Few things have changed since the last post. Been experimenting somewhat with the basic AI NPC scripts and the overland map. I'll leave the AI for another post, still lots of work and lots of thinking to be done there.
So the Overland Map. Introduced in the SoZ compaign it's a nice (if somewhat slower but more flexible) way to get from A to B and explore your surroundings than the simple World Map you get in the Original Campaign and MotB.
That is of course not to say the World Map doesnt have its uses. To me it seems that the overland map is a good way of exploring a medium-smallish area, i.e. one it would take more than a few "full size" areas to cover sensibly (e.g. High Cliff and it's surroundings or Port Llast and Duskwood). The larger world map would link more distant places together (e.g. Neverwinter to West Harbor).
It is this I have spent the last day or so poking around with trying to get things to behave the way it does in SoZ and then working out how easy it would be to remove the one annoying feature of it, the fixed camera.
First stop for this was the Obsidion produced "tutorial" which gives a few pointers but is, at the end of the day, considerably lacking in the complete set of information.
It's worth noting that most of the things referenced in the guide actually exist within the "Campaigns/Neverwinter Nights 2 Campaign_X2" folder and thus are not immediatly available from within the toolset, although the scripts actually do exist just with different names. Thanks to loudent2's post here, I was able to get the files needed to make the whole overland map work (there's a script missing from his list).
Here then is my guide to making a working overland map SoZ style...
1: Make a .hak containing the following long list of files from the campaign folder...
UI\frame_olmap_B.tga
UI\frame_olmap_BG.tga
UI\frame_olmap_BL.tga
UI\frame_olmap_BR.tga
UI\frame_olmap_button_camp.tga
UI\frame_olmap_button_camp_hover.tga
UI\frame_olmap_button_camp_pressed.tga
UI\frame_olmap_button_clock.tga
UI\frame_olmap_button_nwn.tga
UI\frame_olmap_button_nwn_hover.tga
UI\frame_olmap_button_nwn_pressed.tga
UI\frame_olmap_detail01.tga
UI\frame_olmap_L.tga
UI\frame_olmap_R.tga
UI\frame_olmap_T.tga
UI\frame_olmap_TL.tga
UI\frame_olmap_TR.tga
UI\nx2_ol_frame.xml
UI\nx2_ol_menu.xml
UI\nx2_ol_partybar.xml
UI\playermenu_popup.xml
om_encounter_table.2da
om_terrain_rate.2DA
2: Either include the script "gui_party_actor" or make a copy into your module/campaign (this is the script that lets you change the character shown on the overland map)
3: Create an exterior area. Set it's properties as follows:
OverlandCameraDistance: 25
OverlandCameraPitch: 40
OverlandMap: true
On Client Enter Script: g_ol_client_enter
On Exit Script: ga_olmap_exit
On Heartbeat Script: g_ol_hb
At this point you should have an overland map. Not that it'll do much and you'll find movement a bit awkward.
4: Paint your terrain, textures, place placeables, etc.
5: Paint "Overland Terrain Triggers" over various areas of the map (these will identify the types of area under them - grassland, forest, desert, etc. and effect encounters and movement speeds)
At this point you can move about the map without your character looking like he's treading water.
At this point you can follow instructions in the guide to interact with placables... or you can copy ga_olmap_visit to work as a stand alone script and assign it to the On Use of your placables (you then need to variable in the wp transitions) if you wish to skip the "This is a town, do you want to visit? Yes/No" conversations that can be a little irritating.
That's about as far as I have got so far, At some point I'll need to play with encounter tables and such like but I'm saving that for another time.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Toolset vs. Computer
It seems to be one of those kinds of days today where my PC and the NWN2 Toolset doesnt seem to want to get on. Had to restart it twice as it refused to open modules and several times as the apperance editor decided it was just going to lock up completely, grumble.
Still having sorted all that out I've decided that I'm not overly happy with the general layout of the area for the second scene. Which is a bit of a pain in the bum really as I baked it over the weekend having decided that the layout was perfect.
Before I ramble more I probbaly should mention that I'm using scene in a highly broad and generic sense to refer to any area and/or cutscene that relates directly to a plot point, player task (not a complete quest but possibly part of one) or other important part of the module.
Anyway back to the point, where was I? Ah yes.. backed it over the weekend... mind you at that point the cell scene was going to consist purely of the player in the cell and one of the potential companions (Frin Teathorn) was going to turn up and break the player out. However when I tried to build and test the that part of the scene it quickly became apparent that it didnt really work for me. Not that it didnt work in the game or that it looked bad or anything more that I decided it wasnt how I wanted to start after all. It was probably partly affected by the fact I was leaning far more to Frin being a Favored Soul rather than the Rogue that was required to sneak in and open the cell door.
Of course the first draft of her character had her as a Rogue, but at that time the opening scene had the player being caught in a rock fall in a cave and since it was intended that Frin is with you from the start a Rogue didnt fit there either so she became a Favored Soul. I kind of fickle like that...
Still lots of other things have changed since then as well... I'm on opening scene version 4 or 5 by now. Ok actually it's not the opening scene as such, that hasn't changed. Well I lie there too, the dialog has changed slightly to accomodate the change in location of the subsiquent scene.
So the versions so far have been:
1 - Player wakes in cave after being caught in a rock fall, Frin heals them and they make thier way out of the cave together. Rejected as it didn't give the generally avoid the bad guys on the way out task I wanted to start with (everything seems so "player meets some bad guys and has to kill them" all the time and I wanted something a little different).
2 - Going for the dramatic, city under attack by Dragon Riders player must escape the ruins of a cellar and then run away from the dragon that chases them when they emerge. Really like the "run away from the dragon" idea so will use it in a later part (if I make it that far), but to build a city that's in the process of being conquered is a very complex and highly time consuming task not to mention the toolset doesnt have all the items I want (and I'm trying to avoid custom content to start with so I can actually learn the toolkit basics) meant that it just isnt going to fit into the scope and purpose of the first module.
3 - The player wakes up in a cell and gets rescued by Frin version.. didn't quite work for me in terms of the story.
4 - The current version, player wakes up in a cell with Frin and a few others, they effect an escape together and live happily ever after (ok that last points not true.. but you get the idea). This seems to be working for me at the moment, it's got an initial puzzle (good), some characters you can interact with (not that show up then disappear again) from the start and the player can still do the "avoid the patrols" escape thing. Although this time they'll have four others in tow.
So here's hoping I dont change my mind again, otherwise I'll never get anywhere.
Still having sorted all that out I've decided that I'm not overly happy with the general layout of the area for the second scene. Which is a bit of a pain in the bum really as I baked it over the weekend having decided that the layout was perfect.
Before I ramble more I probbaly should mention that I'm using scene in a highly broad and generic sense to refer to any area and/or cutscene that relates directly to a plot point, player task (not a complete quest but possibly part of one) or other important part of the module.
Anyway back to the point, where was I? Ah yes.. backed it over the weekend... mind you at that point the cell scene was going to consist purely of the player in the cell and one of the potential companions (Frin Teathorn) was going to turn up and break the player out. However when I tried to build and test the that part of the scene it quickly became apparent that it didnt really work for me. Not that it didnt work in the game or that it looked bad or anything more that I decided it wasnt how I wanted to start after all. It was probably partly affected by the fact I was leaning far more to Frin being a Favored Soul rather than the Rogue that was required to sneak in and open the cell door.
Of course the first draft of her character had her as a Rogue, but at that time the opening scene had the player being caught in a rock fall in a cave and since it was intended that Frin is with you from the start a Rogue didnt fit there either so she became a Favored Soul. I kind of fickle like that...
Still lots of other things have changed since then as well... I'm on opening scene version 4 or 5 by now. Ok actually it's not the opening scene as such, that hasn't changed. Well I lie there too, the dialog has changed slightly to accomodate the change in location of the subsiquent scene.
So the versions so far have been:
1 - Player wakes in cave after being caught in a rock fall, Frin heals them and they make thier way out of the cave together. Rejected as it didn't give the generally avoid the bad guys on the way out task I wanted to start with (everything seems so "player meets some bad guys and has to kill them" all the time and I wanted something a little different).
2 - Going for the dramatic, city under attack by Dragon Riders player must escape the ruins of a cellar and then run away from the dragon that chases them when they emerge. Really like the "run away from the dragon" idea so will use it in a later part (if I make it that far), but to build a city that's in the process of being conquered is a very complex and highly time consuming task not to mention the toolset doesnt have all the items I want (and I'm trying to avoid custom content to start with so I can actually learn the toolkit basics) meant that it just isnt going to fit into the scope and purpose of the first module.
3 - The player wakes up in a cell and gets rescued by Frin version.. didn't quite work for me in terms of the story.
4 - The current version, player wakes up in a cell with Frin and a few others, they effect an escape together and live happily ever after (ok that last points not true.. but you get the idea). This seems to be working for me at the moment, it's got an initial puzzle (good), some characters you can interact with (not that show up then disappear again) from the start and the player can still do the "avoid the patrols" escape thing. Although this time they'll have four others in tow.
So here's hoping I dont change my mind again, otherwise I'll never get anywhere.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Prologue
Nubile driads, dancing pixies and one rather irked umberhulk are all things that probably aren't going to feature in this tome much. What it will contain is ramblings, thoughts, musings and possibly a lot of bad ideas and cursing. Eventually it may even include some hints, tips, suggestions and other useful information. Or it might last for a few posts and then run out of steam... all (as they say) will be revealed.
There will be a common theme to these ramblings (probably, if you're lucky) which is the devlopment of a module/campaign (campaign may happen if the modules a success) for Netherwinter Nights 2.
It may or may not be called The Sorcerers Tome, it may or may not be called The Shadows of Dawn I keep changing my mind on it. Whatever it is I'm running with when I'm done that's what it will be called.
By now I'm hoping you're wondering what exactly it's all about, as I'm about to tell you... kind of...
You (the player) are the latest of a number of people who have gone missing from the region around the village of Arlone.
As the story opens the player finds himself, dreaming, on the top of a mountain with a mysterious winged woman. They wake a short time later to find themselves in a cell with 4 others, two humans, a halfling and a wild elf.
The rest of the module concerns itself with the players escape and investigation into who abducted them and why.
There will be a common theme to these ramblings (probably, if you're lucky) which is the devlopment of a module/campaign (campaign may happen if the modules a success) for Netherwinter Nights 2.
It may or may not be called The Sorcerers Tome, it may or may not be called The Shadows of Dawn I keep changing my mind on it. Whatever it is I'm running with when I'm done that's what it will be called.
By now I'm hoping you're wondering what exactly it's all about, as I'm about to tell you... kind of...
You (the player) are the latest of a number of people who have gone missing from the region around the village of Arlone.
As the story opens the player finds himself, dreaming, on the top of a mountain with a mysterious winged woman. They wake a short time later to find themselves in a cell with 4 others, two humans, a halfling and a wild elf.
The rest of the module concerns itself with the players escape and investigation into who abducted them and why.
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