Considering that glass is arguably one of the most iconic tiers of equipment in Morrowind, I decided that I would remake them completely. My interest in this task was sparked when I noticed my glass longsword in Morroblivion was glowing completely green - handle and all. Rather than fiddle with the .nif properties, or upgrade the existing meshes, I decided to go the route of recreation.
So far, I've only modelled the glass claymore. I haven't textured it or anything, so it's very basic at the moment. Nonetheless, I will hopefully finish this by tomorrow.
There is a slight problem, though: I am planning on going back to Queensland for a few weeks to visit my family, and sadly I cannot bring a 500kg (slight exaggeration) computer with me. That's why I'm hoping to finish the claymore before I go - it should be relatively easy to adapt this mesh to suit the longsword, and possibly even the dagger, with little fuss.
Proportionately, it is very similar to stock vanilla glass claymore, with a slightly more sensible pommel and crossguard. I hope to maintain the artistic integrity of Morrowind's weaponry, while remaining as viable as possible in actual combat.
Anyway, let me know what you think. :)
Looks good, can't wait to see it textured.
Do you plan to do the full set or just the blades?
I will finish the blades once I get back from Queensland, and then I will see about doing the rest. Due to the way I've designed the claymore, I should be able to quickly modify it to suit the longsword, dagger and knife. The axe, halberd and staff will need more attention. I'll see how I feel about it after my trip.
Anyway, here's the render with textures:
The glass is a bit rough at the moment, so I may have to reduce that a little bit, but then it should be complete. I know that the original glass blades were brighter on the edges, but I opted against that in this sword since the angled blade will reflect light on its own.
BTW, the poly count is 1996, so there won't be any performance issues. Both the hilt and blade textures are 2k resolution (each), though they can be downscaled if required.
Great job, Billyro!
It looks great :) Thanks for sharing!
Best regards,
Jessica
I like the blade, but the handle is a bit simple. perhaps some cloth could be wrapped around it?
good work so far though!
I added some wrapped cloth around the grip so now it breaks the monotony.
EDIT: I think I'm done.
Now to do the longsword...
EDIT 2: Aaaaand done.
EDIT 3: I also did the dagger, though this time it looks a bit different to the one in Morrowind.
I'm also aware of the squished glass squiggles on the hilt - I'll have to make a separate texture for the dagger.
I think though you put some work into it it could use some more. The texture especially looks dull and a bit like plastic. The original model also seems to have more detail in both textures and the mesh itself. Yours looks a bit like a 2D cutout that that was transposed to 3D. This is mostly due to the upper hilt and crossguard. There's just no depth to them. At this point I'd still prefer the original models.
I'm mostly saying this because your steel weapons meshes were also used as an official replacer and I'm not 100% happy with all of those meshes either. You're obviously quite talented with modeling but maybe there could still be some improvements in this model. Personally I wouldn't use these if they were a replacer for Morrowind for example.
I also don't see the point in changing the original glass dagger which was ornamented and had two dragonheads on the crossguard to a more boring, generic one. You did something similar to the steel dagger as well.
I hope I didn't offend you with this.
You basically said, "Morrowind's original low-poly, low-resolution models look better". I supposed I'm a little bit offended, but no biggie. Sadly, texturing isn't my strong suit - especially when it comes to ornaments and dark metal, which is exactly what glass weapons are.
If unadorned weaponry is boring to you, then don't use them. I vastly prefer simple, practical designs to over-the-top, jewel encrusted ornamental hilts anyway.
Or, if anyone was willing, I'll give out the UV maps and someone else can texture them. That would be very helpful.
Alright, I'm back from my trip.
I made some changes to the hilt, though it's still not quite the same as vanilla.
Nifskope doesn't render it with the normal map though, so it looks much better in-game.
Here is a preview of the glass war axe:
I used the grip from the swords because it will save time (laziness). Polycount is just above 2,500 at the moment, so it's a bit more detailed than the claymore, but still relatively conservative.
EDIT: Okay... so, when I said the polygon count was just above 2,500... it is actually more like 3,000. I forgot to convert the pieces to editable meshes before checking. :P Anyway, I added some chamfering to the hard edges so it looks better now, but the poly count went up a bit. To about 3,300. It's not too bad (some vanilla Oblivion weapons have more) but it's up there.
EDIT 2: Finished the war axe.
Sorry I couldn't get a better screenshot in nice conditions, I was in a rush. Anyway, everything works as intended.
EDIT 3: Also did the halberd, which was based off the war axe though with a few changes to the shape.
EDIT 4: And the... *ahem*, staff.
I know it looks more like a spear than a staff, but arguably the vanilla Morrowind staff wasn't a staff either.
Anyway, thanks to my lazy shortcuts, all the glass weapons are now complete!
I now consider this task complete, and upload the results below. Anyone can retexture them as they see fit. :)