I was wondering if anyone out there would be interested in making an Oblivion version of http://pnmedia.gamespy.com/planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/fms/images/mods/5108/1170363551_fullres.jpg from a Morrowind mod.

I remember wishing I had one in the past and recently came across the pic again while looking up some crossbow pics. The bow itself was part of Phijama's Widow Maker Crossbow mod which can be found http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=5108. I know some of you take a lot of interest in making things like this, and I'd be very appreciate to any modder who would be up to the challenge. I don't know why, but this bow and the matching arrows simply mesmerizes me. :twirl:

Well, unless the bow is copylefted, it wouldn't be accepted if it was copied... Otherwise I certainly could go for the challenge, but I like new ideas (and honour other people's works). And that, my friend, ain't one. You either find someone who is willing to break some written & unwritten rules and do the job for you, or then you learn Blender and do it yourself. -Or ask the original creator to make an Obby version of it. Or get a permission to edit and distribute. Or-...

...Enough "or"s already...

The UV bow was a side project that followed the creation of my non particle lighsaber models. At a time before MCP, particles had a habit of going off axis and also 'stuttering' due to shifts in framerate. I eventually produced a stable effect using alpha mapped billboarded planes which gave a soft edged effect like particles but without the disadvantages.

The UV bow is created differently but shares similar graphic effects as my sabers. If you look at the bow mesh it will hopefully explain itself. If such a model were to be created for Oblivion I'm guessing a very different approach would be taken since different technologies could be used. If I were to re make the model for Morrowind today, I would certainly rethink the creation methods due to the advancements made with the Morrowind Code Patch. I could certainly achieve a similar effect with much lower polygon count.

I have no issue with my models being adapted but I do not think it would be appropriate for Oblivion (based on the little I know about Oblivion modding and graphic effects). I'm sure their would be enough workarounds to produce a similar if not improved effect with a lower creation cost.

The UV bow was nothing new in terms of concept, what did make it unique was that it was able to be presented in Morrowind. You are welcome to play with the idea and model as far as I'm concerned.

Regards,

Phil

Thank you, Phijama. I never meant to imply someone should modify your work without your consent. I'm a modder myself, and I know I wouldn't want that to happen to me. I do still hope someone will be willing to take a shot at including this in Oblivion. I am very fond of your work, and this bow in particular. I guess the only question that remains is whether anyone out there has the necessary skills to make a working version of this bow for Oblivion. If anyone takes a fancy to try, let me know.

Worry not, I never took your post that way (I was actually quite flattered) :wink_smile:

...Did my post seem negative? I think so...

Anyways, if Phijama gives their consent, I could try to Oblivify it.

I understand you were just watching out for a fellow modder. I've done the same before myself.



I'd appreciate that more than I can express. I just wish there was someway I could repay you for your effort.

Well, after two tedious hours, I've just managed to conclude that the original mesh doesn't work in Oblivion, thus needing a rebuild. And I've'nt been able to get that nice Alpha-effect as illustrated in the original mesh The NIF -version Oblivion uses doesn't seem to support the technique that was used to do that in the original mesh I don't know why I'm writing ":D" everywhere, as I should be sad. Anyways, I will continue on the project for some more time; Time will tell, if I succeed.

Know that your efforts are very much appreciated. I discovered once before that difficulty of translating Morrowind NIFs to Oblivion. However, I pretty much gave up as my experience with graphics is extremely limited. Hopefully you'll be able to make it work, or at least be able to devise something new.

I'm going to assume that Oblivion has some way of displaying alpha textures and also viewing other alpha'd textures through them. Like viewing a torch light through a spell effect. Essentially this is what my mesh does, or at least parts of it.

I basically created series of long premapped planes and laid them so that end on they would appear to be like the spokes of a cycle wheel. The resulting mesh was bent into shape and animated. I applied Zmode10 to the mesh and placed the 'additive' property to the material. The material carried a two sided texture that was used in both the diffuse (base) texture slot and the illumination (glow) map slot. All of this relates to me using 3dsmax 4.2 with the official exporter and set of official Tes tools though I had a tendancy to use Blinn material shader rather than the Tes shader.

I have no idea what the equivilant settings would be for Oblivion but common sense tells me it would be possible. I've seen pictures of lighsaber effects for the game and what appear to have been billboarded fire effects on weapons.

Phil

I'm afraid this project is a bigger challenge than I had foreseen. Hopefully, Sami will be able to work something out. From what I've seen of his work, he is very talented.

You're just saying

I have an idea that might work - while still keeping the file size to quite small AND looking kewl I'll start working on that idea once I've got some essential business done.

I haven't heard anything in a while, so I thought I'd check in and see how things are coming. Any luck with implementing this?

This thread has been quiet for sometime now. Needless to say, I haven't heard from Sami directly either, and he doesn't appear to have been online in a while. I'm not sure if he is still working on this or not, but if anyone else would like to try their hand at it, I'd be most appreciative.

I apologize, I've had little to no free time in the past month(s), hence not being able to do anything... School :-/