Need Help (Weapons mod)

[InsurrectionAlpha]

Okay, I'll make this as short and simple as I can.

 

I need help.

 

I have recently (through varied means) acquired models for several energy weapons I wish to see working in Fallout: New Vegas, and more will follow. Getting the models for NV was not the issue, nor is working them in GECK. The issue, as it is, is rigging the models to function properly. I have no idea how to do this. How do I set the locations for gripping the weapon? Where they fire from? Where the second hand grips the weapon (as all of these are rifles)? I admit this stuff is a bit out of my league at present, which is why I am asking here. This is a personal project of mine, but if someone is interested, I will release it to the public. Otherwise, this will remain a personal project.

 

Weapons list is as follows (I will upload images as soon as I can get them uploaded):

Sangheili Plasma Carbine

Romulan Disruptor Rifle, TNG Era

Romulan Disruptor Rifle, TNG Era Adv. variant

Klingon Disruptor Rifle

Federation Prototype Plasma-Disruptor Rifle

Federation Prototype Disruptor Rifle

 

As I said, depending on how well I see these doing, more may follow. Thank you in advance,

 

--IA

[sullyvanj93]

for that, I believe you'd need an animations expert. Theres a few different mods that change the animations of vanilla weapons (the way they're held, the reloads, etc.) Maybe you could catch the attention of one of those modders?

 

If not, I think a few of the forum regular repliers might be able to help too.

[Moraelin]

You can't ADD new animations, though, just replace existing ones. Which is why I wouldn't recommend that route: you'd screw up the vanilla weapons.

 

Now for the original question: non-H2H weapons are not rigged to a skeleton. The animated parts (e.g., bolt, cocking handle, trigger) are animated as rigid pieces. Not sure if you need that for ST energy weapons, though.

 

Where it sits in the hand is easy: the origin of the coordinate space (the 0,0,0 point) is basically in the middle of your right hand, the X axis is forwards (where the bullet goes), Y is upwards. Essentially, extend your index finger and thumb in that "pistol" gesture, and the index finger points at where X goes, the thumb is Y.

 

So essentially all you have to do with your model is to scale and translate it, until the grip sits right in the hand. Luckily you can just set those values in NifSkope, so you don't have to go through re-exporting it from Blender every time.

 

The forward hand, well, you're kinda boned there. You can't set that. The game has a fixed number of grip poses for each weapon type, set in the GECK for the weapon, and as I was saying, you can't add new ones. Best you can do is find an existing one where your hand doesn't clip through. For two-hand automatics essentially grip 1 is the only one where the forward hand sits substantially differently, namely flat under the weapon, just supporting the weapon. It's useful for bulky enough stuff. Otherwise, I'd just go with default. Or just experiment and see which one works best for you.

 

Other things of interest in the .nif (NifSkope) are the projectile node (where the muzzle flash goes) and the aiming node (where your eyeball is when using the iron sights). Just copy the nodes from an existing weapon and adjust them until they work right for you.

 

One trick *I* use for the aiming node is to place it at the X coordinate of the forward part of the iron sights and then fiddle with the Y and Z until it sits exactly at the tip of the flange or spike or whatever you have there. Then just set the X back enough, and I'm done.

[devinpatterson]

There's not a lot I can add to what Moraelin already posted except in re: to reload animations. This is where I think it's going to be the trickiest for you. In a weapon nif the shell or in your case energy weapon ammo is included in the weapon nif under a NiVis controller node so it can be visible (when reloading) or invisible (the rest of the time). Like all the rest of the animations I don't think we have a slot open, and even if you did you don't have anybody to make the animation (practically speaking). You can copy over the appropriate blocks from nifskope depending on weather your weapons use MFs, ECs etc paste them into your weapon nifs try to link them back up, and if your not already familiar with doing so, spend a fair amount of time cursing, and tearing your hair out.

 

And you may need to add the energy nif to the weapon model, it's optional depending on the ammo, but some weapons have the MF attached to the weapon or inserted into it via a port of entry.

 

The same applies for the shell casing node(s), but since these are primarily energy weapons you probably don't have any shell casings, like ballistic weapons, so you can likely skip that.

 

****OR****

 

You can avoid the whole clusterF and make them recharger weapons. All you really have to do is select the recharger ammo (IIRC) and you don't have to worry about the reloading animations, inserting the energy weapon ammo into the nif, etc etc.

[devinpatterson]

Oh and don't forget the obvious, have clear an open permissions (from the model's authors/artist) if you plan on distributing the mod on Nexus, otherwise you could have some serious repercussions.

[Moraelin]

Well, you also need to select a recharge rate (in seconds per round), if going recharger, but that's just stating the obvious. But yeah, I don't seem to remember them reloading in ST, so probably that's the easiest way out.

 

Another way out is to simply set the ammo to NONE, in which case it just has infinite ammo.

 

You have a point, though. Finding a suitable recharge animation can be the real pain. My own additions there would be:

 

1. Rather than copy the pieces around from another weapon, it can be easier to start from a weapon that has that animation, and paste just your mesh over. Less stuff to screw up, IMHO. Or at least that's how I do it, since I am the poster child for Murphy's law: if it's possible to screw up, I probably will :p

 

2. Animations and controllers are assigned to a named node, which doesn't necessarily have to be a NiTriShape or NiTriStrips. It can also be a NiNode with one or more actual mesh pieces under it.

 

Why this is important is because it can allow you to fudge the clip/battery/whatever position a little. If the animation is processing a node called ##LPSmallEnergyCell or ##LPSideLatch (actual examples from the laser pistol), changing their coordinates in the .nif gets you nowhere, since the animations override that anyway. But you can either give them a NiNode parent and shift that one a little bit, or make the named one be a NiNode with your actual mesh under it and the shift the latter a little bit. You can only go so far before the clip doesn't sit quite right in the hand, during reloading, but it beats sitting in the wrong position on the weapon in any case. IMHO.

[devinpatterson]

But yeah, I don't seem to remember them reloading in ST, so probably that's the easiest way out.

It's been forever since I'v seen ST, original or TNG, but I don't recall any either. Although to be fair I can't remember some of the models listed (like the Romulan Disruptor Rifle) at all. But I think for a newbie that's (no reloading animations) the way to go.

 

Another way out is to simply set the ammo to NONE, in which case it just has infinite ammo.

I suppose, like beauty, game balance is in the eye of the beholder. I like it (recharger ammo) because it does provide some limits.....but the OP may prefer infinite ammo.

 

1. Rather than copy the pieces around from another weapon, it can be easier to start from a weapon that has that animation, and paste just your mesh over.

Makes sense, but I think in this case dealing with any baked in animations would be hard for a newbie. Even using your method of replacing the mesh could be frustrating to the OP if s/he hasn't built up some skill with nifskope. And like the reload animations I don't think the energy weapons from ST need them. There just isn't really any moving parts on any of the TNG or Original series that I remember. But as I mentioned there a few models listed I don't recall....and they could have some moving parts in the series.

 

2. Animations and controllers are assigned to a named node, which doesn't necessarily have to be a NiTriShape or NiTriStrips. It can also be a NiNode with one or more actual mesh pieces under it.

That's interesting, so it gives you a bit of wiggle room? I'll try and remember that.

[Moraelin]

Well, romulan "rifles" only really appear in two episodes IIRC. Once in TNG, and once in DS9, and they're very different at that. And TBH they're more SMG sized than "rifle". So yeah, I don't expect most people would remember them.

[devinpatterson]

Did a quick pic search and I see what you mean in re: to size. Doesn't look like they have any moving parts, but it's hard to be sure without seeing a vid.

 

This is only tangentially related but you could overload phasers and that would be an interesting bit of ST lore to include with a recharger/infinite ammo weapon. One could make a lobber (or a set explosive akin to C4) with a serious kick (sound effect included). Here's the audio;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHA9fG6U6r8

 

Of course you'd have to shorten it, since a minute lead time is a bit much. And of course destroying 25th century tech just for a bang is abomination, but just figured I'd mention it.

[Moraelin]

Not sure if they're ever shown being actually fired. I think in both cases the Romulans just carry them around. But I guess ST never was much into moving parts on weapons.