rims, modules and other annoyances

[horridfred]

recently i've been trying to place some extra items in lockers and stuff but i've found a small problem.

 

after trying to add a few more items to the locker in the PC room on the harbinger, i found that on the engine deck all the previously empty cylinders had been replaced with the same footlocker!

 

this is because the locker in the crew quarters and the cylinders on the engine deck have the same .utp file (g_tresmillow007 i think) and so you cant seem to change one and stick it in the override folder without changing them all!

 

is there any way round this?!

[stoffe]

Originally posted by horridfred

recently i've been trying to place some extra items in lockers and stuff but i've found a small problem.

 

(snip... blueprints overriding placed items)

 

this is because the locker in the crew quarters and the cylinders on the engine deck have the same .utp file (g_tresmillow007 i think) and so you cant seem to change one and stick it in the override folder without changing them all!

 

is there any way round this?!

 

Yes, this is an annoying hurdle when modifying things in TSL. Bioware was fairly good at giving blueprints unique resrefs and not re-using them for a wide variety of pre-placed different object in KotoR1. Obsidian on the other hand seems to have had no such concerns.

 

The easiest way is probably to add the item(s) to the container via a script instead.

 

The second easiest way is to create a new custom container, place your items in it and then spawn the container via a script.

 

The overkill way is to create a new, standard container and then add the items to it. The advantage of this is that you don't need a custom container blueprint, but if you already have custom items one extra blueprint probably won't matter.

 

Anyway, here's an example of doing it this way. I use this script function to add a plasteel cylinder containing all of HK47s repair parts in HK's and Mira's closet on the Ebon Hawk.

 

void SpawnHKPartsBin() {
   location lLoc = Location([54.09, 53.50, 1.8], -3.0);
   int nIdx = 0;
   int bFound = FALSE;

   object oBin = GetObjectByTag("MilHighPlstcCylin", nIdx);
   while (GetIsObjectValid(oBin)) {
       if (VectorMagnitude(GetPosition(oBin) - GetPositionFromLocation(lLoc)) < 1.0) {
           bFound = TRUE;
           break;  
       }
       oBin = GetObjectByTag("MilHighPlstcCylin", ++nIdx);
   }

   if (!GetIsObjectValid(oBin) || !bFound) {   
       oBin = CreateObject( OBJECT_TYPE_PLACEABLE, "g_tresmilhig005", lLoc );

       if (GetIsObjectValid(oBin)) {
           RemoveHeartbeat(oBin);

           CreateItemOnObject("hkpart01", oBin);
           CreateItemOnObject("hkpart02", oBin);
           CreateItemOnObject("hkpart03", oBin);
           CreateItemOnObject("hkpart04", oBin);
           CreateItemOnObject("hkpart05", oBin);
       }
   }   
}

 

For script examples of doing it the easier ways, look a few posts down in this forum, there's a thread there discussing such scripts.

[Jeff]

Unfortunately, unlike KotOR, TSL does not have unique placeables. But, there is a way around this: scripting. Although I do not know a clue about scripting, I would reccomend jmac's kotor script generator. That way, you can get around doing scripts. The script generator can be found here, and to know what to edit in the scripts, I would look at some of these tutorials or maybe this tutorial. There are probably more out there, but these should get you started. Hope that helps!

 

EDIT: stoffe beat me to it!

[Commas]

for my Exile Robes Mod i was able to add my robes to the footlocker on the harbinger using scripts found in this thread:

 

Characters Footlocker on the Harbinger

 

this has some useful scripts from Darth333 and stoffe -mbk- that worked perfectly for me.

[horridfred]

ok, i've got the script, but how do i make it 'happen'?

 

how do i compile it exactly? the compiler with KT doesnt seem to do anything! in fact KT doesnt think its there

 

and then should i change a dialog to make the script happen when the short speech occurs when you get to the room?

[Commas]

The answers you seek are in the Scripting forum at the top of the Holowan page. You can run the script a number of ways, you can add it to a dialogue file using tk102's DLGeditor found here (KotOR Tool seems to do funny things when editing dialogues) you just have to make sure to use a mandotory line (this is probably the easiest way if you don't understand scripts)

 

or you can use the ExecuteScript function (there is a tutorial on how to do this in the Scripting forum) which is what i did that worked like a charm (however, both my mod and envidia's harbinger crew quarters mod uses the ExecuteScipt method, so if you do that you'll have to be sure to make it compatible (which i had to do for envidia's)

 

edit: look at me i sound like a real modder:D

[horridfred]

cheers very much, great help, got it working.

 

now for another question!

is it possible to get an armor/robe to change colour with your LS/DS alignment like characters undies do?

 

can it be done just by having the correct sequence of filenames with different colours or is it more technical?

[stoffe]

Originally posted by horridfred

cheers very much, great help, got it working.

 

now for another question!

is it possible to get an armor/robe to change colour with your LS/DS alignment like characters undies do?

 

can it be done just by having the correct sequence of filenames with different colours or is it more technical?

 

There are two columns in appearance.2da called texievil (standard jedi robe) and texnevil (jedi master robe) where you could assign a darkside texture variant for those models.

 

Don't know if it actually works though since these columns are unused by the standard robes in the game, and I haven't tested it, but it might be worth a try.

[Commas]

^^^^now thats an interesting idea!

 

when i was making my mod for the harbinger quarters i always thought it was kinda silly that the exile would have a "light" robe and a "dark" robe. i mean he just kept that dark one around incase he ever fell? this would make mods with dark and light robes make a little more sense and add just that much more depth

 

however it does involve a 2da file, which would mean compatibility issues, but either way, i'll have to give this a try when i get home today. i'm quite interested to see if this works.

[horridfred]

great! inspire someone and get yourself somethin sorted at the same time, brilliant!

 

Another thing i was wondering about (sorry if i just seem to be sapping everyones knowledge). How would i change a lightsaber (mdl, mdx files etc) to be referred to and known as something else? (not just changing description but like lghtsbr89 to lghtsbr04 or something like)

 

i've been trying to replace the original lightsabers with more interesting hilts (rather than the boring tubes) with the brilliant creations of other people (cheeky i know, i should be more grateful that theyve made em at all)

 

i had a go at changing all the entries in the mdl and the uti's etc to what i think they should be but it just crashed when i armed it.

[horridfred]

right, 1 more question!

 

if i've edited a texture and it just appears almost totally transparent in game, what have i done wrong?!

[ChAiNz.2da]

Originally posted by horridfred

right, 1 more question!

 

if i've edited a texture and it just appears almost totally transparent in game, what have i done wrong?!

Sounds as if you either don't have a shader applied (to a metallic item such as armor) or your alpha channel is too high (such as clothing or robes)...

 

If your texture is a metallic armor, create a .txi file.

 

- Open notepad and copy this line:

 

envmaptexture CM_Baremetal

 

- "Save as" (ansi) the file as a .txi file, not with a .txt extension

 

- name the file the same as your skin .tga

 

ie - myarmorskin.tga = myarmorskin.txi

 

With this, anywhere your alpha channel is painted with black, or shades of grey rather, it will be "shiny" in game...

 

I'd suggest keeping it under 60% otherwise it starts to take on a goldish sheen...

 

If your texture is for a robe, make sure that the alpha is completely white, otherwise you get transparencies in your skin.. (unless that's the look you're going for)...

 

IF, you were trying to get shiny parts on a robe, you'll need to change your PC's envmap column in the appearance.2da file from "Default" to "CM_Baremetal".. but the enitre body, skin & head will have a slight "gleam" to their features as well...

[horridfred]

and, if you don't know how to see/change the alpha channel and the robe's decided to inexplicably crash the game when you try and wear it, what then?

 

you wouldnt think it'd be so much trouble just to change a skin would ya?