+ present +
+ by +
Copy FCommandoElfA.int to C:\UnrealTournament\system
Copy FCommandoElfA.utx to C:\UnrealTournament\textures
To use this skin on a server, add the following line to the end of the [Engine.GameEngine] section of the server's UnrealTournament.ini file:
ServerPackages=FCommandoElfA
Making this skin, my first for any game, spanned several human life-times. Or at least that's how long it has seemed ;-) All work was done using Photoshop 5.5 and UnrealED 1 under Windows 2000. I used the Pantone Matching System for color accuracy of the base skin, and several hundred gallons of midnight oil...
For those of you who have not seen the anime' series "Record of Lodoss War", check it out...
NOW!
This skin was inspired both by my love of fellow elves (in this case Deedlit) and my love of UT. I just wish that I had the time to learn how to create UT models so I could *really* do the elven community justice :-(
First off, I really wish that I had been able to find a blank skin showing nothing more than how the skin texture gets mapped onto the model. That would have saved me ages! I know I saw such a blank skin for the male soldier, but alas, even those guys who created the skinning tutorials I read were unable to help me in this matter :-(
Out of the female models that were available, the Female Commando (F/C) seemed to be the best suited for this task. Soldier is too beefy, Abbey is too bouncy ;-), Rumiko's power-glove and short hair just don't fit. I wanted to come as close to representing Deedlit as possible. Unfortunately, I saw from the Xena skin that it is extremely difficult to give F/C a good looking skirt. And since F/C's hair is not symetrical, trying to "paint" long ears onto the side of the head would have looked too contrived. Also, Deed has very long flowing hair and wears a cape; plus the shape of Deedlit's face and the F/C's are completely different, so I had to improvise...
Since a skirt was not feasable and the bikini and/or leather pants have already been done, I decided to make it look like the F/C was wearing a less scanty version of one of those bottoms you see the girls on Conan novels wearing. Basically, a free-flowing piece of cloth in front and in back (wish I could think of the name).
As for the ears? The best option seemed to forget about them in the interest of good taste. Ditto for the cape. However, the hair issue was another matter. Since there was no way to ditch the backpack, I reasoned that the F/C must be carrying it because it holds "stuff" she needs to access. Since exceedingly long hair would interfere with this during the rigors of combat (duh), I reasoned that someone with hair down to their rear might do well to contain it underneath said backpack -- problem solved!
The face issue I solved by creating one that I thought looked good (since Deedlit's would not be possible given this model). Since Tolkien himself said the most distinguishing feature of an elf's face was their eyes, I made them a bit larger and slightly more oriental than those of the other skins that are out there. Similarly, the skin has very fair skin, and this is no accident! Much like a Vulcan, High Elves do not need to tan to protect themselves from the Sun. And not only is this an elf we are talking about, but a princess among elves at that! (ST Voyager fans: there is no LOGICAL explaination for Tuvok, so just keep out of this argument because you will lose it!)
Finally, and this was probably just me being picky, I didn't think it would look right for an elven princess' tunic to be without sleeves. The only problem with putting sleeves on the F/C is that for some bizarre reason, the arm textures are in the same file as the face texture, and as we all know, the face texture does not change with the team color. Sooooo, for the sake of making the tunic look right, I made 5 different face textures all with the same actual face, but with sleeves colored appropriately for each team color plus the no-team color. To enhance this effect, I made 5 versions of the chat box icon that also reflect the TC of the player. Now I *know* the sleeves will not automatically switch from Red to Blue if you change teams, but it's not exactly tough to make a quick trip to the player setup screen if this is going to bug you ;-p
(For best results, use the "disconnect" command from the console before trying to modify your skin, otherwise the changes will not load until the start of the next game -- this goes for seemingly any skin changes in UT though, not just mine.)
After all is said and done, I am pleased with this skin and I hope that at least a few people out there will also appreciate it. If you like it, feel free to e-mail me at death-elf@home.com and visit my clan's web site: http://members.home.net/death-elf. I would also like to thank Rick Stirling and AcidDrone for their informative skinning tutorial, and Epic for making an awesome game! Now I guess it's time to finally finish the CTF level I have been working on since the end of the 3rd Age ;-)
As for legal stuff, this skin is copyrighted by Laurel Kirmoon, 2000. I designed this skin for use by my clan (XXX Death Elves) as a clan skin. While I don't mind other people using it for their own enjoyment, if you are in a game with anyone bearing the {xDxEx} clan tag and they request that you switch to another skin, please do the honorable thing and respect their request. Furthermore, you are NOT allowed to commercially exploit this skin, i.e. put it on a CD or any other electronic medium that is sold for money without my explicit permission. You MAY, however, distribute it free of charge over any electronic network (i.e. the Internet, LAN party servers, BBS, etc.) provided that this readme file is included in the archive.
--Larathiel the Death Elf
"Now witness the firepower of this fully
armed and operational Death Elf!!!"