Weapons Tutorial

Recommended Resources

Irfanview

Great image viewer which can save images as .PCX, which are files compatible with Meteor 2.

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The GIMP

A very detailed image editor that handles a wide variety of image formats, including .pcx. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program.

Info & Download

Step 1

Before you do anything in Meteor 2, you need to create your new weapon’s graphics. To do this, I recommend using paint, or if you feel adventurous, the GIMP (above). The graphics you'll need to create are:

1-A side view of the gun
2-A top view of the gun (the graphic Ash holds)
3-A side view of a clip or cartridge of the projectiles
4-A side view of a box of the projectiles
5-A top view of the projectile (the actual in-game view)

(Note: 2 and 5 should be very small [about 3 pixels wide each] as they are the ones that you hold)

Step 2

If you used the GIMP, save them as .PCX files. If you used Paint, you'll need to convert them with Irfanview or Advanced Batch Converter.

Step 3

Now you’ll need a few sound effects. You can either use one from M2 or get your own. You'll need sound effects for each of the following:

-Firing Sound
-Reloading Sound
-Contact Sound (Optional, usually just use ricochet)

Once you find a suitable sound, save it into sounds\weapons.

Step 4

Now that you have all the resources you'll need, it's time for the fun part.

-Fire up M2.
-Go into the sprite editor.
-Open the menu and hit 'Select current frame image.'
-Find each of the below graphics, and save each into the Sprites folder, which contains the same file structure as the Graphics folder.

Step 5

Make sure you've saved and quit out of the sprite editor. Then, go into the items editor. You will be making (1) a powerup for granting the player your weapon, (2) a magazine or cartridge for your gun, and (3) a box of its ammo.

1. Click the plus button at the top. A window will come up. Type the name of your new gun in the top field, then set the 'start with' to 0 and the 'maximum' to 1.
2. Hit OK. Then, click on the medikit button at the top and hit the plus button at the top of the page that comes up.
3. Type the weapon name again as the powerup's name. Then, set the sprite field to the sprite of the side view of your gun. Lastly, set the 'number of items to award' to 1.
4. Hit the checkmark button and create another powerup. Type the name of the ammo you're gun uses, such as "12mm rounds" or "Rockets." Set the start amount to whatever you want the gun to be loaded with when you pick it up. Set the maximum amount to the most ammo you want Ash to be able to carry for it.
5. For the ammo, hit the medikit button again at the top and add a new powerup. Name it clip, magazine, cartridge , etc. Set the amount of items to award to whatever you'd like the clip size to be (usually 20-50). Set the sprite to the side view of the clip or cartridge .
6. Add one more powerup (still in the same page) and name it box, case, etc. being something bigger than the clip or cartridge . Award around 80-120 of it, and set the sprite to the side view of the box of projectiles.

Step 6
Go into the projectile editor and make the projectile you'd like your gun to shoot. Make sure the 'associated item' is set to the name of the projectile you set in step 5, number 4. Route the sprite to the top view of the projectile. Save.

Step 7
Go into the weapons editor and name your new weapon. Then customize it to your heart's desire. Make sure you set the associated item to your weapon's name. Also, make sure you use the sound you saved in step 3.

Step 8
So you have a working weapon that uses custom projectiles. The only thing you need to do now is get Ash to recognize it. Go into object type editor and load colonial ash. Go into his weapon mounts and add a weapon. Select your weapon, position it on Ash, and save it.

Congratulations, you're done!