The Hidden and Unused content of Civilization VI

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I wonder why if they had worked on Genoa to be in the game since vanilla they didn't bring them in during any of the expansions.

Because something Italian could still happen in NFP.

 

[PhoenicianGold]

Actually, the Asset Browser recognizes two instances of kiran_test clothing, one of them refers to them with the 'pete'. That's why I assume they are two parts of the same model:

Spoiler :

View attachment 566588

I must admit though that linking this model with Genoa is more of a reach. The theory that our Pete may perhaps have been a leader comes from my ridiculous jersey theory from 2016, which I have presented in the first post of this thread. While the assets we have upright state that they are made for testing purposes, they seem to be of incredibly high quality. And having these high quality textures and no model makes me, let's say, suspicious.

BTW, franky is also reffered to as 'keanhead'; artie as 'trident' or 'archaeologist' - this is particularly interesting as there is a .wig file called LEAD_SPACE_Archaeologist

Also, I have to appreciate how many test files there are just for Gilgamesh's beard

Oh I see! And that other Pete texture has brown eyes, not blue.

 

[Potworny]

Because something Italian could still happen in NFP.

Didn't one of the devs in the last update showcase have some pizza decorations in the background? ;v

 

[WillowBrook]

Fascinating investigation! Thanks for sharing your finds!

I like the Norway-replaced-Genoa-in-the-base-game theory. Perhaps they wanted to do something with it that ended up requiring expansion mechanics? And then they had enough other European civs in the expansions? Maybe we'll see it in NFP (but none of the new civs require an expansion, flaw in my speculation). Would be amusing if there's one more season pass and it finally shows up there...

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Just want to point out that references to Kean in the file names are probably Matthew Kean, the Firaxis modeler.

 

[Potworny]

Good morning everybody, Firaxis responded to one of my tweets!: https://twitter.com/FiraxisGames/status/1295762492463947778 I'm swear I'm fine though, you can lay down the knife Jeanette.

I've found some clothes geometries in the game, very Douglas MacArthur-ish. They are called 'clothes':

Spoiler clothes :

There's also plenty of files for a head, including files for hair, beard and moustache that I couldn't view. It's called... 'haed'.

Spoiler haed :

It's most likely related to Gilgamesh, but it made me aware how much I may be missing due to misspellings in the filenames.

Also, some .wig files related to kiran_test mention a cape. Tried to use blender to do something with Pete's texture. Had no idea what i was doing.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Good morning everybody, Firaxis responded to one of my tweets!: https://twitter.com/FiraxisGames/status/1295762492463947778 I'm swear I'm fine though, you can lay down the knife Jeanette.

I've found some clothes geometries in the game, very Douglas MacArthur-ish. They are called 'clothes':

Spoiler clothes :

View attachment 566654 View attachment 566653 View attachment 566652

There's also plenty of files for a head, including files for hair, beard and moustache that I couldn't view. It's called... 'haed'.

Spoiler haed :

View attachment 566655

It's most likely related to Gilgamesh, but it made me aware how much I may be missing due to misspellings in the filenames.

Also, some .wig files related to kiran_test mention a cape. Tried to use blender to do something with Pete's texture. Had no idea what i was doing.

I know what that pants, hat, pipe thing is.

Matthew Kean posted pictures of a personal project of a Popeye character he created. It's been years ago, but you could probably find it on Twitter or whatever place he posts his art.

Edit: artstation https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qeVQL

 

[Potworny]

I know what that pants, hat, pipe thing is.

Matthew Kean posted pictures of a personal project of a Popeye character he created. It's been years ago, but you could probably find it on Twitter or whatever place he posts his art.

Edit: artstation https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qeVQL

Okay, seems like the rest of the project is in the assets as well. Interesting that they found its way to the SDK Assets. And they're unrelated to our Pete.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Okay, seems like the rest of the project is in the assets as well. Interesting that they found its way to the SDK Assets. And they're unrelated to our Pete.

You may want to peruse the rest of his artstation. Flatface Pete might be another personal project of his.

 

[Potworny]

You may want to peruse the rest of his artstation. Flatface Pete might be another personal project of his.

Well, I could only find this WIP render of Frank, which may or may not be our frank: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xBv6O.
Another artist had this graphic on his artstation, unrelated, but t seems curious that Sparta at one loint had its own icon: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1Gyb8
The Firaxis logo found on Pete's clothing makes me doubt that he is a personal project.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Well, I could only find this WIP render of Frank, which may or may not be our frank: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xBv6O.
Another artist had this graphic on his artstation, unrelated, but t seems curious that Sparta at one loint had its own icon: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1Gyb8
The Firaxis logo found on Pete's clothing makes me doubt that he is a personal project.

Sparta probably meaning Gorgo. They must have been planning to give alt-leaders fully different icons rather than different color pairs.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Sparta probably meaning Gorgo. They must have been planning to give alt-leaders fully different icons rather than different color pairs.

Actually, given that "Pericles" is refered to as Athens and "Gorgo" as Sparta, I think they didn't plan on having Greece AT ALL, and they ended up joining them into a single union. Probably to cut on costs and uniques.

Also, a lot of the assets could've been left behind as "tests" and "stress tests", to make sure the assets work, since this is a custom engine to begin with.

 

[Potworny]

https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/icprhy/while_were_on_the_topic_wilhelminas_and_eleanors/

Seems like @sukritact has got interested in the efforts to find the logos. It also seems that the appearance of the textures can be deceiving, the logo I thought to be inside Eleanors neck actually displays on the surface of her wine. Silly me. And the big logo on Wilhelmina's umbrella that @AriaLyric found actually creates a pattern of smaller logos on the model. Surprising.

So yeah, I suppose that's what happens when a proffesional steps into the game. If we want to find a definitive solution to the riddles we're facing in this thread, we really do need someone on this level of skill. I don't honestly feel like there's much more I can personally do.

 

[fy00sh]

And the big logo on Wilhelmina's umbrella that @AriaLyric found actually creates a pattern of smaller logos on the model. Surprising.

Actually, the big logo is on the other side of the umbrella from the small ones, I just didn't know which was which. So it seems the big logo is on the inside since the small ones are on the outside!

So yeah, I suppose that's what happens when a proffesional steps into the game. If we want to find a definitive solution to the riddles we're facing in this thread, we really do need someone on this level of skill. I don't honestly feel like there's much more I can personally do.

Yeah same, I've honestly felt a bit in over my head since the beginning lol. Probably the last finding I'll be able to provide is that Catherine de Medici has a duplicate of the jewelry on her chest stored within her model. No idea what purpose they serve tho... Maybe they're slightly different and are used in some animations, or maybe they were left there by accident. I any case, this is the only really interesting thing I've managed to find since I last posted.

Spoiler Catherine duplicate jewelry :

 

[Potworny]

I've actually managed to find a head model that sort of fits kiran_test_skin files.

Spoiler head3_ZBrushPolyMesh3D :

It does fit knald2 textures better though:

Spoiler knald2 :

I compared it to Matthew Kean's Frank: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xBv6O. It maaaay be him, I'm not sure. EDIT: They are different enough to be considered two completely different people, even there are similarities. Makes me think of John XXIII:

Spoiler frank vs knald :

However, I've managed to turn Flatface Pete into Ballface Pete:

Spoiler ballface bete :

The clothes still remain an unsolved mystery. I tried to assign the texture to available geometries but none seemed to fit even remotely. And considering that they have a Firaxis logo on them, they have a chance to be something cut from the game and not to be a personal project.

 

[PhoenicianGold]

I've actually managed to find a head model that sort of fits kiran_test_skin files.

Spoiler head3_ZBrushPolyMesh3D :

View attachment 566735 View attachment 566739 View attachment 566736

It does fit knald2 textures better though:

Spoiler knald2 :

View attachment 566737 View attachment 566738

I compared it to Matthew Kean's Frank: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xBv6O. It maaaay be him, I'm not sure.
However, I've managed to turn Flatface Pete into Ballface Pete:

Spoiler ballface bete :

View attachment 566740

The clothes still remain an unsolved mystery. I tried to assign the texture to available geometries but none seemed to fit even remotely.

I would agree that it's probably Matthew Kean's Frank, or maybe a tweaked version of him. All of the wrinkles match up.

 

[Potworny]

Coarsely photoshopped them the eye(s) from the texture in, it feels like it amplifies the difference:

Spoiler :

 

[PhoenicianGold]

Coarsely photoshopped them the eye(s) from the texture in, it feels like it amplifies the difference:

Spoiler :

View attachment 566743View attachment 566744

I'm still going with one of them being a tweaked version of the other. Aside from the proportions having been modified most of the wrinkles are in exactly the same spot. And the devs have modified faces much more than that on short notice (see Seondeok).

(and on that basis, I don't think knald was intended to be a leader. Although maybe he was used as a base and modified more into kiran who was intended to be a leader.)

 

[Potworny]

I'm still going with one of them being a tweaked version of the other. Aside from the proportions having been modified most of the wrinkles are in exactly the same spot. And the devs have modified faces much more than that on short notice (see Seondeok).

(and on that basis, I don't think knald was intended to be a leader. Although maybe he was used as a base and modified more into kiran who was intended to be a leader.)

Well, the knald model with its textures seems to be a different version of Matthew Kean's Frank, and kiran_test textures seem to be either textures for ArtStation Frank or yet another version of the model. Then, there's the animated model for Frank (https://imgur.com/a/ehpOist), which also seems to have somewhat similar wrinkles. So here's how the chronology seems to be shaping up:
- five years ago Matthew Kean goes for a creepy and weird vibe for unknown purposes, makes beyon-realistic Frank WIP we can see on his ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xBv6O;
- tests are being conducted on the graphical engine for Civ VI, in cooperation with Kiran Sudhakara textures are created for a later version of Frank - kiran_test_pete, which include Firaxis branded clothing;
- the artstyle of Civ VI leans further in the direction of more lighthearted and less realistic visuals, less gritty looking knald/zbrushhead3/baked is created, perhaps in an effort to be brought closer in similarity to some leader they had in mind;
- further and stronger 'cartoonization' of the artstyle allows three versions of Frank that got their own animations; Artie is created as well https://imgur.com/a/ehpOist;
- Artie and Frank fail to stand the test of time.
That's my best idea of what could have happened with these assets, albeit I'm still not convinced whether or not they were intended to be anything more than test assets or (less likely in my opinion, but it may be wishful thinking) effects of somebody's messing around. There are a couple of things that indicate that these may at some point have been something more than that: the Firaxis-branded clothing textures that I can't find geometries for, the incredible quality of the animations and the existence of other unexplained mysteries like Genoa. Now I think I'm going to look for these clothing models.

 

[8housesofelixir]

Matthew Kean's Frank looks very Khrushchev to me (I know it's not a project of FXS, but...)