Disco Lando's Lightsaber Effects Mod Pack (1.1)

By chinagreenelvis
Date: 01-23-2010
Version: 1.1

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Disco Lando's Lightsaber Mod Pack v1.1
Created by: eric@chinagreenelvis.com

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This mod set is the result of my personal attempt to make the lightsaber battles in Jedi Academy more even more enjoyable and more authentic. I have made each aspect of the pack a seperate file so that you can pick and choose which ones you want to use, just in case there is some individual component you're not crazy about. Extract these .pk3 files into your GameData/base directory:

mod_discolando_nobubble.pk3

Removes the green spawn bubble in multiplayer matches. In order for this to work completely, you must create an autoexec.cfg file which has the line "cg_rendertotexturefx 0" in it. Otherwise, you'll still see the outer bubble shell. The only other thing it takes away is the lame bubbly force push effect.

mod_discolando_noshield.pk3

Removes the green damage shield that appears when you take hits from lightsabers, blasters, etc.

mod_discolando_saberclash.pk3

Changes the saberclash effect to look more like the large white-yellow flare in the OT films, and adds a smaller energy flare for when lightsabers touch skin. The alternate versions of this file contain more elaborate looking saber flares and other colors for the damage flare. This also gets rid of the bright white sparks that fly out in saber battles, as well as the floating "blood sparks." Works in both multiplayer and singleplayer.

mod_discolando_superiorsabersounds.pk3

I'm not sure why Raven didn't have access to Ben Burt's wonderful library of lightsaber sounds, but Jedi Academy's effects lacked a certain something that a few modders have previously attempted to make up for. I've seen and tested a lot of saber sound packs on JKFiles and have been disappointed with them all. While some of them incorporate actual film sounds, they're generally haphazard and not well thought out. I went back to the Original Trilogy as well as a few other sources to record and compile what I felt was the most authentic and appropriate collection of saber sounds and made every attempt to keep the scheme organized so that the type of sound in each file reflects the type of sound used in the corresponding one for the original game. I tried to make sure that they were loud enough to be exciting, but not so loud that they were distorted or distracting. Also, unlike a few other mods that I've tried, this sound pack differentiates between saber clashes and body hits - that way, the serious dueler can rely on ears as well as eyes to tell what's going on in a fight. I also included a bonus sounds folder for a few different saber ignition sounds for those of you who like to edit .sab files - Dooku, Luke, and Vader. (The usual Luke sound that's floating around in various mods needed some editing to make it flow into the saberhum sound, so I took care of that.)

mod_discolando_roundtipsabers.pk3

As with the sound mods, there are an equally large number of saber blade mods to choose from. A few of them came close to what I considered "film" style blades, but whereas Jedi Academy's blades are too gradiented (is that a word?), the blades I've seen so far are too stark. These blades alter the lightsaber tips to be rounded (as they were for the most part in the OT) and provide solid white cores with just a dash of fuzziness on the sides so that if you're like me and you use antialiasing, you won't see jaggies in the blade.

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For JA+ players:

I've also included a saber colorchanging script that I spent the better part of two days writing. My sabercolor mood changes pretty quickly while I'm playing and I don't like to have to go into the profile menu in order to pick an RGB color every time the fancy strikes me. This script binds the mousewheel to scroll through a diverse set of color options, but you can alter the binds to whatever buttons or keys work best for you.

May the Force Be With You
Disco Lando

PS Colt 45: It Works Every Time.

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THIS MODIFICATION IS NOT MADE, DISTRIBUTED, OR SUPPORTED BY ACTIVISION, RAVEN, OR
LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC. ELEMENTS TM & © LUCASARTS
ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC AND/OR ITS LICENSORS.