Mod Tech Question

[vinniemc]

I second wholeheartedly Kitty's reply to my post about Fred, He is really amazing ( I wish I had staff like that during my working days ) I just would like to say to Fred, please work on are,git mods to kotor tools as these two areas really hold up on new world/area creations.

 

Now for my problem.

 

I tried the following as a test.

 

Extracted module.ifo,m02aa.are,m02aa.git frm tar_m02aa.rim

Rebuilt rim with above files untouched. Called rebuild vw1.rim

warped to vw1 -> no problems (obviously as I am just copying the same files and renaming the rim)

 

BUT

 

When I rename the the .git and .are to vw1.git,vw1.are

and edit module.info ( Fields: Mod_Area_list=vw1

Mod_Entry_area )

Rebuild rim name : vw1.rim

Warp to vw1 the cut-scene starts with the people but everything is black all heads move no body movement.

 

What is happening.

do I need to change any othe fields in module.ifo

What are the fields: Mod_name: looks like a string name of tar_m02aa -> I don't think this needs to change or DOES it.

Mod_tag: original is blank. What is it?

Mod_VO_id:original points to m02aa

Do I change this to vw1 and what is it?

 

Why does this not work? It is essentially the same as the first with just renaming .git and .are and pointing to the new names in module.ifo.

What am I missing

 

Please respond (now this is going to sound very rude but it is not meant to be)

Please stick to the threads question. I have read all posts in this forum and go to it daily, I know about the dlg problem and the talk table and do not need to rehash in another post unrelated to it. I am trying to be sensitive and not hurt anyones feeling please do not take this the wrong way

[gameunlimited]

I will try to explain this as I can:

 

Short answer:

 

Try this. Use kotor tools and go to BIFs --> Layouts. Then Extract to override folder, whatever area you originally used. In this case, it will be m02aa.lyt. Then do as you did, renaming to vw1 and all, but, in addition, rename the m02aa.lyt to vw1.lyt. Leave the file in the override folder, do not include it in the module file (or maybe you can, I have never tested it). That should do it.

 

Explanation: (these are just my speculations with some extent of evidents).

 

If you take a look at the .are file, you can see that there is a node that is called "Rooms". This lists all the rooms' model file. However, those rooms are just separate model files. This is where the Layout files (.lyt) come to play. The layout file determines how to arrange those rooms and how to connect them. Each area file has its own layout file. By renaming the area file to new name (vw1 in your example), you basically made that area file not having a layout file which screws up the whole module as the game does not know how to arrange those rooms. The rest is pretty obvious, extract the layout file and rename it to the new file.

 

Some extra notes: Mod_tag is used in the scripting system. This is basically how the scripts identify that particular module. Mod_vo_id is used in voice file naming, I have not take a look closer at how this work. Mod_name is the in game display name, perhaps this is what is shown in the map, again I am not sure exactly about this. I did not change these fields when I did a test with the layout thing and it works fine.

 

Hope this helps.

[T7nowhere]

I think it would also be possible to change an areas layout by hex editing. Though if you try this it is at your own risk as I haven't tried it yet.

I have a couple Ideas for new planets I want to make but it would require mixing up the areas available. Until that is the whole MDL thing is cracked.

[gameunlimited]

There is no need for a hex editor, it is in a plain text format.

[T7nowhere]

lol, I really tend to make things harder than they need to be sometimes.

 

Thanks gameunlimited.

[gameunlimited]

I dont think you are alone heh, I was doing exactly the same thing, opening it using a hex editor.

 

Only after opening it that I realize that it is a text file

[vinniemc]

Thank you so MUCH for you response. I did what you suggested and it worked!! A few minor things though;

Need to also copy and rename the associated rim ( ie: tar_mo2aa_s.rim to vw1_s.rim(my world name.

The .lty file wase renamed and put into overides.

I could not get it to work by putting the new rim into overide folder (it would hang my machine ) but putting it in the Modules folder did the trick.

I modified module.ifo to point to new area and warped to it AAAOkay). Note: hangs my machine if I use a previous save game (as the savegame files store info about the area and I think they are in conflict).

Can modify module.ifo and vw1.are but still can't touch the .git (waiting for the FredWiz to add into new kotor_tools)

Now to create a scipt that an NPC will approach me and give me a quest to which an item he gives me warps me to my new world

( only way I can think of until we get the Galazy map figured out )

Would be nice to visit 2-5-6-10 new worlds (using the map) before the last star map or at anytime.

 

Once again my truly heartfelt thanks. (After spending 5 days and nights trying to figure this out, it was driving me crazy)

THIS GAME IS TRULY OBSESSIVE!!!!