I could always make a version with NO colour changing. It's very easy to do.

But I find having to hack them with a somewhat expensive HCK 4 hack, is already enough of a barrier to entry to the point where unless you become hackerman, you're still going to be excited about finding the next rapier.

Literally nobody would be unhappy if it didn't cost any nanites at all. In fact I'll predict right now that removing the nanite cost will be one of the first support questions. Imposing a game resource cost for an action that has no gameplay effect is a very strange choice.

I'd be unhappy, because it takes something away from collecting rapiers. Giving everyone the choice to immediately choose whichever one they want for free takes away some of the fun of searching for the rapier colour you really want or finding all of them.

There's value in rarity and in finding something rare that you want. This is also why people are willing to pay money for "legendary loot boxes" on the off chance of finding a rare cosmetic that they like. Getting excited when finding something rare like that is a core part of human nature and I like that you can't simply toggle the rapier you want.

But I don't think it will be a support question at all since it's already been accounted for. Check the first post for the new beta which has 2 versions, a hack version which is what you see in the video, and a version where right clicking simply cycles through the available colours for free.

The free version is there for those who want it. I recommend the hack version, as it keeps the rarer colours (like the black rapier) special, but to each their own. I'm not going to judge anyone for using either version, and nobody is "ruining" their experience by using one version over the other. I'm more than happy to provide multiple versions. It's not exactly difficult to do and largely handles itself automatically.

I guess we can see how many downloads each version gets, but I think you'd be surprised how many people will want to have that extra level of resource investment.

Nobody is clamoring for a "Freely unlock all GamePig games" mod either, despite the hack for it being very hard and requiring significantly more resources than the rapiers in this mod. People are more than happy to pay for non-gameplay rewards that add flavour or enjoyment to a playthrough without being numerically advantageous. All the lore-building non-gameplay fluff that's interactive and part of the world is the essence of what makes these sorts of games so immersive for so many people.

I have uploaded a new beta version. Please note there's 1 known issue currently - When playing with RSD the hack text doesn't appear, but it's a minor issue. I have asked RoSoDude to look into it.

ZylonBane
That reconstruction costs about the price of a snack in a replicator. Nanites work in mysterious ways

You're charging players four times more nanites than it takes to reconstruct an entire human body from scratch just to change the color? Come on, this is just a silly cosmetic mod. There should be no cost, and it should cycle through the colors linearly instead of randomly.

Also it would also be better if there was a UI sound effect played when you change colors.

As for an MFD, are you talking about the Query panel? That flat-out will not display hack or modify buttons. That's why guns don't display it when you query them, vs the right-click Settings panel where it does display.

You could make a Settings MFD display, but since laser rapiers don't have settings, that would just be confusing for people.

sarge945
I guess the brightness is very dependant on the monitor, I have a monitor with very bright and powerful colors, so even just a tiny bit pops. You're the mod creator though, so your value matters. And thanks for putting options to change it easily!

Deu sex
Do you have any comparison shots. Your blue and red are identical to mine, and I can't tell any difference between your green and mine despite the numbers being different. Your purple looks much better, though.

I don't like your reduced brightness values. They make the rapier look like it's only emitting a small glow, despite being a massive bright light in your hand.

I have also done some playthroughs and the mod has been working just fine for me too. I might move it out of beta.

sarge945
Nope I was waiting for the next version, it did release a week ago though but I only realized it now, I'm getting RSD beta 13 now and I'll be playing it during the week

You're better off now. It had some nasty issues a week ago which luckily got fixed.

sarge945RoSoDude is going to release RSD's next version soon, I'll try it again in a full run during that playthrough and if everything is fine, I'll give it a green light, not that you need it or anything though haha just a little external validation roleplay.

Sorry for bump, but did this end up happening @Deu sex?

I really want to get this out of BETA

sarge945
Last time I checked it was working quite nicely, no issues as far as I can remember since the latest version.
RoSoDude is going to release RSD's next version soon, I'll try it again in a full run during that playthrough and if everything is fine, I'll give it a green light, not that you need it or anything though haha just a little external validation roleplay.

Don't hesitate to stress the mod yourself too!

Fair enough, got any recommendations?

I eventually went with Door Close Sound.

I try to avoid using object properties because I am not yet experienced enough with the editor to know what will have various implications I don't know about.

Well I found a far more disgusting solution that works. It's the dirtiest hack I could think of, but as long as it works I am happy to use it.

Tell me what you think of this. Let me know if it's likely to blow up in my face.

The problem with using "OnScriptBegin" is that it re-rolls on every map change. I cannot simply prevent it running by using SetData/GetData because, for some strange reason, GetData and SetData don't seem to work for held weapons or inventory items, so the rapier was changing colours between maps. I originally fixed this by changing it to use OnCreate instead, which only runs once. The problem with using "OnCreate" is that it doesn't affect already existing rapiers in the maps, meaning I had to do a bunch of DML edits and replace rapiers via script, which meant compatibility concerns (needing to do manual DMLs for SCP, Secmod etc) as well as being incompatible with mods like SS2-RSD which dynamically remove, swap and replace items via scripts, which would not affect the newly placed rapiers as they have different object IDs, and depending on various factors would swap before other mods could change their properties.

I instead used a horrible hack to fix both problems. I am using OnBeginScript again, which means it does affect pre-placed rapiers in the maps, but as part of OnBeginScript, I forcibly set my own Script Slot to "", effectively removing the script. This prevents OnScriptBegin from running again on map changes and game reloads.

I gave it a quick test and will upload, but will not be removing the old BETA version because I am not entirely happy with this solution, even if it works. I feel it is inherently fragile and could have implications elsewhere.

I might need some DML help for this one, @voodoo47 or someone.

So basically, I have this fixed for vanilla/scp, using DML files for each mission.

I also want to fix it for Secmod, but....well obviously there's a problem because I am already using DMLs for the mission files, and they are specifically fingerprinted against secmod (because for example Secmod removes the laser rapier in eng1).

How would I make DMLs for the Secmod maps and still have the ones for the regular maps? Do I just create alternate versions of the .mis dmls in the dbmods folder?

Strange, that shouldn't be happening.

I will look into it.

ZylonBane
damn I forgot to convert it to jpg first, going to do that asap
-> done

System Shock 2 is such a highly detailed, photorealistic gaming experience we need huge images to really soak in all the minute details

Thanks for the info. Yeah I tried putting in texture paths, had no luck, so maybe it's for AI's, or maybe not implemented in the SS2 version of the engine, I don't know.

It's a shame actually. If this sort of feature was properly in the engine, it would allow the creation of pretty compatible skin type mods (like having 2-3 hybrid skins chosen randomly), but ah well.

What is up with your assassin models? The textures on them look completely broken?

I haven't really looked at heat disks, I feel like it might be a little too much effort for an effect that's not likely to look good, but I might have another look at it soon.

For now though, unless voodoo or ZB come up with a really good answer to my question above that lets me completely change how this mod works (for the better), then I basically consider this done for the most part. I might look into heat particles, but I have some other mods I need to get properly tested and released (like my Keypad mod)

Then again, RSD has been done for almost a year now, and that mod's still going.

So there's a property in Renderer->Mesh Textures, which from what it looks like in the editor, apparently allows replacing a texture in a mesh with another one?

This would be extremely useful for this mod because currently it's shipping a bunch of copies of the rapier model in order to effectively replace the texture paths within the model files.

@voodoo47 or @ZylonBane have either of you used this property or know of any similar ones? Has it ever worked? I tried putting in all sorts of inputs but never got anything useful out of it.

Okay, I believe I have fixed both issues.

The rapier should no longer randomise inside your inventory at all, or on level load etc.

Assassins now use the correct rapier model. Unfortunately, they generate a new rapier each time they attack - it's just part of that mod and I can't change it. This means on every attack, their rapier will reroll a different colour.

This may be desired, but if not, there's a new option in the squirrel script file to force assassins to use a specific colour always.

I have attached a new version to the original release post. I really should start using that as a common post for new releases since this is now an "official" mod with actual users, not just an engineering project.

Okay, I figured. They do indeed use a different model, borrowed from Secmod.

Deu sexHmm, that rapier position on the assassin is off. Is it always like that? And how did you get different rapier colors for the assassin?

I'd like to make rapier colors compatible with the upcoming rapier assassin minimod for Scary Monsters, but I'm not sure precisely how to do it at the moment.

I fixed a bug where the Rapier was inheriting the Energy Weapons script from it's parent. I also made white and black rapiers half as likely to appear, since they look strange and are generally weirder and more niche. As a result of this, each rapier colour can now have it's individual chance to appear adjusted! Got a favourite that you like more than the rest, but want to still see the others? Bump it's chance up!

I find it odd and annoying that we are hard limited to 4 script slots and thanks to Dont Inherit being true we can't add more via metaprops.

In some ways I wish the EnergyWeapon script was detached from the Energy (-14) archetype and instead attached to each of the energy weapon archetypes through a metaprop, then we could get access to more script slots on the rapier by using metaprops. Because of this quirk, this mod currently has an incompatiblity with SS2-RSD because that mod uses all 4 script slots on the rapier.

Here's what happens when I deliberately mess with the chance values...

UPDATE: Thanks @RoSoDude for the RSD Update. This is now compatible again with Version 8 Beta 12 (hotfixed today) and should remain compatible going forward.

[dump047.png expired]

(looks at code)

Haven't discovered arrays yet, have you?

Dark has a limit on the number of dynamic lights that can be created

32, so you'll be fine unless you spawn them en masse via the console.