Wolf Lords MOD - In Need of An Animator!

[matthew]

this looks good but when will it be finished?... im still waiting for the Harlequins MOD which was started in 2006 lol.

[Lleman]

Even though Mephistoned seems to make fast progress, for which compliments can be given, i think we can all agree on an ETA of When it's done!™
Also, learning the (or some) tools of the trade would help making your favourite mods see the light of day, just saying.

[Mephistoned]

Yeah - an ETA is a looooog way off. We've done all the modelling (tweaking and optimizing aside) but still have the bulk of the work on texturing, animating, OE, FX etc - and it's a lot of work - though we now have a larger team which makes a big difference. If everyone has enough free time to put their all into the mod and there are no major hiccups - you might,just might see a 2010 release. 2009 - not a chance. 2011 - I should bloody well hope so.

[Mephistoned]

Actually this is an interesting point - what IS the average amount of time for a full race mod (ie. largely new assets - buildings, vehicles, troops - with some recycled from previous mods or relic models)? My instinct says possibly something around 3 years - but so much depends on the team.

We are making fast progress with WL - and we are pretty focused. Key members (the all pervasive Thud aside) are, to my knowledge, only working on this mod, and late 2010 is not beyond the realms of possibility. For my part I would hope to have all models textured by early 2010 - but there's still so much more to be done after that - I am only at the front of the pipeline - but finish that and I can get to work on voices and help out with other parts.

WL can currently be considered in recess for September. Chief's computer has died on him, I have a 2 week holiday coming, Charlie and Chief are starting their new term (as will I be), and new members Schleeb and Goosey are learning the ropes in their respective areas.

Expect us all to take collective leaps forward late September/ Early October. Now that we have a full, willing, able and international team, I am really excited about the year ahead, and I personally can't wait to bring you more eye-candy! Thanks to everyone for their support and constructive criticism!

[ManaYagami]

@Mephistoned: In under six months, you managed not only to get a team, but also got most of the modelling done. From what I've seen on other projects, that's a really good start and what's important on such mods is to get them done instead of when they are done, so you shouldn't worry about people pressuring you for release dates.

Regarding the question about a late 2010 release, I also think that it's possible, but you would have to keep the rhythm, which depends on the team's free time and motivation. But it may become more of an effort instead of something that you are creating for fun in the case that you will keep the pace, so slow down if you need to.

[Mephistoned]

All true and good advice. We will go as fast as we can, but I suspect a certain level of momentum is necessary to ensure it gets over the finish line. We already have now an Object Editor waiting on models, so the conveyor belt needs to be kept rolling.

The question about the length of mods was regarding other mods rather than our own. How long did Demonhunters or Steel Legion take (for example)? It's all academic of course.

[Mephistoned]

BTW - credit to Julian for smelling a rat on the polygon count of the Skuld. There was another model hiding within this one - I had used the symmetry tool but not told it to cut along mirror. So it's now far fewer polygons, though back up to around 4000 after various additions. Thanks to Julian I was suspicious too - and this is why posting publically is so useful

[Mephistoned]

Have a problem maybe the community can help with.

It regards unwrapping and uvw maps. I have found that sometimes (possibly not always) when importing an object from one model to another, the object loses its uvw map.

I am aware you can save a uvw map, and then load it again, but this always seems not to work sometimes.

Specifically, I have unwrapped and textured a wolf tail on one model, but importing to another, all that work is lost. I would have to redo the uvw map (time-wasting given how many models this will be used on).

Is there anything I am likely to be doing wrong that is causing this or any obvious solution anyone can present. This must be a common problem as I should imagine many modellers are in the same situation - wanting to import already textured elements between models.

[Mephistoned]

The finished banner - Ragnar's. Grimnar's still to do. Don't quite understand how banner designs are swapped, since I can't find the root folder which has all the other banner designs in it - perhaps someone on here knows the answer?

In any case - it's a design. These things never quite end up how I expect, but I enjoyed the detail. As always thanks to the FoK geniuses for the base texture.

[Richter]

Wow! That looks quite cool...

Youd be better off posting that question just in the adeptus i think.

[skaredy_81]

all I can say is... Beauty is in simplicity.
´am crossing fingers to see this ingame...

[noobi666]

well, now i can honestly say you did better work than Relic. Great job

[DeusImperator]

The banner is great. However in the front page a Blood Claw has a red mane of hair. Aren't Blood Claws supposed to have only a strip of hair ?

[Lleman]

Well, if one has to be anal about it (and know i am), check the SW heads in here. These sprues are for both GH & BC, therefore BC may sport a nice blow dry.

[Mephistoned]

And Grimnar's banner to follow...



Considering the new codex, we will likely be adding Wolf Claws, and also Lukas the Trickster to this mod. That's it, though I am curious what other people think about all the new options.

[noobi666]

Some kind of commander/blood claw squad leader?

[Lleman]

Think Sly Marbo but in power armour and with braids all over.

[ChiefScout]

and a grenade instead of a second heart

[Mephistoned]

Who the hell is Sly Marbo?

I like the black and white illustration in the codex. A red-haired gangly weasel of a man. But really, he's based on Loki - the Norse God of Mischief.

There's room for a little bit of the Joker in there too. I am looking forward to modelling him.

[Lleman]

Lukas: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...Id=prod130012a

(Sly Marbo is the 40k equivalent of... TA-DAAA... Rambo... so, an IG one man-army under its most annoying guise)

[Mephistoned]

Yep, that be Lukas. God knows what a doppegangrel looks like - looks like GW didn't know either, and just did another wolf skin. Any ideas anyone. Shapeshifting mutt?

[noobi666]

Requesting sync kill: impales someones waist with his claws, manically laughing

[Gorb]

Requests, as a rule, are frowned upon in the modding subforums, unless the mod creator/team member has specifically asked for ideas. In this case, Mephistoned has asked for ideas, but not about sync kills.

[Mephistoned]

Thanks Gorb. If you have ideas head over to our revora forums- there's a whole thread there for synkill ideas.

Lukas has got to fight...welll....dirty.

[noobi666]

yup, below the waist

[Mephistoned]

Ok - I think, think, I''ve fixed the problem with exporting parts from models which then lose their uvw maps and refuse to have them reloaded.

Need to recheck, but it has something to do with saving the uvws, collapsing the modifier stack before exporting (which should 'bake' the texture onto the model), then importing, and reloading the uvws. Talk about complicated. Does 3D Max ever do things in the easiest way?

Oh and btw, we've also done an entry for Arjac Rockfist in the mod, largely just because a teleporting thunderhammer is too cool to resist.

Now some of you may have noticed that, even though they are split between two branches, we have more characters than vanilla SM. So we have decided to further differentiate SW by making their independent commanders take up squad cap. This will compensate for the fact that SW commanders are both numerous and monsters in their own right, and will further make the SW army a small but elite force.

So yes, you can field Grimnar, Ulrik, Arjac, the Iron Priest, Lukas, Bjorn (though he's a vehicle)

Or Ragnar, Njal, Lukas, Ulrik, Bjorn

but these powerful characters are going to take a big bite out of your squad cap. Lukas takes a whopping 3 cap, just to make him even more of a pain in the arse to have in your army (however, he does have some truly nasty special abilities).

So a character heavy army line up might be.... Ragnar1, Ulrik1, Njal1, Lukas3, Wolf Guard3, Long Fangs2, GH2, Skyclaws3, BC3, Scout1. =20

[Warhammerfug]

When will the mod be Released cos i am hanging to play your outstanding creation, i admire wat u r doin and i wish i had the skills that u have in ur possesion. but still i would like an estimated time when this wonderful looking mod will be released

[Patman42x]

when it's done.

[Mephistoned]

Actually if you read back through the posts I did give an ETA - but it's distant be warned. I said if we did amazingly fast work, you might see it at the end of 2010. And I would dearly hope to have it finished by the end of 2011. So hang in there. When you do these things for yourself you realise how much work there really is - even with multiple people working on it. It really is no surprise that new race mods like this can take years. But we will finish it, even if by then everyone is playing Dawn of War 4 - Rise of the Gretchin .

Of course we may do earlier Alpha releases - maybe by Tiers, but I can promise nothing, and again, we are way off that - mid to late 2009 at best.

But enjoy the ride. I try to keep these forums updated so if it's done you'll see it, even if it's not yet playable. Anticipation is half the fun right?

And I say this so often it bores... but if you REALLY want it faster - learn a skill and join the team! Another animator would really speed things along...

[potemkis]

Dawn of War 4 - Rise of the Gretchin

That's funny!

[noobi666]

as funny as it may be, gretchin did red revolution in gorkamorka. would make interesting campaing

[Richter]

Is Lukas the Trickster meant to be a scout? I thought he was meant to be a full marine...

[wereturnip]

This is really looking good mate, I have to admit it's been some time since I've checked in. But I'm really impressed with the work and how far things have came.
Really looking forward to this!

[Mephistoned]

He never got above being a Blood Claw, though his abilities are closer to that of a Wolf Guard. So he's based on the same armour configuration as the Blood Claws.

[Warhammerfug]

Thank you Mesphistoned,

i have only been a member for a few weeks now and i have been watching this mods progress since then so i havent seen much more of what u have posted except for when i have flicked through the fourm. but... yes take all the time u need because i and many others would like this mod to be as best as it can be... so please take ur time.

And yess.. Richter lukas the trickster is a full marine and not a scout,
and i have conformation of this because the new space wolf codex was released the other day in games workshop and I have also bought the minature" he is sweet"...

[Richter]

I thought he was as well...


http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...uestid=1371407

Judging by that.

[Mephistoned]

Yep - we've taken a certain amount of licence with the blood claws - they need to be faster and lighter than the grey hunters. They really are the 'scouts' of the SW. Thanks for the support guys - it does encourage us in our labors, I know many are watching even if they don't speak.

[Julian]

Sorry wot? The Scouts are the Scouts of the SW - Bloodclaws are the young 'uns, too rash and foolhardy to know better, but just as well armoured as their long toothed brethren all the better to leap into battle with. Power armour is not going to slow them down, in fact it does the opposite, hence the powered part of the name. I can see where your coming from with the whole scout look for Rank and file bloodclaws, but I do think that considering the actual model of Lukas is in power armour, and his skills are described as being far in advance of even a Wolf Guard member, it seems somewhat odd to clothe him in carapace armour.

[Mephistoned]

Yeah I may change my mind and go for power armor - if the look is better. But since our Blood Claws are in carapace in our mod, it also makes sense for Lukas to be.

[Warhammerfug]

Yess... Julian I agree with you, lukas the trickster would be better suited with power armour... plus he is meant to be in power armour hence the model and codex to back me up.

see for yourself: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...Id=prod130012a

and also just a personal suggestion... it would be great if you could make Najl the Stormcaller: here is a link to the model...:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...tCatGameStyle=

[Herald_of_Iron]

I thought that models was made. Should be on first page.

[Mephistoned]

yes he is - though in power armour. All models are now made, including two new ones from the latest codex - Arjac and Lukas. Texturing is ongoing. Currently concentrating on Tier 1 units - and am doing well with the Wolf Scout. Expect pics soon

[matthew]

sounds great!

Just to add.. the entire army should be in power armour

Except:
Scouts (Carapace armour)
Wolf guard Terminators (Terminator armour)
Characters (Terminator armour OR power armour)

My Space Wolf Blog (painting) - http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219776

[Mephistoned]

Interesting to see the work you guys are doing - conversions on people's models frequently inspire me with mine.

But sorry, in my infinite and frankly arrogant heresy, I believe GW missed a trick with BC, and since they are 'scouts' (in equivalent age terms to other races) and bezerkers (who traditionally wear less armour to show their disregard for personal safety, increase speed ec) they should have carapace. Otherwise IMO there is really little to distinguish GH and BC visually - both have PA, both have cc weapons....

Anyway that's the reasoning, feel free to disagree, but there is method to my madness...

I'm actually a purist, but sometimes I feel GW itself doesn't fully develop their own concepts Though I do like some, if not all, of the new codex elements.

[Warhammerfug]

thanks, and cant wait to see ur progress so far on the mod (pics)

and i wouldnt mind if anyone send would me an E-mail on how to create new models and textures 'cos i would like to help in that fashion if i can... Please
and i know that u have made all the models but i would still like to know how to do it...

[Mephistoned]

Wow - a vounteer! PM me your msn address and we'll talk. New team members are always welcome Many hands make light...

[Silent Assassin]

Hows your mod going meph?I havent checked on your progress in a long time

[Mephistoned]

Generally good. Had a hiccup because Scout's computer detonated (such is the toll of coding Wolf Lords) and he's now on a web-book.

I'm doing well with texturing the wolf scout - it's all unwrapped and now I'm filling in the blanks. It is THE most complicated model in the army, thanks to all it's weapon upgrades, but he is starting to look mighty tasty. Pickies soon. I've learned a lot about GIMP along the way, and have some awesome brush sets now which really speed things along. I want to use some of the same celtic design style I used in the banner on the models (something GW has been moving towards) to increase variety and detail. And it's proved possible to use the uvw from the grey wolf directly to make the pelts - which saves time (for those that means anything to). Unwrapping's a pain, but once the texturing starts, I'm having a ball! Thankfully many of the models are already uvw mapped because they're from C2C or firestorm, and as I go I can reuse accessories etc, so it will snowball as it goes

We do have a bit of a pipeline problem though. There are now models more or less ready for animation (though I need to reinstall DC to export them) and we have OE and FX people standing by, so there's a gap. I am intending to finish texturing the tier 1 models (so buildings, GH, Skuld, Thrall and Ragnar still to do) and then switch to animating so we can get it going. But as always - help appreciated! Our OE guy in particular can't do much until he has some animated models to work with.

I had the daunting revelation that if I managed to texture an average of one model a month (possible) it would take 2 years to get them all textured (well 2 years as of July 2009). How's that for an ETA - these things take a long time. Still, I wouldn't rule out a tier by tier release before then, and that's what I'm aiming for. If we did a tier a year that would be good going. So a realistic 3 years for a full conversion mod. But what a mod it will be!

[horusheretic]

you realise you can reuse the Sm animations right

it would be better to use them and then create any new ones when you can, so your not playing around with static models.


unless you have completely reworked the body scale and messesd heavily with the bone structure :s

[Mephistoned]

Yes Horus a good point. Though I may need to rerig some models - so there's still a learning curve there... But yeah - it all helps!