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[MOD WIP] Asymmetric Weapons Tech with Plausible Advanced Ballistics


catmorbid

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Hmh, I don't know that RT-20 is a bit too new, made in mid-90's. I'll probably add just one Predator-compatible conventional ballistic rifle, it might be I'd have to make laser plasma and mag variants from scratch, but I'm still fiddling with ideas regarding this :)

Solothurn does look pretty ridiculous, and in fact something I think would definitely fit the role :)

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I don't think you hold it. You rather hold on to it. =P

But seriously - it's a basic bullpup design. A bit short for the off hand but workable. Perfectly justified by Rule Of Cool. =P

I can understand Bullpup, but for that to work it would have to be the size of an SMG at most for anyone but a giant. The handle is too far forward. But that's a 'Heavy Assault Rifle', ie big.

Pretty much every bullpup design you'll see has the trigger at the middle. It bothers me!

Game needs more AWP btw. Otherwise, cool stuff.

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The source for the image for the heavy battle rifle is this:

AK_Bullpup.jpg

However, I had to extend the area around the magazine because of the change in calibre, and didn't change the position of the pistol grip, so you might in fact be right in that it might look a bit out of proportions due to this. I was also thinking I should maybe extend the barrel a bit.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, I might revise the image a bit! Also good to hear someone likes it! :D

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Okay, I made a new version of the Heavy Assault Rifle based on feedback. It should look a bit more like a proper Bullpup configuration, with the pistol grip closer to the centre.

It'll be in the next version.

Here's the new version:

magnum_rifle_v2.jpg

And the old one for comparison:

magnum_rifle.jpg

magnum_rifle.jpg

magnum_rifle_v2.jpg

magnum_rifle.jpg.63e1b93837e81771816fe43

magnum_rifle_v2.jpg.34b21ba4c46f7651b91a

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Yeah, that's because they're based on photos with direct lighting. I could probably reduce the reflections some, just by tweaking with the colour curves, but it's pretty hard to try and match the hand drawn style, though I'm doing the best I can with a few filters and some aftertouch. I'm just not too keen on spending too many hours doing per-pixel photoshopping :P

Anyone is welcome to contribute to the mod though! I can provide the original source images if needed.

I'll have to conduct a few tests to see if I can find a relatively easy way to reduce the reflections. If it's doable, it shouldn't be a big deal to apply that for all the images.

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Reflections can be a bugger, but I've come up with a good way of dealing with them. I'm a gfx noob, so this is stuff I've taught myself, and consequently might be basic stuff that's taken for granted - you might already be doing it.

There are a couple of ways to tackle lens flare. First, the easiest - is if I can't find a weapon with a good photo, I look for a different gun. One with a high-res picture and little or no reflection. But that's cheating.

Second, is to sample the colour from near the flare (but notably darker) - for example, if there's a flare above the magazine, I'll pick from a darker spot somewhere along the barrel. Then, select a brush with a soft (transparent) round tip. If possible, this should be larger than the flare area - thought this might not be practical if it's going to overhang the edges (which means more clean-up work). Double click over the area, and it shades it. Bingo. Same applies for buttstocks - just make sure it's a colour that matches, but a transparent light grey usually does the job. For elongated flares, like up the buttstock (matron!), I just dab all the way up. Or if it's really bad, copy another area of the stock, and paste it over, then blend it in with a roughener then a smoother. Good done, world fooled.

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Quick question. When can you research or get your advanced human weapons ?

I researched some stuff and can now research laser tech or a tech named "####" without any description. I suppose that is the tech that unlocks your weapons ? If so, why is it a placeholder still ?

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Quick question. When can you research or get your advanced human weapons ?

I researched some stuff and can now research laser tech or a tech named "####" without any description. I suppose that is the tech that unlocks your weapons ? If so, why is it a placeholder still ?

Yeah, that's supposed to be it. I tested it and it worked just fine, but it seems I'll have to double-check things. I'll try to fix it as soon as possible. In the meanwhile you could double check that you have the strings.xml from the mod in your assets folder. It might be that the research will unlock fine, but there certainly should be a description.

or better yet, open both researches.xml and strings.xml and find (ctrl+f) the string "Researches.AdvancedConventional" without the quotes. If you can't find it in either file, then replace that again from the zip. I just checked and it should be in the zip and should be valid.

Edited by catmorbid
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Well, i dont think i have overwritten the file, but maybe i have, who knows :D

I have to say i havent messed with modding Xenonauts at all, but for stock human ballistic weapons that dont require Alien Technology, i would suppose you get a different tech-tree.

Im not sure why i would need to Research Alien Tech (Plasma) in order to build upgraded human ballistic weapons which tech-wise have no association with Plasma, or laser weapons.

Personally, i think a very, VERY good Approach was how Apocalpyse did it, with weapons unlocking as the game Progresses.

I could see how more advanced human ballistic weapons unlock each couple weeks (or months) down the road automaticly, without any Research being needed.

I dont know if this is possible using scripts though.

Of course, ist your mod, in my eyes it just doesnt make THAT much sense atm.

At the very least, i would suggest untying human weapons from Alien weapon tech requirement and make them a paralell development in the tech tree.

?

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Well, i dont think i have overwritten the file, but maybe i have, who knows :D

I have to say i havent messed with modding Xenonauts at all, but for stock human ballistic weapons that dont require Alien Technology, i would suppose you get a different tech-tree.

Im not sure why i would need to Research Alien Tech (Plasma) in order to build upgraded human ballistic weapons which tech-wise have no association with Plasma, or laser weapons.

Personally, i think a very, VERY good Approach was how Apocalpyse did it, with weapons unlocking as the game Progresses.

I could see how more advanced human ballistic weapons unlock each couple weeks (or months) down the road automaticly, without any Research being needed.

I dont know if this is possible using scripts though.

Of course, ist your mod, in my eyes it just doesnt make THAT much sense atm.

At the very least, i would suggest untying human weapons from Alien weapon tech requirement and make them a paralell development in the tech tree.

?

Well, I kind of see the detailed analysis on the alien weapons being a "push" to motivate in seeking for new ways of damaging the enemy: Two of those weapons (mac10 and magnum .44) exist already in the era, thus they're unlimited when unlocked, but the others are really just prototypes or theories at the time and most wouldn't realistically exist within the time frame, thus the research requirement, and in fact the need to manufacture in xenonaut bases.

Using and liking these weapons, they are nice! I find them a bit too demanding on strength (recoil) though.

Minor remark, some of the images have white pixels around their silhouette.

Ah, yeah that's annoying. I'll work on those as I have time :)

Regarding the recoil, some of them are intended more as mid or late game weapons, like the advanced battle rifle and minigun. Minigun basically requires Predator armour before it starts to shine, which is also hinted in the description, so the recoil is there just to make sure you have hard time using it before that (but it's really awesome though!) :) Battle Rifle on the other hand is way more powerful than any other assault rifle, so the recoil is there to kind of justify it being more useful on your veteran soldiers. I did add minor recoil to some normal weapons as well.

Great to hear you like them though! Keeps me pushing further :P

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Wow, this looks like a great mod.

(Especially since you added in a G11, which is my favourite prototype gun.)

I'll definitely be using this in my future playthroughs.

Gotta have to play the vanilla style Xenonauts game first to properly appreciate the mod after I add it in.

Edited by kyosuke
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@Nibelung44: I'll have to look into it. If the work is manageable, and it probably is, I'll add it in.

@kyosuke: Thanks! I also happen to love the G11, which meant it was the first gun I wanted to add in :) I'm pretty happy to say that it even works pretty well! I'm hoping that X:CE would eventually add support for multiple burst modes, so I could make it even more authentic :P

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Hi catmorbid

With your permission, can I add your AK47 start-up rifle to XNT ID mod?

I love your work and want to give my Soviet and Eastern troops the AK for that aesthetic feel...

Is it possible?

What files would I need to extract from your mod?

Will I need to start a New Game (Can't see why but thought I'd ask)?

Can I use other (more advanced) weapons if put in the relevant folders? Same type of files I presume.

Thanks in advance

GD

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Hi,

Yeah sure, go ahead. Just remember to credit me if you release anything.

The graphics for the AK aren't mine, but instead stock graphics you'll find in the weapons/ballistic/soviet folder. What I did was tweak the weapon stats and set it to use the black AK graphics and then add the weapon entries to strings.xml.

So if you want to add the weapon to another mod, then just copy the entry from weapons_gc.xml, items.xml, weapons.xml and strings.xml. You also need to copy its ammo from ammos.xml and strings.xml and copy the ammo graphics from the soviet folder.

That should do it. If you make the weapon availability unlimited in items.xml you don't need to start a new game, but it should show up instantly. That's how I've set it up, so no need to tweak anything.

edit: I also use stock sounds for it (for now at least), so no need to worry about them either.

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