Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Reloaded

[Sabranic]

ArtemisJ

PJ156..

I noticed in the temple district there were a few place holders..

if You already did the vfx's then I apologize...

 

Just thought I'd tinker around today a bit..

 

Still not fully happy with it.. Any feedback?

 

(The 'Sparks' do spin clockwise.. but it's still off..)

 

EDIT:

 

Is it even sparks? or water? It looks like the Cure Effect from NWN1.. Lol..

 

http://s32.postimg.org/wurgnw25x/Torm_Ring.png

 

May need some color / size adjustments. Any feedback is welcome!

 

http://s32.postimg.org/ce44xmrjp/Torm_Ring.png

 

PJ156

 

These look cool

 

I've not got to the temple district interiors yet. There a lot of work in those. Drew has completed the exterior for that so it's high on the list.

 

I will PM you my email once Drew has given you the low down.

 

PJ

 

 

ArtemisJ

 

You guys are -amazing- area creators.. it really leaves a tough act to follow..

 

drechner

 

Looks really cool! Unfortunately, it would appear that VFX aren't displayed through transparent objects in NWN2, likely because of the way "transparent" objects are rendered. I actually used VFX in the area already, but they didn't show up sadly (but still hurt performance!).

 

ArtemisJ

I thought about that.. what if the 'glass' was also a vfx?

Do you still have the vfx's you made? Just out of curiosity..

 

EDIT:

Okay I tried a transparent MDB object on the vfx.. didn't work either.. Had to try just in case..

Only other thing I can think of is making a VFX "Glass Shell"..

 

EDIT EDIT:

Can you send me the MDB at the scale it's being used in the temple district?

 

rjshae

 

Perhaps the covering dome could have its surface normals reversed so all the player sees is the shiny back side of the dome (as in the original game)? That may also allow the interior effect to be seen.

 

Physically this would make some sense since the bright light source is inside, rather than outside the dome. Thus there is less of a need for a reflective image on the front side.

 

 

ArtemisJ

This is really interesting.. can you do that for all glass surfaces? Do you have an example of this?

 

 

What reversing the thing does :

 

Take your normal nwn2 object, a building for instance. It has texture on the outside, but none on the inside if you manage to get the camera to look inside it. Reverse this and you can see the inside, but not the outside.

 

I did this to a metatile from Purgatorio to turn it into a building. Gmax has a default menu option to do it, iirc it's "reverse normals" in gmax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

rjshae

You can see it with the waterfall placeables.

 

 

ArtemisJ

 

Not sure I fully understand.. I tried putting a vfx on either side of the waterfall and still it was not visible..

 

I guess you mean to flip the textures inside out? but would you still see the waterfall effect?

 

 

rjshae

 

Maybe were talking about different ways of doing it? IIRC, the waterfall works by applying just a diffuse texture with alpha transparency to the placeable (no normal texture), and then setting the Glow texture flag. (For MDBConfig, that flag can be seen [unset] in the sample screen shot below.)

 

http://neverwintervault.org/sites/neverwintervault.org/files/project/21076/images/fig04.jpg

 

You can only see the effect from the side where the surface normals are pointing outward. I.e. you can take your hemisphere, apply the glassy texture, flip the surface normals to face inward, and set the Glow texture flag on the model. Did that make sense?

 

There's a way to show the surface normals in Blender.

 

 

ArtemisJ

 

That's really cool.. but I still don't fully understand how you make VFX's appear under transparent objects..

 

Also.. Is that cutscene mesh what I think it is? Could we create new Facial expressions?!

 

 

 

 

rjshae

 

Well, you would need to use a "Model" VFX, which uses a (mdb) model file to provide the surface mesh. Each triangular face in this mesh has a directional facing--the "surface normal"--which is perpendicular to the surface of the triangle. In the game, the applied texture can only be seen on the mesh from the directions the normals are pointing. Hence, for the texture to appear on the underside, you would first need to modify the hemisphere model so that all the normals point inward toward the center. Then, when you apply the texture to that modified model, it can only be viewed from the underside.

 

I hope this made some sense. Perhaps I need to show some screen shots?

 

The alternative is just to make the hemisphere model a placeable, which has the advantage of being scalable.

 

ArtemisJ

 

1) Screenshots would be wonderful..

 

2) Facial expression animations on character models can only be applied during cut scenes.. AFAIK. I was just wondering if that's what that option was related to..

 

Before everyone gets too far into this reversed normals idea, recall that I gave steps on how to make a transparent object that shows VFX behind it, like a glass lantern with a flame VFX inside it, in this post. See the model effect alpha method.

 

ArtemisJ

 

Fantastic..!

This would be very useful for creating translucent globes / circular objects that are IMO kind of.. lackluster as billboards.

 

 

Exactly. When I saw the screenshot you posted in post 734, I assumed they knew about this and were already using that method since it had a VFX behind the glass, not realising it was a screenshot from the original BG2 and not from this remake.

 

 

You thought that screenshot was from NWN2..?

 

Tchos.. You solved a huge issue with that post.. Was Obsidian even aware this could be done?

I can't think of a single example in any of the original NWN2 content where they did it..

 

 

I'd guess Obsidian, or some people at Obsidian, would have to have known, since they wrote the engine, but who knows if anyone on the design staff knew, or if they had some reason for not doing it. I found it after trying as many methods as I could find to make glass that did what I wanted. None of them do, but some are better than others.

 

What were you specifically trying to do? Just out of curiosity.

 

And why doesn't this way work?

 

 

I just want convincing glass. I expressed the shortcomings in the post where I described the methods. Glass should have full specularity unaffected by transparency, plus normal mapping, variable level of transparency, and distortion of light. In general, I find the glow method to be the better of the two except in cases where I want a VFX behind it, even though the glow method has no normal mapping.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Sabranic

[Sabranic]

drechner

That's pretty awesome, Tchos! Thanks for sharing

 

ArtemisJ

Throw an actual texture on there.. darken the color.. play with the alpha... This could be EPIC.

 

http://s33.postimg.org/i8utuljzz/Interesting.png

 

 

In the service of better modules, you're welcome.

 

This is not to say that reversed normals are a bad idea either. That's what I used for my ceilings in BSoCC, so you would only see them if you were beneath them, and not if you were looking down into the area. But as glass, they would be 100% invisible on the facing side, which serves none of the list of requirements I have for convincing glass.

 

I tried applying a random texture.. It's still not right.. doesn't look quite like glass.. and it's too dark. Maybe more transparency?

I want it lighter more navy blue.. Hmm

 

(The rings actually spin.. it looks better in-game)

 

http://s33.postimg.org/5xmcmsb5r/Not_Right_Still.png

 

 

Definitely needs more transparency, but be sure to have something to represent the metal frame, because what looks correct without a frame won't necessarily look correct with one.

 

rjshae

DRechner already has the metal frame set up in his Temple District area, I believe. It's just a matter of getting the FX scale right.

 

ArtemisJ

 

I think Tchos meant I should use the actual area / metal frame during testing because the grass texture may affect how it will look in the final product.

 

 

 

Yes, the ground texture, the lighting, and just having the contrast of a darker coloured frame around the object all contribute to what you'll actually want to set the transparency and texture colour to look like, so it's best not to spend too much time getting it to look just right without those things, only to find that you need to adjust it more after putting everything in its place because it doesn't look right in that context.

 

 

ArtemisJ

 

The funny thing is.. drechner has been very busy and not gotten back to me.. and may not even need this vfx or has something better already.

I agree with you Tchos..

 

 

Although the texture I am using.. is just stolen from somewhere and is probably not the best usage..

I need to really learn how to properly texture / model things in NWN2.. it's the biggest gap I have in my knowledge base..

 

PJ156

Drew is always busy and the lag in response can be long

 

PJ

[Sabranic]

PJ156

The new challenge is ar0410 ... part of the planar sphere.

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0410_01_zpsanqufnil.jpg

 

Here's my placeholders .... a long way to go yet.

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0410_02_zpsflgwsr9v.jpg

 

Lots of re-texturing on this one .... lots and lots

 

PJ

[Sabranic]

PJ156

 

I extracted some vertical tubes of glass from the illithid tileset. Those would likely be closer to the original glass tubing.

 

I did not see those. I will have a poke round tonight.

 

Thanks Kamal_

 

PJ

 

 

They come in empty and brain filled, should be under the tag plc_ih as I tagged things by tileset, they are part of the tileset construction kit.

 

In the middle you can see the tubes, they come in standalone and attached to piping:

 

http://neverwintervault.org/sites/neverwintervault.org/files/project/22255/images/tckplc05.jpg

 

 

ArtemisJ

 

More alien looking areas like Planar Sphere.. Urst Natha and of course the saughin city are gonna be the most... "interesting" areas to see done in NWN2.

 

Is this your standard way of making areas PJ156? Sorta plot it out with standard objects getting the scaling right then go crazy with the custom content?

 

 

PJ156

 

hanks Kamal

 

Yes ArtemisJ, that's pretty much it. Mostly we are only getting the feel of the area. It's going to be recognizable but rarely a carbon copy. Lighting and textures provide most of the work.

 

In some cases the area has to change shape, either to suit the very rigid tile sizes or to take into account that a party of 5 may need to land there without becoming a part of the furniture and crashing the game.

 

Sahuagin city is done ..... that took a loooong time. I dread Ust Nartha but it will happen. The planar sphere is now.

 

Most important to note is there are two others in the background helping me. RJS and 4760 have provided cc of excellent quality and RJS more than 50 custom tiles and a couple of jaw dropping meta tiles. Both of which I'm not showing anyone so there!

 

PJ

[Sabranic]

PJ156

I thought I might have this area in the bag with this being a holiday weekend in the UK ... Not to be it seems, my children decided to prioritize for me and crab netting on Poole Quay won.

 

None the less there has been some progress, there might have been more but I have recently rediscovered Lord of the Realm 2. Ye gods can that game suck time if you let it.

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0410_03_zpszoke5jz2.jpg

 

I need the floor next and then I will texture the stairs and other main items. Perhaps next week who knows. Complex areas like this slow progress dramatically. Unfortunately there are a lot of areas like this in BG2.

 

PJ

 

ArtemisJ

 

Now that I am officially helping out.. I want to post screenshots too..

But I think I might feel a little inferior next to you and drechner..

 

 

PJ156

 

Getting there:

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0410_04_zpsla3luj0o.jpg

 

PJ

[Sabranic]

PJ156

Can you tell what it is yet

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0411_01_zpspb86l36w.jpg

 

PJ

 

 

 

My first thought was Suldanessellar as well, but it looks more like the Planar Sphere's map:

 

http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate2/maps/ar0411.gif

[Sabranic]

PJ156

Indeed I am, and with a black skydome it will look a little like this:

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0410_05_zpsyh5i30ds.jpg

 

PJ

 

rjshae

 

I wonder if I can toast a hot dog in that warp core?

 

 

Tchos, on 07 Jun 2016 - 11:08 PM, said:

Is that a Star Drek reference?

 

It would appear that Lieutenant Snott is about to eat a wiener without mustard.

[Sabranic]

Shallina

I finished first pass scripting on Brinlaw+ spellhold+ city of cavern.

 

I am currentkly scripting the castle stronghold, and Nalia, scripting Nalia is really difficult and take a lot of time.

[Sabranic]

PJ156

As ever, lighting and sound will make this area but, for the post part, this is all about textures. It's going to take a loooong time

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0411_02_zpspq5u3ywv.jpg

 

RJS did the cc for the windows and doors, also the hoop floor. Walls are re-textured stock city wall sections and the passage ways were extracted from the purgatorio tile set by Kamal_ Textures are mine except for the window frames. Those need to be doen along with the outer door frames.

 

4760 has offered some very cool cc for this area which I will show off once it's in the tools/game

 

The pace should pick up a little now these rooms are done .... but not much.

 

PJ

 

 

rjshae

 

It's coming along very nicely, PJ. Your texturing work really sells it.

 

 

 

ArtemisJ

 

I feel bad that the druid room isn't nearly as cool as this area..

I think Druid players are gonna feel short changed compared to mages..

 

 

Well.. That's pretty accurate with BG2.. sooo

 

 

Plodding on room by room:

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0411_04_zps0wmj59wj.jpg

 

I've had some more help here; 4760 has done walls and door frames for me also the pillared ball in the room mid left of the image. these are animated, and look awesome in the tool set. There's more content from 4760 that I have not even opened yet. The huts are by RJS, there's canisters by Calister in there and a few objects from the dark waters set.. All the textures are mine except for the stock ones.This is a long slog but it's coming together well,

 

PJ

 

 

ArtemisJ

 

That area is a masterpiece.. Hopefully navigating with a party of 6 isn't a pain in the ass..

 

 

PJ156

 

That is yet to be tested

 

Two rooms to go, one will be done this morning

 

The list of cc is long now so I am going to credit in the last image I post.

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/0411_05_zpswp5ewrfx.jpg

 

 

 

This really is a work of art. Maybe even better than the original planar sphere.

 

 

Thank you,

 

Lighting will make a difference too. I may have to pick up some custom sounds as well. I want one of a big spooky clock ticking but i cannot find one. I did get a clock ticking sound for the Elven room in the trials but it lacks gravitas for this area.

 

One room to go then on to the next area, unfortunately it's the Sahuagin room. That's going to be an "interpretation" I think.

 

Oh and the walk mesh .... that should be fun.

 

PJ

[Sabranic]

rjshae

Amazing work thus far.

I had a random thought that is pretty minor and pretty unimportant for where things are now but I thought that it might prevent that "oops" issue and could improve the aesthetics of the NPCs.

 

I remembered that Irenicus' default animation looks pretty badass. I'm not sure if you'll be doing custom animations for him to reflect his style in BGII or if you'll be using the default male animations for his model when you fight him.

 

What could be done to prevent the utterly ridiculous for a mage unarmed animation (which is the boxing one) is to give him (and any other unarmed mages/liches) an invisible dagger so their animations change to something more... collected and focused.

 

This is a problem I noticed here and there, where they don't give the default liches any weapons, so you end up fighting... boxing liches and mages, which makes me facepalm every time.

 

Perhaps assigning a creature weapon (claw) would do the trick? It would need a creature weapon proficiency feat to work, I suspect.

 

 

drechner

 

I haven't looked too much into it yet, but Kemo's Custom Animations seems like it could contain a good new idle for Irenicus--Crossed arms, strong stance.

 

Regardless, we'll need to definitely do something special for him.

 

 

I think the standard unarmed idle is pretty silly-looking, too. I blame it on needing to keep the head relatively stationary for the character creation screen, such that the body just stands straight and the head lolls from side to side, but at least it's always on screen for that closeup.