Problem with exploding plasma projectile - only hurts if fired at feet

[youreviltwinSA]

I thought it might be interesting to give the plasma rifle impact an explosion so that near-misses would cause some splash damage, a bit like the plasma rifle in Deus Ex.

 

So I created a new explosion type, "PlasmaRifleBlast", which used the graphics of the plasma grenade explosion, but with the damage and size of the effects greatly reduced. I then ticked the "Explosion" option in PlasmaProjectile (used by all plasma rifles, but not plasma pistols), and then chose my new PlasmaRifleBlast as the explosion type.

 

Then I tried it in game. It LOOKED awesome, there was a small glowing blast of green energy with a heat haze effect wherever I fired the plasma shots. But when I actually shot an enemy, it did virtually no damage! I was using the unique plasma rifle which does 50 damage, and I set an explosion damage of 25. But when I fired it at enemies it hardly did anything at all... unless I fired at their feet. Then it hurt, alot, melting most enemies into goo in just one or two shots.

 

I don't understand why this is happening. The plasma projectile itself should do 50 damage, and the explosion should do extra damage on top of that. But it seems like the plasma projectile is doing no damage at all, and only the explosion is hurting them. And that the explosion is only effective if at feet-level, not on someone's torso or head.

 

I tried firing the gun at a wall right next to me, and nothing happened, I took no damage at all. If I fired at the ground I killed myself in just a few shots. What the?!

 

Do Fallout 3 explosions only work at ground level? I find that hard to believe. And why are enemies no longer taking damage from the actual projectile?

[youreviltwinSA]

Apologies for bumping this thread. I figure it was a bit silly of me to post this kind of thing on CHRSTMAS EVE. And I reckon bumping this thread is a better idea than posting two threads on a similar subject. With any luck someone may now notice this.

[soulsquisher]

Apologies for bumping this thread. I figure it was a bit silly of me to post this kind of thing on CHRSTMAS EVE. And I reckon bumping this thread is a better idea than posting two threads on a similar subject. With any luck someone may now notice this.

You can mess around with the projectile properties. Such as setting the plasma round onto beam, or lober projectile modes. The results are slightly less than satisfactory though. If you keep it on missile you can set it to detonate a certain distance away from the target assuming your blast radius is large enough to reach the target.

[youreviltwinSA]

Hmm, didn't think of changing that, didn't see how it would affect anything. But maybe it will, will give that a try. :) Thanks!

[soulsquisher]

Hmm, didn't think of changing that, didn't see how it would affect anything. But maybe it will, will give that a try. :) Thanks!

Ok sorry about this, but I had the same problem as you and I was messing around with it this morning. If you set the projectile onto hitscan everything will work out fine, but you won't really be able to see the projectile in normal firing