Jump to content

[V8.4] Modding the Machinegun's ClipSize for 5 Bursts


Quartermaster

Recommended Posts

Before following these steps I would like to make the following disclaimer: I am not one of the coders on this project, but I have made the following modification in my files and it seems to be working properly.

According to what Chris has said in other threads, the machinegun is supposed to fire 5 bursts. Later in development it sounds like these will be long bursts (5 or 10 shots each), but for now it is just 3 shots per burst. The goal of this thread is to modify the machinegun so that it fires the correct number of bursts (5 instead of 1 & 2/3rds).

Before we begin, backup the following files from the xenonauts/assets file:

weapons

weapons_

weapons_gc

These will be three files that we will be editting so it is wise to have the backups in a secure location in case an error is made. We will start with the weapons & weapons_ files. These are the easist files to modify as they both open with excel. After opening both files look under the name and find the weapon.machinegun. Go to the column that says 'clipsize' and modify the machinegun's clipsize value from 5 to 15. You may get a popup which reads "weapons.xml may contain meatures that are not compatible with XML Spreadsheet 2003. Do you want to keep the workbook in this format?" Click Yes.

Now open weapons_gc using notebook. Scroll down until you find the following section:

<Weapon name="weapon.machinegun" bulletType="normal" emptySound="Empty Click 1">

<props range="30" hands="2" recoil="65" weight="12.5" clipSize="5" reloadAPCost="25" />

<SingleShot />

<BurstFire ap="30" accuracy="60" sound="Weapon Machinegun Burst"/>

<GUIImage name="gui/machinegun.png"/>

<GroundImage name="grounditemimages/machinegun.png"/>

<Ammos>

<Ammo name="default" type="kinetic" damage="40" mitigation="20">

<Projectile spectre="projectiles/bullet/bullet" speed="1200"/>

<Impact spectre="particles/bulletplume/bulletplume"/>

</Ammo>

</Ammos>

</Weapon>

This weapon is located between the precision rifle and the flamethrower. Modify the bolded section (clipsize = "5") to instead read clipsize="15". The final weapon tag should look like this:

<Weapon name="weapon.machinegun" bulletType="normal" emptySound="Empty Click 1">

<props range="30" hands="2" recoil="65" weight="12.5" clipSize="15" reloadAPCost="25" />

<SingleShot />

<BurstFire ap="30" accuracy="60" sound="Weapon Machinegun Burst"/>

<GUIImage name="gui/machinegun.png"/>

<GroundImage name="grounditemimages/machinegun.png"/>

<Ammos>

<Ammo name="default" type="kinetic" damage="40" mitigation="20">

<Projectile spectre="projectiles/bullet/bullet" speed="1200"/>

<Impact spectre="particles/bulletplume/bulletplume"/>

</Ammo>

</Ammos>

</Weapon>

After this change is made save this file and close it. Before starting the game make sure that and closed. If they are open the game will crash when running.

This should only be considered a temporary solution until Chris and his team get around to building the long burst fire for the machinegun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can I suggest adding your post to the wiki?

It looks like it would fit into http://xenowiki.goldhawkinteractive.com/index.php?title=Altering_the_properties_of_an_in-game_item_or_unit

It gives a nice overview of the basic editing required to alter an item.

I will try to do so tonight, but I have a lot of papers to grade. I've been meaning to add some articles over the last couple days to the wiki since I started looking at the files, but I was waiting for the 24 hour wait limit to pass which it did last night. I want to add some details on how to add/edit the submaps and levelmaps as well. That stuff is a bit trickier than one would initially expect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am assuming on weapons.xml and weapons_.xml (not sure what the difference is) you altered the description text to show the change you had made in weapons_gc.xml?

Yes that seems to be the effect. I don't really know what the difference is between weapons and weapons_ either, but I editted both just to be certain. The weapons file has some of the more advanced rockets and grenades included whereas weapons_ doesn't seem to have them. I haven't yet checked to see if only one needs to be changed, but I did both as a catchall when I was working with the files.

I should probably just write that article on the wiki since I am using the forum as a distraction from grading...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I added my "how to" to the page on the wiki you mentioned Gaudlike. I made a few changes so that it no longer references the weapons_ file. I also bumped up the clipsize to 30, because who doesn't like more bullets. Plus it just seems weird if the machine gun has fewer rounds than the rifle. Later when I have more time I will go back to the wiki and add some more how to's to explain how to add different fire modes and few other things.

Eventually it might be a fun idea to make a small application from which to do all of these things in order to speed up the ability of users to make their own crazy weapons of death... No doubt we will see a bunch of add ons from people who want their soldiers running around knifing aliens or firing automatic rocket launchers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

well i played the freeware ufo AI, and i would say my favorite weapon is the machine gun, shoots like 10 shots, long distance fighting, specialy when alien blasters can kill you in 1-2 shots regardless of armor......sniper rifles were ok too...... my issue is i like my soldiers alive...... hand to hand /short range combat with aliens is always a suicide.........so you can nerf the machine guns or make the aliens really clever, even game balance issues, there were heavy machine guns in the seventies...... if you wish to be technical......

another thing is you dont really use machine guns for storming ufos you would probably use heavy shotguns, or other stuff......

Edited by cyllan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The machine gun is not really designed with a breaching role in mind.

That's why the game has shotguns, pistols, combat shields etc.

The issue with the machine gun was that it has not yet been finished off and balanced rather than it needing some kind of nerf.

Don't worry there will be enough lead flying around for you ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well put. Yeah always remember that the game is still in Alpha. By all means make mention of the fact that some weapons are toos trong etc. but also remember that at this stage the game is in the process of adding in new content over refining the balance of what's in there. Chris and the community want to see the game getting closer to completion, and while balance is important, it's kind of hard to do with only one alien race in the game etc. =p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not tried this out yet but I can see how 5 round bursts with a 50 round belt would be rather punishing.

Reducing damage or ammo count which would make it feel somewhat less realistic, even the 50 round is already significantly lower than real belt lengths but I am happy to put this aside as taking into account the spray of the weapon, so the belt is ACTUALLY 100-200 rounds long but only 50 of them have a any chance of hitting a man sized target.

I know balance issues are something for the future as anotherdevil says but I'd think increasing the weight, or having a straight reduction of action points attached to the weapon would be preferable to my mind than reducing damage or rate of fire. Ofcourse reducing the accuracy is another tool in the balancing box aswell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no military experience so this is based on nothing but films and such and could be more of a WW2 thing than modern but don't squad machine gunners usually have someone else to carry their ammo?

Presumably due to the weight of the gun and ammo being to much for one guy to carry and be effective in combat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no military experience so this is based on nothing but films and such and could be more of a WW2 thing than modern but don't squad machine gunners usually have someone else to carry their ammo?

Presumably due to the weight of the gun and ammo being to much for one guy to carry and be effective in combat.

Depends on the era, but yeah there is usually an assistant gunner who carries some rounds and helps the main gunner feed rounds into the belt. Currently the Squad Automatic Weapon used by the US can actually use the same rounds as the M16 which means that the rounds are light enough that they don't need another individual carrying the spare rounds, in my experience at least. I wasn't exactly special forces or infantry though so they might carry more ammo into combat. In the era that Xenonauts is set in, the US was using the M60 which fires a 7.62 caliber round which does require an assistant gunner (who also usually carries a spare barrel).

Edited by Quartermaster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on the era, but yeah there is usually an assistant gunner who carries some rounds and helps the main gunner feed rounds into the belt. Currently the Squad Automatic Weapon used by the US can actually use the same rounds as the M16 which means that the rounds are light enough that they don't need another individual carrying the spare rounds, in my experience at least. I wasn't exactly special forces or infantry though so they might carry more ammo into combat. In the era that Xenonauts is set in, the US was using the M60 which fires a 7.62 caliber round which does require an assistant gunner (who also usually carries a spare barrel).

Yep. We (Norwegians) use the MG3 still, and it's a 7.62 round. Gunner two carries all the ammo, loads and feeds the weapon. It's a horrible job in heavy snow let me tell you. The spare barrel is also carried by the second guy. In peace time we change every ~200 rounds, but the barrels can handle ~400 before deforming. It gets hot!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...