Have you done any network tests of this? I find that armor effects don't always work well in multiplayer. When I tested adding wreck lods as armor effects, they don't always appear when the vehicle dies in multiplayer. Lag could also increase this occurence. Also, I think the game won't actually spawn the effect if no one is around to see the explosion. (when it happens at a great distance from nearest player for example).
The game doesn't treat mobile static obects the same way in network situations as it does with PCOs.
At least that how it happened when using actual effects anyway. I never spawned anything other then effects when using the armor effect system.
But there is a small chance that if this was implemented on a server there could be a chance that some or all of the players won't see the base lod. Meaning that to some or all people, there will be invisible vehicles as a result.
But this is worst case scenerio, as I have only network tested armor effects that spawn static objects via effects and emitters.
And if you want stuff to "fall off the vehicle" when damaged, just add a part you want to fall of and simply add mobile physics to it. That way it will fall clean off when spawned. And I think that just gave me an idea on how to improve my plane wreck lod via armor effect system. I think this should work as unlike addtemplate, the armor effect once spawned is no longer part of the vehicle (in technical terms)
Also, be careful not to remove the lod system entirely as bots in coop hate vehicles with no lod system in place. The game will crash as soon as a bot gets in and drives it around a bit.
I think the lod system tells the AI code when to use less detailed pathmapping and to start cheating phyics (for example if you watch a BOT drive a DPV and get far away from it, it will start zipping around unnaturally and faster) But when no lod is used, the AI gets confused or something and CTDs the game.
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