Over the last little while, I have been thinking about redoing my Cameron companion, mostly hoping to make her with self-contained resources to make her less dependent on other mods for a public release. This came about for two reasons. First, I want the experience in creating characters with self-contained resources so they will be more stand alone and eventually have some custom stuff. Secondly, since I plan on the public release including the Nexus, I don't want to have to worry about the loss of access to a dependent mod, something that is currently an issue with the current build of Cameron, as well as Herculine's RR Scouts.
I have also wanted to make Cameron bring more of "The Phoenix Imperative" to other people's games than just Cameron herself. I have believed for a while now that her home in the comic, the Surface Monitoring Station, would be the perfect place for people to find her, just like Bridget did. To that end, I finally tried contacting the author of that mod, Voza, and asked him about his future intentions with the mod. There have been no updates in about a year, nor has Voza himself made any comments on the mods thread since December of last year. I believe that makes the mod a dead one. If there are no future plans for the mod on his end, I am hoping he will give me permission to take the mod over. With some work, it can become a part of Cameron's world in other peoples' games, allowing them to, if they wish, begin there own adventures in The Phoenix Imperative!
Five Genres
Showing posts with label Companions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Companions. Show all posts
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Thursday, 15 September 2011
What's Going On?
As most of you are aware, it has been some time since I posted any new episodes of The Phoenix Imperative. I apologize for that, but I have managed to get myself distracted with quite a lot of mods for FO3, FNV, Oblivion and Classic Doom. Yes, I said Classic Doom :)
While exploring the mods for FNV and Oblivion, I have come up with some ideas for The Phoenix Imperative. The biggest one for FNV I have been using is Requiem for the Capital Wasteland. It basically turns FO3 into one big mod for New Vegas, allowing the character you create in NV to travel back and forth between the Mojave and DC. Experimenting with some FO3 mods has had a high success rate so far. This, I hope will allow me to run two completely separate FO3 games with different mods, so I won't have to remember to turn some on and others off when I am bouncing between "game realities". What I mean by that is, at some point down the road, you will be introduced to at least one alternate reality. One where familiar places and people are similar on the surface to the ones you have already seen, different enough to almost be completely new characters. I have already decided that I would need to build some "sets" from scratch, as well as drastically change some characters, so this would be an excellent place to put them, without really cluttering up my load order anymore than necessary.
What has caught my eye in Oblivion are the pose mods I have been using. In total, I have more poses available in Oblivion than I do in FO3. The Goma pose pack alone has 16 esps and around 850 poses! Thankfully, someone has gone through all the trouble of making a "picture book" mod with images of just about all the poses from a number of popular pose packs for Oblivion. Looking through these images, I have found several that would work great for The Phoenix Imperative, but I will need to learn how to port the poses over before I can use them. *sigh*
Speaking of learning the art of modding, I have been working on a new version of my Cameron Companion. Some of you might be asking "What Cameron Companion?". Since I never formally mentioned it before, nor have I released it anywhere for public distribution, that would be a valid question.
In the early stages of working on the comic, I decided it would be easier to get the screen shots I wanted with Cameron if I had her as a companion instead of my actual character. I could set her up anyway I wanted, and not have to keep going in and out of "free camera mode". That is time consuming and irritating, to say the least. So I did a companion version of Cameron, based on the RR Companion Vault system, which a number of my guest stars are also based upon. I ended up sending her out to most of the friends that allowed me to use their characters in the comic.
The new version of the companion is an experiment with making Cameron less dependent upon other mods, having more of her own resources. So far, Cameron is working like I hoped she would, but the mod still has more master files than I would like, even though the resources from some of those masters are now self-contained. I hope to figure out how to remove those masters without messing up the plug-in: I have already done that once :( Any suggestions from you folks would be appreciated :)
In case anyone asks about a public release of Cameron (and I know some of you will), I do want to upload her for public distribution. Both the original version and the new one have problems with doing so. The original version uses Anthony Ling's Finer Things as a master, as well as Operation: Anchorage. Until recently, having Ling's as a master was problematic as it wasn't available on the Nexus, so that prevented me from uploading Cameron there. It is currently available again, so I guess that is one problem solved :) I wanted Cameron to keep her Gauss Rifle, thus the dependency on O:A, but it has been reported to me that she doesn't use the Gauss Rifle, so I will have to swap it out for something else.
The new version of Cameron will require that I get permission from a number of modders to use their resources first, and even if I get all the permissions, I still won't be able to upload her to the Nexus, as she is using some, ah, "ripped" content from the Mass Effect games. An absolute no-no on the Nexus, but allowable on VGU (Video Games Underground), where the ME content comes from. In any case, I don't want to upload the new version until I can remove all the master files, except RR Companion Vault and, of course, Fallout.esm.
Now that I am done rambling, I will share a couple of images of Cameron with her Mass Effect gear.
Cameron in her Terminus Armour
And Cameron with her Anti-Material Rifle
While exploring the mods for FNV and Oblivion, I have come up with some ideas for The Phoenix Imperative. The biggest one for FNV I have been using is Requiem for the Capital Wasteland. It basically turns FO3 into one big mod for New Vegas, allowing the character you create in NV to travel back and forth between the Mojave and DC. Experimenting with some FO3 mods has had a high success rate so far. This, I hope will allow me to run two completely separate FO3 games with different mods, so I won't have to remember to turn some on and others off when I am bouncing between "game realities". What I mean by that is, at some point down the road, you will be introduced to at least one alternate reality. One where familiar places and people are similar on the surface to the ones you have already seen, different enough to almost be completely new characters. I have already decided that I would need to build some "sets" from scratch, as well as drastically change some characters, so this would be an excellent place to put them, without really cluttering up my load order anymore than necessary.
What has caught my eye in Oblivion are the pose mods I have been using. In total, I have more poses available in Oblivion than I do in FO3. The Goma pose pack alone has 16 esps and around 850 poses! Thankfully, someone has gone through all the trouble of making a "picture book" mod with images of just about all the poses from a number of popular pose packs for Oblivion. Looking through these images, I have found several that would work great for The Phoenix Imperative, but I will need to learn how to port the poses over before I can use them. *sigh*
Speaking of learning the art of modding, I have been working on a new version of my Cameron Companion. Some of you might be asking "What Cameron Companion?". Since I never formally mentioned it before, nor have I released it anywhere for public distribution, that would be a valid question.
In the early stages of working on the comic, I decided it would be easier to get the screen shots I wanted with Cameron if I had her as a companion instead of my actual character. I could set her up anyway I wanted, and not have to keep going in and out of "free camera mode". That is time consuming and irritating, to say the least. So I did a companion version of Cameron, based on the RR Companion Vault system, which a number of my guest stars are also based upon. I ended up sending her out to most of the friends that allowed me to use their characters in the comic.
The new version of the companion is an experiment with making Cameron less dependent upon other mods, having more of her own resources. So far, Cameron is working like I hoped she would, but the mod still has more master files than I would like, even though the resources from some of those masters are now self-contained. I hope to figure out how to remove those masters without messing up the plug-in: I have already done that once :( Any suggestions from you folks would be appreciated :)
In case anyone asks about a public release of Cameron (and I know some of you will), I do want to upload her for public distribution. Both the original version and the new one have problems with doing so. The original version uses Anthony Ling's Finer Things as a master, as well as Operation: Anchorage. Until recently, having Ling's as a master was problematic as it wasn't available on the Nexus, so that prevented me from uploading Cameron there. It is currently available again, so I guess that is one problem solved :) I wanted Cameron to keep her Gauss Rifle, thus the dependency on O:A, but it has been reported to me that she doesn't use the Gauss Rifle, so I will have to swap it out for something else.
The new version of Cameron will require that I get permission from a number of modders to use their resources first, and even if I get all the permissions, I still won't be able to upload her to the Nexus, as she is using some, ah, "ripped" content from the Mass Effect games. An absolute no-no on the Nexus, but allowable on VGU (Video Games Underground), where the ME content comes from. In any case, I don't want to upload the new version until I can remove all the master files, except RR Companion Vault and, of course, Fallout.esm.
Now that I am done rambling, I will share a couple of images of Cameron with her Mass Effect gear.
Cameron in her Terminus Armour
And Cameron with her Anti-Material Rifle
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Story Evolution
Before posting the first episode of "The Phoenix Imperative", I outlined about a dozen different episodes, then began scripting them. I'll be honest about the scripting part: I have only finished up to episode three. Well episode four actually as I originally considered episode one to be a prelude or introduction strip and not technically an actual episode *shrugs* Any way, "A Lone Wanderer" ended differently than originally planned, but kept the spirit of the script, and "A Lone Wonderer" was absolutely nothing like the script! Nothing at all! I did episode four entirely "on the fly". Each screen developed in my head as I was doing the one before it, and the dialogue ideas worked out the same way. I wonder if how many movie and TV scripts go through a similar process of evolution?
I completely surprised myself with how well it turned out, and was even more surprised by how well the Nexus community accepted it. When last I checked, about an hour ago, episode four had gained 22 endoresments, some from people I rarely hear from! Twenty-two is a personal best for my uploaded images, so I'm rather thrilled with that :) Hopefully, future episodes will continue around a similar level of acceptance, maybe even break the 25 mark.
I have mentioned around here, on Nos's blog if I remember correctly, and over on the Nexus, that I was thinkng on releasing Cameron as a companion to at least the loyal readers, if not the community as a whole. That sort of think is still undesided and might depend upon how well "The Phoenix Imperative" does in the next few months. If I do release her, it would be easiest to do so as a RR Companion Vault character, since that is what the current companion version is built on. Even that system would require me to make some additions, just to make Cameron more like Cameron in the story, and not a RR companion that happens to look like her.
I will post more musings on that topic later.
I completely surprised myself with how well it turned out, and was even more surprised by how well the Nexus community accepted it. When last I checked, about an hour ago, episode four had gained 22 endoresments, some from people I rarely hear from! Twenty-two is a personal best for my uploaded images, so I'm rather thrilled with that :) Hopefully, future episodes will continue around a similar level of acceptance, maybe even break the 25 mark.
I have mentioned around here, on Nos's blog if I remember correctly, and over on the Nexus, that I was thinkng on releasing Cameron as a companion to at least the loyal readers, if not the community as a whole. That sort of think is still undesided and might depend upon how well "The Phoenix Imperative" does in the next few months. If I do release her, it would be easiest to do so as a RR Companion Vault character, since that is what the current companion version is built on. Even that system would require me to make some additions, just to make Cameron more like Cameron in the story, and not a RR companion that happens to look like her.
I will post more musings on that topic later.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Still Here
It has been almost two weeks since I last posted, so I thought it best to do so again.
In case you were wondering, no, I haven't given up on the comic, or been ignoring it. I have encountered a bit of writer's block and a few other problems related to the project, but I am still plugging away at it. I have been coming up with a few new episode ideas, but I'm having some trouble trying to actually get the ones I have connected. I am also revising my list of companions to use, as I still haven't heard back from everyone I've sent permission requests out to. Since I'm not sure about hearing back from Loxy in regards to using Jessi and Kelsey, I think I'll send one off to Blackblossom about her version of Jessi. I haven't noticed her around the Nexus for a while either, so that might be iffy as well. Doesn't hurt to try though.
On that note, Odile has converted Ghost into a companion recently, and I have aquired a copy of her. I should be able to "bug test" Ghost later this weekend and see how she works. Another producer of FO3 comic strips on the Nexus also has access to the companion version of Ghost, so you might be seeing her elsewhere before you see her in "The Pheonix Imperative".
With having the required part of my move to a new residence completed tomorrow, I will soon have more time to allot to episode outlining and scripting.
In case you were wondering, no, I haven't given up on the comic, or been ignoring it. I have encountered a bit of writer's block and a few other problems related to the project, but I am still plugging away at it. I have been coming up with a few new episode ideas, but I'm having some trouble trying to actually get the ones I have connected. I am also revising my list of companions to use, as I still haven't heard back from everyone I've sent permission requests out to. Since I'm not sure about hearing back from Loxy in regards to using Jessi and Kelsey, I think I'll send one off to Blackblossom about her version of Jessi. I haven't noticed her around the Nexus for a while either, so that might be iffy as well. Doesn't hurt to try though.
On that note, Odile has converted Ghost into a companion recently, and I have aquired a copy of her. I should be able to "bug test" Ghost later this weekend and see how she works. Another producer of FO3 comic strips on the Nexus also has access to the companion version of Ghost, so you might be seeing her elsewhere before you see her in "The Pheonix Imperative".
With having the required part of my move to a new residence completed tomorrow, I will soon have more time to allot to episode outlining and scripting.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
In Negotiations
Ok, the post title isn't entirely accurate, but its close enough for this post.
So I have already mentioned that there will be some familiar faces from the Image Share appearing in the comic. I have heard back from Ultrajet, and she's interested in having her character join the team. Not only that, but she was kind enough to share some gameplay personality with me. That rather lengthy bit of mail helped work out some more story details that I will include later on. I promise that you won't be seeing a radically different version of UJ's "toon" than you have in her own screenshots. Now if only we could come up with a name for her...;)
There are also a number of companions in my game that I have gathered off of the Nexus, and basically can't play without. I'm sure some of you can relate to that. During the initial work on the story when it was originally intended for a table-top RPG campaign, several of these companions played important parts in the main storyline, and had their own sub-plots as well. I'm hoping to use these companions in the comic, so I thought it proper to get permission from the original authors in most cases. Unfortunately, three of these modders haven't made appearances on the Nexus in months, in some cases longer. I've sent out PMs and am awaiting replies.
One reply was almost immediate. So, I can happily inform you that MDC519 has given his blessing on the usage of his three Fallout 3 mods in the project :D
There are still two more modders I need to contact, but I'll do that later on today, after I've had some sleep. This constantly correcting my typing is making this take longer than needed ;)
So I have already mentioned that there will be some familiar faces from the Image Share appearing in the comic. I have heard back from Ultrajet, and she's interested in having her character join the team. Not only that, but she was kind enough to share some gameplay personality with me. That rather lengthy bit of mail helped work out some more story details that I will include later on. I promise that you won't be seeing a radically different version of UJ's "toon" than you have in her own screenshots. Now if only we could come up with a name for her...;)
There are also a number of companions in my game that I have gathered off of the Nexus, and basically can't play without. I'm sure some of you can relate to that. During the initial work on the story when it was originally intended for a table-top RPG campaign, several of these companions played important parts in the main storyline, and had their own sub-plots as well. I'm hoping to use these companions in the comic, so I thought it proper to get permission from the original authors in most cases. Unfortunately, three of these modders haven't made appearances on the Nexus in months, in some cases longer. I've sent out PMs and am awaiting replies.
One reply was almost immediate. So, I can happily inform you that MDC519 has given his blessing on the usage of his three Fallout 3 mods in the project :D
There are still two more modders I need to contact, but I'll do that later on today, after I've had some sleep. This constantly correcting my typing is making this take longer than needed ;)
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