Okay we all know of the inverted saber mod

http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.com/file/Inverted_Saber_Mod;93631)

Now the problem with this is that it all affects short sabers how about if we remove all short sabers from the game change the short saber model for a normal saber model and only add one as a quest reward called Galen Mareks Lightsaber or Starkillers Lightsabers

im new to modding so im not sure if this will work maybe someone could use it partnered with starkillers robes and a arm band that changes your head model to starkillers

Your idea is good,However modeling is not my thing but certainly if the short saber could be done then i think it may be possible we should just wait and see if some of the expeirienced members of this site have any comments ;)

Well have you played with the backhand sabers yet?

It's horrendous because the animations are for normal sabers and it looks like your character is having a seizure. =P

Im already making a mod like this, and the saber is ready. Im now having problems with the invisible item to be used in the off hand, but im releasing it soon.... Propably. And yeah, the animations are pretty bad, i just HAD to make it:xp:

Hehe, I knew the animations would come back to haunt me...

Well, firstly, the reason I didn't use the normal saber models is because they go through the floor upon flourish, I did test it out but I didn't like the results, plus you don't just chop your arm of, you chop your torso off as well with the normal saber model.

I am doing a remake at the moment which doesn't use the short saber models, I've come up with a better idea to the animations, and if all goes well we won't be chopping any more limbs off :).

I'll post an update soon, but my new college course is extremely tiring, and I barely have time for modding any more, I barely have time for anything at all now :p.

I have to ask, is this saber going to be post or pre sith stalker?

everyone wants to do somthing like this i was thinking about making his robes or somthing like that i never decided

You know, i just found a pic on Random Sabers that is very very close to the saber of Starkillers father.

http://randomsabers.com/saber.php?name=Decimate)

I'll have a look and see if i can't find some of the others.

The one im making is loosely based on the saber you see in the cutscene after killing kazdan paratus(I think...), the one that starkiller floats in the air while using force to repair it.. a lazy guy:xp: But yeah, its not a replica. It will have blue and red versions.

The one im making is loosely based on the saber you see in the cutscene after killing kazdan paratus(I think...), the one that starkiller floats in the air while using force to repair it.. I seem to recall that saber was heavily styled after Anakin's ROTS/Luke's ANH/ESB Graflex saber, at least as far as the emitter goes. That the one?

EDIT: Ah, found a pic. Not quite as Graflex-like as I thought, aside from the emitter horns.

http://www.lightsaberarchives.org/dokuwiki/doku.php/saberwiki:eucreators:galen_marek_starkiller)

Hmm it seems like i have accidentally put some of the TFU sabers together, added some of my own design and so the actual hilt has almost nothing in common with that... exept that the emitter is shaped like / and its thinner in the middle:) Well, i wont mind that, but some people may be frustrated:xp:

Just noticed that there is a Very good TFU mod on JK3Files.

http://jediknight3.filefront.com/file/The_Force_Unleashed_Pack;94904)

Would it be possible to use that one? If permission is recieved, of course.

Given my experiments with JK conversions, it's probably just easier to model it from scratch. Might have a look at it later in the weekend if nobody else is interested.

Ah well, it was just a thought.

It's a viable route certainly, but it seems to me that by the time you get permission (assuming the author is willing) and then mess about with the conversion you could have just modelled your own. But if someone wants to do that then by all means do so. The texturing on the JK saber is probably a lot better than what I could manage.


EDIT1: Had a play at modelling my own for a few hours. This low poly stuff is damn hard at times lol. It's not entirely 100% accurate, but it's about as close as I could get it with the limited references available and keeping the poly budget to a reasonable amount. It currently sits at 1102 polys once triangulated, but I can trim that a little. The 6 studs on the sides are a good starting point. Not looking forward to UV mapping.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Starkillers-Saber-01.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Starkillers-Saber-01.jpg)



EDIT2: Ah, much better. After a bit of surgery the triangulated mesh is down to 773 polys. Not sure exactly how the blade is going to work with the exposed crystal. I don't think you can move the hilt up high enough without the hands ending up off the end of it in-game.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Starkillers-Saber-02.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Starkillers-Saber-02.jpg)



EDIT3: So here's a quick and dirty in-game test of an untextured hilt. It sits a tad high, but I think you could get away with it (looks better when dual wielding). Probably have to use Malak's hilt as the base in order to end up with something that looks like a normal sized blade.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Starkillers-Saber-03.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Starkillers-Saber-03.jpg)


EDIT4: Another in-game test, this time in K1 using Malak's hilt. I think the positioning is even worse than the standard hilt I tried in TSL.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Starkillers-Saber-04.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Starkillers-Saber-04.jpg)


EDIT5: Here's a shot of the mostly finished texturing. Needs some tweaking in a few spots, not that you'd ever see it in-game.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Starkillers-Saber-05.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Starkillers-Saber-05.jpg)

EDIT6: Was doing some saber renders for TriggerGod so I threw this in as well. Still haven't fixed the textures yet, or resolved the hilt/blade placement issues.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Starkillers-Saber-Render.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Starkillers-Saber-Render.jpg)

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Starkillers-Saber-Animation.gif) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Starkillers-Saber-Animation.gif)

^^^link your blades to your hilt then under the hierarchy tab " affect pivot only" move your pivot up on z so she's holding the hilt further up, then switch " affect pivot only" off and re-export, compile and test.

pretty cool are you also making it with 5 or 7 hilt textures for each colour crystal that's embedded on the model ?

link your blades to your hilt then under the hierarchy tab " affect pivot only" move your pivot up on z so she's holding the hilt further up, then switch " affect pivot only" off and re-export, compile and test.Hrmm I did actually try that, although I moved the pivot up before linking it. That shouldn't make a difference though should it?

are you also making it with 5 or 7 hilt textures for each colour crystal that's embedded on the model ?Wasn't planning to, no. Figured I'd just make a single custom red crystal.

It might, I had success by moving it up after linking it my self. With it all linked it should force her grip up and constrain the blades planes since the hilt is parent to the 4 blades = 2 blades 2 helpers.

It's a bit finicky if it doesn't work start your rig over fresh. Re-import Malaks hilt un link his hilt and the 4 blades attached to it. Then import your hilt to to the scene align the pivot, Don't reset Xform, link the blades to your hilt. Then link it to the parent dummy object then move pivot up on Z and add aroura tri mesh last.

I recently made my revan a new hilt in k1 the hilt's length is 3/4 that of the default it's a nice snug fit like yoda's hilt on him. But in game I was gripping it like your pic above. It took a number of try's to get it right like 5 to 10... In the end it was a matter of shifting the pivot on Z up and avoid hitting reset Xform. Also whatever hilt you are rigging with , be sure it's used as the binary model mdlops asks for to compile from, if you rig with 006 then uses 006 while compiling and rename your hilt after. Add aroura trimesh as well.

Good luck I know it can be frustrating. If you only compile your saber 10 times then your not trying hard enough :p jk ;)

svösh

Re-import Malaks hilt un link his hilt and the 4 blades attached to it. Then import your hilt to to the scene align the pivot, Don't reset Xform, link the blades to your hilt. Then link it to the parent dummy object then move pivot up on Z and add aroura tri mesh last.Hrmm...OK so that's a lot different than the usual T7 tutorial method I've always used. What about the exporting process? Does that proceed in the normal way? Do I still use MDLOps to do the replacing? Do I just replace the hilt, or the blade planes as well?

It's the same steps as t7's tut more or less, once I complete any of my hilts "unlinked" I align pivot hit reset Xform then I
go to: File> export selected as .3ds
File > reset [g]max , nwmax >set environ
re-import w_lghtsbr_001
So when I'm rigging in a fresh scene I can just import my hilt to the scene the only changes are just that you unlink the blades from the old hilt and like always unlink the old hilt. Link it all up to your new hilt. Your new hilt as parent to the 4 blades and then dummy01 or whatever the animation dummy is numbered for that hilt as parent to your hilt.

dummy##* should not be unlinked from the aroura base at any time.

Then move your pivot "affect pivot only" up. thrown on aroura trimesh over your editable mesh and export.

compile with mdlops replacer as normal, only this time you will see 2 more trimesh listed for the 2 blade planes just replace the old hilt for your new. The reason mdlops sees the blade planes now is they where linked when you exported from gmax. You don't actually have to delete the old hilt any part unlinked will be left behind.

The reason for using the binary model it was decompiled from is even though there are 7 standard sabers and should be identical apart from dummy names and blade textures and blade names, they are all different sizes in kb's ? go figure, so you stand a better chance of making it work with the bin mdl your rigging to.

Hope this helps :)

svösh

Nope, no luck. Whatever way I do it, it just won't keep the vertically adjusted pivot point after being run through MDLOps replacer. Always goes back to the same pivot position of the hilt it replaces. This is being done in GMax with NWMax 0.7 and MDLOps 0.5.0 (the 0.8/0.6.1 combo didn't work for me - gave messed up results).

Hummm make sure if you keep mdlops open to re-replacer multiple times with. That you browse to your newest ascii export to replacer with each time. Even though the name hasn't changed.

Are you turning off "affect pivot only" once you have finished moving it ? you could try reset Xform but be warned save your scene before you do or in game the blade might be floating above your hilt.

Try using the aroura base as your new pivot to align too. If that works then we are getting somewhere with breaking the rig to do your bidding ;)

I use the same nwmax07/ mdlops05 combo.

I know how this is trust me, it should be straight forward and it is. But getting it to work for some reason is tougher then it should be. One last thought try to add the aroura trimesh before you move the pivot up again. Not only did I have low grip but I also had floating saber blades due to reset xform. Some times rest xform is good other times... it's not so good.

good luck

svösh

Hrmm...well I'll try again using those suggestions.

Tried without it but have to use resetxform or the hilt ends up upside down.

By the way, as well as the two poly planes that have the saber blade texture (plane267 and plane268 in the case of the K1 Malak hilt), there are two blue box guides/dummies at the emitter named plane265 and plane266. I assume I am also supposed to link these to the new hilt?

EDIT: Tried adding aurora trimesh first and aligning pivot to the aurora base but no difference. This is the hilt after being run through the replacer then exported again as an ascii mesh and brought back into GMax. As you can see, the pivot ends up down the bottom of the hilt. The hilt also seems to end up positioned higher than when I originally exported it.

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Hilt-Pivot-Issues.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Hilt-Pivot-Issues.jpg)

Compare to this pic before exporting:

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_Hilt-Pivot-Issues-2.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/Hilt-Pivot-Issues-2.jpg)

I have an idea. First off, align the saber on the X and Y axis, and not the Z axis. After that, take the move tool, restrict it to the Z axis (its a big button on the interface labeled "Z"), and move it so that the top of the saber (where the blade will come out of) is directly on the original saber. To make this process easier, go into edit -> select -> By Name, and select your hilt and the original hilt. Then, right click anywhere in the area, and select "Hide Unselected," so that the only things visible is the two hilts. Then, just move it up and down (remember to have restricted to the Z axis) until its aligned.

i second triggergod's idea, would love to play with starkiller's saber and character.

@DarthParametric yes link all 4 blades = the 2 planes and 2 helpers named plane

I see the dilemma now from the pics of your rig, basically I would treat this saber like you would any other except unlink the 4 blades from the old hilt and move them down in to position until they are seated where the exposed crystal is. Then link them all up to your new hilt, the only oddness I can foresee is when the blades fan out from some of the anim attacks it will bisect your hilt from the center where your blade truly begins.

your hilt should still be the same hight as malaks in the scene and share the same pivot alignment

Now link your blades to your hilt and the hilt to the anim dummy add tri mesh and export away.

Give that a go ;)

svösh

Ahah! Thanks svцsh, that seems to have cracked it. The hand positioning still needs some fine tuning, but it's more or less where it needs to be:

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/th_SK-Hilt-Position-WIP.jpg) (http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/SK-Hilt-Position-WIP.jpg)

I had actually thought when originally playing with it that moving the blades would be the easiest solution, but I didn't think you could do that as I didn't know the replacing process would change their position. I was under the impression that all it did was swap the hilts. Speaking of which, when doing the replacing I also replaced the blades as I wasn't sure whether this was required or not. Doesn't seem to have hurt at any rate.

By the way, concerning the blade helpers; should I position them at the emitter like in a normal hilt? I left them in their original position in relation to the blade planes (i.e. moved all four together as a group) which meant they sit about a quarter of the way down the hilt. What exactly is their function in the game? My guess was that they designated where the fanning out started during swing animations.

Ha good job!!! I knew something would give in eventually and force the rig to do your will :smash:

Np mate happy to help.

If I recall when cchargin was cracking the sabers he came across some funky animated mesh he didn't know how to process. So I believe he had mdlops replace those 2 planes with helpers. If you edit a custom named blade texture and leave out the txi you will see there are 4 planes that make each blade. Or the helpers are there to control the animations of the on and off states I'm not sure.

So what you did was right keep the plane helpers and planes together i'm not sure if you had to replace the blades as well , basically the positioning of all the linked elements in the rig are saved and transfered over to the new hilt. you could try it again in a fast test
no need to export. Just rename the one in override now to back it up then just use the new ascii and replacer it. but just switch the hilt see if the blades are in the same position. Then we all know for the future.

later if you feel like it you just have to move the pivot up a touch if you want to. But it's looking good :) did you lose count of how many times it was compiled ? ;)

svösh

That lightsaber looks pretty cool. As a suggestion from someone used to working low-poly, you could probably get away with removing those six side-screws and just texturing them onto the handle itself. Once you get the hand placement down, they probably won't be too visible, and as small as they come out in game, it would be tough to notice anyway.

Just a suggestion if you're looking to save some polys. :)

Thanks, but I'm pretty happy with it at 773 polys. Dropping the spheres would only lose about 50 polys, so it's not worth the hassle to bother with.

I'm pretty much done with it - just need to do some testing and then I'll release it.

did you lose count of how many times it was compiled ?I think the exact amount was too http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/DarthParametric/censored.gif) many.

Oh, my mistake, I thought you had said somewhere that it was in the 1200 range. 773 is very good, forget I said anything.

Yeah the original mesh was around 1100, but if you look at the edit I made to that post you'll see that I revised the mesh and dropped the poly count down significantly. It's actually one of the lower poly count sabers I've done.