M1 Garand Fix

[boog2006]

Hello all.

Thank you for the extractor tool.

I've had success in making the M1 Garand "semi-automatic." Really, I just made it an smg with a slow rate of fire, but the effect is rather convincing, I think. The rate is much improved, and no longer will the soldier turn the bolt between shots. The downside is that the animations show all shots from the hip, and also it is a little jerkey. But all in all I'm happy with it. From my tests, US inf. is noticeably more powerful, but they tend to chew through their ammo quickly. Anyway, I wondered if anyone would be interested in testing it to see if they think so too (and also make sure it doesn't cause problems of any kind). Also, perhaps the animations could be fixed?

In addition, I'm working on adding the MG-26t/MG-30t by cloning the Bren model to fire 7.92 by 57 Mauser clips. (For those that don't know, the Bren was a near copy of a pre-war ZB (Brno) design, modified for British ammo. When Germany took control of Czechoslovakia, they got their hands on Brno origionals that served in limited numbers- mostly in SS recon/light units). The problem is that I can't find the file that defines the Backpack loadouts, so it's useless at this point. Does anyone know what file defines the backpack loadout?

[ July 15, 2007, 11:51 AM: Message edited by: boog2006 ]

[SlapHappy]

Yeah Boog

I modified the Garand like you did too, but the animations just annoyed me too much. Hopefully the animation tables can be modded too some time in the future.....

[Oudy]

Boog2006 and SlapHappy

I've figured out how to make the Garand and any other semi-automatic rifle work without the bolt animation.

There is good news and bad news. The good news is after you set up a semiauto section in your animation tables, all you have to do to get guns to use it is change the "AnimType rfl" to "AnimType semiauto" in the \data\items\weapons\usa\m1_garand\unit.ini file.

The bad news is that it is fairly complicated to set up the semiauto section in the animation tables.

The general way you do it is as follows

Add a line to the animator.rc file:

semiauto AimExtendSwitchTable

Then in the Smesh HumansTables.ini copy the whole [rfl] section and past it at the bottom. Rename it [semiauto]. now you need to find all of the animation numbers that refer to shooting, and there are a few of them. I played with the stay_shoot_rfl.ani animation which was number 77. For each of the shooting animations you must then go to the animation file in \models\Human\sk_0\ and delete out most of the animations. I ended up only keeping two frames. This file I renamed stay_shoot_semiaut.ani. You then have to add this line to the end of the SMesh\animations.ini file and figure out what line number it is. That is the number you replace the original 77 with in the HumansTables.ini. Finally, you have to add this new number to the end of the Markers.ini file after copying and pasting the section 77.

Once you've done this for every shooting position then you will have the correct animations for the Garand. I'm guessing there are at least four different animation changes to make, possibly more.

I used the excel animation table that I posted with my Faq over at Cmmods.com to tell the numbers to change. I also discovered that the table headers come from the Human.rc file. The States are the lines going down and the Commands are the columns going across.

If someone is ambitious enough to try to do the whole thing I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Oudy

[boog2006]

Firing from the hip doesn't bother me so much since it's better than watching the guy turn the bolt. Plus, the effect on gameplay of having the M1 actually outfire the Mauser is quite worth it to me. Modifying animations sounds like it's a little too much for me right now. Anway, is this something that would be worth releasing publicly, or should I just keep it to myself?

I got the MG-26t up and working now. The only problem is that the icons in the info panel display "?" instead of giving info. Does anyone know how to mod the info that accompanies icons?

[Oudy]

Boog2006

You have to be sure to modify the following files:

units.utf8

guns.utf8

EncyclopaediaCont.xml

filesid.ini

Hope that helps

Oudy

[boog2006]

Nevermind, got it. MG-26(t) done!

What I might do is to release a comprehensive small arms mod with the dirty semi-auto fix as an option. I also have corrected the typos in the German belts ("50 round belt" for 75 and 250 belts). I want to add new backpack set options too(ex. ppSh option for Germany, panzerfaust for Russia,etc.)

[Oudy]

Very nice Boog

Looking forward to it.

Oudy

[boog2006]

Thanks.

Like I said, I'm now working on adding foreign weapon options to the backpack sets of inf. to represent captured, Lend Lease, etc.

Problem is, I don't have a lot of info. In some cases, I'm using little more than Close Combat series inspiration. Looking for suggestions.

Largest problem is the Russians.

Would the Soviet Union been supplied with bazookas through Lend Lease? I may add Panzerfaust options too, since captured examples lead to the modern RPG. Also looking at adding a captured MG-34 option (I liked it in CCIII)

Edit: OK, ran into a snag. for some reason, my new filesid.ini with all of Oudy's mods plus the new MG-26t conflicts with my mission editor. It didn't before with Oudy's mods only. I can't create new units of any kind. Help! I'm afraid there may be an upper limit to the number of units that can be added, but I'm not sure.

[ July 16, 2007, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: boog2006 ]

[FinnN]

Possibly there is an upper limit, but you won't have come across it yet if you're adding a few bits here and there - there are loads of extra bits in my infantry mod and I haven't encountered any number of units limit yet. What I've found is that even the slightest typo or missing reference will either throw an error in the mission editor, crash the game or result in missing units or textures and usually with no message. So basically you probably just need to check through the files you've changed.

Have fun

Finn

[boog2006]

After 2 nights, I just can't find the problem. I have a feeling the mission editor just doesn't like new small arms for some reason. It works perfectly fine in the game itself though, so I don't see how there could be a mistake in the files.

FinnN, thank you for your reply. If you're working on a German Infantry mod anyway, would you be interested in taking what I have and trying to absorb it into yours? (That might have been a good idea anyway, since even if it worked fine our mods would certainly have conflicted) Perhaps you could be more successful. If not, that's perfectly ok.

Anyway, what I really want to get into is quality mission building. So I don't want to mess with debugging anymore. (Because I'll do enough of that in the missions ) That reminds me- FinnN, in your mod, will there be new German backpack sets? For mission building, I'd love to have the Germans have options to start out with PPShs and SVTs. If not, perhaps I could just concentrate on that aspect of my mod and release it to go along with my missions.

[FinnN]

It'd be hard to combine them as I'm working using a database and then exporting the results - thus minimising the potential for typos. The database includes new infantry types, rank sets, detachments, backpacks, etc which are linked together. This means that it isn't really combinable with one that's been hand edited in the same way that two hand-edited ones would be, but thanks for the offer though. On the other hand I have an installation routine which appends my stuff to other mods rather than replacing them, plus I've been careful where possible to not overwrite the existing units so mine sit side-by-side rather than on top of them. As a result there shouldn't be any conflicts.

Have fun

Finn