OK. When I released my free weapons I tried to do a flamethrower.
here were my findings:
Flamethrower using flak.
Totally impossible. FPSC is actually very buggy when it comes to flak. As a simple test, why not try making the MP40 fire flak. it'll crash everytime on the 3rd shot. FPSC cannot support multiple flak on the screen at once. Also, explosions (dispite being editable in the FPE of the flak) are hard coded to the engine, so you cannot stop the flak explosing when it hits a character or wall. which makes the flame thrower impossible with flak (whoever heard of explosive fire? - i freaking dare anyone to say that would be cool)
Flamethrower using 3D fire mesh modelled as part of weapon animation
This is more plausible. Infact it looks ok. but not brilliant. This is probably the best way of making a flamethrower, but its still gonna look a bit poo. The modelled fire will react along with the rest of the guns lighting, so firing in the dark (with dynamic lighting turned on) will cause the flames to come out slightly darker. This could be worked around using the various shaders I guess. If you wanna try a flamer this is probably your best bet.
Flamethrower using Decal.
This too is possible. But to be honest.... I have no idea how to implement it!
Ok so there you have it. I really really wanted to make a flamer, but I couldn't do it. This is obviously not the "be all and end all" of the flamer debate, merely my contribution taken from (literally) hours of modelling and messing about.
peace
butters
"It's often better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're an idiot, than to open it and confirm their suspisions" - Noel Coward