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About this mod
A visual change for the Flamer that also fixes the graphical bugs that occur with the vanilla implementation.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
Preface:
First off, to say I'm an amateur with Unreal Engine is an understatement. Up until the last week or so before this mod's release, when I finally had a breakthrough in my attempts to learn, the best I had ever been able to do within the MW5 editor was break a lot of things and make some personal balance tweaks to vanilla weapons. It's pretty easy to change the values on a spreadsheet, but not so easy to do much of anything else. People really do owe a lot of respect to some of the wizards around here who make some truly fantastic mods. This mod is nothing special, but it does fix a rather nasty bug with my favorite weapon within all of Battletech, the humble Flamer.
The Problem:
PGI's implementation of the Flamer is very unique for MW5. Under the hood the blueprint for the Flamer uses a trace-fire mechanic to actually apply the damage done with proper range, etc. On the surface the visuals for the Flamer are just that, visuals, and mechanically do nothing within the game. However, whether it's because of the very convoluted mesh-based particles for vanilla flamers, or because of flaws within PGI's own system for collision meshes on various world assets, the visuals break a lot. The visuals "collide" with world objects that aren't there, whether it is a destroyed tree or the entire "bubble" around a complete base tile on a map.
This problem is pretty unique to Flamers. While the MG shares many of the same features (and bugs), it's not very apparent given the MG only occasionally spews out a tracer, with tiny bullet pocks, while the Flamer is a constant stream firing weapon of plasma infused goodness (which you didn't really get to appreciate unless you're using a mod like Masters1989 Flamer Visual Overhaul, which speeds up PGI's frozen molasses flames). Also, because of the Flamer's rather notable vanilla impact collisions, when you encounter this bug within certain world tiles, the effects are rather blinding, especially in first person view.
Again, this boils down to PGI's implementation of Flamers being a purely mesh based particle system, requiring specific definitions in mesh-based collisions, which either are screwed up in PGI's collision logic OR PGI's implementation of the meshes in various world tiles, trees, rocks, etc. that causes this problem. The only way to fix it was to almost entirely rebuild the Flamer visuals.
The Solution:
This is the part that took me FOREVER to figure out, and I appreciate Masters1989 in particular for putting up with all of my messages about breaking Flamers over and over and over again, in the editor and in game, to figure out the cause and potential fixes. Especially since I could break things, but had absolutely zero clue how to build them. Well, a million tutorial videos later where I wasn't grasping anything, I finally figured out a few of the basics. The new Flamer visuals are rebuilt using a Niagara GPU Sprite particle system. Collisions are not perfect, and despite using a particle impact zone 3x the size of the visuals, with implemented collision bias, occasionally a few particles push through/around objects. I'm guessing this is still because of various meshes within the game and/or performance issues (my PC is ~6-7 years old, now, and wasn't even top of the line when acquired). However, you will NOT have Flamers exploding in your face just because you enter certain compounds and you hopefully have a very satisfying experience roasting anything in your path.
Compatibility:
This not only should be compatible with just about anything, but any modded flamer utilizing the standard Flamer_2_PCL particle effect should also benefit from the effects of this mod. Testing with YAML and YAW(C), Clan, ER, and Heavy Flamers all benefited from this mod. Load order can go pretty much anywhere, but I personally make sure it's loaded after any weapon mods you're running.
While I very much respect Masters1989's "Alternate Flamer Visuals" mod and helped inspire me to finally fix the Flamer bug, this mod is obviously not compatible with his. You can have my visuals with his "Re-balanced and Expanded Weapons" mod, but mine would have to load after to have my visuals.
First off, to say I'm an amateur with Unreal Engine is an understatement. Up until the last week or so before this mod's release, when I finally had a breakthrough in my attempts to learn, the best I had ever been able to do within the MW5 editor was break a lot of things and make some personal balance tweaks to vanilla weapons. It's pretty easy to change the values on a spreadsheet, but not so easy to do much of anything else. People really do owe a lot of respect to some of the wizards around here who make some truly fantastic mods. This mod is nothing special, but it does fix a rather nasty bug with my favorite weapon within all of Battletech, the humble Flamer.
The Problem:
PGI's implementation of the Flamer is very unique for MW5. Under the hood the blueprint for the Flamer uses a trace-fire mechanic to actually apply the damage done with proper range, etc. On the surface the visuals for the Flamer are just that, visuals, and mechanically do nothing within the game. However, whether it's because of the very convoluted mesh-based particles for vanilla flamers, or because of flaws within PGI's own system for collision meshes on various world assets, the visuals break a lot. The visuals "collide" with world objects that aren't there, whether it is a destroyed tree or the entire "bubble" around a complete base tile on a map.
This problem is pretty unique to Flamers. While the MG shares many of the same features (and bugs), it's not very apparent given the MG only occasionally spews out a tracer, with tiny bullet pocks, while the Flamer is a constant stream firing weapon of plasma infused goodness (which you didn't really get to appreciate unless you're using a mod like Masters1989 Flamer Visual Overhaul, which speeds up PGI's frozen molasses flames). Also, because of the Flamer's rather notable vanilla impact collisions, when you encounter this bug within certain world tiles, the effects are rather blinding, especially in first person view.
Again, this boils down to PGI's implementation of Flamers being a purely mesh based particle system, requiring specific definitions in mesh-based collisions, which either are screwed up in PGI's collision logic OR PGI's implementation of the meshes in various world tiles, trees, rocks, etc. that causes this problem. The only way to fix it was to almost entirely rebuild the Flamer visuals.
The Solution:
This is the part that took me FOREVER to figure out, and I appreciate Masters1989 in particular for putting up with all of my messages about breaking Flamers over and over and over again, in the editor and in game, to figure out the cause and potential fixes. Especially since I could break things, but had absolutely zero clue how to build them. Well, a million tutorial videos later where I wasn't grasping anything, I finally figured out a few of the basics. The new Flamer visuals are rebuilt using a Niagara GPU Sprite particle system. Collisions are not perfect, and despite using a particle impact zone 3x the size of the visuals, with implemented collision bias, occasionally a few particles push through/around objects. I'm guessing this is still because of various meshes within the game and/or performance issues (my PC is ~6-7 years old, now, and wasn't even top of the line when acquired). However, you will NOT have Flamers exploding in your face just because you enter certain compounds and you hopefully have a very satisfying experience roasting anything in your path.
Compatibility:
This not only should be compatible with just about anything, but any modded flamer utilizing the standard Flamer_2_PCL particle effect should also benefit from the effects of this mod. Testing with YAML and YAW(C), Clan, ER, and Heavy Flamers all benefited from this mod. Load order can go pretty much anywhere, but I personally make sure it's loaded after any weapon mods you're running.
While I very much respect Masters1989's "Alternate Flamer Visuals" mod and helped inspire me to finally fix the Flamer bug, this mod is obviously not compatible with his. You can have my visuals with his "Re-balanced and Expanded Weapons" mod, but mine would have to load after to have my visuals.