Where are muzzle points defined?

on the meshes.

Short but to the point. more specificaly as a "weapon-1" helper on the mesh

There's multiple "weapon-1"s, and that doesn't specify which weapons go to which emitter.

its defined by the order in the entity file e.g.

NumWeapons 2
Weapon
WeaponType "Beam"
damageEnums
AttackType "CAPITALSHIP"
DamageAffectType "AFFECTS_SHIELDS_AND_HULL"
DamageApplyType "BACKLOADED"
DamageType "ENERGY"
WeaponClassType "BEAM"
DamagePerBank:FRONT 425.000000
DamagePerBank:BACK 0.000000
DamagePerBank:LEFT 0.000000
DamagePerBank:RIGHT 0.000000
Range 4800.000000
PreBuffCooldownTime 7.000000
CanFireAtFighter FALSE
SynchronizedTargeting TRUE
PointStaggerDelay 0.500000
TravelSpeed 0.000000
Duration 0.750000

Weapon
WeaponType "Projectile"
damageEnums
AttackType "ANTIVERYLIGHT"
DamageAffectType "AFFECTS_SHIELDS_AND_HULL"
DamageApplyType "BACKLOADED"
DamageType "ENERGY"
WeaponClassType "LASERPSI"
DamagePerBank:FRONT 79.500000
DamagePerBank:BACK 79.500000
DamagePerBank:LEFT 79.500000
DamagePerBank:RIGHT 79.500000
Range 4900.000000
PreBuffCooldownTime 6.000000
CanFireAtFighter TRUE
SynchronizedTargeting FALSE
PointStaggerDelay 0.200000
TravelSpeed 4000.000000
Duration 0.000000

For that example the "Beam" weapon is automatically assigned to the "Weapon-0" helpers, helperS because you have 1 "Weapon-0" helper you get one copy of the gun, 2 "Weapon-0" helpers and you get two copies of the gun, and so on.

The "Projectile" weapon is automatically assigned to the "Weapon-1" helpers, and works as i just explain
and similarly any third weapon would be assigned to "Weapon-2" helpers.

For each of the three possible weapons (3 is the max number of weapons, atleast i couldnt get 4 to work) you need to have the relevant helper on the mesh

EDIT: Removed superfluous coding to make it easier to look at

Got it, thanks! Do you have to use the same Weapon-X naming scheme? I ask because our modeler had a differently named emitter/bone/whatever at the front and the weapon still worked.

ok can someone please elaborate on that cus i dont get it... i dont know why.

Also can u have 3 weapons on a cruiser? or a frigate? or am i missing the point?

You can have a max of 3 weapon types, but many turrets to fire from. So, the more muzzle points of a particular gun you have the more of that kind of gun that will be firing.

OK now I'm all confused again. Is it a bone, as was told to me earlier, or is it a helper? Or is it just that the exhaust uses a bone? Or even a helper with a bone to show what direction it is shooting in? is the helpers Y direction (in XSI, Z in 3ds Max) have to point in the direction it fires?

Someone needs to post and sticky a tutorial that explains this

I'm not a modeler but all I've heard is that it's a bone. When one of our guys accidentally flipped the bone, the exhaust went the wrong way.

ic, well I'll just have to try until its right Thanks anyways

^^They need to fix these smileys

A bone and a helper can be thought of as the same thing. A bone is an object in a modeling program and a helper is what it turns into in the Sins language.

ohhh ok, thanks. Just confused because 3ds max, and I assume others, have a categoy called "helpers" as well.

By chance does anyone have a picture of a fully set up model in a modeling program (3ds max pref but XSI if thats what you use..) Or even better a link that fully explains how to set it up.