Welcome back! Hope everyone is having a joyful Christmas holiday! In contrast to the bright occasion, I'll be showing the "Dark Lord's Jerkin" mod just as a reminder to myself that although it is a bright and happy season for most people, let's not forget those who are less fortunate, such as those living in poverty and children in war-torn countries. We also have some popular artiste who had passed on very recently, like Carrie Fisher, who is most well-known for her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars. :'(
But don't get overly pessimistic though. As the saying goes "while there's light, there's bound to be shadow". So let's put them aside and get down to the mods.
If you can recall, I had done a mod for its plate equivalent, the "Dark Lord's Breastplate", in my previous post and also kind of discussed it's origin. Thus, I'll not be repeating the same thing here.
The original armor is primarily black, like the plate equivalent, and have a shadowy dragon face on the left upper torso, near the shoulder. Another area of interest is the black stockings that is worn only on the right leg. Remember the "Harley Quinn" styled leggings in "Kunax's Tunic" mod? >.<
My first exciting encounter with this armor happened as I was wondering around in town in AION. I saw a ranger from afar and thought "What the...! Why is she almost naked?" Or so I thought. But as I got closer, I realized she was wearing the "Dark Lord's Jerkin", which had been dyed white and blended nicely with her skin color. Take a look below and see if you agree. XD
Multiple Views - Original Armor
Multiple Close-up Views - Original Armor
Well? Do you agree the armor color blends quite nicely with the skin color and she looks almost without clothes, from a distance? O.O
Anyway, since the armor already looks next to nothing from a distance, it wouldn't mind me removing a little more materials, right? >.< So, I got to remove the extra materials on the chest piece (leaving the essential areas intact, of course), stripe off the stocking and modified the pants a little.
What does it looks like after the mod? Take a look below.
Front Views
Now, the chest piece is reduced to some sort of a bikini top and you can see the tummy area.
Rear Views
The modified pants is hidden by the belt and accessories so it isn't obvious.
Side Views
And woops! The side! O.O
Actually, it doesn't looks that much different from the original armor except the change to skin color, isn't it? Well, that's because the main armor is painted directly on the body itself, so basically, the armor can be turned into a full nude! ~.~"
In the previous post when I was modifying the Noble Sky Dragon's Tunic and Leggings, I also took a peek at its chain version (Noble Sky Dragon's Hauberk and Chausses) since it is time for a chain armor mod. The design for the chain set looks very similar to the cloth one, although the mesh is kind of different, especially for the upper torso, as I will discuss later.
As for the chausses, nothing much needs to be done as it is just a simple short skirt that looks something like 2 pieces of short cloth covering front and back, and 2 extra scale-like 'covers' that are on the sides of the upper thighs. The funny thing is that the hauberk itself has 2 long pieces of cloth, running down the sides to the knee level, that totally covers the 2 extra 'covers'. ~.~
After describing so much, I guess it's time to show the original armor.
Front views - Original Armor
As you can see or rather can't see, the 2 side covers of the chausses is totally hidden by the 2 pieces of long cloth. And you probably will not see them in the mod version either because I had removed them to give her leggy legs a super high cut. :p
The hauberk design broke the upper torso into 3 parts, namely the upper back with side, upper front torso (a.k.a. breast) and lower torso. And because of this, I got into some trouble trying to give the hauberk a bare shoulder look. D:
Rear and Side Views - Original Armor
From the two views, the armor looks complicated. Is it really possible to mod a bare back and shoulder out of it? Well... let's take a look at the mod version below.
Front Views
Rear and Side Views
Ahhh! Does the mod armor looks 'cleaner' now? :p
I gave her a bare shoulder, bare back and what's that...? A fiery bra? From the still images, you probably can't see it but there is actually flame-colored fluid moving on the bra. O.o
The "Fiery Bra" actually came as a surprise to me as well. It all started with the 3 parts torso that I had mentioned earlier. Due to the separation of the parts, I have problem matching skin color between the top and breast area, and on top of that, there's also slight discontinuity in the mesh where the 2 regions meet. The image below can explain better.
Color Mismatch and Discontinuity
This issue does not bother the original armor because well.. it's armor pieces that are put together and thus, mismatched color and discontinuity is acceptable. Unfortunately, we can't have that happening on the body layer itself, can we? >.<
After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally decided to cover the breast area in a transparent bra. When it was all done and I looked at the character in game, I was amazed to see the fiery bra instead! And it looks so cool that I decided to keep it. :D
The fiery nature has probably been included in the mesh meta data because if we look closely at the original armor, there's a little flame movement on the frame of the armor as well. I guess it got kind of extended due to the way I applied the colors. @.@
By the way, to make the fiery bra 2 points more sexier (and I do mean literally 2 points), I had secretly added something. It is slightly more obvious in the still images because I was looking to capture that precise moment, coupled with the correct lighting condition. In the video or in game, the fluidity of the flame mostly conceals that 2 point sexiness. :p
But I am guessing some people might prefer to admire the smooth contour instead of some concealed sexiness, so I have also created another mod, which involves a ring around the breast region, to hide the discontinuity, as shown in the image below.
Front Views - Alternate Mod
So which version would you choose? Check out the video for the fiery bra (Ring mod not included - that sounded like a phrase from some commercials :p ).
Welcome back for the second post of the week and in this post I'll be showing another level 55 armor set, but in this case a cloth set. This particular armor set belongs under the category of "Balic" design, in which the armor pieces are crafted by players using "Balic" materials, which are looted off defeated Balaur (NPC Dragon race). If you are thinking that it is pretty gruesome to kill something and then fabricate their bones and skins into an armor, you are probably right... But think of those animal skins that some people wear or use (crocodile leather bag, animal skin winter clothing as examples) and you will know this happens in real life too. D:
Anyway, back to the topic, this armor is actually one of the first few that I had tried to mod on, but was not very successful due to lack of experience. I got frustrated after several failed attempts and thus, left it sitting in a folder for the past few months. Recently, I took a peek into the main folder and there it was, quietly waiting to be rediscovered.
The main problem faced with this armor was that I lack the means to see overlapping layers and what texture is being drawn onto the mesh or simply skipped (as in a hole when top layer is removed ~.~ ); thus, the armor ended up with holes and loss of continuity of character skin layer. >.< But after these few months of doing mods, I think I have finally learned enough to complete it.
Let's us now look at what the original armor is like.
Front and Side Views - Original Armor
Rear Views - Original Armor
From the above images, we can see that the original chest armor does not really look that extraordinarily special, except for some draconic essence (scale and claw like design). The leggings consists of 2 pieces of cloth (front and back) with a pair of stockings. Well, well. Cloth again... We know what's going to happen to them. :p
The problem that I encountered was with the chest piece, where I tried to reveal more skin at the side of the torso. Let's see what I have managed to do now, that I had failed before.
Front Views
As you can see, I got the chest piece to reveal a little more skin and kept the modified bra from the initial mod. That's why there's no transparency (which I have applied in overdose in the past few posts) here. >.<
Rear Views
The back was also trimmed off a little and off goes the 2 pieces of cloth to show off her leggy legs. :p
Side Views
Oh and by the way, just for information, this chest armor is one of those that have the full body skin underneath the bra. This means that if the bra is taken off, we can see the full breasts (Yeah! No hole :D ). But since I am not doing that, I did not bother to include the nipples; so even if the bra is taken off, we will only be seeing something like a mannequin, such as the one in my previous post "Tiamat Guard's Jerkin". XD
Finally, check out the video for some great views. The video was taken at an elevated location and you can see the lake, sand and even wild life, if your eyes are not too focused on the mod, that is. :D
In the previous few posts, we have looked at leather, cloth and chain armors, so I guess it's time for plate armor again. In this post, I will be working on another Abyss grade armor which consists of separate chest and leg pieces. What attracted me to work on this armor set is its uniqueness among its peers of chain, leather and cloth.
I can still remember when I first set foot in Inggison and can't help but to notice this group of "models" who are kneeling before the room of Empyrean Lord Kaisinel (they have been there since AION 2.0... and still "respectfully" on their knees in AION 5.1, after Kaisinel has been long gone ~.~ ). If 2.0 and 5.1 doesn't seem that much of a difference to non-players, well... it's been 6 years in our world and given that 5 minutes in our world being equivalent to 1 hour for in-game time, that would work out to be approximately 72 years for in-game time! @.@
But what's most prominent about this group is the one commander who seems to be leading the unrelenting "worship" by standing right in front of the group. Look at the image below and you will see.
Unrelenting Loyalty
(kneeling since AION 2.0 and still continuing in AION 5.1)
The commander just seem so outstanding (other than the fact that she is "out" of the group and "standing" instead of kneeling XD ) and authoritative... Somewhat like a Valkyrie, don't you think so?
Although I had previously complained about the difficulty in obtaining new Abyss grade armor, this older set, which is for level 55 characters, is much easier to earn by the time AION 4.0 is released. To make it sound even better, the same skin is also applied to lesser grade Abyss armors (e.g. "Guardian Patrol's" set) that cost much less (89,000 Abyss Points and zero medals) for both the breastplate and greaves. So for high level players, this is not difficult to achieve.
Let us now take a closer look at the original armor to see what can be further modified.
Front Views - Original Armor
The first thing that caught my attention is probably the 3 layers covering between the waist and upper thigh. Two of those inner layers are part of the greaves and the outer most layer is part of the breastplate. The 3 layers don't seem to offer more protection or warmth because they don't really cover much either. -.-"
So, I'll be trimming around that area for a better leggy view. Why hide the legs when the mesh gives it a thigh boosting effect, right? If you are confused by what I just said, well... I mean that the greaves' mesh actually boost the size of its wearer's thigh, something similar to the bust boosting effect of the "Sea Feast" chest that I mentioned before in my "Ballerina" mod.
Rear Views - Original Armor
Side View - Original Armor
What else did I modified on the armor? Take a look below.
Front Views
For the first modification, I trimmed the waist area of the breastplate to show off more skin on the side of the thighs and trimmed the skirt portion of the greaves to cover only the front. But as usual, I got a little stingy with the material for that small piece of cloth, such that it doesn't fully covers the front of the panties as intended. >.<" But I guess that's fine because for the second part of the mod, she got more protection with a shiny plate panties as shown below. :p
Rear Views
And for the last part of the mod, I removed the cloth on the tummy and modified the plate bra into transparent bra.... yet again! XD Fortunately, the frame of the bra beautifully hide the sensitive areas (a.k.a. nipples).
Side Views
Eagle-eyes viewers may also notice that I had modified the stocking on her right leg to transparent one too. :p Unfortunately, most part of the stocking is covered by the sabaton and not worth mentioning.
With this, I wrapped up this post and if you did not get enough look at the armor, check out the video.
In the previous post, I had briefly mentioned about the Harley Quinn styled leggings and also introduced the double toned hat skins available in AION. Then, it struck me... Why not do a Harley Quinn mod? And so, here we are.
Those familiar with the character from DC Comics probably know that Harley Quinn had undergone extensive changes physically and also psychologically. Psychologically, she had transformed from being a psychiatrist for the Joker, into his partner in crime as a super villain, and then eventually into an anti-heroine. Her illustration had also gone from wearing the red-black full body costume, complete with joker hat and mask; into low-cut top with hot pants/skirt, dropping the hat and mask to sport a 2 toned hair style. Although the black-red double tone style still remains.
Harley Quinn's Transformation according to Wikipedia
But it was the recent movie version of Harley Quinn (performed by Margot Robbie in "Suicide Squad") that captured my attention. Maybe because she was the most colorful character in the movie poster? And I do mean literally most colorful. XD Thus, I decided to based my mod on her although she sport mostly blue-red tone instead of the black-red tone from the comics. But she does wear a black-red diamond bracer, as a link to the comics version. XD
By the way, we can also notice that Harley Quinn has changed her weapon from a mallet to a bat too... Wonder if that has anything to do with her relationship with Bruce Wayne (a.k.a. Batman) in the comics... You know, "The girl who is good with a bat"... :p
Anyway, in order to pull this off, I would need to find and mod suitable chest, pants, glove and shoe. As you can see, this would be a major mod of 5 pieces of items, plus the baseball bat. And, yes, AION does has a baseball bat that can be used as a sword skin. XD As such, this would probably be my only post for the week.
The armor pieces that I chose for the mod ranges from leather to plate, namely the "Veteran Hunter's Jerkin" (which I had also previously used for a mod), "Vasharti Brigade General's Chausses", "Steel Rose Sailor's Chain Glove" and "Vasharti Brigade General's Sabaton". Searching for these suitable armors, that match the specific requirements, already took quite a bit of time, especially when it comes to Harley's outfit. That's because symmetry of armor is quite a favorite in games, as designers will only need to include one side of the armor in terms of graphics and that translate into a lot of saving in terms of disk space. So, you can imagine trying to fit in Harley's love for double tone and that "Daddy's Lil Monster" slogan on her shirt. >.<"
Fortunately for me, there're still the above mentioned armor pieces (chest and pants) that meet those criteria. Though unfortunately, I cannot help her to keep both Harley's actual hairstyle and the 2 tone hair color, as you will see later. Also, I can't put her signature 2-tone eye shade on her face (else all other players will have the eye shade too O.O ), so I simply give her a really thick black-colored eye shade, red hot lips and pale skin. Yes... for AION players, you know what that means... 400 Million kinah (in-game currency) gone... poof.... ~.~ For curious non-players, well, the "plastic surgery ticket" to perform a character change cost that much in game or five bucks if paying with real life currency on Black Cloud Marketplace (BCM).
Wow... I think I talked to much... So let's get to the mod now. Oh, please don't mind if the hair looks weird due to bending because the video and photo was taken on a moving boat that is floating in the sky; so her hair is being blown by the wind. :D
Front Views
From the front view, we can see that she is sporting a double tone hairstyle but it is not quite the actual hairstyle of Harley. The actual hairstyle is shown in the image below. See the difference in the angle where the pony tail is formed.
Front View - Actual Hairstyle
The reason, I cannot have double tone on the actual hairstyle is due to, make a guess... symmetry again. Both sides of the pony tail shared the same graphic texture, so if I apply any color, it will appear on both pony tails. -.-" So I just use the double tone hairstyle (as double tone is the symbol of Harley) although I like the original hairstyle more. Which one would you guys prefer though?
Oh, by the way, I got the color on the wrong side of the head... DX
Rear Views
Side Bottom View
Not forgetting the bat with "Good Night" imprinted on it. Unfortunately for some players, they may not be able to equip the bat because the bat is actually a skin that can only be applied to a sword. So unless the character is a Templar, Gladiator, Assassin or Ranger, they can't use it. >.<
So what do you guys think of my Harley Quinn mod? Check out the video.
