Haha too funny!
Quote: "One question I forgot to ask in my last e-mail - does the chainsaw animation set still support heavy weapons? "
Yes. However the designer has some restrictions. If you assign the character a minigun, you must make him crouch when reloading or else he will take a lunging swipe instead. The crouching reload is still technically for refueling the chainsaw but it should work for a heavy weapon when viewing in the heat of battle.
You will notice that the chainsaw/weapon points foreward as if aiming a normal gun weapon in most of the animations (I think running is the exception). For the most part, only the reloads and ergonomics (slightly) have changed.
The ergonomics are off for using the stock minigun but I hate that thing and don't care if it lines up well or not. At some point I'll make a worthy replacement
Go to Iraq or somewhere and I'm sure you have about 10000% greater chance of encountering an engineer or breecher with a chainsaw than some fantasy commando with a man-portable minigun... I do have an idea for a boss character though since I only played MGS about 2 dozen times lol.
Quote: "And is the LMG set still suitable for SMGs? "
So-so. The reload obviously is tuned for the LMG. And the stance looks exaggerated if using a SMG or Shotgun. SMGs with stocks on them should be reassigned to weapon type 3 and use rifle animations for these characters. That said FPSC sorely needs a proper pump-shotgun animation. hmmm...
Quote: "Or are you going the route where a different character can be used for different types of weapons?"
To some degree, yes. This is necessary because some weapons simply don't work with generic animations. For example the characters now hold an assault rifle well but can't hold a normal riflestocked weapon as well as the old posture. Another example is the P90 which should be held sort of like a pistol but shouldered and not with the butt resting on their nose :S
One last thing to note is that the characters can hold an RPG but that means they can't hold a LAW properly. On this version I totally changed the firespot rotation which nullifies use of stock launcher weapons. This will be corrected in some of the characters.
I should also note that VWEAP registration has been altered meaning that stock weapons will not align perfectly and same goes for my released weapons as well. I will be updating many vweaps for my old media as well as providing guideline documentation for how users should set up their own VWEAPs or correct others they might have. The new or gin positioning is MUCH more logical and removes a lot of the guesswork that normally goes into positioning a VWEAPs origin. The short explanation is that the origin (scene 0,0,0 position) should be aligned to the center-front of the pistol grip and just below the triggerguard.
