WIP - High Resolution Horses

[Talak]

I'll be updating my horses for the mod. 

To do:
- Replace each native horse with a hi-res version
- Complete stirrups and reins
- Add barding which possibly matches the banner you are given
- Add an animated battle standard with your emblem, if it's possible
- Improve my armour textures
- Replace the tails
- If the skeleton is editable, increase the size of the horses
- Add low polygon versions of each horse for those with less powerful computers
- Add LOD models

The plan is, if it's possible, to be able to buy equipment for your horse which will improve it's statistics.  Eg armour to increase armour obviously, maybe horseshoes to increase speed, better bridle/reins to increase manoeverability etc, all of which will make visible changes to your horse.  Of course all this depends on whether HardCode likes the ideas or not.

Any suggestions, please let me know.

So, a couple of questions for the scripters (HardCode, fisheye, anyone?):
Is it possible, if I create an armoured and unarmoured version of a horse, for the player's horse to be swapped for an armoured model upon buying a set of horse armour?
Can I add a vertex animated battle standard as an object and have it's position always be equal to the player's horse during battle?

 

[fisheye]

Is it possible, if I create an armoured and unarmoured version of a horse, for the player's horse to be swapped for an armoured model upon buying a set of horse armour?

Yes; the easiest way though would be to have a "horse armorer", you put the horse in the chest then ask the armorer to "gimme armor for horsie!" and then you open the chest again and voila there's a armored horse inside it.

Ok maybe not a chest, maybe a stable. But it's the same.

Can I add a vertex animated battle standard as an object and have it's position always be equal to the player's horse during battle?

MUCH More trouble than it's worth, trust me!

 

[Antix]

This is awesome. Horses are the things that need the most improvement in M&B. Graphics wise of course.

 

[Talak]

I finally got around to adding the horses.  They now have stirrups and reins ingame.  I still have to rig them properly, and create more colour variants.

 

[Zathan]

Sweetness! Can't wait to see em. Is it possible to texture the horsies head/neck better so 1st person view looks sweeter from horseback...?

Zathan

 

[Talak]

Sure, I'm still not happy with the textures yet, so I'll definitely be working on the neck as well.  I'm thinking of adding small decorative items of some kind for more visual interest, similar to some of the concept art.  The reins should be visible as well from first-person.  I'll be adding tassels etc to the reins.

 

[Zathan]

For the record, I haven't even seen your new ones and don't know if you have presented them yet, so don't take this as criticism. It's just that the lack of texture quality when mounted in 1st person view is a pet peeve of mine and always has been. It just looks too blocky and ugly...
So if you're able to remedy this I'd be thrilled!

Zathna

 

[Talak]

I may have to abandon the stirrups - if I line them up correctly to the feet they look weird when there's no rider, as they're sticking out from the horse.  If I let them hang properly they look weird not being used when ridden.
Probably the better of the two is to let them hang properly, as in the screenshot above.  So, I either let them hang and not be used, or get rid of them.

For the record, I haven't even seen your new ones and don't know if you have presented them yet, so don't take this as criticism. It's just that the lack of texture quality when mounted in 1st person view is a pet peeve of mine and always has been. It just looks too blocky and ugly...

Do you mean on the original native horses, or my previous horses?  I'm thinking of redoing my horses to smooth them a little more, and UVmap it better to reduce seams.


Edit:  For some reason I can't take ingame screenshots anymore
Print screen and paste just pastes my desktop, anyone know why?  I'm on Vista by the way, but I've taken plenty of screenshots in the past

Edit 2:  I put it in windowed mode.  Anyway, I just have to rig it properly, and add colour variations, then it's done for now.

 

[fisheye]

Woo love thoses horsies.

I vote yes on reins and no on stirrups. The guy's feet move when he's riding anyway, it's impossible to match them up.

 

[mfberg]

Would there be a way to replace the boot graphic with a boot in stirrup graphic while mounted, and then change back to the boot graphic while unmounted? The stirrups wouldn't show on the horse alone, but would show when there was a rider.

mfberg

 

[italiano]

Yep, if there aren't any tricks then yes to reins and no to stirrups. Nothing you haven't heard before but that horse looks truly awesome. I've only now realised how oversized the human feet are, and it doesn't just appear that way before of the slightly smaller horses.

 

[HardCode]

Sweet horses! I can't wait to get them back into the mod.

 

[Zathan]

Woo love thoses horsies.

I vote yes on reins and no on stirrups. The guy's feet move when he's riding anyway, it's impossible to match them up.

I go with fisheye on this one, supersweet (hunter?) horsie! Stirrups look a little awkward, since they're not used though.
And about the oversized feet, hell yeah they are; characters in M&B look a little like bigfoot. 

Zathan

 

[Talak]

The oversized feet may just be a result of the slight fishbowl effect on the edges of the screen.  Anyway, I'll get rid of the stirrups.

 

[Clegane]

That's great! Reins would be very nice. And matched barding is my dream come true.

 

[War_B*stard]

Wow, good work on the horses!

I have one question though. Is it possible to alter the actual size of the horse in game yet? It would be pretty cool to ride into battle on a massive destrier.

 

[Talak]

I'd love to be able to make the horses bigger, but I don't think the skeleton or hitboxes are editable yet.


BTW, sorry for the slow progress, I have another project going so I'm stuck into that at the moment.  I'll definitely come back to this soon.

 

[Talak]

Ok, I'm resuming work on my horsies after a long delay.  Hopefully they'll make it in to the BOW 0.90x release.

I'm currently rigging the final version.  It's a pain to do.  I removed the stirrups and kept the reins.  Once rigged, I have to setup the different types in BRFEdit, create a few new colours (that's easy), and replace the native horses.

There's a lesser need for my horses now, as some of the newer native horses look a lot smoother.  Hopefully they'll replace the rest with better versions as well.

If I keep going, I should have them done within a few days.  Fingers crossed.

 

[Master BOB]

I wish you a will of steel for that work 

 

[HardCode]

Oh, SNAP! Talak back on the warworkpath, hehehe. Can't wait!