How to implement proper model based weapon tracers?

[Enjay]

I can't check it in game right now but I can have a quick look inside the files.

Your DECORATE says:

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#include "actors/weapons/mk18.txt"
#include "actors/player.txt"

But, as far as I can see, the "556Tracer" actor is in "actors/projectiles.txt". Your DECORATE lump doen't #include this file so none of the actors in it will load. That would certainly explain the error message that you posted earlier. (It's exactly what I said - the actor hasn't loaded, so MODELDEF is referencing an actor that GZDoom doesn't know about.)

Try adding

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#include "actors/projectiles.txt"

to your DECORATE lump and see what happens.

[edit]
Doh! A second issue, the MODELDEF says "Model Tracer556" and the projectiles.txt file says "Actor 556Tracer: FastProjectile".
i.e one has Tracer556 and the other 556Tracer. Different names. The MODELDEF needs to use the name that is in the actor definition. This would also give the error that you posted.
[/edit]

[edit2]
And another issue, there's a missing " after tha path in MODELDEF.

Try the following in place of your lumps:

DECORATE

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#include "actors/weapons/mk18.txt"
#include "actors/player.txt"
#include "actors/projectiles.txt"

MODELDEF

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Model 556Tracer
{
Path "models/Projectiles"
Model 0 "tracer.md3"
Skin 0 "tracer4.png"
Scale 20.0 20.0 1.0

FrameIndex TRAC A 0 0
}

I have to say, the actual values all look a bit weird to me but I think that should get things working at least.
[/edit2]

[edit3]
OK, I had a quick chance to see it in game. I don't know exactly what you are looking for, but my guess is, it's not set up the way that you want right now. If I type "summon 556Tracer" at the console, I see a very brief flash or red and then is vanishes. If I use the "freeze" command before summoning the projectile, I see this:



So, if you were looking for something that behaves a bit like a tracer round, it doesn't look like it's set up right, but at least now that the MODELDEF is working, you can tweak the DECORATE to make the actor behave like you want and I suspect that you'll want to look at the scale values in the MODELDEF too.
[/edit3]

[Cherno]

Edit: Posted too late

[Enjay]

Yes, I hadn't noticed that casings.txt was also missing from the #include

[AFADoomer]

You also used [wiki]A_FireCustomMissile[/wiki] in the weapon's fire state, but the parameters are all mixed up, and the flags are wrong.

Try this instead:

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A_FireProjectile("Tracer556", FRandom(-2.0, 2.0), true, 0, 0, 0, FRandom(-2.0, 2.0))

Also, as Enjay mentioned, your scale in the MODELDEF file will make the model look very odd. I recommend just using 1.0 1.0 1.0.

Oh, and you'll want to add PITCHFROMMOMENTUM at the top of your MODELDEF entry, too, otherwise the bolts will just stay oriented flat even if you aim up or down with them.

[Graaicko]

What the actaul f*ck??? The original file I made the test for you guys included the include decorate commands... Must of unnoticedly deleted the projectile line from it. SO now I can starting working on it. But once summoning the tracer. Its not exactly what I am looking for. I guess I'll have to figure that out. :/ Thanks for making it work.

[Graaicko]

Yes, I hadn't noticed that casings.txt was also missing from the #include

Yeah didin't think it was important enough to effect the tracers. I wanted to make the test file as small as possible.

[Enjay]

General point (not specifically to Graaicko):
This thread also shows why posting an actual example can be far more useful than trying to describe it. After a page of posts spanning a day or two, uploading the example allowed Cherno, AFADoomer and I to find the problem within a few minutes.

Graaicko posted code and quoted error messages, and that is often enough, but the actual example allowed things to be pinpointed very quickly. This is why it's useful in the various editing forums and critical in the bugs forum.

[Graaicko]

You also used [wiki]A_FireCustomMissile[/wiki] in the weapon's fire state, but the parameters are all mixed up, and the flags are wrong.

Try this instead:

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A_FireProjectile("Tracer556", FRandom(-2.0, 2.0), true, 0, 0, 0, FRandom(-2.0, 2.0))

That is a weird piece of code. Slades decorate doesn't seem to recognize it (Highlights it when pasted), but it works regardless. Thanks. Now what if I wanted a monster to fire this tracer with the same effect??? A_CustomMissile doesn't seem to work.

[Graaicko]

Aha, I found this:

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A_SpawnProjectile("556Tracer",38,6,random(-4,4))

^
Use this if you want it to be used by monsters. My projectiles seem a little too fast. I'll have to slow them down.