I placed this under conversions rather than skin packs because, while it doesn't really fit 100% in either category, it's closer to a conversion than to a skin pack. The idea of this mod is that it adds/replaces a whole bunch of skins with their Xena or Hercules counterparts. Don't ask me why Luke=Hercules or why the rebel pilot is now a Mon Mothma reskin that still has a man's voice... these details are beyond me. What I do know is that I apparently didn't watch Xena long enough to know who all these characters are, or what they're supposed to look like.
I do know what Xena and Hercules are supposed to look like, though, and I can tell you right off the bat that no base assets model is going to be able to capture either of them... and I wasn't too far off. Most of the skins here actually are a little off, mostly because the faces are one notch down from blasphemy. It's like the author put a lot of effort into adding all this stuff, but very little into refining it. Most of the faces are not quite lined up -- a lot of the mouths don't match the mouth on the model, so when they talk they look silly -- and a lot of skin tones between meshes don't match. And don't even ask me why you would skin an arm texture over a poofy sleeve. That one I can't begin to fathom.
Long story short, this needs a lot of work and a lot more attention before it's playable in an enjoyable fashion. As a big Xena fan myself, I'd love to see a great Xena skin. The one here only has a passing resemblance to Lucy Lawless, which is for me at least a big disappointment for what could be a very interesting mod, if the author would take the extra time, work out the kinks, and really place the appropriate emphasis on the details. The big picture is all good and fine, but without the details it's more of a sketch than a portrait.
~Inyri
Now let’s start by saying that this looked interesting to me and though I was no fan of Hercules and Xena I do like however Greek mythology.
First we’ll talk about all the goodies in this mod. There are sabers, hilts, tons of skins to mix and match, weapon reskins, hotkeys assigned for both cheats and npcs. Also you have a very handy button for changing skins on the fly. And many npcs.
Now let’s discuss the material. Some of the skins look decent but the textures don’t seem that great to me I don’t know why but there is something funky about them. The clothes don’t really look natural up close and the faces seem to have a bit of skin tone mismatch. The sabers were good but not really all that impressive. It comes with a few hilts and while some look good some just look like they were rushed and not fully completed.
Now this pack also replaces the menus and loading screens with a collage of pictures from the characters of the shows but the menus just have a small pig with a red cape which doesn’t really make any sense at all but ok. The Single player campaign was completely changed with the skins on this pack. There were some bugs, at the end there was this bug that maybe only happened to me, but when Tavion is possessed by Ragnos her body is changed to this untextured reborn looking thing. And the same happens when you kill her. Also at the end Kyle’s replacement gets swallowed into the ground and Hercules which replaces Luke is also swallowed only to his hip so you see your character walking next to a legless Hercules and Kyle seems to be talking from under the concrete.
Oh and the Mon Mothma reskin is still acting as a pilot which freaks you out when you hear such manly voice, but I guess it's funny though.
The MP element is just standard, but with all the skins available including the Ragnos reskin which in my opinion is one of the best looking reskins in the pack, adds a bit of variety.
Overall it’s an original idea that fans will love given the options to select either mortals, gods, and demigods. It provides a great selection of outfits and for the male audience there are some provocative outfits included here. The one skin that I would say definitely needs it’s own model is Medusa as the Twi’lek female doesn’t really make justice to this specific character. I hope that the V3 is better, this is an improvement don’t get me wrong I saw V1 but it still needs a lot more work, maybe some more texturing and make the skin tones match, and use shaders to help you out.
So if you like Xena and Hercules or just Ancient Greek Mythology then this pack is for you just don't get your hopes up too much.
Lady_Trinity
*********************************** Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy *********************************** TITLE: Hercules_Xena_Skins_version_2 AUTHOR: Ryanoceros E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: none PROGRAMS USED: Photoshop CS (8.0) for re-skinning. TextEdit (1.4) for all text files. ZipIt (2.2.2) for packaging. FILE NAME / FILE SIZE: HX_autoexec_cfg.pk3 (4 KB) HX_Botfiles.pk3 (112KB) HX_Menu.pk3 (1.4 MB) HX_Shaders.pk3 (8 KB) HX_Levelshots.pk3 (2 MB) HX_GFX.pk3 (3.6 MB) HX_NPC.pk3 (64 KB) HX_Swoops.pk3 (2.6 MB) HX_Droids_Animals.pk3 (7.2 MB) HX_m_Characters1.pk3 (13.2 MB) HX_m_Characters2.pk3 (11.4 MB) HX_m_Characters3.pk3 (16.1 MB) HX_fm_Characters1.pk3 (13 MB) HX_fm_Characters2.pk3 (17.8 MB) HX_Hoth_Clothing.pk3 (4.1 MB) HX_Guns.pk3 (2.6 MB) HX_inf_Ammo.pk3 (4 KB) HX_Sabers_SP_ONLY.pk3 (3.8 MB) HX_Sabers_MP_ONLY.pk3 (2.7 MB) (Total SIze = 101.8 MB) FUNCTIONALITY: FFA - Yes TFFA - Yes CTF - Yes Duel - Yes Power Dual - Yes Siege - Possibly... I've never played it, let alone tested it, but some of the characters probably work there too. As I recall, I did a few of the siege.skin files. BOT Support - Yes Single Player - Yes, Yes! NPC Support - Yes, including spawn Playermodel support. Music (MP & SP) - Yes (need to download separately). SPECIAL FEATURES: Infinite Ammunition - Yes Powerful weapons attainable from enemies in early levels. - Yes Saber Selection Increased at Menu. - Yes Game Difficulty Increased - Yes, but not too much. IMO anyway. Custom Keyboard/AutoExec Settings - Yes (See Autoexec_Read_Me.rtf) DATE RELEASED: 26, Sept 2007 CREDITS: This is where I need to give credit where credit is due. I'm the guy who did all the work on this mod. However.... ACTIVISION, RAVEN, OR LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC deserves credit for their models and the Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy game, and Hercules : The Legendary Journeys is a trademark and copyright of Universal TV Distribution Holdings LLC, and Universal Television Enterprises LLLP. Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLLP. All rights reserved. They deserve credit for their cool characters, television show, photographs and set design, of which many of these skins were based. And Xena : Warrior Princess is a trademark and copyright of Studios USA Television Distribution LLC .Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLLP. All rights reserved. They also deserve credit for their cool characters, tv show, photographs and set design, of which some of these skins were also based. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS: Read the MUST_READ_ME file first, and then just put the appropriate files in the base folder. IMPORTANT WARNING: You should first make sure to remove all other npc / pk3 files before trying this mod. I've maxed-out the npc limit. It will almost certainly crash if you don't remove your other npc files first (if you have any). So don't complain if it keeps crashing on you because you didn't read this warning. DESCRIPTION: This is a very large re-skin, actually a conversion pack, with both Single Player and Multi Player in mind. I've re-skinned all weapons, animals, and almost all the characters in the entire game. In addition, I've re-skinned some of the GFX files, and added pictures, made a music file that you can download separately. Lots to enjoy. Be sure to see my other read me file (Spawn_Read_Me.rtf) for the npc and playermodel spawn names. BUGS: There's only one bug that I noticed and couldn't figure out how to fix... It's probably something in the .glm file. But I'm on a mac. Oh well... When Hera (Tavion) gets absorbed by Cronus (Ragnos) for a moment, during the video, Hera's skin turns gray, but when the action starts again she's back to normal. No big deal, just a little annoying. COMMENTS: This is the second version of my first and only modification for Jedi Academy.... or any other game.. It started as a simple mod, only wanting to make Hercules and Xena, but then I decided Hercules needs his little buddy, Iolaus, and Xena needs her buddies, Gabrielle and Joxer, and well, naturally it just kept growing and growing from there. I started to think it might be possible to redo the entire game but then realized what an enormous task that would be, not to mention impossible on a Mac, so you and I will have to settle for what I can do. But hopefully, *someone* with a PC and 3DS Max and/or Radiant will make a Model and / or Map. It would be cool to have some creatures like Echidna, Cerberus, Kraken, Harpies, etc. As well as a MP or SP map of Ancient Greece, with Mount Olympus, Athens, etc. Maybe someone will take up the challenge? ... Oh, and Xena simply has to have a chakram to throw, right? :) ***Yes, there will be a version number 3! You can expect improved clothing and details in the next version.**** 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.
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