The next two topics deal with some interesting weapons modifications. Version 1 of this tutorial glossed over them somewhat quickly, as I'd thrown them in more as a bonus than as a hardcore, extensive tutorial. The reason for this was partly due to the fact that I'd created the effect with a hacked copy of Anvil. Deciphering the work took some time...

Gary Simmons and Claude Errera both emailed me a slap in the face, and explained that these two modifications (the first, in particular) were probably the best in the whole tutorial collection. So, V1.1 now has a thorough explanation on how to create both effects.

Let's get started...

[Editor's Note: The tutorial map supplies a flashlight equiped shotgun, download the tutorial for a hands-on demo - gls 01/14/2001] If you don't have the shotgun, grab it. You'll also need the battery packs, if you've somehow managed to use them all up before getting to this point in the tutorial. The secondary trigger on the shotgun is a flashlight. Use it in the dark room nearby. Find the next terminal and I'll explain how to create it.

I mentioned earlier that I'd used a hacked copy of Anvil to work on my scenario files with. This is because my scenario has extensive modifications that required alterations to the tools in order for me to know what the hell I was doing.

My weapons, items, and ammo orders were completely rearranged to get all the weapons and their ammo count to show up in the correct order in the HUD. (The shotgun you've got in hand is really where the Fusion Pistol would be.) I performed this major hack because it really itched me that where the weapons and ammo showed up in the HUD didn't correspond with the scroll order of the weapons in hand. It took me a stupidly long time to sort out, though I'm happy with the results... I'd also like to say that I created two secondary trigger effects that use battery packs. These are listed first in the HUD, as they replace the Magnum's ammo.

With that said, I'll attempt to explain the proper way to create the next two effects using regular Marathon tools. We'll go through each section of the physics file with Anvil, page by page, and recreate the flashlight. Pick a weapon that you want to add a flashlight to. I've sacrificed the second shotgun for this (but I doubled its reload speed to make up for it).

EASY EDIT

Set your selected weapon's secondary trigger to an unused projectile type. I chose Oxygen Drain as the projectile type, and ensured that no other weapon or alien used it.

In Rounds/Magazine, you'll have to figure out how many rounds will fit into the ammo bar that you create, should you decide to make an energy bar like the one I fashioned.

[Note: Creating the ammo bar will require alterations with the application "Fux!", which I'm not going to go into here. It changes the actual Marathon Infinity application. This modification required the inclusion of the application patch and the new Images file with the tutorial.]

Give it zero Firing Error or Burst.

WEAPON DEFINITION

Make the weapon's class "Multipurpose".

The Flash Intensity here should be increased. I found that 1.5 works fairly well, though you can increase or decrease this to whatever you want, provided its high enough for the flashlight to illuminate enough of an area to be useful.

Note that the flash intensity will also affect the primary trigger. This causes two side effects:

1. Firing the primary trigger will illuminate just as much of an area as the flashlight;
2. Firing the primary trigger will also stop the flashlight from working while it reloads.

Fiddle with the "Timings" integers to get the primary weapon to balance out the way you want it. I gave it a Flash Decay of 15, so that the flashlight doesn't falter while you've got it "on".

TRIGGER SETTINGS

The projectile for the secondary trigger is still the Oxygen Drain. The ammo type refers to the item you pick up during gameplay. Mine is set to "Magnum Magazine", as I rearranged everything. Since I've added a new ammo type, I sacrificed a Powerup Item by turning it into an ammo type (with Fux!). You'll probably have to sacrifice something here, too, if you want to add a new ammo type, though you probably won't want to go through the hell I did trying to reorganize all of your HUD items...

All the integers for the secondary trigger on this screen should be either zero or none, except for the Click sound. I gave it the "Adjust Volume" sound, so it bleeps when you're out of ammo.

That about covers all of my weapon changes. Pretty much all of the weapon info that I didn't cover relates to the primary weapon, and its sprites, so they need to be adjusted to your actual weapon, not the flashlight attached to it. Got it?

We'll move on to the Oxygen Drain modifications, in the Shots section of Anvil. The sprites for the Oxygen Drain need to be invisible, so create a new blank Bitmap and Sequence in the Shapes file (not unlike the way the trigger alien for the smashing windows is created). Make sure that the Graphic Collection and Sequence ID of the Oxygen Drain reflect that sequence. All the other information for the Oxygen Drain should read zero or none.

Now, make sure that all of the aliens in your map are immune to the Oxygen Drain. Heh, unless you've got some light-sensitive aliens like in the movie "Pitch Black".

Hey, that could be coool...

(...but would require changes to the integers I just explained to you.)