Space Engineers 2

Space Engineers 2

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Space Engineers 2 | Guide: Creating an Armor Block
By KeenSWH and 2 collaborators
This tutorial provides a guide to creating a new armor block in the VRAGE3 Mod Editor.
   
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Prerequisites

⏱️ Time to complete: ~10 mins

Please ensure you have followed the section on “Tool Setup and Mod Creation” in the VRAGE3 Modding Overview guide prior to starting this guide.

If you are not interested in the creation process of your own armor plates please skip to the VRAGE3 Mod Editor section and use the example plates provided which can be found here:
steamapps\common\Space Engineers 2 - Mod SDK\ExampleMod1\Armor
Art Process
Armor plates are static mesh geometries, which are later assembled within VRAGE Editor. The armor plates are just simple planar shapes (triangles, planes…) without any assigned material IDs.

Example of an ArmorPlate being inside 25x25x25cm bounding box

The armor plates shouldn’t have any extra vertices and tessellation. The surface should be planar. Edges of the ArmorPlate should match and be exactly within the bounding box.
VRAGE3 Mod Editor - Adding Source Files & Making Armor Model Assets
  1. Create New Folder: Right-click on empty space within the project explorer, create a new folder, and rename it to "ArmorMod."

  2. Enter Folder: Double-click on the newly created "ArmorMod" folder.

  3. Drag Files: Drag the files from "ExampleMod1\Armor\" in your operating system’s file explorer to the Editor.

  4. Create ArmorSide Asset: Select one of the FBX files, right-click, and choose Create Asset → Armors → ArmorSide



  5. Rename ArmorSide Asset: With the newly created file selected, in the Inspector panel, press the "rename button" (pencil icon) at the top and add "_250" to its name.

  6. Scale ArmorSide Asset: In the Scale field, enter the value of 10.
    Note: This FBX file is 25cm. By increasing the scale by 10, we can use one file to make any size block we need, in this case, 2.5m.



  7. Repeat: Repeat steps 5 to 7 for the other FBX file.

  8. Create Armor Block Asset: Right-click on an empty space and select Create Asset → Armors → Armor Block



  9. Name Armor Block Asset: A box to enter a name will appear; name your file "HalfSlopeCorner_250."

  10. Select Definition: The newly created definition should be automatically selected and in focus of the "Property Inspector."

  11. Skip Physics Shape Generation (Initial): Enable the skip physics shape generation option.



  12. Add Element: Press the + Add Element button in the "Property inspector."

  13. Set Side Mesh File 1: Drag "ArmorPlate_HalfTriangle_250.armorside" to where it says none in the Side Mesh File field.

  14. Set Rotation 1: In the rotation fields, adjust them to be the following: X: Rotation 0 | Y: Rotation 0 | Z: Rotation 0

  15. Add Element: Press the + Add Element button.

  16. Set Side Mesh File 2: Drag "ArmorPlate_HalfTriangle_250.armorside" to where it says none in the Side Mesh File field.

  17. Set Rotation 2: In the rotation fields, adjust them to be the following: X: Rotation 90 | Y: Rotation 270 | Z: Rotation 0

  18. Add Element: Press the + Add Element button.

  19. Set Side Mesh File 3: Drag "ArmorPlate_HalfTriangle_250.armorside" to where it says none in the Side Mesh File field.

  20. Set Rotation 3: In the rotation fields, adjust them to be the following: X: Rotation 90 | Y: Rotation 180 | Z: Rotation 90

  21. Add Element: Press the + Add Element button.

  22. Set Side Mesh File 4: Drag "ArmorPlate_HalfTriangleCenter_250.armorside" to where it says none in the Side Mesh File field.

  23. Set Rotation 4: In the rotation fields, adjust them to be the following: X: Rotation 90 | Y: Rotation 180 | Z: Rotation 90

  24. Skip Physics Shape Generation (Final): Disable the skip physics shape generation option.
Creating the Block: Generating the Prefab and Initial Definitions
  1. Create Prefab: Right-click on empty space within the project explorer and select Create Prefab → Blocks → Armor → Light Armor
    Note: If you'd prefer heavy armor, choose "Heavy Armor" instead.

  2. Name Prefab: A box to enter a name will appear; name your prefab "HalfSlopeCorner<Light/Heavy>250"

  3. Generated Definitions: All associated definitions of the template will be generated at this point.
Core Block Data
  1. Select CubeBlock Definition: Select the "CubeBlock Definition" called "HalfSlopeCorner_250_LightArmorCubeBlockDefinition.partialdef." It should appear in the "Project Inspector" pane

  2. Set Icon: Drag ModArmor_Icon.png to the icon field where it says none

  3. Set Text ID: In the text id field, enter the name of the block as "Half Slope Corner"

  4. Block Kind: In the Block Kind field, where it says None (Block Kind Definition) press the Open asset finder button (...) and search for and select“ArmorCornerLightBlockKindDefinition.def”.
    Note: For the purpose of this guide we are adding this armor block as a size variant of the “Light Armor Corner”. For information on adding blocks to the G-Screen follow this guide: VRAGE3 | Guide: G-Screen

  5. Other Fields: All other fields have either been pre-setup or can be ignored for now.
Armor Model Setup
  1. Select Armor Block Definition: Select the "Armor Block Definition" called "HalfSlopeCorner_250_LightArmorCubeBlockDefinition.partialdef." It should appear in the "Project Inspector" panel.

  2. Set Model: Drag "HalfSlopeCorner_250.comparm" to where it says none in the model field.

You should now be able to start your game by going to the menu bar → Project → Start Game and placing the block, it can be found in Armor → Light Armor → Corner in the G Screen.

Video Guide
Support & Links
In case you need more help, check out the Modding section of our Discord[discord.gg] – our team and community are there to support you!



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