That's just it. Bizarrely, clicking on their portrait currently does nothing other than transport the party avatar back to the waypoint they'd entered the area via.
If it's really not too much of a strain to NPC-dump, I will just do that in the arena, then. Thank you!
Oh - I could actually just try giving some of the spectators a looping speak-string to cry out at random intervals. 'Stab 'em in the gut!' etc. Obviously, it wouldn't be heard, but I reckon it'd probably make them feel a lot less static and a lot more involved.
You can definitely handle a lot more NPCs than you think. Make a bigger crowd. NWN2's in game population was a joke... the city was empty and you would down a street and see two people total. If you PC can handle the engine at all, it can handle a good 50 npcs in an area. Shadows seem to be the limitation so make a the obscured people shadows_OFF.
As for 6 player party... it's more about designing entrances (and hallways) with them in mind. For example in my Islander campaign I had a very long but narrow underground temple, where it was mostly water and you walked across narrow bridges. Since there was no real reason not to, I simply put in non-obstrusive triggers that would warp the rear-most party members to that trigger as you walked over it. This was due to the current controlled character + 2 or 3 companions walking fine but the stragglers getting lost and lagging. This ensured the party would reform and be together every 30 yards or so, and most players probably didn't even notice the back of their party warping to the rear of their current PC. But they were definitely less annoyed when they exited the area for some combat, and had the full party in tow.
That's all I had to do really to keep a 6 pack party in control. Wide entrances and the odd placement of those triggers but only in tight areas that have long walks.
split the difference : 5,
no 3. ;)
in the OC i played it once with the entire entourage and had no problem -- but that's the OC.
3. Animated billboards? Each one a row of seated or standing generic NPCs, then swap the SEF to show recorded cheering animations. You'd probably just need 2 or 3 different sets, then intermix them.
I like 5 as a party size.
As for crowd NPCs, I believe it would save on processing power to use a single heartbeat to control a crowd of NPCs, rather than giving each NPC its own heartbeat.
Secrets of the Whispering Sands?
Secrets of the Whispering Sands.
In other news, I now have a nice-looking Temple of Talos for all evil players' storm-related quest needs, and I've made a bit of headway with Blackwind's gate area. That long avenue between the statues is going to be filled with travellers, merchant caravans and new arrivals, though I already find myself cursing my luck that Obsidian didn't include a camel blueprint with any of the main campaigns for absolutely no reason. 
please recolor the area fog to a yellowish tone. it will look sooo much better. and while you're at it you could also increase the farclip and the distance the fog kicks in, if you don't want to create a really foggy/dusty atmosphere.
personally i can't stand that standard blue the the nwn2 oc uses (and 98% of all the mods out there)!
It's a good suggestion--the right fog can really help with the appearance of an area. But you'll need to set it appropriately for every time interval.
More like this, you mean? I'm going to keep fiddling around with the fog and brightness levels.
altough a little bright you're taking the right direction 
ya dim that down to match the cobble stones and you're cooking.
PS Don't wuss out on the project, this is looking good. At least finish a chapter 1!
PS Don't wuss out on the project, this is looking good. At least finish a chapter 1!
I should be OK - I think it's just a matter of pacing myself and compartmentalising. Toolset troubles in the past have generally been a result of getting hung up on one particular over-ambitious area/quest, wasting hours upon hours on it only to find that it just won't work, and burning out in sorrowful frustration.
Anyway, I think the lighting's starting to come on! I've also pretty much rounded off the main merchant square in the docks, and I've completed a few starting mini-quests for the associated areas.
Well, I'm happy. Even if I'm not sure I can top this as an area concept.
So much fun. I'll probably add to the 'speed trails' (arcane circles stretched and UVed) in different colours so they stand out a bit more/look more authentically magicky. I even debated adding tiny creatures with the fog visual effect, moving quickly across the area to give the impression of clouds whizzing by, but that's probably overkill for what's essentially a bit of silly fast travel.
Guest_Iveforgotmypassword_*
Excellent.. Add the tiny cloud creatures, this has to be the first NWN2 flying carpet so go for it !
That looks great, very impressive piece of work.
PJ
Craaaashes. 
Everything's backed up so it should all be fine, bar a little re-collating and complaining, but my God, it's so incredibly frustrating when you have no way of knowing where it's all gone wrong and nothing has any valid reason to have gone wrong. It just completely saps the momentum when you find yourself fighting the toolset over nothing at all.
On the bright side, the OL map's getting nice and big...if still a tad unpolished in places. (The green waypoints are just geographical landmarks to help with quests, etc...)
Now everything's breaking.
Time to go for a quiet lie down, I think.
Which parts are breaking? A specific area? The OM? Perhaps you've made an area much too large or added way too many placeables?
It was area corruption making the campaign implode, yeah. I think the original cause was probably just a faulty trigger or something like that, since that was what I was working on briefly before the mod had its little heart attack.
But then, mere moments after I'd clawed my way just about back to where I was, I put a script in the wrong place, hit backspace, got the big red cross of doom...and suddenly the whole thing broke all over again.
All fixed now - it just needed a bit of toil and a minor nervous breakdown.
...and the result (hopefully) will be a nice Palace District to go with the Docks and Gate District.
lovely, nice use of open space
If the combat balance and storyline are half as good as the pictures, we're talking about a future epic.
Retour en haut
