1056 réponses à ce sujet

[Dann-J]

Tchos wrote...

As I had hoped, the image slideshow function in the conversation nodes, despite saying "TGA to display" don't have to be Targas. Targas are large files.

When I reskin cloned models, I tend to save the TGAs I use during testing using RLE compression. When I'm satisified with the new textures, I convert them to DDS and compare the file sizes, keeping whichever is the smallest.

An RLE compressed TGA file can be a lot smaller than a DDS if there are large areas of solid colour (such as in tint or glow maps). For complex images, DDS usually proves to have the better compression.

The problem with JPGs is that too much compression introduces visual artefacts, especially if there are large areas of solid colour (like text on a black background). You don't notice them quite so much in more complex images though. An RLE compressed TAG that is mostly black will often be even smaller than a JPG, with no compression artefacts.

[Tchos]

When I have used TGAs that I thought were required, I brought them down to indexed colour instead of 24-bit, where possible, which also reduced the size. I was not aware that the engine also supported RLE compression. More people should use that, then!

[Mer1]

Tchos wrote...
There's a similar design problem in the area, in that if a character is wearing any gear that emits light, like so many magic items in the OC do, it turns a section of water near-black, rather than the mostly transparent it should be. I never liked all that light-emitting gear in the OC when I was just playing, because I saw it as a waste of an enchantment slot, but since it messes up lighting and water in areas, too, I like it even less.

IIRC there is a limit of max 6 light sources (6 point lights or one less with sun enabled) that can affect water section. Water turns black once you have more than 6.

Modifié par Mer1, 16 août 2013 - 01:18 .

[kamal_]

Mer1 wrote...

Tchos wrote...
There's a similar design problem in the area, in that if a character is wearing any gear that emits light, like so many magic items in the OC do, it turns a section of water near-black, rather than the mostly transparent it should be. I never liked all that light-emitting gear in the OC when I was just playing, because I saw it as a waste of an enchantment slot, but since it messes up lighting and water in areas, too, I like it even less.

IIRC there is a limit of max 6 light sources (6 point lights or one less with sun enabled) that can affect water section. Water turns black once you have more than 6.

^^^^

[Tchos]

I removed one of the lights, which I hope will prevent that sort of thing.

I've spent the past week polishing the module based on feedback from the playtesters, and fixing the bugs they found, as well as adding some convenience elements here and there, and tuning the fight difficulty. I've been unable, however, to get it working for Karen on her Macintosh.

Currently I'm working on the area that was closed off so that I can include what was planned there and make that one side quest completable.

There's one thing that several playtesters mentioned, and for which I don't have a really good solution. I have a quest that can only be completed in the final area, but when you get back to town you need to wait a little while for the NPC to craft your reward before getting it, and there's a little special interaction that I put in for when you return at that time to get it. The problem is that the player will probably have found and completed all of the other side quests around town by this point, so the time delay will probably be annoying, because there'll be nothing else to do. If I had more time, I would solve this by having her give out her second quest to complete in the meantime, and by the time you get that done, the reward from the first quest would be done. As it is, you have to go across the street to the inn and rest.

[kamal_]

Maybe if you've done all the other quests, the npc manages to get the crafting done faster than expected?

[Arkalezth]

This may sound silly, but if all else fails, you could add a "wait one day" dialog option.

The entire reward is kinda pointless, though. You can return after a day in order to see that interaction and for the sense of completionism (is that a word?), but unless you've left some quests unfinished, there's no use for the reward.

There's that other quest which hints at a future reward. If you were to implement that one somehow, at least you'd have another reason to wait for a few days. Sort of an "extended cut version".

Modifié par Arkalezth, 25 août 2013 - 04:07 .

[Tchos]

Kamal: That could be done. I'd just have to check the status of each of the side quests, and provide a different conversation branch.

Ark: Actually, that doesn't sound silly at all, though I don't know if passing time by script will cause her perception script to fire anew at the end of it, as it would when you come in through the door.

Any material reward at the end of a game could be seen to be pointless, but being that in NWN2 we can export our characters and continue their adventures in other modules, it's not quite the same. That being said, I've mentioned before that I've built this module with expansion in mind -- more than just an extended cut -- and I've built it in such a way that you'll be able to continue it using your saved game, without starting over or needing to export and import. There are numerous other quests I want to add as an expansion later, as well as a new main quest in another location.

[Arkalezth]

I didn't mention the export feature because, IIRC, those items you get as a reward are custom and might not work in other modules (I could be wrong). But if you have an expansion in mind, then it's fine.

[Tchos]

It's true that in this particular case, they are indeed custom items, so in order to use them in another module, you'd have to put the .ncs file in your override until you use them, but I was also thinking of plain gold. In my DA:O module, where there is no exporting of characters (you can import a character from a saved game if the module author provided that option, but I don't think many have done that), I got around the problem by providing the main material rewards (a pair of weapons) in advance, to be used to complete the quest.

But yes, mainly I'll just appeal to expansion plans. I don't want to say too much about it at the moment, but there have been some hints scattered around here on the forum, in my dissatisfaction with the human-centric feel of this module in general, and in queries for certain kinds of custom content.

[Tchos]

Just to be clear, this is a minor reward for a side quest that we're talking about, not the main quest. The player can go to the mayor and initiate the epilogue at any time after solving the main problem.

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

I know its feature creep, but how about adding some sort of Easter egg to the overnight stay at the inn? Anything to make what would otherwise be a chore a bit more entertaining. If players knew that anytime they stayed at the inn something cool would happen, then they wouldn't mind waiting that extra night.

Maybe they have a chance to run into an old 'friend' from earlier in the story, or they have an encounter with the Underpants Gnomes, or maybe a randomly-generated dream sequence.

[Tchos]

If I put in random events for resting, I think I'd be tempted to add at least one negative event, such as a thief sneaking in while you sleep and stealing some gold or items. But I won't. I'll see what I can do.

Since I have a big variety of loot, and since Ark expressed annoyance at shops getting cluttered up with a lot of items that you'll never want to buy back, I wrote a script to destroy the treasure and junk loot that you sell to the stores upon closing the store. One shop was placed on the ever-crashing docks, meaning that to attach a script to it, I had to write a conversation script to allow me to set the event handler in the fisher's initial conversation. I didn't mind, since that sort of thing can be useful in all sorts of places.

I also spent some time trying to get the proper number of items to be removed from the your inventory if you have several small stacks or loose items scattered around your own inventory and the inventory of your party members. My own attempts were frustrating, as only the first stack would ever be removed, and it would stop there, not touching any other stack, even it was supposed to remove more than what was in that first stack. Ultimately, I found that Sunjammer's conversation script pack includes a script that does this correctly. http://nwvault.ign.c...id=32088&id=215

I'm continuing to work on the missing area, and to do it properly it requires a good amount of new content. I'm retexturing some BCK parts to do it.

[Arkalezth]

Tchos wrote...

Ark expressed annoyance at shops getting cluttered up with a lot of items that you'll never want to buy back, I wrote a script to destroy the treasure and junk loot that you sell to the stores upon closing the store.

As an alternative, would it be possible to make those items stack in the shop's inventory?

I like how Dragon Age 2 handled this, with a "junk" section in the inventory that you could get rid off entirely with a single click.

[Tchos]

I already took care of it, but for the record, I didn't like the way Dragon Age 2 handled it.

[Dann-J]

A fun and addictive mini-game (or a choice of several) would give players something to pass the time. They don't need to be as complex as dice poker in The Witcher. A simple conversation-based game without a custom UI can be just as much fun.

I have a drinking contest in the module I'm working on that combines luck and character stats to see who is left standing at the end. I also have a completely new and original game that I call 'Vegetation verses Undead', that involves defending an area of grass (a 'lawn', if you will) against marauding zomb... I mean, undead, using nothing but plan... I mean, vegetation.

Modifié par DannJ, 29 août 2013 - 05:13 .

[Tchos]

Between Dann and Lugaid, putting something into the inn for players to do is starting to sound like a good idea.  Especially since there are several minigames available as modders' resources that I could probably incorporate into my module without much trouble.

I've never played the actual game, but I've seen other games incorporate a Plants vs Zombies style game into their games.

Dann, have you played the Temple of Elemental Evil?  There was a stat-based drinking contest in the tavern there, too, with many patrons joining in.

Modifié par Tchos, 27 août 2013 - 07:57 .

[Arkalezth]

Tchos wrote...

I already took care of it

But just out of curiosity, could it be done? If that sort of mechanism - I mean stacking items in shops, not the DA2 thing - could be put into an override and used in any module, I would use it.

[Tchos]

Well, technically, I suppose I could make one work in any module, by writing a script that would cycle through all "store"-type objects in the module and attach a second "On Closed" script to them, which would replace the designated items with stackable copies. But it would be much easier to just destroy them, and I'm not sure why you would want to leave them in the shops if you wouldn't want to buy them back. This also would not work for any shops whose store objects are generated dynamically each time the shop opens, or ones which do not yet exist in the game. The script would have to be run again after any new stores are created.  Also, some modules may have stores that already have On Closed scripts attached (for instance ones that restock certain goods after a certain amount of time, or from quest conditions), which would be replaced.

Modifié par Tchos, 27 août 2013 - 12:06 .

[Dann-J]

Tchos wrote...

I've never played the actual game, but I've seen other games incorporate a Plants vs Zombies style game into their games.

That's a tad more detailed than my version. I love the zombie-thrashing tentacle-vines.

Tchos wrote...

Dann, have you played the Temple of Elemental Evil?  There was a stat-based drinking contest in the tavern there, too, with many patrons joining in.

I haven't played ToEE. I based my drinking contest very loosely on these rules, with a few tweaks of my own. Halflings get a bonus that delays them getting drunk, for instance, due to their fast metabolisms. I also scaled the size (and therefore potency) of each drink depending on the size category of the drinker, to correct for body mass. Halflings end up getting a significant advantage (but then, it's a halfling-oriented module).

I inspired myself to create another mini-game, and have successfully coded a simplified version of mine sweeper. I'll be calling it 'Ankheg Sweeper'. I toyed with the idea of making it a full-sized field with actual ankhegs, but ended up creating an interactive board game that sits on a table.

[kamal_]

DannJ wrote...

Tchos wrote...

I've never played the actual game, but I've seen other games incorporate a Plants vs Zombies style game into their games.

That's a tad more detailed than my version. I love the zombie-thrashing tentacle-vines.

Tchos wrote...

Dann, have you played the Temple of Elemental Evil?  There was a stat-based drinking contest in the tavern there, too, with many patrons joining in.

I haven't played ToEE. I based my drinking contest very loosely on these rules, with a few tweaks of my own. Halflings get a bonus that delays them getting drunk, for instance, due to their fast metabolisms. I also scaled the size (and therefore potency) of each drink depending on the size category of the drinker, to correct for body mass. Halflings end up getting a significant advantage (but then, it's a halfling-oriented module).

I inspired myself to create another mini-game, and have successfully coded a simplified version of mine sweeper. I'll be calling it 'Ankheg Sweeper'. I toyed with the idea of making it a full-sized field with actual ankhegs, but ended up creating an interactive board game that sits on a table.

It looks like they have a penalty in those rules, did I miss something?
"Halfling -2
Dwarf +8"

Modifié par kamal_, 30 août 2013 - 12:21 .

[Dann-J]

I'm basing halfling physiology on the more extensive (pre 3.5) literature. It mentions how they almost never get drunk due to their fast metabolisms. Admittedly the older literature refers to hairfeet, stouts and tallfellows instead of lightfeet, stronghearts and ghostwise halflings. However it's the more comprehensive source where matters of halfling society are concerned.

EDIT: This was the source I was mainly thinking of: "The Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings" by Douglas Niles (AD&D 2nd Ed).

Halflings enjoy eating and drinking in plentiful quantities--indeed, despite the
difference in size, the typical halfling will eat as much if not more than a human twice
his or her size; this is because halflings have a very high metabolism.

It should be noted that, though halflings favor many sorts of wines and ales, they
rarely get drunk, due no doubt to their high metabolism. Rather, the alcohol tends to
make them pleasantly drowsy, and a group of halflings that share a bottle of potent
stuff will typically become quite relaxed, quiet, and contented as the evening wears on.

Modifié par DannJ, 30 août 2013 - 03:54 .

[Tchos]

I think the most important thing is that you say you scaled the drink sizes down for halflings to account for their smaller body mass. If not for that, I'd think they should get drunk a lot faster than anyone else, fast metabolism or not. Also, I don't recall offhand whether it was 1st or 2nd edition materials I was looking through for halflings and gnomes (I did look through the Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings, but I didn't read it thoroughly), but I recall seeing illustrations that more resembled the rotund Tolkien hobbits they were meant to be, than the skinny little things they are now. That would also help.