How to make a stand-alone unit in ArmA

[JBâ„¢ 1]

This is a follow up tutorial to my `Getting the BISoldier model out of the ground`

I got some great feedback form the tutorial but, there were also issues that would take a lot of fixing due to the base model being used.

What I aim to do with this tutorial is run through the whole process again, this time with a far better base model whilst also addressing the issues that were brought to my attention.

Main Issues that are fixed:

* Wound textures didn't show on unit.

* Random faces didn't show. All units had same default face.

* `Cat-eyes` on helmet not working or not present.

You can read the tutorial HERE

[plasman 0]

Thanks for having taken the time to make this nice, quite useful and well illustrated tutorial

[mod0 0]

nice very good info

[Curious 0]

as a n00b this is helping me alot and maybe I might be able to create addon.

[Anykey 1]

lol , your new tutorial is too long

i tried to follow him but i have always :

cannot load texture pasdaran\data\us_soldier_equip_nohq.paa

in Buldozer

i have replace the good path in the rvmat , the path is pasdaran\data\us_soldier_equip_nohq.paa i do a pbo from the folder pasdaran

[SoldierIsNotHistory 0]

Thx for sharing that

[scars09 9]

im not sure if it work with wound rvmats, but the addonmaker script (automation/run script/addonmaker) should be able to detect needed files and pathchanges and copy it all in a new folder. worked great everytime i tried it so far, but as i said, i didnt tried it with wound rvmats. maybe you give it try.

[hund 0]

It's not too long Youriberg. I started at rock bottom and it took me about three hours to get through it from start to finish. Another three hours of learning how to move and rotate stuff properly in O2PE and voila:

http://imageshack.dk//viewimage.php?file=/imagesfree/BBy30576.jpg

Try it out again dude. JB's tutorial is as straight-forward as they come, which is actually a rare thing in fan-produced documents.

[Anykey 1]

my soldiers work too

but i haven't the wounds and the random face

[hund 0]

Right, I've been mulling this over and doing some tests for a while now.

What are the up sides to doing a completely stand-alone addon? Shouldn't I be placing the files I alter in my PBO and then just keeping the ones I don't change in thier default BIS directories? Right now I have a 95.4 mb PBO with four guys inside, but in reality most of the stuff they use is just plain old BIS.

As far as I've been able to determine, the only things that are changed are the p3d's, a few textures (well, most of them really) and the wounds. So if I just place those things in a PBO my file size drops to about 30-40 mb.

Would that be a bad way of doing it, and if so, why?

[Anykey 1]

ok i make again the tutorial and now with the help of a friend i change the path and the location folder P:\TLWFAA\pasdaran to P:\pasdaran now i can see the normal map in buldozer , but in game , the random faces and the wounds dont work

i send my CPP and my P3D , i hope that someone can fix the mistake

Config.CPP

My P3D

thank you in advance

[JBâ„¢ 1]

Right, I've been mulling this over and doing some tests for a while now.

What are the up sides to doing a completely stand-alone addon? Shouldn't I be placing the files I alter in my PBO and then just keeping the ones I don't change in thier default BIS directories? Right now I have a 95.4 mb PBO with four guys inside, but in reality most of the stuff they use is just plain old BIS.

As far as I've been able to determine, the only things that are changed are the p3d's, a few textures (well, most of them really) and the wounds. So if I just place those things in a PBO my file size drops to about 30-40 mb.

Would that be a bad way of doing it, and if so, why?

Sorry for my late replies, I have been abroad to celebrate my birthday and only arrived back late last night

@ Hund - What you are doing is correct and is probably the best way of doing it

The tutorial was wrote hopefully to help people who are new to ArmA editing. I tried to explain the process which is needed to get custom units and textures to work ingame. I approached the tutorial with the aim of making it completely stand-alone so that the end user could modify ANY texture or material effect file needed for the unit as it is not dependent on any other file outside of the created .pbo.

That said, if you are wanting to make a custom unit like you did, using bits and pieces of various BIS units or just altering the position of them in O2 and you are still using original BIS textures then you could change the path to the BIS folder rather than your own. This would reduce your file size considerably.

Maybe I could add something to the intro of the tutorial to reflect this as new users may think it is an absolute necessity to add every tex/mat file even if it is not needed.

@ Youriberg - I will d/l your .p3d and take a look alter mate.

[Anykey 1]

ok thank you