Do you wish more guns looked unique like this one?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by SwordStrafe, Apr 7, 2013.

  1. SwordStrafe

    • Up x 11
  2. Dubious

    Nah, I prefer the guns that look exactly the same so you can't tell the difference until you are dead cause he had a shotgun and you some LMG or something
    • Up x 8
  3. xen3000

    Please add variety to the models SOE!
    • Up x 3
  4. Terrarion

    looks neat for sure. isnt the sights a tad high tho?
    • Up x 1
  5. -Synapse-

    They said thy were going back and re-doing a lot of the old models. 'Bout time, this should've been done before release....
    • Up x 3
  6. Copasetic

    I think the guns all look similar so they can reuse models and textures. Not cause they're lazy, but because graphics cards only have so much memory. When you're putting potentially hundreds of them on the screen at once you have to worry about things like that.

    But maybe I'm wrong and it's really just laziness or a development cycle that's too short. I dunno.
    • Up x 2
  7. Vashyo

    Yes we need visually different looking guns!

    I feel like we only have one gun model and it's dozens of variations really.


    I dont mind if they keep the model looking the same when enemies and friendlies carry them, but the one u have in ur hands should look unique.
    • Up x 2
  8. Zaik

    I was hoping that they'd let people use player studio to create gun skins to apply to guns like cosmetics and sell them to other players for sc.

    seems it will only be decals and camo and such.
    • Up x 1
  9. MrIDoK

    Nope.
    Code-wise, it doesn't matter whether two guns have similar models or skins, if there's any difference they will be stored separately in memory. You can't simply say "it's this model, but add this and that", you have to have a diferent model. For skins it's the same thing.

    Probably it's not lazyness, but orders that came from higher levels... one of my fears is seeing a "improved weapon models pack" sold in the shop in a not-so-distant future. First they should make unique models for most guns, not simply mixing stocks, grips and barrels in all combinations possible and calling those "unique".
    • Up x 3
  10. Thpthpthp

    I dislike this, although some players could make some really cool cosmetics, I don't want planetside to end up looking sillier than TF2 cause some knuckle head decided it's be hilarious to make a clown suit getup for other like minded idiots to parade themselves around in.
    • Up x 2
  11. Dingus148

    Don't buy the getup then. I'd buy a clown suit for my Sunderer, and insist everyone in my outfit did the same. That way it would be an endless swarm of murderous clowns coming from the one small funbus. At the very least, it'd be entertaining. At best, massive psychological damage to the opposing players.
    • Up x 2
  12. Thpthpthp

    If this was a single player game I'd agree completely, however it breaks the immersion of those around you when you're defending a base staving off oncoming waves of clowns, pimps, Santas, and the Vanu sovereignty.
    • Up x 2
  13. }{ellKnight

    I really hate that all the guns look the same.

    I also hate how TR guns look like plastic toys, but that's a whole different story.

    But yeah, I wish they looked more different.
    • Up x 2
  14. Bankrotas

    So you want animators to work on each gun 10 weeks each again? Maybe less atm, but still to rework every single one of old weapons would take up a lot of time, which could be maybe spent on something more interesting.
    • Up x 1
  15. }{ellKnight

    I want the guns to feel more polished animation wise and I want the guns to look different. TMG-50 and TRAC-5S icons for example look awesome but the actual textures look a lot like the default ones. TMG-50 reload animation is broken with the magazine suddenly disappearing after you pull it out.
    • Up x 1
  16. Naota

    Not true at all. Models and textures take up the same space in memory regardless of how many instances of them exist in the world at a time, so platoon of players with one gun have the same impact on video memory (note: not raw performance) as a single one.

    But Naota, not all soldiers use the same gun!

    They don't, but what they do use are modular sets of parts in the majority of cases. This works the same way as a single gun: all the pieces get loaded right there and don't need to be stored again. LMG's/Carbines/Shotguns/Rifles/Pistols all pull from the same texture and are made up of the same small pool of models. SMG's and Launchers have their own unique model, while Snipers use a different modular set.

    That samey-looking receiver and triggerguard you see on 80% of your faction's weaponry only needs to use memory once. You can absolutely have a single model then "add this and that" as long as the bits you're adding are different meshes. Guns in this game aren't a single model, but rather a bunch of mini-models stuck together and rearranged. Badly rearranged, because there's almost no difference between the various bits. Even the Vanu pistol is just the trigger/magazine area from their carbine with the end of the barrel stuck onto it (no receiver).

    Example: an AK-47 and an AK-74.
    How it doesn't work: AK-47 mesh/texture (2mb) + AK-74 mesh/texture (2mb) = 4mb total
    How it does work: AK shared parts mesh/texture (1.5mb) + AK-47 parts mesh/texture (.25mb) + AK-74 parts mesh/texture (.25mb) = 2mb total

    You could then have an AKS-74U, or even a Bizon which use the AK shared parts assets and only have to use up additional memory for the unique bits stuck onto the basic AK frame. It's extremely efficient.
    • Up x 1
  17. Takoita

    This gun looks an awful lot like one of those DLC guns from ME2, IMHO. Still better than what we currently have though.

    EDIT: or maybe not, this is actually a bullpup now that I look at it a bit closer.
    • Up x 1
  18. Zaik

    everything made in the player studio has to be approved by SOE before being accepted and put in the game.
    • Up x 1
  19. Ashnal

    Ever heard of texture atlas-ing? Some games save lots of VRAM by reusing textures for multiple objects. For example, I'm pretty sure that the tan pants texture on the 4 NC classes is only loaded once into VRAM, and referenced on every relevant soldier, as opposed to 4 copies of it for the classes that have those pants. There is no way this game would fit into 1 GB of VRAM if every weapon had its own completely unique quality texture.

    Models on the other hand are a bit different. They generally take up less VRAM than textures, so you can afford to have a different model for every gun on screen at once, as long as they all share textures.

    SO while you were generally right about models, you were wrong about textures (skins as you called them). Though even then there are some games that can build objects from multiple models pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. I don't suspect SoE is doing that though after watching some of the SoE sneak peaks videos and the animation tools they use.

    I highly doubt they would release a "better weapon models pack" for purchase. It is much more profitable for them to crank out entirely NEW guns than to revisit old ones, so the only real reason to update older models is to please the playerbase.

    Oh and as for the OP, that's a really nice PDW. Can't wait for the player studio I bet :)
    • Up x 2
  20. Naota

    It's not really that hard to animate a gun made out of modular parts - just give it a skeleton like you would a player or vehicle and attach the different bits to strategically-placed rigid bones.

    Models aren't really a concern as far as memory is concerned either way... they're a tiny blimp compared to textures since you only need XYZ and a facing direction per vertex (compare with an uncompressed 1024x1024 texture where every one of the 1048576 pixels needs an RGB value). There's really no reason SOE couldn't make more models, or even just more distinct modular bits for at least their first person weapons.
    • Up x 1