SS2 Assidragon (Ravenlord) Weapon replacement pack

[67409b82cc316Assidragon]

Tags: °weapon °sound °SS2 Change the file extension to .ZIP for unpacking.
As the thread name suggests, this is a weapon replacement pack to improve (or if it doesn't suit your taste, degrade ) your SS2 expereince.  Installing is fairly straightforward - use modmanager. All weapons are available as separate download so you can pick which you like; the weapon sounds update is available as a zip, which you can happily install using the modmanager.


The new Grenade Launcher:

As you can notice, it has become a lot more hi-tech than the old version - more befitting the weapon description which suggests it should be some really advanced weapon, using magnetic forces to fire the grenades and all. Comes with a (useless but pretty) targetting display and a useless ammo counter.
I might actually animate the display or the counter, if you guys/girls like the idea.

The new Shotgun:

The updated shotgun! It's single barrel again, with wooden parts added for the feeling. The ammo counter is (surprise surprise) defunct.

The SCP version is SCP compatible (requires NewDark, probably).

The new Fusion Cannon:

The new FC is a bit smaller and less obtrusive than the old one - since it doesn't do much damage, it should not block your view so much. I tried retaining the heavy look while adding a bit more hi-tech feeling to it.

The new Asssault Rifle:

The new AR. It looks like rifle mixing plastic and metal; also has a red-dot sight attached. I tried making it look dangerous while making it somewhat plain - a simple yet efficient weapon of destruction.

There are only two known bugs. Firstly, I can't model hands yet, so those will be added later to the models. Secondarily, the weapons are yet to be made MP friendly - they may look odd when other players are holding them...

Upcoming ideas

Pistol replacement idea:

Double your barrels, double your fun! It's not very hi-tech, as the gun is based on Alucard's gun from  Hellsing; with it's oversized self, it's rather surrealistic. But I still like it.

[67409b82cc7f9Kolya]

[EDIT: This review refers to an earlier version of Assidragon's weapon pack. By now the Fusion cannon looks kick ass imo and I like the other guns too.]

I just came back from weapon testing. (The Levelselector proved useful for testing purposes once again.)

While all three weapons have distinctive designs I have to say that I love the Grenade launcher. The white plastic and chrome skin is pure genius. This gun looks aseptic and highly advanced and it fits the atmosphere of the game perfectly. Of the three guns this is the biggest improvement over the original.
It's walking movement is too pronounced though. It moves much more than the other two weapons and it gets a bit distracting I felt.
I have to say I prefer the original "FOOOMP" firing sound and the explosion sound is still too gentle, especially when shooting at targets far away. (If you changed that last one at all.) The world model looks a bit small compared to the gun in hand.

All three weapons exhibit a minor twitching of the display areas when moving and turning which is probably due to the weapon's own movement.

While not being as view obscuring as the original Fusion Cannon the new model also looks far less interesting. The very compact design (basically one block) makes it look like a laser rail gun. The missing contrasting colors of the skin add to the blocky look. The only thing that attracts the eyes here is the display which is nicely done with a good feeling for design and colors. A brighter skin, possibly by extending the yellow stripes on the side to the front part would help this model somewhat to come out of the dark but still wouldn't elevate it over the original FC.

Talking of displays: They should be animated of course. On all three guns the displays are remarkable. But since they are so accentuated they need some use and cannot just be eye candy.

The threebarrelled shotgun is en par with it's predecessor. It lacks the slide reload which is somewhat obligatory for a shotgun but it is less blurry and has weapon movement and case ejection. (But wouldn't a threebarrelled gun eject 3 casings instead of one?) The display is a bit less imaginative than the other two. It also needs a new inventory icon. And the sound should somehow reflect that it's shooting from 3 pipes. Mix-pasting the sound over itself two times with a slight delay should do the trick.

All in all this is very good work, with some small improvements still waiting.

[67409b82ccafablaydes99]

Hey Assidragon, how would you feel if I used a model and turned it into a rocket launcher? It might be fun to see if it would fit into the SS2 universe.

[67409b82ccc9dAssidragon]

I'm totally fine with it. But, I can also make a whole new model for you. I'll finish the update for this pack today, after that I can make new models already.

[67409b82cce81Assidragon]

Okay, some new stuff. 

The newer Fusion Cannon:
Image: http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7418/newfusioncannontj2.jpg
The third variant of the fusion cannon looks like a bulky device again, just less odd than the original, and less blocy than my previous attempt.

The new Laser Pistol:
Image: http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/18/newlaserpistol37vy2.jpg
A bit less hard high-tech feeling than the original, the laser pistol now has the cooling liquid visible and glowing (for no apparent reason, but hey, it looks nice!). A bonus for ADAOB users, it passes as plasma pistol nicely.

[67409b82ccffdhemebond]

Looks like a sniper rifle.

[67409b82cd0f6Cap. John Matrix]

I like the Canon;  it's a cool "rebirth" for the older version. 

[67409b82cd1f2Cap. John Matrix]

Hey, Assidragon, are you working in the "doubled-weapon" idea?

[67409b82cd2ecAssassin]

You can always convert Counter-Strike models-just decompile the model,and convert the reference model to .bin using the ShockED toolkit.If it doesn't work you must delete some faces.This is how it should work.

[67409b82cd418Assidragon_Not_Logged_In]

The double-weapon only needs some touch-up and some textures, but the problem is, without a gamesys mod it's the same as a single pistol (ie same clip size, ROF and the muzzle flash only appearing for one gun) - which is a little disillusioning.

[67409b82cd5bfHuff]

Great weapons helping to bring the game up to date while keeping the feel. A few suggestions if you will:-

1) On your Grenade Launcher can you please please pleas animate the display if you could link it to the game's ammo and settings even bigger bonus
2) If you take another bash at it can you take into mind the design of Qukae 2's BFG ?? it's not to blocky but it always gives you the feel it's gonna hurt what it's pointing at ^^. Your new fusion cannon gives this feel but it need's to be i think more wide then long
3) Make the laser Pistol alittle bit bigger it's giving me horriable flashbacks of men in black there nosie Criket espiaclly on overpower

Apart from that there all great in there own and i do enjoy them. O one question why when i drop the shotgun does it diside to stand up with the barrel on the grond o.O

[67409b82cd6fdAssidragon]

The shotgun and the other weapons are known to have this bug. As soon as I can get some time, I'll fix them.

The Quake2 BFG has an issue. All weapons in SS2 are held in a single hand in multiplayer; one has to keep this in mind when making new weapons... it'd look pretty odd.

And the laser pistol is actually that... a laser pistol. ^^ I kept the sizes the same as the original, as resizing too much might breaking something...

[67409b82cd819Huff]

Thanks for the quick feedback

ugggh that's evil to here your limited to making them look 1 handed when the fusion cannon just shounds like it has to be bigger.

pistol is really jst me being picky. It's still great ^^ (keep wondering why it makes me thing of the noise criket from men in black)

[67409b82cd959Assidragon]

You don't want to know how many evil limits Dark has. From the horribly small textures (256x256 max) to the low-polyness (max 1800-1900 poly per gun or else it becomes prone to crashing) to the VERY limited texturing options (the grenade launcher ammo counter never got animated because SS2 doesn't support animated textures at all, 'save from the laser-pistol-ish slooooooooooow cycling stuff).

Making stuff for Dark is a challange in it's own right.

[67409b82cdae6LordYupa]

I really like the look of the new laser pistol in the world, but I agree with Huff, it doesn't look quite right in the hand.  I think it might just be the angle at which you see it, but it does seem kind of short, and the glowing blue bit on the back totally overpowers the rest of the model.  Now, I like the glowing blue liquid (it would be even cooler if you animated it so it flowed slightly.  Even at a really slow cycle rate, it would be a nice touch, and could be passed off as high viscosity), and think it should be kept, but perhaps if the very back part was solid metal instead of glass, it wouldn't draw the eye so much to the butt end of the gun like it does now.

Still, great work, and I look forward to seeing more, if you decide to continue.

[67409b82cdc59xdiesp]

The models of the weapons are good but except for the fusion cannon, the textures don't vehiculate much sense of power: make them black and without stickers. Also, some weapons as the laser pistol are too much centered, I would move the origins further to the lower right.

[67409b82cdd9dLiam]

Thaes weapon skins are just the best. Good work Assidragon  . But the shotgun has a problem. Evry time i frow it on the flour insteand of it flowing down it faces up. But i just keep the old shotgun model when its on the floor. Are you nely done on the pistol yet Assidragon. 

Im sorry for my bad rwiting ive never been the best.

[67409b82cde96Liam]

Why aren't there any nails on the hand with the laser pistol. ???   :question:

[67409b82cdf76Liam]

How do you make your own weapon model.

[67409b82ce0feDoooom]

I've just downloaded the Fusion Cannon and the Grenade Launcher, I'm also considering to download the Laser Pistol as well. But there's something I'd like to say about those three weapons, as on the screens as in the game, I think that the weapons are positioned to much towards the middle. This puts the weapons in a point of view in which you really miss some of the better aspects of the weapons (example: Laser Pistol) or block to much of your view while playing (example: Grenade Launcher). I think it would 'improve' the weapons a little if you would look into that.

[67409b82ce21fSilver_Shield]

Rocket Launcher looks sweet... it just needs animations, if not, then you could get rid of the ammo indicator (otherwise it makes the weapon mod feel cheap  )

[67409b82ce391Assidragon_notloggedinyet]

Well, in my defence, I WAS planning on making the ammo counters work at first. Right before I realized how under-powered the Dark engine really is. Since that, I've deleted and reinstalled SS2 way too many to count and start remaking the originals... maybe I'll get to releasing something again eventually. ;p

Image: http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/1453/shotgunnewcompare2.th.jpg

Image: http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/2127/grenlaunchernewcompare2.th.jpg

[67409b82ce49dKittenykat]

So, one year later, how's it going here? Were you ever able to crack the animated displays idea or did that turn out not to be possible?

Also if the shotgun is supposed to have three barrels how come I only ever see one (including on modded versions)? o.o

[67409b82ce58fKolya]

I always loved the AR from this pack, it's pure Cyberpunk.