Dummy Positioning and Hierarchy

[Andrew]

Understanding the inner workings of A Gta Vehicle.

 

 

Introduction
Yes I'm back again. With another tutorial, this time it's on Dummys and Heirarchy. I'll be showing you, the locations of the Dummys and the order of the Hierachry as well, as well as how to get custom wheels on a Vehicle.   Dummys, tell the Gta game engine where certain parts are, and how they turn. The turning depends on the local axis.   All will be revealed, read on, read on!
Dummys
Dummys, probably the second most important part of a car. With the first being the car itself...   Dummys provide the locations for each object that the car has, doors, boot, bonnet etc. Without dummys, the game wouldn't even load, if it did you wouldn't be able to drive or get in the car, it would be like those cars you see in the Hati area...   Lets have a look at the dummys. If you want to follow along, then open a car dff in zmodeler.   First lets see what a dummy looks like.     Thats all a dummy is, a few simple polys yet this simple thing tells the game engine where most things are.   Wheel Dummys   The wheel's dummys tell the game where the wheels are, there are four of them.   wheel_lf wheel_lb wheel_rf wheel_rb   Which translates to   front left wheel back left wheel front right wheel back right wheel   The wheels are normally found roughly in the centre of the wheel arches.
Door Dummys   Door dummys tell the game engine the location of the doors. Because there is two types of cars, two door and four door. There will be two dummys in the two door car.   -door_lf_dummy -door_rf_dummy   Which translates into   left front door right front door   These are normally located about half way up the door pannel and inbetween the wing and door.
A four door car adds two extra dummys   -door_lr_dummy -door_rr_dummy   Which translates to   left rear door right rear door   They are normally found half way up the door panel, inbetween the front and rear doors.
Wing Dummys   Wing dummys tell the game engine, where the wings go. No not plane wings, but the front panels of the car.   -wing_lf_dummy -wing_rf_dummy   Which translate to   front right wing front left wing   Theses are normally found at the top of the wheel arch offset towards the rear.
Light Dummys   The light dummys tell the game engine where the lights go, theres only one dummy for each, but the game mirrors this.   There are   -headlights -taillights   The head lights are located at the front of the car, in the centre of the headlamp.

Edited September 28, 2004 by Gangsta Killa

[Andrew]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/gil...04/tuts/dummys/

 

The taillights are located at the rear of the car, in the centre of the right taillight, the taillights also tell the car where the reverse lights are.

Exhaust Dummy   The exhuast dummy tells the game engine, where the exhaust is, this is only a single dummy and won't be mirrored unless told to by the default.ide file.   -exhuast   This is normally located where the exhuast is. Or in the admiral's case where the exhuast should be...

Boot Dummy   The boot dummys tell the game engine, where the boot is.   -boot_dummy   This is normally located between the rear window and the boot.

Bonnet Dummy   The bonnet dummy tells the game engine, where the bonnet is.   -bonnet_dummy   This is normally loated, inbetween the front window and bonnet.

Windscreen Dummy   The windscreen Dummy tells the game engine where the windscreen is.   -windscreen_dummy   This is normally located, in the centre of the windcreen.

Bumper Dummys   Bumper dummys tell the game engine, where the front and rear bumpers are.   -bump_front_dummy -bump_rear_dummy   which translates to   front bumper read bumper   The front bumper dummy is found at the front of the car.

The rear bumper is located at the rear of the car

Ped Seat Dummys   The ped seat dummys, define the seats not in use by the driver.   -ped_frontseat -ped_backseat   The ped front seat, is just above the passenger seat.

The ped back seat is just above the backseat on the right hand side.

The Name and Chassis Dummy   The name and chassis dummys do roughly the same thing, they both define where the chassis is, except the name dummy tells the game the name of the car.   -carname eg Admiral -chassis_dummy   Both dummys are located at the centre of the car.

Edited September 28, 2004 by Gangsta Killa

[Andrew]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/gil...04/tuts/dummys/

 

Thats all the dummys done, before we move on to the heirarchy let me show you how to add custom wheels to a car.   First off take your car and import the wheels to it, it doesn't matter about the size as the game we change this.   You've got your wheel, or wheels in zmod with the car.   Thanks Dup For The Wheels.

I'm only going to show you one wheel, as the rest is basicly the same.   Take your wheel and name it the same name as the wheel that it will be going over, in this case. Its wheel_lf, find that out by looking at the dummys.

Now move your wheel, until its almost perfectly lined up with the wheel dummy.

Now we need to move the local axis about.   Whats the local axis?   The local axis is the axis of every object in the dff. It looks like this.

To move the local axis use Display ---> Local Axis ---> Move.

And click the object and the local axis should move, move so its in the centre and perfectly lined up.

And thats basicly it on assigning a custom wheel to an object, but you must have dmagicwheel mod installed, and change the wheel ID to 249.   Lets move on to the heirarchy, the heirarchy is like the DNA of the car. Heres a screen shot of messed up hierarchy in zmod.

The dummy is a branch, with most dummys having two sub branches, a DAM and OK object, the DAM is the damaged object and the OK object is the normal object. High means that its apart of the high poly model. So   -door_lf_high_dam would be the front left door damaged -door_lf_high_ok would be the front left door normal   Ok, lets fix up the heirarchy, EACH object in the heirchy must go under the named dummy. Any high parts or VLO parts must go under the chassis dummy. And any custom wheels must go under the correct wheel dummy.

Looks better, notice how each object is in the correct dummy and most contain two objects.     Thats it for dummys and heirarchy.   I hope you've learnt something from this.   Thanks for read and happy modding.

Edited September 28, 2004 by Gangsta Killa

[ModelingMan]

You have been putting alot of work into your recent tutorials. I must say excellent job.

[qorilla]

I would like to see a tutorial on what does dummies DO, not where to put them like:

 

you would write: headlights dummy is the point where the game inserts the light of the car.

instead of: headlights dummy is usually in the lamp of the car.

 

do you know there is any tutorial on it?

[Andrew]

Its quite funny but I thought I'd explained about the dummies..

 

 

Light Dummys

 

The light dummys tell the game engine where the lights go, theres only one dummy for each, but the game mirrors this.

 

There are

 

-headlights

-taillights

 

The head lights are located at the front of the car, in the centre of the headlamp.

 

[Mark]

lol i guess some don't read...anyway it tells you what they do in the name (duh)

 

Damn handy this tut Heres a catloaf

 

EDIT: Only problem is is that a n00b who wants to learn about Dmagic wheelmod won't know that ID:249 etc is

Edited November 17, 2004 by GTAuron

[qorilla]

sorry it wasn't a good example, yeah...

I meant that if someone wants to make a very special car, or wants to understand deeper the game, then its not enough to know where are those usually...

for example: you wrote more times that: ... dummy tells the game engine where ... is.

the more interesting would be that what does the game engine do with them? just know it?

I have some guesses, like the door rotates around door dummies probably...

 

But i don't know what indicators, boot, bump, windscreen, chassis etc. dummies do...

it's in collision files that when to change the normal object to the damaged one... So i don't have guesses about what they do, maybe you do....

But you've done a very useful tutorial because, i didn't know anything about dummies (except their shape), till i read it.. so i didn't want to say it's not good..

[GameMaster90]

I've been working on converting a car, and I was trying to add custom wheels, but then when I ran Vice City, the left set of tires were mirrored, facing inside.

 

So, it would be great if you add that to the "Adding Custom Wheels" part, it will save a lot of people questions. To mirror the left set of wheels in Z-Mod. Great tut btw.

[djjack]

Thanks! Greats work!

[M1A1]

First: I'm sorry for my bad english (im just a boy from holland )

 

My question is: How can i place dummy's. Which button(s) do i need. I've made a beuatiful car, but no is must place the dummy's.

 

Can someone try to tell how i can place dummy's??

 

M1A1

[Suction Testicle Man]

First: I'm sorry for my bad english (im just a boy from holland )

 

My question is: How can i place dummy's. Which button(s) do i need. I've made a beuatiful car, but no is must place the dummy's.

 

Can someone try to tell how i can place dummy's??

 

M1A1

Have you read the tutorial? It's at the top of this page It explains that dummies are objects with axes, that you must place in certain areas for your car to appear in game correctly.

 

 

[M1A1]

alright, i've already read it, but what is said before, i'm not a hero in English.

 

If i understand the tutorial, you just only have to place the local axis and there is a dummy.

 

Is this correct???

 

If it isn't, can someone help me over msn

[Suction Testicle Man]

You must split your car into objects - doors, bonnet, boot, windscreen, etc. Once that is done, you import this. It's hard to explain something to someone in a language they have trouble speaking, so you could try posting here.

 

 

[M1A1]

You must split your car into objects - doors, bonnet, boot, windscreen, etc. Once that is done, you import this. It's hard to explain something to someone in a language they have trouble speaking, so you could try posting here.

 

 

<3D

thanx, but it's kind of funny, because i'm already member of www.gtaforum.nl, but there they say that is must ask it here

[Suction Testicle Man]

Oh First things first, have you detached your car model into different objects? Because you will need to do that, and then import that dff I linked to in my last post.

 

 

[Carmo]

great tutorial but when i put costum wheels on my car it just crashes the game even though i followed this tutorial, why?

[[NX] Joao.pt]

Yeah but how i can create dummys?

[shenglong1]

hello few questions/confirmations

 

A dummy node is just a few polys so you just :-

 

Make cube (or sphere for collisions)

Rename it e.g intruder.dff, intruder, wheel_rf_dummy etc

Right click Convert To -> Dummy

Fiddle with axis if its a door bonnet boot etc to determine which way it moves in game

 

is this correct ?

 

And if i have a two door car that does not have a rear bumper do i delete those particular dummy nodes and also the nodes for backseat passengers ? what about upg_ upgrades ? just leave them out if i dont need them aaannndd if i dont do any collsion section stuff and export zmodeler says "No collision info avail: assuming map/generic object" is this cool or not ?

 

Thanks for any help

 

(i wouldnt have to ask these questions if i could import other dff files but i am a bum and jobless)

 

 

 

[MechanicalAnimal]

How can I create the dummy in ZMOD1?

Edited November 23, 2005 by MechanicalAnimal

[paul gilbert]

zmodler and scketchup etc..are these tools used to map san andreas too and does this tutorial apply for san andreas mapping too?

[MechanicalAnimal]

 

How can I create the dummy in ZMOD1?

Ok, I found an answer to this from another forum, I think it was NFS forum.. Anyways, creating a dummy:

 

1. Create a Cube, for example, any size

2. Right-click on it and select it (Selected), your object should turn redish..

3. Goto Plugins --> FCE Custom Settings

4. Choose your object from the drop-down list

5. Click Change..

6. Type: choose Dummy from the drop down list

7. Click OK

8. Close the FCE Custom Settings window

 

Voila! You have a dummy!

[Illp.]

^^^ Save time and trouble... IMPORT IT! ...these questionz are baaaad (and redundant).