Feasability for a TC

[Stankbot]

Hello everyone. I think I should start out by saying I have been using programs like 3ds max and photoshop for about 8 years on and off. I understand how complicated a TC is and the work involved. I've worked on small projects with half life and half life 2 before. I've done most of my work on the modeling texturing side of the process so actual scripts and hardcoded limits aren't exactly my strong point.

 

Now here is the idea, A Shadow Run TC. This is not the silly Xbox360 or PC version, I am talking pen and paper version. My question pertains to a few aspects of the Oblivion engine that I can't find on the internet. First of all, "Rapid fire" or "burst fire" possibilty with a bow. This doesn't mean FPS style, but as with game play, each firing style has their own type of stats and accuracy of firing. Second, the use of diseases, or in my case "cybernetic upgrades". I assume vampirism is considered as an ability that is scripted to do what it does (progress as time passes, or in my case, put more money to improve upon the upgrade), please correct me if I am wrong. Finally. (at least for this round of questioning) Is "being wanted" a type of script or hardcoded event. Reason being, the idea of legal and illegal items (weapons, armor) and permits to own them and the sneak command to hide when you have them.

 

Again, I understand this is a huge task and I don't plan to quit school or my fulltime job to do this, but I spend a healthy amouint of time messing with models and animations that I wouldn't mind giving a crack at it. I happen to have what might be considered complete reference work of shadow run on pdf so info on that side isn't a problem. So if anything could be pointed out, I'd appreciate it. I spend a good bit of time at the cs wiki reading and trying to google everything else I am looking for, but hope to find this forum to be a valuable resource.

 

Thank you.

[Vagrant0]

The biggest problem you would have would be in making any sort of futristic equipment work. Guns don't work too well, and you can't really do scripted specials like that without going into rather complicated methods which bypass most of the normal attack coding.

 

Generally, the viability of a TC is directly related to how much of vanilla systems and resources can be used. Something like this would probably need almost all the meshes used to be self made, which can be a rather huge task in and of itself. It would probably need many custom scripted components to make NPC behavior work how you want. You'd probably be better off using something like the Crysis engine for this sort of thing since it has an ability to handle more modern environments and isn't bogged down by AI which you would likely end up having to override half the time anyway.

 

Essentially, each upgrade would require some scripting to control the progression of changes, and probably trigger whatever bonuses you wanted for them. Each item you wanted to flag as "illegal" would need to be specially scripted to set a flag, and then that flag would need to be checked for every instance that you wanted a different behavior to happen. The crime system doesn't normally allow this sort of thing, and you'd probably have a harder time using it, while keeping some sort of karma system for players who kill civillians.

 

But I've been told that my responses tend to be more on the pessimistic side, so it's really up to you to decide how much of a problem you want to deal with. Scripting isn't a strong point for you, and TCs tend to require most of the controlling systems to be manually scripted. You also need to considder how much time it would take just to make a handful of meshes for a beginning area. The best answer I can give you is to see what has already been done, and decide for yourself. One way to get around weapon limitations would be to make cast target animations look like normal attacks, and change damage health to use a different projectile. You can't do this sort of thing with a normal mod, but can with a TC so long as you don't need to use those systems anywhere else.

[Shadowcran]

yes, Shadowrun has been treated shabbily by video games over the years(with the exception of the Old Sega Genesis one from many years ago).

 

Instead of guns, you may have to resort to 'spells being fired from a stick' types. Perhaps using different 'fetishes", also a Shadowrun staple.

 

How would you work the Karma into the Levelling up systems? I think it could be done, but I'm not the man who would know(i've too poor eyesight for modding).

 

Perhaps then you can upgrade the staff/stick/whatever by purchasing "spell rounds" or upgrading the stick itself.

 

As for the cybernetic enhancements...this should be possible with 'attachments'.

 

...then all we'd have to do is make the world of Oblivion look more like futuristic Seattle....j/k

 

In case you never played it, download a Sega Genesis emulator and a Shadowrun ROM from Romnation.net. Even if you have dialup, the whole DL shouldn't take more than a minute.lol.

[Chrissiearto]

A while ago I released a working Gun system for Oblivion, but could never get anyone to make a Mesh/Texture for the weapon.

The end result was a Proof-of-Concept 'Gunsword' which allowed multiple bullet types, and the potential for firing modes. It was

released as a Beta/Resource, so you're more than welcome to use it-- but it DOES neet some work to refine it (specifically the

aiming system which becomes unfocused over distance). If you're interested, it can be found on PES under 'CDM-Gunsword'

[Stankbot]

Thanks for all the input! Sadly, I was afraid the scripting would take the beef of the project. I might see how far I can take it, at least I now know I have a gun resource to look at thanks to CDM and that puts me 1/4th of the way past the major problems. Also, its good to know where my problems will lay waiting for me. I think most of the framework is in place, I just have to make it the labor of love. Who knows, if I take it far enough, it just might work.

 

As for the Genesis version, I just happen to have beat it last week for the millionth time and where I got the inspiration to do this. Or maybe it was the rage that the 360 version left me inside me. Either way, thank you for all the responses and if I get it off the ground, I'll be sure to post back!

 

Thanks again!

[billypnats]

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19431

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