Home » MODDING HQ 1.13 » v1.13 Coding Talk » [IDEA] New Magazine System
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #313080]
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Sat, 15 December 2012 02:23
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The_Bob |
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Messages:415
Registered:May 2009 Location: Behind you. |
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I remember seeing this in that game... Didn't bother to actually learn to use it though. I meant a JA2-like mock-up though. Ideas on how to deal with 5-shot clips and 200round belts without making it look silly at either extreme, as well as keeping it manageable.
Also I mentioned the actual items come later, it's the general idea for the whole system that needs to be laid out. For example, it's clear we have generic mags and put ammo in them, but what about ammo belts (do they need links or just the box), weapons loaded with loose rounds (how do we persist loading order), what about beta-mags (do they need adapters?) and other special cases.
This doesn't require any coding skill, rather some gun knowledge and UI design intuition. This will effectively be a large part of the specification for NMS.
The weight thing should be fairly straightforward:
- adjust data types in code (int for grams means max 65kg per item; I made 10Ton backpacks...)
- adjust all item weights in xml (multiply by 100 for now, let modders fix exact weights)
- adjust UI display part, so it still shows in 100g increments (might break otherwise), maybe add a tooltip with exact weight
IMO a worthwhile change on its own, but definitely more then 15 min. of work.
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #313081]
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Sat, 15 December 2012 02:47
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Flugente |
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Messages:3507
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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I read through this entire thread yesterday, and we had a fruitful discussion on IRC today. There are still a lot of problems I still see with this whole idea. However, I will first outline what I'd assume to be the defacto current concept and then the (in my view) best way of coding, so that we are on common grounds.
Concept
The idea is to make magazines become attachments that can exist empty. Upon loading a gun, the magazine does not magically vanish, and upon unloading, it does not appear out of thin air. Unloading a gun retrieves the same magazine that one previously put in, no magical belt-to-mag conversion.
A magazine also has modifiers, like +-reliability.
A magazine can have bullets of different ammotypes (AP, HP, tracer, ... ) and different calibers (.38, 357, .50, 9mmx19, ...). A magazine has a maximum amount of bullets it can hold (and we would treat belts the same way, because infinitely long magazines are whack, hmmkay?).
Upon loading a gun with a magazine, some guns can 'overload', thus having one bullet in the chamber and a full magazine loaded. So a G36 could have one bullet in the chamber and a full 30-rnd mag loaded, thus giving it 31 rounds to fire. When reloading such a gun, the magazine would be replaced, but the bullet in the chamber would stay, thus greatly speeding up reloading time, as there is no need to cycle. Some guns can do this, other's can't.
Not all guns accept all magazines. Furthermore, not all guns of a caliber accept the same magazines (so a Steyr AUG might not accept M16-magazines, even though they both have the same caliber).
When shooting a gun with mixed ammotypes/calibers, each bullet should have its corresponding values. A magazine with a 4 AP, 1 Tracer round 'template' would have every 5th round be a tracer.
My view of coding this
A bullet in a magazine would be a small struct that defines its ammotype and caliber:
typedef struct
{
UINT8 uCalibre;
UINT8 uAmmoType;
} LOADED_BULLET;
The magazine would then have a dynamic list of these bullets:
That way only those bullets that actually exist in a magazine would take space, and we would not waste space reserved for bullets that aren't there, or even reserve space for bullets on objects that are not magazines at all... remember, every object in JA2 is of class OBJECTTYPE. Wether or not an object is a gun, a magazine or a T-Shirt is irrelevant as far as the game is concerned. They all take up the same amount of space. If we'd allow 200 attachments on objects, EVERY object would have to reserve space for those. ChrisL's mention about the 65KB ojects comes to mind.
Once a bullet would be fired, we would simply create a bullet depending on the LOADED_BULLET data of the first entry in the guns attached magazine's mBulletList, and then delete that entry. If, however, we really want to go with overloading magazines, we need a bullet in the gun and not the magazine - we would perform an intermediate step: Upon loading the gun, the first bullet of the magazine would be deleted and recreated in the gun's mBulletList. We would always fire that and simply reload that one from the magazine. mBulletList would become the 'chamber' so to speak.
Without a magazine, bullets would be 'loose rounds'. These wont fit into a gun directly - bullets belong into magazines, and magazines belong into guns. An item 'loose rounds' would be like the current ammo crates and consist of bullets of the same ammotype and caliber. The easy way to fill a magazine would be to simply drag the loose item on the magazine, which is then filled as far as possible.
The hard way is for mags with mixed calibers and ammotypes. We need something like the 'deduct money' dialogue, but multiple times - for every ammotype and caliber fitting the magazine that we currently have in our inventory. One would then, upon clicking, deduct 1,5,10,x bullets into the magazine.
Some guns that do not have magazines that one attaches, like revolvers or shotguns. The magazines are integral to the gun itself. So one would perform the procedure/dialogue described above for these guns.
Up to this point, everything would be doable, altough a loooot of work.
Remaining problems
- The idea of mixing calibers may sound neat, but it would, at the current state, be utterly meaningless. The only thing calibers currently do is limit which gun can take what magazine, and have different names. If you tell the M82 to be of calibre .38, it will happily be so, range and damage will be the same, as they only depend on the gun.
Seriously, why do people hammer at the magazine system, when the current way of calibers is way more out of line?
What should be done before even touching NMS should be a New Calibre System:
Every calibre has values for base damage, base range, and base accuracy. Ammo types stay roughly as they are. A gun gets values that modify a bullets values, so modifiers for range, damage, accuracy.
That way, an M16 can still hit longer and harder than an M4. At the same time, if it can magically shoot .38 (because the modder says so), the .38 bullets it shoots will fly farther than if they were shot from a revolver, but still less so than the 5.56 bullets it shoots.
This has numerous advantages in my view. For example, if one wanted to improve shotgun damage due to his personal preference, you'd only have to alter one value. - While the idea of having a separate bullet in the chamber may sound pretty neat, it will become pretty annoying. If I put a 30-rnd mag into a an M16, I would expect to be get a 30-rnd magazine if I unload it. And not having to unlaod it again somehow to get a single bullet that I then have to put into the magazine. Yes, I know this is exactly what happens if I load a gun and load a bullet, have done that myself, thank you. But this is insanely tedious.
What? Have a separate action to actually load the bullet into the chamber? Do you know how tedious this will become? Do you demand separate keys to control left and right foot movement during ego-shooters? Forget it
--half-schizophrenic rant is over--
- If a magazine is loaded with different ammotypes, how are you supposed to know what you are firing? A dialogue that displays every single bullet would be needed. Furthermore, do we even want that? This is unrealistic^2. If one loads a mag with bullets and then loads that, you have no way of seeing the bullets. No, see-through magazines do not let you view the chambered bullet. Take that, realism-lovers :armsfolded:
- Loading a mixed magazine will be tedious, both coding it and doing so. To even have a minimal degree of comfort, one 'd need a monster of dialogue, with insane amount of coding (at least with the dialogue system we are stuck with). 'Loading Templates' might ease that, but not much.
How is that whole loading business supposed to anyway? I would outright refuse to use a system where I have to load every magazine of every gun of every of the 32 mercs I have. This is like farming items, but less fun.
- Mixed mags would be useless given the current code. A bullet does not remember its ammotype. Currently, whenever a bullet hits something, we check who fired it, look at his weapon, determine what ammotype it currently uses, and use that. Can relatively easy be fixed by adding the ammotype to the bullet-structure, but is worth remembering.
- Add lots of pain for coders and modders everywhere due to the fact that the current system still has to coexist with this, which creates numerous headaches I don't even want to think about.
- This system is incompatible with OAS, as we only have 4 attachments there, and one would be needed for the magazine always. Though I'd say if someone is purist enough to demand to play with OAS, he will propably also skip this anyway. Not to mention true purists play with 2085, because back then, everything was better :rant2: :silly:
(No pun on newer forum members intended)
- As Bob mentioned it: odd stuff, like magazines loading LIFO, FILO or completely weird ways (Neostead), is always there to further complicate things. FILO and LIFO could be treated relatively easy though.
[Updated on: Sat, 15 December 2012 04:04] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #313091]
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Sat, 15 December 2012 14:02
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DepressivesBrot |
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Messages:3653
Registered:July 2009 |
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The_BobI remember seeing this in that game... Didn't bother to actually learn to use it though. I meant a JA2-like mock-up though. Ideas on how to deal with 5-shot clips and 200round belts without making it look silly at either extreme, as well as keeping it manageable. Ah, my bad. Just imagine it with brown borders instead of grey ^^ Seriously though, it's actually pretty scalable and should work from 2 to 200. It would also be more of the optional deluxe mode for tailoring very versatile stuff like shotguns, I'd imagine 95% of the time, uniformly filling with AP, HP or Match would be sufficient and templates would cover tracer belts adequately.
The_BobFor example, it's clear we have generic mags and put ammo in them, but what about ammo belts (do they need links or just the box), weapons loaded with loose rounds (how do we persist loading order), what about beta-mags (do they need adapters?) and other special cases. Ok, I'd keep this as simple as possible with a minimal amount of types/classes/whatever.
Loose Ammunition:
'Pile of Ammo' is preferable to the point of being a no-brainer due to the significant resource savings. Should come with a money-deduct mechanic to split when needed.
Magazines and Clips:
At the end of the day, there are only Clips and Magazines. For the purpose of implementation, a belt is a magazine*. Unless you want to add another layer of complications, all belts are non-disintegrating. A Garand clip is also a Magazine in this light. C-Mags are yet another magazine, no adapters needed. Loading order is always LIFO, it's set by the magazines and the belts and clips don't care, so they follow. A clip is a magazine that doesn't attach to a gun but instead only deposits ammo to another magazine faster than you can reload one at a time.
General Gun Types:
For the purpose of this discussion, we'll only differentiate between open bolt and closed bolt (closed bolt can hold one round without any kind of magazine, open can't) and internal vs. detachable magazine. I tend towards making internal mags simply inseparable attachments, for consistency and treating them all the same internally. Which leaves us with only two types of guns to consider, yay!
Special Cases:- Double Barreled Shotguns:
Debatable if they need special treatment, having the second barrel as a one shot magazine would be sufficient to keep the beloved pseudo double blast. - KSG, SRM 1216, Jungle Style:
An old fan favorite and some recent developments, the outstanding feature being that 1)some manual interaction is required to use the complete magazine capacity (quick reload in case of the JS, rotating the mag bundle on the SRM ... four times and flipping the selector to the second tube on the KSG) and 2)the magazine 'parts' can hold different loadouts. - NeoStead, UTS-15:
Is it me or did that list grow since we last had the discussion? These are a lot like the above, with the added feature of being able to feed alternately from both tubes. Those last two systems add so much complication that I think they should be left out of the initial stage entirely, instead using a normal, high capacity mag. *We'd still tag them as belts to allow your buddy to keep you fed, but otherwise make no distinction under NMS.
FlugenteIf a magazine is loaded with different ammotypes, how are you supposed to know what you are firing? A dialogue that displays every single bullet would be needed. Furthermore, do we even want that? This is unrealistic^2. If one loads a mag with bullets and then loads that, you have no way of seeing the bullets. No, see-through magazines do not let you view the chambered bullet. Take that, realism-lovers I'd link it to the inaccurate ammo readout. If the merc can count through his whole belt, he can also tell you what's chambered. If he inserted a 'pure' mag, he'll always know what's chambered. If none of the above, tough luck. Gradual concepts for lonely mags: have a simple indicator star on the mag pic, have a summary in the description, only saying AP/T without describing the structure, open the customization menu for full information.
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #313096]
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Sat, 15 December 2012 15:10
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The_Bob |
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Messages:415
Registered:May 2009 Location: Behind you. |
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About chambers and loading integral mags with loose rounds - this could easily be fixed by making them just a special kind of NMS magazines, that are integral to the gun. Most likely handled as an attachment. I know, mentioned before, but I want to expand on the point.
This would allow for all the convenience of having a detachable NMS mag - for example storing loading order and being able to load it like any mag. Multi-barreled weapons and revolver-type weapons would simply have chambers with increased capacity. I guess you could switch out the "chamber" attachment on revolvers with removable drums.
A note on "loading order" - make each mag have one (based on last time it was filled, or some default) and allow players to "fill all mags" with one click or key press, and put "fill this mag" button/shortcut in an accessible place (eg. shift-rightClick on mag, on weapon for combat load; button in item details).
This way would also provide very tangible separation between changing mags and chambering rounds. You can attach a mag to an unloaded gun, but still need to spend APs to load a round into the chamber. Semi-auto and full-auto guns would need a self-loading tag added, so they can do that after every shot. Also, quick reloads (clicking with the reload icon) would automatically chamber a round, while swapping mags with a round in the chamber would be faster.
This gets a tiny bit complicated if you factor in the fact some guns lock the slide in retracted position on last shot, so chambering them instantly after shooting ought to be faster. Or that revolver cylinders are filled with spent casings that you have to scoop out manually if you just want to replace one or two rounds (rather than use the ejector). Or that pumping shotguns takes two movements, and in some cases you can choose to load a round via the ejection port directly into the chamber after the first one - for example in non-lethal scenarios, or load a frag-12 on other extreme.
This would be a nice opportunity to give low-power and cheap ammo a chance not to cycle some weapons (although it would probably require some power levels specified, gun-required and ammo-provided) and easily distinguish that from an actual jam. Another reason to use revolvers more often. Also, some silent weapons let you switch to fully manual action.
I'll have to agree with the ammo-magazine-caliber issue. While it is very visible in weapons stats that the ammo type dictates the "base" weapon parameters, the game is oblivious to that fact. This would require modders to redo every gun for every substitute caliber it can handle, so one moment you're holding a .357 Python, the other a .38 Python, based on the first round in the chamber (drum).
Displaying mag contents could probably be done by visualizing colored tape strips on mags (done via some ingame palette magic), solid color for one-type mags, split color to indicate mixed ammo seq. No way to indicate random mix of AP/HP/T/M/subsonic in a 200rd belt, but ought to work for most real-life applications. Just an idea, although this in itself would be a major undertaking.
I think modeling the chambering mechanics would be more tangible then actually being able to specify each magazine's contents. Then again, that alone could be dome with less effort, making the NMS seem like a lot of work for little gain. Also, even without all the UI and hassle of loading mags with specific rounds, just making mags objects that hold ammo would be a big improvement on its own.
In other words, in my opinion the order of importance would be:
1 - separate the chamber, internal mag and detachable ammo sources (loose rounds, mags, clips, belts, tubes etc.)
2 - make ammo containers items that can be refilled with some ammo type (might just be numbers, no mixing ammo types)
3 - make all ammo holders store references to ammo types instead of just the count of one ammo type.
4 - allow the player to specify the contents of ammo containers (chambers, int. mags, det. mags, belts etc.)
4.a - via xml templates (every 5th tracer, mix HP/AP, mix OO/Slug etc.)
4.b - via ammo loading UI
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #313112]
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Sat, 15 December 2012 20:57
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sardonic_wrath |
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Messages:48
Registered:June 2011 |
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To me it seems most of the problems with playability and coding difficulty of NMS are connected to chamber & mixed magazines.
However those don't have an impact on the main advantages of NMS.
Having a chamber makes it possible to overload the gun, or to fire it without a magizine. Both wasn't possible before, and I think we could do without it.
As for mixed magazines, apart from tracer ammunition I don't quite get what this would be used for. I'm thinking, having AP and HP ammunition mixed would require to hit the exact same spot to have the desired effect, no? (Speaking about RL, not sure how its handled ingame). I'm probably missing something, please enlighten me
(edit: ammunition shortage might be a scenario for mixxing to be useful, altough not a common one)
I'm not suggesting to go for something half-assed or to give up on this yet, I am just suggestion to go for a compromise instead of dropping the whole thing, in case we don't find solutions to those problems.
FlugenteWhile the idea of having a separate bullet in the chamber may sound pretty neat, it will become pretty annoying. If I put a 30-rnd mag into a an M16, I would expect to be get a 30-rnd magazine if I unload it. And not having to unlaod it again somehow to get a single bullet that I then have to put into the magazine. Yes, I know this is exactly what happens if I load a gun and load a bullet, have done that myself, thank you. But this is insanely tedious.
I don't think there is a solution to that. It's gonna be either unrealistic or tedious, no way around that. I'd settle fo the first, as almost every other game does. Even 7.62, which is the most gun-nutty game I know of
[Updated on: Sat, 15 December 2012 21:26] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Corporal
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #313118]
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Sat, 15 December 2012 22:41
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DepressivesBrot |
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Messages:3653
Registered:July 2009 |
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FlugenteWhile the idea of having a separate bullet in the chamber may sound pretty neat, it will become pretty annoying. If I put a 30-rnd mag into a an M16, I would expect to be get a 30-rnd magazine if I unload it. And not having to unlaod it again somehow to get a single bullet that I then have to put into the magazine. Yes, I know this is exactly what happens if I load a gun and load a bullet, have done that myself, thank you. But this is insanely tedious. Just so the latest talk on this isn't forgotten:
Make a distinction between detaching a magazine and replacing a magazine, guessing at the likely intention of the user. If you are detaching a magazine, the likely intent is to completely unload the gun. If you're swapping it for something else, the likely intent is to reload. It's not perfect, but it should do the desired thing most of the time.
So cases:
1)1 in chamber, <=29 in the mag, detach mag: chamber is automatically cleared and the round added to the mag
2)1 in chamber, 30 in the mag, detach mag: chamber is automatically cleared and the round dropped to inventory
3)1 in chamber, X in the mag, swap with other mag: keep round chambered and switch magazines
Note: All examples refer to the bog standard AR with 30rd magazines and closed bolt.
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #313205]
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Sun, 16 December 2012 22:35
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Faalagorn |
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Messages:153
Registered:February 2012 Location: Poland |
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First of all, thanks for bringing attention back on the topic, and Flugente and Depressive for mentioning the ammunition and explosive issues.
Seems like more or less all major problems have been explained with possible solutions, or at least brought into the light, however I have a question about loose rounds.
I remember that in Brigade E5 ammo box was a separate item that could exist even without any bullets in it - how would the loose rounds be handled in our NMS? Will the loose rounds be pictured as an carton box always, just like magazines are right now, with the box magically disappearing and appearing when needed (that could simplify ammo storage a bit), or will the box be just another type of "magazine" or a container, with the exception that it can't be used to load the gun directly (even for guns with no mags or internal systems) and co-exist with the loose bullet item? That could mean, there's even more microing, keeping all the boxes around, but on the other hand that could be a nice addition, allowing boxes to fit more bullets in a single inventory slot (but still not saving weight) and possibly to load a magazine faster? Each box could also allow to fit a mixed kinds of ammo types if user wants to save space if they would be treated as a magazine, with some quick button to fill all boxes with the appropriate ammo types.
EDIT: Oh, just to add on topic: Beside Brigade E5 and 7.62 there's one more game I know that uses separate magazines and ammunition - it's a small independly developped polish browser-based post-apo game called Muarab. I think it can be played in English too, but I haven't played it lately. Whole game is quite crude, but it could still be worth mentioning it as an curiosity.
[Updated on: Sun, 16 December 2012 22:53] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Staff Sergeant
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Re: [IDEA] New Magazine System[message #315114]
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Sun, 03 February 2013 01:09
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Flugente |
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Messages:3507
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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I don't think it ever was under development, and I don't think it ever will - due to the many many unclear things in this, adn the unholy amount of coding/xml work required.
Edit: Apart from ChrisL's stuff. Propably lost.
[Updated on: Sun, 03 February 2013 01:15] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #335432]
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Wed, 03 September 2014 20:38
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veedotja2 |
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Messages:85
Registered:April 2012 Location: New York |
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I know it's an old thread. Still a good idea.
DepressivesBrot
Loose Ammunition:
'Pile of Ammo' is preferable to the point of being a no-brainer due to the significant resource savings. Should come with a money-deduct mechanic to split when needed.
Magazines and Clips:
At the end of the day, there are only Clips and Magazines. For the purpose of implementation, a belt is a magazine*. Unless you want to add another layer of complications, all belts are non-disintegrating. A Garand clip is also a Magazine in this light. C-Mags are yet another magazine, no adapters needed. Loading order is always LIFO, it's set by the magazines and the belts and clips don't care, so they follow. A clip is a magazine that doesn't attach to a gun but instead only deposits ammo to another magazine faster than you can reload one at a time.
General Gun Types:
For the purpose of this discussion, we'll only differentiate between open bolt and closed bolt (closed bolt can hold one round without any kind of magazine, open can't) and internal vs. detachable magazine. I tend towards making internal mags simply inseparable attachments, for consistency and treating them all the same internally. Which leaves us with only two types of guns to consider, yay!
Special Cases:
...
You are the closest to getting it conceptually. The more I think about it the greater the problem really is. You can't abstract away very much because everything you fail to implement quickly rears its head later.
First I thought the concept of the chamber could be abstracted away or ignored, but what about low capacity guns? You might really want the extra round.
Then I thought why do we need a magazine "item," but it really seems to be necessary even with all the added complexity it brings.
Mixed ammo isn't just tracer. There's your shotguns, and the ability to lead with a lockbuster or buckshot then hit 'em with a slug.
Mixed mags make sense if you have a .357 gun but only .38 ammo is available (or .45LC/.410, .44 Spl/.44 mag, .223/5.56mm etc), this can be a solved problem with a new ammo system.
I can envision having loose rounds of different types but want to assemble a full mixed mag to avoid combat reloads.
My only thing to add at this point is why do we need to maintain backwards compatibility if it causes so much trouble?
Are there people still downloading new builds of 1.13 that insist on OIV, OAS, and will also want an OMS? This thread is 3 years old and the old posts mentioned this. But anyone keeping up with JA2 modding today after all this time is probably using covert ops, zombies, dirt, overheating, food, militia supply, drivable vehicles, merc backgrounds, etc and so on. A NMS is hardly a straw that broke the camel's back. Nobody HAS to top up a gun or mix a mag! That micromanagement will just go unused.
Modders also need a good base for 1.13 going forward, and 1.13 is designed as a base for modders, not just for Vanilla JA2 players.
Maybe a simpler version for Vanilla players who don't want so much complexity is possible to implement. Honestly, it's 1.13's huge size that created the complexity that we are trying to manage ex post facto. Vanilla players now have to deal with so many weapons, magazines, ammo types (AET, Glaser, flechette, etc.), flashbangs, radios, and all the other odd ammo and explosives Vanilla players now accept.
Show of hands, who wouldn't play 1.13 anymore with a revamped magazine and ammo system made default?
But if maintining the old code is part of the 1.13 culture and all new features MUST be optional to stay in the main branch I'll mention it no more. But I'm sure just making a "simple mode" in a NMS will restore the Vanilla feel.
[Updated on: Wed, 03 September 2014 20:39] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Corporal 1st Class
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Re: [IDEA] New Ammunition System[message #335446]
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Thu, 04 September 2014 04:05
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veedotja2 |
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Messages:85
Registered:April 2012 Location: New York |
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FlugenteWhatever we do, vanilla still has to be playable. This is fundamental. This is the reason we still carry about 640x480 resolution and still maintain old traits and such. Not doing so would result in 1.13 not being an improvement of JA2, but merely a (very detailed and complex) mod. This is the reason any feature should be optional. This is also the reason some stuff does NOT belong in the trunk. Otherwise it becomes a software cemetery where any new code is just dumped into for the sake of having more code.
... A bunch of good points ...
Got it, I think I get the reasoning behind maintaining the old JA2 code. I think that I saw so much new stuff added in the last couple of years I sometimes wondered what was the point. It's your fault, Flugente, for adding so much content! Most of the new stuff seems to be *off* by default in the .ini file. Though cleaning kits and food show up in the game even when those features are off.
It's a little sad about NMS because it seems like it would have been a good idea if done early on. Some other tactical games seem to pull it off okay. And I think that there are advantages in realism and NMS even has potential to *simplify* inventory management on some ways. But these don't seem to outweigh the compexity of the work, so there we are.
There is a tradition of micromanagement in 1.13, the NIV LBE is a good example of detail taken to the extreme, a "tons of guns" game shows extreme detail in breadth and scope of weapons. Hell, the NAS is incredibly complex with the multitudes of combinations and transformations, let alone what it must have been like to code it! But looks like NAS and NIV advantages made it worthwhile for a coder to tackle.
I'll leave it alone, until such time as I can do it myself. I've got Visual Studio now and my C language is coming along. I'm used to Java in Eclipse so nobody hold your breath waiting to see my code butchery. Feels like I'm climbing a mountain here.
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Corporal 1st Class
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Re: [IDEA] New Magazine System[message #335456]
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Thu, 04 September 2014 13:50
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Deleted. |
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Messages:2657
Registered:December 2012 Location: Russian Federation |
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Flugente
It's a mod on completely different source and is not compatible with 1.13, also it's in russian lang in base (but it can use english res files afaik).
But at least if anyone really interested how it's implemented and feels in game he can take a look.
A short video demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu04O_B0PQU&feature=youtu.be[/video]
youtube link
EDIT: it would be definitely good having new optional magazine system in next (year?) stable release and maybe a weapon picture customization, too =) (it's also implemented in ja2'005 mod and it's fun to play with)
[Updated on: Thu, 04 September 2014 16:52] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: [IDEA] New Magazine System[message #335488]
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Fri, 05 September 2014 01:42
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DepressivesBrot |
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Messages:3653
Registered:July 2009 |
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I've come to one conclusion by now: You can't sell the new system to someone who hears of it and doesn't immediately say 'Whoa, cool' after another one has already been established for years. What we clearly need is a tacticool redneck coder!
There simply is no single big advantage to convince people, all NMS really does is to do stuff differently for people with a different taste but it's neither significantly better nor worse than Vanilla. Consider this: If NMS was the Day-1 system, who would seriously consider replacing that with a 'simpler' one now?
That said, the more or less complete list of 'advantages'
- you can load differently sized mags without the need for game-y adapters
- you can create magazines of different quality with the same caliber&capacity
- you can have magazine status affect reliability
- acquiring rare magazines can be a challenge and further consideration for picking equipment. e.g. you may still carry for a tight situation, but you can't just dump mag after mag for the whole battle
- and the all time favorite: custom loads
Yeah, I know the Russians didn't include it, probably greatly reducing complexity.
Btw, although often criticized, there really isn't any difference in effort between clicking a stack of mags on a crate to just fill them uniformly and clicking a crate on a gun to create mags.
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Re: [IDEA] New Magazine System[message #335489]
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Fri, 05 September 2014 02:36
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grim |
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Messages:344
Registered:July 2006 Location: France |
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FlugenteManual chambering already happens on many shotguns and sniper rifles, so this isn't new (nowadays, might have been in '05).
Ok, i'm not trying to convince you on anything, i am/was just trying to answer your troubled thoughts :
Chambering exists in 1.13, yes, but not exactly in this form, it's a 'between two shots chambering', while in 005 it's a 'reload chambering' (by the way probably flawed cause if you already have a bullet chambered from a previous non-empty mag, you don't need to chamber again). I understand if it's superfluous for you, it's a small detail, but for a gun nuts, it may be enjoyable.
FlugenteSo, just to be clear: You people want a system that adds nothing new, but requires having additional items during reloading, for absolutely no gain? I guess I am asking the same thing over and over, because I just can't grasp it.
The gain (IMO) would be mostly about realism, gun handling, mechanics, you name it.
I personnaly like the idea of having amovible magazines, with different stats (size, weight, reload speed, jam modifier...), that don't appear out of thin air when you deal with the bullets.
It's not an absolute must have feature, but could be nice if reasonnably feasable.
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Master Sergeant
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Re: [IDEA] New Magazine System[message #335490]
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Fri, 05 September 2014 02:46
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math3ws |
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Messages:19
Registered:March 2013 Location: Czech Republic |
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There is another advantage of NMS I want to point out. With the real guns, you can't just take, for example, M16 magazine, and load it into G36, or... G3 mag into FAL, or others... I guess we can pretend that every merc comes with TactiCool Loading Hammer, that allows you to "fit" the magazine in any gun you want, but it would be really nice if this changed, and every gun would accpet only it's proper mags.
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Private
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Re: [IDEA] New Magazine System[message #335498]
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Fri, 05 September 2014 10:51
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Deleted. |
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Messages:2657
Registered:December 2012 Location: Russian Federation |
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How I see it - raw implementation plan.
XML changes
For every magazine - define it's type.
Now there are types: normal magazine, ammo box, ammo crate.
Add new type "ammo clip" - it's the magazine that does not go into the gun after loading, but instead it becomes 'empty' and can be put back to inventory.
For every gun - define it's feeding type - list of possible magazine items it can accept and if it can accept ammo firectly from ammo boxes.
Item status data
Gun:
current chamber state - need to chamber before firing
current loaded magazine item id
Magazine:
should be possible to store zero ammo, or add a flag "empty" that allows magazines with zero ammo (do not destroy this magazine, instead keep it 'empty', just like with canteens)
Coding part
-Allow empty magazines (like empty canteens)
-When loading magazine into the gun check if this item is allowed
-When loading ammo box check if this gun accepts direct loading, check for RT/turnbased
-Adding ammo to the same type of magazines works as usual
-Add button to "extract" ammo from the magazine/clip
-When the gun is empty, add possibility to "extract" empty magazine of the stored type
-When the magazine loaded into the gun, set the internal "magazine" var to the Id of the loaded magazine
-When the clip loaded into the gun, keep empty clip as a separate item
If the magazine id is already stored in the gun, then "swap" magazines after loading
-Teach AI to chamber rounds before firing (similar to "raising" guns) and maybe more tricks, but generally it should work as usual, as it always starts with loaded magazines. The main difference is that there will be empty magazines in the inventory and some guns require ammo boxes for reloading
-More optional checks and coding tricks
Conclusion
This system should be doable and doesn't seem to be epic work (if compared to other systems like NCTH or NAS/NIV).
I also think this could be made optional and should not break existing things.
Note: this text is mostly guessing, I don't have plans to do such system in near future, and there could be some deep problems I am not aware of.
Note2: this system is limited, it does not support storing (additonal or of different type) round in chamber or things like paired magazines but it should be fine for the most players.
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