Possible Projects Interest

[SickAlice]

My attempt at one point was to have a vehicle that doubled as a stand-on object. The vehicle would be usable via the vehicle attribute or anything else I tried. The vehicle moves under the characters control as it does and therefore the character, whom would now not be moving but standing on the floor of the vehicle, normally they just vanish as the user controls the vehicle, would just be taken along with it, right? Nope. Just didn't work. The vehicle/moving platform is stuck or some other weird glitch happens. And because there too the variables needed to do this just do not exist in the game engine itself. Same with Over And Under stuff. That's just not how this game engine is set up so it just doesn't work. Benton I think it was tried something like that out too. He had some sort of thing the character stood on but also a sky map. The game didn't know what to do so it stuck the character up on the sky map.

I make transparent textures, a lot of my Lantern Corps have them and Charles Xavier will have one so I say why not as well. You know what that attribute does do is reinforce that you can control things like transparency as well texture assignment (you can control things like hues, lighting, so on as well) right from the keyframes with no additional parts used. I read all that stuff in Niflib back when but I just do not recall how to set any of it up anymore. And as always it also is a matter whether the game engine is actually even enabled to handle it. But I do it is enabled to handle externally issued transparency due to that FFX attribute at least.

I don't know about the pick-up stuff. I'd say experiment in the Rumble Room with that. I'm shutting everything to travel soon here so I won't really have time. My assumption is it will cause a glitch or some weird thing. It just seems like the kind of thing that would be. Like there would be no say variable to account for picking up a Stand On surface while another character was actually standing on it. I just can't see where the programmers would have put that in at all.

[Randomdays]

It's too bad about the vehicle attempt - another good idea that can't be done. But at least with experimenting we've gotten to learn more of the game limits.

For the pickup stuff - the things I mentioned were tried in the rumble room so I can confirm the limits on that. If a character is on a stand on surface that's picked up by another character, they will fall off. At least they thought about that happening in the game.

[Randomdays]

A couple of items.

1) the first is just a transparent version of Dean's Deadman. The experiments to have a character "phase" through map objects didn't work, so any ghostlike characters will be a bit limited. Just about all of them will be for FF2 also.



2) Spent most of the day struggling to get the Star Trek TOS Gorn imported into FF. At present he's just for FF1 with FF2 to be done later. In the FF1 viewer his right arm is detached, but in the FF2 viewer he looks fine. He's on Tommyboy's trek_t mesh. The standard Federation phaser rifle and pistol have been replaced with some SF ones, and I'd like to replace the tricorder with the universal translator he comes with.

I'll try to get the alternate skins shown a few pages back done soon.

Pic in the FF2 viewer below.

[SickAlice]

More the default physics engine in effect (contact ground/gravity). Not a knock or something, it's not typical to go over things like that. In class one focuses on making the ultimate engine. In a job you meet quota. Hence a lot of the lacking stuff in these games example are not actually flaws or anything. But regardless I didn't think the character would stay with the thrown object. Yet it is worth discovering and finding it out. It's like we have access to a codex of what functions are present in each game and which are not so it's shooting ducks in water with this stuff.

As far as phasing you really someone who is good with script, particularly FFX, to weigh in here. It's a matter of whether the character can be directed to "run into" specified objects to begin with/disable avoidance, say if the character has a specific named attribute attached to their Hero. Like the Hue switch thing, I think the persons who worked on FFX actually know the variables for that stuff and had some sort of reality warping type set-up as they know the variables to change a meshes visibility. This one is just not my own strong suite and I haven't had much success finding resources about it.

And mind again I do "think" that would apply to map objects like say trees, statues, benches but you would be reluctant to it for buildings due what I know about how terrain is set up and how the game engine utilizes it. Well all else just study terrain nifs in Nifskope and look at the individual parts and you'll see what I mean. For whoevers sake here when you look a terrain.nif there are individual squares that have different values to them. The game engine reads them and that tells what that "space" even is. Where the buildings or say hills are located the adjacent terrain has squares that are same size where they will be placed that represent "bottom/base". This tells the game that characters and more can't go on that space, because they shouldn't be able to. It's the bottom a brick building after all. Instead to interact with this thing by stopping so they can walk around it, attack it and/or climb/jump/scale it. Likewise the buildings themselves have a transparent square on top of them. That accounts for telling the game engine a character can land and stand on that part. It also seems they used to establish some reflection properties as well. In some cases they forgot it and it causes the glitch where characters vanish when they try and land on the building. All this is part of why they specify in the manual to use a copy of an existing terrain when making your own levels. Because you might have to modify it to fit your changes. And if you ever made custom objects you understand as their behavior sometimes can be wrong. Like a character can move a thing they should not be able to, or walk through it.

[Randomdays]

Finished the Gorn pack and tested in FF1 with the base skin. He looks good, but for some reason, when he fires a ranged attack he gets a lot of pushback and gets knocked to the ground sometimes. Everything's done - the FF1/ FF2 meshes, the 6 skins, and the new weapons and universal translator are in.

Uploading it and Dean's Transparent Deadman in a few moments.

The Gorns in the Star Trek folder, and Deadman in the Marvel DC one.

Also, a small update to the the Kirk mesh - moved the head forward on the shoulders a little bit to match the collar better. Uploaded as well.

[style]

Looks good!!!

[Randomdays]

Thanks Style!

So, I've been working the last few weeks on a special project. I had mentioned that I was working with one of the original modders back in the day, and now that the 1st project we were working on together is finished, I'll spill the beans and say its.... KennX!

Ken is having a lot going on in RL but was still able to help out with this project, especially since its one of his favorite groups - The Blackhawks!



The Blackhawks are a group of expert pilots who fought in WW2, created by Quality Comics. There were 6 main pilots and their mascot, a stereotypical Chinese cook named Chop-Chop.

  For a while they were the 2nd most popular comic made, only being beat by Superman. In the 1950's, Quality stopped printing comics and a lot of their characters were sold to DC.

DC took the comics and since the war was over, they started fighting your typical comic book villains - mad scientists, aliens, smugglers, etc.

Chop-Chop became less of a joke and became an honorary Blackhawk. The group had a few other members brought in over the years, and two different mascots were added - "Blackie" the hawk and "Bravo" the chimp. There were also a couple of Lady Blackhawks as well.

The group started flying with the twin prop engine Grumman Skyrocket, before moving to some different jets later on.



The 1st series came to a bad ending when sales dropped and DC tried to make them into superheroes - it didn't work and the series was canceled not long after, though they did go back to normal before then.

So here we are - Ken, who's probably a much bigger fan than I, had done a set of meshes/ skins in 2003, and an update in 2009 (on Alex's site), and a few people have done Lady Blackhawk. It turns out he's done another update last year that hasn't been released yet, and was kind enough to send them to me.

I was able to find a good model of the Skyrocket online for the 1st plane, and Ken stepped in again to reskin the F-9 Phantom I had imported in as the Batplane, and give it a Blackhawk skin.

Below are pics of the Skyrocket and the Phantom with their Blackhawk colors. I couldn't get the uv to setup on the Skyrocket so I colored the materials of the plane to match and tried sticking the Blackhawk symbol on the sides as small skinned meshes. These are the runway, wheels down versions, to use as possible map objects. I took the wheels from the Skyrocket and copied them over to the Phantom





I'm releasing 6 versions each of the plane and the jet. Almost all have versions for FF2 as well as FF, and all are static with their armatures, vertex groups and kfs stripped. To get the originals, you'll have to wait for Ken to post them at Alex's site.

1) The version seen above on the runway.

2) Blackhawk in the pilot seat with Blackie flying of of the wing. The jet has a back seat the plane doesn't so Chop-Chop is in the other seat. Their are alternate nifs for different combos - Blackhawk alone or with one both of the mascots with him.

    Best to be used with the solo Blackhawk, their are alternate skins of 12 other Blackhawks

3)  A custom mesh of Hendrickson with his mustache at the controls

4) A custom mesh of Olaf with his large chin.

5) A version with the 1st Lady Blackhawk, Zinda. In the jet version she has the chimp mascot, Bravo, in the back seat.

6) A version with the 2nd Lady Blackhawk, Natalie Reed.

These were a lot of fun to do, a bit frustrating at times due to some issues creating them, but in the end I think they came out looking pretty good

Large props to Ken for helping out! There's a few other things I asked him to look at when he has the time, but there's no guessing on when that will be.

They're being posted in the Marvel / DC folder on the megasite in 2 packs - one of the planes and one of the jets. I added selection and bounding boxes to them all and did a little testing in game, and they seemed to work all right. They all come with simple FF- Car kf's just to get them to work in game.

Here's a couple of pictures below to get your interest;

[Randomdays]

Spent a few hours trying to skope together a Diana Prince in her military uniform.

In Lynda Carter's version, she was in the Navy in WW2. In the comics, she was a nurse and Army.

I started with female_shorthair, added a skirt from Tommyboy and lenghtened it down to the knee, added a cophat, and the glasses from Vx Clark Kent.

I used Glitch Girls policewoman_pants skin for a base, but had to kitbash some bare legs onto her.

Pic below, but she really needs a more appropriate skin or two

[WyldFyre]

Love the planes and Miss Prince. I always like when the heroes' alter-egos are done!

[Randomdays]

Me three! as well as friends and family. I wish there were more out there.

In my queue, somewhere, is this set I grabbed to do some imports - its got the alter egos for Hal Jordan and Barry Allen

https://www.deviantart.com/kittyinhiding/art/Justice-League-Earth-s-Final-Defense-Update-764103736

[Randomdays]

Starting to work on some new imports, starting with the Gargoyle's Goliath talked about in another thread.

This will (probably) be my last set of work, considering life in general. I'll try to clean up the hard drive of things I've grabbed over the years, as well as try to do a few open requests. Most of the mainstream characters have been done, so look for some off the wall items.

We'll see how things go.

[Randomdays]

Finding some really great 3d models online, but unfortunately none are really in my price range. If anyone wins the big lotto, send a few my way and I'll rig them!

https://cults3d.com/en/users/ilustrartuel/3d-models

https://thangs.com/designer/INSPYR3D

[Randomdays]

A link with lots of animated characters to download, and most of these are free.

https://www.patreon.com/jcthornton

It seems strange to me searching the web that there are so many copyrighted characters up for sale as models, and the copyright holders don't seem to care. After the trouble FF had years ago it seems its a different world.

I also seems strange that after dealing with people here and on other game mod sites, where everyone is offering their work for free (as fans) to share with others, that a lot of that has turned into the artists expecting money for fan work. I can't imagine what FF would be like if this had happened at the beginning and there had been no pushback from Marvel like we had here.

I think the site would have died a while ago and my collection would have been a LOT smaller than it is.


Next, I've also gone over my Nintendo gamecube and Wii games, since these are the two consoles that I can take models from, and picked a few of these to look at.

Last, Goliath is going slower due to the higher than normal poly count. Hopefully done this weekend.

[Randomdays]

Goliath is almost done - just a little more work on both hands I think Before posting



I found a bunch of files on deviant art in "pmx" format. Not sure what uses it, but there's an online converter to the more more standard "obj" format, so Im able to use them.

The next project will probably be Disney's Rescue Rangers. I've got the plane, a standard Chip and Dale, Montery Jack and zipper, and Gadget.

I would prefer the RR version of Chip, Dale, and Gadget from the Sorcerer's Arena game if someone knows how to rip those models from it.

I'll try to turn the standard Chip and Dale into the RR version using some "pulp versatile" parts if I can. I might need a little help skinning Chip's hat and jacket, and Dale's shirt.

[cranlox]

Beautiful Goliath! Really with Daglob we got tired of looking and looking for him because we were both convinced that he was already armed but we never found him.
I'm going to check my files, I think I have the chip and find out what you're looking for from Disney Sorceres Arena.

[Randomdays]

Final on Goliath

Not the greatest of rigs, but came out pretty well. I'd give it about a 7 out of 10

Rigged to male_basic_draconis_gren

1) stretched the arm bones out to better fit the model - still not perfect. Thigh bones should be a little longer as well.

2) Hands, fingers, feet, and toes not rigged due to the body shape

3) Curled the fingers to them more claw like

4) Fixed a few problems found when I rigged to smooth out the animation.

I'll be zipping him up and putting him on my megasite soon.



There are models out there for Lexington, Brooklyn and Broadway that would look good in FF, but none are free.

Putting the rescue rangers on hold in case I get some different models. I did find a RR Chip and Dale set - about 12k Poly each.

Minor rant - for the meshes out there, two more things that bug me.

1- I saw the same model, and other Disney SA models out there, being sold for $20 USD each. Selling copyrighted material that you made is still a bit iffy for me, but selling work that you didn't even create is pretty bad.

2 - I don't know how many times I've found a pretty good model that I wanted, and when I hit download all i get is a picture of the model. I wish the artists would be more clear that the model itself isn't available.

[Randomdays]

Goliath is now uploaded on the megasite

The next project is almost done as well - I had seen a basic model of a car with a easy to work with skin on it.

I changed the colors and added a few items to the skin, stretching out the mesh and resizing it, and adding a couple of SCD meshes, all I have left to do is pose the characters inside the car.

[deanjo2000]

Very nice

[Randomdays]

Finished working on the Green Hornet's Black Beauty except for adding the bounding and selection boxes and maybe tweaking the materials for the characters.I've got some things to do for most of the day, but maybe this afternoon and then I can release.

Uses ;

1) The Car - "Beady's car" model. The person who extracted the mesh, "paddymcclellan" on deviant art,didn't give any information, so I'm not sure where its from

2) Green Hornet by SCD

3) Kato by J Foam

[deanjo2000]

I've done a quick Thailog skin.

I've also done a portrait for goliath, he's in my random folder.

[Randomdays]

Thanks Dean! The more the merrier.

[Randomdays]

Dean - your mailbox is full!

[deanjo2000]

Should be ok now.

[Randomdays]

Black Beauty - Bounding/ Selections boxes on, still need to test to see if they work.

Besides Dean's Thalog, I also have one from Cranlox, so great!

I had plans to do something different next, but since Dean has some interest in the Gargoyles, I'm working with him a bit.

I'll be doing the Steelclan Robot next, which could be reskinned into Xanatos, and he might work on a few other characters as well.

[cranlox]

I have this old version that is also based on the Xanatos figure

[Randomdays]

I like the head - the face and expression are good and would be good to transplant on the steelclan robot

For the body and skin - its good and matches the toy, but I don't like the toy that much, so nothing on Cranlox there.

[Randomdays]

I've got most of the rigging done on the steel clan robot - just needs some tweaks. Having Goliath already done really helped since I could transfer most of it over to the new mesh.

Cranlox's Xanatos' head would probably fit right in with a reskin.

[cmdrkoenig67]

I'm loving the Gargoyles meshes, RD. Deanjo and Cranlox, great work on these Gargoyles skins, they look so good!

Dana

[Randomdays]

Thanks Dana (and guys)

The Steelclan Robot is done, as well as the Black Beauty. I just want to put them in game to test them out.

Will probably up them tomorrow morning.

Both are for FF1, but should work fine (I think) in FF2. The steelclan robot is pretty broken up in the FF1 character viewer, but looks great in the one for FF2

[Randomdays]

The Steel Clan robot is now uploaded to "Others"

Green Hornet's Black Beauty is now uploaded to "Mounts and Vehicles"