arma3_model

[stuck oyster]

In that sense both methods are problematic

Either the weapon model is complex as a tank with open interior and has lot of transparency. Or in worst case might have ten or hundred different model on screen for single weapon.

Performance wise it's kinda bad either way

But also with the all in one mesh, you can't control the shadow

So it's not really an option even

[warm trench]

Also a good point. So number of players who want different things have a bigger performance impact than normal!!!

[stuck oyster]

There may be less impact if the variants are all fitted on same textures

As texture bloat eats memory fast

[warm trench]

Yeah - currently all a common texture set although that's not exactly small...

[stuck oyster]

I'm afraid to ask how many textures you got 😅

[warm trench]

Yup - with a big, pretty mod pack and max texture settings, peak VRAM usage I've seen is 17GB and I don't check that often

[stuck oyster]

Holyshit

Well at winter time you don't need to warm up the house

[warm trench]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/752836925903077418/971357567420874762/unknown.png
Got a bit carried away...
Plus this was originally intended to be spread over 2 mods but having put over 300 hours into both the A5 and D variants (they are surprisingly different) I didn't want anything to go to waste....

[stuck oyster]

I mean I like customisation as much as the next guy. It's cool. But also I like fps and not having to play with AC on if I vmcan avoid it.

It's tricky thing unfortunately

Especially in arma

[warm trench]

These models are much more efficient that my current 416s both in terms of verts and selections so I'm hoping that despite a lot more goodies, it will be at least as good as what I've currently done.
(I knew very little when I released the first set... Hopefully I know slightly better now...)

[stuck oyster]

You might want to try to optimize the uv mapping etc for less textures. And possibly lower resolutions

Weapons generally use maybe 2 textures/materials tops + accessories

[warm trench]

Yep - when it was 2 separate projects, that was about the ratio I had.
The snag is when you put everything together, you either add duplication which means that if people stick to one kind of model, they have a chance of loading less textures. But the mod gets bigger and if people want to use the choice, more textures are loaded!
Or use the minimum number of sheets which is more likely to mean a single weapon needing more than just 2 texture sheets.
I've done the latter as I guessed that with this much customisation, people are unlikely to stick to a single model set.
So it's 5 sheets in total 🥵
But this does cover:
A5, D and HK337 models, 6 barrel lengths, 4 flash hiders, 3 stocks, 10 rails, 2 different BUIS, 2 different fore grips plus the GLM/UGL
And probably a few other things that I can't remember right now...

[stuck oyster]

Customisation comes with a price. 😅

[warm trench]

I'm intrigued by what's possible with the ACE3 extended arsenal as I think it could be possible to start customising lots of the above and more by colour too...
But suspect I'm getting a bit (more) stupid there.

[stuck oyster]

With weapons. Each variant needs its own predefined class

[warm trench]

But how I ready it so far was that you can manage colours with HiddenSelections slightly differently

I need to do more research and start playing too.
(But that comes after Shadow lod and Memory LOD are complete)

I got the impression that everything that needs 'proper' config entries - e.g. to change an animation, and eye position, weapon mass/accuracy/barrel length etc. all must have full configs. As does anything that requires different model.cfgs as that, by default, is a different model!
But then things like colour could be done more efficiently - config wise. (But might be wrong.)

Hopefully I'll get to this some time around the weekend but it will depend on how well these Shadow & memory LODs go!

Thanks for you advice and knowledge (as always). Need to shoot to a meeting now

[stuck oyster]

Colors need to be predefined too

There is no access to weapon model via script commands to change colors on the fly

I believe the ace system is designed to work through all the hidden (scope 1) classes to swap the variant configuration

Which comes with a price too 😝

Especially if you want to make mixed color parts, desert stock, woodland receiver, black barrel, increases the amount of textures loaded together.

[fierce snow]

would you be so kind and explain the difference of scope=0, 1 and 2? like in terms of usage. i use scope=2 atm on all these custom objects. but i dont really know the meaning behind it

google just give me info about arma scopes as in attachments and sights

"scope=0 means that class is technical and should be used in game (base classes for example), scope=1 means that class can be used in the game but should not be show to player in menus, scope=2 means that class is useable and should be shown where needed. Basically, class is considered valid game content if >0" from a forum post, makes sense.

[stuck oyster]

indeed that is the answer

[fierce snow]

ye i was to quick to ask here 😛

i am eliminating the typical "try and error" by learning line by line now hehe.. didnt even know the difference of parent, child and sibling classes earlier, i cant go around the tree anymore hehe

save myself some headache

gotta know what my model needs

[stuck oyster]

👍

the uphill battle of the initial learning curve

[fierce snow]

ye sadly

[fierce snow]

whats the easiest way to check if my hitpoints are working?

can i add some line to the config that removes model if killed or hit r whatever

[white jay]

anyone familiar with the SelectionID 31 and 32 is the wrong shape error and should i be worried about it much?

[fierce snow]

when working within my models config im not allowed to have local variables in global space right? i must keep "_whatever" and not "whatever" inside brackets?

[fierce snow]

what are you trying to do?

idk, maybe something with memory lods and their selections

[white jay]

its pertaining to a uniform model. this turned up in a server rpt log.

[fierce snow]

missing hitpoints?

[stuck oyster]

whats the full error?

and are there others?

and preferably an addon does not add more errors to rpt yes 😅

[fierce snow]

ACe probably

[white jay]

SelectionID "31" is wrong for shape "2021_a3ph\uniforms\bdu\bdu_v3_utility_base.p3d"
SelectionID "32" is wrong for shape "2021_a3ph\uniforms\bdu\bdu_v3_utility_base.p3d"

it appears to just be for that one model

which really confuses me because i use the same process i did for this model on every model i made but only this one is turning up.

[stuck oyster]

dont think I've encountered that myself before so cant say for sure

selectionID could refer to somehow broken named selection

or perhaps overlapping selection

if the model has hiddenselections in use, true disabling those

then you can try removing different lods or emptying them to see if any of them could be ruled to be the cause

may require some empirical elimination of different parts to see if it goes away with anything

[fierce snow]

google ppl with the same kind of error said something about taking hitpoints from A3_character_template.p3d if that is possible? i have no idea really, but since every post i find is about hitpoints i think its around that.

[stuck oyster]

hmm so it could be ACE related error

@broken abyss you got any recollection about that?

[broken abyss]

Ah yes

That is correct

[white jay]

this is the exact post i found just recently lol

[stuck oyster]

if its ace related, that would explain why it does not come up with modding without ace

[broken abyss]

Did you do what I wrote in that comment?

[stuck oyster]

😅

[white jay]

took note of it, but not yet. planning to do it tomorrow morning.

[broken abyss]

Allright then

[white jay]

hopefully it's just this one model but it's not that significant of an issue, right?

[broken abyss]

No idea if it affects the server in any significant way but its better not to have it

if you know the fix for it, might aswell))

[white jay]

yep. thanks 🙂

[stuck oyster]

if its caused by ACE then it might mean some Ace feature (damage related) might not work right

so preferably it should be figured out

[fierce snow]

@stuck oyster would you know a fast and easy way to test my hitpoints? something that shows me that its working ingame

[stuck oyster]

mm diagnostic exe might have tool for that maybe. Otherwise you would need some sort of script running that shows all hitpoint damage value for the object you look at for example

[fierce snow]

idk i cant get any form of effect ingame, im sure im doing it wrong

i mean, at this point i should just give up and make 100s of objects instead and be happy with the normal mass x thingX roll and fall over effect 😅 but a part of me still want this destruction ability. think i gotta redo the texture so it atleast feels new after a million packs and restarts of the game haha

[stuck oyster]

are you still using vanilla effects etc?

[fierce snow]

ye

the surf mat for glass smash, added to the fire geo's mat path

but thats all

[stuck oyster]

not the bisurf file yes?

firegeometry needs the rvmat

[fierce snow]

rvmat

[stuck oyster]

rvmat then points to bisurf

👍

[fierce snow]

ye ofc

[stuck oyster]

cant be too sure these days

[fierce snow]

else i would still see dirt and rocks from the bottle 😄

[stuck oyster]

I assume too much too often 😛

[fierce snow]

true

i dont blame you

you would shake your head if you where a fly on the wall over here

[stuck oyster]

https://tenor.com/view/goat-gif-22057358

[fierce snow]

😄

[stuck oyster]

so hits get you glass hit sound?

[fierce snow]

ye

and if close u can see the shards from the surf coming at screen

[stuck oyster]

k so firegeometry works

[fierce snow]

ye you told me how to do all that a couple days a go i think

[stuck oyster]

small thing like that would really need just single hitpoint

[fierce snow]

ye i just duped the geo, and made it a hitpoint lod

[stuck oyster]

as in single verticle that is just set up to be big enough to cover the whole thing

that lod should then have a single named selection and single verticle that is in that selection

named easy_hit

because reasons

[fierce snow]

it gets hit, and if hit with a heavy cal it shows the difference than if shot with a pistol, so mass and all that is just great, and if this was a can, or a plastic bottle id just set a lower mass and id be happy but

a named selection, you mean like a face?

[stuck oyster]

no

named selections are vertex groups

p3d format just calls them named selections

if you open up any sample model it will have a bunch of them

[fierce snow]

id know where in blender, but in OB i kinda feel like that must be the components?

[stuck oyster]

also the geometry lod component names are named selections

for example

[fierce snow]

ah like that

[stuck oyster]

component is just naming convention that the geometry lod requires

[fierce snow]

ye i did that, i called it something for test, but changed it back to Component05

[stuck oyster]

other lods should not have those selections

best to not use component names elsewhere

just for all the geometry lods

and if you animate things you add those components to second group for animated part

it gets messy if you spread lod specific stuff to other lods

[fierce snow]

atm wich works for just the normal effects i allready have, i got 5 x components in Fire Geo and in normal Geo

in hitpoints i only got 1

[stuck oyster]

a bottle could have like 1 component xD

or 2 if you want the neck there too

geometries should be simplified as much as you can

[fierce snow]

yes, but i experimented with mass, like i didnt know i could set mass to one component part of bottle, and one in another, to even out mass, instead of lets say mid, or top, bottom etc

[stuck oyster]

alr. just future reference when you clean it up more

[fierce snow]

ye i understand

[stuck oyster]

so you have the single verticle in the hitpoint lod and have named it something_hitpoint

[fierce snow]

you mean i click insert or chose "point" from create menu?

i know how to select vertices if that is what you mean, but how can i name them?

found out

😄

[stuck oyster]

in the named selection list click right

👍

[fierce snow]

just mark a verticle and then list and made a new component by rightclicked+new, named it easy_hitpoint

and its the only one needed in there?

would it be wrong if i marked all, and named it the same instead of just one verticle?

i mean in terms of covering the whole bottle instead of like now, one verticle at middle

[stuck oyster]

your hirpoint lod should not need any more than the one verticle

[fierce snow]

just trying to understand how it works

so config is gonna look for that named selection and pull the whole bottle from it?

like a hitbox

[stuck oyster]

each verticle in a hitpoint named selection group will then count as a hitpoint sphere

[fierce snow]

nice

[stuck oyster]

sphere size is defined by the hitpoint config

[fierce snow]

aah

[stuck oyster]

so a group of points can form a cloud

[fierce snow]

now the whole wikis damage and penetration made more sense

cool

[stuck oyster]

but in your case in such small object simple approach is enough

hirpoint will also need a geometry to hit after hitpoint hit

[fierce snow]

ye but i understand, like in a big vehicle like a tank, where its engine, fuel and stuff + personell rooms, its more advanced

[stuck oyster]

yes

also vehicles now benefit more from firegeometry components being used for hitpoint detection

its more accurate and easy to make method

for lots of components and complex shapes

and when you want something to be armored

[fierce snow]

thats good, i guess the more advanced the model, the more parts, wheels, belts etc gets into the picture, but for basic small shapes 1 verticle is enough to get that invisible sphere heart in there 👏🏻

ye hopefully ill be in that area some day aswell 😛

but im not gonna go beyond this bottle before the very basics are in my head

[fierce snow]

ye and i config the size in the cpp

[stuck oyster]

yes

[fierce snow]

and try to get something ish inside

i guess id need 2 or 3 since its a little tall and has the bottle neck as you said, but for a ball, round item i guess 1 is enough

or a soda can

etc

[stuck oyster]

you can experiment

[fierce snow]

so they actually made those ingame items short on purpose, i thought it was laziness

[stuck oyster]

even 1 would be ok if its big enough

as hit just through the hitpoint does no damage

it also has to hit firegeometry behind it

[fierce snow]

ah

nvm then, they are indeed lazy

😄

[stuck oyster]

bottle that is all glass does not need much accuracy

[fierce snow]

jk, i guess it all comes down to performance

true

[stuck oyster]

more complex things are another story

[fierce snow]

ye if i where to say beeing able to snipe the bottlecap of, id need 2 points

[stuck oyster]

you can check you house sample for window hitpoint reference

that could lead you to solution

[fierce snow]

and probably higher than the top of the neck to not knock both

[stuck oyster]

yes

[fierce snow]

i did, i found 2 hide codes wich i think i need

[stuck oyster]

and you could then also use the geometry hitpoints instead

[fierce snow]

hmm

so this is what you ment?

class HitPoints { class HitBottle { armor = 0.1; material = 1; name = "easy_hitpoint"; convexComponent = "easy_hitpoint"; visual = ""; passThrough = 1; };

[stuck oyster]

possibly yes.

or was it armorComponent instead of convexComponent

its one of them and other is obsolete

[fierce snow]

and to control the size of the sphere?

well atm i dont actually see if it works or not as its the same effects as before

[fierce snow]

sweet! thanks

ok now i just need to make something happen when i hit it

cursortarget setdamage 1; via console does nothing to the bottle

[stuck oyster]

what destruction type you got?

[fierce snow]

class DestructionEffects { class TestEffect { simulation = "particles"; type = "HouseDestructionSmoke"; position = "destructionEffect1"; intensity = 0.15; interval = 1; lifeTime = 0.05; }; };

just for testing

[stuck oyster]

no theres another parameter for it.

not in the effect

[fierce snow]

really?

[stuck oyster]

you already pasted it in here sometime earlier

[fierce snow]

you mean from when i tried and failed the balloon thing?

`private ["_bottle", "_position", "_velocity"];
_bottle = (_this select 0) select 0;
_bottle setDamage 1;
_position = getPosASL _bottle;
_velocity = velocity _bottle;

[_position, _velocity, _bottle getVariable ["BIS_type", "vodka"]] spawn BIS_fnc_moduleNOIDEAWHATTHISISORHOWTOMAKEITWORKBottleDestruction;

deleteVehicle _bottle;

true`

?

atm i dont use those anymore, i couldnt get any of the sqfs into my config so i just started fresh again at where i was

[stuck oyster]

no not this

destructiontype <- the paramteer

[fierce snow]

class CfgVehicles { class ThingX; class vodkabottle_altisnoff: ThingX { _generalMacro = "ThingX"; mapSize=0.54000002; scope=2; model="vodkabottle_altisnoff\VodkaBottle_Altisnoff.p3d"; displayName="Altisnoff_VodkaBottle"; icon="iconObject_2x1"; faction="Empty"; editorCategory="EdCat_Things"; editorSubcategory="EdSubcat_Default"; vehicleClass="Objects"; simulation="thingX"; armor=20; fireResistance= 0.001 destrType="DestructBuilding"; damageResistance=0.0040000002; };

?

haha im so confused, sorry man

[stuck oyster]

ah sorry destrType

but yes building should work

[fierce snow]

hmm

[stuck oyster]

give it armor = 1; so it has low health

[fierce snow]

done

[floral axle]

I've created a model that I can give to myself in game using player addItem item_class, but is there a way to add the item to the Things tab in EDEN (or even make the mod it's own tab)?

[fierce snow]

editorCategory="EdCat_Things";
editorSubcategory="EdSubcat_Default";

[stuck oyster]

items need groundholder object that holds them for editor placement

[fierce snow]

ok it works somehow, i made a trigger in eden, !alive vodka and on act bob setdamage 1; named myself bob and shot the bottle, and im now in paradise

but.. the effects didnt show

atleast i know it can die

[stuck oyster]

progress

[fierce snow]

yay

maybe the simulation is wrong

[stuck oyster]

building should make efffects on death

ah but try you have thingX sim

could be could be

[fierce snow]

ill try with the effects type to "default" and since i got a lifetime parameter ill try with start 1 and enabled 1 aswell

who knows

no luck there

[fierce snow]

hmm

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

Land_ is that still a thing or?

[hot hornet]

yes

[fierce snow]

i keep getting this DestructionEffects.side error on loading game

[hot hornet]

@tender radish any idea?

[fierce snow]

if i remove class DestructionEffects i get Hitpoints.side error

-.-

ye, sloppy me, it was an }; missing between the HitPoints and my DestructionEffects

packing didnt give me any errors, so i guess i will blame it on the beer

[stuck oyster]

drunken modding is a bit hit and miss workflow

sometimes next morning you look at what you did last night and be like

https://tenor.com/view/wut-what-huh-uhm-confused-gif-16433684

[fierce snow]

haha 😄 yeah, im not even gonna try this as drunk drunk

how can i make my function go when bottle is killed?

[stuck oyster]

killed evenhandler +

call or spawn script command maybe?

[fierce snow]

but isnt that the same as calling to exec a sqf?

[stuck oyster]

no

if you have a function configured

[fierce snow]

class CfgFunctions { class test_bottleEH { tag = "Vodka"; class test_bottleEH { file = "vodkabottle_altisnoff\test_bottleEH\functions"; class function {}; }; };

idk if i did it right

and in the test_bottleEH folder inside my bottle's folder, i got a fn_functions.sqf

wich holds

`// Test Effects for Bottle -----
params["_this, _particles"];
_this = _this select 0;

if !(local _this) exitwith {};

if (alive _this) then {

_particles = "#particlesource" createVehicleLocal [0,0,0];
_particles attachTo [_this,[0,0,0]];
_particles setParticleCircle [0, [0, 0, 0]];
_particles setParticleRandom [1, [2, 2, 1], [0.25, 0.25, 0], 0, 0.1, [0, 0, 0, 0], 0, 0];
_particles setParticleParams [["vodkabottle_altisnoff\VodkaBottle_Altisnoff.p3d",1,0,1,0], "", "SpaceObject", 1, 10, [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, -2], 1, 10, 0.1, 0.1, [2, 2], [[1, 1, 1 ,1], [1, 1, 1, 1], [1, 1, 1, 1]], [0, 1], 1, 0, "", "", _this];
_particles setDropInterval 0.1;
sleep 1;
deleteVehicle _particles;

 //   [_particles] spawn {sleep 1; deleteVehicle (_this # 0);}

};

sleep 0.5;`

now, i cant blame this on beer, im sure there is something wrong, but it packs without issues

i cant know for sure tho until i find out how to run the function on some kind of class Event Handlers { killed = something

dont mind the particles script, its just for testing, i need some kind of effect hehe

class EventHandlers { killed = call Vodka_fnc_Function; };

?

[stuck oyster]

you can also run functions with call command through console

[fierce snow]

hmm

[stuck oyster]

buut if alive _this will be false in your case as the thing has just died

so nothing will happen

[fierce snow]

!alive then

[stuck oyster]

since this is already killed event the alive check is not necessary

[fierce snow]

ok

[stuck oyster]

you already want this function to run

[fierce snow]

true

change alive with killed then?

[stuck oyster]

first thing is to take out all the if checks, just to see if things happen at all

no no remove

[fierce snow]

ok

[stuck oyster]

the killed eventhandler is already the check

the function only runs when killed event happens

[fierce snow]

ah yes ofc, else it wouldnt call it in the first place

i just thought it needed it for the particles to spawn at all

[stuck oyster]

nope

[fierce snow]

and for the event handler,

class EventHandlers { killed = call Vodka_fnc_Function; };

would be enough?

Vodka beeing the tag i set in config under Cfgfunctions

[stuck oyster]

try it out and check wiki refernces. too late a clock to proofread script

😛

I think you are not feeding it a target though

[fierce snow]

the source you mean

you are prob right, idk if i can make a mem point named easy_target and just put it where it says particle source.. i got no idea, im kinda walking into the dark here lol

i thought _this would make it the current bottle target

[stuck oyster]

no

in your function _this is the target that is coming from the calling of the script

as in from outside source

[fierce snow]

it wont find my function, but refers to it by name as if it did..

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/723556775336607775/971544138455584808/unknown.png

makes no sense, since its exactly where it is

[lusty ginkgo]

Is anyone else having buldozer crashes from object builder since the recent update?

I can't open any model in the viewer

Crashes in tb too

[fierce snow]

ok packed without error, loaded into game without error but nothing happens when shooting bottle, i put a hint "Function was executed!"; inside the function sqf, so something is wrong

[fierce snow]

no crashes here

[stuck oyster]

been working alright so

I have refreshed P drive recently too

[fierce snow]

nah it wont even post my hint when bottle is killed

[stuck oyster]

time to start learning function writing for a bit.

it will come in handy later

[fierce snow]

i dont think its the function thats the issue, as i get no errors or anything

i dont think the bottle is actually killed

i tried with hit on handler instead of killed, same thing

i think i got to do the hide unhide window trick or something

oh well, gotta take a break, gn!

[lusty ginkgo]

Verified game cache, updated config, reinstalled buldozer, still crashes. Doesn't work on arma3.exe, arma3_x64.exe, or arma3diag_x64.exe. Not really sure what else to do at this point

[stuck oyster]

Is your P drive set up with mikeros Arma3p?

[lusty ginkgo]

Yeah

[stuck oyster]

Have you run stuff from Arma tools launcher?

They are not compatible

[lusty ginkgo]

Might have at some point since the Arma3p buldozer didn't allow for custom configs

[stuck oyster]

It does

It reads config from p:/bin

[lusty ginkgo]

It didn't at some point but that was several years ago. I remember jumping through a bunch of hoops to get the bin config working for updated lighting classes

[stuck oyster]

Just did it few days ago myself again. Basically just some copy pasting involved.

And correct launch parameters

I'll try to remember to share a template at some point

[lusty ginkgo]

does arma3p still erase everything? I only just updated from the version I have from like 2019 just last week. Haven't used it but I don't want to have to back up my entire drive like I used to

[stuck oyster]

It removes A3 data related folders and unpacks it again . I don't think it has ever erased everything.

I'd recommend getting the latest version
Free or sub

Either works

[lusty ginkgo]

I remember it resetting some other stuff too but I haven't done it in quite some time

I have the sub version updated to the latest atm

[stuck oyster]

Only thing I can think to "erase everything" is that P gets mounted from different folder and is then empty

[stuck oyster]

Bin and scripts folder

So it does require setting up the bin/config again. That is good to back up after it's done

[lusty ginkgo]

Are you absolutely sure those are the only folders/items affected? I usually back those up anyway

[stuck oyster]

You can read the documentation

Or mount P drive to new folder and run Arma 3p there

[lusty ginkgo]

good idea

[stuck oyster]

And then copy around your stuff

[lusty ginkgo]

my project drive is a separate partition on my main drive, it's not mounted

[stuck oyster]

Ah man of culture

[lusty ginkgo]

It's probably saved me minutes of time re-mounting every restart over the years

I'll give it a shot. If that doesn't work I won't have a clue what to try next, though

[stuck oyster]

Did buldozer open in empty OB project?

And have you checked if buldozer rpt says anything

[lusty ginkgo]

Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION at 01FC8DF1 It's different launching from TB and OB

Don't remember which this one is, but I couldn't find anything on it. Crashes on startup on any model, I didn't try on an empty project

Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION at 412593F1 Object builder

[lusty ginkgo]

Opening c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\arma 3\Dta\lighting_bin.pbo

output to P:\bin

you cannot extract to an existing folder
failed
Steam tools and Mikero tools WILL NOT WORK until you fix this error [K]?

Keep getting this error. There aren't any folders with the same name

[fierce snow]

If it happened after update i guess its something that got overwritten and probably a setting or more that were put back from yours to a blank one. Did you remove all and reinstall? (launched as admin) ? Try unload p:/ and reload it, search for that bin folder.

[lusty ginkgo]

The folder isn't there. Can't unload P: because it's a separate partition. There isn't a folder named Dta or bin anywhere on my PC other than the dta folder in the arma 3 root directory, and no directory call lighting_bin exists. There is only one lighting_bin.pbo file.

It would be helpful if the error message was a bit more specific

[stuck oyster]

It says p:/bin

[fierce snow]

Ye, if the folder is on c drive, it might be a space issue as p drive is just virtual, and it eats the space on c pretty quick. Double check it. Hehe ye but the error is giving you clues, one of them beeing bin folder.

Nvm just saw

@stuck oyster you mentioned a target i didnt have earlier, what did you mean by that?

[stuck oyster]

you need to pass something to be _this in your code

[fierce snow]

ah

[stuck oyster]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Category:Arma_3:_Scripting_Commands

👆 bookmark

[fierce snow]

so maybe make a destruction like on buildings, and add a ruin simulation and put the broken bottle bottom as a ruin model upon destruction and make the "_this" the ruin.. making it the target for particles

[stuck oyster]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Event_Handlers#Killed

killed event itself should already contain the information

Id guess moving the scripting side of the questions to #arma3_scripting might be more useful

im not sure if thinx object can have ruin

I would not go that way

just deletion of the bottle model and spawning of the bits

[fierce snow]

ye i would have to make it another object, as it wouldnt need the thingX physics if its gonna smash on hit anyways

[stuck oyster]

but first you need to get the event running

[fierce snow]

yep

[stuck oyster]

with something simpler as the command

like simple hint "bottle broke";

or something

[fierce snow]

exactly what i tried last night

but it wouldnt show even if i changed from killed to hit, or EntityKilled, or anything i put in there

[fierce snow]

but you are right, ill keep it to config / script channel, as this is spam for ppl needing help with models. thanks alot tho, again. sorry for beeing such a newbie.

[stuck oyster]

get yourself a all in one config dump and you have a lot of reference to look through

[fierce snow]

yeah i saw you tipping someone else about that, i found one a couple days ago i think i usually search for code snippets or errors or such to see if anyone else is or have been on the same part of a problem or trying to make something similar. then i save codes and snippets as references in another folder and name it, most of this is bits and parts ive sewn together, and edit/pack until it just works, then read up and learn some, and the second you feel you know that part, another issue pops up 😛

doesnt take long until all searches gives allready visited links from forums, posts 10s of years back etc haha

[lusty ginkgo]

Also isn't there. I checked every possible folder it could mean and can't find anything. Doubt it's a disk space issue but I can try a few other things

[frank pollen]

Are there any tutorials for how to make .p3ds? The only thing I know is that they are models. But I'm just wanting to do clutter so all I'm really gonna do just put 2d textures together lmao

[lusty ginkgo]

Clutter models are super simple. Making p3ds isn't super complicated in general. If you use blender you can use the arma toolbox addon for it which allows you to export p3ds directly. I would suggest looking at the A2 sample models as an example of what to do for a clutter model (minus the textures and materials, those you should look at the A3 clutter data for)

Basically it just comes down to making a base model of planes that are set up in a pleasing to look at way, that aren't too obvious (otherwise you'll get the minecraft grass look, which Livonia did, only works with very high clutter density) and then make the lower res LODs. In my experience, most of your effort will go into the LODs since pop-in on clutter models is much more noticeable and distracting.

You don't need to make geometry or anything like that unless you plan on making the clutter model manually placeable, in which case there are some extra steps you'd need to take to make the model look half decent

Making things like 3d rocks or branches is a bit harder to make subtle

[civic stratus]

I moved a selection to proxy and it isn't visible in the game at all. Would would be some reasons for this?

Do proxies have a poly lmit?

[lusty ginkgo]

Is it visible in buldozer?

[stuck oyster]

is there actual p3d for the proxy?

there are limits how many proxies are visible at the same time

and proxies draw distance is substantially lower than normal objects

I dont recommend using proxies to patch up big things together

[civic stratus]

I just want to know the technical limitations

It's visible in buldozer

[stuck oyster]

there is no exact data

[civic stratus]

I chose the "move selection to proxy" option and it made the p3d

[stuck oyster]

did you also pack the p3d?

[civic stratus]

I'm not sure how you mean. I packed the pbo like I have been. The main model is visible, so that p3d was packed

[lusty ginkgo]

The proxy is in the pbo?

[stuck oyster]

in case its accidentally saved out of the pbo folders

[civic stratus]

yes

[stuck oyster]

what type of thing are you making?

[civic stratus]

the proxy's p3d and the main p3d are in the same directory

I'm trying to do what you suggested I didn't, to reduce file size of the p3d's

[stuck oyster]

that wont work

and what type of thing

[civic stratus]

its a vest with a belt

I have different variations of the vest between several p3d's but the belt remains the same

[stuck oyster]

vest is already a proxy thing

[civic stratus]

so I just moved the belt to a proxy

[stuck oyster]

so it cant hold proxies on its own

dont

[civic stratus]

how does it hold the pistol proxy?

[stuck oyster]

engine feature proxy

[civic stratus]

I hate this engine more and more by the day

[stuck oyster]

pistol proxy is just a marker where to glue pistol model if its present

its just you doing stuff youre not suppsoed to do

[civic stratus]

Logically, the removal of superflous geometry to reduce file size is not, on its own, a bad idea

[stuck oyster]

there is a reason why game models are relatively simple and why there isnt hundreds of different vest variants in the game

[civic stratus]

Lets hope the engine is improved in the next iteration to support such things

[stuck oyster]

for the intended use its all good 😅

[civic stratus]

The intended use is limited in its scope, imo. It would be nice to have proxies in our vests for things such as magazines and medical items

[karmic blade]

Question, so arma does not support geometry larger than 50m right?

If I have an invisible block 50x25x5, it would be fully walkable, collisionable etc??

[stuck oyster]

its not hard 50 limit and there some technicalities to that and what settings terrain is made with.

but 50 is generally safe

so yes it should work

[lusty ginkgo]

If you're worried you could always just make it 49.99 meters

[karmic blade]

haha

Also, how does one make invisible/transparent stuff

Like invisible wall in editor

Because I know if I wont apply a texture to a 3d object (cube) it shows it with black/white checkers texture

[stuck oyster]

just dont make a cube

at all

[karmic blade]

Oh, so what like a plane?

wont it still show missing texture "texture"?

Invisible wall seems to be a cube or rectangle or whatever

[stuck oyster]

no

just dont put anything in you 0 lod

make it empty

[karmic blade]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Just in geometry and stuff

[stuck oyster]

[karmic blade]

is there a way to make so the wall would be visible in eden but not in zeus/game?

[stuck oyster]

that would need some scripting and hide animations

[karmic blade]

okay gotcha

[lusty ginkgo]

output to W:\bin

you cannot extract to an existing folder
failed
Steam tools and Mikero tools WILL NOT WORK until you fix this error [K]?

[stuck oyster]

do you have existing bin folder there?

[lusty ginkgo]

Extracting to a separate drive that's completely empty. If the "existing folder" isn't on my PC anywhere, and it isn't within the drive everything is being extracted to, where exactly is it?

I don't have an existing arma bin folder anywhere. Not on the p drive, the old a3 projects folder, anywhere else that is related to arma

[stuck oyster]

[lusty ginkgo]

the bin folder there now was created by arma3p

I am utterly confused by this

[stuck oyster]

is there any chance you got 2 bin pbos you unpacl

as in it unpacks 1

and then tries to unpack another

but cant because there already is one

[lusty ginkgo]

I checked the relevant folder in the A3 game directory and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Only one of each .pbo in the Dta folder and no others with the same names anywhere else

lighting_bin.pbo this is the last one that is extracted before the error. bin.pbo itself extracts normally

[stuck oyster]

@sturdy parcel any advice how to debug this?

[lusty ginkgo]

only thing I can think of is that lighting_bin.pbo isn't an original file but it has a current date modified date from when I did a verify cache yesterday

I guess I'll remove it and try

full extraction including layers, dubbing and missions (base addons only)? [Y,N]? btw this question is very confusing

I would think y would mean yes, extract everything, but the parenthesis imply the opposite

[sturdy parcel]

lighting_bin.pbo is not an arma3 addon.. it doesn't belong in the official addons folder(s)

and, without checking, i'd say xxx_BIN is a dead giveaway

[lusty ginkgo]

I have no idea where it came from. I considered earlier but the recent date is what's throwing me off

[sturdy parcel]

i will reword the confusing bit. I agree with you.

[lusty ginkgo]

Looks like it worked. Still no idea where the rogue pbo came from or why it hasn't caused any issues before

@stuck oyster Did you say the arma3p buldozer setup will use the bin config? My lighting changes aren't visible

[stuck oyster]

well mine does. Beyond that I dont know

where did you inject the lighting classes?

[lusty ginkgo]

"P:\bin\config.cpp"

Seems to ignore that config entirely. This is the behaviour I remember. I also remember the solution being to install buldozer from arma 3 tools

[stuck oyster]

which class did you inject the lighting class into

[lusty ginkgo]

Just changed to arma3_x64.exe and it seems to work now

I just copied the default world class from my old config to test it.

[stuck oyster]

👍

[karmic blade]

Question, how would I go about importing a static object that would have an animation (spinning disk) being part of it?

I am not interested in it stopping, I want when ever you spawn it it would have a curtain part of it spinning

I assume I need to do animation in blender?

[stuck oyster]

no you would need to do the animation in model.cfg config

[marsh jewel]

yo bros how do you make shadow lods

[polar fiber]

Same way you make any model. You just model it very low poly, following the silhouette of your visual LOD and make sure there's no holes/gaps in the shadow mesh

[marsh jewel]

i dont understand how you "close" the model

[stuck oyster]

If you have a cube that's closed

If you remove one side of it and it has a hole, that's not closed

[woeful viper]

do you understand how to close a bottle? thats how you close a model... watertight.

[drowsy falcon]

Hello, i got a small problem with a magazine i added and i cant find any post regarding my issue. https://i.imgur.com/FpIfCck.jpg (it only happens with this magazine, all other mags work fine) as you see on the screenshot the magazine is way to high positioned. I moved the magazine around in object builder but i wasnt able to change the position of the mag. Did i forget something or made anything wrong? i hope someone can help me (this is the first time i added a new magazine to the game)

[stuck oyster]

make sure the autocenter 0 parameter is in the geometry lod

[drowsy falcon]

it works now thank you, such a simple thing^^

[karmic blade]

hey so any idea what is wrong with collision here? The model of the ship itself is just a model no collision, but there is a 50x25x5m invisible pad that has collision on there, doesnt seem to work? It did before I think when it had texture

https://streamable.com/ua6kul

nvm figured it out I think

It was attached via script to a concrete wall, deleted that and it works now

[stuck oyster]

attaching (with attachTo) things makes them lose collision

[civic stratus]

Is there a workflow that creates arma rvmats from blender's BSDF shader?

[stuck oyster]

no

[civic stratus]

Another question: Does blender's shading > sharpen edges need to be applied somehow? It seems I have to triangulate and sharpen with u after doing that work in blender for the p3d to binarize successfully

[stuck oyster]

should not

assuming you export to p3d with the toolbox

but if you dont have o2script.exe path setup in toolbox settings the export wont work right

[lusty ginkgo]

Can you not see "visualex" shadows in buldozer?

[civic stratus]

I never configured that, and I'm not sure where to find that setting

[hot hornet]

Not sure about that.

[stuck oyster]

Don't remember either. Don't really check shadows in dozer. Especially if it's visualex since not much van be done about it as it draws from reslod

[fierce snow]

Ok so ive built the model, created the lods needed for hit reg and physics, got textures working ingame. I can now kill the object and my event handler is working as intended. My particle system is working and ready to be tweaked. Now, ive build a wreck model, and ive added a Wreck lod to my original object with proxy placeholder to the wreck p3d, and ive assigned the right textures and rvmat, packed with mikero's tools.. all fine.. Then i made the model.cfg with animation class named HitBottle_hide, added the right type, minvalue, maxvalue, minphase, maxphase, hidevalue etc..

as far as i understand, selection would be the name of my hitpoint right? and source the name of the child class under Hit Points in the config.cpp ?

what i am trying is to make it hide the original model, and replace it with my wreck model (broken bottle bottom) and my particle system is going to take care of the rest for the effect.

so the named selection on hit point is the trigger that will switch the models at the same time my eventhandler's killed function shoots

woudlnt it be easier to make the same function just delete _this then spawn wreck.p3d at same pos?

if its possible

i understand with a car or a plane, where its explosions, window damage, texture changes etc.. but

[stuck oyster]

Ruin destruction effect should create the wreck model. But there is another destruction effect needed to delete the existing one. Don't remember what it was but its normally inherited from pretty far in the beginning. It was maybe class strategic

[fierce snow]

replaceDamaged ?

nonStrategic probably

isnt ruins for buildings tho?

[stuck oyster]

Like I said, don't remember what it was exactly but one of them was needed to enable the destrtype

[fierce snow]

think i found out

[fierce snow]

nevermind

[lusty ginkgo]

I am almost positive it was possible before but I don't see them. Buldozer settings don't seem to make a difference

[stuck oyster]

then again, this is cast with or without visualex

geometry lod properties are not baked into the p3d at this point I suppose

this should basically be same technique to cast it

since I dont have shadowlod

[lusty ginkgo]

I don't have that either

[karmic blade]

Question, I do have a model I want to use as ambience in the background of the battlefield. However the model dissapears pretty early if you walk away from it. I assume I got no long range lod. Where do I set it in object builder. I didnt see any properties that would define range?

[scenic mirage]

So I'm starting my hand at a little bit of object creation. My question is, how hard is it to create a working parachute from scratch?

[stuck oyster]

As first thing. Pretty hard.

Parachutes are quite special

[scenic mirage]

How so? It's difficult to learn it seems, I can't find tutorials or anything on parachutes specifically. It seems like they are classified like helicopters but like, how?

[stuck oyster]

that is the hard part yes

there is no documentation for parachutes

I dont recommend that as first project

its more like when you know your way around configs and know how arma models in general work you can start to gleam how it works

[scenic mirage]

My main concern is I'm looking for a parachute that doesn't seem to exist yet. The model itself, in blender at least, doesn't seem bad I just haven't gotten to if it'll work in game. Not only that but I know there is scripting involved with making parachutes work that, while I might be able to read someone else's work or even BIs work to make comparisons, I wanted to do it roughly by scratch. The parachute being relatively important for a project I'm working on.

[stuck oyster]

not scripting per say

but the parachute opening is done via rtm animation and for that to work it needs specific weighted selections or completely custom animation if the shape does not fit

Id still start from something that is easier to implement for practice

starting from complex undocumented features can result in quicker burnout

[blissful spire]

howdy folks, question for the Paths lod. is there a way to tell the AI to exit out of a structure? i can get them to walk and entire just fine but i cant get them to leave the structure

[stuck oyster]

inX points define entry and exit positions

but they can sometimes obstrcuted or not connect to ground and thus I dont know properly its exit

[blissful spire]

let me go look at the house again

tbh, im just glad they can path around them. tunnel combat will be interesting

[stuck oyster]

ground exit in points are usually fan like and there are many in different heights

[blissful spire]

yeah, ive fanned mine out as well

[stuck oyster]

so when the object is on ground at least one point is on correct level

[blissful spire]

looks like ill just need to add another pair of in points then at effectively ground level

[stuck oyster]

preferably theres at least one going through ground too

[blissful spire]

its a tunnel, so the changes of it actually ending up underground is pretty low. its not like a house on a foundation, but ill keep that in mind

[stuck oyster]

yes but the terrain it comes out might slope

always better to make sure paths connect than leave it float

[fluid copper]

Idk if someone else has answered this yet, but here's a link that describes it and what you need https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/LOD

[stuck oyster]

if object has only 1 lod, that lod will be always drawn when the object is visible

amount of lods has nothing to do with visibility

proxies also dont draw as far as mesh

[fluid copper]

Maybe theyve got multiple lods but they're empty or something then?

Edited message to reflect what you said

[karmic blade]

What defines how far away model dissapears? I placed uss freedom next to it. Uss freedom disapeared once out if selected render distance. My model just after couple km was no longer visible.

[stuck oyster]

is your model made out of proxies?

(if yes, check few lines above)

[bold flare]

lod coefficient maybe, probably it just being too small on screen makes it disappear?

But if you only have one lod, the lod coef won't switch to a second one and make it invisible, you can try setting its feature type to mark it as "important"
https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/setFeatureType
you can also do that in model I think but dunno how

[stuck oyster]

I suspect its something very big and off screen

[plush trail]

Does anyone have a tutorial for model making

[stuck oyster]

Youtube has a lot

[plush trail]

for arma?

[stuck oyster]

Generic ones

[plush trail]

oh

[stuck oyster]

Must learn basics first

[plush trail]

I know some blender

made some bulletproof plates

for a friend that needed the items for a game

he wanted to make items for unturned

as a repair item for the vests he was making

[karmic blade]

I do not think so

[karmic blade]

I will look into that

[karmic blade]

Yes, it is as big as USS Freedom, it has no collision, just the model with texture. I wanted it to be in the background, however it dissapears rather quickly at range compared to other objects

[leaden sun]

if it's that big then it will need to be a landmark, not sure how that is done but heard of it in passing

[fierce snow]

could anyone explain how to define a hit sound in the Fire Geometry LOD? as ive understood it cant be defined within the config?

[stuck oyster]

it is in config. -> #arma3_config

[fierce snow]

Question.. to clarify, to make a billboard particle effect, i need to make a plane with ny transparent texture on it right? And it can be in _CA.paa? Also i just need a Geo lod?

Then save it normally as a p3d

[stuck oyster]

no

you need just a texture

in a way of a particle sheet

the billboard plane is already coded in the engine

it just reads a position on your texture sheet according to the config you give it

[fierce snow]

Aah

Thank you, this explains another experiment that failed

Basicly just frames like with oldschool sprites

And the coded plane makes sure its always facing the players view?

[stuck oyster]

something like that yes

[molten fractal]

How does one replace the lighting used in bulldozer?

[fierce rain]

Hello, i have a problem with a model.cfg. Can i ask it here? Or is it better to ask in #arma3_config ?

[stuck oyster]

this is fine

[fierce rain]

thank you 😄

i got the problem taht one model.cfg gives out this error while packing: cannot have an extern (class Default;} without a parent config that defines it

what dose that mean and how can i fix it?

[stuck oyster]

it means your model.cfg structure does not contain class default anywhere but your classes try to inherit from it

[fierce rain]

im trying to pack the mm_bank and the beginning of the model.cfg looks like this

class CfgSkeletons
{
class Default;
class Centrelink: Default

[stuck oyster]

why you pack mm bank?

aint that a mod already

[fierce rain]

the p3d needs to be binerized to pack my map with mikeros

mikeros tells me that error

when packing the map

[stuck oyster]

you saying its not binarized in the pbo?

[fierce rain]

oh wait taht was another mod

the mm_bank has only the default error

[stuck oyster]

all of those life building mods alwayas causing trouble 😅

[fierce rain]

so ture

xD

but waht can i do about it?

[stuck oyster]

Id suppose you could just delete the reference to class default from there

[fierce rain]

i removed every default in the model.cfg still get the same error

im so confused

[stuck oyster]

Im not super inclined to try to fix those mods. they are pretty horrible at times

check that you edited correct file

[fierce rain]

i checked

its stuperstrange

super strange

[blazing geyser]

https://images-ext-2.discordapp.net/external/LMsunalyFE1vIJ8CvjpBrHSdRk-Pty5KdC93c_QbxJU/https/i.gyazo.com/thumb/1200/fdc2dfa8534aac118b36dfd6831b5e3e-jpg.jpg?width=1442&height=910

mil-mi24 progress

I love it when I can't embed

[stuck oyster]

just post the gyazo link

this one is weird

[blazing geyser]

bruh its a discord link

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/820722891430559764/974997747394576414/fdc2dfa8534aac118b36dfd6831b5e3e-jpg_2.jpg

see

no bueno

even the regular embed no work

[stuck oyster]

Indeed. Embed is disabled for regular users. The latter link is good. It opens in browser

The other one wanted download

[blazing geyser]

dunno why, maybe because I did copy image instead of copy link

either way, can't show mil-mi24 progress 😔

[stuck oyster]

You can, just put down the links or make imgur gallery

No problem

[molten fractal]

My Bulldozer installation seems to use the configuration loaded from Arma 3\dta\bin.pbo instead of the one in P:\bin\config.cpp. I looked around in here and saw something about it being caused by installing Bulldozer with Arma3P. Was there a solution to that?

[stuck oyster]

you sure?

mine is setup with Arma3p and reads from P:\bin\config just fine

[molten fractal]

Yeah, my Bulldozer rpt shows it loading from the Arma 3 installation.

[stuck oyster]

what launch parameters do you use?

and have you done any buldozer setup with the arma tools launcher?

and which rpt?

Heres a buldozer lighting files for P:\bin

A3 configs injected with includes

so its easier to see where stuff goes

[molten fractal]

Not at my PC at the moment so I can't check the launch parameters but they're mostly the default ones.
I have configured bulldozer using the Arma tools launcher to change the graphics settings.
The rpt in the arma appdata folder is how I found out where it was loading from.

[stuck oyster]

d:\games\steam\steamapps\common\arma 3\arma3_x64.exe -buldozer -name=Buldozer -window -noLand -exThreads=0 -noAsserts -world=stratis -worldcfg=stratis -cfg=buldozer.cfg

this is how I run mine

and using the launcher can break stuff

who else wanted to see how this works

@marsh jewel was it u

[molten fractal]

Appreciate it.

Hmm, my launch parameters path to the bulldozer.exe from my p drive. Could that be the issue?

[stuck oyster]

thats the arma tools launcher P drive setup stuff

Arma3p would have removed dozer exe and point to the real arma exe

I dont really know how to make that work

[timber night]

I've created a model

What is the next step?

To getting it into the game

It's a hat.

[marsh jewel]

thank you

can you post the way to change time in bulldozer?

[polar fiber]

View>>Viewers>>Buldozer>>Environment Editor

[stuck oyster]

thats broken

[polar fiber]

it's a bit fucky to use though

[stuck oyster]

one can run script in dozer through here

and

running something like this:

[polar fiber]

With the environment editor, you have to click and hold a point on the timeline rather than drag the slider

But once you change the time, the zero point of the timeline changes

[polar fiber]

so it's kinda a case of clicking randomly and checking what the lighting is like

[stuck oyster]

changes time

I dunno why the lappihuans buldozer scripts for terrain builder dont work in OB but it is possible to run scripts in there

could probably inject some sort of shortcut using UI or something in there

but cant be bothered to write one xD

[ebon abyss]

PMC Editing Wiki: ArmA 3 Buldozer Lighting by HorribleGoat https://pmc.editing.wiki/doku.php?id=arma3:modeling:buldozer-lighting

[stuck oyster]

[marsh jewel]

thanks it works

ight so after several frustrating days i finally figured out the problem

when i first tried to do custom lighting, no matter how i setup the config cfg in P:\bin, it wouldnt work on the buldozer

[marsh jewel]

and then i tried to replace the config in P:\bin\ with goat's files here, still doesnt work

[stuck oyster]

[marsh jewel]

https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/202774-clutter-buldozer-and-you/
after reading this article again carefully, i found out that "Buldozer was reading "Arma 3 Steam Installation\dta\bin.pbo", or "P:\bin\config.cpp", if "Arma 3 Steam Installation\dta\bin.pbo" wasn't present."

just like aiglos above tested, my buldozer rpt was also loading from steam installation's bin pbo

so i removed, the bin pbo, put goat's files into P:\bin\ and boom custom lighting

[stuck oyster]

Right. Well you will need the steam file to run Arma 😅 I think this may be due to something ArmaTools buldozer install does. Maybe.

[marsh jewel]

next, about the time of day setting and environment editor, if you drag the slider, you will face a potentially epileptic seizure inducing strobe light by buldozer

but if you click the slider just like dar12thmonkey said, you can spam click 3-4 times a point in the slider, and it should switch between day/evening/night.

[marsh jewel]

however if you need a specific date and time of day, horriblegoat's script is perfect for it

[marsh jewel]

yeah its so weird, theres gotta be a file somewhere that tells buldozer where the steam install directory is

if we can overwrite that so that buldozer will switch to using P drive's config...

[stuck oyster]

Maybe @sturdy parcel might have a clue why buldozer would prefer the bin.pbo instead of p:\bin for config

[honest herald]

Hi ! I import my backpack, but this one is stretched down, i have been trying to fix it for 2 hours to no avail
Do you have any solutions ? thank you
https://imgur.com/2vO8SCJ

[stuck oyster]

your weighting is not right

[woeful viper]

no weight judging please

[sturdy parcel]

simple fact. the game's exe is being loaded, so it's gonna load it's own bin.pbo.

built into that engine is a fallback position of using a config.cpp if the pbo doesn't exist.

using filepatching parameters might fix the issue.

it's not clear to me what -worldcfg=stratis actually means.

if you hack at the bin config.cpp it's gonna get replaced, any time you run arma3p (or the bis equivalent)

i don't see the purpose of needing to use your own lighting when viewing a model.

[woeful viper]

i don't see the purpose of needing to use your own lighting when viewing a model.
Thats because you are not a modeller 😉 Tweaking rvmat without having to load up engine is a big benefit, and default lighting sucks/ is not representative of other maps

[sturdy parcel]

^thanx

[stuck oyster]

My buldozer runs from game exe but loads P:\bin\config

P drive setup just with arma3p, tools launcher touched only once to get the registry stuff

and yes p:\bin gets replaced with arma3p indeed

which is why I set up the simple include files so its easy to hack back in

[sturdy parcel]

well it's not clear to me why @marsh jewel needs to delete the bin.pbo..

[stuck oyster]

me neither xD

I would kinda think the launcher buldozer setup would also use purely P:\ files since it copies the arma exe as buldozer exe

@marsh jewel is your OB settings "path to textures" set as P: ?

[sturdy parcel]

agreed again. i was reading bum information

aaaaaaaaaaah

[stuck oyster]

could that affect it

like by default I think its blank

for some reason

Im not even sure if its blank for everyone to be honest xD

[sturdy parcel]

the most sensible thing i can do, is 😷

[stuck oyster]

🤣

quite

[tawny atlas]

anyone got a sample rvmat of the basic AAF officer? Are all uniform RVMATS basically the same?

[stuck oyster]

unpacked Arma data does contain them all

and no there is some variance in A3 rvmats

and different textures are used

[marsh jewel]

i was just presenting my case of the problem and a solution to make the custom lighting work
the preface of that bi forums thread confirms my findings

but hey i hope everyone else's buldozer always works perfectly and correctly run the config from P:\ instead of from the a3 steam installation like mine and that absolutely no one else will run into this problem ever 👍

[marsh jewel]

no its set to blank by default

[stuck oyster]

should be P:

that way your p3d texture paths will work

as \path\to\texture instead of P:\path\to\texture

latter being wrong for the engine

try that. could be it also affects buldozer in this case

[marsh jewel]

it already works like this even without the path to textures set to P

doesnt fix the buldozer tho

[stuck oyster]

could be related to the arma tools buldozer setup then

that is what we have different

[marsh jewel]

seems like it i just have the default arma3 tools install

[stuck oyster]

yes well I have not run any of the tools in there. they might do stuff

[fluid copper]

Is there any way to use the same model for multiple lods? What I mean is I want to have the model switch to a lod when you get far away but stay the same up until that point, ie having the first 3 lods be the same and the 4th be different. I dont want to copy past that first lod to the 2 following it though since it increases file size. Im curious if theres a way to fake it

[stuck oyster]

no

amount of lods does not affect the distance they switch

only the complexity

there is however a named property that affects the weighting of lod change

[woeful viper]

Faking it is stupid, because all you are doing is increasing file size (and size in RAM), while achieving absolutely nothing

[fluid copper]

Do you know the name of it or something else about it so I can research it some more?

[stuck oyster]

check out arma 3 named properties wiki page

[fluid copper]

alright, thanks!

[fluid copper]

I found "loddensitycoef" and set it to 70, no results unfortunately

Its not a big deal though, was just a minor thing I was hoping to solve

[rough idol]

are you sure you have applied that named property in geometry LOD?

[karmic blade]

Question, so I am trying to make kind of "cortana" kind of character. I was looking for ideas and found that Legion Studios has transparent armor for holograms looking like this: https://ibb.co/wBTc0ft
My question is. How does one make semi transparent armor. Obviously texture and rvmat. But does anything need to be done on model side of things etc?

[stuck oyster]

Just the texture and material need to be applied on the model.

[rough idol]

good luck with alpha sorting

[karmic blade]

is there a way to apply material using config instead of setting it in p3d?

[rough idol]

I would recommend to make selections for inner & outer selections so you can sort it easily afterwards

[karmic blade]

I should probably ask that in config_makers

[rough idol]

it is possible but transparency might not work if model was initial without transparent textures

[karmic blade]

I will try, I thought maybe I could just apply it on some base game stuff

[stuck oyster]

model will need _CA texture on it in the p3d for transparency to work right in hiddenselections

[fluid copper]

I applied it in the View lods as well as the Shadow lods

[stuck oyster]

@karmic blade best to keep this line of questions on 1 channel

[stuck oyster]

its geometry lod property

it affects the whole model

[fluid copper]

Oh ok, ill try that

[stuck oyster]

most named properties are in geometry lod as it acts sort of root for the model

[rough idol]

on the named properties page you have Usage LODs: section

[lime basin]

Hey, speaking of LODs, anyone know here how arma reforger does LODs? Seems there's no pilot / gunner view LOD, looks like now you can just hop in and out of vehicles, gigantic improvement btw

[flat ermine]

As far as I know just LOD0 of the vehicle is used for driver/passenger, same what you see if you are outside of the vehicle

[lime basin]

Cool, thanks 🙂

[woeful viper]

for now. It certainly makes sense for some vehicles to not display everything/ not to display their interior to the outside, so i imagine there should be some tech that enables it (if not now, then in future)

[flat ermine]

May I ask what situations you have in mind 🙂 ?

[woeful viper]

1. An APC with 12 passengers in full gear, when ramp is closed -> you can save a lot of performance if you hide the interior + passenger models
2. Making Vision Ports for Tanks (or other), that dont rely on Render to texture -> requires the interior model to look differnt than the actual outside world model. Although, if the RTT is performant and good enough, maybe its not necessary anymore?

3. Fully interior modelled tank or airplane -> makes no sense to render that for other people that cant see inside of it

for cars and trucks it doesnt make sense of course, because they are open and you cant hide anything at any time sensibly.

[flat ermine]

I will inquire with the team tomorrow cause I'd love to know too 👀 personally I haven't touched vehicles yet (except in arma 3 :D)

[rough idol]

lod1 can simple be without interior in such case

if you are close enough to see interior, then you see lod0

[valid gorge]

I’m working on own AFM file for my helicopter and when I switch to afm it floats off the ground, what actually controls where the ground contact point is in afm

[grave juniper]

Is there anyone who could make me a very simple model of a coin? Please dm me if you can

[quick terrace]

@grave juniper#creators_recruiting

[white jay]

Is there a way too check if there's an error in my model, my object builder crashes after i click the start in bulldozer

I made my model in blender and export via arma toolbox an when i check the model in object builder works fine but it crashes when i open bulldozer

[stuck oyster]

check the texture paths

likely broken path

if you have happened to set a relative filepath in blender (something like ......\file) then that will cause crash

[bitter kite]

I had this issue when my model was 2 complicated(too many vertices) worked fine ingame just not in bulldozer

[white jay]

yahh i removed the texture paths since its im still testing it, maybe heavy model?

[white jay]

yeahh i thinks this is it, too many vertices

i have 82,2589 verts

[stuck oyster]

how many verticles you got?

its on the heavy side but should still work

perhaps some untriangulated face

[white jay]

but when i pack it it gets errors, addon builder saids resut build code=1

[stuck oyster]

oof

[white jay]

checked the n=gons and its n=gones haha

should i just rework the model?

[stuck oyster]

possbily

[white jay]

damn

aight i'll just rebuild the model, thanks guys ❤️

[stuck oyster]

what is it?

the model

[bitter kite]

Mine started working again below i think it was 70k

[white jay]

GKN Sankey Simba

Idk if its APC or MRAP

[white jay]

Iooks ill keep the model lower hehe

[stuck oyster]

yeeh that is preetty high

[white jay]

Yepp specially the details i have to decimate alot of details haha

[white jay]

Is there a faster way how to model fire geometry 🥴 hahaha i know it might be impossible but i was hoping a quicker way 😅

[stuck oyster]

Faster than what?

[flat ermine]

Faster way is using one of the low resolution lods but depending on how it's made, that could work well or not at all 😄 (that's the difference between auto generated/reduced models and properly modeled LODs)

[wheat ledge]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/289868433229742091/976838110073724928/unknown.png

Anyone know why the mag and handguard would still be showing like this when I replaced the model with my C8A2?

[stuck oyster]

wrong channel.

it cant be this hard to pick one with reforger/enfusion in the name 😅

[wheat ledge]

oh shit hahaha

[small olive]

"Error creating Direct3D 11 graphical engine" anyone had this issue before when launching arma 3 diag.exe?

[small olive]

okay I just checked out arma 3 troubleshooting channel and it already has an answer

[bold flare]

I broke it :harold:

And you just reminded me i wanted to check today why that happened
Sets a reminder for tomorrow

[lusty ginkgo]

My buldozer is suddenly crashing, again. Seems every A3 update breaks it now for some reason. Crashes on every unbinned .p3d I have tried as well as a blank file in OB

Is there a way to re-install just buldozer without everything else in Arma3p?

[fierce snow]

Left row in the Arma Tools window, near bottom called «Project Drive Management» under Others.

[lusty ginkgo]

I mean the proper way

[subtle bison]

wow that might be why i am having buldozer issues lately as well

had to run arma3p 2 times already to fix it and it's so annoying

[lusty ginkgo]

I ended up fixing it by manually re-extracting the bin.pbo folder and the other dta stuff and moving it into place that way

I don't have time to run arma3p in it's entirety, not to mention the fact that it's unnecessary for small updates anyway

Never had any problems with this before, though. Only the last couple updates seem to have caused problems

[subtle bison]

yeah, running arma3p always takes forever

hope i will remember the bin.pbo thing for the next time

[worthy elbow]

Im hopping into VC now. If anyone needs help going through anything now is the time

[stuck oyster]

this is why tour P drive keeps vanishing I think

😅

[stuck oyster]

was there new arma update?

[stuck oyster]

I hope you dont extract the dubbing too XD

that is forever yeh

[subtle bison]

i had this before, because for some stuff it is useful. now i'm not doing it anymore

[lusty ginkgo]

I always do extract the dubbing and extra stuff about half the time with the weirdly worded question. Mikero updated it I think but I would always realize I did like half way through

[lusty ginkgo]

I had a new patch yesterday evening that downloaded, couple hundred megs.

I only assume it's that that caused the crashing because of the timing. Could be a coincidence I guess.

[stuck oyster]

at lest mine starts normally 🤔

[fierce snow]

Just gave him a way of beeing able to view his p3d, it will throw an error but it would work :p

Had the same issue yesterday but it was after everything got removed.

[stuck oyster]

[fierce snow]

All fine now tho, i always save to another hd. Learned the hard way. Nothing is safe in this world.

[fierce snow]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/722895149176324226/977277286413922365/Heimalden.gif

I wanted to test something different for this one, like is there a way of having more than one wreck for a model that is destroyed. And make it kinda random when hide/unhide. So that if i have 3 hitpoints like hit_top, hit_mid, hit_bot it will spawn a different or the set wreck for that selected hitpoint. A different version of the bottle if you know what i mean. Then after the wreck is then broken the same way as it normally would with thingx particles etc (same as before). That way it would be possible for a more (but still far away) realistic impact. And i could add to that again, like making paper bits of label fall down ++. Even spawn a wreck that is a pool of liquid that despawns under it. Whatever i do it just spawns my break parts, and one wreck. I cant kill that wreck again only hide it. Using hideDuration and timeBeforeHiding helped somewhat earlier for my destruction for delaying/instant hides etc. starting to get brainleaks again 🙈

[stuck oyster]

Im gonna suggest you move on to next thing. While this detail is cool, there will start to be performance issues

[junior saddle]

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have a turret gunner pose that is attached to the mainturret. It rotates with the turret, and the hands move with the controls. Part of the hatch animation involves moving the turret seat upwards towards the exit. The character does not move vertically. I am baffled, because I have other non-turret poses that move into place when turning in/out of tanks and canopy opening on aircraft. As a temporary test, I made the mainturret move vertically with the maingun controls, and the character was also moving with it. It seems to be attached/linked properly, but I think it only responds to mainturret and maingun animation sources.

[stuck oyster]

is the gunner part of the last animations or turret animation?

[junior saddle]

Um. If I understand correctly, his proxy is part of the named selection that is childed to mainturret. For the temporary test, it was included in the mainturret named selection. In both scenarios it rotates correctly with mainturret source.

this is just indicator that it's "attached," I guess.

[stuck oyster]

it needs to be part of the last moving bone you have in the chain you want it to move with

[junior saddle]

it is now, yes

the part that moves vertically is called gunner_pod, and the proxy is now part of that.

but no joy

[stuck oyster]

but the pod itself moves yes?

make sure the proxy is not part of any other selection that animates

[junior saddle]

incidentally, there is also gunyoke_yaw and gunyoke_pitch for the hands, which are child/grandchild of gunner_pod.

[stuck oyster]

and those also work?

[junior saddle]

Yes they work.

[stuck oyster]

does the proxy animate in buldozer?

[junior saddle]

when the pod moves upward his hands move, too, but his body remains in place.

[stuck oyster]

up and down with the seat

[junior saddle]

stretch armstrong

I haven't tested the proxy in Buldozer

do I extract proxy and test like that?

[stuck oyster]

no just look in buldozer if it moves with the intended animation

[junior saddle]

hmm... proxies don't show in buldozer, tho

[stuck oyster]

and seeing the triangle is enough

[junior saddle]

is there a setting?

[stuck oyster]

they do

?

unless its not pathed to any model I suppose

though I think it still should load as triangle

path it to some valid model and test

[junior saddle]

ok so with the path I see the character rig in the appropriate pose, but it does not move with the gunner_pod

it does move with the mainturret animation

[stuck oyster]

the selections might be wrong then

[junior saddle]

something was wrong. I deleted the old proxy and created a new one. Moves right along as it should

It was my last ditch effort, too

I've only ever made static poses. Any pointers on making the poses delay swapping in lieu / standing in for a proper animation? Once the pod is raised the gunner will be able to stand half-out of the turret hatch hole. I have the seating and standing poses, but no transition animations.

[stuck oyster]

what do you use to make the animations?

[junior saddle]

ahem...

OB

lol

I use the thumbtack to find the pivot and then rotate on that

I haven't taken the time to set up a CAT in 3DSMax yet

I did biped animations eons ago, but I have been shy with characters since.

I would assume that the keyframes in OB would at least instantly change poses set at different keyframes, if not morph. However, I'm not seeing any change. for the turnOut pose, it should start with the turned in (seated) pose and end with the standing one. It seems the hatches are hard coded to 1.0 second animation, so I put the last sit frame at 0.80000 and the stand at 1.00000. T pose is at -0.50000, and first sit frame is 0.00000.

what I get in actuality is not this. Instead, it just remains at the first sit pose. So maybe there should be a trigger or setting in movesmalesdr? IDK.

[stuck oyster]

Oof. Is all I can say. Years ago I've done animations in OB. Can't really recommend

Hatches animation goes from 0 to 1 yes but you should be able to alter the speed via your own animationSource

[valid gorge]

does anybody know of a way to get the exact coordinates of a memory point in object builder? I've tried the "measuring tool" and "current position" but they're not accurate

[junior saddle]

I have found the measuring tool to be accurate.

[junior saddle]

But once you import the rig into OB, it goes into keyframe, right?

I don't know if I need properties step/xstep... is there a ystep for vertical movement?

[valid gorge]

yes it goes to keyframe and i'm trying to get the coordinates of where the wheels sound contact the ground for AFM

also by any chance do you know how helicopter water effects and dust effects are handled because mine creates no dust and when the water effect works i basically have to be inside the water and i can sometime see the water effect above the helicopter

i inherit off Heli_Transport_01_base_F

[junior saddle]

It's always just automagically worked for me

either that or I didn't notice it being too close

I haven't messed with my choppers for quite some time.

[polar fiber]

If your helicopter has a roadway for walking inside it, it stops those effects working properly

[valid gorge]

It does have a roadway but there has to be a way to fix that cause the RHS chinook you can walk inside and it’s dust/water effects work fine

[polar fiber]

IIRC the roadway gets hidden at certain altitudes or above a minimum speed or if the ramp is closed. I forget which. Certainly the effects didn’t used to work on the ch53. We may have been lucky with the ch47

[valid gorge]

So what would you suggest I do?

[white jay]

Helpp my my wheel is shrinking when rotating in the bulldozer animation 😭

[stuck oyster]

your selections are not right

[white jay]

Wheel_1_1 is the whole wheel 1 right?

[stuck oyster]

commonly yes, depends how you have named them in your setup

[quartz prism]

Hi, I have a problem with my boat. It is going up when I start driving. Does anyone know how to avoid it?

https://i.imgur.com/rmnTqjG.jpeg

[tidal peak]

Can I have a pistol proxy on a uniform, or does it have to be in a vest?

[stuck oyster]

possibly too much boyancy

when you start it up the physics activate properly

[stuck oyster]

I think its vests only

[pine acorn]

Has anyone had issues with exporting models from blender (3.1) into p3d? The resulting file is 0 bytes

I'm using the blender tools for arma 3

[gray zealot]

yeah proxys aren't a thing i think

it's a possibility tho but it would be a vest attachment

[white jay]

I've done some reading on bohemia wiki, i dont get it, why is it in the arma 3 samples (test car 01) they dont have any selections for wheels in any lod naming "wheel_1_1" only dampers, steerings, hide, unhide, and wheel bound. How will it rotate if the wheels aren't selected?

[subtle bison]

i'm pretty sure pistol proxy is vest only, because if it would also work on the uniform, the engine wouldn't know in which to show the pistol (uniform or vest) if the player wears both

[stuck oyster]

The wheels are selected, the wheels hides are the last selections in the bone chain

[stuck oyster]

You have not set your object in blender with enabled Arma properties. Only objects with that get exported

[white jay]

@stuck oyster Do I need a model.cfg file for particle.p3d?

[stuck oyster]

whats particle.p3d?

and pls no need to ping me specifically

[white jay]

Ok

Model for the effect (for example, smoke or flare)

[white jay]

(Sorry, forgot to turn off ping)

[stuck oyster]

you dont need new p3d for it

you use the universal.p3d from arma data

[white jay]

Thanks

[white jay]

Flares can also not be changed?

[kind nacelle]

Dumb question, what would you consider a good polycount for an MBT and what would you consider to be the upper limited (lod0)

I know it's as low as possible of course but I want to have a ballpark so I know what and how much to simplify.
Please ping me if someone answers

[small olive]

@kind nacelle not sure about the upper limit but I can say 25-30k is okay for the average

[kind nacelle]

Oof, that's very low I guess

I think some people are pushing 100k on modern models

I guess I'll have to either aggressively simplify then, or just do agressive lods

[stuck oyster]

depends if you have visible interior or not

most modern tanks are have a lot of flat angular shapes, those usually take less polies as small surface details can be baked to normalmap

100k is pushing very high range of polies and will start to cost frames if many tanks are on screen

most of the time that is a bit excessive

[kind nacelle]

Hmm, say I have a 100k lod0 and then 50k lod1

Would that cause major issues?

[stuck oyster]

well likely your 100k lod would be seen quite rarely

and it takes a bit more memory

ultra model quality and close range with not much other stuff on screen

which can be totally fine

[kind nacelle]

😫 guess I'll have to bite the bullet and reduce the geo at least a bit

I hate baking down details

[polar fiber]

Depends on the tank. 60k-80k verts probably isn't unusual for a tank with lots of ERA, slat armour, and external mounted weapons and things. 100k is quite a lot though

[kind nacelle]

i see, thanks

yeah optimisation it is

cant wait to put this into enfusion tho

[desert notch]

is nonlinear model animation possible? For example I noticed that the precession animation of wind turbine propellers (in other words, rotating around the column) is periodic.
how is that possible?

you can see that the turbine rotates CW around the column at first, then reverses direction and becomes CCW

also according to the animationNames command this is done by only one animation

oh wait there's a sourceAddress="mirror"

that must be it

[rough idol]

mirror just go from 0 to 1 and then 1 to 0

it's not making anims non linear

[desert notch]

well that's what I meant by nonlinear 😅

but thanks anyway

[pine acorn]

Yes that got it to work, thanks!

[valid gorge]

does anybody know what tells AFM where the groundcontact is in the xml file? i thought it was " <MountStation x="1.754" y="5.665" z="-3.4"/>" under GroundContacts but even with my correct coordinates of where my wheels are my helicopter still floats like 3 meters off the ground and yes it has a memory point for RTD_Center

does it matter where the RTD_Center memory point is on the model?

nevermind i figured it out seems that the RTD_Center point is what controls where it touches

[lofty shadow]

nice rotor ^^

[rough idol]

mount station in xml is relative to rtd_center

[drowsy falcon]

i got a problem with a building someone in my team created some time ago and it had no problems since. I repositioned and rotated the building and suddenly the collisions/roadways in some areas dont work anymore. After rotating or moving the building again everything is fine. Does someone know what can lead to such a problem?

[stuck oyster]

How big building is it? What exactly does rotating and moving exactly mean?

[drowsy falcon]

The building is 72x61m with rotating and moving i mean changing the position and direction of it.

[stuck oyster]

thats going beyond safe dimension limits

you may need to split it into smaller parts

[drowsy falcon]

okay, thanks i will try it

[compact zenith]

Is there a good tutorial on how to make own vest models (so port an existing model into Arma). We're struggling fitting the vest to different positions (e.g. when leaning to the left, the vest clipps into the body, etc.)

[stuck oyster]

wheres the model from @compact zenith

[compact zenith]

cgtrader

btw. is there any differences between creating a vest and creating an uniform?
Maybe we will try this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqU3K9m2kMc if uniform and vest modding is the same

[stuck oyster]

it is practically same yes. weighting shape and position needs to be correct and fit the ArmaMan