missiles sync. OR how to make your unit fire in the same time

(If you just want to know how to do this skip the story and go straight to the tutorial)

The Story:

well, tried to make gunpowder units shoot at the same time, and not a bullet here, a bullet there.

To do this I edited the MTW2_musket_attack_hold.cas (or something like that) to be of 3 frames and not 20 with KE's tools (thanks m8!).
and it worked :), my spanish musketeers fired noisy volleys like good boys.

What it means is that the game loops through the hold animation a random small integer times, so you can control how concentrated volleys will be by the length of the hold animation.



The Tutorial:

Ready!
Aim!
Fire!

Tired of lazy gunmen? Want your musketeers to listen to your orders? Ever wished to impress your girl with pretty volleys?
There's a solution to your problems!

What you need:
1) CA's animation files
2) KE's animation tools
3) Milkshape 3d / 3ds max (if you use 3ds max, you'll need KE's ms3d importer as well)

What you do:
1) Find some musketeer .mesh and convert it to .ms3d.
2) Find the M2TW_musket_attack_hold.cas or whatever its name is in the animation files.
3) Merge the .cas file with the .ms3d using KE's animations tools.
4) Open the ms3d with either milkshape or max, downsize the animation to 3 frames or so, and save it.
5) Extract the animation.
6) Generate new animation databases using CA's animations files (replace the original .cas with the new one before you generate them, of course)
7) Start the game and verify it worked

original medieval musketeers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRJrn5QIZWU
musketeers firing in volleys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFH9olc0CY0
both, so it's easier to compare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZESrdC7gARg

cheers!
hoko.

added youtube links.

Great work, I had been looking for something just like this!

Would it be possible to have the units even more synchronised, like they were firing as one man, or is 3 frames the lowest limit?

I suppose you can make it 1 frame or so, don't know how much effect it will have.

Amazing, how did you managed to stop the musketeers from moving behind the lines when reloading?

This is a fantastic tutorial,

I can see this being implemented in conjunction to the Royal Academy buildings in vanilla. This could now be of particular use - not to say it isn't, but if you can differenciate between "skirmish" style musketeers, and trained marksmen on the battlefield, then your tactical advantage to fighting with gunpowder units is significantly increased.

I smell a mod coming on!, I mod Oblivion and im only just starting out for Medieval II, so dont expect me to do it! ^_^

But a mod that "trains" your units to fire in professional volleys would be a big hit - not so much as a stand alone modification, but plenty of modding enthusiasts may want to add this in a themed mod.

What do you guys think?

Excellent tutorial - can you maybe make javelin units throw their javelins at the same time to by following this guide? Needs to be implemented in Paeninsula Italica for M2TW.

AHA!!1!11!!

At long last i found it... now only to get my game working again...

Wow!! This is amazing!! I don't know the first thing about modding my game, though. Does anyone have like a .exe file that will do all of these things for me?

Is it about time that I just learn? :P