Cerez

Disney/EA took inspiration in large part from my (and Cadellin's) design for that model: https://jkhub.org/files/file/2411-ahsoka-tano/ Their work seems to be a blend of my/our design with the original, cartoon design of Ahsoka. The GoH model itself would very likely be too low-definition to look good ported to Jedi Academy, not to mention that that would be something that could be done only for private use (and not allowed to be shared, legally), as we don't have Disney/EA's permission to port their work.

Okay-okay, I think we got the point across. We're all big fans of SJC's work. Now let's let the man work, and stop acting like fan-girls at a concert. ("OMG it's SJC!!!" *squeals, then passes out*)

You were saying?

Just something whipped up on the fly in JKA - a cinematic wallpaper: Hi-res download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vax2t85yria61m/Ahsoka.png?dl=0

I was just messing around, but it ended up looking pretty alright -- a cinematic wallpaper for ye who fancy: Hi-res download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vax2t85yria61m/Ahsoka.png?dl=0

Adding a lot of NPCs is always performance intensive, but I think we can manage with a balance between not having too many to clog up today's systems, and having just enough to provide the right atmosphere. What suffers most is the dismemberment feature. Having more than a certain amount of NPCs on a level will trigger the rest of the NPCs to be non-dismemberable (i.e. we'll hit the cap for it).

I wish you good recovery, @@Asgarath83. Please take some time off to recover, and take care of yourself. Thanks for all this. On the scripting side, we also need to hook up the cinematic scripts to work the new NPCs and adjust the camera and NPC positioning/angles for the new environment. The bar coversations, however, will need to be scripted pretty much from scratch (unless the script from the bar scene in JO can be of use). I suppose they will also require new voice acting for the first/second bartender? (It seems to me we've deviated from the original, voiced and scripted, Raven story a little bit with this plan...)

This may help: https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=RoQ http://wiki.quakeworld.nu/Mencoder_howto https://jkhub.org/tutorials/article/26-creating-a-roq-video/ http://www.swift-tools.net/Quake/QVM/

You've done more than plenty. Thanks so much for working on this project and helping out with so much, Asi. Rest, and take care of your health. Do the things that make you feel good, and are relaxing. We'll keep you up-to-date on the progress of the project, and ask for help in case we need a tweak here or there, but I expect we should be fine, and whatever needs tweaking I can do through ent modding (or by firing up GTKRadiant myself). This is beyond the scope of what I'm willing to do. I hate video editing. Pre-rendered video cutscenes are so past century. >.<' You're gonna need to find someone who's into video editing, or DIY. Don't be afraid to try new things and learn. I started with the Ahsoka project by asking other, experienced modellers to make the model for me. Then I sat down, and, with the help of the community (@@AshuraDX deserves a huge credit for never giving up on me, and keeping a close, critical eye on my learning progress -- I'm indebted, Master -- and Asi for helping me whenever I got stuck, and with the tools I was using), and my own research, in the end learned how to do it myself, and produced a fully weighted and textured model -- without formerly knowing how to do either -- in just a few months' time. And I can recommend it wholeheartedly. It feels great to DIY -- it totally beats sitting around and waiting for things to happen -- and you discover new things you never knew you could do, and actually enjoy doing. Anyone can do it, you just need to work hard at it -- just as ol' HS says in my sig:

MWUHHAHAHA! Revenge is sweet! Serves you right for exploding mine! Ah, that is a problem... :/ This is also one of the major problems with JKA's extensible design. All moves, and special features, animations, and effects tend to be restricted to particular classes and models, and cannot be simply applied to any class or any model. This shield, for example... there's no reason why it should have to be restricted to the assassin droid model, yet that's the way it was implemented in the game. In that case, I don't think we should get rid of the old assassin droids, but perhaps place the new models along with them somehow? It doesn't have to be only one manufacture of assassin droids, right? The story doesn't explicitly say there was only one design that was manufactured. (Or does it?) Just keep in mind guys that we can't really create new animations. We'll have to use the existing animations, so don't stray too far from the original story. Racto is a small-time gangster (as far as I remember) in the story, so we shouldn't take it too far. The assassin droids themselves are quite the protection for him if he can use the time to put himself into a safe and inaccessible area. Especially if we implement the new breed, as well. We need to keep it in line with the rest of the game's difficulty to truly blend it in as a replacement for the Coruscant mission. I can help with this, as well. I like this take. Great story idea! Perhaps we can place two of Racto's men at the ship's entrance (unloading the shipment). And then as Jaden walks out, previously a stowaway, they all turn surprised, and the short dialogue with Racto ensues, whereupon he flees to safety, and the two men attack -- aided by a few of Racto's personal droid-guard (the new models)? (That would justify them being scattered throughout the lower levels later.) Instead of a bridge explosion, we have a droid (and personal guard) ambush serve as a delay to add to the baddy's (already planned and prepared) quick getaway time. Thereafter Jaden needs to find Racto's hideout while fighting off his men and his guard, and finally, once he is found, face the dreaded assassin droid ambush trap. Edit: Also, @@Asgarath83, don't forget the snipers. There are plenty of great places in the undercity for snipers to "climb up to" and position themselves. And they have plenty of reason to be there, being alerted to Jaden's arrival and approach by Racto.

I am thinking that perhaps the rancor holding area in the depths of the swoop track would better serve as our catching/meeting place with Racto, as there is room there to battle. Plus, it's a real underground scene.

Whew... looks like I've been out of touch with things -- my notification box here just exploded. >.<' I'm going to leave the mission planning up to you, @@Darth Sion. You seem to have a pretty good idea of where you're going with this. Take in our suggestions, and see how it'd work best to make sense game level design and storywise as well (I'll gladly be your critic on the latter). I will also gladly take care of the cinematics adjustments, and any additional scripting we need for the mod to work. So no worries there, @@Asgarath83, I've got you covered. Why do we need a second bartender conversation? What does the second (or first) bartender have to do with the mission? I would say the undercity bartender would be the one involved, and the surface bartender just a regular joe, not actually involved in the criminal plot. It's no rush. Take it easy, Asi. I was only thinking of how we could actually accomplish this without having to use the source, as -- as you noted yourself -- this is quite a large project. You've actually chosen to do a lot more than I was hoping for, and taken care of a large part of my work, too. Can't say I'm complaining... (Thanks.) I would have said that the civilian NPCs can be placed in even after via ent-modding, but I suppose it is easier in GTKRadiant -- and yes, this should be done as the final step after all the enemy NPCs have been defined and placed appropriately. I can script their animated poses and behaviour. For the sake of not clogging up the action, I recommend keeping most of them stationary, with only the occasional walker. This would be a stylistic choice in the design to prevent needless mission obstruction by a mindless, moving NPC crowd. Important: If you can, please make sure you label every NPC (and entity) added, so I can find what is what in the code when scripting them. We'll also need an SP player spawning point, as the map currently features a variety of MP spawning points instead. Indeed, absolutely. This is why I keep stressing that without permission from SJC the finished work cannot be distributed publicly. At the least, we need SJC's permission in the use of his map for this mod to go public. I was afraid of that. What if we were to simply re-texture Padme's ship into a crummy looking (public transport, or for-hire) shuttle? Edit: I like the Jedi Hunter Droid idea -- it does fit with the new generation assassin droid concept, and it would pose a more interesting challenge in the form of a lightsaber battle, although it does take away the electric shield challenge, unless we can somehow transfer the electric shield (and behaviour) script to these droids. (I'd have to look into it.)

@@Asgarath83, do you think you could import the map (all mangled up without textures, etc., as it is), and create a waypoint grid for the NPCs on it? If so, we could export the grid as entities, and use it for the NPC walking/movement on the original map via ent modding. That would certainly speed things up a bit.

(Be mindful about privacy... >.<') What's this business about "untrustable"? o.O I think there's been a misunderstanding there (language barrier). @@Asgarath83? From the looks of it, James would need to dedicate a lot of his time sorting through the old source and preparing it for the share, so it's not likely to happen anytime soon. Map sources can get really complex to organise because of the many assets they rely on. I understand now the problem, and feel his frustration. Pushing it will not help. At the end of the day this is a charity contribution, and if it takes so much time away from his actual life, work, and family, that will be quite tricky to execute. (Not to mention that the source needs to be treated with respect, that it's a delicate matter...) As for me, I will let you know as soon as I can set some time aside for this project. I'm definitely interested, and I won't forget about it. Just gotta find the time...

@@Darth Sion I do understand where James is coming from. Sharing the source for a well known work of art is a tough call, and not something to be taken lightly. That's why I applaud those who have the courage to pass on the torch to the greater community, the next generation, and treat their work with great respect, but not everyone is the same, and at the end of the day it is a personal choice from the artist, and to be respected either way. For future reference, you really don't need more than a single mail message to the artist/creator. If you can see if message has been read, that's all the more reason to keep your correspondence short and to the point. If they've read it, and you don't receive an answer within two weeks' time, it is likely they are not interested, that they have nothing to say, or that you've taken things too far for their taste. (Not sure what the actual correspondence between you two was, but just saying.) We're entitled to free speech, and that means the right to say silent, and not say anything at all, as well. Now, onto the project itself: I do like the challenge of having to accomplish this solely via entity modding and scriptwork. The great Orson Welles once said that "The absence of limitations is the enemy of art." I'm not sure how far we can push it, exactly, as working this way does have its limits, but if we're determined, I'm sure we'll get somewhere we want to be. Scripting the NPCs to walk as expected will be the biggest challenge, by far, for me -- and something I've failed to get to work properly in the past. I'm really excited to see the default JKA cinematic animations play out in a new environment, however, to our tweaking and disposal; and about recreating that mission in the real undercity of Coruscant. That said, my life is in great turmoil at the moment, and I need to focus my efforts on mere (financial) survival, so I don't have any time to devote to this project, in truth, currently -- which is why I've chosen to step away for the time being. I will gladly attend to it at a later time, however, when my real life has been stabilised, and I can afford to take on a hobby project of this scale -- though I can't say when that will be, presently... :/ On the legal side, does James approve of you involving his map in this derivative project? Has he given you written permission to use the map? If not, you may not be able to share the finished work past your close friends, privately and for private use -- which is something you may not want, given the amount of work involved. I haven't looked at the structure of the map, but it is possible we might be able to replace the ship simply by physically replacing the MD3 inside the PK3 bundle if the ship is not a part of the map itself, but an extra model and asset added in.

Try disabling the automatic video recording. See if that makes a difference in loading the same maps.

You can add any object you like (or most, anyway), but, as far as I know, you can't change their appearance to something that isn't already in the map, and I think -- though I may be wrong on this -- the only way to make them solid is to make them an active object, which is not easy on the memory. For already active objects (like vehicles and NPCs) this is not an issue, but when it comes to building on a map, GTKRadiant is the better way to go.