geometry LOD help

[Fox '09 14]

Hi all, I am creating a bunker. I am new to addon creation. I've tried following tutorials, but they don't seem to help with this specific case.

It was made in 3ds max by my freind and ported to O2...

It consists of:

a inside box (it's the bunker "room")

dirt/ground over it, in a spherical sort of form.

a door entrance that looks like it's from a submarine or boat.

the problem, I cannot find a way to make the geo lod to work with the inside box. I've tried making a LOD with just the inside box, but I cannot enter it. The doorway doesn't work, and when I try to remove the door, i am faced with a solid wall. Removing the wall in front results in removal of the whole LOD or just the sides.

Here is the bunker 3ds file

http://www.mediafire.com/?nx2nqj3jzjn

And here is the P3D. i don't think I included my recent editing of it..

http://www.mediafire.com/?z22dt5nyjtq

I've been struggling to get this working for at least 6 hours (yes, addon kings laugh at me..) I've given up and asked you all.

thanks!

[mikebart 1]

Hey AxF, just had a look at the files you provided, you need to actually make a geometry lod out of convex hulls, sometimes you can use the 'component convex hulls' function in O2 to create a geo lod for simple objects but in your case you'll actually have to make them yourself in either O2 or 3dsmax,

and dont forget to apply weights, always gets me :)

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Oxygen_2_-_Manual#Geometry_LODs

[Fox '09 14]

thanks mikebark I'll give it a go!

edit:

I got the basic shape of it now..

edit:

great, it crashes on me..

:mad:

edit:

here is the "updated" P3D

http://www.mediafire.com/file/owzttyjmwim/untitled.p3d

Edited April 9, 2010 by Fox '09

[DaSquade 0]

Just had a quick look.

I think you misunderstand what you need to do.

All geo-fire-view geo lods need to be made out 'closed' 3d shapes, beeing non-concave, named selected with 'ComponentXX' and for Geo lod only you need to give it a weight.

Best is to redo those lods and start with simple boxes witch you modify. The geo can be made out of more complex shapes, but you need to keep in mind these shapes can't have concave faces. This is often the biggest problem and often it is a big trail and error.

What i do is make the geo part by part and each time i made a piece, i select that shape and use the 'structure-> triangulate convex' option. Most of the times that traingulate the made shape and making it compatible. You can check your made shape with "structure->Find non-convexties". If the shape doesn't find 'red marked' vertexes, your shape is good, if not you need to remake parts of it. Once you have your full model done and made sure it is full closed (structure-> find non-closed), you select your model again and use 'structure-> find compenents'. This will check search for individual shapes and auto generate named selections: compenentNumberXX. It is best to have as less shapes (named compenents) as possible, as the more the more the engine needs to calculate them ingame making your model perform bad. Also there is a limite in named compenents. In case of the geo lod, you need to apply 'mass' (Shift+F7).

Geo lod: keep it as simple as possible. This lod act as 'walls' that outlines your model shape. No need for complex stuff, also try to avoid nasty corners or other shapes that can make your unit get stuck. If no fire lod is present, this lod will also act as fire lod. Often you want your geo lod slightly bigger then your visual model.

View geo lod: Bit simular, with the same rules (except mass) acts as a lod where shapes will block AI's view. Where there is a shape, AI won't be able to see stuff behind it. Again keep these lods as low as possible, you might want to delete smaller objects.

Fire geo: Acts as bullet stoppers. So here you might want to add smaller parts and more refined shapes.

That is more the basic you should know. There is more info to be found on the BIS wiki etc...

You might also download the ArmA1 released sample models. They include several buildings you can view and learn how they made it.

Good luck.

[Fox '09 14]

thanks! I'll give it another go and report back when I'm done.

[Deadfast 43]

Use BinPBO and binarize. It'll generate a log file with the same name as the PBO you're packing + .txt extension.

That way you will notice errors without having to load the game and wait for it to crash.

[Fox '09 14]

thanks for the tip! I fixed the issue and redid the Geo lod. I copied the geo lod and made it the fire lod.. it worked in game (didn't crash and the geo/fire lod works)

Except i messed up the scale and I can pretty much walk through it. I just need to make it bigger and it should work (right?).

next headache is textures.. but I think I can figure that out.

[DaSquade 0]

In your model case, i think there was no need to make a fire lod and the visual model was pretty simple. So your geo lod model should be good enough to act as fire lod. Anyway, nothing wrong but the less lods, the lower the file size...

Can't really answer the messed up scale question without seeeing the model. Feel free to upload it again.

As for the texturing, O2 way of unwrapping should do fine. Search some tutorials.

[Fox '09 14]

I am pretty much done with the Geo lod.. I just need to er.. "close" this opening. I'm pretty bad at modeling in O2, all of my attempts have failed to close that. Fire lod is a exact copy, and it works fine... cept I can't shoot inside walls... I fixed the scale..

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/5882/captureiwu.png

here is the file:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/untitled2.p3d

Edited April 10, 2010 by Fox '09

[DaSquade 0]

I had a quick look at the geo lod and again you are still missing the point a bit. Like said you need to "fill up" your res lod model with shapes that are closed and compatible.

Again try downloading the example models (of arma1...the principle remains the same). They are great resources.

[Fox '09 14]

I'm trying but I'm awful at modeling in O2. I'll give it another shot.

edit:

I did check out the samples, and they helped. But I'm trying to tear apart my model instead of re-working it in O2.. cause I can't model at all in O2.

edit2:

maybe I'll try merging..

edit3: ok I've redone the entire geo-lod from scratch..

Edited April 10, 2010 by Fox '09