Vehicle Destruction

So, you've just spent a few weeks of your life pouring countless hours into a beautiful vehicle mod. Why not destroy it?

This tutorial will explain how destruction of lights, windows, and detachment of body parts works. This will let you add destruction of regular body parts to vanilla cars that don't have it, like the Caliburn, or make custom parts destructible.

Theory

This entire tutorial will use the Caliburn as an example, but the steps should be adaptable to any other vanilla vehicle.

TweakDB

gridCell

The settings for the destruction or detachment of parts are governed by the TweakDB. The gridCells tell the game the rough placement of your component so that when that area of the car receives damage, the component will be affected. I don't really know how gridCells work exactly and how they're placed, but I understand them enough to make use of them. By looking through the TweakDB entries under the destruction dropdown, we'll find out which part of the car each gridCell relates to.

For example, the above screenshot shows the gridCells for the brake_light_left_01. This tells us that gridCell 0 is at the left rear corner of the car. brake_light_right_01 uses gridCell 1, which, presumably, is the right rear corner of the car.

A component can also be influenced by two gridCells. Here, the license_plate is influenced by gridCell 0 and gridCell 1. Since the license plate is placed at the rear centre of the car, we can assume that two gridCells means the game extrapolates the middle distance between them to affect components placed there. This also lets us figure out where the other gridCells are placed.

The front bumper uses gridCell 6 and gridCell 7. The bumper is placed in the front centre of the car, so this probably means that those gridCells are placed at its left and right front corners. By going through the other components, the full picture becomes a bit more clear. The front left mirror uses gridCell 4, while the front right mirror uses gridCell 5. The left door uses gridCell 2 and gridCell 4, while the right door uses gridCell 3 and gridCell 5. This means the layout of gridCells probably looks something like this:

6 ┌──front──┐ 7
4 │         │ 5
2 │         │ 3
0 └──rear───┘ 1

component

components are identified by their name in the .app file. For glass and lights, only one component can be destroyed per TweakDB entry. detachableParts however can detach multiple parts, as is the case for the front bumper for example. There, both the bumper mesh itself and its shadow mesh are detached.

threshhold

components will be destroyed or detached after a certain threshhold of damage is reached. This treshhold is stored in Bits. 0.1 will not work, but 0.0999984741 will.

An easy, but kinda hack-y method to quickly get those Bits is by using a localTransform array inside of your .app file. Just type 0.1 into the X field under Position, click into the next text field and 0.1 will be changed to 0.0999984741.

effect

The effect used for the destruction of windows (glass shards falling down) is referenced in the TweakDB, but set up in the root .ent. These work the same way as the effects for the exhaust or the smoke effects when the vehicle is damaged. If your vehicle doesn't already have glass breaking effects—as is the case for the Caliburn—you can copy-paste them from another vehicle that does, for example the Porsche. More on that later.

.app File

Since detachableParts will fly off when detached, they need to be controlled by the physics of the game. So, for a detachablePart to detach correctly, it needs to be an entPhysicalMeshComponent within the .app file of your vehicle. When flying off, the mesh will rotate around its origin. Therefore, the pivot point of your .mesh file should be placed at world origin (position x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 in Blender). It'll then be moved to its proper position on the vehicle via the localTransform array in the .app file. This is basically the same as placing the bumpers or doors on a car, but instead of the .rig file, the values are transferred from Blender into the .app file. Windows also need to be entPhysicalMeshComponents to receive damage and break properly. These just disappear when broken and don't need to be placed using the localTransform array.

.mesh File

As mentioned above, detachableParts and breakable windows need physics. These physics are influenced by the collisionShapes under the parameters dropdown inside of each .mesh file. For body parts, this affects the acceleration and speed at which the part flies off, depending on how much mass it has, and its rough shape. For windows, the collisionShape effectively means the hitbox, e.g. the area you need to hit when shooting the window with a gun for it to break. You can copy-paste the entire meshMeshParamPhysics entry from similar vanilla .mesh files into the ones of your vehicle. The collisionShapes for body parts should roughly match, but windows should be pretty accurate.

To find .mesh files that might match, open the Asset Browser in WolvenKit and search for "v_". Set the "Kind" filter to "mesh" and the "File Name" filter to whatever body part you're looking for, e.g. "window".

Practice

Windows

.mesh File

Find a donor .mesh file for the hitbox of the windows of your vehicle as outlined above. The shape and position should match as closely as possible.
Right click on it and choose "Open without adding to project"
Open the parameters dropdown. You should see a physicsData entry of the type meshMeshParamPhysics. Right click it and select "Copy from Array/Buffer".
Open the parameters dropdown inside the .mesh file of your car's window and delete any entries that might already be there.
Right click the parameters dropdown and select "Paste Into Array/Buffer".

.app File

Start by deleting window components of your car that aren't entPhysicalMeshComponents. We'll need to replace those.
Open an .app file of a vanilla vehicle, and copy-paste all the entPhysicalMeshComponents for windows that are required for your car. Duplicate them, if necessary.
change the mesh DepotPath and meshAppearance to match your .mesh file, and, if necessary edit the ParentTransform, reset the ChunkMask, and generate a new CRUID. The name can be arbitrary, we'll reference it in the .yaml file later.

.ent File

Open the root .ent file of a vanilla car with breakable windows. We'll use the Porsche in this example.
Navigate to components > entSlotComponent FX_slots > slots.
Select all of the effects you need, right click them and select "Copy from Array/Buffer"
Open the root .ent file of your vehicle and also navigate to components > entSlotComponent FX_slots > slots. The name of the entSlotComponent might be different. The entSlotComponent for the effects might also be in the .app file, as is the case for the Type 66 Avenger, for example.
Right click the slots array and select "Paste Into Array/Buffer".
Go back to the root .ent file of your donor car (the Porsche) and navigate to components > entEffectSpawnerComponent cars_sports_fx > effectDescs.
select the entEffectDescs that match the entSlotComponents we've copied earlier. Copy-paste them into the entEffectSpawnerComponent inside the root .ent file of your vehicle similarly as we've done before.

.yaml File

Add a new TweakDB entry for destruction of a window in the .yaml file of your vehicle. You can copy-paste this one and adapt it to your vehicle:

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_window_left_secondary:
  $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn_inline14
  broken: None
  component: window_fl_b
  effect: damage_glass_fl_a
  isWindshield: False
  threshold: 0.100000001
  gridCells:
    - 2
    - 4

The name of the TweakDB entry can be arbitrary and is set as Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_window_left_secondary here. We'll reference it later.
The $base has been taken from the Caliburn as seen in the screenshots above.
I'm not sure what broken does. It might load an alternative appearance or component but I haven't looked into it. If you know more about it, please add the info here!
component is the name of the entPhysicalMeshComponent of your window in the .app file
effect is the name of the entEffectDesc for the entEffectSpawnerComponent entry in the root .ent file.
I'm not too sure about isWindshield either, but I believe it causes the window to crack before it shatters (as seen on V's car during the Scav chase after The Rescue)
threshhold and gridCells were explained above. The threshhold should be very low because it's glass. The gridCells here are the centre of the left side of the car.

Add the new TweakDB entry to your vehicle:

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy:
  $base: Vehicle.v_sport1_rayfield_caliburn_player
  displayName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy_local
  appearanceName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy
  destroyedAppearance: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_burnt
  destruction: 
    $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn
    glass:
      - !append Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_window_left_secondary
…

Your window should now break semi-correctly, depending on how accurate its hitbox is.

Body Parts

.mesh File

This works pretty much the same as it did for the windows as outlined above.
As mentioned before, the shape of the donor .mesh file doesn't need to match as closely for body parts as for windows. The closer the better though, especially size and position.
Inside the parameters array, you might also find meshMeshParamDeformableShapesData. As the name suggests, these parameters hold information about the deformation of the .mesh file when damaged. You probably don't need them, so feel free to delete them.
Select the pivot point of your Object when correctly positioned on the vehicle in Blender and copy-paste its X, Y, and Z values into the positions array under the localTransform array inside the .app file of your vehicle.
Move the pivot point of the Object to world origin, export it to .glb and import it into your .mesh file

If you know more about meshMeshParamDeformableShapesData, please add the info to the Wiki.

.app File

Works very similar to windows, except for the localTransform array, as outlined in the previous steps.

.yaml file

Start by adding a new TweakDB entry to the .yaml file of your vehicle. You can copy-paste the following and adapt it to your car:

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_spoiler:
  $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn_inline19
  name: Spoiler
  threshold: 0.5
  components:
    - spoiler
    - spoiler_shadow
  gridCells:
    - 0
    - 1

The name of the TweakDB entry can be arbitrary and is set as Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_spoiler here. We'll reference it later.
The $base has been taken from the Caliburn as seen in the screenshots above.
I'm unsure about the name , I think it's just the name of the rule inside of the TweakDB? The other entries for the Caliburn are capitalised, too so I did the same here.
threshhold has been explained above.
components: lists all the entPhysicalMeshComponents inside of your .app file that should detach for this entry.
gridCells were explained above. The gridCells chosen here are the rear centre of the car.

Add the new TweakDB entry to your vehicle:

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy:
  $base: Vehicle.v_sport1_rayfield_caliburn_player
  displayName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy_local
  appearanceName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy
  destroyedAppearance: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_burnt
  destruction: 
    $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn
    detachableParts:
      - !append Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_spoiler
…

Your body part should now detach when hitting the rear centre of the vehicle.

Lights

.app File

Exterior lights on vanilla vehicles usually already have destruction enabled for the vehicleLightComponents themselves. If you need more light components and you duplicate a pre-existing one, it'll lose it's "connection" to it's TweakDB entry once renamed and won't break anymore. This is most likely the reason why custom light components on your vehicle don't break. Adding a new TweakDB entry will be explained in the next step. However, should you duplicate for example an interior light, which is not destructible by default, you also need to make sure isDestructible is set to True and destructionEffect is defined for the vehicleLightComponent in your .app file.

For easy copy-pasting, here's a destructionEffect: base\fx\vehicles\_damage\car_lamps\car_lamp_destroy_fx.effect

.yaml File

Start by adding a new TweakDB entry to the .yaml file of your vehicle. You can copy-paste the following and adapt it to your car:

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_taillight_left:
  $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn_inline8
  component: position_light_left_03
  threshold: 0.100000001
  gridCells:
    - 0

The name of the TweakDB entry can be arbitrary and is set as Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_taillight_left here.
The $base has been taken from the Caliburn.
component is the name of the vehicleLightComponent of your light in the .app file
threshhold and gridCells were explained above. The threshhold should be very low here as well. The gridCells used for this light is the left rear corner of the vehicle.

Add the new TweakDB entry to your vehicle:

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy:
  $base: Vehicle.v_sport1_rayfield_caliburn_player
  displayName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy_local
  appearanceName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy
  destroyedAppearance: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_burnt
  destruction: 
    $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn
    lights:
      - !append Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_taillight_left
…

Your light now breaks when hitting the left rear corner of the vehicle.

Final .yaml

And, for completeness sake, this is how the .yaml looks with all the TweakDB entries:

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_window_left_secondary:
  $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn_inline14
  broken: None
  component: window_fl_b
  effect: damage_glass_fl_a
  isWindshield: False
  threshold: 0.100000001
  gridCells:
    - 2
    - 4

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_spoiler:
  $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn_inline19
  name: Spoiler
  threshold: 0.5
  components:
    - spoiler
    - spoiler_shadow
  gridCells:
    - 0
    - 1

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_taillight_left:
  $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn_inline8
  component: position_light_left_03
  threshold: 0.100000001
  gridCells:
    - 0

Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy:
  $base: Vehicle.v_sport1_rayfield_caliburn_player
  displayName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy_local
  appearanceName: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_black_glossy
  destroyedAppearance: yv_lamborghini_murcielago_burnt
  destruction: 
    $base: Vehicle.VehicleDestructionParamsCaliburn
    glass:
      - !append Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_window_left_secondary
    detachableParts:
      - !append Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_spoiler
    lights:
      - !append Vehicle.yv_lamborghini_murcielago_dest_taillight_left
…

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