McGroose

On 11/8/2023 at 5:22 AM, Ramikad said:

And Morrowind too, those new trees make Vvardenfell a beautiful place - unless that was the original Vurt and this one is a clone, Vuurt, fresh out of the Spaarti cylinders...

I'd like to add on to Gothics and Morrowwind scene by recalling Vurt's excellent Kotor texture mods that convinced me that Kotor graphics modding could be more than just a mishmap of poorly connected textures, which felt like the only mods available at the time for comparison. To this day, his work on Kotor still stands out as exceptional years later. 

This mod pack looks amazing, DF2 is one of my favorite childhood games. Seeing the near entirety of Dark Forces II be given this treatment is a dream come true. Thanks so much, Vurt!

This is Nemesis of Katarn, correct?

Sorry I cannot help, but I just want to point out that I both love this mod and hate how it has other similar problems.  Have you seen how in the great chamber (the one like in ESB where Vader cuts off Lukes hand) on the other side of the door in question, the textures do not load properly? It's as if the map is too big. It playys the same effect as if you're falling out of the map via noclip, like you're looking at a void. 

This and the last level crshes always on OpenJO, are you using OpenJO? Or default? Playing the mod in Jedi Academy with openJK does not have that problem IIRC

If you make any progress updating this mod, I'd love if you could address the above problems.

Ya I can eventually make a download for those files, Rosh is more or less done. It's just that Tavion has three problems:

The JK2 version of her with the new head (long black hair), and maybe the JK3 version, will not have her head dismember or at. I think I know what the problem but I don't think I can fix that.

The Tavion model in general requires OpenJK otherwise the shaders will be an absolute mess. I guess this is fine for JK3 but there is only one build of OpenJK I can find for JK2, used in the JK2 enhanced mod, is reaaaaaally broken. I wish someone would just upload a good OpenJK build for JK2 cause I know people have done it before with little to no bugs. They just tackle their own unique stuff into the code so that their variant of JK2 is vastly different from the vanilla game so it wouldn't exactly make sense to release that as just a regular OpenJK build.

The lightning effect on Possessed Tavion isn't quite perfect. I have to allign and make the texture and shader file just right. It looks better now than before, but I can definitely tell this lightning shader was not meant to work on this model.

I really have to learn how to make a proper Readme file lol

I can turn the red bits yellow later maybe, I just struggled with getting the white texture the way I wanted it. I actually like the combo of red and yellow. Thanks, Psyk0sith! I didn't think anybody would do it lol

Just wanted to comment on this to say... hot damn, maybe there was something good to come out of these mediocre ports after all, I get a pretty nice JK2 theme for my PS4.

3 hours ago, BlindDaThief said:

What is a "normal file"? haha

 

Also, how the heck do you post images in this forum thing??? I can only put in links and its annoying me. I want ppl to see the image I'm referencing, not click a dang link! thanks in advance... rant over

Lol I'm guessing he means directly in the JKhub file list and admitted via mod approval instead of on a single page of a gigantic thread like this one.

Normally you could just put in the direct image URL and it would load the image for you. This still is the case but I swear JKhub has been incredibly slow with registering that lately. It took me a long time yesterday to post pictures here cause of that. It took me a good couple minutes of waiting for those URLs to become embedded images in my post. IDK if the problem is with Imgur or this site.

You could also try the bottom right corner of your post, click on "insert other media",  select "insert image from URL". Which basically just does the same thing as I said above.

EDIT: All links and creidts provided to mod authors of this current post.

(Dang, I forgot to give credit to some of the mods above and their links. I haven't released anything yet so no rush, but I'll get around to it)
Alrighty, I'm bored. I did some new things:

Episode 2: McGroose really hates model tags.

First, the changes I did to Reelo and his thugs.

If you ever looked at JK2's big NPC file, you'll notice a lot of the 3 main Reelo's Moot thug types: Rodian, Weequay and Gran, have several NPC variations. This is good because it means that each NPC can be given a unique model. I believe I can have up to as many as 10 different variations of enemies because of this. 

Here are some random screens I took of the fruits of my kitbashing labor. Keep in mind, the enemy types spawn in the Cantina will always be random, but it's usually pretty standard afterwards (meaning this coordinate will definitely have the Weequay3 NPC, this coordinate will have the Rodian2 NPC, etc). I can take a multitude of cool screens cause of this:

Unfortunately, the Ishi Tib and the Rodian willnot dismember upon Saber contact. I tried forever to make it work, but to no avail. It either has something to do with the model tags being named different for some JK3 models, same for the assets, or it's something else. I did a bunch of different stuff but nothing worked. Sucks. 

The blue dude is the watchman model made by the Punisher

Ishi Tib from Kualan's Senator's pack. The body of the Ishi Tib comes from his Bric & El-Lis pack.

The Rodian I just ported over from JK3 and recolored it. Holy fuck do I hate ported Jaden, so annoying dealing with all the extra parts.

The Human Merc I ported over. I used the reskin by GenericUsername29. The Devaronian model is by AshuraDX and I used the Red reskin by GU29 for it.

The Gand was an Idea I got from playing Kotor 2 and is just a slightly edited Zuckuss model by Mark Lubbers, which looks very close to the Kotor 2 Gand anyway. 

The Nikto head model is by Numberwan and his armor is from the Swamptrooper reskin by someone named "slaughter" back on filefront. 

For the Trandoshan, I use the Pilot Poe model by Scerendo, reskinned it, attached some vanilla Trandoshan parts to it and used the head from this mod by Darth Shiftee.

So Reelo went through a lot of different phases on the drawing board. In the end, I am quite happy with how he looks. I used the Heavy Rodian TFU model ported by Jeff over to JK3, than kitbashed Reelo's head onto the original head. The dismemberment on him is really messed up, but I'm not surprised since it's a model from TFU ported to a much older game. Doesn't matter tho since he never comes near your lightsaber in the game anyway. I got the idea from this Rodian crime lord from the Vader trilogy comics. He is the head of a criminal syndicate and also has a lavish throne room but the dude dresses like a junker. Considering Reelo is THE waste disposal manager to to remove your garbages , I figured it's only fair his appearance reflected that.

For Jan Ors, I used the Jynn Erso model made by Lervish and kitbashed the Jan Ors head from the Dark Forces II model pack.

Now the bartender also was a difficult choice in terms of how to proceed. Do I stay true to the original character or go all out and just remake the dude from scratch? I decided the latter option. Let me tell you, this guy makes the conversation with Kyle a lot funnier. I never realized how much funnier his broken grammar and tone could be with the proper smug-ass face to reflect it. I don't think the Chiss model did a good job of that. This Twilek just gives Kyle the most "fuck you" troll look ever during the conversation, I love it. Anyway, He's a twilek. The head model comes from this mod by luckxyz and the body is a slightly reskinned jacket from this Episode 7 Han Solo model.

Oh and here's some other random stuff.

Black lightsaber from this mod by dark_Apprentice, just the original mod converted over to JK2. I already knew how to make a black saber texture, the problem was that, when you swing your saber, the trail will still be the original color. This was a shader issue that I didn't figure out how to fix until I saw this mod.

I use it with the Shadowtroopers. I haven't figured out how to turn the orange aura of the saber that reflects off the wall to be white or black instead of Orange, but oh well. Maybe later.

Made a new yellow Reborn, I'm hoping someone can do that request of mine a few days ago and make him white instead (PLZZZZZ)

I would like for many of these mods to be used in the JK2 Remastered mod, but progress has come to a halt, we've all got too many other projects and real life matters to deal with. Whenever progress resumes, I will see if these models can be used in the mod. Of course, with credit provided to all the modders who provided/made these assets. I don't actually make anything per say, I just kitbash. 

Yes, this is incredibly simple. I just suck at making textures white. 

My request - could someone take Langerd's Reborn reskin and make a white version of it? Just the red parts, I'd like what's still grey to be unchanged. Like a nice, natural-looking white version of it that doesn't look overly saturated and works well with the shading he's got going on with these textures?  

You can recolor the hat white as well. Please make the stripes on his head a shade of yellow that doesn't pop out too bad.

Thanks!

If you're conquering Dantooine, then 1.

If you're conquering Alderaan, then 10.

If you're conquering Coruscant, then 100.

You can expect to see varying levels of defense on each system. To conquer an entire solar system, assuming no more ships are added from start to finish to replace potentially lost ones, I'd say it depends. There are some 50 million solar systems in the Star Wars galaxy, so if you want to conquer the most advanced one, say one with a planet like Coruscant, maybe 500 or so?

The empire had a total of around 25,000 star destroyers at their peak. The least advanced systems could probably have been taken with just 1.

That above email is hilarious. Taking a 2003 video game way too seriously. FFS, go outside.

I recall seeing someone made progress with modding JK2 on the switch. Apparently the layout of the game's folders and files remains largely the same and untampered with.  The person was able to use a mod that replaces the Bryar pistol with the JK3 DL-44, a pretty old but popular mod from back in the day. So it's certainly possible on the Switch.

As for the PS4, probably still possible. Just likely not worth it. If I could get my JK2 mod configuration on PS4, I'd have a pretty fun time messing around with it.

EDIT:
Here's what I was talking about, btw

https://i.redd.it/03rwvorh8dq31.png

https://www.reddit.com/r/SwitchHacks/comments/dculys/jedi_outcast_is_easily_moddable_you_just_have_to/

I really was hoping for something more akin to the Gamecube/Xbox port, just with PC style graphics. I'm kind of disappointed they basically did a copy and paste of the PC version of the game, but that just means the game is easy AF to mod, which I guess is nice. They didn't even fix the crappy default 1080p 75-80 default FOV. Hopefully a mod can fix what should've been there from the start. The default FOV really is awful on 1080p resolution.

Hi, can you please make Jaden Korr in Prequel Jedi Outfit (regular blond Jaden Korr head)?

Jedi Academy Enhanced here on JKHub has a customizable option to use any Jaden head with the prequel Jedi robes. 

@@McGroose

I've just taken a look at the mod's lightsabers. Honestly, some of them are not that much different from what we already have in the canon (next to the movies).

For example, one of the lightsabers resembled the one from the Inquisitor. And besides, I think there are enough "wacky" lightsaber designs in the canon,

like the one from Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku or Ezra Bridger. Hell, there is even a lightsaber rifle in the canon. But if you expect a six-bladed lightsaber that looks like

a candleholder to be adapted into the canon, well, I can't help you with that. There will be so many lightsabers in the future, any maybe there will be at least one that is wacky enough for you.

 

In regards to lightsaber designs, I think there is no good or bad, no right or wrong. Just let every lightsaber have it's own design, because there is no point in criticizing it. Also, it doesn't look that much different from Darth Maul's lightsaber, except that this one is foldable. Personally, I'm excited to see Dark Rey's lightsaber in action. It may not be a "Darth-Maul-activates-his-double-bladed-lightsaber" excitement I had back in 1999, but still.

 

Okay, I may have went off-topic, but I just wanted to have it off my chest. Move along, move along.

I would argue that there IS an objectively bad lightsaber design, but it would be pretty hard to achieve. The writers of Rebels managed to screw up badly in one instance. I actually like rebels a little bit, but the lightsabers are just bad. I hate the bendy blades, how thin the blades are, but the thing that really baffled me is the inquisitor's saber. I think the hilt itself looks pretty good, I don't even mind the spinning feature it has, I guess it was meant to give them an edge for their lack of skill. But the fact that they can fly away with them... what? How can I take that seriously? I'm no physicist, but most people didn't take that seriously and I'm guessing it was cause most people realize that beams of pure energy have no solid matter and therefore couldn't generate any wind force to lift them upward, or however you would word it. How does this make any sense? Was it meant to be a joke? In one of the most suspenseful episodes of the series?

I was laughing pretty hard when I first saw them using their saber-copter to fly away in the Malachor episode, but I damn near fell off my chair from laughing when I saw that one inquisitor fly away, then have his saber break apart and then he fell to his death. It just felt so comical, like something out of a Roadrunner or Tom and Jerry cartoon, a prop that didn't work so the character gets messed up pretty bad. But this was probably meant to be serious, and that made me realize that this show really has no idea how a lightsaber works and what it's limitations are. And this is canon, I can't believe it but the rofl-copter is a canon lightsaber ability.

I like it when saber hilts have unique designs, provided the functionality is still fully intact or becomes even more menacing. What matters most is practicality. A single saber is practical. A double saber, while requiring significantly differentiated training and can be easy to mess up with, is even more devestating than a single saber in the right hands, so practicality is still ensured. I don't like the crossguard saber, how is such a design practical? It seems like it could do more damage for the user than an enemy, but it's at least close enough to a good saber design I don't mind. But a saber copter? lol nah bruh.

So far, I don't think we've had any bad saber HILTS. Dooku's saber and Asajj Ventress Dooku knockoff hilts just require the user to position their saber in more of a fencing position. Ezra's saber is also basically a stun blaster, while still being just a normal saber for the most part, I think that's quite unique and benefitial for the user. The saber rifle.... I had no idea what this was until you told me, but that's not a lightsaber. It's basically a beam rifle that's incredibly powerful but dies out fast. It just uses a lightsaber as fuel. It's a gun, not a lightsaber in functionality. What has been bastardized, however is the functionality of the saber blade itself and that has been made a joke. 

Man, these Lightsabers are getting worse and worse... 

Anyone ever play the mod "Escape from Yavin IV"? I'm expecting the wacky ass sabers from that mod to eventually become canon in the upcoming movies.

Maybe I should rephrase that. So you know how Jedi Outcast was only limited to 3 different Jedi models? Would it be possible to incorporate all the other Jedi from JKA like the master and the students? Like for example when you go to the Jedi Academy, the models will be more diverse, like a Rodian training in one room and a Zabrak in the other, etc.

That would require Jedi outcast having the ability to create and spawn randomized models like Jedi Academy does. In JK3, the jedi NPC will use the playermodel "Jedi_random" in their NPC file to have the game create and spawn them as a completely randomly generated playermodel. JK2 lacks the ability to spawn randomly generated models, JK2 doesn't even have the ability to cusomize any types of playermodel. It's also not possible, as far as I know, to have the game spawn a random model out of a predetermined list of multiple models for a single NPC anyway, it can only use a single model. The only example I am aware of this "sort of" happening is with the Stormtrooper NPC, the maps will randomly spawn either the NPC "Stormtrooper1" or "Stormtrooper2", but you still only have two NPCs/two models to choose from here. 

You could edit the map's script to allow it to randomly spawn different NPCs that have Jedi stats, similar to how maps will randomly spawn either Stormtrooper1 or Stormtrooper2, but I have no idea how to do that. 

For this mod, because humans are the most commonly found types of Jedi seen in the JK2 and JK3, it'll just use higher quality human Jedi models. 

Been meaning to make a page showing off my little projects here and there. Really, nothing grand, but some are worth showing off, I think.

On a side-note, everything I do, I make it JK2 compatible.

All large images I post will be posted in spoilers, so I don't force you to scroll through way to much all at once. 

I ported a bunch of mod models from JK3 to JK2, like DT85's improved Stormtrooper and his Kyle Katarn, but I'm not going to talk about those since all I did was get them working in JK2 and nothing else. I edited a texture here or there, that's it. Nothing worth talking about. What I am CONSIDERING doing for these mod ports is providing a PK3 that includes just the JK2-compatible model file, but no textures, skin files or anything. That way you will still have to download the original mod, supporting their work.

Starting off, I hated the original look for Tavion, so I decided to give her a new one. I made one with two different options using the armor provided in this Chaosknight model and with a darkened-up texture from this Athena reskin. I included two heads, one with the default Tavion head (JK2 and JK3 variant) and another head kitbashed from his Gweth Kelia mod.

I've also given Tavion a new Posessed variant. The idea was based off this really cool old mod, which takes Tavion and wraps her in this constantly-moving lightning shader effect. Really cool, so I wanted to translate the shader effect to a new, more complicated model. The lightning DOES cover every part of her eventually, it's just hard to get screenshots of them cause the lightning stays on some spots longer than others. 

I also used audacity to port all of Darth Nihilus' voicelines to give to Tavion when possessed. What I want to do is overlap Ragnos's dialogue over Nihilus' Sith babble. So far, it all sounds really good and it makes the final boss sound a lot scarier, especially with far higher buffed stats!

Next up, I kitbashed together a Dark Side Rosh. I simply added his head to the cultist body, modifying the proportions of the neck area so that it would look natural. I got the Cultist skin texture mod from here, and the Rosh face reskin from here.

Next up, I ported a bunch of weapons from Movie Battles 2 to work in the game regularly, 1st and 3rd person, hud icons and all. Getting the world models to look right was the easy part, it was getting the 1st-person appearance to look correct which took forever. A bunch of trial and error there.

T-21 Blaster for the flechette:

DLT-20a for Disruptor

IDK what this is, but it looked cool. So Imma call it Clone Wars Electric Blaster.

Clone Wars Electric Blaster for DEMP2:

MBII Wookie Bowcaster for the bowcaster. I recolored it black. I believe the old one was trying to replicate the design from Republic Commando? I love that game, but that art-style was so unique that many things stood out from the rest of the Star Wars standard designs. I gave it a new dark texture to match the normal bowcaster.

This one isn't exclusive to MBII, it's scerendo's E22 Rifle that was included with his Shoretrooper model. Excellent weapon model, but it replaced the E-11, which I didn't like at all. The Heavy Repeater is a much more fitting choice, so I switched it to the Heavy Repeater.

You may have seen a few pictures above, I kitbashed Desann's head onto Psyk0Sith's Darth Malgus model. Results look pretty good.

His new lightsaber is the Starkiller saber hilt from this mod, resized and realligned to be both smaller and placed in a better spot for his hands. It looks perfect on him!

Ported the JK3 reborn to JK2. I love how the reborn look in JK3, it's what I imagine a bunch of space-cult terrorists looking like, really intimidating. I made a green and black retexture for them, and gave them a shader to make them a little more shiny. 

The rebornmaster here actually replaces the regular reborn, the weak orange one. Why? Cause when you play the game on Jedi Master mode, you barely see them. You'll see them 6-7 times throughout the whole game, they'll be quite rare. Perfect to replace with a far more difficult mini-boss type encounter. They've been given Tavion's stats with less health then her. All my Reborn in JK2 and JK3 have random saber colors, except Red. Red is reserved for the big baddies, like in how Dark Forces II, only Jerec had Red while the others have the entire rainbow. I thought that was a neat idea. 

Next, I made an imperial commando/imperial navy trooper. I took Hapslash's imperial model. There are lot of other better Navy Trooper models being made on JKhub, but I wanted to try my luck with one. 

I reskined it to be a fitting shade of black, removed all the extra crap like code cyllinders and bades and kitbashes the impcommando head model from the Dark Forces demo mod here on JKhub. It looks really good, I think! Unfortunately, I wanted to use the head from the JK3 demo, but it gave me a LOT of problems on blender, I couldn't export the thing, I kept getting a bunch of random error messages every time I tried to work with it (seriously, how did these guys get it to work in game like this?), so I had to use the head from the JK2 demo, which gave me no problems. I'll adjust the helmet itself later to look a little better.

I kitbashed Luke's head from this mod onto DT85's TFA Luke. It looks really good, adjusting the neck took a long time cause it would clip a lot through the collar in cutscenes, I'm not 100 percent satisfied but it looks good enough for right now. A big problem I'm getting, I think cause I messed up a hand tag, is that the way he swings his saber is very odd, like's he just can't swing the entire way. It makes him easy to kill. I'm gonna have to fix that later, too

Gave Galak a new reskin, fitting for an admiral. Based on his badge, he'd be a "high admiral". His head was ported on Hapslash's imperial body. I didn't do that, somebody else already made this kitbash and released it on JKhub a while ago (actually cause I requested it back then, if I remember correctly. Love this mod).

That's it for right now. Anything you guys want from all of this?

The Jedi Knight re-edited videos were hilarious, I watched them again recently for the first time in a couple years, I forgot how funny they were!

It will use openjk

I'm curious, will you be using the build of openJK provided in the JKIIenhanced mod? I can't find another build for JK2. It had a lot of bugs, weather patterns, music not working often, force meter issues, inventory glitches, etc. Or did you fix these?

"JK II Remastered" Will it be using OpenJK? 

Having a properly oriented camera in 1080p resolution would be wonderful!

Great texture work! I've always wanted to see a texture mod for JK2.

Also, dare I say, is that a reborn with a cape in the second to last picture? Inspired by this image, maybe?

Also, I recognize Tompa's caped Desann, but his texture looks so familiar. Did you make it yourself or did you get it from another reskin mod?

Hey @@Langerd , just wanted you to know that your mod looks amazing, everyone on JKHub thinks its amazing, several people have been looking forward for this mod for such a long time and we're all incredibly grateful that you've still decided to keep going with it. I can tell you easily right now that this has been the one mod on JKhub I've been tracking the most, because I believe the progress you've made so far has been simply astronomical - you're mapping skills are out of this world, and your scripting, modeling, and clear-grasp of quality cinematography based on your cutscenes is also quite apparent. 

If you're afraid that you're spending too much time on modding this game, then all that you need to do is prioritize real life and more enjoyable activities along with your side-hobbies, JKA being one of the side-hobbies. Nobody is going to look at you funny if you tell them that one of your side-hobbies is basically remaking old video games. They'll possibly be impressed.

I've recently been through some really hard times, relationship ended and made me depressed, constantly anxious about university and spending long nights planning what I'll do for my future hard AF graduate school life (which I probably won't enjoy the fruits of my anxiety-inducing labor until probably some 10+ years from now), not spending as much time with my friends as they do with each other, and just feeling incredibly lonely in general. I often think I waste too much time playing JK3... not really playing it though, but just modding it. I think me actually playing the game takes up 10% of the time I spend playing the game and the other 90% is me messing around editing the game files with a bunch of different programs. getting frustrated when mod projects don't work out right. I'm sure you can relate to that. I did think I spent too much time "playing" it, I got really self-conscious about it.

So I'm not really playing as much now, it's just a small side-hobby below in priority to my main life. This makes modding and playing JK3 so much more enjoyable, what little time I put into it makes me enjoy it much more and feel less down about myself. The fact you took a break from modding is a really good thing, self-reflection is never bad. I really hope you get to a really great place in your life soon.

As for the people who messed you on Discord and MBII, the fact that they were talking like that in the first place is pretty much proof to me that they are either just shitty people or trolling you, just don't bother them any attention. All games are filled with that crap unfortunately and good-hearted people are often targeted by these fucktards. Thankfully, most of the JK3/JK2 community isn't like that.

Best of luck to you, pal. Wishing you the best!

Using 4K resolutions on a 1080p monitor is essentially the ultimate form of antialiasing available at a very significant cost in FPS. You're not going to see a single sharp edge doing that, but you won't see a 4K resolution like on an actual 4K-supporting monitor. 

If you have the hardware to make the game run smooth enough, may as well experiment with it a little bit. Once that is done though, it just really isn't that worth it. If you do this for other games, I hope you don't mind having some of your game menu options the size of a thumbnail, scaling menus in some games gets really messed up when you do downsampling like that. 

Dude I can't wait for you to release that imperial Navy Trooper. It looks great!

So I've got a few issues with Tavion. In JK2, she'll only work properly if you're running an OpenJK build for JK2. As far as I'm aware, the only build available on JKHub (The JK2 Enhanced version) doesn't work. I have that mod still and am currently using it, so it's not an issue for me. Other people will get glitched up textures with Tavion without it, though.

So ya, in order for it to work for JK2, you'll need to have the mod OpenJK compiled for JK2 somehow.

Alright, at this point I'm just having fun with porting and kitbashing now. Might just start a different thread with personal stuff I make out of boredom.

Again, JK2 singleplayer:

Luke's neck clipped waaaaay too much, took forever to portion it just right and I'm still not quite content. It'll do for now, though.