[WIP] Weapon Addition and Replacement Suite (WARS)

[Bottletopman]

Regarding the naming system, it's fairly simple but tedious to implement - the name checks are basically just a bunch of if statements with a customisable priority to set which names the game checks for first. E.g. if there's a pipe rifle that has the short barrel mod, then name it short pipe rifle, if it has short barrel and auto receiver then name it short automatic pipe rifle etc.

 

Normally, I don't mind repetitive work but that's probably because I'm getting paid for it as part of my job and also nothing else to do lol, but using the GECK and going back and forth, copying the instance naming rules for DLCs was only possible because I was able to alt-tab out of the game I was playing when I was waiting for a respawn. I was helping to update ruddy88's better armor and weapon naming and sorting mod so the DLCs were patched as well...oh boy that was a fun experience.

 

EDIT: Copypasta of my explanation as to the naming system, taken directly off that mod's comment I mentioned:

_____________________________________

 

INNR records are grouped into rulesets, up to 10 rulesets you can have. Words can then be grouped in each ruleset, with booleans (e.g. if the weapon has x mod, then apply this word, else move on to the next word in the ruleset, or move on to the next ruleset if nothing in the current ruleset meets the criteria). These words can then be further organised by their index number. Basically the lower the number, the more priority the word gets. If a pipe pistol had a suppressor and the cryo legendary effect, but both words cryo and suppressed were in the same ruleset, the game would pick the word with the lower index number.

Typing up all of that now I just realised it was basically what ruddy88 had mentioned in a previous comment.

In Ruleset 0 (they're numbered 0-9 inclusive) will appear first, followed by ruleset 1, 2 and so on. If cryo was in ruleset 1 then pistol was in ruleset 2 then the whole thing would show up as cryo pistol. However, this mod makes it so that modifications and legendary effects are separated by pipes. Instead of

Improved Targeting Boosted Agitated Improved Automatic Laser Pistol

this mod makes it:

Laser Pistol | Improved Targeting | Boosted Agitated | Improved Automatic

Much, much easier on the eyes and brain, no?


To make this mod the gem it is, ruddy had to reorder things around. The default weapon name, represented in the GECK as * was in ruleset #3, while weapon mod/legendary prefixes were in rulesets 0, 1 and 2. Ruddy made it much more sensible in that the base name of the weapon comes first, in the case of guns it's the caliber then the name of the gun. Makes sorting guns that've been converted to different calibers that much less of a hassle too.

Because I like showing people how stuff works, the vanilla naming record system (for weapons) was basically this:

ruleset 0 - legendary effects/weapon mods
ruleset 1 - weapon mods/receiver conversions
ruleset 2 - the base name of the weapon
ruleset 3 - weapon type (e.g. rifle, pistol)

As you can see it's pretty damn messy. Ruddy had a brainwave, figured out how INNR records more or less worked (and this was without the GECK too, so seriously, extra kudos to him if you don't mind) and sorted it like this:

ruleset 0 - weapon caliber
ruleset 1 - converted (this word alone will only appear for weapons converted to a different caliber)
ruleset 2 - the base name of the weapon
ruleset 3 - weapon type (e.g. rifle, pistol)
ruleset 4 - weapon mods
ruleset 5 - weapon mods
ruleset 6 - weapon mods
ruleset 7 - legendary effects

Keep in mind that these are all separated by pipes ( the | that you've seen when using this mod) so it makes for an incredibly organised system.

Anyway, now that you've an idea as to what's going on behind the scenes, now for the reason your weapons were having duplicate names:

Basically, with each DLC came new weapons, mods and legendary effects, thus new INNR records. The problem was that these still followed the vanilla system, and these were added onto the base game's (i.e. Fallout4.esm) instance naming rules via scripts, so you'd end up with a freezing lead pipe that showed up as Cryo | Cryo. Adding rules via script also had the effect of making it so that adding DLC rules to the base game's naming rules did zilch - you had to edit the actual DLC rulesets themselves.

It was a simple matter of applying the same prefix organisation to the DLC naming rules so that the scripts would merge them very nicely though so no biggie.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Bottletopman

[antistar]

Thanks; I appreciate all the info there. That should be very helpful.

[Kreutz]

For some reason I always hated (aesthetically) the USAS-12. Nonetheless the model is wonderful and it fits in the Wasteland. Thanks again for your work!

[SekachPrime]

For some reason I always hated (aesthetically) the USAS-12. Nonetheless the model is wonderful and it fits in the Wasteland. Thanks again for your work!

i know, right? Still automatic shotguns in general arent exactly known for bein' pleasing to the eye.

[Moldy]

So,bunch more questions,mostly dealing with recoil.

 

1) Will lasers (Institute and AE-Series) have recoil? They shoot light. Light,by modern scientific understanding,is,if not factually massless,then functionally massless; There are no moving parts during the firing cycle. Such,realistically,they should have no recoil whatsoever. If they will not have recoil,how will you balance them?

 

2) Will plasma weapons have recoil? Plasma has mass. However,this mass is phenomenally negligible; It's an ionized gas. Further,the propellant is a helical magnetic field,therefore making the recoil pattern helical in shape. How would you implement something like this,if at all?

 

3) Gauss rifle. Fair warning; Science ahoy. Look this up; Magnetic weapons,like coilguns and railguns,do not have recoil as we know it. Instead of kicking up and back,such magnetic weapons are functionally recoilless,even though they still obey Newtonian physics. Because the propelling forces are naturally aligned in such a way to always approach a centre point from the outside,the (significant) recoil cancels itself out,because it is its own equal and opposite reaction. The Gauss rifle,for example,is a coilgun; The propellant force is a series of collapsing electromagnetic rings. The rings collapse upon themselves,passing through the centre of themselves,then outward. This results in an equal distribution of force along the entire force vector,and thus not impart any actual movement upon the weapon. If you follow this model,how would you balance out the lack of recoil? Or will you keep the recoil in place?

 

4) The missile launcher. Looking at the weapon,it's a tube. Open at either end. If my understanding of the Carl Gustaf is correct,this should make it recoilless. Am I wrong? If I'm right,will this be addressed?

 

5) The laser musket. This thing was advertised as one of the things that defined the game. How will your mod handle it,if at all?

 

That's what springs to mind,so far.

[MightyZ0G]

I'd say that the easiest ways to balance laser, plasma and gauss weapons would be weight and rate of fire. powerful 1 hit kill weapons but heavy and slow.

[Exacerblast]

Speaking of semi-auto shotguns, I'll be putting together a Bellini M4 over the weekend. Let me know if it might be useful.

 

http://circle6.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wip1.RGB_color.jpg

[Bottletopman]

So,bunch more questions,mostly dealing with recoil.

 

1) Will lasers (Institute and AE-Series) have recoil? They shoot light. Light,by modern scientific understanding,is,if not factually massless,then functionally massless; There are no moving parts during the firing cycle. Such,realistically,they should have no recoil whatsoever. If they will not have recoil,how will you balance them?

 

2) Will plasma weapons have recoil? Plasma has mass. However,this mass is phenomenally negligible; It's an ionized gas. Further,the propellant is a helical magnetic field,therefore making the recoil pattern helical in shape. How would you implement something like this,if at all?

 

3) Gauss rifle. Fair warning; Science ahoy. Look this up; Magnetic weapons,like coilguns and railguns,do not have recoil as we know it. Instead of kicking up and back,such magnetic weapons are functionally recoilless,even though they still obey Newtonian physics. Because the propelling forces are naturally aligned in such a way to always approach a centre point from the outside,the (significant) recoil cancels itself out,because it is its own equal and opposite reaction. The Gauss rifle,for example,is a coilgun; The propellant force is a series of collapsing electromagnetic rings. The rings collapse upon themselves,passing through the centre of themselves,then outward. This results in an equal distribution of force along the entire force vector,and thus not impart any actual movement upon the weapon. If you follow this model,how would you balance out the lack of recoil? Or will you keep the recoil in place?

 

1 and 2) In New Vegas when the Courier decides to take up the job of guard duty for the Van Graffs, Simon gives you a choice between a laser or plasma rifle, stating that lasers are weak but have hardly any recoil, while plasma packs a punch but also kicks like a mule. I know that lasers really shouldn't have any recoil but this is the lore explanation and I also remember that this is a universe where big green men can slap my head right off, radiation and a scientist who isn't aware of the consequences of his experiments combine to produce giant fire breathing ants, and where people drive cars powered by fusion reactors.

 

3) People seem to be divided over this but the general consensus seems to be that coilguns do have recoil, but much less than that of conventional guns because the slug is takes some distance to accelerate to its maximum possible speed.

Now if the slug came with some gunpowder or whatever to boost its speed then that'd be a different story. I decided to google 'would a gauss rifle have recoil' and the first result was a physics stackexchange discussion where the top rated answer did state that gauss rifles would indeed have recoil due to the laws of physics, albeit less than a gunpowder firearm as the projectile needs some time and distance to accelerate. There's also a youtube video of a handheld coilgun, at the 3:42/3:43 mark you can see that there is indeed some recoil. Railguns definitely do have recoil but much less than conventional weapons for the same reasons above.

 

EDIT: Out of curiosity, where'd you get the collapsing magnetic ring stuff from? First time I've ever heard of it. I thought the magnetic coils just pull the slug through them and that's it.

Edited June 16, 2017 by Bottletopman

[antistar]

So,bunch more questions,mostly dealing with recoil.

 

(snip)

1) The subject of laser/plasma weapons and recoil has come up before in this thread; early on, I think. You may want to have a look for that discussion.

 

2) I don't know about helical recoil, but the Aim Model records that the weapons in the game use have several different values relating to recoil that can be changed, and one of them is called "Recoil - Arc Rotate". I haven't experimented with different recoil values myself yet, but I seem to remember reading about someone giving plasma weapons a circular recoil pattern - using that value, I'm guessing.

 

3) I'll probably leave the Gauss Rifle with recoil.

 

4) Seems like the Missile Launcher shouldn't have recoil. It also seems like it should set things behind you on fire and maybe kill you if you fire it while in an enclosed space, though... so I don't know, we'll see.

 

5) Yeah, the art book describes the Laser Musket as "the quintessential Fallout 4 gun". I've got to be honest; I've never been very interested in energy weapons in the Fallout games. I've never played a character that uses them. I've mentioned elsewhere that I would have preferred it if Bethsoft had taken all the resources spent on the Laser Musket and instead spent it on implementing a pump-action shotgun.

 

Energy weapons aren't really the focus of WARS, like I've mentioned before - so I don't know how much I'll be doing to them. I want them to still be usable and make sense alongside the "Guns" though, so their stats will likely be altered, at least.

 

 

Speaking of semi-auto shotguns, I'll be putting together a Bellini M4 over the weekend. Let me know if it might be useful.

Looking good already - and thanks; that's a kind offer. :) Like with your Single Action Army, it's something I'd probably want in there eventually, but with such a huge amount of other work to do on the mod, I don't know when I'd get time to implement it.

 

I'm actually planning to do a pump-action shotgun next - after the USAS-12 - but yeah; specifically a pump-action rather than a semi-auto. Ideally an M870. The game just doesn't feel right to me without a pump-action in it. ;)

[Nihilisaurus]

 

So,bunch more questions,mostly dealing with recoil.

 

3) Gauss rifle. Fair warning; Science ahoy. Look this up; Magnetic weapons,like coilguns and railguns,do not have recoil as we know it. Instead of kicking up and back,such magnetic weapons are functionally recoilless,even though they still obey Newtonian physics. Because the propelling forces are naturally aligned in such a way to always approach a centre point from the outside,the (significant) recoil cancels itself out,because it is its own equal and opposite reaction. The Gauss rifle,for example,is a coilgun; The propellant force is a series of collapsing electromagnetic rings. The rings collapse upon themselves,passing through the centre of themselves,then outward. This results in an equal distribution of force along the entire force vector,and thus not impart any actual movement upon the weapon. If you follow this model,how would you balance out the lack of recoil? Or will you keep the recoil in place?

3) People seem to be divided over this but the general consensus seems to be that coilguns do have recoil, but much less than that of conventional guns because the slug is takes some distance to accelerate to its maximum possible speed.

 

Recoil on a gauss weapon works *exactly* the same as on a firearm. The *only* difference is the ejected mass is only the projectile rather than the projectile and the propellant gases. Anything to do with the force vectors lining up also applies to anything else with an inline stock like the M16.

 

By conservation of momentum every action has an equal and opposite counteraction, in order to throw the projectile forward the launching platform must experience some force backwards. It doesn't matter whether the interaction between the two is electromagnetic or gas pressure, the gun pushes forward on the projectile - and thus backwards on the shooter.