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I've got an odd question to do with asthetics. I'm making a weapon that basically shoots sniper bolts, similar to the Republic sniper rifle, which go fast, hit their target, and slowly fade out. Unlike the stock sniper rifle, though, I want the bolt to have varying lengths - I want it to stretch the full distance between target and sniper.

For lack of a better vid, I'm describing something like what Joker fires here at 4:26 - link - or here, at 1:00 - link. I realize the second would in all likelyhood be pointlessly complex in BF2; but I'm hoping a weapon closer to the former might be possible.

I've tried making the sniper rifle into a high-velocity rocket launcher that fires an invisible projectile trailing a "streak" effect, similar to the stock Tri-Fighter's homing missiles. Unforunately the effect is invisible until the projectile is a far distance out; I've found no way to change that, though I may simply have been looking in the wrong place.

The question I'm putting forth to the effects gurus is: how might I go about accomplishing this? I had thought building off the streak trail effect was the best way to go, but now I'm not so sure.

maybe a tracer like the chaingun/shotgun?

Tracers are lasers, same as the stock sniper rifle's bolt - it's got a fixed bolt length, and if I make it too long and the fade-time too slow, and I shoot at the ground and walk over it, the bolt will stick out of my unit's back.

Truth be told, I'm more concerned about when it hits an up-close target - the above will happen. I just used the ground as an easier example.

didn't really explain myself completely but could you use a beam for the tracer ord?

Beams aren't exactly what I'm looking for; they are uniform throughout rather than clearly having a "head". Also, I don't think they fade out, and if they did and the sniper moved while they were fading then the beam would travel with the sniper, which would look very odd. No, I don't think beams are the solution.

Alrighty haha good luck :P