[WIP] Weapon model overhaul project

[Toasty Fresh]

Downloads:

Heavy Blaster models here: http://www.mediafire.com/?y1fyae7qf90j13c
Repeater models here: http://www.mediafire.com/?vhnuvbzc636xeha
Blaster Rifle models here: http://www.mediafire.com/?e2qjz270rd2efsy
Blaster Pistol models here: http://www.mediafire.com/?di2lo51ciixlcjl
Vibrosword models here: http://www.mediafire.com/?qmdghqyag9hfrr2
Vibro-double blade models here: http://www.mediafire.com/?h1xhistdccv9376
Double-ended swords, longswords and shortswords: http://www.mediafire.com/?1ued4gkan9dcbns

To do:

Disruptor Rifles
Disruptor Pistols
Ion Rifles
Ion Pistols
Blaster Carbines
Bowcasters
Heavy Repeaters
Holdout Blasters
Vibroblades
Stun Sticks

Low priority
Gaffi sticks
Lightsaber hilts
Staffs

Hello folks!

I don't expect that anybody remembers but a year or two ago I posted an idea of making new models for each of the weapons in KoTOR. Back when it came out, KoTOR wasn't a bad looking game, the textures were nice, the effects were nice, and those are still adequate by today's standards, but one thing that always grated me about the game was its weapon models. Some of them look horrendous. So, taking inspiration from this guy who had a similiar idea http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=138643 I'm making new models and textures for each of them. Not only are the default kinds going to look loads better, but each variant will have new added features, features that make sense.

Here are some renders.





And like I said, unique version of weapons will have additions that make sense. For example, this is the model for the Sith Sniper Rifle:



Criticism, ideas and suggestions are all welcome. I'm looking forward to hearing thoughts about this

[Sith Holocron]

Toasty Fresh, I much as I'd like to see some new weapon models, one thing should take priority over the models. As far as weapons are concerned in KOTOR and TSL, that would be the weapon textures. Somehow I doubt people would be as fixated on weapon models if the makers put in a little extra effort on the weapons skins. The last project I saw that actually dealt with such a thing fizzled out some time ago.

I had a point with all of this, I swear! When you skin your work, please go the extra mile.

[Toasty Fresh]

Yeah that goes without saying. The textures are definitely going to be at least 256x256, probably 512x512.

[Sith Holocron]

I would suggest the 512 x 512, myself.

[Toasty Fresh]

I'll do a texture at 512, get it ingame and see how it looks. I don't want to put too much detail into the textures, it will draw attention away from the rest of the game's graphics. It has to fit into KoTOR's style.

[Zhaboka]

That's actually not a bad point. It's like when you stick a super-high-res Ebon Hawk into the game and it contrasts with all its medium-res surroundings.

Anyways, that second screenie looks awesome, as they all do, but I love the hollow-ish bits on the blaster rifle.

[Darth DeadMan]

The models look quite good, I can't wait to test them with new (not yet released) version of my Vibrosword replacement pack

[Rinku]

Those models look very promising! Very nice job and I hope you stick with this

[Dak Drexl]

Very very nice job! I've always wanted a mod like this and like others have pointed out they have not been finished yet. Good luck!

[Marius Fett]

Very nice, I look forward to some ingame pictures.

[Toasty Fresh]

Thanks for the comments everybody!

Finishing up on a texture for the rifle.

[Toasty Fresh]

After 2 hours or so of screwing around with NWMax and MDLOps I finally managed to get it ingame to have a look, but something wierd has happened. I can't really provide a screen as it's difficult to see but basically some pieces of the model seem to be missing UV maps and the texture is all screwed up. I guess I'll have to try importing it again and see if I can get it to work.

[Snard]

I know you just said that in a screenie you cant really see it, but could you please provide one? If you can see it I'm sure others can see it as well, and we can try to help you.

[Toasty Fresh]

I'll post one in a sec. BTW, is there any kind of flying camera mode in KoTOR? I'd be able to show you easily then.

[Snard]

Originally Posted by Toasty Fresh

I'll post one in a sec. BTW, is there any kind of flying camera mode in KoTOR? I'd be able to show you easily then.

Sadly, its only in the xbox versions of K1 and K2. The best advice i can give is to use another character's first person view(Caps Lock) to look at it.

[Toasty Fresh]

Perhaps I was mistaken, you can get a good view of it here:



And another one in first person.

[Snard]

Hm, can you tell me what the textures are supposed to look like and how they are out of place? I believe i see it, but i just want to be sure.

[Toasty Fresh]

In comparison, here is a render of it. No lighting effects are used so this should ideally represent what you see ingame.



Most of it looks like it should, but some parts are warped, notably the scope, barrel and bipod.

[Snard]

Try to adjust the mapping and maybe the skin, then tell me if it looks any better.

[Toasty Fresh]

Do you mean UV mapping? It can't be that because it looks fine if I import it from the override folder then look at it in Max.

I found a 3-year-old thread with a similar problem.

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=191929

It's mentioned in there that "detach faces" helps but I've no idea what that means.

[Snard]

What version of MDLops are you using? and what program are you using for the 3D models?

[Toasty Fresh]

I'm using 3DS Max for modeling and using MDLops 0.5.0. I heard there were problems with 0.6.0 so I rolled back.

[Snard]

I've 3DS Max and gmax. If you have Gmax try using it and see if it works better. Also, what version of 3ds max?

[Toasty Fresh]

2009 (64 bit).

[Snard]

I heard some people had troubles with 2009. I don't really have much experience with UV mapping and such. One person who might be able to help is Quanon. These things are his specialty.

[Toasty Fresh]

Doesn't matter now, got it working! Just used GMax like you said

Thanks a lot. Now I can get back to actually modeling stuff!

EDIT: Think I have everything I need worked out now, here's an ingame screen of the rifle

[Dak Drexl]

Just to help in the future, that mapping problem happens to me when I resetxform a lot of the time. What I do is resetxform before I even apply the UVWMap modifiers. After I'm done skinning, I save the UVWMap. I resetxform again and (sometimes it doesn't even mess up) when it messes up again I just apply the UVWMap I had just saved and it works fine. I hope that confusing mess I just wrote helps a little haha...

The model looks great in-game. My only suggestions are that you should check on the lighting; check this thread out and make sure to check out both solutions: http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=207929

Also I think you should look into adding some slight metal shaders for the models. If you don't know how to do that, just use the forum search for something like "shiny texture", "txi", "CM_baremetal", or something

Good job though, I'm liking the models a lot.

[Xarwarz]

Looking grand so far yes it could use a shine to it. and if possible some kind of reflect in the scope so far so good

[Fallen Guardian]

Looks great!

[UltimateHK47]

LOVE ITTT!

[Toasty Fresh]

Added some shine. I'd been trying to figure out how to do that for ages



Hopefully by the end of the day I should have some screens of a finished Heavy Blaster Pistol and some variants of it

[Marius Fett]

That's a vast improvement over the original models, nice work on this!

Might want to turn the CM_BareMetal down slightly however, but that's just my personal opinion.

[Dak Drexl]

I agree with Marius, the shine is a little strong. Usually just like a 20% or so opacity level gives a nice subtle shine. But mess around with that.

[Toasty Fresh]

Changed the shine a little bit, looks a bit better I think.



Also finished the heavy blaster.

[Marius Fett]

Originally Posted by Toasty Fresh

Changed the shine a little bit, looks a bit better I think.

Oh yes, that looks a lot better, nice job!

Originally Posted by Toasty Fresh

Also finished the heavy blaster.

That is such an improvement over the original, it's unbelieveable.

I look forward to seeing what you accomplish with the rest of the weapon models!

[Toasty Fresh]

Thanks.

I'm now having a problem where the unique versions of the Heavy Blaster come up ingame as pure white with normal shading.



I've tried just about everything and it is always pure white. It's not the texture because I tried a different texture on it and it still didn't show properly. There's obviously something wrong with my export and it's not linking to the right texture but I have no idea how to amend that.

[Zhaboka]

Oh gosh, that shine is great! Loads better than the original.

[Marius Fett]

Try opening the ascii model in Notepad (the one you exported from Max) and check that the texture is listed. If not, add it in, save then compile.

[Snard]

Those look amazing. Literally the best blaster models I've seen for kotor.

The blasters you're having problems with kinda look like Uzi's.

[Fallen Guardian]

It looks great, although you may want to make the heavy blaster's texture darker in order to be more in feeling with the original game's look.