BIS have defined the main exterior texture of many of the vehicles. This way they wont need multiple P3D Model files of the same thing, just different texture paths. However doing this it also benefits those looking into retexturing vehicles, as not much skill aside from creating the texture (or more modifying the original) is needed.

Benefits? What are 'hidden' selections?

The benefits are that you wont need to know any addon or config skills if you want a simple retexture for a one off mission. More importantly it can keep your mission addonless!

If you want to release a retexture as in a PBO addon form, you just need basic scripting knowledge. You don't need to edit the P3D, unlike before (where the model stays the same, you are just changing texture paths - P3D files are not small!) just a script to define what the new texture is.

How does it work?

this setObjectTexture [0,"TextureFileName.paa"];

That's it! That's all the code you need to retexture a vehicle (see the list below) to your own paa texture.

The texture file name is simply the texture in your mission folder. If it is in the same folder as the mission.sqm, then just put the name and the extension (must be .PAA and maybe .PAC). If you put it in a folder in your mission then you need to reflect that in your texture path.

That's all there is to getting your own custom texture of a vehicle in game, in your very own mission. It's also great for quickly tweaking textures and viewing them. Before, you had to close ArmA, repbo your addon, put in your addons folder, restart ArmA and then view your mission. This time you don't even have to close your mission editor. This saves me about a minute each time I change my texture and need to view it in game.

What vehicles allow me to do this?

I've made a list of mainly the cars, and done a quick check on the armored/aircraft etc for those that accept this method. If I've missed any please let me know. Also make sure you use the correct variant I say. The VAZ (White) wont work, but the VAZ (Red) will. Same with the 'Car' (Skoda 105) and

• BM-21 Grad (Partially, the front cab changed textures but others didn't change maybe changing the 0 to a 1 in the setObjectTexture code might allow this as well as the other partial retextured models)
• Bus
• Car (White)
• VW Golf (Hatchback)
• HMMVW (Partially)
• Motorcycle
• MTVR
• Offroad Tan (aka Coyota)
• Old Hatchback
• Pickup (Aka Datsun)
• Praha V3S
• Sedan
• UAZ
• Ural (Partially, front cab only)
• Utility Truck
• Vaz (Red)
• HMMVW Ambulance (Partially, seems transparent in places)
• Ural Fuel (partially, front cab)
• Ural Ammo (see above)
• Ural Repair (see above)
• Utility vehicles and other trucks (see above)
• Some of the aircraft
• Some Armour vehicles
• None of the boats

Remember..

• Addons must be a certain format n^2 x n^2. That means 16×16, 32×32, 128×256, 512×16 etc. Your texture MAY work without these sizes, however, as I found out from experience, ATI graphics card users will crash out after exiting a vehicle when this texture is used (weird I know, but that's what it does).
• The file must be a valid PAA texture format. I'm not sure about PAC, although I don't think that's used much anymore (not seen any PAC textures yet). You can convert textures using TexView, a program part of the BI Tools package.
• The file must be at least in your mission folder where the mission.sqm is for it to work OR at least in a PBO with a basic config somewhat (for those who want to make an addon).

Hopefully this benefits people, and helps people when it comes to texturing in ARMA2. It surely saves me about a minute every time I tweak a texture. It also allows me to release less addons for a mission (or any at all!).

This tip was posted by JasonO.