quake/articles/1996/art-355
Path: mantis!not-for-mail
From: cam@opera.iinet.net.au (Cameron Newham)
Newsgroups: rec.games.computer.quake.announce
Subject: ANNOUNCE: Quake C Patch - Realistic Weapons v1.1
Date: 19 Aug 1996 14:13:30 +0100
Organization: iiNet Technologies
Lines: 210
Sender: tony@mantis.co.uk
Approved: quake@mantis.co.uk
Message-ID: <4v6fce$46@opera.iinet.net.au>
Keywords: quake c
Title : Realistic Weapons
Filename : relwep11.zip
Version : 1.1
Date : 96/08/17
Author : Cameron Newham (W_Australia)
Email : cam@iinet.com.au
Credits : Vaughan de Vos for the idea of added weight.
Type of Mod
-----------
Quake C : yes
Sound : no
MDL : no
Source Included : yes (full patch, .qc files and progs.dat)
Description of the Modification
-------------------------------
This patch does the following:
* Makes the weapons unreliable - they can jam/explode if overused
* Recoil on grenade and rocket launcher
* Spikes, rockets & grenades slow down while in water
* Rockets leave a bubble trail in water
* Spikes, rockets, grenades and backpacks can travel through teleporters
* Rockets add weight and slow down the player
* Rockets can be dumped
* 200 Health increases speed slightly
In real life, weapons are not always reliable and can jam and
sometimes, in the case of large projectile weapons, explode.
In addition, water has more resistance than air and when large
projectiles pass through it, can produce bubbles. There is also
a large kickback from shoulder* mounted projectile weapons. Quake
in its original form does not model these. This patch inserts
those things.
(* shoulder? one wonders where the blowback happens on the
Quake guy! No prizes for guessing where ;)
The more you use a weapon (except the nail guns and the lightning gun)
the more likely it will cease to operate, you will cease to
operate, or both. This jamming is caused by overheating in the mechanism.
The nail & lightning gun don't overheat - in the case of the nail gun,
the weapon is gas-powered so one wouldn't expect much overheating.
If overused, the shotgun and super-shotgun will jam for a small amount of
time, while the grenade and rocket launcher will most likely explode
and kill you. In most cases you won't run into these problems, but
if you run around *continuously* firing your weapon, you'll see what
this patch does.
This mod will be especially useful against campers who hide
up on the top level of the Castle and lob a continuous stream
of grenades into the room below. With this mod, they won't.
(And I know people do this because I do it when I get the chance! :)
For the careful gibster, it should be business as usual.
Of course, with the recoil effects, you'll have to be a bit more careful..
especially when standing near ledges over lava.
In water you'll find the rocket & spike weapons are not as effective over
large distances - especially the grenade launcher. Nevertheless, although
the rockets & spikes are slowed to less than half their air velocity,
they are still fast, so watch out! For the owner of a brand new
rocket launcher, remember: the trail of air bubbles can give
away your position in water.
As one would expect, the more rockets you carry around the slower
you will move. I still can't imagine anyone carrying 100 rockets
without a small truck and support team to pass them out, but
this mod will bring a bit of realism to things. With 100 rockets
you will only run at half your normal speed (this affects jumping as
well - so be warned!). The less rockets you have the faster you
will move (up to normal speed with only a few rockets).
One advantage with the weight increase is that the recoil effect is
greatly reduced when using the rockets.
If you feel you are at a disadvantage with your increased weight you
can always dump rockets. "impulse 20" will dump half of your current
stock of rockets into a backpack and eject it from your person.
Use the bind command at the console to bind it to a key, eg:
bind d "impulse 20".
If you run over 200% health, you'll find you have a small speed
increase. This only works if you are lugging rockets around. The
effect is proportional to the % health above 100.
This patch "corrects" teleports so that projectiles can travel
through them. I'm not sure if I like the idea of spikes going
through - but it's in.
How to Install the Modification
-------------------------------
Create a directory in your Quake directory (eg:mygame) and unzip
the archive in it. Run quake with the -game parameter, eg:
quake -game mygame
OR
Copy the files in this archive over the standard ones in your
Run quake as above.
OR
Apply the diffs to the files. See the howpatch.txt file for
further information (available from ftp.cdrom.com). You'll also
need to copy cbnmods.qc to the progs directory (and include it
in the compilation order in progs.src).
Technical Details
-----------------
The unreliability factor is determined by how long the weapon
is fired plus a random factor. The time between firings is
averaged a number of times and if it drops below a certain limit
(different for each weapon), the weapon will jam/explode depending
on a probability (different for each weapon). Obviously, if
you've been firing continuously and haven't had a jam, it will
pay to stop for half a second or so, so the average time goes
up.
In the case of the shotgun/super-ss, the weapon will jam for
a fixed amount of time (2 seconds for the sg and 4 seconds for the ssg).
If you try to fire them during this time they will continue to jam.
In the case of the rocket and grenade launcher, you will cease to
function and an appropriate message will be relayed to everyone.
*Average* continuous firing before weapon malfunction is as follows:
shotgun: 18 shots
s-shotgun: 14 "
g-launcher: 12 "
r-launcher: 8 "
This version is updated from my previously released version 1.0 of
the "unreliable weapons" patch. I have changed the parameters
so the guns are more forgiving.
The next version will have a click sound for the jammed sg and ssg
and will improve on the timings. Please send me reports on
how this mod works in a deathmatch (weapons too unreliable or
not unreliable enough). I might also include the lightning
and nail guns.
The water friction slows missiles to about 40% of their air velocity.
This means that the grenade launcher is pretty lame, dropping the
grenades near you. Too bad - a grenade launcher is a silly tool
to use in water! Use a nail gun or rockets.
Increased weight doesn't affect your turning ability (which it should)
or the rate at which you fall (which it shouldn't). It will have an
effect on all other motion. BTW, if you are used to carrying around
20 rockets or so then you won't really notice a speed decrease - it
kicks in a great deal above 30 or 40 rockets. You'll be a sitting
duck at 90+ rockets.
I've included the code this time. In this archive you
should get the progs.dat file, the full changed .qc files, and
a set of diffs. Take your pick as to which you use.
The code is fully documented, so you should have no problems
in understanding it or finding where the patches are (look
for CN_PATCH).
Author Information
------------------
What else should I add to this patch?
Copyright and Distribution Permissions
--------------------------------------
Authors MAY use these modifications as a basis for other
publically available work. Authors MAY NOT take this package
and change a few parameters, then call it their own. I'd prefer
it if you emailed me first.
You may distribute this Quake modification in any electronic
format as long as this description file remains intact and unmodified
and is retained along with all of the files in the archive.
Availability
------------
This modification is available from the following places:
Major Quake sites initially including the main site:
ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/idgames2/incoming (and thence to the new & quakec area).
also for a short time:
http://www.iinet.com.au/~cam/quakec.html