Beam Weaponry

[IceDreamer]

Sorry for the double post guys, but add these to the fixed list:

Seraphim T2 PD
Seraphim T2 Destroyer
UEF T3 Battlecruiser
UEF Novax Defense Satellite

[Cantor]

Excellent work! How is the behavior of those beam weapons that need to recharge changed? I understand that the czar now has more continuous beam behavior, but what is changed about units that have recharge like the seraphim t2 pd?

[IceDreamer]

It's a very subtle change. They are now better at sweeping the beam across to the next target, and in general behave far more naturally. They also spend less time with the beam firing at the ground or empty space because of it.

[Volguus]

Could these fixes you're working with also improve the original beam version of Cybran T2 PD? Or are there different mechanics at work there?

[IceDreamer]

Other mechanics I'm afraid.

Add the Cybran ACU Laser to the mix, and the mod is completed. The complete V1.0 is now on the vault for everyone to try out.

[Ato0theJ]

The mod name is Beam Mod, so far we've tested the destroyer, ML, cybran ACU and novax. They all work properly now.

[Domino]

id have just gone straight to the beam weapon class to see what the actual problem with them is, i havent looked but it would prolly just need to check for another target in x range of the current target before turning off the beam, that would globally fix all beam weapons then.

*edit*

just had a quick look it seems everytime the weapon kills a target it enters idlestate instantly which kills the beam, but then it aquires another close target the beam starts kills the unit and enters idle state and so on, because beams tend to be powerfull as soon as it starts up the unit is usally dead so
it quickly powers down ala what you see in those videos.

what i would do is go straight to the default beam weapon class, and add some code there,

basicly start a thread for when the beam(s) start this will count down along the beams lifetime, when this runs out kill the beam and enter packing mode so it powers down as its supposed to and waits til it can fire again, id also get all enemy targets within the beams weapon radius and add them to a table, when it kills that unit remove it from the table, now though when it enters idle state check the units table and the lifetime timer if both > 0 then do not kill the beam, let it swing round towards the target if its not vertical, let the lifetime thread kill the beam or if there is no units to kill, end the beam, it wouldnt be to difficult to do this and would fix all beam weapons.

you could even add while your in that class code that beams can store energy, to make them a little more beleiveable, use the timer thread for when the beam can fire instead of the timeout, so, think of it like this:

if a beam has a timeout of 20 seconds and it fires on an insignicant unit, then stops, it wont fire again then for 20 seconds, yet it only took 1 second to kill the unit, here is where we use the lifetime timer which still says this beam can fire for 19 more seconds without pausing, use that lifetime timer as the beams can or cant fire trigger before it has to recharge.. hope you understand that, if a beam can fire for 10 seconds then it should be allowed
to fire for 10 seconds before it needs recharging, it can then fire for 5 seconds then stop then instantly fire for 2 seconds, then stop then again instantly fire for the remaining 3 seconds before it needs to charge, weapon timeout. that wouldnt be that hard to impliment, and i think would greatly impove current beams to be more life like.

all the code needed is already basicly in the befaultbeamweapon class.

[IceDreamer]

I looked at all that too Domino, but It's no longer necessary. The problem of beams not switching targets properly was just some really badly configured blueprints (REALLY bad) causing stupid behaviour. My changes have fixed that as much as necessary. Any changes to the weapon class as a whole would not work without my changes as well, because the stupid Blueprint would still mess everything up.

The biggest problem left now is AIMING the stupid things. I tried to find where the math behind RULEUBA_NONE is stored,but despite a grep search of Gamadata I couldn't find it. Nor could I find any aim code anywhere when I traced the file tree back. In some cases the problem lies with the target unit's hitbox (Ythotha), in some it lies in the beam source being too low down and hitting the ground, but the biggest problem is that the beam doesn't always connect with the logical line of fire.

There's a test which makes this VERY obvious. In my mod, I put FiringTolerance and all other such variables on the ACU Laser for Cybran to 0, so logically it should immediately hit exactly where you point it on flat terrain. It doesn't. For some reason, the laser 'Wobbles' before it acquires the target properly. I guess I should make a video to demonstrate it. If we are going to fix beams 100% once and for all, THAT is the problem. My fixes here make the units very much usable, changes to defaultbeamweapon might help a tad more, but it's the aim troubles which need the fix most urgently.

Problem is, I can't find the ruddy things!

[Domino]

its demonstrated in this video to some degree, at time index 1:45

Code: Select all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh2vVrDt14E

what i think is happening is that the weapon aquires the target then resets then aquires the target again,
in this video all the units weapons are disabled, yet the weapon still aquires the target, i think the target animator is
switching on and off, prolly something like, i got a target, check weapon is enabled, its not, reset, rinse repeat.

the same prolly happen for a weapon that is enabled, just before the beam fires it resets causing the jitter.

[IceDreamer]

I don't think that's my issue... Interesting though. The Cybran ACU Laser uses firing solution rather than aim bone, so any wobble like that won't happen. Unless the weapon is reacquiring and resetting to neutral orientation... I'll make a video.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SXEhbYe ... e=youtu.be