So What EXACTLY is Possible for Custom Weapons?

[Taffer]

I've been thinking about this for a little while now. Level designing for Gears is fantastic, and its born out of the weapon placement to allow for standoffs and interesting interplay between the different weapons, but it does feel pretty limiting when we've all seen these weapons for so long now. Some custom weapons in a map could really bring some new gameplay to the table.

So I'm curious, what are all of the possibilities and limitations of creating custom weapons that we know of so far?

I know that you have to substitute another weapon to get a new one, since you are basically modifying an old weapon. I know that you can make them visually look different with a different mesh. I know that you can alter the rate of fire of a weapon. But how far can one modify these old weapons?

Can I change the logo of the gun on the ammo counter? How for does the rate of fire go? Is it just creating faster or slower streams of bullets, or can you make a semi-auto weapon auto and vice versa? Can I add/take away bursts (i.e. Hammerburst)? Can I add a scope to a weapon that doesn't have one? Can I change the sound a weapon makes when it is fired?

[LiquidLeary]

This comes up a lot, but with the number of available weapon mods in Gears being somewhere between 1 and 2 I'd say there is very little knowledge of how to do it successfully. I won't say it's impossible, since plenty of people know more about it than me. What I do know is that with the available method it is difficult enough to the point that you might as well jump to UT3. There's even a UT TC for Gears that is somewhat active.

You may have seen a while back when Kantham was attempting to mod them, but something as simple as replacing the weapon's sound was a major task. Gridlockshock has probably made the most progress, but I haven't seen his work in a fully playable mod yet. If you are really interested in making a weapon, UT3 is what you need. Uscript is essential to building a fully functional weapon imo.

[ADG]

I believe the following will answer all of your questions.

You can only:
- Replace existing weapons with custom meshes.
- Change a specific weapon's attributes(damage, clip size, max ammo, rate of fire, recoil, number of bullets per burst[hammerburst only], number of pellets[shotgun only], etc,.) via .txt file(call exec "yoursettings.txt" in console)

You cannot:
- Add or modify any weapon's functions, like adding a zoom to the Hammerburst.
- Create a new weapon from scratch.
- Change the HUD icon of a weapon.

[Taffer]

Yeah the two who have had at least some success modding weapons are Gridlockshock and Kantham. I was reading somewhere that Kantham actually was able to make the hammerburst fire single shots instead of bursts? That's what I'm shooting for, bolstering the hammerburst up and then placing it as a pickup weapon on this new map I'm working on in hopes of creating some new weapon dynamics for this game.

And trust me, I am staying with Gears because I love designing for the gameflow of this game so much. If I didn't, I would move to UT3 in a heartbeat, the possibilities with that editor are incredible.

Edit: Thanks a lot, ADG. Really unfortunate that I won't be able to add a scope to the hammerburst, though... actually, maybe I could give the sniper rifle the hammerburst mesh (maybe just give it a new material or something, I've never created a mesh in my life) and increase the clip size, while decreasing the damage? My aim was for a scoped single-shot weapon, although I suppose the sniper sound effects might not be the most ideal for being fired in quick succession...

Edit Edit: Hey, just read the bit about a Gears TC Might check that out.

[ADG]

set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle NumBurstShots 6

Change 6 to whatever you want. Save it in a .txt file, then to use the settings ingame just execute the commands in kismet. It's the Console Command function, put in the name of your .txt file in there.

Here's some other stuff with Hammerburst that I know of.

Set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle CriticalAmmoCount 12
Set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle InitialMagazines 4
Set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle TargetingFOV 65
Set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle MaxSpareAmmo 119
Set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle PRM_Damage (Value=(24,24,24,24,24))
Set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle PRM_DamageAI (Value=(26,21,22,23,24))
set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle PRM_RateOfFire (Value=(1500))
set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle NumBurstShots 15
set WarfareGame.Weap_LocustAssaultRifle BurstDelay 1

I don't know if Rate of Fire works, I don't know how it works.

[Taffer]

Where should the .txt file be placed?

Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out. Currently messing around with it.

[HawkzzEye]

cant you essentially give a weapon a scope by changing its targeting field of view? granted it would be kind of a messy workaround but stil?....

[LiquidLeary]

Edit Edit: Hey, just read the bit about a Gears TC Might check that out.

Chorlion40 would be the person to ask. Here's a couple of Gears mods he's associated with and the TC thread:

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showth...t=gears&page=2
http://utforums.epicgames.com/showth...ighlight=gears
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=679721


LL

[bmbr1990]

set WarfareGame.Weap_AssaultRifle CrossHairIcon Texture2d'package.namefile'

Changes CrossHair
Default set:

set WarfareGame.Weap_AssaultRifle CrossHairIcon Texture2D'Warfare_HUD.HUD.HUD_Xhair_COG_Assault'

[Drone *]

Yup knew that That's used on one of my mysterybox curses