How to Rig the minigun

[Maurilo_Predator]

Hello, does anyone have any idea how to rig the minigun? I am aware that it consists of two models: the part that the CJ holds and the pipes that rotate. When I tried to do the traditional Rigging, only the first part was visible, and the pipes were invisible. Although there are hundreds of minigun mods, the way of doing Rigging of this specific weapon is generally not much discussed. I heard that it involved the hierarchy of models, but I'm not sure if that is exactly it. If anyone can help, I would be grateful.

[Mysterdogg]

Have you checked the vanilla model? Hierarchy is the most important aspect, the orientation along with the axis position are also important. In other words, the best way for making a custom minigun is to match the new model with the stock one (this same logic is applied for every weapon). Check my minigun and compare it with the original model and you will see that are almost identical.

 

[-Gaming4Life-]

I would like to see a m60 in the game as a variant of the minigun 

[Maurilo_Predator]

3 hours ago, Mysterdogg said:

Have you checked the vanilla model? Hierarchy is the most important aspect, the orientation along with the axis position are also important. In other words, the best way for making a custom minigun is to match the new model with the stock one (this same logic is applied for every weapon). Check my minigun and compare it with the original model and you will see that are almost identical.

 

Friend, sorry for my late reply, but no notification has arrived for me. I will check what you recommended, however, what most intrigues me is the fact that there are two models. Should I attach to the bases (part of which the CJ holds), then fix the barrel of my minigun and attach to the pipes separately? In that case, create 2 files again (base and pipes)?

3 hours ago, Weeamer said:

I would like to see a m60 in the game as a variant of the minigun 

(Sorry for the late answer) Friend, on the internet already have these M60 mods replacing minigun. Just search and find it easily. It's pretty funny in some ways .

[LeatherJacketSoldier]

4 hours ago, Weeamer said:

I would like to see a m60 in the game as a variant of the minigun 

If you're interested, I adapted Vice City's M-60 into San Andreas replacing the minigun, and even positioned correctly the minigun's muzzle flash (a VERY long one) in the M-60's muzzle. Hell, I even managed to obtain the M-60 beta HUD icon of GTA San Andreas (well, it lacked of transparencies, so I made them the best I could, maybe the contours ain't perfect). If you want to give it a try, just send me a private message (note 1: I corrected by mirroring the defect that in VC the bullet belt was fed to the M-60 by the gun's right side, instead of the real life's rendition which is fed by its left side) (note 2: I also replaced the minigun's shooting sound to match the M-60's shooting sound from VC, which I think is more realistic, but since I also replaced in the same file the shooting sounds of the Desert Eagle, 9mm and MP5 and the Mr. Whoopee's jingle, it's up to you if you want the GENRL file too, or if you're a bit skilled with mods I can give you the full file and you extract the M-60's shooting sound).

 

1 hour ago, CARL JOHNSON 2000 said:

Friend, sorry for my late reply, but no notification has arrived for me. I will check what you recommended, however, what most intrigues me is the fact that there are two models. Should I attach to the bases (part of which the CJ holds), then fix the barrel of my minigun and attach to the pipes separately? In that case, create 2 files again (base and pipes)?

Don't take me too serious, I've worked on that model about two weeks ago and didn't pay special attention to the hierarchies. But let me tell you what I've seen while modeling so far. There are two models for the portable minigun (there are 2 or 3 more for the stationary minigun, but I didn't mess with those), one has the full model and the muzzle flash (that's minigun.dff), and the other one I GUESS (I didn't open the file) it's the necessary data to make the rotating barrels (yes, it made my eyes burn like General Grievous' when I read "pipes") spin while aiming and shooting, and this file is called minigun2.dff. Let me tell you why I say it's the data. When replacing the minigun with the M-60 I took a look at the hierarchies, and saw that the minigun was composed by three models: the muzzle flash, the rotating barrels (called "minigun2"), and the rest of the minigun (called "minigun", Who would have guessed?). Well, you can see it by yourself (that way you may correct me if I'm wrong), that the minigun was in the top of the hierarchy, and the other 2 models were at the second level of the same hierarchy. After attaching the M-60 to the minigun only (not minigun2), I deleted both minigun and minigun2. I finished preparing my mod, and I went on to replace both minigun.dff and minigun.txd (this is the bad thing: I don't remember if I also replaced with minigun.dff the file minigun2.dff, but I think I didn't do it). Well, I launched the game, pulled out the M-60 (sadly, CJ still holds it like a minigun instead of a common machine gun, but that corrects only while aiming, shooting, or crouching), and aimed. Hooray, the M-60's barrel didn't spin (well, it "would have blowed my f*cking mind", as The Truth said, if only the barrel spinned instead of the whole gun, since I wouldn't have any way to explain that), and neither did the whole gun. The same when shooting. So, my explanation is: minigun2.dff has the data for the spinning of minigun2 model in minigun.dff, and since I deleted minigun2 in minigun.dff, minigun2.dff couldn't find minigun2 to make it spin, so in few words minigun2.dff said "Ah, scr*w that, I'm going to sleep 'til minigun2 decides to show up", and the game could be played normally. Another explanation, if I in fact replaced minigun2.dff with minigun.dff: since both are now the same model, they just overlap one over another, and given they are at the same position and rotation, there are no visual bugs and "only one" M-60 is displayed.

Another explanation, given the case I replaced minigun2.dff: minigun2.dff contains minigun2, which is made to spin by some kind of script in the same file (I don't know if this is possible, but I think it could be), and while aiming and/or shooting it overlaps with the stationary minigun2 and since it spins at high speed the overlapping isn't noticed by the player.

 

1 hour ago, CARL JOHNSON 2000 said:

Should I attach to the bases (part of which the CJ holds), then fix the barrel of my minigun and attach to the pipes separately?

The answer is, you should need two separate models, one for the barrels and other for the rest of the minigun. Attach the barrels first, make the whole process till your new barrels are in position and the original ones are deleted, then repeat the procedure with the other model. You DON'T have to attach the barrels to the minigun's frame, that's what the hierarchy is for, you should touch the hierarchy ONLY IN CASE you messed up while attaching.

And, if the last explanation is right instead of the first one (I'd like to have some help with enlightment here), replace just the model in minigun2.dff with your new rotating barrels, and leave the script or animation or whatever it is, intact.

Hope you can find this information helpful.

Edited February 24, 2021 by LeatherJacketSoldier

[Maurilo_Predator]

25 minutes ago, LeatherJacketSoldier said:

If you're interested, I adapted Vice City's M-60 into San Andreas replacing the minigun, and even positioned correctly the minigun's muzzle flash (a VERY long one) in the M-60's muzzle. Hell, I even managed to obtain the M-60 beta HUD icon of GTA San Andreas (well, it lacked of transparencies, so I made them the best I could, maybe the contours ain't perfect). If you want to give it a try, just send me a private message (note 1: I corrected by mirroring the defect that in VC the bullet belt was fed to the M-60 by the gun's right side, instead of the real life's rendition which is fed by its left side) (note 2: I also replaced the minigun's shooting sound to match the M-60's shooting sound from VC, which I think is more realistic, but since I also replaced in the same file the shooting sounds of the Desert Eagle, 9mm and MP5 and the Mr. Whoopee's jingle, it's up to you if you want the GENRL file too, or if you're a bit skilled with mods I can give you the full file and you extract the M-60's shooting sound).

 

Don't take me too serious, I've worked on that model about two weeks ago and didn't pay special attention to the hierarchies. But let me tell you what I've seen while modeling so far. There are two models for the portable minigun (there are 2 or 3 more for the stationary minigun, but I didn't mess with those), one has the full model and the muzzle flash (that's minigun.dff), and the other one I GUESS (I didn't open the file) it's the necessary data to make the rotating barrels (yes, it made my eyes burn like General Grievous' when I read "pipes") spin while aiming and shooting, and this file is called minigun2.dff. Let me tell you why I say it's the data. When replacing the minigun with the M-60 I took a look at the hierarchies, and saw that the minigun was composed by three models: the muzzle flash, the rotating barrels (called "minigun2"), and the rest of the minigun (called "minigun", Who would have guessed?). Well, you can see it by yourself (that way you may correct me if I'm wrong), that the minigun was in the top of the hierarchy, and the other 2 models were at the second level of the same hierarchy. After attaching the M-60 to the minigun only (not minigun2), I deleted both minigun and minigun2. I finished preparing my mod, and I went on to replace both minigun.dff and minigun.txd (this is the bad thing: I don't remember if I also replaced with minigun.dff the file minigun2.dff, but I think I didn't do it). Well, I launched the game, pulled out the M-60 (sadly, CJ still holds it like a minigun instead of a common machine gun, but that corrects only while aiming, shooting, or crouching), and aimed. Hooray, the M-60's barrel didn't spin (well, it "would have blowed my f*cking mind", as The Truth said, if only the barrel spinned instead of the whole gun, since I wouldn't have any way to explain that), and neither did the whole gun. The same when shooting. So, my explanation is: minigun2.dff has the data for the spinning of minigun2 model in minigun.dff, and since I deleted minigun2 in minigun.dff, minigun2.dff couldn't find minigun2 to make it spin, so in few words minigun2.dff said "Ah, scr*w that, I'm going to sleep 'til minigun2 decides to show up", and the game could be played normally. Another explanation, if I in fact replaced minigun2.dff with minigun.dff: since both are now the same model, they just overlap one over another, and given they are at the same position and rotation, there are no visual bugs and "only one" M-60 is displayed.

Another explanation, given the case I replaced minigun2.dff: minigun2.dff contains minigun2, which is made to spin by some kind of script in the same file (I don't know if this is possible, but I think it could be), and while aiming and/or shooting it overlaps with the stationary minigun2 and since it spins at high speed the overlapping isn't noticed by the player.

 

The answer is, you should need two separate models, one for the barrels and other for the rest of the minigun. Attach the barrels first, make the whole process till your new barrels are in position and the original ones are deleted, then repeat the procedure with the other model. You DON'T have to attach the barrels to the minigun's frame, that's what the hierarchy is for, you should touch the hierarchy ONLY IN CASE you messed up while attaching.

And, if the last explanation is right instead of the first one (I'd like to have some help with enlightment here), replace just the model in minigun2.dff with your new rotating barrels, and leave the script or animation or whatever it is, intact.

Hope you can find this information helpful.

FRIEND, THANK YOU SO MUCH. I will, as soon as I have time, test all that you recommended. I was having problems just because I didn't know all that. Ah, you read "pipes", because I am using the translator to write and some words of my native language are translated somewhat differently into English; so sorry if i made your eyes burn heheheheh. Finally, I will test as soon as possible and give feedback on the results.

[Maurilo_Predator]

On 2/24/2021 at 12:20 AM, LeatherJacketSoldier said:

If you're interested, I adapted Vice City's M-60 into San Andreas replacing the minigun, and even positioned correctly the minigun's muzzle flash (a VERY long one) in the M-60's muzzle. Hell, I even managed to obtain the M-60 beta HUD icon of GTA San Andreas (well, it lacked of transparencies, so I made them the best I could, maybe the contours ain't perfect). If you want to give it a try, just send me a private message (note 1: I corrected by mirroring the defect that in VC the bullet belt was fed to the M-60 by the gun's right side, instead of the real life's rendition which is fed by its left side) (note 2: I also replaced the minigun's shooting sound to match the M-60's shooting sound from VC, which I think is more realistic, but since I also replaced in the same file the shooting sounds of the Desert Eagle, 9mm and MP5 and the Mr. Whoopee's jingle, it's up to you if you want the GENRL file too, or if you're a bit skilled with mods I can give you the full file and you extract the M-60's shooting sound).

 

Don't take me too serious, I've worked on that model about two weeks ago and didn't pay special attention to the hierarchies. But let me tell you what I've seen while modeling so far. There are two models for the portable minigun (there are 2 or 3 more for the stationary minigun, but I didn't mess with those), one has the full model and the muzzle flash (that's minigun.dff), and the other one I GUESS (I didn't open the file) it's the necessary data to make the rotating barrels (yes, it made my eyes burn like General Grievous' when I read "pipes") spin while aiming and shooting, and this file is called minigun2.dff. Let me tell you why I say it's the data. When replacing the minigun with the M-60 I took a look at the hierarchies, and saw that the minigun was composed by three models: the muzzle flash, the rotating barrels (called "minigun2"), and the rest of the minigun (called "minigun", Who would have guessed?). Well, you can see it by yourself (that way you may correct me if I'm wrong), that the minigun was in the top of the hierarchy, and the other 2 models were at the second level of the same hierarchy. After attaching the M-60 to the minigun only (not minigun2), I deleted both minigun and minigun2. I finished preparing my mod, and I went on to replace both minigun.dff and minigun.txd (this is the bad thing: I don't remember if I also replaced with minigun.dff the file minigun2.dff, but I think I didn't do it). Well, I launched the game, pulled out the M-60 (sadly, CJ still holds it like a minigun instead of a common machine gun, but that corrects only while aiming, shooting, or crouching), and aimed. Hooray, the M-60's barrel didn't spin (well, it "would have blowed my f*cking mind", as The Truth said, if only the barrel spinned instead of the whole gun, since I wouldn't have any way to explain that), and neither did the whole gun. The same when shooting. So, my explanation is: minigun2.dff has the data for the spinning of minigun2 model in minigun.dff, and since I deleted minigun2 in minigun.dff, minigun2.dff couldn't find minigun2 to make it spin, so in few words minigun2.dff said "Ah, scr*w that, I'm going to sleep 'til minigun2 decides to show up", and the game could be played normally. Another explanation, if I in fact replaced minigun2.dff with minigun.dff: since both are now the same model, they just overlap one over another, and given they are at the same position and rotation, there are no visual bugs and "only one" M-60 is displayed.

Another explanation, given the case I replaced minigun2.dff: minigun2.dff contains minigun2, which is made to spin by some kind of script in the same file (I don't know if this is possible, but I think it could be), and while aiming and/or shooting it overlaps with the stationary minigun2 and since it spins at high speed the overlapping isn't noticed by the player.

 

The answer is, you should need two separate models, one for the barrels and other for the rest of the minigun. Attach the barrels first, make the whole process till your new barrels are in position and the original ones are deleted, then repeat the procedure with the other model. You DON'T have to attach the barrels to the minigun's frame, that's what the hierarchy is for, you should touch the hierarchy ONLY IN CASE you messed up while attaching.

And, if the last explanation is right instead of the first one (I'd like to have some help with enlightment here), replace just the model in minigun2.dff with your new rotating barrels, and leave the script or animation or whatever it is, intact.

Hope you can find this information helpful.

hello, I was testing here what you suggested and the barrel was invisible. When I tried to replace the minigun2 file with the minigun, the barrel remained invisible. Then, I rigged the minigun 2 model with the minigun and the game crashed. Correct me if I'm wrong, the process is:

 

1. Open the minigun file.

 

2. Separate the weapon into the body and barrel.

 

3. Attach the "minigun" model to the body.

 

4. Export only the body as a "minigun".

 

5. Attach the "minigun2" model to the barrel.

 

6. Export only the barrel as "minigun2".

 

7. Replace the minigun2 file with the previously exported minigun2.

 

That's right? I'm getting a little confused in the export part, because I don't know if it is to select both models or one at a time.

[LeatherJacketSoldier]

First, let me tell you one thing, before I go with the full reply: I've just checked out minigun2.dff and found out that, apparently, it's essentially equal to minigun.dff, except for the muzzle flash (it's different). This left me confused. I thought that minigun2.dff would have the barrels only. And, besides, the stationary minigun has only one extra model for its placement, the rest of the models are the same used by the portable minigun.

[LeatherJacketSoldier]

Well, for the full reply: I'll talk about minigun.dff, with minigun2.dff the process should be identical.

First, pull out your whole model (import it). Then, if it's a single model, separate the barrels (and their joints) from the minigun's frame. If they're two models in the same hierarchy, disconnect them. After one of the two previous steps, select one model, and export it. Then de-select, and repeat with the other model. This'll be our basis, if you didn't do the steps above (if this is what you meant in steps 1 and 2, pardon me, I thought you were speaking of the original minigun).

Close everything now and open 3DS Max again, or delete everything in screen, whatever you want. Import the original minigun.dff and then import the barrels model you just created. Put it in position and rotation, then select via vertex/face/element/whatever mode the ORIGINAL barrels, and attach the new barrels using the first option in the pop-up window (just leave the options there as they are). Press Delete if all of the original barrels are selected, if they ain't then repeat the procedure, moving the original barrels away just before attaching, so you can select all of them when you have to delete them. Now import the new minigun's frame model, and repeat the procedure with the original minigun's frame model.

Adjust the muzzle flash to make it come out of one of your barrels, if necessary. Just remember the pivots of the three models should be in the same position and rotation of the original ones.

Whoopee, your model should be correctly rigged by now. Now, using DFF Importer/Exporter for 3DS Max (I'm not in the mood to put the link again), export ALL THE MODEL (select the three parts), then check the boxes in the animation section of the pop-up window. And select San Andreas, at the bottom of the same window.

Well, make a similar procedure with minigun2.dff, if you please (or if you wanna have more chances of having your barrels to spin). You can just replace minigun2.dff in gta3.img with the minigun.dff you've just created, but I'm not sure you'll get it to spin that way.

If I forgot something in the procedures, let me know. It may be a thing that crashes your game if you don't do it.

Edited February 25, 2021 by LeatherJacketSoldier
I hate my cellphone's corrector when I'm writing in english

[Maurilo_Predator]

1 hour ago, LeatherJacketSoldier said:

First, let me tell you one thing, before I go with the full reply: I've just checked out minigun2.dff and found out that, apparently, it's essentially equal to minigun.dff, except for the muzzle flash (it's different). This left me confused. I thought that minigun2.dff would have the barrels only. And, besides, the stationary minigun has only one extra model for its placement, the rest of the models are the same used by the portable minigun.

 

55 minutes ago, LeatherJacketSoldier said:

Well, for the full reply: I'll talk about minigun.dff, with minigun2.dff the process should be identical.

First, pull out your whole model (import it). Then, if it's a single model, separate the barrels (and their joints) from the minigun's frame. If they're two models in the same hierarchy, disconnect them. After one of the two previous steps, select one model, and export it. Then de-select, and repeat with the other model. This'll be our basis, if you didn't do the steps above (if this is what you meant in steps 1 and 2, pardon me, I thought you were speaking of the original minigun).

Close everything now and open 3DS Max again, or delete everything in screen, whatever you want. Import the original minigun.dff and then import the barrels model you just created. Put it in position and rotation, then select via vertex/face/element/whatever mode the ORIGINAL barrels, and attach the new barrels using the first option in the pop-up window (just leave the options there as they are). Press Delete if all of the original barrels are selected, if they ain't then repeat the procedure, moving the original barrels away just before attaching, so you can select all of them when you have to delete them. Now import the new minigun's frame model, and repeat the procedure with the original minigun's frame model.

Adjust the muzzle flash to make it come out of one of your barrels, if necessary. Just remember the pivots of the three models should be in the same position and rotation of the original ones.

Whoopee, your model should be correctly rigged by now. Now, using DFF Importer/Exporter for 3DS Max (I'm not in the mood to put the link again), export ALL THE MODEL (select the three parts), then check the boxes in the animation section of the pop-up window. And select San Andreas, at the bottom of the same window.

Well, make a similar procedure with minigun2.dff, if you please (or if you wanna have more chances of having your barrels to spin). You can just replace minigun2.dff in gta3.img with the minigun.dff you've just created, but I'm not sure you'll get it to spin that way.

If I forgot something in the procedures, let me know. It may be a thing that crashes your game if you don't do it.

Minigun 2 also confused me. Thank you very much. I will test and, as soon as possible, I will report the results here.

[Maurilo_Predator]

On 2/25/2021 at 4:42 PM, LeatherJacketSoldier said:

Well, for the full reply: I'll talk about minigun.dff, with minigun2.dff the process should be identical.

First, pull out your whole model (import it). Then, if it's a single model, separate the barrels (and their joints) from the minigun's frame. If they're two models in the same hierarchy, disconnect them. After one of the two previous steps, select one model, and export it. Then de-select, and repeat with the other model. This'll be our basis, if you didn't do the steps above (if this is what you meant in steps 1 and 2, pardon me, I thought you were speaking of the original minigun).

Close everything now and open 3DS Max again, or delete everything in screen, whatever you want. Import the original minigun.dff and then import the barrels model you just created. Put it in position and rotation, then select via vertex/face/element/whatever mode the ORIGINAL barrels, and attach the new barrels using the first option in the pop-up window (just leave the options there as they are). Press Delete if all of the original barrels are selected, if they ain't then repeat the procedure, moving the original barrels away just before attaching, so you can select all of them when you have to delete them. Now import the new minigun's frame model, and repeat the procedure with the original minigun's frame model.

Adjust the muzzle flash to make it come out of one of your barrels, if necessary. Just remember the pivots of the three models should be in the same position and rotation of the original ones.

Whoopee, your model should be correctly rigged by now. Now, using DFF Importer/Exporter for 3DS Max (I'm not in the mood to put the link again), export ALL THE MODEL (select the three parts), then check the boxes in the animation section of the pop-up window. And select San Andreas, at the bottom of the same window.

Well, make a similar procedure with minigun2.dff, if you please (or if you wanna have more chances of having your barrels to spin). You can just replace minigun2.dff in gta3.img with the minigun.dff you've just created, but I'm not sure you'll get it to spin that way.

If I forgot something in the procedures, let me know. It may be a thing that crashes your game if you don't do it.

Hello Friend. I tested what you recommended, step by step. However, the game crashed. Whenever I rig the minigun2, the barrels are invisible. Even when I replace the minigun2 files with the minigun, the game crashes.

[LeatherJacketSoldier]

44 minutes ago, CARL JOHNSON 2000 said:

Hello Friend. I tested what you recommended, step by step. However, the game crashed. Whenever I rig the minigun2, the barrels are invisible. Even when I replace the minigun2 files with the minigun, the game crashes.

I'm afraid I've got no more clues by the moment. If you wish to give me your original model so I can try the rigging myself, please do. But at this point I think you require the help of Mysterdogg, who says he made his own minigun model.

[Maurilo_Predator]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:26 AM, LeatherJacketSoldier said:

I'm afraid I've got no more clues by the moment. If you wish to give me your original model so I can try the rigging myself, please do. But at this point I think you require the help of Mysterdogg, who says he made his own minigun model.

As soon as I have time, I will send you the model and textures and I will look for the mysterdogg. Thank you very much for your help and see you soon.

[LeatherJacketSoldier]

First of all, I'm sorry for a big mistake I've committed: neither minigun2.dff and minigun2.txd have to be changed, only minigun.dff and minigun.txd. Beg my pardon, if this error led any of you to suffer of intense headaches trying to make the above procedure work. I'm gonna write a full tutorial with the model the OP sent me, to end any misunderstandings here. I'll be working with DFF Importer/Exporter by The Hero, don't pay attention to KAM's Scripts which are also installed in my 3DS Max.

 

Well, for the tutorial. First of all, what we need to do is extract from gta3.img the original files minigun.dff and minigun.txd. Easy, No?

 

Okay, using Magic TXD we must extract the muzzle_texture4 image, preferably in .tga file (you can also use .png, but DON'T use the other formats, it'll lose any transparencies). Put it on the folder you like:

 

On the previous image we see two things. The first folder, in which I saved the final files that resulted from following the procedure the first time (I won't be using them, it's just a backup), and the model we're gonna replace the minigun with: it's called chaingun. For texturing purposes, we'll rename chaingun.png into minigun_2.png. We'll import first the original minigun model:

 

 

Then we're gonna import the chaingun the same way:

 

 

Uh-oh -- It's too big. That tiny thing circled in red is the original minigun model. And you can guess what's the other model. Don't worry, we're going to re-scale the chaingun model (only necessary if it's not already at the size you like). Select the chaingun and right-click it, then click the window beside the Scale option:

 

On the window, change the scale values on the left side to match the minigun's size. In this case, 2 instead of 100 on all three coordinates worked for me.

 

Isn't it nice? (this image is here to show the re-scale effects)

 

Well, now we're gonna texture the chaingun. Open the corresponding folder like shown below, and drag and drop minigun_2.png on the chaingun model (the renamed chaingun.png). We could have done this later, but doing it now makes working with the chaingun model easier:

 

 

Now we'll detach the barrels from the frame. We'll go to the Modify tab, and then select Element mode (all this, while having the chaingun selected) :

 

Now, we'll select the elements corresponding to the barrels, they are a few clicks away, but in this case we'll have selected 60 faces in 3 clicks (well, more than 3 counting the change of views to help you select easier). Once the elements are selected, click on the Detach button, and name the new object. I named it "Barrels". Then press OK:

 

Exit Element mode. By using Move and Rotate options (I hope you already know how to use those, I don't wanna enter in details), place the barrels matching the origin of the original minigun barrels. You may help yourself out by changing views.

 

See? With the chaingun textured, we can always know which model is from each gun. Now we have to place the chaingun barrels' pivot to match both position and rotation of the minigun barrels' pivot. To do so, we select Affect Pivot Only under Hierarchy tab, and then we use the Move and Rotate tools:

 

Okay, exit Affect Pivot Only. Now, we select the minigun barrels, and enter VERTEX mode. The reason we don't use Element mode is that it deselects some of the elements selected after attaching to it the chaingun barrels (process that we'll do later) :

 

 

Select all of the minigun barrels' vertices, and click Attach. Now click on the chaingun barrels, and in this window just press OK.

 

Now, we have both sets of barrels in the same model, and all the vertices of the minigun barrels are still selected. If you tried to do it in Element mode, some elements of the minigun barrels de-select, don't ask me why because I don't know. It just happens like that. Well, having those vertices selected, press Delete in your keyboard, and the minigun barrels will vanish into nothingness.

 

Neat, now exit Attach, and then exit Vertex mode. Do a similar procedure with the chaingun's frame (and don't forget to make the chaingun's frame pivot match position and rotation of the minigun's frame pivot after placing correctly the chaingun's frame), you can easily give it the same rotation of the barrels by using this window accessed similarly as the window we changed the chaingun's scale in:

 

Follow the same process that we did with the barrels: select the minigun's frame, enter Vertex mode, select all the vertices, attach the chaingun's frame, delete minigun's frame vertices, and exit Attach and Vertex mode. It should look like this:

 

Now we'll texture the muzzle flash. I'm not sure if this step is necessary, but this is why I made you extract muzzle_texture4.tga from minigun.txd. Let's do this as a good luck step XD.

 

We'll place the muzzle flash to come out of the chaingun's upper barrel, as opposed to coming out of the minigun's lower barrel (this is my touch of realism to the process). And, we're gonna make sure the muzzle flash's pivot origin is in the center of the flash (the exact place in its length doesn't matter for now, just the center of the "plus" sign that we see while putting the "stream of bullets" right opposing at our eyes, I mean, while we're seeing like someone is pointing the chaingun at us), for that matter we'll use Affect Pivot Only once again. If the muzzle flash isn't parallel to the chaingun (which is most likely given this particular case did so), correct it by using Rotate (please exit Affect Pivot Only before correcting such rotation). Okay, once we're done, we'll select all three models, and click on Export Selected:

 

In the next window, save as .DFF. We can either select the original minigun.dff (not replacing it, saving in another folder instead), or name the new .dff "minigun". Doing the latter (like I did) makes the file a .DFF as opposed to a .dff, it doesn't represent a problem at all, but if you're in the mood you can rename the created file changing .DFF for .dff. Then Save.

 

On the next window, tick the two boxes inside Animation, and make sure the right game is selected in the lower menu. After that, press OK.

 

We're almost done with the .dff, but now we have to modify the .txd. Open the original minigun.txd, and delete (for this particular case, don't do this if your model has a bullet belt) bulletbelt, and take note that minigun_2 is compressed in 1 level of DXT1 (not entirely sure what does the level mean, but as we can see later DXT1 is a compression format for transparencies, well, that's what I understood of it at least) :

 

 

Replace it with the minigun_2.png we used to texture the chaingun before. You can either click on Edit and then on Replace, or press Ctrl+R.

 

On the next window, check Compression and leave DXT1, then press OK on the pop-up window. This pop-up explains, in spanish, what DXT formats are best for which kind of transparencies, so you can check it anytime you want for further projects.

 

Save or whatever was necessary for me to get to this window, I'm too lazy to go to my other PC to check it out again.

 

Okay, now Save As and select a different folder than the original file, but keep the same name. Then click on Save.

 

Now load the newly created minigun.dff and minigun.txd into gta3.img, replacing the existent ones. In case it doesn't allow you to replace any of them, delete the original and add the new one. After either replacing or deleting and adding, rebuild the archive. Now open the game and check your work.

 

Heh, now you can start guessing why my nickname is LeatherJacketSoldier... Jokes aside, we see the chaingun is hovering in mid-air. CJ is dressed like an archaeologist, not like a Jedi using the Force to hold the chaingun from falling to the floor. Jokes aside again, we're gonna correct this by moving the pivot of the chaingun's frame only. It'll affect the whole gun because as we can see in the hierarchy graph (inside 3DS Max, go to Graph Editors>New Schematic View), the barrels and the muzzle flash are below the frame in the same hierarchy. But we have two more problems seen in the next image: the muzzle flash starts far away from the upper barrel's muzzle, and a bit to the right; the second problem that can only be seen in a video is that the barrels' pivot is not centered in the center point of the hexagon the barrels form, this makes the barrels rotate out of its normal bounds (grab a roll of toilet paper, stick a bar to the inner hole's surface, and make it rotate, that's the effect). The muzzle flash problem is solved by moving the muzzle flash itself, moving only the pivot didn't work for me (I don't know why this happens either). And the barrels problem is solved by correcting the position of the pivot only, adjusting it the best you can to the center of said hexagon. Ah, I forgot to show one of the last two problems mentioned:

 

Having all of this corrected, the final results are shown here:

 

(For the OP, this makes CJ's left hand get stuck inside the chaingun, like he's gonna shoot his fingers out of the chaingun)

 

 

Well, this is it. I hope you can find this tutorial useful. Any doubts, ask me in replies to this same topic. Having written all this testament, LeatherJacketSoldier salutes you.

Edited April 5, 2021 by LeatherJacketSoldier
Changed an "after" for a "later"