Author Topic: ia.pepper's Swanky Energy Glaives [w/ Download]  (Read 469 times)

Legacy_ia.Pepper

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ia.pepper's Swanky Energy Glaives [w/ Download]
« on: April 09, 2015, 09:58:25 am »


               

Download Link


http://neverwinterva...-energy-glaives


 


 


 She's done it again! Yes, that's right, patting herself on the back.  '<img'> I regret nothing!


 


 Here I've made some energy glaives, pikes, halberds, coils on a stick. Whatever you want to call them. Technically, they are based off of the halberd weapon type. I do so very much enjoy making shiny things.


 


 What originally started as a sword design, turned itself into a polearm of sorts. I have always disliked certain designs of energy blades, such as lightsabers or the ones where it appears the blade itself is glowing. So, I decided to put my own spin on things, and it developed into what we have here now. I enjoy more primitive tech, along with anything that even sort of closely resembles steampunk technology, so whenever I toy with such things, I tend to try to make them have that sort of feel to them.


 


 Besides, I don't really think NWN deserves to have too sophisticated of tech implemented. It truly does work best in a medieval sort of style, or with questionably gnomish inventions? Not that I don't respect people who add such things, as it takes work and it's still nice to admire. I do at least hope people think these are perhaps easier to fit into the game.


 


 So here are the glaives I have been sort of talking about:


 


ebejsMU.jpgM0U9pUg.png


 


 And here is a swanky animated gif of a glaive, when it was still in development:


 


m1mfVk8.gif


 


 The glaives do shoot off sparks, but that was before I had the idea to do that. But it is still a very nice gif that showcases the energy, so I just had to show it off regardless.


 


The numbers:


  • 2306 tris

  • 5 emitters!

  • 1 dynamic light

  • 1 32x32 txi'd texture.

  • 1 512x512 texture.

  • 2 custom emitter textures.

  • Based on halberd weapon type.

 So far, my tests have yielded that they are still relatively lightweight. There are some obvious issues you can run into: Having a ton of them in one area may potentially cause lag (up to 5 is still smooth as butter, didn't test much beyond that), and the dynamic lights can mess with NWN's engine and cause blackouts! Yay! 


 


 I will figure out about uploading the files after I stamp the textures and stop having a headache. So, probably tomorrow.



               
               

               
            

Legacy_Zwerkules

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ia.pepper's Swanky Energy Glaives [w/ Download]
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2015, 02:06:01 pm »


               


 So far, my tests have yielded that they are still relatively lightweight. There are some obvious issues you can run into: Having a ton of them in one area may potentially cause lag (up to 5 is still smooth as butter, didn't test much beyond that), and the dynamic lights can mess with NWN's engine and cause blackouts! Yay!




It's interesting that the engine can handle several weapons with over 2000 polygons, a bunch of creatures with 5000 polygons, placeables can have over 10000 polygons, but if a tile has more than 3000 polygons it can cause lag.


               
               

               
            

Legacy_ia.Pepper

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ia.pepper's Swanky Energy Glaives [w/ Download]
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2015, 06:58:46 pm »


               


It's interesting that the engine can handle several weapons with over 2000 polygons, a bunch of creatures with 5000 polygons, placeables can have over 10000 polygons, but if a tile has more than 3000 polygons it can cause lag.




 


 Yeah, major pitfall of NWN's engine seems to be with shadows and animations. Especially when both are combined. I don't know why the engine hates shadows so much, but it's an easy thing to avoid.


 


 Anyway, added the download link to the main post.  '<img'>



               
               

               
            

Legacy_Wall3T

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ia.pepper's Swanky Energy Glaives [w/ Download]
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2015, 07:31:09 pm »


               

i dont think Bioware intended to make the engine to be that advanced to handle shading per se.


 


The engine is nearly 15 years old now, and i remember reflective (aka "shiny water") being such a cool idea at the time. advanced shading probably seemed far fetched to the devs, or just not enough time to really work on it.


 


I used to think nwn1 had pretty decent shadow effects for its time, and was far more impressed by the amount of changes it went through



               
               

               
            

Legacy_GunnersaurusRex

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ia.pepper's Swanky Energy Glaives [w/ Download]
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2015, 11:48:26 pm »


               

That pat on the back was well deserved, they're very impressive. Those sparks look like they could be used to make some awesome-looking mage staves as well.