Handle: Slyrr
E-Mail: gregfisk@comcast.net
website: http://home.comcast.net/~gregfisk/
This model was created and distributed by Greg Fisk (see above) and may not be duplicated, altered or otherwise ripped off without the author's express written consent - blah blah blah.

Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair: PLAYER MODEL FOR UT2003/2004:

The origin of this mysterious super-villian has been traced through diligent research by top investigative organizations.  While the exact timeline is unclear, the following basic information has been verified and archived.

In New York City, widely known as a mecca for super-hero and villain alike, a rash of muggings had left police baffled.  The only ones to see the assailant were hospitalized and could describe only a large, muscular man.  The assailant was described as having super-human strength, and weilding simple weapons, demanding cash and jewelry from his victims.  Since the victims were primarly taken from behind in secluded areas at night, he was dubbed the "Super Mugger" by the media, and this powerful thief terrorized the city for weeks.

But the thief was apparantly not satisfied with this noteriety, and escalated his crime spree by attacking a known super-hero, Mechanatron of the vigilante crime fighting group "The Armageddon Factor".  In broad daylight, the mysterious thief confronted Mechanatron in Central Park, and revealed himself as a tall, beefy man with a beret, an eye patch, and the French flag emblazoned on his body armor. He declared himself to be "Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair".  In the ensuing conflict, Mechanatron asked him what his beef was, and in true super-villain fashion, Pierre turned this simple question into a chance to tell his life story.  These were his words as reported by eye-witnesses to the confrontation:

"Ah came to America to sell mah chemicails!  She deed not take zem!  Ah zen uzed them to make mahself strong, and take money!"

The actual battle was rather brief.  Despite his super-strength and a small arsenal of mugging implements (including a garrote, blackjack, switchblade knife and pistol), Pierre reckoned without Mechanatron's heavy armor and rather large plasma gun.  Pierre was presumed dead and taken to the morgue, and Mechanatron was briefly imprisoned before being released on proof of self-defense.

It is now believed that Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair is actually one Pierre DuBrie, a chemical engineer from Paris who was fired for radical experiments in human enhancement. Records indicate that Pierre DuBrie did indeed travel from France to the United States, but had no more success in his career there than in his country of origin.

It is clear that he used his knowledge of chemicals and the human body to gain his super human strength. It is also clear that he gained some form of enhanced endurance and healing ability, because when workers at the morgue came to conduct an autopsy, Pierre's cubicle was empty, the door broken open from the inside. Pierre's current whereabouts are unknown, but if he behaves according to the parameters set forth in "Torrington's Guide To Super-Villainy", it will only be a matter of time before Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair returns.....

----------------------

Notes: Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair is the second original model by yours truly.  In coming up with new models for 3D games, I always ask the question: "What kind of character would be FUN to play?"  Space marine models are ten to a penny these days, and so are scantily clad women with ridiculously huge moon boots.  If I did another one of those, who would notice?  It's a phenomenon in marketing called "saturation", the point at which a new product or service becomes worn out because everyone is doing it.

In this case, I went back to an idea for a super-villain I created as part of a number of characters my friends and I made up for the role-playing game CHAMPIONS.  (The super-hero equivilant of Dungeons and Dragons.)  Pierre was a French super-villain, which seemed quite natural as most villains are based off either their powers, or some glaring personality trait, or their nationality.  Pierre is based off all three.  I think he translates well into 3D gaming, and is a fun character to have around, though he is most enjoyable as an enemy bot.  After all - what could be more humiliating (or funny) than getting beat up by the FRENCH?

Hopefully frenchies across the globe will not take it ill - after all, Pierre is big, beefy and tough, and represents the exact opposite of French stereotypes, being neither weak nor cowardly.  As of yet, I have never observed Pierre eating wine and cheese in game, nor has he ever been observed surrendering to anyone.

Installation:  Just use the UMOD wizard, and the proper files should be put into their proper places. But just in case, you can also manually put in the files to their directories:

PierreSkins.utx = UT3K/Textures
PierreVoice.u = UT3K/System
Pierre.upl = UT3K/System

Then just pick Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair from the PLAYER screen. 

Attn: If you want to see Pierre's DATA in the Player selection screen, then you must open your Xplayers.int file, (located in the SYSTEM directory) and add this line among the other player data:

Pierre="Name:  Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair|Age:   Unknown|Race:  French||Data:|"Ah came to America to sell mah chemicails!  She deed not take zem!  Ah zen uzed zem to make mahself strong, and win ze tournament trophee for mahself!  Eef yoo are wise, yoo weel surrendair to mah mighty powair, or ah weel grahnd yoo beneath mah 'eel!"||"


Technical info for the curious:
Polys: 3100.

Skins: Default and team colors.  Photo-real skinning for humans has never really been my strongest point.  If anyone out there thinks they can add some professional polish to Pierre, feel free to contact me...

Custom Sounds: This also represents another full original voice pack.  It would not do to give standard sounds to a personality like Pierre Ze Soopair Moogair.  He demanded the use of an exaggerated French accent, and a number of French related taunts.  It has all the orders, commands, friendlyfire & acknowledgements for team play sounds, plus a few EXTRA ones that I felt padded out the roster for team games.  Specifically, 'ANNOUNCE FLAG/BALL LOCATION' 'EVEN TEAMS' and a few others, which are needed.  Check the voice menu to see all the new choices.

Animations: Standard Male UT2003 animations.  I was very frustrated by the fact that UT2004 had not come out.  I modelled extra detail onto Pierre's face and hands, anticipating that he would have a working mouth and fingers to go with 2004's voice utility.  But by the time phase3 of the Unreal contest came up, UT2004 was delayed - again.  Look for a Pierre 2.0 to include these new features once UT2004 finally wheezes it's tired way onto the open market.  (At least it beat Half-Life2 - and Doom3 - and Duke4Ever.....)

This model was made with: 3DSMAX, and UnrealEditor3.  The skinning was done in Photoshop and UED3.

Known bugs/issues:  I made Pierre's mesh out of one united piece instead of a cluster of segments.  I had read all the literature that says "unreal's engine and rigid vertices mean that making a non-segmented mesh is impossible", and "unless you use segments, you'll never get the arms and pelvis on your mesh to look good".  So I did my mesh without breaking it into pieces - just to flout conventional wisdom and see if it could be done.  As a result, there is a bit of exaggerated vertex motion around the hips and shoulders.  But as a tribute to my mettle (and skill as a modeller) it's hardly noticable in game.  I know of no other bugs - if you see any, let me know...

Special Thanks to:  Skullbox - who again served as de-bugger and advisor thru instruction on the www.planetquake.com/polycount messageboards.  Also thanks To Fraggin_Phun for his voice pack tutorial. 

 ----- Set up UT2003.ini and MD5 database for running a server -----

To use the new Voice Pack/Model in online games, you must provide the <YourPackage>.u file and the <YourPackage>.upl file to the server administrator. The server administrator must put these in their UT2003\System folder, and edit the UT2003.ini file by adding the package to the [Engine.GameEngine] section, as follows:

[Engine.GameEngine]
CacheSizeMegs=32
...
ServerPackages=Pierre
ServerPackages=Pierrevoice

Very important: The server administrator must also rebuild the server's MD5 database by running the following command in a DOS / Command window in the \UT2003\System folder (many thanks to ZYX2323 for sending this information!)

For original retail version: UCC MASTERMD5 *.U 
For patch 2136 version: UCC MASTERMD5 -c *.U 

If you don't run the ucc mastermd5 command, servers with cheat/hack protection turned on will stop you from joining the server. All sorts of bad things will happen (trust me), including corrupt connection messages (often seen only after the first game). This is a standard restriction that affects all voice packs/models, unless the server has added the .u file AND rebuilt their master MD5 table (or added the packed to the existing MD5 database).
Here's hoping EPIC can make this a little easier for their NEXT patch.......

PS - this information was lifted from the VOICE PACK tutorial readmes - with due deference to Fraggin_Phun.  
For more questions/updates on getting custom models into multiplayer servers, check his tutorials at:
http://members.rogers.com/fraggin_phun/UT2003_VoicePacks.html

Slyrr

Special thanks to the authors of the 1st Amendment -
Keep circulating the tapes
