i'm currently trying to make a weapon that fires a single beam that lasts a few seconds (think sentinel beam for Halo 2/3). If i were to change the ordinance class of a rifle to "beam", how can i get it to last roughly five seconds?

It is the LifeSpan setting which is currently set in the common file for most weapons like the award sniper rifle so you would just need to add this:

LifeSpan = "0.15" <-- change that number

To your _ord file that is being called by your weapon

i think i changed that already to a large number (i had it up to 800).

i might possibly have found my problem though. I'm currently munging to see if it worked.

lol. yeah, i fixed the problem alright...and let's just say that setting the lifespan of a weapon to 800 has an...interesting effect. I think this can be locked now