Better than Horses (No Alligators please)

[TheGatesofLogic]

I probably should have updated ths OP a whle back, but seeing as i don't currently develop it i forgot :P

This is the [WIP] Better Than Horses BTW Add-on!
This addon is maintained by Dnoved1, DaveYanakov, ExpHP, and WeldaSB. I do not currently work on the addon, but i do plan to begin some work on it as soon as i feel confident with my skills at java.
The design plan is relatively complete but is largely unimplemented.

here are the links to the relevant github repositories:
Most Recent Release
Design Document
Issues Page

[FlowerChild]

Just as an aside: someone on these forums really needs a crossed out alligator (or vanilla horse...either really) avatar :)

[FlowerChild]

Oh, and if I can make a suggestion (oh...the irony), my initial plan for horses before I decided they need the big old double-bladed battle axe was to rework their taming as well to make the process more challenging.

Wild horses are a bitch to catch, so I think it fits the subject matter very well if they tend to flee from the player and need to be corralled using natural land features or what have you in order to get close enough to tame them.

I think this also goes well with the more difficult process of taming wolves in the mod.

[Detritus]

I'd love to assist, but I have no idea how useful I could be... I can do some of the programming, but I can't promise it will be wonderful or make sense.

[TheGatesofLogic]

I'd love to assist, but I have no idea how useful I could be... I can do some of the programming, but I can't promise it will be wonderful or make sense.

Well, right now we only need models and textures really, as I'm not keen on working on stuff that's *in development*

Oh, and if I can make a suggestion (oh...the irony), my initial plan for horses before I decided they need the big old double-bladed battle axe was to rework their taming as well to make the process more challenging.

Wild horses are a bitch to catch, so I think it fits the subject matter very well if they tend to flee from the player and need to be corralled using natural land features or what have you in order to get close enough to tame them.

I think this also goes well with the more difficult process of taming wolves in the mod.

That was exactly my thought on the matter. Horses already do damage to minecarts as the fastest means of transportation. Along with making taming horses a more interesting process, I think ripping out the planned "horse health bar" and replacing it with something more akin to hardcore hunger's injury indicator is in order. Hmmm... That makes me think... Crippled horses sounds like an interesting prospect.

[TheGatesofLogic]

Just as an aside: someone on these forums really needs a crossed out alligator (or vanilla horse...either really) avatar :)

If i do this and I make it purple does it mean I'm a brony?

[FlowerChild]

With regards to crippled horses: I strongly advocate the K.I.S.S. principle in all things ;)

Seriously, I know for myself it would be something I would consider "too much" to undertake, so I'd urge at least putting something like that off to a 2nd pass if the add-on really takes off. Don't forget that while a player will adapt quite easily to status effects and such, an AI...not so much.

Having said that: putting wounded horses "out of their misery" is definitely VERY BTW ;)

If i do this and I make it purple does it mean I'm a brony?

Hmmm...not sure, but I haven't quite gotten to the point of banning bronies on sight anyways. I just mock them relentlessly :)

[Sarudak]

I would be interested in helping with the design and coding of this...

[JakeZKAM]

Perhaps making horses require quite a bit of upkeep would make minecarts a better permanent option of transportation. Horses are a pain in the ass to keep in real life, needing lots of food, space, grooming, health care, training, and even socializing with other horses and their riders to be happy productive animals. Basically make them a pain in the ass to take care of in the long run, so that minecarts are a much more reliable form of transportation if a bit more expensive (Or is it? Did I mention horses eat a lot? :P)

As a side note putting down lame Horses for their own good brings a tear to my eye, as well as a sadistic chuckle ;)

[DNoved1]

I'd be interested, though if anything I should probably stick to coding. If I were to attempt to create a horse model it would likely end up looking like a barrel attached to a set of toothpicks :P
Also, creating a topic is nice and all, but it seems, based on the actual implementation of ideas vs the number of idea posts in this subforum, that it may not be enough. Better than horses may wish to create a more formalized setting with which to develop in, such as github, or whatnot.[/humble opinion]

[jecowa]

Anyone who is willing to do anything to help in these regards are welcome to help out. I myself would gladly do the texturing if I find the time, and someone can throw the new horse model texture sheet my way.

Here is an example texture sheet:

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Here is the labeled version of the texture:

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Here's some reference pics of the horse model with the example texture:

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Here is the 3D model code:

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Code: Select all

//Model code generated by MCModeller. All animation, AI,
//and special features are yours to program. Also keep in
//mind that some of these class names may have changed since
//wrote this. Make sure to check for compatibility with the
//latest version of the Minecraft Coder Pack before attempting
//to use this code.

public class Modelsimplehorse extends ModelBase
{
	public ModelRenderer anterior sinistro limb;
	public ModelRenderer anterior dextro limb;
	public ModelRenderer posterior dextro limb;
	public ModelRenderer posterior sinistro limb;
	public ModelRenderer torso;
	public ModelRenderer tail;
	public ModelRenderer neck;
	public ModelRenderer head;
	public ModelRenderer mane;
	public ModelRenderer ear sinistro;
	public ModelRenderer ear dextro;
	
	public Modelsimplehorse()
	{
		anterior sinistro limb = new ModelRenderer(46, 43);
		anterior sinistro limb.addBox(2.0F, -11.0F, -11.0F, 4, 11, 4, 0);
		
		anterior dextro limb = new ModelRenderer(46, 43);
		anterior dextro limb.addBox(-6.0F, -11.0F, -11.0F, 4, 11, 4, 0);
		
		posterior dextro limb = new ModelRenderer(46, 43);
		posterior dextro limb.addBox(-6.0F, -11.0F, 8.0F, 4, 11, 4, 0);
		
		posterior sinistro limb = new ModelRenderer(46, 43);
		posterior sinistro limb.addBox(2.0F, -11.0F, 8.0F, 4, 11, 4, 0);
		
		torso = new ModelRenderer(0, 36);
		torso.addBox(-6.0F, -21.0F, -11.0F, 12, 10, 22, 0);
		
		tail = new ModelRenderer(24, 22);
		tail.addBox(-1.0F, -6.3F, 19.0F, 2, 11, 3, 0);
		
		neck = new ModelRenderer(0, 17);
		neck.addBox(-2.0F, -28.5F, -1.4000001F, 4, 9, 8, 0);
		
		head = new ModelRenderer(0, 0);
		head.addBox(-2.0F, -33.5F, -5.4F, 4, 5, 12, 0);
		
		mane = new ModelRenderer(32, 0);
		mane.addBox(-1.0F, -35.0F, 4.6F, 2, 16, 4, 0);
		
		ear sinistro = new ModelRenderer(4, 0);
		ear sinistro.addBox(1.0F, -35.5F, 5.6F, 1, 2, 1, 0);
		
		ear dextro = new ModelRenderer(0, 0);
		ear dextro.addBox(-2.0F, -35.5F, 5.6F, 1, 2, 1, 0);
		
	}
	
	public void render(float f, float f1, float f2, float f3, float f4, float f5)
	{
		this.setRotationAngles(f, f1, f2, f3, f4, f5);
		anterior sinistro limb.render(f5);
		anterior dextro limb.render(f5);
		posterior dextro limb.render(f5);
		posterior sinistro limb.render(f5);
		torso.render(f5);
		tail.render(f5);
		neck.render(f5);
		head.render(f5);
		mane.render(f5);
		ear sinistro.render(f5);
		ear dextro.render(f5);
	}
	//Method you're going to want to override:
	public void setRotationAngles(float f, float f1, float f2, float f3, float f4, float f5)
	{
	}
	
}

Feel free to make changes.

Keep in mind if the model changes, the texture sheet will likely have to change, so it might not be a good idea to make a bunch of textures at this point.

This 3D model consists of 11 boxes. I think the vanilla model has 22 boxes. I tried to make it more closely follow the conventions used by the other mob models. The hind legs are moved back one texture pixel per DaveYanakov's suggestion.

Here's some conventions that most mob models follow:

• Each limb consists of only one block. Spiders can't bend their legs, and Steve has no elbows.
• Mobs can't open their mouths (with maybe the exception of the end dragon).
• The distance between the blocks of the models are never partial-pixels; they are always full integers.
• The models are purposefully simplified and blocky.

It would be nice if the new model was compatible with the old textures, but that would require making the model more complicated, and it probably still wouldn't be fully compatible with them.

[Svartwolf]

glad that people want to make horses more bewtyful, really the jaws on Vmc make them really feel "WTF"? although i'm the only one that find the idea of aligator-horses inbred a little more odd and interesting than just plain horses if done right?

well, regarding the mod itself, a good way of making horse balanced would be needing some kind of upkeep, that makes them in the long run way less efficient than minecarts.

Mostly should be:

Horses ---> better to explore and move on untamed territory
minecarts ----> better in general, but you need to "tame" the territory by building a resource heavy railwork.

I think that a system regarding fatigue, or maybe simpler, "thirst", could fit, making using horses need to find constantly water sources, and at the same time giving a more integrated purpose to the cistern.

also, it would require to much work to speed minecarts a little?

and i loved FC suggestion regarding taming!

[TheGatesofLogic]

Perfect man! That's exactly what I was hoping for! I don't think that I'll need to do much else other than the texturing for now. I do not plan to make this a huge project, but I do plan to make some quite interesting changes to horses in general. Also: pack mules were a bad idea IMO.

[DaveYanakov]

I've been working up a design doc with the basic features including some balance like fall damage permanently crippling horses and foundering if you run them too far, too fast. I really dislike the idea of any kind of GUI for them. The player should need to pay attention to their mount as an animal if they don't want it to drop dead.

Gates, are you planning to lead this project or did you just want to see it happen?

[Sarudak]

For taming they should run from the player initially and if you corner them without befriending them they will try to kick you.

Also to balance them against minecarts they could perhaps become disoriented in the nether so you can't control them.

[TheGatesofLogic]

Although I'd love to lead the project, I don't think it will take off If I do as I'm extremely busy IRL. Right now all I want is that it gets organized and ready for when 1.6 comes out. I just want to see it happen at the moment, though I would be more than happy to do texturing for it. If you'd like to take lead of the project then by all means take it, my only goal is that it gets done, it doesn't matter by whom.

[DaveYanakov]

I'll finish drawing this up while I'm away for the weekend and transcribe it soon as I get back. From what I can see, the people willing to work on coding would be;
DNoved1
Sarudak
Detritus
Benanov

Gitorious served rather well for BWR development and I see no reason to use anything different for this project.

[ExpHP]

I'm notoriously bad at long term commitments, but that auto-generated model code is horrendous and incomplete. I'm currently in the process of bringing this horse to life.

[Padfoote]

I wish you all luck on this, and I'll be following this closely to see how it goes.

[ExpHP]

jecowa: It would be of great assistance if I could have the file for the Model you made.

Current state of affairs without it:

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[Thyrllann]

Personally, I think Pack mules would be fine, if you were unable to ride them, and they had the same level of upkeep required as horses. i.e., you walk around with your pack mule on a tether, and can carry an extra chest's worth of resources, or you ride a horse, and get to move around faster - making it a choice between minecart railways (expensive to set up, but next to no upkeep, and can be used for transport and moving inventory), or horsepower (less expensive to set up, but require a constant resource drain, and you have to choose between a horse (more mobility) or a mule (more inventory))

[jecowa]

jecowa: It would be of great assistance if I could have the file for the Model you made.

Current state of affairs without it:

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Sorry, I've never done modeling before. I don't know if this file will help. Here's a zipped file containing the MCModeler save file and the exported code from before.
http://www.mediafire.com/?fk2ji4ga6h23z6f

[dawnraider]

jecowa: It would be of great assistance if I could have the file for the Model you made.

Current state of affairs without it:

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Wtf? That is easily the most hilarious thing I've seen all day.

[johnt]

You should get damaged if the horse throws you.

Also, zombies riding zombie horses.

[jecowa]

Also, zombies riding zombie horses.

I don't think a zombie would have the dexterity needed to ride a horse; I think the zombie would eat the horse.