Custom NPC heads

[Xaltar]

Well, there goes that idea, after 8 hours of modeling/sculpting and baking textures I get it all ready to go in game and then bam, it looks COMPLETELY different to what I have in my 3ds max viewport and renders. Basicly it looked like the rear end of a bus after being hit by a semi. I tried for a further 4 hours to fix it to no avail. I don't think I will be able to do any of the males if this holds true for all the models (it has so far with 23 heads I have tested). I'll probably give it one more try and then call it quits and move on to the female characters

 

For some strange reason no matter how I edit a male head it looks wrong in game after export. Either the exporter I have is defective or there is just some trick I don't know

 

[edit] Meh, I'm just annoyed that I wasted so much time for nothing lol. With the female heads most of my work was on the model itself but seeing as none of the male heads in the game are even close to what I'm after I can't use the same aproach.

[Domi]

Oh, sorry to hear that. But you know, if it doesn't work it doesn't. All the other males do not have clearly defined portraits (ie Gorion doesn't have one except for a sketch in the beginning of BG2 and that mage, Adalon or whatever, slightly rejuvenated to look 50 rather than 60 will work, and Sarevok is so much younger than when you meet him in ToB...)

[Xaltar]

Trying to find ways around the issues. Its tough because I'm not familiar with modeling for this engine. I'll get there in the end its just going to take a while

[Domi]

Heya, Xaltar, I intergrated Jaheira's head into the game without a hitch by cloning, but I am having problems with Imoen's. Her eyes work weird, showing up on the backside of her lids when she blinks.

 

I have also copied over the N_ChildHHF_skel01.GR2 file from the NWN2 folder for the skeleton of a girl, and was wondering if we would be able to manage to add Imoen's head to it somehow?

[Xaltar]

Unforuneately all my experiments with skeletons have been a total failure. They simply don't show up in game. I have a rather full plate at the moment with my 4 month old daughter and work. I'll try look at Imoen again, although she works fine on my PC...

[Domi]

hey, no problems, and have fun with your baby The size anyway seems to be rather prohibitive for using many custom heads.

[Guest Guest]

Regarding skeletons, RunnerDuck made a comment about custom heads on the Vault that might be relevant:

 

"To get them to work right, you not only need the mdb, but you need an appropriate .gr2 file. Luckily, all you have to do is pull the correct one from the lod-merged.zip file in the folder of nwn2 and rename it to reflect the same model number you gave the head. For instance, if you made a new tiefling head, P_HTF_Head65.mdb, you would need to extract one of the P_HHF_Skel gr2 files from lod-merged.zip and name it P_HHF_Skel65.gr2. You use HHF because tieflings, half elves, genasi, half drow, and wild elves all use the human skeleton. Unlike mdbs, gr2 files can just be renamed normally, without the use of a program like the cloner. Just put the gr2 in the override or the hak along with the head mdb."

 

I hope I'm being helpful here, and not just telling stuff you already know. Jaheira and Imoen look awesome! I hope you get Kahlid working; there aren't enough good-looking male heads for NWN2.

 

On the subject of custom hairstyles, have you had a look at these:

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2H...tail&id=178

[Domi]

Hi, thank you for the tip, I will see if I can make Imoen's head work on a child's skeleton (I am not sure, unfortunately, because neck probably won't fit). Yep, I've seen the Oblivion hair, and I will be adding it to my next module, but for this one WB's is enough

[Guest Guest]

Glad to be of help

If the child skeleton doesn't work, maybe an elf? I was also thinking that maybe the lack of a matching skeleton file is what was causing Xaltar's Kahlid head to look like a trainwreck. Xaltar, when you have time to work on this again that might be worth a try (if you haven't tried it already). Can't wait to see Hugh Jackman as an elf

[Domi]

It's not the size of the model that concerns me, it's that they are all endowed with the breasts that don't suit a 10 yo, unless she is on the same drugs the poor chickens are taking.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think Xaltar is coming back It's really sad, I though he was doing amazing work on the heads.