HELP!! NEW AREA Creation

[vinniemc]

Hello Everyone,

 

I hope you can help with my problem/

 

I want to create a new are ( trying the Yavin )

 

I extract the files: module.ifo, m50aa.are, m50aa.git from liv_m99aa.rim located in ERF->Modules.

 

I edit the three files names and tags pointing to my "new" area => vw1.

 

I create new: module.ifo, vw1.are, vw1.git files from above editting.

 

I use the excellent kotor tools ( what a wonderfull program, hats off to the creator ) to "Build" a new module called vw1.mod

 

I place the mod in the swkotor-> Modules directory.

 

Everything looks okay but when I warp to the location "vw1"

 

I see myself standing in a blank area-> cannot move (Body turns head does'nt) and there is nothing there.

 

Being a very new Modder I know I am missing something simple.

 

I have read ALL posts and cannot find an answer.

 

Please help?

 

ps. The bink movie making process is unreal. I have created bink's showing my players ( with their reskins ) interacting in the game. It captures frames right from the game.

[Fred Tetra]

While I haven't had the time to do as much experimentation with modifying .are and .git files as I would like, I can tell you that BioWare's GFF editor is not 100% compatible with the version of these files used in KotOR.

 

Here's a simple test for you:

1) Do a right-click Properties on the .git or .are file before you edit it and note the Size (in bytes).

 

2) open it in the GFF Editor, then save it back out without editing it to a different name.

 

3) Check the new file's size. If the two sizes are different, the file contains data that the GFF Editor doesn't know how to read in, so it writes back out only that which it could.

[gameunlimited]

In the Module.ifo, have you changed the line Mod_EntryArea to become vw1 also?

[vinniemc]

Yes I have. I really appreciate any help you can offer....

 

Do I need to add anything else to the area ? All i am doing is creating new .ifo, .git, .are files, and then teleporting to that area.

 

Do I need to add the other modules in rim liv_m99aa_s.

 

AND

 

Where does the the starting rim liv_m99aa call the other

rim liv_m99aa_s.

 

Thank You in Advance

[gameunlimited]

I am not sure exactly what is the problem. But if you send me your file, i might be able to take a look at it and hopefully find what is wrong with it.

[vinniemc]

I apologize for being such a pain....

 

But how can I get your E-Mail address (Real newbie to forums)

 

I did try the following after reading replys to my post.

 

1... Extracted tar_m02aa rim files (module.ifo, m02aa.git, m02aa.are) using kotor tools.

 

2... Used Kotor Tools ERF builder to create a tar_m02aa.mod file

with files from #1 ( no editing just extracts )

 

3.. When I teleported to tar_m02aa (mod was put in swkotor modules directory) all the people were gone (I could walk around the whole ring) and my hideout was now just open sky and I could not enter the room.

 

Obviously something is damaging the files when either;

 

a: They are being extracted using Kotor Tools or

b: I am using Kotor Tools erf builder wrong or it has a bug.

 

Hope that adds some more info for you.

 

I will send you the files once I find out your E-Mail address.

[vinniemc]

I think I might be getting some where........

 

I used rim extractor to extract the module.ifo, m02aa.git, m02aa.are files NOT KOTOR TOOLS

 

I then used rim builder to rebuild tar_mo2aa.rim with the original extracted files (no changes). Put in modules directory. started game and warped to tar_m02aa everything perfect.

 

So I then decided to edit one file at a time:

1.. editted module.ifo only - rebuilt with the other files being original. Worked perfect

 

Did this for m02aa.are - other two original - rebuilt , Worked perfect.

 

THEN editted m02aa.git -> rebuilt -> When I warped to tar_m02aa. The start sequence was all garbage ( when sith starts fight in front of store owner Larrim ) once the fight cut scene ended ( i think.it was garbage ) it went back to normal.

 

So something is damaging the .GIT file when saving from an editor.

 

I have tried this with Bioware's GFF editor and Robius (i think thats the name) modified editor and get the same results...

 

What do you use to editted .git files? If you use the same programs what am I doing wrong....

 

Getting pretty frustrated ( I have being working on this for days )

I also am thinking just giving up modding this game even though I think it is one of the best games ever produced ( and being an old geezer I have played many)

[Kitty Kitty]

Unless I am mistaken, what's happening is that KotOR has some "added data types" that the GFF editor and others don't know how to handle properly.

 

What this does is corrupt a few certain files (ones that use said data types) while others work fine.

 

Fred has been working on the problem as he ever-expands KotOR_tool, but being that there's absolutely no support or documentation from Bioware/Lucas on this, it's not exactly a simple, speedy task. But I'm sure eventually it won't be a problem anymore.

 

-Kitty

[T7nowhere]

A similar thing happens when useing NWN toolset to edit .dlg files.

When you save an edited KotOR dlg with the toolset all of the VOs will be left out. This makes editing Dialog quite clumsy and much more difficult than it should be.

[Fred Tetra]

Hmmm... I look into .dlg files and see what can be done. I don't know when I'll get around to an editor for them, but you never know!

[Kitty Kitty]

Originally posted by Fred Tetra

Hmmm... I look into .dlg files and see what can be done. I don't know when I'll get around to an editor for them, but you never know!

 

LOL.. Fred.. before you know it, Kotor_tool will be able to rip the game apart and put it back together from beginning to end any way we like it. lol

 

Since it's been a little bit since I said so, allow me to say (yet again) you never cease to amaze me and you've been an amazing and truly apreciated wealth of resources to this community. Thanks again for all your (ongoing) hard work.

 

-Kitty

[Fred Tetra]

Awww shucks, thanks!