Witcher placeable conversion project

[Tchos]

LAB TUBES!!! You can never have too many lab tubes...time to update an area with TUBES...is there an empty one??? Please tell me there's an empty one...big money big money big money no wammies...stop!

 

Also, any chance I can get the open mouth skull oriented the normal side up. The intent is to embed it into a wall.

 

Great work as always...I can use all of it.

 

There is not an empty one at the moment, but I can easily make a copy and remove the object inside. I'll also make a rotated copy of the skull.

 

Okay, now there's an empty lab tube/jar, and an open-mouthed skull suitable for embedding in a wall. Pic.

 

I love the harp. And the other things too. What's always useful is construction placeables, like simple wooden wall parts or other rather boring stuff that can be used to construct something bigger.

 

I think you'll like what I have in mind after I've converted more of these placeables. There are a lot of wall textures in these assets that aren't used in the placeables, but which I could apply to the wall sections, or new wall placeables, or even make a variation on those BCK walls with these textures for some real flexibility.

 

Friggin awesome...plus...you are all now doomed.

You really are spoiling us

 

One of my hopes is that you and the others here will spoil me by taking these things and making lots of new modules that I can play.

 

I fully intend to kill you with a skull trap. Have a nice day.

I can already envisage jets of poisonous gas coming out of that screaming skull's mouth. Or perhaps some sort of level-draining sonic-damaging unholy scream.

 

Or an evil version of this

.

That is far more terrifying then anything I can come up with.

 

Next step -- animating the skull to rotate back and forth, and playing carnival music in the background.

 

Edit: I was only kidding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8IKiLZEGBI

 

(Couldn't get the animation to slow down for some reason.)

[Tchos]

Just some cave stuff today. Needed these for my module. 4 variations, though two are extremely similar.

These aren't actually the meshes from the Witcher. For some reason, they didn't import. All that imported were the extremely low resolution "shadowbones". I pushed and pulled points around to try to make them less boxy, then smoothed the meshes, then optimised them to bring the polygon counts back down, and finally textured them. I would like to have had the originals, but these will do.

Stalactite columns

 

Yup, I could also use those. I have a large cavern called the cave of swords. Keep up the good work!

 

The theme for this batch is candles. I think this is all of the candles. I wanted to get the lamps done today, too, but I didn't have time today. I'm putting the latest batch up for download anyway.

The candles come out pretty well, except that the wicks are made with a single flat plane in the original version. When I bring them into the toolset, only one side is visible, and none from the sides. I replaced the wick plane with a thin 3-sided cone. Some of the candles had no wicks at all. I left those unwicked. In some cases, I think having no wick might actually be the better idea, considering how hard it is to get the candle flames to exactly match up to the position of the wick.

I also extracted something from one of the exterior areas and saved it as a placeable: some kind of fence or railing made of upright logs. I searched through the textures to find something appropriate, and found one with the bark and the cut tops in it, but it was not arranged in a way that would let me take advantage of the tiling method Semper described in my non-Witcher placeables thread, so I rearranged the texture and built new UVs for it. Came out nicely.

Candles overview
Small candles closeup
Log fence

[Tchos]

So looking at the large cave columns, I'm wondering how hard it would be to add tops to the other three just like the one has. No rush, and if not, it's totally fine, just thinking through possible ways to use these.

 

digging digging.....

 

Those items are intended not to have tops for their normal usage, so that they don't block the camera when a player is navigating in an overhead view (and this reminds me that I also need to set them to fade for the next release). If you tell me what sort of thing you want to do, I can see about making something that would accomplish it.

 

Nice stuff.

I was wondering, did they also release any sound files as well?

 

Well, sound files do fall under the category of game assets. They weren't specific about whether their allowing us to use "the assets" is limited to the graphical assets, but as far as I've seen those are the only ones anyone has chosen to export. So I couldn't say for sure, but I'm guessing the answer would be yes.

 

I'm trying to make a viable sea cave where you can see the sky and ocean beyond the mouth of the cave, and then see within the cave from the outside.

Also, has there been any changes to the placeable.2da with the new version?

 

Yes, I have made changes to the 2da, to include the additional placeable variations and new objects extracted from the exterior areas. There will be similar changes made with each pre-release version, I expect.

 

For the sea cave you propose, I think it would be better served with some large rocks that could be arranged to cover the tops of the stalactites, mainly for believability reasons, considering the way stalactites form naturally. I'll have numerous large rocks for you to choose from in my original placeables pack, and I can make one or some to match the size and texture of these columns, too.

 

Just screwing around...

 

Awesome. Did you made those 3d objects, mokah? Since I cant recall a tank like that.

That is the empty version of the tube that Tchos converted/made. I couldn't 3d model myself out of a box.

 

This is how they are actually going to be used...

 

 

Good stuff! I love seeing screenshots. Everyone, please post screenshots like these so I can see how you're using these things. Seeing those last two makes me want to create a liquid volume to go inside it, which could be combined with the RWS underwater bubbles special effects to create an effect of a liquid-filled tank.

 

The placeable she's using in those screenshots is called "witcher_jarmed03" in the Appearance list, with the filename being "ob_jarmed03". I believe the "med" stands for "medical", as it's used in a line of lab equipment placeables.

 

P.S.: Another lab tank on its way. Should have done this one earlier.

[Tchos]

Just so you know, VFXs do not show through the "glass" of these tubes.

 

Yes, I observed that myself. That happens with any two such effects.

 

<honestly trying to...>

 

There is a similar problem with NwN1 VFX & alpha textures.

Do you have something like the txi command "blending punchthrough"? or perhaps the "alphamean" command?

 

<...see>

 

If that's a file type, as far as I know, there is no TXI file in NWN2. It's not listed in http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/File_formats, and I've never seen one included in a pack.

 

<still...>

 

I was afraid of that, but perhaps the commands were folded into either the toolset texture functions or the VFX editor. One of the things I've been meaning to investigate before I got... Distracted :-P

 

<...hoping>

 

Okay, here's an observation: Although VFXs cannot be seen behind the glass of these objects (its glass being an illumination map effect) and two of these objects intersecting will show only one copy of the glass (the front one), the glass can be seen behind the pane of VFX glass that I created for the cabinet from before. So there is a way for me to layer two transparent glass-like effects on top of each other, with the outer one being a transparent billboard effect and the inner one being an illumination map.

 

Second observation: I can also layer multiple copies of the same billboard VFX glass, and they all are visible. Must be a setting in the VFX.

 

Will the VFX still scale with the placeable?

 

What I'll need to try to do is see if I can apply the effect as a model skin, directly onto the placeable that will be acting as the glass, and see if it still works that way. In that case, it will scale, though I think you'll have to scale two separate objects for it. I'll let you know.

 

The VFX will only scale automatically with the placeable if the placeable isn't environmental or static. It either has to to be usable, or both non-usable and non-static, so you can assign the SEF to it via the placeable's properties tab.

 

That also means it won't show up on the minimap - unless you have a second flattened environmental version underneath.

 

Dann, have you been able to get either a model effect VFX or a billboard effect VFX to apply to a normal placeable at all? I've tried it on both these and on stock placeables in the Appearance (VFX) field, and via script with ApplyEffectToObject, and they're just not showing up. I even tried a normal particle effect on a usable, non-static stock object, and a non-usable, non-static, and on a static. On a creature, or on a placed effect helper, the effects show up fine.

[Tchos]

Well, this one took a while. Given the double-transparency trouble, and my fruitless experiments with applying VFXs on the placeable, I ended up with this as a compromise. I had to add some things to the textures to make it look acceptable.

I have also made a version without the brain floating in it.

Lab jar 2

[Tchos]

I've applied model effects to placeables without any issues (and they scaled up or down with the placeable nicely), but I'm not sure I've ever tried with a billboard.

 

Keep in mind that VFX applied to placeables won't show up in the toolset, but they will show up in-game.

 

If you have the time, can you send me any files where you did it with a model effect? My earlier experiment had included viewing my attempts in the game in addition to the toolset.

 

I applied one of my VFX statues to a non-static floor placeable, dropped it -0.1 below flat ground, then scaled it up to create a larger statue.

 

I'll open that up and take a look, Dann.

 

In the meantime, something I started, but it's not ready. The problem is as I expected, that these objects have no single diffuse map, but are made of multiple common architectural maps. Is it possible for NWN2 to use two or three separate texture files in a single placeable? What you see here is my first attempt. Pay attention only to the roof and the front middle section of the house encompassing the door and windows, because the others are not yet handled.

 

The problem is that I specified a wall texture for the walls, and a roof texture for the roof, but you see that the roof texture is on both in the toolset, where it's correct in Gmax. So if a placeable can use multiple textures in a single placeable, I need to know how to set it up to do that.

 

In Gmax

In toolset

 

there has to be a main mesh which is named like the model entry in your placeables.2da, e.g. PLC_CC_WitcherHouse01. in addition to that there can be other meshes within your mdb. just name them with a proper suffix like a single letter, e.g. PLC_CC_WitcherHouse01a - the next one could be PLC_CC_WitcherHouse01b and so on.

 

the important part is that for every single mesh with a separate texture you have to create a material named exactly like the mesh. there you link the different maps. after exporting your mdb your model should appear with all the meshes "combined".

 

Thank you, Semper. Using that method, it's working. That will save some time.

[Tchos]

An update on the glass effects: I went through those statue effects to see what you did, Dann. I placed one down as a placed effect, and also applied the effect to a floor placeable as you suggested, enlarging it to make the effect itself enlarge. That all worked fine.

The unfortunate thing about the model effects is that the alpha transparency taken from a texture's alpha channel is 1-bit, just like on placeables, which defeats the purpose of using a VFX in the first place. The only semi-transparent solution that works with the model effect is the change the entire alpha of the thing, which means losing the more organic feel of the transparency that the illumination method allows, where some parts are easier to see through than other parts. The texture itself compensates a bit for that, though.

There are advantages, however. You can see placed effects inside and behind the glass made this way. It also reacts normally to light, instead of being self-illuminated.

I was not, however, successful in making the model effect appear on the placeable itself. I made a special version of the placeable without glass, and combined it with a placed effect of the model effect containing only glass, which works fine. When applied to the glass-less model itself, the effect does not appear, whether in the toolset or in-game.

Effect unsuccessfully applied to model on left, model plus placed effect on right.

 

I wonder, Tchos. Are there any trees? I know nwn2 has speed trees and all but its quite difficult to create a "witcher" looking forest with them.

 

There are some trees, yes. I don't know how well they'll translate, since the leaves rely on transparency, and that means jagged edged leaves.

[Tchos]

Mokah how did you make that fish tank exactly? I would love to add something like that in the module I've been working on. It looks fantastic.

 

That's an enlarged and vertically squashed version of one of the lab tanks in this pack, shown in other screenshots.

 

Yes, as Tchos said the fishtank is a lab tube scaled and placed against a wall, the stone background is an RWS cliff and then just placeables for the "sand" in the bottom with scaled trees and plants. I also put a walkmesh helper in for the sharks, which are RWS as well.

 

Okay, back to this. Baldur's Gate's on a lot of people's minds, but I'll see what I can do.

 

I did more posters. (There are still two wanted posters to do).

 

Also some bags (including a nice satchel) and a fancy box.

 

And then I did a fruit bowl, but the bowl is very unconvincing with its flat texture of grapes and cherries on the bowl interior, so I made an alternate version with a non-fruity interior. Then, because you don't always want a fruit bowl, I made a version without the bowl, and also removed the extremely blocky plum, berries, cherries, and unidentifiable fruit. You can also place them in a different bowl of your choice.

 

Finally, I also separated out the pear, a peach, and an apple as their own objects so you can mix and match those as you please. The pear doesn't have a bottom, though, so I couldn't turn it sideways. The apple and peach are a bit on the low-rez side as well, but the pear's pretty good.

 

Fruit bowl and individual fruits.

 

I also did some more texturing on the country house. This is a really time-intensive thing, the way they're textured. This house uses four separate textures — two wall textures, 1 window texture, and a roof texture — and I have to create the UV maps from scratch. I don't think I'll be doing very many of these.

 

As always a sterling effort Tchos, I just downloaded the latest pack but I will wait to merge it for these latest Gems I am about to build a lot of interiors so these will all be invaluable, especially the windows in the earlier release.

PJ

How many country houses will you make, Tchos? If you make 2-3, I might revamp my entire farmland with the new witcher country houses.

 

I think there are only 2 or 3 variations of this particular house, with more variety achieved by just putting more than one in the scenes attached to each other, but I was thinking of the houses in general when I said I doubted I'd do very many. But the latest work makes me think that maybe the UVs won't have to be redone from scratch after all. I'll see.

[Tchos]

Hello Tchos,

 

I am building some blueprints and I cannot se the following items in 0.212

 

handdit_01

amm_01

hanger_01

hard_01

hay_01

Haybed_02/04

hole_13

harn_01

horse_idle

inistone

iguanamag

drink_006

 

Shout at me if this is a problem at my end. I took at the files you posted in the verion downloads and threw them in a hak and have used your 2da (unchanged for now, I think I have to add Sempers work at some point) Am I missing some dds or utp files?

 

Anyways, the ones I have done are sweet. I have losts of new rugs and the haybed up against the wall will certainly be used. I pm'd you about naming converntion and wont proceed till you respond for now as I want these blueprint to be useful to others if possible.

 

PJ

 

No, it's not a problem on your end. Those items are listed in the 2da, but I haven't yet done the final conversion on them, so there's currently nothing to display.

 

Note that for every Witcher item listed in the 2da, each one is a file that I've opened up individually and saved in a format that I can edit in Gmax. The ones I've packaged up in the pre-release pack are the ones that I've done the final conversion on. (Well, "final" as far as the bare minimum for making them work in-game, but they still have no collision meshes or LOD, so I recommend using them as environmental objects where possible at this time.)

 

Okay, Tchos that's good to know. I can just cut the mesh round them if they don't bake a footprint. I will blueprint the ones I can

PJ

 

A nice, quick and easy one first -- another nice box which looks suitable for use as a jewelry box. The file names on some of these are a bit unfortunate, since they don't really help identify them. This one is mixed in with a group of potion bottles, and is the only one that's not a bottle. The file name is it_potion_014. Happily, the blueprints that EvilShade has been making have descriptive names, with the file name as the tags and resrefs, so it should be possible to find the placeables you want either with the image index or by searching for a likely name.

 

Next was a another complicated one. This one is a rustic outdoor shrine of the Eternal Fire, with a table of candles and what are presumably offerings of garlic and herbs. This one used a dedicated UV map for just the table and contents, and plants, then another one for the main shrine with the roof (looks a little like a bird house), and then two separate architectural textures for the fence, and finally one for the rocks. (No bottoms on the rocks -- I checked.)

 

Overview

Closeup

 

What I've been doing with the Dropbox index gallery has been to delete thumbnails from it whenever I finish a placeable and post its in-game screenshot. In retrospect, I should have instead been moving them to a separate index gallery of "done" placeables, to better help those who want to see what's currently available and what the file names are.

 

For my next conversion I did one of PJ's requests -- a "hole" that's made to go in front of one of the cabinets in this pack, with broken wood and debris around it. Could be used as a usable placeable for examining a broken cabinet, or perhaps it's a hidden entrance to somewhere. The notable thing about this one is that it was another of the kind that use multiple common architectural textures instead of a single UV map. Now that I'm getting more comfortable with the materials editor, and better knowing my way around it, it was a relatively smooth task to assign the proper textures to it. The real test will be to see if this also works for the models extracted from the exterior areas. If so, then houses won't be such a chore.

 

Also in this screenshot is a good-looking leather tool rack of some kind to hang on the wall. Not sure what the proper name for something like this would be.

 

Hole and hanging tools

Some drying racks with herbs and stretched hides.

[rjshae]

If you're still taking requests, I think I could make use of these:

• ob_skelepart01
• ob_skelehang0
• ob_skelepart02
• ob_skelepart03
• ob_skelevar01
• ob_skelevar02
• ob_g35corpse02
• ob_g35corpse01
• ob_g35corpse00
• ob_ratdead01
• ob_dirt01
• ob_body06 <-- especially this one
• ob_hay02
• ob_debris02
• ob_stand02

I checked through your update v0.431, but didn't see them included. Thanks.