A mace by any other name

We cannot be both the world's leading champion of peace and the world's leading supplier of the weapons of war - Jimmy Carter

When is a mace not a mace? When you add spikes to it and it becomes a morningstar.

You see, I made a mace. Only I made it with spikes. And the more I thought about it the more I decided that it was more like a morningstar. I posed the question to some NWN2 mates and the consensus was: Mace + Spikes = Morningstar. No big deal. I reused the mesh and the texture and replaced the spikes with knobs to make a mace as well. The mace was then scaled into a warmace, making three weapons for the price of one.

The mace/morningstar were a part of the v1.30 update for the BTH Weapon Pack which added 16 weapons to the pack. The update also includes the weapons I made for the Shattered Dreams project. I haven't heard anything from the project leaders for a number of months and I assume the project has been abandoned. In any case, it's better to release the models to the community than have them sitting around idle on my hard drive.

And so the BTH Model Clearance Sale continues. Next on the agenda is a final update to my Shield Pack.

The BTH Model Clearance Sale

My warehouse is drastically over-stocked. Everything must go!

Over the last couple of years I've worked on a number of NWN2 projects that never made it to completion. The rate of project failure has been quite spectacular and I think that is a reflection on how much effort it takes to design and build a quality NWN2 module or persistent world. My only contribution to most of these projects has been to make custom models which is only a small part when you consider the writing, building and scripting that goes into completing a module. Running an amateur gaming project that relies on volunteer contributions must be like herding cats.

At the end of the day it seems a shame to have created custom models that won't get used. So I've decided to gather the models that are laying around like unclaimed baggage and release what I can to the vault with the hope that someone can use them.

I've updated the BTH Houses hak with models that were done for the terminally ill Dark Ages PW project. Unfortunately Dark Ages only ever made it to a basic alpha release before being left to wither. A pity. I was looking forward to playing Dark Ages with the AussieNWN guys. Such is life.

The update to the BTH Houses hak includes 4 re-skinned OC house models plus an inn as well as textures for the Standard Interior tileset that match the external stone or earth walls of the house models. The re-skinned houses have been dirtied up a little in keeping with the rustic feel of the other BTH houses.



Over the coming weeks I'll work my way through all the unused models I have and release what I can. I think this will help draw a line under my NWN2 work and tidy up the remaining loose ends. A sense of getting my affairs in order, so to speak.

Equipping the Dogs of War

Dogs of war and men of hate
Without a cause, we don't discriminate - Pink Floyd

This page is way overdue for an update so I'm going to post a spread of screenshots of some of the weapons and shields that I've made for BouncyRock's Shattered Dreams module and the BTH Weapon Pack.

So starting with the Shattered Dreams tribal theme; we have some leather shields and primitive weapons as well as the Axes and Shield carried by Elysius' Knight. The screenshots are not taken from the Shattered Dreams mod and so the setting is a little out of context (especially the dude wearing a Roman helm while wielding the flint dagger). Nevertheless here they are.








Below are the models I recently added to the BTH Weapon Pack. I really enjoyed making these (and the Knight's equipment above) and I went looking for inspiration among the Warhammer Online concept art to help me achieve the tone I was looking for. I love the hammer, all the markings are worn, there are runes embossed in the head and it looks as though it's been around for many a long year.

I have a couple more weapons in mind with a similar feel to them. That should keep the Dogs of War happy.



And lastly, I was pleased to see my Module Testing Toolkit receive a Hall of Fame award. It's great to see a niche product, like the MTT, get such good support from module builders.

A mixed bag

I used to be indecisive, now I’m not so sure. - W.C. Fields

So the last five weeks have produced a bit of a mixed bag in terms of my NWN2 work. I've been a little scattered with my efforts as I jumped from one idea to another and from one project to another.

BouncyRock's Shattered Dreams module is coming along nicely and you can read more about that on the BouncyRock forums here: BR Shattered Dreams and you can read about the interesting work Elysius is doing on his blog. Now that the module has been announced I'll post some screenshots of the work I've done for Shattered Dreams in the coming weeks.

Aussie NWN - Dark Ages PW (the other project I'm working on) has an alpha module ready and is in the early stages of testing. It's been a long time coming but I'm looking forward to this PW coming to life. They are are waiting on the long promised fixes that are set for release with the 1.23 patch.

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to try my hand at character skinning and with that in mind I set about making some Roman-like armour to compliment the other work I'd done for Dark Ages. I basically made up a Frankenstein model from bits and pieces using the OC naked model for the arms and legs and one of the chain shirt models for the torso.

Bolting all the pieces together was the easy part and once I started to work with the skin modifier, I soon realised how much work it was going to be. It took a lot of experimentation to get the legs working so they didn't break out of the armour during the character animations. I used a combat animation widget I'd scripted to help me test the new armour and it proved to be a valuable tool. In any case, I managed to tweak the lower part of the model to achieve a very good result. It wasn't until I ran the OC chain shirt model through the same animations that I realised I'd actually improved my model over the OC model in terms of reducing the amount clipping.

Having finished the legs I moved to the arms. I completed about 90% of the skinning on this armour before I was distracted by something else but I intend to get back to it soon and complete the model. Here's the model so far.


The combat animation widget that I'd used to test the Roman armour was included as part of an update to my Module Testing Toolkit. Along with a module reload widget and some redesigned GUI functionality, the "Ring of the Dancing Warrior" formed part of the MTT v2.01h update and brings up more than six years of work on this toolkit.

I could not count the number of hours the MTT has saved me in testing time over the years. This little tool started life as a set of NWN1 scripts that morphed into the DM and player widget used on the Aeon NWN1 PW and in 2007 I re-wrote the core scripts for NWN2, adding a GUI menu to replace the conversation driven menu. If you have any interest in building NWN2 modules you should check out what the MTT can do and how it can help.

I have also released an update to the BTH Weapon Pack to include four new axe models. Three of which are shown below.


And lastly (and quickly, because my weekly NWN2 multi-player campaign is about to start) I did a re-skin of the arrow quiver model for the Dark Ages PW.


So there you have it, a mixed bag of NWN2 goodies.

Rome wasn't built in a day

she was wise, subtle, and knew more than one way to skin a cat - Mark Twain : A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

Much of my NWN2 modeling for the past few weeks has been for the BouncyRock project and we have a Secret Squirrel agreement in place and so I haven't been able to write about it here. But after reading Elysius' series of blog entries on creature modeling I decided to experiment with a technique of using a high polygon model to project a normal map that is used on a low polygon model. This is a method I had previously read about but never tried before.

Until now, all of my normal maps have been created in Photoshop from grey scale bump maps and converted to normal maps with the nVidia Photoshop plugin. It's proven itself to be a very effective way to make a normal map as can be seen in my shield pack. But while reading Elysius' creature blog I realised I had more or less stagnated in my modeling methods and I was relying on the same set of techniques I had discovered from tutorials when I first started NWN2 modeling. I guess this is one of the dangers of being self taught. If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. So I challenged myself to learn some new techniques and experiment with new ways (for me, at least) of doing things.

Using a high polygon model as the source for a normal map is a relatively straight forward process. Basically, make a high polygon model with all the detail and a replica low polygon model that the game engine can render. Use the high polygon model to render a normal map that is then applied to the low polygon model. Simple.

So I decided to try this out on a Roman helmet model I was making for the AussieNWN Dark Ages NWN2 PW. While it took me a bit of fiddling to get the high poly model the way I wanted it, I think it was worth the time taken to learn the normal map rendering process. The normal map on this model is the combination of high poly normal map rendering blended with a bump map conversion.

The Roman helmets often had a highly tinned finish, so it's too bad the NWN2 engine doesn't do reflections. The best I could manage was to set the specularity to represent shiny metal and add a touch of blue colour to the specularity settings. Thanks to Slimer for the tip about using colour.

The Dark Ages Roman soldier is coming together slowly. We have a couple of Roman short swords, a shield and now the helm.

I'm going to learn how to do character skinning and work on some Roman armour next. It's time I stepped up my modelling from simple items and placeables and moved onto something more challenging.

And on another note; the NWN Aeon PW I helped build with Sporaxis and Relexx has been revived by Sporaxis. I put a lot of effort into the custom tilesets for that world (about six or seven tilesets from memory) so it's great to see that the module is being used again. Sporaxis is converting the world from its original custom setting to Forgotten Realms. I wish I knew then, what I know now about modeling and I would have really given those tilesets a good going over. As tempting as it is to fix up some of the old models (like floating rocks lol) I have my hands full with NWN2.

You can find the details for the Aeon PW on Sporaxis' forums. Long live the Aeon PW!

A change is as good as a holiday

Chance favors the prepared mind - Louis Pasteur

It's been a while.

I've been on a bit of a break. In fact I've done bugger all in the way of 3D stuff. I even took some time off work, packed a tent, my two dogs and enough beer for a week and headed south to bum around some of the places I used to camp and fish in my younger days. Quite a bit has changed in the forests of the south west of Western Australia. I hope the mining royalties that the West Australian government are getting from Alcoa is worth the destruction of state forest and the disruption to recreation. But it was great to get away from the technology that has dominated my life in recent years.

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Here's a screenshot from the ultra-realistic game called "The Real World - Life Outdoors" expansion.

BTH Mini Review - Fantastic graphics and realistic companions. But many of the NPCs are complete tossers, there's not enough loot and the deity system is broken. The game enforces an ethics system called "political correctness" and some factions are easily offended if you choose an inappropriate conversation response. The game also lacks DMFI support.

Summary - "The Real World - Life Outdoors" is not recommended for powergamers or those that like to role play chaotic evil alignments. 6/10)

(Campsite at Waroona)

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One of the things that greeted me on my return was a message from Dirtywick. It was brief and to the point, basically asking me if I wanted to join a NWN2 project. It was perfect timing as far as I was concerned as I was looking for something to inspire my modeling. Skipping over the nitty gritty and jumping forward in time by a couple of weeks to the present and I find myself involved in a BouncyRock Entertainment project and in the company of some very fine NWN2 talent. Elysius' blog entry lists the people involved in the new project.

I can't reveal much of what we are working on. But I am excited about being involved in a community project with such depth of talent and I've already started work on some custom shields.

So this project is good news in that I have a challenging few months ahead me and bad news in that I don't expect to be releasing any additional custom content until after the BouncyRock project is completed.

On another matter, the NWN PW I co-developed with Sporaxis and Relexx has been raised from the grave. Sporaxis has decided to dust off the Aeon: Frontier PW module and take it in a new direction. The work I did on the Aeon: Frontier tilesets was pivotal to me moving on to 3D modelling for NWN2. It will be good to see Aeon running again even if I don't have the time to be involved. The Aeon forums can be found here : http://aeon.heavenforum.com/

A Milestone

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights - Muhammad Ali

Today I released the BTH Weapon Pack, my seventh custom content submission for NWN2. By coincidence it is exactly twelve months ago to the day that I released my first NWN2 models.

The BTH Weapon Pack came together nicely with the addition of three more models in the Smouldering Weapon range and includes a total of 36 weapons.

It's taken most of the day to collect the screenshots, package the model files and run a final test. The submission is currently waiting for approval on the NWVault site. The preparation for the release gave me the opportunity to look at some of the early weapon models I made for AussieNWN and reflect on how both my 2D and 3D skills have improved.

It's not at all difficult to pick out the short sword models that were my first attempts at making weapons. The dates on those first weapon models go back to December 2007. The BTH Weapon Pack has been a long time in the making. In fact, this project has been so stretched out that while I was preparing the files today I re-discovered a couple of models I'd completely forgotten about.

Anyhoo, here's the link to the BTH Weapon Pack on NWVault. I'll leave you with a screenshot of the the complete set of Smouldering Weapons. I'm going to fiddle with another short video.