Animated weapons

[Svirin Kerath]

Another old forum topic; animated weapons. This would have minimal applications to the default weapons, but would open up a lot of possibilities for modders. I'll explain.

If you look at the minigun gfx files, you'll noticed there are a couple that aren't really used. What if the minigun actually rotated when it fired? Hypothetically, you would make a version of it with its barrels one way, then make 2 or 3 more with them in different positions so they appear to be rotating.

And the SOCOM and DEs... what if the slides went back with each shot? Or the chainsaw...what if the chains rotated?

And then there are the inherent modding possibilities... you could make crazy morphing guns or weapons that shoot out steam or leak water when they fire, or whatever you want. Grenades could turn into hooks midair and M79 ammo could split apart... All you'd need to do would be to change the animation files.

This is actually a lot simpler than it may sound. It uses the same principle as the explosion animation, and would work the exact same way, rapidly switching between image files, except it would only be when the weapon is fired.

A problem arises, though; doing this would triple the weapon image files required and make the weapons.gfx file really messy. As a temporary solution, each weapon would have its own folder, like the explosion.

Another solution offered on previous forums is that the img files be converted to gifs for use in the game. A discussion on whether to implement this would require its own thread (and someone else; I can't personally say I have much knowledge in that field). However, it would make animations much simpler, tho you would need flash to mod it.

Think it's worthwhile? I have no doubt it would be cool, but is it possible, or necessary?

[[R^M]TomaHawk]

U are on a roll today that would be pretty cool also.Seeing the barrel rotaing be awesome but it wouldnt really add anything to the game mode but the graphics would be sweet.

[Mistercharles]

The minigun already can rotate, check it out in the weapons-gfx folder. It's just not used in the default mod.

As for other weapons, why not?

[Vltava]

Don't we already have PNGs with a BMP extension working in Soldat? Could we do that with GIFs as well?

[Svirin Kerath]

The minigun already can rotate, check it out in the weapons-gfx folder. It's just not used in the default mod.

do they? i've modified them and nothing happens...

[jrgp]

yeah, i agree with all of this

[2big4u]

wouldnt this just create more unececcary lag?

[Zamorak]

PNG's with a BMP extension are BMP's, not PNG's.   You can't have an animated BMP, you would have to use sprites.

 

[DarK]

sorry to disappoint you, matey, but have you seen how many pixels a weapon accomadates?
Not many... Is it worth having 3 pixel moving oscillating?

[T-Bone]

sorry to disappoint you, matey, but have you seen how many pixels a weapon accomadates?
Not many... Is it worth having 3 pixel moving oscillating?

YES! if it meas that the guns look better. Who doesnt want a more appealing gameplay?

[Vltava]

PNG's with a BMP extension are BMP's, not PNG's.   You can't have an animated BMP, you would have to use sprites.

 

Not quite, because Anna got PolyWorks to support alpha PNG and Serial Killer made several explosions with alpha PNG.

[vulbastick]

great idea - make things much more realistic, steam emitting from guns. yeah.

especially the chainsaw since it does look kinda wierd when it doesn't spin!

theres a few animations soldat could have extra which people have been mentioning - spawn spark etc.

[Svirin Kerath]

there are a lot of things that could be animated to make theme more interesting (like terrain for instance) but i figure the biggest stepping stone will be doing the guns.

[Keron Cyst]

The Minigun graphics with a -2 after them are a second frame. The reason they do not appear to change anything and seem to not be used is because the frames loop so quickly (they're only two frames, after all ).

I'm in full support of this. This only aligns more with an old suggestion I made at the old forums which talked of having Soldat "predict" files (so you could create as many frames as you wanted for stuff like this, and others).

[jettlarue]

yeah. i love stuff that looks cool. and for anyone that thinks this would make lag, it doesnt add anything more to the server so there would be no more extra lag.

[Plonkoon]

Mods would be so much more fun with this.

[2big4u]

The only weapon i want animated is the chainsaw, i still cant stand the chain not moving!!