Dragons' Spine

[Spiritus]

I just recently added the TnC mod, which looks amazing compared to just white or red or whatever the color may be of teeth what not. And got my wondering is there any way to take that, basically, layover of a spine and actually put spines and membrane that look a little better than the current version? I realize that this would probably require actually 3D editing/rendering and what not, instead of just a new skin essentially and maybe its a better idea left to the devs to implement. But I'm curious if it's possible. I have no skills in this area what so ever, so no complaints if it turns out to be a pain for anyone to attempt.

[Shian]

If it requires anything other than a reskin, it cannot be done by players.

[Solitaire]

The dorsal spines are a very simple, low poly object tacked onto the back of the dragon. If you change the texture you can change the appearance of the spines. Just be aware that some head designs might give unexpected results. There are three areas you can change. The long dorsal going down the back, the "ears" of the finny head and a section that will affect the head fins which will vary depending upon head design.

To a limited amount, you can even change the wings if you wish. I know that people would like to have torn edges. I am planning on experimenting with that as a potential creation option. I'm just a bit concerned cause the amount of detail that there is to work with. The wings are fairly low detail in proportion to the rest of the dragon body so the result of torn edges might be a little "muddy".

[Blue Hasia]

If it requires anything other than a reskin, it cannot be done by players.

thats what they want you to think

*sighs to himself and misses the days when David bowman was in charged and encouraged players to mod the game*

[Solitaire]

*sighs to himself and misses the days when David bowman was in charged and encouraged players to mod the game*

Uh, Blue? I'm a dev and I like to think that I've been giving encouragement and information to help players mod the files. This "player customization" forum is one of my favorites and I read everything that is posted in here and help out when I can.

I enjoy seeing what players can come up with. Heck, if someone comes up with something really interesting I would be interested in directly dropping their work into the game with their permission.

There is a lot of information about how to mod files and textures in Istaria. And even a bit of software scattered around but it is hard to find. We could get a "how to" thread started in this forum as an aid to those who would like to try their hand at creating something. With the available information, it is quite within the range of someone with minimal skills to create something like this....

[Solitaire]

BTW, that is a very early test. I want it. But getting it to work with all the variables still eludes me. There are many complications that need to be solved. I am working on it. Absolutely NO promises.

[Raptress]

This "player customization" forum is one of my favorites and I read everything that is posted in here and help out when I can.

In that case I have a question. I was trying to mod one of the underbelly designs, but I could not get the transparency to stick between converting from a PNG to a Targa. I suspect there is something to do with alphas that I'm not doing, but I've only messed with alphas once and I've totally forgotten what to do with them.

Tl;dr, how do you make transparency work so I don't turn the dragon's whole head white when I mess with the throat scales? The non-transparent ones I tried also didn't seem to take tints either. Any way to fix that?

And, as an aside, I assume there's no way for a player to add the throat to the darkest and lightest underbelly scales?

Also, if that little teaser was concerning being able to independently color membranes, me likey. ;P

[Blue Hasia]

dropping their work into the game with their permission.

why dont you shoot me an email i can tell you some stuff

[Solitaire]

I could not get the transparency to stick between converting from a PNG to a Targa.

Transparency in PNG and TGA is handled by the client in different ways. If you convert a PNG to a TGA, then you need to create an alpha of the image using shades of gray. The darker the alpha, the more transparent it will be. I like working with TGA cause it seems that I can get finer control over the final effect.

Tl;dr, how do you make transparency work so I don't turn the dragon's whole head white when I mess with the throat scales?

Can you show me an image of what is happening? It kind of sounds like you might not have the image at the correct size.

The non-transparent ones I tried also didn't seem to take tints either. Any way to fix that?

Make sure that it is 256 shade grayscale. The client does not like applying tints to something with color.

And, as an aside, I assume there's no way for a player to add the throat to the darkest and lightest underbelly scales?

You are talking about the throat from just under the chin to the neck? To be honest, I never noticed that it was not an available option. I'll have to look at it. Sounds like some def files might not have been set up correctly. It might turn out that the only way to fix that would end up changing those dragons that already exist. Some players might like it, some might not.

Also, if that little teaser was concerning being able to independently color membranes, me likey. ;P

A little bit of a teaser but one that you keep in mind might not work out. The colored membranes would work basically the same as stripes/spots. I replaced a stripe file in order to get that screen shot. However, there are 4 different fin patterns and the colored fin decal on one does not line up with the others. I need to find a way to get it to change along with the other texture. Unfortunately, the only way I found to do it so far will change every dragon in the game. It would suck if everyone logged in and suddenly found that they had yellow wings. I really want this as an option because it would vastly increase the appearance options and improve how dragons look.

[Raeshlavik]

You are talking about the throat from just under the chin to the neck? To be honest, I never noticed that it was not an available option. I'll have to look at it. Sounds like some def files might not have been set up correctly. It might turn out that the only way to fix that would end up changing those dragons that already exist. Some players might like it, some might not.

Here's the bits I figured out last time - maybe it'll help: http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...36&postcount=4

I like working on the textures and whatnot of the game, but I get so focused on things that when I start fiddling with the .agh files, I stop 'playing' Istaria.

[Raptress]

Can you show me an image of what is happening? It kind of sounds like you might not have the image at the correct size.

Here you go. As you can see, I got the tinting to work thanks to your grayscale tip. Now I just need to figure out how alphas work again. >_>

You are talking about the throat from just under the chin to the neck?

Yup. Only the middle tones of the underbelly scales have the throat associated with them. The darkest and lightest tones just have nothing on the throat at all. However, textures for the throat only seem to exist in the first place for the midtones. I couldn't find darker or lighter versions of the throat patches. (If you're wondering why I seem to have a dark tone throat up there, it's because I'm modding over the midtone.)

Unfortunately, the only way I found to do it so far will change every dragon in the game. It would suck if everyone logged in and suddenly found that they had yellow wings. I really want this as an option because it would vastly increase the appearance options and improve how dragons look.

It would be really nice. Hopefully they can figure out the whole recustomization of existing characters thing, because that would effectively make most of those issues disappear since the player could just fix the example "sudden yellow wings" problem.

[Raptress]

If it's of interest to anyone, I read the post Raeshlavik linked to and decided to just see if editing that def file and adding a texture would work, and.. it did. I was able to successfully resource_override a texture that has a filename the game was not previously using. I don't have to mod over the midtone underbelly scales anymore and can just add the throat to the dark instead.