Help me make a Reach Grenade Launcher!

[DarkHalo003]

Yeah. Title says it all. I'm trying to recreate a decent port of the Grenade Launcher from Halo Reach. I don't know if you can have a remote detonation as an overcharge, so scratch that for the moment. Here is the list of abilities it has in HCE:

-EMP Overcharge operation is done and it effects a decent area. A direct hit will result in a kill.
-Materials are set for the impact explosion so a direct hit is at least a shield removal.
-Ammo setup and crap is done (includes damage_effects and impact damage for balance).

Things that still need to be done right (notice how I said right):

-Explosion after the shot bounces.
-HUD crap.
-Particles?
-Detonates after a certain range (so no FRG bombardments going on like in BG).

No pictures because there really isn't anything to show yet. I don't have an in-game model or animations (I've been using Sigma's GL for a placeholder). If this does get done I really hope the cooperators will allow it to be publicly released.

The point of all of this would be to release something to the community and vary things up a bit. The weapon has been started and I at least hope someone will cooperate to finish it up. I am aware that a Halo Reach GL model has been released, but I lack the proper tools and knowledge to fix it up decently (lower poly count, animate, etc). Any help would be appreciated.

[Ifafudafi]

-Explosion after the shot bounces. Clarify. You mean it doesn't bounce at all, it doesn't explode after bouncing, or what?
-HUD crap. N/A
-Particles? I've been working on a new frag 'nade explosion; probably won't use it, but I might be able to hook you up in a couple of days
-Detonates after a certain range (so no FRG bombardments going on like in BG). Look for "maximum range" under the "detonation" section in the .projectile tag

While you're at it, why not try something new with an overcharge shot, such as mabye increased range but no bounce, or increased explosion radius but heavier projectile, etc., so that you're not just copy-pasting Reach

[DarkHalo003]

While you're at it, why not try something new with an overcharge shot, such as mabye increased range but no bounce, or increased explosion radius but heavier projectile, etc., so that you're not just copy-pasting Reach
Heh, that's exactly what I've done with the Overcharge Projectile. The OCP is done, but the standard is the problem. I want it to detonate after the first bounce of the projectile shot from the primary trigger. In other words, the projectile bounces once and explodes in mid-air.

[Ifafudafi]

In other words, the projectile bounces once and explodes in mid-air.

Good, that's easy

Under the huge "$$$ PROJECTILE $$$" category, change the "detonation timer starts" field to "after first bounce." Aptly, this means that the timer (not arming time! That should be 0) you set over in the "detonation" category will begin counting down after the projectile hits something.

Of course you'll have to play with reflection angles & friction angles down in the Material Responses to get everything perfect, but it shouldn't be too hard.

[DarkHalo003]

Good, that's easy

Under the huge "$$$ PROJECTILE $$$" category, change the "detonation timer starts" field to "after first bounce." Aptly, this means that the timer (not arming time! That should be 0) you set over in the "detonation" category will begin counting down after the projectile hits something.

Of course you'll have to play with reflection angles & friction angles down in the Material Responses to get everything perfect, but it shouldn't be too hard.
Well the biggest issue is that the initial and final velocities make it difficult to have those properties work right. They reflect, but they reflect very fastly and kind of go off into the abyss.

[Ifafudafi]

Well the biggest issue is that the initial and final velocities make it difficult to have those properties work right. They reflect, but they reflect very fastly and kind of go off into the abyss.

At the very bottom of the .projectile tag, under the Material Responses, there's a category called "reflection," which allows you to set friction levels, i.e. how much of the projectile's velocity it retains upon reflection. It's a 0 to 1 fraction; 0 means it loses no velocity (what you're getting right now) and 1 means it comes to a complete halt. A frag grenade loses about .7 velocity, for example. You'll have to set these numbers for each material.

[Hunter]

Can you texture bake? Because I could lower the poly count, just too lazy to put it in the oven :)

[kid908]

If you unwrap it hunter, I can get it through a bake. You'll still need someone to texture it.

[Hunter]

If you unwrap it hunter, I can get it through a bake. You'll still need someone to texture it.

Okay :)

[DarkHalo003]

At the very bottom of the .projectile tag, under the Material Responses, there's a category called "reflection," which allows you to set friction levels, i.e. how much of the projectile's velocity it retains upon reflection. It's a 0 to 1 fraction; 0 means it loses no velocity (what you're getting right now) and 1 means it comes to a complete halt. A frag grenade loses about .7 velocity, for example. You'll have to set these numbers for each material.
OH. Thank you. I was doing it backwards, where I had like .05 and thought that would be .05 of the velocity. Thanks for that clarification.

I'm also trying to get the HUD crosshair to look cool using the Scorpion reticle with the reloading dots, but instead of the dots appearing during reload, I'm trying to get the dots appear during the charging.

[ODX]

If you unwrap it hunter, I can get it through a bake. You'll still need someone to texture it.
As well as animate, which is where I'm offering my services (again...) to animate it as long as it is low-poly enough, will be used in CE, and perhaps has the grenade itself and the barrel detached somewhat correctly so I don't have to spend hours getting it rigged correctly because I don't have the time for that.

[Hunter]

As well as animate, which is where I'm offering my services (again...) to animate it as long as it is low-poly enough, will be used in CE, and perhaps has the grenade itself and the barrel detached somewhat correctly so I don't have to spend hours getting it rigged correctly because I don't have the time for that.

Triangle count will be roughly 5000 or less - but thats a rough estimate. And barrel and moving parts will be detached.

[Hunter]

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g268/martynball/lowpoly_progress1.jpg

[Inferno]

Isn't 2k already low poly?

[ThePlague]

That's with only half of it done. The pink is low poly, and green is high. (right?)

[Hunter]

Yup ^ I tryed to make that clear Lol

[Donut]

for the dots under the reticle, you use weapon functions. look at the scorpion tank's functions. it should be something like reload being used. just change the drop down box in the functions from reloading to charging.

its more complicated than that, but that gives you a place to start looking at least. if i still had my hek installed i would go get some screencaps for you

[t3h m00kz]

-Explosion after the shot bounces. have it "detonate" when it hits something, and have the detonation release another projectile that lasts like half a second

-Detonates after a certain range (so no FRG bombardments going on like in BG). simplest of things


remote detonation won't work, as far as I know. maybe some crazy ass tagging, but I doubt it

[Inferno]

Actually it's possible but difficult to set up. And kind of buggy.

[Nero]

So you need the model completed and then a low poly to be made from it?

[Hunter]

So you need the model completed and then a low poly to be made from it?

English?

[Nero]

English?

Sorry, I only speak Chinese.

[Hunter]

Sorry, but will have to wait a while for this, loss the use of my right hand atm until arteries and stuff heal :/

[ODX]

Alright, that's cool. I've got something I'm working on currently anyway and can wait.

[Hunter]

Sorta got hand back. o I just finished optimizing the Granade Launcher. its now around 4000 triangles. Unwrapping now.

[Hunter]

Lowpoly done and unwrapped, just need to arrange the unwrapped pieces. And separate the geometry properly.

Triangles: 4,256
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g268/martynball/Lowpoly__granadelauncher_1.jpg
Wireframe (http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g268/martynball/Lowpoly__granadelauncher__wire1.jpg)

[Hunter]

Its unwrapped and rigged now, well, not properly rigged but the geometry is linked to spheres and the geometry is in separate parts as needed. So its ready for animating. How would you like me to send it to you?

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g268/martynball/uv_template.jpg

[DarkHalo003]

1654

1655

Just to show progress. I'm using Hunter's model with Shotgun anims as a placeholder. The second picture is meant to illustrate that I have the bouncing grenade figure out pretty well, thanks to Gamma. It currently has a velocity set (meaning initial and final) of 10, but I may bump this down to 7 or 8. The Charged Grenade has a high velocity set, but that will probably change in time.

The standard grenade bounces once and then explodes or explodes several seconds after being air-born. The Charged Grenade does not explode until it either hits something or 5 seconds have gone by. The standard will be able to eliminate grunts and jackals in one explosion like a Frag does, but unless it directly hits an Elite or Brute square in the chest it just damages shields. The Charged has an EMP shockwave like Reach's and will eliminate any standard troop it hits directly (no matter where it hits). Hunters are agitated and light vehicles may flip.

[staticchanger]

Very nice +rep. I do have one question shouldn't both explosions have EMP?

[DarkHalo003]

Very nice +rep. I do have one question shouldn't both explosions have EMP?
Nope. In Halo: Reach, only the charged shot has EMP. It's the only projectile of the weapon that gives you an EMP medal for a direct hit.

[DarkHalo003]

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In the zone. Finger on the trigger.
1658
Uh-oh.
1659
Action Shot! Action Packed!
1660
Before Charged Explosion.
1661
After Charged Explosion.

The Placeholders are done now and the technical side of the tag is closer to completion. The only things now are to shorten the explosion time on the Standard Grenade, make the SG explode on Jackal Shield, make the SG explosion a tad bigger, decrease the gravity for both projectile (it's too arch-ish), decrease explosion timeout for the Charged Grenade, HUD crap (anyone know how to make the dots that reload for the scorpion appear for charging?), and finally the final model/anims/textures/effects. Everything that's supposed to look pretty is a WIP. If you could and will help, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Credits:
-Hunter: Model.
-CMT: Carbine, Spiker (model, effects, etc.) , Brutes. (Not sure who didn't work on them. They were released under CMT, so I'm going to credit as so).
-Someone who I forgot: Needler model, bitmaps, animations.
-Grenade Launcher Tagging: Me.

[ThePlague]

Nice Sigma HUD :p

[DarkHalo003]

Nice Sigma HUD :p
Yeah, I adopted it. :woop:

Someone has to use that stuff. Besides, it works very well. CREDIT FOR HUD GOES TO SIGMA MAPPING TEAM.

[Donut]

i love you too darkhalo :iamafag:
and im really interested to see how this actually works gameplay wise. i can imagine those battles against warthogs on blood gulch with the charge shot emp function. the outcome might actually be something other than me getting fishtailed at 2 mph and dying. can we see a video of it in action?

[DarkHalo003]

i love you too darkhalo :iamafag:
and im really interested to see how this actually works gameplay wise. i can imagine those battles against warthogs on blood gulch with the charge shot emp function. the outcome might actually be something other than me getting fishtailed at 2 mph and dying. can we see a video of it in action?
I was going to earlier, but I had a lot of really important other work to do. I'll get a video if it's decent enough. I'm still getting detonation timing and final velocity for the bounce down, so forgive me if the bouncing seems completely disproportionate.

Part 1
http://www.xfire.com/video/359be9/

Part 2
http://www.xfire.com/video/359bf9/

Part 3
http://www.xfire.com/video/359bfd/

Sorry the quality of the audio nor the video is the best. It's all I can use without screwing up the performance more than it already is. Focus on what you see versus noise.

[Nero]

Wow you have my Halo Reach AR ingame! Thats awesome..!
So is the reach grenade launcher. +Rep.

[DarkHalo003]

Good News everyone! I have basically perfected the standard grenade. It does enough damage, has a good radius, measures to the usefulness of Reach's standard grenade, and when it bounces it doesn't fly to far above the enemies' heads (or at least firing it normally anyways). Basically, I figured out the final velocity. I'm going to work on seeing how increasing the initial velocity will allow the grenade to travel farther before the detonation occurs. I'll have a vid up next time hopefully as well.

[ODX]

Hey, I've been busy this week with homework and being lazy and such but I think this weekend I should be able to animate [most] of the grenade launcher itself. I just need to rig it myself and scale it down so I can animate it.

[DarkHalo003]

Update: Working slowly on the Charged Grenade. Having Reach not only occupies my time, but also makes me question how to properly do the Charged Grenade. What's you guys' opinion on it? You can't have the remote detonation feature and I don't want to make it overpowered, but I also want to make it useful.

[Pooky]

Update: Working slowly on the Charged Grenade. Having Reach not only occupies my time, but also makes me question how to properly do the Charged Grenade. What's you guys' opinion on it? You can't have the remote detonation feature and I don't want to make it overpowered, but I also want to make it useful.

Give it a pretty heavy physics push, so you can flip over vehicles with it. Also, I haven't been able to figure out if this is really true, but I swear the EMP grenade does less damage than the normal one.

e: you might consider giving it a stun effect too, like the plasma weapons.

[DarkHalo003]

Give it a pretty heavy physics push, so you can flip over vehicles with it. Also, I haven't been able to figure out if this is really true, but I swear the EMP grenade does less damage than the normal one.

e: you might consider giving it a stun effect too, like the plasma weapons.
I'll give the Charged Shot a stun and it'll definitely be an anti-vehicular asset. The Reach Charge Grenade does do less AOE damage, but is an instant kill at direct contact at any distance.

[DarkHalo003]

I'll give the Charged Shot a stun and it'll definitely be an anti-vehicular asset. The Reach Charge Grenade does do less AOE damage, but is an instant kill at direct contact at any distance.
Well, I thought I'd follow this statement up with a recent test run and a new idea implementation for a detonation timer. The initial velocity is 14, meaning when you shoot it, it'll be 14 units. Well the final is 5 and I have the new timer set to where it does not explode before 0.5 (to ensure that it does bounce) and once the velocity reaches below 6 it'll explode by default. Now that doesn't mean you still can't destroy things on contact and I'll probably decrease the arming time after some more tests.

Granted this idea works as I think it will, expect some footage maybe and I hope some people will join in to finally finish this up. If the model ends up a basket case due to just not being a priority (considering the time of year and that stuff), I'll release the weapon tag alongside a group of other releases I'm still preparing (my elite AI and brute AI).