[beta] kLazer - 3d laser beam

[kodi]

The kLazer is a novel method of implementing a laser beam weapon in GZDoom. It doesn't use any ACS or TID's, and the beam is a single actor. Works for monsters and weapons alike.

It's only a beta for now, so there are some issues: the distance measuring stuff could be improved, the laser md3 model could be resized so it scales evenly with distance, and there could be a system in place for warping the same beam actor along with firing actor instead of spawning new ones all the time.

video demonstration

Edit: new download link
http://forum.zdoom.org/download/file.php?id=27454

(requires the latest GZDoom development build)

[SuperSomariDX]

Now THAT is amazing!

[Reactor]

Sounds great!
Tell me, this is how the "Plasma Blast" weapon works in Q2 Ground Zero? Or the lazor barries in the walls/ceiling?
I just ask because I can't really decide what Quake 2 lazor beams are made of. Walls, sprites (NOT!), or models?

[Tormentor667]

Awesome, may I use it in WolfenDoom BoA?

[Trusty McLegit]

Dude that's pretty sweet! Are you planning on making the beam less jittery when firing in first person, or is there really no way around that?

[kodi]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys.

@Reactor
I'm fairly certain Q2 spawns a variable amount of copies of the same md2 model in a line, like the Q1 thunderbolt. That would have been the natural way to do it in GZDoom if the railgun functions weren't so limited (this seems to be changing soon enough though)

@tormentor667
Of course, and I'd be honored to have contributed anything to BoA. Everyone can use this, but I'd appreciate credits of course.
It does need some work before it's good enough for a player weapon though. Also if anyone comes up with any improvements to this I'd be happy to implement them for the next version and include you in the credits list.

@trusty
I think it should be possible to spawn just one beam in the fire state and have it warp to the player with interpolation while the fire button is held. Probably better for performance anyway.

[Reactor]

Excellent! So this beta-3D laser beam was meant for player's weapon or an enemy weapon? Either way, it's truly an outstanding work, I just need to know it for sure before talking with the boys about utilizing it.
One thing is for sure: reproducing the same behavior what the "Plasma Blast" has in Quake 2 Ground Zero would be magnificent Especially if I give this weapon to certain enemies...it will make Super Meat Boy run for its money! Yep, we have the intention of making our game that hard...

[Henix_Aurorus]

Ooooooh, okay, this is pretty rad. I'm a sucker for beam weapons, and I tried implementing a constant-beam mode on one of my weapons a long time ago, but it just didn't work the way I wanted it to. This might be the thing I need for when I go back and remake that weapon.

Will definitely keep an eye on this.

[Koto]

Can't see the video.

[Reactor]

Try to open it with Firefox, it worked for me.

[kodi]

@Reactor
It's meant for both players and monsters(or Things in general). There's an example of both in the included map. The plasma thing from quake 2 has some kind of rings traveling down the beam right? That can't be sanely replicated until the railgun functions are updated.

@Henix
Post a screenie here if/when you get around to using it!

@kotolmetal
It's a webm, and I'm not sure whether IE or most phone browsers support that natively.

[Reactor]

Thank you for the reply the rings aren't necessary at all, only the beam itself, and whether it works like expected.
(albeit it would be awesome if you could make the beam a bit more funky, akin to Lightning gun!)

[AFADoomer]

Nicely done! Here's what it looks like incorporated into my Star Trek mod, with a few graphical and model tweaks...


Click for larger...

[Koto]

Try to open it with Firefox, it worked for me.

It Worked, thanks.

It's a webm, and I'm not sure whether IE or most phone browsers support that natively.

I normally use Chrome.

Now i saw the video, i like it. keep it up.

[kodi]

Nicely done! Here's what it looks like incorporated into my Star Trek mod, with a few graphical and model tweaks...
[images]

Man, that looks really awesome. Great glow effect on the beam!

The three things I have planned for the next version are a 3d model that scales correctly without multipliers, A_warp for continous attacks, and a laser ACS function patterned after (and likely incorporating) LineAttack. If anyone else has any suggestions please let me know.