[WIP] Rhodesia Bush War

[RhodesianScout 189]

Well not the result I was hoping for.

 

The object is all white.

            Have now created the paa image

 

Instead of standing on the ground as in Blender when I imported the object into Blender it is lying down on the ground.

            Will have a klook at Blender and try and work out why the object has changed position 

 

Size of the object needs to be doubled in size....... This will be easy to fix.

[PuFu 4599]

blender is using Z-up axis. all DX games and tools (OB/O2 included) are using Y-up (and so does Maya by default).

[RhodesianScout 189]

blender is using Z-up axis. all DX games and tools (OB/O2 included) are using Y-up (and so does Maya by default).

 

 

Thanks for the tip there PuFu... I had not actually noticed that. Am looking for a solution to how to get over this as everything I have tried is still not working.  I know if I export as a 3ds then the export option has the ability to export with Y-up...but this option is not available when using the arma tool.

[cleggy 297]

I use Blender and export as p3d using Alwarren's magnificent toolbox -  works like a charm.

 

When exporting as p3d are you checking 'Arma object properties' is selected?

 

Hit 'n' to bring up the right hand sub-menu

 

- scroll down to 'Arma Object Properties', and make sure it's checked.

 

Also before export you need to hit 'Control A' with your model selected - then check rotation, scale and location over on the left hand side

 

maybe that will help.

[RhodesianScout 189]

I use Blender and export as p3d using Alwarren's magnificent toolbox -  works like a charm.

 

When exporting as p3d are you checking 'Arma object properties' is selected?

 

Hit 'n' to bring up the right hand sub-menu

 

- scroll down to 'Arma Object Properties', and make sure it's checked.

 

Also before export you need to hit 'Control A' with your model selected - then check rotation, scale and location over on the left hand side

 

maybe that will help.

 

I just came up with a page that mentioned I need to use control A so hopefully that will resolve the issue. 

 

I have been following a number of tutorials which unfortunately never mentioned any of this....... so what I thought would take a few hours at most has taken days.   Once I have this first object added to the mod the rest should be much quicker to add. 

 

Thanks for your tip   cleggy

[domokun 515]

If anyone finds any good tutorials, then please share the URL with the rest of us. Who knows, it might help others...

[RhodesianScout 189]

It took me a few days to work out how to create the new map....but to create a simple object I am on day 8..... so I have created a topic in the editing section of the forum to ask for some help.

 

This is the picture below of a simple square plane I am trying to add.... still no picture and not sure why.

 

I do agree that some good tutorials would be helpful.... I was following a very good tutorial yesterday and at the end of the tutorial it said to use the code on the left to put in the config file.... guess what...there was no code on the left or anywhere else on that page.

 

As I am going through this I am documenting the procedures so I can follow them for the next objects I need to create.

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

I can only feel that I am getting that much closer......

 

First I had the object in white....then grey....and now it is brown............

 

Fingers crossed that the next change will have the image correctly showing  on the object. The picture in the bottom right of the image below is what I am trying to show in the "brown"square"....just a simply object to start with...nothing complex.

 

.

[RhodesianScout 189]

A major feature of this mod will be the random placement of various objects around the map and I have just finished testing this in the map.

 

For example I may be leading a patrol across a small clearing when one of the soldiers steps on a landmine...... the next time we go through that field the land mine is not there.

Another example is making our way around a lake keeping to the tree line and we are attacked by ZAPU....... next time we go through that area they may or not be there.

Another example is looking for a target individual or object that may be in any one of 20 houses in a town......... 

 

I did a test on my map populated with trees and bushes where I had randomly placed one enemy sniper in the area in a random location ...... 10 possible locations.

 

I had absolutely no idea where he had being placed and it brought the game play excitement up trying to find where he was and take him out before he got me. Of course the next time I loaded the map the sniper could be in the same place but 90% of the time is else where.

 

 

 

How to add random enemy or objects.

 

 

1. Place your playable soldier on the map

2. Place the enemy sniper as shown in my example below

3. Go to markers     

4. Place a marker on the map and call it sniper1

5. Place a second marker and call it sniper2     and so on placing 10 markers finishing with sniper10

6. Click on Insert group ( will not work if you select insert unit)

7. Draw a line from the enemy sniper to the location where you put the sniper1 marker. When your mouse is over the marker sniper1 text appears below the mouse cursor.

    Click on the marker tab to remind yourself where the other markers are.

8. Draw lines connecting the sniper to the other 9 markers

9. Go into preview and see if you can find which of those 10 locations the sniper is

 

The more markers you have the more randomness you will get for where that enemy soldier or object will be

 

I found even having a one on one with a sniper in just 5 random possible locations became very challenging.

 

Imagine putting enemy mortars in random spots around the map so you have no idea when you are going to suddenly have mortar shells dropping around you.

 

Random fortifications......  armoured vehicles ...... weapons cache...... civilian locations

 

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

I have redone the first map in favor of a new location based on a rethink of the maps I will be initially building for the mod.

 

There will initially be three maps

 

1... Border with Zambia in the area of Lake Kariba

2... Border with Mozambique near the Chimanimani Mountains

3... Border with Botswana in the area near Plumtree

 

These 3 maps will allow different types of scenery to be shown in the mod and allow a wider range of missions

 

 

While I am continuing my work on object creation I am going to create the terrain for all 3 locations I have selected.

 

In order for each of these 3 maps show in Arma 3 like they do with Altis and Stratis maps I need to combine together images showing the DEM for that area (the real world height map), then an XYZ file from Visitor 3 and finally the map of the area from Open Street maps.

 

Following the tutorial I found I should end up with 3 strategic maps from Rhodesia similar to Altis and Stratis.

 

Then I will start adding trees, roads, buildings etc to the Kariba map and get that to a stage where v1 can be playable with missions added.

 

Below is a selection of the open street map for the Kariba map.

 

 

When I have gone through creating the first strategic map I will document and add a video to youtube on how to do it .... followed by a tutorial on how to create the terrain for the map itself.

 

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

Making progress with creating the strategic map for the Kariba map in the mod......... below are screenshots of the south westerly corner of the map........ I need to research how far to zoom in for the map details before finalizing this.

 

Height map - Kariba south west corner    The lighter the area the higher the terrain.

 

 

 

 

 

Topography - Kariba south west corner

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

A  preview of the Kariba terrain    20x20 square km

 

You can see the dry river beds running through this part of Rhodesia which will make interesting scenery in the mod

 

[Roach_ 52]

I'm also very interested in this mod, I wish you good luck.

[opteryx 1562]

Really interesting project, what's the terrain resolution?

[RhodesianScout 189]

Really interesting project, what's the terrain resolution?

 

I came across this mod in progress today    [WIP] Terrain Diyala province Iraq     https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/182805-wip-terrain-diyala-province-iraq/ 

 

Am doing some testing to see if I can get my map to look anything close to what this guy has done.

Will answer your question when I have finalized terrain resolution

 

Edit:

 

I had a look at The Lost Island map created by the same guy developing Diyala Province. 

 

Lost Island looks great but with 220,000 objects around the 10km island I had to lower my graphics settings. 

 

I am going to try and give my mod the atmosphere and appearance of Africa so you will feel like you are there...... and still play if your computer is not up to specs.........

 

I have put together 10 different sound files in ogg format and have around 150 more sound files to do........sound will play a big part in making this mod believable.

[RhodesianScout 189]

6:30 in the morning and the start of an early morning patrol east of Kariba

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

Reports have come in that ZAPU have crossed the border from Zambia and are in the area........ 

 

 

[RhodesianScout 189]

Before getting too far with this map..... I was revisiting the process of creating the maps and discovered I had made an error with the resolution I was using.

 

I am using Shuttle Radar Topography and instead of using 30 meter resolution I had mistakenly used 90 meter. In the old days US DEM was 30m and global was limited to 90m... but these days global is 30m as well.

 

What is the difference between 30m and 90m

 

Just looking at the difference in how much information is in the elevation files

 

          90m elevation data is       4743   KB in size

 

          30m on the other hand is 42673 KB in size   9 times larger in size and therefore 9 times more detailed information in it.

 

 

So yes...... looking at those figures I have scrapped the 90 meter map and am creating the 30 meter version today which I can spend the weekend working on getting back up to date.

 

I had being having some issues with the map which is why I went back to checking the resolution I was using. Glad I discovered this before going too far with the map.

[bullsh 22]

You seem to be very motivated which probably means this'll be a good quality mod, so I can't wait! Will you also be adding new models or texture of uniforms, or will you stick with making maps?

[RhodesianScout 189]

You seem to be very motivated which probably means this'll be a good quality mod, so I can't wait! Will you also be adding new models or texture of uniforms, or will you stick with making maps?

 

I have about 20 objects planned so far...about 150 in the todo list ........and I have created the textures for all of them already ...... still working on an issue where the first object I created appears in a bluish shade when appearing in the map....... hopefully I can sort that out over the weekend.

 

I will be creating the armies, uniforms and other objects along the way.

 

At the moment creating custom textures for the map..... eg   soil, dry grass, etc

[RhodesianScout 189]

This shows a part of the Matapos Hills area south of Bulawayo......... there are some flat sections to this area but this is mostly a hilly area and will be challenging to even the most seasoned soldiers.

 

Work is continuing to enhance the ground textures.

 

 

[[evo] dan 79]

You still having the issue with the sign?

I can only feel that I am getting that much closer......

 

First I had the object in white....then grey....and now it is brown............

 

Fingers crossed that the next change will have the image correctly showing  on the object. The picture in the bottom right of the image below is what I am trying to show in the "brown"square"....just a simply object to start with...nothing complex.

 

.

[RhodesianScout 189]

You still having the issue with the sign?

 

 

As far as making objects go I am still pretty much in the same position as I was last week......the color of the object looks great in Blender and as a paa file in my data folder but when seen in Arma 3 it is blueish in color.

 

Researching why this happens found very few posts on the Internet and seemed to be relating to the issue possibly being a hardware issue, or anti aliasing being on...... but I have pretty much discounted those.

 

A post I left in the editing section tells me the issue is possibly instead with my rvmat file and that I did not have a nohq.paa file.... and that for textures with transparent backgrounds that I need to save the paa file with an extension of _ca.paa'.,,,,,,,,,,The _ca.paa suffix being used for textures with partial and/or full transparency.   (That will hopefully solve my initial issue with transparency not working.)

 

With the color problem hopefully having the paa file saved as nohq.paa will solve that.

 

10 days ago I had stated I was working on something new for this mod and I would reveal it in a youtube video (for dramatic effect)

 

I did not realize that something so simple was going to take over 10 days for me to complete.

 

Warning : If you do not want an instant headache skip the following 4 paragraphs

 

The issue is my being new to Blender, the Arma 3 range of tools and all the bits and pieces of information you need to know to successfully add an object to Arma 3. I had also been following 3 tutorials and their suggestions, for example what to put in the rvmat file, and none of those tutorials even mentioned having a _nohq.paa file...... let alone telling me what it was and how to make it.

 

I have this morning created the _nohq.paa file for my object using a gimp plugin but there are so many options and values that can be assigned to the normals map that I don't know if what I created will solve the blue color issue with my model.

 

Now that I have the _nohq.paa file I am assuming that in Blender I need to assign this file to the object instead of the png texture file I had...... however Blender does not see paa files.

 

I was pointing to the original paa file in the rvmat code ..... however now that stage 1 of the rvmat file is pointing to the nohq.paa normals texture I have no idea how arma 3 will see the _ca.paa texture file containing my main texture as this is no longer mentioned in the rvmat file and I cant assign it in Blender. I assume this does not matter as the _ca.paa file is referenced in the config.cpp file....... this being how arma 3 sees the texture and the rvmat file points to the normals map of that texture.

 

ok...techno jargon is over...safe to read on

 

Wow...reading all of the above...what a mess......

 

All I can say is sorry for not getting this resolved yet...... but I think I have it almost figured out. As I learn each new little piece of information I am documenting it because all 123 objects I have planned are similar processes so once I get the one done...the rest will be easy to do.

 

Have been working on this for about 6 hours so will have a few hours break out in the Real World and then come back and do some testing.

[[evo] dan 79]

If I can come up with anything to help you, i'll shoot you a pm

 

I don't know much though, although I managed to make 1 model that worked.

[RhodesianScout 189]

After many more failed attempts I am going to try another strategy and create this object without Blender and instead do a test using Object Builder......... 

 

One lesson to be learned from this.......  don't assume object building to be an easy task......... am using a tutorial by nekromantix for Oxygen ... but because I was having issues with Oxygen I am applying his tutorial to Object Builder.

 

With the current object...... 

 

I have assigned it a mass of 190 kg

Applied a texture to it

 

 

There you go...a bit of a hint of what I am building...at least you know now I am not building a torch.