[K1] Sleheyron Restoration

[Richard Blaze]

This looks amazing. Keep up the great work.

[Miltiades]

Wow. That's just incredible, sithspecter. Looks awesome. Oh yeah, keep all those things DI mentioned in mind, they make a great difference.

[Pavlos]

What? I go on holiday for a week and this happens? This is looking terrific: good job!

 

Actually, getting a star map in game is amazingly simple. There's a script function just to make it activate.

 

Some advice: Slow down, take your time. Make this the best it can be. Yes, it'll be frustrating, and irritating, and immensely time-consuming. But in the end, it will be worth it.

 

Also - the plot should be complex - try to keep simple 'fetch-and-carry' sidequests to a minimum. Include, if possible the intergalactic sidequests.

 

Make sure the spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all correct and stylistically pleasing. Nothing makes a game feel less 'real' than misspelt, indecipherable dialogues. Include plenty of options, and keep it varied.

 

Where possible, it's better if an important plot character speaks to your character automatically, rather than you having to start a dialogue with them. Include plenty of triggers to do this.

 

Make sure what happens on the planet is as original as possible - don't rehash sidequests or bits and pieces from Taris, or something - it can get quite dull.

 

In the end, it comes down to this: Keep the user engaged, and make it feel as indistinguishable from the main game itself as possible. So that if they have a new Override they wonder why Sleheyron doesn't show up on the galaxy map if they've not re-installed the mod. If you can do that, then you've succeeded.

 

I don't mean to be patronising, but I've seen a lot of sidequest or new module mods. It would be good if you could avoid some of their mistakes.

This above all: To thine own self be true (sorry, InSid, couldn't resist). I do have to disagree on the plot - most brilliant works of literature have an amazingly simple story. It's all in the telling and the characters. Essentially: what you do with the simple story. But I'm not going to babble on about that... I think my Cambridge rejection letter contained some clause or another about that.

 

Anyway, keep it up!

[xrefusex]

I'd rather see more complex quests, rather than simple 'go get item, kill sith' quests. If anything it would 'require' from the player to actually sit down and read and pay attention to the dialogue, which in terms will make for a better gaming experience. This brings me to another point though; one that grinds my gears with regards to custom quests and the story writing (and please don't get offended anyone, this is meant to be constructive criticism!) is that the dialogue options are essentially as follows:

 

Q: Can you help me, Jedi?

A:

- Oh yes, and here, have a few thousand gold too!

- Mm, maybe, what's in it for me?

- Now you Die! Die! Die! HAHAHAHAHA!

 

Sure, that's probably what your options are essentially (like if you get LS or DS points), but mod writers should work more at making for interesting dialogue,at least at emulating the existing narative style. For me at least, what drew me into this gaming series was not so much the visuals (which are/were impressive, all things considered), but rather the epic story-telling that takes place. Brotherhood of Shadow should be a benchmark in terms of mod story-writing.

 

PS: Awesome screens!

[CrisG]

Wonderful work all of you.

 

For the plot, there are good leads in David G's notes, refer to them and then follow your own star. We are all cheering you on. And like the veterans here say, take your time, we can wait and are happy to for you to do it with the best you can. As it indeed looks like you all are.

 

/cheer!

[Sithspecter]

I believe that I have the first module completely done. I had said I was going to put it on tonight, but I guess I lied. Thanks for all the uplifting comments! We have somebody comletely one the team to work on the story, so I believe that it will be a good one. Major sidequests include: Gladiator games with teams of three versus each other in different style combat arenas, such as a labrynith, just combat, jungle w/ beasts, etc., bounty quests with interplanetary targets, and working for Czerka and Aratech.

[2Cold Scorpio]

This is sounding freakin' sweet, guys. Keep it up! With this, TSLRP, and the next Brotherhood of Shadow coming, things are looking good indeed! .......It could be a while before I go back to playing Oblivion at this rate. THats ok, it crashed too much...

[darthcarth]

I believe that I have the first module completely done. I had said I was going to put it on tonight, but I guess I lied. Thanks for all the uplifting comments! We have somebody comletely one the team to work on the story, so I believe that it will be a good one. Major sidequests include: Gladiator games with teams of three versus each other in different style combat arenas, such as a labrynith, just combat, jungle w/ beasts, etc., bounty quests with interplanetary targets, and working for Czerka and Aratech.

 

That module looks good but i hope it isnt finished it needs alot more stuff in it to be complete from the lastest screen shots the buildings look good but their is hardly anything anywhere else and that makes a module feel uncomplete.

[Shem]

Keep up the good work guys!

[Robespierre]

That module looks good but i hope it isnt finished it needs alot more stuff in it to be complete from the lastest screen shots the buildings look good but their is hardly anything anywhere else and that makes a module feel uncomplete.

 

You do realise that he meant that the structural part of the module was completed. That's not including textures, NPCs, journal entries, skyboxes and anything else.

 

But nevertheless your progress is fantastic, keep going guys!

[Darth InSidious]

This above all: To thine own self be true (sorry, InSid, couldn't resist).

Fair enough - I'd have done the same in your place. A lot of this is stuff I 've learned the hard way, after all.

I do have to disagree on the plot - most brilliant works of literature have an amazingly simple story. It's all in the telling and the characters. Essentially: what you do with the simple story.

Up to a point. I hardly think you can argue that, for example, The Odyssey has a simple plot. And with KotOR, we are most certainly in a similar genre, I think.

But I'm not going to babble on about that... I think my Cambridge rejection letter contained some clause or another about that.

You got a rejection? My condolences.

[Sharen Thrawn]

Keep up the good work guys!

 

Clean up your PM box Shem. I can't send you any mssage 'cause its full

[DarthJebus05]

Clean up your PM box Shem. I can't send you any mssage 'cause its full

 

If you want to contact him, go to kotorfiles and search for his email address (if he has one) instead of posting here. It's spam. And by the way, do you ever think to realize hes deliberately keeping his PM box full for a reason? I tried to send him a PM a few weeks ago and it was full.

 

Obviously the module isn't finished, SS still has a lot of work to do. I think it's time to start making the .utc and .uti files.

[Sithspecter]

Hmm... I didn't completely finish it, because I still have to put tables and a bar in the cantina. Also, I'm going to fix up the droid shop a bit. I'm still finding minor issues with the model, so it may be a little longer before I release it. I would send more pics, but it still looks pretty much the same.

 

Edit: Oh, yes. Our team has an opening! We need a good experienced scripter, who knows how to script VERY well, and can modify and add a whole new star map to the whole game. If you can script, we need you.

[sekan]

What is this? I'm away 5 days and now this?

Keep up the good work

[Sithspecter]

We now have something substantial. I'm uploading the first area modules only right now. There's nothing in them, but you can run around and such. I'll post the link here and at upper city.

 

Edit: Hello, Holowan! The link to the modules, just the modules, is in the upper city emporium. You should read the thread because there is important info for the module.

 

Also: We have a team name. We are now Team Hutt. We picked Hutt because they are the dominant force on Sleheyron, and Sleheyron is all that we are doing. Nothing else, just planet S, as we call it.

[xrefusex]

Excellent! I'll be looking for my copy of Kotor fairly soon, I recon it's time to re-install it!

[Pavlos]

I think the lighting in your modules seems a little dull . You wouldn't believe how much the lighting intensity and colouring affects the mood of a scene. I've learnt this through fiddling in the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset. You may want to test a few different settings out (I have no idea when it comes to the technicalities of this) and see how it affects things.

 

Shadows are also very effective at establishing the 'feel' (I hate vague words like that but it's really the only one I can think of) .

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Well said, Pavlos. But from what I've heard, it's still too difficulty to pose the shadows well on the scenario. All lighting effects, actually.

[Sithspecter]

The lighting is pretty hard to do. I'll work on it though... I try to stay with one light as much as possible. With two or more lights, the light always shifts from one to the other, and it looks pretty bad. As for shadows, I'm sure what you're reffering to, but I'll try to adress both. I thing PC shadows are impossible, but I could be wrong. General building shadows, I can do, but it's hard.

[Master Zionosis]

I thing PC shadows are impossible, but I could be wrong. General building shadows, I can do, but it's hard.

 

I believe PC shadows are possible as Quanon had PC shadows in his module.

[Totenkopf]

Just a minor heads up. Noticed you included an npc called rhendi in your uploaded material, yet he does not appear. Checked the .git file and noticed that the .utc you included does not match the one listed. The .git has n_sleh_rhendi but your .utc is g_rhendi01. I changed (for myself of course) the utc file to match the git entry and your npc and dialog showed up. Don't know whether or not you were aware of that oversight and thought I'd bring it to your attention. Look forward to your eventual completion.

[Quanon]

You can alter the lights in 3D-Max or G-Max before the export, but you can also still change them after you exported.

 

Your exported file is all in plain English since it's in ASCII.

 

Below follows the code of one light. PLus their "point" lights. You can't really focus them like a spotlight.

 

node light AuroraDLight19
 parent m46aa_01a
 position -12.7296 -19.6905 -0.119877
 orientation 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
 wirecolor 0.337255 0.337255 0.337255 
 radius 35.0
 multiplier 1.0
 color 0.937255 0.133333 0.133333 
 ambientonly 0
 nDynamicType 1
 affectDynamic 0
 shadow 0
 lightpriority 5
 fadingLight 1
endnode

 

Radius controles how far the light reaches. Be carefull though, here its 35 but I set it to 3500 in Max. Max/G-Max works in CM , while Kotor works in M.

 

Multiplier says how bright and strong the light is. 1 is standard.

 

Color: These work with a weird Bit value to set the RGB... it's way easier to set this in Max.

 

The following stuff is put on = 1 or off = 0

 

AmbientOnly is a bit weird, it just gives/shines of its color very strongly.

 

nDynamicType , again no real idea what its for... I just did what Bioware did with its lights, this is mostly put on.

 

affectDynamic put this on with Shadow and you'll get shadows of players, enemys...

 

Shadow put on without affectDynamic I think this one only creates shadows of the enviroment.

 

LightPriorty, haven't played with this one yet, I think its more or less to tell the Engine how important the light is for rendering.

 

The lights go "off" after a certain distance... it's kind like a pop-up effect.

 

FadingLight this makes the light... well fade to black along its radius.

 

If you want stronger results of these lights its best to put the SunAmbient value in the .are / .ifo to something low or out completely.

 

On the other hand I still haven't figured out on how to get the lightmaps.

I can render them in Max, but getting Kotor to use them... is where I get stuck.

 

There's still lots of research to be done

[Darth InSidious]

As I recall, PC Shadows are set in the .are file. Yep, the SunShadows BYTE, I believe, in conjunction with the ambient colour settings.

[magnusll]

On the other hand I still haven't figured out on how to get the lightmaps.

I can render them in Max, but getting Kotor to use them... is where I get stuck.

 

You can't until I write the relevant code in KAurora. And I can't do that until I understand how to export a Max lightmap to begin with.

 

The problem is that, to import a lightmap into Kotor, KAurora needs two things:

 

A) the lightmap itself, i.e. the .tga (or other graphic format) file created by Max

B) the lightmap tvert coordinates. These are similar to the tverts you get when you apply a texture to an object, except they refer to the lightmap instead of the texture

 

Point A is pretty easy. Point B cannot be done as it stands, because the NWMax scripts do not know anything about lightmaps so they don't export the needed info.

 

I could write an NWMax add-on (or a stand-alone Max script) which spits out the lightmap tverts and writes them to an appropriate ascii file, from which KAurora could fetch them. The problem is that I don't know how to create lightmaps with Max, and I need to do it myself (I can't use a pre-generated one as I need to test and debug the script while the lightmap is being generated, not after it has been done).

 

So, if you can send me a .max file with all the things needed for lightmap-creation already in, and a very brief description of the steps needed to create it, I can duplicate the process and start implementing the script add-on.