Dismemberment project

[Flarmapoint 2 10]

Hi guys, ok well ive been thinking for a while, about trying to create a dismemberment system for arma. This would be an advanced gib system, i.e. individual arms, legs ect.. will come off, and im told this is very much possible.

I have had some very helpful replies from bis devs, and modders of this community, but they only tell me the method i should use to create such a system.

Here are some replies from a few modders, and a dev:

Modder reply

If you want a REALLY realistic gibbing system, the better way to do it would be to replace the full body NPC models with models that are missing specific body parts (by making those areas completely transparent in Oxygen), then make a collection of scripts that spawn the missing body parts at the approximate location of the NPC. That way arms,legs and the head will fall off and the body will still be able to animate (ie fall down into a death pose instead of just spawning a dead body with missing limbs). You could have a complete dismemberment system with hands, forearms, lower legs, upper legs etc... all dismembering in different patterns.

Here a some replies from modders, and a dev, in regards to the above method:

Dev reply

hi, this is not good idea, if you want do that, will be better to hide body parts by selections on model that you will define in config.

Modder reply to a question of mine about how to create transparent sections of a model in oxygen, from the first quote method:

Yes, it's actually not too hard. All you need is a transparent texture, which is easy to make. Then you grab a soldier model of your choice, open it in Oxygen, select any body part you want to make transparent and apply the transparency texture to it.

The thing is, the more fidelity you want in your gibbing system, the more models you'll have to make. If you just want a soldier to be able to lose one arm or one leg, you'll need to make 4 models, each with one of the left or right arm or leg missing. But if you want more fidelity, such as both arms or an arm and a leg missing, the number of models multiplies exponentially. Even if you just had the arms, legs and head each in a whole piece (no "hand" or "lower leg" dismemberment), you would have to make 32 separate models. Also remember that there are different soldier models in the game, so in theory you would have to do all that for each model in order for it not to look shitty.

And that's just the modelling part. Later you'll need to write complicated scripts for detecting hitzones and replacing models on the fly...

Honestly, if you're just getting into the whole addon making and scripting business, I would recommend starting with something simpler and then moving up from there. No one, not even some of the best addon makers, have been able to make a believable gibbing system so far.

Can you guys show me the light at the end of the tunnel :) ive decided to choose the method the dev suggested, because its only requires scripting, not 30+ models of a solider.

So do any of guys know how i should go about making this ?

Thanks in advance

f2

Edited July 8, 2009 by Flarmapoint 2

[dmarkwick 261]

If I were doing it, I would make 6 body parts (head, torso, arms & legs) then use attachTo command to stick them together. That way you need only 6 model parts, I assume legs & arms can be duplicated across all unit types (for faction/regiment) and just have torsos and heads to match. So lets say you have 15 types of Opfor you wish to gib, you need 1 left arm, 1 right arm, 1 left leg, 1 right leg, torsos for all the different torso types (some of them can be used twice) same for the heads. Much more manageable than 4+ models for each unit :D

Then you're looking at spending a happy few days in the editor, using AttachTo commands for each body type so you know how to position, in script, each body part. Then you'll make a script that randomly stitches together dismembered units & swap them for the dead units.

[Flarmapoint 2 10]

If I were doing it, I would make 6 body parts (head, torso, arms & legs) then use attachTo command to stick them together. That way you need only 6 model parts, I assume legs & arms can be duplicated across all unit types (for faction/regiment) and just have torsos and heads to match. So lets say you have 15 types of Opfor you wish to gib, you need 1 left arm, 1 right arm, 1 left leg, 1 right leg, torsos for all the different torso types (some of them can be used twice) same for the heads. Much more manageable than 4+ models for each unit :D

Then you're looking at spending a happy few days in the editor, using AttachTo commands for each body type so you know how to position, in script, each body part. Then you'll make a script that randomly stitches together dismembered units & swap them for the dead units.

What an awesome idea :D would this work?

[dmarkwick 261]

Can't think of a reason why not :)

Only limitations I can think of are: only dead units can be gibbed.

Torsos limited to either face-down or face-up (which I think would be perfectly fine).

If you make the arm & leg models with the zero-position at the joint, then you can easily add small directional randomisations to even further get more visual differences.

So you would need to:

Position the torso (position, direction)

for each attached limb, attach to torso at appropriate point and add slight direction randomisation. (Legs 0-45, arms 0-180.)

for each non-attached limb, place randomly around torso area.

Edited July 8, 2009 by DMarkwick

[TRexian 0]

Would animations be the same?

[dmarkwick 261]

No animations unfortunately. This would be purely a static setup for effect only.

[Flarmapoint 2 10]

Does anyone know how to hide a selection of faces in the config?

I just need to know how to hide certain limbs of the soldier when he is hit, ive decided to make this addon for arma1, until the tools come out for arma 2.

Can someone please explain to a noob :D

Thanks

f2

[p75 10]

I would love to see this.

[r3volution 0]

This would be a masterpiece if it can be done without killing the CPU. Hell, it'd still rock even if it did, somehow dudes getting surface scratches from a close range grenade blast or mortar don't quite cut it as realistic.

[rocket 9]

As stated above, I would probably have the following occur in script:

1. Record the original body's world vector, direction, position, altitude, etc...

2. Spawn a "pink mist" and/or explosion effect to hide switch-a-roo

3. Delete the original body

4. Place a new "dismembered" body, with the body broken into chunks, with chunks starting all together in a normal body pose

5. Animate the dismembering of the body using custom RTM animation(s)... any volunteers for the mocap? :D

BIS use multiple RTM's for different death states, I'd do the same thing, and use different various RTM's for different methods of dismemberment.

If you want to go the "dev" method of hiding selections, that won't really work. Your option there would be to replace the texture on the fly with an invisible texture. Each selection needs to be setup in the model.cfg, the p3d, and the config.cpp file. If you do manage to remove the texture on a selection - two things will happen:

- Animations can be a bit screwy on selections that are subject to SetObjectTexture calls.

- Any selection with no texture set, will become invisible. On a standard BIS model this means that you will see through the model in those parts. For example, hiding an arm means you can see through the body.

My advice, for what it is worth...

1. Start small. I have been modding ArmA since it came out, and I've now opted to devote the next few months to stock-ArmA2 mission making to really get to grips with ArmA2 before getting into addon modding. Mission making, with detailed scripting, allows you to get real personal with issues such as performance, multiplayer synchronization, scripting, as well as intimate with all the stock BIS models.

2. Start simple. For the first dismemberment addon, pick simple functionality first. Come up with the animated RTM exploding body first, get that working.

3. Itterate. Get the simplest part working first, release it, bath in the worldwide acclaim and universal praise that all addon-makers receive. Then get suggestions and improve it.

Edited July 20, 2009 by Rocket