New Rocket Launcher

[vedrit]

I know american claymore mines have 'This side towards you' and 'This side towards enemy' printed on them.

Regards,
Winter

Partly why I said it. I saw a warning label on a chainsaw that said "Do not attempt to stop chain with hands or genitelia"

[Mattn]

please upload the model sources - what would be the license you release your work under?

[Flying Steel]

There's quite a few instructions and warning labels on it now, though mostly too small to be legible, at in-game texture resolution. The "this side towards enemy" is used on real life US military claymore mines, but it was also painted on the side of the Halo "Jackhammer" rocket launcher, as a tip of the hat to the famous claymore mine.

@ Mattn

Which directory do you what the sources uploaded to. I will release this under the GPL (Version 3 I guess).

@ Winter

How's this? (The scuffs weren't set correctly last version, now I have raised their specular to the correct level.)

[Winter]

Honestly, I think that's actually tarted up a bit too much now. :p  Especially the 'we come in peace', Mattn says we can't have clearly-legible text on items, and I don't think it should show up on every single launcher in the game anyway.

I'm not sure about the red all around the exhaust either. I think a few yellow arrows, maybe 4 in total, would do the job far better than the red arrows and circle.

Regards,
Winter

[Hertzila]

While, as said, the "we come in peace" is a bit too much, the other, smaller white text just behind the aiming module looks good IMO.

[Flying Steel]

Honestly, I think that's actually tarted up a bit too much now. :p  Especially the 'we come in peace', Mattn says we can't have clearly-legible text on items, and I don't think it should show up on every single launcher in the game anyway.

I'm not sure about the red all around the exhaust either. I think a few yellow arrows, maybe 4 in total, would do the job far better than the red arrows and circle.

Is this what you mean?

[Mattn]

Which directory do you what the sources uploaded to. I will release this under the GPL (Version 3 I guess).

i'm not sure - did i gave you svn write access already? otherwise please send via mail or upload to rapidshare or some other hoster. if you plan to make more models, you should give me your sourceforge.net account (if not yet done)

[Winter]

Is this what you mean?

Good stuff. I'll just be difficult and ask for one final thing -- can you make the red text towards the back white instead?

Regards,
Winter

[Flying Steel]

So Winter, why don't you give me all the specifics of how you want to have look, the model/textures for each rocket type this thing can shoot.

Think about the shapes of the warheads, whether the rockets have stabilizer fins (those fired from true recoilless rifles, do not, the rifling in the barrel provides the spin/stabilization), etc.

Think about the paint jobs that might help differentiate them, bright color coding or just a single letter code (like "H" for high explosive rounds), etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MSPO2007-40.jpg

[MCR]

It rocks ! Very good work.

& it will be our first weapon using a normalmap

[Winter]

Colour coding for different warheads, definitely. We want the player to be able to see exactly which kind of warhead is which without referring to text.

So far we've got three types of rounds planned:

High Explosive -- Orange and black pattern.
InCendiary -- Red and black pattern.
Antimatter Explosive -- Purple and orange pattern.

Big stripe of the primary colour, small stripe of the secondary colour, big stripe, small stripe, big stripe. Any lettering is up to you.

As for the shape, it depends on whether we're making this a rifle or a smoothbore recoilless gun. In this case I think it would make more sense as a smoothbore, because militaries in this setting wouldn't be using much unguided ordnance before the invasion and you need fins for guidance. I also like the idea of this relatively new gun loaded with antiquated ordnance.

So, would you be able to create a non-rifled recoilless shell with retracting fins? Control surfaces on the fins aren't necessary depending on the backstory.

Regards,
Winter

[MCR]

This will actually be our first weapon with a normalmap

[Flying Steel]

@ Mattn

Sorry, missed your post before. I guess I'll host the files on my divshare account then, as soon as I'm finished with the rocket ammo model/textures.

@ MCR

Every weapon system comes with a complimentary normal map when you buy from Flying Steel Arms.

@ Winter

Alright so what do you think of these possibilities as far as the shape of the rockets go (slits for the fins to retract into will be visible in the textures).

[Winter]

I like the one on the right more, but neither shape is right. In a recoilless cartridge, the bottom two thirds of its length are solely propellant while the top third is the actual shell. The fins would have to be on the shell to work, since the propellant is used up during firing.

Check this image out for reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Recoilless_Rifle.png

Regards,
Winter

[Flying Steel]

I like the one on the right more, but neither shape is right. In a recoilless cartridge, the bottom two thirds of its length are solely propellant while the top third is the actual shell. The fins would have to be on the shell to work, since the propellant is used up during firing.

Check this image out for reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Recoilless_Rifle.png

Okay so to be clear, you are talking about a weapon system that is purely a gun, there is no rocket motor, just a fin stabilized round that travels down range out of inertia, right? What was confusing me then was the trail of smoke the current 'missile launcher' produces as its projectile flys through the air; I guess you intend to remove that effect in the future.

The question is then, should this model have both the cartridge intact and the fins deployed (which would probably never be the case both at once) or just one of the two?

Cartridge intact, fins retracted makes more sense for stored ammo.

Cartridge gone, fins out makes more sense for the weapon in flight on the battlescape.