I was just about to edit my post with a comment about tumbleweed and these pictures. Sometimes things don't quite http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/HiggsRed2.jpg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/HiggsRed1.jpg how I expect them to... In fact, as I'm still doing a lot of learning, it's more a case of "just occasionally, things *do* come out how I expect them to".

Muted tones meaning the more colourful but less bright ones? I don't think either of the styles on display could really be described as "muted". :hehe:

Vac

I prefer the darker ones I think they look more menacing

Less bright, yes. My dungeons are pretty dark; I use Real Lights-Dungeon Denizens...
LOL, I think you're doing a great job ... adventuring 'where no man has gone before'!

Hmm, looking at the results I think I am starting to prefer the more colourful ones too, even though they are straying further from my original concept, but I haven't found a solution yet for the flickering effect I am seeing. The textures of the particle systems governing the small particles flicker in and out of view in groups. I am pretty sure it's something to do with the NiAlphaProperty values I am using, but... well, hopefully I'll work something out... Otherwise it'll have to be the bright ones as the nasty visual side-effects are nowhere near as obvious with them.

Set phasers to kill against these things!

Vac

:evil:

Man, what fun! I can't wait to see what you come up with next! :tops:

Honestly, almost all of these "tests" would be refreshing to find in-game. They each seem to have an interesting and unique personality. It's like TNR for Wisps. lol

With a bit of OBSE trickery, I wonder if you could make a boss wisp that cycles through several distinct forms, each with it's own strengths and weaknesses (and appearance, of course). The forms could be randomized or be triggered by certain attacks you launch against it (i.e., your frost spell only works once against this boss because it immediately shifts into a frost form resistant to such attacks, etc.). Way out of scope for what you're doing right now, but it would be a great excuse to include a bunch of otherwise unused variants.

Personally I like the darker/more colorful ones. They seem more fit for Ayleid Ruin or more dungeon-ey areas. However, I also really like the brighter ones lol. I could probably seem them in one of the Mystical Cave type dungeons, but probably not in an Ayleid ruin or fort. They're both amazing though, and keep up the great work!

At this point, me neither!
I've still made no decisions about what to use for Mania wisps, but I'm leaning towards using these new colourful clouds there rather than in Dementia and I've still got ideas and stuff to try out. I'm beginning to think I'm going to run out of reasonable places to add wisps to before I run out of wisps to make. After all, I think ten new varieties of wisp in Cyrodiil, with 700+ variants might just be a little excessive.


Meh, the tests are merely that. If you look back at some of the http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/NewVatteLysPissed.jpg of the new vatte-lys the http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VatteLysPissed2.jpg is clearly (to my eye at least) a big improvement. After choosing the design and finding the textures I want to use I have to beat the skeleton into shape to make it perfect for what I want.


Probably, yes. Or maybe NifScript has the kinds of functions needed for something like that (or could be made to have the functions with a polite request), but that kind of work falls outside the scope of Diverse Wisps and would probably be better as a project using the Diverse Wisp resources.

That reminds me, anyone wanting/needing unique wisps for their own modding project just needs to ask me. As long as they don't mind waiting until I finish v2 of Diverse Wisps (or don't mind the resources being included in Diverse Wisps), I'm basically happy to make wisps to request.

Hah. People like both styles. I wonder if I should try and do something about that? After a night's sleep Iv'e decided I actually really quite like http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/HiggsRed2.jpg, but I'll need to make my own dark texture (once again that one was lifted from Xilverbulet).

Vac

Okay Vacuity, I have read in your Bestiarium about this vatte-lys, and now I am able to identify your sinister intentions: First you try to lure us into the ayleid ruins with all this shiny Ayleid Loot. Go and find the chests, you said, but be aware, I have hidden them very well. But have you really hidden anything there??? May be this Ayleid Loot Extension is only a fake mod to assure that your unholy armada of wisps will find us?
And I have just begun to believe that you would be the smartest guy in town, how naive I was, once again...
Back on topic:
My favourite wisps are this 'bubble' wisps on picture 4 and 5 of the more colourful ones, they look funny (or let's say, they appear funny, but who knows the sinister secrets, they may carry with them...)
Back on topic: I really like all your mods :celebration:

Curses! I've been discovered! I must flee before the imperial watch arrive!
The ones in the background? Don't worry, I have plans for those resources, though I suspect the results won't look much like what you're seeing there...

Having done further testing I've come to the conclusion that the NiAlphaProperty settings I need to use for the colourful version of the wisp I've been posting about and also other particle systems with dark particles don't, uhh, "play well" with other particles, causing the flickering artifacts I've been seeing. It's not a big issue where the dark particles are small, but big dark clouds are liable to cause annoyances. I'll work around this as best I can, but it's something of a crimp in my plans. Does anyone know whom I might ask for advice/help in this area?

Vac

Edit: Another screwy result. Trying to make my own alpha channels as the results I was getting weren't as good as I wanted. http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/PinappleRings.jpg? In the end I had to hand-edit the alpha channel Gimp was giving me by hand, pixel by pixel. How utterly tedious, but the http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/SmallGodNTexts1.jpg...

After some struggling, I've managed to get the last bit of the Vatte-lys exactly how I wanted it, which means it's now pretty nearly perfect.
What was I trying to do? Well, here's the new Vatte-lys attack: http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VattelysPissedSpin1.jpg,http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VattelysPissedSpin2.jpg,http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VattelysPissedSpin3.jpg,http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VattelysPissedSpin4.jpg,http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VattelysPissedSpin5.jpg. Now *that* is cool!

Vac (will probably just keep updating this post if other people don't post)

That looks menacing, I like :goodjob:

Now will you look at that! Such an awesomely pretty little thing ... just makes you want to go closer to get a better look...!

Pretty deadly! Glad you like it!

This shouldn't affect the vatte-lys as I am pretty happy with how they look, but I am now making new animations for my wisps as well as everything else. This is the first one I've got that is not merely for testing but is http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/NewFastmovingAnim.jpg: not terribly flashy or anything, but this is a wisp that has run from the right side of the picture to the left side of the picture, going round the corner. The wisp itself is essentially in the top left of the frame (where the smallest sparks are), but it has left a trail of pretty sparks behind it while chasing its prey. By contrast, the vatte-lys http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/VatteLysHunting.jpg when doing much the same thing.

Vac

Well, I feel like I'm starting to get my head around this animation thing a little better.
It took me three and a half hours to make this http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/NewAttSGod1.jpg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/NewAttSGod2.jpg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/NewAttSGod3.jpg for one of my wisps. It's still not perfect as I want to adjust some of the other stuff going on, but the all-new stuff in the animation is essentially done and I'm happy with the results I've got from that.

I really feel that still pictures don't do this any justice, as, well, I'm talking about an animation involving moving particles, but you'll get to see the results blasting you in the face anyway eventually. Let's hope for more rapid progress in the future!

Vac

well despite being stills they still look good to me. Glad you got that figured out... maybe when I'm a learning kfs (on my list) I'll be asking you questions.
Can't hardly wait to be attacked by those sweet little glowie things.
Pacific Morrowind

Anyone who pays any attention to http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/ will have seen that I've been quite active the last couple of days.

I have finally managed to thump a particle system into roughly the shape I want it and so I'm showing off a sneak peak at http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/ProtoHiggs.jpg of one of the upcoming wisp styles. I promise the end creature will be better than that though! Probably with fewer particles, too.


I'll be happy to help if I can. Thus far I've just been editing existing animations rather than making whole new ones, though I'm going to have to do new ones for a couple of the wisps I'm making, I think...

Vac

Paying attention and liking what I see.

This just needs a bump ..what else to say..

I ended up taking a week's break from mods, mainly because these wisps were consuming my brain completely, and than rather unfortunately my PSU gave out and I was computer-less for another week. I am however back at things now and am working at making my wisps. Here's a couple of snapshots of what I've managed today, one of my new wisps attacking my poor test character: http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/DivineWrath1.jpg, http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll61/Revanchism/WilloftheWisps/DivineWrath2.jpg. There's still work to be done on the animation and model (and probably the textures too... :facepalm: ), but it's shaping up quite nicely. Besides, it's over a month since I last posted any progress on this and that seems like a bit too long. It's not a bump: it's an update report!

Vac

Hello!

Will exist a wisp that helps the poor player? : ) I think its fun to find some gentle creatures around the already harsh world of Tamriel, like in this great Morrowind http://www.elricm.com/nuke/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownloaddetails&lid=4223

Friendly wisps? Interesting idea. I was considering making the one kind of wisp essentially non-aggressive, and I've got a rather amusing idea for one of the wisps that'll go into SI (suitably weird, methinks). But outright friendly? It's certainly worth considering. I'll have to see if I make a wisp that I feel suits that.

Nice idea one way or the other,

Vac

Awesome Wisp, you truly have a grasp of particle animation now. Perhaps one of the only few who do. Keep up the good work.




Do not see a problem with having a few that are friendly and helping to player (aka restore magic / health instead of draining them )

Those new ones look great. This whole mod has breathed a much needed does of variety into wisps. I've been working on getting AN Real Lights up to snuff and have spent a fair amount of time in Sideways Cave - that place really shows these guys off. I've seen quite a number of different ones in there. One of my favorites so far is a purple one composed of particles that also gives off light. He complements what Real Lights does very nicely. Especially when the dungeon gets very dark after Bethesda's fake lighting is removed

I've got to be firm with myself and write some CSwiki pages after I'm done. Throttlekitty's pages are a decent start, but only scratch the surface of what can be done and don't cover the process (or possibilities) of using animations to control particle systems.

I don't see a problem either, but I just don't see any of the things I have in my head as being particularly friendly. I've got plans for a fun little quest mod with a wisp "companion" that would heal you (among other things), but the diverse wisps? As I said, if one of my ideas suit, then it'll definitely happen.

Thanks! That'll be a virvatuli giving off the light, I expect. They're really pretty in v1, and they're still pretty in v2, and much closer to my original concept than I was able to make my first time around (way more chaotic and disorganised). I should probably write up another of my natural history articles in a few days time; I've got three wisp types finished, am coming close to finishing up a fourth as well as the regular (and irregular :hubbahubba: ) retextures of the original wisp, but have only written one "ecology" article.

Vac

Occasional friendly wisps is a great idea.