Dune Wars Art Thread

[davidlallen]

Stumbled across some warlords which may be useful:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=12473

While looking at these newly posted units:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=13653

Possibly they may be better than some of our existing AT / AA units.

We will be needing four variations on the warlord for the Kwisatz Haderach. Actually any single unit will do, it does not need to be a warlord. I have used the modern general for the Atreides Heir, which looks kind of odd.

A while back, deliverator suggested choosing one of these units:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=6889

But I think we got confused on which unit he meant and never did anything.

 

[God-Emperor]

We will be needing four variations on the warlord for the Kwisatz Haderach. Actually any single unit will do, it does not need to be a warlord. I have used the modern general for the Atreides Heir, which looks kind of odd.

A while back, deliverator suggested choosing one of these units:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=6889

But I think we got confused on which unit he meant and never did anything.

As I recall, the units from there that would be useful are the ones armed with swords with no shields.

In the 2nd image the units in the lower left, in blue, could be good for something - they are relatively ornate so some elite unit or UU perhaps.

The third image upper left units could also be useful - they are relatively plain.

 

[Deliverator]

I've been thinking about the unit art plan and that got me thinking about animations. I would like some of the earlier guardsmen to have lighter armament than the later ones (Maula Pistols, etc) to make the progression to lasguns is more pronounced. The trouble is there isn't really a decent pistol animation available that I am aware of. So I thought I'd see if I could find something and I came up trumps. I won't tell you which game there from, but suffice to say that these animations are possibly the only decent thing about it.

The screenshot shows a bit of the work in progress. I am working towards having both one and two-handed pistol animations, and a new assault rifle type animation with the unit firing down on one knee. I used Bernie14's Rommel just to confirm that I could rig existing units to these animations. There still need some polishing but when they are done hopefully they'll prove useful to Dune Wars and other mods.

 

[Slvynn]

I've seen alot of plasma units which shoot plasma.... Is there an yway to change effects - All DW units shooting effects are just old rusty kinetic bullets. (graphics and sound).

Nice work btw

 

[Deliverator]

I've seen alot of plasma units which shoot plasma.... Is there an yway to change effects - All DW units shooting effects are just old rusty kinetic bullets. (graphics and sound).

Yes, we should aim at variety in projectiles and muzzle flash effects. Projectiles, such as the tracer that comes from the vanilla Machine Gun or the Catapult Rock are really under-used IMO. White Rabbit figured out a long time ago that you could use an effect NIF as a projectile, but since his Fire Mage I haven't seen too many interesting new exploitations of that discovery. Hopefully, playing around with this concept we can make some much more impressive new weapon effects.

I've been collecting Civ4 compatible effects from other games and I have quite a collection now, including some really nice new explosions. All kinds of cool and potentially usable stuff.

The mesh and skin is only part of creating a great unit - you need to think about effects, sound and animation if you're going to make something really good. So, the unit plan will outlines ideas and suggestions for these things too.

 

[Slvynn]

made some stuff here - hope you like it
reskinned, adjusted etc

Ordos Saboteur
(used model of stykera/modern worker, made more fine texture, button, scale adjustments)
I remember those green men from dune 2 , green engeneers which were like superweapon in the game, annoying thing
I've made green background for button, to make idstinct, if you want me to revert to yellowish tell me.

I am not sure if XP autogain been removed in last patch , i didnt changed nothing sagnificant but seem it wont gain auto-xp now
So please david tell me if its ok, and how it should be, because in my game Saboteur not gaining any free xp.

 

[Deliverator]

Very nice work Slvynn.

 

[Slvynn]

Thanks , i am glad that you like it
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=12315
here is veeery nice model for Laza Tiger (which need to be nerfed abit)

for Shield-fighter
can we mix current model with FFH pyre zombie - it have awesome fire shield effect which can be tinted and toned down perhaps

For Face Dancer - i aim to use some FFH sidar model for this one with reworking. Too bad i cant tell that i am good at 3d modelling yet.

 

[Ahriman]

As always, looking good.

I'm excited about the idea of personal shield art.

 

[davidlallen]

I am not sure if XP autogain been removed in last patch , i didnt changed nothing sagnificant but seem it wont gain auto-xp now

You are correct, this is a new bug. I added the ordos saboteur, but I did not give it the auto-xp ability. If you use WB and give Ordos an infiltrator unit, that still gains XP. But ordos can no longer build an infiltrator, only saboteur. There is a one line python fix for this also; in assets/python/DuneWars.py, find:

		self.iUSpy    = self.GetCheckInfo("UNIT_INFILTRATOR")

And change it to "UNIT_SABOTEUR". This variable isn't used for anything else.

 

[Slvynn]

Another unit -

Bene Tleilaxu Face Dancer.
This is dark one
Still i made distinct icon, tell if to revert to yellow, but i have idea to make UUs in different color. But sure if you think that all to be yellow i will remake buttons.

based on Sheaim arch mage/taoist missionary
alot of retexturing, alot of ornamentals on his robe
hope you like it


pack contain FD and Saboteur together.

 

[Ahriman]

Is it possible to have standing animations in the unit art? It would be awesome if a Facedancer could actually have a mini-animation where its face or clothing changed, maybe switching between three different models. I'm guessing this isn't possible, but thought I'd throw it out there.

 

[Slvynn]

May be Deliverator can do that, i dont know how to do that, but perhaps there may be just some action for fun, like spell , which will not make diference and just change unit graphics for 1 turn?

 

[Deliverator]

Is it possible to have standing animations in the unit art? It would be awesome if a Facedancer could actually have a mini-animation where its face or clothing changed, maybe switching between three different models. I'm guessing this isn't possible, but thought I'd throw it out there.

It is possible to animate textures themselves using something called a TextureTransformController in the NIF. I've not really played with that yet, but I think it should be possible to make a unit that periodically switches to a different face and clothing.

 

[Slvynn]

That will be great, since This model resemble FD in their true, not shifted form. Also I though is it possible to implement mechanics where model graphics changing according to culture where it stands? Lets say if it enter BG then it shows RM graphic, If to Atreides then something different, Harkonnen – some other model…

 

[davidlallen]

Thanks for the FD and Saboteur units. Are there some other units marked "C" in my spreadsheet which you can find replacements for? There are some pretty ugly ones, like Mentat. The base spy and great spy (both "James Bond") are not that good either.

Are you still working on the action buttons? It would be nice to have a full set.

I think a transforming texture (skin) for the FD would be cool. Do you want to make a second new skin, perhaps with the opposite color from the existing one? Two would be enough to try it out.

It was quite a bit of work to make the sandrider unit turn into a sandworm. I don't see a good way to make the FD turn into many different units. I know there is a lot of debate about use of teamcolor; but suppose the FD unit had a lot of teamcolor, and we could make the teamcolor change to the teamcolor of the territory it is in?

 

[Slvynn]

Thanks for the FD and Saboteur units. Are there some other units marked "C" in my spreadsheet which you can find replacements for? There are some pretty ugly ones, like Mentat. The base spy and great spy (both "James Bond") are not that good either.

Are you still working on the action buttons? It would be nice to have a full set.

I think a transforming texture (skin) for the FD would be cool. Do you want to make a second new skin, perhaps with the opposite color from the existing one? Two would be enough to try it out.

It was quite a bit of work to make the sandrider unit turn into a sandworm. I don't see a good way to make the FD turn into many different units. I know there is a lot of debate about use of teamcolor; but suppose the FD unit had a lot of teamcolor, and we could make the teamcolor change to the teamcolor of the territory it is in?

There is a another model which i can suggest. Very nice ancient spy unit by ambrox62, with retinted and bit adjusted texture. Weird model of FD will be replaced by more "civilized" one outside of BTl borders. I think its enough. Its really good, and just making FD changing its skin outside BTl borders will be awesome enough. Only one who see those units is BTl Human player, so it will be nice surprise seeing unit transformed outside your own borders

I did not any XML change i leaving it to you

Attached.

 

[Deliverator]

I think a transforming texture (skin) for the FD would be cool. Do you want to make a second new skin, perhaps with the opposite color from the existing one? Two would be enough to try it out.

It was quite a bit of work to make the sandrider unit turn into a sandworm. I don't see a good way to make the FD turn into many different units. I know there is a lot of debate about use of teamcolor; but suppose the FD unit had a lot of teamcolor, and we could make the teamcolor change to the teamcolor of the territory it is in?

I think it will be more impressive if the Face Dancer changes texture before your eyes while standing there. Just swapping the NIF for another one as it moves between tiles won't be that impressive and is more likely to confuse people. Changing the team colour wouldn't really indicate that the units face and whole bodyform is reshaping. The texture swapping animation is do-able I'm pretty sure - it's just a question of getting to it. There are many other things arguably more in need of attention.

 

[Slvynn]

Check model i attached for shapechange - i think it will work good if unit will just change its shape upon entering or leaving own culture borders. They do not need their other faces at home, but they need constant other face on enemy land. Man entering Atreides court with his faces changing - very suspissious one

 

[Ahriman]

I think it will be more impressive if the Face Dancer changes texture before your eyes while standing there.

This is what I had in mind. Just changing when you entered new borders is pretty boring to look at.