"The Chreks", first custom player model for ChaosUT
Dec. 2, 2000

Model Name : Chrek
Author, Skin Author : SPA
Email Address : spa@planetquake.com
HomePage : http://www.planetunreal.com/chaotic

Play Information :

Model data: Polycount 905 / Animation Frames 580 / Menu Animation Frames 85
New Sounds : Yes
Own Voice Packages: Yes (two, based on the original UT Male2 and Female2)
Different Faces : Yes
Team Skins : Yes
Extra UT code: Yes (so the Chreks are able to have own headshot models and extra custom gibs)

How to use this model :
Double click on the "Chrekinstall.umod" and then point the install programm to your UnrealTournament directory. The Chreks were meant for ChaosUT, but of course they also work with standart UT and any other mod. (But this would be blasphemy! ;)

Model description :

Chreks - their history

The first historical dated appearance was about 140 years ago, during an exploration mission in the Orthak system, the honored and well-known Skaarj "expansion force" Shra'thuk stumbled on one of the outer rim planets over a small anthill like structure hidden in one of the thousands side canyons which dominate the surface of Orthak9. Its inhabitants were small, spider-like creatures of the size of a nali rabbit. Because of the cute look of their oversized snaileyes, Ro'lak, the commander, decided to gather some of them for his childern at home...and maybe also for the case their food rations wouldn't be sufficient for the long march back to the landing pod. Well, three of them survived the trip home (and the hungry stomachs of the team) and became pets for the childern's daily desire for torture. Later the commander hat to realize what an annoying mistake he made. Already at the size of a warcow the two last Chreks decided to eat their tormentors for breakfast and started to dig a nest below the commander's sleeping cave using the rests of the Skaarj childern's bodies as food for a complete new Chrek population. Two months later when Ro'lak came back from another mission to his home at Ni'var6 he realized in shock that his family was gone and his home planet was set in quarantine, gotten completely populated by this nasty creatures. The Skaarj elders decided that no more ships were allowed to land on their former small military outpost, but they knew that it was only a matter of time that the not-so-dumb Chreks, now confronted with a technology they weren't able to reproduce before, will be able to understand how to use it.

Chreks - their biology

As said before, Chreks are similar to the Caldurian spiders, but using 4 legs for walking/fighting an 4 for more practical things. They are very curious about new things, and also very aware of their surrounding, which is not only proven because of their big eyes. Chreks are able to "link their minds", we guess by telepaphy, which means that one of them maybe seems dumb, but 20 of them can try to figure out how to use a modern weapon or steer a spaceship. The "role within the community" is given already geneticly before birth, and in most cases you can see the single Chrek's purpose by the form of their eyes (guard, hunter, observer, etc.) They too have the ability to recolor certain parts of their skin using flexible pigments, which they normaly do during fights to state their group membership. Last tip: don't call them "bugs"!!! I'm not happy I did this once during the rescue attempt of Ni'var6 but I AM happy they at least let me keep my second arm.

Tech info :

The Chreks are my very first custom player model... so have mercy in case the animations don't look that smooth sometimes... I only did mainly technical animations in ChaosUT to this point.
Currently they only have of one basic skin (inclusive 4 extra color skins, same theme) and 6 different faces.
Extra goodie 1:

This package also contains two extra voice packages (based on the Male2 & Female2 voice packs of UT) called "Chrekdozer" and "Chrekscout"... they should make the "Chrekexperience" a bit more monster-style. You can choose them (like any other voicepack) in the Player Setup Menu and during customizing your bots.

Extra goodie 2:
In a new subdirectory below your UnrealTournament dir called "\ChaosUTaddons\Chreks" you will find a special Chrek desktop wallpaper...have much fun with it... different resolutions are available in the Art corner of our homepage at http://www.planetunreal.com/chaotic
Extra goodie 3:

Also in "\ChaosUTaddons\Chreks" there are three additional JPEG files showing the Chreks texture wireframes. Just in case you are a skin artist and would like to make a custom skin for it. If you want to or already did, don't hesitate and mail me at spa@planetquake.com so we can make it public on our site! ;)
Well...that's all... have much fun with our new model! :)
SPA
Chaotic Dreams

"Chreks" & "ChaosUT" © 2000 Chaotic Dreams Devel.
"Unreal Tournament" © 1999 Epic Games Inc.