My personal preference is for uniques to not be moddable at all - to maintain the concept of a unique vs. a fully modded standard weapon being a choice between two comparable yet different weapons (situations like keeping the modded 9mm pistol to have the scope capability, vs. Maria for the higher amount of damage)... keeping it such that there isn't always the single necessarily BEST weapon of that type.

...anyhow, now that I've said all of that...

With the way you're looking at doing mods overall, including uniques, the approach that you're talking about here seems to be the best way to go about it all.

Thanks for the input, guys.




Well I'll be leaving the Mag. Accel. and Dual-Cell on there for now because it makes sense to me that way, but swapping the ROF-increase mod for something that decreases spread instead would also make sense. I just need to think of what that mod might be...




Awesome - I appreciate it.

Don't know if you have plans already - and this is probably stating the obvious - but I was thinking of icons in the style of the existing weapon mod icons, but appropriate to the new WMX mods. So the new long barrel ones would look similar to the existing long barrel mod icons, but resemble the barrels of the corresponding weapons.

Again, let me know if you'd like nif files so you can take screenshots at certain angles and trace over them or whatever; I don't know what your exact process is.

Hey Antistar, don't know if you're already aware but another dude was inspired (he admitted it himself) by your WMK mod for FO3 that he made his own for New Vegas with a similar goal in mind. Have you any plans to collaborate with him?

Do you mean http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37576 That seems to be happening more frequently now that New Vegas is out. People seem to think that because it's a different game that makes it a free for all. IMO that doesn't show very much class. I don't know if there was any contact with Antistar on this, but IMO it doesn't quite pass the smell test

I don't quite understand, are you saying that people shouldn't be making similiar mods because there is already a bigger and better one in works?

I'm not sure about these two - I may come back to them:

- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/hunting_revolver01.jpg
- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/hunting_revolver02.jpg
- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/ranger_sequoia01.jpg
- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/ranger_sequoia02.jpg








I contacted the author of that mod when I saw (an early version of) it pop up on FNVNexus, to let him know I was working on something similar. He decided to continue working on his one - which is fine, of course. :shrug:

No plans to collaborate, no. I prefer working alone, especially when it comes to design.

Was his name J.E. Sawyer by any chance?

Looking pretty good, man.

You've gotten pretty good at modeling.

A couple more:

- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/silenced_22_pistol01.jpg
- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/127mm_smg01.jpg

The 10mm SMG is also done, but there's no new visible mod for that one (it gets a light bolt, like the 9mm SMG), so no screenshot for that. I'm making good progress on the Silenced .22 SMG, and once that's done, that will be all of the 'Guns' pistols and SMGs out of the way. I think I might do some shotguns next.


A couple of sort of behind-the-scenes things:

I thought I'd try giving weapon mods some weight (they all weigh 0 weight units by default), but doing so caused an instant CTD when trying to drop the weapon mod from the player inventory. So I guess I won't be doing that.

I'm noticing a lot of mesh errors as I go through and work on the weapons. Mesh holes, mis-aligned bits and pieces, overlapping/protruding edges that need turning, faces that need flipping; that sort of thing. Most of them are pretty minor - I can see how they might be missed - but others are a little sloppy. Anyway, I'm fixing them as I find them. So some of the weapons will be getting fixed meshes courtesy of WMX too.





I see what you did there.




Thanks - I haven't done much modelling from scratch so far for this though - it's mostly slicing, prodding and rearranging. The texturing (or re-texturing) required has been a bit more taxing though.

Two questions:

1.) Weapons are hardcoded to have only three mods attached, IIRC. However, is it possible for a weapon to have more than three, provided you can only choose three of them to attach?

Ex.

Service Rifle - Forged Receiver, Upgraded Springs, Extended Magazines, *Combat Scope, pick three only

*just an example

This way, there'll be a tactical element to customizing your weapon towards damage, ROF, reliability, etc. using different weapon mods as opposed to a linear progression from a plain weapon to a better weapon, which sounds a lot more interesting.

2.) Does each weapon mod need its own model/mesh, or does it simply clip into/change the affected element of the base weapon model?

Good work BTW, your mod made FO3 a lot more interesting.

Not without changing the weapon mod system significantly - probably to something similar to the way WMK worked in F3, for example.



Weapon mods change the entire model/mesh - it doesn't just add a new element onto the base model or anything like that.

Hi Antistar,
love to see you working on this mod for New Vegas. I was waiting for this since New Vegas was out and i got disapointed by the weapon mods implementation from Obsidian. Feel free to contact me when you are done with the first version and i will provide a german translation (like my translation for WMK) as soon as possible to help you to provide this mod also to german players.

regards,
Mr. J

What has been a bit of a pain with the way they implemented it is that - well, an explanation first. For most weapons in WMK, I used only one or two nif files with all potential attachments in there together, and made the appropriate parts visible or invisible on a per-weapon basis using the 'NullTextureSet' texture set. In FNV, however, I can't do that. I tried - and they still have the http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Model_Data interface show up for weapon mods and appear to let you do it - but then it doesn't save what you do in there. In fact it seems to mess up the weapon record if you do save it. I guess they didn't make provisions in the weapon record structure for that.

This means I need to use a separate nif file for each variant; up to eight nif files for each weapon, in other words. It means more work, and will mean a larger file size for WMX in the end, so yeah... a bit of a pain. Oh well.





Thanks - will do. Er... though you may need to remind me when the time comes, if only because it's a way off yet.

How about some extra aperture stabilizers and thicker chamber glass for the plasma pistol?

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7361/plasmapistolmods.jpg

Probably a simple affair to put an extra battery socket on it (well, at least the base mod... mixing them up will be a pain of course)

Here's the Silenced .22 SMG:

- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/silenced_22_smg01.jpg





Something like that could be a good replacement for the (non-visible) 'Plasma Pistol Int. Mag. Accel.' mod...

Have you thought about using Bioshock-style weapon mods (for reference: http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/File:Pistol_d.png ) or will you stick to realistic/as-realistic-as-can-be mods?

I plan to stick fairly closely to what I've outlined in the OP, which I suppose are more on the realistic end of the spectrum - at least for the 'Guns' weapons. Energy weapons may be a bit more out there, of course.

The problem with doing something like that revolver extended mag thing from Bioshock (which was suggested/requested for WMK too) is that there aren't suitable animations for it, basically. Unless, possibly, something was done with the .357 Magnum Revolver animations... though there'd still be a lot of work involved with new models and textures in that case.

the front page is missing the disintergrater :fallout:

I think it'd be better suited as a RoF increaser like the aperture stabilizer mod for the Plasma Rifle.

Could the glass tube be a good max CND booster? Thicker glass chamber means it withstands the rigors of discharge for a longer time.

That would be because the http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Disintegrator was not added to the game world, and it seems fairly obvious that it was never intended to be (given its ridiculous stats). Sorry, not implementing that one.





Yeah, that could work, actually - leave the projectile-speed increase to the rifles. The thicker glass tube could be a good substitute for what I had planned for the 'improved heat sink' - it would probably be more visible. And it would certainly save me some work; if you're okay with me using that file you've got there, of course.

That's why I made them.

Also... Any idea on how the "VATS Bonus" mod effect works? I was thinking of some sort of special sighting deal for the Multiplas so it actually gets a VATS boost (Plasma Spaz didn't boost the number of Multiplas shots I could get at AGI 6). It could replace the mag accelerator. I still think that the Multiplas needs a barrel choke effect far more than a faster shot speed. It's already a short range weapon so shot speed isn't as much an issue, but the shot scatter is so great it's TOO short. It's not a matter of getting a projectile on target, it's getting all on target.

Checking The Vault wiki, it seems no vanilla mods have any such effect that sounds like it would be VATS Bonus.

Awesome - thanks. Perhaps I could get a copy sometime?




I don't know at this point, sorry. I haven't tested it out... and mostly I wanted to stick to weapon mods that would (hopefully) be useful across combat as a whole, rather than only in VATS. Admittedly this is probably also influenced by how little I use VATS myself. :whistling:

Anyway, pure conjecture here; I guess it could have been intended as something that gives you a bonus to hit in VATS, or something that reduces the number of action points required per attack. If it was even implemented.




Oh fine, you win. I'll reshape the mag accelerator mesh slightly and it can be something like a 'Magnetic Stabiliser' instead.

What other mod were you planning for the pistol? I can pack that in too and get the plasma pistol completely out of the way. I may be able to do some chopshop on the mag accelerator and make a proper one that isn't "integrated". Or I can splice the second SEC socket on from the FO3 WMK model.



I might poke around at it just see if it does anything.



Trust me, I know from much experience about the multiplas's shortcomings. I always have to wait until a Deathclaw was at very dangerously close ranges before opening fire on its head, lest one bolt veer way off and not kill the thing in two full shots. A barrel choke would do much more for it than faster projectiles.

Ok, as nobody has said this in a few posts time, and it's all been productive and useful, I'd just like to contribute the following to this conversation:

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CAN'TWAIT CAN'TWAIT CAN'TWAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So there.

Great job on the plasma rifles. When upgraded with the two sets of aligned cylinders it looks like the original concept art and the cool real-life replica prop:

http://img.izismile.com/img/img3/20101019/640/nice_handmade_fallout_640_03.jpg
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080916232451/fallout/images/9/90/F3_Plasma_Rifle.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanpalser/sets/72157623717376540/with/4832756121/

And that connecting hose on the dual-cell harness makes all the difference.

I think that the Multiplas RIfle should come with those dual cells as standard. Perhaps get rid of the tape that makes the dual-cell harness look a bit makeshift and jury rigged, instead have a metal ring or something. The Multiplas has a massive capacity (in the vanilla game it is 60, compared to 24 of a normal rifle), and yet seemingly is powered by just one ordinary microfusion cell.

I think the Plasma Defender is another weapon where an extra battery upgrade should actually be part of the standard model rather than a weapon mod, because the Plasma Defender has a capacity of 48 small energy charges, while the other energy pistols use identical packs of batteries and they have 30 or 32 charges. Also, the Plasma Defender looks like the Extended Capacity version of the Fallout 2 plasma pistol, so putting an extended capacity mod on an extended capacity weapon seems a bit odd. (I guess the idea of the Plasma Defender is that the extended capacity modifcations have been repurposed so that it uses the extra ammo for more powerful shots instead of more shots per reload.)

In the case of the ordinary plasma pistol... I'm not sure the plasma pistol needs an extended capacity or "extra battery" mod. It already has a capacity of 16, which is pretty nice. (If anyone ever complains about the plasma pistol being rubbish compared to a 10mm pistol or a 357 magnum, their complaint will never be about the ammo capacity!) I'd rather have a magnetic accelerator, so a fully upgraded plasma pistol has a glass green tube for increased durability, surrounded by a flashing magnetic accelerator, and with extra injector/coolant things on the back for increased rate of fire.

Alternatively, could have a mod that increases the damage... so far none of the plasma weapons have any sort of equivalent to laser Focused Optics or a magnum's Long Barrel. (Heh, now I'm imaginging a plasma pistol with a really long glass tube, could look awesome, or could look very silly.)

Obviously it is hard to mess with the damage stats prior to Obsidian releasing the patch which is going to change the damage of energy weapons.



And that's why I suggested it! Though I must give credit to Weijesen who first implimented something similar in EVE. The glowing bits on his weapons might have been a little over the top, but the green glass tube was good common sense.

I must point out that the term "Aperture Stabilizers" doesn't really make sense on the plasma pistol, as it doesn't have any apertures!

I've always figured those cylinder things (on both plasma pistol and plasma rifle) are some sort of coolant system, or heatsinks, or capacitors, or injectors. (Injectors is a handy catch-all term because it is non-specific as to what it is injecting. Could be injecting plasma gas, could be injecting electricity, could be injecting coolant.) And any of those would explain why altering them or fitting more of them would increase the rate of fire.

In Mothership Zeta the note about the unique Novasurge plasma pistol says that most of its weight is from the "coolant coils".

And then there's the Plasma Caster, which has an upgrade for "HS Electrodes" which attaches to the three bronze cylinders on top of the caster, so apparently the cylinders on a plasma caster are electrodes. So I guess that's five options then... "coolant coils", "heatsinks", "capacitors", "injectors", or "electrodes". But "Aperture Stabilizers" just means... a system for keeping holes balanced?