Custom Ground Vehicles

Learn all you need to know to get started with custom ground vehicles!

Introduction

In this guide I will explain everything you need to know to import models and create custom ground vehicles.
It's recommended that you have at least some basic experience with the other custom item editors, as this one is the most complicated one. The one with some more basic information can be found here: Custom Item Editor Basics
If you need specific help or have questions, use the comment functionality below this guide, the game's steam forum or join the official Dicord server[discord.gg], where I'm most active.

Preparing the model

For basic import information, please refer to the guide linked above.
Since vehicles consist of multiple components, it's important to divide your model accordingly. When importing your model into the game, you will need to assign a role to each object, so make sure to separate the parts in advance.

These are all available roles to choose:

• Main represents the main hull of your vehicle
  
• Merge Main objects will be combined with the geometry of the main hull. This can be used if you split up too much by accident.
  
• Main Decoration has no special purpose, but allows you to have additional objects without a collider. This is important for objects which represent tank tracks and small objects like antennas.
  
• Turret can only be used a single time and represents the main moving part of a tank
  
• Merge Turret similar to Merge Main, but for turrets
  
• Turret Decoration objects will move with the turret and allow parts of the tower to not have collisions
  
• Weapon represents a moving or static weapon barrel
  
• Weapon Rotator can be used as a mini turret to have separate horizontal and vertical rotating parts for a weapon
  
• Wheels are required if you want to create non tracked vehicles
  
• Dont Import will be ignored

First steps after import

Before you edit any vehicle settings, you must ensure that your model is correctly scaled, positioned and orientated! Changing the model later will result in various settings becoming invalid.
1) Scale the model. Make sure the model has the correct size and you can see the base grid of the editor. You can use the sizes on each axis as a reference to real life scale.
2) Rotate the model. Make sure the vehicle faces the direction of the blue arrows. Also ensure the model is perfectly aligned on each axis and not tilted.
3) Move the model. The grid origin will be the position around which your vehicle will be rotated, so make sure it is above the ground and centered on the X and Z axis. You can use the isometric perspective tool in the top right corner to make it easier to align the model.
4) For wheels, you probably want to use the Origin tool to make sure the wheels are rotated correctly around their center.

General Settings

Most of the base and general settings should be pretty clear.
For health and armor class, you can right click to simulate hits or visit the testing area once all your settings are validated.

Player Controls

Player controls are optional and can be enabled by checking the option. It is always recommended to do so, as it only requires configuring two additional settings.
1st person view and 3rd person view both require a Base Transform, which is the object that controls the camera's movement and rotation. For first-person view, this is typically the main weapon, while for third-person view, the turret is usually the best choice.
The View Transform is previewed in the bottom left corner and you can interactively adjust the camera's position and rotation.

Movement Settings

Vehicle movement can be set up as Tracks or Wheel based movement. If you choose wheel-based movement, make sure to select the wheel objects when importing the model.
Speed, Acceleration, Deceleration and Rotation Speed determine how fast the vehicle moves for both AI units and the player. It's recommended to experiment with these values and test the vehicle's movement in the testing area. Avoid using extreme values, as they may cause movement issues.

Tracks

If your vehicle uses tracks for movement, you need to set up their shape. To do this, click on the edit button (1). The game will switch to a side view of the vehicle, allowing you to place points to define a continuous line representing the tracks (2).
For technical reasons, avoid extending the tracks into very steep areas (see blue markings in the image).
Once you're satisfied with the shape, confirm your settings. Finally, adjust the width parameter in the 3D view to ensure the preview lines are centered on the tracks on both sides of the vehicle.

Wheels

For wheel-based vehicles, the wheel objects are selected when importing the model.
If you encounter a warning about the origin, use the Origin Tool as described in the "First Steps After Importing" section.
The Reference is read-only but can be hovered over to highlight which wheel the settings apply to.
Rotation Limit determines the maximum steering angle used while driving as a player or when animating the wheels for AI units.
Spring Limits adjust how far the wheel can move up and down.
You can hover over each option for additional previews.

Turret Settings

The turret is optional but must be selected in advance when importing the model if you plan to use one.
Instead of relying on the object origin for rotation, you can manually adjust the Origin by selecting a position. This point determines the location around which the turret will rotate horizontally. It is recommended to set it at the center of the turret's base for the best results.

Collision Settings

To detect collisions, such as bullet impacts, you need to use the collider tool, which is already familiar from other editors. It is recommended to add colliders to the main hull and the turret for proper hit detection.
Other things to make sure:

• You can use normal mesh colliders if convex colliders are not accurate enough. However, keep in mind that while driving as a player, all colliders will be temporarily converted to convex for physics simulation.
  
• Do not add colliders to the weapon barrels, as this may cause conflicts when shooting.
  
• Avoid adding colliders to the tracks or wheels to maintain ground clearance and prevent the vehicle from getting stuck.
  
  • To achieve this, import the tracks as a Main Decoration role!

Navigation Settings

The Navigation Area is used to calculate blocked zones for other units. When hovering over any of the options, a preview will be displayed in the scene.
To simplify editing these settings, use the Isometric Top View in the top-right corner.
Tip: Hold Shift and drag with the left mouse button to move the camera while in this view!

Targeting Settings

The targeting settings determine which target the vehicle will move toward and where its main weapon will aim. Vehicles will continue moving until the target's distance is smaller than the Attack Distance and will only engage targets that are farther than the Min Attack Distance.
The Primary Target setting defines the type of unit the vehicle prioritizes. If no unit of the selected type is available, the vehicle may switch to a different target type.
Please note that weapons and gunners can have different target priorities. This setting only controls where the vehicle moves and what the main gun targets.

Audio Settings

he audio settings control the engine sound. Similar to other editors, you can either select the default engine preset or load a custom .ogg or .mp3 file for a unique sound.

Unit Slot Settings

Most of a vehicle's functionality comes from its units.
There are three different Types of units:

• Driver
  
  • Exactly one driver slot is required for the vehicle
    
  • This slot is mainly required for technical reasons or if you want a visible driver
    
  • It's recommended to enable Protected on this slot. Otherwise the vehicle will stop working if the driver is killed by an explosion or similar dangers
• Gunner
  
  • These units control a mounted weapon and find their own targets
    
  • Each mounted weapon on your vehicle requires one gunner
• Support
  
  • Support units are just regular units which look out of a hatch
    
  • These units can be customized in the Battle Editor and will shoot independently if they have a ranged weapon

The basic settings are available for all unit types:

• Posture, Position and Rotation control the unit's visuals and can be previewed and modified interactively.
  
• The Parent Ref is the object that the unit is attached to. For instance, if the parent ref is the tank's turret, the unit will rotate and move along with the turret
  
• Invisible can be used to hide the unit. This is rarely needed, except for the driver, since you can also create standalone weapons without a visible unit controlling them!
  
• As already explained, Protected ensures this unit only dies when the vehicle is destroyed

For Gunners and Support there are additional settings to control their targeting:

• Default unit is a vanilla unit which is used when the vehicle is placed and can be changed to a custom unit)in the battle editor. (only available for Support slots)
  
• Priority works similar to the vehicle's Priority Target option. (only available for Gunner slots)
  
• Min / Attack Distance work similarly to other targeting systems in the game and control the targeting range
  
• Horizontal FOV restricts targeting based on the unit's default rotation, preventing or allowing it to target enemies behind itself
  
• Similar to the horizontal FOV, you can use Min / Max Vertical Angle to restrict vertical targeting

Weapon Settings

The weapon settings may seem overwhelming at first due to the long list of options, but don’t worry—many settings function similarly to the ranged weapon or grenade editors.

As mentioned earlier, it's crucial to separate your weapons as individual objects, as they must be selected at the beginning.

Just like for the unit places, there are three different weapon Types:

• Main
  
  • At most one weapon can be selected as the main weapon. This is typically the tank cannon or APC autocannon.
    
  • This weapon is the only one that can rotate (with) the main turret
    
  • The target always matches the one the vehicle is driving to
• Mounted
  
  • These are hull-mounted weapons like machine guns, where you want a visible Gunner to control them
• Support
  
  • If you have coaxial weapons or any other type of weapon without a visible unit (including rotating weapons), use this type
    
  • The targeting functions completely independently of other units

Most of the settings are similar for each type, but there are a few specific ones for each type, so let's just go through each sub-section in the weapon settings:

General (Mounted only)

• Controlling Place selects the unit slot which controls this weapons. Each gunner can only control one weapon! Use Support weapons in case you need different behavior
  
• Since players can usually control a Gunner slot, you need to set up the Fps View. This works similarly to the vehicle's view settings, except that the view always rotates with the weapon.

Movement

• Parent Transform is the object that the weapon is moved with. For the main weapon, you usually want the turret and for other weapons, the object that they are mounted on
  
• Weapon Obj is readonly and only there to help you see which weapon is represented by the settings
  
• The Origin point determines the location around which the weapon will rotate. This should be set to the base of the weapon barrel.
  This also controls the default direction of the weapon, which should not be tilted vertically. During testing I noticed that it can still work, but I really wouldnt recommend it.
  
• Rotate Horizontally can be enabled if you want enable horizontal rotation for the weapon
  
  • Parent is hor. Rotator can be enabled if you imported a Weapon Rotator object and selected it as the Parent Transform of this weapon.
    In this case, the weapon will be rotated horizontally by the Weapon Rotator object, while vertically it will rotate independently—essentially functioning as a mini turret.
    
  • Hor. Rotation Speed - rotation speed (angle in degrees / s)
• Rotate Horizontally can be enabled if you want enable vertical rotation for the weapon
  
  • Vert. Rotation Speed - rotation speed (angle in degrees / s)
    
  • Min / Max Vertical Angle can be used to limit the rotation on the vertical axis to prevent the weapon from rotating inside the vehicle.

Targeting (only Support)

• Priority works similarly to the vehicle's Priority Target option, determining which targets the weapon prioritizes.
  
• Min / Max Attack Distance define the targeting range for the weapon.
  
• Vertical and Horizontal Targeting Restrictions are taken from the movement settings, limiting the weapon's firing angles.

Weapon Settings

There are currently three different Projectile Types to choose from.
There’s no need to go into detail about all the settings, as most of them are already familiar from the ranged weapon and grenade editors.
However, here are the most important settings for each projectile type:

• Projectile
  
  • A regular weapon which shoots projectiles with various options for caliber, rpm, muzzle flash and sound customization.
    
  • Select the Explode on Impact option at the bottom to adjust explosion options with presets or custom particles and sounds
• Flamethrower
  
  • Doesnt have any settings except for bullet spawn and sounds
    
  • May be expanded in the future to allow more customization
• Mortar
  
  • Shares most of the settings with regular projectile weapons, but has two additional options:
    
  • Projectile Duration determines how long the projectile will travel for a distance of 100 ingame units (~50m)
    
    • Higher values will create a higher arc, making the projectile travel in a more curved trajectory.
      
    • Lower values will result in a trajectory closer to direct targeting.
  • Accuracy adds a random targeting offset when shooting the projectiles

For projectile and mortar weapons, you can select up to 4 bullet spawns and configure how they are used. For more details on these settings, please refer to the in-game descriptions.

Transport Settings

To create Transport Vehicles, enable the option and define slots for the units to be transported. You can add up to 16 slots by clicking the '+' button.
You can right-click the Position setting of each slot to position and preview the unit interactively.
In addition, you can select up to three Exit Points. When the vehicle reaches its destination, the transported units will be spawned at one of these points.

Conclusion

That's pretty much all you need to know to get started with creating custom ground vehicles!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
For help with custom ground vehicles, I highly recommend joining the official Dicord server[discord.gg]—there, you'll find many experienced players and many previously answered questions to assist you.

[Sublime_Hurdle_1542]

can't set my vehicle's main ref because it's a box :(

[Magnedoodle]

well at lest it here now