Well, due to the feedback given about certain problems in the JK2 version of this mod by the community, D'halaine here presents us with a fixed and updated version of his excellent compilation mod. Apparently there were some problems with the effects for some of the weapons and missing shaders and textures here and there, but this seems to have been fixed now.
So, download away! :)
Original Review:
***NOTE*** This is the JK2 version of this mod, if you want the JKA version please go here: UltimateWeapons -JKA Version
Well here it is finally! The Ultimate Weapons mod v1.3! I reviewed the trailer for this a few weeks back and was deeply impressed with what I saw. Realistic explosion physics and effects, better weapons sounds and better weapons effects too, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this mod, and now…here it is!
And it certainly doesn’t disappoint!
What we have here is a very comprehensive collection of both some of the author’s own work, and the best of other modder’s work too, all compiled into one all encompassing mod! There’s simply too much for me to describe here, so I will get right to the best bits!
New Sounds
As far as I could see (or should I say heard?) it seems like every weapons sound sets have been replaced with movie accurate sounds. One of the most noticeable is the sounds for the E-11 Blaster rifle. To be honest I wasn’t that fond of the default JKA sounds for the E-11, they seemed a bit too high pitched. Thankfully this mod completely changes the sounds to ones that are much more like those you actually here in the films (like the detention center breakout from A New Hope). I also liked the change of sounds for the Flechette launcher and Bryar pistol too.
All in all a vast improvement over the default JKA sounds, and that goes for all the weapons!
Also included are new lightsaber sounds, which sound more like the ones from the Original Films and also the original Jedi Knight games, along with new sounds for force powers and melee attacks too. I liked the change of the force power sounds, they now sound much more discreet and realistic compared to the rather loud default JKA ones.
New Weapons
Here the mod gets even better. Not only does it have completely new sounds, there are also four new weapons or should I say, replacement weapons included. Three are the Bryar pistol, E-11 Blaster rifle and Thermal Detonator from the JKA Dark Forces 2 mod (which replace their respective default weapons), and the other is the DC-15A more commonly known as the Clone Trooper blaster rifle, from the Movie Battles II mod.
The new improved repeater rifle, with new shot effects and sounds looks much better than the original, but if you want a change from that, just put the optional DC-15A .pk3 in your base folder and the repeater is replaced with the clone rifle.
The Wookiee Bowcaster has also been given a good polish up, as have some of the other weapons.
New Weapon Effects
Along with new sounds and some replacement weapons this mod also has new weapon effects. For example, new muzzle flashes and blaster bolts. The projectiles for the repeater rifle have been changed to look bluish and the secondary fire has been changed as well, which I think looks great. Its pretty similar with the rest of the weapons, the E-11 blaster bolts have been changed, and now look much better, as have the firing effects for other weapons. The lightsaber has also received an upgrade with new blades made by D'halaine to look more like the saber blades seen in Episode 3
One interesting case is the Bowcaster. We all know that in the JK Games thus far (at least Mysteries of the Sith, JK2 and JKA) the Bowcaster bolts have traditionally been green. However, if you look at the original films, the Bowcaster bolts are actually red. This mod changes the green bolts to red, thus making it more realistic to the films. If though, you don’t like the red, there is an extra .pk3 you can put in your Base folder, which will change them back green again. But not only does it change the colour, it also improves the green Bowcaster bolt effects, so it is now much improved.
New Particle Effects
This was one area I was super happy with! It seems to be an unusual (mostly male) characteristic that we like watching things explode and blow up. Whilst women on the other hand like nice quiet romantic stories…well give me a few explosions any day! :P
Well I am very happy to say that the explosions and particle effects have been massively improved over the default JKA ones. The explosions now actually look like powerful the explosions that you would expect to get from Thermal Detonators or Rocket Launchers. Along with that are all the little chunks of things and sparks and shrapnel that fly everywhere (very realistically).
Along with the explosions is the new blaster hit effects. Instead of just a black blob on the wall (or indeed another player!) when you hit it with a blaster bolt, you now get what looks like a proper hole that’s been blasted out. Along with that you also get little glowy bits in the middle, and even a small tongue of flame (also like we saw in the movies when a Stormie blasts a chunk out of a wall).
Extras
On top of all of that, as I have already said, there are some replacement weapons, and a handy .pk3 file for changing the Bowcaster bolt colours around from red to green and back again. Then there is also another couple of optional .pk3 files, which you can choose to use.
One is a .pk3 file, which is called; ‘zzz_UltimateWeapons_LQEffects.pk3’. As the name suggests if you find that your computer is running slowly with the full-on-super-high-quality effects, you can put that .pk3 in your base folder and it makes the effects simpler and less taxing on your systems resources, which is great if you have a slower computer. I really think that was a nice thing to add in there, as it makes the mod even more accessible to people. :)
Lastly we have another optional .pk3 which disables the blood effects in the mod. Personally I’m not that fond of blood effects, since laser bolts and lightsaber blades would in reality cauterise the wound and should stop it from bleeding…there goes my geek side again! :P
The blood effects are on as default in the mod, but if you don’t want them to appear, you can put the ‘zzz_UltimateWeapons_NoBlood.pk3’ in your base folder and this will remove the blood splatter effects.
Conclusion
All in all then an absolutely fantastic mod here, and what is more, it works in Single Player too! Though there is the possibility that this mod will conflict with other weapons mod’s and such, but that is to be expected considering how many things this changes. So if you want to know more about that, take a look in the files readme for more information.
To be honest, this compilation is as close as I think it is possible to get to a perfect all round weapons mod for Jedi Academy, it truly recreates the movie feel in the game. And personally I think that this really breathes some fresh life into JKA when you play it.
Fantastic work here D'halaine!
I very strongly recommend a download here, you wont be disappointed! :D
~Nozyspy~
*************************** Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast *************************** Title: UltimateWeapons (FIXED) Version: 1.3 Author: Kahn D'halaine E-Mail: [email protected] MSN: [email protected] Website: http://hosted.filefront.com/Dahlaine File Name: UltimateWeapons_JK2.zip File Size: 16 Mb Date Released: June 22 2008 Contents: UltimateWeapons_JK2.pk3, xyz_bryar_pistol.pk3, xyz_dc-15A_pah.pk3, xyz_green_bowcaster.pk3, zzz_UltimateWeapons_LQEffects.pk3 & zzz_UltimateWeapons_NoBlood.pk3. Descriptions for each file below. ReadMe.txt, Dark Forces Mod Contacts.txt, MBII ReadMe.txt, DC-15A ReadMe.txt, REAL Sounds ReadMe.txt, Weapons Upgrade v.2 ReadMe.txt, TK-231's Special Effects Mod V1 Base ReadMe.txt. I: INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS II: DESCRIPTION III: OPTIONAL FILES IV: KNOWN BUGS V: PROGRAMS USED VI: CREDITS VII: SPECIAL THANKS VIII: AUTHOR'S COMMENTS IX: LEGAL NOTES & DISCLAIMER ----------------------------- INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS ----------------------------- Extract the desired files to your JKA Base directory. Note that other mods may interfere with my mod. PK3:s are loaded in this hierarchy: Mod directory/PK3:s Mod directory/files in folders Base/PK3:s PK3:s are loaded alphabetically, and therefore you can't name a mod something like "aaa_mymod.pk3" as it would be overridden by the base JKA assets. Thus you can override the effects in OJP and ForceMod by placing UltimateWeapons in their mod folder. ----------------------------- DESCRIPTION ----------------------------- Finally UltimateWeapons is out! There are so many changes in this, so I won't remember to mention them all. I can conclude this mod by the words "movie authency" and "enhancement". Let me quote the intro of the TRAILER (check it out! [URL]http://jediknight3.filefront.com/file/UltimateWeapons_Trailer;90171[/URL]), that Nozy found so descriptive: "This mod was intended to recreate the look, sound and the very FEELING of Star Wars - something I felt missing in JKA. To accomplish this I put together the best of all weapons mods I found along with my own work, to make a perfect weapons mod. This is: ULTIMATE WEAPONS" That says pretty much it what this is. The weapons have been altered to resemble the movies (those that are in the movies) or just enhanced, such as the explosions. Let's go for the general: IMPACT EFFECTS: New impact effects based on the MBII effects, a.k.a. TK-231's Special Effects Mod V1 Base, by TK-231. They are much more movie-like (like everything else, so I won't mention that anymore), with lots of sparks, smoke, chunks, lightflashes and all you could ask for. The effect is random, with different sizes, sounds (there are 80 different impact sounds!) and burnmarks (these are brand new!). EXPLOSIONS: Much bigger explosions with lots of smoke, fire and that stuff accompanied to great sounds! MODELS: Most models have been enhanced by a chrome shader to make them shiny, and a hand shown on the 1st person models (cred to PerfectJamie @ Massassi). Some are brand new (the DFMod models). ICONS & TEXT: All weapon icons have been remade to show the improved weapons. The text strings have also been altered for some of the weapons - instead of just saying E-11 Blaster Rifle and Thermal Detonator they now say BlasTech E-11 Blaster Rifle and Baradium- core Thermal Detonator. SOUNDS: Of course the sounds are according to the movies. Here're some extended descriptions: LIGHTSABER: The lightsaber blades are my own Ep3-style blades, with the pointed tip. Uses the much more realistic clash effect from OJP and MBII. The sounds are the grinding ones from the classical trilogy, with very good impact sounds and activation/deactivation sounds. The regular saberon is Luke's saber from ROTJ, the saberoff... I can't really think of that I heard something different in the first movies. That sound is actually the only thing that has survived from the first version (unreleased) of this mod. The enemy saberon and -off is from Dooku's saber, in AOTC and ROTS. The new icon is Obi-Wan's saber from ROTS. THE FORCE: Movie-like push/pull and grip sounds (oh, I just got a Dejá Vú), the well-known "Force Rumble". This is best heard using a subwoofer (it's shaky!). The effects of these are invisible. The lighting sound is the same as when Dooku blasts Anakin and Yoda in AOTC, with an improved effect; much blueer, electrical-like with lightbeams coming from the user's palm. Force Speed sound like if you go into a different form of existance or something like that, that the time is being slowed down. You who have played JK2 will most probably recognize the Sense and Rage sounds as the ambient sounds in the Valley of the Jedi. BLASTECH DL-44 HEAVY BLASTER PISTOL: Replacement from JKA for the Bryar, sounds like Han Solo's pistol in ANH and ESB. BLASTECH E-11 BLASTER RIFLE: Much better models with darker textures, shinier shader, and the sounds... They're like a dream, from the blasting in ANH. TENLOSS DXR-6 DISRUPTOR RIFLE: Looks like it's a brand new weapon - shiny! Really nice sounds, effects and a new scope, based on the A280 scope in MBII. The disintegration effect is now a lot of fire and smoke that leaves a pile of ashes for some seconds... WOOKIE BOWCASTER: Polished by a furry hand, sounds like Chewie's firing in ESB and ROTJ. Red bolts as default, but green is optional. IMPERIAL HEAVY REPEATER: Sounds like the repeater in Dark Forces with its blue bolts. DEMP2: Probably the most polished gun of them all... Much more electrical effects, and there comes smoke from the muzzle when firing, inspired from the Jawa ion gun in ANH. GOLAN ARMS FC1 FLECHETTE WEAPON: Now fires red-hot metal shards, as the description says! The shards stay buried in the wall for some time. Sounds much more shotgun-like. The alt-fire is shield-protected frag-grenades that spread lots of shrapnel when they go. I also added a "grenade goes into position" sound after each fired grenade. MERR-SONN PLX-2M PORTABLE MISSILE SYSTEM: Oh my, in ForceMod II with f_scaleFirearmDamage set to 5 these are feared, as they blow you apart like nothing! The explosion is much bigger, the sounds are great with a "place new missile in position" sound after each firing. The smoketrail is made much longer, with a matching powerful loop sound. I also reskinned the missiles to dark grey. BARADIUM-CORE THERMAL DETONATOR: Now this looks like it should do, a big expanding glowing sphere of doom... New models, sounds, you name it! Sounds exactly like the thermal Boushh (a.k.a. Leia) holds up in Jabba's palace in ROTJ. TRIP MINES: Red laser beams... Big explosion if you touch'em... Really nice sounds... DETONATION PACKS: New sounds and a big explosion with a lot of smoke... ITEMS: New item respawn sound (dunno how to describe it), bacta sound like some sort of hydrualic injection and a new chat sound like a short comradio static. Oh, and the spawn effects! Big beam(s) that leaves a little mark on the ground where you spawned. The portable sentry now fires green bolts and sound like a big ship cannon (the Lady Luck cannon, the cannons aboard the Dreadnaught). MISC SOUND CHANGES: New sounds for weapon switching, low ammo warning and hologram sounds for the opening cutscene. GAME FUNCION CHANGES: I've edited the weapons.dat script to make some weapons fire a little faster and increased the ammo limit, only for SP though. That's it for the main mod, UltimateWeapons.pk3. Now for the additional PK3:s! ----------------------------- OPTIONAL FILES ----------------------------- There are some additional files that alter the weapons in some ways: BRYAR PISTOL REPLACEMENT - xyz_bryar_pistol.pk3: Replaces the DL-44 with Kyle Katarn's modified Bryar pistol from Dark Forces, with appropiate sound from Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2. BLASTECH DC-15A RIFLE REPLACEMENT - xyz_dc-15A_pah.pk3: Replaces the repeater with the DC-15A clone trooper rifle by Pahricida for MBII. New sounds and effects by me. GREEN BOWCASTER BOLTS - xyz_green_bowcaster.pk3: Makes the bowcaster effects green, with different sounds. LOW QUALITY EFFECTS - zzz_UltimateWeapons_LQEffects.pk3: If you find the effects laggy due to all the sparks, try setting fx_expensivePhysics to 0 (don't know if this exist in JK2) or place this file in Base. It lowers the number/removes the sparks and makes the smoke fade faster. NO BLOOD - zzz_UltimateWeapons_NoBlood.pk3: If you don't think blood fit into Star Wars or just don't like blood, this is the file for you! Removes the blood splats from the effects, but leaves a slight red smoke, because in Ep1 when Obi cuts Maul in half, there's coming reddish smoke from the cut. Did Obi hax the system even in his young days, or what do you think? ----------------------------- KNOWN BUGS ----------------------------- Sometimes the effects disappear when many are active, due to the game's sprite limitation. Use zzz_UltimateWeapons_LQEffects.pk3 to solve this. The chrome shaders may not work properly in MP, at least they don't for me. I have no solution to this. Note that other mods may interfere with my mod. PK3:s are loaded in this hierarchy: Mod directory/PK3:s Mod directory/files in folders Base/PK3:s PK3:s are loaded alphabetically, and therefore you can't name a mod something like "aaa_mymod.pk3" as would be overridden by the base JK2 assets. Report any bugs you may find, and give me some feedback while you're mailing me. ;P ----------------------------- PROGRAMS USED (This is where I brag 'bout my programs ;D) ----------------------------- NotePad, the modders best tool! EffectsEd ShaderEd2 ModView Audacity Adobe Photoshop 7 PakScape That's all you'll need for a mod this size, and a whole lotta patience! But it's fun, and you get a lot of computer experience. ----------------------------- CREDITS ----------------------------- Yikes, this is much! Since I've taken some material directly, or modified taken material from other mods, that must result in much cred to be mentioned. Here we go: Dark Forces Modification : Weapon models (blaster, bryar, thermal detonator) - Salvador Barale, Luke Ashdown (http://darkforces.jediknight.net) Movie Battles II Team : Textures, original effects, sounds (http://www.moviebattles.com) Weapons Upgrade - PerfectJamie : 1st person models with hand shown (http://www.massassi.net/levels/files/2621.shtml) BlasTech DC-15A - Pahricida : Optional Heavy Repeater replacement models (http://jediknight3.filefront.com/file/Blastech_DC15A;72979) Beast : DL-44 Pistol 3rd person model (http://www.moviebattles.com) Haps Trooper - HapSlash : 3rd person blaster model (http://jediknight3.filefront.com/file/Haps_Trooper;24382) TK-231's Special Effects Mod V1 Base : Original effects (same as in MBII) (http://jediknight3.filefront.com/file/TK231s_Special_Effects_Mod_V1_Base;81812) REAL Sounds - Neo_mp5 : Force Push/Pull sounds, Disruptor firing sounds (http://jediknight3.filefront.com/file/REAL_Sounds;48655) Many, many, MANY sound effects - FanFiles.com : Almost all sound effects (http://www.fan-files.com/) ----------------------------- SPECIAL THANKS ----------------------------- All the guys mentioned above, my friends for support and good friendship, Inyri Forge for helping me to put the mod up to the JKFiles rules, Dave Klope (a.k.a. Jedi_Mediator) for inspiration, the guys at Raven for a great game, my family for having the patience with me, Ben Burtt for original sound design, and very special thanks to George Lucas, for the creation of Star Wars. ----------------------------- AUTHOR'S COMMENTS ----------------------------- Hope you will appreciate my work with this, it took a loooong time to complete. This is the first of a bunch of mods I've had piled up. The thing is that I wanted to release everything chronologically, so this is what will come up: Kahn D'halaine's Lightsaber: My personal lightsaber, my very first modelling work. Trooper Voice Mod: Changes the sound of the Stormtroopers to those heard in the movies and Dark Forces 2, and also changes the voice of Trandoshans to something more trando-like, and some other voices as well. Camera and Time Script: A .cfg script for SP that allows you to easily manipulate the third person camera (great for modellers looking for good screenshots) and timescale command (can make up for some interesting movies). I am also a member of the Harry Potter Modification Team, a.k.a. FlashLight B. ----------------------------- LEGAL NOTES & DISCLAIMER ----------------------------- THIS MODIFICATION IS NOT MADE, DISTRIBUTED, OR SUPPORTED BY ACTIVISION, RAVEN OR LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC. ELEMENTS TM & © LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC AND/OR ITS LICENSORS. THIS MODIFICATION IS RELEASED "AS IS", AND ITS CREATOR TAKES NO RESPONSABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY DAMAGE IT MAY CAUSE IN ANY WAY. THIS MODIFICATION IS COPYRIGHT © 2008 Jesper "Dahlaine | Kahn D'halaine" Mattiasson. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IF YOU WISH TO USE ANY COMPONENTS FROM THIS MODIFICATION, PLEASE ASK ME FIRST, AND I WILL MOST LIKELY SAY 'YES'.
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