arma3_model

[twilit depot]

https://i.ibb.co/z7CRMX0/image.png

[sturdy parcel]

(shows how much model making I do!!!) 😋

[stuck oyster]

Snipping tool @sturdy parcel

[flat breach]

So wait, what does land_decal do

[stuck oyster]

puts the object into road/decal draw stage

[flat breach]

That means nothing to me but ok

[stuck oyster]

tells game engine to draw the object on same pass as roads and other decals of same type

I do not know how to give any more meaningful answer

[sturdy parcel]

yes, it can do this because roads are only 2 dimensional and the decal will 'follow the terrain'. which, is rather klever of bis

as for what a 'land' decal does, vs a decal, prolly that's what it means

[twilit depot]

its old but useful tech

[stuck oyster]

the on surface vertex property makes it hug the ground

[twilit depot]

i was missing that part ^

[sturdy parcel]

me too

[stuck oyster]

the land_Decal just affects the draw stage

Id assume the road draw stage makes it more performant

[flat breach]

Rufht ok

[stuck oyster]

but it also suffers from the road draw distance

[twilit depot]

they also have draw importance properties

bi ones do anyways

[sturdy parcel]

example of the property= please

[twilit depot]

drawimportance = 0.2

it's loosely documented on the bi wiki

basically just

[sturdy parcel]

bloody excellent. thank you. it goes in my proProject testing

[twilit depot]

determines importance on the rendering of objects

smaller the value, sooner objects disappear

[stuck oyster]

land_decal is not mandatory to use though

[sturdy parcel]

no. agreed

(see, I DO, know some things about modelling!)

[twilit depot]

well, i was just going on what examples i could find so thats where i started in that regard, only person i know that's done what im trying to do is blud and i dont wanna bother him

google led me to his original post about it on BI forums :^)

[leaden sun]

does the smaller number also effect LOD transition?

[stuck oyster]

no there is a different named property for that

[molten fractal]

Does the amount of separate materials used in a model affect performance in any discernible way?

[stuck oyster]

Yes.

That's the most heavy part

[drowsy sail]

Anybody knowledgeable in blender able to tell me why my model looks distorted in bulldozer? (images for context):

The blender section is flat with all of the vertices aligned: https://imgur.com/u6v5fqb

The render in bulldozer looks very different: https://imgur.com/f6gIUMW

[stuck oyster]

your shading is set up wrong.

you need to use sharp and soft edges

i wager you have it set in sharp draw mode in Blender

[drowsy sail]

I've heard that before, though I must say I'm not exactly sure what it means.

Are there any guides that you're aware of? Or at least some indication as to what I can google 😆

[stuck oyster]

use smooth draw and autocalc sharp edges and\or manually mark shapr edges

looking up these things should get you going 👆

[drowsy sail]

Cool, thanks. I do actually already have the sharps marked, but that gets the original result

Version with sharps marked: https://imgur.com/tOOOguX

[stuck oyster]

do you have o2script path set in the toolbox addon setting

in blender

[drowsy sail]

I don't have the toolbox configured

Is it a must-have?

[stuck oyster]

yes

very

[drowsy sail]

Okay, thanks for you help 👍 I'll see about squaring that away

Anyone managed to get A3 Toolbox working on Blender 2.9? All of the guides are like 2.7

[stuck oyster]

yes

the procedure is the same

ui just looks a bit diffferent

[drowsy sail]

Interesting, I can't get the ArmA 3 object properties to show

Addon is enabled

Page 6 of: http://jannesilt.kapsi.fi/User Guide.pdf

[stuck oyster]

what version of the toolbox do you have?

[drowsy sail]

Latest from https://github.com/AlwarrenSidh/ArmAToolbox/releases

Blender release 2.93.5

[stuck oyster]

should come up here

[drowsy sail]

Ah I had that hidden!

Wicked

[stuck oyster]

also you probably would want the most recent commited version from here

you may need to unzip it manually over the current install of the plugin

as git zop download adds a folder to it

[drowsy sail]

Okay yeah sorted

and set the O2Script path correctly

https://imgur.com/277ObfY

Export error

[stuck oyster]

like it says, you have ngons

youll need to triangulate your mesh

[gusty girder]

Question, what stops wheels turning on a vehicle?

My model's wheels won't turn ingame or even react for steering

[stuck oyster]

no correct animations set up

or the mesh is included in multiple animated selections

only 1 selection is allowed

[gusty girder]

Ok cool, got a guide or link that can give more info on how to set this up?

[round bloom]

Any idea please why a heli with buoyancy landing floats can land, but within a few seconds gets pulled to one side and under the water?

[charred bolt]

Have you given it a Geometry Buoyancy LOD?

[gusty girder]

How do I setup the animations to get these wheels to spin?

[charred bolt]

Download the Arma 3 Samples (free) on Steam, and look at the model and code in Arma 3 Samples\Addons\Test_Car_01

[gusty girder]

Ok thank you

[gusty girder]

Are bones under Memory or LOD, in Object Builder?

[inland pawn]

Have you ever done custom vehicles before?

[gusty girder]

Nope

First time

[drowsy sail]

Okay - so I got A3 Toolbox for blender configured and I can now export .p3d after fixing my ngons. Next snag; Despite being in exactly the same position in blender, when I export my model to the .p3d and open it in object builder, my geometry LOD and main model are offset from each other?! For some reason the geometry is off to the left of the main model position instead of in exactly the same position?

[drowsy sail]

Additionally, any idea why my scaling-down of the model doesn't appear to be getting reflected in object builder? It seems to always be the same size

[drowsy sail]

FIXED: If anyone else has the same issue. Select all of your objects then Object ---> Apply ---> All transformations

I don't quite understand the full nuance of it, but basically it syncs all of the local transformations to the global space

[white jay]

Hello

Why doesn't blender show the armatools tab in the materials?

[broken glade]

What is the best way to model the fire geo lod from vehicles?

[desert notch]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Damage_Description#Fire_Geometry_Placement

[stuck oyster]

P3d export exports the object in its edit space in offset to its origin. (yellow dot) if origin is not at world 0.0.0 then it will not export at that location.

[gloomy hemlock]

Is it possible to model boobs or are the models usually shaped as a man?

To specify what im looking for is some japanese civilian models. And i would like male and female ones.
What would i need to let them look like females? A new face i suppose. Clothing with boobies. And maybe even a character model that hasnt the arms and legs of a standard soldier that trains half of the time.

So my question is what do i need to get all of this?

[jaunty wagon]

I could use some help guys. I personally can't model, so I could use some help learning and some extra people to help me make something. It will mostly be aircraft for this part, especially fixed wings.

[charred bolt]

Making a vehicle from scratch for Arma is likely to take several hundred hours or more, so it's unlikely you'll find someone to hold your hand through the whole process.
Start small to build your skills. Download free Blender and watch youtube tutorials on how to start making 3d models.
Make a small prop, like a cargo container and get that in game. Then try something slightly more complicated.

[jaunty wagon]

Alright. I’ve got blender and have tried static props. I’m just looking for the outside right now. Not terribly detailed at the moment, just the basic airframe shape

[charred bolt]

Most artists find a blueprint of the vehicle and place that in their Blender scene, so they can get the basic shape and scale of their prototype correct.

[jaunty wagon]

Okay. How do I trace it from that?

[charred bolt]

I'm not a blender artist, but google works.

This looks useful: https://polynook.com/tutorial/how-to-set-up-blueprints-for-modeling-in-blender/

[jaunty wagon]

Alright thanks!

[inland pawn]

Start with the Blender donut tutorial

[white jay]

is there a way to fetch the exact position/rotation of a vertex? for example to position a pistol proxy on a bunch of different models more easily

[vital geyser]

not really sure what ur asking, if you select a vertex in OB and hit shift + e you can open up the XYZ position

[leaden sun]

Make sure the mesh is set to an "arms object" then the texture/rvmat line will appear in material

[stuck oyster]

https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/187155-wip-female-base-model-project/ you can read on the challenges of making custom sized character here.

[white jay]

that's what I was looking for! thank you!

[stoic steeple]

Hello everyone, is there anyone here who designs weapons for Arma 3? I have a couple of questions about creating textures. And I would be glad if any of you answered them for me.

[marsh canyon]

Better to leave your exact question

[gloomy hemlock]

Yeah so i read through the full thread.
First of all. Thats awesome man. Seriously its looking great.
So if i understood it right. If i want to get a working woman model it would be better to wait until you publish that great mod and then using that as the base for making different clothing and/or different models to let her look the way i would like to (japanese in my case)?

[stuck oyster]

Well if you want a different sized character. You can make female character that fits the ArmaMan shape but in your case it may not be what you are after.

You could also make your own animation set but that might not be the best use of time.

[gusty girder]

Ok so I've got to the model.cfg file just having a little trouble with how to assign everything for the model, got a basic idea

Also the sample files are really out of date

[gloomy hemlock]

Great. Then i will be waiting for your mod.
As i understood the thread the mod would be kind of open towards use for other mods right?
And yes we are aiming on doing japanese civilians and probs mainly to make it as immersive as possible so i suppose a kind of different sized woman would be much more realistic

But thanks for that information. Looking toward your mods release

[stuck oyster]

Samples have the right gist in them and the connection between the cfgmodels class name and P3d name is show.

Wiki about animations explains it too.

[stuck oyster]

Yeah aim is to make it more widely usable so everyone does not need to invent the wheel again. There are still number of animations I need to fix before it works without bad glitching and then I hope to find some community involvement to adjust the rest.

And to come up with ne characters and gear as only weapons can be made usable by multiple different character types

[gloomy hemlock]

Thats really cool. Do you also provide the community with the 3d models so they can make uniforms and so on?
Oh and do you have some patreon or something so i may support you? Im sadly not into modeling or something so i suppose thats the main way to support people :]

[stuck oyster]

I'll provide at least a sample model that can be used to match weighting. And I have couple of community makers who have promised models too. And all A2 women have been set up to work too so I will include those.

Don't have patron or such though. Maybe one day I'll set up one. 😅

[gloomy hemlock]

Haha ok

Yeah my model maker said he needs a model to make some fitting clothing

[gusty girder]

Victory

Got the models working 🙂

[sleek estuary]

Hello! Anyone know a good way or tutorials to start implementing a 3d model into arma. Links to any guides or things like that? Help is appreciated ❤️

A tank in my case

[stuck oyster]

usually its recommened to start studying the sample models (arma 3 samples on steam) and read the wiki

also its bad idea to start with something as complex as a tank

start with a simplbe box or other prop and get that in game first

[median bough]

@sleek estuary
have a look here
https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/207631-from-blender-to-arma-3-complete-process-tutorial/

[gusty girder]

Ok, so I have it working but my car is sagging on the Right front wheel

[gusty girder]

The only thing I can think of is something is up with my model

[gloomy hemlock]

another model question right here. im interested into getting a kind of custom-modeled weapon, in fact something like a custom model for an ACP-C2 and an MX. I would like to use the config data and all of that that was there before but im not sure about the requirements for such a weapon model.
I would like them to have all the possibilities the original models had like adding scopes and all of that.
so my question is. what its important to know and to do while making those models?

[marsh canyon]

If you don't need to think about configs (just to replace the models) Arma 3 Samples have the great reference to learn how those weapons models work

[gloomy hemlock]

i dont know anything about modeling stuff and i need that for a model maker maybe. so if i leave the configs as they are as long as for example the trigger and the magazine slot are at the same position there shouldnt be aproblem with it?

[marsh canyon]

The model defines like, where the bullet starts, where it goes, where the camera goes when you aim down sight, almost every “position” things

Of course, the shape itself too

[gloomy hemlock]

does the model itself needs some configuration or is all that configuration apart of the model and the model is mostly how it will look like and not how it will work like? sorry if i maybe ask stupid things i have no real clue of this topic

[stuck oyster]

moving parts need correct names to connect with animation configs

[marsh canyon]

Better to just head to Arma 3 Samples, it explains everything you need

[stuck oyster]

basically all models in Arma have same rules

however you wont be able to just replace a model of a weapon

[gloomy hemlock]

ok so if i need a weapon model i should rather ask some arma guy instead of any internet blender guy?

[stuck oyster]

as the model.cfg config for animations is tied to P3D

so it will need to be recreated to fit your model

[marsh canyon]

Arma models aren't really done by super generic ways

[stuck oyster]

internet Blender guy can make the model for sure

but he encoding part into the game is a whole another thing

[gloomy hemlock]

is that part much work?

[stuck oyster]

yes

everything is

[marsh canyon]

What HG said. There's no bones in like fbx does, but somehow it is defined in a text file

#20CenturyAncient

[gloomy hemlock]

hm. i guess i wont be getting a new weapon in the closer future

[stuck oyster]

you could start exploring the encoding part and do it yourself

[marsh canyon]

But anyways nothing can be done by a minute of learn

[gloomy hemlock]

i have seriously no idea on how that works, but i also planned on trying myself in terrain-making at the end of the year when im finally able to afford a good computer

[stuck oyster]

encoding requires very little from your computer

its mostly text editing

[marsh canyon]

And some of your braincells

[stuck oyster]

and hair

people modding arma lose their hair

[gloomy hemlock]

but im proud of my nice hair

[marsh canyon]

Oh, you don't mean I'm bald rn

[stuck oyster]

its a sacrifice

[gloomy hemlock]

hm. guess ill have to ask my gf first

[marsh canyon]

#greenfist

[stuck oyster]

well sure you can make arrangement where she is the one pulling your hair when needed

[gloomy hemlock]

nah shes making the food. i dont want no food

[stuck oyster]

Encoding also will require a bit of 3D work in the Armas Object Builder

[marsh canyon]

Anyways what we said. You'll need your hair, time, braincells and some of computers to make something in Arma

[stuck oyster]

mainly to set up memorypoints and other technical LODs

[gloomy hemlock]

a bit like rigging a character model?

[stuck oyster]

a bit

[gloomy hemlock]

hm

[stuck oyster]

but just a 🤏

[marsh canyon]

No Arma weapons/vehicles/others has no actual bone but strangely complex something!

[stuck oyster]

its a class defined procedural skeleton

[marsh canyon]

Kinda lied, but you should to think like that. You can't animate something just like what Blender can do

[gloomy hemlock]

im seriously thinking hard right now what to do. arma is awesome and so on and nearly everything you can make can be pretty nice but i cant do everything since everything needs like 5 years of work to get good at. not even talked about standard 3d modeling via blender. you know i want to do some of that but i guess if i will try to much at once all of it will fail

[marsh canyon]

Fortunately, you're talking to one of the legendary modder there

[gloomy hemlock]

You or HoGo? From what i see you both are doing really awesome stuff

[stuck oyster]

took me about 6 months to get things rolling properly back in the day when I started

few years makes things easier for sure

but big projects like what you are doing just require a lot of hours to accomplish

but that applies to any game engine in the scale of things what you want to do

[gloomy hemlock]

hm ok. yeah i suppose i will think about my prioritizing and decide which thing i will learn then.
is there maybe some way thats kind of better? like learning thing a, then thing b which is a with extra steps or something like that?

[stuck oyster]

starting from smaller and simpler things is usually the way to go

doing something unspecific just to get the hang of stuff

[gloomy hemlock]

ok thank you

now my last question for today i suppose. do building models need lots of configuration?

[stuck oyster]

depends what kind of interactive features you want on them

[gloomy hemlock]

doors

i want a school

so literally just a big house with many doors and many rooms

[stuck oyster]

then there is some config work to be done

Its not really possible to say how much since you dont really have any baseline to compare with 😅

[gloomy hemlock]

baseline?

[stuck oyster]

in configs

since you are not familiar with them

but also pretty good way to start is to not think about time at all

time or amount of work is irrelevant

if you want something to be done

[gloomy hemlock]

haha yeah. the point is that i want this to be done by i dont know any modeler out there but since its not allowed to pay a guy for arma configs its pretty hard to find someone doing something just by good will especially if its either much or hard work

[stuck oyster]

Im gonna be honest that this kind of projects usually require the project head to dig in deep into the making part in whatever way they can. In your case its likely the configs and encoding

[gloomy hemlock]

hm ok

[stuck oyster]

Like my case of wanting to create huge scifi mod. I had some hobby background in modeling but I needed to learn a lot more on that department along config work and how to make terrains to get it going.

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah thanks for all those explanations

[broken glade]

Is there a vehicle get out point that can be assigned?

[stuck oyster]

yes

[broken glade]

where can i find more about it? find nothing with google 🧐

[charred bolt]

Example

memoryPointsGetInDriverDir = "pos_driver_dir";```
https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/CfgVehicles_Config_Reference

[broken glade]

thank you

[still prairie]

hi i'm trying to make my shadow lod for my weapon but do u have any tips to "close" my model in blender ?

cause in O2 it doesn't work very well

[polar fiber]

Recommend simply box-modelling a simple silhouette of the weapon rather than trying to convert your resLOD model to a svlod

[still prairie]

in 1 object from blender

only extrude ?

[polar fiber]

Yeah but you can clean up corners and stuff merging verts

shadow LOD wants to be a simple as you can reasonably make it. Things like concave holes and lots of teeth for picatinny rails aren't really needed

[still prairie]

but the proportion must be the same ?

[polar fiber]

Yeah, just trace around the resLOD

[still prairie]

ok i will do that thanks

[errant forge]

Who here is able to help me or explain to me how I could make my own costum tank helmet skin

[stuck oyster]

skin as in textures or skin as in model?

[leaden sun]

We call the texture skin because that is what it acts like, but when we remove it why do we not call it skinning

[fierce dagger]

using the blender tools, am I able to set the mass? Or do I need to do that in object builder?

trying to keep my pipeline out of objectbuilder as much as I can

[stuck oyster]

you can yes

[fierce dagger]

should it be done as a named property, or is there a special field for it? Sorry for the dumb questions, I can't seem to find it in the Blender UI 😅

[stuck oyster]

youll need a geometry lod selected and there should be extra tool buttons for the mass setting in the tools shelf

[fierce dagger]

it seems to be missing (I expect it to be where the resolution LOD field to be?) I'll try reinstalling the toolbox later, but for now I have to open object builder anyways to set texture paths correctly

thanks for the help!

[stuck oyster]

you can set up the texture paths too in Blender

@fierce dagger

[fierce dagger]

ah

i was not in edit mode

small brain moment

thanks lol

[fierce dagger]

I've got an issue I've been unable to solve, flashlights being funky on custom object:

object: https://i.gyazo.com/d7b03e9f202bb15e448cf8ef9838da7a.png
in game: https://i.gyazo.com/f00c221b98c47b8e8046791f2533c6ed.png

Haven't found much about this through googling, but searching through this channel had led me to potential fixes like:

• basing rvmat off of the default_super.rvmat found in data_f
• increasing amount of polys (since the lighting is a vertex shader), which results in: https://i.gyazo.com/004eaf3900a2f2515a149ffafcba67e2.png
• add renderFlags[] = {AlwaysInShadow}; at top of rvmat

none of which I've had any luck with.

Do I just need a higher resolution model?

[stuck oyster]

have you actually applied your new rvmat to it

does it have textures? or just procedural colors?

[fierce dagger]

rvmat has _nohq and _dtsmdi, the rest are procedural

is it my lack of AO map?

[stuck oyster]

possibly

the render flag you should not be needing

also if you apply just the default rvmat

how does that look

without any customization

[fierce dagger]

i will test again but iirc it is the same

yeah still getting the same issue

i will try creating an AO map and see if that has any effect

[stuck oyster]

what type of texture do you have on it?

_CO _CA?

[fierce dagger]

_co

[stuck oyster]

does the file have any transparency?

[fierce dagger]

nope

[stuck oyster]

does it have alpha channel?

[fierce dagger]

i am using the file concrete1_sea_pier_co.paa and its _nohq from structures_f\data\concrete

as well as one of the detail maps from data_f

since my object is just a wall and this is sort of a trial run

[stuck oyster]

does your object have a shadow lod?

[fierce dagger]

yes, triangulated and slightly smaller than the resolution lod

[fierce dagger]

question on this, I have been applying the rvmat through the blender toolbox on my resolution LOD. I assume that it is applying correctly but havent investigated

[stuck oyster]

And you have repacked the pbo after that?

[fierce dagger]

also checked with an AO map applied via rvmat

[fierce dagger]

yes

[stuck oyster]

What does it look like with no material or rvmat applied?

[fierce dagger]

i will test in a moment

object is white, still same issue

[stuck oyster]

Does the object have sharp or smooth edges?

[fierce dagger]

sharp only on the edges of the box, not inside the faces

[round bloom]

@fierce dagger is there a reason you have those lines? If there is no need for them to be there I'd suggest cleaning them up since it looks like it's just a rectangle so shouldn't need them. If they are required just check those faces are smooth shaded.

[stuck oyster]

@fierce dagger is the model unwrapped?

as I just noticed the ingame pic does not have any texture on it properly. just a color

[fierce dagger]

I started with a simple rectangle for each face, the problem was shining a flashlight on the center would cause odd lighting behavior at the vertexes. My thought was vertex shader --> more vertices = smoother shadows? but that does not seem to be the case.

I am new to working in 3D, I will look into smooth shading, see if that has an effect

[round bloom]

For something as simple as a cube or rectangle extra lines aren't going to impact shadows that much

[fierce dagger]

it is unwrapped (albeit hastily). each edge of the cuboid is marked as a seem. My bad, the pics I shared earlier were right after I increased the polycount of the mesh and forgot to unwrap. Textured example: https://i.gyazo.com/472a6ffaa4130030813fe703d1936e89.png

[round bloom]

Plus if you're using a shadow lod, the view lod verts won't change anything

[fierce dagger]

unfortunately its not the shadowlod, I tried that first. It seems shining a flashlight at an object just impacts how much light the engine renders on the object, and that's based off of the resolution lod.

[round bloom]

Thats not the case, it works off the shadow lod to decide how to cast shadows, if a texture is applied it uses the AHD/ADSHQ to decide how to reflect light from it, the resolution lod by default is only to show you the object nothing more

Also always test objects on real maps not the VR one, it's got a scuffed day/night thing that I know impacts lights, I assume it's probably also going to effect flashlights

[fierce dagger]

I think we are talking about different things. I don't have any issues with the object casting shadows, just lighting issues when you shine a flashlight at it. I don't know how much flashlights interact with arma's shadows, but from testing, the resolution LOD is responsible for drawing light on the object when a flashlight is shined on it (or some other LOD I don't have that defaults to using the resolution LOD). See here: https://i.gyazo.com/2e30f7281bb0fb83110e18236b3d0010.png , I've altered the resolution LOD only and left shadowvolume untouched, and the lighting/shading artifacts follow the edges of the resolution LOD.

I tried turning on smooth shading on the cuboid's faces and got no luck unfortunately

[round bloom]

I know it uses shadow lod for how to cast shadows from torch, I'd assumed the same was true for reflections. If that's not the case, the VR map issue for lighting I mentioned is still true

Give it a go on Altis or Stratis see if it still does it

[leaden sun]

What rvmat are you using exactly?

the shader determines the surface, it looks like you're using per vertex as opposed to per pixel

[fierce dagger]

I'm using an rvmat thats copied directly from default_super.rvmat found in data_f, just pointing to my own normal, detail, and AO map

aside from the stages, these were the default values which I have not touched:

ambient[]={1,1,1,1};
diffuse[]={1,1,1,1};
forcedDiffuse[]={0,0,0,1};
emmisive[]={0,0,0,0};
specular[]={1,1,1,1};
specularPower=30;
PixelShaderID="Super";
VertexShaderID="Super";

[fair estuary]

Hello all! Not super familiar with 3D modeling but very PC literate and looking to start a small project. However, I was hoping to get verification that it is even possible before investing the time/money.

I would like to purchase a tobacco pipe model from Sketchfab, get it all setup/converted/manipulated for use with the ArmA 3 mod Immersive Cigs, and then offer the addition to the mod author.

Would an FBX file from Sketchfab be a viable starting point for a simple game asset?

[leaden sun]

How very peculiar.... for the heck of it, what happens if you use a different rvmat?

yes FBX format can be imported into object builder, which is what you'll be using for the final stage to get the model in

[fair estuary]

Perfect, that confirmation is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

[leaden sun]

just be mindful of the scale, if the object is too small when imported then it likely needs to be scaled 100x and if it's the opposite, .1

[fierce dagger]

I will check with a few different of the default ones

[leaden sun]

@fierce dagger Do this for a quick test, open the rvmat in the material editor and assign blank textures to the shader slots, that way it narrows things down more

[fierce dagger]

not familiar with the material editor. Is there a specific tool for editing rvmats? I have been using notepad++

[leaden sun]

Whever your steam library is located-

Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Tools\ObjectBuilder

You'll see a exe called "MatEditor.exe" This is the dedicated tool yes, however be mindful that it will erase some lines, mainly TI.

I recommend you save a backup of the original material, then open one of them with this program. You can then go the individual shader textures, click the drop down menu where the texture would be, select "Color Texture", and lastly click the correct button.

Do this on all textures (except the last two stages leave that alone) and it will assign a default color.

[fierce dagger]

will do, need to familiarize myself with this UI

[leaden sun]

Also do you have any named properties in your LOD's?

[fierce dagger]

only in geometry

[leaden sun]

and which flag is that?

[fierce dagger]

Prefershadowvolume = 0
sbsource = shadowvolume
shadow = hybrid
shadowbufferlod = 0

[leaden sun]

sbsource shadowVolume
prefershadowvolume 1

try these alone then add "lodnoshadow 1" to the vislods

[fierce dagger]

will do

also, is there a way to force a _CO map via the rvmat? I'm wondering if my issue is that somehow my rvmat is not being applied. Like if I provide no texture and instead rely on material only

[leaden sun]

_Co is separate from rvmat outside of multi material, otherwise it's applied via object builder

You could also add a big glaring shape to tell if it's working. A triangle in the normal map, a black circle in the AO, etc.

[fierce dagger]

that was a good idea

i dont think my rvmat is being applied

something like this for an _as texture: https://i.gyazo.com/653c5796129c49b3f38976b832264377.png
should be visible on here right? https://i.gyazo.com/92c6ff97826dc6cee160a7e43bc98078.jpg

[leaden sun]

Not necessarily, not at that level of grey. Make the circle pure 0 0 0 black then set something beside it so it casts a shadow over the object, a black hole should appear

[fierce dagger]

https://i.gyazo.com/b8681236488dd95d071d4a18e7a55205.png all black, no holes

[leaden sun]

yep that suggests the rvmat isn't taking, might it be pathed incorrectly?

or perhaps the tool you are using is evicting the rvmat

[fierce dagger]

i've been using hemtt to build, it is including the rvmats and I've been able to successfully change materials of existing objects via retexturing before while building with hemtt. I even tried sourcing the rvmats from a3\data_f on my P: drive, with seemingly no effect so I'm hoping its not my work environment

maybe i have something wrong in my config.cpp or model.cfg that is preventing the rvmat from taking, since from blender/objectbuilder side seems fine

thank you for the help in narrowing it down @leaden sun

i've learned some stuff from this troubleshooting

🙂

[leaden sun]

You're welcome, I'm afraid beyond this point exceeds my knowledge, I hope the answer is revealed.

[stuck oyster]

how did you come by these geometry named properties?

Id remove all of them

also what program did you pack the pbo with?

[fierce dagger]

Prefershadowvolume and sbsource are from the Test_House_01_F.p3d sample, the other two are from a BI forum thread I can't find anymore troubleshooting shadow issues. I slapped them on in an attempt to fix things and forgot to remove them when they didnt work

[fierce dagger]

hemtt: https://github.com/BrettMayson/HEMTT

i've had no problems with it in the past, though I also haven't used it to pack anything with .p3ds

[stuck oyster]

could be it does not overwrite your changes or some such

you could try clearing the P:\Temp\ folder

[fierce dagger]

ok, now that I know what to google for I have turned up this BI Forum thread with identical problems to me.

Culprit is HEMTT and how it handles paths when binarizing vs how arma expects paths to be.

including this for anyone searching this channel in the future looking for solutions:
Problem: HEMTT failing to properly include .rvmats when binarizing .p3ds
BI Forum thread: https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/229065-texture-problems/?do=findComment&comment=3406584
HEMTT issue with potential fixes: https://github.com/BrettMayson/HEMTT/issues/321

thank you everyone for the help troubleshooting!

[warm spindle]

Hello i a have a weird glitch on my helmet model , it creates a small black rim around the helmet when i focus it with the A3 camera,any idea what might be causing it ?

[inland pawn]

RVMat?

[woeful viper]

black black or "in shadow" black ?

[fierce dagger]

@leaden sun you can't believe how happy i am to see these dumb circles
https://i.gyazo.com/d05d15f1ab218b2e7baae444fd0e907b.png

[leaden sun]

Oh that joy is definitely relateable

[stuck oyster]

@fierce dagger btw for building parts like walls a multimaterial rvmat shader is usually used

[fierce dagger]

gotcha, I will look into it

[warm spindle]

Like a halo blackish spots around the helmet

[white jay]

@warm spindle maybe your texture doesn't bleed over uv edges?

If your texture stops right at the edge of your uvs, it will leave a hard crust of background color

Make your texture bleed over the uvs like 4-8 pixels

[stuck oyster]

Or shadow lod is bleeding through

[tropic jewel]

I have just updated Mikero's tools and I can no longer Crunch files https://i.imgur.com/M77faTB.png I havent changed any settings since the update, any ideas as to why this would happen and how to fix so I can test my models in game

[warm spindle]

how exactly do i stop that cause i have no what you mean!

[stuck oyster]

perhaps link up a picture of what is happening. Cant really guess what you need to do without knowing what happens

[warm spindle]

i will as soon as i get home

[woeful viper]

black black -> pure black. If its not pure black, but just "darker texture" then its shadow.

[gusty torrent]

I am looking for help to animate a selection in OB around a custom axis (two mem points). Is there a method to do it? I know I can animate it this way using model.cfg but need it for OB... The two mem points are not located along any default axis, ie. XYZ.

[heady oak]

So the two nem point are the axis or should every point be his own axis? Because if you open bulldozer from OB it load the model cfg and you see your animation

[gusty torrent]

the two mem points are a rotation axis for a selection

tbh, never used model cfg editor from inside OB 😦

[heady oak]

Then model cfg should work. But I never used a axis with offset angle from xyz coordination. I have to test it later. And I edit the cfg with notepad next to OB

Notepad++

[gusty torrent]

I need to animate the selection to a position that'll become a start position for the selection for further model.cfg work

I do use Notepad++ too, just need kinda 3D gizmo for the selection, I was surprised to see there is no such thing in OB...

[heady oak]

So a stacked animation?

[gusty torrent]

not really, just the landing gear in a plane is in wierd retracted position that I want it to be open to work with PhysX mem points. It has kinda combined XYZ axis of its rotation

I cannot use typical "Use pin" and X or Z axis to animate that precisely as I need.

Maybe some OB script exist to facilitate such work?

[stuck oyster]

You can't animate inside ob

[gusty torrent]

Allright 🙂 I need to "rotate" that

[stuck oyster]

Preferably work that kind of things in some more advanced 3d program

To save yourself from headache

[gusty torrent]

Yeah, I know I can export, work on that in 3d max and import again. just thought there IS some solution to the problem

[heady oak]

My first guess, I'm not a pro is to define multiple axis points and stagger the selection and maybe build a skeleton

[stuck oyster]

Well it's possible but explaining it takes more time than doing export import

OB is a bit old and cryptic

And people complain about blender ui

[gusty torrent]

Hyh... yeah

[heady oak]

I used skeleton for my models because it moves the children axis etc with the parent animation

[stuck oyster]

Yeah that's good way to verify parts can move right

[gusty torrent]

Hm, I do have Preview for that in OB?

[heady oak]

Like a door I did. The handle is parent of the door itself and when the door is open it still move the handle down when I close it and the original axis is waz off its original position

It also moves all section from the other LODs so the open door can't be shoot through and you can throw grenades through the open door

And yes you can preview when you load bulldozer and move the mouse wheel

From OB

[stuck oyster]

But that's just normal model.Cfg stuff

[gusty torrent]

Wierd. You mean "skeleton" like for RTM animations? Or skeleton (chained bones) in model.cfg?

[stuck oyster]

Nonono

[heady oak]

I'm talking about the skeleton from model cfg.

[gusty torrent]

Ah, ok. I do that stuff for more than 6 years 🙂

[heady oak]

The rtm stuff Is my next step to learn

[gusty torrent]

Good. Anyway, it seems I have to export/import the selection than

[stuck oyster]

It's easiest way

[gusty torrent]

It seems so, thanks gents

[heady oak]

OB is kinda odd. I do everything in blender and notepad and use OB just to save it one time so it doesn't screw the packing process

Only texturing I still do in OB

[stuck oyster]

Same

Blender all the way

[gusty torrent]

Yeah, I just imported a model directly into the OB and re-applied the textures

[stuck oyster]

Why do you do textures in OB?

[heady oak]

Because I'm lasy and my thing I did where really basic stuff

[stuck oyster]

Paiiin xD

[heady oak]

I know blender can do everything

[gusty torrent]

Even basic stuff looks much better in Substance Painter

[heady oak]

But for the next thing my crane project I will do it in blender

[gusty torrent]

@stuck oyster @heady oak
I found it. There is indeed a custom 3D working gizmo in OB.
Points -> Transform 3D -> Show local axis/Edit local axis
I just need to figure out how it works.

Most likely a stuff related to man-class skeleton

[stuck oyster]

yeh

you would have done this thing with export import already

[gusty torrent]

possibly, but I would learned nothing

😉

[stuck oyster]

😅

[round bloom]

if you use hiddenselectionmaterial to change an rvmat, should it also change to the MC on the new rvmat? I've got some weird issues that the material is showing as changed when I get material of the cursorObject, but the MC doesn't update

[stuck oyster]

hiddenselectionMaterial change is buggy and works only with materials the original model is binarized with

so if you want swappable materials you need to have all of them present somewhere on the model

for example different material on each res lod

@round bloom

afaik you cant properly swap them to completely new ones

[blissful spire]

so my model that i have works fine, outside of the passenger camera. whats the easiest way to fix it?

im assuming im missing a mem point for the camera

as its currently looking just under my turret cap. Will add that i have a View Cargo LOD now, which moved the camera from between the turret and the hull to below the vehicle

[round bloom]

Yikes, even if it’s already in the PBO?

[polar fiber]

They work fairly reliably on weapons but everything else no, they rarely work unless you have a setup like goat mentioned

vehicles you can use the materials[] part of texturesources and BIS_fnc_initVehicle, since that changes the material by setobjectmaterials script command at init

[warm spindle]

Anyone know why the helmet does not focus?

#screenshots_arma message

[fair estuary]

Going to have to be "that guy" and ask a very silly question... 🙂 I am obviously missing something and Google has not provided me an answer as to what.

I am attempting to make a tobacco pipe item as an addition to the amazing Immersive Cigs mod, so that I can then offer it to the mod creator for use. I got the FBX file from Sketchfab, imported it into Object Builder, scaled it, applied the texture and successfully added it to the mod. However, the item appears on the ground when it is equipped. How does on go about getting a model to appear correctly in relation to the character?

I've raised the model on the Y axis in OB, but still spawning on the ground.

[stuck oyster]

you would likely need to create it as headgear

if you want it to be "wearable"

so it will need model.cfg set up for wearable stuff and correct selection name/bone weighting in the object

[fair estuary]

The cigs from the mod are facewear, and I simply created a new class off the same model. (The programming side I understand well)

[stuck oyster]

then you are missing the model.cfg and weighting selections

those are the things that connect the 3d mesh to the animations that move the character

no connection -> spawn at feet

[fair estuary]

Solid copy, I'll look into it!

Thank you.

[stuck oyster]

do also make sure that the original models license allows this kind of use

so you wont accidentally get the immersion sig guys into trouble

[fair estuary]

Free for any use with attribution

[forest igloo]

Does anyone by any chance know why scroll wheel options would be located at the center of a model- all while the mem points are at the proper positions in OB?

[warm spindle]

would anyone pelase be willing to take a look at my helmet model(already in the game) and let my know if i did something wrong.?

cause i am having trouble with the shadows

[stuck oyster]

Typo?

[stuck oyster]

Still waiting to see the picture of the problem

[warm spindle]

@stuck oyster #screenshots_arma message

[stuck oyster]

Link does not work. Don't link to a message. Copy the link to the picture

[warm spindle]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/329978448938532868/899640200970506240/unknown.png

@stuck oyster try this one

[stuck oyster]

This works but I don't know where the problem is. Please take a closeup pic of the problem or mark it.

[warm spindle]

Only a part of the helmet focuses

[stuck oyster]

I thought you asked about shadows

Did you try to take similar picture but with vanilla helmet yet?

To see if it focuses same way?

Or did you try to use different focus settings?

Or different angle

[warm spindle]

The picture was taken by ZFXF apparently other helmet models worked fine and only that one did it

Shadows are another issue i have in general with my helmets ,specifically a sort of mirage effect on them(kinda like the surface is moving)

[stuck oyster]

You likely have alpha transparency in the texture even though its CO or you are using CA for some reason. This mkes the engine think the model is transparent when it's supposed to be solid

[warm spindle]

I am using CA.

[stuck oyster]

That would be the problem

Solid parts need no alpha channel CO texture

[warm spindle]

Ahh okay ill switch over to CO then, i am using substance painter to paint the model btw

Ahh okay i didnt know that

[stuck oyster]

Does not matter what makes the texture

Well other than some programs might add alpha channel where it's not needed

Transparent parts in between uv mapping counts too

[warm spindle]

Ahh okay is there a way to convert from CA to CO within the .paa file?

[stuck oyster]

No

You will want to make sure there is not alpha channel in the source texture

[warm spindle]

You mean the .CO of file used?

[stuck oyster]

Whatever you save from substance

That you then convert to paa

Is the source texture

[warm spindle]

Ahh okay then ,ill test converting to Co then and see if it fixes it got an initial test , also should i have LodNoshadows in the model settings ?

[stuck oyster]

No don't think you should

[warm spindle]

Ahh okay and what value should i have for shadowvolume ? 1000 or 0

[stuck oyster]

Use whatever is in the sample headgear

O

[warm spindle]

Ahh good i got that right at least :)

Thanks a lot for the help ,hopefully it will work

[stuck oyster]

👍

[runic flare]

https://i.imgur.com/ppgd4YB.png
Wut?

[desert notch]

what are you trying to do?

[runic flare]

Weight automation, copy lod 2 weight to lod1

[stuck oyster]

I'd recommend using more advanced programs for weighting.

[hoary knoll]

so i got a model that does not orientate correctly when spawned. i defined 3 points as LandContact LOD so they form a plane together

however the object spawns in a completely different orientation, acting like the LandContact is not there

the object is rather simple, so i dont have a model.cfg. this should not matter right?

[inland pawn]

If it isn’t facing the correct way, you’ll need to rotate it in object builder/blender

[hoary knoll]

i tried using the same model for CfgMagazines and CfgVehicles

but it ignores landcontact as magazine so you have to rotate it so it faces along the z axis

i ended up making two models instead

[stuck oyster]

cfgmagazine behavior is like that. its not a "vehicle object", its an item

and items visible in game world are actually placed inside a "groundholder" object

so yes what you did is the proper way to make props that are not vehicles

[hoary knoll]

i knew all that

i still expected the object to be placed correctly if you createVehicle it, since a plane with 3 points makes the placement clear

so i thought it should work making as single object rotated for the magazine with a landcontact for the vehicle version

[silver zenith]

I noticed buildings use different shadows from props
https://i.imgur.com/zqvc7gg.png
how do I make those shadows?

[stuck oyster]

buildings are very often made to use the sbSource = visualex that casts shadows from the res lods

the caveat is soft edged shadows (personally I dont mind)

so they dont need shadowlod at all

[inland pawn]

Funny thing Sanchez, that photo you posted on Imgur, it asked me if I was 18

Apparently shadows aren’t appropriate

[silver zenith]

oh I see
apparently actual shadowlods don't cast shadows on yourself when in first person, visualex on the contrary does
is it on purpose?

[stuck oyster]

there was a trick for that too

but buildings dont have first person view so what are you talking about exactly?

[silver zenith]

I mean when I'm walking inside a building in first person
you don't see the shadow on your rifle and your body

[stuck oyster]

you should 🤔

[silver zenith]

sent an example in DMs
what could cause that?

[stuck oyster]

what shader does it use?

[gusty parrot]

Hello,
I wanted to convert .paa into jpg or png so i tryed using TextView 2 from A3Tools but i can't manage using it, is it really possible ?

[desert notch]

you should use image to paa

or if it's difficult for you, use gruppe adler's web version

#production_releases message

[gusty parrot]

no, i want the revert way, paa to jpg

there is no export option in TextView

maybe it's on purpose i guess

[desert notch]

for both you can use image2paa and gruppe adler's site

they're both 2 way converters

[gusty parrot]

way more easier indeed thanks 👍

even saying why conversion failed 🤯

[silver zenith]

super

[gloomy hemlock]

is it possible to use .obj files for arma?

[bold flare]

it is possible to convert .obj to a format that you use for arma, yes

[gloomy hemlock]

ok thanks

[silver zenith]

is there a different shader for buildings?

[stuck oyster]

well commonly large stuff use multimaterial but that should not matter in this

place down a vanilla building next to it and see if that behaves the same

[silver zenith]

it doesn't

does the fact its an hollow object affect it?

[stuck oyster]

does it have outside surface at all?

that could be it

you may need to enclose it in a box

[silver zenith]

it doesn't
its a tunnel
I guess I'll have to make an outer layer
or duplicate and flip it
but the box would be better for performance

another question
path lods
can AI walk between "in" verts?

[stuck oyster]

yes

[silver zenith]

oh I see thanks

[stuck oyster]

the paths do need to connect to the terrain ground occasionally

to ground them into the navigation path system thingy

[silver zenith]

assumed so

does the numbering matters anything?

[stuck oyster]

not that I know of

[silver zenith]

oh nice
was getting worried

would be cool if toolbox had a "create in verts" and "create pos verts" like it does for geometry

[stuck oyster]

time to learn a bit of python eh 😉

I have a OB script for that from somewhere

[silver zenith]

is that just you or every OB has that?

[stuck oyster]

mmm tdont remember what it has for default

I have extended package someone shared way back

might have been reyhard maybe

[marble ravine]

Quick question, how do you use the texture renaming tool in OB with masking to e.g. replace all instances of
x\bla\data -> z\yup\data?

figured it out, you just do:
x\bla\data\* -> z\yup\data\*

[stuck oyster]

that yes

[storm wedge]

Anyone think they can help me with this issue?
Same CA texture, 2 different sections, one ends up rendering the rest of the model behind it no issue but the other greys it out
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/787769442372550676/900515156705038376/unknown.png

[stuck oyster]

you need to do alpha sorting in OB

[storm wedge]

awesome thank you!

[gloomy hemlock]

could anyone help me. i found some awesome models online but im not sure if they can be used within arma or not and if yes, maybe the amount of work needed until its game-ready. i would be happy if someone could dm me so i can send a link to the models

[stuck oyster]

Can't you post the link here?

[gloomy hemlock]

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/military/character/soldier-complete-pack
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/military/character/soldier-highpoly-equipment

ah nice thought this wasnt possible

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/character/sci-fi/military-scifi-helmet-low-poly

also maybe this one since its from another guy

[stuck oyster]

all of this is quite a lot of work

only the last one might be relativley simple but it too might not actually fit the arma mans size

so basically if you have to ask how much work these are to put in, its A LOT

ptoblem with the full uniforms is that they dont match arma man shape and dont seem to contain game usable lowpoly models

so for someone starting out, we talk in hundreds of hours

buying a model is not really a shortcut unless its fully gameready and compatible with the game you have

[gloomy hemlock]

@stuck oyster thanks for that explanations. would this be easier when done with weapon, vehicle and maybe house models? like they usually dont have to fit perfectly on anything like it is with clothing. i found for example 2 free to use models for a weapon and a tank (apart from the fact that its usually a shit ton of work to config all that tank stuff)

also talking about low poly for arma. what is some poly count that is good? or does this also depends on the model?

[stuck oyster]

depends on the model yeah and in those buying something that is not 100% suitable is again not a shortcut

especially if you are not fully certain what you would need to do to make them work

you can not skip the learning by buying models

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah both models would be free to use and i do have someone who would remodel them to make them more fitting to the 2035 setting. i also have another guy who makes the configs for that afterwards so was asking.
those would be the tank models
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/stb-1-b0f59399010542ae90a2aa9bd5b21e53
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/type-74-main-battle-tank-toshueyi-da308db0300c49f1a65ce1104cbc59cc
and this would be the one for the gun
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/howa-type-20-50b429a92fa54e86a666b4f0ba549fcb
and especially for the tank my model maker would add the interior and also design the tank more modern (like angular design and so on)
do you think there would be any problems then?
(besides the common stuff that happens when you do anything arma related)

[stuck oyster]

I think you would need to ask the guy whose making you stuff if these are the kind they can work with

nobody else can answer for them

I think there will be huge amount of problems with bought assets

as generally their quality can be verty inconsistent and not near game ready

cheap usually means problems

but high price does not guarantee quality either

[gloomy hemlock]

Ok thanks

[white jay]

https://imgur.com/d0LbMHo

Goodevening can anyone help me with this?

There's holes in my tank 😄

[stuck oyster]

your arma toolbox is not configured right with o2script path

and you have modeled it likw that

as in you have inverted faces on it due to not turning backface culling on in blender

faces have front and back and Arma renders only the front

[white jay]

oohh i see, got it thank you! ❤️

[heady oak]

Sometimes I hate arma. It took me around an hour to figure out why my model is not rendered properly after my animation... I moved a section downwards to far. Is there any other way than place a single vertex somewhere around the position where your animation ends?

[runic plover]

Where do you check it?

[heady oak]

Ingame editor from arma

[runic plover]

Try it in buldozer

[heady oak]

I got it working now but technically for our server I testing some elevator ideas. When I move the floor to far down depending on the view angle the whole object disappear

[runic plover]

You can work 1:1 in buldozer to fix and fit your rotation or translation animation

[heady oak]

The animation is fine I figured out when you move sections to far away this issue happens. Same for firegeometry. You can magically shoot through your object.

More then 3m what I figured out

[runic plover]

Ah now i get what you mean.. i had this issue too with my gate i did

But i fixed it

Lemme check how i did it was some months ago

[heady oak]

I placed in every lod a single vertex and it works, but is there a other solution or I'm missing something while modeling

So if you place the model in eden editor the yellow box around your object is now way bigger then the object itself

[runic plover]

Send me a PM

[heady oak]

I'm at my pc in 15 min, I send you some pics what I did

[runic plover]

Alright ✌

[stuck oyster]

you cant make very huge objects without them dissapearing from view when the model center gets too far from view

also you cant animate geometry beyond objects bounds

[heady oak]

Ah okay the it's what I thought I have to extend the object bounds

[stuck oyster]

so if your thingy is bigger than 50x50 meters you need to split it up into parts

[heady oak]

Its 12x12x6

[stuck oyster]

also you can define accurate translation distance with axis memorypoints

2 points define the direction

[heady oak]

I did this

[stuck oyster]

and the distance between the points define how much offset from 0 to 1 is

but only for animation type "translation"

translationX Y Z always have 0-1 offset be 1 meter

(and offset 2) would be 2x the distance between axis points

or 2 meters

[heady oak]

This is all set up but I didn't know that if you go to far away from your object bounds you have problems. I thought if you move res physics and fire lod the bound extend

[stuck oyster]

like I said you cant animate beyond the objects own original bounds

[heady oak]

I made them bigger, thought game do some voodoo and knows when your animation goes out of it.

[stuck oyster]

without seeing what you are actually trying to do cant say more

but sounds like you are trying to animate it beyond the bounds of the model space

[heady oak]

It's exactly what you posted above

[stuck oyster]

game does no voodoo

you must do the voodoo

elevators generally work very poorly

because of these limitations

[runic plover]

im again the only one which doesnt get this artwork HG did

[stuck oyster]

👓

[heady oak]

For persons it works now but for vehicle we have to do some scripting

[stuck oyster]

🔍

possibly your physX lod is not animated right

if vehicles dont move

[heady oak]

My model is in the idle position and the animation extend things. That's why it get out of bounds

[stuck oyster]

well you need either model it in the extended position first and then animate it back in with animation source initPhase

or increase the bounds

no other way

[heady oak]

I did last

I wasn't sure if I missed something beyond increasing the bounds

[stuck oyster]

maybe it was not enough then.

[heady oak]

Anything works except cars. But I will figure it out.

[stuck oyster]

if you tell what you are exactly trying to do perhaps solutions can be suggested

[runic plover]

GeometryPhys, and do not add mass on it

[stuck oyster]

Its always weird how people keep these things secret

[heady oak]

There is no mass

[stuck oyster]

no mass = no collision

[heady oak]

I'm on my phone

No mass on geo physics lod the other one has 2500kg

[stuck oyster]

physx lod does not have mass

but the goemetry lod parts need mass for collision

[runic plover]

make it 25'000 as test

mass should be more than car's weight

[heady oak]

Mass is not a big deal. It's for exile. It will me a static object

[stuck oyster]

but what is it that you are making

and what is it supposed to do exactly

context is important

[heady oak]

People build bases on our server, sometime in the air with ramps and my thought was to do a elevator as a gimmick

[runic plover]

so this exile game mode doing fortress and base stuff

And you can lift up/down soldiers/characters but no vehicles?

[stuck oyster]

how far up does the lift go

[heady oak]

9m

[stuck oyster]

how fast is it?

[heady oak]

30 sec ani time

so 10seconds per floor

one floor is 3 m heigh in our building system

[runic plover]

?

[stuck oyster]

you might need to make it slower later.

how did you make it taller?

what lod size did you increase

[heady oak]

ah i cant upload it here... one momemnt

https://prnt.sc/1x42vxv

the floor moves down 9m, i increased the resolution, geometry, geometry physx, firegeometry, roadway lod

[runic plover]

if soldiers work and vehicles not

make the bottom part thicker, and add more mass to it

[heady oak]

yeah my problem is the floor size from other parts are 25cm thick

[stuck oyster]

Id recommend increasing height up

not down

the geometry can be thicker

especially for the elevator floor

25cm should work

[heady oak]

i will test it but other existing parts in our building system are 25cm thick so i have some limits

[stuck oyster]

does all geometry components have componentXX name?

why would that limit it?

[heady oak]

a floor is 6x6x0.25m a wall is 3x6x0.25

it should fit inside a base

and match with other building objects

[stuck oyster]

you cant really drive under it

[runic plover]

geometry is invisible and if you make it thicker downside noone will notice

[stuck oyster]

well unless they drive down the shaft I suppose

but the component naming?

[heady oak]

hm thats a good idea its meant to be placed in around 10m height

[stuck oyster]

does every geometry lod part have that

[heady oak]

yep every moving part is a named section copied to all loods except memory and landcontact

[stuck oyster]

and is the componen valid convex

[heady oak]

yup

[stuck oyster]

you have componentXX names in res lods too?

[heady oak]

no

only my named sections

[stuck oyster]

that was not what I was asking

but was going to ask next

now does the elevator selection also have a componentXX selection

as it needs both

componentXXX for collsion, bone name selection for animation

[heady oak]

ehm its one object so i did componenct convex etc in OB for the lods

[stuck oyster]

so there is only the elevator floor component?

[runic plover]

as example Geometry Lod

[stuck oyster]

dis

[heady oak]

one sec pic incomeing

[stuck oyster]

also make sure the part is indeed convex and closed

as sometimes the automation can mess it up

OB- structure menu has checks for convex and closed

[runic plover]

Structure/Topology/Find Non-Closed

Structure/Convexity/Find Non-Convexities

[heady oak]

https://prnt.sc/1x447ol

https://prnt.sc/1x4480w

i have my setup txt what i have to do for the single lods

all did sentry

[stuck oyster]

oof that geomery lod and all those tube shapes

[heady oak]

i will experiment with the thicknes of the floor inside the geometry lods

yeah i know

[stuck oyster]

they should be simpler

[heady oak]

i didnt changed them to cubes yet

[runic plover]

why you dont do one square for the bottom part of elevator instead of that many parts

[stuck oyster]

also can you highlitght the component that is the elevator floor

from the component selections

[heady oak]

https://prnt.sc/1x44kuz

[stuck oyster]

and enable the mass tool from window menu

and show the geometry lod

[heady oak]

the whole lod im in has 0 mass, its the geometry physx lod im in

[stuck oyster]

no physX

[heady oak]

https://prnt.sc/1x44ppb

as i understood the phsx lod is that vehcile see the object and will stop if the touch it, the geometry lod is for other objects, or im wrong

[runic plover]

28kg is low for it im sure

[stuck oyster]

Idd add more mass to the part just to be sure

[heady oak]

i can drive cars on the extracted floor, but if i start the animation the floor clip trough the car and the car is floating until i jump in (behaviour inside EDEN)

when i jump in, the car explode and the wrack is moving up

[stuck oyster]

eden but live game right?

[heady oak]

eden as startet scenario where i can move as a solider

[stuck oyster]

k

[heady oak]

maybe the weight of the floor, a soilder is sometimes lagging behind while moving up

[stuck oyster]

or speed

like I said, Elevators are not very good with Arma

[heady oak]

30sec for 9m elevation

[stuck oyster]

make it 60 for testing

and make the geometry part thicker

and add more mass

[heady oak]

hm i have a script to simulatio a upward moving for vehicles, but it would be great if it works with the model itself

[runic plover]

did you made the roadway part a little bit higher than the geometry part?

[heady oak]

yes

ehm no

[stuck oyster]

it also could be you got something running that disables the vehicles simulation once you get out of it

[heady oak]

only the border is angled so you move up a slope

[stuck oyster]

which could explain what is happening

[heady oak]

the model itself works only with model cfg and config.cpp without any external scripts used

[stuck oyster]

yes

but are you running exile or other mods at the same time

[heady oak]

i will test your suggestions.

and yes other mods are running

[stuck oyster]

do you know if there are any "performance enhancements" there that could disable the car simulation

and can you test it without any other mods

[heady oak]

in EDEN not that i know, on our server where its not testet yet we partitial simulate objects

only 500m around people and on clients sometimes

[stuck oyster]

could be something similar happening

[heady oak]

vehicle simulation

i think so but first i have to get it working in eden

[stuck oyster]

mods could have same kinds of features build in that would run in eden too

or in eden preview

[heady oak]

one last question, for this not very highly detailed object is it bad to let the "cylinder" stay inside the geometry lods?

[stuck oyster]

yes

[heady oak]

okay i will change them to cubes

oh wait one note the physx geometry lod is slightly upscaled then the geometry lod

in blender when i use S for scale its 1.005

[robust lark]

hey, I'm trying to port the oil pump from A2 myself (vez_ropa) into A3 and I can't get the object to reproduce sound nor animate, does anyone have a clue how I could get it to work? I do have the config, the .wss sound and the .rtm animation but for some reason I can't get it to work, I can load the object in TB/Buldozer and pack it ingame but it's static.

[stuck oyster]

it has rtm animation?

using rtms on non characters is mysterious art on its own. pretty much undocumented feature

My guess is that it would be faster to either set up animations in model.cfg for it or if its not suitable for such making new one

sound stuff also has changed a lot since A2 so you wont get the A2 configs to work

[marble ravine]

I'm currently trying to get physx to work for the first time ever on a Car. After adding the LOD and the Config Values from the samples. My vehicle now interprets all turning commands, so left and right and the mouse turning as TURN LEFT. any idea what I might have screwed up?

[carmine spruce]

Looking for someone who can rig armors & unfiroms in game. Is this where i would look, if not can someone direct me to location?

[sharp coral]

You can use #creators_recruiting for finding suitable people.

[molten fractal]

Are hiddenSelections still loaded by the game when not in use?

[carmine spruce]

@sharp coral thank you sir

[gray siren]

Hey, is it possible to use a 3d modeled tank track or just a simple one?

[robust lark]

yeah, I did just try to go with the A2 config it came with and replacing the paths to point correctly but I guess it's defunct now. I've no idea how to translate/port it over but I'll see what I can do, thanks for the pointers.

and yeah it had an .rtm animation from the sample files IIRC

[stuck oyster]

they might also be destruction animations

as rtms can be used for that

but in case you have no previous experience with that I would strongly advice using just normal destruction stuff

[marble ravine]

I am currently porting an arma 2 model and sometimes (an every increasing amount of times) when starting arma 3 it crashes and I get this.
https://ibb.co/myYhQSp
Accompanied by an AMD popup telling me my graphics driver just freaked. Have I screwed the pooch somewhere?

[stuck oyster]

most of the time stuff in the A2 models, configs and rvmats is outdated so direct ports wont work

[oak lintel]

is it possible to do the rotation in the model.cfg with a random comand to execute?

i placed my object on the terrain builder and need for my custom model random open/close

[stuck oyster]

There is a separate system for that in the config.cpp class for that object. Off the top of my head don't remember what it is called.

[oak lintel]

I try it with the eventhandler in the object (config.cpp) and a script. But this worked only in eden and gamestart. :/

[stuck oyster]

Not eventhandler. There is another thing but you need to find a vanilla building that uses it and check out its config.

[oak lintel]

Vanilla buildings doesn’t have a random function with random open/close doors with TB placed objects. I think…

[stuck oyster]

I'm pretty sure some of them do

[charred bolt]

Maybe one of these animationSources?
timeRndOffset objRandom userPositionHashedInit

[stuck oyster]

No there's config entry for it, those could not be then controlled by player afterwards. There is a thing that makes some doors and gates and such partially open.

[oak lintel]

hmm

[stuck oyster]

but Im not a config-google 😛

[oak lintel]

thats it i think:

{
source="userPositionHashedInit";
initPhaseArray[]={0,0.75,1,1};
animPeriod=1;
sound="FenceGateDoorsSound";
soundPosition="Door_1_trigger";
};

[stuck oyster]

yes thats probably it

[sinful pilot]

I have an object and a backpack models (p3d). Is here anyone that can help me to merge them in backpack with object? I will add his name in the thanks mod section. Please contact me

[junior nacelle]

Not sure if this is going to be the right channel but it seems that my model when textured and in game the shadow seems to be inversed. As in the brightest part is black and the what is meant to be the darkest has the texture fine. I am still fairly new and have no idea what I am doing that much.

nvm me it was an rvmat issue with file pathing

[molten fractal]

Are hiddenSelections still loaded by the game when not in use?

[stuck oyster]

what do you mean by not in use?

[molten fractal]

Hidden. Are the polys still loaded by the engine?

[stuck oyster]

mm well I suppose they are. the texture is just transparent

or not sure what you mean

as hiddenselections mean texture swapping

not hiding parts

or if hiddenselection is not defined in config it uses the default texture

or perhaps you are confusing the model.cfg hiding animation and hiddenSelection section that can be set up for texture changing

[molten fractal]

Yeah, I mean not applying a texture to a hidden selection. That makes it transparent then?

[stuck oyster]

no, that makes it use the original texture from p3d

p3d must always have correct type of texture as default

and rvmat

otherwise things go badly

[stuck oyster]

hiddenSelections is not a good way to make a lot of hideable parts for variation or whatnot

its better to have such in separate p3ds

[heady oak]

And hide section oft your model itself? I did it in small use. Like a upgraded wall which get a additional armor (hidden part of my model, geometry, fire geometry etc)

[stuck oyster]

non character models can utilize the model.cfg hide animations

as only the model.cfg animation can affect also shadow and geometry

[heady oak]

Yeah that's what I did for my non char things, for me it's the simplest solution.

[marble ravine]

I have a vehicle I'm working on that has white triangles, just like proxies, appear at a certain distance away from them. I assume one of the LODs has broken proxies?

[stuck oyster]

possibly

[marble ravine]

any easy way to verify? Buldozer doesn't show any issues

ow never mind was looking at the wrong LOD. Yup broken proxies.

[silver zenith]

I have a problem where a custom made blood pool object I made with alpha turns everything behid of it invisible
I tried alpha sorting the blood pool on top but it didn't work
whats causing it?

[sharp coral]

did you check the config for blood pools objects from Laws of war?

[silver zenith]

doubt its config related

[bold flare]

sounds like Alpha sorting or rvmat issue

[marble ravine]

After importing a model into blender and exporting it out again to object builder use the ArmaToolkit , my model has become severely metallic and now reflects the skybox. Any Ideas what causes it?

[stuck oyster]

pictures?

[marble ravine]

huh, played some war thunder and now it fixed itself? fine by me

I'll get a picture of it if it happens again.

[silver zenith]

tried to sort alpha but didn't work
even tried moving the blood pool on top of everything (alpha wise) but nope

[stuck oyster]

got a picture?

[rough idol]

have you tried yet forcenotalpha=1 in geometry LOD?

[silver zenith]

wouldn't that remove alpha entirely?
its a blood pool object much similar to the laws of war blood poola
so there is plenty of alpha

[rough idol]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Named_Properties#forcenotalpha

it will move it to different render pass

alpha sorting in model will not necessarily help with alpha sorting between objects, since it's using different logic. In general, bigger objects are rendered on top of smaller objects

[silent prairie]

is it possible to use object builder to view the named selections of binarized p3d files? I want to get the names of memory points on certain vehicles

[rough idol]

https://odolconverter.bytex.digital/ you can use this tool or Eliteness from mikero tool suite

[silk atlas]

Not sure if this fell into #arma3_texture or here but how can I make a transparent polygon which I can see particle effects through them?

[silent prairie]

thanks

[stuck oyster]

Alpha channel transparency in the texture and appropriate rvmat assigned to the polygon.

Like how windows are.

[silk atlas]

I believe it has proper CA tex in it. So RVMAT issue?

[gloomy hemlock]

not sure if thats the rightchannel but i guess yes.
im planning a mod containing an asian faction. therefore i would need some asian faces as well as maybe some custom men aswell. is there anything where all the important stuff about this is?
like the answer to questions how for example its working that characters get the right faces, how faces are even made and all of that stuff?

[stuck oyster]

there is pretty much nothing written down about that

[gloomy hemlock]

oh. are there maybe any people here that know how to do something like this? i prefer not to have any dependency in my mod later so i would like to add that

[stuck oyster]

there probably are but you are serving yourself a way too big slice of cake right now trying to set up everything at once

that does not work

you start from stuff that has documentation, get that working

and on that road you are likely to learn something about how the configs and stuff works

[gloomy hemlock]

ok thanks. so i will do equipment and all of that first

[stuck oyster]

and you can then apply that knowledge to figure out how other, less documented stuff is done

and ask more specific questions when you cant advance

instead of a questions like how to build a car from 0 in real life

this is something a lot of people fall on when starting out so dont worry about it

but yes starting from small chunk is the way to go

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah ok. i guess doing new faces could maybe be kind of similar to retexturing a uniform or something

[stuck oyster]

no

[gloomy hemlock]

ok but yeah ill bear your words in mind then and start with the other stuff like weapons and equipment first

[stuck oyster]

in case you need the face models too that is pretty much its own discipline in 3D work

[gloomy hemlock]

oh ok

yeah my aim is to to something like the russian armed forces 2035 mod did

[stuck oyster]

That does not really tell me much, but alrihto.

[gloomy hemlock]

oh

[stuck oyster]

sounds like you want to do something massive

[gloomy hemlock]

basically a new full faction

[stuck oyster]

so expect to invest the next 5 years on that

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah i know that this will need lot of time and money

[stuck oyster]

depends how much you learn to make yourself

most successful mods are made by hobby enthusiasts

money plays only small part in paying for software licenses

[gloomy hemlock]

never got to really be able to do anything good in blender so i basically need the models for everything

im trying to get myself into all that config stuff

[stuck oyster]

lets say next 7 years then and you start a vigorious blender practice regiment

[gloomy hemlock]

lol

[stuck oyster]

but also its always possible to attract other makers to your project

but its not something that is guaranteed to happen

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah sure and since im a totally newbie in mod making atm this isnt going to happen in the next time

[stuck oyster]

but if you can handle the config part it might be stronger base to attract someone with the modeling skills

in the end modding is very rewarding hobby

but it can be very tedious and time consuming in between the start and making something work

[gloomy hemlock]

i guess since arma 4 might be a thing at least getting a base knowledge about modding at all would be good

[stuck oyster]

the principles are likely going to be same yes and understanding how it works now will likely help to understand how its done then

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah then i will try to get at least that. its kinda sad there is no real date for arma 4 so i dont know what would even be useful to do and what not until then

[stuck oyster]

model source file can always be upgraded to whatever new tech allows

configs and scripts are likely all lost and non transferable

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah thats sad. would be nice if it was easier upgradable tho but i understand that a completely new engine doesnt give that possibility

[stuck oyster]

knowlege and understanding on how config stuff in general works will help to learn the new things

not really sad. there is a good chance there are more possibilities to do stuff

no point then in transferring old limited stuff

[gloomy hemlock]

sure. but i guess there will be a lot of cool stuff that maybe cant get upgraded in any way. like maps. i really love the stuff icebreaker and temppa are doing there

[stuck oyster]

you are wrong about that

theres plenty to upgrade in map tech

but again source files on those can be upgraded too

[gloomy hemlock]

oh ok that would be great

then i would like to see if taunus became playable now

i also would love to see the dlcs and cdlcs being upgraded. and i hope we dont get a new setting but expand the existing one

[stuck oyster]

dont get too hung up with the old stuff

[gloomy hemlock]

too late for that

[stuck oyster]

and upgrade does pretty much mean near total remake so its not something that happens by snap of fingers

you should focus on your own project and not worry about the future mods

[gloomy hemlock]

yeh

yeh youre right. will do that

[small olive]

what is the use for "reversed" named property?

[stuck oyster]

I dont think it has been documented anywhere.

Never had to use it myself so I doubt it has any use in normal workflow

possibly it can make use of models that are set up to face wrong front direction

[small olive]

ok thanks

[small olive]

about physx,
when I increase the sprungmass for the wheel it's trying to move upward, when I decrease it's trying to move downward
doesn't it need to be opposite? otherwise I have something wrong with my physx set up I suppose

[charred bolt]

You want your model.cfg animation to use

offset1 = maxCompression x damper axis length```
where maxDroop and maxCompression are set in the class Wheel parameters (in metres).

It's often convenient to set the damper axis length to 1.0m in the Memory LOD to simplify, so that 
offset0 = -maxDroop and offset1 = maxCompression

In Buldozer, you want the wheels to move upwards with increasing values of the damper animationSource. If they move down instead, check the +- on the model.cfg animation (as mentioned above) and if still wrong, swap the damper axis points.

For a vehicle with CofG at model centre and evenly distributed mass over all weight bearing wheels, SprungMass should be the weight of your vehicle (from the mass assigned in the Geometry LOD) divided by the number of weight bearing wheels.  So if you had a mass of 10,000kg and 4 wheels, sprungMass = 2500.

[marble ravine]

I'm trying to setup a set of armor plates that are safe from RHS .50 BMG or even vanilla .50 Cals. But the fire Geometry needs to be extremely thick to prevent penetration with armour.rvmat right now

Am I using the the wrong penetration type?

[stuck oyster]

likely

armour.rvmat calculates the stopping power from the actual thickness of the geometry component

also how are your hitpoints set up?

assuming this is for a vehicle?

[marble ravine]

Yeah the hitpoints are bad, (Arma 2 Ikarus) but the problem isn't damage to the vehicle right now, the bullet will go straight through the plating and kill the passenger before jolly well exiting out the other side.

I have a working setup but the thickness of the plates is making it impossible to fire closely past the vehicle.

[stuck oyster]

is it realistic behavior?

for that part?

and its thickness?

[marble ravine]

if using the blender protractor is a good enough tool to measure, I need a 35 cm thick plate to stop a non-AP 50 CAL round. That should be overkill but its just enough.

[stuck oyster]

perhaps the 50cal shots have been set up in accordance of the more powerful real life counterpart

you could try changing the penetration material to one of the plate_XXX types

[marble ravine]

I thought the plates only made sense to downscale the armor?

[stuck oyster]

no if you use like 100mm plate on a very thin part it will still have stopping power of 100mm plate

[charred bolt]

something like 40mm plate armor rvmat will do ok

[marble ravine]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/LOD#Fire_Geometry
here its written that only downscaling armour works? Error in the wiki?

[stuck oyster]

just for parts below 10mm thickness

[marble ravine]

Example2: A component representing an armorpiece with a thickness of 50mm is modelled in the Fire Geometry. If we apply armour_plate_100mm.rvmat it will behave like a 50mm thick armorpanel (modelled thickness is lower than defined thickness). If we apply armour_plate_30mm.rvmat, it will behave like a 30mm thick armorpanel (defined thickness is lower than modelled thickness)?

[stuck oyster]

sorry it does

😴

as far as I know that is false yes

[marble ravine]

kind of a critical error

I'll test plate armour now

[stuck oyster]

put on some big plate

that should show different penetration behavior if it works

[marble ravine]

modeled plate: 80mm
RVMAT: armour_plate_250mm

7.62mm: NO PENETRATION
12.7mm: NO PENETRATION
14.7mm: NO PENETRATION
40mm: yeah this goes straight through

Seems like the wiki is indeed wrong

[charred bolt]

I've always assumed that if the bisurf parameters that accompany a penetration rvmat include a thickness value (such as with the armour_plate_xmm) then it over-rides any actual thickness of the component piece. Armour_plate penetration rvmat's are generally the most consistent way to go with vehicle fire geo's imo.

[stuck oyster]

same

[marble ravine]

seems like that is true

[charred bolt]

You can check what's going on exactly in the bisurf files P:\a3\data_f\Penetration

[marble ravine]

did that immediately when you mentioned the surface files.

huh, seems rather easy to create on my self

[charred bolt]

Yes probably so, although I must confess to being lazy and using BIS provided rvmat's most of the time, as the differences are unlikely to be noticeable.

[marble ravine]

I don't like adding files myself either if there are vanilla options available

[charred bolt]

Bigger improvements, particularly for tanks, can be had by getting a good understanding of the armorComponent system introduced with tanks dlc

[marble ravine]

armorComponent?

found it

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Damage_Enhancement

[charred bolt]

yeah, basically replaces the old FG/Hitpoint system with FG components

again, not particularly well explained in the docs, so experimenting is needed

be aware that HP's are still needed for non-penetrating explosive damage

[marble ravine]

makes sense, I'll look at this for the anti-HEAT protection. Didn't know arma had engine based SLAT armor

[charred bolt]

If you haven't already done so, I'd recommend you use the development branch and then have use of the ballistic tracing, fire geometry visualisation and hitpoint damage reporting systems for testing.

[marble ravine]

already use ballistic tracing, the normal branch function. But I'll look into the dev branch for the hit point damage reporting. Thanks for mentioning it.

[charred bolt]

diag_toggle "shots";
diag_toggle "hitpoints";
diag_drawmode "FireGeometry";

[marble ravine]

Thanks.

[marble ravine]

ow thats hot

yeah that will make this much easier

[bright echo]

I've had the opposite experience

arma would use whatevers smaller, the modelled geometry or the bisurf/rvmat

current release version of IFA3 is an example of that as a fair few of our tanks were built with the idea that it would use the rvmat size but it most certainly didn't, had to remodel/enlarge a bunch of geo to fix it

[small olive]

thanks for your informative reply!
by the way it's an aircraft model and the mass distribution is currently like this with 1200 kg of mass: https://prnt.sc/1xl66aw in that case, what should be the mass distribution ratio? also I've tried with new maxCompression and maxDroop after setting up the axises, model.cfg values as you said, all of the damper values shows about 0.5 (front damper mostly about 0.45 to 0.5, main gear 0.5 to 0.6) and the aircraft is shaking. Also I putted a heavy box to the top of the aircraft in-game and the values started to increase which is means animations work fine I suppose.

[charred bolt]

Weight distribution in your Geo model looks sensible, although you might need to shift it forward slightly to keep the nose down.
Perhaps try something like 20% (front), 40%/40% (mains) for sprungMass.
Bouncing could be a number of things, but check

1. sum of sprungMass on the 3 wheels = Geo LOD mass
2. springStrength is at least 25x sprungMass (up to 100x)
3. springDamperRate is between 1 and 2 times SQR(sprungMass x springStrength)

[gloomy hemlock]

if i have weapon models for example. whats maybe a number of polygons i should try to avoid in order to keep the performance and stuff?

[stuck oyster]

depends on weapon size and complexity

and how low it can be and still look good

[gloomy hemlock]

found a pistol and an assoult gun with both like 87k polys and think thats maybe kind of much tho

[stuck oyster]

thats about what a tank with interior has

so kinda yes

it is very rare to find gameready models online

for free at least

[gloomy hemlock]

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/military/gun/daewoo-precision-industries-k5

[stuck oyster]

but buying model "gameready" does note necessarily mean its ready for some specific game

so money is not universal problem solver in that either

[gloomy hemlock]

sure i have someone that would help me get those into arma

[stuck oyster]

there is quite a lot in that gun that would preferably be in textures

you would again need to consult your helper if they can work with this kind of thing

[gloomy hemlock]

yeah i guess for example not having that detailed grip would save a lot of polygons