AMK Weapon Add-on - WIP

[Skullhunter 0]

Reposted from GSC Game World forum by request:

 

Well after years of working on very little, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has inspired me to roll up my sleeves and get back to it. This idea started off as a simple rework of the two Desert Eagle pistols in the game, then it enveloped the Saiga-12 model first introduced to us by BAC9-FLCL (plus Siro's Hunting Saiga-12 skin for it) and the full-sized BM-16 shotgun and now I'm eagerly awaiting the loads of new weapons currently being created by the Russian S.T.A.L.K.E.R. community as well as other talented folks like King Friday.

 

Why an add-on for AMK? Well, I dig it. Plus their ui_equipment image has so much extra room for new weapon icons it's not even funny. And variety is good. Even if weapons are so similar that they're mechanically and ballistically identical, they still look different. Some people like AKs, some people like M4s, and so on. Having a greater variety of weapons will definitely add to the immersion factor.

 

This is what I've got for you so far. The two Desert Eagles have been converted to use .44 Magnum and .50 AE ammo, respectively, their inventory descriptions have been rewritten and the two new ammo types have been added to the game, plus they now have two different and distinct firing sounds that better match the guns they're based on. The BM-16 shotgun is integrated into the game and has its own inventory icon, but I'm still working out the accuracy and damage for it, plus I need to adjust its position in the HUD. The Saiga-12c shotgun is also implemented, using Siro's skin with a custom inventory icon to match it plus his inventory description. I've also edited the all.spawn so the Big Ben (now the .50 AE Desert Eagle) in the breakable box in Rostok now has two boxes of .50 AE with it instead of two boxes of 9x39mm. I'm also going to see about implementing portable repair kits for weapons and armor, for those times when you're so far out in the Zone you just can't realistically make it back to a trader. I'd have more but I've only really been working on it seriously for two days.

 

Any possible suggestions or any work someone would like included in this add-on are of course appreciated. And of course if anyone would like to help me test things out, I'd be more than happy to accept volunteers.

 

Oh and it's going to be called AMK ARSENAL. Simple and to the point. Lots and lots of guns for lots and lots of carnage.

 

A2 release download has been pulled pending completion of AMK Arsenal 1.0, which is based on the latest available AMK-EN build. Until release, here's the trailer for the mod.

 

AMK Arsenal Trailer

 

Get AMK Arsenal V1 here and here

 

AMK Arsenal Patch to V 1.2

 

AMK Arsenal Patch to V 1.31

[Skullhunter 0]

Thanks a lot =)

 

No prob. If you hadn't posted that thread on GSC, I'd never have known about all the new guns coming out, so I don't mind helping out.

[Skullhunter 0]

Bump with screenies

 

Inventory view of both DE pistols:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul...er/de_types.jpg

 

Inventory view of both types of .44 Magnum ammo:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul..._ammo_types.jpg

 

Inventory view of both types of .50 AE ammo:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul..._ammo_types.jpg

 

Wolf at the rookie camp with his new toy:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul.../wolf_saiga.jpg

 

Another shot of the Saiga, warning, big image:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul...r/exo_saiga.jpg

[Skullhunter 0]

Good work

 

Getting there. I still haven't made it to Rostok yet to find out if the ammo swap in that box worked correctly though. I'm currently stuck underground in Agroprom in the middle of a blowout. But on the plus side, Wolf conveniently got himself killed during the military raid on the rookie camp (he caught some helicopter rockets that were meant for me) so now I've got the Saiga and the .50 DE.

[Skullhunter 0]

Success!

 

I finally made it to Rostok after a savegame-corrupting crash that set me back a whole day. Fortunately I made up the time lost and went straight from Bar to Wild Territory, smoked all the mercenaries that got in my way and then found... ...the box.

 

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul...urprisebox1.jpg

 

And what's in the box? Something good?

 

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul...urprisebox2.jpg

 

Yes, definitely something good.

 

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul...urprisebox3.jpg

 

So it seems the edits to the all.spawn are working and they should continue to work since I'm limiting myself to only editing the contents of unscripted boxes with xrSpawner.

 

I'm still trying to figure out why the full size BM16 shotgun is less accurate and damaging than the sawed-off though. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Also the Saiga12 is less accurate and damaging than the Winchester 1300, also not what I think it should be. I don't quite seem to completely have the hang of weapon code editing just yet. If anyone feels like helping me out, let me know and I'll upload the mod somewhere so you can have a look at it. Next I'm going to try and integrate Lucian's randomized weapons into AMK, that I at least understand how it works.

[Skullhunter 0]

Could I take a look at the mod, skullhunter? I may be a noob at this, but I could try out the mod and see how well it works.

 

Sure thing. I just need to iron out some more stuff, working on my own version of Lucian's random weapons with his help. I want to get the randomization for Cordon finished and see how it all fits together.

 

As the mod stands, the Desert Eagles are 99% finished (not 100% only because I still can't figure out how to retexture ammo boxes), the full-size BM16 shotgun is finished including the hud tweaking to position it right, the Saiga12c shotgun using Siro's skin is also completely implemented and there is a full-auto variant of it as well. For testing purposes I have all those guns available at Sidorovich's shop for very, very low prices. All of the rookie Stalkers in Cordon randomly spawn with either the PM pistol, sawed-off shotgun, the full size BM16 or some combination of those. Wolf randomly starts with a choice of the Saiga12c, AK74SU, AK47, HK MP5, Colt 1911, FN HP, Fort 12, PM pistol or a combination of those. Occasionally this does result in Stalkers having multiple weapons of the same type, usually with Wolf, but I'd expect an experienced Stalker to carry a backup. If it starts looking like too many guns will end up floating around Cordon, I may have to adjust the percentages more, lower the money you get from Stalkers for selling them guns, or both. Likely I'll have most NPCs set up with two or three weapon choices at most, with characters like Wolf being the exception.

 

So I'll let you know as soon as I have something that I don't consider embarrassingly bad

 

Oh and just to let you know, disregard the stats you see in the inventory for the weapons. They are set up properly, it's just the inventory acts weird sometimes and says they're less powerful/accurate than they actually are.

[Skullhunter 0]

Should be soon. I have a few new ammo types to test out yet. All Stalkers in Cordon have randomized weapons, all bandits are randomized as well as are the railway checkpoint soldiers. Unfortunately I haven't gotten around to randomizing the loadout of the other Stalker, Bandit and Soldier NPCs that arrive to replace killed NPCs or that enter the area on patrol. New ammo types being tested are 12 gauge flechette, 12 gauge Hydra-Shok slug and Mag-Safe style rounds for all pistol calibers from 9x18 up to .50 AE.

[Skullhunter 0]

Okay folks, the first test version of AMK Arsenal is ready to go, download link below:

 

AMK_Arsenal_a1.zip

 

Few things to keep in mind. One; please read the readme file. Two; this WILL overwrite files in your gamedata directory. Best way to test it is going to be if you're using either just AMK or AMK with any of the non-weapon-changing mods like NightVz's weather. Three; this is a work in progress and as I work on it I gain a better understanding of how weapon and ammo coding works, so while it is rough now it will improve. Four; enjoy it.

 

Now the three latest additions to the mod, the Hydra-Shok shotgun slugs and the .44 and .50 frangible rounds, I'd ask you to pay special attention to them. The slugs are meant to be an intermediate between the regular slug and the dart rounds. You won't be sniping anyone with your shotgun but up close they should be particularly lethal. Also, they only work in the Saiga12c right now (the semi-auto one, not the full-auto converted one) as I haven't modified all the other shotguns in the game yet to accept the new ammo. The frangible rounds have less range than their standard and hollowpoint alternatives and don't do as well against armor but should have much greater hitting power and you may also notice enemies dropping more often from blood loss after being shot. Again, this is all experimental right now, so any feedback will help me fine-tune things. Have fun!

[Skullhunter 0]

Disregard this message, that other update regarding the latest AMK-EN patch to .85, it makes Sidorovich vanish. Continue using the last one before .85.

 

Small update to the information, the latest critical patch AMK-EN 2.0.81 -> rev.85 does NOT disrupt anything in this mod. The files it installs are not ones that are used by my mod at all, so go get the critical patch at this post here:

 

http://amk-team.ru/forum/index.php?showtop...ost&p=36630

 

and then install it immediately.

[Skullhunter 0]

silverpower, I'll message you with my email, I wouldn't mind taking a look at what you have and integrating it in my own work. I still have a lot of work ahead of me as far as reworking all the shotguns to take the 12-gauge Hydra-Shok slugs and then adding frangible rounds for all the pistols and some of the rifles, so all of their descriptions will have to be redone to reflect the additional ammo available for them.

[Skullhunter 0]

Skullhunter - check your PMs, the shotguns are done.

 

And don't let your DDS plugin save ui_icons_equipment.dds with mipmaps - DXT5 is correct, having mipmaps isn't. It works for me, but that's because I'm running at max texture quality at the moment. Stalker assumes that items like this won't have mipmaps, and when they do, it doesn't know to scale them up to the correct size, so the icons look funny.

 

mistaza - try reinstalling AMK, upgrade it to rev.87, and then try installing Arsenal over that. That won't fix the icon issue - unless you know how to strip mipmaps from textures (DDS Converter can do it - DXT5, don't build mipmaps), of course. The CTDs should go away, though.

 

Damn, sorry guys, I didn't know about that. I'll resave it without the mipmaps and upload it separately.

[Skullhunter 0]

Skullhunter,

 

When I installed the mod, it completely screwed up my inventory icons. I mean, really, really, screwed it up. I'm running the latest of the amkmod, which I thought was the problem, but nope, it happens when I install ARSENAL. Even worse, it appears to be crashing the game.

 

"FATAL ERROR

 

[error]Expression : fatal error

[error]Function : CInifile::r_section

[error]File : E:\stalker\patch_1_0004\xrCore\Xr_ini.cpp

[error]Line : 342

[error]Description : <no expression>

[error]Arguments : Can't open section 'wpn_saiga12c_m1' "

 

This usually happens when it's in the "synchronizing" stage, then BAM!, straight to the desktop.

 

Have any theories?

 

Okay, usually the Can't open section 'wpn_saiga12c_m1' message happens when it can't find a reference, usually because the reference is spelled wrong (ie. the game is looking for wpn_saiga12c_n1 to place in Sidorovich's inventory ltx file but the actual spelling in the unique items ltx is wpn_saiga12c_m1). It's looking for something it can't find, so it chokes. I remember this was one of the problems Lucian had to fix in his randomized weapons mod; some of the items referenced were spelled incorrectly so the game would crash. All I can think of is that sometime between reinstalls of AMK and my mod, one of my mod files got overwritten by an original AMK file that no longer references wpn_saiga12c_m1, which is the full-auto modified Saiga. That would narrow it down to either unique_items.ltx, string_table_enc_weapons.xml or possibly mp_ranks.ltx. More likely the first one. I'll do some additional testing on my end when I get a chance tomorrow and see if I can replicate that error.

 

Also, I've uploaded a fixed ui_inventory dds file:

http://rapidshare.com/files/111204923/ui_i...ipment.dds.html

[Skullhunter 0]

Well, here's the results. I tried it with the new UI_icon_equipment.dds and a fresh install of ARSENAL, and it works. Nothing froze, there was no crash to desktop, nothing. Loaded up and was ready to roll. Must have been me.

 

That's good news mistaza. I'm currently working on more additions to the mod, I've added Harmont's adjustments for the wallmarks for all weapons, I'm adding silverpower's expanded weapon descriptions (and new weapon ideas) and I'll also be integrating PLR's realistic weapons for AMK. The latest addition is another new ammo for shotguns called SCIMTR, a somewhat advanced version of flechettes. They'll be in the next release of course. Still working on trying to figure out how to retexture ammo boxes but not a whole lot of luck yet

[Skullhunter 0]

Just out of curiosity, what program are you using to mod the skins and such? Other than that, the mod so far is working really well. The Saiga is my new best friend, especially with the buckshot rounds. Clears a room in a jiffy. Are you still open to suggestions? If so, it would be really neat if you could make a drum cartridge, sort of like a tommy gun.

 

I've actually only modified one texture for the mod, the inventory icon sheet, which is actually really easy to change now that I know how the grid works and I haven't stupidly created the dds file with mipmaps. Everything else is just work done by far more gifted people than myself, I'm just gathering it into one place I will eventually be doing some textures for items, especially if I can ever figure out how the hell to retexture any of the ogf files that are used for ammo boxes. Unfortunately, unlike other ogfs used by the game, none of the ammo boxes have a clear reference to their texture files when I look through them in PSPad, so I am unable to change them just yet and nobody else seems to know exactly how it's done. As far as a drum mag for the Saiga, there is such a thing that's actually available for the real-world Saiga, but an in-game drum mag would require someone to make a model of the Saiga with a drum mag instead of the box mag. I'd really dig seeing that though. The other gun I'd love to have for this mod would be the Russian KS-23 4 gauge shotgun.

 

Anyways, I should have a new alpha release for testing up within the week; I've added gosuke's P90 to the weapon list as well as a .357 Magnum version of the Desert Eagle and I'm working on the compatibility setup for different screen resolutions. The 12-gauge SCIMTR rounds are done and I'm in the process of adding frangible rounds for all pistol-caliber firearms. The .50 AE frangibles are vicious, I've dropped a charging boar in two, sometimes one shot with them. They're crap for long-range shooting, as they're very light, and they can't cut through armor very well, but they cause massive immediate trauma as well as a lot of bleeding damage. I figure they're good backup ammo for dealing with critters and lightly armored enemies like bandits. I'll also be expanding the random weapon loadouts beyond Cordon; that will take a little fine-tuning since apparently certain types of NPCs can't use certain weapons. Just to mess with you, some weak NPCs may have a very small chance to spawn with far better weapons than normal, so be prepared. For now though, I'm gonna crash, but I'll check in here tomorrow afternoon before work.

 

Update: I figured it out.

 

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul...er/new_ammo.jpg

 

I managed to kludge together a quick new ammo box after playing a hunch. Apparently I was just overthinking things, so now it looks like I'll be texturing new ammo boxes this week once I get the hang of how the texture tiles on the box.

[Skullhunter 0]

Yeah, the frangible rounds are awesome against mutants. One shot from the .50 and it's over for most of them, but it seemed to only work that way by blind fire only, not by actually taking deliberate aim. The .44 magnum didn't really seem useful, and when I tried it wasn't really effective against much enemies. It could be me though, because I'm not a pistol type of person:rolleyes:.

The new weapons I'm really looking forward to, but the P90 not so much, mainly because the last game I played with a P90 was 007: Nightfire. P90 = instant death to wielder. Not a good experience. Glorified staple gun, in my opinion.

 

I'm going to check PLR's weapon stats sometime later tonight and see if maybe they're better. In the meantime, here's the new ammo box skin for the .50 AE JHP rounds:

 

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Skul.../new50final.jpg

 

Took me a while to get them as weathered-looking as the other ammo boxes in the game. I'm pretty happy with them. Of course this means I have a lot of texture work ahead of me. Ah well, now I know what I'm doing with my days off.

[Skullhunter 0]

skulls and crossed guns. Nice touch .

 

Thanks, that's actually the logo I designed for the work I've done creating content for a 3d chat program. I decided it would be appropriate and I'll be using it on all my new ammo types.

 

Sorry I've disappeared for a couple days or so - just got ahold of FEAR and Quake 4, and I've been playing the hell out of them. Could you send me your current weapon descriptions so I can work on them?

 

Both fun games, understandable. Give me about a day (early work day tomorrow) and I'll have the next alpha up. I'm working on the textures for the new ammo types now that I cracked the problem of how it's done. I also went ahead and implemented the .357 Mag DE you suggested and gosuke's P90. The P90 seems a bit nerfed in AMK though; I peppered the hell out of a car park bandit with it and it didn't even stagger him so I think it needs a bit more power.

 

Progress report: As usual, my insomnia is your gain. P90 now has two types of ammo, SS190 FMJ and SS198 JHP, and both ammo types have new boxes to replace the rather lackluster stock game texture. 12 gauge Hydra-Shok slugs and SCIMTR rounds, .50AE JHP and Hydra-Shok have their own ammo boxes and inventory icons. I may hold off on the next release until the next release of the main AMK-EN mod, since once it's out I'll have to adjust everything again to make sure my changes aren't overwriting improvements to the main mod. And now, off to work I go.

[Skullhunter 0]

awesome! anyway i love this idea especially new smg's. my question is about the reloading. can you change em for all the weapons that have the charging handle on the right side. i was thinking COD4 style. that game has some of the best reload animations i have ever seem. the sfx too. if it's not too much of a problem.

 

Unfortunately that's going to depend on the guys doing the new models. All I'm going to be doing is incorporating them into an AMK-EN compatible addon. But, so far they look promising, the Russian S.T.A.L.K.E.R. community seems to be doing a damn good job.

[Skullhunter 0]

Little bitty update, I just incorporated PLR's weapon settings for AMK into the mod, going to test them out and see what I think. I may adjust the P90 to be more in accordance with those settings, but I can confirm kills on the Cordon soldiers at 200+ meters using the SS198 rounds. SS109 still seems a bit underpowered though.

[Skullhunter 0]

Did you include PKM? I noticed the icon of PKM and 250-rounds 7,62x54R ammo box in ui_icon_equipment.dds

What about HK UMP 45 or some other SMG that fires .45 ACP?

 

10ar, the PKM was all ready there when I started editing the ui_icon_equipment.dds. I'm not sure if anyone is doing a .45acp subgun besides the MAC10.

 

More realistic guns? Fantastic.

 

One thing though - have you changed ammo in weapons.ltx? AFAIK even PLR didn't do it and some values there can be quite silly(Especially impact). I made a custom one myself, but this could only be properly done by someone who edited guns as well(As the values there are multipliers - so other than pierce and impair they should all be 1?).

 

Excellent suggestion Koki. The only changes I've made thus far to weapons.ltx using PLR's stuff was the texture resolution compatibility work I did. I'll look into that later today. Right now I'm watching Buffy.

[Skullhunter 0]

hk ump45! pphhhttttt give an m1928 thompson with a pistol foregrip and a 100 round drum.

 

anyway the ss109 round for the p90 is indeed a weak round. light and high falocity = great penetration but poor stopping power.

though armor pearcing is fantastic since it can punch through 52 layers of kavlar and a 10mm titanium plate at 200m.

after that the round falls apart and acts as a shotgun shell in the body. though stalker does not have proper ballistic information. i beleive anyway.

 

oh skullhunter. can u increase the stopping power of the 12g slug. i find it hard to belief it cannot drop even a dog in a single shot. when in fact a slug should drop anything in 1 shot except enemies with exo suits. and psuedogiants.

 

 

Oh I'd love to see a 1928 Thompson in this game.

 

I'll look into testing slug damage later tonight, for both the original game slugs and mine.