FHQ M4 for Arma 3 (Prerelease)

[Alwarren 2767]

Yes others are runnin current version. The thermal and NV optics no longer can be loaded onto the rifle anymore when I attempt it.

Well I wouldn't really know what the problem could be, I inherit the addons from the default rifle class, so if that addon does override them, it should work. You might want to try to change the order in which they are loaded, maybe the M4's are loaded first and don't see the modified optics yet.

[Selei 1]

New version is phenomenal. Thank you so much for fixing the wrist issue. It looks so great!

[gatordev 219]

First up, these look fantastic, and NICE work on the barrel length. I've been "off the grid" for A3 for a few weeks, but this makes me want to load it up again.

The problem with the attachment system as it is now is that there is no general compatibility class that defines the attachments you can add, but rather a list of attachments that will fit. That means that every weapon has to explicitly list all the attachments that it can take, which in turn means that future attachment won't work on the M4's unless I update them.

With the suppressor, this isn't really the big issue for the M4 since a 5.56 mm barrel should only work with a 5.56 suppressor. OTOH, every other 5.56 chambered weapon now needs their own suppressor, a fact that could have been rectified by a more generic attachment system.

I seriously hope that BIS will change this as soon as possible. There is an issue in the tracker that proposes an alternate model (and I seriously wonder who the two downvotes are, and whether they understood the implications).

Same issue here, the system relies on naming each individual attachment instead of defining a compatibility class for attachment points. I would have loved to see something in the line of "This has a standard Picatinny rail top and side" and "this is a 6.5 MM barrel", so that any attachment that says "I am a Picatinny attachment" or "I fit a 6.5 mm barrel" could be automatically attached. If this isn't changed, I do predict sort of a clusterf*** since every weapon will essentially have to come with their own set of optics. Right now, I am reluctant to put in my ACOG or CompM4 simply because of this issue - it would only fit the M4.

I completely understand you are having to operate w/in the limits of the BIS engine, and I have a feeling you already know this, but... There are some 7.62 suppressors that are compatible with M4 (5.56) and "other" (like 6.5) calibers. You just have to have the correct muzzle device. Surefire is a perfect example. Their 7.62 can will slip onto a 5.56 muzzle device with no alterations and work just fine (except it will be a bit louder). Obviously you're hampered by the current class/config issues you describe, so I hope BIS can fix that, but in the future, having one can fit multiple kinds of rifles is perfectly realistic.

Okay, enough of that...on to downloading... Thank you again for your great work.

[kiwi1234 0]

Not really. Extending the stock any more than that is going to look ludicrous, and moving the weapon any closer will result in an even steeper angle of the hands than it already is. The distance isn't that big anymore, maybe four centimeters, but next to impossible to bridge without looking weirder.

Thats a shame mate, that 4cm gap is a shame, and its particularly noticeable in prone - it seems to push out to almost 10cm. Please keep exploring ways to get the stock in closer to the shoulder - i reckon a slightly longer stock wouldnt look too bad..

EDIT: Is there a way to edit the angle of the arms? or do you pretty much just have to make the weapon model fit the grip distance?

Edited April 8, 2013 by kiwi1234

[J_Thompson 1]

Found the issue with the scopes. In Kae's SVD's last update. Removed it and boom worked again. Like the new version however even on ultra settings the silencer still turns to a chrome appearance when you are about 10 meters away from someone in your squad with the m4 silencer. I'll post a screen shot when I get home from work today for ya Warren.

[Alwarren 2767]

First up, these look fantastic, and NICE work on the barrel length. I've been "off the grid" for A3 for a few weeks, but this makes me want to load it up again.

Thanks :)

I completely understand you are having to operate w/in the limits of the BIS engine, and I have a feeling you already know this, but... There are some 7.62 suppressors that are compatible with M4 (5.56) and "other" (like 6.5) calibers. You just have to have the correct muzzle device. Surefire is a perfect example. Their 7.62 can will slip onto a 5.56 muzzle device with no alterations and work just fine (except it will be a bit louder). Obviously you're hampered by the current class/config issues you describe, so I hope BIS can fix that, but in the future, having one can fit multiple kinds of rifles is perfectly realistic.

Okay, enough of that...on to downloading... Thank you again for your great work.

The problem with the current system is the explicit naming requirements. You have to explicitly specify everything you can use, there is no such thing as compatibility, which makes it really difficult.

---------- Post added at 14:30 ---------- Previous post was at 14:22 ----------

Thats a shame mate, that 4cm gap is a shame, and its particularly noticeable in prone - it seems to push out to almost 10cm. Please keep exploring ways to get the stock in closer to the shoulder - i reckon a slightly longer stock wouldnt look too bad..

EDIT: Is there a way to edit the angle of the arms? or do you pretty much just have to make the weapon model fit the grip distance?

To be honest, I don't know. The arm angle probably is only influenced by the angle of the hands, because that is the only thing I move around. I haven't really found out exactly how the alignment works, since in the skeleton, there is a "weapon" bone but it is shaped like the default M16; I am not entirely sure how that translates into the game. I will have to experiment with that, but making hand anims is a rather painful process IMO.

Found the issue with the scopes. In Kae's SVD's last update. Removed it and boom worked again. Like the new version however even on ultra settings the silencer still turns to a chrome appearance when you are about 10 meters away from someone in your squad with the m4 silencer. I'll post a screen shot when I get home from work today for ya Warren.

I just checked, the two last LOD's are missing the material/texture. Thanks for pointing it out, next release will fix this.

[sxp2high 22]

I completely deleted the addon, all my temp files and my profile, verified game cache with steam, yet I still get this error: Warning Message: Cannot load texture fhq_m4_a3\m4a1\data\m4a1_wdl_co.paa.

How's that possible? :Oo:

Do I have to reinstall my game to get rid of that error?

[Alwarren 2767]

I completely deleted the addon, all my temp files and my profile, verified game cache with steam, yet I still get this error: Warning Message: Cannot load texture fhq_m4_a3\m4a1\data\m4a1_wdl_co.paa.

How's that possible? :Oo:

Do I have to reinstall my game to get rid of that error?

I have no idea what is going on. Is the M4 addon the only one you load? If not, that would be the first thing to try. Other than that, have you looked at the RPT file for any weird messages?

[fluttershy 2]

I completely deleted the addon, all my temp files and my profile, verified game cache with steam, yet I still get this error: Warning Message: Cannot load texture fhq_m4_a3\m4a1\data\m4a1_wdl_co.paa.

How's that possible? :Oo:

Do I have to reinstall my game to get rid of that error?

From my past experiance that error can be created if the file is not saved correctly, so it was not named for texview to workout the file correctly. But that is close to impossible if the files you got were not "modified" by a third person. So either the file that is pointed towards is not the one from the pack that everyone else runs on or the file could be missing or be corrupted.

Since you have tried this many several times, or did you maybee rename the pbo? I am just shooting towards the blue as you can see....

[gatordev 219]

The problem with the current system is the explicit naming requirements. You have to explicitly specify everything you can use, there is no such thing as compatibility, which makes it really difficult.

Completely understand. Hopefully this can be addressed as the game matures.

[galzohar 31]

M16 and M4 have the same proportions (in the parts where the soldier touches the weapon, that is), only difference is barrel length, so if it's possible for the in-game character to properly grip an M16, an M4 should work just as well. Also, MX series weapons seem to have similar/identical proportions to those of the M4.

[Alwarren 2767]

M16 and M4 have the same proportions (in the parts where the soldier touches the weapon, that is), only difference is barrel length, so if it's possible for the in-game character to properly grip an M16, an M4 should work just as well. Also, MX series weapons seem to have similar/identical proportions to those of the M4.

"Similar" is not enough.

I played around with it a bit, and found out what makes the difference. It's the zero point of the weapon. All BIS M4's and M16's have their zero point in front of the trigger about two-thirds away on the magazine well. I tried to move my weapons to that point, and that made them close up with the shoulder.

However, that causes another problem. None of the reload gestures works anymore. They are all either gripping too far in front of the magazine, or too far behind (obviously the bullpup weapons are out of question). If I knew how these gestures worked, I might even try to do one for it, but I have no idea where to start, and given we have no example weapon from BIS, I'm holding off with that for now and rather leave them as they are.

So the only option would be to extend the stock more, but I don't think that is going to look realistic either.

[galzohar 31]

As long as the arms are gripping it properly, I'd say proper weapon positioning while keeping the realistic weapon proportions are more important than reload animations. But in the end it's your choice.

[pundra 8]

Is it just me or does the muzzle flash not get reduced when using a suppressor?

[scarecrow398 43]

"Similar" is not enough.

I played around with it a bit, and found out what makes the difference. It's the zero point of the weapon. All BIS M4's and M16's have their zero point in front of the trigger about two-thirds away on the magazine well. I tried to move my weapons to that point, and that made them close up with the shoulder.

However, that causes another problem. None of the reload gestures works anymore. They are all either gripping too far in front of the magazine, or too far behind (obviously the bullpup weapons are out of question). If I knew how these gestures worked, I might even try to do one for it, but I have no idea where to start, and given we have no example weapon from BIS, I'm holding off with that for now and rather leave them as they are.

Why not try and PM one of the BI Dev's? like Smookie, if he didn't do them perhaps he could forward it to who ever does the weapon anims.

[kiwi1234 0]

As long as the arms are gripping it properly, I'd say proper weapon positioning while keeping the realistic weapon proportions are more important than reload animations. But in the end it's your choice.

Yeah Id agree, I think shoulder position is more important than the reload anim, as the reload animation is used so much less than the positioning of the rifle into the players shoulder. Of course it's up to you, but while you are looking into tweaking the anim, it'd be cool to see a version of the mod with fixed shoulder spacing! :-)

[Alwarren 2767]

The shoulder spacing will never be fixed, different stances have different placement. I am not sure what is more important. The gap isn't that big, and only visible from certain angles. It certainly isn't visible from first person (player) view, which is the default view. What is visible, however, from first person is the reload animation.

Bottom line, I am only going to move them back if I can fix the reload gesture or make my own. While the gap is not pretty, it is for me much less of an immersion killer than groping into thin air to remove a non-existent magazine. I'd rather extend the stock a bit more to make the gap smaller.

I guess it's time to look into custom reload gestures.

[bl2ck dog 80]

Alwarren, first, thanks for great mod.

Second, personally, I haven't noticed that gap, unless read about it in the comments. Reload anims (and disappearing mag - which is fixed) - way more visible. Maybe worth to add a recoil pad or something.

Also, got a problem with M4+M203. Sometimes, after attaching silencer, weapon only works in semi-auto mode and not switching to full-auto or UGL.

Another tiny glitch, is when you putting M4+M203 on the back, GL sight appears to be up.

[seife 1]

Anyone else noticed the screen turning blue (looks like camera turns to god knows where) if you get hit while using the M4? Plenty of sides in this topic so I didnt read that much.

However, very nice mod. Love the model. :)

[Alwarren 2767]

Anyone else noticed the screen turning blue (looks like camera turns to god knows where) if you get hit while using the M4?

Do you have version 1.3? There was an issue in earlier versions that could cause you to violently react to bullets when you carry the M4.

---------- Post added at 17:16 ---------- Previous post was at 17:11 ----------

Second, personally, I haven't noticed that gap, unless read about it in the comments. Reload anims (and disappearing mag - which is fixed) - way more visible. Maybe worth to add a recoil pad or something.

I am looking at the options. I might try to move the M4 if I have a bit of leverage for the reload anim, and the buffer pad might be worth looking into as well. I might also try to extend the stock a bit.

Also, got a problem with M4+M203. Sometimes, after attaching silencer, weapon only works in semi-auto mode and not switching to full-auto or UGL.

Another tiny glitch, is when you putting M4+M203 on the back, GL sight appears to be up.

Can't reproduce any of these issues. Is there any way to reproduce them reliably? I have never seen anything like it happening.

[kiwi1234 0]

Do you have version 1.3? There was an issue in earlier versions that could cause you to violently react to bullets when you carry the M4.

---------- Post added at 17:16 ---------- Previous post was at 17:11 ----------

I am looking at the options. I might try to move the M4 if I have a bit of leverage for the reload anim, and the buffer pad might be worth looking into as well. I might also try to extend the stock a bit.

.

Good stuff mate - awesome that you are still working hard on these and continually improving them. I think the bufferpad and the extended stock might both be great solutions while you work out the reload anim! :-)

My clan and I are playing a mission using this mod next week - I'll post some screenies of all of us decked out with M4s!

[seife 1]

Do you have version 1.3? There was an issue in earlier versions that could cause you to violently react to bullets when you carry the M4.

Thought so but seems to work know. Must have made something wrong while updating.

Thanks for the awesome mod!

[scarecrow398 43]

So, alwarren, news i'm sure you're going to love...:

Here hoping it doesn't take too much work to look okay...

[Alwarren 2767]

Here hoping it doesn't take too much work to look okay...

Hm, that's an MX, right? I am not quite sure what you mean?

[chortles 263]

He's referring to how when the character does a stance adjust leftward (sidestep) when standing or crouching, in the dev build (0.55.103960) the character does a left-shoulder transition as far as the stock position.