ACF General Thread V2: Even more flame wars!

Garry's Mod general
#1

ACF General Thread V1

This thread is for posting of ACF content, and general ACF chat.

Problems? Ideas? Gripes? Put 'em here.

For those of you who don’t know what ACF is, ACF stands for Armored Combat Framework. It is a mod that adds a realistic simulation of ballistics and drivetrains for GMod.

You can find the official Github here:
https://github.com/nrlulz/ACF
**
Devs:**
_Beckett - Modeller
Red - Coder
Kafouille - Main author (defunct)
Sestze - Coder
Wrex - Coder (defunct)
Fervidusletum - Contributor (Code)
Lazermaniac - Modeller (defunct)
Gamerpaddy - Modeller (defunct)
Vii - Modeller (defunct)
Winston - Modeller
Tweak - SVN Operator (defunct)
Karbine - Sound/balance

Note: All (defunct) tags are for people I haven’t seen post in a while. If you work on ACF or just don’t post on here and you’re either labelled defunct or not up there, let me know!

ACF is in dire need of coders! There are a lot of things that are broken and need fixing, specifically with ACF damage. If you’re interested, please post!

Me (TheMrFailz) specific stuff:
Kudos to Kickasskyle for the original op which I more or less cloned/edited/pasted here.
If I stepped on any toes for posting this new op I apologize. Let me know and I’ll do whatever needs to be done to it.

Also, if anyone could donate pictures of acf stuff for the OP, that’d be nice too.

#2

nice job fixing it hero

#3

Sarcasm or no? Doesn’t translate well over the internet so I honestly can’t tell.

#4

yeeee here we go again

blah blah new thread smell etc

On an actual suggestion note, what would you guys think of custom magazine sizes? By this i mean, take the current max mag sizes for things like autocannons, and let you scale them down to like, 15 rounds per mag, instead of like… 68, of course you could never go over the maximums.

I think it would add a touch of realism.

#5

You should post a link to new thread in old thread btw

[editline]12th January 2017[/editline]

Nvm it’s locked, can’t any mod edit the last post to include link ?

#6

Wouldn’t mind custom mag sizes, long as reloads are realistically tuned to reflect that, eg if I set up a 12.7 MG to behave like a Japanese one with the small box mag it’d only take a second to reload compared to the few seconds it’d take to load in a new belt on a more traditional MG.

In a similar vein, what’s the chance of standalone autoloader entities that could be linked to a non-already-autoloading gun? Say we have a small autoloader drum for small guns (up to, say, 60mm), medium for medium guns (75-100/122mm, depending on if it can be ala carte), and large for large guns (140-203mm). Small one probably could be nyxed, though, thinking about it, as stuff like the 37/50mm cannons already fire so fast anyways, as does the 60mm mortar. Have it have a limited number of rounds it can hold and boost the fire rate of the gun it’s liked to by three or four times, with a 4-6x longer reload after it’s spent, it’d add an interesting new dynamic. Regular autoloaders could then benefit by having their weight lowered slightly so that it’s a bit more prohibitive to use the new autoloading drums, especially for their weight and size. Having to factor in volume for one of the blue barrel models when building a tank would be an interesting challenge, just as a stopgap measure until someone with modeling skills can make a proper drum with the ACF aesthetics. Medium would hold 6 shots for the gun it’s linked to, large only 3-4. Benefits stuff like howitzers, mortars, and allows people to be a bit more modular with their turret building. And, naturally, it’d have the same explosive potential as any thin container for storing ammo.

#7

autoloaders have been discussed several times

the answer has been “code it yourself”

#8

The answer to anything here has been that. All coders aren’t contributing anymore and don’t seem to want to in the future.

It’s like how the TF2 team at valve no longer do anything and just let the community do it. They get a portion of sales but here we get nothing.

#9

We need a documentation of all the the acf functions and whatnot so we’re not left completely in the dark when you tell us to code it ourselves.

Something I wanna know is how acf gets the muzzle flash position on all the guns, and how engines and gearboxes get their link positions.

#10

Just wanted your guys opinion on something: Would ~bulletproof(resistant)~ glass be simulated in acf as ductile or non-ductile steel? I’m not sure because on one hand, I feel it would be like brittle steel in that it blocks a few shots and then it’s stopping power would be kaput but on the other hand I feel like it should stay together as one piece (aka being ductile/having high prop hp) since afaik bulletproof/resistant glass tends to resist shattering what with having all those layers of plexiglass/plastic.

#11

have 2 layer :
one layer has like 1mm of armor but high duct so that it doesnt stop bullets
another layer with actual armor but low ductility so it breaks off

you get a visually glass that stay together as its being shot, however it doesnt stop much bullets

#12

all acf ents/models have attachment points from where/to where the effects connect, missiles are placed and links position themselves.

gearboxes: input , driveshaftL , driveshaftR
engines: driveshaft
weapons: muzzle
missile racks: missile1 , missile2 , missile3 , missile4

https://puu.sh/tk3JV/39f7ccc87d.png[/t][t]https://puu.sh/tk3N8/0b08cbec52.png[/t][t]https://puu.sh/tk3Q6/010271399c.png[/t][t]https://puu.sh/tk3TF/cd130af3e4.png

#13

Is there a way to get those points to show up in game, or is that some example image someone put together. Especially with the gearbox on the left sometimes I can’t remember which end goes where when trying to orient different bits.

#14

i used adv particle controller to see which attachment points the models have.

#15

Regarding things I’d like to see in ACF: I know it’s an unpopular opinion but I honestly don’t care. I’m going to voice it again, seeing as the topic of what we’d like has come up again: I’d love to see a plethora of engines and transmissions tailor made for cars, bikes, quads, and other small stuff. Nothing over ~7.5 liters, nothing that’s going to upset the precious combat balance, nothing anyone’s ever gonna actually try to use in a tank…but stuff for the silent majority of people using ACF who never even touch the guns, who use it as a simple, relatively easy, relatively bug-free and lag-free way of making a car go via rotating the wheels, will find much enjoyment in.

Nobody’s going to try to use an LS-7 in a tank, let’s be honest. It isn’t going to do a damn thing to the combat meta to throw us car nuts a bone once in a while. And it’s a perfect excuse to sneak some balance changes to the weaponry and big stompy tank powerplants in under the radar.

#16

Pseudo belt transmissions when

#17

That and the fact that I mostly dwell in singleplayer is the exact reason why I copied the default files, commented the default engines out, and wrote an additional script with every civillian car engine I could ever want as an addon for ACF.
That way I don’t need to touch the original files, shit won’t delete itself with every Git pull, no one goes ballistic from more engines being requested, and yet I got all the engines I could think of that I could possibly want.
I am somewhat surprised that there are IIRC only two Workshop addons that add engines and only one of them is specialized on cars. It’s a super simple thing to do. The downside is most of my cars don’t work in multiplayer without an engine swap.

Why do I tell you this?
Because I’m all for adding designated car engines. More content means more possibillities and as I experienced that way, the effort and skill required here is pretty much down to zero as long as the default models are used.
It’s literally copy and pasting an existing engine and changing some values that conveniently are impossible to not understand.
If it’s a seperate package, like missiles and sweps, people also can’t whine about it being unnecessary weight since no one forces you to download it.

Maybe adding some modularity in general could benefit ACF either. Things that don’t require the base to be rewritten and the community can’t decide wether or not it should be added, as in, additional engines, guns, gearboxes, whatever, could be slapped into an extension for ACF so that those who don’t want it don’t have to download it, and those who do have a chance to get their content. One downside would be that you’d need a server having all the packages you want installed.

Belt drives pls

#18

What are belt transmission/ belt drive ? How they are different ? Are they better ?

#19

I’d kinda imagine them like an inline differential but with a variable length between input and output.
To make them not render differentials obsolete they could have a limited efficiency like auto transmissions have right now, or a much more limited torque rating, or both, and have only one output, while maybe being somewhat lighter.
If they got implemented, we aren’t too far from a chain drive, which could look the same, have a higher efficiency and torque limit than the belt drive, but could be heavier and have a shorter maximum length or something.
Weight could be calculated by length.
I don’t know how the others imagine them though.

#20

They use mainly rubber belts to transfer motion and as such have their pros and cons, such as they can slip when worn down, they stretch a bit when you apply power or there is a sudden need, thus less shock on the engine/components.