Looking good has usual Nicoroshi



What mod is that armor from?

Thanks.
Many different modders Corepc

The gauntlets are Sloffy's Giger wristblade
The dress is SinBlood's Widows Dress (re-textured by me)
The curiass, and pauldrons are SkeletonK's Nightshade, and Dark Illusion (respectively)
The race is Chimeri, and Ismelda's Demon race
The headband is from KD Circlets

I have tried combining many different good looking armors for the look I wanted for my female characters (I like them clothed when going into battle, and dark because I normally play assassins) but keep coming back to this mish-mash of works from some very talented people.
Having over 200 mods in my game provides great opportunities for game play but leaves unanswered questions when modding / :brokencomputer: for which I rely on the community (thanks again JDFan) for helping play test them with things like stock races, and animations.

I haven't forgotten (Think I've downloaded and installed it 3 times now meaning to test !!) - just got a wee bit sidetracked on the modding time -making some flaming juggling balls for spookyfx and a barrel with a seperate lid that has it's own collision so the barrel can be filled with Apples (that do not fall out) for X'tyfe - and getting the collison shapes to cooperate so the lid sits on top of the barrel correctly took awhile !!

I'll have some time during the day tommorow and will report back then !!

EDIT : Had a bit of time right now so went ahead and tested a bit - http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/SwordWIP%20test/

The Dagger and short sword also look fine in the hand with the vanilla anims - only the same problems with the OH not wrapping around the dagger but that is due to the animations not the placement ! - got some pretty good action shots of a fight with an Ogre (had to resurrect him a couple times cause the screen kept going blurry when he got in a hit or two !! Are you going to make a dager for the normal hand also ? (since I tend to use daggers when sneaking around the dungeons )

I could make dual daggers an option also if you'd like. The model is already created. It would be the simple task of creating the .nif using the already created model, and texture (about 2.25minutes with hand placement, and collision barring deleted files or computer meltdown ).

Unfortunately i had to redo all the models you've been play testing for me as I broke the model in half (a couple of different times before I got it how I liked), and had to remake the .nifs with two NiTriStrips.
This (although close to the versions you've been testing) put the models in slightly different positions coming from he modeling program to wavefront object for importation to .nif.

I will e-mail you the new files for your continued (and much appreciated) testing.

[side note] I will make an attack dagger/ defense dagger/ dual daggers on hip with script combo tomorrow for you as well, and will probably include that as well in the final release.

Nico

I think you're right. The glow map takes away from the carved into the metal look of the script. If you'd like a couple of suggestions, I think I'd try a smaller dull glow from the center of the letters leaving the edge black. Or a bright, thin glow around the edge of the script that 'floats' above the lettering, so to speak. I don't know if you can do a gradient with the glow starting with a darker color toward the blade and 'fades' to white further away from the blade.

Looks quite good to be a mix and match from different mods after all..



Jdfan, you can turn off or lower the combat hit shader effects in oblivion.ini..aka the blur when you get hit..and perhaps even save a few micro fps has well..

[GethitShader]
fBlurAmmount=0.1000



dual daggers on hip's aka one of each side right?

Agreed.





Actually no. Both on one side. With varying body mods out there (i.e. choices of different hip sizes) it would be tough to create a good looking model that would display the daggers properly on both sides at the same time as there is only one bone that they would be attaching to on the skeleton (on the left side of the character).

Trust me......I tried that first but was unhappy with the clipping/ floating blades I saw with changing the body mesh.

So..........This is what I just sent to JDFan to play test (and as a thank you for his offer to help me out). It will also be added into the final mod as yet another player choice of how the pieces will be reforged.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6342/1a1t.jpg

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/5299/1a4.jpg

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4508/1a2x.jpg

Some more of the quest is becoming decided.

This (as yet still un-named blade :poke: help me out here people) was forged originally by the Tribunal who sought a champion to wield it to attack (and hopefully defeat/ banish) the Daedric princes from Morrowind. The Tribunal (in their infinite wisdom) saw it in the best interest of the Dunmer to rid their people of the Daedra's influence. (This took place shortly after they tapped the heart, and became the living Gods when their power was strongest). Unfortunately for them the Daedric Princes caught wind of the plot, and stole the weapon through the deception of the master blacksmith who worked with the Tribunal to forge the blade. It was taken to Oblivion, and there shattered but could not be fully destroyed as it's power was too great. The pieces were scattered in different Oblivion planes, and heavily guarded to keep even the pieces from being easily found, and used against the Princes.
Those who know Morrowind GotY know that the Tribunal is no more but our quest starts at a statue of Almalexia erected in Tamriel who even in her death in the clockwork city found a way to tap into the power of the Daedra to retain some of her power even without her body or the heart of Lorkhan. She's really ticked at the Daedra lords, and now wishes to rid all races of their influence. Your character has been chosen to undertake the quest of finding the pieces, and become the champion of the dark elves at the request/ demand of the (still insane) Almalexia (spirit who speaks through the statue).

This is only the premise of the quest. There are many who either travel with the character, and or the character meets along the way to flesh it out, and create the adventure I see for the sword's return to the mortal world along with some twists in the path along the way.

Hopefully this introduction will bring forth names worthy of this sword(s).
Something Dunmer or Chimer in origin forged for the living Gods to be used by their chosen champion to banish the daedra forever from influencing the races of Tamriel.


EDIT:



Right now even after enlarging the UVmap of the blade itself to remove most of the blurriness of the script I was painting at one pixel width around the letters in the glow map I created. Making a thin line at the center of the Elven letters on that UVMap (btw it's 1024 x1024 right now)would be nearly impossible.
Creating a floating texture over the blade I am sure could be done with an additional mesh added over each side of the blade with a transparent texture (except for the glow map) although I think it would make the entire sword too busy. Thanks for the thoughts though.

Thanks for the daggers they will be used well ! - Like the storyline for the mod so far but you really do need a name for these things (just feels weird looking for New Sword and New Dagger in my inventory.)

Agreed.
I remember a time on these very forums where the naming of a nicoroshi creation was greeted by many fantastic suggestions rather than the now silent response I am receiving.
Kit Rae calls it 'Mithrodin' but something more befitting a Chimer or Dunmer origin was my hope.

Wow.........Still no ideas at all on a name from the crowd?
Perhaps I will also ask on other forums.


On to better things.

I have created icons for all the different variations of the model, and have created a scripted effect along with magical damage (Shock + Frost) for the attack weapons, and have added Reflect damage, and spell to the off-hand weapons (this is mainly to prevent the breaking of the scripts by the game re-naming items when they are player enchanted).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl8rAU2VOiY

Please tell me what you think (good or bad).
Thanks,
Nico

Now, I had to bastardize some language from the Drow dictionary for this because there's little Dunmer language to go with. But what about Quarth Dely'ar. Which essentially means 'Command of the Three'.

On the glow mapping. I wasn't sure how feasible my suggestions were but I thought possibly they could help give options to think about if nothing else.

Now this is on the track I was thinking for the name although something perhaps shorter (one word maybe), and something like:
[from Drow]

Ih'ara = protector, and Sslig'ness = defender
Detholusin's velve = Chosen's blade
G'jahalle = defeats, and Sslig'ne = defends
Rei'shann = archangel
Zotrethe = attacks, and Zuneerrh = salvation
Silinrul = hunter, and Dro'xun = survive


Hmmmmm, I kind of like this pair:

Zotrethe = attacks, and Zuneerrh = salvation

or

G'jahalle = defeats, and Ih'ara = protector

What do you think?

As for the glow mapping suggestions they were good ones, and I may use some of those ideas in the future for a different creation. Thanks.

Didn't like any of those I suggested way back on page 1?

:slap:

Here's a few names:

Chinwendu + Chinweike (basically, "god owns life" and "god owns power" in Igbo.)

Babirye + Kato ("first of twins" and "second of twins" in East African)

Comhghan (gaelic, "born together")

Mordecai: ("servant of Marduk" from Babylonian mythology----but sounds cool. )

Therapon ("servant" or "worshiper", ancient Greek)


Some gaelic that could be combined to make something cool---like 'the' "Tridia Croi" 'blade(s) or "the three god essence blade(s)" or Fuluirlis, combining "blood" and "tool"

Tridia Scl?bha? (three god slave)

Fuil (blood)

cro? (heart, core, essence, crux)

l?mh (hand)

uirlis (instrument, tool)


In any case---just go onto a translation machine for a particular language, or even to a name etymology site. There are loads of them. Then throw in some random punctuation (apostrophes are popular) to make it look elvish. heh. :shifty: Fantasy enthusiasts may never learn how to use apostrophes correctly.

I did like what you had posted earlier, and I like what you've posted here but I was looking for something dark elven rather than Greek, East African, or Igbo for these blades.
Since the Dunmer of Morrowind speak English (in my game) there really isn't any (that I could find) translator for the Dunmer to common speak.

This is why (after leaving my request for a good name up here for some time with very little response) I decided to look up some Drow words for what I though would fit the blades.
Not the same as Dunmer I know but as close as I could get to dark elves in my searching (and trust me I have spent some time looking).

Hmmm ... alright, what about something like this

Velve = Blade
Del= Of/Of the (taken from latin?)
Zuneerrh = Salvation

Vel+d+Zun = Vel'dzun

Or

harventh lil mir del oloth = Sever the hold of the darkness

R'venilredoth
V'niloth
Hvilm'loth

I can put together others if you'd like.

Thanks for the input guys but I have decided (and added the names to the models in the test .esp).

G'jahalle = defeats
For the attack blade, and
Ih'ara = protector
For the defensive.

I have also added enchantments to all the variations of the blades.

Attack blades = 25pts shock + 25pts frost + scripted effect (shader+ shock effect) [damage = 25 on all except two-handed which has damage = 35]

Defensive blades = 18pt reflect spell + 18pt reflect damage. [light armor shield AC=20]

This kind of leaves the two handed sword without the protection of the dual wield sets but I believe the extra damage it does makes up for it.

The speeds, and reach have also been tweaked for the size of the blades.

Dagger = 1.5 speed, and 0.7 reach
Short Sword = 1.3 speed, and 0.9 reach
Long Sword = 1.0 speed, and 1.1 reach
Two handed Sword = .875 speed, and 1.4 reach

The health on each is set to 2000 currently but I am looking for a way (without the use of OBSE) to make the weapons self repair when equipped (one of the perks of being magically forged by the living Gods).

I was going to say Almalexia Revenge..I know perhaps not that great of name, but, fits the quest that goes along with it..

but you already decided on a name..

On to other things.................

I believe (pending the report from play testers.....but I have a good feeling they're good) that the sword variations are complete.
Models, Textures, Collision, Hand positioning, Names, Enchantments ( :celebration: ).

I started working on the statue of Almalexia that will be the beginning of the quest.

Still in need of the remainder of the clothing/armor, hair, and crown. Was fun to position her correctly, and will continue to enjoy re-creating her armor/clothing, and hair.
Here's what I have thus far:
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/7029/wipnifskopepicofstatue.jpg

Work continues..............

It was discussed between Hobbs, and myself that the enchantments I had on the blade for my little video above was kinda overkill. What stealth character would want an explosion happening every swing of the blade?

So........

It was decided that the blade will have a good damage rating but no constant effect shock or frost damage.
Instead it will have scripted spell effects that are triggered by things like ' if your fatigue is 100%' or ' if your health is below 40%' etc.
This would make the blade usable by higher level characters of all classes.

Still in the discussion stage but I figure that the dagger, and short sword should have a damage of around 25. Long sword around 28, and two handed around 30.
This makes them powerful enough for an end game weapon given as a quest reward with the perks of never needing to repair it, and chance of unique scripted power attacks when variables are right.

We both agree that although this is a weapon forged by the Gods it should not be some run of the mill overpowered 'God' weapon (if you follow our thinking).

Work continues on the statue. I have finished modeling the skirt, pauldrons, and bracer. Next will be the top, hair, and crown to complete the Almalexia look alike statue in Tamriel.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8862/30399798.jpg

I have also started writing down the story line in my head for the quest, and lines for the character voice acting.

Holy hell that's an amazing sword, very much looking forward to this

:)
Thank you. When I saw the concept art for it I knew I had to make it. Kit Rae's designs rule for weapons.

The Statue now has straps for the shoulder pieces as well as for the skirt. She only needs hair, and a crown to complete the look I am going for.

Been kicking around a few ideas for the quest, and think I have a good idea for the story (with twists of course). I also have some good ideas for dialog.
When the statue is complete the individual lines will be written down from my head.

If you're expanding into armor and clothing I'm going back to modelling buckets and spoons. Brilliant stuff. :thumbsup:

I'm interested in how you made the blade so shiny, Id like to apply the effect to a weapon myself, Is there any special technique to it?

If you're looking at avoiding real-world languages...

I believe Ihara is a Japanese family name.

(Although with the typical elvish punctuation I believe you've managed to rip the plant from its roots )

Could be Japanese for all I know
I was going for Drow, and
Got it straight from here:
http://www.eilistraee.com/chosen/language.php



Alrighty. Time for a little tutorial for you all.

Making blades shine

First thing is produce your model as two NiTriStrips.
One of the pieces you wish to have shine, and the other of things in the mesh that you don't want to shine.
Like this:
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8404/aaswordbladeonlynif.jpg
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/3714/aaswordhandleonlynif.jpg

This is fairly easy for me as I model my items in pieces, and leave them that way when exported as a .obj from my modeling program. This makes UVMapping easier for me since I like to use UVMapper Classic, and it can isolate groups of vertices by name, and only modify the type of UVMap for that single piece at a time (i.e. grip is cylindrical mapped, blade is profile mapped, some pieces are box mapped).

So you've made your model in pieces, and have UVMapped them, and textured them. Now to make the .nif
In your modeling program you'll need to load the UVMapped .obj, and delete the pieces you don't want to shine.
Save as 'model name' blade.obj
Load your complete model again, and delete the pieces want to shine.
Save as 'model name' blade.obj
Find an existing .nif from in game of a long sword.
Click on the NiTriStrip of the mesh, and right click/ import .obj (of your model's Shiny Piece).
Right click it again, and mesh/ update tangent space.
Your (shiny piece) model is now in the .nif.
Click on the purple flower of the NiSourceTexture, and navigate to your .dds texture file.
It's now in the .nif with the texture you have created.
Right click on the NiTriStrip again, and Block/copy branch.
Now right click / block / paste branch.
In the copy NiTriStrip that just appeared do the same process for the 'model name' handle.obj
[note] texture should already be set if both pieces are using the same texture file.
Now click on NiNode, and under Block Details change the number of children to '2'
Under children in the Block Details right click/ update the array
Point the new child (normally set at -1 when created) to the number of the copy NiTriStrip.

Now let's add the shine

Under the NiTexturingProperty of the blade (shiny piece) in Block Details change Apply_Modulate to Apply_Hilight using the drop down menu there.
Save as your new .nif if materials are set the way you want, collision is hacked to encompass the new mesh(s), and positioning of the new mesh(s) is correct.
[Hint for positioning, and scale]: Leave the old havok intact so you can position your mesh to that. Then hack the havok x,y,and z locations to encompass the new mesh(s).

WAIT!
There's one more vital piece of information for you.

In the 'model name' _n.dds you need to darken the alpha channel.
Most Alphas are almost pure white. This will make the sword too bright in game. Fill in (paint it) just the alpha channel of the _n.dds to a shade of grey (normally a 'k' value of 55-65 is about right), and save as DXT3 (do not re-normalize it).

Bingo! Shiny sword blade without adding the shine to the handle.



Wow.......Wall of text.........Funny how when you do it 10,000 times you tend to forget how many steps it is to actually do.

BTW: I cannot take credit for this method.
Many have done it before me. Adonnay, VagabondAngel,etc,etc,etc.........
But that's the way i do it.
Have fun modding.



ROFLMAO!
Thanks for the kind words.
No worries HB. The models are static on the statue, and no skeleton, skin or rigging was involved (or required.....It's a statue after all)
But...........Perhaps a set of armor much like the mish mash of modder's work my character wears might be in order in the future...........
One thing at a time Nico......One thing at a time.