McGroose

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

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.

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!

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.

Ya, this one is a good deal trickier. I'm working with fragments of meshes at this point. I'll work on this a little more today, will probably pick it up later. Thank you for your help. I might PM you if I need help again if you're ok with that.

I've changed the size, but what about re-aligning the legs to be perfectly parallel like the Rockettrooper? Getting closer lol

What do I use to change the aligning of meshes?

Guess I'll need somebody who knows blender to tell me how to do all of that, but it's a start

I'm trying to rig the rockettrooper GLA onto this dark trooper model. I've managed to rig the skeleton to the model, but trying to export the glm gives me the error "skeleton_root does not match specified gla". I know the skeleton_root is fulled attached to the model, posing different bones causes all corresponding model parts to follow. Really not sure what i'm supposed to do here. Was I first supposed to hex edit the glm or something? I tried to hex edit the model file and replace the humanoid animations with the rocketrooper gla, but that never works right cause the model then won't load in blender. Help is appreciated

OOOOOOOH, so it is in the level. I didn't know that. Gotta pay more attention to those things. In that case, I'm guessing this is the equivalent to a gym locker room type thing where the stormtrooper has a poster of some famous woman he fantasizes over lol That's honestly funnier than my original interpretation

Got some free time this weekend; time for an update! Got the model ported into JK2. This was way harder for me to figure out than doing the actual kitbash itself, it felt like nothing was working right. Now that I know what I'm doing now, porting models from JK3 to JK2 is a breeze. I also got bored and wanted to port Desann's head on Psyk0sith's Malgus' armor cause his armor is pretty darn fitting. Inspired by this video. The dude actually did the same kitbash himself (Desann's head on Malgus' body) too in another video he did on his channel. Learned a lot about Kitbashing and how blender works with models today. Good stuff I know it's not much for the heavy-duty modders out there, but little stuff like this makes me happy to see in the game, I always wanted to be able to customize my characters down to every detail. few more images: The dark reskin of Desann's head was used from Jolly's "Sith Lord Desann" mod The only downside to these ports/kitbashes in JK2 is that some characters in cutscenes have an awkward movement or two. For example, the scene here that shows Desann turns his head towards Tavion shows him move his head a good deal farther back... not full out neck-breaking, but it does look like he's straining himself a tad. Nothing real bad, but kinda funny. Tavion also stares a little farther out here. I like to think that Tavion isn't looking at Desann anymore, just staring into space at the adjacent window, contemplating something. Desann tries to look her directly in the face by utilizing his incredibly flexible lizard neck. I wanted to replace Malgus' hands with Desann's, and it worked, but it wouldn't show him holding the lightsaber. It was invisible, plus I've got to deal with the new transparent gap on his wrists that was once covered up by the original hands. They also don't really fit all that well. I'll have to work more on that later. I'm also debating removing Malgus' shoulder pads. They look a little too bulky and don't translate well on certain cutscenes. Again, like I said, I'll try and get a release out eventually. I want to polish things up and get some textures looking a little more fitting/original. If psych0sith allows me to use his work, considering it'll be ported to JK2 (and barely anything really changed on a technical level, just a new head), I'll release it. All up to him. Same goes for the original creator of Tavion's armor model. Hope you think it looks good!