Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Guide updates 16/2 - 22/2
Quite a lot has changed in the guide over the past few days. Here's the rundown for anyone wondering what's up:
-Switched from Vality's trees to Vurt's trees
A lot of people have been wondering why I did this because a lot of you guys seem to be fairly loyal to Vality's trees. I love Vality's trees, too, but they are beginning to show their age, particularly in conjunction with MGE XE's shadows...
If you use Vality's trees with XE, the shadows coming down from the tree canopy start looking awful during midday in game. It's because MGE XE draws it's shadows based on distant land and the distant land versions of Vality's trees don't turn to face the player. Therefor, when you try to make a shadowmap of one, you end up getting these ugly wigly crosses instead of the leafy impression you want.
Besides that, Vurt's trees have come a long way. They are fully bump mapped and are also using reflect maps as a psuedo parallax map which looks fantastic, not to mention the animated leaves that really helps to liven up the regions. --I STILL don't like Vurt's mushroom meshes, but I have a work around for that in the guide so don't worry about having to deal with those twisty things Vurt uses in his ascadian isles pack.
-Heavily recommending MGE XE
My notes on MGE XE really don't do this awesome extension of MGE justice. It really is not just the shadows, folks. Lighting in general has been improved a million times over. Rayscatter has been improved far past Phal's original implementation of it, for example, and so have MGE's fogging-per-weather methods. The way light interacts with statics and actors is stunning. Then, there is the AMAZING underwater effects shader that allows you to see light refracting near the surface... 3D water waves are a small price to pay for all that is new here.
-Improved Xpadder configs
I figured out how to fake analog input with xpadder. You know how in games with real controller support, usually how fast the character moves is determined by how far you push the thumbstick towards the edge? That is what I've figured out how to fake. All that is really happening is that after a certain threshold, xpadder holds down shift for you. That means that if you push the control stick forward a little, you'll only walk. If you push it forward all the way, you'll run. The original configs are still included in the download for those who prefer togglable run.
-Misc other stuff
There is a new icon set that came out recently, I've also added a few things I'd previously forgotten about. Best to skim over the list again to find what you don't have.
-Other news
Oblivion guide soon. "Soon" as in a couple of days. Most likely. It's almost done, I'm just being thorough.
-Knots
-Switched from Vality's trees to Vurt's trees
A lot of people have been wondering why I did this because a lot of you guys seem to be fairly loyal to Vality's trees. I love Vality's trees, too, but they are beginning to show their age, particularly in conjunction with MGE XE's shadows...
If you use Vality's trees with XE, the shadows coming down from the tree canopy start looking awful during midday in game. It's because MGE XE draws it's shadows based on distant land and the distant land versions of Vality's trees don't turn to face the player. Therefor, when you try to make a shadowmap of one, you end up getting these ugly wigly crosses instead of the leafy impression you want.
Besides that, Vurt's trees have come a long way. They are fully bump mapped and are also using reflect maps as a psuedo parallax map which looks fantastic, not to mention the animated leaves that really helps to liven up the regions. --I STILL don't like Vurt's mushroom meshes, but I have a work around for that in the guide so don't worry about having to deal with those twisty things Vurt uses in his ascadian isles pack.
-Heavily recommending MGE XE
My notes on MGE XE really don't do this awesome extension of MGE justice. It really is not just the shadows, folks. Lighting in general has been improved a million times over. Rayscatter has been improved far past Phal's original implementation of it, for example, and so have MGE's fogging-per-weather methods. The way light interacts with statics and actors is stunning. Then, there is the AMAZING underwater effects shader that allows you to see light refracting near the surface... 3D water waves are a small price to pay for all that is new here.
-Improved Xpadder configs
I figured out how to fake analog input with xpadder. You know how in games with real controller support, usually how fast the character moves is determined by how far you push the thumbstick towards the edge? That is what I've figured out how to fake. All that is really happening is that after a certain threshold, xpadder holds down shift for you. That means that if you push the control stick forward a little, you'll only walk. If you push it forward all the way, you'll run. The original configs are still included in the download for those who prefer togglable run.
-Misc other stuff
There is a new icon set that came out recently, I've also added a few things I'd previously forgotten about. Best to skim over the list again to find what you don't have.
-Other news
Oblivion guide soon. "Soon" as in a couple of days. Most likely. It's almost done, I'm just being thorough.
-Knots
Monday, February 21, 2011
A Valley Without Wind New Video Released
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| A Valley Without Wind |
The graphical quality of this game has improved in leaps and bounds in the last several weeks and it is only going to get prettier, developing further the muddy, watery paint-like art style Arcen has chosen for their game. The 3 videos released for "A Valley Without Wind" can be found here, here, and here.
For any of you that haven't heard about a Valley Without Wind (which I presume is most of you), it is a randomly-generated survival-ish Action-RPG set in a post-Ice Age society, which apparently has lots of wind and robots shaped like skeletons... with magic and permadeath. As I mentioned previously, Arcen has put about a month of work into this, and their progress thus far is staggering. They've released progress updates nearly every week in addition to having tons of interviews and other publicity-raising events that help us keep up with the progress of the game.
Notice the music. Pablo Vega, their composer, is immensely talented. He has the ability to compose both extremely catchy and impressive melodic pieces, with a wide range of instruments and styles.
-Lusit
Monday, February 14, 2011
Antares' Tribunal Main Quest released!
For a lot of people, the Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal was a bit of a let down. Things just didn't play out as epicly as there was potential for. One man, Antares, has gone above and beyond to remedy the issue, having created a complete overhaul of the Tribunal questline. You can nab this mod here. I haven't tried it myself yet, but I've been following it's development since Antares first had the idea. It promises to be a fantastic experience.
Need more encouragement? How about a chance to talk with Sotha Sil in the flesh, and a chance to fight Mehrunes Dagon?! Let me know how you like the mod in the comments, I'm interested in everyone's take on it.
For anyone wondering, by the way, a fairly major overhaul of the guide is underway, kind of hinging on whenever Hrnchamd gets around to implementing 3D water waves in MGE XE. You also have a Fallout 3 modding guide to look forward to in the near future, currently being written by my good friend Lusit, as well as general tech/gaming related news posts out of him!
-Knots
Need more encouragement? How about a chance to talk with Sotha Sil in the flesh, and a chance to fight Mehrunes Dagon?! Let me know how you like the mod in the comments, I'm interested in everyone's take on it.
For anyone wondering, by the way, a fairly major overhaul of the guide is underway, kind of hinging on whenever Hrnchamd gets around to implementing 3D water waves in MGE XE. You also have a Fallout 3 modding guide to look forward to in the near future, currently being written by my good friend Lusit, as well as general tech/gaming related news posts out of him!
-Knots
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Short but beautiful MGE XE demonstration feauturing upcoming Tamriel Rebuilt content!
I wish there was enough for me to write an essay about, but there's only this:
The author of the video is Nemon, head of exteriors for the ambitious "Tamriel Rebuilt" mod for Morrowind that seeks to recreate the Morrowind mainland that landlocks Vvardenfell on three sides. If I am not mistaken, he is using vanilla textures. The beautiful lighting and shadows is thanks to MGE XE of which I have notes on here.
Can't wait for Tamriel Rebuilt's next release, or for the day when MGE XE hits 1.0!
The author of the video is Nemon, head of exteriors for the ambitious "Tamriel Rebuilt" mod for Morrowind that seeks to recreate the Morrowind mainland that landlocks Vvardenfell on three sides. If I am not mistaken, he is using vanilla textures. The beautiful lighting and shadows is thanks to MGE XE of which I have notes on here.
Can't wait for Tamriel Rebuilt's next release, or for the day when MGE XE hits 1.0!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Nerevar Rising
Mucky88 of Newgrounds shared this in a thread on /v/ today. I liked it so I thought I'd share it here.
While I'm sharing Morrowind related music, I may as well raise awareness of Jeremy Soule's own revisiting to the theme, titled Nerevar Rising (reprise). Some of you may find it hard to believe, but not everyone owns Morrowind's soundtrack (but they should).
Cheers!
While I'm sharing Morrowind related music, I may as well raise awareness of Jeremy Soule's own revisiting to the theme, titled Nerevar Rising (reprise). Some of you may find it hard to believe, but not everyone owns Morrowind's soundtrack (but they should).
Cheers!
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| Vivec, warrior-poet God of the Dunmer Tribunal |
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