8 réponses à ce sujet

[Outer77]

Hello Neverwinter community,

I recently modeled several sets of plate armors, helmets and shields from scratch, and seeked the guidance of neverwinter vault on getting them into nwn2, but everything there seems horribly out of date. For example I downloaded the Custom Content Guide 3.0 pdf, but the vast majority of links are dead and broken - its also dated from 2003. That said it did give me a basic understanding of how things worked even if its a decade old.

I also did a search here for more up to date guides/posts related to this, but all I got were custom armor posts related to other games like mass effect <_<

If someone could point me to some relatively recent guides/tools, that would be awesome. As for the software I use - 3ds Max and Photoshop. My models are around 20k polys - tho I can reduce that number if need be.

Modifié par Outer77, 21 novembre 2013 - 02:02 .

[andysks]

I don't create custom stuff myself, but I am certain somebody will be able to give you a hint .
Are you planning on releasing this package as a hak with UTI files as well, or just the models?

[Outer77]

From what little Ive read, these hak pak things sound like the format I would release in. They remind me of the .esp packages from skyrim. Im tempted to post a few screenshots of my armors, but Ill hold off until I get a better understanding of the road ahead from the newer guides/tools.

Dont wanna put the cart before the horse ya know?

Modifié par Outer77, 21 novembre 2013 - 04:01 .

[andysks]

hak is just a compressed file. It contains dds mdb 2da... etc.
This tool is commonly used to pack them into haks.

http://nwvault.ign.c...ols.detail&id=9

Also, of this I am certain. If the files are mdb and dds, you can just release them in a zipped folder for example, and people can just put them in their campaign folders or override if they want.
This is how I use all the armor packs I need for my work.

[-Semper-]

Outer77 wrote...

As for the software I use - 3ds Max and Photoshop. My models are around 20k polys - tho I can reduce that number if need be.

first off you should start do reduce the polycount and create lod models. on average a full body armor is around 5k tris (500 cloak, 700 boots, 700 gloves, 700 helm, 2.5k body armor). details can be found in the stickied thread here.
to get your custom models into the game you'll need the skeletons for weighting. easiest way is to install tazpn's mdb importer which can be found here. this plugin works with versions up to 3dsmax11 32bit.

just import a vanilla model from the nwn2_models.zip (e.g. P_HHM_CL_Body01.MDB) to get the human male skeleton into max. afterwards you can check the needed materials, collision spheres and all that stuff. details about the naming convention can be found here.

you should know that some playable races like the dwarfs, gnomes and orcs use different skeleton files than humans, elves, half elves, halflings, etc. you have to weight and export your models with those special skeletons too if you want to release your armor for all the races. details can be found within the appearance.2da zipped in the 2da_x2.zip.

[andysks]

See, I told you other people know better

[Outer77]

Ah so just zip em up? Nice an straight forward, I like it. An yea you were right, really surprised, sorta thought this forum was bit dead/inactive - glad thats not the case!

Semper, nice one buddy - that will deffo be enough to get me started. Some questions; why do the models need to be so low poly? I can understand if we were still in 2006 (even then thats kinda low) but nowadays most have pretty decent hardware so i dont understand this limit. I also saw a guide where a chap ported triss skyrim armor into nwn2 and while it may have lagged slower comps he said it was mostly fine - tho I do plan to trim my poly count down to about 15k. Would there be any other problems besides an fps hit with my 'highpoly' models?

The plugin, if I read that right, works with max 2009 aswell? Luckly I have a copy of that installed for when I was doing fallout modding so thats good news. Is this Custom Content Guide 3.0 im following still relevant in regards to explaining materials, collision spheres and all that stuff? I understand normal mapping, but was wondering how specular mapping was handled - Im guessing its your standard monochrome black/white map? or do I have to fiddle with the alpha channels?

Lastly Im contempt with just having these armors for elves an humans etc, If Im successful on my journey perhaps Ill extend these armors to the other races. We shall see.

Aight. Ill stop waffling now

Modifié par Outer77, 21 novembre 2013 - 07:28 .

[-Semper-]

Outer77 wrote...

why do the models need to be so low poly? I can understand if we were still in 2006 (even then thats kinda low) but nowadays most have pretty decent hardware so i dont understand this limit. I also saw a guide where a chap ported triss skyrim armor into nwn2 and while it may have lagged slower comps he said it was mostly fine - tho I do plan to trim my poly count down to about 15k. Would there be any other problems besides an fps hit with my 'highpoly' models?

it has nothing to do with the used hardware but the engine limitations. while it's possible to use armors/models with thousands of tris the engine can only render this much before it slows down. there's happening alot behind the courtains and an area contains loads of other things. while you can go "overboard" with the polycount of special assets, which are mostly used at a single spot, it's best to stay within the limits if you're creating stuff which happens to be used often.

Is this Custom Content Guide 3.0 im following still relevant in regards to explaining materials, collision spheres and all that stuff? I understand normal mapping, but was wondering how specular mapping was handled - Im guessing its your standard monochrome black/white map? or do I have to fiddle with the alpha channels?

it seems that this guide was written for nwn1, considering the release date. personally i read that guide which was easy to understand. it should get you started and you can always ask here for further details. spec maps are handled through the alpha channel of the normal map.

[andysks]

Wrong post !

Modifié par andysks, 22 novembre 2013 - 02:00 .