man I'm sorry, most of my firends don't play online (I'm 49) but Im on some sniper sites and might be able to get someone there to connect to a game I could host. Need to start testing my map online anyways.. hollar and let me know!

Okay, I finally finished my custom car. It now has an interior, LODs and a destroyed version.



As you can see from the video, there are still some problems.
First, the bullet decals still don't work as they should. As a matter of fact, bullet decals don't work on any of my custom models.
Second, the shadows on the car look really bad, pixelated or something.
Third, the second car I placed in the map doesn't receive any illumination. It's not completely dark, but I don't know what's wrong. I'll try moving it around.

Also, there is a problem with the scripts... or maybe not. I've played the map with bots (Pezbot), and they are not affected by the explosion, nor do they damage the car when they shoot it.
Are the bots not counted as players or is my script wrong ?

main()
{
	rmpfx = loadfx ("explosions/vehicle_explosion_pickuptruck");
	rmptrigs = getEntArray("rmp_dmg","targetname");
	for(k=0;k<rmptrigs.size;k++)
		rmptrigs[k] thread dormp(k, rmpfx);
}

dormp(rmpnumber, rmpfx)
{
	level waittill("connected", player);

	players = getEntArray("player", "classname");
	rmpcar = getEnt("rmp"+(rmpnumber+1),"targetname");
	rmpd = getEnt("rmpdestroyed"+(rmpnumber+1),"targetname");
	rmptrig = getEntArray("rmp_dmg","targetname");

	eInflictor = self;
	eAttacker = self;
	iDamage = 1000;
	iDFlags = 0;
	sMeansOfDeath = "MOD_EXPLOSIVE";
	sWeapon = "destructible_car";
	vPoint = ( self.origin + (0,0,-1) );
	vDir = vectornormalize( self.origin - vPoint );
	sHitLoc = "none";
	psOffsetTime = 0;

	rmptotaldamage = 0;
	rmptargetdamage=100;
	rmpbroken=0;

	rmpd notsolid();
	rmpd hide();

	rmpcar show();

	for(i=0; i<players.size;i++)
	{
		players[i].playerdamage = 0;
		level endon("disconnect");
		while(!rmpbroken)
		{	
			self waittill("damage", amount, attacker, direction_vec, point, type);
			if (players[i] == attacker)
			{
				eInflictor = players[i];
				eAttacker = players[i];
				if (type == "MOD_RIFLE_BULLET" || type == "MOD_PISTOL_BULLET" || type == "MOD_MELEE" )
				amount = 3;
				players[i].playerdamage += amount;
				iprintln (players[i].name + " shot car number " + (rmpnumber+1) + ", dealing " + amount + " dmg, for a total of " + players[i].playerdamage + " dmg");
				dist = Distance(players[i].origin, rmpcar.origin);
				iprintln ("Damage type: " + type);
				iprintln ("Current distance: " + dist);
				rmptotaldamage+=amount;
				iprintln ("Total damage: " + rmptotaldamage);
				if(rmptotaldamage>rmptargetdamage)
				{
					rmpbroken=1;
					if (dist>=700)
						iDamage = 0;
					if (dist>=500 && dist<700)
						iDamage = 25;
					if (dist>=300 && dist<500)
						iDamage = 50;
					if (dist<300)
						iDamage = 500;
					players[i] finishPlayerDamage( eInflictor, eAttacker, iDamage, iDFlags, sMeansOfDeath, sWeapon, vPoint, vDir, sHitLoc, psOffsetTime );
				}
			}
		}
	}
   	self playsound("glass_break");
	PlayFX(rmpfx, self.origin );
	rmpd show();
	rmpcar delete();
	self delete();
}

As you can see from the video, the debug text appears when I shoot the car, but nothing happens when the bots shoot it.

I kept my original script because the game doesn't care who did the most damage, but who did the last.
Now, I have to add the health drain function, the fire FX when the car is low on health and also to award the player with the kill(s) if the car he destroyed kills another player(s).

it looks really good

cskiller86 writes...

This is just a material properties thing - what settings did you select in Assman when creating the material? Should be Model phong - Metal

cskiller86 writes...

Not a problem with your custom model, the shadows are not related to importing models or anything...

cskiller86 writes...

One of the problem in COD4 when compiling reflection is that no destructable can be in the map... Place it somewhere else or place a light source right above it may fix this?

cskiller86 writes...

Why did you script this destructible car when COD4 already has the code for all this? Its not all simple but basically all you need done here is to mod the _destructible_types.gsc to add a new type (this is where you set the "parts" which for you is just 1 full model and then 1 destroyed) and then create a new mp_destructibles Prefab with clips and the following:



If you send me the models i can have a go.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Yes, the car's body material is model phong - metal and the windows are model phong - glass.
However, the materials were exported as Lambert from Maya (in the *.model_export). Can that be a problem ?

I haven't compiled reflections in ages. Actually I only compiled them once in the beginning, long before I had this car in my map.
I'll recompile reflections without the car and see what happens.

Well, CoD4's destructible car script uses the model's tags to do certain things. For example, the hood that flies in the air when the car explodes, or the side mirrors that fall off when shot, or the windows that break. It is a pretty complex script.
So I chose to start from scratch mainly because I don't know how these tags work and how to create them.
Also, I've learned quite a few things about scripting and the way the game works by doing this. So, I think it was a good choice.

Thanks for the answers, zeroy.

LE: I took a look at the _destructible_types.gsc and it probably isn't so complicated to add a new type.
But first, I want to try and finish what I've started, and prove to myself that I can do it. If that fails, I will try it this way.

OK, I think I just hit a major problem in my endeavor.
It seems that the FXs are played on the location of the car tags.
For example, if a car's health is low enough smoke will appear at the hood, then fire. These FXs are played on a tag (called "tag_hood_fx"). This means that the FX will play on that spot on the car, no matter how the car is positioned or rotated.

Since my car doesn't have tags, I thought that I could play the FX on a certain spot depending on the car's origin, like so

PlayFX(fxname, car.origin + (15,0,0));

This would play the FX 15 units away (on the X axis) from the car's center; let's say that this is where the hood is.
However, if the car is rotated 90 degrees then I would have to play the FX at 15 units away on the Y axis (otherwise the FX will play on the side of the car, in mid-air).

The question is: is there a way to determine how the car is positioned ?

Or even better, has anyone placed tags on a model ? Is the tag the same thing as a joint in Maya ?

Hopefully someone will answer this and give me some good news. Thanks.

Use vector_scale along with anglesToForward, anglesToUp, or anglesToRight.

If you need to go back, down, or left... just turn the number negative.

PlayFX(fxname, car.origin + maps\mp\_utility::vector_scale(anglesToForward(car.angles), 50));

Thanks, that works.

But I also have an FX that needs to have the same angles as the car. Is there any way to change the angles of an FX based on the angles of the car ?

With static FXs, I use something like this in raw/maps/createfx/mp_map_fx.gsc

ent = maps\mp\_utility::createOneshotEffect( "heli_smoke" );
ent.v[ "origin" ] = ( -149, -781.5, 124 );
ent.v[ "angles" ] = ( 270, 0, 0 );
ent.v[ "fxid" ] = "heli_smoke";
ent.v[ "delay" ] = -15;
ent.v[ "soundalias" ] = "fire_metal_large";

So I can set the angles I want. However, this isn't dynamic. Once set, the angles of the FX never change.

In my destructible script, I'm loading and playing the FX like this

fordfxfire = loadfx ("fire/bhd_fordfxfire_one");
PlayFX(fordfxfire, fordd.origin + maps\mp\_utility::vector_scale(anglesToRight(fordd.angles), 20) + maps\mp\_utility::vector_scale(anglesToUp(fordd.angles), 10));

So I tried using fordfxfire.angles = fordd.angles. I also tried spawning a script_origin and linking it to the FX. But I get the message that "int is not a field object", probably because fordfxfire is an FX ID, and not an entity.

Is there a way to dynamically change the FX angle ?

Also, is there a way to stop a looping FX ? When the car reaches 50 health, I made it so black smoke comes out from under the hood. But I cannot stop it, even if the car explodes.
I can't delete the FX itself because it's not an entity. I cannot link the FX to something else and delete or hide that something.
Any thoughts ?