SS2 Simon Pennington Protocol Droid - Edited: RocketMan/Grosnus

[665cbbff636d2RocketMan]

Tags: °mesh °SS2

The following mod is a heavily adjusted version of a high poly artistic rendering of the SS2 Protocol Droid, rigged to work as a replacement enemy.  It aims to be authentic to the game design while preserving as much of the creator's vision as possible.  The original author of the source model is Simon Pennington, whose works can be found here:

http://www.mrsmo3d.com/

Adjustments to the model and rigging it for use in-game was done by myself with texture adjustment work and other troubleshooting kindly provided by Grosnus.  Please note that due to engine limitations, the polygon count has been significantly reduced and while the general impression of the author's work is hopefully preserved, the current level of fidelity is no longer representative of the source material.

Two versions of the droid are attached.  The first is one in which the droid projects a visible laser beam from one of its eyes.  This can add a dramatic effect but is not present in the original model.  The second version is exactly the same, minus the laser beam.  A casket model is also attached.  You will need the casket + 1 of the droid versions for your SS2 playthrough to look consistent.  A special thanks to Olfred for getting the casket to work correctly!

Thanks to Simon for his generous contribution to this game's modding community.

Open issues (jump in if you know how to solve these):

How to force the droid to render, even when the player isn't looking at it.  Needed to prevent laser from disappearing when you turn away.

Laser beam droid preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SJKPzGW2kU
 

[665cbbff6391bmiracle.flame]

+1 anxious

BTW the laser sensor might not be considered subtle enough for TriOptimum to be delivered for wide home use consumer class. Maybe two versions to choose from would be a good idea.

[665cbbff63a2aRocketMan]

Yeah the laser thing is a piece of cake to remove if need be.  I figured the same but it was so awesome I had to put it on

[665cbbff63b71Kolya]

What no macarena?
Haha, looks awesome, especially the laser eye. Can't wait to see this in game.

[665cbbff63cbcZylonBane]

Yikes. Looks like some kind of heavily-armored, laser-guided terminator bot now. Would be good for a mod, but as a model upgrade it somewhat misses the point of the protocol droid design, IMHO.

[665cbbff63dc7RocketMan]

Haha sure I went a bit overboard but as always, I expected to have to make changes which is why I always open it up to the community.  Any specific feedback is welcomed, but my own skills limit what sorts of things I can fix and I may also be limited by what I'm given permission to fix.  Still, feedback is always good so fire away.

[665cbbff642ceOlfred]

Once you see it you'll have a pretty good idea where it came from.

Apprently, I don't.

[665cbbff644e4miracle.flame]

Ghibli Studio Laputa: Castle in the Sky robot came to mind

Image: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/13605839.jpg

[665cbbff645dcRocketMan]

Is it ethical for me to just say who it is at this point?  I wasn't sure.

[665cbbff649c8Chandlermaki]

BTW the laser sensor might not be considered subtle enough for TriOptimum to be delivered for wide home use consumer class. Maybe two versions to choose from would be a good idea.

I thought the same thing, but otherwise the model looks great. 

Seems to fit the style of the original perfectly fine, imo.

[665cbbff64b11System]

how to download?

[665cbbff64c2cRocketMan]

You can't download yet because I haven't posted the files.  This was a collaborative effort and I need the original author to ok any distribution material.  However I don't foresee a problem.

[665cbbff64dcevoodoo47]

while it's not too far fetched to assume a multipurpose protocol droid would have a laser pointer installed, I would also vote for making an alternate laserless version available, or to remove it completely.

and give it to the cyborg assassin.

[665cbbff64f02RocketMan]

But the cyborg assassin is supposed to be an expert in stealth and evasion.  Wouldn't a bright red laser beam kind of give away its position?

What I do think is that the cyborg assassin needs a high res model apart from the rebirth brand... I never cared for that one.

[665cbbff64ff5voodoo47]

as I always say - by all means. there is no such thing as having too many SS2 AI replacement models.

[665cbbff65165Join2]

Rocketman, cybernetically sex-up the Assassins and I'll take you to a neurosurgeon: two cybernetic implants on the house.
Do try to get them as stylistically close to the originals as possible though, droid too.
Nice work.

[665cbbff652e3RocketMan]

Actually I quite like Assidragon's  (EDIT:  I might actually be confusing with Arcaniac here) assassin.  It's not super high res or anything but it fits the bill.  Far as the droid goes, I'll certainly do what I can to make it match better, given specific feedback, within my means.  I may need help with the texture work though because I would make a mess to touch that myself.  The laser I can delete but I don't know how much weaker I can make him look.  I think the high resolution plating gives the illusion of armor but keep in mind most of the robot is completely exposed and those plates could be merely to protect joints, electronics and moving parts from damage when interacting with the environment, hence the knee pads for example, so he doesn't jam a servo by kneeling on a metal grate.  Aside from all that logical justification, it looks bang on the same as the old model except for some minor nuances like texture color and a few ribbon cables.

[665cbbff65440Olfred]

I think it's only these gorilla like arms and the quite wide torso which makes him look so big and armored.
The legs are fine.

I could modify it if you can't get it done properly.

[665cbbff655cbKolya]

Try some different colours on the laser. Red always looks aggressive. Blue or green would be better. Then turn it red when it has spotted the player.
If you remove the laser I'd like an alternate version. I'm not ready to give up on awesomeness in the name of some misconceived "realism" or "true to original". Read the first comments on Eldron's psi amp sometime again, a universally beloved model these days. You'll know what I mean.

[665cbbff656ddmiracle.flame]

Just imagine scenario the creators would bring the laser sensor in vanilla... how much would we bitch if anyone came up with an idea to remove it as inappropriate? Most likely there would be almost no one who would agree... Just a thought.

But making it as subtle, dark or transparent as possible would really please.

[665cbbff65a5aunn_atropos]

Can't wait for a FM to put some droids into a dark room and let them go First Contact on you
Image: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120318011044/memoryalpha/en/images/5/59/Borg_approach_in_dark.jpg

[665cbbff65b87RocketMan]

Hey, believe it or not, that's what inspired what I did in the video.

Re: gorilla arms and wide torso

I took a side by side look at the 2 droids again and the original looks a bit more anorexic so I could shrink the thorax a bit more to match.  The gorilla arms have always been that way but I could lower them a bit as well if that would help.

[665cbbff65e72ZylonBane]

Read the first comments on Eldron's psi amp sometime again, a universally beloved model these days. You'll know what I mean.

There's a post somewhere around here by Eldron saying he now wishes he'd made his psi amp more like the original.

[665cbbff66085RocketMan]

I think that was your fault