I remember reading about 6 months back that all the models skeletons were getting redone for a new look and to make it easier to create new armor skins. Is this still in the works or has it happened yet? If it's not live is there an eta? Thanks all (havent played since early december but want a reason to come back)
What ever they do i hope they don't change things too much because i like the way the ratongas look right now. The leg style, face, exc... If they do what they did in Vanguard then everyone will look the same.
Last I read, it won't change any outward appearance. What it will do is make it so they don't have to make as many of the exact same armor pieces visually. Right now, each piece of armor that is introduced into the game has to be made several times so that every race and gender shows something worn when they equip it.
Sorry for the lack of information, all. There's seriously no new news since it's still "in the works". The art team are working to make ANY change to your character be the biggest bang for the least possible visual change. Remember too, we're talking about MANY varying body types and some of those are even between the differing sexes of each race... It's a VERY intensive change, and something that's taken this long to work on, and even longer to complete. ~Gnobrin!
I can't wait for this update when it comes rumor has it, toes and fingers will be more detailed? *crosses fingers*
I got a question on this, Gnobrin; I recall hearing sometime during Kunark's development, that the Sarnaks use the new, in-development skeletal system, rather than the old one, is this correct? Also, the new version of the male Human was apparently shown off at the previous fan-faire, from what I heard. Both these things would suggest to me that this new system isn't necessarily something that needs to put in all at once, but rather it's possible for it to be brought into the live game in a piecemeal fashion. Is there any reason why the skeletal system couldn't be implemented on a race-by-race, gender-by-gender basis, as each race/gender is completed? Doing so would at least provide reassurance to the playerbase that progress is being made on this; and as this revamp is supposedly making visible improvements to the character models, we would start seeing the overall artistic quality of the game continually improving.
Mirander_1 wrote: This is a very good question. Also, I think that would be a great idea as well. Even in testing, if they release 1 or a few race/genders at a time, maybe the people on the test server can test it better on a per race/gender basis. Instead of releasing the full feature and find a ton of the new armor looks doesn't work with some races/genders.
I find it ironic that we were told that the lack of variety in armor was due to the herculean task to fit them to so many body types. The skeletal revamp was dangled as a fix to this issue and now, approaching 4 years post release, we are still hearing that the "fix" is a herculean task. Bottom line is, approaching the 4 year mark, we still are sitting with the poorest variety of equipment of any game I have ever seen. About the only texture not slapped on the original robe model so far is polka dot so I'm expecting that will be the featured texture rehash for the next expansion.
(( Like Gnobrin said, Its ALOT of work. AAAALOOOOTTTT of work. I do character modelling, unwrapping/texturing, rigging, animation, facial lip sync etc etc... in my spare time. (but I use 3d STudio Max. (Biped makes it QUICK and easy)) They use Maya which is 100% custom skeletal rigs. (no Max Biped!) (means lots more work, and that's just the rigging side of it.) All models need to not only A. Look good in all lighting conditions, but B. Be sliceable into pieces so when you substitute a Platemail BP, the chest area of the model vanishes and is replaced by the armor piece, or the Hand comes off and is replaced by a glove, etc. C. Be geometrically efficient. Wireframe flow needs to be properly setup so animators and riggers don't have nightmares when trying to get the models to move properly. This takes ALOT of time. D. Unwrap the models all the same way so that every character model (Hopefully now only one body-model?), uses the same textures. (Unwrapping can be daunting and often takes forever) E. If the new models are not inheriting the old unwraps, then that means every single armor and clothing texture in game will have to be re-textured in photoshop. (Rearranged to adapt to the new model's unwraps. VERY VERY time consuming, there are hundreds of textures) F. Have their heads re-rigged for facial animations. Additionally, all facial animations will likely have to be redone from SCRATCH. (unless they are using facial bone rig, which would take less time than a morph-target system) G. All motion capture body animations need to be re-adapted, applied and re-animated on the new characters, tweaked for each one to look as good as it was before. H. Finally, it has to WORK! All art assets must properly coincide with naming conventions, size restrictions and/or other limitations to the EQ2 game engine. Depending on each game studios level of organization, this may not be a quick task. Often times the only way of seeing if something is Engine-Ready is by importing it and checking in-game. And if it ISNT, well, you just cost yourself tons of time and now have to go back to the art team and get it fixed Takes FOR-EVA!!! To help put things into perspective, Next-Gen quality game studios may give an artist 1-2 months to create a Main Character for a game, and at the end of which time they want a fully modelled, textured and rigged character for a game (secondary characters may only get 2-3 weeks to complete). The length of time will depend on the target quality of the character, among other variables like the Game Platform you are developing for etc. They are undertaking not only remodelling 12-14(?) (i havent counted lately) races but also models for both MALE and Female of each race, combining them into a more streamlined model system using (entirely new?) models on their new skeletal rig. Lots of work! Don't rush the art team! What would you rather see? WoW-style crappy characters in a few months? or Assassins Creed style ultra realistic characters after a longer wait *crosses fingers and hopes the end results will be comparable to AC * (btw to the art team, if I have made an error in my descriptions and explanations please correct me, I'm mostly extrapolating and assuming here ) ---
I doubt anyone would say its not alot of work. However what is valid to say is that its not so much work that it should have taken over 2 years now and produced no visible results. So its obviously a project that has been put on the back burner numerous times, I suspect its something the art team get to work on in between other deadlines on things such as new art content for expansions. The delay in class epics this expansion shows that most likely that area of EQ2 development is probably not that heavily staffed. What gets me the most though is the total lack of any information and sense of progress given out by those in care of EQ2's state of health. The thread of top concerns was a great start, it looked for a change that some interaction on long standing issues was finally going to be given. But after the final tally its now sat cold and dormant. I'm not an AoC doomsayer but I would think that during a time like this it would be important to vitalize your current customer base by informing them of what is coming and where things are going. But since that other game launched there hasn't been much coming our way. Which is leading some into a feeling of hopelessness or that its a lost cause I think. At this rate its going to be one lonely road till November and The Shadow Oddessy.
Striothia@Antonia Bayle wrote: QFE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD QFE!!! (for lack of a better acronym) QFE AGAIN!
This won't affect Gnoll models, Mr. Dawkins. ;p Oh, say hi to Mort for me too. I do hope they don't break anything with the revamp, though. I would be soreley dissapointed if my digigrade Rats became plantigrade.
Striothia@Antonia Bayle wrote: I hear what you are saying, but at the same time, I would like to point out that EQ2 gamers should be thankful that they don't get treated like Vanguard:SoH gamers. At least EQ2 gamers get to look forward to major new game content at least once a year. Vanguard gamers get to look forward to rediculously stupid content updates once in a blue moon. The latest one they released was nothing more then a faction grind that in the end gives you the ability to ride a mount that was just some animal model already used in the game. The mounts don't even have saddles or tack. In other words, thank your stars that SoE actually still considers EQ2 a viable product. Other members of the SoE MMORPG group don't even get that consideration.
zip wrote: Some times I wonder if they actually do feel it is a viable product going forward. The population is waning, that is fairly obvious. Each new game that launches grabs more people from EQ2. They obviously haven't thrown much effort into this skeletal revamp from what they've shown and it does not sound like it is even visible on the horizon. You mention Vanguard which I beta-tested and played for over a year. What you see in Vanguard is the product of the minimal subscriber base. As EQ2 bleeds further we may see further reduction in the assets allocated to it as well. I guess they are pinning their hopes on The Agency - good luck with that.
youtube(DOT)com/watch?v=HokbrASX-uo I noticed this video on YouTube which shows alpha stage E3 footage of EQ2. In the video the advertiser mentioned the armor was already supposed to be set to scale with each race. He showed a human then a ogre both wearing the same armor. I thought it was pretty good. I guess a lot of things got scrapped before release. The armor that human female wore was pretty awesome. Now that (6 years?) time has passed i think it might be ok to bring some of that stuff back. I'm sure most people have dual cores (except me lol).
To be honest. I thought they would have the revamp done by now, I was expecting it in the first quarter of 2008. The game is losing steam (just my opinion) and doesn't really have a direction. Well with the exception of "keep the addicts coming back". The more they just slap random colors on reused textures the closer they get to WoW. While I appreciate the size of the task, I don't understand how they can expect people to keep forking money over each month. I think we all want a visually stimulating game with equally stimulating game play.
(( it all comes down to this... I am guessing, at some point the execs got together and made a decision. New game? (EQ3?) Or just totally revamp the characters to stay current and competitive with next-gen games? They chose the latter. Its still a massive undertaking, but less so than a completely new game. (again, just a theory ) ---
Chayna wrote: But, that is the problem isn't. Currently no such game exists (since AoC is proving to be a disappointment.)
There will probably never be another Everquest sequel. At least not using the title Everquest, there is potential for a game based in the world of Norrath but Smed said himself in an interview a couple years ago that the biggest mistake they made in this game was calling it Everquest 2. And the reality is if you've been keeping an eye on Sony activities and Smed's own blogs and announcements that he wants to take the company in a new direction toward new markets of cash for ingame items/status/whatnot and younger demographs of 12-14 etc. Something they have already successfully pushed into EQ and EQ2 with the LoN loot cards. So an EQ or EQ2 traditional RPG style of game I don't see happening especially since Sony has been batting below average the last few years with Planetsides eventual burnout, Vanguards stillbirth, and Pirates of the Burning Seas never quite leaving port. Also if your wondering why I'm using Sony instead of SOE well its because things are in flux in the company of Sony as SOE has been placed under SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) while at the same time contracting NCsoft to develop MMOs for the Playstation 3. So until things settle out I will just use the parent corp name. Now having said that I will also say nothing rules out an EQ3 style game happening in some form some day, under a new name. Fallout series seemed all but dead and its having a major revival under bethsoft. And I for one would welcome a new RPGmmo carrying the Everquest or Norrathian name especially if it drew on lessons learned from both EQ games and combined the good elements of both.
