Some questions about the flexibility of available tools Options

[Vaeloran]

Hi!
I hope there's a good soul who will answer 2 things I was wondering about..

1) I see there are many mods for BG 1/2, but - how come there are no "stand alone" games, totally unrelated to the BG 1/2 plots? Do the current tools require you to start your "game" within the original games? So my question is - can you make your own game, with a starting area and other areas completely from scratch? I mean, without Candlekeep, Irenicus' prison or anything else related to those games?
2 subquestions; can you make a 2nd (or 3rd) start game button with the name of your game on it? (You know - I'm talking about the window when you're prompted to select "Shadows of Amn" or "Throne of Bhaal")
What about the world map? Is it possible to make a custom one?

Is this a difficult task?


2) How difficult would it be to make a script that takes away money from the player when he rests - based on the level of his party? (Cumulative level of the party * a certain factor = gold lost on resting)


Thanks in advance.

[Sir-Kill]

Welcome to BWL!

1) you would be talking about a TC total conversion. yes it is possible it is a LOT of work. WTP here is one TC
2) yes some bigger mods have changed the '.MOS and GUI. to have different backgrounds and renamed the buttons.
yes you can change the world map (again wtp is doing that check out the wtp homepage for my new world map /shamless promotion)
3) not my area of expertise but I would guess one could script that

This post has been edited by Sir-Kill: Dec 29 2007, 11:03 PM

[Vaeloran]

Thanks!
What's a TC conversion?
What's WTP? (Ok, I saw your sig and now I know what's that)

What tools do I need to do that? Is DLTCEP enough?
What's Weidu? Do I need to download that too before I start working with DLTCEP? I downloaded DLTCEP an hour ago and played around with it a bit.. The thing is I cannot load a NEW area and start working from scratch.. And suddenly.. all froze.. I had to restart my PC.

Maybe it would be better I buy NWN 2 and use those tools to create my game..

This post has been edited by Vaeloran: Dec 29 2007, 11:29 PM

[Sir-Kill]

TC= total conversion = totally converts the game (there are also partial conversions)
Note that I only mod graphics and graphic files
DLTCEP can do many things dialog, bams, area files, ect
weidu is good for dialogs and other things (I personally have no idea how it works)
NI= Near infinity: it can also do many things listed above but not so much graphics
infinity explorer can look at all? file types but cant change them
bamworkshop can do bams (item icons and more)

truthfully it is a lot easier to modify a newer game and one that was built with modding in mind where as IE was not. but that has not stopped many from modding ie

to do graphics you will need a 2d editor: The Gimp is free then there is paintshop and photoshop both not free.
then there is 3d graphics 3ds is sort of a standard but near $7-8000 it is not cheap. there is free 3d software too.

This post has been edited by Sir-Kill: Dec 29 2007, 11:45 PM

[Vaeloran]

Oh no.. I didn't mean a completely new game.. of course I meant to reuse the BG/IWD graphics.. Otherwise, I would not look here for tutorials.
I am just curious how flexible is it.. when I create a new area (with BG graphics and tilesets) how different can it be from anything in the original games?

[Sir-Kill]

all depends on you I guess.
using tilesets are a fairly good way do make an area shadowing can be a hassle tho.

I would suggest one of the 2d editors all 3 can use layers.
open a tile some ground image
start slaping trees, rocks, buildings, water, ect all on different layers that way you can easily change their layout.
once you have a good image flatten it and import it in DLTCEP, create the tis, and move to the area files.

for areas you may also want to try ietme it is a bit easier for beginners, tho some aspects are easier in ietme I find some easier in dltcep

[Vaeloran]

Ah so.. as I understand now - DLTCEP and IETME are just editors, thus I cannot create new areas with them? Therefore, I would have to download a 2d editor (such as The Gimp), import tilesets from BG (?) and create something new? Right?

[Sir-Kill]

no I think both DLTCEP and IETME can create tis files (the actual graphics by importing tilesets) but creating an "area" usually means adding walls (not visual walls something the games uses for line of sight and other things), search areas (where you can walk/not walk and what sounds it makes when you do), doors and overlays (water, lava, oil, mud).

but to create the graphics it is just so much easier to do it in a 2d editor (using layers)

your best bet is not to alter the start area you first time out, check out TOD tower of deception. it adds nice area graphics battles and dialog.

This post has been edited by Sir-Kill: Dec 30 2007, 12:26 AM

[Vaeloran]

It sounds difficult.. oh my.
Anyway, your world map looks very nice! It looks a bit like the HoMM 3 map when you zoom in. But when I click on an area - those are mostly BG areas.

[Sir-Kill]

it is when you start but it not really once you get it
thanks
well wtp have seen many transitions in its life. none of the bg areas are going to be reused some areas will use a bg tileset made area graphics made by herd (nice ones too) but unfortunately we have not posted any new screenshots for quite sometime and the home page is terribly out of date.


well if you do decide to go ahead with it and have questions feel free to ask

This post has been edited by Sir-Kill: Dec 30 2007, 12:40 AM

[Vaeloran]

I will, thank you.
Anyway, it's hard to start when you don't have the knowledge to even put tilesets together and create a new area.. at least that was the easiest part to do with the NWN toolset. I have many ideas about vast dungeons, woods, interesting enemies.. but it seems I have to put my little project on a halt.

[Sir-Kill]

there are tilesets that wtp started to collect it is not anywhere near what we wanted people to contribute but it is some.

http://www.blackwyrmlair.net/~chevar/community.html