Back in 2010, there was this beginner model maker that went by the name of "The Amethyst Dragon" who wanted to contribute to some new "custom content challenge" thing. He decided that to fit the pirate theme, he'd contribute a pair of parrots...because all good pirates need a parrot on their shoulders.
The inexperienced model maker found the perfect parrot to work with, already made to sit on a perch as a placeable. Some exporting, importing, cutting, and repositioning later...and there was a parrot! A retexture later, and there were two!
A couple years pass, and it's brought to the model maker's attention that something just isn't right about the parrots. Once adopted by a pirate, the birds were just too stubborn. They never wanted to leave the shoulder of their owner!
At first thinking it was a scripting issue, the model maker attempted script changes and methods for removing the birds...but still they stayed put. Then the model maker went into the models and manually changed the "classification" from character to effect (which it should have been in the first place). Still the persistent birds dug in their talons, refusing to be removed from "their" pirates.
Finally, very late last night, the model maker realized that the parrots still had their old animations from their days as a placeable. He removed those animations, tested his existing scripting (which is also used for his perfectly functioning VFX quivers and arrows), and lo and behold...the parrots could now be removed from the shoulders they'd been attached to for years!
Thanks to a timely email from Proleric this morning, I was reminded that I needed to actually get the fixed VFX parrot models out to the community. They're now available for download from the original
Sept. 2010 CCC page at the Vault as the file "parrot_fix.7z". Just download after you've grabbed the original CCC files and overwrite the old parrots with the new ones.
Aar! The parrots be fixed now.
