Noodle

Hey everybody, it has been some time since my last update and I was feeling the itch to give news regarding the stuff I've been working on lately. Even though my online presence has been lacking lately, I have been working non-stop on projects and helping people with their own mods. Unfortunatedly, and by no fault but my own, this has been at the expense of my own ideas and the things that I actually want to release, like my Tusken cultural pack, my own Bounty Hunting singleplayer mod and of course my contributions to JKGalaxies. On that regard, I hope to release my Tusken pack soon enough, I only need to finish the Massiff model and maybe create some culture-related assets (I always welcome ideas that help with this aspect). For this purpose I actually took a break in modelling these things because I wanted to familiarize myself with a good methodology to produce high quality assets, for that reason I started developing simple assets that at first I textured for base JKA but as time went on I started experimenting with Rend2 and, oh boy, I can't go back now. This was a fun project I made last year because I was tired of everybody using only the vanilla datapad. If you have a keen eye, you might notice this is the datapad Anakin uses in Revenge of the Sith and it looks a lot like the original Game Boy Advance. I had been thinking on using this model as an immersive menu interface for my singleplayer mod, who knows if it'll end up being used. This was a throne I modelled for Zander_Nao's map (which you can download here https://jkhub.org/files/file/4277-red-comet-hall/ ). I don't recall if Zander asked for a specific throne, but I didn't want a map with a unique aesthetic to rely on a base asset, so I made a throne based on his requirements (it was inspired by a SWTOR asset I think). I really liked how the gold bits ended up looking like. I have been working on a bunch of tool models that are lore-friendly to the Star Wars universe. This is a cutting torch, as seen in behind the scenes photos of Luke tools in A New Hope. This was one of my first attempts at making an asset rend2-friendly. Once I was satisfied with the results I fell in a downward spiral regarding texturing my assets. For the duelling map contest I wanted to make Thrawn's office as seen in Star Wars Rebels, but I ran out of time so I didn't upload anything for the date. One of the things I really wanted to make for this map were the art pieces in his collection and for that I started working on Hera's Kalikori. This was an excellent piece to work at, because it fulfills all my desires when creating assets: its a piece representative of a culture in star wars, its made of an interesting material (wood), and it can be reused by people who enjoy roleplaying and need something to develop their character further. Here's how it looks in Vanilla JA: Here's how it looks with Rend2: You might notice that most of the stuff I do aren't actually weapons or combat related stuff, which is because even though this is a lazer sword wiggling game, I feel like Star Wars itself is something beyond just random violence, and to make an enviroment truly immersive you need to be able to tell a story that isn't just reductive of its hostile elements. The more I learn about our own history as a species, the more I realize that culture is something far beyond weapon type A or B, and its enriched more and more by things like types of dress, pottery, ritualistic tools and more. In a way, I hope to help enriching the game with this kind of things that, even though its all fiction, will make things feel more real in the long term.

After downloading and testing all the maps these are the general criticism I could muster of each one Castellaris: This is an incredibly creative map with an uncommon use of colors that are often avoided when it comes to mods. The castle's architecture is very interesting and it has a nice use of lighting. There's also a very good use of horizon blending that makes the surrounding sea feel very vast. That said, for a duel map, it feels awfully big and maze-like, which can be very tiring. I found the choice of music to be kind of a vibe-killer (I like medieval music, but Giaccona might not be the best choice here), the sky texture seems to be AI generated which makes it look alien-like, but at the same time the lack of general movement makes it look more stiff because of how over cluttered it is. Custom shaders could have made it more unique in that regard. And on a personal preference, I'm not a fan of teleports in maps. My score: 4/5 TFFA Brutal: The moment you see the map you can see it was clearly inspired by brutalist architecture, though I could also feel a general influence of art deco in it. Great sense of scale and aesthetic consitency. The brushwork is immaculate and it has a great balance of artificial and natural lighting. There are some art pieces made with brushwork that look really good and the map's size is great for duelling and tournaments. The elements that I'd criticize are mainly the bland music choice and that I wasn't personally a fan of using plants to decorate this kind of structure. My score: 5/5 Droid Ractor Factory: This was such a fun map to explore, it's full of well thought details, like a collapsed gas tank that blocked one of the production lines. It also has a general aesthetic very similar to Coruscant as seen in the vanilla game and I love Star Wars themed maps in general. Lighting wise its good, but there's a general lack of shadows in some areas that make it look flat. Some contrast would've been nice. The conveyor belt with the little pieces moving is great too. On a more critical note, the frames drop at certain bits and that's not good for a duel map, on that regard, there's an area that's accessible only with jump 3 and it could be used for time waste, which is also undesired in duel maps. Here, the music is star wars themed but its also very dull for the map in general, feels almost like an after thought. I'd have liked some immersive sound design, like an alarm where the tank fell, and I wish I could interact with the control panels. On a personal preference, I'm not a fan of randomly placed crates, though you could have added more clever clues to explain their rather illogical positioning. My score: 4/5 Rishi Station: This one is great. The Clone Wars inspired, perfect size for duels, original textures for the control panels, nice view outside of the window, its everything you could want for a Star Wars themed duel map. Only things I'd have added would've been ways to interact with some of the control panels (even if its just to play a sound indicating that you can't open the doors with them) and maybe some music from The Clone Wars instead of generic John Williams tracks. My score: 5/5 Jedi Dojo: I really appreciate that the .map file was added to the .pk3 so that future modders can play with it. The map has some nice wood brushwork and decorations made with this technique, it is super close to what's seen in Star Wars Rebels and its a good and clean space for duelling. The use of colors and textures is generally nice and I think it fulfills its objective quite well. That said, some textures are rather flat, specially the banners, the music choice is a terrible one for the map's general aesthetic and I do wonder if there's any need for the small corridors in opposite sides of the map. They feel like an unnecessary distraction. There are very few light sources in the map and it doesn't make sense for how well lit the overall space is and personally I find it annoying when doors randomly open and close when you get near them, specially in duels. My score: 4/5 Oasis Mesa: This map was made with Rend2 in mind, which is an immediate plus for me. Its a great experiment of work methodologies, since it wasn't made in Radiant but rather Unreal Engine and then ported to Radiant. It works well in this regard, thought since there's no brushwork involved you don't get lightsaber trailmarks on the surrounding spaces. The music and ambience in this map is top notch, and even though the space is huge, there's always clear visibility so that it doesn't become an issue for duels, which here work great both with sabers and guns. I really like some things like the crates covered in cloth and also the big entrance to an abandoned and ruined building. The things that could, in my opinion, be improved are the lack of horizon blending, making the sky texture move a bit so that it doesn't feel stiff and adding collision to the hanging cables. My score: 5/5 Hand of Thrawn: Another great Star Wars inspired map. This one is tougher since its source is literary and not visual, which adds a level of challenge for the adaptation to a map. I really like its round shape and the use of small caves to hide stuff on it, same as the brushwork on the sparsi clone tank and the general use of lighting. This is also a great map for duelling. I did think the floor texture was a bit monotonous and I wasn't a fan of the inconsistency in the textures of all the surrounding control panels. Still, it's a great map in my opinion. My score 4.5/5 Echani Duel: I think this was inspired in the Telos academy from Knights of The Old Republic II. The general aesthetic and moody blue light are great in that regard and I really like the brushwork of the map, which makes the random crates in a corner more annoying since they clash with the appearence of all the other decorations in the map. The map size is perfect for duels and the use of light, as said before, is excellent. The only thing that I regret is that the map has such a good ambience that the poor choice of music completely ruins the vibe. Also, there's a missing texture in the roof's beam. My score 4.5/5 Overall, all maps are great so its really hard to vote between my favorite pics, but just for the eerie vibe and the fact that its rend2 friendly, I vote for Oasis Mesa, a true wonder in the field of mapping for JKA.

This is an awesome project, I have always been a fan of the megaman series.

They usually do that if you take their weapon away and there's not another one to be grabbed. There are also some things that can trigger a flee reaction, like a rancor. It doesn't happen always, but sometimes when there's a rancor one of the stormtroopers will drop its weapon and just flee the area.

@Megakyle The main issue with your model is related to the weights in the neck and the torso's gap. If you can re-weight them so that they're even it shouldn't give you an issue.

Its actually an ingame item. If you use /give all with cheat mode enabled and circle through your usable items you'll find the e-web. Same as other items like the seeker droid, a portable sentry turret and more.