The Capo's LH Gallery and Self-Help Thread!

[The Capo]

I'm not sure what you have in mind for the body, but as I was looking at it, I thought that perhaps a beadless Asoka would blend in well. The neckline looks similar to the scarf that Askia's already wearing, the style of the collar looks like it could be related to the later Mansa Musa design, and the simplicity of the robe would help communicate the idea that this is an earlier and slightly less-prosperous leader of the Mali.

That's hilarious because I am literally working on Asoka's robe right now. I am going to use that, throw those things on the shoulders of Mansa Musa over it (but they'll be recolored and "bigger" and then give him Saladin's sleeves, but white rather than grey.

I rarely base my LHs on specific pictures because it limits creativity and things that may make it look better in the end but I am loosely basing it on this image;

EDIT: If you are confused as to why Anheuser-Busch has a copyright on that image, or why an American beer company has a painting of him.... join the club, I'm also confused.

 

[IgorS]

Yeah, its pretty difficult to work with, the size/shape is strange to manage too. I actually have used parts of it on other leaders (my Byzantine leader for example). I think it depends on how much of it you want to use. But its best to "assemble" it one part at a time to make sure it flows correctly rather than trying to fit the whole thing on at once, this way you can customize the shape of it to your LH. You might want to take a look at the King Arthur LH CFK made, I believe it uses the same armor.

It isn't as bad as it sounds though, the cuirass I am using on Maurits is one part of it, and then there are (I think) shoulder portions, bicep portions and forearm portions.

Yes, I know that Arthur (or Casimir, like Madman suggested) uses the same armor and I have him (as Casimir) in my game. I'll check it out perhaps if I'll have some problems. I think I won't use all those hand parts though... I like the armour underneath it too, so I'll just leave it uncovered.

 

[The Capo]

I don't have much time do more work on this tonight, but anyway here is what he'll look like so far. His sleeves will be white and "puffy" kind of. I have to say it looks pretty good. Now, it looks near finished but it really isn't, so don't expect this to be out for around a week or so.

And he'll be a leader for the Mali in my upcoming mod, in the deluxe edition I might make him a leader for both Mali and Songhai, I am not sure yet.

 

[The Almighty dF]

I don't have much time do more work on this tonight, but anyway here is what he'll look like so far. His sleeves will be white and "puffy" kind of. But here is what I have for him so far, and I have to say it looks pretty good. Now, it looks near finished but it really isn't, so don't expect this to be out for around a week or so.

And he'll be a leader for the Mali in my upcoming mod, in the deluxe edition I might make him a leader for both Mali and Songhai, I am not sure yet.

Wow. Your leaderhead skills keep getting better and better.
That is pretty awesome looking so far.

 

[The Capo]

Wow. Your leaderhead skills keep getting better and better.
That is pretty awesome looking so far.

He's not done yet, so we'll see what the final version looks like. Thanks for the compliments though, but it begs the question... what was wrong with my old LHs?

 

[mamba]

I don't have much time do more work on this tonight, but anyway here is what he'll look like so far. His sleeves will be white and "puffy" kind of. I have to say it looks pretty good. Now, it looks near finished but it really isn't, so don't expect this to be out for around a week or so.

And he'll be a leader for the Mali in my upcoming mod, in the deluxe edition I might make him a leader for both Mali and Songhai, I am not sure yet.

What is that black 'circle' on his shirt ? A shadow of a nonexistant necklace ? Will there be a necklace or will the shadow be removed ?

 

[cybrxkhan]

The Sundiata Keita looks spectacular! I myself just started playing around with this LH stuff, and the basics seem to be less mysterious to me, but the advanced techniques that experts like you and Ekmek use still seem like voodoo to me or something.

And nothing's wrong with your first LHs - the fact that the original ones were good just makes your recent achievements all the better. Actually, however, this reminds me of one small thing. I don't know if you'll bother to return to fix up your first LHs, but I did notice that on your Egyptian Pharaoh LH, you can see a small gaping hole through both sides of his head, probably caused by when you removed the guy's original hair and put the hat on, but didn't cover the top of the head fully enough.

 

[The Almighty dF]

He's not done yet, so we'll see what the final version looks like. Thanks for the compliments though, but it begs the question... what was wrong with my old LHs?

A few of them were a bit... odd looking in some regards. Solomon kinda sticks out.
They're not bad, though. Still better than some of the other leaderheads I've seen on here.

 

[MadmanOfALeader]

Askia is a Songhai leader, no doubt about it! In fact, I'd be against putting him in Mali. Since Mali and Songhai are separate civs, Mandinka leaders would be Malinese, while Songhai leaders would be Songhai.

Mali and Songhai battled a lot between each other. In fact, Askia himself attacked Mali quite a bit of times.

 

[Ekmek]

I don't have much time do more work on this tonight, but anyway here is what he'll look like so far. His sleeves will be white and "puffy" kind of. I have to say it looks pretty good. Now, it looks near finished but it really isn't, so don't expect this to be out for around a week or so.

that looks pretty awesome. I know your LH modelling skills are top-notch, but now it looks like your skinning/texturing is just as good. great stuff!

Looks very good. Is he going to be the leader of the Songhai or Mali?
Also, another question. I saw you're using for Maurits the armour from the Jean d'Arc LH. I am also trying to make a leader now with this armour. Anything I should know about it. Except for the fact I need to assemble it like a puzzle? Am I doing something really difficult or maybe it only looks scary to put it on a leader?

So where is your gallery and self-help thread?

 

[The Capo]

When I took the request for Askia Muhammed I took it as a request for a Malinese leader, because that is who it was requested as. As a side-note Askia is a title and not a name, so he should be referred to as Askia Muhammed or Askia Muhammed Toure to be specific. Regardless, this is no place to debate a leader's position, we are only here to discuss how good or badly my leaderheads look, I could easily call him something else and still have him as a Malinese King (see Heraclius/Basil and Cleomenese/Lyssander/Leonidas).

And there are plenty of glaring issues with a few of my LHs, so far you've mentioned one on the Egyptian Pharaoh. You should also have noticed that his shoulders clip with his collar... see, I'm on top of this stuff.

I don't know if I speak for everyone, but the WORST thing an LH maker wants to hear is that the leader he is making is unnecessary or improperly created. So if anyone else wants to say that Askia isn't a proper Malinese leader guess what? I won't finish him!

How about them apples?

EDIT: Sorry, it just gets annoying sometimes. Ekmek is a much cooler head when it comes to this stuff, I unfortunately am not, nobody said you have to use him or accept him for what he is intended to be. You can do with him what you want, but Askia Muhammed Toure it is, and he will lead the Mali in my mod.

 

[Lord Tirian]

He's not done yet, so we'll see what the final version looks like. Thanks for the compliments though, but it begs the question... what was wrong with my old LHs?

To be brutally honest: Your textures were worse - you're waaaay better than at the start with the textures, especially with skin and hair. Now they look much better, much closer to the style that Firaxis' LHs have.

Cheers, LT.

 

[IgorS]

So where is your gallery and self-help thread?

Patience, Ekmek, patience! Can't you see I'm working on it?

 

[The Capo]

To be brutally honest: Your textures were worse - you're waaaay better than at the start with the textures, especially with skin and hair. Now they look much better, much closer to the style that Firaxis' LHs have.

Cheers, LT.

Well that I've always known, even now I am no good at texturing. I may be better, but really I've just been lucky to have such easy LHs to texture lately. I hope my luck continues but to be honest myself I really don't think my actual abilities have improved, I've just had good luck with this latest batch. If you notice the Salamasina and Kamehameha LHs are finished except for the texture, and they've been done for a while now and I'm still trying to get someone to texture them.

 

[IgorS]

Capo, I don't know how you did it, but my try to put Jean d'Arc's cuirass on a leader didn't succeed. I can't export it because of unweighted vertices. I had the same problem with Ablay Khan, but I solved it easily because some bones weren't assigned. Now, everything seems to be assigned correctly, so I have no idea what to do! This is it- I don't trust non-Firaxis made parts anymore!

 

[Ekmek]

Capo, I don't know how you did it, but my try to put Jean d'Arc's cuirass on a leader didn't succeed. I can't export it because of unweighted vertices.

Even hiding the highlighted stuff didnt leave behind the unweighted ones? maybe you should post a blend...

 

[IgorS]

Even hiding the highlighted stuff didnt leave behind the unweighted ones? maybe you should post a blend...

Too late... I was so frustrated and angry I deleted it. I started all over again and discovered that there is some more armour hidden under Brennus's armour. I'm going to base the new LH on Brennus and just add stuff to him instead.

 

[Ekmek]

you must learn patience

 

[The Capo]

you must learn patience

Stop toying with him Ekmek! He must learn to use the secret LH-making voodoo....

 

[MadmanOfALeader]

Askia is a title... yeah, that happens a lot with Mansa Musa. A lot of people call him "Mansa" but his name is Musa (by the way, the Arabic equivalent to "Moses".)