arma3_texture

[near warren]

oh hmmm- it's too large at 1024x1024

awww hahaha

[severe swallow]

I'm having an issue with how glass is shown in game. I have a door with a window in it. By itself, when placed in the world, the door/the glass in it is rendered normally. However, I'm putting this door inside a building. The door and building are separate objects/models/configs, etc. Depending on where the door is placed, and the direction you are looking through it, the glass will disappear or not show over the part of the building it is in. But it will still work normally when looking at itself or another object or other parts of the building that are a separate object/model. Any ideas as to the cause?
I think its an rvmat issue, but I have no idea, textures aren't my thing.

[full quarry]

You need to do alpha sorting to get your glass surface on top of the alpha stack to render first

That's done on the mesh that has the glass applied

[severe swallow]

Is that just the "sort alpha" and "move to top" button in obj builder or is there a specific process? I thought I've done that a handful of times to no luck.

[full quarry]

Move to top

Yeah

The auto sorting is very unreliable

[severe swallow]

Unfortunately, moving the glass to top is not doing anything or fixing it. Is there another property or something that it could be instead?

[full quarry]

You can try add canNotOcclude named property into the door

It could also be the house is behind it just right to get occluded front the view.

Disclaimer. The engine is not exactly designed for parts building like this

[severe swallow]

No dice.

If its an engine limitation, then that's a shame.

I figured it was definitely some funkiness going on. Since it works when looking through the door towards the center of the building, but if you look increasing away from the center and at just the right angle it will cause the glass to disappear, despite the model not going to next LOD or anything. The best way to describe it is as if the game is swapping the render order in front of player from player>door>building to player>building>door.

[full quarry]

This is what I meant about the engine not meant for stuff like that

Normally doors are made as part of the big building.

[severe swallow]

Normally. Yes. That is probably the actual solution I need, but not the one I'm willing to do. It is what it is at this point.

[sudden glacier]

Does anyone know of a mod which replaces the white crosses in Spearhead with red ones?

[full quarry]

There isn't any.

[prisma furnace]

Hello, I hope you're all well. I apologize if this isn't included in this section. It turns out I'm creating my UNIT https://units.arma3.com/unit/-cots- but the corresponding insignia on the arm isn't showing up in the game. The strangest thing is that when I try to upload the logo, I get a message saying it's blocked or that something didn't go 100% right.

I'd like to know what's going on and how can I solve it? Initially, I uploaded the image based on the 512x512 size requirements, and now I've uploaded it to 400x400, but the same problem continues.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? I thought there was some restriction because I'm in Venezuela, but my co-founder, who is in Mexico, is also getting the same error. I'm leaving a test image so you can see what it's about.

I'd like some help with this.

[sudden glacier]

Is there a place on this discord where players can offer payment for the creation of a mod, which can be used privately?

[full quarry]

NO

paying for mod creation is not allowed

and anyone who offers you to do that is trying to scam you

the tools required for mod creation are non commercial

so their use can not be paid for

[sudden glacier]

Thanks for the clarification. So we can ask for people to either help or create one voluntarily?

[full quarry]

yes

scammers will be contacting you now though since you asked about paying

report those at #discord_tickets

[sudden glacier]

I know about cyber fraud and fraud, but thanks, appreciate it. If they do I will report them.

So, I’m looking for a civil conversation on the following topic if possible please: in a previous chat I asked about red cross medical signage and was greeted with what felt like patronising responses, but am keen to have a sensible exchange to understand the nuances instead of being shut down and told to ‘cope’ 🤣

I noticed a highly regarded Arma 3 mod on the workshop, KAT Medical, which actually reinstates the Red Cross but in the modern assets. So it looks more than possible and hasn’t been taken down. That and the IFA3 mod does this but for their own WWII assets. I am looking for a mod which I can use privately to reinstate the signage for the Spearhead CDLC which I know is not against copyright if its for private, non-commercial use and no-cost due to licensing.

My question is, if someone were to be able to create one, and it’s used privately; then you as a moderator (who clearly has the ear of BIS), would you say that is a problem, in theory? (I’m not looking for personal opinion).

[full quarry]

Using the red cross is not really allowed without explicit permission.

I dont know the details on how some other entity might have used it though

private use does not factor in at all.

and the moment you share something with others its no longer private

[sudden glacier]

Okay understood. Thanks for the further clarity

[severe rune]

"not against copyright"
But the red cross is about trademark rights and international humanitarian law.
That's a bit more complex than just copyright.
Also non-commercial use is not a factor for copyright, it might be a factor for whether they'd bother to sue you, but it doesn't make it any less of a violation.

[sudden glacier]

Thanks for the clarification.

[rancid obsidian]

Guys what's the vanilla resolution for Headgear and facewear icons?

[vital scarab]

Hello, i need some help, i did a retexturing on a spearhead unifrom, but i dont know how to implement the retexture in-game, and my config.cpp is all messed up

[frozen blade]

is there a way to export substance painter the working layers as a PSD file keeping blending modes etc

[dire stone]

Keep getting this error for some reason. I already have it in the load order

[dire stone]

Resolved it

[dawn bough]

How, correcting path?

[warped current]

Where do i apply a _ca transparant texture?

I've seen it work without a .rvmat, so not sure where to put it/assign it.

[full quarry]

it dont work well without rvmat

there is only one way to assign textures on mesh though

doen not matter if its co or ca

[warped current]

What stage would a _ca be?

[full quarry]

ca and co are assigned directly on the model

not through stages in rvmat

rvmat defines what shader the surface is drawn with

and what other technical textures the shader uses

like normalmap

[warped current]

I see. So if i were to have a transparency/opacity texture & a base texture, how would i assign them in OB?

I know about base color n all, just haven't worked with _ca's before.

[full quarry]

I would recommend assigning the textures in the source program

[warped current]

So Blender im assuming?

[full quarry]

if thats is what you use to make the model then yes

[warped current]

Like, base color > alpha?

[full quarry]

no

blender material or rendering has nothing to do with Arma

if you use blender and have the armatoolbox to export as p3d the blender materials tab has boxes to write down texture and material paths to be written into the p3d

[warped current]

Correct, which i use, but i still don't know how to assign opacity/transparency textures onto a .p3d.

Base Color > Alpha in shading works fine as i understand Blender for the most part, just don't know how to go about the Arma side of the process.

[full quarry]

whats the model from...

[warped current]

Friend of mine gave it to me.

[full quarry]

not good enough

find out

[warped current]

What do you mean?

[full quarry]

its most likely from some game

and can not be used

[warped current]

It's not, their made from scratch and are also being sold. Not ripped from a game.

[full quarry]

then he cant distribute it since he bought it not you

[warped current]

He sells them? He's the one that made them.

[full quarry]

you can DM me the page its sold at

[white apex]

Does anyone know the reasons why a png might not convert to a paa? I'm working through flags and for some reason one in particular is having an issue but I don't know why

Nevermind. Renaming it to remove a special character fixed it, though it didn't have an issue with a different one so I have no idea what's going on

[brittle rivet]

Probably the conversion tool doesn't like some characters
Best practice to avoid issues with characters is use only ascii characters for filenames

[stray relic]

Yes, automatic LOD switching occurs when your PC can't handle the load.
Sometimes you see low poly res LOD's when you first spawn in, then they switch to the high poly.
Try lowering your video settings 1 notch. In particular, shadow distance, particle quality, view distance and number of AI can have an effect on load.

[full quarry]

no possible to turn it off

some mods may be made without proper optimization and their assets can be very perfomance demanding.

nothing you can do about it but try to figure out if any mod specifically causes it

[dense peak]

I need help with the .rvmat file. I have basecolor, emissive, and normal maps. How can I combine them using an .rvmat file?

[full quarry]

there are few wiki pages about rvmat and texture naming rules you can check out.
Then there are example rvmats in P:\a3\data_f\ if your P drive is set up correctly.

normally you dont really use emissive texture in arma rvmats. there is one special case for that but it is rarely used.

rvmat has different amount of "stages" depening on what shader type it is set to use

and all stages a shader uses need to be present with either default procedural color (see the default rvmats) or reference to a texture file

color is assigned to the model straight. other textures are used by the rvmat

[abstract umbra]

any idea how i can get these lens flare effect textures from arma 3?

[full quarry]

to put where?

[abstract umbra]

nowhere, i just want to get them to edit them

[full quarry]

I think its procedurally generated and not a texture that can be edited

[dense peak]

I briefly looked at the wiki page, but I didn’t understand it. It seems that emissive textures cannot be used directly, and can only be set like this: emmisive[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0 };.
But what about normal maps? How do I import them?
Please give me a simple example configuration. I know nothing about rvmat.

[full quarry]

yes like I said normal rvmats dont use emmissive and if a thing needs emmissive rmvat it is typically split into its own mesh and given emmissive rvmat . like glowing ironsight post spots are usually spearate mesh that has emmissive rvmat

the default rvmats in the mentioned folder show plain neutral values you can edit further

(rvmats being text files)

super shader is the most commonly used and default_super.rvmat can be used as a base

each stage has neutral procedural texture set you can switch to path to your texture when you enable said stage

and the procedural texture lines are marked with the _suffix of that texture (texture naming rules wiki page)

[dense peak]

So in Arma 3, is it possible to directly import an emissive.paa?
And if so, how can I do it?

[full quarry]

lets approach this from the direction of what you try to do

as like I said the use of emmisive mask is rare and might not be suitable for your use case

and since you dont know rvmats, its better to explain what you try to achieve/make instead of get stuck in approach you think you need

[dense peak]

This is a simple particle sprite sheet I exported from UE5.
I want to import it into Arma 3. Since emissive.paa cannot be used, I will just discard it.

I already know how to import basecolor.paa alone (by not using any .rvmat file).
However, I don’t know how to combine basecolor.paa and normal.paa in Arma 3.
How can I make them work together?

[full quarry]

ah ok you are in wrong direction

this is why its good to explain what you try to do first

particle effects are their own thing

and your effect is not made right as it does not have transparency

"basecolor" is not quite the right thing for Arma

Arma uses color or color with alpha _CO or _CA suffixed color textures

suffixes are important for source -> PAA conversion and need to be present in source file name

[severe rune]

Since emissive.paa cannot be used
Why can it not?
I'd think SuperExt shader should also work on particle effects, if you can provide a rvmat?

[full quarry]

normal particles use the shared universal.p3d shape so they dont have separate parameter to assign rvmat

maybe with custom shape p3d one could assign superExt on it too but for particle like this I dont see it as very useful since explosion would be fully lit anyway right

and the "non lit" parts would be transparent

I do not have any clue what rvmats particles would accept though

[dense peak]

Sorry, I’m a beginner and didn’t fully understand your explanation.
I had to use ChatGPT to help me interpret your answer.
ChatGPT said that what you meant is:
Normal maps and emissive maps can’t be used — only basecolor maps can be used.
Is that correct?

[full quarry]

normally when one makes particles it is only a texture with transparency

I would start from that since you dont have experience with it

for example vanilla explosion texture

chatgpt is the worst so be very careful with using that

or preferably dont

but ask clarification if you dont understand something

gpt cant think, it just makes guesses

and those can be very wrong

[dense peak]

#define ARMA

ambient[] = {0.5,0.5,0.5,1.0};
diffuse[] = {0.34,0.4,0.4,1.0};
forcedDiffuse[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0};
emmisive[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0};
specular[] = {1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0};
specularPower = 1.0;
PixelShaderID = "NormalMapDetailSpecularMap";
VertexShaderID = "NormalMap";
class Stage1
{
texture = "a3\rocks_f\data\decal_crater_nohq.paa";
uvSource = "tex";
class uvTransform
{
aside[] = {1.0,0.0,0.0};
up[] = {0.0,1.0,0.0};
dir[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0};
pos[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0};
};
};
class Stage2
{
texture = "a3\rocks_f\data\decal_rock_dark_dt.paa";
uvSource = "tex";
class uvTransform
{
aside[] = {16.0,0.0,0.0};
up[] = {0.0,16.0,0.0};
dir[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0};
pos[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0};
};
};
class Stage3
{
texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1.0,0.0,1.0,1.0,SM)";
uvSource = "tex";
class uvTransform
{
aside[] = {1.0,0.0,0.0};
up[] = {0.0,1.0,0.0};
dir[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0};
pos[] = {0.0,0.0,0.0};
};
};
I don’t know how to configure it, so I don’t have an .rvmat file yet.
But I do have a sample file.
Please tell me how to modify it.

Let’s assume the three textures are named:
basecolor.paa, emissive.paa, and normal.paa.

[full quarry]

I see you didnt want to listen to my advice.

[dense peak]

No, I want to hear your advice, but brainstorming together is better, isn’t it?

[full quarry]

in case of particles, probably not.
your particle color texture is not even right yet and you are hung up on the emmissivity which you probably dont even need.

[dense peak]

I have used the original explosion textures before, and I even opened the original explosion .p3d files.
I found that the original ones do not use .rvmat files.

[full quarry]

is there some reason you think you need the emmissive texture then? why not just do it like the original design?

[dense peak]

The original textures have low resolution and few animation frames, which is why the Blastcore mod appeared, right?
But now, the textures used by Blastcore are also outdated, not clear enough, and there are few types.
So I want to import new ones.

[full quarry]

but those are also made with the default method right? so is there reason you want the emmissive texture?

[dense peak]

Emissive textures are very useful for particle effects at night.

[dense peak]

Explosions in Arma 3 basically have no lighting effects at night.

[full quarry]

but they are not used in normal particles

and it might be it does not even work.

anyway

for this kind of texture

you dont need emmissive texture since you can just use the emmissive property

but you would need to make custom particle model too to assign that rvmat on to

[dense peak]

I know particles have an emissive parameter, but how can I obtain the correct emissive color values and brightness multiplier from the emissive.paa texture?

[full quarry]

well with the parameter you cant. it applies to whole surface the rvmat is applied to

or the particle effect emmissive parameter applies on whole particle as well

transparency of the pixel can be used to modify it Id suppose

I would recommend first making your explosion texture properly with correct transparency

then testing it in game with the default particle way and giving it the emmissivity throught he particle config

and see how that looks

[dense peak]

This is the sheet you mentioned with correct transparency, right? The original exported image is too large, and Discord seems unable to display it, so I took a screenshot here instead.

[dense peak]

I have another question — does Arma 3 fail to load .paa files larger than 5MB? I think I’ve encountered this issue before.

[full quarry]

no that kind of size is not an issue

the resolution might be wrong though

needs to be power of 2

and max 4096x4096 px

[dense peak]

Ah, 4096 is probably the reason causing the issue.

[full quarry]

I dont know if that black is transparent. Usually I dont think transparency shows like that

[dense peak]

You're right — my image did not have a transparent background. It took me some time to figure out how to export a truly transparent image. Anyway, I imported it into the game and tested dedman's method, but it didn't work.

Now I'm wondering:
When exactly does this part of the RVMAT take effect?

class Stage8
{
texture = "z\wolf\addons\wolflogo\tex\wolflogo_em.paa";
texGen = 0;
};
It should work with any image, right? After all, both particles and other materials are essentially using images.

Is it that the engine's particle system intentionally disables the shader stage that class Stage8 refers to?

[full quarry]

try the maerial on some simple cube as placeable object

it is completely possible billboard type particle dont use rvmat at all

since the game files dont have specific rvmat applied on them

[dense peak]

I think your guess is correct — the particle system simply ignores the RVMAT file, because I set:

cpp
复制
编辑
emmisive[] = {10000, 10000, 10000, 10000};
but there was still no visible glow at all.

However, when I changed the particle .p3d into a placeable object, the explosion image still didn’t emit light in the dark. Why is that?

[dense peak]

ambient[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
diffuse[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
forcedDiffuse[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0 };
emmisive[] = { 10000, 10000, 10000, 10000 };
specular[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
specularPower = 100;

pixelShaderID = "SuperExt";
vertexShaderID = "Super";

class TexGen0 {
uvSource = "tex";
class uvTransform {
aside[] = { 1, 0, 0 };
up[] = { 0, 1, 0 };
dir[] = { 0, 0, 1 };
pos[] = { 0, 0, 0 };
};
};

class TexGen1 {
uvSource = "none";
};

class Stage1 {
texture = "fxp_adat\universal\data\TT_added_explosion_01\TT_added_explosion_01_Normal.paa";
texGen = 0;
};

class Stage2 {
texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,DT)";
texGen = 0;
};

class Stage3 {
texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,MC)";
texGen = 0;
};

class Stage6 {
texture = "#(ai,64,64,1)fresnel(1.29,0.01)";
texGen = 1;
};

class Stage7 {
texture = "a3\data_f\env_co.paa";
texGen = 0;
};

class Stage8 {
texture = "fxp_adat\universal\data\TT_added_explosion_01\TT_added_explosion_01_Emissive.paa";
texGen = 0;
};
Can you take a look at my RVMAT file and see if there's anything wrong with it?

[full quarry]

try plain super

not super ext

[dense peak]

Nope, this time even the original flame color disappeared — it turned completely black.

[dense peak]

And there were no errors in the RPT file.

[full quarry]

probably something broke in the rvmat

the stages need to be right

[dense peak]

Do you think this is what a correct emissive texture should look like?

[dense peak]

After exporting the background using my improved method, it’s still black, but the basecolor exported with this method has a properly transparent background.

[full quarry]

the normal super shader would not have that emmissive stage but it should take the emmissive parameter values and apply to all visible color pixels on the texture

the superExt is more tricky

[cedar lichen]

don't particles have their own emissive handling

like its part of the color array iirc

iirc negative alpha is what controls the brightness

[dense peak]

Sorry, I just realized that the previous method actually worked, because if you look at my in-game screenshot and the emissive texture I sent, it’s not the same as the basecolor one.

[dense peak]

The former is the emissive texture, and the latter is the basecolor texture, for comparison.

[dense peak]

Is there any parameter in this Stage8 that can adjust the emissive brightness? I want to modify one and confirm this conclusion.

[dense peak]

"Please explain in more detail. Are you saying that something like emmisive[] = { -1000000, -1000000, -1000000, -1000000 }; controls the brightness?

[cedar lichen]

    class SmallDestructionFire: Default
    {
        color[] = {{1,0.8,0.8,-80},{1,0.8,0.8,-80},{0,0,0,0}};
    };

[cedar lichen]

emissiveColor also exists, see: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ParticleArray

[dense peak]

I know, but that’s not the cause of the problem. We're try to solve it from the texture side instead of the particle parameters, because particle parameters can only make the entire particle glow — they can’t make only a specific part of the particle emissive.

[cedar lichen]

ah I missed that part of it

[calm tangle]

I definitely cannot find a proper yellow to make a good gold color with textures. I only get the right color with a gold rvmat. When using textures its never as bright as the rvmat

[full quarry]

shine of gold is not really possible to properly mimic by static color

I would separate the metals for different rvmats

[full quarry]

I mean in a way that it works in dynamic lighting

of course a static picture can be drawn but it wont work when light changes

[calm tangle]

i think that's the only solution

[dim night]

Had a question regarding the static carrier from the Jets DLC. I've been trying to change the flag behind the island. I've looked through the game files and found most of the carrier's textures, but not the flag or the variety of letters and the "Beware of jet blast propellers and rotors" text

Is it stored somewhere else? That would seem a bit weird...
Thanks in advance

[neat cape]

if im right the flag is a added own object which has a own class name cause these ships are done with various components cause of its size (size limit of collision etc engine related)

[dim night]

Yeah, figured as much, but it seems kinda weird with pretty much every decal being stored there

[broken berry]

Hi all, I'm looking for some help with fitting an image into the large display screen ( briefing room screen Land_BriefingRoomScreen_01_F) but I can't get the dimensions of my image correct to fit. Does anyone know what size an image needs to be to fit correctly into this object?

[lethal condor]

x:y = 2:1

[broken berry]

I'll give that a go. Thanks

[lethal condor]

Keep it mind A3 only accepts n^2 resolution tex

2, 4, 8, 16 ... 4096

[broken berry]

I've resolved my issue. I had to go wider on the image in order to get the bit I needed. Cheers for your help.

[dire stone]

Retextured uniform is reverting to its previous texture. Can anyone give a helping hand?

[stray relic]

Check whether you are inheriting an EventHandler uniform randomiser by looking in-game config viewer.
Your path still doesn't look right (with an \addons) and the texture should be suffixed with _co.

[sudden harbor]

any blue dpm camo here?

[full quarry]

nope

[sudden harbor]

Alr

[dire stone]

Keep on getting these errors thrown at me, I`ve already mentioned both in required addons

[brittle rivet]

These links might help, there's a flat-ish fabric piece in both
https://iacmc.forumotion.com/t12706-blue-dpm post 14
https://www.joint-forces.com/kit-camo/30955-uk-opfor-blue-disruptive-pattern-material about halfway down
You might have success making it by taking regular 4-colour dpm and recolouring the swatch using GIMP (or other image editor)
Also this, https://www.deviantart.com/milosh--andrich/art/DPM-camouflage-529303708, a large swatch someone recreated

[brittle rivet]

Have you done P: drive setup using mikero's arma3p?
pboProject requires the files unpacked at the appropriate path as far as I remember

[sudden harbor]

👍

[dire stone]

Fixed the a3 one but still nothing on the simc one

[full quarry]

mods dont extract to P drive automatically

you would have to do that manually or create a dymmy file that fools the check

[dire stone]

I`ve made a dummy file but still throwing the error

Got it working although the texture still is what i want it to be

[merry stream]

Hello, what application can I use for texturing?

[full quarry]

what kind of texturing?

[dire stone]

Anyone a clue why the texture would turn from translucent to black when brought ingame?

[full quarry]

not saved properly with alpha channel and not using correct naming _suffix before converting to .PAA

[stray relic]

naming _suffix.... it's been mentioned to you quite a number of times

[full quarry]

nooooooo not that many

[dire stone]

Im a slow learner 🥀

[full quarry]

its alright. its lot to learn.

[dire stone]

CA is the correct one?

[full quarry]

yes

[dire stone]

Still nothing

[full quarry]

whats the source file format?

[dire stone]

For what exactly

[full quarry]

the texture

[dire stone]

png

[full quarry]

is this custom uniform you make or retexture?

@dire stone

[dire stone]

Retexture of an S&S Uniform

[full quarry]

it is possible the original model is not made with those parts transparent so they can not become transparent now

[dire stone]

Indeed

They were originally a nametag

[full quarry]

then you cant do much

maybe fake the black to look like fabric

[dire stone]

Thats what i was thinking

I`ll just crop the fabric for it from the original texture

[misty sphinx]

Hey all, when I apply a normal texture to my model in Object Builder it works fine, when I attach my RVMAT it goes black

ambient[]      = {1,1,1,1};
diffuse[]      = {1,1,1,1};
forcedDiffuse[] = {0,0,0,0};
emmisive[]     = {0,0,0,1};
specular[]     = {0.5,0.5,0.5,1};
specularPower  = 50;
PixelShaderID  = "Super";
VertexShaderID = "Super";

class Stage1
{
    texture  = "TestAR_co.paa";    
    uvSource = "tex";
};
class Stage2
{
    texture  = "TestAR_nohq.paa";
    uvSource = "tex";
};
class Stage3
{
    texture  = "TestAR_smdi.paa";
    uvSource = "tex";
};

[dawn bough]

Texture path should be a full path.

[misty sphinx]

It is the full P Drive path, but still showing the error

[vague iron]

not yet as I see

you can export into .PSD but with flattened channels

well, yeah, pretty much useless

[stray relic]

That's not a valid super shader rvmat.
It should have 7 stages.
Details: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Super_shader

[misty sphinx]

Thanks, is my directories correct, saying it cant find the file in game, but PboProject throws no errors during building

[stray relic]

You are referring to the rvmat inside Object Builder right? So that's where to look first.
Check if OB is finding the file.

[misty sphinx]

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";
class Stage1
{
  texture = "\ws_test_weapon\TestAR_co.paa";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage2
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,0.5,DT)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage3
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,MC)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage4
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1,AS)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage5
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,0,1,0,SMDI)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage6
{
  texture = "#(ai,64,64,1)fresnel(0.4,0.2)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage7
{
  texture = "a3\data_f\env_land_co.paa";
  useWorldEnvMap = "true";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class StageTI
{
  texture = "a3\data_f\default_vehicle_ti_ca.paa";
};

So I copied the Default from that wiki link and changed stage 1 to my co texture, now its appearing a base white

[stray relic]

Stage 1 in the wiki is for normal maps. So why are you changing it to a diffuse and expecting it to work?

[misty sphinx]

I'll re-read the documentation now, I thought it was the diffuse

[stray relic]

Your diffuse TestAR_co.paa is directly set in object builder on the mesh, along with the material TextAR.rvmat.
The rvmat then links in the nohq, smdi and as textures that you might create, along with other lighting stages.

[frozen blade]

hmmm...i've searches for it it seems there is no way to switch between any of these, you can only export them textures and that,s about it

[raven wren]

Just to carry on from this, using renderFlags[] = {"NoZWrite"}; in the glass rvmat is what causes this but its also the solution to the problem seen on the lights in the attatched image. Whereby when something with alpha is inside another object it makes the alpha render the kind of buldozer default blue/grey.

I went through all the renderflags I could find on the WIKI and on here and unfortunately the only fix is using NoZWrite which sometimes displays the glass correctly but it gets a lil confused at differing angles and then doesn't render it, instead rendering the surface behind the alpha first. I don't believe there is a fix for this and its just an engine limitation.

If anyone knows of a fix, LMK 🙂

[severe swallow]

yup. Its basically an engine limitation. There is no fix. The choices are either not using objects with CA textures inside another object or just live with it.

Its been a bit but if I recall correctly, the NoZwrite isn't the problem. It happens without it. But as you said, its a solution that only works in specific angles/distances/locations.

[full quarry]

make the glass parts separate proxy objects

[raven wren]

Interesting, and that forces them to be rendered on top?

[full quarry]

for some things it can help with rendering issues

[full quarry]

or actually before you do that

have you sorted the alpha surfaces in order?

[raven wren]

Yes I have

It works perfectly fine outside of another structure

It’s just when placed inside one

But like I said using no write z fixed the blue grey on my screenshot but now renders the object behind that weapon rack infront of the glass part

[full quarry]

what rvmat does the structure its inside use?

multimaterial?

does the wall surface have alpha channel removed from the texture?

[raven wren]

Not currently a multimat just a standard supershader, but it also occurs in basegame buildings using multimats like the atc tower on stratus

I’m not sure about the alpha channel on the wall for the base game stuff but the structure that’s mine is a co texture with no transparency

[upper thicket]

what is the correct part in Stage7 for rvmat that will show the enviroment for something reflective? This is wat I have but also could be a object builder viewer problem

class Stage7
{
    texture="a3\data_f\env_co.paa";
    useWorldEnvMap="true";
    uvSource="tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[]={1,0,0};
        up[]={0,1,0};
        dir[]={0,0,0};
        pos[]={0,0,0};
    };
};

[full quarry]

Did you compare to the defaul_super.rvmat

[upper thicket]

oh where is that at?

[full quarry]

P:\a3\data_f\

[upper thicket]

oh okay I see, okay I got the same as it

well almost the same

[clear pilot]

Little question about what's possible. Can you make reflective surfaces?

You can surely turn certain colors up a lot, but achieving that reflective effect would be nice

[full quarry]

shiny yes, realtime reflective, no

like shiny chrome look is possible

but mirror not as much

[clear pilot]

Ah, gotcha

Dont mean like mirror, but with VS 17 panels and such. I find the existent mods too dull to notice them.

Oh and, would you be possible to make it more noticable under NVGs? A3TI uses different textures for their thermals, would you be able to do that with NV?

[full quarry]

difficult

and not completely realistic

compromises have to be made

what the exsiting mods do is likely about as much you can do

[clear pilot]

You mean the IR reflective part or the other one?

[full quarry]

as a whole

[clear pilot]

I mean the VS 17 should be IR reflective afaik

They currently dont stand out at all

At day you can still kinda make them out due to the extreme color values, but at night, not a chance

Maybe instead of making them reflective, you could make them a bit shiny under IR

IR shininess might be nice. Perhaps something to bother Dedmen with

[smoky granite]

Is there an easy way to add a subtle 'fabric' texture to a uniform? I figure I'd have to edit the uv map, but I'm not super sure where to begin

[full quarry]

Uniform you are making?

Uv map has not really much to do with that, it mainly defines what areas of a texture are drawn or parts of the model

[smoky granite]

At the minute, I'm just re-texturing vanilla uniforms. They've got a lot of good detail, but mine tend to look a little... plasticky.

Maybe I'm confusing uv map with normal map? Whatever it is that makes the 'illusion' of height or texture

[full quarry]

Texturing is a bit different part of the process

[full quarry]

That is normal map yes.

However editing that in image form is very difficult

[smoky granite]

yeah, I've found that, hah

[full quarry]

As normal map contains directional data

And uvmapping is not usually all in same orientation

So different pieces would need any pattern separately aligned on top to match the direction

Also normalmap often has detail like wrinkles that would be very difficult to draw over in natural way.

Usually people just apply recoloring and not try to change the material look.

[smoky granite]

hm... yeah, I see. I was having issues similar to what you're describing. I was just hoping to make the texture look a little more detailed. It looks fine now, but I've seen some nice additions before and wanted to see if I could pull that off

[cedar zephyr]

Somehow the reticial in the optics became blur, I used fixed this issue but I forgot how, anyone still remember how to fix it?

[lethal condor]

Disable DOF

[glass lake]

Hello guys, not sure where to post that, but i'm currently developping an external tool for Arma, but I need the original textures files of the map marker and Otan marker. Do you have any idea of where I could find those? Thank you in advance.

[clear sapphire]

Map icon textures are in ui_f_data.pbo >> map >> 'whateversubfolderyouwant'

[glass lake]

thank you 😃

[manic roost]

And how can I understand the _CO _SMDI ending?
I mean its obvious tha _CO = _Colour

But what about the rest? Is there a list or a .paa Wiki?

Is Arma3 even capable to render texture maping like displacement?

Thats my first creation
Can anyone detect some issues? Because if I apply it,
it wont show up on the visualLOD

found something: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Texture_Map_Types

[manic roost]

Okay next step, Ive learned about .rvmat and that its the heart of all textures beacuse it defines
everything and send it to the engine.

Is there a way to read default_super.rvmat with notepad++? Or a reason why it wont work default?
got the input from default.rvmat but from the wiki -> https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Rvmat_File_Format, still need to read .rvmat files

[manic roost]

Hey there again, .rvmat solved, now Im into the config.cpp
I saw that Im able to present a preview picture and wanted to go on
but somewhy the converter wont accept my picture:

Is there a console to look at or someone who can call me the major mistake Ive done?

Its getting weirder

[full quarry]

jpg not good source format. dont use that

and your image resolutions are probably wrong

[manic roost]

Copy

There can be a wrong resulution?

Found it in https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ImageToPAA

[manic roost]

Ive now did a pic on 1024x1024 -> error
and then with 256x256 -> error

What to do now? It worked as png

[manic roost]

Im into reading this https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Multimaterial at the moment

Can someone explain in its own words what TexGen is and what it does?

What is ment with LERP?

[ashen violet]

Save that image as a png and then convert that to a paa, don’t forget proper naming conventions for the textures before converting.

[manic roost]

I did named it _CO for color

Im looking for the list that explain all the endings

Does the .paa also generate displacement maps from the color map?
Or can it only convert an already existing displacement map?

[ashen violet]

Displacement? Do you mean texture normal ? If so then you have to convert existing normals

[manic roost]

Thats a displacement map. For cuts and stuff that need "hight"

Can someone say me what is:
"TexGen1 etc."
"uvSource = "tex" "
Does it stand in any connection?

[lethal condor]

Displacement is not supported

[wooden lantern]

Parallax is the only supported texture

_nopx

directx normal rgb and alpha parallax texture

[manic roost]

Can someone give me an example of an _mask texture?

And can someone say me how to create it if I want to use it?
source: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Texture_Map_Types

[wooden lantern]

it might be more helpful if you say what you’re trying to accomplish rather than ask about random specific things

bc there’s a pretty likely chance you’ll never need to make a mask

[manic roost]

I want to learn about random specific things that arent well explained in wikis or forums

[wooden lantern]

if they aren’t well explained there then ur not going to get a good explanation usually

unless some random person who’s done it pops into here

[manic roost]

My hope haha

[wooden lantern]

so what are you trying to accomplish with a mask texture?

[manic roost]

today I randomly found a tut playlist of the bw-mod team member

[manic roost]

I want to learn about the diffrent texture maps in DigitalReality because I learnt them in Blender with _NormalDX _Metalness

[wooden lantern]

gang ur only using a mask texture if you’re using the multimaterial shader, which is only used occasionally on stuff like buildings and even then the super shader is better

look at the super shader, that’s the one ur going to be using 90% of the time

[manic roost]

Im into walking from Blender to Arma

[wooden lantern]

are you familiar with substance painter for texturing

[manic roost]

Thats the way I usually would try this shader thing, (.rvmat Im also new new bambi new into this)
where can I find some intel about super shader? Is it a map?

[wooden lantern]

It’s a shader not a map

hence super shader 😭

just look at the wiki page titled super shader and the other one titled rvmat basics

[manic roost]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Super_shader
That was easy

Sorry lol

My next question is:
What are smdi textures?

Got it

[wooden lantern]

surprise it’s on the wiki page lmao

[manic roost]

hehehe

I learned about that

But my browser eats all those tabs

[full quarry]

only on terrain rvmat

[wooden lantern]

ye

that’s a terrain texture so I figured 😭

tileable texture from one of the best websites for free ones

https://ambientcg.com/view?id=Rock022 ambient cg is so nice

[full quarry]

it wont work with objects though

@manic roost for objects you would do just normalmap with _nohq suffix

[manic roost]

Wait a second @full quarry, you wanna tell me that I insert a normal .png in ruleset of the .paaConverter and add
the suffix _nohq to it and the .paaConverter genarate the texture map on his own?

Mindblowing.

Its not an converter. Its an generator.

[full quarry]

no

its just a converter

it wont make you a normalmap

that you have to do yourself with some other program

[manic roost]

https://tenor.com/view/mr-bean-gif-23140940

[full quarry]

this is not a valid normalmap

[manic roost]

I really like the fact that the map I never heart from convert itself

[full quarry]

[wooden lantern]

😭 we mod in a society

[full quarry]

go to sleep

you have stopped reading what I say

[manic roost]

Thats really really true

I wanted to go to bed 4 hours ago. Its 3.10 am in germany..

Ive got sucked into progress after a long time of dry learning 😄

[full quarry]

I can mute you for the night if that helps

you really need to go.

[manic roost]

I can do this on my own 😄
Good night and thanks for all that help to @wooden lantern/ @full quarry

[wooden lantern]

https://tenor.com/view/standing-on-top-enlightened-enlightenment-windy-wind-gif-18416422945658579589

[manic roost]

**# ❤️ **

[full quarry]

progress is nice but you need to also remember stuff tomorrow.

[manic roost]

Hey there, another learning session and progressing
I would like to get some support about Bakin Normal Maps in Blender
I already got some first ressults wich Ive attached to the post.

I know thats a wrong normal map thats the reason why Im here.
Can someone say me what the "Baking" progress is and how it slightly
works so I can give it the best conditions for the process

[full quarry]

youll find basic modeling tutorials from youtube that cover things like this

best use those

for object like this you would not bake normalmap

and geometry lod does not have textures

[manic roost]

Thats what the .paa converter does

[full quarry]

yes that is correct

[manic roost]

Thats my lates try with an diffrent object. That looks more correct

So its the way I bake it

[full quarry]

your source texture looks like that

[full quarry]

does not look like it here

[manic roost]

Im just still a bit confused what the converter does if I add those endings. (in detail)
I got that it add Arma needed or specific things to the already existing map.

correct me when wrong

[manic roost]

The .paa converter added one single line on the top bar of the "C".

Thats exactly what my further question ment to ask haha
So why did the .paa converter added this single line and what
does it mean in detail for the other cases.

[full quarry]

it converts the source image to paa file

[manic roost]

Okay got it, so its part of the .paa file.
Why isnt important for the beginning. Thats just a way
I want to avoid future issues in generating textures and
maybe speeding up the learning

Btw the reason why Ive returned shit from Blender has to be something with the positioning between object and baker

[full quarry]

no its important

do go invent your own procedures

[manic roost]

So why did the .paa converter add this single line in case of normal map converting?

[full quarry]

I dont know what line you talk about

[manic roost]

It was a resulution thing. Blender added the line during baking

Left: .paa Converter | Right: Blender.png

[full quarry]

you dont really have any normalmap data in that picture

its just the base 0 color

I would recommend setting anything Arma related to the side until you have the basic modeling and texturing things in Blender understood

you jump too much

[manic roost]

Thats how I returned that result

I gues its the positioning of objects in the 3D space

Let me show you the case of the other images so you maybe can tell me something
about how to positiong Baker&Object to each other

Thats how Ive done it with the "HaufenScheisse" -> "PieceOfShit"

[manic roost]

Are those object not close enough to each other or what leads to the Base color 0?

Those are my baking settings

[manic roost]

Thats what Im asking you 😄 "What my mistake in the positioning of Baker&Object?"

is it legit to ask those questions or is it out of topic?

[full quarry]

I would recommend looking up baking tutorials for blender online

its very well documented

[manic roost]

Ive did

[full quarry]

so I dont have to explain same tthings again

Bake objects have to overlap yes

and you can set the distance it samples from

[manic roost]

Please dont tell I should investigate online if I try to learn with a human

No front!

[full quarry]

the human has other things to do

[manic roost]

Thats a good information no one tells in any videos

[full quarry]

you can also read blender manual

it has good information

This is model making channel yes, and model making questions can be asked. This is not however learn modeling from 0 to 100 channel

cant expect teaching everything

[manic roost]

I totally respect that. But please also respect that the reason Im looking for human is not that Ive found good data online.
And I can relate that it causes traumatha to always repeat the same

[full quarry]

I can understand that. but I wont teach you everthing here

I've learned stuff on my own online so the information is out there

[manic roost]

------> "Its a good platform to learn and switch data" <------

Not -> "Its a school with teachers"
its a forum

[manic roost]

Just anwser the question you can and leave the rest to others or me at least.
Thats how this learnspace works, right?

Can you recommend some good sources where I can read about those specific things?
Maybe a wiki you would recommend or a .pdf?
All Ive found is "BUY MY SHIT"

[stray relic]

This workspace is not for teaching people how to model, or bake, or texture.
For that, you should find other online resources dedicated to 3d modelling, such as Blender, or texturing, such as Substance Painter.
Once you know how to model and texture, then this workspace can offer advice on how to get those models and textures into Arma.

[manic roost]

Sorry for misunterstand

[stray relic]

This is apparently a good course for learning Blender ("Blender Guru" on Youtube).
https://youtu.be/4haAdmHqGOw?si=MYM51O3cIl57sWIk
There are no doubt some Discord servers for helping Blender users too.

[full quarry]

Part of the path to learning is figuring out how to find information.

[manic roost]

@lusty mesa scroll up in chat
@full quarry thats why I were here

Have a good one

Btw, thanks for the tips and the "help" you gave me

[stray relic]

scroll up in chat ? Not sure what you want me to look at, just trying to point you in the right direction.

[manic roost]

Here are more sources for basic learning texturing and generating own things. If you want to machine learn someone else again

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Texture_Baking
https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Texture_Map_Types
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cCk8h9Eotk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se8GdHptD4A&list=PLsGl9GczcgBvJPh7D_ITafvmTW7ZzQTEr

see you next time

[full quarry]

please dont be a dick about it

[hallow jay]

Hmm I have heard it is not the best, particularly when one is interested in the making of game assets.

Is someone seriously struggling to find free information on how to work with Blender? There´s millions of videos everywhere.

[stray relic]

Feel free to suggest something better to the next person looking to learn 3d modelling, it's not something I'm an expert in, but others had recommended it in the past.

[hallow jay]

I just looked and the ones I used to learn it are no longer available

Random Indian guy´s channel isnt up anymore

At the end of the day I think Blender is anyway mostly learned by simply practising rather than spending hours watching tutorials.

[full quarry]

Tutorials can give a direction to what to try out

[hallow jay]

I remember I initially watched a bunch of long tutorials, then opened Blender and couldn´t really do anything anyway since I couldn´t digest all what I had just watched

[full quarry]

It is a lot to learn

it needs time

[gloomy arch]

Anyone knows, how do I add/replace with my own camo's in this menu ?
Can't find anything about it pretty much . . .

(for vehicles)

[lethal condor]

Search by VhC in wiki

[stray relic]

As Polpox says, "VhC", and specifically class TextureSources {}.

[gloomy arch]

YES, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED !
God, I spend my two days on searching "Vehicle Multi Camouflage tutorial" . . .
Thanks you very much guys !

[misty sphinx]

Blender have an official discord

And they have (crazy I know) some really good teachers in there

I'm not 3d model expert but they've either given me a link, or explained how to do it

[manic roost]

Hey there Im back :D
Im into using the imageToPaaConverter to convert my objects icon.
Im using a 1024x1024p canvas, export it in 8bit .png and try to process file in the converter
but the file remains red. I know about insertion sizes and think that my canvas and bit depth is
good. I also only export 1Layer from gimp into the .png.

What else could be my problem?

Is there a console in the ImageToPAA?

Is the factor of 4x256 valid? Or do I have to change my canvas to 512p. update: a canvas of 516x516/ 512x512/ 256x 256 doesent work aswell
Im really new and unsure because the happening a normal 1k square texture is 8bit because of 1.024x1.024p

[full quarry]

this is probably related to some other image property other than resolution

[manic roost]

What could collapse with my thing? What is the ruleset?
I only have source of https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ImageToPAA
There is an ruleset of .png including alpha channels in squares of 256 with fatcor x2 explained
In other formats is a limit of 32bit so I also would be far away from that boarder...

I already succeded once but also try and error...
I would like to know the proccess details

[full quarry]

could be you used wrong bit depth for the png export.

[manic roost]

Okay thats a gimp thing...
... I want ps back haha
can I send you the export settings?

[full quarry]

PS has different bit depth options too

[manic roost]

Is that helpfull?
**And I cant open with TexView, ** idk what TexView is

[full quarry]

texview2 is one of the programs installed with the arma3 tools package

it opens up paa files

[manic roost]

Got it

Bit still incabable to convert the icon

Dont ask me...

[stray relic]

What happens if you save it as icon2_co.tga and then try converting with texView2?

[full quarry]

what bit depth did you create the image as

automatic pixel format setting exports it as it is in gimp

which is whatever you created the image with

[sudden harbor]

Why hasn’t there been a ford f-250 super duty 2009 in an arma 3 mod yet?

Been looking such a long time for it

Now I’m trying to make it myself but idk how to and I can’t find the model anyway

[full quarry]

You first learn to make 3d models so you can make it.

[prisma olive]

Hi guys, i need to reimport a model with textures so i can redo the textures, its baked with an rvmat - is there an "easy" way to do this?

I have Blender, 3ds max, obect builder, substance painter, etc etc

but i just cant seem to crack the code

[ancient smelt]

@frozen blade: I think one of the issues would be that the layer composition modes in Substance aren't 1:1 with the Photoshop ones.

[full quarry]

From p3d?

Or what do you mean by re import?

Is it model you made?

[prisma olive]

From p3d yes

[terse agate]

Is it model you made?

and what exactly are you trying to do?

[hallow jay]

Why would you want to redo textures from the p3d instead of exporting the fbx into substance from the .blend?

[full quarry]

Retexturing such assets is done by painting over the texture file itself in paint program like gimp or photoshop. Not in 3d. You can not touch someones models like that.

[prisma olive]

It’s models that were redoing - we have rights and green lights but the old dev is not around anymore, I’m asking if it’s possible to edit the current mask and texture files to fit the changes we made on the model itself

[prisma olive]

Because I don’t have the .blend - I only have the paa masks and stuff - and then the p3d

[full quarry]

Then no. If you don't have source files from the original author there is nothing you can do.

And if the author is not around how do you have rights and green light.

Highly suspicious

And we have 0 tolerance for IP theft.

[prisma olive]

Messaged you privately buddy - there’s no reason to be suspicious

[sudden harbor]

That’s weird

[manic roost]

Hey people, could someone send me an example of an enhanced .rvmat file?
I dont understand it anymore. I watch videos even try to copy and nothing works.

For checking my knowledge: please confirm or correct

• An code formed like {0,0,0,1} means a percentage value of the {R,G,B,Alpha} -> So that object would be visible with no light reflection, right?
• The stages are like on the wiki ment so my _co needs to be stored in Stage1, 2 or 3 -> *or is there also some more system between those ranges of Stage 0-3

And could someone tell me something about the values of "texgen" and its usage?

for dodging all "go informate". I tried now 4 days and did nothing else. I learned a lot but werent able to solve that. So please help me

Stage0-3 is Color map so that shows all the componments of my color.
How can I understand Stage2 and Stage3? (I copied that from another user and tried to learn)

[manic roost]

Can also someone say something about that linking from the https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Super_shader#6._Fresnel_function
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refractive_indices

[full quarry]

if you want to change how the shine looks you can alter the N and K values of the fersnel stage

[manic roost]

And they are all preseted in the list
To create more like them, I would need to understand
the calculation of N and K. Thats what explained in the wikipedia

Understood if correct

But why does everybody stores there MAP_co.paa in Stage7 and not in 0-3 like its in https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Multimaterial called

[full quarry]

yes the values can be anything you want. the examples are just for common materials

_CO should not really be stroed in rvmat the diffuse texture typically with suffix _CO but also can be _CA is not stored in rvamt. Other textures in Rvmat can use _CO suffix though

its assigned on the model itself

except in multimaterial

thats special case type

oh you meant evnironment map

thats the the thing that is drawn in the reflections of shiny surface

it also has a flag to use one defined on the terrain so it can change if the terrain is different environment

_CO is just its suffix that tells its color texture without alpha channel

[manic roost]

Confirm that. So its in my case in Blender visualLOD.

[full quarry]

yes

unless you use multimaterial

[manic roost]

Wait I think I have to go a step back. There are diffrent .rvmat topics?

[full quarry]

yes there are many different shaders

supershader that you linked the wikipage for is the most commonly used one

for vehicles, weapons, characters and other small objects

buildings and large things typically use multimaterial shader rvmat

[manic roost]

I really needs to say thanks already. Its a lot good information.

So I need to build the construction in form of a multimaterial shader.rvmat
to show the engine what I want. That also would mean that Im not allowed to
miss any Stages in my .rvmat file and need to define it with a tex (I also will need to learn more about intel of marked pic X)

Or can I just dismiss a stage like doing stage 1 in a multimaterial.rvmat with "...\texture_co.paa
But missing the Stage2/3 (because I dont really understand what happens in them, I gues detail work for advanced processing)

please notice if you want structured text instead of screenshots

[full quarry]

stage0 is the only one not needed in supershader

[manic roost]

In the example file I found somewhere is the Stage2 texture also defined with a fith value in the color section.
I dont know what it means and find nothing similar on the wiki.

[manic roost]

Thats where its explained in detail
Stage 0 = Stage 1 if no texture is assigned on the visualLOD I export.

[full quarry]

wait no

so you are jumping around

try to stay on single topic at a time

[manic roost]

I also noticed haha
Im sorry and will take care

[full quarry]

stage0 is not used in super shader

the diffuse texture is assigned on the p3d

in multimaterial

you dont assign diffuse texture on the p3d

you only assign the multimaterial rvmat

and in the multimaterial rvmat stage0 is used

multimaterial uses a red green blue black mask file to project 4 different textures on the model

stage0 corresponds with the black color if I recall right

multimaterial and supershader behave very different

and have different use for the stages

[manic roost]

That was gold. I only need to fully understand know what that means and does to me.

[full quarry]

you can look up the chat history for more answered question about multimaterial

[manic roost]

STRG+F is magic but a risky time invest

[full quarry]

theres also couple of pinned messages about that

[full quarry]

modding is risky time investment.

[manic roost]

Ouuu Discord got those... I always forget

[full quarry]

you cant expect this to be fast

[manic roost]

Im all in

[manic roost]

Thats a years taking process to really become good.
I started with .sqf as first language and it turned out that its also a great decission to start there because I were completly on my own again because no one could help.
Great thanks to @knotty marsh who really did a great job on helping and explaining. He got my full respect for leading me throw my stone ages in some kind haha
But I luckyly were able to run threw my own 10years roadmap and
build kind of a creativ workspace with diffrent topics . But my friends
are at own development like hunt showdown and have really less time
because they also focus on our Arma projects.
Others may not "teached enough" to help me out.

Im completly on my own and Im also in charge to document everything for
people who want to do similar.

I take this really serious and know what the way will cost me.

[full quarry]

yes

[manic roost]

heureca...
I feel so dumb

btw. what is "SuperExt" shader? Is it a thing? I saw it in multiple videos

[full quarry]

its a special shader with emissive mapping. its not really commonly used though

you can find more info in the chat history about it too

[manic roost]

So I gues its more beginner friendly for following generations if I explain them in SuperShader.rvmat
Multimaterial seems to be more enhanced because detail customizing is possible for all stages.

[full quarry]

well you are not responsible in documenting anything. people do what they can to help the community.

if you want to sure go ahead

just learn the stuff first before try to tech it forward

[manic roost]

Thats a part I really need to explain.
I do it first and bring it to work.
Then I think about and try to write it down. Then I detect knowledge gaps

of course Im not in a position to teach people, but I try to create best conditions

[full quarry]

👍

[manic roost]

Im reading about the SuperShader at the moment and Im wondered
about the word "Environmental Map". In Stage 7 is MAP_co.paa used so Im asking
to myself if there is a diffrence between.
if I google I only find relevant info about ArmaReforger

[full quarry]

I dont understand the question

the names of the files are irrelevant. dont get hung up if they dont always match

it can be aeERTHejai9e5jha_Co.paa

as long as it fills the requirements of the image

names are good to be clear for easier understanding what they do though

[manic roost]

I tried to find out something about that "texGen" thing and found a lot usage and a less explanation.
But it formed a picture so I can ask now if I got it right and if the thing Ive found from my german brother
Dedmen is correct in the topic Im looking for info

So:
The texGen is just to preset and copy a setting about UV behaving.
But I dont know if UV = UltraViolet or if UV = UV-Mapping.

In my docs its all about dir/pos/transform. That sounds like UV-Mapping
So I gues mine should be 0,0,0 in all casese to use the texture atlas in combination with already
saved UV-Map from blender.

Only total missing knowledge is what "UVSource = tex" means. I gues its a default value wich most logical would be empty so 0,0,0 so the value I would use for TexGen0.

[severe rune]

Why would it be ultra violet

that doesn't make sense

[manic roost]

Thats another high quality information wich brought many puzzle pieces together
So the _co and stuff is good to keep for structur and workflow but not essential for the Multimaterial/SuperShader.rvmat format

[severe rune]

tex is the UV given in the model

[manic roost]

I gues I tried to think outside the box in wrong way haha

[severe rune]

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

ugh yeah that page doesn't explain what they actually mean, just what the options are

[full quarry]

the suffixes are essential

name before them not

[manic roost]

lost in space hahaha

[severe rune]

Also the suffixes need to be present before converting to paa

[manic roost]

That was magic to me when Ive found out. And then Ive learned about diffrence between converting and generating wich leaded me to baking and diffrent texture maps. I really loved to learn about all that and need to give probs to all people on my way who helped me like HorribleGoat

[manic roost]

another heureca
**UV means "unwrapping" ** why its UV and not UW doesent matter anymore to me

Thats also why geometry needs to be manifold. To be able to be shown unwrapped in 2D.

Btw I should greet you, Dedmen, from "Spiderman|Uwe", if you remember him. You played Arma2 back in the days.
sry for random moment, but he asked me for that favour

[full quarry]

UV refers to the texture space coordinates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_mapping

modding a complex game like this is not really far from actual "real game development"

[manic roost]

Im back in the sheets now:

So Im looking at the "uvsource = "tex"
I dont know what it does but I gues its the default texGen wich contains the empty UV transform coordinates or applys the arriving data without changements

[full quarry]

so there are some basic skills and undrestanding of technology required to then understand how the game parts work

[full quarry]

it referes to the uvmap of the model

tex is uvmap 0

tex1 is uvmap 1

most commonly only tex is used as source

[manic roost]

I really love that part of learning how games work. Its like back in the day when learning about film and premiere

[full quarry]

some things like multimaterial use 2 uvmaps on same mesh

[manic roost]

So thats identic:
uvSource = "tex" | texGen = 0

[full quarry]

no

[manic roost]

that sounds super potential

[full quarry]

uvmap might also be called uvSet in places.

uvSet0 is used to uvmap the mesh on the mask. uvSet1 is used to control the tiling texture projection in multimaterial

[manic roost]

love it...

But I gues I passed the language barrier and decide that Im missing to many pieces to use

[full quarry]

tiling as in repeating

[manic roost]

So wait. tiling = ~looping texture?

[full quarry]

yes thats one way to put it

multimaterial uses this kind of textures to cover large areas

so the texture quality looks higher

because it repeats/loops

[manic roost]

Ill need to learn about that and remember your words to
know how to avoid things like 3m tiles on the roof

Because I plan to use TexturAtlas. so im not able to overscale the UV to loop

[full quarry]

thats not how buildings are done in Arma

[manic roost]

Thats a screen Ive done in really learning of basic blendering and controls
that were created way before my first questions about blender related texture stuff poped in
sry for that again D:

Thats my meanwhile Blendering
but does nothing to the topic

[manic roost]

I usually planed to randomize UV for natural textures and pixel loosing scaling for looping on textur atlas
but this is 1.000 times better
but also harder, I like

Like this but its not multi usable

I would like to find out more about texture looping. Can you give me some keywords to search for?
My creativity stops with "texGen Texture looping"

[full quarry]

I have an example blend in the pinned messages

that shows how it can be represented in blender

that could be useful to study

Im pretty sure I have also talked about how it works somewhere in the past

so you might find stuff in the history

[manic roost]

lets go

Thanks for the intel 😄
Btw Im bloody new to texture painting/ substance painter.
So lets open another door. I feel confident Ive tamed all monsters in
already opened topics so they dont stab me in the back

But before:
Coffee, Cigarette, connect and think about all new knowlegde
Ill be back

That looks like a really rewarding learning. Lets investigate
but at first Ill need to rebuild the File... what a blender layout, who works vertical?
I really cant say "Thank you" enough

Lets go

[full quarry]

each for their own I guess. 🤪

[manic roost]

This will take me a lot of time and if Im done Ill achieved a great knowledge base.

But it will be really hard. Talked now in multiple Blender Communitys to experienced useres.
All said that they have no idea why its done that way.

I gues its a output thing dependend with the enviroment I will use it in.

[full quarry]

what is the what they dont have any idea on?

[manic roost]

The shader map is the biggest issue
Thats how they do it.

[full quarry]

Blender shader has no connection to the ingame shader

[manic roost]

HA!

Thats what Ive also said

[full quarry]

expect that they use same textures

blender can represent same setup by connecting right textures to right shader inputs

[manic roost]

So its a output thing

[full quarry]

but it will never look 100% same because its different rendering

I got no idea why you would do this though

[manic roost]

Its the scale of the UV Map wich is used by them to scale the texture up for looping

[full quarry]

well

I guess sure you can do it there

and then apply same scaling to the rvmat texgen

but you could also just scale the uvmapping

I prefer control the uvmapping directly so its easy to align the patterns

I dont like playing with the scaling through the values

thats what the second uv map/ uvSet is there for

[manic roost]

Correct. So Ill drive my attention to your file and understand the how it works

My first gues is that your "just" creating the values in a enviroment you can see their allignment direct
So I gues the shader map is a converter to produce usable values for the multimateria.rvmat

Correct?

[manic roost]

In that way your allowed to better relate what is happening on the UV-Editor

[full quarry]

sure yeah the same things can be plugged into an rvmat

the value ranges are probably different though

[full quarry]

I dont understand the question

[manic roost]

Its a statement. So I tried to double check if I correctly understood why you do it like that and wich benefits your achieving

[full quarry]

I guess its part of this is how Ive learned to do things and part of this is way to control exactly how the texture looks

[manic roost]

Thats exactly what Ive ment 😄 Great ❤️

[full quarry]

the shader setup itself mimics how multimaterila works in Arma engine

it takes the mask

and draws the different surfaces on the mask

according to the second uvmapping

its not 100% exact match especially in how the different mask colors blend together

but id say its at least 90% accurate

but it is also a basic setup that can be elaborated further if you have the skills for it

[manic roost]

enough and better then 75% of the users

Its just funny talking to movie makers that determine me crazy for their not understanding of our final enviroument haha
the pros quit on that.

Its like programming .sqf with colours haha

[full quarry]

how it can look with more elaborate production to paint the macroMap (MC) texture

theres partial generation nodes that are then contolled by painted masks and so on

for a texture to be baked out

but this stuff goes beyond what I have really time to teach

[manic roost]

Thats okay of course because those things are created by simply connecting knowledge together.
I call it puzzling.
Put to get the puzzle parts I need to understand the base of everything

[manic roost]

Thats where Im at. But "Im diffrent" like the portal turret.
So I want to see the whole picture to create my own draw style 😄

Ive attached with what my journey started.

[manic roost]

Im still a bit confused but thats normal haha
So the .blend file is something like a converter that output the tiling settings, right?
Or am I at the woodpath?

[full quarry]

no the blender file does not exactly output anything

except the mask texture file

[manic roost]

Ive found a really talented guy who where able to kinda explain myself what is going on on Blender site

Next step will be to understand why it does that and how I can use it for my terms

[full quarry]

but to have the mask file and tiling textures look same in blender and in game you would want to match the transforms

[manic roost]

Ahhhh ohhhh I remember we had this already
So its translation of tranfsormation.
So I can just use the UV from it for tiling, is that correct?

[manic roost]

3 brains melted so far - 1 freakout hahahaha

[full quarry]

I guess just try it out and dont try to logic it before

as you may lack the experience to have the right questions

[manic roost]

Im planing to but also kinda enjoy to see those well experienced guys quiting.
Those guys who lought about the workflow we need for Arma

This is kind of a break without a break. 17oClock my Break is other. Thats the second one I do today.
Im in now for already 10hours today. I really learned a ton of usefull information but take also need
to take care about myself. I dont ate, I slept 3 hours the 3. day but Im so motivated that it doesent matter.

I just need little breaks at strategic points to think about everything and bring silence in my brain
for the next step
I know its not the usual way of living but I also dont see the sence of life in earning money. I want to be happy and this is the essence for it

[manic roost]

Thats a real good source to learn from. Im still analyzing and study it but already achieved a lot in my eyes.
Its still a shit ton to go on but slowly the fog goes of

And its good to know that visual LODs can store more then 1 mat/UV-Map at the same and also can be non-manifold

[severe rune]

dir should be 0,0,1

Its a identity matrix there

[manic roost]

The more I understand the more I see that I will need an TexturAtlas to size down the data volume
It is a super usefull way to first align the UV and then define the range of texture inside the alignment.
I always thought it is build from the other side. So that I would need to export the UV and edit its TexturAtlas.
But in this way Im able to throw them all together, miss a bit of pixel, and pick it out the way I want.

Next step is to understand and learn to reproduce it. Then Im ready to documentate all ways of texturing.

• Single Texture
• SuperShadow
• Multimaterial
• With/without TexturAtlas
• Algining all maps together

[manic roost]

That causes the correct lineup in "matrizenmultiplication", right?
Thats because all lines in matrix will stay the same. Other then in the picture.

[manic roost]

Can someone send me an example of an Multimaterial.rvmap/ SuperShader.rvmat?

[full quarry]

you can find those in the game data

[manic roost]

data_f is copyright

[full quarry]

?

[manic roost]

SupderDefault.rvmat isnt readable for me

[full quarry]

get yourself mikeros toolset and unpack the arma data on your P drive with arma3p

[manic roost]

Im a bit confused because I dont know wich data exactly

[full quarry]

well basically almost all of it

[manic roost]

Wait what? I got hours of headaches

[full quarry]

if you manually extract all of them

the purpose of this is 2 fold.

you have access to the vanilla files as reference

and when you use pboProject to pack your pbo it can check filepaths against the data on P drive and error out when you make a typo

[manic roost]

I need a memory stick from you...
I gues I already did this

I thought its default to receive all Arma Data on that storage

[full quarry]

you have the arma data in the game yes

but thats in pbos

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

[manic roost]

omg

I smell another 2 hours of understanding for geting things I need to understand

[full quarry]

there is also all-in-one installer at mikeros shop page

and the free version is enough

[manic roost]

there is a paypal to enter the shop to get the free all in one installer

So Ive to assemble them all together by myself

[full quarry]

dis

[manic roost]

ai ai ai that hurts
In germany we say "Wer lesen kann ist klar im Vorteil"
"Who can read got the benefit"

[full quarry]

🔎 👃 🔍

[manic roost]

And what does it do in detail? Do I have to worry that something gets deleted or overwriten?
Or is it just going to unpack everything?

[full quarry]

it unpacks data in A3

on your P drive

your P drive hopefully is kept neat and clean and only has Arma modding related stuff 😅

[manic roost]

Yes. Ive only created a EBER\Folder to sort things. Its structure is attached.

Now I can see
*But also have "Z:\Volume" because P:\ is already taken by Arma3Tool

https://tenor.com/view/jar-of-dirt-jack-sparrow-gif-13193343987646052281

And thats of course the default_multi https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Multimaterial

[manic roost]

I came, I learned, I can sleep now. Tomorrow Ill fullfill.
Just went back to thank you again @full quarry. That was a great learning!
And also a great and colourfull experience to gather all that info 😄
I know its not complete, Ill need MaskMAP. Good that Ive understood now why its needed hahaha

[full quarry]

👍

the mask itself can be hand painted in Blender pretty easily

but it is also possible to generate it with procedural material nodes same way as other procedural materials work.

The main thing is that the Mask can only have those 4 colors (or mixture of them) but most of the time solid colors tend to work best.

But the method of its creation is up to you

[manic roost]

https://youtu.be/9adSZvQLWdo
Thats my wake up plan. Wake up, coffee, laptop: Go

I gues the cap is a reason of the multimat.rvmat format of 0-3 CO MAPs
So the Multimaterial is better for higher quality because I use the whole texture instead
of an SuperShader where I would use one canvas of TexturAtlas.

Multimaterial/ SuperShader: passed in theory

"But the method of creation is up to you" <- Im so excited of that day. But Ive got a 10 year roadmap Im in year 6.
Year 10 ends with .sqf and C++ and the eyes on modding and programming own gamemodes with the community.

Long journey... and the hard part only began. LETS GO!
*but now Ill sleep 😴 *

[full quarry]

yes. the tiling textures also can be lower resolution yet still have more texel density than baked textures could have

so multimaterial is very good performance too

ID masks is very similar thing

[sudden harbor]

What happened why did his msg get deleted?

[full quarry]

Probably unrelated to the chat

[manic roost]

Its important for the creative flow to keep the channels clean.
Its never personal

So lets get to work 💪

[manic roost]

IDMask: Done
Understantment how to use: 50/50

I gues I need to investigate more into the align part with the diffrent colors.
Because youve renamed it and recolerd. I need to figure out how. Because this has
to be the missing piece.
So I will need to setup: Purple, Pink etc.
If my theory is correct.

pls delete if out of topic

[full quarry]

the color is just visual aid

no relation to actual function

also mask colors must be RED GREEN BLUE BLACK

[manic roost]

Ouuu

[full quarry]

otherwise the different textures mix together

[manic roost]

Thats a good info. Ill do my Mask Map again.
Are there hexcodes of colors I will need to use?
Source: https://www.farb-tabelle.de/de/farbtabelle.htm

[full quarry]

just think in RGB color channels.

youre making it sound way too complicated

[manic roost]

Got it - your right
just switching colors to RBG and turn Green and Blue to zero that Red remains
for black Ill have to turn down saturation

[manic roost]

Slowly it forms 😄
That would be impossible withou you @full quarry.
Im so thankfull ❤️

I just will need to figure out a little more details. But thats Blender related

[full quarry]

could not be impossbile! I've learned this stuff without having a me 😅

[manic roost]

Thats a terrible imagination 😂😂😂

[full quarry]

and time.

youve skipped ahead a lot by having these tips 😛

[manic roost]

Ohhhh yes. Thats like a shortcut.
Ill never forget that.

[full quarry]

I did all the sidequests.

[manic roost]

Next step will be to do it. So to run it through the ObjectBuilder.
Im kinda hyped, kinda scared. LETS GOOO

[manic roost]

I only did community work and lazy playing in that time. Ive lost so much time...

[dense peak]

I have some basic experience in Blender. Can someone point me to a wiki or tutorial for the steps to make a texture for a new model? I will be making some simple headgear, and eventually some uniforms. I know I can handle the cfg side, so I just need to know how to create the maps or whatever the layers are called, to then make the art for the skin.

[full quarry]

there are quite a lot of resources for how to use Blender. youll want to look into UV mappin, then texture baking

possibly highpoly - lowpoly workflow

[dense peak]

Thanks! I am awful with terminology. A far too kind dev gave me a rundown of pretty much everything with modding. But it was a crash course in the most basic concepts and steps. I will put that on my to-do list. Obviously, start with a cube 🎨

[full quarry]

dont try to rush into it. give it time

and there will be mistakes and things you scrap and remake

[dense peak]

That is definitely expected. Slow is fast, and I want to have a solid foundation for sure.

[full quarry]

👍

[manic roost]

I dont understand it anymore D:

Im back at the SuperShader again because my first object only contain one
color plus the maps.

Ive read https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/RVMAT_basics#Basic_Surface_Setting multiple times and thought I do understand.
All values are RGB Alpha so for example: Diffuse = { 0 , 0 , 1 , 0.5};
That means only Blue colors will be reflected with 50% transperency. Is that correct?

Because my texture arrives darker then the backsite of the moon with all default values from the wiki

[manic roost]

After 4 days of suffering I made an step...
My ambient shader is fucked...

Ive converted it with _as as suffix. Is that wrong? Is my main file wrong?

My normalMAP also seems to be not applyed.

I tried to call the sence
-> call denied, sence isnt there

I gues it is something with the uvTransform or better uvSource.
I find literly no explanation.
Also nothing about uvSource. I would like to use my BlenderUV in the Bulldozer

[manic roost]

Found something.

[manic roost]

Thats interesting. If I assign the Texture with the UV Map printed on, nothing shows up on the Bulldozer

Im breakfasting at the moment and I see that there is a solution gap.
All textures run on 2k. The UV map Ive build goes on 1k. Ill fix and try if im back on the PC

[manic roost]

There I go again. Hes not using the color map of the .rvmat
but I gues thats normal

The frustrating part is that I already made it a few times

But its a good learning... for stamina

[frozen blade]

hmmm, well i can't export the layer as an individual image file

[manic roost]

.rvmat is asigned. UV is aligning.

I think its the texture itself that is made in the wrong way...

But its getting to late for me, another 17 hours of ongoing.. Ill also have to prepare the game server for todays op...
So I hope to receive some intel from anyone meanwhile I rest a bit.

I say thanks for everything in advance, hear you later

[vast relic]

Anyone wanna talk about setObjectTexture? Or is that more of a topic for #arma3_editor?

Using setObjectTexture [0, "textureName.paa"] on a unit will retexture their uniform top with no issue, but setObjectTexture [1, "textureName.paa"] does not correctly map the texture to the pants. Is there something I can do about this or is that just the way it is and I have to go through the trouble of making a mod in order to make this work?

[stray relic]

Which uniform class?
Show us your texture (and did you know you missed the _co suffix)?

[thorn rune]

Is it difficult to change a flag on gear (uniform, vests, helmets)? Purely just the flag and nothing else?

[stray relic]

Relatively easy.
Find the texture, repaint, write some code, pack files into a mod (publish to workshop).

[thorn rune]

Good to know, is there an example I can look at regarding the code?

[full quarry]

That uniform does not have all the necessary selection if I remember right.

You have basically picked the only one that dont work right

[dense peak]

There are a few vanilla assets that made me beat my head against a wall and finally give up. Couldn't figure out how they had it set up. The typical camo selection didn't work at all.

[full quarry]

Some have bugs in the model that don't work. Or different selections names from the common camo naming

[dense peak]

Can the correct variables be found in a config in the pbo?

[full quarry]

if its a bug in model then no

[rare ginkgo]

is there a way to convert paa files in bulk

converting 4k textures with texview is kind of tedious

[stray relic]

If you put the tga files in your data folder, when pboProject packs the pbo it will automatically convert them to paa's.

[rare ginkgo]

thanks

[full quarry]

Also imageToPaaGUI

[manic roost]

Im back with my texture_as.paa :D
I meanwhile tried one of your textures to be sure its not my texture.
I got the same backsite of the moon result...

What can be the issue?

If I replace my normal map with the standart color texture it works
pls dont ghost me lol

[stray relic]

Are you trying to apply a super shader rvmat to your texture?

[manic roost]

Yes

Thats my file

ambient[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
diffuse[] = {0.9999999,0.9999999,0.9999999,1};
forcedDiffuse[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0 };
emmisive[] = {0,0,0,1};
specular[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
specularPower = 30;
PixelShaderID="Super";
VertexShaderID="Super";


class TexGen0    
{
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};
class TexGen1
{
//    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,1};
        pos[] = {0,0,1};
    };
};


class Stage1
{
//    texture= "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,1,1)";
    texture = "\EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\UVFundament_nohq.paa";
    texGen = 0;
};

class Stage2
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,DT)";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {10,0,0};
        up[] = {0,10,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};

class Stage3
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,MC)";
    texGen = 0;
};

class Stage4
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1,AS)";
//    texture = "\EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\Fundament_as.paa";
//    texture = "\EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\CzechHedgehog_01_new_F_as.paa";
    texGen = 0;
};

class Stage5
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,0,1,0,SMDI)";
//    texture = "\EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\Fundament_smdi.paa";
    texGen = 0;
};

class Stage6
{
    texture= "#(ai,32,128,1)fresnel(3.5,1.22)";
    texGen = "none";
};

class Stage7
{
    texture = "\EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\UVFundament_co.paa";
    texGen = "none";
};

Yes, its messed up from try&error

[stray relic]

Use this one instead, changing your_path\your_texture to suit of course

diffuse[] = {1,1,1,1};
forcedDiffuse[] = {0,0,0,0};
emmisive[] = {0,0,0,1};
specular[] = {1,1,1,1};
specularPower = 40;
PixelShaderID = "Super";
VertexShaderID = "Super";

class Stage1
{
    texture = "your_path\your_texture_nohq.tga";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};
class Stage2
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,DT)";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {10,0,0};
        up[] = {0,10,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};
class Stage3
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,MC)";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};
class Stage4
{
    texture = "your_path\your_texture_as.tga";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,1};
        pos[] = {0,0,1};
    };
};
class Stage5
{
    texture = "your_path\your_texture_smdi.tga";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,1};
        pos[] = {0,0,1};
    };
};
class Stage6
{
    texture = "#(ai,64,64,1)fresnel(1.33,0.5)";
    uvSource = "none";
};
class Stage7
{
    texture = "a3\data_f\env_land_co.tga";
    useWorldEnvMap = "true";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,1};
        pos[] = {0,0,1};
    };
};
/*
class StageTI
{
    texture = "your_path\your_texture_ti_ca.tga";
};
*/```

[manic roost]

Im on this since 3 weeks and no one is able to help me... at least @full quarry helped me

[manic roost]

Is it possible that you explain my issue? Or is it a preset?

[stray relic]

Your texture is broken. You ask how to fix it.
You show your rvmat. Your rvmat is broken.
I supply a working rvmat.

[manic roost]

Im really thankfull for that. But I would like to understand. I know that knowledge is expensive and everybody is poor because the rich keep everything.

But I dont care. I want to be creative and give something to the world.
So I would like to understand whats going on. What in detail broke my .rvmat

[full quarry]

you didnt set the the stages right

you have basically invented your own formatting

[manic roost]

Okay, in detail?

Btw this is from defaul.rvmat and proofen throught https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Super_shader

[full quarry]

yea I meant what you had after that

default_super.rvmat is what you would want to use as base

[manic roost]

I did

Then I filled in the blanks and it turned black

[full quarry]

well yours looks nothing like it

[manic roost]

AFTER 3 DAYS!

Of try and error

I cry

[full quarry]

sometimes one goes to wrong direction

main thing is you turn the donkey cart to right direction

if you take the rvmat apollo posted as base and work through that, is there difference?

[manic roost]

Im looking

[stray relic]

Once you are using the correct format of rvmat, and if it still doesn't look right, then we can examine with you if your as, nohq or smdi maps are perhaps broken.

[manic roost]

Apollos also dont work

[stray relic]

please post the rvmat that you used

[manic roost]

Meanwhile Ive connected to known lakeside modders and own game devs
They dont have a clue

.rvmat comes

ambient[] = {1,1,1,1};
diffuse[] = {1,1,1,1};
forcedDiffuse[] = {0,0,0,0};
emmisive[] = {0,0,0,1};
specular[] = {1,1,1,1};
specularPower = 40;
PixelShaderID = "Super";
VertexShaderID = "Super";

class Stage1
{
    texture = "EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\Fundament_nohq.paa";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};
class Stage2
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,1,DT)";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {10,0,0};
        up[] = {0,10,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};
class Stage3
{
    texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,MC)";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,0};
        pos[] = {0,0,0};
    };
};
class Stage4
{
    texture = "EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\Fundament_as.paa";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,1};
        pos[] = {0,0,1};
    };
};
class Stage5
{
    texture = "EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\Fundament_smdi.paa";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,1};
        pos[] = {0,0,1};
    };
};
class Stage6
{
    texture = "#(ai,64,64,1)fresnel(1.33,0.5)";
    uvSource = "none";
};
class Stage7
{
    texture = "EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle\Fundament_co.paa";
    useWorldEnvMap = "true";
    uvSource = "tex";
    class uvTransform
    {
        aside[] = {1,0,0};
        up[] = {0,1,0};
        dir[] = {0,0,1};
        pos[] = {0,0,1};
    };
};
/*
class StageTI
{
    texture = "your_path\your_texture_ti_ca.tga";
};
*/

(I copy pasted all paths/ names)

[stray relic]

Is your project on a p:\ drive at
p:\EBER\Medien\Texturen\rvmat_Sammlung\SuperShader\SteinSingle\SteinSingle

[manic roost]

Dafuq

the path

[stray relic]

two steinsingle?

[manic roost]

Aiii

Aiii

Aiii

I

go

puke

[full quarry]

[manic roost]

6 people starring at it

No one sees

[full quarry]

well

this is one of the most common mistakes to do

[manic roost]

Ill delete my discord acc

[full quarry]

so you are in the club

[manic roost]

Thanks for not loughing

Im ashamed as hell

Sorry for wasting your time

I really want to apologyze

https://tenor.com/view/gta-apologize-sorry-gif-25777195

[stray relic]

This should be obvious in Object Builder if you know how to look.
Use the Resource Library window and look for green icons against the textures (means they are found at that path), or yellow question marks if they are not found.

[manic roost]

but it loaded in
Ill restart the .p3d

[rare ginkgo]

does anyone know how to get subdivision surfaces with displacement to show up in object builder

i know i cant use actual height maps but is there a way to turn them into portable meshes

[rare ginkgo]

nvm

[full quarry]

You cant. This is not a thing for game models

[rare ginkgo]

i know

i was just wondering if i could change it into an actual mesh somehow

i know its possible because i saw some props with it but im not sure how they did it

or just baking it into actual geometry

[rare ginkgo]

nvm found it out

applying the modifier didnt work for me the first time around but now it did for some reason

thats why i originally asked

[full quarry]

If you are making a thing to use as ground surface cover, remember not to make it too detailed so it stands out from it's surroundings

[rare ginkgo]

yeah i know

making it less stood out wasnt the only problem though

a flat plane had like 157,000 fucking faces by default 😭

almost crashed my pc trying to apply the modifier without knowing

[full quarry]

This is not good

[rare ginkgo]

i decimated it though thankfully after i noticed

not before my pc crashed once and my gpu overthrottled

[full quarry]

Fry breakfast eggs on gpu

[worldly parrot]

Hello there ! does anyone have the texture template folder as the forum are down ?
I need it but can't find id

[median jacinth]

I found this link last week using the search bar.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_oVNRg3HRrRUmN5ZHNEOXFndzg?resourcekey=0-r3Cta-gYs-n-yrM9PG-ugQ

You can also use Wayback Machine to access most posts on the forums.

[worldly parrot]

Eamn couldnt find it thankas for the infos

[prisma olive]

Anyone had luck with importing a _co file and it lays ontop of the P3d fine in blender? i really cant crack the code

[whole haven]

Does anyone know where these shading artifacts are coming from? The model is triangulated already and looks fine. I believe it's something to do with the RVMAT's, but I'm unsure.

Also I'm trying to attach a picture but this chat will not let me.

[full quarry]

You'll have to verify your account. #✔role-selection also accepted rules #rules

[sleek temple]

Good evening, gentlemen). I added a macro texture to rvmat in the second uv set, but now there are artifacts (a lot of black stripes). How can this be fixed?

[full quarry]

it might be the scaling of your DT is way too small

building models are not really supposed to be textured via supershader anyway

you typically do this kind of large objects with multimaterial and tiling textures

[sleek temple]

i was asked to port the model. If I were making it from scratch I'd have used multimaterial)
The problem was that I used the entire _ca texture on the whole building, which caused the black stripe artifacts. With _co, there are no such issues.
Is there a way to disable alpha usage in Object Builder for a specific selection set so that only the _ca texture remains?

[full quarry]

this is all wrong

I dont really have time to waste for bad practices. sorry

[sleek temple]

the problem is solved. I don't need any help thank you

[ebon charm]

if i wanted to add my own textures to clothes like e.g. cod ghosts rangers,How would i approach that task?

[shy quartz]

hey guys im trying to set up live texture reloading like in the pin, but how do I actually load the mods? Launching diag.exe onlyu loads vanilla arma

Also, how are you supposed to make the PBO with the global drive speciifers, ig et errors:

[lethal condor]

Read and refer to the pin, also its refered post

[shy quartz]

neither of these issues are discussed in either pins

[lethal condor]

#arma3_config message
It is

[manic roost]

moved post:
09:46]HorribleGoat[ARMA]
: chromatic shiny look is possible. but often may need its own rvmat for extra shiny parts and another for more rough/matte parts

anwser:
Thats a really great and creative solution. Ill try and test it out after Ive solved my current problem wich is described in
https://discord.com/channels/105462288051380224/105462541215358976

[manic roost]

Ive to confess you something @full quarry...
I havent stopped to work on the multimat. I just wanted the training and the
experience with this shader type. But I havent managed for success. Im on this since
4-6 hours now, did talks with topic related people, did talks with game developers and so on

We werent able to detetect the issue...
I will do it finally with the SuperShader and an TextureAtlas. But my inner monk suffers on multimat...

The issue is that my second normal map isnt going to be apllied correct. (The wood desk on the picture)

[full quarry]

well you are trying to use it completely wrong way

I dont know what to say

[manic roost]

https://tenor.com/view/ah-shit-here-we-go-again-gta-sa-cj-gta-again-gif-20425950

Thats how Ive interpreted things

how hard can it be?
FACEPUNSH

I will search for an existing multimat my existing files

Ive found shed_multi. The major diffrence I can detect is my "missing" uvTransform.
If Im right, uvTransform only reposit the already exisiting UV. But Ill need to figure out how
I precise allign the UV.

[full quarry]

by UV mapping on the model

[manic roost]

It is

Desk

[full quarry]

for multimaterial puposes this is for the RGB mask

NOT

for textures

[manic roost]

https://tenor.com/view/taking-notes-bj-novak-the-office-gif-10700649

[full quarry]

you use the 2nd uvmap/uvset for the TILING/REPEATING textures

NOT

Baked textures

[manic roost]

aiiii

[full quarry]

as in the basics of multimaterial

[manic roost]

OH MA GAWD I should have known this... Ive assembled the nodes in blender for it

[full quarry]

yes

and why I was confused why you were trying to do complete opposite

and use multimaterial like supershader

[manic roost]

Now my inner monk is quiet again. Lets do 10 mins of break and then Ill need to find out how to use sertain aspects of SubstancePainter and how to assemble a texture atlas etc.

[full quarry]

substance painter is not really that effective for multimaterial making

[manic roost]

I gues I havent know 100% of the specific characterization

[full quarry]

I believe the multimaterial wiki pages do say all this

[manic roost]

Im awake since 3am. Thats also kind of the time Ive investigated into learning and going on (now its 6.30pm)

I was missing the forest because of all the trees...

I need a brake. Im on this since ~14hours
Ill be back.

[full quarry]

Pls sleep properly

makes modding easier

max 10 hours of modding in a day for you

[manic roost]

https://tenor.com/view/muhammad-ali-ali-boxing-dodging-corner-gif-11583765991956185064

George is the sleep

But fun aside -> Your right. But 10hours? For learning: Okay. For processing: Maybe

[lethal condor]

You cannot make progress without learn. You are not doing right

[manic roost]

You are not understanding right.
I say that learning is more intense then doing

[full quarry]

you try too hard

you fry your brain

do less

and success more

[manic roost]

**I agree to 100% ** slower times will follow
Its like becoming a rabies dog sometimes. its not efficient in succeding only for stamina and roughness

[dusk nest]

Hello, I've been trying to get into texturing, specifically for the HGU-56/P helmets from RHS. However, after all the guides I've read and seen I have one major problem: I can't find the paa files for the Helmet in the RHS files, much less the Config file. If someone could help me out here, I would really appreciate it:)

[full quarry]

The paas would be in the RHS pbos. The config you can see with in-game config viewer

[dusk nest]

Thank you, I'll have a look

[marble pasture]

Hello! Lately I've been struggling to improve the way my collimators' reticles look like in arma. Specifically when playing on winter maps.
The problem is whenever the lighting is too bright, for example, when the sun is at it's zenith and the weather is sunny, the reticle is barely visible against the snow.

As far as I understand the way Collimator shader works it takes the color texture assigned to the mesh and uses it to produce light, meaning no matter what the final result will never be completely opaque.
I've been trying to use other shaders like Super, for example, but the problem is that it makes the whole plane with that material opaque when using the NVGs or Thermals.

Currently my rvmat looks like this:

ambient[]={50,50,50,1};
diffuse[]={0,0,0,1};
forcedDiffuse[]={1,1,1,1};
emmisive[]={370,330,350,0};
specular[]={0,0,0,1};
specularPower=8;
PixelShaderID="Collimator";
VertexShaderID="Basic";
RenderFlags[]=
{
    "NoReceiveShadow",
    "AddBlend",
    "NoZwrite"
};
class Stage0
{
    uvSource="texCollimator";
};

Is there a way to improve the contrast of the collimator reticle for such occasions? Thank you in advance.

[manic roost]

Ive switched now to the Super Shader but Im not able to load my
texture_co in. All _maps are loading in but not not the _color

[lethal condor]

_co is not a part of RVMAT

[manic roost]

That was a really acurat anwser

Thanks a lot 😄
Ive added the texture now to the texture slot lol

But my result is kinda bright, ive assigned an aluminium fresnal with an 20 specular
My mate gues that the normal map is to extreme. What else, engine related could cause this

[manic roost]

I would like to solve this area in final with an Alpha. What do I have to take care of?
Is it okay to have an double face? Is there any source to read about the textureMap_ca?

[full quarry]

that you can model into the actual mesh

the model is already very simple so few more faces wont really affect anything

and you can easily close it off in next distance lod

in case like this few faces is better than turning the model into transparency calculation

[manic roost]

Thats a thing I will also try out with that modle "Diffrent LOD stages" Ive never seen an explanation about how to do it with Mr.Clocks plugin.
I think thats enough to improve on my skillset, with this item. Ill build something diffrent to learn the textureMap_ca

[manic roost]

At first Ill rebuild. Im unhappy with the feets
The seat itself is quite good but the feets looks like a joke.

[full quarry]

you will want to model the real mechanical parts

anything that is mechanical and has joints or parts that fold around an axis look better when modeled accurately

[manic roost]

Yes but no. So yes for visual. No for usage.

Ive decided to focus my learning on:

• Seating function (player can take a seat with ace/ addAction)
• Diffrent viusalLOD stages

[full quarry]

you dont have to make it animate folding or stuff like that

[manic roost]

Thats a really good point I tried to visualize on the matching table

[full quarry]

but if it looks like it could then it serves the purpose

[manic roost]

Now Ive got you. Just make it looks like it works so the people more get immerse the game

[full quarry]

for transparency the chair might not be the best test

[full quarry]

yes

[manic roost]

Okay so:

• Diffrent visualLOD stages
• Seating interaction

(those will become the focus of learning)

[agile topaz]

Hello, I just finished a repaint of a Hummeve, I used Arma tools to extract the .pbo file, and the image viewer to convert the texture to .png, after the texture is done, what am I supposed to do?

I mean, to replace the repaint inside the .pbo file

[full quarry]

You don't replace it in pbo.

You make new pbo with a your texture file and new config that applies the texture via hiddenSelections

[copper helm]

If I have a paa that is a ca file and I copy paste it to another folder do I need to resave those paas again for them to work properly?

[agile topaz]

Is there any tutorial for that?

Bc I'm having a lot of trouble doing that

[stray relic]

No. But you'll need to change the paths in Object Builder and / or config

[copper helm]

I've done that but Im still getting a grey stroke effect along the edges

[manic roost]

First day message for me in here haha

Ive learned about addon prefix https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Creating_an_Addon#Addon_Prefix and fixed it
that people arent able to open the mod. Now they are receiving the model but no texture.

I followed the problem and gues that its caused because Im still using the original path in my Blender before exporting with ObjectBuilder/ ToolBox.
Do I also have to type in the prefix\path in there to "transfer" the .rvmat path?

[lethal condor]

Yes

[manic roost]

Do I also have to do the same with the surface_sound texture?
That would also mean that I have to pack that into the final.pbo so the user download it -> would make sence

[lethal condor]

a3 PBO is always there. Even if you don't pack into. Is that you ask

[manic roost]

I think Ive left some informations for you. It was unfair from the beginn haha sry

Z:\ is my mikero drive. Thaths where Ive took the surface_sound texture for making the right stepsounds

Do I have to create a folder in my P:\Prepared.pbo that contains the texture_sound and link it via prefix in the Blender file?

[full quarry]

what is Mikero drive??

what

what

how

[manic roost]

the "workspace" ?

[full quarry]

does not compute

[manic roost]

Thats how Ive setled it up

Thats what I receive

[full quarry]

[manic roost]

Is that wrong?

[full quarry]

yes

[manic roost]

How should it be?

Should that be part of my P:\ Drive?