Geometry LOD max dimension

[AG_Smith]

Hi there,
I'm about to make a large harbour complex. I've made a dock model - size ca. 500x500m, so that you could fit any ship inside. The problem is that Geometry LOD doesn't work even though it's done 100% correctly (weights set, components found, hull convexed, etc.). Ingame I can simply walk, drive or shoot through it.
I've figured out that there are problems that this happens when model is any larger than about 100x100m.
Any suggestions how to make it work?

[nik]

Hi I think the Geo-lod supports only objects that are not bigger then 64m correctly.


nik

[asmodeus]

I ran into a similar problem with the TAAB addon that our Mod came out with recently.

There are 2 solutions, as I see it.

1.  Make the dock a bunch of seperate pieces that are small enough for O2 to work correctly.

2.  Make the geo lod yourself (out of many, many pieces) and do not use the component convex hull trick.  I had to do this for a couple of large buildings, but it works pretty good now!  

Hope that helps!  (If you need details, let me know)  

Asmo  

[AG_Smith]

I've chosen the 1st way. Addon is nearly ready and I'll relase it in about a week. Stay tuned for new.
64m max dim seems to be right.
Thanks for your reply.

[Tomb]

I've chosen the 1st way. Addon is nearly ready and I'll relase it in about a week. Stay tuned for new.
64m max dim seems to be right.
Thanks for your reply.

sounds good, m8 - love yer products   they really bring the game to life! and we need a big harbour indeed

[AG_Smith]

OK, it's ready. All of you, who want to see the effect of my work, go to:
http://www.of.fpp.pl/?pl:pages:show:543:::
and grab it!

[asmodeus]

Hey!

Good job!  This is a pretty good addon!  

A couple things I noticed so far that I thought might help you though..

Near the helipad at the end of the dock I fall through in a few different places...  In the jeep or on foot.  (I know how it is to work with buildings on water...  makes me feel   sometimes...  )

Oh yeah, and on those cool cranes you made, one small thing is that the height for the "control" area door is too low for a soldier standing straight up and walk through.  

I like it and it works well with large boats!  :thumbsup:  

Oh yeah, and it kinda fits well with our TAAB addon too!  (A pack with bunkers and parking garages' and other stuff that could work well to defend it or something)  

Asmo

[Tomb]

  Fantastic stuff, agent.  

And my kid loves it too... I just made him a demo harbour-míssion to show him the goods!

Like, asmo said :  the crane's control hut needs another mtr's height. And the ladder doesn't work properly
but I guess you know that already.

Apart from that its almost perfect, though the helipad piece doesnt work at all so I dont use it. Never really got why you put mass into the helipad marker, why not simply "draw" it directly on the concrete?

Ok ok, it might take a special made concrete block but it would solve the AI's problems when using it.

All in all this is a fantastic addon - in its own way, as cool as the latest chopper addons!   ;D
Now we just need a few big ( BIG ) warehouses; for now I use the hangars but we need real warehouses, with working 'balchonys' along the insides. (balchony's   ;D what are they called?)

And someone need to make us this fork-lift   that we never got!!!!!  


GREAT WORK, ags   bring more of the kind, mylordship

[AG_Smith]

Thanks for your reply, guys.

the crane's control hut needs another mtr's height. And the ladder doesn't work properly
but I guess you know that already.

Yes, I do know that.
I'll change the helipad too. Appropriate update is on the way.
Asmo: I can't find any "fall-through" places. I spent 25 minutes searching for it... Maybe this problem is yours-specific?
And one more news:
The industrial (and BIG warehouses) buildings are next in my production queue, so be patient, you'll get what you want.

[Tomb]

1.) I can't find any "fall-through" places. I spent 25 minutes searching for it...

2.) The industrial (and BIG warehouses) buildings are next in my production

========================================


1.)  I know what this is   its not yer addon, smithyboy, its asmo and his bad setpossing   ;D

Honestly, if placed at the wrong pos, the concrete blocks (any block) will have "dangerous" edges!  
Its all just a matter of patient setpos creation  

so ease up, agent, its not your addon!  


2.) Perfect   have a looksie at the BIS aircraft hangar (the new resistance 1.70 model)
    I'd like to see a building like this - but with working stairs & ladders, a bit like the orig. bis "factory" building.  


============

Oh   and here's one more request, mate :

a covered dock, like one of your harbour blocks but covered with a roof and with the posibility to walk around the (parked) ship  

could be nice

And another important thing :

The container crates are cool enough - dont change them. but add this:

we need a crate with working (animated) doors   for cutscenes

[asmodeus]

========================================


1.)  I know what this is   its not yer addon, smithyboy, its asmo and his bad setpossing   ;D

Honestly, if placed at the wrong pos, the concrete blocks (any block) will have "dangerous" edges!  
Its all just a matter of patient setpos creation  

so ease up, agent, its not your addon!  

Who's agent??   Anyhow...  I used the example mission that came with the addon!  I didn't setpos nothin!    

It happens when I'm walking directly towards the helipad from any direction..  It's like there's a circle around it where you can fall through..  No biggy though, I just don't go over there!   ;D  Like you said, it could be specific to my comp, just wanted to make sure you knew about it!  (We have unexplained texture probs in our TAAB addon, but it only happens for very few people.... still trying to figure them out..)

Asmo

[Tomb]

  agent   well, thats agent_smith or AG_smith, diff. names in diff. worlds  
(yanno, he's also starring the latest Bond movie: Die another Addon!   ;D )


j/k there!

About the block: hmmm, wouldn't know - I never got to try the demo, I was too busy
trying my own ideas back home   ;D but you're probably right, asmo  

hek - maybe AG also made a 'wrong' setpossing in that demo, dunno really?!
but nevermind... his stuff always ends up working like a charm in the end  

=============

[mod.]  >> a charm in the end <<   ( ;D ) LOL

[AG_Smith]

OK, boys, the fixed version is available  (crane and helipad altered). Use the link to my page, it's somewhere above.

And to be clear, AG stands for Agent  
Tomb, I think you'll be satisfied with my warehouses, but it'll take me some time to finish them...

One more thing, tell me if you know any model animation tutorial so I could make the crate with animated doors.

[Tomb]

  Try a readthru here and here  


(it's on the oficial BIS forums - you don't have to be a member to read the threads there)

[Skaircro]

Just a little something I whipped up that you might be interested in.

Tomb, you might be interested in this too!  

You will have to do a bit of fixing on the geometry, but other that that it should be ok.

Enjoy!  

http://home.iprimus.com.au/dwright1/skc_crate.zip
(let me know if the link doesnt work)

[Tomb]

looks fine, crow   whadda'ya mean the geometry isn't working?

the quick view I took didn't give me any prob's  


neat

and to AG: will grab the update & check it out asap, matey   thx for your work, both.


=============================

Right, smithy!   I checked out the new version - the crane is GREAT  
At this very moment I'm fiddling with a way to get the crane to TURN --- with a turn sound   ;D
However, this won't be possible without you making a selected section in the crane's p3d file.

[update on this idea:]
Maybe, if the crane was build & defined upon a turret or alike, and the cpp contained a weapon setting to "enableAttack=false" etc.   ...the weapon could be a horn sound   ;D

also, I tried to add a crane_engine sound, just a background effect. works like a charm!  

I suggest you contact skaircow up there & talk to him about the animation selections in O2 and cpp's  

The crane's ladder also works great now   so its a good improvement.

Still need a few things, like the helipad; I like that you removed the "bump" section but as
the choppers still bounce when parked on a H block, you need to do some more tweaks.
It is possible, should be, I mean it works fine on most of your city office towers!  


Keep it up, I'll get back 2 you, mate  

[Skaircro]

Tomb, the geometry probs are as follows,

1)You can walk through the walls and doors.
2)You can shoot through the walls. Doors seem to stop bullets though.
3)The jeep crashes into it but the apc drives through it and destroys it. This is possibly to do with the cfgVehicle type used.

It still needs a bit of work, but it looks ok.  ;D
Feel free to tinker with it if you want.  

[Tomb]

  well, my lil' man is bigger then my modelling skills for sure  ;D but at least I know some cpp stuff.
ans yea, I noticed that the AI can kill me in spite of the container   ;D


  why don't you ask AG to add it to his pack? your name & all that can just be thrown into the readMe file, then we will have a better "port" addons coming up! And AG can probably solve most of the geometry issues   (right, agent? ) while HE in return will get an exellent animation tutoril via your crate!  

Setting up coorporative projects.... ain't no thing ofpec can't handle!   ( ;D )


Nah, really - its great with some harbour stuff. we needed that!! I hope something interesting will come out of that crane, coz my son is really hot for it and wanna see it turn, maybe even be able to turn it himself  

nice thought - and very possible indeed!  

thx for you work, scaircrow!  

[Kaliyuga]

 Here's a little tidbit for ya Tomby, since yer boy wants to see that there crane turn around some.... ;D


  here's what you'll need to do in O2  


select everything that will be turning (In other words the entire top of the crane) and name this selection as:

arm

in your resolution LOD  

now.. go to the memory LOD

and add two points  representing the axis that the "arm" will turn on ....  

for the crane you'll want to create one point at the bottom of
crane and then copy/paste it and move along the Y axis only , so  It will be nice and straight ...

now that selection should be named as :

osa_arm

in yer memory LOD...

OK.. almost finished.....  


yeah.. it's that easy


now.. onto the config.cpp part


you'll need to add this bit to your config

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                Scope=2;
      accuracy=1000;
      displayName="Cartel Gunboat";
           animated=1;
      
    class Animations
      {
         class arm
         {
            type="rotation";
            animPeriod=3;
            selection="arm";
            axis="osa_arm";
            angle0=0;
            angle1=-1.6;
         };
      };
      class UserActions
      {
         class OpenArm1
         {
            displayName="Open Door";
            position="osa_arm";
            radius=2.5;
            condition="this animationPhase ""arm"" < 0.75";
            statement="this animate [""arm"", 1]";
         };
         class CloseArm1
         {
            displayName="Close Door";
            position="osa_arm";
            radius=2.5;
            condition="this animationPhase ""arm"" >= 0.75";
            statement="this animate [""arm"", 0]";
         };
      };

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 O.K.  

 I added in the first bit to show that you'll need to add the

animated=1 ;

to your config as well as the Class Animations and Class User Actions data below it....


 Now... I these are the values that we worked out to simulate a door swinging open about 90 degrees or so , but the values can of course be altered to suit the crane...



AnimPeriod:  I believe this is how fast the animation is carried out, but I could be wrong.....

   I haven't needed to alter any of the values yet for any of my projects, cause they've all pretty much used this animation data here, but I'm sure you could figure out how to make it rotate a little farther than 90 degrees


the one thing I do know is that editing this data:

radius=xx;

is the radius at which the action will appear on the action menu for the player....

 good luck, and if you need any help with it.. send me an IM...

:cheers:

Kaliyuga

[AG_Smith]

Ok.........
Thx for your investigation and suggestions, guys. Here's what I think:
the best way would be making crane to have 'turret' and enabling a gunner position... How? Have no idea right now. Put any suggestion below. Or maybe someone of you wolud like to do this himself, I can post him a non-binarized .p3d file?
As for the crate (with animted doors), I'll add it at closest update, no prob.
I'm little bit short of time now, so that's all so far.
 

[Skaircro]

The animation method for the crane that Kaliyuga mentioned would work ok.

If it is possible to configure it as a turret it would give it a bit more flexibility of movement and you wouldnt have to use the action menu commands to move it.
Possibly if you configure the whole crane as something like a bmp/m113 or something similar and the top of the crane as the turret.
It would take a heavily modified config file so that it didnt think it was a moveable vehicle with weapons, but I imagine it would work.

I'm quite busy making my own addon at the moment, but I'll see what I can come up with in a config and I'll let you know if it looks possible.

[Tomb]

  Kali, min ven - tak!  

I remember when I got one of these addon ships out there, the front turret of the boat also gave me the TURRET (the one from the boat) as a seperate object in some other vehicleClass in the editor   ;D

Prolly a bug - but nevermind, coz it could very well be the basics for realizing THIS crane idea!!!
I can't recall which boat addon it was, but it was one of those coast guard types avaliable. (not so many of them, so it should be possible to find it soon)  

Now, if this turret was put upon an APC with no movement capability, no driver or commander, (maybe like the M2mg static?) it could work.

The APC config should contain these parts :


maxSpeed=0;
hasDriver=0;
hasCommander=0;
fuelCapacity=0;
SoundEngine (set to none - as there's no fuel anyway!)
(but we could insert a custom 'crane' sound as turret-turn sound.)
weapons[]={"factory-style siren"}; (build upon the apc's own weapons with no attacking possibility off course)

Can't see a big problem in this idea (though a few hours will be spent!!)   ;D

Whadda'ya say, kali - doesn't a turret seems like a better idea than the animations?  

(*instantly starts to think about another way to use the anims... like making it possible to actually lift crates!*)

With invisible sections as part of the animated sections, wouldn't it be possible to simulate the wire & hook going up & down?! I think so.

But thats out in the future for now! So far, I'd stick to testing this turret idea...  
guess one should just build the model upon an already existing BIS apc vehicle... or the M2mg static

[Kaliyuga]

 LOL.. yeah it does sound better Tomby.... as long as those aren't my hours that get spent figgering out the turret method....

 naw, seriously..... it shouldn't be too hard to get working... ;D

 you just need to make the proper selections in O2 to define it as a gun......  and then give it an axis on which to rotate

You'll need this in your cfg models class :

class CfgModels
{
   class Default{};
   class Ship : Default{};
   class ECL_Fboat: Ship{};
   class weapon : Default{};
   class TurretBase: weapon{};

};


class CfgVehicles
{
   class All{};
   class AllVehicles:All{};
   class Land : AllVehicles {};
   class Ship: AllVehicles{};
   class BigShip: Ship{};
   
   class ECboat: BigShip
   {
     
      displayName="ECLboat";
      picture="\ECLboat\boat.paa";
                accuracy=0.95;
      fuelCapacity=700;
      model="\ECLboat\ECLboat.p3d";
      vehicleClass="Armored";
      scope=public;
      hasDriver=false;
      hasGunner=true;
      hasCommander=false;
      driverIsCommander=false;
      getInRadius=30;      
                gunnerCanSee = CanSeeAll;
                gunnerAction="ManActJeepCoDriver";
      gunnerInAction="ManActJeepCoDriver";
      gunnerOpticsModel="optika_zsu_gunner";
=============================================

Now here's the real juicy stuff you need to make it work

class TurretBase
      {
         gunAxis="osa hlavne";
         turretAxis="osa veze";
         gunBeg="usti hlavne";
         gunEnd="konec hlavne";
         soundServo[]={"Vehicles\gun_elevate",0.001000,1.000000};
         minElev=-15;
         maxElev=90;
         minTurn=-360;
         maxTurn=360;
         body="OtocVez";
         gun="OtocHlaven";
      };

[Tomb]

  No elevations for Gods sake!  :noo:

=========================================

class TurretBase
{
        gunAxis="osa hlavne";
        turretAxis="osa veze";
        gunBeg="usti hlavne";
        gunEnd="konec hlavne";
        soundServo[]={"craneAddon\electronicArmOrAlike",1,1};  
        minElev=0;
        maxElev=0;
        minTurn=-20;
        maxTurn=20;
        body="OtocVez";
        gun="OtocHlaven";
};


So the "legs" of the crane is the APC, and the control house + craneArm is the "gun" ?!

[Tomb]

yanno, what if the turnCoef was set to NULL - couldn't one make the APC move - but ONLY forth & back?!
...like on those tracks?!!

the maxSpeed could be set to something VERY low... simulating a heavy crane moving...  

[Kaliyuga]

 Good idea about the turning thing.... haven't tried it myself yet though....

 about the "gun" and "body"  here is a little more detailed info...

check out this page...


http://ofp.gamezone.cz/_hosted/brsseb/tutorials/lesson5/lesson5_c.htm

and the one after it.... and it will tell you everything you need to know about making that crane into a turret....  

:cheers:

[Skaircro]

I had a bit of a play with a potential config file and I think I might be able to do it.
Here is a few things I was thinking.

Use the tank config instead of apc.
Use Commander=true and Gunner=false, that way when you get in, you are the commander not the gunner which makes more sence for a crane.
Use the commander turret - "class ComTurret"
Use the elevations for the turret to raise and lower the crane arm by a small amount.

I spent quite a few hours trying to get a turret working on my plane until I realised that it wasnt possible. :'(
I think I learnt enough from that experience to possibly be able to help out here, and I dont think it will be as difficult as I first imagined. But then I have been wrong before!  
So if you can send through the crane model I can see how I go.

In relation to the turnCoef and the only move back and forth on the tracks, I'm not too sure about that. I was thinking that if the crane took a solid hit from the side it could turn it slightly, so that it is no longer 'on the tracks', and end up driving of the side of the dock!

[AG_Smith]

Hi,
 Sorry for not replying for some time. I'm going to a vacation now, so I won't be at the forums for about a week. But keep posting, I asure you I'll get back to this topic and eventually make the crane work.
Good work guys, thank you. ;D

[AG_Smith]

Little more help needed here:
Skaircrow made the crane turning and now I want to add the hook animation. I've been wondering if there is any other animation method than rotation, so we could simulatre the wire and hook going up and down. I think this cpp line should be modified:

Code: [Select]

class Animations
      {
         class arm
         {
            type="rotation"; <<<<<<<<<<< HERE
            animPeriod=3;
            selection="arm";
            axis="osa_arm";
            angle0=0;
            angle1=-1.6;
         };
      };
.
Has anyone seen this line saying something other than "rotation"?
Agent_Smith

BTW. I 've fixed the crate with animated doors, but I'll upload everything once the crane will be ready.

[Skaircro]

I think rotation is the only one.
But I noticed on that latest screenshot of the harrier from falklands mod that the canopy seems to slide rearwards.
And I read something on the official forums about placing the rotation point quite some distance away (100-150m) which sort-of simulates a sliding movement instead of rotating.
Dont know if it would work here though.  :-\

[asmodeus]

Cool!!!

If that works, that's freakin cool!!!

I'm gonna try it out on a few addons I'm making right now...  I'll let you know if you haven't tried it by then AG_Smith.  

Asmo   ;D

[AG_Smith]

I've just posted an update. Download here:
http://home.elka.pw.edu.pl/~kpalka/ags_port_upd.zip and tell me what you think. I've given up with animating the hook this time. Note, that you'll need the basic version of my harbour addon.
 :cheers:

[Tomb]

    :toocool: CHEERS, smithy!  :cheers:


  I just grabbed the mutha'  - I'll post U some feedback in a few days when i've tried it.