Newsfiend
06-03-2009, 10:32 PM
New armor graphics require us to have new PC models. 30 PC models (15 races, 2 genders), with 127 animations each (more for races that wear robes). Each armor "look" is then another set of textures and geometry on each of those models. Even sharing textures and animations where possible, this much work is not inexpensive.
If we changed our model loading and animation code to allow for smaller pieces of armor to attach to models (a huge undertaking in itself), we would then need 32 new PC models with 127 animations each, plus models/textures for each piece of armor. Again, this would incur significant costs.
In order to avoid a huge memory cost, all of these new models would need to be implemented at once, and the current (original and Luclin) PC models would need to be removed.
Nothing about the work required to add new armor looks could be described as quick, easy, or inexpensive. No matter how much we want new models (and we do), wanting them doesn't make the costs go away, and ultimately the benefit needs to outweigh the cost in order for our company to make this sort of investment.
More... (http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?topic_id=151702&post_id=2210068#2210068)
If we changed our model loading and animation code to allow for smaller pieces of armor to attach to models (a huge undertaking in itself), we would then need 32 new PC models with 127 animations each, plus models/textures for each piece of armor. Again, this would incur significant costs.
In order to avoid a huge memory cost, all of these new models would need to be implemented at once, and the current (original and Luclin) PC models would need to be removed.
Nothing about the work required to add new armor looks could be described as quick, easy, or inexpensive. No matter how much we want new models (and we do), wanting them doesn't make the costs go away, and ultimately the benefit needs to outweigh the cost in order for our company to make this sort of investment.
More... (http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?topic_id=151702&post_id=2210068#2210068)