WIP: Laser Rapier replacement

[6742c1a8ddea5Olfred]

Hey everyone

I made a replacement model for the laser rapier. At the moment it's only the player view model.
The arm model was taken from the Tactiocool wrench replacement from Mercurius.

Image: http://s14.directupload.net/images/130404/rqhuhtoj.png

If you are interested in testing it out you can download it here.
Would be nice if you can give me some feedback on it.

As I am not very good in making textures they look a bit crappy. If someone want's to help out with them feel free to contact me.

If someone is interested in the source files you can get them here.

EDIT: Added screenshot

[6742c1a8de04cZylonBane]

This sort of thread really, really needs screenshots.

[6742c1a8de1acKolya]

Well the hand and hilt obviously need some work. It might also be worthwhile in this case to stray from the rather boring original, eg with a curved blade.

[6742c1a8de53fJoin2]

It might also be worthwhile in this case to stray from the rather boring original, eg with a curved blade.

Strongly disagree for no reason other than personal preference.

Looking forward to seeing this project evolve and hopefully stay true to the original

[6742c1a8de6ddKolya]

It was just an idea to give it some character. There isn't much to stay true to with this under-designed Star Wars ripoff.

[6742c1a8de816Olfred]

I tried to stay true to the original one and well. There isn't much visible stuff to begin with.
The hand itself looks fine, except when it get's animated which bugged me for several hours and I came to the conclusion that it's not really fixable (with only modeling) since the animations in the game are wonky to begin with.

To make the thing less boring I added some animation to the texture.

[6742c1a8dea85blaydes99]

IMO, the most important elements that you can add are ones that set this apart from the original. If it pretty much looks the same, there won't be much point in people wanting to use it. Why not fancy it up a bit?

[6742c1a8deceaJoin2]

IMO, the most important elements that you can add are ones that set this apart from the original. If it pretty much looks the same, there won't be much point in people wanting to use it. Why not fancy it up a bit?

Well I'm glad the devs of SHTUP and others didn't hold that viewpoint. It can stay true the original, just be more detailed. Maybe a bit of additional creativity here & there but nothing too drastic I hope. Maybe it is a SW rip-off, but i'm not a SW fan anyway. 

Would a curved blade make sense in terms of practicality?

[6742c1a8dee7cKolya]

As a weapon, a laser sword (laser rapier, light sabre) doesn't make much sense to begin with. Swords developed from daggers to cover a greater range. But with the advent of guns they gradually fell out of favour. George Lucas resurrected this type of weapon for his scifi movies simply for show effects. But he had to go to some lengths to make it work, by giving the Jedi ultrafast reflexes to cover shots from ranged weapons with the blade. His Light Sabres are a misnomer, because sabres usually have a curved one-sided blade and hand protection.
The advantage of a curved blade (sabre) is that it's easier to handle, especially by beginners and in confined spaces, and it makes for larger cutting wounds. Unlike with straight swords the middle part of the sabre blade can be used for efficient blows.
Disadvantages are that sabres don't have as much punch and therefore cannot penetrate armour as easily. With increasing curvature, which is a matter of personal taste, a sabre may also not be suited for stabbing anymore.

[6742c1a8df46fJoin2]

Snip

Damn you. 

However, you can argue with this:

"That's right, just like the one the Hacker used on Citadel Station!We're the only one in town who's got 'em! Only 40 nanites!"
―Street vendor selling Laser Rapier replicas in New Detroit.

And this:

The Mark VI Laser Rapier is a weapon featured in System Shock 2 and is the upgraded version of the Laser Rapier appeared in System Shock.
This weapon works by projecting a porous field of reflective material in a shaft shaped region around its base. When it strikes a target, the material will be bent and the intense refracted light inside will be released locally, causing intense burns to the target.

?

Well, you'd only need to change the inventory description for the first quote, as for the second, I've never seen this info in the game. Got it off of the Shodanpedia.

As a weapon, a laser sword (laser rapier, light sabre) doesn't make much sense to begin with.

Well, as a secondary weapon that is multi-purpose I could see a laser rapier of sorts in the future. "Set phasers to stun" & a portable rock/metal cutter kind of multi-purpose.
It's a possibility, maybe.

Perhaps the change ammo type mechanic could utilize this  Initially it is good against bots etc, average against organic. Change ammo type for reverse effect? Makes sense in terms of balance too considering the following:
Wrench requirement=0
Laser Rapier Requirement=3 energy
Crystal Shard=1 Exotic (exotic sucks anyway)

It is a melee weapon so you still have to get up close so it shouldn't be overpowered.

Once you change ammo type the texture color could change, taken from the laser R color mods already hosted on this site.

[6742c1a8df7f9blaydes99]

Well I'm glad the devs of SHTUP and others didn't hold that viewpoint. It can stay true the original, just be more detailed. Maybe a bit of additional creativity here & there but nothing too drastic I hope. Maybe it is a SW rip-off, but i'm not a SW fan anyway. 

Sure, I agree with sticking to the same style and spirit of the original, but if the quality of the model (polygon detail and texture usage/quality) is no better, than is missing something special. A great comparison would be the original psi-amp vs. Eldron's psi-amp:

[6742c1a8df92dZylonBane]

Ah, the good 'ol flash bomb amp.

[6742c1a8dfb19blaydes99]

Ah, the good 'ol flash bomb amp.

Hehe, I knew you'd appreciate the chance to see it again.

[6742c1a8dfc7fvoodoo47]

more like a death star, if you ask me.

[6742c1a8dfd72blaydes99]

Ah, now you are just playing dirty. Deja vu!

[6742c1a8dfe4bGeneral_Hoohah]

 

[6742c1a8e0123RocketMan]

The intent was to improve the look without changing the style.  Unfortunately this weapon does not particularly lend itself to improvement unless you have a lot of imagination and talent... one reason I stayed away from it.

[6742c1a8e034eZylonBane]

Did I miss something? Title says Laser Rapier replacement, but I don't see a replacement. Just a remake of the old one... *confused* Isn't a replacement when you replace it with a different weapon for the same weapon slot? Or am I wrong?

Apparently reading as far as the second sentence of the first post was too much effort for you?

I made a replacement model for the laser rapier

[6742c1a8e0438General_Hoohah]

If I offended you I apologize, it wasn't my intent.

[6742c1a8e063fOlfred]

Uh, I'm not a native english speaker. But even though it's a remake of the old, it would still be called replacement, because you somehow replace the old one. Or did I mess something up?

So as a little update on this.
The reason I pick the laser rapier?
There are only two weapons left which had no staying-true-to-original model, the laser rapier and the psi-sword.
IMHO even an update to the arm model is improvement since everything fit's better and you won't switch between two different looking arms.
And I know that you can't do much on the laser rapier when you want to stay true to original. With the vanilla model you only see the blade, nothing else. With the model I made you at least see a bit of the hilt, but even that doesn't improves much.
So I thought about it what could be done to even improve on it, which made me add an animation to the laser (which doesn't really shines through in the picuture  ).

Currently I stopped working on it. I may be able to create a model and stuff. But I totally suck when it comes to making textures. I tried to make something halfway decent for this, and to be true, I am not a bit satisfied.
I'll try to get someone to do texture work for me for this and maybe upcoming stuff, but at the moment there isn't any process.

[6742c1a8e0725voodoo47]

hires updated (Tacticool) arm with the old rapier would be perfectly fine with me.

[6742c1a8e0a09ZylonBane]

Or did I mess something up?

You did not.

[6742c1a8e0b5fSystem]

Rapier 2
[1.png expired]
[2.png expired]

[6742c1a8e0c5cvoodoo47]

I see a black baton?

also I can almost guarantee this topic is going to turn hilarious.