Giant robots (ridable)

[devinpatterson]

The big problem with Liberty Prime - for legal reasons, whoever was going to play this mod would need Fallout 3. The Nexus is weirdly specific about that.

That one is very straight forward (as I explained in my previous post), it concerns the meshes.

 

So I'm heavily disinclined to use LP as a base (partially because I don't have FO3 myself on PC).

Sure I can understand that. Although keep in mind FO3 has been in steam bundles for a few bucks, quite a few times. Definitely worth getting and raiding FO3Nexus.

 

Not to mention, explaining it with canon would be rather difficult.

Not really, House is liberty Prime's creator, this is Houses's home/stomping grounds. This is probably one of the best places for prototypes and next generation liberty prime to be built. It fits very well with lore.

 

I'd suggest we take a page out of the Colossus XV book and start chopping together different armour meshes. Could get messy, but easier than making full custom meshes and textures for everything. A bit of work and it has the potential to look lore-friendly.

 

&

 

Alternatively, we just put together a placeholder mesh and texture until we can get proper artists on board. There're a few people around the Nexus who have exactly the design aesthetic I'm thinking of, so we might look into contacting them.

But it doesn't have to be only one or the other. Liberty Prime can be an option among others. A mishmash of armor and a robotech version can all be included.

[jesterskull25]

I just saying this, Prime is a no go for now, (Prime was worked on secertly, plus I dont want the giant robots his size, only a quater or half his size.) Big enough to be big, and not to be able to "step" over the walls into Vegas

 

I think if it would be fine if we just made a giant mister gutsy, or Protection or a securitron or Sentry bot or finally a Robobrain(without the brain) for the start of this if no other model can be found

 

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110125230738/fallout/images/thumb/4/43/Mr._Steel.png/120px-Mr._Steel.pnghttp://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110727143703/fallout/images/thumb/6/67/DamagedSecuritron.png/120px-DamagedSecuritron.pnghttp://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110801195124/fallout/images/thumb/d/d7/Robobrain.png/100px-Robobrain.pnghttp://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110125233351/fallout/images/thumb/9/9c/Maintenance_robot.png/120px-Maintenance_robot.png

 

Personal I like the Sentry bot(enclave) and Protectron(customzed to match a sentry bot maybe a chaingun on the arms or increase the lasers it fires)(Brotherhood)

 

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110126022859/fallout/images/thumb/8/89/Warehouse_protectron.png/108px-Warehouse_protectron.pnghttp://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110125184902/fallout/images/thumb/9/9e/REPCONN_sentry_bot.png/173px-REPCONN_sentry_bot.png

 

 

 

we can later, see if we can make prime, personal more interested on make a sentry bot from fallout 2, fits more what I want but it would have the same probelms as prime

 

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130404043426/fallout/images/8/88/MAROBTAA_se.gif

Edited March 17, 2014 by jesterskull25

[devinpatterson]

What about if we could only get out at certain places, like at one of the many gas stations, or something simliar, That would solve some stuff right. (remember robots could need a power source in the wasteland, most likely for long traveled road)

It is possible to to have the armor unequip only at a special location. But I wouldn't recommend it, as I imagine people will find it less than convenient.

 

I just saying this, Prime is a no go for now, (Prime was worked on secertly,

Sorry, walk me through this. You don't think it's possible because it was done in secret? Not quite sure I follow.

 

plus I dont want the giant robots his size, only a quater or half his size.) Big enough to be big, and not to be able to "step" over the walls into Vegas

Just so you know neoseekers wiki lists liberty prime as 40', a quater of that would be 10'. 10' might be more akin to a large suit of power armor. How big would you like to see the mech?

 

I think if it would be fine if we just made a giant mister gutsy, or Protection or a securitron or Sentry bot or finally a Robobrain(without the brain) for the start of this if no other model can be found

Yes as previously discussed;

 

So we have pros and cons to each method, a few that come to mind. For armor, some big advantages are that (except for making the actual mesh) it's a *lot* easier. It's also *much* better performance. The script that provides control over a bot (as opposed to the armor solution) is taxing on low to mid machines and firing is a bit of a hack and has a split second delay (even on high end machines).

 

Some disadvantages are that it uses an human animation which will somewhat break immersion. ie it won't move or feel like a mech. We might be able to mitigate that somewhat by always having it move as if encumbered, or wounded (at a large size it will probably move as fast as a normal person runs, even while encumbered).

To recap, any fallout model can be used with the script, it preserves the actors authentic animations. But it is a load on mid and low level machines, and the firing is less than perfect.

 

We have several possible options; a power armor mashup, liberty prime, a robotech style mech based on geonox's restored riot armor, a few different vanilla bots customized in blender (probably protectron and robobrain, maybe others). I think it would be good if we could strike some sort of agreement on which to start with.

 

Personal I like the Sentry bot(enclave) and Protectron(customzed to match a sentry bot maybe a chaingun on the arms or increase the lasers it fires)(Brotherhood)

Yes I can modifications like you'v listed above, I'v done it before with protectrons (using older firearms, a testla canon and a mini nuke).

 

we can later, see if we can make prime, personal more interested on make a sentry bot from fallout 2, fits more what I want but it would have the same probelms as prime

We don't have any models (that I'm aware of), so I suspect that won't happen....unfortunately.

[jesterskull25]

How big I want to see it, maybe 18-22'

 

Prime was a secert joint miltary project that was worked on between the U.S. Army, General Atomics International and RobCo Industries, had focus on and could not completed (brotherhood finished it), I don't think they would make another one, when they could not finish the first one. And Mr. House has only been active for less then ten years, and he could not build a giant robot, with his resouces or what he had planned for vegas for he was too busy for for his for future plans.

[devinpatterson]

Prime was a secert joint miltary project that was worked on between the U.S. Army, General Atomics International and RobCo Industries, had focus on and could not completed (brotherhood finished it), I don't think they would make another one, when they could not finish the first one.

Yeah you don't want to follow that line of logic. It would totally undercut any viable explanation for the mod your suggesting (this mod, mechs in general). If two of hte biggest military contractors and the U.S. army itself couldn't build one, what chance is there that *any* mech would exist. Manufactoring infrastructure, materials etc was far more viable pre-war.

 

In regard to not finishing, it wasn't completed because the nukes fell. It was hopped it would be ready for the liberation of anchorage, however technical delays prevented it from being deployed. There is no lore at all, that the project was cancelled or scrapped.

 

And Mr. House has only been active for less then ten years, and he could not build a giant robot, with his resouces or what he had planned for vegas for he was too busy for for his for future plans.

It wouldn't be a project House worked on recently, it would be earlier prototypes and also advanced revisions planned for the future. Like any military contractor, take boeing for example, designs and prototypes are made far ahead of production. Some make it to teh assembly line, others don't. They have prototypes that aren't expected to be deployed until 2030 or later. A large project typically goes through many revisions and protypes. Sometimes the deveolopment cycle can span a decade or more.

 

Possibly more important though we need to reach a consensus on which direction to go, from the choices I laid out in my previous post.

 

EDIT: ooops fubared the qoute tags, should look better now.

Edited March 17, 2014 by devinpatterson

[MarchUntoTorment]

Consider my opinion changed. I'm now in favour of using Liberty Prime as a placeholder model during testing, with more detailed custom models to be produced at a later date. Once we've got the proof of concept down, we'll have a much better chance of grabbing modellers and texture artists to craft custom models to whatever specifications and style we decide upon.

 

Anyway, let's drop canon for the minute and get down to the nuts-and-bolts of getting this thing together. How do we handle the restriction of certain weapons to the mech?

[devinpatterson]

Consider my opinion changed. I'm now in favour of using Liberty Prime as a placeholder model during testing, with more detailed custom models to be produced at a later date. Once we've got the proof of concept down, we'll have a much better chance of grabbing modellers and texture artists to craft custom models to whatever specifications and style we decide upon.

No need. If you don't have FO3 I'd rather not go that way. I can make a power armor or riot armor mashup as a place holder. Something you can beta test.

 

Anyway, let's drop canon for the minute and get down to the nuts-and-bolts of getting this thing together.

I think that would be a good idea, but I still need a consensus before I can start working on one method or the other. You prefer the armor method, jesterskull25 prefers adding a script to a bot. I can probably do both, but I at least need a consensus on which one to begin first. With teh armor method I could get something out very quickly (if no one cares much about the actual model, maybe something robotechish).

 

How do we handle the restriction of certain weapons to the mech?

I would like to include a single primary weapon for each mech (although different mechs could have different type of weapons)). This would allow me to use the no pipboy flag which not only addresses the restriction of weapons, but also armor, and everything else from inventory (although some scripting might still be required to address hotkey items). It would be under the equip block to add and equip the weapon automatically wehn the armor is worn.

[devinpatterson]

Can also be used to prevent sneaking, since most 20' tall mechs aren't ninjas.

[jesterskull25]

plus they can be really loud if I remember anything from Robotic Notes

[MarchUntoTorment]

Obviously, this thing would need to be fitted with -100 Sneak for starters to avoid sneaking. Crouching might be viable for more dynamic combat, however - would it be possible to remove the [Hidden]/[Detected] marker from the top of the screen while wearing this?

 

In any instance, while wearing the armour, the player's normal hotkeys would need to be invalidated to prevent the player from drawing conventional weapons. Is there a script function for that?

 

I'd be inclined, for later multi-weapon mechs, to see if a script could somehow be used to automatically bind weapons to hotkeys. However, this would necessitate having a pipboy, which could make things very, very tricky very quickly.

 

Anyway, jesterskull25, what say you? Shall we go with a heavily-modified suit of armour, for simplicity and system load's sake?