Self charging Energy weapons (Help needed)

[tenb1]

Hi all,

 

I recently got to fooling around with some weapon modding in FO3 and currently have a working model of what I call an "Ion Pulse Rifle"

 

It's basically an automatic energy weapon that shoots the blue alien blast projectiles really fast (9/sec) with associated sounds (Actually in itself already is pretty cool)

 

While I was tweaking the sliders to make it somewhat more balanced, I figured that making it have fewer shot but able to recharge itself over time or have a very very large clip but tendency to overheat if you hold onto the trigger for too long would add an interesting twist to this weapon.

 

I figured that easiest way to do this would be to tap into the game's built in weapon condition system (CND). i.e. I would give the rifle a low max CND, that way if you just squeezed the trigger and held on, it would very quickly drain the CND bar.

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In both the ammo-less recharging type and the overheating type versions would use the same script

 

The script would detect when the weapon CND would be below 100%, play a sound (the electrical whine when you reload a laser rifle for example), then setweaponhealth +5% every 1 sec (or something like that)

 

It should also detect when the weapon is not being fired before initiating the recharge sequence (So you can't just hang onto the trigger without draining/overheating)

 

The two versions I envisioned are :

 

1) Self-recharging : No ammo required but the max drain is about 18 bolts before the CND hits 0 and you need to let go to recharge (2 secs max trigger hold) and takes about 1-4 secs to fully recharge

 

2) Overheating : each clip holds 200 bolts but the dang thing overheats if you hold the trigger for more than 3 sec and takes about 5 secs to fully cool down (the reduced dmg/accuracy when the CND is low is also a good built in side effect when it overheats :)

 

 

Additional eye candy that could be worked into the mod :

 

Adding "heat distortion" at the end of the barrel whenever you have held onto the trigger for more than 1 sec, the "heat distortion" will play when you stop firing. I am trying to tinker with the built in effects that come with the game to see if this can be used (You know the waving distorted air effect when you walk through a leaking gas pipe? and explodes if you shoot :P) So far not having much luck so will definitely need help on this...

 

Progress so far :

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1) Rate of Fire and firing mechanics (The easy stuff) : Done

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2) Sounds : Done Update : New sounds added for charging sequence and overheat warning

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3) Reload animations : Unable to make that darn thing reload properly, it keeps trying to play the plasma rifle reload anim, this is probably due to the way the game interprets "attackauto" associations with the "ReloadB" anim....If anyone can figure this out please do tell :)

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4) Recharge/Overheating script : LATEST UPDATE 9 Feb 09 : The script for the weapon is nearly complete, all that remains is the momentary jamming if you overheat the weapon. If anyone knows how to induce a weapon jam via script or otherwise, please let me know.

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5) Heat "distortion" at end of barrel after firing : Not started yet (Need help)

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6) Damage Balance : In progress (dependant on which type of rifle it is)

 

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7) New rifle casing model : In progress.

 

The current Rifle model uses the Standard laser rifle casing (This will be in line with a quest mod I am also working on atm)

Currently uses MicroFusion Cells

 

 

Need Help with :

 

Scripting (I did some but I'm not too good at it and it looks really bloated atm with numerous errors -_-)

 

Modelling (This is optional but if anyone wants to contribute I would be greatly appreciative), The overall look and feel should still be the Laser Rifle but maybe with some glowy bits like a Charge meter or Ammo counter. Changing the text on the barrel to read WARNING : HIGH ENERGY DISCHARGE instead of CLASS VI LASER DEVICE

 

Will update as this advances

 

 

Tenb1

[Callighan]

I have an idea regarding heat distortion.

You could use IS modifiers to make the screen blur a bit, implying that there's intense heat coming out from the gun. Imagine a fatamorgana created by heat, but done faster.

 

It may not be what you're looking for (discharge at the end of the barrel), but I think it delivers the message perfectly.

 

Or you could try extracting a smoke or explosion .nif from the game using FOMM or some other tool and make it moveable static or activator in GECK.

 

I hope you can pull this off. :)

[tenb1]

I thought of that too, but I thought since I'm trying for that effect, might as well try to make it works exactly right. I already got the gas distortions to tag to objects, however my script-fu is no good :P

 

Will experiment some more, but would be great if a script-fu master can enlighten me :D

[Callighan]

Right.

I'm also looking at this with keen interest. If anyone can pin an effect on the edge of a gunbarrel, I'd love to learn from him.

 

In the meantime, let's try stuff on our own, shall we? :)

 

I have several ideas:

 

- You could of course, try and modify an effect .nif file by extending it 3d space. Picture an an explosion effect being moved to a certain (x,y,z) coordinate that matches the edge of a gunbarrel. you might be able to do this in nifskope (I'm speculating, crossing my fingers). Then create a new harmless explosion effect using that .nif which you can call by placeatme everytime you want the gun to smoke.

 

- Or you could create a harmless explosion and a permanent reference invisible marker.

Everytime you want the effect to show up, placeatme the marker in front of you.

Get both the player's x-y-z axis values and move the marker relatively to the right side of the player and upwards a bit to match the gunbarrel's position. You might want to do a crouch check beforehand as the barrel's position might be different between standing and crouching.

Then you use placeatme to place the explosion effect on the marker's posiion.

 

See if that works. :)

[tenb1]

Just a quick update and a question, Now that I've finished the script and moving onto the other items in the list, is there anyone out there who knows how to induce a weapon jam and associated firing delay? I think that would be a nice touch if you hang onto the trigger too long and overheat the rifle