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[Tchos]

ColorsFade wrote...

What I have now is a function called SpawnEnemy(sCreatureTag). You pass it a creature tag and it will look for all the waypoints in the area that are named spawn_creaturetag. If it finds a waypoint, it spawns the creature there. You can also pass an optional boolean to determine whether to spawn the creature in as Hostile (most of my stuff spawns in non-hostile and I flip to hostile after cut-scenes or other triggers). 

So my onClientEnter script looks very clean now. It just has a bunch of lines like: 

SpawnEnemy("hobgoblin_archer");
SpawnEnemy("hobgoblin_spear");
//etc...

This makes it incredibly easy for me because I can lay down a waypoint and copy it all over the place. When I am ready to change creatures and start laying down a different type, I just adjust the tag of a waypoint I just layed down, changing it from hobgoblin_archer to hobgoblin_spear, and start laying down all the spearmen. I had my dungeon populated in seconds...

I wrote one like that, except mine leaves off the creature resref, so I can just use it once for any creature types in each area.

[ColorsFade]

Tchos wrote...


I wrote one like that, except mine leaves off the creature resref, so I can just use it once for any creature types in each area.

How does yours work if you leave the creature tag off Tchos? 

[Tchos]

It gets the information from each waypoint.

[ColorsFade]

How are you cycling through waypoints? Just with GetFirstObjectInArea and GetNextObjectInArea?

[Tchos]

Yes -- since you're already cycling through all of the waypoints in the area to check for a particular tag, you might as well just tag your spawning waypoints with a special prefix or use a special variable, and any waypoint whose tag matches that prefix spawns whatever resref comes after the prefix, or whatever's in the variable. Mine works both ways.

I also have it set up to look for a local int on the waypoint, and if it exists, spawn that number of the creature at that waypoint.

Additionally, if I want to respawn any of those creatures, I can mark waypoints as undone and run the script again.

[ColorsFade]

Tchos wrote...

Yes -- since you're already cycling through all of the waypoints in the area to check for a particular tag, you might as well just tag your spawning waypoints with a special prefix or use a special variable, and any waypoint whose tag matches that prefix spawns whatever resref comes after the prefix, or whatever's in the variable. Mine works both ways.

I also have it set up to look for a local int on the waypoint, and if it exists, spawn that number of the creature at that waypoint.

Additionally, if I want to respawn any of those creatures, I can mark waypoints as undone and run the script again.

I see. Makes sense. 

I was using GetObjectByTag with the integer index. I concat the expected prefix with the creature tag passed into the function to know which object to look for. I assumed it was more efficient than cycling through every object in the area. Maybe it is, but I could see how your method would save some calls. I'll likely rework mine then. 

[Tchos]

I don't know if it's more or less efficient than multiple calls for each creature, but after watching how fast the game cycles through all of an area's objects while playing live, using text feedback to report the tags of what it found (it was instant, or so close to instant that my eye couldn't tell the difference), I decided it didn't matter for my purposes.

[ColorsFade]

Tchos wrote...

I don't know if it's more or less efficient than multiple calls for each creature, but after watching how fast the game cycles through all of an area's objects while playing live, using text feedback to report the tags of what it found (it was instant, or so close to instant that my eye couldn't tell the difference), I decided it didn't matter for my purposes.

Yeah, I do a lot of the same kind of debugging. Makes sense. 

I decided, today, to see how fast I could make an "acceptable" exterior area for the final area, a small bandit camp in a wooded/hilly region. I was finished in a couple hours. Sure beats the three or four days (off and on, of course) of time I spent on my first external area.... 

I'm ready to get this prologue done. I am glad I did it this way, deciding to do a prologue, as it gave me an easy way to learn the toolkit. It's a simple level 1-4 module and can be completed in a few hours play. I learned everything I need to know going forward, pretty much. 

Now I just need to do the stuf I've been putting off, like merging it with Kaedrin's and the spell fixes, and figuring out exactly what has to ship in the final build as far as HAK files go. But it's close. 

[kamal_]

Rolo_kipp made this version, 1 wall 1 door 2nd variant. link

and

hall end one door variant, door placed correctly link

Modifié par kamal_, 30 novembre 2013 - 05:50 .

[ColorsFade]

kamal_ wrote...

Rolo_kipp made this version, 1 wall 1 door 2nd variant. link

and

hall end one door variant, door placed correctly link

Thanks Kamal! I'll give 'em a try.

[ColorsFade]

Prologue is done!

Done I say!

I just finished playtesting the final area. Bugs squashed, done, done, done!

i'm ready for a full playthrough now. Going to the gym at the moment, but when I get back, I'm going to start a full playthrough with savegames and see how long it takes me to finish.

Still have a couple tasks left to do before I'd let anyone else playtest it though. I need to run all the dialog through the spellchecker, and I need to ensure I have 5 textures per exterior tile (I have seen multiple references to the fact that various video cards have issues if there are not at least 5 textures per square, so I thought I'd make that happen just to ward off potential issues).

I have one robe to design for an NPC that is only used in a cut-scene (so I don't have to make the final decision on stats yet; this guy doesn't meet the PC for a while yet), and I have one line of dialog to change in one conversation.

But it's done. Playable. Ready for the final playtest.

Happy.

Off to the gym. Seeya later!

[Eguintir Eligard]

static2.beanscdn.co.uk/modules/ems-v2/article/images/mcdgmdgkmfgk,fh,.jpg.jpg

Let us know how that works out.

[ColorsFade]

LOL, nice one Eguintir. So true!

[ColorsFade]

Journal Update

I converted all my scripts, conversations and blueprints to campaign resources. It has significantly helped me to "fix" issues while doing the play-through of the prologue. It's been nice to be able to fix bugs as I go, reload a save game and see the changes in effect. 

I'm two hours and fifteen minutes into the prologue and have two dungeons left to go. I'm guessing there will be about 3.5 hours of gameplay for the prologue. Maybe longer if people linger over level up decisions or spend a lot of time at the blacksmtih buying and selling gear. I'm pretty happy with that amount of content for a simple prologue. 

I'm pretty happy with just about everything. The level of loot seems like it might be excessive to me, until I went to the vendors and sold stuff, and then went to the blacksmith to buy some upgrades. It's just the right amount of money. I could get upgrades, but I couldn't go hog wild. 

The XP from creatures needs a little tweaking, however. I want it low, because I want the majority of XP to come from quests. This allows me to manage the level ranges for encounters better. Right now my character is about to hit level 4, and that shouldn't happen until the final dungeon. I think I know which creatures are giving off too much XP, so I'll take a look at that and adjust. 

Other than that, it's been pretty fun just to sit back and play the game. It's a decent start I think. 

[andysks]

ColorsFade wrote...

Journal Update

I converted all my scripts, conversations and blueprints to campaign resources. It has significantly helped me to "fix" issues while doing the play-through of the prologue. It's been nice to be able to fix bugs as I go, reload a save game and see the changes in effect.

So a script/dialogue that is campaign resource will always get fixed no matter the saved game state?

I'm two hours and fifteen minutes into the prologue and have two dungeons left to go. I'm guessing there will be about 3.5 hours of gameplay for the prologue.

Maybe even more. I played mine in 4 hours, and PJ 3:20 and had at least two more to go. That is of course with every possible side quest taken and tried at least.

Can one progress the main plot fast without looking at all the side quests in your campaign? Kinda like the OC? That you go to Amon Jero's Heaven for example for the main quest, and there you get one side quest to enter, and one more inside to deal with the fiends.

I ask because I think it's interesting. They way I have it now, one can go as far as he wishes on the main quest, and if he finds things too tough, he can go back and get some side quests he left behind.

[ColorsFade]

andysks wrote...
So a script/dialogue that is campaign resource will always get fixed no matter the saved game state?

Yep, seems so. I'm able to make changes, reload a save game, and see them show up. It's helped quite a bit. 

andysks wrote...
Can one progress the main plot fast without looking at all the side quests in your campaign? Kinda like the OC? 

I ask because I think it's interesting. They way I have it now, one can go as far as he wishes on the main quest, and if he finds things too tough, he can go back and get some side quests he left behind.

It's a prologue, so there's not much of that going on. 

The prologue is basically split up, quest-wise, into two parts. 

The first part, there are several small quests at the very start and some of these can be done simultaneously. It's just easy XP to get you to level 2 and you get to meet all the notable folks around town. None of them are related to the main arc. 

At some point in time you start quests related to the main arc, and this kicks you into the second half of the prologue. The gate guard in Triel, when you come back from a World Map Transition, will notify you that an NPC wants to see you. This is going to kick off the main arc quests. 

All the side-quests available around town should be done by then. Once you start on the main story quests, no other side-quests come up, and you're on a very linear quest path until the end of the prologue. 

This is not much different from how the OC did it's prologue. You spend the first half of your time in West Harbor, learning the ropes, who the people are, dealing with the harvest festival, etc. Then the attack happens and things get a lot more linear until you reach Nevewinter. 

Same deal here. 

When you get to Scornubel and start ACT 1, my plan is to make it operate much the same was as BG2 or the OC. The main quest is very linear. Each step you complete kicks off the next quest in the series. There might be an opportunity for some main story quests to run side-by-side, but essentially it's a linear thing. 

Then there will be all the side-quests around Scornubel and the surrounding areas. You'll be free to skip them, of course, at your own perile. 

Modifié par ColorsFade, 04 décembre 2013 - 12:04 .

[Tchos]

ColorsFade wrote...
I need to run all the dialog through the spellchecker

One thing most spell checkers won't catch is incorrect grammar such as using the wrong "its/it's", so please watch that.  I also see "nevermind" often, and in the OC as well, but your spell checkers should catch that if it shows up.

[andysks]

the Spell Plugin, don't remember the author, from the vault checks for grammar. Maybe basic, but yes.

OK, found it, it's this one I'm using.

http://nwvault.ign.c...ins.detail&id=7

This one will correct my ok to OK. Its to it's and many more. It has some issues sometimes.
For example when I write "desicion", it will not find a replacement and I need to correct it myself to "decision".
But they are too few these instances. It will also not correct the missing space after a dot, which was my nemesis when I started building, and had to go back to all my convos and place spaces after dots and comas.

Modifié par andysks, 04 décembre 2013 - 02:35 .

[ColorsFade]

I'm going to put a bard in an inn somewhere and name him Niaboc Nevermind...

Thanks for the link Andy. I might give that a go. Honestly, grammar shouldn't be an issue. I tend to be a grammar **** myself.

[andysks]

Well, yes. The only reason I sometimes would like to know a bit more grammar, or generally English, is because I like the style of writing in BG series... like old English it is?
When PJ tested my work, he pinpointed some of my mistakes, but they were mostly orthographical errors... which is fixable .

[ColorsFade]

I should ask PJ if he wants to test mine... This is going to need another set of eyes at some point in time.

[Tchos]

andysks wrote...
http://nwvault.ign.c...ins.detail&id=7
This one will correct my ok to OK. Its to it's and many more.

The one I'm more concerned about is the one I see most often, where "it's" should be changed to "its".  For instance, "it's" is never used as a possessive (it means "it is" or "it has" and nothing else), so you should never see "it's own".  It should always be "its own".

That said, I would love to see a character named Niaboc Nevermind, though I'd go with an anagram rather than a reversal on the first name. 

andysks wrote...
The only reason I sometimes would like to know a bit more grammar, or generally English, is because I
like the style of writing in BG series... like old English it is?

No, Old English is completely unlike Modern English, and most native English speakers would not be able to read it.  Native Icelandic speakers should be able to read it, though.  Beowulf is a good example of Old English.  It looks like this: "leomum and lēafum; līf ēac gesceōp cynna gehwylcum, þāra þe cwice hwyrfað."

Even Shakespeare is Early Modern English, and not as old as Middle English.  Many people have trouble understanding Shakespeare's writing.  At that time, they were still using the informal "you" forms such as "thee" and "thou", whereas now we have only the formal/plural "you".  Early Modern looks like this:
"'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.
For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart."

To get to Middle English, you have to go back to Chaucer, and Middle English is different enough from Modern that Chaucer generally has to be "translated" for modern readers.  Originally, it looks like this: "Ful selde up ryseth by his branches smale Prowesse of man, for god, of his goodnesse, Wol that of him we clayme our gentillesse;"

So I guess you could say that when fantasy fiction uses an archaic English, they're emulating a Shakespearean style of Early Modern English, from around 1600, rather than the Middle English that people would have been speaking in the Medieval period.

Modifié par Tchos, 04 décembre 2013 - 06:56 .

[ColorsFade]

Tchos wrote...

That said, I would love to see a character named Niaboc Nevermind, though I'd go with an anagram rather than a reversal on the first name. 

An anagram would work. But now that I see it and read it, I kind of like Niaboc

[Tchos]

Bianco has a nice ring to it, I think.