{TSL} Dark blade colors? To do or not to do....

[Eagle Racer]

As some or many of you may know, I have done a few mods to increase the ability of players to create their own unique lightsabers. I have released one mod, which adds several new blade colors to be used. I have been primarily focusing on adding all the colors listed on Wookieepedia as blade colors that where used in the Star Wars universe. The list has a few more colors than I've released so far. And I know some players want dark colors or even black blades. I know some people think their should only be 3 to 5 colors for lightsabers, first that's no fun and according to Wookieepedia, prior to the Thought Bomb set off by the Brotherhood colors where extremely diverse. Not to mention, no two crystals are identical on the molecular level, and there for no two red lightsaber blades are the same shade of red.

 

So here is my problem; Dark Colors just don't look really good in game. They are either almost completely transparent when you using blending additive in the txi file for the texture map. If you get rid of blending additive, the blades from the right angle look pretty good when you get the alpha channels working just right, but you still end up with a transparent gap between the core and the glowing aura from most angles. Or some people just do what is mainly a core with little to no glowing aura, but you still have transparent holes running the length of the blade at certain angles. I'm sure there are a few other saber modders who can attest to my frustrations. :-P

 

My question is, how badly do players want colors like dark blue and dark red? I am not really happy with how darker colors look in game due to aforementioned limitations of the game's graphics engine, but others may be more willing to look past these imperfections to have the colors they want most. I've already lowered my "standards" a lot for this mod as I've learned the limitations and how the mapping works to created the saber blades. So I find myself stuck in the middle of; "I want do them for 'completeness' and others want them." and "I don't like the way the look in game, and I don't normally like to release things when I am not happy with them." Knowing that I probably can't get them to where I would be happy, I figure I'll let the rest of you decide if add them to the project or not.

[xrefusex]

I think the problem with dark coloured sabers is that they just end up looking pretty bad in all the industrial and urban areas, where they just blend into the backgrounds or become indistinguishable from one another. I tried out a few mods of different blade colours (including black) for Jedi Knight Academy and they didn't look that nice to be honest. I was a bit letdown. I liked a few of the saber colours in the recently translated-to-english Yavin IV mod of K1, nice unique purple and red sabers. I'd like to see (better) silver and gold, orange, pink... random vibrant colours really.

 

I'd suggest you do what you want to see and what you are happy with yourself. If you're not that interested in pursuing it for yourself, you might get frustrated with the project and abandon it. You needen't release everything you create as a public download, so you should let that 'project release schedule' bug get to you either. I'd rather play a fully functional mod, rather one that's half-assed (please don't take this an offence, it is a general observation a few mods I've downloaded). On the other hand though, you could view this as an opportunity to get more involved in modding by trying to solve the technical aspect of the problems you mention.

[TriggerGod]

I think the problem with dark coloured sabers is that they just end up looking pretty bad in all the industrial and urban areas, where they just blend into the backgrounds or become indistinguishable from one another. I tried out a few mods of different blade colours (including black) for Jedi Knight Academy and they didn't look that nice to be honest. I was a bit letdown. I liked a few of the saber colours in the recently translated-to-english Yavin IV mod of K1, nice unique purple and red sabers. I'd like to see (better) silver and gold, orange, pink... random vibrant colours really.

 

I'd suggest you do what you want to see and what you are happy with yourself. If you're not that interested in pursuing it for yourself, you might get frustrated with the project and abandon it. You needen't release everything you create as a public download, so you should let that 'project release schedule' bug get to you either. I'd rather play a fully functional mod, rather one that's half-assed (please don't take this an offence, it is a general observation a few mods I've downloaded). On the other hand though, you could view this as an opportunity to get more involved in modding by trying to solve the technical aspect of the problems you mention.

Not all black lightsabers turn out bad. 90SK(CaptainSkye)'s Bleach Items mod includes a black saber, and the only problem with it is the core. If you need help with the sabers, contact 90SK and see if 90 can help. Ask about 'Dark Colored Lightsabers' and make it clear that it has to be dark colored lightsabers.

 

(BTW-I would really like to see all kinds of different darkened sabers. But I think they should be DS only)

[Eagle Racer]

Lol, don't worry. I don't do anything half way. I've redone all of the blade textures I've released. Redone things countless times when I come up with something I like better.... I've already put several hours into just getting on dark colored blade to look as good as I can inside the game. I even bought a new image editing program so I could do them. I guess I should say, I'm happy with the way my texture shows up in game from the right angle... I guess my real point is, should I let something that is "out of my control" stop me from including something I want to include?