Release

I can finally release all the packages since are ready and stable. I have tested them many times in body count mode and have never had any problems and everithing is smooth (I didn't try with ETL).
I touched everything possible from a graphical point of view (since I cannot touch the code) but obviously all the content is far from being finished and can be greatly improved.
In my opinion it is a good starting point to which to add the contribution of all those who want to improve or change True Combat Elite.
There will probably make a more precise tuning for lots of stuff (I mean touching .gear & .weap & .specs) since i'm not a weapons expert. For example there are various type of flash and probably need to be better "binded" to the proper weapon.  
I maded also some animations for 3rd pov players. Currently are used only knife and grenade animation.

This is a video where you can see the final result:

True Combat Elite 2020 Gameplay 20210406

If you want to try them, the files can be downloaded here: 

https://www.dropbox.com/marze


-  z_tce_players_20210406.pk3 (this can be used without others packages)
3rd pov player body models + textures
3rd pov head models + textures + animations

-  z_tce_players_animations_20210406.pk3
3rd pov player animations (added some custom animation but all are in "work in progress", just used the new one for knife and granate)

-  z_tce_viewarms_20210406.pk3
1st pov arms models + textures + animations

-  z_tce_weapons_20210406.pk3 (contents maded by various authors)
1st & 3rd pov weapons models + textures

z_tce_weapons_yyyymmdd.pk3 it is a package that mainly contains cqb weapons coming from variuos authors that I chose for their excellent quality. For this reason the number of weapons is limited but still they are enough to guarantee a fun choice
I tried to do some cleanup by exporting models and trying to use a standard for naming file to make it easier for anyone to add weapons in the future.

Since a few things changed including name and the position of the tags it is not possible to use the old weapons without making the appropriate changes.
The main tag is no longer in an unspecified place in the middle of the weapon but is positioned in the middle of the handle at the height of the trigger to facilitate the positioning of the new weapons and the tuning of the aim.
Each accessory has its own tag and we have:
tag_suppr -> suppressor
tag_fgrip -> forward grip
tag_clip -> clip
tag_clip2 -> clip
tag_slide -> slide
tag_sight -> sight
tag_brass -> brass
tag_flash -> flash


To install it is sufficient to copy the packages in the tcetest directory of your tce installation (for example C:\ET\tcetest\).
I would not like to participate to a zzzz name prepend race ... please be sure that the packages are the last loaded or that their content is not overwritten by others.
You can sort the files in the \tcetest directory by name and check that they are the latest or check the list of loaded pk3s when loading the game.
In my case I read this in the log when the game start:

...
...
================
MAIN log
================
723744 MAIN memory in 239 blocks
718964 MAIN memory overhead

================
SMALL log
================
56624 SMALL memory in 1519 blocks
26244 SMALL memory overhead
Current search path:
C:\ET\tcetest\z_tce_weapons_20210322.pk3 (1328 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\z_tce_viewarms_20210321.pk3 (229 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\z_tce_players_animations_20210318.pk3 (43 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\z_tce_players_20210320.pk3 (1216 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\pak5_z.pk3 (4 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\pak4.pk3 (113 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\pak3.pk3 (411 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\pak2.pk3 (2066 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\pak1.pk3 (1869 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\pak0.pk3 (728 files)
C:\ET\tcetest\mp_bin.pk3 (6 files)
C:\ET/tcetest
C:\ET\etmain\pak2.pk3 (22 files)
C:\ET\etmain\pak1.pk3 (10 files)
C:\ET\etmain\pak0.pk3 (3725 files)
C:\ET\etmain\mp_bin.pk3 (6 files)
C:\ET/etmain

handle 1: etconsole.log
----------------------
23552 files in pk3 files
------- Game Initialization -------
gamename: tcetest
gamedate: Dec 20 2006
Gametype changed, clearing session data.
Enable spawning!
Disable spawning!
0 teams with 0 entities
-----------------------------------


If you want to try them in a local multiplayer game against bots, you need to use the options set sv_pure 0, set sv_official 0, set dedicated 0, set sv_punkbuster 0.
This for example is my link to start the server locally:
"C:\ET\et.exe +set fs_game tcetest +set com_hunkMegs 256 +set com_zonemegs 64 +set com_soundmegs 64 +set r_maxpolyverts 16384 +set set r_maxpolys 4096 +set sv_pure 0 +set sv_official 0 +set dedicated 0 +set sv_punkbuster 0 +exec serverDEV.cfg"


I have tried the packages also on CQB but need some minor corrections to work properly (for example must use md3_headwear, some change on weapons with acog and 3rd pov animations).

Weapon Flash

Just improving everything possible... Now I've focused on weapon flashes which never seemed realistic to me. Normally the intensity depends on many factors first of all the ambient brightness, but in any case if the flash appears you cannot see through and it's not so semi-transparent.
In addition to changing some models of the flashes to give more volume, I worked on the shaders by making 4 different images for each type of flash used with animMap feature in order to give variations to the shape and color and I also added a random element with the "rgbGen wave noise" option.
By doing so it is also possible to do a tuning of the intensity by simply acting on the first parameter of the rgbGen command of the shader

This is an example:
models/weapons2/flash/flash_generic_03
{
    nofog
    sort additive
    cull disable
    {
        animMap 8 models/weapons2/flash/flash_generic_03_01.tga models/weapons2/flash/flash_generic_03_02.tga models/weapons2/flash/flash_generic_03_03.tga models/weapons2/flash/flash_generic_03_04.tga
        blendfunc GL_ONE GL_ONE
        rgbGen wave noise 0.65 0.25 0 0.5
    }
}

I think I'm close to good results and if nothing else they are definitely scenic if not realistic.

I am also doing some animations for 3rd pov players so that there is a minimum of congruency.
Once these tasks are completed I will release all packages. It is useless to keep adding changes because now I can't check by myself if there are any problems.
I have checked so many times that I'm no longer able to see mistakes and errors even if they are obvious and I have them in front of my eyes ...

Probably, to allow updates more easily, there will be four packages:

- z_tce_players_yyyymmdd.pk3
3rd pov player body models + textures
3rd pov head models + textures + animations

- z_tce_players_animations_yyyymmdd.pk3
3rd pov player animations

- z_tce_viewarms_yyyymmdd.pk3
1st pov arms models + textures + animations

- z_tce_weapons_yyyymmdd.pk3 (contents maded by various authors)
1st & 3rd pov weapons models + textures

Zombie Mod?

I'm really tweaking and improving lots of things. I revised the face textures using real photos as a basis. I changed them considerably by adding detail and it seems to me that I have achieved a good result.
I increased the detail and contrast because the textures in the game are a little flattened (also for camouflage and equipment).
I am also doing some practice with shaders and I started to understand and manipulate them better also because I am using the Q3ase shader editor program.
I made some additional environment textures specific for metallic reflections to improve the effect of the specular maps but I'm not sure can notice the differences.
I am undecided whether to use the specular maps in the shaders for the weapons models in 3rd pov because I am not sure they are visible.
 
These days I did some experiments to see if it was possible to do a zombie-mod without touching the code. It would be a very fun option in my opinion also to change a little ...
A simplified version with for example the red (axis) team with the look of Zombie but armed is probably feasible without code changes.
For a "pure" version with zombies without weapons and with custom animations I think it can be done but need some touch at least to the ET / ETL code.
The idea would be to use bots only for team axis as zombies with no weapon supplied (if possible) or even with only the knife (the knife mesh for the axis team would then be replaceable with a null object).
At the moment, however, using only the .gear file does not seem possible.
In any case, a "knife only" function should also be enabled but only for the axis team.
Customizing the animations with walk & run & zombie attack would not be a problem but an additional "team" condition should still be added in the human_base.script animation file (in addition to those already present "state description", "movement type", "condition type" and "condition value") or have two separate files (something as human_axis_base.script and human_allies_base.script).
A new "team" condition would also be very interesting to customize the animations based on the team they belong to. Maybe it would also decrease the teamkills since you would have an extra detail to recognize the opponents.

IFAK and Gloves

I made a new UV map of the 1st pov hands and a pair of new gloves that look much better to me and probably you can understand which models I was inspired by.
Now I have to align and synchronize everything with 3rd pov player's hands.
I also made a new, more realistic medkit (ifak) and fix some errors on the blood textures.

I wanted to write a couple of notes about the weapons used. I currently use 18 out of 20 slots (two slots are reserved for bolt action weapons) and there are a few things I discovered:
// SH3 -> force empty reload even is not the last shot (hardcoded)
// SH4 -> force empty reload even is not the last shot (hardcoded)
// SH6 -> force the wapon as primary (hardcoded)
// SH7 -> force the wapon as primary (hardcoded)
// TH15 -> force bolt action weapon behavior (hardcoded)

The CQB weapons I am using in TCE are more detailed and seem to be handled without problems. To get a rough idea an ak47 1st pov without accessories has 6167 tris and 3704 verts while a lowpoly ak47 3rd pov has 826 tris of and 527 verts.
I made some important changes that involve the weapons that will eventually be added.
The main tag is no longer in an unspecified place in the middle of the weapon but is positioned in the middle of the handle at the height of the trigger to facilitate the positioning of the new weapons and the tuning of the aim.
Each accessory has its own tag and we have:
tag_suppr -> suppressor
tag_fgrip -> forward grip
tag_clip -> clip
tag_clip2 -> clip
tag_slide -> slide
tag_sight -> sight
tag_brass -> brass
tag_flash -> flash

There is the usual problem with the maximum memory budget for arms animations (there is a maximum limit of total "verts positions" that I have yet to calculate) and I am thinking of not use the akimbo that weigh a lot of memory and carry on other animations first (... machine pistols).

Sanrenmu 6050 LUF-PH-T4

This is the knife / multitool that I most use in urban environment. The steel is not the best (8Cr14MoV) but it's made for occasional use and is not designed for heavy work.
A very interesting feature is the liner lock type blade locking system which works very well. The blade opens and closes easily and there are numerous functions including a small light torch with a single led (which does not like water...). The functions (10 in total) that I have used most are the blade, the screwdriver, the carabiner, the bottle opener. Comes very sharp but you have to sharpen it often if used intensively.
Absolutely recommended and the cost-performance ratio is excellent (although it now costs 35% more than when I bought it...).

Tools:
Cross screwdriver
Belt Cutter
Hex wrench
Wire Stripper
Chisel/Scraper
Blade
Led light
Bottle Opener
Glass Breaker
Carabiner
(... but not a flat screwdriver ! ...)

Type: Folder knife
Blade Material: 8Cr14MoV
Blade Length: 4.6cm
Blade Width : 2.3cm
Unfold Length: 14.4cm
Fold Length: 9.4cm
Blade steel: 8Cr14Mov stainless steel
Product weight: 74g

Akimbo Issue

I took a step back to modify and improve the uv map of the hands and I'm trying to improve the textures using real photographs of tactical gloves. It was important since the hands are always on first/top view.
 

I have completed the animation for the Akimbo but there is a big problem. I afraid that the True Combat Elite code for Akimbo has not been completed.  Unlike the other weapons the setting in the .specs file "usesWolfAnim 0" is ignored and the animations of the arms are not shown (only frame 0 is considered).

The only possibility I have seems to to make it all again and adopting the original akimbo animation of Enemy Territory. The original system is very, very, very limited as the arms and hands are actually static meshes without any deformation (as if they were the components of a weapon). The Enemy Territory arms animations is done exclusively by moving and rotating the tags to which the arms are linked.

EKA CordBlade W9

Since man does not live on bit (0/1) alone ... a small reviews of the knive I bought and which I use.

This is the first skeleton type knife I bought. It's an excellent blade maded with an excellent steel and keeps the sharpness long.
I felt very comfortable and the handle is comfortable for my hand (medium size hands).
The length is adequate for its use and the weight is minimal (clearly not suitable for chopping).
Excellent material of the sheath (Kydex) with the bottom hole to let the water flow.
The extraction is not easy (it's necessary help yourself with the paracord lanyard) and hindered by the belt clip which would be better to replace or reverse as position.
The jimping are good, not agressive and right for a solid grip with and without gloves. The handle comes with two (low quality IMO) paracord rescue orange and black.
The spine of the knife is rounded, for someone it's a good but I personally disagree. A 90° sharp spine is really useful.
In general, the judgment is really good. Recommended.

EKA CordBlade W9
Type: Full-Tang
Blade Material: Sandvik 12C27 (HRC 57-59)
Blade length:     95 mm
Blade thickness:     4 mm
Total length:     210 mm
Weight:     100 g
Paracord wrapped handle (orange/black)
Kydex sheath with removable belt clip

True Combat Elite Clip

I was looking for a video editing program to merge and stabilize some footage taken with the smatphone and I found Davinci Resolve. It is a great program that produces professional results and is free. It occurred to me to do a clip of True Combat Elite with the new graphic contents and this is the result (unfortunately Youtube has significantly lowered the quality ...).

 

 

Ready for Tuning

I finally solved a problem that haunted me for a long time. In some cases the skin of knife and grenades was not correct. The cause was due to some original .skin files which had content that caused conflict. This is a good step forward and allows me to move on to the next stage and final tuning.

The weapon's rack is ready and they are the following:

knife
m26
mk32a
m83
m84
dynamite

deserteagle
beretta92fs
 └ suppressed

glock18
glock19
glock20
 └ suppressed

glock21
p226
usp40
wilson1911

mp5
 ├ iron sight
 └ m68 sight

mp5sd
 ├ iron sight
 └ m68 sight

ump45
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ m68 sight
 └ m68 sight --- suppressed

ak47
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ red-dot sight
 └ red-dot sight --- suppressed

ak74m
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ acog
 └ acog --- suppressed

aksu74
 ├ iron sight
 └ iron sight --- suppressed

m16
 └ iron sight

m4 (urban, arctic, desert, wood)
 └ iron sight

m4sopmod (urban, arctic, desert, wood)
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ red-dot sight
 └ red-dot sight --- suppressed

rec7
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ acog
 └ acog --- suppressed

sg552
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ red-dot sight
 └ red-dot sight --- suppressed

scar
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ eotech
 └ eotech --- suppressed

m76
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ zrak scope
 └ zrak scope --- suppressed

m110
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ leupold scope
 └ leupold scope --- suppressed

spr (urban, arctic, desert, wood)
 ├ iron sight
 ├ iron sight --- suppressed
 ├ leupold scope
 └ leupold scope --- suppressed

saiga12s
 └ iron sight

m3s90
 └ iron sight

spas12
 └ iron sight

On the road again

More than a year has passed.
For various reasons I was no longer carrying out this project. I knew it was going to be tough but I hoped that by collaborating a little we could get something nice. It was not so.
I realize that things change for everyone. responsibilities increase and the time available for your own enjoyment is less and less but it is still a shame.

Two weeks ago I was contacted by some surviving True Combat Elite players. I thought a little bit about everything I had done and I realized that I don't want to leave things unfinished. So I decided to complete what I started by releasing the latest package with a number of weapons that make it playable and fun for sure. I have tried to organize and structure all the material in a way that is understandable and can be improved by others. I'm almost there. 

Everything works wonderfully and I can say that I am satisfied because it seems to me that there is a big leap in quality.

Z_TCE_Viewarms released

Hi, I shared a new TCE_players package to fix some error to the player's head model.
Waiting that coroner will release a unlocked version of CQB I share a TCE_viewarms package that is just in the firt stage but is the starting point for all the new weapons improvements.
It's optimized for TCE but can be easily adapted for CQB. Lot's of improvements needed... the textures of the hands need to be increased to 1024x1024 and there are errors of sync between the 1st view and 3rd view weapons model (all things that can be solved in a short time).
The fine tuning on the position of the weapons is still to be done.
Trying it with TCE there are incomprehensible errors for saiga12s (reloading anim) and for m76 buis (shooting anim). This errors are not present with CQB (internal unlocked version).
The arms animations are for:
- Knife
- Grenade
- Pistols (beretta 92fs, desert eagle, p226, glock, usp40, wilson1911)
- SG552
- AK47, AK74M, AKSU74, M76, SAIGA12S

Al the weapons models came from CQB except for Ka-Bar Knive (thanks to Venom908 & Chimp from gamesbanana).

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lkfbnqhn6vosmt1/AACeHjN55i_U9yX0iI6VToZZa?dl=0

It's better run TCE with this setting:
+set com_soundMegs 64
+set com_hunkMegs 256
+set com_zoneMegs 64
+set r_maxpolyverts 16384
+set r_maxpolys 4096

Z_ETL_players_20190315.pk3 ready

I completed the ETL_players package and it seems valid for a first test phase.
There is some problem of the mdm/md3 models with dynamic light (and face normals) but I'm thinking that it is a engine problem (I read that someone in some forum talks about it).
For example in the limbo menu the player's head (top right) is illuminated by a dynamic light and it is seen that the effect is not optimal (the behavior is the same even with the original heads even if you notice less). Anyway the ETL engine looks much better then the ET engine.
Unfortunately I am not a skilled skinner and the textures need to be improved especially those of the faces because they are too equal to each other and have no personality. An excellent and quick solution would be to obtain copyleft photographs of heads (front, 3/4, left or rigt, back) and retouch them. Anyway in this initial phase the textures of the heads may be fine and for the moment I don't improving them (I hope that some skilled 2d / skinner graphics can improve the textures for me) because I would like to focus on the first-view arms and weapons and on third-view animations.
Facial animations, expressions and blood seem ok except for the idle animation of when the player is seriously injured.

I found these problems:
- wrong normals with md3/mdm models when the faces are mirrored (even if outside the uv space) that are to be taken into consideration for future models
- the original maps are out of scale respect to the original player's model (for example check the dimensions of the doors compared to the height of the player)
- many original weapons in the third person view are out of scale and should be redone.
- the rank on the helmet/cap looks too big.
- problems with heavy weapons MG / Mortar / MG tank mounted
- maybe tag_weapons & tag_weapons2 (hands) non perfectly aligned
- trouble when the player is prone with heavy weapons
- i forgot to make the model of the player without clothes
- in general the textures resolution degrade even the player's view is close (to work around I added nomipmaps & nopicmip in the shader)

You can check my last package Z_TCE_players_20190315.pk3 here -->
Z_TCE_players_yyyymmdd.pk3

ETL_players package

I'm working a bit on the ETL_players package to see if I can release in a short time something that can be evaluated. Thanks to the "classic" hud of ET/ETL that show the health of the player's head I discovered a big problem (but easy to fix) that involve the md3 of the heads.
In a nutshell I had not linked the tag_mouth to the head bone and therefore did not orient itself in agreement. The consequence is that objects tied to the tag tag_head/tag_mouth (for example helmets or other accessories) did not orient themselves with the head.
I have to correct the head meshes also in the TCE_players and CQB_players packages (although the problem is less noticeable because the head animation set is very limited).
I'm also have some progress with the animation of mp5/ump45 but I have to make more tuning since the handle is completely different from an AK47

Z_TCE_Viewarms package - New arms models for True Combat Elite and CQB weapons integration

These are some in-game screenshots of the contents of the Z_TCE_Viewarms_ package I'm working on. As I said in other posts there is still a lot to do, such as the texture of the hands / weapon models optimizing / new weapons UV map/ new and better weapon models
Obviously the new features of CQB as the reflexsight parameter for the optics or the improvements of the vision through the scope can not be used.

New True Combat Elite package released (Z_TCE_players_20190101.pk3)

The package Z_TCE_players_20190101.pk3 is ready to be tested and I'm confident that there will be no memory errors since I tried it for a long time on a dedicated server with 6 bots and it always worked regularly. It is only the first package that contains the third-person models and gradually will be added other packages wiht first-view arms and weapons. To maintain some coherence between the textures of the third-person models and the arms I made very rough textures for the arms that will be gradually replaced. For now I have decided to use jpg as texture format but it is possible that I switch to tga even if obviously the dimensions are very different.

You can check my last package Z_TCE_players_20190101.pk3 here -->
Z_TCE_players_yyyymmdd.pk3


This is the line that I use to run tce and it's working for me:
DriveName: \ PathToWET \ ET.exe + set fs_game cqbtest + set com_soundMegs 64 + set com_hunkMegs 256 + set com_zoneMegs 64 + set s_khz 44 + set r_maxpolyverts 16384 + set r_maxpolys 4096 + exec serverDEV.cfg

In the serverDEV.cfg file I also added this commands:

seta com_soundMegs "64"
seta com_hunkMegs "256"
seta com_zoneMegs "64"
seta s_khz "44"
seta r_maxpolyverts "16384"
seta r_maxpolys "4096"
set sv_pure 0
set sv_official 0
seta com_ignoreCrash 1 // Toggles Safe Mode After Crash

set bot_enable "1"
addbot 1 BLUE
addbot 1 BLUE
addbot 1 BLUE
addbot 1 RED
addbot 1 RED
addbot 1 RED

Maybe it is better to set up a clean installation of tce and make sure that the package is the last to be loaded (if you order the contents of the tcetest directory by name the Z_TCE_players_yyyymmdd.pk3 must be the last file).

Since the images are sometimes better than a thousand of words I have done some screenshots (not retouched by any painting software)

TCE package progress

I'm still working to the animation of the arms and closisng the Z_TCE_players package.
The limit of the maximum number of frames for the md3 that I had previously discussed that is very serious and penalizing. The consequences are:
1) the animations need to be adaptable to more weapons, so are less precise and less realistic
2) the animations must be short as posssible to save memory (so for example no check of empty chamber before reload and so on ..)
3) the use of accessories via tags becomes very uncomfortable.

So I'm making animations that can be reused for multiple models of weapons and seems good in game but must be tuned for the number of frames per second (btw increasing the number of the fps mean more fast, but also mean less precision since miss some frame) and for the correct position of the sight respect to the point of impact. I can't really understand why the game only handle the last shot animation for pistol and not for rifle, this is inexplicable. 

As I have already written, seems that TCE/CQB can not manage the third-person arms models with short sleeves (without touching the code), so I have modified the sniper class models (specops and terror) and I added long sleeves. The short sleeves player models are moved in a "tropical" directory for future use. I'm also using only arms models with long sleeves in the first-view for the same reasons.

Currently I have ported from CQB to TCE these weapons models: AK47, AK47 + M68, SG552, SG552 + Reddot, Beretta92fs, Desert Eagle, P226, Glock, Usp40, Wilson1911
In my opinion, all the weapons need to be optimized and made it next-gen compliant by redoing a UV map of the models without overlap. Many weapons meshes are out of scale, need to be improved or completely replaced. The texture skins are generally all excellent.

Keep in mind that UV map and SmoothGroups heavily affect the number of vertices of the md3 model. For example, this is the result of the same cube exported to md3 but with different UV maps / SmoothGroups:

Mesh <Box01>: 12 Triangles, 8 Vertexes (+16 verts for SmoothGroups, +0 verts for UV map)
Geometry Total: 12 Triangles, 24 Vertexes

Mesh <Box01>: 12 Triangles, 8 Vertexes (+0 verts for SmoothGroups, +24 verts for UV map)
Geometry Total: 12 Triangles, 32 Vertexes


An interesting feature could be the management of other tags in addition to flash and brass in the model of weapons (probably in the code cg_weapons.c). This could allow you to better manage all the accessories that can be considered fixed (such as sight, suppressor, foregrip, ...) and save the amount of specific animations of the arms.

Unfortunately I also encountered other problems...
1) the texture management for the arms of the knife model seems to ignore the settings provided in the .skin files for each player (which instead work for all other weapons).
This problem seems to be already present in the official version of TCE / CQB
2) A incomprehensible lack of functionality of the transparencies for the new shaders I added. For example, transparency for new flashes or new reddot wan't work.

Soon I will release the Z_TCE_players package and I will be grateful if some user give me a feedback. If someone find models of weapons royalty free and/or want to make some contribution by tuning/modelling/skin/adding weapons let me know.

Next in queue:
- fisrt-view arms animation for all weapons
- moving all CQB weapons to TCE
- 1024 * 1024 hands texture
- find / remake weapons more detailed
- clean old weapons UV overlapping verticies
- make old weapons next-gen compliant
- make new third-view players animations

Z_TCE_Viewarms_ Progress

Good and bad news as usual

the latest progress are:
- creation of a more detailed model of the ak47 magazine
- realization of the most detailed model of M26 grenade
- increase the resolution of the texture of the arms from 512*512 to 1024*1024 (made from scratch and now they are much better)
- realization of the pistol animation
- introduction of the weapons taken in the last CQB release in TCE as they are better implemented
- reuse of previous models of arms / hands (more detailed)

Unfortunately, there are also bad news. The main problem is that each weapon is bind to a specific model of arms/skins.
As you know the sniper class has models with short sleeves while the assault and recon classes have long sleeves.
In the limbo menu it is possible to make the appropriate distinctions in order to assign the specific weapons to the different classes.
The problem arises when a sniper take a weapon of  recon/assault class from the ground and vice versa.
If you're a short-sleeved sniper and pick up a weapon from the assault class, long-sleeved arms appear (in fact, it inherits the arms associated with that weapon).

So one solution is block the possibility of take weapon of other class or don't use use short sleeves models.
Maybe the short sleeves player models can be choosed based on the type of map as you do for skins. For example you could use the models of short-sleeved players exclusively for tropical maps instead of temperate maybe acting on the .gear file by adding a gm_playerModelGroup type entry like this:

Maybe we can choose the short sleeves models of the players based on the type of map as you do for the skins.
For example we can use the models of short-sleeved players exclusively for tropical maps instead of temperate maybe adding something as gm_playerModelGroup in the .gear file like this:


gear_manager
{
gm_playerModelGroup "tropical" // models \ players \ tropical \ ...
gm_playerSkinGroup "tropical" // models \ players \ tropical \ ...
gm_playerVoiceGroup "default" // scripts \ voice \ temperate \ ...
gm_playerIconGroup "default" // gfx \ limbo \ temperate \ ...

gm_custom_weaponGroup "default" // custom \ default \ weapons \ ...

 
... but i'm afraid that at the moment it is not possible...

TCE - arms progress

I did not write any posts because I did not have good news to give.
I maded some animations for weapons (some completely new compared to those present) and with good results.
For example, for AK47 I had added another type of reload and a onother one in which the player can see the accessories mounted on the weapon.
Unfortunately I immediately fight with the error "ERROR: VirtualAlloc commit failed." when the map is changing. The Z_CQB_players and Z_CQB_Viewarms package wan't work together! (both in ET and in ET Legacy)
Until now I practically i'll go step by step and by elimination, to understand what generated it.
In the end I won my battle but the war will probably is a draw.

I avoid to tell the list of all the attempts I made and get to the point: there is a maximum amount of memory dedicated to all the player models and their animations (.md3 files).
This means that all the models of the heads + animations of the heads + the models of the arms + all the animations of the arms should not exceed a certain amount.
Originally, the game has one head for all the models of players with 400 frames + one model of arms with about 100 frames for each weapon. Realy a poor thing.
I made 5 heads with 400 frame animations and three arms models with 180 frame animations and I immediately had the problem "ERROR: VirtualAlloc commit failed.".

As you can see this limit is very, very, very penalizing for those who want to use the engine and make an inprovement with a good graphic level.

Since I can not touch the code I am forced to the following workaround:

- Reduction the number of heads from 5 to 4 and the duration of animations from 400 to 180 frames (for the moment I removed HD_IDLE4, HD_DAMAGED_IDLE2, HD_DAMAGED_IDLE3, SMILE)
- Elimination of any accessory for the heads (even the hair will be added via tag in .skin file)

- Reduction of polygons and vertices for models of hands and arms
- Reduction of variations of the arms models from 3 to 2 (sleeves + elbow pads will be unused)
- Reduction of the animations of the arms to have maximum 60 frames (since some are managed by the code such as drop/raise)

I have requested the of coroner's authorization to distribute the new version of CQB but without success so I will dedicate myself to TCE.
In any case, without a proper modification to the engine code, I'm afraid a 3D artist will never do a good job to improve the graphic content related to the players' models and the game's animations.

CQB - 3D first person view arms

I made some variations of the arms, reduced the number of polygons and rigged the models.


long sleeves & pads -->  polys:1470 , verts:826
long sleeves --> polys:874 , verts:448
short sleeves arms --> polys:374 , verts:408
hands --> polys:2260 , verts:1134

New Z_CQB_players package released

I think I've finally found out the problem generated by my package ("VirtualAlloc commit failed - Attempt to access invalid address"). I think that it could be linked to the amount of md3 that you can handle from skin files and to some variable not properly sized/defined ( maybe here --> tr_image, tr_model.c or cg_character.c).

For example, in tr_image I find the following lines:
if (strstr (token, "md3_"))
{
if (skin-> numModels> MAX_PART_MODELS)
{
Ren_Warning ("WARNING: Ignoring models in '% s', the max is% d! N", name, MAX_PART_MODELS);
break;

1) initially I had this error:
------ Server Initialization ------
Server: obj_snow
RE_Shutdown( 0 )
********************
ERROR: VirtualAlloc commit failed.
Attempt to access invalid address.

********************
----- Server Shutdown -----
---------------------------
RE_Shutdown( 0 )

I solved commenting on the last two lines in head04a.skin (tested on windows TCE/CQB + all tce maps + cqb_sample)

head, "models/players/hud/head04a"
teeth, "models/players/hud/teeth01"
eye1, "models/players/hud/eye03"
eye2, "models/players/hud/eye03"
//eye_patch01, "models/players/hud/head04a"
//hair01, "models/players/hud/hair01"


2) Then came this error:
LOADING... - classes
^1ERROR: characters/temperate/axis/soldier.char, line 4: unknown token 'skinGroup'
********************
ERROR: ERROR: CG_RegisterPlayerClasses: failed to load character file 'characters/temperate/axis/soldier.char' for the Axis Soldier
********************
----- Server Shutdown -----

I solved commenting //md3_beltr in body_s.skin (tested on windows TCE/CQB + all tce maps + cqb_sample)

..
//md3_back, "models/players/temperate/allied/acc/backpack.md3"
//md3_beltr, "models/players/temperate/allied/acc/beltr_pouch01_b.md3"
md3_beltl, "models/players/temperate/allied/acc/beltl_pouch01_b.md3"
md3_belt, "models/players/temperate/allied/acc/belt_pouch01_b.md3"
md3_legr, "models/players/temperate/allied/acc/legr_holster01_b.md3"
md3_legl, "models/players/temperate/allied/acc/legl_pouch01_b.md3"
l_legs, "models/players/temperate/allied/legs02blue_woodland01"
u_body, "models/players/temperate/allied/body01blue_woodland01"
u_rthand, "models/players/temperate/common/hands01"
u_lfthand, "models/players/temperate/common/hands01"


3) ET Legacy works but does not load some shader/md3 assets and I find these WARNING
LOADING... - classes
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s3.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: failed to register skin 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s.skin' referenced from 'characters/temperate/axis/soldier.char'
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p11.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p22.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p01.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p02.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p10.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p12.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p20.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/soldier/body_s_p21.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/medic/body_s3.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: Ignoring models in 'models/players/temperate/axis/medic/body_s.skin', the max is 5!
^3WARNING: failed to register skin 'models/players/temperate/axis/medic/body_s.skin' referenced from 'characters/temperate/axis/medic.char'


It could also be the cause for crash when using Z_CQB_Viewarms_sg552_20160208.pk3 that contains the arms and the sig552?
I used 7 parts in sg552rdsd.weap adding tags to make a compound weapon (and doing also animations to mount/unmount the sight/suppressor/foregrip)
part 0
{
tag "tag_main"
model "models/weapons2/sg552/sg552_view_main.mdc"
}
part 1
{
tag "tag_clip"
model "models/weapons2/sg552/sg552_view_clip.mdc"
}
part 2
{
tag "tag_slide"
model "models/weapons2/sg552/sg552_view_slide.mdc"
}
part 3
{
tag "tag_sight"
model "models/weapons2/sight/sight_view_reddot.mdc"
}
part 4
{
tag "tag_suppr"
model "models/weapons2/silencer/silencer_view_silencer01.mdc"
}
part 5
{
tag "tag_clip2"
model "models/weapons2/sg552/sg552_view_clip.mdc"
}
part 6
{
tag "tag_fgrip"
model "models/weapons2/grip/grip_view_foregrip01.mdc"
}

Is it a partial limit for individual characters .skin file or is a total limit? I don't know, but It would be nice to touch the code in such a way that these treshold are increased.

The package is pretty much ready and need to be tested. Maybe it's a good idea make some screenshots at the maximum resolution. In any case, it's better use the "seta com_ignorecrash 1" option to prevent that some crash reset the configuration at the low resolution. Maybe in the future we could include the full body model in the deploy menu, using cqb_menu_idle & cqb_menu_lookweap animations (cqb_common.aninc in the Z_CQB_animations_20150513) or use head animations like pain or attack sequence.

It would be great if coroner could check the code to see if he can change the limits of md3 manageable via .skin files

You can check my last package Z_CQB_players_20171109.pk3 here (completely replaces the previous one) -->
 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lkfbnqhn6vosmt1/AACeHjN55i_U9yX0iI6VToZZa?n=326867460