SS2 RocketMan Alternative Weapons Pack 1.1

[666574dd3fee1Not You]

I'd hate to rag on you too much, but I have a few complaints:

1.  The models look a bit too clean and smooth (just going by the screenshots).
2.  When someone made a comment about #1, you snapped at them
3.  While the animations are a nice feature, your crystal shard is too transparent.  I personally think it looks like all you did was give it a new texture.

[666574dd4039eRocketMan]

1.  Ok....I have no idea how to use that constructively.  Should I remove all the filtering and reduce the polygons?

2.  If I said anything sarcastic or harsh it was because the comment was devoid of anything useful.  There's a lot of that floating around.  If you make a criticism, it should cointain something the creator can use to move forward.  It should not be something like "your model sucks".....but perhaps I expect too much on an open forum.

3. I'm still working on the shard.  I don't intend to do much to the geometry because it's a crystal and and crystals are made up of very simple primitives even in real life but I may make it look a bit more like a fractal.  It's still a work in progress, as stated.

I wouldn't say you have a few complaints.  Complaints are something you have when you pay 40 grand to have your kitchen renovated and all the cupboards come in the wrong stain. 

[666574dd40545Not You]

1. My major point with smoothness of the models is that these objects have been lying around on a spaceship with hive-minded zombies for about six-months.  The wrench and the stasis generator especially, look like they don't have a scratch on them.  Even if modeling isn't your high point (not for me!), you can use a bit of texturing to give them scratches, dents, ect.

2. Not like it matters anyway.  People can be losers.  I just want to say I wrote that last post at about 3:00AM, so my views of people weren't very high.  Sorry.

3. Understandable, keep up the work.

Complaints is a term much more polite than posting "Blah, your stuff sucks, noob."  I don't think that anyone (including myself) would've liked me to do that.

[666574dd40972Kolya]

these objects have been lying around on a spaceship with hive-minded zombies for about six-months. 

No they haven't.

7-8 July 2114 Annelid infestation becomes widespread.
12 July 2114 Soldier G65434-2 is awakened from his healing coma
(from the System Shock Universe Timeline)

Even without this it should be clear that hybrids could only be on the ship after the VB reached Tau Ceti V.

[666574dd40b14miracle.flame]

Well, but 3 February 2114 The Von Braun and Rickenbacker leave Earth orbit. (SS2 cinematic)
That is at least almost half-a-year since the equipment had to been taken on board. An probably the staff used it, at least at trainings or check routines. There are already some weapons broken when Googles finds them.

[666574dd40c07Not You]

Thanks for the corrections.  I'm just saying that most things are in rather bad condition.

[666574dd40d7eRocketMan]

UPDATE:

As per recent comments regarding the shard, I have made some minor changes.  You can consider these to be part of beta 4.

I have redone the geometry of the shard so that it now has a multi-branched appearance and is much more densly packed with crystals.  The texture is new and I think it will please a larger audience including myself as it has more of a classic look to it, a white frosted look with a hint of blue.  I have also played with the transparency and illumination a bit and believe this latest mix will look acceptable in nearly all lighting conditions.  Be aware that the contrast of this weapon against other surfaces depends highly on lighting conditions so even if it looks a little ghostly at times, it will still look quite prominent in most other environments.  Changes have been made to the files on the first post.

[666574dd40f19miracle.flame]

Here I am with a new pic. Now the shard looks just as Wood describes it and Shodan too: "Before you lies the crystal shard, a creation of my children, and by extension of my own... a weapon elegant, deadly, precise.  Learn its function... it may stand between you and their corruption." .. awfuly dangerous. Yeah! I like it very much. The texture is better too. The only thing that still worries me is that trasparency. I've tested it directly on Ops where it's first found. I must admit that at most times it doesn't seem much transparent but sometimes ..at terminals mostly..it is very ghostly. I'd go for less transparency as it is still unrecognised at most times and when it is obvious it's way too much.
Good work and thanks. 

EDIT: typo that changed the meaning
Edit2: Shodan reference.

[666574dd41044Kolya]

That's really some improvement! Good work RocketMan.
Here's another idea: It has been suggested several times on the forums that just by picking up such a dangerously sharp crystal you'd cut your hands off, let alone when you swing it in combat... So a cloth wrapped around the world model's "grip" part might make this a more realistic weapon.

[666574dd41185miracle.flame]

Naah, I remember that discussion and someone implied then you have to invest in Special to learn how to handle such weapon without hurting yourself. And I agree. Some cloth probably won't protect you from tiny needles anyway. The foes you strike at are clothed better in most cases.

[666574dd412a1Kolya]

There's a grip part that doesn't have spikes but may still have sharp edges a cloth or anything else wrapped around it could protect you from. Say you could also use a short pipe piece that you broke off from the walls. Although I think a cloth would look better. Anyway, just an idea.

[666574dd413a9miracle.flame]

Now that you mention it I looked at the hand and whoa.. I have it untextured. 
It still isn't perfectly aligned with the grip anyway.

[666574dd41499RocketMan]

Thanks for the comments guys.  I'm so glad I was able to improve it this time around.  And the comparison shot on page 1 shocked me as to how different it looks now. 

[666574dd41580Not You]

Hey RM,

The crystal shard looks amazing now!  I'm downloading it right now.

[666574dd41878Rainalkar]

There is no doubt that RM is like a blessing from the heavens Another great work 

[666574dd419a5RocketMan]

I dunno bout that.  Any of the other well known modellers could kick my ass if they wanted to compete.

...but thanks

[666574dd41accRocketMan]

Sorry everyone....I forgot to include all the necessary textures (for the hand) in the shard mod.  It's fixed now.  Thanks Miracle.Freak for bringing this to my attention.  At first I THOUGHT you were nuts.  Now I KNOW, I'm just stupid.

[666574dd41be1miracle.flame]

We have to apologize to Changlermaki and maybe other readers... SFG really didn't work with Mod manager because of missing directory branch. RM fixed that now and the hand texture for Crystal Shard too. I've added Quick reference and a note to fisrt post about conflicting textures which are just identical so no need to heed the warning.

[666574dd41cfcG33Z3R]

As a new poster, I want to thank Kolya for maintaining this site, for promoting System Shock 2 the way he does, and for keeping downloads in the first post of each thread CURRENT! That's an awful lot of work for one person! Certainly, if not for him, System Shock 2 would not have maintained its popularity as it has.

Thanks for updating this thread and others!!!

[666574dd41de5RocketMan]

Am I missing something?  The last update made to this thread was in April....or is that what you mean by recent?

[666574dd41eafmiracle.freak from away]

whaat?

[666574dd4210eRocketMan]

Update: Beta 5 Released

Hello again.  This will by my last major revision.  Once I'm done with it I'll close out this project and declare it 1.0    New to this release are a new texture for the wrench...very minor but it makes the yellow part of the shaft look a bit dirtier and not so sterile and glaringly bright.  The most important addition however is a new psi-amp.

Against my better judgement I decided to create a world model for Eldron's psi-amp.  I tried to get his permission to use his assets but have been waiting for a while and decided to do as much as possible from scratch and get his permission retroactively.  I've used his texture on a couple of small details but really not all that much.  I also used one of Mercurius' textures on the wire, quite unnecessarily.  The model is 100% my own though.  I think the model looks better than the original but as usual it has a somewhat cartoonish feel to it because of my poor skill with textures.  Nevertheless I felt it good enough to release.  Please note that the style of the amp is meant to match Eldron's.  I figured it would be totally counter-productive to make a completely new psi-amp (world and hand) because Eldron's is already awesome and everybody uses it.  Mine is just meant to take attention away from the piece of crap laying on the ground that suddenly morphs into a beautiful device when you equip it.

As always feedback/criticisms are encouraged.  I decided not to include the amp in my main archive because it seems more like a straggler that should really be a footnote to Eldron's mod if anything.  The individual mod is included on page 1 along with the updated wrench mod.  Enjoy.

Moderators:  pack = 173 hits, wrench = 158 hits

[666574dd42213Rainalkar]

Pictures, pictures...

[666574dd4231emiracle.flame]

Pictures ahoy..
The wrench looks definitely better with that "new" rubber on.
And the world psi-amp is a perfect match for Elderon's hand model.
Awesome...thanks for another addition to this mod base.