Modern warfare mod

[Perzival12]

On 23/9/2026 at 12:52 AM, Eilat said:

Infantry fighting vehicle on the move

A quick update on The Great War mod regarding tracked combat vehicles: as someone who values detail, I prioritize realistic movement. The models now kick up dust and smoke from the ground, leave track marks on the terrain, and of course, feature a powerful, aggressive engine roar.

 

 

How did you get the track marks to work? I’d love to get footprints and stuff like that for HC. Is it built into the model somehow?

[Eilat]

Turning a fairy tale into reality, humanity has taken to the skies in 0 A.D. (apologies if someone has already done this).

Drawing inspiration from World in Conflict, I am adding more realistic helicopter movement, though the takeoff/landing key is my own idea, as World in Conflict required rappelling to disembark.

 

 

 

[Eilat]

1 hour ago, Perzival12 said:

How did you get the track marks to work? I’d love to get footprints and stuff like that for HC. Is it built into the model somehow?

For the footprints, you need the following:

Image: A PNG with a transparent background depicting a single footprint or a pair. It is best to create 2–3 identical versions with varying opacities (dark, light, very light) to create a fading effect.
Actor: Use a `<decal>` so the image adheres to the ground. The decal size should match the footprint size. Each opacity level from step 1 constitutes a variant.
Template: A visual-only entity (parented to `special` or `actor`) that references the actor from step 2.
Code (executed every simulation tick):
Track the distance the unit has traveled. Place a footprint every time a full step is taken (approximately 0.7–1 m), rotated to align with the direction of movement.
Alternate between left and right by slightly offsetting the footprint's horizontal position.
Create the footprint using `Engine.AddLocalEntity`: the footprint exists only on the local machine, is not network-synchronized, and does not affect the simulation.
Set a timer to switch to a more transparent variant, then delete the footprint after a few seconds.

[Perzival12]

2 minutes ago, Eilat said:

For the footprints, you need the following:

Image: A PNG with a transparent background depicting a single footprint or a pair. It is best to create 2–3 identical versions with varying opacities (dark, light, very light) to create a fading effect.
Actor: Use a `<decal>` so the image adheres to the ground. The decal size should match the footprint size. Each opacity level from step 1 constitutes a variant.
Template: A visual-only entity (parented to `special` or `actor`) that references the actor from step 2.
Code (executed every simulation tick):
Track the distance the unit has traveled. Place a footprint every time a full step is taken (approximately 0.7–1 m), rotated to align with the direction of movement.
Alternate between left and right by slightly offsetting the footprint's horizontal position.
Create the footprint using `Engine.AddLocalEntity`: the footprint exists only on the local machine, is not network-synchronized, and does not affect the simulation.
Set a timer to switch to a more transparent variant, then delete the footprint after a few seconds.

Can you send whatever code you used to make that, or is it built in to 0ad already?

[Eilat]

4 minutes ago, Perzival12 said:

Can you send whatever code you used to make that, or is it built in to 0ad already?

Please check your direct messages.

[Thalatta]

31 minutes ago, Eilat said:

Very nice! But I'll have to, according to @Atrik, gigantically troll you (never my intention really, I just happen to be like this ) and point out that the tail rotor is spinning in the wrong way, not just because vectors would be inverted when compared to the main rotor (although maybe some models designed are like that?) but because of the blades themselves, they are rotating backwards (careful when you see them in a video already spinning, as we all know, things that spin fast can seem to spin the other way).

[Eilat]

8 minutes ago, Thalatta said:

Very nice! But I'll have to, according to @Atrik, gigantically troll you (never my intention really, I just happen to be like this ) and point out that the tail rotor is spinning in the wrong way, not just because vectors would be inverted when compared to the main rotor (although maybe some models designed are like that?) but because of the blades themselves, they are rotating backwards (careful when you see them in a video already spinning, as we all know, things that spin fast can seem to spin the other way).

Thanks a lot, I should look into this more closely, I followed Claude's instructions. Also, how does it relate to @Atrik?

[Lopess]

1 hour ago, Eilat said:

Turning a fairy tale into reality, humanity has taken to the skies in 0 A.D. (apologies if someone has already done this).

Drawing inspiration from World in Conflict, I am adding more realistic helicopter movement, though the takeoff/landing key is my own idea, as World in Conflict required rappelling to disembark.

 

 

 

That’s a thing of beauty; I can't wait to use some air-to-air missiles against those Black Hawks.

[Eilat]

12 minutes ago, Lopess said:

That’s a thing of beauty; I can't wait to use some air-to-air missiles against those Black Hawks.

Thanks, but it's a Seahawk, and I'll end up changing the weapon's name as well.

[Thalatta]

8 minutes ago, Eilat said:

I followed Claude's instructions.

Claude sucks at aerodynamics then. The "paddle" sides of the blades have to point backward. I advise you to check sources besides AI (surely there are videos of the MH-60L or similar models spooling up/down).

 

8 minutes ago, Eilat said:

how does it relate to @Atrik?

He knows! He's a fan of my apparently inconcise observations. He reads all of them 

 

12 minutes ago, Eilat said:

Thanks, but it's a Seahawk, and I'll end up changing the weapon's name as well.

You mean changing the MH-60L name? Since that seems to designate Black Hawks, like in this game, which also shows the correct tail rotor spin, as can be seen at 00:35:

 

[nifa]

4 hours ago, Eilat said:

Turning a fairy tale into reality, humanity has taken to the skies in 0 A.D. (apologies if someone has already done this).

Drawing inspiration from World in Conflict, I am adding more realistic helicopter movement, though the takeoff/landing key is my own idea, as World in Conflict required rappelling to disembark.

 

 

 

Cool stuff! Did you make the models or did you take them from somewhere?

[Eilat]

4 hours ago, nifa said:

Cool stuff! Did you make the models or did you take them from somewhere?

I downloaded it from Sketchfab, reduced the polygon count, separated the parts, and animated it. Those are the steps to follow if you want to do something similar.

[Eilat]

soldier's movement posture

[nifa]

8 hours ago, Eilat said:

I downloaded it from Sketchfab, reduced the polygon count, separated the parts, and animated it. Those are the steps to follow if you want to do something similar.

Ok nice! You could also bake from highpoly to lowpoly to keep the details in a normal map or bake ao into the diffuse

[Eilat]

Just now, nifa said:

Ok nice! You could also bake from highpoly to lowpoly to keep the details in a normal map or bake ao into the diffuse

I’ve looked at your profile, and I realize that I, an amateur, have been giving instructions to an expert.

[Eilat]

The first helicopter has entered full operational status.

It features a full range of unique flight capabilities, such as lateral tilting and short range backward movement, and gains altitude during long distance flight. It is also capable of firing rockets and anti tank missiles, and deploying heat decoys.

 

 

 

[guerringuerrin]

1 hour ago, Eilat said:

The first helicopter has entered full operational status.

It features a full range of unique flight capabilities, such as lateral tilting and short range backward movement, and gains altitude during long distance flight. It is also capable of firing rockets and anti tank missiles, and deploying heat decoys.

 

 

Turns out it was true they actually existed...

Spoiler

 

I love this work, @Eilat. It looks really good!! The dust blowing around when the helicopter takes off is a great detail. Looking forward to seeing the next updates!

 

[nifa]

12 hours ago, Eilat said:

I’ve looked at your profile, and I realize that I, an amateur, have been giving instructions to an expert.

nah, I could learn a lot from your work here :D

3 hours ago, Eilat said:

The first helicopter has entered full operational status.

It features a full range of unique flight capabilities, such as lateral tilting and short range backward movement, and gains altitude during long distance flight. It is also capable of firing rockets and anti tank missiles, and deploying heat decoys.

 

 

 

Really cool! Didn't know all this was possible.