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====== ArmA 2 Visitor 3 User Guide ======

[[https://www.pmctactical.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=50|ArmA 2 Forum]], [[:arma2|ArmA 2 Home]], [[arma2:config|ArmA 2 Config]], [[arma2:file_formats|ArmA 2 File Formats]], [[arma2:missions|ArmA 2 Missions]], [[arma2:modeling|ArmA 2 3D Modeling]], [[arma2:scripting|ArmA 2 Scripting]], [[arma2:terrain|ArmA 2 Terrain]], [[arma2:texturing|ArmA 2 Texturing]], [[arma2:tools|ArmA 2 Tools]]

How to use Visitor 3, tutorial, guide or anything between, misc ramblings from here and there.


====== Object Placement ======

Object placement on bottom right quarter in 4096 height map terrains is problematic. You place object but you cannot select it anymore.


====== Visitor 3 Tips ======

If you forget to add data path (data\layer thing) and you import satellite texture, v3 will create Layers\ directory in the P:\ root directory (which is obviously wrong, you need to setup the path properly).

Like if you forget to write: tut\terrain2\data path in the project parameters.

Q: If you re-import satellite, is it good idea to delete old contents from data\Layers\ directory?\\
A: Good guestion, dunno, I'd say yes? :)

Q: Is it quicker to let buldozer convert png to paa or use texview2 manually?\\
A: texview2 pal2pace is quicker, its even more quicker if you use multiple instances of pal2pace [see pmceditingwiki]

Q: LandGrid out of range error, how to fix?\\
ErrorMessage: {error} LandGrid reference exceeded the range [1023, 1023], it is [1998, 1944]\\
A: Change Texture Layer in tools -> project preferences. Add new, put texture size twice of cells size, double click to activate.

Q: Why does buldozer load my wrp so long time when arma2 is quite fast?\\
A: Buldozer loads the unbinarized (unpacked, not optimized) data which is far larger amount than arma2's binarized.

Q: Script object import says objects rejected, why?\\
A: You must add the object types first, CreateWRP to PEW conversion does not work! you must add it manually.

Q: How do I choose different colors for my objects like roads?\\
A: Tools -> Artificial (or natural) objects, choose object, click Color Special, then click the color button and choose.

Q: How many objects can I import at once before visitor 3 crashes?\\
A: 1,000,000 and then visitor 3 stops importing or even crashes. Use Mikero's depew instead.

Q: It takes long time to CTRL-A and DEL delete all objects, any better ideas?\\
A: Use Mikero's depew instead.

Q: My visitor 3 acts funny?\\
A: Check windows task manager that another instance of visitor3.exe is not running even though you closed it cleanly.

Q: Objects are floating in the air or cannot be seen at all, how do I fix them?\\
A: Use Tools -> Object Manager -> Recalculate elevation -> relative displacement to 0.


====== Visitor 3 Blue Edge ======

Visitor automatically adds something to the map view that is known as the blue edge. It is a line of additional pixels shown on the left and the bottom edge. And this edge is always exactly 1 times the size of your terrain Cell Size.

For example a 2560m x 2560m terrain, based on a 256 x 256 heightmap imported with a 10m cell size, the project's blue edge will be 10 pixels. When you save terrain (mapview) to image, add the additional pixels like in this case 2570 x 2570 instead of 2560 x 2560 resolution.

The amount of extra pixels to for the blue edge is not just the terrain cell size.

Formula:
<code>
satmap / heightmap == blue edge pixels
</code>


====== Visitor 3 Key Points ======

Key Points which is basically the stuff you write to config.cpp class Names part.

When you create key points in Visitor 3 and then buldozer running Export the world to WRP, it also saves <terrain name>.hpp file, this file looks like this:
<code cpp>
class myLocation1
{
	name="display-text1";
	position[]={3752.73,3687.1};
	type="";
	radiusA=100;
	radiusB=100;
};
class myLocation2
{
	name="display-text2";
	position[]={3330.83,3555.84};
	type="";
	radiusA=200;
	radiusB=100;
};
</code>

The actual key points data is saved in the PEW project file itself, the HPP file is just output when buldozer exports to WRP.


====== Visitor 3 Max Number Of Objects ======

What is the maximum number of objects you can import to Visitor 3 project file?

Using ImportObjects.vis to import objects.

Imported 900,000 objects one at the time into 4096, 10m, 20480 pixel terrain, by the third import it crashed with out of memory error and that time objects counted from the PEW was: 2,692,537

Imported 900,000 objects one at the time into 4096, 10m, 20480 pixel terrain, rebooting between 3 imports until 2,550,764 objects were in, no crashes.

Someone stated that he reboots his machine after every large object import. Sounds bit excessive, why should I reboot if I have like 16gb ram which never runs out?

Used Mikeros [[arma2:tools:depew|DePew]], imported 4,100,000 objects directly into the PEW, Visitor 3 loads it ok and works in-game just fine.