My Projects In the Pipeline (mostly texture related)

[MrPhil 58]

Lol, I had not seen that last update! Chodo almost looks like he has sith eyes But it looks good and stays true to the original eye look!

[Malkior 476]

He's so sad! Gosh! Good work.

Thanks. I like to think that Chodo's just stressed about Czerka taking over and sabotaging his life's work. Or maybe he's just naturally meloncholy..

 

Lol, I had not seen that last update! Chodo almost looks like he has sith eyes But it looks good and stays true to the original eye look!

 

Yeah.. When you mention it, he really does have that look. Well either I can work on some other eye colors for Chodo (I'm thinking a light blue or even teal could be good) ../or we could assume that Chodo was secretly a sith all along and was just using the exile (and Bao Dur) to find where the jedi were hiding as well...   .................................

 

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And now that I finally have my screens, some progress.

 

First, Korriban is on my list of highest priority so that I can move on with my save-game (I'm weird like that, but I want it to look good before I further my character)

 

 

 

 

 

 

My screens have a lot of work in cleaning up the seams still, but I've been debating whether or not to show them in such an unfinished state, and I guess I want to at least show what it's shaping into.. I'll keep showing each iteration as it nears completion in subsequent postings..

 

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Next, I finally have the new bolt for the bowcaster firing animation created

 

 

 

 

 

With this I have also made my own custom muzzle flash for blaster weapons which mimics the flare you would see with traditional firearms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did a massive amount of research into plasma reactions and electrical arcing, and according to that, a release of highly energized plasma gas via a charged electrical field would look very similar to the effect we see in the movies (which were from blanks with a color filter added) So, I tried to recreate that look..

 

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I've also been tinkering with making the flare texture additive instead of its default setting (diffuse I believe)

 

Concussive Grenade:

 

 

Sonic Grenade:

 

 

I'm thinking of releasing it alongside my other effect edits like the rain/snow..

 

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I've been working on getting the fire effect to a higher level of quality.

 

 

 

 

It may be a similar color to my previous version, but it actually spreads more realistically and has small "embers" near its edges due to some editing of its alpha.

 

 

 

 

 

It may be still too blurry, so perhaps increasing the targa size may be necessary. 

 

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Lastly, A bit of testing of a new marble texture found in the Exchange module and Ithorian quarters yielded some interesting results in the Telos military base. (You might have seen it on the floor in some of my Ithorian screenshots. )

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looks good with the rest of the oranges and greys; and actually matches the Telos military droid colors as a plus. I'll probably offer it as "optional" when I release my take on the textures for Telos, but I personally like it.

 

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Other than that, I'll be working on finishing up more of the Korriban skybox (a suprisingly herculean task it's turning out) and when that's done, I'll move on to the rest of the skyboxes' details.

 

I am also working on making the fire effect (The wall of flame, not the fireball effect which I've shown screenshots of) a higher level of detail and opacity. I already gave it an additive shader, but have yet to test it aside from the campfires.

 

Then after that, I'll work on getting the rest of the alien textures done (I'll try the Hutt textures, but I don't know how that'll go yet) so that I can get the update published.

 

I don't know how it will go from there. I have a lot of other projects I plan to work on, but my time may become limited if I get employed again. I will keep updates coming as they are completed..

 

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I appreciate everyone's feedback and I am extremely thankful for every word of encouragement and  (constructive    ) criticism. 

 

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Gonna play the sh*t out of TSL when you're done with this!

[Malkior 476]

And, Good News!

The Korriban Skybox is almost fully done.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Just a bit more fine-tuning on the seams. My sincere thanks to Mr Phil for his reference which was invaluable for the rear sky portion of the sunset.

 

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Additionally I have the results of the flame tests after (I'd say) 5 iterations.

 

 

 

The effect is fully additive, too; so anything in front of the flame will have a slight red hue common with a real fire's ambiance.

 

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The next step will be to clean up the ground portion on all of the other skyboxes to near the same degree of detail and visual impact as the Dxun ones.

 

I plan to have screens of those as well as the final test for the Bowcaster (Power Blast)..

 

Updates incoming as they become available..  

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

I can see the seam in the first Korriban skybox picture. Will that be altered?

[Malkior 476]

Of course I am working on that one the most. It has such a difference of color that I'm considering throwing some of the purple from the one on the right into the one on the left. The bottom portion with the bright yellow is the part I'm working on right now. If it helps, I can just edit the post when I complete the conversion (hopefully later today). Were any other seams sticking out as much? 

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

Were any other seams sticking out as much?

The seams where the side boxes meet the ceiling box can be been in pictures 1, 3, 4, and 5. I can also see a side seam in picture 5.

[MrPhil 58]

These seams seems to be a lot of work! Keep at-it, it is getting better.

[Malkior 476]

 

These seams seems to be a lot of work! Keep at-it, it is getting better.

 

Yeah. Skyboxes are that exceptional texture where any small detail out of place sticks out like crazy. Thanks for the encouragement, though ; this has  been by far one of the most tedious and time-consuming parts to work on. 

 

Some recent screens:

   

 

 

Also took a few moments to try out a sunset effect to the front screen (basically just adding a yellow glow to the center, but I may add a visible sun in the future update).

 

 

 

 

 

There could be a few lingering seams, but I'll have them taken care of when I'm done with everything. As it stands, I have to get started on my next phase of skyboxes so I can finish the rest of my mods. (And I've poured 100% of my energy into Korriban, so I need to move on)...

 

Next up should be more screens when I make some more results.. _

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Hate to nitpick, but is the banding and compression (in the purple-sky part, not the cloud) from the screenshot or does it look like that in-game?

 

Also, come to think of it, I think Korriban could use a little change of ambient fog. I notice as the mountains get further out they look washed out.

[Malkior 476]

Hate to nitpick, but is the banding and compression (in the purple-sky part, not the cloud) from the screenshot or does it look like that in-game?

 

 

 

Hey. I wouldn't know about it if you didn't say anything, so I am glad you're mentioning it. The lighting is so bad in the module that the skybox tends to be slightly unpredictable and will add brighter sections to places on the texture that I otherwise wouldn't see. So, it's possible that it's on the texture; but at such a small amount that I never saw it. (The pixels are also stretched given the way that the skybox has such exaggerated angles, so the textures that make up the skybox itself have to be slightly offset to fix it)

 

So, I'll give the screens the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn't look as much like that in my game. I can have a few other people test it to see if it's the same for them as well. (BTW, which screen are you referring to? the third from the top in the first set, or the sunset side in the second set?)

 

 

Also, come to think of it, I think Korriban could use a little change of ambient fog. I notice as the mountains get further out they look washed out.

 

The mountains having a blue hue when they go toward the horizon I believe is a result of the horrendous lighting in the module. Fog could be a probable solution, but I don't know enough of how to do it in order to get it done in a timely manner. Do you know of a simple tutorial no how to make/change it?

If not, I can also fall back on my contingency and just color the mountains in the texture with the same purple-blue hue to match  the rest of them in the foreground. It won't be as cool, but I know I can do it and quickly.

 

changing the lightmap is also something I'm considering..

 

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Eh, I hate to leave it on that note.

 

Anyway, I'm currently working on the power blast sprite for the bowcaster. Screens when I get the results. (Screens Below)

 

Next up is the second barrage of skybox cleaning. 

 

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The bowcaster sprites so far:

 

Bowcaster Standard Fire

 

 

(The bolt is going backward since the shot was reflected by a lightsaber outside of the camera's view)

 

 

On Dxun for different lighting comparison: 

 

 

Power Blast

  

 

 

 

No clue yet on how to get the bowcaster soundsets to work since there isn't unique audio for them in the orginal game.

[Malkior 476]

A bit of another update

 

The bowcaster soundset probably won't work since A: I don't know how or if it's even possible to add another sound to the Stream Sounds folder, and B:The choice is finicky with which sound can be referenced in the ammunitiontypes.2da (It has to be a specific type of sound file or something to that effect.. so, basically A )

 

Anyway, I removed the tail from the bowcaster default-fire sprite since it didn't do much for realism and when paused, looked kind of silly 

 

 

 

 

 

Additionally,  a few tests of my new Plasma Beam effect edits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I worked on a couple of details with the Onderon Skybox such as adding a more detailed horizon and cleaning up the aliasing in the mountains.

 

 

Yes, the second screen is a little "unseamly", but that's to be quickly remedied before I finalize this stuff.

 

 

 

 

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If anyone is wondering, I haven't been modding quite as much since I'm trying to finish Kotor 2 properly so that I can get level references for Malachor and all of the other Endgame planets/modules. (Which by the way, will make it my FIRST TSLRCM full playthrough.. :} )

 

 

Regardless, I expect to have a few things released very soon...    ...

 

 

 

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Plasma is looking good!

[kyrie 17]

Malkior if I remember correctly you should be able to add a sound file into the game it just needs to be RAW.

[Malkior 476]

Okay. Will it properly reference it in the ammunitiontypes.2da? Also, will I add it into the override, or a different folder?

 

 

Second, a huge problem that I've been trying to work through all day so I can finally upload this thing:

 

I created neat muzzle-flashes for all of the weapon's fire by replacing the default muzzle flash model with custom ones in the ammunitiontypes.2da . The problem is that, the default blasters are randomly showing the custom muzzle flashes, now...

I just edited the "muzzleflash" section for each ammo type in the ammunitiontypes.2da. I don't know if there's something more I should do, or if it just naturally won't work..(like if each weapon doesn't actually check which type of muzzleflash it uses)

 

 

__Edit

 

Okay. I'll give it the old college try one more time, and report on what happens. Otherwise, I'll have to keep the sound and muzzle-flash changes as "optional", but with bugs. 

[Malkior 476]

Awww... Here we go again!

 

Quick update

 

I need people to test my unique weapon's ammunition mod to see if the muzzle flashes can be salvaged for release. The rest of it works, but when at least I try it out in my game build, the muzzles flare in all of the various textures when using the standard blaster. (If possible, please PM me, so that I can get this uploaded at least)

 

Secondly, I have made some more progress on the Dantooine Skybox.

    

 

Before and After Comparison with My Previous Dantooine Skybox: 

 

Before and After Comparison with Vanilla Skybox: 

 

 

Next up, Working on Telos Restoration Zone Skybox...

[Jorak Uln 458]

@Malkior: Wow, well done! 

I like your skyboxes... especially dantooine now has that "calm" feeling that it should have - far of from war,conflicts...now you actually can see its meant to be place of piece and contemplation.

 

So, are you considering to upload your skyboxes/ other files perhaps as a beta??

[milestails 264]

Good stuff Malkior

[Quanon 263]

Nice work on that sky. It looks really fresh, reminds me of summer

One quick question, I thought I fixed the seems between my Malachor sky textures, but it's still there.

 

I forgot the model of the skybox overlap/ cuts each other at the edges.

Any advice on how you tackled that problem? Is it just like a border of 5 pixels?

[Kainzorus Prime 206]

A suggestion from a man with no actual model-editing experience - make the skybox a semi-sphere instead of a square?

[Quanon 263]

Dear god, a sphere takes more polyies. And it can even be harder to UVWmap properly. This map handles how a flat texture/skin gets applied on to a model.

To understand UVWmapping, the best thing is to make a cube out of paper. You have to draw this cross, six boxes. Cut it out and then fold it to get your 3D object.

UVWmapping is that same method, but backwards. You have to fold out your 3D model. So you can easely 'draw' on it

 

A sphere would require certain cuts that would be hard to get invisible, no seems. Most games use the box thing, though sometimes extra effects get applied.

 

To sort of push the texture away (quake engine games), giving a better depth effect. In the Unreal engine, the skybox is  a tiny model apart. A camera object gets placed within it and this then projects the sky on

a bigger box. Fun stuff!

 

Alas, the Kotor games have a less sophisticated approach.

 

EDIT: Ofcourse a sphere or cylinder does away with those corners and feels more naturel. I believe the Onderon blockade model has half a sphere to show outer space. The scene showing Colonel Tobin giving order to fire on the Ebon Hawk.

[Fair Strides 510]

Dear god, a sphere takes more polyies. And it can even be harder to UVWmap properly. This map handles how a flat texture/skin gets applied on to a model.

To understand UVWmapping, the best thing is to make a cube out of paper. You have to draw this cross, six boxes. Cut it out and then fold it to get your 3D object.

UVWmapping is that same method, but backwards. You have to fold out your 3D model. So you can easely 'draw' on it

 

A sphere would require certain cuts that would be hard to get invisible, no seems. Most games use the box thing, though sometimes extra effects get applied.

 

To sort of push the texture away (quake engine games), giving a better depth effect. In the Unreal engine, the skybox is  a tiny model apart. A camera object gets placed within it and this then projects the sky on

a bigger box. Fun stuff!

 

Alas, the Kotor games have a less sophisticated approach.

 

EDIT: Ofcourse a sphere or cylinder does away with those corners and feels more naturel. I believe the Onderon blockade model has half a sphere to show outer space. The scene showing Colonel Tobin giving order to fire on the Ebon Hawk.

 

Also, Quanon, a note on the Skybox for Dantooine.

 

At one point I investigated it. It seems to have been a cube merged with a sphere. The edges of the skybox are cube-like, but the centers of each side are boweled out like a sphere would be. It messes with the UVW Mapping and seems like a bad way to do it, but it works.

 

Conversely, Manaan's skybox is just two parts: a half-sphere with the top cut off, and then the top part separate... UVW on that is iffy, since the texture itself is curved like someone made a cone, cut off the point, and then unrolled it...

[Malkior 476]

@Malkior: Wow, well done! 

I like your skyboxes... especially dantooine now has that "calm" feeling that it should have - far of from war,conflicts...now you actually can see its meant to be place of piece and contemplation.

 

 

Yeah. Dantooine always seemed to me more of an ancient place with an extremely rich history yet so peaceful, you can only know of it through research; even though the sith firebombed the planet, it still looks the same albiet with another dark haze in the fringes of its sky. (In fact the sith probably firebombed the surface many times before, but the damage always fades into the grassy hills)

 

It's sort of a counterpoint to Korriban which is much more dangerous and sinister beneath the surface than what the landscape shows, yet its harsh nature bleeds through in the desolate and harsh climate.

 

 

So, are you considering to upload your skyboxes/ other files perhaps as a beta??

 

 

I've only got Dxun, Korriban, and Dantooine at a point where I'm as happy to release them. The rest of my skyboxes have seams on the edges where the screens don't show. ( I learned after Korriban, that I have to show all of my skies if I'm to give a proper representation of their status) I can release the three if people want to see what they look like for themselves.

 

Peragus is the only full module retexture that I have done enough for release, but I can also upload the Telos Station textures as I'm at least 80% done with them.

 

I can definitely release my effect edits and computer panel detail work as well.

 

 

So I'm considering it. I just need to know, what does everyone think?

 

Normally textures are released in packs, so should I release them separately, but only partially completed, or as a full beta pack?

 

 

Nice work on that sky. It looks really fresh, reminds me of summer 

One quick question, I thought I fixed the seems between my Malachor sky textures, but it's still there.

 

I forgot the model of the skybox overlap/ cuts each other at the edges.

Any advice on how you tackled that problem? Is it just like a border of 5 pixels?

 

 

 (a pixel border tends to still create a second seam since it's slightly different than the rest of the sky; earlier, I tried to copy 3 pixels off of one side and duplicate it onto the seam, but it never looked that good)

 

A quick answer, I studied each seam and painted them in manually.

 

To do so, my best advice circa Korriban is to first know where the texture is actually being cut off. Skyboxes are tricky in that the texture itself will pinch as it is slightly in perspective, and the only way to see it properly is to take screenshots of a problem area in-game and study how it looks. To correct the seams, though, I open both texture files windowed in Photoshop and line them up exactly  beside eachother the way the screenshots show and then get a color sample of whichever color I'm trying to transfer across. Then I blend it into the "receiving" sky texture side. (Basically when doing good seam work, you have to decide which cloud/color pattern will dominate any given part and then continue it onto the sky edge of the texture it parallels)

You'll want to use whichever brush looks best, and use it to gradually blend it into the rest of the texture so that your change doesn't draw any attention to itself. It takes much perseverance and a lot of patience, but gradually the seams will fade away with this method.

 

Another thing I feel I must mention is that anything at the level of a few pixels will probably require you to zoom in up to 600x to get the best perspective on how the layers differ. So another tip I have, is to give yourself visual landmarks, such as an odd blotch or other such thing in your screenshot, and match it up in your texture so that you know what you're working on when zoomed-in to such a degree.

 

__ Edit

 

 

Also, Quanon, a note on the Skybox for Dantooine.

 

At one point I investigated it. It seems to have been a cube merged with a sphere. The edges of the skybox are cube-like, but the centers of each side are boweled out like a sphere would be. It messes with the UVW Mapping and seems like a bad way to do it, but it works.

 

Conversely, Manaan's skybox is just two parts: a half-sphere with the top cut off, and then the top part separate... UVW on that is iffy, since the texture itself is curved like someone made a cone, cut off the point, and then unrolled it...

 Fascinating, so the UVW are pinched, because the texture is actually bowed at the center? That explains so much of my trouble with the things..

[MrPhil 58]

I like this new Dantooine skybox. We can now see details of the far hills. Looks much better!

[Quanon 263]

I know the skyboxes are bended somewhat. I'll have a peek at those UVWs; see how they curve. That could help to get rid of seems more easely.

Thanks for the tips Malkior on that part !