Reforged: Chain Weapons

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               Available soon on the Vault, something my PW's players have been enjoying for a month or so.

I've completely remade the three types of chain weapons (light flails, heavy flails, and morningstars) for NWN with higher polygon models, with more details (gasp! actual chains!) and brand new textures.  All-new inventory icons (made from screenshots of the weapons) are included with the models.

This will be available in both hak and override versions.  I don't know if the Vault will post new content tomorrow (it being xmas eve and all), but if the folks there do, it'll be a nice little xmas present for y'all.

I'll post the link to download it once it becomes available, but for now, here's a little preview shot taken from in the toolset.  In-game screenshots will be on the Vault page.


For the non-forum-shrunken version, click here.

Oh, and for those wondering why there's not a "redux" in the title?  A redux is when something is brought back (thank you, dictionary.com)...these are completely remade, so "redux" just doesn't fit.  I think "reforged" works much better for weapon models.

There are other weapon models I've reforged, and I plan on publicly releasing each set after Aenea's players get to use them for a month or so (they've been enjoying new axes for about a week now).  By the time I'm finished, I should have all of the default NWN weapons redone.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_WebShaman]

               Amazing work!  Can't wait to see the rest!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               Sweet
               
               

               
            

[Legacy__six]

               Pretty cool. They certainly beat my old redone morningstars for details (heh, hopefully people will stop asking me to release them now - I don't even have the files anymore)

Since you're planning to do more... and I'm very slowly doing some work on weapons for Q... perhaps we should avoid overlapping on our work? On pure bias I started with longswords. (Yes there was a hidden question in that sentence, too)

[smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/bandit.png[/smilie] 
               
               

               

                     Modifié par _six, 24 décembre 2011 - 03:16 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Frith5]

               Nice work! Thank you for sharing!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <Shaking his head in admiration...>

Beautiful, AD.

Of course, I just spent about 8 hours drudge work going through Feanor's Mediaeval Armoury 2.1 trying figure out whether I could justify adding another hak to my required list (Had to, it's just too much goodness!).

Now I get to revisit it in light of those gorgeous engines of destruction above :-P

Thank you :-)

<...and rue>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 24 décembre 2011 - 06:18 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               Thanks for the feedback already, all.  Just wait 'til you get to swing them around in-game (or log into Aenea and buy a couple from the weaponmaker in the starting village). '>

_six wrote...
Since you're planning to do more... and I'm very slowly doing some work on weapons for Q... perhaps we should avoid overlapping on our work? On pure bias I started with longswords. (Yes there was a hidden question in that sentence, too)

Unfortunately, I think we're going to have overlap between the models I end up making and those of Project Q for a few reasons.
- These (and my other reforged weapons) will still use all three "part layers", and I've seen where the Q ones consolidated the middles and bottoms to make room for a "top vfx" layer (a great idea to get around that limitation from before NWNCX allowed the addition of new weapon vfxs...and not everyone uses NWNCX).
- The original intent for these was actually a player-side override, the hak version is just a bonus for module makers that want to ensure players get the upgraded look.
- My icons don't really line up with the existing ones from the default resources or from other hak packages.  I've actually been making up to 10 color variants of each weapon part for my PW, so I'm making all the inventory icons at the same time so that they match up properly.
- I have plans for longswords, I just haven't started those yet since there's already a bunch of longsword models that have been added for hak use over the years.  Everybody likes longswords it seems, so I went with the oft-neglected flails and morningstars.
- I'm not sure how far from the originals you're taking your models from the originals...I'm going for similar to the originals so that any module makers don't have to update item descriptions if they use these (unless they are using the "copper" color for "rust", in which case there'll be a huge difference since my new copper is brightly polished).

I still want to see what you come up with for new weapon models.  More variety is always a great thing in this game.

Hey everyone, if you haven't checked out Project Q yet (or don't remember all the stuff that's in it), go check it out.  They've got some seriously talented artists that have done (and are still doing) work for that collection.  I hear version 1.5 is due out soon...

Ack.  Gotta run.  Kids and xmas and all.  Happy holidays, everyone.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy__six]

               Re: looks, my thoughts were to ignore the models and just use the icons as a guide. So they shouldn't deviate much from what anyone is expecting (although any comments in descriptions like "with a blue gem embedded" might have to change, because the icons and models pretty often ignore one another in that regard).

That said I don't think anybody will mind having more to choose from. And I dare say you'll get them done plenty faster than I regardless, Mr Dragon.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               

_six wrote...
Re: looks, my thoughts were to ignore the models and just use the icons as a guide. So they shouldn't deviate much from what anyone is expecting (although any comments in descriptions like "with a blue gem embedded" might have to change, because the icons and models pretty often ignore one another in that regard).

My new icons are made from screenshots of the weapon models. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               Reforged: Chain Weapons

Need a Santa emoticon.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               I remember a triple headed flail in Baldur's Gate II--I think.  Is something like that possible?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Builder_Anthony]

               Merry Christmas
Maybe taking out the chain altogether and the handel and texture it something that looks magical so a wizzard can have some sort of orb weapon.Im not sure if you can add a vfx to that or not with glowing but maybe taking that part of the model out will do that.I dont know how things are peiced together but thought id mention it as something that may intrest you.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy__six]

               I'm not sure the orb thing would work with the dangly chain animations of the flail. Although as a normal handheld weapon given rags' Arcane phenotype (which has both weapons levitated around) that orb idea could look awesome IMO.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_gutwrench66kg]

               Six has the right idea.. you'd want to make it a mace  or a club instead of a flail

If it were a mace or club, it wouldn't have the chain swinging sound effect, and it would still be useable with weapon finesse (as the wizard is probably aiming it, not swinging it with his own strength).

Use Ragnarok's Arcane phenotype,  give the weapon the "no combat damage" property  to remove the default bludgeoning damage from the item, and then give it Elemental/magical/negative/divine  and voila.. you're good to go.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               Thanks to feedback on the Vault, I found and fixed a VFX issue with the new morningstars. It was a partially rotated node in the top part models (Fx_Node)...yes, CC folks, VFX often closely align with nodes, and if a node is turned, so is the visual...gotta (re)learn things the hard way sometimes, I tell ya...

I added an optional iprp_visualfx.2da file for those players using NWNCX that have found their item visuals no longer showing up in-game.

Also, added a demo module for those using the override version of the download. If one wants to use it to test the hak version, just open it in the toolset, add the hak like normal, and run it.

Thanks for the great feedback so far.

3RavensMore wrote...
I remember a triple headed flail in Baldur's Gate II--I think.  Is something like that possible?

The flail of ages (which also came in a 4-headed and a 5-headed configuration in Throne of Bhaal) was kind of cool.  It might be possible to make as a new model, but would take some work to get the multiple chains to look right unless someone has the skill to animate them all with slight differences.  A couple of my bone flails from the October CCC have multiple bones together, but they swing from a single chain.

On the topic of an "orb weapon", I think something small and simple like a dagger would work well.  The model would be easy enough (I've got various colored orbs of light already with some of my PW's magical staves), and something as small as a dagger would work better for a ball of light that might look ok even held in the hands.