'Knute and Bolte'
 Player plug-in model for Half Life

Experiment one. This is the first of my intended three experimental models. 

I wanted to see how far I could maneuvre within the restrictive confines of the Character Studio Biped. In this model, I have done little more than adjust the biped to fit my model mesh shape. I took a standard Valve Biped configuration, so there could be no doubt that it would work in the game, and stretched and altered the shape of it to fit inside the mesh of Knute and Bolte so that the legs belong to Bolte (the lower) and the head and arms belong to Knute (the upper) the chest is shared. I then saved the figure configuration as a .FIG file and proceeded to load it into all 108 seperate animation SMDs that are used to create the 77 animation sequences in the MDL file. The results were refreshingly rewarding. The figure is altered from the standard human, 'Gordon' shape and does not stretch. 

I had to unlink the weapons from each biped as I went then re-attach them afterward to avoid stretching and deformation. This required unfreezing some and I was concerned that this would affect the performance of the model in the game's engine. It, however does not. Much to my relief =)

The model is depressingly heavy on the face count. It is, afterall, effectively two figures. I managed to strip it down to 620 faces which is equivalent to Valve's hi-poly figures. So my apologies to owners of low-end machines. This 'stripping' has resulted in an annoyingly angular look to the creatures, contrary to my original designs. It also means that some areas are lacking in faces. The hands needed more joints and because of this, the hand fists too tightly and as a result is drawn inside most of the weapons, despite my best efforts to the contrary. =(

Still, despite the unfortunate rough edges, I think this first experiment worked well enough.
So here, for your Deathmatching pleasure is Knute and Bolte, a symbiotic relationship of devastating proportions. Bolte runs whilst Knute carries the artillery =) They are complete opposites. They are the best of friends.

Knute and Bolte
Directory: Knute_and_Bolte
Faces: 619
Skins: 2 : 1x255x255 1x128x128
Animations: Customized Valve animations

Installation 
Unzip the zipfile into your Sierra/half-life/valve/models/player folder and the zipfile will automatically create a file called Knute_and_Bolte and place the necessary files inside it.

Enjoy.

Scarecrow

Scarecrow@dial.pipex.com

The other two experiments? Well, you'll have to wait and see. If they ever get done. My brain and attention span tend to work faster than my hands =)