Ok dudes... I have never seen this posted so I may have made a discovery here.... It's certainly new to me...
You know how tanks like the BMP will darken as you hit them, getting darker and darker until they die? Well, I KNOW HOW TO DO THIS!
There are three things you must do to accomplish this. You need to work with the "Hit Points" Lod, the numeric LODs, and the Armor rating section of the config file. Here is what you do with each:
1. Hit points LOD:
Define the various hit locations as in the other tanks like the BMP. Create a geometric shape for the hull hit location, track locations, etc. Give them any name you want, or stick to the already established names. WHen these are hit by fire, they will register it to their specific area.
2. Config file:
There is a section in the cfgVehicles for defining armor points and their various attributes / values. If you open the commented config, you will see the best example in the first tank class. Look for this:
class HitHull {armor=1;material=50;name=hull;passThrough=1;};
The key sections are the name, which is the name of the hit points LOD section you made. The next one, the one we've all been confused about, is the MATERIAL section. THIS IS NOT A POINTLESS SECTION!!! It's very, very important!
The MATERIAL number is actually an identification number. All faces using this number are considered part of the hit location you have specified. All faces using this label will darken when damaged at the appropriate hit location. REMEMBER THIS NUMBER, for we will need it as we go back to O2.
3. Numerical LODs. (the ones you see from outside the vehicle in-game)
Ok, here is where the new stuff comes into play. Select every face that is part of the hit location you are working with. Go into their face properties. In the bottom left corner is a little field called: "User". In this field, type in the "material" number you set up in the config file. Save your work, take it out in the game, and watch as these faces now darken as you damage them.
WOOT!
WOOT WOOT!