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Post by Badwater on Feb 16, 2012 11:15:49 GMT -5
Placeables have everything to do with the feel and customization of a world, especially T2. For those of you that have hopped in and sampled the look of T2, perhaps you have really enjoyed the diverse look that T2 tries to strike. If you haven't looked yet, you really need to - you'll be amazed at the difference between T1 and T2. I'm having a devil of a time making a jewelry merchant store that I like, in terms of the look and placeables. In the process of trying to find something worthwhile, I came across this: nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=34511&id=8102I'd like for you to download it and look at the sample module as a DM. There's a lot that I like here. The question for you is: Should we add this to T2? Do some of you want to see pictures of these custom placeables?
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Post by Badwater on Feb 16, 2012 15:34:10 GMT -5
But there is much, much more - you'll have to look on your own:
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Post by Badwater on Feb 17, 2012 10:54:02 GMT -5
hak content takes resources. I think that if we like some stuff, I can trim and put the content into an existing hak that we have and download.
I do need some feedback, so please download from nwvault, and take a look at the sample module (easiest in DM mode).
If I modify a hak it will mean that we need to download that hak again to play in T2. Not a huge issue, just reminding you of the logistics.
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Post by Edohvi on Feb 17, 2012 15:39:18 GMT -5
Are not most of those appearances in the palette already?
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Post by Badwater on Feb 17, 2012 20:43:36 GMT -5
Are not most of those appearances in the palette already? No, none of them are. Some of them are variations of existing placeables that perhaps we're not interested in, so it's possible to modify the hak to include only the stuff we're interested in.
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Post by Edohvi on Feb 18, 2012 13:34:46 GMT -5
You could merge that hak with one you are already using and redistribute
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Post by Badwater on Feb 18, 2012 17:51:36 GMT -5
You could merge that hak with one you are already using and redistribute That's what I was thinking of doing, rather than have an additional hak to deal with. I don't think resources are going to be an issue; I don't think T2 will come close to the resource usage that's on T1 simply because it has been built with resource economy in mind. Working on T1 has instilled some good habits in this regard. Something else we might consider is merging ALL of our haks into a single hak, especially if we really don't think we'll add anything more in the way of haks. The only downside to that might be if we go in a direction that's not backwards compatible to an existing hak. While that's high unlikely, sometimes it is better to have individual haks. Also, if there's an update to a hak then dealing with an updated version is easier if they're not all clumped together. In fact, in thinking aloud here I've kind of talked myself out of that.
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Post by Edohvi on Feb 19, 2012 1:54:10 GMT -5
Hehe...see, talking aloud to yourself can be helpful I'd steer clear of grouping all the haks into just a few because huge downloads can be a deterrent for would be players. I've noticed that some servers tend to group haks together say tilesets in 1 batch, placeables in another and so on. And if those grouped haks get too large, they tend to break them down smaller. Just something I've noticed with server that still draw players
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Post by Badwater on Feb 19, 2012 8:44:07 GMT -5
The more I look at this hak the more I like it. I'm going to incorporate it, but I think I'll get some feedback from slidermike on whether we want to just include it standalone or not. I'm kind of leery of piggybacking it onto a tileset hak; I think it should be all or nothing. Since slidermike has an .exe that will download all the haks, I think that as long as he's aware of the hak he can modify his .exe...and the rest of us just download the hak from nwvault or from where I have the other Talus haks available. slidermike has his .exe so I don't think we need to bundle together the haks. I'm not against bundling them... Hehe...see, talking aloud to yourself can be helpful I'd steer clear of grouping all the haks into just a few because huge downloads can be a deterrent for would be players... Not true, and I point to CEP because that's exactly what CEP is. It used to be that downloading was an issue but I don't think it is any longer. The first time I loaded CEP (over 7 years ago!) it took me over 6 hours to do it. These days most everyone has a broadband connection and downloading is most definitely NOT the nightmare it used to be! Anyone who is playing NWN is going to be familiar with things like haks; and if not, there's always T1.
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Post by Edohvi on Feb 19, 2012 15:22:46 GMT -5
I'm just talking about I have heard from players and those just getting into NWN
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Post by Badwater on Feb 21, 2012 14:58:27 GMT -5
UPDATE:
It turns out that I'm going to have to merge these appearances with the CEP top hak. I will be removing the MoreTNOPlaceables hak from our download list.
That means T2 will have its own CEP top hak after I've merged and tested. You will need to download that hak after it's on T2. I will name it slightly differently from the CEP top hak and we can always back out or add other material if we want.
This also opens up a different option, and that is I can always removed unwanted material if there is ever the need for it. I don't think that will be the case, because I've been conscious of resource usage from Day 1.
I'm going to remove the hak from T2, and then T2 may have enough changes to do another upload before the big change, but what will most likely happen is that I'll do a big update all at once after it is tested.
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Post by Badwater on Feb 23, 2012 16:51:38 GMT -5
I've corrected all the issues with the additional placeables. I've tested a small sample and it's going to work, but I have a couple more hours of hak work before I'm ready. What I've had to do is make additions to the CEP 2da file to point to the placeables. Then I will be adding a modified placeables hak that contains the models and whatnot for the new placeables. What does this mean? Well, you'll have to download the modified CEP top hak and the placeables hak. It will be relatively easy going once I've finished updating the 2da file. I will post the new haks with links once I've finished with the test module and everything is working. Boy it's amazing what I continue to learn as I make T2. I can see why most builders choose smaller projects or the path of least resistance on PWs. Fortunately, there is a core community who are like me - they have not found the next thing to supplant NWN. Plus, I know what I want in T2 and I'll spend the time to make it right. I hope you like the new content as much as I do! (which is to say it's been worth the effort to install )
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Post by Badwater on Feb 24, 2012 13:00:45 GMT -5
I tried saving some time in updating the 2da file, but it was not to be. While the new placeables worked nicely, there were strange anomalies with other CEP content, and I assume it was from content following the 2da insertions from me. It turns out that I will have to spend a few hours and thousands of space and tab keystrokes to format the entries properly.
I'm about halfway through that, which means I have another 4 - 6 hours of work. When I'm done I will test but I expect it to work because I did a smaller scale test.
The BW placeables hak is still valid. I will have links up when the modified 2da (CEP Top) hak is ready.
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Post by Edohvi on Feb 24, 2012 13:34:22 GMT -5
Do you still place the custom haks in the middle of the CEP?
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Post by Badwater on Feb 24, 2012 16:52:35 GMT -5
Do you still place the custom haks in the middle of the CEP? The hak order is in the builder's forum and will be the same. Same file names as well.
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