odd fringes near twilight in-game

I had some issues recently after uprating NMM to the present version,
though most were easily solved.

except this one.
notice a weird fringe on the edges of the power pole, the roof of the red rocket spa,
and the roof of the manager's penthouse?
it only appears for ~1hr in game near twilight.




Above: a screen cap of early red rocket spa (PC version).
foreground - managers house rebuilt into 'penthouse'
midground left - inner wall and over-ramp prior to no-clip internal elevator overhaul... 'any door anywhere' is an awesome mod! - make the above-ground internal portions ploppable, and only the 'balconies' external - you save a lot of space and get more frame rate.
background center - the above-ground portion of Red Rocket Spa and Resort...
middle, near red-rocket sign - nothing is in that shipping container that you cannot see the garage anymore because of...

I'm thinking this could be a few things;
as I've tried porting this save to other systems to test it in higher end and lower (if you can believe it)
than the system this one is from...
and it could be -
a sign the graphics card of this 2011 computer from which this screendump is on its way out, or worse... the processor cores could have an issue...
worse case scenario.

or, it could simply be associated foible with the
'cel shader mod' which enhances the cartoony features.

we'll figure it out soon enough!
once we figure this one out,
I can troubleshoot the General Atomics Galleria mod.

NB:
here's a few 'any mod any weapon' combos.
Any Mod, Any Weapon is by far one of the most awesome FO4 mods yet known.

 Above: the best pocket plasma chaingun in the game?
59 or 81 round magazine... 1 in 4 shots is free, and you've got a 1 in 16 chance per shot of 'goo-ify',
in addition to 1 in 8 magazines being refilled free...
without the scope or sights, this is 2.5lbs.

the game gets confused as to what color the puddle/ash oughta be - blue or green?

 Above: "Dirty Harold", it can be possible to mod it so it has 2 unique features + kellogg's sidearm + 4 mod slots... that makes this a portable fatman with no collateral damage...
survival mode and "any mod any fail" + weapons durability and 'unreliable ammo" mods,
still, this is one of the better weapons. easier to repair than piperifles, mostly.

 Above: "The Baker's Dozen" - none of that flimsy wooden crud...a full charge can take down a deathclaw. with the EC pack, it gives you a very high fire rate, but burns through ammo cells.
with the EC backpack... you burn through fusion cores slowly, and power cells quickly... you will definitely injure friendlies when this is on 'full auto' mode.

 Above: "you get my point" - this can add cumulative damage per consecutive hit on target, and stun or +50% limb damage. a very nice weapon, and the unfolding animation is pretty funny. it has an 8ft reach, 6ft more than the regular ripper.

 Above: an old friend. the Varmint Slayer rifle returns.
you can get versions that have 2 legendary slots + Reba II's stats.
I still prefer this version though as I lucked out and got a suppressed suppressor variant.
ultra quiet, perfect for survival mode...
though, on survival mode, this is a difficult implement to keep repaired...

bounty posters misc 2

Howdy,
here's a couple of rough bounty posters from local RPG.
Folks enjoyed playing these encounters, so hopefully you'll enjoy them as well.

They're decoupages adapted from the sketches under cca3 at dA.
the robobrain sketch is by user 'octo_three"
the protectron sketch is by user "twisted_little_mind"
I believe both are now defunct accounts.
the font is "FETTECKE FETT" - the idea being it's either from a damaged typewriter, or a post-war block-writer.

Feel free to use these as prompts for your own RPG scenario, or to add weathering etc. Printing them out and roughing them up by folding them, teabag etc really makes these look like they're printed as a palimpsest over old newspaper and old-ish - a local gamer did just that, and it looked EXCELLENT!

nb: I do not own fallout or related things, these are shared for fans for fan use etc.
Bethesda or H Ellison or somebody owns fallout itself.
Support official fallout-y things, and H Ellison.

 Above: Rusty is a scrap robot from the pre-war, who's had a torturous life.
the rust (robo-arthritis) and Rusty's morals mean that Rusty now
just wants to see whats at the bottom of Boston Bay. (in a nod to Bicentennial Man).
Maybe the Tea is still there...
Rusty travels slow, even for a protectron.
Rusty's maker though will front a lot of caps to have rusty returned.
You can;
-say that you couldn't find rusty, and return a piece of rusty to the quest giver.
-defeat rusty and hand over a piece of rusty for 200 caps,
or with C 10,
-you can convince Rusty to go home and collect 3000 caps.

(Rusty is valuable for a few reasons, which the player can use to leverage against the owner;
beneath all the parts, Rusty is an ex-pre war military protectron, or a 'vet'...
The current owner is not the original owner of Rusty...
Rusty knows a few access codes and loadouts of various places.
Rusty's arm functions as a PipBoy for various locations - hence, will protect the wielder from being attacked thanks to the friendly FoF transponder)
Rusty makes for an interesting companion also.)

Above:
Nancy is a pre-war robo-brain... a secretary from before the great war,
she had a gift for organizing and working under tight deadlines or difficult situations...
she may have been an attache at Anchorage.
 She was part of a program to retain talent in the event of disaster, for continuity of service.
 over time she has become no-longer solely in control of her body...
If Nancy is not in control of her body, then... who is?

The player arrives at a settlement to find this notice.
the residents hear noises in the night, often a woman shouting or apologizing...
the residents believed it to be a deathclaw, until sending out hunting parties,
 they'd seen it for themselves.
A large robo-brain unlike others previously seen.

The town asks the player character to slay this 'beast'.

The player can;
- destroy Nancy, and bring back the brain-dome for the reward. negative karma, though increased settlement affiliation (discount to the stores at that settlement)
- using electrical or ion attacks, immobilize Nancy and have a conversation -
she will tell her side of the story,
and the player will be able to trace the signal.
The signal comes from either -
a raider settlement using Nancy to soften up targets before raiding them,
or, an unattended child in a base.
or, the institute.

Nancy is then able to be 'repaired', so she once again has control over her own body.
Nancy is then available as a player companion.
returning to the settlement where the quest is issued will lead to dialog;
nancy will speak with a settler and apologize for 'what happened earlier, she wasn't herself'.
nancy will then give the settler a potplant with a wilted plant,
or an empty vase.
-----

Thanks again to Phil, Peter and Morgan.
RPGing is fun, and you made FO:RPGing even more fun!

Intermittent SWMinis statcards cont.

Sometimes,
stat-blocks come along that folks make,
and those stats need a card to match the awesome.

So, here's a couple from SWMgamers or from SWMbloomilk.

DUM(b) series droid, based on awesome stats by General Grievous of bloomilk.

 above: a crude adaptation, though it'll do. Paratus-mirror squads all shriek in terror, and are suddenly silenced by this piece.
DUM droid, or... doombringer?

 Repeating Blaster Turret Emplacement, by local gamers.

Annihilator Droid, B series.

General Rohm Mohc, Eccentric Genius
coming soon.

Anti-Materiel Flak Emplacement

Desert Hopper/Average Airspeeder

Wookie Ornithopter

Sluggakken Matriarch.

-----

Can I also take a moment,
to thank everyone who's been downloading and playtesting the statcards.
between here, bloomilk and imgur/tumblr, its nearly 80k - wow!
The local game group and I, it's phenomenal to see so many folks enjoying and improving muchly,
these cards we cobble together.
I'm impressed with the ideas the local brains trust comes up with,
and phil deserves a shoutout for the photoshopping.

Would a different format for basic card layout be something folks would want?
more shadows or embossing for the layers?
anistropic front plates/art panels for the rare or super-rare cards?

This game can be very cheap to get into -
under $10 USD covers nice quality tokens and all statcards,
and for $50USD, you can make very nice custom miniatures with bases,
and from there, its up to you to play as you like it.

There is a lot of life in SWMinis yet, and a lot of people are discovering the game,
so I hope this translates into even more custom stuff in the near future!

Low Res Bounty Hunter Gameplay 1

Howdy!
I've posted this elsewhere also, though to celebrate the re-release of Bounty Hunter,
we've got this alternate ending on Bogden: what if Montross had won instead of Jango?

Above: This alternate ending was humorous, as were other outtakes.

It kinda makes me wish that choices actually mattered in this game, and that there were sandbox elements... and before you start, Spiderman 2 and JK:JA were of the same era...

Sadly, only the PC version has a loyal modding community which has brought the graphics up to par with the state of the art in visuals... I will be sharing soon a montage vid which compares Boba in the new Battlefront, to Jango from Bounty Hunter...
People were complaining that the New Boba has lame powers compared to this game. I agree to an extent, though the new boba has 8 times the flight time.

If only Boba could use his flamethrower more like Jango can in this game - that'd be awesome!

A few friends have noted a 'continuity thingy" with Bounty Hunter...
prior to having been to Kamino, Jango utilises Kaminoan Sabre Darts as a weapon in Bounty Hunter... this would either make for a nice coincidence, or Kaminoan Sabre Darts are more common than Dex led Obi-Wan to believe...


Disclaimer: footage above from SW:Bounty Hunter, you can get on PS4 and PC(HD) now! Get it now, before the new Fett film makes it kitschy-expensive.
star wars elements were property of Lucas and Lucasarts, before the dark times, before the Disney...
this footage is used for the purposes of critique and review, as per Berne Convention and Copyright Act '68, so Infudgement Enforcers fear not! I bought this re-release, and the original, and the comics etc...

composite experiments 2

Hi all!
recently, a composite image craze is taking the model making world by storm.
So, I tinkered a little and came up with these for the tetrahedron.

 Above: Tetrahedron (tactical form) explores a nebula near the Nekrit Expanse.
Nebula background is a remix modified from "Spectral Scent" by aRchAng3lZz of devart, under CCA 3. Visit aRchAng3lZz and support them so as they can keep making space stuff!

Above: again with the 'special' effects - this time, an attempt at spherical lens distortion, motion blur and the 'transwarp tunnel' effect. Is the tetrahedron emerging from a transwarp conduit, or transwarping away to report a threat to the collective?

Again, special thanks to Mark 'Jim Kirk' and DefiantClient for their how-to guides,
and extra special thanks to aRchAng3lZz, who makes outstanding spaceart and needs more support to make even more space concepts.

intermittent statcards 12

Howdy!
a few new-ish statcards are headed your way, care of the local game group and their awesome ideas.
If you've got some ideas, be sure to send them this way in the form of comment or a private message

without further ado; Duros Slicer v2.7

Above: The Duros are some of the few species capable of holding interstellar co-ordinates in their minds, in thanks to their Eidetic memory and 'knack' for maths and astrophysics.
most other species require specialised astrogation buffers or astromech droids to hold hyperspace co-ordinates, or the Force, to navigate vast interstellar distances.

Restraining Bolt was found during playtesting with save 11 to be too annoying, so this was lowered to save 8 and found to be just annoying enough hehe (usually, it was a Gonk droid that was hit with the restraining bolt to prevent extra attacks etc.

intermittent statcards pt 11

Howdy,
here's a few more custom statcards!
Thanks for the renewed interest also - I'm pleased to say that on bloomilk it has exceeded 30 000 page view, elsewhere it is ~48 000 and downloads per statcard stays high around ~100/month
which is pure awesome! Thanks for enjoying some statcards.
If only you'd leave feedback or requests, or even better, links to your own statcards and custom minis! Especially for any concrit feedback you may have... because you've got some great ideas out there.

 Above: A Gundark Alpha Pack Leader, v2.0

Locals were complaining that there weren't many critters, and that the damage output of existing critters hasn't kept pace with the state of the power creep in the main 'competitive' game... voila! this thing turns the 22 point CotF Gundark into a 180Dmg melee beast!

Above: a rare Octuptarran.
Ocula was an awesome thing from "Small Soldiers" - looking like a cool-er variant of Larvox (that is, until the GL movie version of Larvox) - and, since the Octuptarra droid looked a lot like Ocula,
it only made sense to make an 'Octuptarran" resemble the droid.
The back story is fluff, but paints the Skakoans (Wat Tambor etc) as being techno-slavers, who tinkered to make the "Octuptarrans", as distinct from the Argus-Panopticles style monsters or the Medusa styled monsters which in the 'canonical' universe, lead to the name of the Octuptarra Droid.
The Skakoans also meddled with the Nelvaan warriors, and perhaps the sudden Skakoan fascination with GMO stemmed from Darth Plagueis? (who had manipulated the IGBC for a long time, prior to Palps becoming involved...)

Above: A request for a while now... a Desaan to rival the Katarn-BattleMaster.
Fringe and not sith, because Desaan was not really Imperial nor Sith... he was a warlord all his own.
Tavion will be Sith Faction though.

EDIT:
prototype card layout for Sith (NJO era)

intermittent stat card update 9

howdy!
here's a few more statcards from the backlog;
credit where credit is due, without the locals playtesting these and coming up with great ideas,
I'd not have statcards to collaborate on and make.
Great work team.

Above: Jawa Chieftan, a variant anyhow. v2.3
Costing is still being adjusted, but as soon as we get "Closed Ranks" and the CE's sorted, we'l re-up with the definitive version = )

Above: the name may be a place holder, but this concept is to be a generic force battery (for use in larger point games, where Yoda is not quite enough). The price point works out to be around 70, but,
we found even with Lightsaber Style Mastery, this piece ended up dying more often than not, so lowered the cost until it was competitive.

 Above: Aerial Droideka v 3.7, notorius from the Jedi Starfighter games series and comicbooks.

The Aerial DD is a tricky affair to price, because it has a couple of negative features to balance Blaster Barrage. Shields X as opposed to Advanced Shields or Reflective Shielding etc allows more survivability, tempered by Fragile which prevents you from shooting or moving at 24 squares...
Scarce Material ensures you do not have too many in your squad, and a base attack of 1 attack means this is going to be difficult to have high damage output.

Previous versions had Limited Programming (you can NEVER benefit from SAs or CEs of any kind for any reason), Programmed Target and Emplacement. We found nobody ever chose them over the regular destroyer droid, or the k-series droid or the octuptarra droid...

This variant should cost 42-47pts, but, by pricing it a little less, it will hopefully be just different enough to be something new to choose without being too broken.
These things were annoying in the videogames as many have recalled, so hopefully the miniatures variant lives up to that background lore hehehe

special thanks to devart user "Kogane801": your outstanding sketching skill are the stuff of legend.
(and, your other works resemble Osamu Tezuka's stuff)

EDIT:

 Above: an iron knight v2,

The iron knight was originally part of this set, but playtesting hadn't finished until recently.
Extra thanks to kogane801 and to Rex Moonwielder 1995's variant of iron knight for inspiring this revision.
This also comes in a regular saber variant which has draw fire instead (and is based more upon the Jensaari Defender)

musical composition musings... 3a

So,
there have been a few things on the musical front,
that people wondered how might be achieved - and it has been a lot of fun locally to attempt to collaborate to compose some things.
I have to confess; I am not terribly 'musically literate' - I am not trained as such, and do not read sheet music (I dabble, and play by ear).
That said, as eclectic as other facets may be, so too are the sounds somewhat altered - I'm in quest of variants of other things often - and am fascinated by non-standard sounds.

Preamble aside,
a friend and a couple of other friends in a local band were wanting more 'experimental' compositions to play - and I recommended they look at Barry Gray's alternate compositions,
and of course, the Dr Who theme.

Barry Gray's "They walked on the Sun" is quite seldom heard, moreso even in medley with the Thunderbirds b variant - perfect for 30 piece band etc. Oboes, clarinets, and cellos would be mainly needed, as would alto and tenor sax, and tuba/trombone. A euphonium would be also appreciated, or a french horn. The counter melodies would be great to have fiddles and a sabkh-ur...

As to Dr Who's theme...
the Big Finish rare alternate (which was inspired muchly by Williams ST:Ep V bespin duel soundtrack) was cool,
but I was particularly fond of a person called Roy Budd, who, along with the London Philharmonic, made a variant which collected all other 'alternate' variants. That was a fascinating combo also...
It comes as no surprise to many 'in the know', that the Dr Who theme is taken from a Veda... it is an oriental prayer hymn, part of a mantra, and very much in the 'regeneration' theme of the show...

The internet compilation inspired in me a want to hear a variant which contains musical styles from all the cultures of earth - just because (and not for cosmopolitan imposed, and effacing reasons, but to prove that people can make a temporary union of convenience and make awesome music across cultural divides). This version, would also aim to set a world record - largest orchestra AND longest orchestral song played in one sitting! We can dream, right? 

Moving away from the heady lofty variant to a more practical route,
I've always wanted to hear a variant, which achieves much of the sound complexity with people.
  based on the musical glass, (percussive glass also for the time vortex part)
with a choir (preferably seniors and a mixed) and the musical saw for the 'synth',
teak snapping... tambourines and 'musical bottle caps', musical spoons,
the bag-pipes, an organ...
improvised cymbals
alto, tenor,
trombones,
muted trumpet,
bongos,
euphonia and french horn. (English horn, oboe and clarinet for the Doctor's leitmotif)
Musical triangle, glockenspiel, glass muted xylophone.
Timpani, Grande Cassa, and taiko drums.

the whirring noise achieved via two sets of strings and wood-wind sections,
alternating between staccato and pizzicato (I need two sets, to reduce the chance of wrong notes AND be fair to the players)
The wind noise could be achieved via a leafblower or two, along with the choir making the (fwooooosssshhhhh) 

This composition would be based somewhat on Henry Hall's alternate works, along with Roy Budd's alternate orchestration, with a few new improvised moments by yours truly.
I'd also then switch to a more synth-y version,
inspired by Daft Punk, Phil Collins/Genesis, Nobuo Uematsu, and the Youtube "What if Vangelis made Dr Who?" -
a faster paced and 'asymphonic' composition, with discordant cacophony and different patterns/doppler effects.

That concludes this particular musing,
and hopefully you find it as interesting a concept as several local bands and orchestra members thought.

-----
what orchestral music ideas have you had?
how would you achieve the "Tardis" noise, if you couldn't use synthesizers?

even more stats 6

It's been a productive gaming session,
and we feel they're finally ready, so another wave of customs is upon us again.
We look forward to seeing the minis you make for these also.

 Above: Slugakken, a slow and calculating race - these would ultimately form a Separatist Holdout in the outer rim, along with several other baronies. A contingent were present on Ord Mantell during the Clone Wars, and a minor party were at The Battle of Muunilist - procuring schematics and droid manufacture licensing...

 Above: v4 of Max Rebo - probably undercosted -looking forward to feedback and concrit on this piece. A great proxy figure is the Pepsi Max Rebo Bottletop (if you can get one for less than $25USD), or the Hallmark bauble figure.

Above: Friends love Gundam, and specifically ZGOK (they're marginalised in the show, but they look so cool) - inspiring many Japanese friends into Robotics/cybernetics --- moreso even than Astroboy. Although this is a 5 story war robot, the Bandai Gashapon/bottle top ZGOK is a great proxy for miniatures scale. If you have access to the intermediate scale, or the 3 & 3/4inch figures - those too would be fun.

 Above: special thanks to D.A. User, "Kogane53", for your awesome sketches you encourage some to pastiche - you are awesome! If people enjoyed the kogane-inspired stat cards, support Kogane.
The Mibit are Ishi Tib racial enemies, but otherwise are peaceful creatures.

what's a few more statcards amongst friends? pt 5

Here we have some collaborative customs from the local game scene;
a younger, fearsome Yoda - as a young jedi knight or master, but not yet the awesome leader and powerhouse later -

Above: This card is for the Yoda figure from Epic Duels.
Intended more as a force battery and force canceller, he can also be very damaging in close combat,
with Use the Force allowing up to 14 attacks (assuming 12 Force Points in the tank), with a 1 in 85 chance that from those 14 attacks, he gets another 2-3 attacks.

To balance this, and his awesome CE, Yoda is a force ascetic and force empathic, he takes 10 DMG each time an ally with a force rating dies.
Karmic Mettle can also harm Yoda more than it helps, for his "Force Redirect 2" power.

That said; this Yoda also represents the Old Republic times, when Yoda was tempted by the darkside, or collaborated with a few places to preserve their sovereignty and prevent their amalgamation with the Republic, during his time in the Agricorp and as a Sector Journeyman Selector (Yoda did a hundred years or so voluntary service in the expeditionary arm of the Agricorp, and discovered the broadest array of force-sensitives in the history of the order --- adding to the diversity of the order).

Yoda's Rivalry would go by the era antagonists as per the rulebook, so often,
he can't team up with characters the fan would know to be outright evil... that said, Yoda did team up with some sith cultists or Dathomir Sith Sorceresses or Witches; trying to redeem them etc.
That empathy, and the ability to reform from a few mistakes, are why Yoda speaks with authority when cautioning Luke later - Yoda walks that fine line.

This is v3, and I personally prefer a less combative, more force powers based Yoda
(+0 ATK, +0DMG, force heal, force redirect, force cancel, mind trick, force repulse)

We're keen to hear the feedback - if you think this is too alt or 'fanboy/fangirl' ish, I'll be sure to convey any constructive criticism and encourage alterations =)

 Above: Tahl, Jedi Master(-ess?) Image is a pastiche; I'm amazed this awesome Noorian jedi wasn't more prominent in the past.

In game terms, Tahl is better when teamed up with Adi Gallia or Qui-Gon.

In narrative, Tahl was an awesome Jude Watson creation.
Tahl is versatile, fast, and taught Adi Gallia how to use Niman along with other techniques.
Tahl was prematurely killed, and not only did she take her peace-bringing skill set with her... she took the fighting spirit Qui-Gon had too. Qui-Gon was not the same afterwards, and some conjecture that because Qui-Gon missed Tahl, he wanted to lose his fight with Maul. It is also conjectured that Tahl shared the "Whills" technique with Qui-Gon, who in turn shared that technique with Yoda, Obi Wan, Ferrus etc...
Tahl may have learned these deeper secrets from her time in the archives of the order, and possibly from a captured Sith Holocron (hence, why she did not more broadly share the technique, and also why Anakin may have later been able to learn it).

Tahl was a long-lived Noorian, and was some 200 years old around the Phantom Menace era -
she had a deep respect for Qui-Gon, but their relationship was strictly platonic. Tahl suggested Qui-Gon take a sabbatical from the Order to reflect on whether he could accept that. Qui-Gon, at first despondent with unrequited feelings, later returned and overcame his earlier feelings to develop a better friendship.

Tahl was a unique, 'Grey" jedi, and preferred to be pro-equity - she recruited many force sensitive beings from all kinds of backgrounds; including those others within the order might consider 'dark jedi' or too old to be trained.
Ferrus Olin would later recall that were it not for Tahl's outreach, perhaps not as many Jedi would have survived the Purge.
Tahl also helped to negotiate many truces and peaces - notably an early cease-fire in the Stark Hyperspace conflict - Tahl's approaches would inspire Obi-Wan in his role as a mediator.