276 réponses à ce sujet

[Arkalezth]

With traps. It would be a suitable spot for those toxic fumes you were talking about.

[rjshae]

With traps. It would be a suitable spot for those toxic fumes you were talking about.

 

A toxic-fumes trapped commode... that would be just like Halaster.

 

Hmm, I guess I could add a pitch-black corridor, as in Wizardry. That could get annoying though.

[Dann-J]

 

Hmm, I guess I could add a pitch-black corridor, as in Wizardry. That could get annoying though.

 

Any adventurers who head underground without a light source deserve to trip and break their necks. Most underground areas that are more than one level down should be pitch black. Who constructs a trap-filled dungeon of death and then provides adequate lighting for convenience?

[kamal_]

Any adventurers who head underground without a light source deserve to trip and break their necks. Most underground areas that are more than one level down should be pitch black. Who constructs a trap-filled dungeon of death and then provides adequate lighting for convenience?

^^^^ that. I'm a fan of "logical lighting", if there's no reason for a light source, then there's no light source. I might be nice and have some glowing mushrooms or crystals, and my orc tribes will have torches, but my dungeons default to pitch black. Also Undermountain would have mean things like permanent Darkness spells.

[Tchos]

Any adventurers who head underground without a light source deserve to trip and break their necks. Most underground areas that are more than one level down should be pitch black. Who constructs a trap-filled dungeon of death and then provides adequate lighting for convenience?

 

I've often had the opposite question.  Why are these human necromancers or half-orc bandits or whatnot living in a pitch-black lair?  Any dungeon where enemies are living who normally need light to see should be well-lit.  Other places may just happen to have glowing things like the aforementioned fungus or crystals, but any fantasy dungeon where a lot of magic exists will also have a lot of other glowing things.

 

Additionally, there should be some allowance for NWN2 omitting a spell that 3rd level clerics and 2nd level sorcerers/wizards should have access to: Continual flame.  Any room the party enters should be able to be left well-lit by a cautious party with such a caster -- whether in the current party or by one that presumably came before.  Lots and lots of reasons for lighting in dungeons.  That, and I like to see.

 

Obviously, drow would have reason to keep the lights down, but their heavy magic use necessitates some being there.

[Dann-J]

Most creatures or races that typically lair underground have darkvision. Not providing light sources for creatures that don't is an excellent way to disadvantage any invading surface dwellers.

 

Since Halaster was human, you might expect there to be torch brackets at regular intervals. However you wouldn't necessarily expect them to be conveniently pre-lit. One solution might be to make the torches usable objects, so that adventurers can light them as they go. That would also be a good way for players to keep track of where they've been. If you wanted to really mess with their heads, you could have random gusts of air occasionally blow groups of them out again. Or give them OnSpellCastAt scripts that check for the Gust of Wind spell, so if players attempt to dissipate a cloud of noxious gas they also blow out nearby torches.

 

In the module I'm (occasionally) working on, I've given unlit campfire objects an OnSpellCastAt script that checks for various low-level fire-based spells, as well as alchemist's fire, and the RDD breath weapon (you can only rest by campfires once they're lit). I've included the Flare cantrip in the list, which actually makes it a useful spell to have memorised for once. There are also pieces of flint available for non-spellcasters (an idea I 'borrowed' from The Witcher). They're just cheap one-use items that cast a Flare spell, which means you could also strike a spark into an enemy's eyes if you wanted to.

[Tchos]

Most creatures or races that typically lair underground have darkvision. Not providing light sources for creatures that don't is an excellent way to disadvantage any invading surface dwellers.

 

That's why I specified ones "who normally need light to see".  And why I said drow have reasons to keep it dark.  The rest of the examples are for the sake of the player and for design aesthetics.  I really hate the dark.

[rjshae]

Any adventurers who head underground without a light source deserve to trip and break their necks. Most underground areas that are more than one level down should be pitch black. Who constructs a trap-filled dungeon of death and then provides adequate lighting for convenience?

 

Well I meant blacker than black, as in magical darkness. I guess I should have been clearer. Anyway, this dungeon is sprinkled with light sources, so usually there will be some light nearby, separated by regions of gloom.

[Tchos]

Just to put it out there, according to the rules, light spells counter and dispel magical darkness of equal or lower level.  And of course a standard "dispel magic" should get rid of magical darkness as well.

[Dann-J]

Just to put it out there, according to the rules, light spells counter and dispel magical darkness of equal or lower level.  And of course a standard "dispel magic" should get rid of magical darkness as well.

 

Counteracting light-emitting items would be tricky, but achievable. You could do it with a trigger with an OnEnter script that strips those properties from items and stores local variables on them, so that the OnExit script can add them back again. Disabling low-light vision or darkvision would be a lot trickier though.

 

Personally, I like really dark areas (where appropriate). It makes you glad if you've chosen a race that has low-light vision or darkvision. And every adventurer should have at least one light-emitting item, or at the very least some sort of torch. That's just basic adventuring.

[kamal_]

Well I meant blacker than black, as in magical darkness. I guess I should have been clearer. Anyway, this dungeon is sprinkled with light sources, so usually there will be some light nearby, separated by regions of gloom.

You can also mess with people by using a black diffuse light with a bright specular color, and then giving a high light intensity, shown here with aqua colored specular and light intensity 20 with a standard toolset human standing next to some placeables in what looks like blackness (other than the vfx). You get a blacklight/glow in the dark type effect.

 

[rjshae]

In a slightly different approach, here's a visual effect experiment using multiple layered billboards in a single effect. Not sure why it's showing the Missing Texture there, but you can see even a layer or two is pretty effective at concealing the PC. It's too bad the billboard effect doesn't allow texture scrolling.

 

[Dann-J]

Billboards *do* allow animated textures though. There's an existing animated texture that cycles through a pattern much like a cloud billowing. I've used it for a horizontal billboard that simulates a pool of relatively still water for indoor cave areas, without the need to use the standard water system (which increases file sizes significantly when used).

[rjshae]

Surely the water system is just a surface mesh and some display data?

[Dann-J]

Surely the water system is just a surface mesh and some display data?

 

Whatever it is, it increases the module file size significantly. It's especially noticeable for modules with only indoor areas in them (and lots of placeables converted to environmental objects). Your file sizes might increase by an order of magnitude with just a small amount of water. The VFX solution barely increases the file size at all.

[FaerzressSparkles]

Whoa, someone has been very busy! I need to get 3ds Max working again so I can finish that Mephistopheles model for you!

[rjshae]

Hopefully it will turn out at least halfway decent, although I'm not 100% confident given that it's a NWN model. Thank you.

[FaerzressSparkles]

Hopefully it will turn out at least halfway decent, although I'm not 100% confident given that it's a NWN model. Thank you.

 

You will take what you can get and you will like it!

[rjshae]

Urm... I see.

[Dann-J]

Based on the screenshots I've seen, the Mephistopheles model didn't look too bad in NWN. Or maybe that's just in comparison to the other models in the game.

 

It should look even better once it's got an actual normal map. A good normal map can hide a multitude of sins.

[rjshae]

Hello again,

 

Despite a number of other activities intervening, I've still been putting in some work on this module from time to time.

 

The conversation file for Deekin is proving to be remarkably large, so I'm gradually getting that built up a section at a time. It's going to be a bit of a pain to test it out just because there are so many branches and separate conversations. The other NPCs were much less work.

 

I need to build the large cavern entrance into Undermountain, which I'll probably do using an exterior area with a textured dome cap. (I think I'll modify the ceiling to include an opening for the elevator, just so it looks realistic.). The opening gateway will also need a new model. I'll probably start with one of the more grandiose doors and build a large masonry gateway around it.

 

Finally, I find the range of magic weapons for sale around Waterdeep to be, well... downright boring. They're basically just stock +2 and +3 weapons of every type, with a few unique ones thrown in. I've been trying to work up some custom weapons to use to replace the +2 stock parts, while giving them a cost just below that of a +3 weapon. My goal would to have at least one of each type, and I've got maybe a dozen so far.

 

Does anybody have a favorite weapon that they would like to see included (for sale)? It needs to be less than or roughly equal to a +3 weapon and not in the standard items list (so I can avoid duplicates later on). Maybe some of SKR's blades of Faerun will serve?

[GCoyote]

It's been years but my best run was a PC I started in SoU. So whatever the best weapons from the end of that were is what I started HotU with. IIRC I spent most if my gold on expendable supplies.

[rjshae]

It's been years but my best run was a PC I started in SoU. So whatever the best weapons from the end of that were is what I started HotU with. IIRC I spent most if my gold on expendable supplies.

 

Aye, that's reasonable. I can look through the GameBanshee weapon lists and see what they had for SoU. Thanks.

 

Ed.: Yes, there's a whole bunch of magic items (and associated lore) that were never migrated to NWN2. This looks like a good porting opportunity, so I'll see about putting together a blueprints package.

[rjshae]

Since I can make the default party size large enough to accommodate all potential NPCs from HotU, that means the player will end up with two bards (Deekin and Sharwyn). Something I was contemplating was switching Sharwyn to a different class; in particular, making her a Warlock. That class is Charisma-based, like the bard, and the character in the game doesn't really have any social skills so there's no loss there. Plus she's already TN in alignment, so a change to CN wouldn't be a major shift. The Warlock wouldn't get any sneak skills though, but she'd probably kick more arse in combat.

 

What do you think?

[Arkalezth]

As far as mechanics go, two bards don't necessarily overlap each other, as they can use different inspirations to buff the party.

I'd ultimately base my decision on roleplay. If her dialogue or background mention her being a bard (it's been ages since I played NWN1's OCs), it wouldn't make much sense to make her a warlock all of a sudden. Just my two cents.