The World of Avlis

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!

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.

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.

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*
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