sikabuneura

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Canto Forte

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New sorcerer in town. Move over, Lexi!

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And then the little extra render. I'm not a massive fan of spell circles as casting effects. But at the same time, they are one of the more straightforward ways to show it. I would love tiny sparkles around the hand. Then the circle indicates at the target location that things are happening there. There are a couple of assets like that, but I don't particularly like their effects. They are not subtle enough for my taste.

And what I don't like about this render is that it's heavy. Sure, it's done on the graphics card running the screens, so there are about 2 or 3 GB of programs using the VRAM before this, but still, it's taking 11 GB of VRAM. The increase in VRAM usage between Genesis 8 vs. 8.1 is one of the reasons I'm not fond of 8.1 that much. But being fair, I would need to test the scene on the "proper" rendering card to see what is going on with it.

It might be the other programs eating the VRAM. But as is, there couldn't be that many characters on the screen. And granted, it is an unoptimized scene as well. The Ent that is on fire doesn't need 8k textures it probably has. Hell, even 2k textures aren't required at this distance. The same goes for the trees in the background. And a few other things. Well, I'll have to save it and try it on another day. So why did I do this? Honestly, it's testing, the clothes on Tomas, the effects, the Ent or Tree Giant as it is called. I need to know what I can use beforehand to plan future scenes. If it is this heavy, I can only add one or two extra figures to this scene with my current hardware.

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And this? I previously mentioned that I do "daily motivational renders." More often than not, they are just something random that comes to my head. Maybe I get an idea from talking to someone, or just it's something I dreamed of. Or just something I just wanted to do because why not? This particular render resulted from a chat I had with a friend, then I decided to expand with something. I did some post-work on it just to keep some skills up. Probably going to forget it until I do it again next time.
 

Canto Forte

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1663613634155.png

Alright, you have seen her before, but I wasn't happy with her. And after some random discussion about things, I pulled her file up and started trying different skins and a few other things. And in the end, this is better than the original blue version. So now I'm happy.

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Bloom is one of those render settings I have little knowledge of despite reading a ton about it. I know it can do some nice effects, but most of the time, when I try to do things with it just doesn't come out right. In this render, I'm using the set's default render settings for most parts. Now, if I try to replicate it on some other, it will fail miserably. Well, maybe one day.

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Since there is no preview this time, it's just an extra render(s). As said earlier, I'm not a big fan of using spell circles as casting effects, but as you can see in this, there aren't many alternatives.

The problem in that render? The hand sparks. They would work if this were a nighttime render, but it would limit too much on the storytelling side. Well, unless I would be planning on making a story about vampires.

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And then this, same render, different effects. You saw this a few times in Sorcerer, they work okay, but they aren't what I'm looking for as a casting effect. And it has a similar visibility issue.

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And then the third time is the charm, spell circles. Ultimately, even though the lady's spell circle is a bit hazy to see, that's due to the color. It gives the "best" indication overall that they are doing something.

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Then, have a horse and a rider just because I wanted to do it. Okay, it was mostly to try out the horse. I like the horse. I isn't resource heavy and looks better than Daz Horse 2 in most cases as general purpose horse. Special ones like unicorn or the nightmare still be on Daz Horse 2, simply because they were made for it and look better than the default textures.
 

ClockworkGnome

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Sep 18, 2021
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Well of course the patch isn't here anymore, download and let it overwrite the script.rpa.
What exactly is this patch? General bug-fix? Something related to their specific problem as opposed to something that everyone should DL? Something else?

Just curious if I should be downloading it as well.
 

Talothral

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What exactly is this patch? General bug-fix? Something related to their specific problem as opposed to something that everyone should DL? Something else?

Just curious if I should be downloading it as well.
It has a pile of bug fixes mostly around the epilogue area, typos be damned with variables.
 

testpoke

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Apr 28, 2019
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Can somebody add more mirrors for the compressed version. It's getting very difficult to download the whole thing with a slow mirror.
 

ClockworkGnome

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Sep 18, 2021
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The only one you can really fuck up with is Sabrina, and with the first choice, no less. Everyone else has various thresholds, there will be a second chance after some time to think and a few heart-to-heart conversations. Unless you never made choices resulting in positive reactions then yeah...
Question about this from earlier in the thread (and I wasn't able to find any other answers to it from keyword searching).

Does telling Sabrina you're not interested in having opportunistic sex with her in her first scene lock her out for the rest of the game? It seems like the better choice at the time (it's the more "gentlemanly" answer, and she reacts better to it than the alternative), but I just finished a playthrough where she never seemed to show interest ever again (though she did still take part in the scene with Dagna), and didn't get her epilogue... so I'm assuming she takes that as a permanent rejection? Or did I screw something up later on? Curious because it seems like if that's the mistake I made there it's one of the few points in the game where being a bit more crude/crass is the "right" answer rather than taking the more noble option.

Also missed the Mei/Zoey path, but I've seemingly pinned that one down to not throwing the dagger at the wall. Which, again, seems a bit counter-intuitive, but at least I have some idea of where I went wrong there (and can puzzle out a plausible explanation for why it changes things).

Only other issue I seemed to have was Alexander musing during the epilogue that he could have done more for Li... which I'm not sure if that's her standard ending or if I missed something there (because as far as I can tell, I always agreed to everything she asked for and went her route whenever possible). I'm kind of curious to know if there's a way to get a better ending for her or if that's all there is.

I'm going to start up a second run next (time to side with the Association and rescue a unicorn), so we'll see how things go differently this time...


Oh, and one other thing from waaay back in the topic:


is it just me or this game seems to be a little bit based off of White Wolf Mage games
I had the same thought, but part of that is because a lot of "urban fantasy" style games/settings tend to have a fair number of similarities, and part of it is because I've always been a huge White Wolf/World of Darkness/Mage: the Ascension fan so I always tend to map things to the WoD archetypes in my head (so the Association feels like the Order of Hermes, Asian mages call to mind the Akashic Brotherhood, the Inquisition is a thing, etc).

No clue if Talothral took any inspiration from those games or just came up with everything independently (because again, modern supernatural fantasy tends to have a lot of tropes in common), but it definitely added a bit to my enjoyment of things.
 

Talothral

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Jul 8, 2020
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Okay, the historical butchering the quote time!
Question about this from earlier in the thread (and I wasn't able to find any other answers to it from keyword searching).

Does telling Sabrina you're not interested in having opportunistic sex with her in her first scene lock her out for the rest of the game? It seems like the better choice at the time (it's the more "gentlemanly" answer, and she reacts better to it than the alternative), but I just finished a playthrough where she never seemed to show interest ever again (though she did still take part in the scene with Dagna), and didn't get her epilogue... so I'm assuming she takes that as a permanent rejection? Or did I screw something up later on? Curious because it seems like if that's the mistake I made there it's one of the few points in the game where being a bit more crude/crass is the "right" answer rather than taking the more noble option.
No, the more gentlemanly answer is the right answer, the issue lies somewhere else you did or didn't. Although the scene with Dagna shouldn't have happened either, probably missed a variable there.... hmmm.

From the top of my head, not in any particular order:
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I think that was it, don't recall how many "points" you need to get invited upstairs after your visit to the Association with her.

Also missed the Mei/Zoey path, but I've seemingly pinned that one down to not throwing the dagger at the wall. Which, again, seems a bit counter-intuitive, but at least I have some idea of where I went wrong there (and can puzzle out a plausible explanation for why it changes things).
The dagger thing is explained by Mei, basically right after the scene.
Edit: Basically the whole idea of the scene is to prove to Kai that magic is real without casting a spell at that point simply because he wants to keep him in the dark about what he is.

Only other issue I seemed to have was Alexander musing during the epilogue that he could have done more for Li... which I'm not sure if that's her standard ending or if I missed something there (because as far as I can tell, I always agreed to everything she asked for and went her route whenever possible). I'm kind of curious to know if there's a way to get a better ending for her or if that's all there is.
It's referring to the Mei route, bringing Mei and Li together without secrets is kind of a good thing for both of their companies in the long run. Note that the choice between Li and dealing with Mr. Meadows doesn't have an effect on Li as is. It's essentially a choice do you want GILF orgy or not.


Oh, and one other thing from waaay back in the topic:


I had the same thought, but part of that is because a lot of "urban fantasy" style games/settings tend to have a fair number of similarities, and part of it is because I've always been a huge White Wolf/World of Darkness/Mage: the Ascension fan so I always tend to map things to the WoD archetypes in my head (so the Association feels like the Order of Hermes, Asian mages call to mind the Akashic Brotherhood, the Inquisition is a thing, etc).

No clue if Talothral took any inspiration from those games or just came up with everything independently (because again, modern supernatural fantasy tends to have a lot of tropes in common), but it definitely added a bit to my enjoyment of things.
Not really no. I know of Vampire (mostly Masquerade not the new one), Mage, Wraith, Werewolf, and Hunter... I think there was something else there but I forgot, but generally the World of Darkness. I've read and played all of them in some way. But mostly where the inspiration came from was mythologies, folklore/tales, and actual history. A lot of stuff was already there, Inquisition was a thing, and it doesn't take much imagination to see it continuing to this day in secrecy. Maybe even have some sort of "civil war" of their own when various branches of Christianity emerged (Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, Orthodox, etc), even to the point of some abandoning the origins together. A lot of the historical secret societies, brotherhoods, and similar are easy to spin into some sort of magical organization or have their roots in one.

The setting, Shattered Seals, is basically the setting where I've written most of my modern-day stories, with or without paranormal aspects. Granted, the setting isn't really limited to the modern day as is, it can be used (and has) at any point of human history.

And as you said, a lot of, well all, urban fantasy that takes place on Earth has the same roots. We take mythology, folklore, folktales, beliefs, and history, then spin them into yarn and weave a tapestry of our own. All have the same wool, and the same frame, but each tells a different tale.
 
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ClockworkGnome

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Sep 18, 2021
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And most importantly, don't lecture her when she messes up her spell.
Ahh - that was almost certainly it. I did everything else on the list, but I couldn't resist turning that scene into a bit of a teachable moment.

And yeah, if the Dagna threesome wasn't supposed to happen if Sabrina was locked out, then there might be a flag issue somewhere because I definitely got it. But it's probably not a huge problem. It does kind of come out of nowhere (since you've never been with her before and suddenly she's up for it), and doesn't seem to lead to anything (at least with Sabrina), but the dialogue of the scene doesn't completely conflict (ie, Sabrina doesn't really mention any previous sex scenes or an established relationship). So it can kind of come across like she's just being really spontaneous.

It was just kind of funny to me because I thought it was the start of her scenes (and an abrupt start at that), only to find out that it was the only one I'd gotten and I'd apparently missed something somewhere else.


It's referring to the Mei route, bringing Mei and Li together without secrets is kind of a good thing for both of their companies in the long run. Note that the choice between Li and dealing with Mr. Meadows doesn't have an effect on Li as is. It's essentially a choice do you want GILF orgy or not.
Well, I obviously went for GILF orgy first time through. :p

During that scene I also suggested to the ladies that I'd prefer for them to share contacts with Mei rather than just becoming clients, because that seemed like the more beneficial choice. But if the actual important choice/scene was hidden behind Mei's route it explains why I missed it.


I know of Vampire (mostly Masquerade not the new one), Mage, Wraith, Werewolf, and Hunter... I think there was something else there but I forgot
Changeling: The Dreaming and Demon: The Fallen. Also there was side stuff like Kindred of the East (Asian vampires and Changing Kin) and Mummy: The Resurrection. And then there was various spin-off titles like Orpheus (which was sort of a stealth reworking of Wraith) and the different historical lines (Vampire: The Dark Ages, Victorian Age Vampire, Werewolf: Wild West, Mage: Sorcerers Crusade, etc).

Then there was tons of stuff for the "New World of Darkness" line (also known as the Chronicles of Darkness), but it's all mostly just more generic versions of the original lines, and I never really got into it myself, so I'm not going to list them.

(And then there was Ars Magica, which was White Wolf's original game line and sort of the prelude to the World of Darkness, that eventually got spun off into its own separate setting run by a different company. Which was the main reason why the Order of Hermes was a thing in Mage and Clan Tremere was a thing in Vampire. Or Exalted, which started out as the implied ancient past of the World of Darkness before White Wolf sort of separated the two into different settings.)

It's part of why it's always so tempting to assume any urban fantasy story/setting is at least partly inspired by the World of Darkness (either directly or by proxy) - because the World of Darkness covered so many bases. If you can think of almost anything from real world fantasy, mythology, or religion, it probably shows up somewhere in the World of Darkness. But since other people can just as easily draw from the same reference sources White Wolf did, it's always possible to come up with mage groups, vampire clans, werewolf tribes, or whatever else entirely separate from the WoD.
 
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Canto Forte

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I decided to dig into my motivational render archive. Granted, they were rendered today as I just made the scenes some time ago, namely because I didn't have a way to render them. The render below just ate 22 GB of VRAM, okay, realistically, probably 18 GB since, if I'm not wrong, there was 4GB of stuff in the memory already.

1664211689992.png

It looks great. It doesn't take much to make a good-looking render if you have the hardware. However, I wouldn't use that in a game as is. Okay, it took just 7 or 9 minutes to render. Honestly forgot which, but there are unnecessary things in there. Things that aren't seen on the camera, like the rest of the castle. And some of the textures are too large for the distance they appear. You don't need to see the skin details on the guy in the back because you can't make them out anyway.

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A lot of fantasy stuff. I said it previously, fantasy is easy to make something flashy and spectacular. And as much as I like it, sci-fi tends to be a bit less spectacular a lot of time. Unless you pull out lightsabers and space fights with lasers, but I haven't really been in the mood for sci-fi renders, mostly because I currently work with sci-fi renders daily. And when I work in fantasy I mostly due sci-fi renders. Go figure.

But, there is method to this madness. Paintings, tv screens, computer screens, etc. I don't like looking and taking random images from the internet and use them as paintings for example. There are several reasons for it, but most importantly, when I create my own I'm adding those little touches that makes it truly unique and mine.
 

Talothral

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Ahh - that was almost certainly it. I did everything else on the list, but I couldn't resist turning that scene into a bit of a teachable moment.
Yeah, it makes sense from the master/apprentice point of view. But not that many want to be lectured right after they fuck up something ;)
 

Canto Forte

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1664780226959.png

Progress 30.09.2022


And then we come to the extra render, might need to take a pause with these at some point, but then again, they are just for fun mostly. Anyhow, lighting is one of the hardest aspects of making renders. It's easy to flood the scene with "neutral" light to see all the details, but that isn't necessarily right. There are several problems with lighting. Namely, the shadows are too sharp. Well, I'd like them to be softer. And maybe a bit too much light. Now that the last one is subjective, realistically speaking, the light value should be half of what it is, but then it would be too dark to see. There are already difficulties in seeing some things in the image as is.

The light issues get a bit more difficult more "primitive" tech is used. TRS2 is easy to light. It needs to look artificial because it is fully artificial light on a space station. Modern settings can be a bit pain simply because most rooms have just a singular light source in the middle of a room. Everything else comes from windows, some screens, and other minor sources. And our eyes automatically adjust to the lighting of the room. But the time before electricity? Oh boy. I'm... a fan of a certain degree of realism, so neutral "white" light with that render just causes my brain to scream. This is why the temperature of the ambient light is the same as the torches, giving an orangeish look. But thankfully, my settings have magic, so in those scenes where I need details showing, I can add light fairly easily and not cause my brain to nag: "nooo, that tone of light is unrealistic. Spend the next 15 hours tweaking it until it is in perfect harmony with the rest of the lights."
 
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