Transparent texture doesnt work ingame.

[Mirek 166]

Hi 

 

I have a problem with a rifle modification i made. Everything works but the transparent texture i use for backup sights doesnt work.

 

I have a model CZ_805_A1_ACOG.p3d

I have a texture CZ805ACOG_CQBsight_CA.tga

I have it al in a folder with Configs and stuff

I Binarize and pack it all with BinPBO

I put it in game

Everything is good all the textures are there, rifle shoots and othervise behaves as intended, But Backup reddot sight on acog is not seetrough. I get message, cannot open CA\CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG\CZ805ACOG_CQBsight_CA.paa

 

I dont understand why arma tries to open CZ805ACOG_CQBsight_CA.paa when there is nor ever was CZ805ACOG_CQBsight_CA.paa there is only CZ805ACOG_CQBsight_CA.tga

 

Here is Copy of the folder: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4zH9uTqIwylVlJUQ2JWb25Sb3c/view?usp=sharing

[Macser 776]

Hey Mirek.

 

I don't recall the engine being able to deal with TGAs directly. Try converting your file to PAA using Texview2.

Or go into O2PE and run buldozer when in the view pilot lod, to initiate the conversion. The PAA will appear in the folder. Even if you have problems saving the model you'll still have the texture..

 

It's possible you may be getting a false impression of what's happening. The textures contained in the actual ACR dlc would be PAAs. These would override the TGA assignments in the sample model. Which I assume is what you're using.

 

Making it look like you're viewing TGAs in game. The engine is bypassing those and rendering PAAs.

 

This is the format the engine is expecting. But it's not there.I don't remember seeing anything about the engine doing run-time conversions.

 

Besides that, if you need the file in your addon folder to be used, then you need to correct the path.

Ca\ will point to installed game files.

 

CA\CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG\CZ805ACOG_CQBsight_CA.paa

Should read:

CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG\CZ805ACOG_CQBsight_CA.paa

 

 

The left image is what I see with the path as it is. The right is after the path is changed.

(I added the green tint myself)

 

That should do it. But as I'm a little rusty, I remain open to correction. :)

[Mirek 166]

Hi, 

I am a bit confused now, the other textures are also tga and also have that ca thing in the path and they work for me. But they are oeiginal BIS textures so maybe htats why they do work. I will try to do it as you say and hope for the best.

 

Can you tell me how do you make the mod? And how do you run it?

 

I have the "CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG" folder on disk "P:" in folder "CA"

Models my new texture and all the configs are in that folder also.

I use dependency to ACR DLC to get all textures and materials except the back up sight texture.

 

I use Binpbo where i set input path to "P:\CA\CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG" and output path to "C:\Users\czmiko3\Disk Google\ARMA II tajný\output"

 

Then i copy the resulting pbo from that output folder to my modfolder in the game folder "steamapps\common\Arma2 operation Arowhead\@CZ805\addons"

 

Than i run the game with the mod via Play with six.

[Macser 776]

Ok.

 

If I have both a PAA and the original TGA image it was created from, then the model will use the PAA.

Even if the faces are assigned a TGA texture when you view it in O2. As you can see in the image below,

the faces are assigned your texture. Note the path too. It points directly to the addon folder.

Buldozer will always convert TGA to PAA as soon as you preview the model. Presumably it uses PAL2PACe. Anyway.When I remove the TGA buldozer continues to display correctly.

 

As you can see the TGA is gone:

 

The model may have TGAs assigned to the faces. But the same process applies. In the actual ACR PBOs I'm sure there are only PAA files. The engine sees the TGA extension listed and presumably searches for the PAA equivalent. Which it finds.

 

That's why the files from the ACR dlc appear to have no problem displaying.

 

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

 

If you want to use resources from your addon, you've got to point directly to it. 

 

Your alpha texture is in P:\CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG. 

 

Not  P:\Ca\CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG.

 

( If you were manually editing the path, you would drop P:\ )

 

So the engine expects to find a file with the same naming, but a PAA extension. Obviously, on your side, it's not there. The error message is displayed.

 

CA\ typically points to official game resources.

 

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

 

I BinPBO directly to the addon folder of the appropriate mod.

 

"steamapps\common\Arma2 operation Arowhead\@CZ805\addons" in your case.

[Mirek 166]

OH now i understand (ok not entirely, but much more clearly) and Man gues what? It works now! Thanks to you!

You are great man.

 

Now please tell me how do i get that green tint? cause now the texture is so transparent it looks like there is none. 

 

And do you also understand configs?

 

I need to solve few little bits. I have wrong image in gear menu and no name in gear menu and on screen. See picture:

 

So if you by any chance know how to make a proper picture and get it to the gear menu, and how to name it.

[Macser 776]

No problem. Just send me a bag of 10 euro notes.  :D

 

Just keep this in mind. The engine works with DXT compressed textures. PAA/PAC. Ideally work with those in your addons.

 

Just colour the image as you would with any other texture. Then fill the alpha channel at the right percentage. I set the fill tool to about 70%. 100% will make using a texture pointless.

 

There's the edited Paa if you want it:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/q1rfr8

 

( Click the blue coloured "Download" button in the center of the page. Above "Save to my account". )

 

You could put that into the folder as it is, with the path change above, and it will work.

[Macser 776]

I didn't notice the last part of your post earlier. Maybe you edited it?

 

Just put in a "picture" entry in the CfgWeapons section, pointing to an image. Have a look through any of the official weapon pbos to get an idea of what type of textures you're aiming for. They're in the "Equip" folders.

 

Example:

class CfgWeapons
{
class M16a4;
class CZ805_A1_ACOG_ACR : M16a4
{
      displayName = "STR_MREK_CZ805";
      model = "\CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG\CZ_805_A1_ACOG";
      modelOptics = "\Ca\weapons_E\SCAR\ACOG_TA31_optic_4x.p3d";
>>>>> picture = "\CorePatch_CZ805_A1_ACOG\YourWeaponPic.paa";


class OpticsModes
{

You can do the same for magazines.

 

As for the name appearing. I've had problems working with XML. Although the engine prefers it, it will also 

accept CSV. For a project like this it works fine. Besides that it's an alpha numeric model rather than a name. So translations aren't that important. In that case you could just input the model directly into the "displayname" entry.

 

 

Here's the Stringtable I used anyway:

 

Stringtable.CSV

"LANGUAGE","English","French","Italian","Spanish","German","Czech"


"STR_MREK_CZ805" ,"EN CZ 805","FRN CZ 805","ITL CZ 805" ,"ESP CZ 805", "GRM CZ 805" , "CZ 805"

Now when  "STR_MREK_CZ805" is found in the config the appropriate language will be displayed.

Obviously you can make that string anything you like.

 

Use one or the other, XML or CSV. Having both in the folder might have the XML take precedence. I'm not sure.

 

(By the way, the tag "MREK_" doesn't appear to be taken on Ofpec, if you don't already have one)

[Mirek 166]

No problem. Just send me a bag of 10 euro notes.  :D

 

 

 

Send me your paypal, and i try to scrape something, at least enough to remotely buy you a beer. Hope beer doesnt cost 100 euro in your country. :-)

 

 

Just keep this in mind. The engine works with DXT compressed textures. PAA/PAC. Ideally work with those in your addons.

 

Just colour the image as you would with any other texture. Then fill the alpha channel at the right percentage. I set the fill tool to about 70%. 100% will make using a texture pointless.

 

I dont understand any of this? whats DXT? How do i fill the apha chanell? How do i set the fill percentage? Gues i will ask theese questions on GIMP forums.

 

 

There's the edited Paa if you want it:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/q1rfr8

 

( Click the blue coloured "Download" button in the center of the page. Above "Save to my account". )

 

You could put that into the folder as it is, with the path change above, and it will work.

My browser blocked the download imediately as malware. And didnt offer any way to alow it.

 

 

 

I didn't notice the last part of your post earlier. Maybe you edited it?

Yes i did before i refreshed the page so i didnt know you allready answered. Sorry for that.

 

 

 

(By the way, the tag "MREK_" doesn't appear to be taken on Ofpec, if you don't already have one)

Once again, i dont understand. 

 

Thank you for your help. :-)

[Macser 776]

:D

I was only joking around about the bag of tenners. Although.........

 

The Ofpec tag system has been around a while now. It's basically a small identifier that you put before any new models, classes and such. It marks them as yours and helps prevent conflicts between mods and addons that otherwise have similar naming. Mine is "MCSR_" for example. If two authors decide to create rifles using the class name XM8, then that may cause problems when someone uses both at the same time. If the authors use tags that limits the chances of a conflict. JIMI_XM8 or TONI_XM8 would differentiate them.

 

Tags aren't official. Ofpec just maintains a database that you can register with. So people can quickly check if another author is using their choice of tag.

 

DXT refers to S3 texture compression. Here's a small bit of info on the subject.

If you stick to using PAA for your own stuff it should keep things simpler.

 

Try that one:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/25362817/cz805acog_cqbsight_ca.7z

 

And yes. There's plenty of tutorials about editing transparent images out there.

Most of which would probably do a better job than me.

[Mirek 166]

:D

I was only joking around about the bag of tenners. Although.........

 

 

Well you might want that beer at the end, I am an informationhungry bastard, and since you seem  willing to share info, i might accidentaly try to sqeeze every last drop of it from you.

[Mirek 166]

I found a new issue. It looks like the red dot in the back up sight doesnt glow in the dark. How do i make emission texture?

[Macser 776]

Hey Mirek. You can't apply emission textures in A2. Instead you apply an rvmat to the red dot mesh. The rvmat will effectively be set to "shadeless". Basically it's the same as the old method in OFP. Where the points in a mesh were marked as "shining".

 

Emission rvmat:

ambient[]={1,1,1,1};

diffuse[]={1,1,1,1};

forcedDiffuse[]={1,1,1,1};

emmisive[]={1,1,1,1};

specular[]={0,0,0,1};

specularPower=1;

PixelShaderID="Normal";

VertexShaderID="Basic";

 

 

I think that should do it. If there's any inaccuracies, it's because my mind is on other things. What you're doing is telling the engine not to apply any shading at all to the parts marked. I think the effect would be increased with post processing on and the texture has more white in it.

 

Presumably the "bloom" effect would exaggerate the intensity. Giving it the appearance of glow.

[Mirek 166]

Thanks man.