Modding Tutorials/Standalone Config

Intro
Testing and editing Arma config files with their intensely nested inheritance can be a nightmare. Here are some tips to turning a typical inherited set of files into a standalone version that you can edit more easily.

config.cpp

 * Use dumpConfig with the 'true' option (| link to Denis Usenko's dumpConfig):
 * Edit the init.sqf to reference the desired config file
 * Load and Preview the customized mission from the Editor
 * Paste the results into a blank text editor document


 * You will need to put the resulting vehicle properties within a class CfgVehicles { };
 * You will need to add a class CfgPatches to the dumped config file as it gets stripped out
 * Create your own custom faction as needed

P3D
P3D model files contain references to pathed proxy models (other P3D files), materials (RVMAT files), and textures (PAA files). You are probably going to move these files into a directory structure of your own, so you need to correct the pathing.
 * Tools>Mass Texture & Material Renaming is the quick way to deal with the RVMAT & PAA references.
 * Proxies contain the path in their Named Selections name, that means you have to go into a P3D files Named Selections to correct proxy paths (notice that the *.p3d extension is assumed in a proxy named selection)
 * You can edit the proxies in one LOD, delete (RMC>Delete) them from all the others, and then Copy-Paste from the first LOD into the others (you must do this via the Edit>Copy/Paste menu, keyboard shortcuts don't work)

RVMAT
RVMAT material files contain references to pathed texture files. You are probably going to move these texture files into a directory structure of your own, so you need to edit the RVMAT's in a text editor.
 * Note: many RVMATs & P3Ds refer to TGA files, this is fine--Arma knows to look for these as PAA files instead (as they are all PAA's, not actually TGA's)

model.cfg
Unlike config.cpp files, there is no script available to de-inherit a model.cfg file but you can do the following:
 * 1) Get the packed PBO containing the desired P3D (unpacked files will not work).
 * 2) Extract the PBO using Mikero's Eliteness tool
 * 3) View the binarized P3D file in Eliteness
 * 4) Copy the full text of the skeleton viewer in Elitness and paste into a blank notepad file.