SS2 Soopytwist Small Guns

[665cf8f199303xdiesp]

Tags: °dml °objicon

In the end, Soopytwist and I made this little mod which makes all  weapons smaller on screen (2 blocks, comes with smaller icon). Uses dmls, so compatible with any other mod!

[665cf8f199472Primitive Primate]

Make this for every weapon, tool and implant and I'll love you forever

[665cf8f19964evoodoo47]

the only three items where modifying invdims makes some sense are pistols (2x1), and maybe the stasis field generator (2x2, considering its shape and size).

[665cf8f199727Primitive Primate]

Correct. I thought wrong

[665cf8f199a03ZylonBane]

Make this for every weapon, tool and implant and I'll love you forever

You want tools and implants that currently only use 1 grid square to use 2 grid squares?

[665cf8f199b0dYankee Clipper]

You said 3 but then listed only 2. Maybe psi amp as the 3rd? At least when it is laying on the ground it looks like it would be more compact.

[665cf8f199c1aYankee Clipper]

"pistols". Laser pistol, as well, I guess.

[665cf8f199d3bvoodoo47]

correct. but yeah, considering the real world size, psi amp could be the fourth candidate.

//also, "fat" stasis field generator not doable - setting it to 2x2 invdims will cause weirdness when trying to equip, as the hand slot is just 1 square wide. so, valid weapon sizes are 1x1, 1x2 and 1x3, nothing else.

[665cf8f199e7cxdiesp]

I don't know about DML files, so these are just modified vanilla. With the first, pistols and laser pistols occupy just 2 blocks as in Infinite. The second applies to all weapons, and includes (unused) icons for shattered guns and armor. Broken icons are now withish.

Feel free to further modify any way you need! 

[Soopytwist's Pistols.7z expired]

[Soopytwist's Weapons.7z expired]

[665cf8f199fc1voodoo47]

pistols dml'd and attached to the first post, will do the same for the full pack when I get back from work.

btw, you really should have a look at dmls, you can do all sorts of nice stuff on the fly (like modifying difficulty), and it's really not that difficult (if I was able to learn it, anyone can). check the dml in the pistol package - it just says "doesn't matter what the value in full gamesys is, the pistols' inventory height is now 2" to the engine. therefore, this will work with any gamesys mod out there, orig, secmod, SCP, whatever - this would be impossible if the height modification would be done by including a full gamesys.

[665cf8f19a320RocketMan]

It makes perfect sense that pistols should occupy fewer grid units than larger weapons but I have to wonder what the greater implications are when you consider inventory slots are meant to put a constraint on the player.  That may have to be rebalanced as well.

[665cf8f19a433voodoo47]

the pistols should be fairly ok, but the full pack definitely will have an impact on the game mechanics.

[665cf8f19a75axdiesp]

BTW the "arm" slot in the inventory (where you drop the weapon, to equip it), is sized to match a 3 blocks weapon: it is functional in a space well below the weapon's graphics. In Infinite, it's resized to match a 2 blocks weapon with a gray block in that space underneath: but that space is still functional, I couldn't get around to change its hotspots as in the main menu.

when you consider inventory slots are meant to put a constraint on the player

The change in weapon size was added to carry around 1 extra weapon (with same inventory size), in a scenario where no item is ever dropped. But testers would still make piles of items at the elevators to circumvent any inventory limitations... 

[665cf8f19a936Kolya]

I'm sure people will still hoard, but at the same time combat will be a bit easier when you can carry another gun with you.
Initial strength could be reduced to make up for that. But frankly I think it'll be fine as is, as long as you tell people of that effect (preferably in the first post) so they know what they get.

Also 2 general requests: Please tag mods (only "dml" in this case) and pack them so that the root of the archive equals the game root, ie no subfolder with the mod's name.

[665cf8f19aaeegnartsch]

Hmmm... I liked the pistols being reduced in size, but resizing even the bigger weapsons like shotguns is just too much, imho.
Now the shotguns look smaller in diameter than the pistol, which must be a some magnum elefant killer.
And it breaks the harmony of relative sizes compared to the armor/equipment slots on the right as well.
Doesn't make any sense, if I may say so.

[665cf8f19abd0Kolya]

I merged the small weapons mod into this thread.

[665cf8f19af29voodoo47]

Hmmm... I liked the pistols being reduced in size, but resizing even the bigger weapsons like shotguns is just too much, imho.
Now the shotguns look smaller in diameter than the pistol, which must be a some magnum elefant killer.
And it breaks the harmony of relative sizes compared to the armor/equipment slots on the right as well.
Doesn't make any sense, if I may say so.

exactly why I originally made two separate topics for the mods, but if K wants them merged, I don't really mind.

[665cf8f19b04bKolya]

The two mods are variations of the same idea: Smaller guns for SS2. If someone googles for that he will find this thread and can then decide how far he wants to go with this idea. Comparative posts like gnartsch's above can help them make a decision. I think this all works better in one thread.

[665cf8f19b305xdiesp]

The PSI Amp wasn't resized yet in "All Weapons", I updated it in the attached file!

Doesn't make any sense, if I may say so.

Let's pretend that the inventory screen is really just a desktop with icons, and the actual sorting happens automatically off screen. Maybe Goggles can open up like Robocop's leg, or Vicky the Small Wonder. 

[SS2_Soopytwist_SmallWeapons1.1.7z expired]

[665cf8f19b3fdvoodoo47]

attached to the first post.

[665cf8f19b73bJoin2]

the pistols should be fairly ok, but the full pack definitely will have an impact on the game mechanics.

This. All weapons as 2x1 is worthless to me, but hey, there are those that would download it.
I will be downloading the small pistols, nice mod that improves upon the original design, but will conflict with balance in a very minor way. Something else important should perhaps be increased in size, medkits would be nice but the shape of them won't make sense as 2x1. Hmm...
What about melee weapons though? They should be decreasd in size to 2x1 also I think, and the Psi amp perhaps. A wrench is not as large as a shottie or fusion cannon. Gah, can't win. 

A problem with small pistols mod itself is energy and standard are already arguably the best weapon classes (grenade launcher aside). Sigh, you really can't win. The game needs a whole rebalancing mod.

Still, this is nice.

[665cf8f19b941Yankee Clipper]

Excellent mods! I wanted kind of combo of the two: pistols plus the psi amp, so I did a little minor surgery to add the amp to the pistols mod. While doing so, I was initially confused by the fact that there are two pics each for the pistols, but only one for the amp. That is, until I actually looked at the pics and saw that the extra pics for the pistols was to give them a jammed pic as well. Of course, the amp never breaks, so no need for the extra pic.

Or isn't there?

In the original game files, there actually is a pic for a jammed amp. What's up with that? I have never had my amp break in the game and I have no idea how to go about breaking it even if I wanted to. Was it going to be possible to break your amp and then they decided to change that aspect of the game and the pic just got left behind, or is there some way to go about breaking your amp?

@voodoo47: Regarding dml modding: I created a mod some time back to disable the noisiness of the laser rapier. It was a gamesys mod. I decided to try an make the mod via dml for better compatibility with other mods, but it isn't working for me. The dml is as follows:

Code: [Select]

DML1

//silence the laser rapier equipped noise
+ObjProp -3002 "Play Params"
{
"Volume" -4200
}

I suspect the problem is one of two things: either I am making a mistake in how I am addressing the thing I want changed, or possibly changing a schema is in someway different than changing a typical object. I am leaning towards the former.

What do you think?

[665cf8f19ba75voodoo47]

incorrect syntax, should be "SchPlayParams" instead of "Play Params". when ingame, open the console and type dump_props_full, that will create proplist.txt in the root with all the props and values. also, add dbmod_log 10 into your cam_ext.cfg, that will create a dbmod.log each time you run the game to test the dml, and display all errors you make.

and yeah, there are unused resources in the crf files, no surprise there.

[665cf8f19bc12Yankee Clipper]

That did the trick. I had previously read the dbmod-sample.dml file, and did the dump_props_full dump. But, somehow I managed to look past the SchPlayParams section without realizing what I was looking for was right there. Thanks for the help.

Also, regarding the dbmod.log suggestion, I did that. The section of the file dealing with the rapier mod shows it going through with no errors. However, the rest of the file is chock full of what looks like error after error. One very small sample:

Code: [Select]

DIAG: patch request for 'gamesys' (40200)
DIAG: looking for file 'gamesys.dml' in path '.\' (40200)
DIAG:     file not found
The file is jam packed with reports of looking for that file and also some other .dml files all over the place and not finding them. Normal?

One other minor note: The Blue Mod Manager lists my mod, which consists of only the .dml file, as "Unrecognized, DML". I'm guessing that's because DML awareness has just been added to the manager, and it still defaults to unrecognized if it doesn't see anything else. Or is there something else I should be doing to make the mod more recognizable?