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Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Mrmcgia on April 18, 2006, 03:50:11 am

Title: Problems with beams
Post by: Mrmcgia on April 18, 2006, 03:50:11 am
First of all, i apologize for my english, but i'm italian. I've got a problem while attempting to allow fighters use a beam. I've tried to copy, paste and modify existing beams, but everytime i fire my beam, instead of a continuous stream of energy, i get a single ball, like the old flail gun, but very slow and with the power of the beam. Why? here is my modified beam:

$Name:                          Vector Cannon
$Model File:                    none ; laser1-1.pof
@Laser Bitmap:                  laserglow01
@Laser Color:               136, 243, 249
@Laser Length:               0.0
@Laser Head Radius:            0.60
@Laser Tail Radius:            0.60
$Mass:                          100.0
$Velocity:                      1000.0          ;; speed of the weapon (initially) -- may or may not change
$Fire Wait:                     5.5             ;; in seconds
$Damage:                        14            ;; NOTE: for beam weapons this is kind of a "continuous" damage applied every few fractions of a second that the beam is on.
$Armor Factor:                  1.0
$Shield Factor:                 1.0
$Subsystem Factor:              1.0
$Lifetime:                      40.0            ;; How long this thing lives
$Energy Consumed:               0.30            ;; Energy used when fired
$Cargo Size:                    0.0             ;; Amount of space taken up in weapon cargo
$Homing:                        NO
$LaunchSnd:                     124             ;; The sound it makes when fired
$ImpactSnd:                     88             ;; The sound it makes when it hits something
+Weapon Range:               2500         ;; Limit to range at which weapon will actively target object
$Flags:                         ("Big Ship" "player allowed" "beam")
$Icon:                          iconKayser
$Anim:                          Kayser
$Impact Explosion:              ExpMissileHit1
$Impact Explosion Radius:       10.0
$BeamInfo:
   +Type:                  3            ;; 0 - 4 are valid #'s
   +Life:                    7.5            ;; how long it lasts once the beam is actually firing
   +Warmup:                 1500         ;; warmup time in ms
   +Warmdown:               1200         ;; warmdown time in ms
   +Radius:                 20.0         ;; muzzle glow radius in meters
   +PCount:               12            ;; particles spewed every interval
   +PRadius:               1.2            ;; particle radius
   +PAngle:               65.0         ;; angle of the random "cone" where the particles are generated
   +PAni:                  particleexp01   ;; particle ani
   +Miss Factor:            1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 2.0      ;; magic # - higher == miss more (only really applicable to type 0 and type 3 beams)
   +BeamSound:               149            ;; the looping beam-firing sound
   +WarmupSound:            151            ;; associated warmup sound
   +WarmdownSound:            161            ;; associated warmdown sound
   +Muzzleglow:            thrusterglow01   ;; muzzle glow bitmap
   +Shots:                  3            ;; only used for TYPE 3 beams
   +ShrinkFactor:            0.0         ;; what percentage of lifetime where beam starts shrinking (0.1 == 10% life left)
   +ShrinkPct:               0.0         ;; what percentage of max width we subtract per second
   $Section:                        ;; one section of the beam (you can have up to 5)
      +Width:               2.0            ;; width of the section
      +Texture:            beam-white      ;; texture for this section
      +RGBA Inner:         255 255 255 255   ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
      +RGBA Outer:         150 150 150 10   ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
      +Flicker:            0.1            ;; how much it flickers (0.0 to 1.0)
      +Zadd:               2.0            ;; hehe
   $Section:                        ;; one section of the beam
      +Width:               6.0            ;; width of the section
      +Texture:            beam-dblue2      ;; texture for this section
      +RGBA Inner:         160 160 0 255   ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
      +RGBA Outer:         60 60 0 10      ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
      +Flicker:            0.1            ;; how much it flickers (0.0 to 1.0)
      +Zadd:               1.0            ;; hehe
   $Section:                        ;; one section of the beam
      +Width:               8.0            ;; width of the section
      +Texture:            beam-dblue      ;; texture for this section
      +RGBA Inner:         255 0 0 255      ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
      +RGBA Outer:         60 0 0 10      ;; rgba values (only for non-textured beam compiles)
      +Flicker:            0.4            ;; how much it flickers (0.0 to 1.0)
      +Zadd:               0.0            ;; hehe

Please help!

(P.S. I've tried using the type 2 beam, which works, but it doesn't warm up or warm down, and it doesn't emit any sound, it's like the targeting laser. Is it normal? I want to create a beam which has the warm up and warm down and the sounds, and can fire multiple shots like the AAAs)
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: Galemp on April 18, 2006, 09:36:56 am
First off, are you using FS2 Retail or the SCP?
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: Mrmcgia on April 18, 2006, 09:59:21 am
i am using the retail version.
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: DavisOfTsurgi on April 18, 2006, 04:00:24 pm
Ahah. It is using the "Big Ship" flag. Dosent work with player allowed. take it off, and if it still dosent work, use SCP.
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: Bobboau on April 18, 2006, 11:19:30 pm
you'll never get what you want useing retail, swich to FSO and that table will probly work.
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: Mrmcgia on April 19, 2006, 03:14:51 pm
guys, i've tried to install the SCP version, following the instructions given by "The freespace oracle", but when i try to go to the mission simulator to play a mission created by me, it crashes. But there is more: i don't know why, but when i try to open the launcher, it says "error reading the flag file". maybe the crash is caused by this error, maybe not. However, i still can't play with my new beam. Have you got any suggestions? please reply 
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: Wanderer on April 19, 2006, 03:28:18 pm
Perhaps it was the missing OpenAL? "Failed to read flag file" (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,35766.0.html)
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: DavisOfTsurgi on April 19, 2006, 09:18:08 pm
find the offical SCP site and download 3.6.7 with the map files. worked for me.
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: Mrmcgia on April 20, 2006, 09:51:16 am
ok guys. thanks to everybody, i found the build and the FRED 2 Open, now i'll try to MOD the tables file. Can you guarantee (is it correct? i hope so) me that every type of beam can be fitted on any ship, from fighters to bombers, and it will work, playing sounds and warming up and down?

P.S.: Why Fred Open crashes everytime i try to set the team loadout, saying that "an assertion failed", refferred to the file "afxwin2.inl", line 616? (i've got Fred open v 3.5, because with the last release there was a problem with some "GL files" that needed an update, but i don't know where to get this update)
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: DavisOfTsurgi on April 20, 2006, 09:30:51 pm
Yes, if u cheat and have a bfred on a ulyssies if will fire a big beam. also, if you want your mission to work with your mods, and fred open wont work, just open the mission with a text file and add it in. for example, if i wanted to add my player destroyer, the GTD Oromis, i would do this:

                      "GTF Loki"      5
                      "GTD Oromis"        5
                      "GTF Pegasus"      5

And do the same thing for your weapon. just make sure the mod is installed for fsopen and the missions are not in the mod foldier, the Freespace/Data/Missions directory. also make a new player if you install a new ship or weapon.
Title: Re: Problems with beams
Post by: Mrmcgia on April 21, 2006, 10:44:17 am
Ok, now everything's fine. Thanks to everybody. One last thing: what is the most stable version of FRED OPEN?