Faithless: The Making of an NWN2 Module

A month ago, Jolly Jenkins posted a request for an abishai model at the Custom Content forum. Since I was planning to make several infernal models for Faithless anyway, I offered to help him out. Jolly said that he'd be needing the abishai in about a month's time. Little did I realize that in the interim, I'd be saddled with much more work for Shattered Dreams. One month later, all I have to show for myself is the high-poly mesh pictured here. I still have to make the low-poly model, UV map, texture maps, skeleton rig, and animations. Now I'm starting to wonder what the devil possessed me to commit to this thing. Oh, well.

I was idly browsing the Neverwinter Vault when I came across this bit of news from Yaddaman about his upcoming sci-fi module, STAR*DRIVE. The picture on the right was shamelessly lifted from the STAR*DRIVE news page at the Vault. There are more screenshots to be found there, so if this picture does not amaze you, head over to Yaddaman's announcement and prepare to be floored. There are three things about this module that impress me: (1) The custom models are awesome. (2) The module and its custom content were all done by one person -- Yaddaman. (3) Yaddaman would like to see other modders use his custom content to create their own sci-fi modules. Don't take my word for it. Read this quote from Yaddaman, which he posted at the Comments section. "I wish I could tell you exactly when it will be done but it's hard to say since I'm doing it alone and I don't have a huge amount of spare time (job, wife and two kids). I just hope you won't be dissapointed with t...

Most creators of custom models for NWN2 probably learn 3D modeling by first making placeables. This was not the path I took. I felt that making a placeable was not challenging enough to hold my interest, which is why I decided to plunge head first into creature modeling. Ironically, the most complicated model that I've done to date is a placeable, the one shown in the picture to the right. It has more mesh parts than I care to count, and the whole thing weighs in at over 14,000 polygons. It has been several weeks since I first blogged about this model , which gives readers an idea of how long I've been working on it. Now, I'm tired and would like to rest. Must play Neverwinter Zork .