whoa... i dont believe it.... HORSES!

Lafferty · Post by **Lafferty** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:38 pm

A preview on the vault... as of yesterday...

True Rideable Horses Preview!

How lucky is this community? BioWare has said that rideable horses will never happen, so the onus fell upon the community to come up with their own solution. Showing just how resourceful the community is, we have not one but two great projects to bring true rideable horses to the game!

Last week Basanda let me know that he's successfully created rideable horses using the horse model released over a year ago by the DLA team, which was then worked on by Finniksa. Using that as a base, he's created all new animations, many cool scripting enhancements and also implemented the most important aspect, the ability for players to ride horses in their true form. Previous attempts at rideable horses forced players to take a pre-mounted character. Basanda's version changes all that. He is currently working with the Faerun-Nights project in order to get it ready for release and here's what he had to say about his work along with some screenshots he's sent:

One thing I've always felt about NWN is the gaping hole left by the lack of rideable steeds. So I set about this project, under the banner of the Faerun-Nights project, to achieve just that. The project has been very fruitful, and until very recently, utterly secret. It has now been in closed beta-testing, along with the entire Faerun-Nights module, for over a month now. With this system, players can mount their steeds, and actually see their character, complete with weapons, armour and full kit, on the back of their horse.

Features include:

* 6 different types of horse, including warhorses for the larger races, and ponies for the smaller races
* Different horses granting different bonuses/penalties, and different classes and races also receive varying bonuses/penalties.
* The ability to name one's steed, mount and dismount at will.
* Build a bond with your steed from the moment you own it, and strengthen this bond by caring for your companion.
* Unless you have a strong bond with your horse, it can be lured away by those with strong animal empathy.
* Character animations for movement, spellcasting, item use, combat, and various gestures.

Open beta to begin in the near future! Stay tuned!

More screenshots

Well if that wasn't good enough, the DragonLance Adventures (DLA) team yesterday also announced that they also have a project to create true rideable horses. The details have not been revealed as yet and the team was not able to comment more at this time, however they did send some screenshots and the pictures speak for themselves. Here's the blurb from their site:

Just thought we'd pass on a minor update to one of the smaller projects we are working on. It probably won't be of much concern to many of you, but on the off chance such things are of interest, we thought we would post a WIP shot of a .tga textured version. The picture linked to the above is of course, quite impossible as everyone knows - and most certainly is NOT a shot of a threaten emote in game - so pay it no mind.

Needless to say this is great news and will make a lot of people very happy. Needless to say, we'll post any info and files as they become available. Great job guys!

Heronimous Fox · Post by **Heronimous Fox** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:50 pm

Shit, the bottom one actually looks like a horse as well.......very nice......couched lance anyone

Vanor · Post by **Vanor** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:52 pm

I wonder if there's any chance of them including the ablity of the horse to fight as well, or if it's not considered a valid target.

I can see issues both ways there...

Heronimous Fox · Post by **Heronimous Fox** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 9:02 pm

Horse armour....yum....how much can a horse carry?....a myriad of questions here

Lafferty · Post by **Lafferty** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 9:32 pm

i hope we'll see soon...

Liartes · Post by **Liartes** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:00 pm

That's oustanding. Never thought it possible!

Themicles · Post by **Themicles** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:03 pm

The first set of screenshots are a different project from the screenshot that has the good looking horse.
I personally am looking forward to DLA's horses specifically (the last screenshot).
Check here: http://www.dladventures.com/

-Themicles

Vanor · Post by **Vanor** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:17 pm

*chuckles* I love this...

From the DLA site wrote:Just thought we'd pass on a minor update to one of the smaller projects we are working on. It probably won't be of much concern to many of you, but on the off chance such things are of interest, we thought we would post a WIP shot of a .tga textured version.

The picture linked to the above is of course, quite impossible as everyone knows - and most certainly is NOT a shot of a threaten emote in game - so pay it no mind.

As I understand it, the top screen shots were done prior to DLA making that horse model, but both sets of screenshots are all from the same project.

Post by **Urizen** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:19 pm

Oh boy! Ya hear that Ayren? Heavy cavalry, here I come! ~L

Themicles · Post by **Themicles** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:25 pm

Vanor wrote: As I understand it, the top screen shots were done prior to DLA making that horse model, but both sets of screenshots are all from the same project.

The *MODEL* and model only, in the top screenshots, was a release from DLA some time ago. But the project to make a release of a ridable horse is seperate.

Read the NWVault release. There are two projects to make ridable horses. Just, DLA improved on their previously released horse model thats being used in the other project.

-Themicles

Vanor · Post by **Vanor** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:32 pm

Hmm that sorta sucks, unless DLA some how merges with the other project or does much the same thing.

There's no question the DLA horse looks amazing, but what the other project offers. With different sized horses, naming it, ect, is also very cool. I hope we end up with the best of both worlds out of it.

Themicles · Post by **Themicles** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:52 pm

Who says DLA wont offer those options?
Remember that DLA hasn't done a full release on their project. Only a few screenshots, and the fact that they ARE doing it.

-Themicles

Post by **tindertwiggy** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 12:27 am

As far as I have seen in my limited interest DLA makes a lot of noise about their stuff but doesn't always release it. Could be wrong, but that is the impression I have gotten. Here's to hoping they release that horse model and the code behind riding it. THey do some amazing work over there.

Themicles · Post by **Themicles** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:07 am

DLA is releasing everything when they release their campaign.
Just because they aren't releasing it now, doesn't mean it will never be released. You must understand that the DLA team is doing a project on the scale of a full on expansion pack, and aren't getting paid for it. It takes a paid company anywhere up to a year to make an expansion, sometimes more.

Remember, if its released in a hakpak, anyone can extract it and make use of it.

-Themicles

_Wake_ · Post by **_Wake_** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:40 am

That looks great and would add some fun RP

*Would you bring a horse in a cave?
*would a horse have to be stabled or hitched to remain in a area?
*would you own a horse / where would it go when you log off?

All kinds of stuff to think about while in creation I guess.would be neat to see in in Avlis though

Lafferty · Post by **Lafferty** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:52 am

A post from one of the DL-Project Leaders from Saturday, 14 February 2004 12:33AM regarding the DL-Horses

rtrifts wrote: OK. Let me review a moment here...

1. Horses, (riding, pack, donkey, mule, draft, war & Paladin's);
2. Centaurs;
3. Nightmares;
4. Unicorns;
5. Pegasi
6. Snakes;
7. Oozes;
8. Fully Rideable Horses;
9. Dynamic PC models on horseback;
10. Mounted Combat
11. Jousting
12. Ride-by cavalry slash
13. NPC's Henchman on horseback too
14. Canoe Full of Animation Resources;

Ok. I think that was it. If I had to guess, I'd say...

1. yes.
2. yes
3. yes
4. yes
5. yes - but limited
6. yes - skin +animesh
7. yes - see above
8. yes
9. *yes* (in best Yoda voice:"There is another...")
10. yes
11. yes - but you have to cheat a little
12. NO - there are hard limits and this is one of them
13. yes
14. yes - Canoe squared, actually
_________________
.Robert
*DragonLance Adventures* http://www.dladventures.com
DL-1 "Dragons of Despair": *Under Construction*
irc.neverwinterconnections.com#DLAdventures
NWmax - http://NWmax.dladventures.com

As much as i'd like to have rideable horses NOW i think on the long run we will have more pleasure with the DL-Version

I also read about the animal empathy skill influencing some stuff too, but i was unable to get specifics...

Question regarding the DnD ruleset: Is there a 'ride' skill?

Fuzz · Post by **Fuzz** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 7:11 am

Yep.

There's an entire PrC devoted to mounted combat: The Cavalier.

stoertebeker · Post by **stoertebeker** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 8:18 am

i wonder how fast you would be able to travel.

will it be dependant on the stats of the horse?
will a hasted char be as fast as a galloping horse?
will the environment affect velocity?

Kaenon · Post by **Kaenon** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 12:13 pm

Without a Z-Axis!!!!

That is absolutley preposterous!

*holds torch*

An angry mob stands behind the angry man

I should burn you where you stand heathen, spreading such lies!

i dont know how they did it but that is some pretty impressive shit, but this post only adds to the many of things that are on avlis wishlist.

Xeo · Post by **Xeo** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 10:56 pm

kewl Boda Horse Archer!

Do they Run fast? faster than foot?

Your attacks dont but four legged thing does,,,,,

Samin Swift · Post by **Samin Swift** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 6:08 pm

I don't place a lot of faith in the development of horses for Faerun Nights. I visited their site and couldn't find anything on it. In fact I couldn't find a lot of content at all. I've built for game mods before and a fancy we site isn't hard to do; pushing a mod through to fuition is.

However... DLA looks like a promising and well organized site. Hopefully their mod is just as organized and driven. I have to say that I found the DLA site a long time ago when I considered learning to build for NWN. They have a lot of content since then.