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

[ChAiNz.2da]

Originally posted by Darkkender

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.

 

Point well taken...and I agree.

 

I shouldn't have used the word "never"...hmmm how about "for the time being" Lucas didn't intend the game to be modded. But being based on Bioware code/engine, I would assume (depending on the popularity of the game when it was originally released) they left the option open for future add-on module$ Probably much like NWN's CEP and toolset, an "Official" KotOR Toolset would've been released if they decided to support a modding community.

 

As far as cheats and such however, those are just 'backdoors' for the devs mainly for testing purposes (not intended for players to have a hay-day glutton fest). Otherwise we'd all have a little button to push to activate a point and click menu for the adjustments. No ".ini" modifying would've been necessary, nor hunting down on the internet for the proper lines to adjust.

 

Luckily some gifted Holowan programmers/scripters decided not to wait for that (thank goodness), and developed tools to 'adjust' game features...

 

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p.s. Hey Darkkender, BTW those creature grenades of yours are simply sweeeet! Has definitely helped saved my arse many a time when "things looked dire" (ie - getting the darkside sabers from the 3 Jedi in T7's Lightsaber 6 Pack Mod). Thanks Again!

[Darkkender]

Originally posted by ChAiNz

As far as cheats and such however, those are just 'backdoors' for the devs mainly for testing purposes (not intended for players to have a hay-day glutton fest). Otherwise we'd all have a little button to push to activate a point and click menu for the adjustments. No ".ini" modifying would've been necessary, nor hunting down on the internet for the proper lines to adjust.

 

Luckily some gifted Holowan programmers/scripters decided not to wait for that (thank goodness), and developed tools to 'adjust' game features...

 

---------------------

 

p.s. Hey Darkkender, BTW those creature grenades of yours are simply sweeeet! Has definitely helped saved my arse many a time when "things looked dire" (ie - getting the darkside sabers from the 3 Jedi in T7's Lightsaber 6 Pack Mod). Thanks Again!

 

True they are backdoors it used to be that LucasArts Devs used to actually provide these backdoors listed in game tips and hints books or posted on internet. Not to mention devs used to float around at BBS's at willingly tell people about all there backdoors. No more though.

 

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p.s. I keep trying to take time when I'm at home and not at one of my 2 jobs to put the finishing touches on my Recruit Darkkender mod because he will sell the Creature Grenades and has a few more than the original release did. If only I could load KOTOR & KOTOR tool on my work PC then I could mod between calls instead of posting.

[Darth333]

Erm...nice discussion... but it is getting waaay of topic. Perhaps you could take it somewhere else

 

@ tk102: I took a break from the forums during the weekend . Will update the guide asp.

[Chrysalis]

I just happened to run into a peculiar bug using that 50mb holowan's pack. Whenever i choose to take Mission with me she's dressed in that revolting Echani armor, regardless of what is REALLY put on her, with the exeption of Revan's redemption robe, when she does look like Revan. What the hell is that?

[Darth333]

It is obvioulsly a problem with the appearance.2da file. Perhaps you could post it in the appropriate thread: http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=127038 . The present thread is about general modding info

 

IN any event, This is easy to fix.

[Chrysalis]

I was a bit confused because i have not modified appearance.2da by myself, and, if so, i am probably not the only one who saw that...

[Lord_Tuvitor]

Would a compilation of all this information from the different links and linked threads kept in one user friendly location be of any interest? It would be trivial for me to set up a Holowan modders' Wiki on one of my domains (I webmaster a moderately popular Star Wars site that still has a good deal of space and a few databases left with our provider)

 

(for those who might not know what a Wiki is)

 

A Wiki is a content management system that can be edited and appended by anyone so the tutorial maintaners could easily update and maintain the info (and old versions of an entry can be restored if somebody mucks it up or vandalizes it) -- wikipedia.org and wikinews.org both use the MediaWiki software, which is the one I am pretty well versed in setting up and maintaining. There's alot here, and its hard to keep track of the many threads that are crossreferencing each other here... This will probably also be handy come February when TSL modding season begins.

[tk102]

Ooh, that's an interesting idea. I've found wikis to be very informative. Maybe the stickies could become of useful wiki lookups. Hmm, turning the stickies into wikis...

 

It's too bad LF doesn't have wikis already set up. Back in Holowan's younger days there was a time when there was no stable webhosting available for our mods. Given that, some of us here are gunshy when it comes to relying on 3rd party domains for hosting the technical info. How confident are you in the longevity of your domains, Lord_Tuvitor? I like the idea of wiki-ing.

[Lord_Tuvitor]

It should be around for a good long time... its hosted on Lunarpages, who has been a consistently good hosting company (so I believe we're paid for two years right now and the domain name is on a five year lease)

 

I can probably offer hosting for some mods down the road perhaps... I just gotta get the okay from the other admins, and make sure there's a means to securely upload and download that stuff... since that's not an issue with a Wiki, i can set that up at any time.

[tk102]

Originally posted by Darth333

@ tk102: I took a break from the forums during the weekend . Will update the guide asp. [/b]

Thank you for taking the time to update this Darth333. Your organizational skills help everyone including me!