Lucky_Strike

LOL dude sounds like Harry Potter! 🪄 🧙‍♂️
But yes we gotta get some of this stuff nailed down ...
Just today working on one of my trees and nearly threw a chair at my monitor 🤬 damn UV maps and weird material behaviour. No export cos of a none type error, blo*dy talk sensibly you boll*cking stupid app, who writes this sh*t, what the hell. I hate, hate, hate cryptic error messages.
So it turned out that there was an unnamed material slot which must have come in with the model appended to the mdr - a model that previously worked I might add. The material wasn't assigned to anything, how could it be it was unnamed, it was just a blank space in a list, looking like all the other blank spaces, orphaned, not attached to anything except a UV map apparently. And enough to throw an error.
Deleted the blank material and half the UV map disappears with it. Can't replace the material cos doing that makes half the UV map stuff go blank ... great, thanks. Bite the bullet, replace the material and redo half the UV map. Thankfully only some minor branches are messed up, mostly doesn't matter too much. But damned if I know why I can't replace materials without some major c*ckup happening. There seems to be no way to preserve a UV map independent of the material. Easy enough to swap textures around, but not the material. Don't try this at home kids!
I'm actually wondering if doing all the work in a later Blender version might be a better approach. Having tried working with nodes a few time now I found it quite straightforward, we don't have very complex models, most are pretty similar, so the process is always mostly the same. With nodes one sets them up then, once finished, the model can be exported with textures baked in and then imported into the host mdr where it's joined with the host objects. The few times I've used it seemed quite painless. Will have to investigate further when time allows.
 

interesting reading the older thread and seeing how the map developed.   i really like the sunken trenches a lot better than the stock game, tho i do understand the f.o.w. problems.    gorgeous map and setup, the dragon's teeth just complete it.
 
cheers,
rob
 

Yep, in coop many the things are doable in realistic ways. Also depends on what mods/modules are to be used generally. Similar for single play.
Buddy aid system in CM is a really dumb one. Only consideration for getting it started is when an enemy bullet didn´t pass by in a given amount of time. The game engine does not consider that the shooting can start any second again. Also revealing the whole of a team´s/squads´s position when the medic starts popping up unasked for. 🙄
Sometimes I want shooting that medic myself if he starts doing it. Say... you got your team/squad on "hide" while beeing in a position you don´t want change for the moment. But you´ve a wounded in same or adjacent AS. Now a heroic buddy aidee starts doing his own thing, also waving his hands for a "Here we still are! Shoot at us (again)".  Not that this guy will mostly be the first who got a bullet in his head, everything that comes in then also might kill more of the same team/squad. Colateral buddy aid damage. Haha. That was the hide command then. 😛
So I keep sticking with my mod. Can´t change the hero´s attitude but at least he keeps his dumb head down below.
 

you confuse Kessel (cauldron) with city of Kassel, the main home for Tiger production. Kassel is elsewhere, way outside the Ruhr Cauldron in april 45. Interestingly, the last Jagdtigers of JgdPzAbtl 512 had their employment in the last days of the eastern cauldron (surrender april 16th). English sub titles available.
 

I had to keep radio silence for a while to be able to concentrate - my girlfriend noted recently that by now I have coded enough stuff for a decent bachelor thesis at least. Well, I did rewrite parts of the code at least three times and some of the algorithms were intriguingly finicky, at least if you have wood shavings for a brain as I sometimes seem to have. 😄
There is still metric tons of things to do and to tweak. But sometimes I have to remind myself why this is fun, so I had to indulge in some screenshots and I guess it is only fair to share a few (shamelessly cherry-picked, mind you!). 😉





Enjoy!

Always distracted - but it's all good.
Yes will have to make a showroom scenario for all buildings (or should that be show home estate?)
And I knew precisely when you posted it on here!
I don't mind this. QBs are great for a bit of fun, but IMHO prepared scenarios offer much better experience.
Second that 👍
I guess the ideal would be to have both types, let the scenario designer or players decide how fortifications should appear and be used. As you say, easier said ...
Similarly, extra editor choices ...
Hah, we just plough on ...
Yeah, getting over the initial shock of Blender is part of the battle if one has never used 3D apps before. None of us is expert so sharing knowledge and ideas on here is essential.
Yes there does at least seem to be a pattern with what needs to be done with most models to get them out of Blender and into the game. I'm going to look at the models I already have working to I can check that the metadata copy/paste thing is applied. I know there were some where metadata export just refused to work.

Fantastic moonlight atmosphere, I can almost here Ole Blue Eyes himself crooning in the ... oops that's something else altogether.
LUTs are great things - I know you don't have ReShade (sorry to rub salt in the wound and repeating what Harry said) but I have to mention that there are lots of FX available for that which also use LUTs, great for atmosphere, tiny file size and little to no discernible hit on framerates.

Harry has already answered this for you Rob, but just to add. The mod, as it exists, is just a beta. I'm going to release a full, proper version that will be an all singing, all dancing affair with added textures. It will be part of an ongoing series of defensive works mods in expectation of getting the FB module one day. So far it can be used wherever there are hedgehogs, so any WW2 theatre.
Enjoy!

And he was enlightened ...!

Midnight Blues...lol I love messin with PS LUT files. It's great to get cinema type look...

Most the time it´s not about finding something actually, yet it´s a bonus. I enjoy beeing out for some fresh air, moving my lazy *** and visit interesting history related locations. So whatever one finds and could connect to known historic actions is a great feel. 😎Also one bits of walk in the shoes of those who were there like i.e at the battlefields of Op Veritable, hurtgen forest or my former home area, the Ruhrkessel.

Man, look at all that GREAT content! We are spoilt by you Kohl! Thank you so much for all your hard work and excellent fun stuff.

Yeah odd there is no normal maps for a potential game asset. Middle section friezes would definitely benefit from normal maps, just well made textures at present.
The wings should be reasonably straightforward, but the middle section may need to be treated as a skinned flavour object, though a bridge would be better I really don't want to get into that whole other world of pain. We'll see ...
You're right this is one possibility. As I found to my cost a black object can have several reasons. Alpha channel madness, is it 8-bit or 1-bit? (Who uses 1-bit? even back in 2010 this was old). Missing links in Blender - but I thought the script didn't let us export without textures he says to himself, not quite, it doesn't always know if a texture is there really. Blender can sometimes trick us that the texture is still connected to the material even when it's not and a different material might actually be in use. Blender is not always WYSIWYG! It can trick us. The script also doesn't care if a texture is a bmp or a jpeg or whatever, there's no check. It'll keep catching me out I'm sure 🤬

It's a tough road my friend ... I know it's made doubly hard for you when so much of the tuition is in English. Keep plugging away at it I'm sure you'll get there in the end.

Isn't this what small children were employed to do back in your time? Turn the spit, go up chimneys ... that sort of thing.

Yes definitely a good addition to BN - goddamnit I wish we had proper slit trenches and foxholes, a few of these over a slit trench would really work a treat. 

Yeah odd there is no normal maps for a potential game asset. Middle section friezes would definitely benefit from normal maps, just well made textures at present.
The wings should be reasonably straightforward, but the middle section may need to be treated as a skinned flavour object, though a bridge would be better I really don't want to get into that whole other world of pain. We'll see ...
You're right this is one possibility. As I found to my cost a black object can have several reasons. Alpha channel madness, is it 8-bit or 1-bit? (Who uses 1-bit? even back in 2010 this was old). Missing links in Blender - but I thought the script didn't let us export without textures he says to himself, not quite, it doesn't always know if a texture is there really. Blender can sometimes trick us that the texture is still connected to the material even when it's not and a different material might actually be in use. Blender is not always WYSIWYG! It can trick us. The script also doesn't care if a texture is a bmp or a jpeg or whatever, there's no check. It'll keep catching me out I'm sure 🤬

Isn't this what small children were employed to do back in your time? Turn the spit, go up chimneys ... that sort of thing.

I did buildings are about as much as I can get my head around at the moment. Even then there's so much to know about them/their models that I could easily get very distracted.
I'm actually thinking it's just easier to forget the levels in this than try to make them work since I don't really know much about the workings of the buildings. There are quite a few models that I came across that perhaps could make better OP platforms than a tall industrial chimney. I'd be interested to know if there are any other tall structures (7 or 8 levels) that could be modelled to fully exploit this better. With the Brandenburg Gate there is also the potential to create a pretty tall OP.
Yes if we are concerned about absolute playability, less so if it's just for eye candy. The bunkers, trenches and foxholes are already so extrapolated from reality that I feel trying out experiments with them to improve how they can look and maybe function is all we can hope for. Their mechanics are just not good. I'm personally prepared to suffer some oddness with their outer structure if they can just look a bit better in a scenario. Sort of like your wormhole bunker sitting more comfortably in the ground, it just improves how I feel about them when I see them in game. Ultimately I know they still don't do what I really want, but they probably never will. 
And this is where I think I can bring something to the table. I'm happy to try and make them look better, whilst I hope your experiments will give us better playability, or to at least see the limits of what's possible.
Well LOL, I think we got a few more years yet, I think you'll have built a fully fledged time machine before we see a new engine!
Yeah, equivalent of CM Sinclair C5 - seemed like a good idea at the time ...
Until I made that chimney I had no idea that the bunkers were static vehicles ... why!!!?
Definitely doable in Blender, but not sure what would happen regarding pixeltruppen occupying it. Again can someone please explain why ... this and some of the other indi buildings are only peaceable at an angle!? Sure it must have been discussed / griped about many times ...

The gate is a really good model for games, most were Photogrammetry and just bonkers complex. This one seems designed for games (modern games, LOL) so has good geometry for us to start with.

JM that's not got anything to do with how your file is constructed, nor how the game handles your textures. Those settings are for how Blender displays and renders stuff (use tooltips to help understand what stuff i, I know they're not great and often obscure, but those items are clearly labelled rendering - we don't need to render anything). I have even less than you in that palette, definitely no textured solid. I think you need to focus on getting your textures right before you import them into Blender. If you're using external models then convert all textures to bmp and use those to replace the existing dds (what are these files!!!) or whatever. Practice on something simple first to understand the process. You need to look at these palettes as I've said before:


And only watch training videos that are pertinent to 2.79 or earlier, the method is completely different in later Blender versions and will just confuse (tick as appropriate) annoy and confuse again.
BABY STEPS!!!!!

working beautifully in 'you enter  germany', seeing that 'crab' rolling through was really cool! thanks, harry.
 
cheers,
rob
 

@Lucky_Strike ?
IIRC last published and working version was here otherwise:
 

It will be a privilege old boy... that new script is a real game changer i feel, I had a closer look at the model and it looks great will texture up very well....Cheers  

I keep the better preserved stuff like those in my pics. Anything explosive will be reported to local EOD and anything illegal either reburied or given to someone who can make these "legal". So is german laws. I´d never sold any my finds.
Among my rifle finds were K98k (80-90%), old Gewehr 98 (WW1), Lebel, some scandinavian stuff (Springfield or derivate), Mosin Nagant (!), Lee Enfield and then single parts of MP40, MG34/42, Stg44 and lots of odd foreign stuff. I´ve none of these anymore and gifted to a friend collector who can legalize these. Just kept single legal parts like bolts, empty magazines and such.
Most our foreign weapon finds could fairly safely beeing associated to either Volkssturm or Luftwaffe.  Mostly by accompanying finds. There was no W-SS in Ruhrkessel but a corps HQ commanding regular Wehrmacht troops. So finds associated to these are extremely rare, in this area at least.