NWN2 Dark Robes/Pale Master Armor

[Gearknot]

Just saw there was a lacking in 'evil' or 'dark' robes/armor for people that like to play those type of characters. I'm interested in making something similar being shown here ---> http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Pale_Master

 

It does not have to be as intricate or detailed obviously, just something with bone/skull appearance on the torso maybe the same on the arms/legs.

 

Was also thinking back to the original neverwinter nights CEP project and how they added in 'skirts' that people would attach to upper armor pieces to create their own custom robes by mixing and matching pieces.

 

Seems like you could get the same effect by making a single piece of attachable armor that covers up the legs like a 'robe' or skirt' would do and assign it to a ankle or knee slot.

 

Anyone interested in tackling this or helping me figure out the quickest and easiest way to do this, I would release this for the public to use as they wish.

 

The only program I have is GMAX, I've considered buying a month of 3ds max but not sure if i'd be wasting my money, basically i'm looking for guidance from anyone willing.

[4760]

Only versions 6, 7 and 8 of 3ds max will work with the NWN2 exporter, and as far as I know they're not available for sale.

 

The easiest way to do what you need is to clone an existing body (with MDB Cloner or MDBConfig) and change the texture file so it adds bones and skulls to the armor. But they will only be flat this way.

[Tchos]

I believe Jester created both a bodysuit and a kind of skirt as you describe (the one I'm thinking of uses the belt slot) for the purpose of creating those mix and match clothing options with no need to alter anything in Gmax or 3ds Max if your design can be made just by setting parts of the clothing to be transparent on the textures (for instance, the long skirt can be made shorter by defining the texture as transparent near the bottom, or it can be made ragged in the same way). For that, all you need is the ability to work with DDS textures and their alpha channels, and the MDB program options that 4760 mentioned.

 

Also, a certain amount of definition can be given to the textures with well-made normal maps, so that it could look like it's made from non-flat bones. Not quite like the Pale Master image you posted, but at least with a design like this: http://orig15.deviantart.net/a156/f/2013/340/9/4/bone_armour_by_dashinvaine-d6wxwvv.jpg

Edited January 6, 2017 by Tchos

[Gearknot]

Thanks for the replys. I might try to tackle this but I'll be slow at it, I'm not exactly new to all this but I've certainly never been to school for anything and its been a long time since I've messed with anything like this at all.

 

Anyone know of any good tutorials? found a couple on youtube but they're not that great.

[Tchos]

I used to know of some tutorials, so I know there are some out there, but I can't tell you anything specific. I can tell you specific words to use in your searches for if you tell me what exactly you need help doing (Transparencies? Normal maps?), and what programs you're using (Photoshop?)

[Semp3r]

Only versions 6, 7 and 8 of 3ds max will work with the NWN2 exporter, and as far as I know they're not available for sale.

fortunately that's only half true for obsidian's official expotron exporter. tazpn's tools work with 3dsmax up to vers. 2011/2012 - which doesn't really help, but they're also useable with gmax. since gearknot will only do custom armor and no new animations, that's all he'll need. there's also blender which should work, but i've never used it for rigging. rjshae, as the maintainer of the blender tools, will know more about this topic.

 

@gearknot: feel free to ask what you want to know. to start you could use any armor making tutorial - elder scroll's games would be the most prominent. game asset creation ain't that different from game to game. it's mostly the mesh's polygon density, texture maps and the exporting procedure where specific knowledge is needed.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Semp3r

[rjshae]

TheOneBlackRider put together some tutorials on weighting/rigging in Gmax:

• Beginner's Guide to Weighting/Rigging a NWN2 (Head) Model
• Weighting/Rigging a NWN2 Body Mesh in GMax/Blender - Weight Reference
• Gmax Guide - Rigging/Weighting via Envelopes

You might take a look at those. I haven't done much with rigging in Blender yet, other than maintaining the Blender import/export scripts.

Edited January 21, 2017 by rjshae