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• Thrihyrne - White Mountains

• Helm's Deep Main Gate

• Helm's Deep Gate Protector

         About 95% of the work is mine. I used several small mountain pieces by EA for the initial setup, but from there, I did the rest of the work. The texture was created by taking images in Worldbuilder of mountain terrain and blending it in a Photoshop document.

Texture size = 4096X4096
Total number of Vertices = 103,685

         Before you get all concerned about the massive size and detail of the model, let me assure you that the model adds little to no lag in-game. I have done extensive testing with it as it was one of my major concerns when I started this project. And no, I do not have a super computer or anything (my default graphic settings are high, not very high). So this model should add a whole new visual element to the map and at the same time, not put a lot of stress on the computer.

         As you can see in the screenshots, the model is not entirely finished. I still have to work on the slope and also blend it in the map's terrain. I also still have to add skyboxes to the map and work on the transparency effects of the mountain shell. You should, however, have a clear view of what I have been working on for several months.

         This gate is now a much more interactive part of the map and will he highly involved in the campaign missions. The first three images show how the gate looks and works at the beginning of the game. The skins you see on the gate are custom made from scratch by me (Rob38). There is an unique skin for both the front and back side of the gate. Now you're probably wondering what's with the peasants in the first image!? In my map mod, all peasants will be able to to garrison the gate and give an armor bonus. Here's a description of the Brace the Gate ability:

Main Gate can be garrisoned with peasants to increase defense of Main Gate by 50%. To garrison, select peasant horde and right-click on Main Gate. Peasants can be killed while garrisoned, in which they can be replaced with another horde.

         The garrison ability was really a pain to get it to all work out properly but I think people will like the feature added. They have a custom bracing animation (an EA animation with some modifications) and some of the peasants can be randomly killed whenever the gate is hit by the battering ram ( making the player wanting to keep a couple hordes of peasants nearby).

         The next three images show what happens to the gate when it becomes damaged. Just like in the movie, the gate gets a hole from being hit by the battering ram too many times. Both allies and enemies can shoot arrows and projectiles through the hole in the Main Gate.

         Some time after the gate becomes damaged, an objective will occur in which you will get the chance to try to repair the gate (again, just like in the movie). If successful, your gate will get some health back and you get an awesome new model of the repaired gate (shown in the last four images).

         I've also included a small package of three videos showing some of my custom animation work for the gate. Video 1 shows the build-up animation for the repaired gate (ignore the super fast speed... it will be slower in-game). Video 2 shows a hit reaction animation for the repaired gate. For all three gate models, whenever the gate is hit by a battering ram, it will shake and bounce back a little ( just like you know where). The third video shows the destruction animation for the repaired gate (took me forever to do in Renx so you better like it :)).

Helm's Deep Main Gate Animation Videos

NOTE: All of the edited gate models were made by me and same goes for the skins and animations.

Defensive structure to protect the Hornburg gate.

description and portrait - Image 1
back view - Image 2
side view - Image 3
pouring hot oil - Image 4
units below getting burned - Image 5
view from oilman - Image 6
damaged state - Image 7
board collapsing - Image 8
board pieces crushing units - Image 9
back view collapse - Image 10
pieces and dust - Image 11
final resting point - Image 12

The board model was custom made and animated by me. The skin pieces are EA's but I mapped the skin to the model. This was truly a pain to get to function correctly and really shows some of my talents in the coding area. Overall, I'm pleased with the results.