Vehicle Customisation – Arma 3

1.42 The Vehicle Customisation (VhC) is the system responsible for the customisation of vehicles, either, defined or randomised. It consists of a set of config properties and classes and a set of functions. It has been introduced in Arma 3 v1.42 in order to replace the old system which consisted in a set of scripts.

Usage

Read BIS_fnc_initVehicle to find out how it works. Use BIS_fnc_saveVehicle to save a vehicle customization and BIS_fnc_loadVehicle to load a previously saved appearance.

Implementation

Missions

The system offers a simple way to define your own deliveries and to prevent randomization of a given vehicle, its class or even its kind. Here an example of mission configuration file.

Prevent randomization

// No action will be taken regarding the following vehicles (either, names, classes or kind)
disableRandomization[] =
{
	// "AllVehicles",		// No randomization at all
	// "Air",				// No randomization at all for air vehicles
	// "land",				// No randomization at all for land vehicles
	// "Ship",				// No randomization at all for sea vehicles
	"air_f",				// There won't be any randomization on every air vehicles
	"C_Hatchback_01_F",		// No random on Hatchbacks
	"truck_withoutRandom"	// No random for this given vehicle
};

Add your own liveries

To do so, a new mission config file has been introduced - CfgVehicleTemplates. It regroups every variants used from the main function (BIS_fnc_initVehicle)

class CfgVehicleTemplates
{

This variant has a textureList property, a list of texture sources directly defined from an addon, at the config level. If there is more than 1 entry in the texture list, a weighted random will be performed between them. Having one entry means this entry will be picked up on every call of the function.

class BIS_Offroad_01_default
{
	vehicles[] =  // It is used by the [[:Category:Eden Editor|Eden Editor]] to determine which vehicle classes can be supposed with use this template
	{
		"classNameA",
		"classNameB"
	};

	displayName = "Default";		// <optional> Could be handy if you plan to add some UI, not used by the VhC
	author = "Bohemia Interactive";	// <optional> Could be handy if you plan to add some UI, not used by the VhC
	factions[] =					// This template will be available for the following factions
	{
		"BLU_F", "BLU_G_F",	// Side Blufor
		"OPF_F", "OPF_G_F",	// Side Opfor
		"IND_F", "IND_G_F",	// Side independent
		"CIV_F"				// Side civilian
	};

	// List of texture sources defined in ConfigFile >> "CfgVehicles" >> "VehicleClass" >> "TextureSources"
	// Only on source will be chosen within the following by a weighted random
	textureList[] =
	{
		"guerilla_01", 1,
		"guerilla_02", 1,
		"guerilla_03", 1,
		"guerilla_04", 1
	};

	// Animation sources
	animationList[] =
	{
		"HideBumper1", 1,	// Class of an animation source, probabily (wherein 1 means 100% to set the phase to 1)
		"HideBumper2", 1,
		"HideConstruction", 1,
		"HideDoor1", 0,		// The phase of the animation source will always be set to 1
		"HideDoor2", 0,
		"HideGlass2", 0,
		"HideBackpacks", 1,
		"HideDoor3", 0.33 	// There is a 33% chance that this animation source phease is set to 1
	};
};

The following has textures[] instead of textureList[], meaning the function will define these texture files and won't search for texture sources.

class BIS_Offroad_01_stripped
{
	displayName = "Stripped";
	author = "Bohemia Interactive";
	textures[] =
	{
		"\A3\Soft_F\Offroad_01\Data\Offroad_02_ext_CO.paa", //Must with extension!
		"\A3\Soft_F\Offroad_01\Data\Offroad_02_ext_CO.paa"
	};

	materials[] =
	{
		"", // Material to use for the first texture (ignore if the string is empty)
		"\A3\Structures_F\Data\Windows\window_set.rvmat" // Material to use for the second texture
	};

	animationList[] =
	{
		"HideBumper1", 1,
		"HideBumper2", 1,
		"HideConstruction", 1,
		"HideDoor1", 1,
		"HideDoor2", 1,
		"HideGlass2", 1,
		"HideBackpacks", 1,
		"HideDoor3", 0.33
	};
};

The following class interstates from "BIS_Offroad_01_default" which has a textureList, meaning this class contains textureList and textures. In this case, the textures property will be used and textureList will be ignored.

class hotpink : BIS_Offroad_01_default
{
	displayName = "hotpink (ugly test)";
	author = "Tom_48_97";
	textures[] = { "#(rgb,8,8,3)color(1,0.411,0.705,1)" };
};

... and the CfgVehicleTemplates closure bracket

};

Addon

In the best case of use, the below classes and information should be defined in the base config class of the vehicle, but obviously, this is not always possible.

Base class

class Dummy_vehicle_base_F : Helicopter_Base_H
{
	scope = 0; // A base class should has scope = 0 (private)
	model = "\A3\Dummy\Dummy_vehicle\dummy.p3d";

	class EventHandlers : EventHandlers
	{
		// (_this select 0): the vehicle
		// """" Random texture source (pick one from the property textureList[])
		// []: randomize the animation sources (accordingly to the property animationList[])
		// false: Don't change the mass even if an animation source has a defined mass
		postInit = "if (local (_this select 0)) then { [(_this select 0), """", [], false] call BIS_fnc_initVehicle; };";
	};

	/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------
		Animation sources
	---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
	class animationSources : animationSources
	{
		class animationSource1
		{
			// name of the animation / element (displayed in the Virtual Garage)
			displayName = "Add source...";
			// Author of the textures (displayed in the Virtual Garage)
			author = "$STR_A3_Bohemia_Interactive";
			source = "user";
			animPeriod = 0.000001;
			initPhase = 0;

			// if the animation phase is 0, then the given cargo indexes (lockCargo) will be locked
			// if undefined, default value of lockCargoAnimationPhase is 0
			lockCargoAnimationPhase = 0;
			lockCargo[] = { 0, 1, 5 };

			// if forceAnimatePhase is equal to the phase of this animation sources, every sources from forceAnimate will be changed with their given phase
			forceAnimatePhase = 0;
			// animationSource1, phase, animationSource2, phase... No probabilities here, only true or false
			forceAnimate[] = { "animationSource1", 0, "animationSource2", 1 };

			// The following code is called by BIS_fnc_initVehicle each time the phase is changed
			onPhaseChanged = "if ((_this select 1) == 1) then { /* run if the phase is 1 */ } else { /* run if the phase is 0 */ };";

			// Mass of the source, can be negative or positive
			// If the phase is 1, the given mass will be added, otherwise, it will be subtracted
			mass = 20;
		};

		class animationSource2 : animationSource1 {};
		class animationSource3 : animationSource1 {};
		class animationSource4 : animationSource1 {};
	};

	/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------
		Texture sources
	---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
	class textureSources
	{
		// This texture source will be available for every defined factions
		class white
		{
			// Display name of the texture
			displayName = "White";
			// Author of the texture
			author = "$STR_A3_Bohemia_Interactive";
			// Paths to the texture files, in the same order as the hidden selections
			textures[] = { "\A3\Dummy\Dummy_vehicle\dummy_vehicle_ext_1_co.paa" };
			// This source should be available for the following factions
			factions[] =
			{
				"BLU_F", "BLU_G_F",	// Side Blufor
				"OPF_F", "OPF_G_F",	// Side Opfor
				"IND_F", "IND_G_F",	// Side independent
				"CIV_F"				// Side civilian
			};
		};

		// This texture source will be available for every factions (currents and futures)
		class black
		{
			displayName = "Black";
			author = "$STR_A3_Bohemia_Interactive";
			textures[] = { "\A3\Dummy\Dummy_vehicle\dummy_vehicle_ext_1_co.paa" };
			factions[] = {};
		};

		// This texture source will be available only for the FIA (whatever its side)
		class yellow
		{
			displayName = "Yellow";
			author = "$STR_A3_Bohemia_Interactive";
			textures[] = { "\A3\Dummy\Dummy_vehicle\dummy_vehicle_ext_1_co.paa" };
			factions[] =
			{
				"BLU_G_F",
				"OPF_G_F",
				"IND_G_F"
			};
		};
		
		// This texture source will be available only for the BLU_F faction
		class red
		{
			displayName = "Red";
			author = "$STR_A3_Bohemia_Interactive";
			textures[] = { "\A3\Dummy\Dummy_vehicle\dummy_vehicle_ext_1_co.paa" };
			factions[] =
			{
				"BLU_F"
			};
		};
	};
};

Variants / derivatives

class B_dummy_vehicle_F : Dummy_vehicle_1_base_F
{
	displayName = "I'm nothing";
	author = "$STR_A3_Bohemia_Interactive";

	scope = 2;
	scopeCurator = 2;

	side = 1;
	faction = BLU_F;

	textureList[] =
	{
		"White", 1,
		"Black", 0.5,
		"Red", 0.5,
		"Yellow", 0.5
	};

	/* Random animations, also used to determine the allowed animation sources
	1 means 100% - This state of the given source WILL BE set to 1, 0 means the opposite
	[_animationSource1, probability1, _animationSource2, probability2, ...] */
	animationList[] =
	{
		"animationSource1", 0.5,
		"animationSource2", 0.5,
		"animationSource3", 0.5,
		"animationSource4", 0.5
	};
};

/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Dummy vehicle used by the initVehicle function, for pre defined variants
---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
class B_dummy_vehicle_red_F : B_dummy_vehicle_F
{
	CFGVEHICLES_VARIANT_DISPLAYNAME("B_dummy_vehicle_F", "Red")
	CFGVEHICLES_VARIANT_DUMMY
	textureList[] = { "Red", 1 };
	animationList[] =
	{
		"animationSource2", 1,
		"animationSource3", 1,
		"animationSource4", 0.3
	};
};