Cinematic KOTOR

[JCarter426 1,214]

Hassat Hunter mentioned that he wanted but was unable to get a camera similar to one TSLRP did for TSLRCM. So, I decided to do one.

 

Here's the original, for reference:

 

 

That's just the camera, not the scene from the mod. And here's my recreation, as it were:

 

 

I've been thinking for a while of doing some more of this, making the game cutscenes more cinematic so they aren't using the same few static angles repeatedly and to do some other improvements. It's going to take a while and I may be posting scenes as I do them for suggestions.

 

I won't be doing all the cutscenes, but I'll do some of the more prominent ones, and for both games. For now, though, my focus is just the Ebon Hawk cutscenes in K2. They're all in one location, and I have a general idea of what all of them are, so that makes them relatively easier to access and I can release them in one batch when they're done.

 

Also, this may come as a surprise, but I have not played TSLRCM because I have not played through the whole game since TSLRP was still going. So I don't know a lot of the changes in it and I haven't seen many of the new cutscenes. I don't know where this camera would even fit in, for example. I'm planning to get through it soon, but I'd welcome any suggestions or other information in the meantime.

[Kexikus 995]

Honestly, I think that the TSLRP camera really doesn't look that great. It's movements just aren't smooth enough. Yours however is really great!

 

And I really like your idea of making the cutscenes more cinematic. The games could really use that

[Guest]

This is a fantastic prospect.

[Jenko 53]

I agree with Kexikus, the TSLRP camera is really jerky. It looks like it was cooked up with Anicam. And I don't envy whoever made it, making cameras with Anicam is such a pain. 

 

Nice work as always, guy. 

[Alan The Magic Goose 14]

I think if getting a camera to move within the game engine is hard to do due to no 3D tweening, maybe less is more.
While I personally think your current camera showcase looks fine, I don't think it would hurt to consider maybe picking specific wide angle shots and just do carefull track and pans.
But I'm excited to see what the final result will be.

[JCarter426 1,214]

I don't use AniCam anymore, so it's not hard. But the cameras won't all be animated. I'll still make use of static ones, most likely, but my aim is to reduce the reuse of the same static angles, the default three angles that have a tendency to screw up, crossing the line issues, and in general frame them better and get rid of some awkward timing. I'll explain how it works a bit more as I do the scenes. I'm thinking of doing the HK & T3 scene first, as that has examples of everything I just mentioned.

[Domino5555 119]

How will you alter it?

[DarthParametric 3,782]

We'll need some sort of split-screen/side-by-side before and after showcase.

[Domino5555 119]

Agreed, my friend.

[JCarter426 1,214]

Oh, I'll be sure to.

 

I'm not sure I can really say any more yet... I haven't made any decisions. I'm used to making it up as I go. But I watched it last night and I can say that HK crosses the line several times (looks left in one shot, then right in the next) and there's an awkward pause before T3 actually zaps him. Those both have to go. There's also one angle that's used for most of the scene, and it's kind of awkward.

 

But on the subject of how to do the scenes, it seems that k_003ebo_enter and a_next_scene won't decompile. If anybody could get me .nss of those, that would really help with testing. Fortunately there are a few that I can do in the meantime that are easy to trigger, HK/T3 included. But it would be nice not to have to rely on that.

[Domino5555 119]

I think that the work done in the KOTOR movies could be useful for the Cinematic KOTOR mods.

[JCarter426 1,214]

Jenks and I are two of the animators for them, actually.

 

I know it's confusing because we go by our real names in the credits, and also my YouTube isn't my usual alias. But the three animators for the Logan films are, by our aliases here, Jenko, DarthYcey, and myself, and KOTOR_Trilogy is our director.

 

The stuff we do for the films relies on a lot of tricks, stuff that gets fixed in editing. And any camera trickery with GLIntercept cannot be utilized for mods. So making cutscenes for mods is a bit more difficult, and that's one of the reasons I want to do this. It's a bit of a challenge and a bit of practice, and I get tired of seeing the original cutscenes in their current buggy and sort of dull forms. The developers understandably didn't have the resources to make every scene perfect, mostly due to how finicky the engine is, so I have a lot of reasons to want to give them an overhaul.

[Domino5555 119]

Do you guys still have the original files from the movies? Because they could be useful in creating new shots ingame.

[Jenko 53]

Do you guys still have the original files from the movies? Because they could be useful in creating new shots ingame.

Yes, mostly. We've used Anicam in the past but that has been made redundant recently. The problem is that most of the time with the movies we've wanted to make the scenes different than the ones from the game - so I'm not sure how useful our files are for mods. Almost all of it is either not usable or very specific to the movies. I've got some stuff I'd like to convert into mods when I have the time, but that's a topic for a later time.

[Domino5555 119]

Well, I'd like to play around with the custom textures for the Star Forge Droid Factory in The Circle of Fate, or enjoy the custom skins of Kondor Moderro, Kasal, and Dominico.

[JCarter426 1,214]

We could probably make some of that happen, but it's kind of a tricky issue for us. I have no problem with people playing as a Zabrak or whatever, but if material we made specifically for our films turns up in another film it's a different matter. And again I have no problem with the material being used for other things - I have released some mod resources already, in fact - but there are things with which we would feel comfortable and things we would not... it's a matter of context. Once it's out there, it's out there, and we can't really dictate how it's used, or expect people to understand our contextual feelings. But I would like to release what we can if possible. We just have to figure out the appropriate way to do it.

 

My cinematic mod here is a good example of that. I've gotten requests for this sort of thing before, but I've always had to refuse due to conflict of interest. With our films, we go out of our way to make new things, do things a bit differently than they are in the game. I've been worried if I did something for a mod that we would later want in one of our films, then it would seem like we were just using a mod and that it was not something new made for the movie. So I've been trying to think of something I can do that avoids that issue. With these cutscenes, I know most of them probably won't end up in any future movies, and even if they were to, I'd probably do them differently anyway. These scenes all have to take place in specific places on the Ebon Hawk and play out in a specific way, which I would be free to change up for a movie in the way that I usually do. And, worst case scenario, if we end up just reusing the scene exactly how it is in the mod, well, that's not any worse than reusing one of the original game cutscenes, which we do from time to time anyway. In short, these cutscenes are straight from the game, and everybody knows they are from the game, and if they end up in a film they're either going to be straight from the game because they are game cutscenes, or they'll be completely different in a way that wouldn't fit in the game. So no conflict of interest.

 

The other stuff, like characters, locations, or animations made for a specific movie in a specific context, is a trickier matter. We'll have to discuss that. But for now, when I have the chance, I'll be bringing the same methods we've used in the films for almost ten years now... but for other things.

[superSzym 155]

Locations and character would not probably fit the game storyline anyway if not included altogether, but KotOR could use some better animations, like the kissing one for Bastila and Revan and Kreia utilizing Darth Malak's one-handed fighting style.

[JCarter426 1,214]

The Kreia animations I put together, and I would have no problem releasing them, but I believe there are other problems that Yce had to cover up with movie magic. The main issue is Malak does not have enough animations; Obsidian added a bunch of variations to the combat animations and the Malak model lacks corresponding ones. The best way to go about it would be to keep the original animations as a base and edit the left arm data - which is a thing I could do, but it would take a while. And I would want to fix some other issues with the supermodels before doing that, also. So it would take a while and I'll have to think about whether I want to do it, but that's a good suggestion. I kind of forgot about it after Knights and the Darkness because I haven't worked with K2 since then.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

The Kreia animations I put together, and I would have no problem releasing them, but I believe there are other problems that Yce had to cover up with movie magic. The main issue is Malak does not have enough animations; Obsidian added a bunch of variations to the combat animations and the Malak model lacks corresponding ones. The best way to go about it would be to keep the original animations as a base and edit the left arm data - which is a thing I could do, but it would take a while. And I would want to fix some other issues with the supermodels before doing that, also. So it would take a while and I'll have to think about whether I want to do it, but that's a good suggestion. I kind of forgot about it after Knights and the Darkness because I haven't worked with K2 since then.

How about Darth Malak one hand melee for K1? Didn't you do that for Darth Revan's model'in K1 for a familiar path?

 

Would you also be willing to release the Master Vardo and Mandalorian Duro NPC's?

[JCarter426 1,214]

If you're talking about the taunt animation in the opening, I believe that was Jenks. I doubt it would be viable, though. Malak has no facial animations due to having no face, and he's a lot taller than the other characters, so that usually causes problems... problems that possibly can be fixed, but it's not fun.

 

The alien heads have already been released for K2. I'm in the process of updating it and doing a K1 version. I guess they aren't on Deadly Stream because I meant to update them, but you can find them here.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

Where do you plan to add the TSLRP style camera in game? Because TSLRP originally had the Exile in a coma inside the Med Bay after Nihilus and the GenoHaradan and when that cutscene happens they are actually heading to Malachor itself, as you can obviously sniff out that cannot happen in this mod.

 

I'm in the process of updating it and doing a K1 version.

That's great to hear. Will they be a Modding Resource as well?