New mod under way

[Xaltar]

Hey guys, it's great to see so many of the same old names still here

I have not modded anything for bloodlines in what feels like forever I picked up the game on GoG again recently and have started a new mod. Seriously, I don't think I even actually play games anymore.... Modding is just more satisfying I guess. Last time I made mods for the game this forum looked a lot different, I take it this is a new forum seeing as I had to sign up again. The last time I was working on mods for VTM:B Dehu was still working on his CompMod. I still need to install the newest version of that and check it out.

So, preamble aside, I have started reworking all the clan character models. I think I started down this road before with my female Brujah replacement back in the day but got frustrated with the limitations of the tools and gave up. After a lot of work on Neverwinter Nights 2 I think I am ready to tackle Bloodlines again. Something about this game just never seems to get old 

It's still early in my process but I do have some pics to show and a youtube video. This will be a slow process but I seem to be getting back into the swing of things again. The workflow is a lot faster with a decent PC and SSD (loading the game to check model tweaks etc).

Toreador Female replacement Armor 3:




Ventrue Male replacement Armor 1:




Ventrue Female rework Armor 1:

I have completed the Male and Female Ventrue texture and model work but need to clean things up, properly set texture paths etc before uploading the mod. I will release each clan as I finish them and then a combined pack once done. I hope to do them all but at the very least I plan to deal with the worst ones (Brujah, Ventrue, Gangrel, Toreador female).

I hope you are all well, it's been a long time 

[Update] 07/03/2018

Ventrue Male, all armors:




Toreador Female Armor 2:

[Wesp5]

The models look great! Please contact burgermeister, the maker of the Clan Quest Mod. He is in need for some good unique models to include into the 4.0 version of his mod. I think they would make more sense there instead as a seperate model mod which few people would use.

[Xaltar]

Hey Wesp5! Long time no see 

At this point I am just redoing all the ugly PC models but for sure, getting involved in something people will actually use would be fun. I will probably release a stand alone replacer mod but I am more than happy to support larger existing mods, even make some unique models if needed. At the moment I am trying to test the limits of how far the models can be edited before they break (sadly not very far). The goal is for my more unique looking models to look as far different from their donor models as possible, ideally unrecognizable.

How would I go about contacting burgermeister, email?

[Wesp5]

How would I go about contacting burgermeister, email?

Yes, it is probably somewhere in his mod readme. I think he even has a twitter account!

[deicide]

The third doesn't work. Bared midriff had already been beaten to the final death and beyond, on poor ventrue girl in particular. Makes me wonder why anyone thought she needs one that badly.
On the other hand, the first two seems original enough.

[Mamita]

Holy crap. Those are amazing!
We've been without a real modeler since Lenuska left.
And if I may say so, that is the best African-American model
I have ever seen in Bloodlines. The base Brujah model just makes me shudder... Ugh.
That Toreador model is amazing as well. Appears Spanish.
Overall, it's good to see we'll be getting more variety in models!
P.S. I have left a comment on Moddb and PM'd him here and there to let Burgermeister know you're looking to help.
You should still message him anyway.

[Dahlia X]

Holy crap. Those are amazing!
We've been without a real modeler since Lenuska left.
And if I may say so, that is the best African-American model
I have ever seen in Bloodlines. The base Brujah model just makes me shudder... Ugh.
That Toreador model is amazing as well. Appears Spanish.
Overall, it's good to see we'll be getting more variety in models!
P.S. I have left a comment on Moddb and PM'd him here and there to let Burgermeister know you're looking to help.
You should still message him anyway.

Glad you like them. We thought it would be cool to add just a few more ethnic looks in there just for the sake of diversity. That base Brujah model was totally cringe plus I always thought it was just a bit tacky that the only African american player model was the Brujah so we switched things around a bit and made him the Venture male instead. Modding this game is kinda fun with all the limitations though lol. Making the models look different enough just by pushing things around is definitely an amusing challenge. Of course Xaltar doesn't always find it as amusing and he is doing the actual work 

[Dahlia X]

The third doesn't work. Bared midriff had already been beaten to the final death and beyond, on poor ventrue girl in particular. Makes me wonder why anyone thought she needs one that badly.
On the other hand, the first two seems original enough.

I love this dude! He is just like...I'm not that impressed. That bare midriff is so yesterday and the rest is like fine or whatever. 

[Xaltar]

lol, the bare midriff has certainly been around a while, I think the first mod I released with it was over a decade ago. Why? Because it's in the model geometry and is the way that top is designed. I think Troika just blacked out the midriff, seriously, it's just painted black on the original texture.

The focus for the Ventrue female was her proportions, face and hair. Once I had those improved I updated the textures a bit to bring them up to par. I did not intend to reinvent the wheel with her. I did however make some more drastic changes to some of her other armors. Armor 0 is a dog to work with, it has so many seams and is rigged so horribly that the slightest tweak makes holes in the model once loaded in game, that or deforms hideously. It was a huge challenge to get the proportions closer to correct and maintain a smooth looking model in game.

I wish I could get my own models into the game but alas, it is still not possible. If that were the case I could simply make a number of heads, outfits (skirts, pants, tops, dresses, shirts, etc) and bodies then mix and match to create new characters quickly and easily. Doing it this way is actually a lot more work than simply replacing the models with new ones. Just to do a proper retexture I have to create secondary UVs, map them to my texture design then render to target onto the original UVs so things line up right. I could paint the textures directly onto the model but I am not great at hand painting.....  Don't even get me started on how hard it is to make the same model tweaks to a face on 4 models so they look near enough like the same face. Rather than being able to simply clone the head to the next outfit I have to copy the head and use it as reference to reproduce my tweaks from one model to the next. This is why almost no one does character model work for Bloodlines, it is a challenge to say the least.

@Mamita: Thanks for the kind words, I am glad you like them
I loved making the Ventrue male African American, it's surprising how well the original Ventrue model lent itself to the purpose. As Dahlia X said, we wanted to switch things up and get some better diversity in the game

[Xaltar]

How would I go about contacting burgermeister, email?

Yes, it is probably somewhere in his mod readme. I think he even has a twitter account!

Tweet and Email sent. This could be a lot of fun. Making player models is one thing, NPC models are a lot more fun, they need a lot more character vs more generic player models.

Looks like I will be dredging through the pack files for base models again 

[argikt]

Just to say: "Very impressive"
I know the modelling limits and your models looks like quite different.
I agree with Wesp5, it will be more played if the models can be integrated in a major mod.

[Xaltar]

Update:

Toreador Female Armor 2:



This one was a challenge, trying to match the face alterations across 3 completely different models is no small feat, especially when the changes are quite drastic. One more outfit to go for the female Toreador then it's on to the male. 

Just to say: "Very impressive"
I know the modelling limits and your models looks like quite different.
I agree with Wesp5, it will be more played if the models can be integrated in a major mod.

Thanks argikt, it is definitely a challenge  I have sent an email to Burgermeister about helping out with some unique models for the Clan Quest Mod, I think that will be a lot of fun to work on. Matching models to characters rather than have them be generic will allow me more freedom.

[Mamita]

Holy crap! That was fast working.
With that speed, I'm certain the CQM will be finished very quickly!
I like the new model! It's actually really cool to see more ethnic diversity.
I can't believe the Ventrue turned out that well . Was it simply a matter of retexturing?
I can't wait to see what's next!

[Xaltar]

Was it simply a matter of retexturing?

Not even close

None of the original models are proportioned properly, even with my rather extensive edits they still look a bit off. I push things as far as I can before animations break/distort the models too much. I had to edit the heads extensively to create these (all of them, including the Ventrue female), further than that, I also had to replicate the edits for each armor as closely as possible so the armors heads look as close to the same as I could manage. As I said in my last post, not being able to simply clone the head across to another outfit makes my job so much harder. Luckily I have come a long way with my 3d art since the old days and can do things a lot faster now. A better knowledge of anatomy makes all the difference, I no longer need to look at a plethora of reference material to get things looking right. If you look at my old female Brujah replacement mod, you can see my anatomy was not great, especially on the face. That will be getting a rework too to bring it up to snuff 

Here is a before and after, the edits seem subtle but are actually pretty extensive:



Also, another youtube video, this time of the Toreador Armor 2 

[Wesp5]

I have sent an email to Burgermeister about helping out with some unique models for the Clan Quest Mod, I think that will be a lot of fun to work on. Matching models to characters rather than have them be generic will allow me more freedom.

I have alerted burgermeister to you from my side too :)! Also once CQM 4.0 is out, you might want to help out EntenSchreck with the Bloodlines Prelude mod. We need some as beautifully improved models for that as well!