OK, not quite given up...M4 in progress

[Brettzies]

Alright...I'm ready to toss in the towel here again and can modding GR:AW even before I've really got going. Nomatter what I try I just can't get the F*ing thing to create and atlas set properly.

VBS1 work here I come

Why do you need an atlas set? I know ultimately if you make a .bundle or something you'll need it, but for just working, I'm using the local/english dir method.

Bascially, I duplicated everything that has to do with the scar_L, all dirs and files. I then switched all names and xml refrences from scarL to bp_m4v2. Added entries for it in the manager xmls and unit files. This is all the way down to textures and attachment files. The only thing I didn't change was the material names since essentially it was teh scarL. Once I had a new "M4" weapon working in the game(even though it was just the scarL model and attachements) I started messing with exporting meshes as diesel files. It was a tedious process to get the structure working, but it was the easiest way to go. The only thing I haven't gotten to is the ammo packs. No bundle or atlas files generated yet.

I was pretty frustated when I started trying this, but you've gotten further then I did in just a few days. I've been at this for weeks I think Swat4 took me exactly 4 weekends to go from not knowing anything about modding to finished weapon with custom hand animations(which i rigged to go back and forth between maya and max), sound, fx, and even some coding to get the third person chars to use the correct idle animations. There were no devs helping out either, though they did have a pretty robust tutorial and sample files. I feel like I've been messing with this since June/July...hahhaha.

In some ways GRAW is actually much easier. Just lots of dirs and xmls to keep track of, which makes it more tedious to debug. Plus the information has been trickling in little by little as well. I just hope we can change the aim position....

[SnowFella]

Ok...then either you edited the atlas_weapons.xml and atlas_weapons_3rd.xml file by adding in your own texture set or simply used the excisting scarl texture setup...in other words messing up both the scarl and scarh.

Here's a quick and "dirty" test just to make sure my model is setup and exported properly and my textures are ok...I've simply overwritten the scarl model and it's texturs with my model and my textures. Disregard the magazine texture, it's still the original scarl mag and with me overwriting the scarl's textures with my own it ends up looking pretty funky.

Equipment screen

1st person game view.

With the original (scarl) positioning of the sight alignment dummy the aimpoint sightview works perfectly just as I suspected, the sight just hovers over the rail...something that the previously mentioned "spacer" could take care of.

[Brettzies]

Ok...then either you edited the atlas_weapons.xml and atlas_weapons_3rd.xml file by adding in your own texture set or simply used the excisting scarl texture setup...in other words messing up both the scarl and scarh.

I didn't touch those xmls. You can still select the scarL or scarH, they both work and look fine. I wasn't really interested in overwriting weapons so very careful about making sure it's an addition.

Anyway, looks like you made some progress, so that's good. Your texture looks good too. Did you have to add a lightmap uv thing?

[Wille]

what happens when you try to create the atlas? does it give you an error message or does it actually create the atlas.dds but they dont show up in game properly? post your xml!

[SnowFella]

Never mind Wille.

After the last dummy spit I took 2 steps away from the computer to think about what I'm doing wrong here, had a smoke...ok more like 3 smokes (my lungs doesn't much like GR:AW), cracked open beer number 3 since I got home from work (my liver doesn't much like GR:AW either) and figured things out.

Instead of using the silly *ducks* atlasgen.exe I simply duplicated the tdb_texture_set.xml files inside the various scarl texture folders and did some very simple changes to them....and presto I now have an M4 CQBR ingame with it's proper textures.

Funny thing is as the magwell and 6 o'clock rail on the CQBR just about have the same coordinates as the SCAR's magwell and 6 o'clock rail the ELGM acctually fits onto the CQBR model without any need to move the alignment dummy

Edit: To everyone on the GRiN team...if you in the last 2 to 3 hours have been feeling a slight, or severe, burning sensation around the ears I sincerely appologize for all the curses I've been throwing your way. Least it gave my Australian wife a chance to hear her Swedish husband throw out some very fluent swedish curses.

[Keen]

Tack sa mycket for that impressive M4!

[Lancer]

Snow, any chance of you making a decent gun mate?

[SnowFella]

lol

Like what Lancer?

There's still lots of work to be done on the CQBR before it's at an acceptable level for release. Among others fixing the sight "spacer", making a unique mag for it, repainting the whole texturemap to remove lightinformation, repainting the specular map, fixing up the lodb and lodc models as they currently have the same amount of detail as the 1st person model and possibly fixing up a normal map for it.

That coupled with my other commitments means it could take me a long time to finalise.

That's unless ppl want a rought and ugly M4 to play with ASAP

[DiGiTALY -TC-]

..and what about sound

I would say sound will require at least the same time you are spending on modelling...welcome to the next generation games modding

[pz3]

Nextgen ...no you dont say?!?

half this craps been around since ghost recon just not in games.

[Eagle_Eye]

*!Bump* F88 Steyr!

[SnowFella]

@Eagle_eye: Doubt I'll be going down that road anytime soon mate. Bringing in an F88 would mean having to make brand new animations and a brand new scope addon for starters. That's progressing in leaps and bounds compared to the little babysteps I'm taking right now.

Right now I'm trying to overcome yet another hurdle, creating a working .bundle file out of my "mod". Once I get this part ironed out I can move forward once again and start working on something more concrete.

At the moment turning my currently 'local' based mod into a bundle has 2 effects.

1: The CQBR refuses to show up in the equippment screen. Not sure if this is because I'm testing equipping it through the MP loadout screen or something I've done wrong.

2: With the bundle file in the bundle directory I get a CTD every time I bring up the commandmap. With the below report in the crashlog file.

Mon Sep 25 18:14:00 2006



Crash in application version: grpcrc1.30


data\lib\units\extensions\hudtacticalmap.dsf(-1): cant find member: _team in type <void>


SCRIPT STACK


	data\lib\units\extensions\hudtacticalmap.dsf(0)

	data\lib\units\extensions\hud.dsf(0)

[/code]


If or when I get this resolved I can move forward with making a smallish weapon addon for possible release. Would most likely contain an M4A1 and an M4 CQBR, M4A1 being able to use only the Aimpoint sight and the CQBR only able to use the EoTech sight.

The reason for the 2 different M4 version is the way the aiming animations are set up. I simply don't have the time to start working on making new animations and to me it would be quicker to make 2 separate weapon models in order to use the 2 sights already available (aimpoint and eotech). Although that would be dependant on if my understanding of the aiming animation and it's results depending on what scope is used are correct.

[SnowFella]

Oh well...still no real progress on the bundle situation and adding the eotech as an allowed attachments works model vise...but the character won't bring up the sightpicture. I'd say there's something in the animations that would need to be "tricked" for that to work.

Here's atleast 3 screenshots of current progress...keep in mind the model is very much work in progress, textures are work in progress....heck pretty much everything is work in progress

Everything displayed "works" ingame...even the ammopack for the CQBR

[Wille]

looks great! good job so far! when you say the character wont bring up the "sightpicture" what do you mean by that?

[SnowFella]

well, with the eotech (in other words the scope originally only allowed on the crye) nothing happends when I hit the right mousebutton = no scoped view through the sight.

Edit: As for the looks of things...personally I think it looks kinda The model and texture has so many bugs and flaws in it that I'm going to have to remake large portions of the mesh and repaint just about the whole texture. For example the front RIS is currently made up of 2 parts that ain't welded together (that probably is causing the lighting issue visible in 2 of those screens, the bottom is lighter than the top) and the lower part uses the same texture as the top (probably also contributes to the lighting issue)

As for the texturemap, it's photo sourced and already has light information baked in...so I've got highlights and shadows in all the wrong places. Combine that with a specmap done from quickly desaturating and darkening my colourmap and those iffy highlights really bloom when you step out into the light.

[Brettzies]

Here's atleast 3 screenshots of current progress...keep in mind the model is very much work in progress, textures are work in progress....heck pretty much everything is work in progress

Everything displayed "works" ingame...even the ammopack for the CQBR

Looks awesome.

[SnowFella]

Here's a personal sneak preview for those who dare testing it.

The below file contains my local based test setup aswell as a readme-first.txt file with all you need to know.

There's only been 2 changes to the model since the screenshots taken earlier:

1: Aimpoint scope has been moved somewhat forward.

2: Handplacement when using the combatgrip has been tweaked.

Download link

Call this the first user created weapons addon for GR:AW ever to be released

[Wille]

Here's a personal sneak preview for those who dare testing it.

The below file contains my local based test setup aswell as a readme-first.txt file with all you need to know.

There's only been 2 changes to the model since the screenshots taken earlier:

1: Aimpoint scope has been moved somewhat forward.

2: Handplacement when using the combatgrip has been tweaked.

Download link

Call this the first user created weapons addon for GR:AW ever to be released

woo, cool! ill try and check it out when I come back from the max9 release seminar!

[SnowFella]

Try not to laugh to hard when you crack the model open with the .diesel extractor I'm sure you boys have.

And that's just plain mean Wille....here us poor mortals have to make do with old versions of 3dsm and you dev's even get invited to release seminars for new versions. I knew I should of taken the offer for permanent employment when BIA mentioned it to me

[Lancer]

I loaded it up mate and the Aimpoint/EoTech are still off the rails by quite a bit.

After selecting the weapon the game would CTD on starting a mission. The crash left nothing in the crashlog.

[Whisper_44]

Snow.. you are in big trouble mate.

[EricJ]

Well it worked fine for me:

Unmodded (except GUI) 1.30

Other than the funky look of the Aimpoint, it was perfectly zeroed and animations were right.

Edited September 26, 2006 by EricJ

[Lancer]

Mmmm, weird. I tried it with v1.30 and no other mods. That was in MP not SP, perhaps that had something to do with it.

[underfire]

Works fine in SP campaign, works fine in Cooperative mode online. Works when I assign it to AI teammates as well as myself.

EOTECH will not "scope in", so you can't aim at all with that sight. Big sad face, I love that sight.

Here's the biggie though: I CANNOT play [GR] mode with the mod installed. It doesn't matter if I assign the gun to myself or run fully stock guns, doesn't matter what map I play, as soon as I choose my loadout and click start in base, I can sometimes see a brief flash of the game (sometimes not) and then it crashes out. No crash log, only the standard windows "GRAW has experienced an error and needs to be closed."

Other than that, looks awesome, it'll be awesome when the glitches get cleaned, and it'd be nice to see a non-yellow magazine loaded in, maybe some ironsights and possibly a standard M-203?

Keep up the good work!

[Lancer]

I've been using it in [GR] so hence my failure rate.