[wip] The Return to Dantooine and The Search for Survivors

Darth_Calo · July 13, 2010

Greetings, modding community!

It is my distinct pleasure to announce the development of my first mod, in collaboration with Centenar and the rest of Team Dantooine:

The Return To Dantooine and the Search for Survivors.

First some background.

Dantooine. A planet of farmers and simple-minded folk. A place of strength, and the location of a Jedi Enclave complete with a Jedi Council.

During the JEDI CIVIL WAR, it was bombed on orders from the sinister DARTH MALAK, by his flag ship the LEVIATHAN shortly before capturing the EBON HAWK.

Despite this surprise attack, the planet wasn't destroyed completely. The settlers that survived emerged from their shelters to find the Jedi Enclave bombed and deserted. Immediately, everyone wanted to blame the Jedi. However, a young woman, Terena Adare, knew that the Jedi had done so much for them, and began to speak out against those who hated the Jedi.

Meanwhile, aboard the Leviathan, the Jedi Revan learns of his or her past life as a Sith Lord.

However, rather than simply destroying the entire planet, the Sith occupied the planet and opressed the farmers in much the same way they did to the citizens of Taris before they bombed the city. After the learning of the destruction of the Enclave, and the shocking revelation on the Leviathan, the Jedi Revan, wanting to redeem himself, decides to travel to Dantooine to try to help anyone s/he can. Landing on a grassy plain, so as not to draw attention to him or herself, s/he sets out to find the survivors, and try to drive the Sith off the planet...or aid them in their campaign of oppression

for my reasoning behind including the sith, see this article

This modification will feature (tentatively):

Dantooine restored as a vistable planet post-Leviathan, with new quests and NPCs used as a way to remind LS Jedi Revan of the horrors his own empire unleashed. (or, alternatively, as a way for DS Jedi Revan to further his journey back to the Dark Side)

Three "Acts," with seamless transitions.

Arriving on Dantooine and forming a plan;
Searching the surface
Arriving at Khoonda (Matale Estate) and the (non-canonical) first Battle of Khoonda Plains

New characters to meet and interact with:

A young Terena Adare, who you can encourage to step up as a leader (which would explain her love and respect for the Jedi, and her recognition of the Ebon Hawk)
various Jedi that survived the bombs, explaining how the Jedi on the Star Forge suddenly appeared. (the live ones)
a young Kaevee, explaining her appearance (or, actually, non-appearance (thank you LucasArts...) in the Jedi enclave five years later

The return of several other characters:

Jon
Gar
Other characters from the Pre-Leviathan Dantooine

New areas to explore:

Grassy plains (landing zone; reskinned Unknown World Central Beach)
Sith Base Grounds/Sith Base (using a reskin of Sandral Estate interior, occupied by the Sith and one of the locations of the Battle of Khoonda Plains
Destroyed/Damaged Jedi Enclave (reskinned Enclave, with rubble/fire everywhere, along with Sith scavenging the wreckage and treasures to be found)
Matale Grounds, with Matale Estate and Estate interior (reskin of Sandral Estate interior), with Survivors taking refuge there

Fully voiced survivors with new dialog lines, expanding on the stories of Jon, Gar, and some other KotOR Dantooine settlers

Dark side and Light side conclusions to the quests and the planet as a whole (in the same vein as KOTOR2, if you take the Dark Side approach and kill the Jedi/Survivors the planet will suffer, but if you spare them then the future of the planet is determined to be 'happier'

Potential Content:

New Items:

a few Custom Lightsabers used by the Jedi survivors with good, but not extremely high, bonuses
a few Custom Robes worn by the Jedi Survivors, with good, but not extremely high, bonuses

Content Poll: Links to the articles

TEAM DANTOOINE

Darth_Calo-Writer

Centenar-Item/Character creation

Logan23-Module reskinner

Viado_Onasi

Still needed-area modelers/reskinners; scripters

Voice Actors will be needed eventually. Character names are forthcoming, but to start with:

Release date:

Terena Adare: (younger, not the KotOR II version): Following the bombardment of the planet, a Young Terena Adare gathered support. With the aid of the Jedi Revan, she brought the settlers together to form Khoonda, the loose government seen by the Jedi Exile five years later. Vrook Lamar, having survived the bombardment, stayed to aid the settlers from afar even after Revan left to defeat Malak and save Republic.

Vrook Lamar: Jedi Master, member of the Dantooine Jedi Council until the final weeks of the Jedi Civil War. When Dantooine fell, he stayed to help the settlers that avoided death from the bombs. He was eventually forced to take refuge in the Enclave Sublevels, and was eventually captured by mercenaries intent on selling him to the exchange.

parties interested in voicing one of these characters should send me a PM at a later date. Parties interested in contributing their skills to this mod, please post here with your area of expertise.

These screenies are present lower in the thread, but for the purpose of convenience I will add them here. Credit goes to Logan23 for supplying them

Hey,

I talked to Darth_Calo and I will be helping with this mod in the area of re-skinning Dantoonie's module.

Here are some quick early re-skin samples. Not all the skins have been altered at this moment but i thought it would be great to show you guys where the team is going with them.

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I still have the floor and other areas to tweak before this is done.

Please give any feedback,

Thanks

Logan

Project Status: Delayed

**NOTE: if it wasn't obvious, this mod is based on a "what-if" scenario exploring what could have happened if Revan returned to Dantooine following his escape from the Leviathan**

Note - this mod project will be reduced significantly in size. it will be complete and provide a satisfying story but will be open-ended enough for a potential sequel down the road if response is positive enough. despite the apparent lack of progress on this mod it is not cancelled. as before Release date is

Yatsookey · July 13, 2010

Interesting concept, looking forward to seeing the results.

logan23 · July 14, 2010

Sounds cool.

Just a few tips .

Since you guys will be doing the scripting yourself and will be learning as you go i would make a list of what is the lowest amount of content for a release meaning things like a recruiting new party member is not the most important while having the modules work and re-skinned with all the placeables and npcs along with the main quest working is the main focus. Once that's done you can add more layers of the new recruit option and other ideas expressed in your thread.

The reason you want to look at the lowest amount/level for a release is so you don't get bogged down with things that are cool and add something special but will add a good number of production time and take your focus off the main quest and getting it working.

Basically work on making the cake and not the icing.

I say this since many mods have started with icing and end up with nothing playable after a few months when they could have 2 modules ingame.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Happy Modding!

Logan

Zhaboka · July 14, 2010

You've just begun work on the mod that I've wanted made since I played through KotOR the first time in 2007. I hope very much that you succeed.

Darth_Calo · July 14, 2010

Interesting concept, looking forward to seeing the results.

why thank you!

Sounds cool.

Just a few tips .

Since you guys will be doing the scripting yourself and will be learning as you go i would make a list of what is the lowest amount of content for a release meaning things like a recruiting new party member is not the most important while having the modules work and re-skinned with all the placeables and npcs along with the main quest working is the main focus. Once that's done you can add more layers of the new recruit option and other ideas expressed in your thread.

The reason you want to look at the lowest amount/level for a release is so you don't get bogged down with things that are cool and add something special but will add a good number of production time and take your focus off the main quest and getting it working.

Basically work on making the cake and not the icing.

I say this since many mods have started with icing and end up with nothing playable after a few months when they could have 2 modules ingame.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Happy Modding!

Logan

I appreciate the positive feedback! The new party member is a low priority. As of now, the most important items are the modules (primarily the plains/enclave), and the implementation. The "icing" as you called it (great metaphor btw) will be saved for a potential update if the mod is well recieved by the general public. as of now, only the rudimentary pieces of the landing area are included. Screenshots to follow...and I will keep your advice in mind.

You've just begun work on the mod that I've wanted made since I played through KotOR the first time in 2007. I hope very much that you succeed.

Oh, so do I. I am glad I'm not the only one that wanted this.

Viado Onasi · July 14, 2010

Sounds pretty cool!

I'd like to help contribute to this mod.

I'm pretty good with the modules, dialouge, NPCs.

(I can do pretty good with starting on changing the pre existing modules (Can't really reskin or "modle". I can do pretty good with dialouge. I can set the NPCs pretty easily and add the dialouge to them) PM me (if I can help on this)

Darth_Calo · July 14, 2010

Sounds pretty cool!
I'd like to help contribute to this mod.

I'm pretty good with the modules, dialouge, NPCs.

(I can do pretty good with starting on changing the pre existing modules (Can't really reskin or "modle". I can do pretty good with dialouge. I can set the NPCs pretty easily and add the dialouge to them) PM me (if I can help on this)

We need all the help we can get! send me a PM and I'll get you set up with what we're doing.

welcome to the team

Totenkopf · July 14, 2010

Sounds fairly ambitious, but new content is always welcome. Good luck w/your project.

Darth_Calo · July 14, 2010

Sounds fairly ambitious, but new content is always welcome. Good luck w/your project.

this was a mod I wanted to see ever since i first played through the Leviathan. I always thought you should be able to return to dantooine again. after playing through the communitiy's mods, and after getting good feedback and an offer of aid from a couple people, the mod was started.

as of right now the "Dantooine Beach" and a couple other modules are in early testing phases.

screenies to follow if I can figure out how to capture them.

~DC

LDR · July 14, 2010

Calo, to take pictures, use the Print Screen key.

Darth_Calo · July 14, 2010

Calo, to take pictures, use the Print Screen key.

Tried that. pasted to MS Paint, was just a black image. thanks for the info though. will try again...

LDR · July 14, 2010

Get Adobe Photoshop CS5 and convert the TGA image into JPG.

Holty1-5 · July 14, 2010

In the SWkotor have you added the screenshot Line. Becuase on "Vista" when you press Prt Scrn it saves the file as a TGA in the Compatible files or something.

Dak Drexl · July 14, 2010

No, he can't find the tga. After you press print screen it should show up in your kotor directory

Then do what LDR said (though I would recommend GIMP).

I look forward to some screens!

Edit: And do what Holty said too

Darth_Calo · July 14, 2010

Hey guys thanks for the replies

due to my ineptitude at Print Screen's uses, I am currently unable to produce Screenies. I can however, list the modules being used as the basis for the mod so you get an idea of what it is.

Dantooine Beach (Landing Zone): unk_m41aa (Unknown World Central Beach)

EDIT: there are more but currently I forget the module file names:

Jedi Enclave: Ruined Jedi Enclave

Courtyard: Courtyard.

Matale Grounds: Matale Grounds

Matale Estate: Sandral Estate interior

Sith Base Grounds: Sandral Grounds

Sith Base: Sandral Estate

anyone who is good at reskinning modules: send me a PM as we will need help with all that.

logan23 · July 14, 2010

Download frapps for ingame video recording and screen shots. Very useful:-)

I was thinking you can always have another opportunity to kill juhani. You can have her turn to the darkside seeing her former master Quatra killed.

With the characters from korribian..one issue is what if korribian is the last planet to vist them you can not do anything to them if they are there. If you want one or a few of them to appear then have it only if Korribian was finished.

Darth_Calo · July 15, 2010

Download frapps for ingame video recording and screen shots. Very useful:-)

I was thinking you can always have another opportunity to kill juhani. You can have her turn to the darkside seeing her former master Quatra killed.

With the characters from korribian..one issue is what if korribian is the last planet to vist them you can not do anything to them if they are there. If you want one or a few of them to appear then have it only if Korribian was finished.

That's a good point on the Korriban characters, and a good idea for Juhani

As for Juhani...I always kill her anyway, but that would be a good idea. you return to Dantooine and tell her, that she'll spend eternity laying in the plains blah blah blah Revan is Reborn!

As for the Korriban characters: that's true. I will pass this along to the scripters...have them appear only if Korriban is finished. Although you could always go to Dantooine after all the Star Maps, and then move to the Star Forge? that's a good work around in terms of that, have it open up after all the Star Maps as an "Unfinished business" type thing.

Dak Drexl · July 15, 2010

Might I recommend an appearance by Kaevee? A younger version of her could be created or you could even use a child, since according to the article in the link she is only 17 in TSL.

Zhaboka · July 15, 2010

http://www.fraps.com/

Because Logan spelled it wrong, and I'm a jerk.

Darth_Calo · July 15, 2010

Might I recommend an appearance by Kaevee? A younger version of her could be created or you could even use a child, since according to the article in the link she is only 17 in TSL.

Great idea!

http://www.fraps.com/

Because Logan spelled it wrong, and I'm a jerk.

logan23 · July 17, 2010

Hey,

I talked to Darth_Calo and I will be helping with this mod in the area of re-skinning Dantoonie's module.

Here are some quick early re-skin samples. Not all the skins have been altered at this moment but i thought it would be great to show you guys where the team is going with them.

Show spoiler