Tamriel Rebuilt

WSG#14 [F] Isle of Stirk: Unique Weapons


The Isle Stirk is a test. It's a way for us to learn on the Oblivion engine. One aspect of this will be getting unique weapon models into the game, which is now possible. The first step is having good concepts.

We don't need to develope an entire armory, three weapons will suffice. It's about setting realistic goals for ourselves. A unique blunt weapon, a unique blade, and a unique staff.

The blunt and the blade will be found somewhere on the Island, no specifics are laid out, so go nuts. The staff however will be in the possesion of 'Maugrue the Steward' (MOG-roo), an ancient Lich. Lich creatures can be equipped with only with staves.

If you want some background information on the Stirk quest, read the first post of Sload's 'On Stirk' thread:

http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=16020


Please develope your concepts along with 2D planar views, from multiple angles, and keep each version in proportion to its opposite where possible. Use grid paper or a ruler to guide your layout if needed. It will translate better in to a model that way. Also be sure to include some information on what materials make up the weapon.

I look forward to seeing your concepts, everyone.

Fantastic, I was hoping to get the chance to do some waepons!

Sorry Morden but what makes possible to export new weapon models to the game? Did i miss anything have someone released an exporter?

fanfas wrote:Sorry Morden but what makes possible to export new weapon models to the game? Did i miss anything have someone released an exporter?

Yes and no. Nifskope can be used to export .obj files to .nif, and vice versa. However, we don't have a proper IMPORT technique yet; our only option involves a kind of "fake" import by overwriting the values of a similar weapon to take it's collision data, havok data, etc. So, it works, but it's nowhere near ideal.

Three may suffice, but I'm going to give you a wide variety to choose from. I do weapons best, so this is really my kind of topic. First, a few questions: What sort of style should the weapons be? Ayleid? Akaviri? Ra Gada? Does it really matter? I have some older weapons concepts that come to mind. Also, are we looking for crude smashic weapons, or ornate ones? I'll do a bit of both if it doesn't matter. Oh, and thank you for coming out of the architecture shell for a few weeks! (I have some late ones that were intended for the flora topic, I'll have to post them in my art thread.)

Morgoth: It's up to you for the blade and the blunt weapon. Create your own backstory.

http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=16052 Here is the post about how the importing for anyone who's interested. I didn't read the tutorial, but I suppose Eyeball did.

Alright. This should be an interesting one. *gets drawing

To narrow down what styles you'd prefer to see, I've them numbered
[url=http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1056/stirkswords4fb.jpg][img]http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1056/stirkswords4fb.th.jpg[/img][/url]

I like 2. Looks RaGada to me. Middle-eastern flavor, but hardier than 4. though, I'm not quite shure about the shape, maybe if I see it weilded by someone it will make more sense.

On the staff:

Maugrue never fights the player, Y'vaknir does, so I suppose it would originally be in his possession, but pass to Y'vaknir (not that Maugrue ever has it drawn, everyone is seated during his monologue).

Lutemoth wrote:To narrow down what styles you'd prefer to see, I've them numbered
[url=http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1056/stirkswords4fb.jpg][img]http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1056/stirkswords4fb.th.jpg[/img][/url]

I like 4 the best, with 2 a clear second Four is sleek, decorated, functional, unique, and middle eastern-y. Number one has a few problems (a bit dull, and the crazy handle), and number three doesn't look much like a real weapon.

Sload wrote:On the staff:

Maugrue never fights the player, Y'vaknir does, so I suppose it would originally be in his possession, but pass to Y'vaknir (not that Maugrue ever has it drawn, everyone is seated during his monologue).

Liches can't sit on chairs. And why wouldn't he fight the player ?

Y'vaknir will kill Maugrue. Maugrue has no chance to fight the player.

Question: Why the hell would a Lich, an undead master of dark magic, use a sword?

First post:

The blunt and the blade will be found somewhere on the Island, no specifics are laid out, so go nuts. The staff however will be in the possesion of 'Maugrue the Steward' (MOG-roo), an ancient Lich. Lich creatures can be equipped only with staves.

Yeah, I'm an idiot, I saw talk on swords and assumed people had decided to give Maugrue a sword.

Staff

[url=http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lichstaff1um.jpg][img]http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1338/lichstaff1um.th.jpg[/img][/url]

No 2D views on this one yet.

Stalker wrote:

Sload wrote:On the staff:

Maugrue never fights the player, Y'vaknir does, so I suppose it would originally be in his possession, but pass to Y'vaknir (not that Maugrue ever has it drawn, everyone is seated during his monologue).

Liches can't sit on chairs. And why wouldn't he fight the player ?

They can't? Oh well, the NPCs can.

Sload wrote:

Stalker wrote:

Sload wrote:On the staff:

Maugrue never fights the player, Y'vaknir does, so I suppose it would originally be in his possession, but pass to Y'vaknir (not that Maugrue ever has it drawn, everyone is seated during his monologue).

Liches can't sit on chairs. And why wouldn't he fight the player ?

They can't? Oh well, the NPCs can.

If we had a havok exporter, we could make a mesh of Maugrue sitting in a chair, and then when he dies, have the chair affected by physics and go flying with him. Other than that, though, we're SOL.

Well, I've done several new ones (Scanning now) But I can't seem to come up with a blunt weapon I like. I've done a sort of mace. Anyway, I figured I'd post some of my old ones, in case any of them could be used:

[url=http://img507.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bluntweapon9ig.jpg][img]http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3779/bluntweapon9ig.th.jpg[/img][/url]

Nice. They look Deadric to me, but maybe if they had the right colorscheme they could look like something else. I like 2 and 5 the best. Is 5 a mace or an axe? I could see it being either.

Actually, they're all warhammers. If you remember the silver warhammer from morrowind, thats the sort of shape I'm looking for for the front, except the points on the ends probably threw you off.

I like 1, 4 and 5. 1 and 4 both seem quite Nord like. Whereas 5 seems to adopt the avian design elevn weapons have. 4 looks like the most practical in terms of structure, and I love the natural design to it as well.

Like Macar said, I'm less keen on 2 or 3 because they do look very daedric like, although just my personal preference .

Orix wrote: Like Macar said, I'm less keen on 2 or 3 because they do look very daedric like, although just my personal preference .

Actually, that's a compliment, as Daedric is what I was aiming for. Those were old, and had no proper theme, so I just threw in a bit of this and that. But, in terms of Stirk, are any near to the style you're looking for?

Heres a quick model of one of Lutemoths concepts, the model needs texturing yet but i'll have that dones by weekend. TBH the model needs re-doing better but like i said its just a quick model.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c199/Tony545/stirksword01.jpg

[url=http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rapier8pq.jpg][img]http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9599/rapier8pq.th.jpg[/img][/url]
For the sword, I imagined one of the nobles on the island having a ceremonial sword in his home, something highly ornamental and decorational. I figured the noble could be the type who thinks that simply having such a nice weapon means that he somehow knows how to use it. Hilarity ensues when the old fat man runs around the island brandishing the sword, tripping over rocks and getting chased away by mudcrabs.
[url=http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=coralskullmace1zl5qc.jpg][img]http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1121/coralskullmace1zl5qc.th.jpg[/img][/url]
Sload mace, made of coral.

I'm designing the staff as well, I'll try to have to done by tomorrow.

[url=http://img102.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sword16lt.jpg][img]http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/396/sword16lt.th.jpg[/img][/url]

A picture I took. A fancy sword with a bit more of a Hammerfell flavor. Very sleek.

Already started work on the Coral Mace, everyone else can bugger off

[img]http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/2056/mesosolly5mv.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/1306/coralmacetexture7qg.jpg[/img]

playing with colours at the moment, suggestions are welcome. it is coral, so it could be any colour.. but I think black/red has been overdone (Daedric, etc)

It's beautiful. Its like it a big purple chicken drumstick that may or may not talk. But seriously, it rocks.


Morgoth: Those weapons are incredibly detailed. What material would they be made of?

Great start on the Coral Mace Eyeball. This has to be one of most unique weapons I've seen designed, so kudos to you Dex!

I dunno if the evil skeleton eyes/facial features are necessary, the original design had a fairly normal skull on it which suggest that it was taken from something human/innocent. But then again if the skeletons from Morrowind/Oblivion are anything to go by they are fairly mean looking. Guess its a matter of preference.

Also, are you going to make the skull non-coral coloured? Or leave it formed out of coral? Either are cool, but could I be cheeky and ask to see how it would look in either case?

As for colour, the purple and orange is quite cool. I have found a few other pictures of coral you could use, ranging in texture and colour.
[url=http://www.lastortugasvilla.com/views/the_reef/Anemones%20on%20Brain%20Coral.jpg]Brain Coral[/url] [url=http://www.math.sfu.ca/~cbm/talks/sci1/demo/coral.png](close up)[/url] which I think would look pretty nasty looking. [url=http://www.bishopmuseum.org/research/pbs/Oman-coral-book/Chap3/CorBkCh3htm26.jpg]False Pillow Coral[/url] has an interesting design to it. [url=http://www.bishopmuseum.org/research/pbs/Oman-coral-book/Chap3/CorBkCh3htm3.jpg]Cauliflower Coral[/url] and [url=http://www.bishopmuseum.org/research/pbs/Oman-coral-book/Chap3/CorBkCh3htm54.jpg]Smaller Knob Coral[/url] are rather unique.

As for the colour, I usually imagine coral as turquoise/teal, perhaps with luminous lines as a specular map/shader. I kinda like the colours in Small Knob Coral, the kinda pale red and biege. You could try a muddy/sickly green too to show it's a plant.

Here's my submission, though I plan to do more. Mostly basic stuff, though I thought the knife in the staff was pretty unique, maybe a powerful relic? The others are fairly ordinary. I designed the Cutlass because of the Redguards that once inhabited Stirk. (I think?) Maybe it could be found in the mines somewhere?

[url]http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/1782/weaponstirk4nj.jpg[/url]

Oh, and Morden, I was thinking along the lines of materials for those other ones: Bosmeri, Daedric, Daedric, Any Race, Elven, Nordic.

Orix wrote:Great start on the Coral Mace Eyeball. This has to be one of most unique weapons I've seen designed, so kudos to you Dex!

I dunno if the evil skeleton eyes/facial features are necessary, the original design had a fairly normal skull on it which suggest that it was taken from something human/innocent. But then again if the skeletons from Morrowind/Oblivion are anything to go by they are fairly mean looking. Guess its a matter of preference.

Also, are you going to make the skull non-coral coloured? Or leave it formed out of coral? Either are cool, but could I be cheeky and ask to see how it would look in either case?

I was thinking of trying it that way first; I actually cheated, as I'm using Bethesda's skull texture But it would be easy enough to change the features to be less evil, and since I have the skull texture as a seperate layer, I can bring it out at any time.

[img]http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/891/coralmaceskull9if.jpg[/img]

Wow, that's really excellent, Eyeball. I wonder though, could you enlongate the handle a bit more? I think it would be a bit cramped as is, even for one hand. (The bone part.)

I agree with Morgoth that the handle would look good longer. I think using that skull texture is a good thing. First of all, it's a sload weapon, right? So why would you want to make it less evil? Secondly, wont using thier texture save download space?

Well for a sload it wouldnt matter what shape the handle is: they just adapt their outer layer to fit any tool. In fact the short handle might be part of the design, allowing a sload to use it easily.

Well if it's sloadish would they need a handle at all? I was just thinking in practicle terms- if the player is going to wield it, it should look cool when they do.

Well Sloads...I mean sloads :p won't use any weapons at all. Imagine big fat ugly lazy slug bashing you with a mace. They don't have smiths either. All their battling needs are done by magickal means (if they won't escape you instead of fighting you of course) and by the use of slaves both alive and undead.


So yeah, I think it should be turned into a staff. That would make much more sense. And it looks damn cool too

That's a good point. It does say that in the old PGE. If a sload did make a weapon it would be made for someone else to wield.

As a weapon wielded by a sload's undead servant?

A staff would be better, I think.

The Sload themselves would not use the mace, this is true. They didn't do any actual fighting. They might use a staff that is similar to the mace. However, I won't do a concept of a coral skull staff, because it would be the exact same as the mace, just with a longer shaft.
However, the Sload do have armies of golems and undead, and they would probably be armed and armored. I think that using coral weapons would be perfect for their undead troops, since it is abundant and organic (and therefore probably easier to shape into weapons with magic).