[WIP] Color Loadscreens for KotOR

[Sithspecter 909]

Little project that I've been wanting do do for a while. As I was creating Sleheyron loadscreens, I noticed they looked really great before having to desaturate them to greyscale. So, I decided to use my loadscreen template and do the rest! Some I've had to get creative on, but the results are nice so far:

 

 

This is what they look like in-game:

 

[milestails 264]

I agree. Great results so far.

[Revanator 60]

Ooh, very nice.

[Sithspecter 909]

Released now here: http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/916-loadscreens-in-color/

 

 

Quick write up on how I did it:

 

This mod has its roots in Sleheyron. I was working on adding loadscreens to Sleheyron, and made a Photoshop template for creating them. It had a filter to add the blue television noise lines, and I used screenshots and then desaturated them. But, the screenshots in color really looked spectacular. I hadn't thought much of it before, but I realized how terrible the default loadscreens were. So, I decided to do the rest.

 

I noticed that load screens do not have NPCs, placeables, or doors in them. I wanted to do the same, but obviously had to figure out a way to quickly remove them. I opened the GIT file for each area, and deleted the Character and Placeable trees, effectively eliminating all NPCs and placeables. All the GIT files get dumped in the override, and I'm good to go. I opted to leave doors in, but open  them in-game where necessary.

 

In a number of locations that I warped to, the area I needed was inaccessible. I used Darth InSidious' Sonic Screwdriver mod as a tool to open these doors, allowing me access. It more or less became a grind of warping, taking screenshots, and resizing them. For the swoop and default load screens, I had to re-create the scenes using 3DSMax and Photoshop, which wasn't too difficult.

 

It ended up being a decent amount of work, slightly more complex than one would expect.

[Eauxps I. Fourgott 81]

Dang. You know a WIP cycle is short when there's nothing when you check in the morning and the mod's been released when you check in the evening.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

If the Sleheyron mod loading screens will be colored can there be an optional gray option or make the colored loading screens optional.

[Sithspecter 909]

If the Sleheyron mod loading screens will be colored can there be an optional gray option or make the colored loading screens optional.

 

Likely Sleheyron loading screens will come in grayscale by default, but there will be a patch that adds color if the user chooses.

[Canderis 180]

Why do you even bother with the WIP threads 

[Sithspecter 909]

Why do you even bother with the WIP threads 

 

Well, to be honest, I thought it would take longer...

[Sithspecter 909]

Back with a potential update to make the actual image larger, along with GUI changes:

 

Actual In-Game Appearance:

 

[Guest]

Back with a potential update to make the actual image larger, along with GUI changes:

 

Actual In-Game Appearance:

 

 

This would be beyond excellent. 

[Kexikus 995]

Looking really good indeed.

 

I would enlarge the KotOR logo so that it overlaps with the top part of the image. (The goal here is the increased size and not the overlap but I do like the latter so I wouldn't mind that^^)

And I'd add an outline to the image since it seems a little disconnected from the rest of the GUI currently. A blue outline like in the original would be able to fix that I think.

[superSzym 155]

Why won't you upload images to the DeadlyStream? For some reason, I can't see the image neither embedded here nor in Photobucket.

[Sithspecter 909]

How does this look now?

 

[Kexikus 995]

Very good!

 

But I'll continue with tiny improvement suggestions anyway^^ (Sorry)

 

I'd enlarge the screen a little bit so that there no longer is a black frame around it. This should make the entire GUI look more like a screen that shows a photo of the area currently loading and should help connect the picture with the techy outer part of the GUI.

And I'd move the loading bar slightly downwards so that it no longer is directly adjacent to the picture.

[xander2077 80]

just out of curiosity: i have been gone a while but i seem to remember someone attempting to modify the load screens and menu screens to be better suited to wde screen and hi res monitors. (dont remember the thread that discussion was in) did anyone ever iron the details out on how to accomplish those things?

[Sithspecter 909]

Very good!

 

But I'll continue with tiny improvement suggestions anyway^^ (Sorry)

 

I'd enlarge the screen a little bit so that there no longer is a black frame around it. This should make the entire GUI look more like a screen that shows a photo of the area currently loading and should help connect the picture with the techy outer part of the GUI.

And I'd move the loading bar slightly downwards so that it no longer is directly adjacent to the picture.

 

I can remove the dark edges on the side, but I can't take away the dark at the top or I'll have to shrink the logo again.  I can't move the loading bar down any further or it will conflict with the loading hints, which are often 3 lines and take up the remainder of the space.

[superSzym 155]

I always truly hated TSL loadscreens. What I would love are the TSL loadscreens in nostalgia K1 style, you know, with all these metallic borders around it, possibly in GUI versions classic (these long loadscreens like in default K1) and those modfied in the way you did with the K1 ones. While I highly aporeciate the GUI changes, most of the shots look worse when extended.

 

I hope it's possible because I really hate TSL loadscreens. I have first played KotOR at my cousin's house years ago, but got an opportunity to play TSL when he went to college and passed the KotOR geek torch to me. So I loved KotOR loadscreens from the first minute and you can probably imagine my disappointment when I saw the TSL ones. It was like "what the ****, it's just an image and two lines. Where is an old TV filter and where are my fancy Star Wars macrobinocular things on the sides? It's crap, I couldn't have done it better in five minutes". I don't really know if it's my taste or nostalgy, but I seek all around the Internet mods with blue interface and hints how to make the dialogue font blue. If it has been already domen on so many different in-game fonts, it must be possible on the dialogue one, too. But while I currently do not use any blue interface mods due to lack of proper font color changes and I can stand turquoise interface, it fits TSL quite well, everytime when I see a loadscreens in TSL, I politely go to toilet to vomit. The man who made TSL loadscreens either was very lazy or had a complete lack of taste in his mind. Probably both.

[Guest]

How does this look now?

 

 

How's it coming?

[CrashBandiTeam 18]

I like the mod, i will follow this mod.