Ship Movement bug on user made maps

[[aps]gnat 28]

Ok, so its a little late in ArmA-1 life to discover this, but its a pretty significant bug.

Seems near all user made custom island/terrain stops all (AI) large ship movement in its tracks!

Not small boats, just ships, typically anything longer than 20 meters.

Probably many factors involved, but on Sahrani (snd BIS islands) theres no problems.

One factor seems to be Binarizing the island addon.

I've been working on my Water World map and didn't have any problems with ship movement until either/or a) messed with the layer texture and b) binarized it.

I changed BinPBO to preserver all files just in case that was the problem, didnt help, so it seems that the binarized WRP file cause it.

The underwater texture does effect vehicle speed, but this is not so much speed problem, it simply large ships will not move AT ALL.

Gardinas island is one of the few user made addons that doesnt have the problem, but I suspect its because its not Binarized.

How can I prove if the wrp file is Binarized?

Maybe its the seabed texture BIS use ..... I can only hope, but how do I get the exact layer and texture info ..... ?

........ any comments, suggestions or answers on this weird arse problem gratefully accepted !

[Synide 0]

Open the .wrp in a Hex Editor.

If the first 4 characters are 8WVR then the .wrp file is unbinarized.

If the first 4 characters are OPRW then the .wrp is binarized.

In a binarized .wrp the next 4 bytes are the OPRW determine the version type of the .wrp.

0x1200 0000 is version 18. 0x1400 0000 is version 20.

The ArmA tools released produce OPRWv18.wrp's.

Sara is OPRWv20. Desert (Rhamadi) is OPRWv20 and Porto is OPRWv18.

Edited April 11, 2009 by Synide

[Nicholas Bell 0]

Maybe its the seabed texture BIS use ..... I can only hope, but how do I get the exact layer and texture info ..... ?

Have you tried binarizing the BIS Ramadi sample map to see if the problem still exists? If it doesn't you could study it to see what the difference is between it and other islands. (if you have the source files).

Looking at the sample map mask file the bottom of the sea is sand - same as much of the island.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Thanks Synide, your fast!

Thanks Nicholas, good idea. Maybe its the BinPBO tool itself ..... not all the same features as BIS's own tool.

BTW, its definately within the binarized WRP file. I did a test where I bin'ed a whole map .... tested, no AI movement, de-PBO'ed its file, swapped the WRP file for the original (non-bin'ed) and re-PBO'ed it. Sure enough AI could move. :(

[Auss 208]

Gnat - Please let me know what you find mate and I'll attempt to resolve it with the latest Island release. We need those big ships!!!!

[Synide 0]

Do you have the .log report from the Binarized production of the .pbo?

Are there errors?

[[aps]gnat 28]

Are there errors?

Yeh, but they are all relating to Object configs ...... nothing to suggest any other issues.

[Synide 0]

Perhaps it's a little like the issue when one doesn't get road objects working correctly. Ya know the issue when you are driving across countryside an then you drive onto your road and suddenly your driving at half the speed and there's no dust etc. blah, blah... that comes from the engine struggling to determine what CfgSurface you are currently moving over.

Perhaps go through all your CfgSurfaces/CfgSurfaceCharacters and the associated texture names and triple check to see if any are (or could be) in contention with already defined characteristics from other addons or from the default content ones... dunno.

Like Nicholas Bell sugested. Build SampleMap into a binarized form and test on that... does it break your ship movement?

[[aps]gnat 28]

OK, I think I can call it official;

We've been given a bugged version of BinPBO !

After getting the BIS provided Sample Map and V3 generating the extra files and then Binarizing/packing with BinPBO ..... found it too doesn't allow large ship movement !! :mad:

Funny enough (not), the sample files includes (from BIS) an already bin'ed and packed SampleMap pbo, and that one DOES work ! ! ! ! :confused:

So therefore it seems the only difference is the generated WRP file.

BIS team, would appreciate some feedback (and a solution) on this.

[Synide 0]

The pre-made samplemap.pbo that is inside the BISampleMap.zip contains a binarized island of type OPRWv20.wrp (version 20).

The ArmA tools currently only create OPRWv18.wrp's.

Up till now I've only been aware of the 'clutterbug' (for lack of a better term) and a couple of other minor differences 'tween the 2 versions. But, obviously this 'feature' you have noticed is also an effect of not being able to create v20 wrp files.

I asked a very long time ago what the differences were between the 2 versions but got no response. Another game's .pbo creation process that uses a binarize.exe produces OPRWv20.wrp's. And, I'd imagine internally they have various development versions.

The two .wrp versions in ArmA (the one's provided by the patches & the ones produced by the ArmA tools suite) have been different for quite a long time. Either this was an oversight or intentional. Either way the upshot is that the ArmA community can only produce island output that is 98% the same as BIS can produce it.

From this issue you have noted and other issues that have cropped up one can only assume that the 2% difference equates to 'fixes' of flaws in v18.

I can't exactly remember when version 20 was patched out to the ArmA community but I'm sure it was 2-3 patches ago. The tools haven't been able to create the same output since that time.

PS. It's always amused me that the BISampleMap.zip contains example material to build that does not end up like the example .pbo prodvided in the same package.

Edited April 19, 2009 by Synide

[Nicholas Bell 0]

Thanks for the insight, Synide. Unfortunately this really puts a damper on several of the islands I am working on. Better to know now, though. I had no idea BIS wasn't providing us the latest tools.

[Synide 0]

No worries... I guess a possible workaround for you Gnat (and others) is to get a person with the other game to binarize up your island. This would at least get you a oprwv20.wrp. I dunno whether the bros. would appreciate that though so you'd be best to ask them via Placebo i'd guess.

[Auss 208]

I'm glad you found this now. I was to embark on terraforming all the Sea floor around our Australia Island, to provide cover for Gnats Subs. Not really sure whether to do it now.

[.kju 3244]

A2 doesnt seem far. So sooner or later, we might get the latest batch of tools.

Hopefully that will sort it..

[[aps]gnat 28]

@Synide

Arh, makes sense now. Thanks.

Yeh, A2 is near, but there will be life left in A1 for a bit yet. (i.e. like OFP1 gamers)

Bit annoying to discover this now, but I think with A2 just about to be released, its even more reason for BIS to fix a tool release for A1.

Placebo, appreciated if you could raising this with the powers in control.

Maybe the "Terrain Artists" group could organise a petition ;)

@Aussie

Bummer mate. I guess the human players would have been the only ones using the cover of trenches and undersea ridges anyway :(

I was looking forward to slippin a mini-sub into Sydney Harbour again too :D

[Auss 208]

I've asked placebo to raise this Gnat but with A2 being 2 months away I think we have FA chance..lol