[Obsolete] SS2 Vurt's Mods

[674092266af25voodoo47]

These textures are all very good of course. So here are the minor nitpicks: The spilt coke looks way too glossy, more like a piece of gold foil actually. The dried blood is awesome, however the blood on impact - well I haven't seen the effect in game yet - but in the screenshot it looks like you're helping that hybrid with a pink jelly fish on his arm. It doesn't seem to splatter like blood does and it's too bright and glossy. For the new eggs the gloss is actually appropriate, makes them look really slimy and wet. Well done.

actually, I think it's a cappuccino, not coke. and I agree that the impact blood is not perfect, but I still think it's nice-the original impact blood looks just like that kitchen cutlery, like something rejected from ss1.

[674092266b0afSalk]

I happen to agree 100% with Kolya's take.

[674092266b40evurt]

Thanks for the input! yeah the cappuccino (/coke) is actually fixed, it's more transparent now, but it's still glossy, which i think i prefer, the other texture (i think it comes with SHTUP) doesnt have any gloss at all, looks a bit odd imo.

The blood splatter effect i'm really happy with, but i might make it even darker (it's already at least 30% darker than the original blood which is extremely bright), the effect lasts for such a short time (5 textures of animation) that you don't really see the "jelly" effect, i do like the really glossy effect though, blood and other liquids should be glossy unless it's dried up.

voodoo47: thanks for the pics, yeah SHTUP already does a great job, i'm just doing something different (gorier, "bumpier" a little more detailed), otherwise my work would be completely redundant. When i see the pic of the goo i'm thinking i should make mine a similar color maybe (darken it maybe 25%), it might fit in better.

[674092266b57fZylonBane]

Those new blood stains look a lot more like intestines than splashed blood.

I appreciate that you're trying to add a greater sense of depth to the textures, but some things... spilled blood, spilled soda... actually are flat in real life, y'know? The crew of the Von Braun isn't wandering around sipping on cups of orange Jello.

[674092266b6c5Salk]

The problem of the great amount of glossiness is that it really causes a weird contrast with the rest of the non-glossy graphic, making it stand out too much. It doesn't in short blend with the style of the original game, in my opinon. Of course you're the artist thus free to do as you please. I am instead really happy with your take of the water, the sky and of the plants (especially some models).

I wish you well with your future texture improvements!

[674092266b80avurt]

ZB: Meh, in the future everything is jello, i thought everyone knew that! Haha i know it's exagerated.

The picture of the blood spray is from the first frame, so it yet hasnt really spread out. But I made the "blob" quite big so that it is more visible from afar when you hit something, while combat up close looks really gory. And yes it's not really supposed to be pure thin blood it's more like blood/intestines/goo, i wanted that splatter movie/b-movie exaggerated look which i think fits this universe.

Salk: There will be more glossy stuff soon in SS2, just be patient, can't say more.

[674092266bad5Salk]

Salk: There will be more glossy stuff soon in SS2, just be patient, can't say more.

Are you threatening us?

Just kidding, take all the time you need and thanks again for sharing your work with the community!

[674092266be2fRocketMan]

System Shock has always used fear as a thematic element but I don't know if we should necessarily equate fear with gore.  Grotesquery is quite mainstream these days as a means of depicting fear but IMO it has proven less effective than the more subtle and drawn out fear you experience by becoming immersed in an increasingly hopeless and worrying situation.  In such a setting, vivid imagery of blood and guts flying everywhere as well as the aforementioned contrast in graphics art style might actually be a bit of a distraction.  Sometimes suspense and horror can be quite effective with very little in the way of special effects.  Hitchcock used these sort of tactics to great effect for example.

With that said, the audience is the ultimate critic and as you can probably tell, ours is diverse enough that you will find both praise and criticism alike.  It's your prerogative to choose your target audience and your work has certainly been stellar so far.

[674092266bf25ZylonBane]

I do love the shiny pools of glop around the egg bases though.

[674092266c0dbvurt]

I agree that gore isnt the main theme of the game, but it's a lot more "Aliens" than Hitchcock. It has a comic book style to i think, it's not a "subtle" style.

It's a game with a lot of gore and dead bodies etc, so it's not like my blood changes the direction in any way.


edit:

a less "meaty" looking version of the goo

Image: http://piclair.com/data/tmw16.jpg

(I always have to turn up brightness in photoshop by 60% so the colors are off by a few %.)

[674092266c209Salk]

I like the "meaty" version better. This latest attempt has much of a vegetal feeling to it.

[674092266c2favurt]

yeah that was kind of the idea, but i think you're right, the meaty version is better.

[674092266c41avurt]

Fake lightning (texture planes with a high Illuminate setting added to a few of the lamp models).

Image: http://piclair.com/data/ve3zg.jpg

good / bad? I think it looks decent?

[674092266c5abZylonBane]

It's an idea I've had but never gotten around to trying (by which I mean talking one of our modelers into trying). Good to see you giving it a shot!

Light beams on the hanging ceiling lights look silly because they're obviously diffuse, omnidirectional light sources.

Light beams on the wedge lights are something that could look really nice. Two main issues--

1. The angle and spread of the light beam should approximately match the actual light being cast. The light/model is a pre-built assembly in ShockEd (I think), so this is mostly consistent throughout the game. The visible beam you currently have is much too narrow. See for example the right-most wedge in your screenshot above-- the wedge is casting light onto the doorframe below it, which doesn't match the visible beam at all.

2. In reality, light beams are only visible when there's lots of dust or moisture in the air. These wedge lights are used all over the ship, so they need to look right in multiple environments. For that reason, I'd recommend making the beam a subtle effect, only projecting a short distance. It's one of those "less is more" situations.

[674092266c769vurt]

Thanks for the input ZB and you're right it's too narrow, i'm still playing around with it.

Maybe it's possible to use several layers of textures with different transparencies to get a difuse light. It could also be possible to do animated dust that "dances around" in the light, sounds good in practice at least edit: actually it would be pretty easy i think, just make my light textures full of little dust particles instead of being a pure color, and then adding more frames where they're shifting in different directions..

I guess i should study some videos of this type of lightning.


edit: Blood splatter in motion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ-fAqUhIF4

[674092266c8fdRocketMan]

Hey Vurt.  So long as you're working on the eggs, here's something that might help.  I remodelled the egg meshes in higher res but they have the exact same external dimensions otherwise and currently use the same texture names (except in gif format instead of pcx).

[674092266ca61vurt]

Thanks! For some reason i can't seem to import the .3ds to the 3DS-Bin converter (after applying my .tga textures to it).
edit: nvm, i managed to fix it, converted it to a .obj and then back to .3ds, it fixed the import problem.

might want to make a new flat plane since it uses a lot of verticies for a 98% flat plane, or we could make it less flat..

[674092266cb66vurt]

Does anyone know the name of the texture (or mesh) of this ugly muzzle flash:

edit: found it after looking in the editor..

[674092266ceffRocketMan]

Thanks! For some reason i can't seem to import the .3ds to the 3DS-Bin converter (after applying my .tga textures to it).
Image: http://piclair.com/data/54psg.jpg

edit: nvm, i managed to fix it, converted it to a .obj and then back to .3ds, it fixed the import problem.

might want to make a new flat plane since it uses a lot of verticies for a 98% flat plane, or we could make it less flat..

Good point.  My guess would be that like other eggs we are familiar with, they are layed in some sort of supportive nest or burrow to help it sit upright and keep it warm?  In any case, LG/IG probably wanted to make it look like there was some residue or goo surrounding each egg, which is why they raised it off the ground a bit.  The other factor here is that the entire eggis not visible.  Without some sort of raised border, it would appear as though the egg were somehow intersecting the floor or that a piece of the egg had been cut off and is missing.  You're right about the poly budget though so if it starts to eat away at the framerate it might have to be optimized.  I can't remember how many eggs are ever visible simultaneously though.... might be a moot point if it's only 2 or 3.

[674092266d1f8Xeno]

Does anyone know the name of the texture (or mesh) of this ugly muzzle flash:

Image: http://piclair.com/data/74x6w.jpg

been looking all over for it, can't find it.

I found it under assflash.pcx in obj/txt16.
SHTUP did a version of it so I found a pic for you to look at.

Just registered so that I might be able to edit my posts and I plan on contributing in the near future anyways.

Here's the SHTUP assflash
Image: http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/7/6617/thumb_620x2000/37554.jpg

[674092266d328SoldierG65434-2]

Just out of curiosity Vurt, how many models and textures do plan to update?  I just want to know so I can start planning my next computer upgrade to handle all the new pixels and polygons.

This is really tremendous work you are doing, especially the water and lights.

[674092266d4d3vurt]

Xeno: thanks, not the one i was looking for though, there another one, but i found it too.

Soldier: i don't have any plans really, i'm just updating a little here and there as i find stuff that i don't like or think would be fun to make a new version of.

RocketMan: might raise that goo a bit so that it looks like the bottom of the egg is in there, and that the goo supports it. we'll figure something out.



New egg model by Rocketman and my textures:
Image: http://piclair.com/data/mugls.jpg

New muzzle flash:
Image: http://piclair.com/data/q3bz9.jpg

Another one:

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

[674092266d7e2ZylonBane]

Vurt, note that assflash is rendered at a random rotation when you fire, so the muzzle flash has to be perfectly centered in the bitmap. Otherwise you get weird offset effects like in the screenshot above.

I found it under assflash.pcx in obj/txt16.

That's a completely different bitmap. Didn't you notice that it doesn't at all match the "before" half of the screenshot you posted right under it?

[674092266d8d7vurt]

ok good to know, i couldnt remember if it looked a bit off with the original too.