Author Topic: Some stuff about weapons effects  (Read 1897 times)

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Some stuff about weapons effects
This is just going to be a bunch of questions and comments all vaguely related to weapons effects.

First: I'm not sure if my MediaVP Subachs are behaving properly. (Which reminds me I had a dream last night that a new MediaVP set came out. That would have been nice. There was a new Typhon that looked awful, though.) Anyway, the retail Subachs of course start out red and turn blue. My MVP ones don't. Originally I thought they just stayed red, but upon closer inspection I think they're turning orange. It only came to my attention that that might not be the way they were intended to work when I was playing a Derelict mission and noticed that the Subach rounds there (I was playing with MediaVPs) were in fact turning blue. But it only happened that one time; I haven't really been able to replicate it. Maybe I'll go back and play the same mission, see if it happens again.

Second: I've been sometimes getting an issue with Megafunk Turrets where it looks like the texture didn't wrap properly. The white core of the bolt ends up looking kind of like an ink blot. It's not a huge issue, but if somebody knows how to fix it...

Third: also related to blob turrets. I'm guessing this is intentional/known, but the sprite behaves oddly if you get in front of it. The retail blobs seem to actually have volume, rather than being sprites -- not sure how that was done -- but the MVP blobs are just sprites, and the sprite turns sideways if you're in front of the bolt. Sometimes it spins, depending on the player's movement relative to it. I think in most cases like this in games the sprite is replaced by another one when the bullet is viewed from on end. I know that's how the Battlefront games did it. Anyway, as I said I think that's normal, but if it is, you might want to look into fixing it. And if it isn't, I might want to look into fixing it.

Fourth: I'm not actually all that impressed with the current MVP Subachs. They're fine, but I think I could do better -- no offense to whoever made them. I also kind of want to do a retexture for the Shivan Super Laser, because I'm pretty sure that hasn't been MVP'd at all and I like that thing. So, how do I go about doing that? I figured the textures would be in the effects folder, but my effects folder is empty. Could be hidden files or something; I don't know.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Some stuff about weapons effects
The MVP Subachs are notable for not looking as good as the retail ones, yeah. It's a shame.

Another retail > MVPs case is thrusters. Modeled thrusters looked really cool, and unfortunately we don't really get those any more.

The Shivan Super Laser has been more or less obsolesced by the SSL Beam.

All in all, though, the MVPs are a masterpiece and if any MVP staff are reading this I'm applauding you.

 
Re: Some stuff about weapons effects
What's an SSL beam? Just the normal FS2 beams?

I still like the look of it. TBH I was planning to use it as a late-game weapon salvaged from a Lucifer and duct-taped onto the HoL Typhon in the campaign I'd discussed.

  

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Some stuff about weapons effects
First: I'm not sure if my MediaVP Subachs are behaving properly.
They might not be if you're using 3.7.2 (or older) instead of a more recent Nightly build: https://svn.icculus.org/fs2open?view=rev&revision=11319
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schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

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<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.