The New Era - Back to Basics by MrNiceGuy
Description
Now, before you laugh, let me tell you exactly what “The New Era” is all about. As most people know, I’m a picky customer. It’s not possible to hide bugs from my spying eyes, and that little thing curses me. I can’t look at an outfit without pointing out potential flaws, especially at my own outfits. Ever since I started outfit creation, my main study was how Core had built the original TR4 Lara Croft model. My bigger points of interest were the LARA_SKIN_JOINTS, and the remapping of the mesh verticles. So, after a while, I started my own little project, titled “Tomb Raider: The New Era”, in which I was going to study the connections between the meshes, and figure out how to make a “flawless” outfit for TRLE. I figured that, in order to get a good start, I needed to go back to the basics of the TR4 outfit, which basically meant I needed to work with the bugs and flaws of it. And, after a few months of work (with lots of breaks, because of the TRSearch HQ project and various other ones), here is the result! At the picture it might seem that I only added holster attachments on the legs, but it is what you don’t see that are the points of interest. All of the updates are covered in the Readme. This is NOT a remake of the original outfit, not at all. It is merely an UPDATE, which the Core team never even bothered to make. The main intention is to help people with the remapping connection points, and to give them a fresh, updated TR4 outfit to start working on, and possibly use to replace the older version in the original Wads. The outfit has been thoroughly tested several times, and I can personally guarantee that there are no bugs or glitches in it. IF, however, you find a bug, send me a message, ASAP, and I’ll update as necessary. I hope this new start will be of help to all you hard-working guys and gals out there! Good luck on your outfits! NOTE: Even though many things are updated in this version, the revolver and uzi holsters still aren't working. Since they are hard-coded, there isn't much I can do about it, I'm afraid...
Outfits
Categories
Normal
I'm working on my first super outfit and till now it is going great. But in game there were things that I found not so good. The elbows were always looking strange when Lara was shooting. I did not know any better that the Lara I took from a revised wad was not 100% right. Now this comes on my path and only now I can create my new perfect Lara. In game this Lara has her elbows right and you can just see it! It must have been a lot of work to create the Lara as she should be. She is just like the normal one only much better. On the side this is just complete cause all the things she can use are all there from the oilcan to the waterbag. So if you want to create or just use the original Lara you should start here! OK she is original but not the holsterstraps on her legs. The color is a little hard so you might prefer the older texture but it is not really a big deal. Actually this is the very first 100% outfit. Thanks! [i]Edited by Piega[/i]
(19 Dec 2004 17:43)
Heh, I'm glad it was of use to you! Thank you for the review! I was annoyed at the pointy, holed elbows in-game as well, and that was about the first thing I fixed in the original TR4 Lara outfit.
Original: Well I know it is not a remake, and the intension is to help fix the bugs. But I honestly can't see this geting a 10, it still has all of Lara's TR4 texture and mostly the meshes. Quality: No bugs found, I did'nt expect any either. ;) All of the new joints are amazing and work great! Useable: It is about the most useable outfit for both levels and for other outfit creators. :) Custom textures: All are from TR4 except for the straps; witch I thought looked a bit sharp, it may have looked better if it faded very slighty to her skin color so it would look better. But this is the only custom texture (Or is it from TR6?) that I could see. Custom meshes: There are some custom meshes here, but on the joints, such as the elbows & the knees. They have less polys I belive, but if it can save some remaping, it's very much worth it! No holes of course, and all looks and works amazing! ---- As another outfit maker I can say that is is very much a help in future outfits, or just to see how you've fixed it. About two months ago I attempted something very much like this, I fixed the elbow much like this one, the left worked but the right did not. So I gave up that. But I am glad to see that this can be done and works very well. A lovely addition to our online collection. :D [i]Edited by Trinity[/i]
(19 Dec 2004 20:47)
Thank you for the review, Trinity! I hope this WILL be a start of a new era in outfit designing, with properly working joints and no bugs. I know what you mean with the holster straps, and they were my only add-on for the outfit, the rest was a fixing job. They are a bit sharp, but I've missed some for so long, I just added the AoD ones and left it at that. Could have been a bit better, but I focused on making it a new base outfit for design, so the holster straps don't really count for it, in a way, but does, in another. It's all individual, but myself, I just made some for the completeness of the holsters. But, I'm talking too much. Thank you again for the review, and I hope the outfit will be of good use for all the members!
I agree this outfit has fixed all the bugs, and yes Lara's new joints work very well. HOWEVER... i do not think it is fair to let this outfit take the centre stage as there have been other's like it, and many people have fixed bugs and created new joints ALONG WITH new faces, more custom meshes and body proportions. Very well done on the whole, i look forward to seeing a whole new textured outfit, perhaps with a new 3d-eye face mesh. You certainly achieved to a high-standard what you set out to do. I just think it could have been a bit more special.
(26 Mar 2006 16:57)