78 réponses à ce sujet

[DukeVega]

Ok so when I originally started this ALIENS game project, I didnt actually know what i was doing or how I was going to do all of this.

All I did have was basic knoweldge on the Toolset and copies of the HAK files from the infamous 

 

Xenograph Arms II server

 

http://forum.bioware...rsistant-world/

 

 

 

SOOOooo my problem now is i have 20 HAK files, full of random bits that may or may not be being used in my game.

But these 20 files add up to about 15 gig

 

I really want to cut these down, but I don't know what i am doing.

 

So If anyone could give me some tips, please do.

 

 

 

[Tchos]

I'm pretty sure I told you at the start that the Xenograph Arms hak files are gigantic.  The only way to optimise them would be to extract all of their content, check each model to see if you need it, see which textures it uses (textures amount to the majority of the space) and remove all of the ones you aren't using.

 

Actually, more efficient would be to start from nothing and bring in only the files you need, because there can easily be extra textures in there that aren't used by any models, and weeding things out the first way won't catch those.

[rjshae]

Wish there was a plug-in that would actually specify the hak file content you are using in a module. Optimizing your hak file is the kind of thing that software is good at.

[DukeVega]

How can i check a model? 

[DukeVega]

and how will i know what textures it uses..... 

 

 

(forgive my ignorance, its a big learning curve for me~)

[DukeVega]

What i am thinking is i set up a Directory on my HDD and lay it out exactly as it is now in the hak files, then empty each file into each directory.

 

I can then create a new set of directory's for new HAK files that will be fresh

 

 

SO with that in mind, is there any particular way I need to label these hak files and is there any specific type of file that has to go with another file or cant go with another file etc???

 

Does it HAVE to be multiple files, can it be ONE hak file??

[Tchos]

You can view the models using Gmax, or Blender, or 3ds Max, as long as you have the import/export scripts.  You can easily check texture names by opening the models in MDB Cloner, with the slight warning that a small percentage of models contain more textures than MDB Cloner will show.  To make sure, you can just place the model again in the NWN2 toolset with no haks and nothing but that model and its listed textures, and if no textures are missing, you're fine.

 

The files don't need to be in haks for you to use them.  Just work with the loose files in your campaign folder or override folder, and if you feel the need to put them in a hak later, go ahead.

 

Presumably they could all go in one, but who knows if there's a file size limit on single files.  If anything could break it, I'd guess this one would if you put them all together.

[DukeVega]

Im guessing the best way to do it would be have a hak file for each type of file

 

So 

 

 

Models & Textures together??

 

 

Buildings

 

 

Weapons

 

 

Sound Files

 

 

Inventory / ui graphic files

 

 

and so on...

[DukeVega]

btw what are .res files and .xml used for?

[DukeVega]

also .sef (this is animations right???

[DukeVega]

also .dds .spt .gr2 

[DukeVega]

god this is a miefield, so one of the hak files conmtaines a ton of .mdb files

 

for example it will be like bush03_a_mdb

 

but then it goes 

 

bush03_b_mdb

 

bush03_c_mdb

 

bush03_d_mdb

 

bush03_e_mdb

 

 

and so on and so on ..........

 

 

as always, my question is WHY >?

[rjshae]

mdb = NWN2 model file

dds = Direct Draw Surface texture file (compressed textures, but image size must be a power of two)

tga = Targa texture file (poorer compression than dds, but image can be any size)

sef = special effects file

gr2 = Granny animation file

 

xml is extensible markup language; I believe that's used for the interface.

 

Not sure about res.

 

You'll need to look in the placeables.2da file to see the connection between the actual mdb file and the Toolset's appearance menu pick. The reason there are so many mdb files? We want moar! More placeables; more variants; more textures. (Also, animated placeables can have multiple models.)

[DukeVega]

wow im fucked lol .... 

[DukeVega]

so far i have extracted about 15,000 files hahaha

[DukeVega]

okay found another weird one

 

 

 

.SSF

 

 

its in with sound files 

 

 

????????????

[DukeVega]

okay lets look at this from another angle, What files MUST be in the hak packs???

[DukeVega]

okay back to XML files, as they are for the UI..... in theory i dont need any of them? as i have not changed or made a custom ui.......... ??????

or will these files be linked to items that need them?

[rjshae]

My suggestion would be to focus on the largest texture/sound files and see if you can remove any of those. The remainder of the files are pretty much a nit. I.e. not worth the bother of cleaning up.

[Tchos]

Speaking only about placeables for now, and assuming none are animated, then the only files you need for them are MDB and DDS (or TGA in some cases).  Models and objects are not linked to XML, and you shouldn't need any XML, though the file sizes of XML tend to be insignificant.

 

Other types of resources, such as animated placeables, creature parts, etc., also need GR2 files.

 

In answer to your other question, the only files that must be in hak packs are certain specific 2DA files that don't seem to work if you put them in other places.  That's what's in my sole hak pack for my campaign.  All custom clothing, placeables, textures, creatures, etc. are in my campaign folder, not a hak.

[DukeVega]

The only custom content I am actually using is as follows

 

Buildings (from xenograph arms II)

 

Plants (from xenograph arms II)

 

SOME Clothing (from xenograph arms II)

 

SOME weapons (from xenograph arms II)

 

Possibly some textures for painting ground, maybe not sure (from xenograph arms II)

 

Xenomorph Models 

 

Loading Screens ofc i created myself

 

Sound files - i created myself

[Tchos]

Well, get rid of all the sound files in the haks, for starters.  That'll cut things down quickly.

[DukeVega]

its funny looking through this actually the amount of random content is mind boggling

 

 

okay so GR2 files are animation files and i found some textures TGA that are same name, so what am i looking at some kind of creature?

If so theres like giant space worms or something hahahaa

 

 

ermm 

 

I am also finding a lots of, like hundreds of weapon related dds texture files

 

so its like 

 

mace109

mace110

mace111

 

 

this must be custom weapons textures right? ie> i dont need them

[Dann-J]

How can i check a model? 

 

The quickest way to check what textures or skeleton a model is using is to open it in a text editor like Notepad.

 

Here's what the top couple of lines of the wing model of my black dracolich model looks like:

NWN2     SKIN,   SKINt* SKINFÈ COLS SKIN@* C_Blackdracolich_CL_ExtraA01 2  c_blackdragon_skel              c_blackdracolich_wing           c_blackdragon_wing_n            c_blackdragon_wing_t 

The first value after SKIN@* is the name of the model (c_blackdracolich_cl_extraa01). Next is the skeleton the model uses (c_blackdragon_skel) which determines the name of the animations used. Then we get into the texture information. The next three values are the diffuse, normal and tint textures respectively.

 

So a quick glance at this model in Notepad tells me:

• Skeleton = c_blackdragon_skel (which means all GR2 animations will start with 'c_blackdragon')
• Diffuse texure = c_blackdracolich_wing
• Normal texture = c_blackdragon_wing_n 
• Tint texture = c_blackdragon_wing_t

Models don't care whether they use DDS or TGA textures. The texture extensions aren't stored in the MDB header, so a model will happily use either format (as long as the file name before the extension is correct).

[DukeVega]

okaaaayyy now i am finding hardcore bondage gear like leather body suits and gimp masks!!! how did this server not do well? lol

they also had sharks......