Autoguns, also known as Drone Guns, are one of several special object types that commonly appear in GoldenEye 007 for N64. The autogun type does not just cover autoguns; it is used generically for all objects that rotate on multiple axes toward players.
Autogun Targeting
Autoguns determine the distance from their position to the position of the current player. When within the range set to the object, it turns toward the player and opens fire. This is particularly problematic in multiplayer. It uses the current player pointer instead of iterating through a list of players. As a result, it tends to fail determining the distance to the closest player and also fails to face the correct direction.
Physical Object Structure
Physically, autoguns contain up to eight subsections. This is broken into a maximum of six object display lists and up to two gunfire sources.
Header Offsets
- Group 0→ Base of Object
- Group 1→ Horizontal Axis
- Group 2→ Vertical Axis
- Group 3→ Rotating Axis
- Group 4→ Source for Gunfire 1
- Gunfire Effect 1
- Group 5 or 4+5→ Source for Gunfire 2
- Gunfire Effect 2
The base of the model is the static section affixed to the ground, wall or object. The horizontal axis is the section which pivots horizontally in respect to the base. The vertical axis similarly pivots up and down. Rotating turrets are usually assigned to group 3, but the slot can also be used to create a universal joint.
Gunfire can be handled one of two ways. The source for gunfire is set using a standard positioning command. If only one turret is used group 4 is used for the source position of gunfire. If two turrets are present, one of two options can be used. There can either be two group commands or a single one governing both sources. If only one is used, the position data is set to the group 5 slot and group 4 is left blank. The position command's group code is then set to 4:5.
The gunfire effect is much more straightforward. This sets the position, image, and dimentions of the flash displayed when the autogun fires.
Non-Firing Autoguns
Static rotating objects can be made using the autogun object structure. To generate one, omit the last four gunfire entries. typically a horizontal and vertical axis are always used, but the vertical axis is highly optional.