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Status Updates posted by ebmar
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Something I've been working on recently --
SpoilerYup, "Defense of the Turrets" -- HK-47's very owned fighter-simulation, hahah.
Can say all the [basic] mechanics are done. Anything's left probably some polishing to the textures, and maybe other things -- who knows, sometimes unexpected ideas [or errors, urgh] comes pretty late in the process.
P.S. For the load-screen I'm using ajdrenter's "Very Nice! Load Screens for KotOR" [which based on JackInTheBox's] as the template for the frame. Credits to the respective authors.
Edit:
- DarthParametric kindly provided me as well the load-screen template for KotOR High Resolution Menus-compatible option
- Featured as well MadDerp's Widescreen Cockpit fix with the mod. The author allowed to use the assets from their mod -- therefore credits to the respective author
[Update02: 02/02/2022/PM]
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Interesting idea. Maybe after training in this fighter-simulation, players will stop hating the mini-game :)
Can you adjust the brightness of the sun or change some of the colors? With blue seen-through cockpit, blue spaceships, the light from blue star turn the picture in one disturbing blur half of the time.
I know that blue holograms are the trademark of the SW, but even Star Maps had yellow, orange and greenish parts. -
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Interesting idea. Maybe after training in this fighter-simulation, players will stop hating the mini-game :)
Yeah, we'll see about that, hahah.
QuoteCan you adjust the brightness of the sun or change some of the colors? With blue seen-through cockpit, blue spaceships, the light from blue star turn the picture in one disturbing blur half of the time...
Noted the suggestions -- thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do with that.
To be fair I'm not being too nitpicky regarding aesthetic direction on this project -- so any constructive inputs are very much welcome indeed.
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A preview to DS ending's fullscreen credits sequence for KotOR/K1's widescreen users [16:9] which made possible now thanks to @DarthParametric's finding on the offset in the game's executable -- powered by @seedhartha's insight that solved the problem. For information, I'm running at 1366x768 with the game's resolution. [Edited]
SpoilerFeatured as well two of my WIP mods with the footage; Alternate Revan's Robe [feat. Lord Bastila's unique appearance] + Alternative DS Ending Credits Music.
With the music I changed the second one that plays/around 3:55 marks [Bastila's Theme/Jedi Enclave-Courtyard's, IIRC] to one from SWTOR that I haven't figured out where/when it used in the game. While trying to dig information on it please let me know if you have any ideas where it is.
Cheers, and may the Force be with you!
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I think research is overplaying it a tad. And it was really @seedhartha telling me where to look that solved the problem.
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About to wrap up some screenshots for an upcoming update of my mod, then the jab kicks in, lol.
Yeah, just got my 1st dose this afternoon, all is well not until tonight. It's crazy it feels [yeah, the sensation] totally the same like when I was hit--unvacc--by it back few months ago.
Let's see how tomorrow brings -- stay healthy you all!
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Was excited about the remake the first time it announced -- I mean, a remake that means higher-fidelity and that stuff. Then I remember there's still the original that stand still even after all this time. Much better, we have the engine that is modding-friendly as well is the mods! Granted, that's coming more from modding standpoint.
From gaming experience PoV -- I believe true awesomeness of a journey only happened once -- and I'm glad I had enjoy it to the most, and not looking to replace/redo it with a copy.
Probably I'll be truly excited about KotOR III... 😛
P.S. To be fair I'm not going to like if in the end they change the direction of the original story and/or retcon things that's already there. If they want to do that why they don't go with a sequel in the first place?
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...will Aspyr allow us to port things in from their game to use for modding the original like ppl are doing with SWTOR 😉?
I don't have any idea on that. Let alone if they can do it better than OG. I'm going to be fair that I'm a fan of KotOR/TSL art-pieces as well as SWTOR, and if that made me an old-BioWare bias I'm OK with that. It's just for me those are the game that made with passion, and one can feel it. Can Aspyr did that as well? We'll see about that.
Quote...I was excited about the prospect of a remake until I got into modding where you can literally adjust the game to your liking on a large scale.
You had a point, and I'm not gonna lie I enjoyed the OG with mods/bugfixes. Not sure if I can enjoy it without them just to be true.
QuoteThat alone makes the original game hard to replace, let alone all the work done over the years by the modding community.
Yeah, and we ain't see nothing yet [much more to come]! Hahah. 😛
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Edit: Wow, well it does. 😮
P.S. In case anyone wandering what's behind the hyperlink -- I didn't know that SWTOR is mod-able, and the link shows that.
Edit2: Meh, although it's tempting for the possibility on fixing simple things there like facing points, invisible blaster on cutscenes etc. [though didn't know how to, but if someone start a fire guess one can learn from it], apparently modding original files can lead to a ban. I'm aware of that, but was still thinking of that viability. Oh well--
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TOR mods have been around since beta. There were even nude mods at one point, although I doubt anyone still maintains them. What you can change is pretty limited, mostly textures and some text-based stuff like VFX and such. And it's not particularly practical to deal with since you constantly have to be patching and unpatching archives before and after every update. Way too much hassle for no significant gain.
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TOR mods have been around since beta.
Can't say that I'm not surprised knowing how quick some modders are working out there but not gonna lie I'm bit as well the fact that it's an MMO game.
Quote...not particularly practical to deal with since you constantly have to be patching and unpatching archives...
Yeah, I see. They surely did the packaging like Mass Effect that even if you want to replace a 1MB texture file you'll have to de/compress like gigs of its archive.
And nah, if anything for me first thing to fix/mod probably some immersion oversight like facing points and invisible blasters on cutscenes, hahah.
Well, I guess one can't really mod/fix contents, right? So for that we better leave it to the devs, really. But yeah, no need to sweat thinking of it as it's not practical at all.
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Didn't know that the forum had/support this feature --
Quote[MemberName] linked to your content in a personal conversation: [Subject]
I got a notification for that, which is cool!
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If only I have more time [not actually planning this; working on it like half an hour ago and very much inspired by JC's Toolbox spawner], I'd have them punch their fist to the air a.k.a ANIMATION_FIREFORGET_VICTORY1, lol. And heavy armours is the new bikinis anyway, hahah.
Edit: now that I think of it - it shouldn't be that difficult. Could have them the same OnHeartbeat script spamming the animation like forever.
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It is nice to see all the mods here having their personalized screenshots back. Strolling through the Downloads section had never been better now!
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Ah - so a mod has been submitted, and I hope it can be approved/released on time [May 4th] on that special day! Even though it wasn't -either sooner or later- it'll be OK, lol. Anyway, nothing fancy about the mod, here's a teaser of it:
SpoilerP.S. before guessing too far; it has nothing to do with making the [Taris UCN] area darker - so keep the expectations low. 😛
Update: it has been officially released! Many thanks to Admins/Mods for the approval - and May the 4th be with y'all!
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I didn't know of this game until today. Though it was canned - it has that one aspect I really want to see with modern Star Wars games; hand-painted textures. Edit: or well - at least it looks hand-painted, heheh.
Title: Star Wars: First Assault Tech Beta - Overview
Spoiler- Show previous comments 1 more
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Modern textures are still hand-painted. They are just far more realistic due to PBR.
Thanks for the insight! I thought at first they're computer-generated or something. So, is that a specific intention for the game to have this looks rather than the more realistic ones? Or it's just technology speaking? I mean, if this game was developed right now, would it retained the looks as it was seen in the overview?
Edit: I've just read what PBR is, yeah- it's reasonable for games to have the latest technology with them. Moreover if they want to compete in the AAA industries.
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Some games use completely procedural textures, especially for relatively simplistic things like stone, concrete, pavers/bricks, dirt, etc. But typically procedural elements form the base layer in the PBR workflow, and hand-painted details are added on top. So for a gun, for example, you'd slap on a procedural metal material on the appropriate parts, use some automated generators to get some initial wear and tear, and then you'd go in and manually paint all the really fine detail.
Modern workflows are really based around using a high poly mesh to generate normal, cavity, occlusion, etc. data and then using that to dictate realistic textures and well as having the game engine fake the appearance of a higher poly count on the low poly model. For older games, like KOTOR, you'd just make your low poly model and then manually paint all the details in the texture. That often lead to something of a stylised effect, as the way you fake it purely in the diffuse is by using shading to simulate light falling across it (think folds in clothes). But that often clashes with the in-game lighting.
Really what you are seeing as "hand painted" is just a lack of realistic lighting and materials. That's what PBR boils down to - making physically correct materials that accurately react to lighting just like they would in the real world (or at least a close approximation to it).
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Thank you for the details - that explains and answers a lot!
QuoteReally what you are seeing as "hand painted" is just a lack of realistic lighting and materials.
Yup, I believe you catch what I mean about "hand painted" and I understand them now. Earlier I was also thinking perhaps they're using the same-basic textures and the differences was only on how they're rendered to reflect lights, and your elaboration further corrects it and make it right.
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Well, physics gets the best of my hard-drive, but luckily I managed to rescue most of the important stuffs [dang, so this is how it feels, hahah]. At one point - the engine's will fired up again; wish me luck!
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.
HWiNFO is a good comprehensive monitoring suite - https://www.hwinfo.com
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Wow, new automatic messages merger looks [functionally] cool! Props to Admins and Mods for improving the site's feature.
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Someone will have a new blaster [and possibly; looks]:
Starring the exquisite Sithspecter's "High Quality Blasters for Modders".
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There's a special place in
hellthe Sarlacc's Pit for you, @jc2! Lmao. 😂 -
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Omg, someone has been very prolific lately!
That's cool! [I'm triggered and looking to have something released
thisnext week too.] -
Never look at video-games the same again after knowing what and how an envmaps/bumpmaps/normalmaps works, particularly with todays/modern release. Does script still works the same? 🤔
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Thank you for the insight! Very much appreciated.
And about-
QuoteIf you are familiar with Unreal Engine...
I'm not, modding KotOR is the first time I get into another part of video-games outside of actually playing them.
Anyway, about engine- does graphics included as the engine or separated? As we know that KotOR engine was indeed Odyssey, can I think of Odyssey the same as I think of Frostbite or RAGE?
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Think of it like a car engine - it's not just a solid lump of metal, it's a complex piece of machinery comprised of many individual parts. A game engine is no different. It's comprised of different sub-systems that control various elements - a renderer, a physics engine, etc.. It's possible that the renderer can be updated or entirely replaced, while the rest of the engine remains fairly much the same. A good example is The Witcher, which used Bioware's Aurora engine (used for Neverwinter Nights, and the predecessor to Odyssey). Aurora (like Odyssey) uses an OpenGL renderer, but CDPR gutted that in their version and replaced it with a DirectX renderer. Something akin to boring out your block and fitting new pistons, perhaps.
To your specific question, generally whoever is coding an engine will code a renderer as part of it. While there probably are third party (typically referred to as middleware) renderers for indies and the like, I don't recall any engine of note making use of one (although I think there are some open source examples floating around). That sort of thing is more generally the province of stuff like physics and sound. For example, Havok and PhysX in the case of the former, and WWise in the case of the latter. The renderer is such a fundamental component of the engine, it's not typically something you'd want to pick up off the shelf. You'd be better off just licensing a complete engine package like Unity/Unreal/CryEngine rather than do that.
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At one point I was having this theory-
QuoteHow TSL applying the BGM as SoundFX is very intriguing; particularly with al_jazz- the BGM that played inside the NS' Entertainment Promenade. Definitely something that K1 don't have, and surely is an improvement from the former.
Seems I was wrong. K1 did actually had a BGM implemented as ambient sound/SFX. We could hear it in the Upper City - North Apartment module [tar_m02ad] particularly with the Yun Genda/Sarna's quest. The relevant SFX is al_en_emptybar located in the 'streamsounds' folder. Though, the execution is not as smooth as TSL's Ent. Promenade which having that virtual surround feeling but still- it is something that can be explore.
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Happy New Year 2K19 from Nar Shaddaa!
featuring the amazing Sharen Thrawn's "Realistic Nar Shaddaa Skybox"
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Crap, that I've been compiling-decompiling model wrong all this time. The seam that occured with all my attempt was because of using the batch process' feature from MDLedit. To have a seamless result close to vanilla is to simply use MDLedit's standard load-ASCII edit-save procedure; well, my lazy-damned-fingers wasn't think of it earlier, lol. Some released mods [TSL ported Brianna's player head in particular] will have to be revisited then- it seems, lol. Pardon! 😂
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How good of a chance for Peter Quill a.k.a Star-Lord to appear in SWU? 🤔
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What exactly is xbox_downsample 128/256 doing? Is it relevant to use it in K1's texture? Or even if it is; is it too with PC version of TSL? 🤔
Hope someone could chime in and gave an insight about it; many thanks in considering!
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I suspect your eyes are playing tricks on you and there was no difference.
Besides, I would conjecture that this is not actually an engine flag, but an export/conversion flag, for use by whatever internal tool they used to craft TPCs/TXBs. It makes no sense that if you wanted a texture on Xbox to be 128x128 that you would export it as 256x256 and then tell the engine to only go as high as the 128x128 mip. Why have a texture four times the size of what you need? That's just a waste of memory on a system that has no memory to spare.
If you have any specific examples of TSL textures with the semantic, list them and I will see what the TXB equivalent is.
Edit: Yes, as I expected (at least based on a sample size of one).
DXN_bark.tpc - 512x512, 172KB
DXN_bark.txb - 256x256, 44KB
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I suspect your eyes are playing tricks on you and there was no difference.
That is undeniable, lol- as I can't print out any data processed from my eyes. 😂
QuoteBesides, I would conjecture that this is not actually an engine flag, but an export/conversion flag, for use by whatever internal tool they used to craft TPCs/TXBs... Why have a texture four times the size of what you need?
Ah- think I have started to have a connection here; thanks for the insight!
QuoteIf you have any specific examples of TSL textures with the semantic, list them and I will see what the TXB equivalent is.
I was about to list DAN_Wn02.tpc, but soon as I read this
QuoteDXN_bark.tpc - 512x512, 172KB
DXN_bark.txb - 256x256, 44KB
I think I have gain a basic understanding about what's the downsample is about. So, I have been informed that TXB is the texture format that was used in the Xbox version of Knights of the Old Republic.
Well, inside DAN_Wn02.tpc there is a downsample of 128 whilst the texture itself scaled at 256. So, without inspecting the TXB's of DAN_Wn02, could I assume that the exported texture in Xbox will be 128x128 instead of 256x256? 🤔
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How TSL applying the BGM as SoundFX is very intriguing; particularly with al_jazz- the BGM that played inside the NS' Entertainment Promenade. Definitely something that K1 don't have, and surely is an improvement from the former.
Edit: Just figured this out- ambient sounds and background music are two different things but is similar. It seems K1 have them too, it's just that they don't have the variety as TSL does.
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My guess would be it's so you can't hear it from outside the room. The Entertainment Promenade is unlike the other cantina modules what with its two different lounge areas and the hallway in between.
The cantina music on Telos is also played from a sound object rather than as BGM. I believe in that case, it was specifically so they could script it to turn off during some cut content with Corrun Falt... which isn't even in the game, but there you go.
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My guess would be it's so you can't hear it from outside the room. The Entertainment Promenade is unlike the other cantina modules what with its two different lounge areas and the hallway in between.
Yes! That's what I thought after walking back and forth inside/outside the Pazaak Den. I mean, they don't put the BGM in the module, but they build the atmosphere using the ambient/SFXs, and that is something that I am amazed from TSL; particularly Obsidian as the devs. K1 is as good as a mainstream video game, but TSL is something else; they dare to take the risks.
QuoteThe cantina music on Telos is also played from a sound object rather than as BGM.
Yup, I noticed that too. Somehow it creates an extra immersion and virtual surround sound which I believe is a cool thing to have.
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Well, I will never look at mods the same again after knowing how scripts was made and how they works. Straight 5 stars for mods with any scripts init.
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Keep in mind that nwscript.nss shows you the form that various script elements must take. Templates if you will. You don't just use them as-is in an actual script.
Thanks! I'll keep 'em noted. And with the script above, as I'm trying to input the "oArea" part- what command should I enter? The particular area will be DANM14AC [Dantooine].
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You can make a variable declaration like:
object oArea = GetArea(GetFirstPC());
Which will get the current area you are in. That way you don't need to specify a custom value for every module you use the script in.
I believe that command changes the module's music track to a different one listed in ambientmusic.2da (which is what nTrack is - an integer value for the row number). So your script would be something like:
void main() { object oArea = GetArea(GetFirstPC()); int nTrack = 99; // Insert ambientmusic.2da row number here MusicBackgroundChangeDay(oArea, nTrack); }
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That way you don't need to specify a custom value for every module you use the script in.
Thanks for the heads-up!
QuoteI believe that command changes the module's music track to a different one listed in ambientmusic.2da (which is what nTrack is - an integer value for the row number). So your script would be something like:
Spoilervoid main() { object oArea = GetArea(GetFirstPC()); int nTrack = 99; // Insert ambientmusic.2da row number here MusicBackgroundChangeDay(oArea, nTrack); }
That looks promising! I'll fiddle with 'em soon!
Again, many thanks for the help!
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After watching The Lion King's teaser-trailer I lowkey hoping Disney pull of one 3D animation SW movie using the same engine in the future. Knights of the Old Republic.... Dang with all the resource they have I suppose they can easily nailed the luxurious beauty of the Old Republic; but why they don't just do it?!
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such things as Frostbite, CryEngine or RAGE existed in animated movies industry
Sure, they exist for pre-visualisation purposes. You don't make actual movies in a game engine (not Hollywood-level movies anyway). That said, there is an emerging market for real time stuff with game engines in lower level things like advertisements. Epic is really pushing hard with Unreal in that segment. Even there though traditional CG still holds sway, and is likely to do so for many years yet.
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RDR2 raises the bar pretty high. Quite high like I can't look at any other games the same way lol.
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Me after watching:
TFA - Nuff said. Kylo and Rey- they must be siblings!
TLJ - So they were not then.
RO - Now that was cool.
Solo - Hands down the best out of the last 4.
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I sure hope they're not siblings considering the blatant sexual tension between them in TLJ... yikes. Unless George Lucas is writing again...
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