Soldier rest! Thy warfare o'er. Sleep the sleep thast knows not breaking. Dream of battled fields no more, days of danger nor nights of waking. - Sir Walter Scott
I wouldn't normally add a single model as an update to a hak. However I have done just that with the recent Weapon Pack v1.31 update after deciding it would be my final contribution to the NWN2 community.
It would have been great to get a Hall of Fame award for the Weapon Pack before I retired from active duty. With only two votes to go I guess it will get there eventually.
So I'm moving on to work on other things. There is a start-up indie project that has attracted some good Australian & New Zealand game design talent. It's still in the concept development stages and it has a long way to go. That's where I'll be focussing my energies for the short term, at least.
Thanks to those people that encouraged my work with comments or votes on my vault submissions.
Thanks also to those modders that gave credit for the BTH content they used in their modules or PWs. Many modders underestimate how important this simple act can be.
Thanks to those in the community that shared their knowledge so that people like me can join in the fun of adding to the game.
And thanks to those that read this blog.
Cheers - BTH
Just bend the pieces 'til they fit.
Veni, Vedi, Vici. - Julius CaesarThe BTH Model Clearance Sale is finished.
The Roman Soldier project was something that was originally destined for the Dark Ages PW. The collection of Roman soldiers' kit is a series of firsts for me. It started with the Scutum (shield) which was the very first shield model I made. Followed by the gladius (short sword) which was my first weapon. Eventually I made the Galea (helmet), again, my first and only helmet model. Finally I worked my way up to doing the Lorica Hamata (armour). Yep, the first attempt at modelling armour.
All the models were complete with the exception of the armour. I stopped work on the armour back in February this year and with the demise of the Dark Ages PW I expected it would remain unfinished. That was until I followed a link that led to Erik Breau's blog on his Europa PW with a fantasy Europe setting. A quick succession of emails with Erik and the models found a home on his PW.
Surprisingly, I completed the armour in very short time. I'm glad I finished it and I'm pleased these models will now be used. I'm sure Erik will take good care of them.
I'm not planning to release the helm or the armour to the vault, so if you can make use of these models please leave a comment here on this blog or email me via my NWVault profile: Barry_The_Hatchet
The sword is available in the BTH Weapon Pack and the shield was a new addition to the recently updated BTH Shield Pack.
So what now for me? When I started the BTH Model Clearance Sale back in September I gave myself until the end of the year to finish off my 3D work for Neverwinter Nights 2. I've done that now and for the moment I'm undecided as to what to do next.
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 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 AliToday 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.
Stop! Hammer time - MC Hammer
Every now and then things just fall into place. The meshes work the first time, the textures seem to make themselves and the model turns out a treat. Today I had one of those days. Which is good, because yesterday I had one of the other sorts of days. Yesterday was a day where nothing seemed to go right and it was my own doing.
I had been trying to finish off the latest series of sword models and at the same time attempting to make efficient use of a texture by using it for more than one mesh. I like to produce models that are constructed with performance in mind. Using a texture for multiple meshes is one way of trimming the fat.
When I create a texture for a model I make extensive use of layers. In the case of yesterday's texture I had combined the texture for swords 74 and 75. The texture had 31 layers that include the UV layouts, the textures used to construct the normal map as well as the components of the diffuse texture. The idea is to blend various layers to produce a texture with the desired qualities.
Somewhere along the way I forgot which layers to combine to make the textures I needed. So in my quest to be efficient I burnt a lot of time. And it meant that all the swords in both the 74 & 75 series had to be tested in-game again. Sword model 75 had plagued me with small problems from start to end.
I've learnt my lesson. If a texture is already complex, don't try to utilise the spare space with another complex texture. In other words, I will try not to let my drive for efficient modelling impede my progress.
But even when I'm having a bad day at the workbench I try to reach a milestone. So the end result of yesterday's effort was the completion of the combined texture and finalising the sword series 75 with the addition of the short sword and dagger.
By comparison, today was a great day at the workbench. I started by taking my own advice about planning the model before I start. In this case it was a quick concept drawing of what I wanted. And what I wanted was a big mother war hammer with the same burning ember qualities as the recent quarterstaff and club.
I had none of the difficulties with today's war hammer that I had with sword 75. No folding meshes and no restarting the model. The texture came together almost too easily and in a matter of a couple of hours I had my big smouldering war hammer. Stop! Hammer time.
The whole effect I was chasing here was a weapon that is burning at its heart. The smouldering soul of this beast can be seen through cracked and fissured surface. Flames lick the head of the hammer, which holds the core of the heat and the glowing embers die out down the handle. The hand grip, while also burnt, is not smouldering with the same intensity as the head. It leaves a trail of sparks and flame in it's wake and gives off a feint flickering light.
With a successful day behind me I am loath to fiddle with the textures too much, but my original idea was for a cracked metal texture. The texture shown in this screenshot is based on a burnt wooden beam. I shall have a play with overlaying an iron texture. But that's for another day. I've earned a day off tomorrow. The weather is fantastic this time of year and I'm going to enjoy it.
Over the next week I shall put together an axe model in the same style and then, I think, my weapon pack will be ready to assemble.
Never give a sword to a man who can't dance - ConfuciusI have made good progress on the latest sword model this week. I wanted to give the blade some etched runes and although I've done similar effects on other swords, the small scale of the graphics threw a few challenges at me. In hindsight, I could have made it easier on myself had I planned the mesh of the model to match what I had in mind for the texture.
The challenges that presented themselves while I was tweaking this model provided an opportunity to explore new ways of doing things. So while it look me a little longer than expected, I did learn a few new tricks along the way.
The screenshot on the left shows the Longsword version of the model. There are matching Bastard Sword and Great Sword models too. I should be able to scale it down further to make a Short Sword as well. A Dagger model may be a little too much to hope for this model.
The runes along the blade translate very roughly to Troll's bane sorrow and death. The claim made by the runes may be pushing it a little for a short sword, never mind a dagger. But it would be good to have the complete set as I've done with the other sword models.
Never judge a book by its movie - J. W. Eagan
After the very basic video I posted last week, I thought I'd try my hand at something a little more creative. So, this week I've mis-spent my time by exploring the world of video editing software. That mostly consisted of me bumbled around blindly trying different settings until I worked out how the damned software hung together.
The video didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it and a there were a lot of takes that ended up on the virtual cutting room floor, but overall I'm happy with the result.
Making movies took more time than I was expecting and I didn't have a lot of time left over for the 3D work this week. However, I did make some improvements to the model's visual effect by adding a weapon trail that momentarily flares up like a trail of sparks and flame and I've also included a low intensity flickering light. The light is most noticeable in the close-ups where it appears as though the flames are reflecting on the face of the PC.
I've also added a flaming club model in a similar style to the quarterstaff.
You can view the video by downloading the wmv file from the link directly below, or you can view the (much smaller) embedded video.
Download the large format video - BTH Flaming Weapons Demo 2
The limited time I had available for modelling this week was spent starting a new sword model. So far I have the blade mesh and the basic textures completed. I'll be working on the cross-guard and grip this week and adding some runes to the blade texture.
My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night;But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light - Edna St. Vincent Millay
I've been fiddling with a new quarterstaff model today. And just like Millay's candle, it burns at both ends.
This quarterstaff has a burning heart that smoulders menacingly just under the surface. Red hot coals glow from the cracked ends of the staff while small flames gently lick the charred surface.
I love the concept of this model and I think I shall apply it to some other weapons. It would look great as a club or any other wood based weapon. I'll try to match a metallic texture to apply to blades. I'm thinking a dirty big axe or hammer.
I made the visual effect for this quarterstaff from the torch flame effect. I slowed it down considerably so it has a more gentle flame; one that suggests a slow smouldering core. It looks more ominous, or perhaps just quietly dangerous, with the gentle flames breaking through. You can get an idea of what it looks like from the video.
The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with. - Marty Feldman
My work on the new sword model continues. I've made some changes to the normal map of the hilt, added a small celtic trinity to the cross guard and adjusted the specularity of the blade. I have also re-scaled the original great sword model into bastard sword, longsword and short sword dimensions.
With the new specularity settings the edge of the blade now catches more of the reflected light and gives the sword a little more life.
I think I'm just about done with this model. The shot on the left shows the short sword version of this series of models.
Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable - William Shakespeare
For the most part I like to make custom content that will be useful to the wider NWN2 community. Sometimes I do things just for fun, like the severed heads. Sometimes I make stuff that people ask for, like the Rune Placeables. My Module Testing Toolkit is targeted at a niche audience and I don't expect that will be hugely popular. But overall I like to know that I'm spending my time on building custom content that is appreciated.
The best way for me to gauge popular opinion on a particular project is to look at the downloads and votes that my NWVault submissions collect. So it's been two weeks since I released the update on the BTH Watchtowers and the update has only attracted one extra vote and twenty downloads. I begin to wonder if I'm wasting my time making models that only a handful of people are going to use.
I've decided to drop the rural gate model and make the final watchtower update with the the new Archer's Platform and the walkmesh helpers. I still have to package the new models and write a how-to for the walkmesh helpers. It all takes time to do it properly and looking at the response to the previous watchtower update I don't think the additional effort involved in making a gate model is worthwhile. The new models are "more of the same" and it doesn't seem to be what builders want.
I had been thinking about re-vamping my house pack, but again, the interest in those models has been minimal. I have another 5 or 6 models that I had done previously for the Aussie NWN boys, all I need to do is package them up and submit them. But the interest from the community doesn't seem to be there.
In the meantime I've been playing with the texture for the new great sword. I have added a subtle pattern to the lower part of the blade. The pattern is a combination of diffuse texture and bump map. It doesn't jump out at you, but that was the look I was trying to achieve.
I also gave the blade a very sublte taper. It's barely noticeable, but somehow it improves the overall look of the weapon.
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. - Robert Burns
I had all the good intentions of starting the gate model for the Watchtowers hak today, but I got distracted by a post on the Frontier Reborn forum about custom content daggers and I ended up making a Great Sword to add to my collection of weapon models. Don't ask me how a forum post about daggers turned into a new Great Sword. But that's what happened.
I hate the original NWN2 weapons, especially the swords. They are ugly. How ugly?.... Very ugly. So ugly they make my eyes bleed. When they fell from the ugly tree, they hit every branch on the way down, where they were set upon by Obsidian modellers who proceeded to beat them with ugly sticks. (probably the same ugly sticks that were used to "model" the NWN2 female heads)
The original NWN2 swords are an example of being frugal with polygons. They are also frugal with their textures. Which is another way of saying they look like they were built from Lego blocks and that they are ugly. (How ugly?....)
Now, I'm not suggesting that you have to have a high polygon model to make a sword look good. But the Obsidian guys could have put a little bit more effort into their weapons. I'm not a big fan of the high-fantasy style either, with their improbable designs and more spikes than an echidna. Looking at some fantasy weapons, it's hard to imagine wielding such a beast without maiming yourself before you get to the bad guys.
So anyway, here it is. 396 polygons, ready to lay some double-handed smack down onto what ever beasties you encounter on your NWN2 adventures.
I should be able to easily convert this model into a Bastard Sword and a Long Sword with a bit of careful scaling.
I'm probably going to add some detail to the texture on the blade too. Something like an etched pattern. I'll collect all the odds and sods weapons I've modelled over the last twelve months and throw them into a hak at some stage.
