Flamethrower Ghost

[SR114]

So I haven't modeled for...months. I've forgotten a few things. Right now I'm trying to make a ghost that shoots flames. I was able to do it once, but lost my tags for it.

I've set up the functions for the ghost's gun to match those of the flamethrower's, with the exception of the "A" in and out (flamethrower weapon uses it for ammo, ghost gun uses it for rate of fire).

I put my 2 types of flamethrower markers into it-- the #defoliant spawn and #mwa. No luck.

So I'm taking a more careful look at how I do things. I noticed that the ghost's gun tips don't aim up and down anymore. I'm thinking this is because I didn't link the children to the parents right...possibly I used the wrong parent.

This is the hierarchy before exporting the ghost model:


frame hull
#cockpit light
#engine
#left foot
#right foot
#running lights
#running lights
#running lights
#submerged
__unnamed
frame guns
#defoliant spawn
#defoliant spawn
#mwa
#mwa
#primary trigger
#primary trigger
frame left flap
frame right flap
frame seat
#driver
#driver_elite
#left hand elite
#right hand eliteI have a feeling the frame hull isn't supposed to be the parent.
edit: yeah, I'm moving the frame gun around and no part of the "__unnamed" is moving. I've never really got what model rigging is, is that what I need to do?

[KiLLa]

uh you have to seperate the actual geometry OF the guns, and link them to frame guns for them to animate..
And frame hull of course should be the parent..
as far as markers, stop being lazy and sort them out yourself, just analyze the flame thrower/ghost gbxmodel...

[TeeKup]

This won't end well.

[SR114]

I need to know if there is something more to the flame than just adding markers and setting up the weapon tag right. Is there some sort of thing I need to do to the markers in the model before I export it?

I really wish someone would show me the flamethrower rocket hog that was made.

----------------------------------------What I previously wrote----------------------------------------
i have been studying the flamethrower model closely. No I am not lazy. I have been working all day on this. I found the reason why the animations weren't working-- the model exporter was accusing me of adding a modifier when I imported the model. I didn't know that modifier WAS what allowed all that. I know very little about the modeling programs and I'm trying to focus on the effects part for my vehicles.

So far I've realized that if you have a vehicle model and a weapon model, the weapon will choose the weapon model if present, but if not, it will choose the vehicle.

Now I'm trying to figure out where the mwa marker is used so I can make the flamethrower ghost actually shoot flames.

I seriously doubt it, but it may be in the particle system tag for the defoliant.

The defoliant spawn is already named in the weapon, but nowhere else. If anyone else knows where it is, please tell. I really hope it's not hardcoded, because if it is, I can only make a single-flame flamethrower ghost or a flamethrower ghost that cannot aim above ground level.


This won't end well.

Why? is this like the make-the-energy-sword-glow-in-first-person idea?
I know it didn't work before. This is a particle system, not a glow tag. I don't get what's the matter with what I'm doing.

so again, where is the mwa tag? I copied everything exactly. I even used the flamethrower weapon and took away its model for mine. All I get is the small blue flame (firing effect). None of my attachments are activating. I decided to use only one defoliant spawn and mwa marker, but still no luck

[KiLLa]

ever try you know...FIGURING IT OUT?
when I worked on the flamehog, waaay back I didn't make a thread begging for answers..
I sat for ours tinkering around, figuring out what to do through trial and error..
No one here is going to have a walk-through on exactly what your trying to accomplish..

Try analyzing the flamethrower effects themselfs, seeing what markers they use, what markers the weapon used..ect ect..
Your your brain man..all you gotta do is think..

[Phopojijo]

Yeah...

Not everyone needs to re-invent the wheel.

I'm sorry you spent months tinkering on problems... but that doesn't mean everyone should.

[Limited]

I cant really help you in making it although I do have a question/remark about it.

Won't the driver, drive into the flames and catch fire/get damaged by the flames? Seeing as the flamethrower goes in front, and the ghost can move forwards, if the ghost is going top speed forwards and driver fires the flamethrower will he not get hit by his own flames?

:)

[n00b1n8R]

Why would you want flamethrowers on a ghost anyway?

You've removed it's ability for long range combat, so now it's only useful for taking on infantry or open vehicles (if you can get close enough to them).

It's about as useful as the flamehog. :|

[FRain]

ever try you know...FIGURING IT OUT?
when I worked on the flamehog, waaay back I didn't make a thread begging for answers..
I sat for ours tinkering around, figuring out what to do through trial and error..
No one here is going to have a walk-through on exactly what your trying to accomplish..

Try analyzing the flamethrower effects themselfs, seeing what markers they use, what markers the weapon used..ect ect..
Your your brain man..all you gotta do is think..
I partially agree with this. I spend at least try for a day or two to try to fix the problem before I make a thread for help. You should not be spending MONTHS trying to do the same thing over and over again.

[sevlag]

This won't end well.if you could shoot the flamethrower tanks and they could explode, that would be funny to watch the thing just combust.

I also agree with noob, all you have done is turned it into an area denial vehicle which means it would only be sutiable for CQC maps where controlling certain areas is a must.

[SR114]

I believe that if something's been done before, it's worth asking about. The gauss hog Halo 3 effects weren't so I only asked opinions on how it looked-- it took me over a day to work on the contrail alone.

I've had this problem for a really long time and I'm sure I'm just missing something simple. I looked all over in the tags for anything that uses the "mwa" marker. I knew that I wanted the markers on the vehicle and not on a separate weapon model because it would not animate, even with its own animations.

I've used a fireghost in the past (shot fireballs). I had to make that one short range for it to be balanced.

The thing is that the ghost has full directional control. No getting stuck and having to back up. The driver is in control of the gun as well.

Edit: I will be gone for the next several hours.
I decided to take a look at immure 2 to see if I could get any ideas on how it was done by looking at it. What I concluded was that it was a new particle system or systems that spawn off the projectile itself. I already tried using the normal defoliant and defoliant2 particle systems on the flame projectile, but they repeat the flame animation, making it look somewhat like a hot piece of lava emitting flames as it shoots through the air.

I'm sure there is some sort of linking (not the literal "linking") between the markers. Because when I doubled the flamethrower markers, I got two flames.

Btw, I think you could extend the flames further by moving the mwa markers out. Really all I'm asking is how was it done before? I'm planning to put so much more into this, but I'm not moving until I know I can't do better.

So far I'm stuck with a modified flamethrower model. The advantage is I can switch vehicles without remodeling them. Take a look at this:
Toje78pgq8I
I added a simple modified "pilot" flame to the ghost. In knaves' ghost model, his ghost doesn't have turret pieces that move up and down...so nothing really lost here. Also, when I activated the "debug camera", I was trying to roast myself. It would take a pretty lousy ghost driver to roast themselves. The most effective way to roast opponents is strafing.

Yes I agree, though awesome, the flamehog is not really all that great for balanced gameplay. You need a driver and gunner for it to be effective. Also, there is limited maneuverability and the need for the driver and gunner to work together to take out targets. There is none of that for the flameghost.

If not balanced, the flameghost would be overkill. I've tested the fireghost idea hundreds of times... or at least over 50 times.

[KiLLa]

well in concept it doesn't make sense either, seeing as flames are human weapons..
Maaaybe extended plasma flames?
Anywho, I don't recall ever using the mwa markers...
I believe I edited the effects to suit the markers I used..
You do realize that the EFFECTS, not the WEAPON have alot of the information on what markers to use and what not...

[Kalub]

I remember the flamehog.... good times, I even still have it sittin' in my tags folder.

_o/ @ killa

[dark57]

maybe plasma flames?

[Heathen]

Already been said dark >.>

[n00b1n8R]

well in concept it doesn't make sense either, seeing as flames are human weapons..
Humans invented fire? :eyesroll:

Why can't the covenant have flame weapons too :S
Hell, fire creates plasma and I wonder who might use that. :downs:

[Heathen]

OOOH SNAP

[KiLLa]

ok you guys are just splitting hairs and loosing sight of the halo universe..
You ever see an elite witha flamethrower?
Would that even sit right with any of you?
And you should research plasma more if you think "fire makes plasma"

[Inferno]

Lighten up man its a modding community not a company. Who cares if someone wants to make a flamethrower ghost? Yes it makes no sense but everyone learns by creating things. Hell I'm pretty sure the first thing you made was something like a AR that shot rockets.

Just my opinion no need to get pissed or start flame wars.

[mech]

KiLLa made some pretty baller things in his modding career.

[Inferno]

Hell I'm pretty sure the first thing you made was something like a AR that shot rockets.
-

[mech]

Who said I was referring to the first thing he made, I'm not a fucking idiot I can read.

[SR114]

wow...ok

What I got that helped me was-- covenant would use plasma rather than fire. Yeah plasma would create fire. Wait, would it? If "plasma burns", then could it start fire? Or is plasma, being the fourth physical state of matter, just a special type of gas? I guess it would depend how hot you got the plasma.

Yeah I don't think it would start a fire... but it would resemble it physically.

Come to think of it...why wouldn't the covenant use fire? Every civilization would need to know about it and many would use it. The flamethrower is primitive even compared to UNSC standards.

I could make the particle systems look like plasma though... Neah, unless someone else wanted to tackle that, I'm satisfied with the flame ghost. I always wanted a vehicle that I could drive, control the gun, and shoot double flames out. Maybe it's not too sensible...but if you wanted to make sense of it. Think of this:

Was the UNSC known for doing many experiments? Do you think they ever acquired a ghost before? You could probably tear apart a ghost, rip out the plasma weapon system, install a petrol tank, replace the plasma nozzles with flamethrower ones. I don't know exactly how it would work, but I think it could be possible.

Think about it: what makes fast zombies in Halo 3 so effective in matchmaking? All they have is a sword and no grenades. How could they possibly kill anyone? And yet, many times those games end quickly.

The flame is slow to react, but all the player has to do is shoot it, then beat it via boost. It would switch from a combat vehicle to a sneak-attack one...I'm not too sure if "reconnaissance vehicle" is the right word. If you see it coming, you can prepare, but if it sneaks up on you and your camping team mates, you're all screwed.

By the way killa, in case you don't get the pm, how did you make it?


You do realize that the EFFECTS, not the WEAPON have alot of the information on what markers to use and what not...Yeah, I got around that, but the particle system is being really uncooperative with me. It just doesn't make sense.

Edit: I'm going to try giving the particle system to the defoliant effect instead.
Edit: didn't work...I even used a plasma cannon explosion to test it.
Edit: Now this is really not making sense-- I replaced the defoliant effect with the defoliant explosion for the plasma cannon. Nada, zip, nothing.
Edit: the defoliant effect works now because I took it out of the attachments and made it a firing effect. I hate this hardcoded stuff. Just like the concept of grenade projectiles with "detonation timer starts after first bounce".
Edit: I used the plasma cannon explosion in place of one of the ghost weapon's firing effects. I didn't get hurt, but the particle system spawned. I'm going to research this for a little bit.
Edit: It is the particle system itself that refuses to spawn. Also, none of the attachments will work for the weapon. I got around the attachment problem by making all firing effects part of the "firing effect" section. I merged the blue and orange flame effects (flamethrower jet and flamethrower defoliant) together so I don't need more than one firing effect. I've done my best, but so far I have no idea how to get the particle system to spawn. I will be gone for several hours, so feel free to comment with ideas, tested or not, just please share your expertise on the issue if you have any. Thanks!

video is what I got so far with no flamethrower model, no edited ghost model. It's just the plain effects. It's missing the particle systems obviously. If you want to mess with it, I'll give you the tags for it.
wZ_ETgs1qqw

[Pooky]

Humans invented fire? :eyesroll:

Why can't the covenant have flame weapons too :S
Hell, fire creates plasma and I wonder who might use that. :downs:

One could also add that Brutes are part of the Covenant, they use flame weapons, and have been seen driving Ghosts.