Ilien's Bunch...a wip

[Squeaks]

Hiya. I've had to hit Ilien's bunch on the head for various reasons, so I did their knights properly, and made them a new horse too. I haven't been here much, but I hope this will change after this next week, or during it. Work IS going on in all sorts of ways, but they're not as obvious as posting models, and some are on things that will have an impact later.

So Iliens' KNIGHTS OF THE ROSE DAWN





MOUNTED













There are other Ilien units, but I guess I'll try to get the main archers done and some of the Elohim Elune units, and the Federation units that have deserted to join her.

[Squeaks]

Damned dirt. Have to deal with the particles file.

Here's the horse non-dirty:

[Torak]

cant wait for Ilien

[Squeaks]

Good! I may well be tackling Ilien herself next actually. Will be quite a hard one, but I'm pretty certain she can be made well. Otherwise it's the archers for her Thorns and the knight missile troops, as I have a very good idea for them. They're done, but I want to change their missile weapon totally. Already done are her Pike Thorns, her lancers and the Petal Dancers and one Elohim unit, but there's the missile units (2) some Celesti units (prob 2), another Elohim and two Federation units that have rebelled and joined her, then that's it.

[Squeaks]

Right. I really shouldn't have, but I wanted to test myself a bit and do Ilien, as she's one of my favourite things, as is her faction. So I have done ILIEN, THE ROSE OF WAR. The ahir isn't completely perfect and there are a few issues, but she's there from scratch, so it's not too shabby. May well be too high a count, but then there's only one of her. Hope you like her.

I haven't got in game shots yet, and it's time to snooze, so I shall disappear for that. Her hair will be tidied and probably I'll have to do some other bits. Making her look like a woman rather than a pretty transvestite was harder than before, as previous females used bits that helped. I used a normal MedII head and remoulded it to make it look like a woman. Took some conversations to get that right. Not sure if her hands are too big and I don't think she has stubble, so I may have got away with it.

ILIEN ARMED AND ARMOURED

[Willowran]

You know, for a M2TW engine, that is actually very nicely done. And you hinted you may even tweak it a little... For you "nicely done" just isn't good enough, is it?

[Squeaks]

You know, for a M2TW engine, that is actually very nicely done. And you hinted you may even tweak it a little... For you "nicely done" just isn't good enough, is it?

Thanks Willow I wanted her to have understated armour and stuff rather than being all shiny in perfect plate mail that is highly ornate. That way, she could be pretty and stand out for the right reasons. She is loved by her men for things like this; no arrogance or making herself super-comfortable above her own men.

Nope. Nicely done is no good at all I'll fix a couple of hair issues, which I think are majorly important. Not sure about her body - there's an arm texture issue slightly, but tiny. The red is okay for the under-dress etc. I kind of think that's all she needs? Anyone?

[Kaiser Leonidas]

I'll fix a couple of hair issues, which I think are majorly important. Not sure about her body - there's an arm texture issue slightly, but tiny. The red is okay for the under-dress etc. I kind of think that's all she needs? Anyone?

I'd agree that that's all she needs .

[Squeaks]

I'd agree that that's all she needs .

Yep.

The problem with animating hair is a right sod in medII; not sure how different it is many other games, although I've seen glitches with LOADS of stuff in many games.

There is the head bone/joint and below that is the torso, nothing in between, so you stick the base of the neck to the torso and the upper part and the main head to the head joint. When the head moves, it looks natural, because the stretching isn't seen - same with arms where they join the torso. The Torso is what I'd call a 'passive' joint, as it kind of doesn't flex at all....if you stuck a pole into her back or on any side, it could go back fifty feet, and would just float following the movement of the torso; no bend - where a limb flexes and anything sticking out bends, stretches madly and flexes on the wrong line. I stuck a flag in the middle part of the back of the torso for Cho Tetsu and it wiggled as they ran, oddly enough, which was unexpected and nice (has to be right in the middle line). However, when I assign the hair that flows onto the shoulders, I can give it all to the head, and it will disappear into her back when she looks up and leans forwards. If I stick parts to the torso and bits to the head, then, when the head moves, the bits between the torso and head 'dots' will stretch as she moves. What I may do is get her in there and show both versions, so you can see. Although, having said that, if I get the bits right, I could lose the stretch, as the hair is in several parts.

[Squeaks]

Right. I was doing an archer unit, but I changed my mind completely and decided to give a knight-crossbow unit and then do the Thorns Archers, which ae much more basic later.

I also redid a lot of the Elohim unit that fights for Ilien. I retextured them a fair bit. They will have a second type too, but I need to sort the wings out so they're more spaced and distant from the body, as they use Eothese's flying infantry animation. It's entirely possible I messed up along the way there.

SO; here are the Elohim reskinned, but the dirt is annoying, as they're nice and white normally. ALso are the Rose Dawn Mounted Crossbowmen. I think they're a lovely unit-type, and this would be the only other mtd xbow aside from the Principality one.

ELOHIM LUMINI (added 2 milkshape shots)













ROSE DAWN MOUNTED CROSSBOW









I quite like them

[Torak]

the mounted crossbowmen look soooo cool

[Squeaks]

the mounted crossbowmen look soooo cool

Thanks, I'm glad you think so It's always very heartening to hear these things.

The Knights of the Rose Dawn are fully done after this. I'll show Ilien's Thorns later. The Pike and the Lancers are done, as such, but I may well want to alter parts of them, because they're OLD, and when I see older stuff I always want to make them better, as I have become better in the meantime. They need Archers to finish them, which is simple enough, so then Ilien needs 2 Federal 'rebel' units to finish them for now. The Celesti I will leave for now (maybe).

[Squeaks]

Adding the three units of Ilien's Thorns; Pike, Lancer and Archer units. These are her regulars, as such, and they will form the backbone of her army. Add to these the Celesti and Elohim as the big dudes, the Rose Dawn foot and mounted knights, the Rosedawn Mtd Crossbow, then a couple of Federation 'turncoats', and you have her complete. I don't know whether I'll complete this faction right now, but this goes a good way.

Thorn Pikemen





Thorn Lancers





Thorn Archers











Sorry there are so many shots of the archers; I like them, and wanted to show them properly. The arrows aren't in the quivers yet, but they will be. I'm kind of looking at providing differing arrows for different factions, but it may just be worth doing a couple of types. Just a thought of mine. I MAY use animated bowstrings, but that's a later thought. I've looked into how they work; quite interesting, but adding them won't take much extra work. I have a lot of annoying little things for later; should do them now for organisation, but I haven't, because I'm not organised.

[Rickilicious]

New to this submod, just found it today, but man I have to say, I love all the custom skins, and those bow's look pretty badass. great work

[Squeaks]

New to this submod, just found it today, but man I have to say, I love all the custom skins, and those bow's look pretty badass. great work

Hiya, and thanks. I saw your post on the battle thread. I'll get in touch tomorrow and try to work it out for you. It might be something daft in my upload. Glad you found us though!

[Torak]

oh man i cannot wait for Ilien

[Squeaks]

oh man i cannot wait for Ilien

That's great to hear It's a faction I love, really do, so I'll be making them look as good as I can get. The Thorns were one of the first DB units made, but I'm loathe to change them.

There's loads to be done later, which I'm making harder for myself - I will be redoing all normal maps, using height maps instead and will be bundling up texture maps and tidying all the mess I make, but I will do that later, as I like pumping units out and seeing them, then changing them for the better. All the work later is stuff that would be annoyingly slow to do now, and gives me a chance to finalise them later - making changes is pretty simple, just annoying, so I make what I can of them now - hence the normals not being super 3d, just a shine dampening test really atm. From ALL previous experience I KNOW I will want to alter stuff before it's all finalised, then I can do the leg work of perfecting the 3d side.