a surf file is a simple file that allows you to remove things from a model

for example, i used a surf file to remove kyles shoulder pad, belt, and collar with a surf file that i created

i cant figure out how to make one, could you explain it to me?

you will use notepad to create the file
if you are making the changes to the regular skin name it model_default.surf, if changing the red skin name it model_red.surf, and if changing the blue skin name it model_blue.surf

you will need to know what the bodypart is called in the skin file to be able to modify it. open the model_default.skin file in the original pk3 file to find what it is called

if you were going to remove the collar, belt, and shoulderpad from the kyle model then the text in the surf file would be the following

surfOff "hips_belt torso_collar torso_shoulder_pad"

you would then put the surf file in a pk3 file (i suggest using pakscape) and make sure you use the right directorys, for the kyle skin it would be "model" then "players" and then "kyle" and the surf files would go in the kyle directory

then put the pk3 file in the base folder

ok i have made the surf files (mine will remove jans goggles) but i dont have that pakscape program, where can i download that?

you can get pakscape here http://www.effiles.com/file.info?ID=1327) i know it is not a jedi outcast site but it will still work great and i think it is easier to use then winzip

ok, i got it working, thanks for the help cheat, i guess you do learn something new every day

HapSlash will all these models have facial support?


For the love of God they have to.

they better have facial support for when i put them into single player. hey he says he values accuracy and last time i checked people open their mouths when they talk so if they dont have facial support i dont think that would be very accurate

Well,... that answer and more can be located in the confines of this thread. It's not even a full 2 pages long so I can't imagine them being too hard to find,...

:dev7:

i must be blind because i couldnt find it but oh well, maybe it will pop out at me later

Oops,... No, you're not blind, I guess I'm just stupid.

Someone asked me the same question somewhere else. But to answer your question here,... Yeah, I intend to have all the models I work on completely animated, including models like the Gamorrean. I just guess my mind must be going,..


My mind is going,..


My mind is going,..


Dave!?

probably because you are working so hard to make us these awesome models, maybe you should take a break

how about an update hapslash

An update on what, specifically...? ;)

bloody hell that Darth Vader is amazing.

yeah it is, cant wait for that to be released as well as all of your other models hapslash

Hap,

"Breathtaking" seems like such a cliche remark, but there's not much else I can say in looking at your models.

I'm very much looking foward to seeing these released.

This is the first time I have looked at your work and I am really impressed. You can really tell you just love doing this stuff too. There is so much care put into the textures especially. Modelling is really top notch. Very nice work.

-clu

Personally, Hapslash, I'm a huge admirer of your art. I find myself frustrated with so many of these modelers (though they are talented). They focus soley on the prequels. Which I personally despise. So thank you very much for being the balance man. Your awesome man.

Have you ever thought of doing a dark Empire Luke? Or maybe one of the Solo Kids? I'd love to see a de luke. And I have many reference pics for the solo children.

Thanks everyone,...
Your opinions are highly valued and your praise is always accepted,... :dev7:

I find myself frustrated with so many of these modelers (though they are talented). They focus soley on the prequels. Which I personally despise.Yeah, my focus has been primarily the classic trilogy, for I too have ultimately been disappointed with the prequels.

I could have lived with Episode I, but after seeing Episode II,... that was the second time in my life where I walked out of a theater while thinking to myself, "What in the name of god was that?!... I think I've just been ripped off" , the only time before that was after 'The Lord of the Rings',...

Now I have the feeling that Episode III will be exponentially worse than it's predecessors. In fact at this moment I'm not even planing to see it in the theater. Lucasfilms will have to have a supreme trailer, of extraordinary magnitude, before I'll ever put my money down for it.

Have you ever thought of doing a dark Empire Luke? Or maybe one of the Solo Kids?I have given some thought to doing more work with the expanded universe, but I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of it.

While some of the characters would be interesting to work on, at the rate I'm going, I'm not sure if I would ever get around to actually finishing them. I know that a lot of the projects I would like to do will probably never even get to the planning stages, so I've been trying to buckle down and get some select models finished before starting any new ones.

But you never know, I just might find the urge to do another EU or two in the future,... ;)

That's wonderful to hear. Someone finally agrees with me. Anyway, I just got a look at your page. I really like your Bespin Luke. Very well done. Oh, and I walked out of the theatre as well. Just awful. Went home and watched Empire instead.

yeah i agree with jedi hunter, your bespin luke is awsome! i also think your rotj luke is too.

when do u think youll be close to finishing those?

hey hapslash, have you ever thought about making a yoda model based on esb and rotj? i think it would be cool to have one made just for those movies and not based on the prequels

As a playable character??

yeah, kind of like kinjas except have this one based on the esb yoda

If I were to make an ESB Yoda, I would want to try and make him as accurate as I can,... which, I fear, would make for some pretty odd looking animations.


-------------------- *BEGIN AOTC RANT HERE* --------------------

But quite frankly, I never saw Yoda as being an action character before. Seeing this 'little swirling ball of fury' from Episode II disgusted me to no end.

I can remember back when Empire came out, everyone was in awe of Yoda. His face was plastered everywhere and on everything. Hell, some people even devoted their way of life to his 'teachings'. The impression I was always left with was that Yoda was more like a monk, who would stand his ground, but would never fight. I was quite disappointed with the way the character was treated in AOTC. First to be assaulted with his mind numbingly awful dialogue, but then having to put up with that fight scene,...

:barf::syoda:

-------------------- *END AOTC RANT HERE* --------------------

I've never thought Yoda to be much of an action character either. I mean, he hobbles with a cane.....

If he had just used the force to repel Dooku, then I'd think better of the scene...

hey yoda opened up a can on dooku and that was awesome, why else would he be teaching the younglings how to use the lightsaber? yoda is one bad mofo with the lightsaber and that was awesome

Well, it's not that at all. It's the scene. The only reason Lucas had yoda fight is to get more people in those movie seats. He wanted to top vader and maul. So he shoved Yoda in. And it just really made me mad. He took everything mystical about yoda away with that scene. I used to imagine wy yoda was considored so powerful. I thought it was that he was a visionary. Intelligent beyond even a Jedi. But I guess Lucas couldn't leave anything to your imagination. He HAD to make yoda fight. Had to destroy everything. Had to explain the force. The force can't be mystical. Noooo, it HAS to be explained. It's just dumb. As is the entire prequel storyline. It offers nothing but bad puns, and flashy action scenes. Comparing these movies with the original...I vote the original. It had SO much more. More variety, more in depth story. Wasn't caught up in making special effects. Was more in telling the story. A great story. And Lucas also destroyed all my respect for old Ben, by turning him into this robot like character. I once thought that it couldn't get worse than Phantom Menace. Well, then there's Attack Of The Clones. Tops it on the crap meter. If you ask me, the prequels never happened. I prefer mystery rather than stupid half assed explainations and flashy fight scenes. Not to mention that whiny little brat Anakin. No way I can imagine him as that badass Darth Vader. Vader was and still is the man. Not this Hayden kid. Whoa, man that felt good. Okay, I got it out of my system. Thanks for letting me vent. That felt so refreshing.

PS. No one could act their way out of a ball sack in those movies either. I wanted to kill that little fett kid. And those "younglings" weren't at all good either. Younglings, stupidest idea I've ever heard. Wait no, Jango fett is the stupidest idea I've ever heard.


Okay, rant over. Back on topic.

One last thing, you should have noted I have nothing bad to say about the original trilogy. Hense, I love Star Wars. Just not the new version. Also, I can respect your opinion on it as well. And you're right, I should have saved it for the swamp, but it felt nice to finally get that off my chest.

So back on topic, Hap that model of empire luke is astounding. I called my brother today and had him take a look. Being a modeler himself, he was amazed at the amount of detail you us in your models. As am I. I'm a sketch artist. Primarily drawing people. So I have a huge appretiation for detail. Man that's just beautiful. And accurate.

PS. That avatar I have is of luke, not obiwan, not anakin and not jar jar, but luke, the man.

Thanks, The Bespin Luke started off a skin and trying to make a model from it without having to change the textures has been a little tricky, but I think it's turning out fairly well.

The Darth Vader model is far from being finished at this point. His body, gloves, boots, and control boxes are the only things with textures on them so far. Everything else is pretty much just solid colors at this point. His eyes were made a brighter red so that they would stand out at first,... they will be different when I actually texture them.

P.S. I want to continue saying bad things about Episode II, but you're right,... this isn't the place for it.

your vader looks awesome as do all of your models hapslash

and by the way, the story in the original trilogy was not that much better...oh we can't be original, lets just have another death star

Hapslash, your models are the BEST for JO, and SO accurate! You sould make an ANH Luke in his farm outfit, and Luke and Han in stormtrooper suits. I was working on the those two models but stopped when I saw your great stormtrooper model.

P.S. It seems to take you a long time to get these in-game. You sould try teaming up with Kevin Colye. I heard he can put a model in game in a matter of hours.

yeah if you got help after the model was made so that u can continue working on the other models while somebody else puts them ingame it should reduce time by a bit

Yeah, I've thought about that, and have been talking to a few people who I think could help me do just that.

But, you have to remember that while their weighting my models, they won't have time to work on their own projects. I know that weighting a model takes a lot of time, and while Kevin Coyle may boast that he can get a model into the game in a matter of hours, he's only been weighting one LOD, which is about a third of the total work, and to be honest, I haven't been very impressed with the way he's weighted his models.

I've been watching Infinity Blade weight his Dark Forces Kyle model, I've never before seen anyone put that much care and effort into weighting a model. If I were to get anyone to do it, it would be him.

i guess your right that if they are rushed they just are not the same quality as if plenty of care is put into the tweaking of the model

Okay, i guess you are right, but it would be good to team up with someone. So you can work more on your models and they will be put into game sooner.

P.S. What about those other questions I asked?

Yeah, I meant to answer your questions in my last message, but it started to get long-winded and didn't get around to it,...

An ANH Luke model is a possability, but the available skin is still pretty good.

After I get done weighting the Stormtrooper it wouldn't take that much more work to whip up the other two, so I might just do those,...

So,... how'd you find that?

What exactly did you put in the url,...?

Tripod is supposed to be set up so you can't do that.

An Ewok model?! You're probably p'ed off that he "hacked" into your site and showed it, but why did you want to keep it hidden? Anyway, I did think the ANH Luke skin was good but it could be a lot more accurate with its own model, and everyone knows how much you care about accuracy (i do, too). Luke and Han stormtrooper models are easy to make, the only problem may be polycount. Speaking of which, what is the average polycount of the models you finished modeling. Just curious to see if it takes more polys to make models more accurate.

P.S. After looking at the new screens of JA, I saw that there are some new models in the game that you are already making and yours are better (i.e. Snowtroopers). Before I even play the game, I'm probably going to open it and replace those models:D .

As part of the Dark Forces Mod group it's my job to come up with new models that will eventually be included in the project. The Ewok is a hidden character in the original Dark Forces game, so I quickly threw together a mock up of an Ewok to see what the rest of the team thoughts were on that particular secret. I had never intended on making ewoks as playable characters for the game, it was more of a one-shot thing.

I'm not mad that someone found out about it. I have a number of pages you can't get to from the site, and have always considered that happening. I'm just not sure how he did it and would like to find out how,...



Your polygon question is a bit more difficult to answer. My response was getting pretty long so I've decided that it would be best to post it in another message after I've finished it.



And as for the Jedi Academy stuff, I would need to see some close-ups of the models before I could really give an honest opinion on what I thought about them. I've been told the same thing a couple of times, but I've never seen any decent pictures of the Snowtrooper. Does anyone have any links to good pictures of him?

Here's that long winded reply on polygon count that I was promising,.. For those who are disinterested in the technical aspects of polygon count and information an LODs than avoid this at all cost, cause that's all it is,...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you go only by the highest detailed LOD then the default models span anywhere from 2400 for the Jedi on up to 3400 for Jan. Generally my models span close to that amount. For instance the IG-88 I've been working on is only about 2600 while the Darth Vader I've been fiddling with is around 3600. So,... yes, my models do tend to be a little bit more poly intensive than most models.


But to be honest, poly count is more complex than just that,... If you take into affect the 4 different LODs that the game supports, and utilize them, then you have the ability to get the most out of your model.


Here's an example,...

First I'll take a well known model, say Count Dooku. He's around 2800 polys, well under the widely accepted 3000 limit. Next I'll take the Darth Vader I'm working on. I'll just say 3600 for now. At first you could say that there's a huge difference in the poly count, and that Vader would be much harder on your machine. But,... Dooku only has one LOD while Vader will have four.

If I were to make the different LODs, say

1-3600 2-2900 3-1900 4-1000

All totaled, they would equal out to be 9,400, while Dooku uses the same 2800 for every LOD level and ends up being 11,200. So when taking the LODs into consideration a lower poly model lacking LODs will be more poly intensive than a higher one that includes them.

I've even been rather conservative when calculating the different LOD levels,... The average polygon count of the LODs for the default models is down around 800 for LOD3 and 400 for LOD4.


But with the evident advantages of using LODs also comes the inherent burden of having to weight the 4 different LODs as if they were 4 separate models. I believe that this is the reason as to why most modelers don't even bother with them at all. Unfortunately they don't realize the benefits of using the LODs otherwise we might have even greater looking models out there then we already do.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is probably much more information than most people are interested in, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible. So, in summary the models that I'm working on, some of which can be higher in polygons, will probable be no more debilitating to your system, and in some cases even less, than most of the average models available for download.

i think an ewok for multiplayer would be awesome, probably the model i want the most, they are just so cool

I'm interested in the technical part of game making but I do agree that a lot of people aren't. It's good to here that you are including LOD's in all your models. I was starting to worry that I would have to upgrade my computer to play your models.

I was so glad to hear awhile ago in this thread that you are giving all your models (with mouths) full facial animations. That is usally the first question I ask modellers because I play mostly SP and like to convert the models that people make, and I really hate it when I see people talking through closed mouths in cutscenes. Anyway, I was wondering how do you animate models with weird mouths, like the Gamorrean. I was thinking that with the Gamorrean that you would give it no inner teeth, because all(or most) of it's teeth stick out of its mouth. And, how do you animate it without having the "outer" teeth bend with the mouth? Just wondering.

P.S. How come you hide some of your WIPs? Showing all you models will attract more people, and you wouldn't get requests for models you are already are working on.

I haven't really been worried too much about weighting the Gammorean's face yet. And probably won't until I actually have completed weighting the model I'm working on now.


There are a number of reasons as to why I don't have all the pages accessible. Some of it just hasn't progressed far enough for me to actually put a page up there. Others are ones that I never intended to make playable characters for the game. But the most important reason is bandwidth. Ever since I started updating my site again I've gone over my bandwidth allowance quite a few times. The more pages I have up, the more bandwidth is used when people look at them. That's really why I've taken down most of the sections that have little to no content. As is I'm steadily closing in on the ultimate 1GB bandwidth limit set forth by the server. So I imagine once it's been reached the site will be down for good.

Originally posted by Bart Skywalker
P.S. How come you hide some of your WIPs? Showing all you models will attract more people, and you wouldn't get requests for models you are already are working on.
I know of several good reasons for hiding work, but I'll keep it to just the bare minimum....

The ewok was more of a quick job to get an idea of it, and he showed it to the DF Mod team more of as a thought and possibility, and less of an actual WIP.

That, and the ewok was supposed to be sort of a "possible Surprise".... of which now there is no chance.

There's more I could say, but that should be enough for this.... What I'd like to know is how Scouttrooper got into the directory for Hapslash's site...

If he's hacking it, then Hap really needs to change passwords and etc.... Maybe be more watchful about his online security. And if there is anything sensitive that Hap has there, he really needs to remove access to it. That and he should make sure he has a back up of his site, just in case anyone decides to mess with it. (ie - the JKII.net recent attack).

If he didn't hack, then I'd like to know what he did, because Tripod doesn't normally allow that sort of viewing for the directories.

But the most important reason is bandwidth. Ever since I started updating my site again I've gone over my bandwidth allowance quite a few times. The more pages I have up, the more bandwidth is used when people look at them. That's really why I've taken down most of the sections that have little to no content.

Well, if thats the case, you should just create an account with another webpage server like Geocities. You could keep all the pages you currently have at Tripod at Tripod and you put other pages at another server. Then, just put links to them on your site. I've done that before but for different reasons.

wow your models are awesome, i cant wait for some of them to get ingame

HapSlash, PLEASE update your website! It's been a month and 7 days now. I'm going insane! :headbump