xander2077

Well, I recently downloaded and decided to look into the new features of Neverblender updated and as a result I ended up browsing the NWN vault for interesting tools. One of the things I found is the modders there are very creative. Of course the model format is different in NWN2, although the detail is similar to those used in Kotor1 and 2. So a lot of the same techniques can be used for K1 and 2. But that is a side point. The thing that interested me the most about NWN2 especially is the use of hak packs which are probably similar to mod files in a way, and the thinking outside the box. Some modders have figured out how to replace hair with helmets, or use the belt slot, or another slot, for things like clothing add-ons, cloaks, capes, you name it. There is a lot of content over there, and the tools intrigue me, so I was wondering if some similar tools and ideas could be cooked up for Kotor1 and 2. There are also some expanded content ideas for NWN1 but they do not really translate well with Kotor, being that they are based on an older Bioware version. The reason this site really interests me with regard to the similarities with K1 and 2 is the fact they have a lot of support for blender and non windows OS's and are probably the only Bioware game community out there that have gone to the trouble of posting tutorials on how to do things in blender for the Bioware model format. There are a lot of good tips and tutorials there - even a weight painting guide. I highly recommend browsing their tutorials and tool sets. As far as collaboration goes, they are very open to it, and are excited that their Neverblender plug-in works so well for Kotor, that they have taken some suggestions and incorporated them into the plug-in as fast as it was mentioned. I think it would be worthwhile to compare notes with some of the tool developers over there and see what they know or what could be ported to K1 and 2 uses.

Well, who formed the Sorosuub ship company? I’m not sure what the base design pattern of the ship is, but it definitely doesn’t fit the standard Mandal motors or Correllian design. It sort of leans more to the oft forgotten Sorosuub ship design…so Sullustan engineers would probably fit better. The luxury yacht 5000, for example - it kind of looks similar to the G0-T0 yacht.

Well, Malkior, if you want to use the existing body models as DP suggested that is a good start. Retexturing them for variation is an easy way to make them more diverse, but coloring them differently can be a chore. That requires breaking up the existing texture islands into separate parts so you can have layers for each piece. So . . . say you want belts or leathers on one layer, boots another, part of clothing cloth on another layer, and trim maybe on another layer. But by the time you get them all layered, it can be pretty intense. Then you can try re-coloring or even changing the material a bit. Redrob did a write-up about retaining the wrinkles and shadows as a mask for new clothing layers that kind of touches on that idea. The possibilities are endless really, just on the Juhani standard clothing I think I have about 24 variants with different coloration combinations, and the hardest part was breaking the islands up and doing the color correction on the vanilla colored outfit first before getting into the other details. I limited the colors to a few leather dyes but I could have gone wild and done every color in the spectrum, but the results would not have been to my liking as much. The good thing about full body clothing is that you don’t have to worry about hands or forearms. Really it boils down to what editor you are using for textures and then the limitations or perks of each one can be used to help you accomplish the reskin. As far as coloration or variation goes, taking cues from the costume designs of the original trilogy is a good start, because a lot of the outfits are based on those costumes. Redesigning them is a whole other ball game and can get into some really annoying stretching. So when in doubt, stick to the textures already made for the body and try re-coloring those. sometimes the textures can already have variations for each body. Now if you notice that you can superimpose one over the other and mix and match the styles because they share the same islands, you might be able to put the arms of one jacket style on the body of another simply by cannibalizing the textures. or pants or whatever. Maybe the base texture doesn’t have stripes on the pants, so you copy that island and paste it over the original (new layer though).

I had it with Steam before. Now I can’t remember what game it was at the time but it had to do with steam launcher. So I had to back up my save games and reinstall steam and then the game, and add everything back to it. If a game relies on Steam to function then even an update to the launcher can cause this. It should not harm the save games.

Thank you for the compliment, if you want any of the update d models and textures I can send them over. I have to find them all but I will send whatever you want. There is also an alternate of the Sith helmet, I did a small redesign and new texture for that one so it is like an elite Sith trooper helmet (like the republic commando or something) I can’t remember what else was from your masks but just remind me.

Well what I can do is just import the vanilla pod into the new pod blend file and then rotate them accordingly until they approximate the same angles, and then rely on the coordinates you posted to get them in game facing the right way and in the right location.

Thank you very much. That is a huge help DP. Now I just have to finish up the placeables and see what happens next. It will probably be late tonight if I can stay awake. I thought there was a cutscene as well, but maybe not or maybe something else has to trigger first? If it is just a set proper then perhaps it is there to give credence to the search and destroy party being down there when you encounter Canderous in the Under City.

Regardless, this is fabulous news! I’m impressed with the solution you came up with and that is elegant but very, very effective. A simple 1 to 0. I like. I’m not sure about the collision either, but both have one in both module parts. If you want to test out the model then I’m fine with that. I just have to do a few more things before conversion. Perhaps the solution is altering the location of it slightly so the new pod would need its own collision, but that could break any quests tied to the location triggers if there are any. It depends on how they can be placed using what tool. I am finished with the model and have to convert it, but before I do I want to make two of them, one for each location due to the difference in the door. Here it is with the finished texture. I also found that most of the models I wanted to make look better actually don’t look half bad already, coming from a geometry standpoint, but some of the texture replacers are too busy with inappropriate distressing and hull panel mismatch for the scale, so I think a simple texture replacer for most of them will do. Now any of the freighters in K1 and K2 will have to be redone, since they are so blocky they make me face palm. And that makes the stick out compared to the military ships. But that should not be too hard to pull off. I can add details to things like that.

This is very interesting. I would be curious to have a full set of rules on what the model structure should be for each set, PC, NPC, and some of the more complex animation/cutscene only models. I think it would also be interesting to find out what those rules and structure are for placeables and even module parts. The more you uncover about these things in the ASCII the better off we can resolve these issues prior to testing new or repaired models.

the last one is my favorite. i like contrast in colors and she did that fabulously.

you could just thumb your nose at the jokesters and make the pic titles just as long.

Yep, I asked Quanon about it, I would like to just replace the mesh somehow, but I’m not sure if that is possible with any of the current tools outside of a 3d program. There are some model replacer programs and of course the module editors that don’t need 3d. But I’m not sure of the capabilities or if those will even work right. if there was a way to shrink the existing model in the module editor that would help hide the vanilla mesh and make it less likely to ghost or create artifacts from intersecting faces, invisible texture or not. That is my biggest worry about it, if even though I use a transparent texture as a replacer, would it still cause issues. the one thing I am learning over again about these modules (been a while since I saw one in max or blender) is just how small of a chunk the vanilla module is in the overall area in game compared to some of the other modules I have seen created by modders. I’m not sure if that is due to issues when trying to cut them up into smaller parts or what, but I did notice they all have their pivot in the same coordinates. I think perhaps the best way to do that in blender when creating a new module is to separate the different parts into workspace layers, and then export each workspace as a different module. That would keep the same pivot and orientation without having too large of a module file. Walkmeshes are entirely something else that kind of boggles me just yet, but I’m not that far into modding to worry about it. Another thing I noticed is there is plenty of open space in each planet to add new modules in the same naming convention; in fact they skip over whole module sequence alpha numeric names so there are gaps that can be filled in with expansions of the existing modules with a little creativity. Anyway, back to the pod. I still have to redo the walls with pipes. I was going to follow the design of the old model there, but I think I want to replace that island with something a little more like 5 point safety harness and some padding with a fold down seat sort of texture. This may be a way to do it but I am not sure, perhaps adding hidden doors or something. Or spawning a new door in the old area can open up some possibilities. Still not sure on that though. I imagine that is quite a task because in some cases one might want to add a new bridge in and that would take some creativity and a new walk mesh spawning too. So limitations may be a hassle. Perhaps the door on an empty wall would be better, or maybe a turbo lift sticking through the edge of the skywalks is a better solution. After all they are only doors instead of a bridge or new walkmesh so that is one less hassle to worry about. EDIT: After opening the modules in blender, I found both the parts that have the pods in them in both upper and under city Taris. The orientation for both is slightly different. One has the door open from one side, and the other has it hinged on the other side. now technically I could use the same model for both replacers and just rotate the one so it mimics the angle of the under city model, but in this case I think I may have to use two models as placeables with the changes reflecting in each one, and they just share the same new texture. Now this also means that I can just take the door off and lean it up against the pod for the under city model, and that will mimic the vanilla orientation. Considering how these pods are supposed to work, the hatch should blow off, but if any of the door locks don’t disengage, that would logically explain why it would hinge on two opposite sides. Also making it as a placeable and releasing it as a modders resource will open up other possibilities for any expansion mods. I remember one of the modders wanted to make an expansion of the under city ruins by using unused doors or perhaps making a door where there was not one before, and with all the little huts nestled in archways, there are endless possibilities for that. But these pods could be added into something like that, anywhere, and be additional content, act as triggers for new battles, and even provide a logical waypoint for clues.

Well the upper city model is pretty much the way I have it in blender now, and I still have to see exactly how it is oriented in the under city, but that is similar. The reason the details are toward the top side and diminish on the underside is because the seam is down there and usually hidden by the other stuff in the scene. I tried to add some there but the seam was pronounced instead of hidden when I did that, so a simpler texture there was required. I can certainly arrange the pod any way I want to in the scene but at the same time it won’t really dictate the damage. The pods are armored and have thrusters to decrease the impact a bit. The reason the damage is up front is because as it free falls, it usually is top heavy, so the wider end faces the planet until it hits the ground and either gets buried or skips off of things and lands. The Soyuz and Shenzhou capsules both get more heat damage on whatever side is hitting the atmosphere first, usually the top side. American rocket capsules got more damage on the bottom since they were bell shaped instead of egg shaped. I still have to change the interior textures a bit, and then it should be ready to try and place in the two module parts that need it.

OK, got the correct Upper City Taris module loaded in blender with errors but it at least loaded, so I was able to see the new texture on the old model and then figure out how to open the hatch just right and create the new interior. The issue is I will have to inject the new model somehow into the module without destroying anything in the module. Not quite to that stage yet, but when I get there I need to know how to go about it. Just need to make better texture islands for the interior and it will be almost ready, then check scale, and finally try and place it in the module. Luckily this won’t include recreating the walkmesh. Here’s a new screen of the model before the new interior textures are complete.

That makes sense. I was thinking maybe that could be used in conjunction with displacement so that it sticks through the char a bit. I still have not gotten that far. I was having UV issues so I had to rebuild the entire middle section. Now I am trying to salvage the alignment of everything so that I have it all lined up pretty much where it was before. The problem is it wants to unwrap in a curve and I can usually try forcing it, but this time it is being stubborn. So some of the geometry will have to be tweaked to fit the texture in places. I’m going to have to chunk it as well anyway so might as well do that now too. But until I get this ironed out I have to put the texture on hold. it looked ok with the low res vanilla texture, but the new one made all the UV issues stand out badly in the middle, right where all the doors and exposed panels are. Oh well, I can build the whole thing from scratch if I want to. But since I want to keep it roughly the same size and same texture, this is the way to go. Ok rebuilt the middle of it and redid the UVs finally. What a headache but it is done. And this is it so far. I am going to take cues from the pictures of the Shenzhou 8 space capsule that recently landed in china for distress and damage. So far this is not bad but I noticed that the metal or tiles on spacecraft seem to turn rusty red or copper almost as if it oxidizes from the heat. Since these things fell uncontrolled it should not matter what side the damage is on as long as a lot of it is on the front. Edit: SO is this what you are talking about Malkior? I think the last thing I need to do is add some carbon scoring from it hitting things as it fell. Kind of like laser scoring. For comparison here is a capsule with the charred metal near the top of it. I also found a few pics of the pods with open doors so yes I will have to still dig open the upper city Taris and Under City modules and replace the models. Open hatch, and interior textures need to be done.

Sounds like a good way to do it. I’m fairly familiar with what you are talking about, but don’t usually do this to models, since most of them don’t have charring on them. By solid beams, do you mean lines of the correct color? Something that is supposed to mimic the seams in the hull plates following the contours of the details? I can do that two ways, and usually one works better than the other, depending on the thickness of the beams, if they are thicker then usually bevel works if it is set right, but for finer details emboss works good, and especially in this case since there is supposed to be damage. I just don’t like using it on a larger portion than a thin line.

I have the brushes now that I was looking for, and I also have a cool site I use for decals, so that is going to be nailed with a combination of everything. The site I go to for decals that I can modify easily because they are a mask is textures.com They have all kinds of cool stuff. Sometimes I get my own decals from close-ups of creative commons texture reference. Also the details I am adding are all coming from close-ups of the star wars plastic model parts I found in Google image search. Just recolor them and add some grunge and they are good. For the burnt metal with streaks on the thruster cones, I just used a circle gradient and then smudged it a bit with some grunge and it looks pretty good. Of course some of the details are missing so I have to custom make those, but they are easy enough with some handy plugins and brushes. Do you have a technique you like to use for damage and char?

Got the OK from 90SK to use his mod as the base of the lost Hyperspace war robes I want to cook up. Since it is basically just additional textures, there will need to be some 2da edits done and then I can add the robes to his mod files as additional textures, so it will be textures and a patch for his mod.

After fixing the mesh and adding some details I started to texture the pod over the old vanilla one in gimp. So now I have a bit of it done and I am basically just looking for some special brushes to make this a more damaged looking vehicle. After all crashing through the atmosphere and getting friction burns would make it look a lot more charred and damaged than the game originally portrayed the pods. I may have to look in the modules themselves for the exact pod orientation and parts because this seems to be missing some stuff in the file. I think the guy just ripped them and made them into props for something else, but the main model was there untouched, so it was a 1:1 of the original. But I modified the geometry to smooth it out and then had to change the UVs after that. Same basic technique I used for the masks. Now the geometry is changed, with more panel details and some hollowed out thrusters etc. and I think I like the new texture so far. I am basically adding layers over top of the vanilla texture and then exporting it so it shows up in blender once I refresh it.

First "ship" of the series. Thanks for the help. I was able to find a pack of already extracted ships from KotOR online and they will all have to be overhauled. This one has added details and new UVs

POST DELETED No-CD mentions will get you banned. First and final warning.

well some more information is needed, for instance are you running in linux? Mac? Windows? what OS and what version number? (including service packs or linux kernel version) have you got the game running? did you attempt to use the built in resolution chooser in any of Kotor? launcher? these can all contribute to it not working right when you try to use either one of the external methods. Did either of them ask you to edit any of the .ini files?

Update. I am just about done tweaking the different clothing textures for juhani, It seems that since i had to change the hands, that drove me to having to alter the textures so much, they had to be much different in order to justify including them into the mod. I will probably poste them as a modders resource in case others want to try mixing and matching their own skins as well. Thanks to the vanilla texture and a couple other modders this was possible. Also thanks to redrob for his help and suggestions. Darth Jaden is still awol somewhere but hopefully this will be appreciated. so here are a series of screens to show off the many different combinations i have so far for juhanis clothing.