Contents 1 Overview of Damage Model 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Understanding damage models 1.3 Basic setup

Overview of Damage Model

Introduction

The Engine powering VBS2 supports a wide range of damage simulations broadly covering four major damage model categories:

• People
• Vehicles
• Structures
• Terrain

Each of these categories have different simulations and methods of determining how damage is dealt. This document will introduce their functionality and how to properly set them up for in-game use.

Understanding damage models

An important part of setting up entities for in-game use is understanding the Engine and Damage models. As mentioned previously each of categories offers something unique and specific for itself. The key differences between these damage models are:

• People can show damage to a specific area of the body and can be rendered unable to walk, depending on the extent of damage (injury).
• Vehicles have three distinct visual levels of body damage, and can have turrets, wheels, lights, crew disabled and windows broken. Components can be hidden depending on settings and extent of damage via the hide animation.
• Structures can be completely destroyed or have just doors, windows or walls breached in the case of advanced damage model for structures. Structures such as street lamps, can have their lights destroyed.
• Terrain can be deformed as a result of a large explosion or via user scripting. Scenery such as trees and bushes can also be destroyed.

As a part of the extensive damage models, each category can be subjected various distinct types of damage, including:

• Scripting induced damage,
• Explosive and weapons damage, which can be direct and indirect,
• Kinetic impact damage, caused by falling or collision with objects.

People can succumb to two additional types of damage:

• Being crushed by a heavy object, and
• Being crushed by a moving part of a vehicle or building.

In addition to the damage types mentioned above, vehicles may also be damaged by water. When submerged, a vehicle will be gradually damaged until it is destroyed, killing its crew, unless it’s configured as an amphibious vehicle (e.g. AAV7, BTR80, BRDM) or has deep fording capability (e.g. Leopard 2, HMMWV, T90).

Basic setup

Due to the nature of VBS2 damage models, proper setup is essential for objects to function in game as intended. Part of the setup for all of objects includes configuration of the model.cfg (for selections and hide animations), the config.cpp (for object properties, behaviour and eventHandlers), and the object’s 3D model (for fire geometry, hit points and materials). Before starting work on the implementation of the damage model for object a simple analysis needs to be done first. The goal of this analysis is to determine:

• Which category of damage model will be used?
• Does object have destructible parts (e.g. limbs, wheels, lights, turrets, walls, doors)?

If vehicle:

• Is the crew vulnerable to enemy fire?
• Is the armour uniform over whole vehicle, or is it thinner/thicker in some places?
• Could its destruction cause a secondary explosion (e.g. explosion of ammunition, fuel)?

If structure:

• What kind of ruins and effects are used and can it explode when destroyed?
• Which weapon calibre can penetrate the walls of the building?

A more detailed discussion of the configuration of VBS2 objects for damage is covered here.