Man I should have changed the UI long ago. Would have prevented me having to fit every speech into ridiculously small 3 lines or less chunks. Which would mean a lot more fluid typing and less work in the conversation editor.
At first I tried the Overland map UI as others recommended and fooled with the width to make it bigger. But even at its default size, its too big for those of you using the old 5:4 or 4:3 monitors. I want the player to at least be able to see their avatar, plus a small amount of space, even on narrow screen monitors which most of you seem to still have.
I then realized that I didn't need all that width if I just add more height, the text can wrap. I have a lot of space now, but by changing the graphic I have a smaller footprint (only 440 wide). Obviously microsoft paint is all I had, but for now its a template. But with my plainer template, I was able to go wider and longer in all boxes without it looking bad / overlapping the frame edges. So it's smaller, but bigger :)
These screens are all in 1280x720 format, as close to the 1280x1024 format everyone seems to use, as my laptop would get. It's the width that is the concern, so its completely comparable to ensure the UI is not oversized.
Even those borderline specs where people play at 1024x768 should be able to see their avatar nicely.
Since as we've discovered in my last post that blogspot no longer accepts my imageshack pictures (or any perhaps) here are links, I guess:
OLD UI (overland default)
http://img265.imageshack.us/i/oldui.jpg/
New
http://img218.imageshack.us/i/newui2.jpg/
http://img227.imageshack.us/i/newui.jpg/
heres a bit of a view of the scene from the prior post below. Its the gold titan, the final wave before all hell breaks loose and you die. Im saving the actual visuals (such as a giant eruption of green ectoplasm) for testers and players.
http://img408.imageshack.us/i/spires2.jpg/
http://img231.imageshack.us/i/spires1.jpg/
EDIT: And apparently I can't even use links, so if someone knows why the hell they all turned to blank whitespace after I post I'm all ears. All HTML I enter doesnt display and the image upload doesnt place it inside once i click done.
In the mean time I hope you don't minde triple clicking to copy these for a peek.
Apr 23, 2010
Apr 18, 2010
All the Colours of the Rainbow (at the end)
So as I said, I only had the two final combats to do. I decided, as it seems I always do, to do things out of order. The final combat... well it's more of a combat marathon. It could probably be it's own chapter (not quite ) time wise.
I spent the whole weekend on it and it really only functions in crude form. It works, and the unexpected VFX creations are there, but I have to give it a little more script work and polish so it plays better.
Picture if you will:
A giant wizard spires at the center of a toxic forest full of resident gaths, and evil humans and ogres arriving regularly through said spires.
On your discovery of the spires, you set up a force, as your guardian arrives with the town guard to attempt to somehow disable the spires, and until then, hold back the waves.
Before you can even begin to examine them, they snap to life, bolts of electricity crackle and flash between them and focus on the pad in the center. A massive magical hum shakes the area and an explosive portal blasts open and out marches a dozen troops. Defeat them quickly as they will be followed by more, with wizards, Dragon Age style ogres that take a full group to tackle, in 8 waves.
Then at last, your antagonist arrives. He protects himself with a chromatic field, and molds the earth using his theurgic powers. Unfortunately for you, your own mountains are rich in rare metals, and only server to make this man unbeatable. He sends metallic creations after you, that get large and more devastating with each wave.
Finally, he creates a giant titan of gold that all but devastates you, leaving most of your party dying on the ground.
Your guardian declares this antagonist cannot be stopped. But you managed to defeat his titan and rush to him, still held back by his chromatic shield.
"That was one of my pets", he states flatly. "Already your party is dying. And I have many more", and with that he summons 2 golden titans equal to the first that was all but unstoppable.
As timing has it, the portal, which had been relatively quiet, activates again, and more troops arrive...
And this is where the actual true final battle starts... :)
This is how it will (does) work and now I just have to put in the pre-amble chatter as the party sets up for the spire activation, rathern than how it is now where u just step on a trigger to make the next wave come.
Whatever shortcomings my campaign has, hopefully the ending will overcome them. I think it's a good formula really, to put your best work (where you go above your normal tolerance for polish) at the front and end.
The strong start will get people to at least play the campaign, and the big finish will be the freshest thing in their mind as they leave the experience behind. Throw a couple neat things at chapter ends, and you've got a decent reward system, where playing the game leads to great cut scenes and revelations.
I spent the whole weekend on it and it really only functions in crude form. It works, and the unexpected VFX creations are there, but I have to give it a little more script work and polish so it plays better.
Picture if you will:
A giant wizard spires at the center of a toxic forest full of resident gaths, and evil humans and ogres arriving regularly through said spires.
On your discovery of the spires, you set up a force, as your guardian arrives with the town guard to attempt to somehow disable the spires, and until then, hold back the waves.
Before you can even begin to examine them, they snap to life, bolts of electricity crackle and flash between them and focus on the pad in the center. A massive magical hum shakes the area and an explosive portal blasts open and out marches a dozen troops. Defeat them quickly as they will be followed by more, with wizards, Dragon Age style ogres that take a full group to tackle, in 8 waves.
Then at last, your antagonist arrives. He protects himself with a chromatic field, and molds the earth using his theurgic powers. Unfortunately for you, your own mountains are rich in rare metals, and only server to make this man unbeatable. He sends metallic creations after you, that get large and more devastating with each wave.
Finally, he creates a giant titan of gold that all but devastates you, leaving most of your party dying on the ground.
Your guardian declares this antagonist cannot be stopped. But you managed to defeat his titan and rush to him, still held back by his chromatic shield.
"That was one of my pets", he states flatly. "Already your party is dying. And I have many more", and with that he summons 2 golden titans equal to the first that was all but unstoppable.
As timing has it, the portal, which had been relatively quiet, activates again, and more troops arrive...
And this is where the actual true final battle starts... :)
This is how it will (does) work and now I just have to put in the pre-amble chatter as the party sets up for the spire activation, rathern than how it is now where u just step on a trigger to make the next wave come.
Whatever shortcomings my campaign has, hopefully the ending will overcome them. I think it's a good formula really, to put your best work (where you go above your normal tolerance for polish) at the front and end.
The strong start will get people to at least play the campaign, and the big finish will be the freshest thing in their mind as they leave the experience behind. Throw a couple neat things at chapter ends, and you've got a decent reward system, where playing the game leads to great cut scenes and revelations.
Apr 11, 2010
Omptimizing Areas
Everyone has a thing or two that bothers them. For me, one of the worst is when people start sounding off on something they don't actually know. I am thoroughly convinced that 99% of the internet is based on this kind of content. So I want to clarify the issue of how to handle walkable/non walkable areas and objects in NWN2 toolset.
First of all... if you convert everything u can to environment objects and use walk-mesh cutters, you have obviously read on some optimizations and good for you.
I've heard in the past a pseudo expert tell people to cut down their walk-mesh cutter use because it slows down the game. Well imagine that, something that was designed to reduce hit detection calculations and "speed things up" slows down the game. Well it doesn't. This is what happens with a walk mesh cutter:
It is calculated during baking (which does add BAKE time) and then made into the overall mesh of "walk/don't walk" on the map. It is never calculated again in-game, it simple becomes a simple walkable/not walkable check just like the rest of the non walkable area in the map.
When to use walk-meshes:
-INTERIOR: when an object does not need to be used or hold scripts, but should still block movement, after converting it to an environment object.
-EXTERIOR: Never
I've opened many prefabs, and I'm startled to see the great, far beyond my talents, span of artwork, that is just full of 50+ walk mesh cutters in an exterior area.
While this is fine in-game, when baking these mammoth exteriors, the walk-mesh cutter calculations take longer than the final "tile" part at the end.
Using the walk-mesh cutter outside is not a good idea. They were designed for use in the interior, where you cannot alter the walk-mesh in any way, as it's all tiles.
In terrain editing, in the terrain painter tab we have two options to do this: walk and non walk. And you can paint them right down to a triangular sliver this way.
Some may say they are using walk-meshes to fit the "Exact" shape of a rather detailed object. This isn't a valid reason as objects that are more precise than a triangle on the surface-mesh, are too small for the player to walk into anyway. That is, you are being more precise than the engine recognizes.
Lastly some shadow commentary: Most of you probably know to turn off casts shadows to gains some efficiency. But in the spirit of gaining as much "loss-less" shadow reduction as possible, always turn these options off for smaller items that are already in the shadow of a larger item. Example, some rocks that are directly beneath a tree. Their shadow won't be seen anyway, so by shutting these types of shadows off, you may not have to shut off any visible ones. And thus you preserve the realism.
Generally you will keep "receive shadows on" and remove the casts shadows, and there should be no difference in the visuals. Turning receives shadows off can be dicy, as to the trained eye certain objects will look completely phony.
Once again I'd just like to say these prefabs are extreeemely artistically great and will be used well in my campaign.
Campaign Update
Well I am basically down to two areas, which are done except the two boss fights. So I guess that means I am two (major) battles from being a finished alpha test, where someone can play it to the end. After that, I just want to redo the writing because I rushed it all and am not at all satisfied with it, and add some voice acting.
First of all... if you convert everything u can to environment objects and use walk-mesh cutters, you have obviously read on some optimizations and good for you.
I've heard in the past a pseudo expert tell people to cut down their walk-mesh cutter use because it slows down the game. Well imagine that, something that was designed to reduce hit detection calculations and "speed things up" slows down the game. Well it doesn't. This is what happens with a walk mesh cutter:
It is calculated during baking (which does add BAKE time) and then made into the overall mesh of "walk/don't walk" on the map. It is never calculated again in-game, it simple becomes a simple walkable/not walkable check just like the rest of the non walkable area in the map.
When to use walk-meshes:
-INTERIOR: when an object does not need to be used or hold scripts, but should still block movement, after converting it to an environment object.
-EXTERIOR: Never
I've opened many prefabs, and I'm startled to see the great, far beyond my talents, span of artwork, that is just full of 50+ walk mesh cutters in an exterior area.
While this is fine in-game, when baking these mammoth exteriors, the walk-mesh cutter calculations take longer than the final "tile" part at the end.
Using the walk-mesh cutter outside is not a good idea. They were designed for use in the interior, where you cannot alter the walk-mesh in any way, as it's all tiles.
In terrain editing, in the terrain painter tab we have two options to do this: walk and non walk. And you can paint them right down to a triangular sliver this way.
Some may say they are using walk-meshes to fit the "Exact" shape of a rather detailed object. This isn't a valid reason as objects that are more precise than a triangle on the surface-mesh, are too small for the player to walk into anyway. That is, you are being more precise than the engine recognizes.
Lastly some shadow commentary: Most of you probably know to turn off casts shadows to gains some efficiency. But in the spirit of gaining as much "loss-less" shadow reduction as possible, always turn these options off for smaller items that are already in the shadow of a larger item. Example, some rocks that are directly beneath a tree. Their shadow won't be seen anyway, so by shutting these types of shadows off, you may not have to shut off any visible ones. And thus you preserve the realism.
Generally you will keep "receive shadows on" and remove the casts shadows, and there should be no difference in the visuals. Turning receives shadows off can be dicy, as to the trained eye certain objects will look completely phony.
Once again I'd just like to say these prefabs are extreeemely artistically great and will be used well in my campaign.
Campaign Update
Well I am basically down to two areas, which are done except the two boss fights. So I guess that means I am two (major) battles from being a finished alpha test, where someone can play it to the end. After that, I just want to redo the writing because I rushed it all and am not at all satisfied with it, and add some voice acting.
Apr 7, 2010
Can anyone help?
I have a simple request. Any recommendations for software you have personally used to sucessfully recover lost nwn2 work via delete/format?
Thanks
Thanks
Mar 24, 2010
Modding Twilight
It's getting close to the end so I took a quick run through of the game so far. A lot of things are slightly delayed, and one broken when it comes to conversatitonal triggers. They are totally incompatible if you arent fully up to 1.23 patch so I guess I will look into those before my final modding push.
I found a really nice screenshot of the 2nd to last area that really kind of gives the high-fantasy theme, with the horizon that seems to lead into limitless possibilities. So here it is.
I found a really nice screenshot of the 2nd to last area that really kind of gives the high-fantasy theme, with the horizon that seems to lead into limitless possibilities. So here it is.
Mar 21, 2010
Humour in an RPG... at least I tried
The subject of humour is something I've decided to touch on due to the last hour I spent trying to make this over-bred dandy "faint" and stay fainted after you destroy his guardian in your attempt to rob his estate.
Again one of the reasons I found BG2 to be far more entertaining than, NWN2, and still more so than DoA, was the use of humour. To digress slightly, BG2 was the source of my inspiration to mod and many of the mechanics are borrowed from it, such as the party size (of 6), the NON player created companions who have actual lines to speak, and the way they speak (they talk to you when ready, it's not an issue you can force, which was another thing that kept me playing BG2 eagerly).
With DoA, I knew it was to be a dark setting but quite frankly it's too stiff. Far, far too stiff. Constant conflict and desperation at every turn offers little to play for, as you never get to stop and simply take in a scene. With humour, nwn2 made some attempt, but for too few.
I think the only really feasible style of humour given the limited animations, and dated english terms, is in using over the top personalities. And I've gone with this in a few spots, realizing my own campaign had been fairly bereft of humour outside of the bard companions dogged persistence in the sport of skirt chasing.
In the photo above, you are ending the "stealth/robbery" quest, one of my attempts at non-combat/dynamic gameplay. You end up in the master bedroom and the owner sets his magic guardian on you. Once you kill it, he passes out in fear, leaving you free to rob him blind. Probably not actually the best example of character humour, but I just wanted to use this screenshot somewhere.
This is the type of humour I never laughed at as a teenager, but as I grew up I learned to be highly entertained by the sheer "smack you over the head"-edness of the characters, who's only unpredictability is just how much MORE they fit their stereotype than you even expect. Futurama delivered me many of such moments, and it always fills me with disdain that they didn't last, while the simpsons have been on for 80 years and ran out of stuff in 1997. (I literally remember having a discussion with my high school friends that the simpsons has gotten weird and forgetable and had no more material that year). Digressed again :)
Humorous characterizations to look forward to in Islander:
-A sociopathic gnome sorceror (companion/death threatener)
-A "charlie sheen+shakespeare" hybrid bard with a penchant for the party's cleric
-A "valley girl" beholder with verbal diarhea
-A twitchy dwarven rogue who quakes in his boots at any sign of trouble
I think at this point I might continue releasing details of exactly what Islander is about. I wasn't going to, but then I realized of all the 4 people who read this it isn't really going to spoil anything.
I will be finishing the final area/battle of chapter 3 and releasing it to a tester who has already tested 1/2 to see how it goes. And then that's it. No further development, I will fix up what is broken, finish the unpolished areas and add the companion conversations (I'd say about 15 hours work would cover all that).
Again one of the reasons I found BG2 to be far more entertaining than, NWN2, and still more so than DoA, was the use of humour. To digress slightly, BG2 was the source of my inspiration to mod and many of the mechanics are borrowed from it, such as the party size (of 6), the NON player created companions who have actual lines to speak, and the way they speak (they talk to you when ready, it's not an issue you can force, which was another thing that kept me playing BG2 eagerly).
With DoA, I knew it was to be a dark setting but quite frankly it's too stiff. Far, far too stiff. Constant conflict and desperation at every turn offers little to play for, as you never get to stop and simply take in a scene. With humour, nwn2 made some attempt, but for too few.
I think the only really feasible style of humour given the limited animations, and dated english terms, is in using over the top personalities. And I've gone with this in a few spots, realizing my own campaign had been fairly bereft of humour outside of the bard companions dogged persistence in the sport of skirt chasing.
In the photo above, you are ending the "stealth/robbery" quest, one of my attempts at non-combat/dynamic gameplay. You end up in the master bedroom and the owner sets his magic guardian on you. Once you kill it, he passes out in fear, leaving you free to rob him blind. Probably not actually the best example of character humour, but I just wanted to use this screenshot somewhere.
This is the type of humour I never laughed at as a teenager, but as I grew up I learned to be highly entertained by the sheer "smack you over the head"-edness of the characters, who's only unpredictability is just how much MORE they fit their stereotype than you even expect. Futurama delivered me many of such moments, and it always fills me with disdain that they didn't last, while the simpsons have been on for 80 years and ran out of stuff in 1997. (I literally remember having a discussion with my high school friends that the simpsons has gotten weird and forgetable and had no more material that year). Digressed again :)
Humorous characterizations to look forward to in Islander:
-A sociopathic gnome sorceror (companion/death threatener)
-A "charlie sheen+shakespeare" hybrid bard with a penchant for the party's cleric
-A "valley girl" beholder with verbal diarhea
-A twitchy dwarven rogue who quakes in his boots at any sign of trouble
I think at this point I might continue releasing details of exactly what Islander is about. I wasn't going to, but then I realized of all the 4 people who read this it isn't really going to spoil anything.
I will be finishing the final area/battle of chapter 3 and releasing it to a tester who has already tested 1/2 to see how it goes. And then that's it. No further development, I will fix up what is broken, finish the unpolished areas and add the companion conversations (I'd say about 15 hours work would cover all that).
Mar 20, 2010
Where have I been?
Well in point form:
After windows 7 I was unable to patch and I even have a new laptop with vista 64 that wouldnt patch for a week.
Got the vista 64 laptop working at least.
Bought a midi keyboard to make some custom tracks. Little did I realize there were thousands of dollars to pay to get any decent sounds, so I'm working on mostly solo pieces like a piano only form of chamber music and things like that.
Did not realize how amateurish my piano keying ability was so I'm practicing before I record anything but I do have a pretty suitable little bit written out for an mansion theme.
I asked in the forums how to do soz style nwn1 dialogues and with speaker switching. Did not get an answer to my surprise maybe one of you know? And if so do I have to make cohorts to switch speakers or can companions be used?
After windows 7 I was unable to patch and I even have a new laptop with vista 64 that wouldnt patch for a week.
Got the vista 64 laptop working at least.
Bought a midi keyboard to make some custom tracks. Little did I realize there were thousands of dollars to pay to get any decent sounds, so I'm working on mostly solo pieces like a piano only form of chamber music and things like that.
Did not realize how amateurish my piano keying ability was so I'm practicing before I record anything but I do have a pretty suitable little bit written out for an mansion theme.
I asked in the forums how to do soz style nwn1 dialogues and with speaker switching. Did not get an answer to my surprise maybe one of you know? And if so do I have to make cohorts to switch speakers or can companions be used?
Feb 16, 2010
Saw a great medeival "B" movie today
I'm just piping in to spread the word of a really good 2009 movie I saw on the movie channel today. It was two near two hour parts, they played back to back.
It appeared it was a made for tv type of movie, Knights of Bloodsteel, total time 240 minutes.
Apparently it was also made here in Canada so yay for us. Despite its low budget as a TV movie thanks to CGI and bigger budgets, it actually stands up as a theater movie in terms of effects and sets, there's just not millions of huge action scenes like LOTR or something.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1264363/
I recommend watching. A really unique spin on goblins and other races, I won't spoil it more than that. Mose notably about it is it stars Davide James Elliot (aka J.A.G.)
and Christopher Lloyd (the scientist of back to the future(s) movies)
It appeared it was a made for tv type of movie, Knights of Bloodsteel, total time 240 minutes.
Apparently it was also made here in Canada so yay for us. Despite its low budget as a TV movie thanks to CGI and bigger budgets, it actually stands up as a theater movie in terms of effects and sets, there's just not millions of huge action scenes like LOTR or something.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1264363/
I recommend watching. A really unique spin on goblins and other races, I won't spoil it more than that. Mose notably about it is it stars Davide James Elliot (aka J.A.G.)
and Christopher Lloyd (the scientist of back to the future(s) movies)
Feb 11, 2010
Tired of NWN2... really.
Be forewarned this is pretty much a flat out bitch, but I am also trying to get something fixed so you may want to skip to the end.
For the entire span of my NWN2 history I have always had to deal with annoying shit that shows me why I will never buy atari trash again. However, having already began many months (and upgraded hardware) to make a big campaign, Im stick with what I have till my project is at least out. But as a player Ive always had to deal with my character jerking all over the place in game to the point where it was unbearable. Then I figured out a spyware scan would reduce it, until it got bad again. Until...
... the 1.22 patch and beyond. Now the problem is 100% of the time, is unrelated to spyware and even persists on brand new computer installations, I'm talking 3 diff windows versions, xp to 7, different computers, desktop, laptop, a diff laptop. And its no longer spyware related. Some of you have experience the weird lag where you run halfway across an area and then warp back to the start. It seems to be interrelated and I get that too, but also, every single time I stop running my character jerks all over the damn place. Its a major piss off and the only reason I could tolerate it is because I mostly mod, o nly going in to test briefly.
But its so bad now I cant ignore it. I cant test my own work on a theif quest because the jerky movement makes my character run out of hiding on his own. Theres a big thread for others with the problem:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=699897&forum=116
A quick summary: we determined that a revert to v1.21 stops it. And I was doing that, until... I spent an entire saturday trying to figure out why my speak triggers are f*cked and then I tried the game on my laptop which is 1.23 and they work fine. So yet another day of my life wasted on what should be an instant task, and I have honestly lost track of how many times Ive done this one stupid script that atari left to the wind without telling anyone and I lost a day of life screwing with what should be automatic but I DIGRESS.
So what I am asking here if anyone can volunteer, do you have the problem or not, and either way, what is the main details of your comp, processor, vid card, windows version, DX? Thanks for any reports here.
In my own attempt to do more than my share to get this piece of shit working since obsidian obviously wont, I disabled virtually EVERY service and app and the bug still persists. There was even critical windows processes disabled!
To be honest as much as I hate further using this abomination, I have a lot invested in it and it finally has enough custom content that would make a great sequel. But with what I've seen even before this bug Im about ready to pack my bags for dragon age the second I release. I can't even give proper due to my fellow modders as this bug stops me from enjoying other mods, I tried Trinity recently. The only way I can get them to play smoothly is in v1.21 and with the random bugs it seems to cause i cant tell if its a legit bug to report or my fault for having an old version. But I'm really at my wits end with this shit and pretty much regret starting my campaign 2 years ago.
For the entire span of my NWN2 history I have always had to deal with annoying shit that shows me why I will never buy atari trash again. However, having already began many months (and upgraded hardware) to make a big campaign, Im stick with what I have till my project is at least out. But as a player Ive always had to deal with my character jerking all over the place in game to the point where it was unbearable. Then I figured out a spyware scan would reduce it, until it got bad again. Until...
... the 1.22 patch and beyond. Now the problem is 100% of the time, is unrelated to spyware and even persists on brand new computer installations, I'm talking 3 diff windows versions, xp to 7, different computers, desktop, laptop, a diff laptop. And its no longer spyware related. Some of you have experience the weird lag where you run halfway across an area and then warp back to the start. It seems to be interrelated and I get that too, but also, every single time I stop running my character jerks all over the damn place. Its a major piss off and the only reason I could tolerate it is because I mostly mod, o nly going in to test briefly.
But its so bad now I cant ignore it. I cant test my own work on a theif quest because the jerky movement makes my character run out of hiding on his own. Theres a big thread for others with the problem:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=699897&forum=116
A quick summary: we determined that a revert to v1.21 stops it. And I was doing that, until... I spent an entire saturday trying to figure out why my speak triggers are f*cked and then I tried the game on my laptop which is 1.23 and they work fine. So yet another day of my life wasted on what should be an instant task, and I have honestly lost track of how many times Ive done this one stupid script that atari left to the wind without telling anyone and I lost a day of life screwing with what should be automatic but I DIGRESS.
So what I am asking here if anyone can volunteer, do you have the problem or not, and either way, what is the main details of your comp, processor, vid card, windows version, DX? Thanks for any reports here.
In my own attempt to do more than my share to get this piece of shit working since obsidian obviously wont, I disabled virtually EVERY service and app and the bug still persists. There was even critical windows processes disabled!
To be honest as much as I hate further using this abomination, I have a lot invested in it and it finally has enough custom content that would make a great sequel. But with what I've seen even before this bug Im about ready to pack my bags for dragon age the second I release. I can't even give proper due to my fellow modders as this bug stops me from enjoying other mods, I tried Trinity recently. The only way I can get them to play smoothly is in v1.21 and with the random bugs it seems to cause i cant tell if its a legit bug to report or my fault for having an old version. But I'm really at my wits end with this shit and pretty much regret starting my campaign 2 years ago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)