Guide for the newbie: What tools do I need to mod KotOR ? How to install mods?

[Darth333]

You could use Suchan271 tutorials, they are excellent: http://www.pcgamemods.com/7241/

 

You will find more tips in the sticky "do you want to mod sw-kotor? then start here"

[PoM]

Its downloaded now, gonna check it out

 

Haha, i put hearts on Canderous undies...really matching!

[monkey joe]

okay, all i want to know is how to make a lightsaber, i have no idea, i would habe to be reading for hours.........can't someone just tell me how all this crap that i downloaded works!!!!

[Darth333]

This guide is to get started only with the tools. Get the tools list in the item making section and then go to the other sticky, Do you want to mod sw-kotor and you will find a tutorial made by Achilles that tells you how to make a lightsaber.

 

Authors put hours and efforts to make the guides and tutorials, if you want to start modding, you have to expect to invest some time in reading tutorials.

[16-BIT]

Sweet thread, from no skills to being able to edit item stats and skins of stuff. Thx for the tutorial Darth333. With KotOR 2, are they goin to be using the same engine or a new one?

[Darth333]

Glad this thread was able to help you

 

Concerning Kotor 2 modding, I guess it will be similar: the devs at Obsidian once told us that tk102's KSE would need very little changes to work for Kotor 2

 

Edit: in fact they mentionned that the ERF/GFF/BIF/2DA/TLK formats are the same as Kotor 1. However, the model format would be different.

[monkey joe]

All i want to say is thanks, now i can build all this stuff, hehehe

[masterbob7]

thank. now i can build more armour.

[90SK]

Yes. Its good!

[StoneDragon]

The NWNE editor is not working.

[Darth333]

Originally posted by StoneDragon

The NWNE editor is not working.

Yes I noticed this not long ago. I'll try to find an alternate download site if it exists because this editor was quite good and with TSL coming in February, it could be very useful to those who want to start modding right away without waiting for tools to be adjusted for TSL.

[StoneDragon]

So what do you think is the best GFF editor to download?

[Darth333]

Any of the the other two. All the editors in the guide are good. I use them too depending on what I want to do. It' just that the other one makes things easier sometimes.

[Rillian]

HELP!

I installed the mod using the 1.1a installer

and when that didn't worked manually added the v1.0 files to my overload and module directory in KOTOR.

When I load a previously saved game and go to the planet selection arrowing through the planet text selection doesn't show a new planet. There doesn't seem to be any new planets on the map itself to select either.

The starting point I am playing from is just

after getting Mantle of the FOrce and Heart of the Guardian.

 

Can you not mod from the Latest KOTOR update???

my game version is: 1.03.514077 English

RedHawke 10/06/04 V1.1a

RedHawke 09/24/04 V1.0

[Darth333]

Originally posted by Rillian

HELP!

I installed the mod using the 1.1a installer

and when that didn't worked manually added the v1.0 files to my overload and module directory in KOTOR.

When I load a previously saved game and go to the planet selection arrowing through the planet text selection doesn't show a new planet. There doesn't seem to be any new planets on the map itself to select either.

The starting point I am playing from is just

after getting Mantle of the FOrce and Heart of the Guardian.

The Guide for the Newbie is intended for general questions concerning modding and mod installation. For Redhawke's mod, You may want to have a look at this thread: http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=136575

Can you not mod from the Latest KOTOR update???

my game version is: 1.03.514077 English

RedHawke 10/06/04 V1.1a

RedHawke 09/24/04 V1.0

Erm...that's what we do. The v. 1.0 and 1.1a are the mod versions, not the game's. And even if Redhawke would have made his mod based on previous version of the game, it wouldn't change anything.

[Darkkender]

Originally posted by StoneDragon

So what do you think is the best GFF editor to download?

 

besides kotor tool I believe it is nwne editor that is my favorite that i use if it is PM your email and i'll email you a copy of the one I use.

[tk102]

Originally posted by StoneDragon

So what do you think is the best GFF editor to download?

You can also make your own GFF Editor with this.

[Chrysalis]

Can anyone tell me if there is any kind of comprehensible toolset for the game? I mean the one with fully accessible tiles, scripts system and so on?

[Darth333]

Originally posted by Chrysalis

Can anyone tell me if there is any kind of comprehensible toolset for the game? I mean the one with fully accessible tiles, scripts system and so on?

There is nothing with tiles. We can only re-use existaing areas at this time since the area model has not been fully cracked yet. No official tools have been released and it was up to the community to make the tools. Fred Tetra's KotOR tool is the KotOR toolset. tk102 made other great utilities which may provemore than useful too.

[Chrysalis]

I hope to hell that they'll release some kind of consructor with the second part of the game. It was a real pleasure to play some NWN modes, made far better than the official campaign. Surely ppl here can make much more than the original Kotor campaign

[tk102]

It is true that because there is no official toolset, modding KotOR is more difficult than modding NWN. However, most patrons of this forum would agree that that the challenge makes modding KotOR all the more rewarding.

 

This forum grew up from the grassroots, developing its own tools, writing its own tutorials, and searching for web hosting for mods. There's a lot of pride that goes into those efforts. I would not want an official toolset at this point. Documentation on the mdl format, perhaps. If everything was spoon-fed to us, I believe the quality of work would be diminished, and with it, the tight sense of community in this forum.

 

Welcome Chrysalis.

[tk102]

Dear Darth333,

 

I am hoping you might be able to update some links to the utilities I've released, as some of them are out of date in your post.

 

DLGEditor

http://www.pcgamemods.com/8906/

 

DLGEdit

http://www.pcgamemods.com/5853/

 

KotorTLK (not currently listed, allows TLK file editing)

http://www.pcgamemods.com/8872/

 

FindRefs GUI (now with TLK file scan)

http://www.pcgamemods.com/9113/

 

FindRefs (now with TLK file scanning)

http://www.pcgamemods.com/9093/

 

The utilities: NCSRip, KTLK, and DLGSearch are now second shelf due to most of their functionality being replaced with newer versions of other utilities or KotOR Tool.

 

Edit: KSE has also been updated:

http://www.pcgamemods.com/9170/

[Chrysalis]

As far as i can see NWN owned much of its success to the everincreasing number of module makers, testers/translators , and many other entusiasts some of whom dont have the slightest idea of programming and scripting. I would literally pray for someone who would issue a ready-to-go toolset on its own, were it officially released, it would only boost the popularity of the game in general and this forum in particular. Especially with the official campaign as short as Kotor's.

[ChAiNz.2da]

Originally posted by Chrysalis

As far as i can see NWN owned much of its success to the everincreasing number of module makers, testers/translators , and many other entusiasts some of whom dont have the slightest idea of programming and scripting. I would literally pray for someone who would issue a ready-to-go toolset on its own, were it officially released, it would only boost the popularity of the game in general and this forum in particular. Especially with the official campaign as short as Kotor's.

 

Quite True, an "official" release would definitely bring many more modders to the community. I played (and still do) NWN for roughly 3+ years just because of the fact that there are over 2,000 modules (and growing daily)...

 

However Lucas never intended for KotOR to be 'modded' so a toolset was never implemented (unlike NWN). Thanks to the skill and ingenuity of Holowan's "ForeFathers" we have tools such as Fred Tetra's KotOR Tool, TK's savegame editor, cchargin's model extractor and MANY more.

 

Though I do believe that Lucas' Team have felt the "tide" of desires by the modding community (both makers & users)...Darth333 enlightened the community with this thread:

 

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=140563

 

The above link shows that they are at least listening and have "officially endorsed" a site just for modding...probably because of it's popularity.

 

It's more than likely just a matter of time before their will breaks, but I'd almost guarantee their tools couldn't match the quality or in-depth maintaining/upgrading of features that our own community of tool-makers have done with their brain-child projects...

 

I can only hope that if an "official" toolset were to be released, they (Lucas) would at least survey and consult our own toolmakers here at Holowan on what the tools should implement and how they (Holowan toolmakers) did it. Though I'd probably still use the tools we have now.

 

For now...I'll enjoy being a member of the "Elite" modding community and would welcome any and all to join the ranks.

[Darkkender]

However Lucas never intended for KotOR to be 'modded' so a toolset was never implemented (unlike NWN). Thanks to the skill and ingenuity of Holowan's "ForeFathers" we have tools such as Fred Tetra's KotOR Tool, TK's savegame editor, cchargin's model extractor and MANY more.

 

If that point was completly true then Lucasarts would never have provided or allowed bioware to provide the overide, modules, & streamwaves folders that have the ability to directly overide files in the game.

 

However Lucasarts has actually had a quite reputation for having various different methods to cheat & modify the games they put out. The original X-Wing & Tie Fighter games had a built in cheat editor system. This enabled you to change or add various different fighters outside of the games. Heck it even enabled you to write new missions.

 

Even KOTOR has a method to cheat by altering the sytem ini file. I'm sure if I looked around the web there are built in console cheat systems for SW Galaxies, Battlefront, & the JK series. Of course this could be just ramblings of a veteran PC gamer who has played PC games since before windows 3.0, YES this means I can manipulate DOS.