sleheyron Announcing my new expansion mod: “Sleheyron: Story Mode” will be launching this month.

[SAO1138 10]

Hello there!

This is my first-ever post here on DeadlyStream, and I’m coming with some hopefully exciting news.

This month I will be launching a new mod for KOTOR 1: Sleheyron: Story Mode. Built upon the legendary SithSpecter’s 2014 Sleheyron Demo, this new mod will be adding several hours of new gameplay to KOTOR 1.

I was inspired by SithSpecter’s work, and I’m hoping in the future my mod will be compatible with his. It would be a worthy venture for me to undertake to make our Sleheyron stories co-exist. After all, I owe him a HUGE debt of thanks for permitting other modders to build off his Sleheyron demo!

The mod is actually out of development now and is in beta testing. Feedback has been pretty good so far. Bugs to fix, but none gamebreaking. If anyone else is interested in beta testing, please do let me know.

This new mod is my first ever project, and I’m quite excited to share it with you. Sleheyron will feature:

 

1: A several hours long story, voice-acted (no AI voices either).

2: A fully-voice acted new party member, complete with a post-Sleheyron story (including a Leviathan rescue).

3: Approximately 30 new modules of various shapes and sizes (including the four published by SithSpecter, which are amazing and I owe him a huge thanks!)

4: New weapons and armor.

5: Lots of connections to Tales of the Jedi, as I am a big fan of those comics.

If this sounds interesting to you, I would be pleased to share an early version of my first dialog from the mod, via the Reddit link below. I hope it’s an exciting enough plot hook!

https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/s/EeoYqeLFJ9

And just one small disclaimer: At this time, the mod is not confirmed compatible with other mods. I plan to update its compatibility this summer, however.

I look forward to releasing this mod this month!

[Sith Holocron 2,534]

I have questions.  Here are a few . . . to start.

• What's your modding experience? As you’ve never posted here before, no one here is likely to know of any work you may (or may not) have done before.
• What's the size of your beta team?
• Who is working with you on this?  Is it mostly a solo affair?
• Do you have any screenshots other than the galaxy map which could have come straight from Sithspecter's mod?
• With some minimal research, I see you’ve posted two videos on YouTube. Will all of your characters be aliens? If so, is that why you say there won’t be any AI voices?
• In those two videos, I don’t think I saw any lip sync for the dialogues? Are you planning to fix that, preferably before the next teaser video release? (But especially before a mod release.)
• Why are you starting with a planet mod as your first KotOR mod?
• So, it sounds like there are about 26 new modules in your mod that Sithspecter hasn’t created. Are they actually new or are they reskinned previous modules?
• Speaking of skins, have you made any new ones? Or is it a combination of recycling of materials found in the base game combined with what Sithspecter may have provided in his previous effort?
• This last one may be out of left field but I just have to ask: Are there any areas in the mod which render characters as orange colored?

[SAO1138 10]

• What's your modding experience? As you’ve never posted here before, no one here is likely to know of any work you may (or may not) have done before.

Completely new to it. Only been doing it for six months. It was a fun challenge.

• What's the size of your beta team? 

A small handful, less than 5. But with a good perfectionist in the team. If you want to try it out, contact me on Discord.

• Who is working with you on this?  Is it mostly a solo affair?

Exclusively myself. Anyone else is free to add onto it, however.

• Do you have any screenshots other than the galaxy map which could have come straight from Sithspecter's mod? 

Sure, a few. But I’ve only finished development the other day, so most are of unfinished modules. I could send you the load screens, however.

• With some minimal research, I see you’ve posted two videos on YouTube. Will all of your characters be aliens? If so, is that why you say there won’t be any AI voices?

If you skip to the 10-minute mark (roughly) on the longer video, you’ll find my first Basic/English-speaking role. There will be a few roles with cast actors. There’s been a lot of auditions, and I’ve found actors from Reddit.

• In those two videos, I don’t think I saw any lip sync for the dialogues? Are you planning to fix that, preferably before the next teaser video release? (But especially before a mod release.)

It’s already fixed, but my main beta tester is looking for more areas that the .lips are missing.

• Why are you starting with a planet mod as your first KotOR mod?

Because it sounded fun.

• So, it sounds like there are about 26 new modules in your mod that Sithspecter hasn’t created. Are they actually new or are they reskinned previous modules?

Kinda both. I used Holocron Toolset’s indoor module builder tool for most of those modules, which limits me to pre-existing rooms, albeit in different layouts. From there I then modified them to apply the textures from BioWare’s remaining Sleheyron files. I was pleasantly surprised with the output.

• Speaking of skins, have you made any new ones? Or is it a combination of recycling of materials found in the base game combined with what Sithspecter may have provided in his previous effort?

Yes I have made new textures. There will be new colored Twi’leks, at the very least.

• This last one may be out of left field but I just have to ask: Are there any areas in the mod which render characters as orange colored?

Uhh… No? Maybe a little orange tinted from module lighting changes. Is that what you meant?

[Sith Holocron 2,534]

I think your estimate of being finished within a month is unrealistic.

When I was asking about skins, I was mostly wondering about what you are reskinning the environments with and not your new characters. Have you made new environment skins?

And if you have pictures to post, post them here in your WIP thread. That's what it is for, right?

Edit: And if you're posting pictures, can we see a map of one of your new 26 modules that Sithspecter did not make?

[SAO1138 10]

10 hours ago, Sith Holocron said:

I think your estimate of being finished within a month is unrealistic.

When I was asking about skins, I was mostly wondering about what you are reskinning the environments with and not your new characters. Have you made new environment skins?

And if you have pictures to post, post them here in your WIP thread. That's what it is for, right?

Edit: And if you're posting pictures, can we see a map of one of your new 26 modules that Sithspecter did not make?

I would rather post the screenshots when it’s actually finished.

 

But that being said: if you want to message me on discord (I’m sao1138), I’d gladly send you the beta download link. You could then take and post whatever screenshots you like. There are still bugs I’m fixing in the beta, but it is a full story that can be played from start to finish.

 

Otherwise, I’ll be back in a week or two with more info.

 

[DeathScepter 54]

Sao, Please listen to Sith Holocron for due to his knowledge and experience. I have been busy with life and that is why i have produced any mods myself

[Salk 392]

Hello, SAO1138.

I commend you for the ambitious idea, but I do have a couple of questions that perhaps are crossing the minds of other people reading your announcement:

1) Have you tried to contact Sith Specter about lending help in completing his own Sleheyron project rather than embark on a "solo mission"? Now, I must admit I have my share of doubts about whether Sith Specter will ever finish his Sleheyron modification considering the ludicrous amount of time that has passed since its inception, but perhaps dedicated help would have been a way to kick things in motion again?

2) You wrote that you are hoping to make it compatible with Sith Specter's own Sleheyron modification, but we have to be realistic. It won't. Sith Specter must have been working on his own areas, characters, quests, and so on. How could two massive projects focusing both on restoring a new planet ever be compatible? This question connects directly to the first one where I was suggesting that combining forces would be the way to go.

Said that, I wish you the best luck! 

 

Edited May 8 by Salk

[SAO1138 10]

5 hours ago, Salk said:

Hello, SAO1138.

I commend you for the ambitious idea, but I do have a couple of questions that perhaps are crossing the minds of other people reading your announcement:

1) Have you tried to contact Sith Specter about lending help in completing his own Sleheyron project rather than embark on a "solo mission"? Now, I must admit I have my share of doubts about whether Sith Specter will ever finish his Sleheyron modification considering the ludicrous amount of time that has passed since its inception, but perhaps dedicated help would have been a way to kick things in motion again?

2) You wrote that you are hoping to make it compatible with Sith Specter's own Sleheyron modification, but we have to be realistic. It won't. Sith Specter must have been working on his own areas, characters, quests, and so on. How could two massive projects focusing both on restoring a new planet ever be compatible? This question connects directly to the first one where I was suggesting that combining forces would be the way to go.

Said that, I wish you the best luck! 

 

Hey there, Salk. Good questions. Both have been asked before so I probably should have included them in my original post.

 

1: Yes, I’ve tried to contact SithSpecter. I just haven’t had any luck with it. He has a pending friend request from me on Discord. Plan A was to offer to collaborate, or at least talk out what I had in mind. I’d love to meet the guy, but I also found a 2019 post from him where he said his modding work is going fully private. 
 

2: Compatibility: So I have a few different options for compatibility between my work and SithSpecter’s. Right now the most realistic option, I think, is setting his mod and mine in different areas of Sleheyron. I’ve found that SithSpecter named the city on Sleheyron “Sleheyron City,” so I named my area “Malron District.”
 

I’m looking into the possibility of making the galaxy map planet selection GUI extra large with the ability to click two different sides of the world, for two different spaceport destinations. Click the left half of the planet to get info on Sleheyron City, right half for Malron. 

If that doesn’t work, I was going to put a shuttle in the modules that let players travel from Sleheyron City to Malron and vice versa.

If you’ve ever played SWTOR, I was inspired by the system where players can travel to Corellia or the Black Hole area of the planet.

 

Edited May 8 by SAO1138

[Forceboat 0]

I guess something happened, because it's June 2nd and there's no sign of this.

[The_Chaser_One 21]

26 minutes ago, Forceboat said:

I guess something happened, because it's June 2nd and there's no sign of this.

Don't worry, sao was just a bit too ambitious. It's almost done and the beta will probably be out in a few weeks.

[DarthParametric 3,841]

29 minutes ago, Forceboat said:

there's no sign of this

[The_Chaser_One 21]

@DarthParametric Man you know you're annoying right? 🤣

And tbh, if I hadn't insisted that he waits until last details are taken care of and Holopatcher properly set up, it would probably already be published (or almost) 😅

[SAO1138 10]

1 hour ago, Forceboat said:

I guess something happened, because it's June 2nd and there's no sign of this.

It’s done, actually! Just needed a few more days to get the new companion lines in game.

 

if you want to see some screenshots, here’s the Reddit thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/s/4vtxvvYiLH

[Sith Holocron 2,534]

1 minute ago, SAO1138 said:

It’s done, actually! Just needed a few more days to get the new companion lines in game.

It's done except it isn't. Got it.

[The_Chaser_One 21]

@Sith Holocron Why can't you be nicer... He was just a bit too ambitious, but it will be out very soon. If you're that much against it why don't you go help SithSpecter ?

[Sith Holocron 2,534]

Just now, The_Chaser_One said:

@Sith Holocron Why can't you be nicer... He was just a bit too ambitious, but it will be out very soon. If you're that much against it why don't you go help SithSpecter ?

I'm not the one making false promises. Why are you white knighting?

[The_Chaser_One 21]

1 minute ago, Sith Holocron said:

I'm not the one making false promises. Why are you white knighting?

Bro wtf. Did you pay him to do his enormous mod ? No ? He's doing it for free, for us. So yeah, you'll have to wait a little bit more, as we all do.

Furthermore, according to you, "Mod release deadlines are for those that don't care about quality". Well guess what ? He missed his deadline. You should be relieved by that...

[Sith Holocron 2,534]

If you don't like me pointing out the obvious, feel free to block me.

[The_Chaser_One 21]

5 minutes ago, Sith Holocron said:

If you don't like me pointing out the obvious, feel free to block me.

I have no reason to do that. You often make constructive and good remarks. I like being able to read your advices, such as DarthParametric's. But this is just bad.

[Mephiles550 232]

I am cautiously optimistic about this. I am always looking forward to playing mods that add large amounts of custom content like this, if only just due to the sheer scarcity of them. Please just keep doing whatever you're doing. I don't know if this will be bad or great or in between, but the screenshots at least tell me you've put quite a good chunk of your time into it. That alone is at least pretty promising. Best of luck with this, thanks for the extra screenshots.

 

[Fair Strides 515]

Testing, testing, is this thing on?

Dropping a friendly reminder to be civil with each other. Criticism and critiques of a project are fine when constructive, though simple observations of the facts are neither.

The same cannot be said of the later interactions here. SH and DP both pointed out and expressed similar sentiments, just a bit differently. It's not right to get on someone's case just because you don't like how they expressed themselves. For one, this manner of dialog is blunt, but typically so.

If SAO wants to respond to fair criticisms about their timeline, they can do so when they're online. @The_Chaser_One As far as I'm aware, it's still not the norm for someone not working on or associated with a project to be giving updates and sharing projected schedules, as that can be misinformation or wildly inaccurate. Getting upset when called out on it is rather poor form. Especially when you simultaneously want someone to not post the way they normally post but also won't block them because you like reading their responses. It's always possible to ignore posts you don't like.

 

P.S: On a personal note: Kinda cheeky throwing SH's words back at him here. The statement is still true, as SAO did give a deadline already, when SH's advice would have been to not announce a release timeline. It would have been better to not give a deadline than to miss the deadline. While it could be true that missing the deadline is better for quality, I'd also ask this: is it a good thing that a deadline was missed in a project? Doesn't that mean the deadline was not estimated correctly in the first place?

[The_Chaser_One 21]

@Fair Strides I see what you mean. They are right about the deadline not being an actual deadline and SAO being too ambitious. I was just saying that it doesnt seem fair to me to reproach that when he's doing his best to make his mod exhaustive and well detailed, as SH was worried about. Especially when we'll all get the finished mod for free.

And as I'm helping SAO and beta testing his mod, I consider myself "associated with the project". If you don't trust me, you can always ask him yourself what he thinks

"Getting upset when called out on it is rather poor form" : Well, as far as I'm aware, no one "called out on" me "giving updates and sharing projected schedules" , and thus I didnt "get upset" about it... And yeah, I'm giving a large time range (so not very accurate, indeed) because he needs to do some more stuff such as setting HoloPatcher. Because yes, he's trying to make it compatible with K1CP and RC K1CP (not like other big mods, if you see what I mean).

[Fair Strides 515]

11 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

@Fair Strides I see what you mean. They are right about the deadline not being an actual deadline and SAO being too ambitious. I was just saying that it doesnt seem fair to me to reproach that when he's doing his best to make his mod exhaustive and well detailed, as SH was worried about. Especially when we'll all get the finished mod for free.

And as I'm helping SAO and beta testing his mod, I consider myself "associated with the project". If you don't trust me, you can always ask him yourself what he thinks

Most mods are free, so that part is moot. The culture iwth modding has always been very aware of the amount of time that goes into a hobby, I assure you. SAO has also not heeded much in the way of advice given by SH or others with such an ambitious starting project, even with such basic things as sharing screenshots here of their project.

Whether I trust you or not is also moot, since you're not trying to release or upload the mod. While you do seem to edit your posts a lot instead of taking the time to craft a reply, my comment was not out of trust. You entered in with a lot of support from out of nowhere, hence SH's white-knighting comment, with this being the first mention that you're helping and beta-testing. That helps explain the hearty defense, but not all critique and criticism is wrong. And SAO can share what details they're okay with sharing here.

[The_Chaser_One 21]

@Fair Strides 

"While you do seem to edit your posts a lot instead of taking the time to craft a reply, my comment was not out of trust." Yeah sorry about all the edits, I'm trying to reply fast but perhaps I should take my time a bit more, especially since being french doesn't help while discussing stuff like that in english. Thanks for "my comment was not out of trust."

"Most mods are free, so that part is moot." : Well, why ? Even if it's supposed to be free, it's still a lot of work. Work that's not paid in any way, which can make the schedule change (everyone has a life 😅). So he's giving something to us. I don't feel like we can expect anything in a severe way. Look at SithSpecter's project. From what I understood, it's been 20 years since he's announced it, or at least since he's been working on it. You'll tell me, he didn't give a deadline. Fine, but what do you prefer ? Waiting 20 years or waiting 6 months + 1 additional because the deadline given was a bit short ?

"The culture iwth modding has always been very aware of the amount of time that goes into a hobby, I assure you." : I understand what you mean. But still, it IS a lot of work.

"SAO has also not heeded much in the way of advice given by SH or others with such an ambitious starting project, even with such basic things as sharing screenshots here of their project" : I've read SH's advices on SAO's project and this time it's me who can assure you something : he definitely listened to SH's advices. Indeed, he took more time to improve the overall quality of the mod ; he diversified the sound files as well as lips for better realism ; He fixed a lot of issues that almost only fellow modders would see ; he did send some screenshots, even if I agree with you, he could make a bit more. But are you sure you want this ? What about the surprise ?

"Whether I trust you or not is also moot, since you're not trying to release or upload the mod." : I'm not sure I understand what you mean here.

"You entered in with a lot of support from out of nowhere, hence SH's white-knighting comment" : Indeed, I'm supporting SAO because I believe it's a worthy project. And the guy really has good intentions and does an amazing work. "From out of no where" ? Well, tbf, I myself am pretty new to modding in general and modding Kotor in particular. So yeah, I'm basically "coming out of nowhere". But didn't you all too at some point ?  I understood SH's comment, don't worry, and the "white-knighting" is understandable. It's more the "making false promises" that annoyed me, because of my reasons already explained at the beginning of this text (a lot of free work).

"with this being the first mention that you're helping and beta-testing." : Sorry about that too. I just didn't feel the need to precise that but ig I should have. My bad on this one.

"but not all critique and criticism is wrong" : Of course ! It's just the way he said it that bothered me a little. As I said earlier, I usually like reading SH's comments because they're constructive and very interesting. Which wasn't the case here, as you noticed.

"And SAO can share what details they're okay with sharing here." : Definitely ! And he will ! Or maybe not, then you'll have to wait until the mod's done... (dw, you won't have to wait 2 years )

[N-DReW25 1,439]

40 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

"While you do seem to edit your posts a lot instead of taking the time to craft a reply, my comment was not out of trust." Yeah sorry about all the edits, I'm trying to reply fast but perhaps I should take my time a bit more, especially since being french doesn't help while discussing stuff like that in english. Thanks for "my comment was not out of trust."

Are you quoting Fair Strides? You do know you can click on the "eye" icon on the top of the comment box and use quotes like I am now, doing so will make your comment much easier for others to follow.

 

40 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

"Most mods are free, so that part is moot." : Well, why ? Even if it's supposed to be free, it's still a lot of work. Work that's not paid in any way, which can make the schedule change (everyone has a life 😅). So he's giving something to us. I don't feel like we can expect anything in a severe way.

The sale of mods in the Kotor Modding Community is prohibited, hence why that part is moot.

 

But ignoring the prospect of making money, modding is a hobby - if we wanted to make money doing stuff like this we'd either join a game dev company or focus on indie video game development.

 

40 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

Look at SithSpecter's project. From what I understood, it's been 20 years since he's announced it, or at least since he's been working on it. You'll tell me, he didn't give a deadline. Fine, but what do you prefer ? Waiting 20 years or waiting 6 months + 1 additional because the deadline given was a bit short ?

He didn't give a deadline, and so there is no expectations for him to release it any time soon. This gives him an unlimited amount of time to development and perfect his mod.

 

Almost 20 years of development and the most recent preview he released is this. That video is pure gold, absolutely amazing stuff, and I'm more than happy to forget about Sleheyron for the time being so that, one day, he can release his mod to that quality.

 

I'm sure if we looked back at SithSpecter's Sleheyron back in 2008 when it was first being developed, if we compared 6 months worth of development to his most up to date almost 20 years of development I'm sure even SithSpecter would agree that the 6 months worth of work is garbage when you compare it to his most up to date work.

 

I'll tell you this, ROR reentered development in the late 2010s and had an internal release of 2021 - everyone would've loved a 2021 ROR release, but if it was released in 2021 it would've been to the exact same quality as the 2011 Demo. We obviously missed the 2021 deadline, but by not announcing it we could just... move on and go about developing the mod as if nothing had happened. There was no outside pressure to release a half-finished mess and by giving ROR more time, and not giving a release deadline, we were able to release ROR Episode One which many can agree is way better than the 2011 Demo.

 

This is why the veteran modders here are pointing out the deadline, albeit I do agree that it does seem a bit harsh.

 

I'm on the same page as Mephiles550 in that I do want to see this mod released. But for modders who lived to see TSLRP and all the drama surrounding that mod back in the day, seeing Sao pop up out of nowhere, claim he's been working on Sleheyron, claim that it's already fully voiced, claim that it already has 30 new areas, claim that it already has a recruitable character, claim that the mod is already finished in May and will be released within May and then go on to withhold screenshots does feel as if history is just repeating itself for these guys.

 

And trust me, I've seen users claim they'll make a recruitable character, then go on to us prominent modders and send a hundred page manuscript for said recruitable character and it turns out the character is a self-insert of the user irl and is just hundreds of pages of pure slop, not even AI just pure handwritten slop, then go on to beg modders like us to make the recruitable character mod for them and then go on to confess that they only have Kotor on the original Xbox. And then there was that one guy who tried to gaslight people into making his "Recruitable Sarna" mod for him too. That's just the stuff I've witnessed, these guys had to deal with Darth Balor and his shenanigans back in the late 2000s.

 

I know Sao isn't like those guys, but the negative reactions here are coming from people who have historically had to deal with crazy people like what I just described.

 

40 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

I've read SH's advices on SAO's project and this time it's me who can assure you something : he definitely listened to SH's advices. Indeed, he took more time to improve the overall quality of the mod ; he diversified the sound files as well as lips for better realism ; He fixed a lot of issues that almost only fellow modders would see ; he did send some screenshots, even if I agree with you, he could make a bit more. But are you sure you want this ? What about the surprise ?

Here's the thing, he hadn't shown screenshots.

 

From the point of view of one of us, Sao is just a profile picture and a username - how do we know he's being serious without screenshots? As I've described, we have had really delusional people in the past make such ambitious projects and they're genuinely Chris Chan level of pathetic. Sao did send screenshots... today, not when SH asked for screenshots hence why there was doubt.

 

But now that Sao has shown us screenshots, it shows us that there is a genuine mod in the works. I'm glad he's posted them and I hope it does see the light of day.

 

1 hour ago, The_Chaser_One said:

Indeed, he took more time to improve the overall quality of the mod ; he diversified the sound files as well as lips for better realism ; He fixed a lot of issues that almost only fellow modders would see ; he did send some screenshots, even if I agree with you, he could make a bit more. But are you sure you want this ? What about the surprise ?

I need you to understand that, from our point of view, we wouldn't know that he did any of that - how would we know anyway???

 

Revenge of Revan is being worked on, but none of you know what's being worked on because we're not revealing it to the public - the same applies here in this situation.

 

40 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

I'm not sure I understand what you mean here.

She means you're not the team leader of the mod. The team leader would usually be the one to upload the mod when it's ready, and Sao hasn't publicly announced that you're on the Sleheyron: Story Mode dev team - hence her skepticism.

 

It's just like how I'm not the team leader of the Revenge of Revan mod, Logan23 is.

 

40 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

Indeed, I'm supporting SAO because I believe it's a worthy project. And the guy really has good intentions and does an amazing work.

Like Sao, you are likewise new to the community. Even if I were the one defending Sao's work, no one is going to change the minds of the veteran modders so there isn't much point in vigorously defending against them. They aren't going to care for your defense and wouldn't care if you blocked them, maybe a proper release could change their minds but even still when Revenge of Revan came out the joke went from "ROR's never going to release" to "remind me in 2045 when Episode Two's going to come out" so there's little point fussing over their opinions.

 

40 minutes ago, The_Chaser_One said:

It's more the "making false promises" that annoyed me

From our own experiences, 10% of WIP threads produce actual mod releases. The other 90% were "making false promises".

 

Trust me, if someone else joined and made another ambitious WIP thread they'll probably think the same thing for their mods too.