1,2,2,3,1,3] i guess
and getselectedpoints contains just all points of selection
it feels like walking in the dark with hands tied behind the back
i'm not even sure that any of this makes sense
deft heron
Hey guys Im having a problem with crunching this PBO. It coming out with this error in the ouput but unusually it doesnt say what it is. "model.cfgs for this pbo have errors" Any ideas guys?
sturdy parcel
the cause should be in your face on the dos screen
... and model.cfgs are NEVER placed in a pbo, so this is all out of context
deft heron
What is the Dos screen and where does it live?
sturdy parcel
paste a screen shot of when you get the error
the dos screen is the big black one adjacent to the gui panel
deft heron
OK well its something to do with skeltons. Here is my screenshot of the dos screen and the cfg skeletons part of the model.cfg. https://imgur.com/a/ug0Cuyl
I dont know how to fixx this can anyone help please?
Fixed it.Must have been a dumb typing error.Silly old me. Thanks for your concern though. @sturdy parcel
Its all worth it though ( the struggle that is. https://imgur.com/a/fi9jB4C
sturdy parcel
well the cause of the error was plainly stated on the dos screen. I have no idea how I could possibly make it plainer when it's there, staring at you.
deft heron
True. Thankyou.
deft heron
minor jasper
16:32:27: a3\map_data_exp\gdt_reddirt.rvmat.vertexShaderID: Unknown enum value NormalMapDiffuseAlpha
using this rvmat on our sandbags earth base
causes a CTD in our maps
has anyone got any idea why?
ambient[]={1.5,1.5,1.5,1};
diffuse[]={0.5,0.5,0.5,1};
forcedDiffuse[]={0,0,0,0};
emmisive[]={0,0,0,0};
specular[]={0,0,0,0};
specularPower=1;
PixelShaderID="NormalMapDiffuse";
VertexShaderID="NormalMapDiffuseAlpha";
class Stage1
{
texture="a3\map_data_exp\gdt_reddirt_nopx.paa";
uvSource="tex";
class uvTransform
{
aside[]={10,0,0};
up[]={0,10,0};
dir[]={0,0,10};
pos[]={0,0,0};
};
};
class Stage2
{
texture="a3\map_data_exp\gdt_reddirt_co.paa";
uvSource="tex";
class uvTransform
{
aside[]={10,0,0};
up[]={0,10,0};
dir[]={0,0,10};
pos[]={0,0,0};
};
};```Can't find "NormalMapDiffuseAlpha" as a valid shader anywhere here https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/RVMAT_basics#Material_types
Are you sure it's a valid one?
bold flare
https://gist.github.com/dedmen/90691e56c2dd77bc152ce0a48caf47ba not valid. These are all that existed half a year ago
sturdy parcel
Tetet reported this issue too, binarise throws it's hands in the air and bakes a garbage id into the p3d which casues the game to crash
I copied the gdt_reddirt.rvmat and changed the vertex shader from NormalMapDiffuseAlpha to NormalMapDiffuse and now no more crashes,.
bold flare
So either there was a broken unbinarized rvmat in there. Or the debinarizer created this invalid vertex shader
Which brings up the question where the debinarizer got that invalid name from
sturdy parcel
i believe bis binarise itself is at fault here
just looking thru your shader id's comparing to mine.....
bold flare
Just to double check. Arma 1.86 had "NormalMapDiffuse" "NormalMapDiffuseAS" "NormalMapDiffuseMacroAS"
So that thing definitely doesn't exist
There is SpecularNormalMapDiffuse_AlphaTest in the shader tho... But I don't think that's really related
And that's a pixel shader. not vertex
bold flare
Would be nice to know what the actual ID inside the binarized version of that rvmat is.
last vertexShader is 44.
sturdy parcel
ask em i'll tell you, or i'll pm you he enums
actually, here is fine
switch(id)
{
default: return "";
case 0: return "Basic";// (default)";
case 1: return "NormalMap";
case 2: return "NormalMapDiffuse";
case 3: return "Grass";
case 7: return "Water";//was 8
case 8: return "WaterSimple";
case 9: return "Sprite";
case 11: return "NormalMapThrough";
case 15: return "NormalMapAS";
case 14: return "BasicAS";
case 17: return "Glass";
case 18: return "NormalMapSpecularThrough";
case 19: return "NormalMapThroughNoFade";
case 20: return "NormalMapSpecularThroughNoFade";
case 23: return "Super";
case 24: return "Multi";
case 25: return "Tree";
case 26: return "TreeNoFade";
case 29: return "Skin";
case 31: return "TreeAdv";
case 32: return "TreeAdvTrunk";
case 0x26: return "SpriteOnSurface";
case 0x27: return "TreeAdvModNormals";
case 0x2A: return "BasicFade";
case 0x2C: return "TreeAdvNoFade";
case 0x1E: return "CalmWater";
}
my pixel shader id's differ from yours (a little) but too big to paste
bold flare
I didn't really pay attention to ordering. Should be about right though
polar gyro
Hey guys do you know any place where I can learn how to model uniforms in arma? even a basic one I can't find anything on this subject.
stuck oyster
modeling an uniform is like modeling anything else in the program youve chosen
only thing Arma specific is the size/dimensions of the character and the weighting/rigging of the mesh so that it moves with the game animations.
deft heron
@obsidian sphinx Yes the text is raised in the mesh.
minor jasper
so i just opened up the vanilla pbo and it does indeed use this shader on all rvmats in that folder
ambient[] = {1,1,1,1};
diffuse[] = {1,1,1,1};
forcedDiffuse[] = {0,0,0,0};
specular[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0,0};
specularPower = 1;
emmisive[] = {0,0,0,0};
PixelShaderID = "NormalMapDiffuse";
VertexShaderID = "NormalMapDiffuseAlpha";
class Stage1
{
texture = "a3\map_data_exp\gdt_reddirt_nopx.paa";
uvSource = "tex";
class uvTransform
{
aside[] = {5,0,0};
up[] = {0,5,0};
dir[] = {0,0,0};
pos[] = {0,0,0};
};
};
class Stage2
{
texture = "a3\map_data_exp\gdt_reddirt_co.paa";
uvSource = "tex";
class uvTransform
{
aside[] = {5,0,0};
up[] = {0,5,0};
dir[] = {0,0,0};
pos[] = {0,0,0};
};
};
but when we apply it to a p3d, it crashes
i guess wecan't use it on a p3d
it must be a terrain only rvmat
minor jasper
not sure i think we added it only recently to the models
sowe've now made a clone of it, and changed the shader
seems to work fine
stuck oyster
yeah I think I may have actually tested the same shader at some point when I explred mesh made terrain
with same results
just did not remember it at all
been couple of years
bleak tangle
I think the difference here is that BI doesn't apply those RVMATs to any p3ds. As far as I'm aware they're just used by Terrain Builder when it reads your layers.cfg. If you want to use a ground texture on an object it might help to look at the trench objects in a3\structures_f_exp\military\trenches.
sturdy parcel
well this is great info. I won't be changing my dll, since it already triggers a warnings are errors, if the baked in shader is illegal. This should be sufficient to alert you of the difference. I think we can safely assume that any shaderID intended for terrain -only will trigger this.
then again, if you folks want a more specific error message, say so.
bold flare
@minor jasper that shader doesn't exist. NormalMapDiffuseAlpha That string simply doesn't exist in the Arma binary at all.
I'd say your tools should just throw a "unknown shader" that's specific enough.
minor jasper
It may not exist in the library but it is used in every rvmat in a3\map_data_exp
rough idol
It's terrain exclusive shader
bold flare
why are you importing stuff when you try to make things? usually you export after you've made something
what are you trying to import?
which model?
where did you get it from?
can you open it in object builder?
If you just want a ball. You can just create one in blender. That's like 5 clicks or less to create a simple sphere
Where did you get that model from?
you found a free p3d model online "somewhere" ?
Doubt...
You can't open it because it's binarized
You cannot use that
sturdy parcel
so much for 'free'
bold flare
It's not a "free" model that you can just use
obsidian sphinx
I'd like to point out that you're the one that's being vicious
bold flare
lul @fluid ocean someone has been caught stealing 😄
sturdy parcel
simple question, can you open this 'free' p3d in object builderor not.
ok!!!!
great
quick terrace
thank you
obsidian sphinx
That was entertaining
quick terrace
damn i like it so much when i just read the 🍿 part before a kick/ban
obsidian sphinx
He just jumped straight into being vicious
Miscommunication is one thing, but that was ridiculous
But yeah, totally agree, 🍿 all around
river kite
Man i missed it by few minutes 😩
fluid ocean
No 🍿 folks. Our modders work too hard for people like that to rip/steal/misappropriate their content. A thief is a thief is a thief. They have no place here.
bold flare
Ah! Just looked through my PM's because I thought I remembered his name. He is a friend of the Anzus Gaming guys that have appeared in #ip_rights_violations multiple times
quick terrace
also, what i don't get is why are people asking questions here that are specific to a specific software that has tons of tutorials online
IE: i have a car that i got free from some free internetz website, 100% legit i am sure, but i dunnot what to do next. I never used blender before, halp
quick terrace
@fluid ocean why so serious. I am not saying you aren't doing what you should, but it is still entertaining at times
fluid ocean
Not being overly serious, its just at times the "peanut gallery" act can be a bit much. There have been times when a moderator hasn't been alerted because people wanted to "see the show".
quick terrace
😄
obsidian sphinx
That's fair enough, personally, I kinda just jumped straight into my Moderator boots and began trying defusing the situation, which is a bit of a habit
quick terrace
related, can we have a proper @ admin ping available, at least for the blue peps?
fluid ocean
Defusal is not an option when its clear whats going on. Doesn't @@ veteran_moderator work?
bold flare
yeah that works
quick terrace
that is news to me, cool
fluid ocean
👍
quick terrace
the 2x @ part was eluding me then
fluid ocean
👋 kllrt
obsidian sphinx
Yeah, that extra @ is a bit cumbersome...
bold flare
Though I don't really like notifying half a dozen people for such a small thing
quick terrace
my go to guy is still FM, but yeah, there are times when he isn't about like a normal human being
🖤
obsidian sphinx
You get used to the notifications if you're a moderator for any community
Just takes about a week
bold flare
your definition of "normal" is very special 😄
quick terrace
special people - and this isn't OT
true story:
had a project where we had to do some 3d models of some police blokes for a stop motion animation
fluid ocean
Yes, even I need to go out for a beer a few times a week 😉
quick terrace
i did the base mesh, but we were crunching hard, one of the guys that i was working on the project did the textures
but the guy misstyped on their shields
from special police to special people
obsidian sphinx
😂
quick terrace
we only seen it after it was done and delivered to the client
they never saw it, since we got payed
the client was interpol btw
slate epoch
Aw man, I missed the party 😦
obsidian sphinx
That's a bit awkward @quick terrace
obsidian sphinx
😂
quick terrace
it is. we fixed it and we did rerender the parts in in trouble, but we never got to send the new thing to them since they never asked for
obsidian sphinx
Howdy
slate epoch
Wut
quick terrace
nothin
slate epoch
quick terrace
😄
frank helm
can someone remind of the key to press for making your model non transparent in buldozer??
I don't particularly want to be looking inside the model when I need to see the outside faces. lol
stuck oyster
dont have selections active
stuck oyster
or turn off the selection masking
cinder pivot
does the transform record allow use in multiple p3ds?
stuck oyster
whats that?
cinder pivot
@stuck oyster points > transform record
you can make a movement in OB
then make the same movement with a new selection
trying to move some props around
and want the geom to move with it
stuck oyster
never used that but since it has save and load I suppose you can save it and load later
and usually stuff sticks in the OB instance
even if you load another file into it
cinder pivot
@stuck oyster didn't try that but it does allow you to save to a file and that does work when loading back up 👍
jade tiger
good evening folks!
i have a weird problem. i made a few cars, every single one with slingload capability. but the newest project has no interest in being lifted by any chopper. Obviously i have the entry in the config.cfg, and obviously as well the weight limits arent exceeded. the Geometry LODs are all built like they should (closed, convex and not too complex in accordance with the fanmade Wiki for LOD) . I compared the configs and model files from previous projects and this one, and as expected no differences to be found.
As i ran out of Ideas i approach you people, hoping that i might have missed soemthing very important
charred bolt
@jade tiger Are the sling load memory points present?
jade tiger
indeed they are (did not mention them) i also checked their positioning, if they are colliding with geometry or not, rearranged them multiple times, made sure they are exactly lined up, treid them to be all at some spot but no in line with e4ach other, and nothing helped.
stuck oyster
nothing comes to mind immediately.
probably some small error somewhere
have you compared everything with one of the working ones?
jade tiger
ikr, its usually as simple as copying the following lines in the config and adding 4 poiints in the memory LOD
stuck oyster
or perhaps inheriting the config from one of the working ones
maybe some config enrty is missing a letter or something like that
do you use mikeros tools to pack?
as in pboProject
jade tiger
sure i do
binlog wont give anything useful
left not working, right working
no inheritance problems
i even tried the obvious by just copy pasting
its 50/50 Chance Model or Cofnig
stuck oyster
both same type vehicles?
jade tiger
the points are present, they are named correctly, as said i tried different positions on them (in line, on the same heihgt level, all somewhere different, colliding with geo, not colliding with geo)
basically both are just cars
so no tanks, boats or anything
stuck oyster
anything odd/special/unconventional to them?
jade tiger
apart from the one working with slingload and the other one not, nope
stuck oyster
the slinload entries in same way in the config?
not accidentally inside turret class or something
jade tiger
the fun fact is, the car with the more complicated stuff like a roadway and moving geometry is working fine, the not working one is as basic as it gets atm
stuck oyster
have you tried using the working model with the second config?
and the other way around
jade tiger
not yet
stuck oyster
that could rule out which one the problem is with
memorypoints in camelcase like in the config?
jade tiger
i thought about writing the thing entirely new, just to make sure everything is working, but switching them out could also show whats wrong
stuck oyster
switch is fast way to test them
jade tiger
i tried camelcase as in cfg, i tried all small letters, i tried renaming the camelcase to all small letter in cfg and in model,
stuck oyster
in some cases Arma prefers all lowercase
most of the time camel works
and since it works with the first one it should not be an issue
as long as they match in config and model
both can be driven etc?
no problems there?
jade tiger
just to eliminate that possibility i tried both
top worsk bottom doesnt
no matter if CamelCase or not :/
stuck oyster
try the switch
jade tiger
that's the thing both cars work exactly as they should
stuck oyster
that should tell you a lot
jade tiger
apart from slingload
stick me in a dress and call me sally if that works
so the problem must be the p3d then
just to clearify, config.cfg taken form the car that works in this frame
stuck oyster
so config from the other car worked with the one that had problems?
jade tiger
the ambulance to the right worked, the land rover to the left doesn't, for this test i gave tha landrover tha ambulance config, (just changing the needed classnames for it not to verwrite)
stuck oyster
did it work?
jade tiger
the landrover does have the config, that i can tell from the UserActions, but as you can see in the second picture, still nope
so the problem must indeed be the model itself
stuck oyster
likely yes then
jade tiger
it's packing
that's all proof i need i guess, to determine the model itself as the source of the problem
so it should be in one of the non visible LODs, and now the problem is to find out which one
(0, ViewCargo, ShadowVolume1, ShadowVolume10, Geometry, GeomtetryPhys, Memory, LandContact, Hit-Points, ViewGeometry, FireGeometry)
any guesses? The total Mass in Geometry is the same for both cars ( regulate driving through the config)
stuck oyster
I'd maybe rebuild the whole model in another p3d
jade tiger
http://prntscr.com/lvi9g3 ... i never quite understood the meaning of when a point is displayed like that
in geophys
i made the model like just a day ago, so maybe it happened because i wasn't working properly
stuck oyster
Or mass actually
jade tiger
makes sense, i set it to zero on the rover since wiki says geophys does not need any weight
stuck oyster
Weight is usually term used with animations
jade tiger
then mass
stuck oyster
Physx yes does not
jade tiger
you know what i mean
stuck oyster
Geometry does
jade tiger
pretty similar on that front, apart from the ambulance beeing divided into separate pieces for the open and closing of the doors to have a geometry
aaaaaand before you ask, yes i also made non ambulance cars with no divided geo that actually work
stuck oyster
Yeah looks alright
jade tiger
the mass is identical, as said earlier, i manage the handling of the car via config
stuck oyster
Does the rover have geometry components named
jade tiger
yes, and its closed and convex 😄
stuck oyster
ComponentXXX?
jade tiger
i let it auto name it
stuck oyster
Good
jade tiger
http://prntscr.com/lvib15 apart from their lineup and the damper axis missing for the rear wheels, i would not say the memory has a problem
stuck oyster
Try rebuilding the model into new empty .P3D
jade tiger
(because tha ambulance does not have rear axis either)
stuck oyster
You can just copy paste each lod from one instance to another
Also make sure the sling memory points are not part of some other selection
And good luck. I'm off to bed
jade tiger
thanks for the help, much appreciated ! and helped in the regard that i now know where to look for the needle in the hay, gn8
charred bolt
@jade tiger As a test, remove all LOD properties. All of them. Except leave lodNoShadow (=1) in LOD 0.000.
Also try reducing the total geometry mass to something low, like 1000kg. Ctrl A to select all, Ctrl Shift H to unhide any surprise objects. Type in 1000 to mass box and Apply.
jade tiger
i came to the same idea with the properties, trying that now, the mass is rather low with 1087
this will be the last thing i try today though
charred bolt
Also when you test put your problem car on the right of the helicopter where the ambulance worked.
jade tiger
holy shit
charred bolt
lol
charred bolt
happy days
charred bolt
It's almost always the first thing I do with an inherited vehicle that I'm going to work on - remove all the rubbish entries from the LOD properties.
jade tiger
i never bothered with them until today, since it never made any problems
charred bolt
no problems that you immediately noticed anyway
jade tiger
i read a bit into it before testing, i got that i do need a few of them though, just not the bad ones
charred bolt
In a vehicle like your Rover, you almost certainly won't need any more than that lodNoShadow in the resolution LOD's.
jade tiger
well as you probably can tell, its made for a Life RPG Modpack, so no Ai unit should ever interfere with it
charred bolt
Removing lod properties won't stop it working with AI.
jade tiger
? i just found that one on searching for info, some stuff at least sounds like its somewhat important https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Named_Properties
but reading through it more detailed now, i get i just said something stupid 😂
charred bolt
There are a few lod properties that are needed in unusual circumstances, such as amphibious vehicles, but they're exceptions.
jade tiger
like geo bouyancy with property bouyancy =1, i would wildly guess
charred bolt
yep
The 'problem' with OB is that when you copy objects from one LOD to another, it can take the LOD properties with them. So over time, with lots of people cutting and pasting, the LOD properties box becomes like a zoo full of unidentified creatures, most of which are mystical.
jade tiger
i can totally agree, i think it just deleted at least 2 or 3 "made by" and "textures by", even though i didn't even copy paste a lot in the non visible LOD's...or the visible ones obviously
i encountered that problem in february the first time, created a proxy and rpt told me that proxy XYZ is not a vehicle...because the class = vehicle property was there
just a side question since another guy i know modded a car, and in the model itself everything seemed fine, also the cfg files, but the car kills the FPS, we're talking taking a hit from 100 to 30 in arsenal.
Property related?
charred bolt
Mesh or section count I expect. Or texture size.
How many polys? How many sections? How many textures, and what Mb size for each?
jade tiger
the polycount should be fine, since he doenst like to work with proxies hes forced to always stay below 120k, textures and sections as well as their sizes i must check
charred bolt
120k is pretty high, top of the usual scale, but not necessarily the killer.
obsidian sphinx
I've been getting shit for the fact that my C-17 has 70k poly count
So a Land Rover with 120k seems really high to me
charred bolt
I assume the model has decent LOD's, reducing by 50% down to about 2-3k in the final??
jade tiger
can't really be it, did a Ford Raptr once, the base model started off with 120k and without the wheels
charred bolt
Yeah, I've done test models with millions of polys, it still works. But of course, not recommended.
jade tiger
the land rover is a "low poly" model with only 97k in the non proxied version
the ambulance started with 2 Mil, via polycruncher i got it down to 110k, and that was only the car, not the back
so with enough proxies, polycount is not a big deal as far as i can tell
charred bolt
Most modders will probably tell you to aim for less than 60-70k in the first res LOD.
charred bolt
Section count is a bit high
jade tiger
well that car does not affect the FPS, exceeds the 120k by quite a bit and works just fine
charred bolt
Your screenshot shows 5k faces. I presume that's not LOD0?
obsidian sphinx
Polycruncher looks pretty sweet actually
charred bolt
look at the section count on the problem car - - 11523 lol
jade tiger
@obsidian sphinx yes it is, with it you can easily make every 3d model from sites like Hum3D or CGTrader working for arma, without paying the extra to get it rendered down
obsidian sphinx
Seems like it'd also be an awesome way to make different render LODs
Pity it doesn't work with Blender
jade tiger
the starting workflow looks as follos, buy model, crunch it until its at the polycouint i want without getting destroyed, export as fbx, import into blender, rescale and rotate, export as fbx or obj (it depends on what i work on) import into obj -> hich qual model working fine
i mena import into OB
and @charred bolt how would one get that section count to lower ? (another thing i never bothered with, since i never had to deal with such kind of problems)
obsidian sphinx
That's fair
My issue is with no-one has a model of a C-17 that has a fully meshed interior
Which is what I want, and it's what I'm working on
charred bolt
I'd suggest adding an extra step - hopefully you do this already - identify desired model, check it's being offered for sale legally and has a license which meets your end-use requirements, buy model....
jade tiger
that is the downside on buying models, the interior is always rubbish and you would need to get it elsewhere or take it form a similar car
the raptor i made was 2017 model, and the community bought a 2010 model, i had no interior, so the 2017 now has a 2010 interior
took me 2 days to fit it
sturdy parcel
re properties, Eliteness (or dep3d) will save you hours of agony.
you can stare at "LodNoShadow" as much as you like, and not realise is mis-spelt as
' LodNoShadow '
or 'LodNoShadow\n'
charred bolt
select the textures and/or rvmats one at a time, Faces > Move top
sturdy parcel
it is 100 x more frequent than you can possibly imagine
jade tiger
money well spent on your tools @sturdy parcel
sturdy parcel
(all credit to @outer condor for above)
jade tiger
back to topic though Apollo, how would moving the faces to the top change the section count, o.O
charred bolt
A section is a combination of texture and rvmat.
Except you can have textureA / rvmat A in Section 1 and also textureA / rvmatA in Section 2.
By selecting all textureA's and bringing them to the top it relocates them together into Section 1.
The fragmentation usually occurs when a model has had a lot of cut and pasting done to it - possibly a side effect of that poly cruncher process.
jade tiger
afaik, the problem model , IF EVEN, was crunched without knowing how to crunch
polycruncher is a mighty little program, used wrong, it will basically transform any model into 1995 C&C1
charred bolt
lol, you know you're old when someone says "1995" like it was a long time ago
jade tiger
it is 23 yrs ago, so depending on what you count as "long", it is at least quite some time
nevertheless, i just randomly tried all the textures and rvmats in the 0 LOD, one by one, after another, always moved to top section count did not change
though i get the idea if i look at the texture folder of that car
charred bolt
ok, try another method - select rvmat, ctrl C to copy, D to delete faces, Points > Select Isolated, delete, Ctrl V to paste.
charred bolt
Open up the Sections part of the Resource Library window
obsidian sphinx
Yep, that sounds about right
jade tiger
the sections part opened and i can scoll a loooong way to reach bottom
charred bolt
So you're looking for duplicate entries - they will be next to each other.
jade tiger
like that http://prntscr.com/lvivej 😂
charred bolt
If you find textureA - rvmatA multiple times, those are the ones to merge.
obsidian sphinx
Hey Cypher, think I can get your help at some point with my C-17? Interior is fucking with me
jade tiger
sure man, hook me up via PM bc its 4:50am and i wanted to go to bed like an hour ago xD
obsidian sphinx
Will do mate, you get some sleep 😃
jade tiger
last thing, i think i found what you wanted me to look for
i just tried that method with you wrote @charred bolt with the matt.rvmat, reduced the count by another 900
charred bolt
When you finish all of the problem entries and have the final section count around 30 or so, I'd expect FPS to be fine.
Make sure you have multiple LOD's though, not just a LOD0.
jade tiger
i just have to ask, so this abomination of fire geometry is not the cause? xD
obsidian sphinx
Probably doesn't help
obsidian sphinx
What the living Jesus Christ is that?
I'm not experienced or even that good at modelling and I know that's fucked
jade tiger
that is, as far as i can tell, the fire geometry of the arma 3 sample car, raped ...i mean wrapped at least 10 times around the car to make it fit...kinda
charred bolt
That might be fine, hard to tell. FG has to be closed, convex and as simple as possible. All components correctly named, with penetration rvmats.
Typical object count would be <150.
charred bolt
That's probably ok. Temporarily remove the proxies and do a closed and convex check in OB - if not, then FG probably won't work. But I doubt it's causing FPS issues, that was down to the section count killing your graphics card.
jade tiger
another great helpo that i appreciate a lot ! i guess i would've never figured out how to make my little land rover liftable...not even talking about that problem car, i will tell him to make sure his section count is not exceeding 30
charred bolt
It's not a hard and fast number (30), but as a guide, it tells you that 11000 is wrong. 😉
jade tiger
figured 👌 😂
i can only thank again, while i shut down everything and get some rest.have a good night, good morning or even, good day depending on where you are. and King just message me gn8 fellas
charred bolt
You're welcome.
stuck oyster
Section count comes from using way too many texrures/materials and excessive use of proxies. All very bad practices. Also more than 20-30k vert meshes are way way off the mark for cars. Bought models are rarely game ready as you have noticed and as Apollo said be ready to prove their license allows you to use them in games and since life mod stuff is involved in monetized/commercial use.
quick terrace
in general terms i have nothing against people who buy some models to have 3d references or use them fir high poly bakes (with edits)
but i really do not understand why some consider that decimating models is gonna make a usable game model
it is the sort of shortcut not worth taking
obsidian sphinx
Reckon it depends on how good you are at fixing them
quick terrace
every single 3d artist would tell you it is way easier to work with your own files
also, i find it easier and way faster to create a new mesh on top
rather than edit and existing one
also note that none of these meshes are meant for games
as such the UVs are usually bad, they have multiple small textures, the topology is decent at best, etc etc
the best use for these is to get the model as a 3d referance and work your way from there
also, most of the models are not really usable for high poly bakes
because while the polytcount is pretty high (200-500k)
it isn't high enough to get all the details is. it is not sub-D, it has little to no soft edges to bake etc
obsidian sphinx
To each their own I suppose
quick terrace
lol, not really
if you wanna make a game mesh similar to a3 vanilla content, the fastest/safest/most convenient way to achieve the same performance, similar draw calls and polycount is to make that mesh yourself from scratch for this exact purpose
the above is factual, not my own opinion
obsidian sphinx
I'm not doubting that, what I meant was that everyone has their own way of doing things
Right or wrong is of no consequence
obsidian sphinx
That's not what that means.
woeful viper
but the 'paying plebs' have low standards ... or blame the developer
obsidian sphinx
It makes no difference if something is right or wrong, each person will do things the way that they want to regardless, that's what I meant