da12thMonkey

Looking really good fellas. I caught those pics of the test reskin Ace did for the old OFP Leopard model too: Clearly a great addition to your team.

If you ask me it's not a matter of whether they could afford a carrier or not; it's whether they'd need one or not. Sahrani's a tiny, tiny island in the middle of nowhere. Why on earth does it need a carrier? Carriers are used to provide air assets for fleet protection and for air support for ground troops in expeditionary warfare. The coastline of Sahrani (all of it, including the north) is only a few hundred km long and their territory will only extend out into open ocean for a few miles. You wouldn't need a fleet of more than a handful of ships to patrol all that, and you can easily defend a small group of ships with shore-based aircraft (to be honest you could probably defend it with shore-based missiles and gun batteries). As for expeditionary warfare; I think that's out of the question for Sahrani isn't it? Just because they have Skyhawks and Etendards, it doesn't make a carrier a necessary addition. Both aircraft have been operated by countries that don't posses carriers. Like wld427 said, people can argue the toss all day about which kit Sahrani could and could not have. At the end of the day it's up to the blokes behind the mod to decide whether they want to put the effort in to make it, and they've said they wont be making a carrier.

To be honest, Marky Mark's the best casting decision they seem to have made on the movie: Mila "That '70s Show" Kunis is playing Mona Sax and Ludacris is playing Jim Bravura (who was a fat, bald white bloke in the games). The trailer looks okay: It has the right noir feel to it and the flying angel things work fine if they're meant to be part part of Max's drug trips. The game had a number of references to angels and the occult was a significant aspect of the parts of the game that introduced Jack Lupino. The guy directing it did 'Behind Enemy Lines' so he knows how to do over-the-top action sequences, and the overall cinematography of that movie was pretty good. His use of actors isn't the best though (framing them or getting decent performances) so with a less than stellar cast, things might not be be good. On the other hand, the bloke who wrote the screenplay has an impressive résumé of TV shows; so the quality of writing may give the actors a better shot. I hope it's at least decent; I enjoyed the Max Payne games immensely and they're where I started out modding.

Only 'sort alpha' buggered up O2 for me mate. Just like DM says. On the other hand 'sort faces' doesn't seem to cause me any serious problems. However, when I used it on someone else's model to sort out the section count (which is what you were teaching me when 'sort alpha' caused the strife), it created an alpha sorting bug rather than getting rid of any: contrary to what DM said it'd do in here. I used pretty much the same method as Rock's to sort it out.

I believe that the infantry-role one has the sight folded away, but it is up when the GPMG is on a vehicle mount. I think it's just up in that picture so that you can see we've modelled it. It was made by Messiah, and yes he did a rather marvellous job of it.

There appears to be some incompatibility between this island and that Watkins Mountains island released the other week. The grass and fern clutter disappears from Uhao if I run ArmA with both islands installed. It's fine if I remove watkins.pbo so I imagine that's where the fault lies. Just letting you know incase other people have noticed that they're lacking grass on Uhao.

You don't need to tell me that: I spend a couple of months working there last year. Thankfully I was staying elsewhere. Might be worth mentioning that we're currently doing a bit of housekeeping on our forums; deleting old, irrelevant threads and stuff. Most of it isn't affecting the public parts of the forum, apart from closing the 'Addon Ideas' board, but if you do notice any topics have disappeared, you know why.

They will have been at Castlemartin (Pembroke) for live firing. Sennybridge (Brecon) is not suitable for Heavy armour. I think the King's Royal Hussars were at Castlemartin recently, so if the tanks belong to them, they'd have been going to Tidworth (Wiltshire).

As far as I am aware there are no HAR.5s flying anymore.  All the airframes were retired and replaced by HU.5 and converted HAS6 in 2003.  I could be wrong though; RN kit isn’t really my forte.  I don’t have many contacts in the FAA. I probably meant HU.5 rather than HAR.5. Seems I was reading something along similar lines to you regarding Merlin UKSF and CSAR roles. However, there have been rumours to that effect ever since the formation of SFSG; saying that the Rockapes in the unit are tasked with CSAR and FAC.

The SAR ones are only used domestically in the UK, normally to rescue stranded civilians. They're not for CSAR or anything where they'll be shot at; hence why they're yellow. I think the RAF uses Merlin HC.3As for CSAR. Rock, do the RN still operate their Sea King HAR.5 rescue helicopters?

eV, not V... different measure to be exact, eV's are used to measure energy, just like joules - at a very low scale, though, since we're talking about single electrons here. Of course, at those energies the currencies are quite... "nice" also. Although oddly enough, the same unit is quite commonly used as a measure of mass also in particle physics (via E=mc^2)... what a fun subject. Cheers for putting that up, wouldn't have prolly noticed it otherwise. One eV's 1.602*10^-19 Joules, it's mostly used to describe low energy systems such as those that exhibit quantum mechanical effects. The reason it's called an electron volt is because it's the energy that an electron gains when it's accelerated by a potential difference of 1 Volt from the relation E = qV (E = energy in Joules, V = potential difference in Volts, q = charge of the particle in Coulombs). For an electron q = 1.602*10^-19 Coulombs hence E = 1.602*10^-19 when V = 1 Volt. Since the LHC will mostly be accelerating protons which also have a charge of 1.602*10^-19 Coulombs, creating a stream of protons that has an energy of 7*10^12 eV would require a potential of a 7*10^12 Volts. eV and V describing the particle beam are pretty much interchangeable; though given the nature of the experiment, there are probably some quantum effects that I've ignored that may change that relation (it's been about a decade since I did any Quantum Mechanics so I don't really recall what other relations may govern the energy of the beam). That said though, the potential generated by the magnetic field in the LHC is not necessarily of a similar magnitude to the voltage describing the power supply to the experiment, which is what dale appears to have in mind; since the magnets pretty much make a big transformer.

Like Messiah pointed out, they're still working on the C-130s, Rock's just been a bit too busy to add all the project pages to the site as of yet. The AC-130 was dropped from the RKSL C-130 project though, so no dice.

And that's the reason why i kepp the first  O2PE release version just for export/import functions which wokr quite well  . I did that for a long while for that exact reason too, but experienced funny behaviour a couple of times after patching ArmA. Figured it was best to go with the new toolset. I'll see about Abs' suggestion.

Yea, yea, I think everyone know that it takes time and effort since that's what it took to get whatever skills we currently posses and some of us probably feel pretty bad that we're lacking the passion for modelling etc to jump in and learn that sort of thing. I wasn't really making excuses for not learning it; just indicating that the way ArmA modding is for most of us, provides additional barriers to learning that particular process yet, while we want to be enjoying the things we're working on in the game we love. We all enjoy doing this, and learning new things (we wouldn't be posting in this thread if we didn't) and I reckon most of us learn new things every time we start somet new on a project. I don't think anyone's simply settling with the skills they have, it's just that some of us don't have the necessary passion to learn and apply the things we pick up in tutorials in a way that'll show quick results to outside observers (i.e allotting the time to practice lots). The way most of us are learning and improving is probably a slow process, but allows us to produce things for other people to enjoy, quickly. I guess the mindset of someone who's purely into modding differs somewhat from artistry and those who have a definite passion for 3D design such as yourself. I've seen it in the past with blokes I've worked on with mods for other games, and have gone on to work as professional designers for studios such as Volition Inc, Rockstar North and Remedy Entertainment; they were all truly artistic. Like I said though, we're all learning so I dare say quite a few of the guys here will be able to do baked normal maps some day. But for some (like me probably) it'll be a long process.

I think the vast majority of community members who are making addons for ArmA use O2 to model so making hi-poly models isn't feasible in the first place, given the simple nature of the program and the fact that it has a habit of going tits-up if you have too many points. Secondly, there's no longer an export function in O2(PE), so even if most of us using O2 could make high-poly meshes, we couldn't export them to a program that would allow us to bake the normals once we've unwrapped the buggers. It's all fine and dandy for those of us who have the funds to purchase more advanced tools and export from those to 02, but there where will still be a number of those who don't have the necessary skill with these commercial tools to be able to to create high-poly models. I can't even unwrap in 3DS; I've only ever had the pleasure of being instructed on how to do it in O2 by a friend; so I can't complete the necessary work-flow required to bake normal maps either.

Small details will not cast self-shadow. There is a tresshold to how much shadow lod must be above surface to cast shadow. The self-shadow from normal map is in those cases the only option. If the shovel really has to be 3D you can still make it a flat polygon and use normal or make it a flat quad and use normal+alpha channel (I'd personally go with flat poly option, alpha channel wouldn't look good on edges). You could leave the hatches actually since it's just few polies. I'm fairly sure the shovel and pick handle on this model are sufficiently large enough, and far enough from the hull to cast shadows. The ones we've put on a number of UKF models and my own work, manage it well enough and they're mounted exactly the same as this one. @SoldierIsNotHistory, the face count's very good mate; pretty much what I'd expect of an AFV, and you've managed to get a nice amount of detail out of that (a surprising amount, given my initial though that of stuff might be too round).

I'm in agreement with my team mate; simply normal mapping tools on the back would look gash. I can't very well tell SoldierIsNotHistory to square-up the edge of the tyres either since it was me who moaned at Messiah about his Landie tyre-walls being flat. They're important details to include in the mesh, you just need to be mindful of how many faces they really deserve to have lavished on them. Normals maps are fine for nuts, bolts, handles, hinges and general small fixtures that don't stick out more than a couple of inches but in ArmA, BFO pieces of gear strapped to the side should modelled and included in the shadow LODs so that you get nice detailed lighting on the vehicle. That said, I'd probably have a look at those hoisting-rings that panda flagged up on the turret, and possibly the hole though the middle of the ones at the extreme front and rear of the vehicle. They look like they may contain a few polies that could be spent elsewhere. How many sides do the cylinders used to create the smoke launchers have? They look a bit rounder than they really need to be, but if the total polycount for the vehicle's fairly reasonable; leave them as-is (speaking of which; care to share the total face-count?). Anyway, the VBCI's a very nice vehicle. I sort of preferred it to the Piranha IV/Vs finally went for with FRES.

Darkest Hour 1.1 patch is out now: http://www.moddb.com/mods/darkest-hour-normandy-1944/downloads Includes: *2 popular custom maps: DH-Foy and DH-Hurtgenwald *3 new maps: DH-St. Fromond, DH-Le Fosse and DH-Merville Manor. *Bipods on LMGs are now deployed with the "Deploy" key, rather than the IronSights key to prevent accidental deployment in combat. *AT weapon accuracy increased drastically *Bazookas and Panzerschrek start with a round in them and no longer lose AT rounds given to you by other players when you switch weapon * New weapon sounds for M1 Garand, Colt M1911, and all Allied vehicles *Moved the ironsights away from the screen to increase view on a number of weapons Plus a number of additional changes and bugfixes to gameplay and maps.

Yea, ten years ago maybe. Nomex flight-gloves were used because they were more breathable than leather gloves but equally hard wearing; work gloves tended to be too heavy and stiff to operate with. They were one of the few suitable gloves on the market for a while. Nowadays, the development of more durable fabrics has lead to companies produce purpose-built assault gloves (such as Oakleys) and flexible lightweight work-gloves like the Mechanix gloves depicted in this addon. There are now loads of suitable gloves around so flight-gloves aren't the only option and other types of hard-wearing gloves are just as prolific in theatre nowadays. I don't doubt there are tons of blokes still rocking the Nomex flight-gloves, but to suggest that all other types are 'only for training' is ridiculous. The gloves on Jonny's SFs are fine as they are.

Just found the one bug: GL (H) in ACU camo doesn't have wound textures. The other 35 units are fine though.

Epic stuff Jonny my lad. They certainly look the part when compared to the game's default SF units, which I tried replacing with these (I however, am a config retard). Now all I need are 160th SOAR helos and some HMMWVs with moar gunz, then I'll have all the US addons I'll ever want to use.

erm... the equator is the simply the plane that is perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation and contains the planet's centre of mass, (0-degrees latitude); it has nothing to do with the earth's magnetic polarity. The magnetic poles poles aren't even in the same place as the axial poles about which the earth rotates (true north and true south) at the moment. Rotation of the Earth is what generates the Earth's magnetic field (well, rotation of the Earth's iron core) but the magnetic field doesn't effect the Earth's rotation itself, so our axis of rotation and hence equator will remain where they are. What will change is the axis of the field through the Earth. Weather patterns may change due to charged particles flowing around the Earth differently and 'equatorial climates' may exist in places away from the geometric equator for a time; but like I said the Earth's rotation will remain as-is. Have they announced a proper date for starting the collisions in LHC yet?

That's because you're using a weapon with an aimpoint or eotech sight that has the parallax effect modelled such as Aimpoint's desert weapons. The cone from the sight that excludes textures is necessary to make the sights function as they should but unfortunately it creates problems when in vehicles. HMMWV is great lads; should look absolutely top once VXR has textured the rest of it. The parts that are done already look nice. So far my only suggestion would be that you might need to reduce the depression angle of the M2 to stop it clipping through the gun-shield when you aim down on the final version. There's also a bit of a bug whereby the brake lights appear as black circles when shadows cast over the rear of the vehicle (I mean when the brake lights come on).

I believe it's the part of the squad.xml/clan selection that displays the pilot's username.

From what I've been told by Messiah you can define as many lights as you like. He produced this example, but I've not tried it myself. I guess the reason that your hasn't worked so far is that you just copied the existing L/R svetlo and didn't create new selections for the new lights and define them in the config separetly. The below config defines an additional third light called 'Middle' but you can call the additional lights whatever you like so long as they're there in the model. <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class Reflectors { class Left { color[] = {0.9, 0.8, 0.8, 1.0}; ambient[] = {0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 1.0}; position = "L svetlo"; direction = "konec L svetla"; hitpoint = "L svetlo"; selection = "L svetlo"; size = 0.5; brightness = 0.25; }; class Right { color[] = {0.9, 0.8, 0.8, 1.0}; ambient[] = {0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 1.0}; position = "P svetlo"; direction = "konec P svetla"; hitpoint = "P svetlo"; selection = "P svetlo"; size = 0.5; brightness = 0.25; }; class Middle { color[] = {0.9, 0.8, 0.8, 1.0}; ambient[] = {0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 1.0}; position = "MiddleL"; direction = "MiddleLEnd"; hitpoint = "MiddleL"; selection = "MiddleL"; size = 0.5; brightness = 0.35; }; };