[Mod] Asset Re-Creation & Animation

[SrDucky]

Hello, new to the forums!

Little background, been making mods for about a year now for various games I'm interested in. Recently found Daggerfall and fell in love with it. Anyways here's a few things i've been working on and plan to release in the future. My only drawback is IRL Work and I'm still playing my very first play-through of this game so you can imagine what's keeping these from being finished.
TLDR: I make mods, found this game, fell in love with the graphics & unity implementation.




Things I'm working on in the game:

• Realistic Bump, Height, and Redesign of Dungeon Elements
  ---Doors, Tiles, etc.

• Remaking Enemy Animations, 3d Models, & Sprites
  ---Creating animation presets in blender to load models into
  --Re-Creating 3D Designed Characters (based on OG Sprites)

Things I'd like to work on in game:

• Re-create cut-scene animations

• Create custom quests with new assets, mobs, etc...

Goals:

• Improve & Enhance the game-play experience while keeping true to the original content & style created for the game

• Re-Create High Resolution & Pixelated/Posterized Variations of my assets & mods

• Design, Create, & Document my methods while also providing resources for others to add too & or create.

9/74 Enemies Modeled
4/74 Enemies Rigged
0/74 Enemies Posed

Spoiler!

Taking more a break for the Holidays

• [Model]: Rat - 12/18/24
• [Rigged]: Imp - 12/13/24
• [Rigged]: Zombie - 12/13/24
• [Model]: Zombie - 12/11/24
• [Model]: Spider - 12/9/24
• [Rigged]: Lich_King - 12/8/24
• [Model]: Lich_King - 12/8/24
• [Model]: Imp - 12/7/24
• [Model]: Scorpian - 12/7/24
• [Rigged]: Skeleton - 12/7/24
• [Model]: Skeleton - 12/6/24
• [Model]: Vampire_Female - 12/6/24
• [Model]: Vampire_Male - 12/6/24

So playing Daggerfall Unity is fun especially with all the new lighting you can customize to your experience. One thing ive noticed is most the game does not have manually generated normal and height maps from original 3d sourced images (understandable ) it's all been just quickly generated using Photoshop or other programs. Certain things like being up against a door smacking it to open looks kinda off when you play. I went ahead and recreated sprites in 3D that maximize depth in dungeons for objects you gotta move close to or far away from (like doors).



Once you recreate it in 3D you can generate normal and height maps from a source using blender which is highly more accurate than just generating these maps in something like Photoshop. Adding more depth to the Image when light moves towards or away from the 2D Image.




Darker environments with more mods really increases the 3D effects on these maps!
Not to mention that coming up on doors as often as you do. This really adds more to your overall game-play experience.


Interested in how I managed to generate these maps?
Resources for Blender I Used:
How to Bake Perfect Normal Maps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r-cGjVKvGw
How to Create Perfect Depth Maps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_9uS2ixBCs



While adding more depth to environment helps game-play a lot, there's something else in this game that comes toward you, every enemy. I've been studying how old CG was created and believe I can create (eventually) a blender file that could allow you to plug and play 3d models you create or import that captures every angle enemies are rendered in. While this method is still being worked on here are some details on my process so far and how it works.


How were these 3D Sprite enemies originally rendered? When we look at these old CG characters & enemies you can clearly see they were rendered 360° with only 8 different angles, 5 if you have noticed after only circling an enemy 180° the images seem to mirror. With this knowledge all we need to do is create a 360 camera that rotates around our 3D model with (8 or 5) different angles. I plan to eventually do all 8 and eliminate the mirroring.

1. Setting Up Your Camera
2. Modeling & Sculpting
3. Rigging & Posing
4. Render Results & Testing

Here is a demonstration of how the camera is set up for these older CG renders.
Displaying the (8/5) Frames rendered for each angle.
frames 6-8 are mirrored images of frames 2-4. (watch the sword)



Once your camera's setup, we need to start designing our 3D model we want to render.
Start by making a crude base, and then focus on clothes, accessories, etc later.
Pro tip:
Don't be me, always start designing in a T-Pose, I designed this character then rigged into a T-Pose and then realized my mesh was a little flawed later on when doing other poses.




Here is demonstration of me posing and easily modifying the stance of my model. Once you're done at this stage you're good to go for your 3D Rendering.




You can see here with a quick render test I have similar results to the break down I demonstrated in setting up your camera.



Here you can see I threw a few frames into this enemy for a quick test to see the look and feel of this quick animation.



Before we get into the look and feel of this test let me just say this was a quick thing I whipped up for animation which only took about a day, final results would be drastically more detailed and better looking with more accurate proportions to the games original designed assets (the anatomy isn't the worst for sculpting something from scratch in a few hours ). Knowing I can recreate frames with 3d models and import them into a custom blender file. I could realistically recreate an npc within a 1-3 day span depending on the npc (maybe 3 to 4 hours each day). I am more personally interested in making the dungeon experience more immersive and enhancing the game-play so moving forward on npc re-creation and animation would be heavily more focused on enemy npc animation.

[Letho]

Hello,

The ennemy 3d recreation is very seemless, very good. You could get a similar faithful result with the 2d sprites but when
it come to animations, working in 2d quickly get tiring. Although, for their defense, Daggerfall ennemies manage to do their animations with very few frames, it isn't as discouraging. I hope that you reach your goals.

[SrDucky]

Hello,

The ennemy 3d recreation is very seemless, very good. You could get a similar faithful result with the 2d sprites but when
it come to animations, working in 2d quickly get tiring.

I have messed a little bit with 2D recreation on flat still npc's but have chosen to put that aside to focus more on a bigger task such as creating something that not only enhances the experience and game-play but also gives back to the community that seems to have blessed me with an already enhanced and fun first experience playing the game.

Although, for their defense, Daggerfall ennemies manage to do their animations with very few frames, it isn't as discouraging. I hope that you reach your goals.

What's nice about this method is it only requires a few tweaks for each pose (mostly a max of 4 frames for specific animations like attacking, walking, etc). Once these poses are re-created and a file structure is set up to plug and play you can directly import/create a new 3d model and re-apply the already saved poses to any new model and then render. A good amount npc's and enemies animations are similar which makes this a very efficient way of approaching the re-creation of the animations as apposed to manually having to draw each frame in 2d, we just need to make 1 3D model and slightly tweak already saved Poses and Positioning. Camera does the rest.

1. Create new 3D model
2. Apply saved poses & or slightly tweak
3. Render your angles

[MrFlibble]

SrDucky, very impressive! Your models looks quite authentic to the original work by Mark Jones, but have a touch of your own artistry as well. Interesting!

Wishing you best of luck with the project! I agree that replacing hand-drawn NPC flats does not sound like a priority -- but, considering how the original Daggerfall mixes hand-drawn art made at different resolution with pre-rendered sprites for some of the flats, perhaps it could be a good idea, as a long-term goal, to consider making pre-rendered versions of static NPCs as well? Like what Mark Jones did for Battlespire? Just an idea though.

[SrDucky]

SrDucky, very impressive! Your models looks quite authentic to the original work by Mark Jones, but have a touch of your own artistry as well. Interesting!

Wishing you best of luck with the project!

First off thank you, I try my best to replicate and find inspiration from the original artwork as I very much love the detail and style that was originally created for the game.

I agree that replacing hand-drawn NPC flats does not sound like a priority -- but, considering how the original Daggerfall mixes hand-drawn art made at different resolution with pre-rendered sprites for some of the flats, perhaps it could be a good idea, as a long-term goal, to consider making pre-rendered versions of static NPCs as well? Like what Mark Jones did for Battlespire? Just an idea though.

Second, while flat NPC's are something I would like to eventually recreate amongst everything (if not all). The amount of work that comes with re-creating these assets would best be focused on assets (like enemies) that have more animation and frames to fill. I guess a little more in development I can structure a road map to eventually recreating common NPC's that have fewer frames. Once all enemy assets are finished, creating more common assets will be easier as I will have alot of already made models to source from. The focus is more on maximizing what can be utilized with this amount of effort and work to enhance the game-play, focusing more on the actual dungeon game-play element first, then possibly expanding outside of that.

[MrFlibble]

I try my best to replicate and find inspiration from the original artwork as I very much love the detail and style that was originally created for the game.

BTW, if I remember correctly, Mark Jones mentioned that almost all humanoid enemies were based off the same models (male and female) he'd created early in the development cycle. The skeleton model had to be purchased, and was then decorated and rigged for the warrior, liches and the zombie. Further Mark seems to imply that the same human models were further refined for Battlespire characters, rendered at a higher resolution and with greater detail.

It looks like you've already set up both human models, and once you have the full set of animations, you'd need to only change their attire to get the complete set of human enemies, at least.

BTW, do you intend to create any variations, like having Redguards and/or elvish races for enemies?

I also wonder if it is possible to make character animations with more frames in DFU? That could sorta revive the original intent of the developers, with more fluid animations (as seem on MJ's website).

There's also one thing that is pretty far-fetched, but I think it would be a great feature for a mod to have. If you ever played Arena, you likely noticed that the art style between the player character as seen on the inventory screen, town NPCs and enemies is quite similar, with all sharing more or less the same look; whereas in Daggerfall, the pre-rendered characters are drastically different from the player character "paperdoll" and many of the hand-drawn NPCs. In particular, the clothes and gear of the human enemies for the most part look absolutely nothing like the player's gear or the NPCs' clothes.

I wonder if it would be possible to give all characters in the game a more consistent look -- but that would very likely require a major overhaul of all art. Yet, perhaps, the look of the pre-rendered enemies could be altered in some ways that would bring them closer to the appearance of hand-drawn characters?

Second, while flat NPC's are something I would like to eventually recreate amongst everything (if not all). The amount of work that comes with re-creating these assets would best be focused on assets (like enemies) that have more animation and frames to fill.

I completely agree, and of course my suggestion was more of a long-term consideration. Still, I wonder if you're familiar with a mod/TC that has several custom-made pre-rendered characters based on Daggerfall NPC flats: Demon Throne.

It's a fantasy-themed Duke Nukem 3D TC that originally used borrowed sprites from various 90s games including Daggerfall, but later on a great artist came along and reworked almost every character (from those used in the mod, that is) into higher-resolution versions which are still recognizable. I attached several screenshots showcasing Daggerfall-inspired stuff from that game in the post I linked to above.

[harbinger451]

This project looks really promising ... amazing in fact. Can I make a suggestion, though I realize it means more work, would it be possible to have varied sprites for each human enemy class. So many of them use the same sprites and I feel an immediate visual clue as to what enemy class you are dealing with would be really nice.

[SrDucky]

This project looks really promising ... amazing in fact. Can I make a suggestion, though I realize it means more work, would it be possible to have varied sprites for each human enemy class. So many of them use the same sprites and I feel an immediate visual clue as to what enemy class you are dealing with would be really nice.

This sounds like a great idea for the future. Right now the current goal is just to match what enemy assets are currently in place, and then consider expanding upon that. I will be sure to keep this one in mind when the time comes.

[King of Worms]

It looks really nice, thanks for the info on your work.

I wonder, when the 3d models are actually created, if it isnt a waste to convert em back to sprites? We have quite detailed sprites already, I dont say those new ones from your models will not be better, but it seems like a missed opportunity to not make the MOBs fully 3D, when you already have(will have) the models?

Ofc, having both options would be ideal .)

[SrDucky]

I wonder, when the 3d models are actually created, if it isnt a waste to convert em back to sprites?

What's so cool about this game (to me at least) is how creatively it was designed, a crazy mix of 2d & 3d animation held back by the limitations of its time (and deadlines I'm sure). One of the key goals here in the redesign is not just replacing sprites with higher resolution remade assets but also generating very detailed and highly accurate depth to these 2d images since I will have a 3d source to generate these maps from (like I demonstrate in the dungeon assets section). While testing is very limited currently as I am more focused on just building the assets, once the poses are rigged and generated and fully mapped for replacing the sprites the custom maps also generated will give a very more immersive and enhanced experience when fighting mobs within dungeons, especially with all the lighting mods and other things introduced in this unity implementation.

Think like this level of depth on 2d sprites of enemies coming at you in dark dungeons.
This is a 2D flat image that has the much more highly accurate depth & normal maps created from the 3d source.

thanks for the info on your work.

Another goal isn't just to do this and call it a day, but to document, explain, and when everything is said and done, leave tools, files, and some form of structured system for others to pick up where I might have left off for recreating enemies, sprites, etc easily. I've already written 2 separate programs for remapping these rendered images from blender easily to file format positioning based on how "Daggerfall Imaging 2" Outputs these files and how the game loads sprites. Every sprite model is framed with different dimensions, loaded in game and resized based on those dimensions. Improperly loading sprites with the wrong dimensions causes scaling & enemy hit box issues.

While this is a WIP still, eventually these details and tools will be available once everything is structured and understood better about these methods I am creating.

We have quite detailed sprites already, I dont say those new ones from your models will not be better, but it seems like a missed opportunity to not make the MOBs fully 3D, when you already have(will have) the models?

I like to think of this project more as a self improvement passion project for personally improving my own work within my current profession that also adds to a game I enjoy. One of the best things I've learned in production as far as design and work on triple AAA games is that your work isn't showcased best by having high mesh counts and fancy models but what you're capable of maximizing on a smaller scale. What better way to improve on that skillset then maximizing depth on 2d imaging from original 3d designed meshes while keeping true to the appeal of a core gaming element of the original game itself, exactly how it was originally created but on a much more modern scale.

Goal: Enhance Core Game-Play Experience, Keep true to the original design of the game, Improve on a modern scale.

Right now the models are being optimized to best be rendered as 2D sprites to match the games current state because they can be reproduced, designed, animated, and structured a lot more efficiently than loading the 3d models into a game.

Which comes with a number of new obstacles:

1. What System is in place to load 3d models?
2. What System is in place to play animation within these models?
3. What are the limitations on loading Vertices within the models?
4. How many models can be loaded per scene?
5. Whats are the best average vertices count per model?

Then

1. Model Optimization of all Models (Lower Vertices Count)
2. Baking Textures, Normals, Height Maps
3. Fluid Animation (alot more framing) for that system
4. Object Parenting to 3D Models (Lights, Accessories, Armatures, etc)

None of which are obstacles I'm not interested in possibly tackling, but as far as improvement for my own work, keeping true to the games original design, and actually producing final results, I'm more focused on what can be achieved and maximized on the smaller scale currently. The task at hand (especially with every enemy in game) can be accomplished a lot faster by reducing all these obstacles for 3D. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of expanding beyond my current goals, but all said and done. I think the end result of this mod will produce a lot more creativity and opportunity for the game to grow into even more of an entirely new game experience.