Glad to see the SS2 modding community is still sticking around after all these years.

I've been learning a bit more about materials after realizing that there's a very convenient document included with NewDark which covers all of the usable functions. I've updated the link above with a new material-based animation for the rifle's animated display. It's essentially the original but much smoother.

Thanks very much for your contribution.  I think we left this in a state where more could have been done.  Glad you decided to put the new engine to good use.

Oh I wish I could, I've got ideas but no artistic talent

Perhaps you could open up the prongs on the end of the rifle (making it look more like the basic shape of a claw game machine's claw) matching the color of the body of the rifle (maybe slightly darker to show the transition?) and then have a blue band of light going up each prong in the same way it moves along the top of the laser pistol? That'd be a nice sci-fi effect I think :3 Ooh, you could have a banded spike coming straight out of the middle of the claw so it's got kind of a parabolic pointer feel to it, maybe one band metal, one band glowing blue, another band metal, etc up from base to tip.

One concern with the post, now with the downloads labeled just 1, 2 and 3, there's not much reference to which looks like what without just plugging it into the game and looking at them the hard way, and I've no idea if the screenshots are even up to date. Only one of them is labeled, and since there's 4 screenshots the only way to know what's what is the SWAG method (Scientific Wild-*** Guess)

and the other R who to this day remains nameless

Miracle.Freak would you mind consolidating the downloads so that the one half way down the page replaces the "Right" download at the top...though the pic is sort of differnt?  Thanks.

This just adds i realy big impourment to the old EMP Rifle. Good work Rainalker. 

lol clumsy me..
I don't know..when I'm looking at the original I'm still hesitant about which to prefer. This new world model looks definitely better but the hand model feels so blocky and the prongs are not very visible. But still...

now that some aspects were addressed it looks better...I've tested in game.
since the animation's not stretched anymore shouldn't the display be squared a bit as well?

edit:typo
edit:2nd typo

Rocketman updated the second version of the rifle, he asked me to replace the current one, but frankly, I don't know how to do that. So I'm posting it here.

moved to first post

I think that the screen is eliptic only because of how the bin is created. But Rocketman will know better.

Ok, step by step:
-The feel isn't really the same when looking at the pictures and ingame. I remember some games which had horrible screenshots, but beautiful animation. This isn't that extreme, but you're missing some other parts, like the animated screen etc.
-The number of polygons is around 800, it could be somewhat higher I guess.
-Angles could I guess be solved by making them smoother, adding a few more polygons. The right rifle is more rounded (the side is) in this respect .
-When you say it is prolonged, in what way? The handle, the prongs?
-I don't know is the stuff about the viewfinder that eye prinkling. The circle isn't an elipse, and it's vertically longer only because of the lights beneath.
-I agree that the prongs are very important, and I agree with your other opinions, save one: I know that the blue prong looks fitting in the original, but I tried placing it here, and it simply feels odd. The model is more robust, and it hardly fits. I guess I could try a few more tweaks.
-We simply were lacking fitting textures for the handle. If anyone has something usable, let me know.
-I don't know do I like the cable idea. I can't escape the feeling that it would look cheap, and this is state of the art technology.
-I was careful with animations and blinking so that the rifle wouldn't be named Disco Rifle I guess a few blinks (red light for instance) could be added, but nothing excessive.
-As for symmetry, I aimed it Seems more modern, dunno know.

I'll try... let's call them the left one and the right one.
Now I'm judging just from the screens, I think it's sufficient for what I'm going to compare.

First of all... more polygons. Mainly in the upper part, those edges are too sharp and too right-angeled, all's too regular. Try to round the edges a bit. Try different angles for different parts.

In overall picture I like the left one more. The right one is needlessly prolonged.

But the right one is better situated in hand model...and blocks less of player's view.

That viewfinder in the upper part or scope or whatever that display means is vertically oblong. All such things are usually squared or circular or horizontaly oblong, it feels more natural and logical as eyes are horizontally situated next to each other in the face and so is your view. I'd go for squared impression from FP POV.

That claw at the end point is IMHO one of the most important parts of the EMP rifle technically. I don't know, it looks very important to me if I think about how it could work. In vanilla model there's something turquoise set in the claws. It's missing in your models and I think it's important. As for the shape I like the left claws better than the right ones. But I think they should be longer...like the right ones..but shaped as they are.

One little thing at the end.. that black part. I'd prefer more metallic coulour or texture. Black just won't do.

Summary:
- left one is better shaped in overall picture
- more rounded edges and unregular polygons in the upper part
- situate as the right one in FP POV
- squared display in FP POV
- turquoise set in the claws, shaped as left, long as right
- black parts more metallic


Update:
I have another idea. Cool but difficult. That "bridge" in the upper part that's connecting to the claw.. would look like something if turned into a cable, thick cyberpunk cable.... so much for fixing the regular edges up there.