Proxie solution ?

[orson 0]

Most will know that a model starts to disapear in bulldozer when the face count gets too high , after reading some threads the penny started to drop ....

started with a model that was around 6000 faces but had lots more detail to add so i chose proxies for this .

Brsseb's tutorial shows how , heres a quick refresher .

Make the extra parts as a seperate model and save it within your addons directory (maybe even make a seperate folder called proxies) , now reopen the parent model and add a proxie in the normal manner ..but making the path to it        

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">\myaddon\myproxie

now the extra bits from the other model you just made are in the viewer but represented in O2 as a single face proxie .

This is probly old hat to a lot of you and i am only realy trying to get anyone that can help an idea of where i am coming from .

So , i added the new bits via proxie .. now i can see my model in the vewer ( its around 20k if you add up all the bits ) and it renders it just as smooth as the original 6k model.

Now i have a few questions ... some of these proxies require that they pivot , eg.. missile proxies on a fold out wing  . I know proxies can be added to an animation .. like the gunner and commander in a turret .. but can they be used for deployable landing gear for another example ?

Thanks for any help

[Footmunch 0]

You can copy the proxy p3d into the data3d folder in the

buldozer folder, and the proxy should appear without the need

for the \myaddon\ edit (basically they appear in exactly the

same fashion as the 'driver' proxy).

Now i have a few questions ... some of these proxies require that they pivot , eg.. missile proxies on a fold out wing . I know proxies can be added to an animation .. like the gunner and commander in a turret .. but can they be used for deployable landing gear for another example ?

Thanks for any help

The proxies don't 'animate' except in BIS-hard-coded

selections like 'otoc hlaven'.

You _could_ playmove on a particular proxy via some rtm

that would make the proxy move, but you'd have to synchronise

the movement, and have two separate rtm's for the left and

right sides...

[orson 0]

Cheers for the reply FM

So if i get you ... a proxie can have quite a long animation RTM and this could be used to animate the gear ?

If proxies can only be used with hard coded anims , are there any hard coded anims on a plane .. landing gear for example ?

How about the missiles on the fold out wings ?  same process ?

Has this method ever been tried before ?

Thanks for any more input

[Footmunch 0]

Cheers for the reply FM

So if i get you ... a proxie can have quite a long animation RTM and this could be used to animate the gear ?

If proxies can only be used with hard coded anims , are there any hard coded anims on a plane .. landing gear for example ?

How about the missiles on the fold out wings ? same process ?

Has this method ever been tried before ?

Thanks for any more input

I've considered the 'proxy-gear' for the Lightning, but me and

OFPAnim don't really get along

You could include the rolling gear wheels in this as well.

If/when I get time, I may give it a try.

[orson 0]

Heh , its a good job i dont have you on my MSN or i would bend your ear till the cows came home ....

Just been reading Sefes tute on OFPEC about custom gear......

i thought that if i made some invisible gear , just a few points but given the right selection names , and then group the landing gear proxie with that selection ...wont that pivot when the gear is deployed ... or does the proxies position remain relative to the position set in its own .p3d ?

The gear in question is quite a complex set up , with various linkages , this would look best as an RTM but like you i dont have much experience  in making RTM's , so  a simple single axis operation will suffice for now if its possible to perform the above.

I dont have it in game yet so all of this is hypothetical atm ..

[hardrock 1]

Here some additional information about proxies:

1) You can, as you did now, add _fixed_ proxies which simply load another model and display it on their position. These proxies have to be named like this: proxy:my_proxy.01 where the class my_proxy has to be defined in the class CfgNonAIVehicles in your config.cpp.

2) The other type of proxy is a flexible proxy like driver, gunner, commander, cargo and missile proxies. Proxies like that have to be named that way (e.g.) : proxy:Cargo.01 (Look for further information about other proxies in brsseb's tutorials http://ofp.info/brsseb)

There are several types of animations:

1) Linear animation. defined in the config cpp in the class Animations. No proxy can be added to such an animation, it just won't move.

2) Hard-coded, linear animation. BIS was so nice to make several hard-coded animations as for the landing gear, flaps, hatches and whatever else. But proxies will only work with to of them: Those that are used for turret movement, all other animations will ignore eventual proxies in their selection, the proxies will stay where they are.

3) Work-around animation via .rtm, using proxy type 2). *.rtm-animations can only be used by soldiers or models with the simulation="Man". So you could make the part (e.g. the landing gear) of the model that you want to animate make an external model, define it as derival from the class Man and move it in the cargo (!) slots of your model via scripting on mission start. So you have to have cargo proxies where you want to have your landing gear. To disable users to get in these slots, you have to set the definition typicalCargo[]={}; in the class of your "mother"-model. The negative points with this method are for one, that the model will bleed when you shoot it since ofp thinks that it's a man, and that on the models I'm using it on strange crash bugs appeared that I couldn't get rid of yet.

4) Work-around animation using the class Animations {} and hiddenSelections[]={}; This method will probably be the best suited for your landing gear issue. You part the landing gear animations in several linear animations, e.g. one linear stance moving it up, the next one moving it inside the plane. For each stance you create an own model and give it a selection name, the selections should only use one texture. You define the axis for each of these selections in your Memory LOD and define the animations in the config.cpp. Now you add the class hiddenSelections[]={} to your vehicle class and add all the selection names into it, e.g. hiddenSelections[]={"gear1_1", "gear1_2", ...} All these selections also have to be added in the CfgModels of this p3d into the array sections[]={}.

The sense of all this is that you execute one animation in a script, then hide the part of this animation, unhide the part of the following animation and animate it. This way it will look like a two-way animation.

Believe me, it's much more simple than it may sound in my description.

Hope this will help you

[orson 0]

That certainly answers my questions in full ( big groan at this side when i read it tho   )

but thanks ... really usefull .

Is the number 4 solution really viable ? i would have thought it would create quite a jerky result ? I spose it also means that the gear will have to be included into the main model then ... thats a shame if so because its high poly and would really need a remodel .. the same goes for the missiles on the fold out wings ...

 meehhhgg .. didnt want to get into remodeling it but if it has to go this way ... the other answer is just have it hover

*message to BIS

I really like making addons for your great game , alltho engine limitations have stopped 90% of my projects , please can you fix this or i may have to start spendng my time collecting guns .

[hardrock 1]

bah better release this baby

Yes anim number 4 works quite well, depends on how you set the animations though. You can look for example at Footmunch's new models that have animated wheels, they work in the same way. First the gear extracts, then the wheel part of this animation is hidden, another wheel unhides which belongs to the wheel-rolling-animation. All of it is not noticable. I also saw other custom landing gears (unreleased) that used this technique and I used it myself sometimes and it works well IMO.

[raedor 8]

bah better release this baby

Yes anim number 4 works quite well, depends on how you set the animations though. You can look for example at Footmunch's new models that have animated wheels, they work in the same way. First the gear extracts, then the wheel part of this animation is hidden, another wheel unhides which belongs to the wheel-rolling-animation. All of it is not noticable. I also saw other custom landing gears (unreleased) that used this technique and I used it myself sometimes and it works well IMO.

bah better release this baby

[orson 0]

bah better release this baby

Yes anim number 4 works quite well, depends on how you set the animations though. You can look for example at Footmunch's new models that have animated wheels, they work in the same way. First the gear extracts, then the wheel part of this animation is hidden, another wheel unhides which belongs to the wheel-rolling-animation. All of it is not noticable. I also saw other custom landing gears (unreleased) that used this technique and I used it myself sometimes and it works well IMO.

Wildo asap m8  

going to PM nephlim , i dont really want to steal any thunder as the Aliens/USMC mod are in the process of making one .. be glad to share tho

[Rudedog 0]

Here some additional information about proxies:

1) You can, as you did now, add _fixed_ proxies which simply load another model and display it on their position. These proxies have to be named like this: proxy:path\to\p3d.p3d

I'm trying this method, but it does not show in game.  Do you still have to define a CFGModels and CfgNonAIVehicles section for them? Also, am I right, should I remove the .01 from the end? I've tried that too.

[hardrock 1]

nevermind

[Rudedog 0]

They show in Buldozer, but not in-game.  Do I need to change them back to normal and define a CFGModels and CfgNonAIVehicles section for them before using them in OFP?

[hardrock 1]

Oh dear, I'm currently browsing without mouse since mine just broke

wrong information deleted

[Rudedog 0]

I just looked up in the original BIS houses, and according to them it should look that way:

proxy:\MY_PBO\MY_MODEL.01

whereas 01 is ascending with every proxy (no matter if of the same p3d or not!), and the .p3d is left out, so this is for \MY_PBO\MY_MODEL.p3d. The next proxy would e.g. look like that:

proxy:\MY_PBO\MY_SECOND_MODEL.02

You see, another p3d, still the ascending number in the end. This is all untested but should be correct.

Edit: If something doesn't work for any reason try removing the \ in front of the pbo name.

Well, tried these too and still a no go.  Are there any existing vehicle addons out there that make use of this that I could look at?

I can get it to work by using the regualr method:

Proxy:Mymodel.01

Define a CfgNonAiVehicles entry for it.

But the method mentioned in this thread doesn't for me.

[hardrock 1]

I can get it to work by using the regualr method:

Proxy:Mymodel.01

Define a CfgNonAiVehicles entry for it.

But the method mentioned in this thread doesn't for me.

Then excuse me for my wrong information. This part of my post was the only untested method, and since it worked in o2 I somehow believed that it'd work in ofp too. I'll edit my post instantly.

Thanks though for your useful information, I never new what this class is for, it makes sense now.

[orson 0]

Just to follow up on this and ask another question ..

we added the proxies in O2 with the path" proxy:MyProxy.01 "

then we add ...

class CfgModels

{

class Default {};

class Vehicle: Default {};

class Tank: Vehicle {};

class Cans: Default

{

sectionsInherit="Vehicle";

sections[]={};

};

and then ....

class CfgNonAIVehicles

{

class ProxyAmmoInTruck{};

class ProxyCANS : ProxyAmmoInTruck

{

model="\MyAddon\cans.p3d";

};

now all is fine and we can see the proxies in game....

now i ask is it possible to get them to rotate with a turret ? I imagine it may be a problem that they are derived from ProxyAmmoInTruck and maybe as a missile or weapon proxy they would rotate ?

*edit* we grouped the proxy with OtocVez and it still refuses to move.

[UNN 0]

Quote[/b] ] I imagine it may be a problem that they are derived from ProxyAmmoInTruck and maybe as a missile or weapon proxy they would rotate ?

Should be easy enough to try, just inherit from class ProxyWeapon instead on AmmoInTruck?

[orson 0]

This is part of a PM reply by Rudedog from CBT about the matter....

It all has to do with the config. Also, it will not work on a turret, and they will not show damage.

[UNN 0]

With weapon proxies you can have two versions, one complete the other as damaged. Then you might be able to swap the weapons when the vehicle is destroyed. But you still have the problem of not being able to predict how OFP will alter the vehicles model, when it is destroyed. So it may still look odd at times.