Witcher placeable conversion project

[Tchos]

Here is the Witcher Placeable Conversion project v0.303 (260 placeables). [link removed in favour of the newest version available in first post]

As I make variants for objects, I must necessarily amend the 2DA file to accomodate them. This means that you need to update your 2DAs if you're using any of these items already. When I make these changes, I do not change the position of the existing placeables, so if you're using any of the ones that were available already, they will still work when you update the 2DA.

When I do this, I take over objects that I had previously marked as "NULL_" in the appearance names. These are items that I discovered to be duplicates of other items, or otherwise undesirable items, after I had already made the 2DA. If PJ did not made blueprints for these NULL items, then blueprints will have to be made for the new items that take over their slots. If he did make blueprints for them, then they'll need to be renamed to match what's there now.

Also temporarily included, though it's not a Witcher item, is the fixed stock rake that I just corrected, with its tines pointing down when it is used. This is in there primarily because I used this module to test it. Dann, you should take it to use in your handy VFX. I named the file w_staff10.mdb so that I could give it to Aldanon as a quarterstaff, because when I made it a "rake" item, the game complains that even a human-sized creature is too small to equip the item. A problem -- the model is not retaining the smoothing that I'm applying to the shaft. Why? All of the other items keep their smoothing, but when I bring this one into the toolset, it's blocky again.

All new placeables are placed in a new interior area (interior3), for easier reference. If you start a new game with this module folder, it will start you in the new interior. Or, you can just open it in the toolset.

For anyone who wants to make further requests on particular placeables to do sooner than later, please refer to the thumbnail gallery. (Also, let me know if there's any problem viewing this gallery.) By clicking on any of the thumbnails, you should see the name of the file at the bottom left of the screen. Tell me this filename for your request.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any way to force the Dropbox albums to sort the files alphabetically (it wants to sort "photos" by the date they're "taken"), so they're all completely scattered out of order.

[Tchos]

Good job Tchos. The gallery is superb as well, and I can view it with no problems. As I was browsing through, what is the deal with ob_l08anim3a? It seems like stairs, but the anim on the name confused me. If it's actually stairs, can it have a walkmesh on it, I mean like the balconies have... from the start. I have no idea how people model stuff, and therefore this is just an inquiry. I don't know if it's hard to do, or even possible. Cheers .

 

It is stairs, and I would guess it has the "anim" in the name because it contains an animation of the stairs crumbling and falling down. However, I cannot preserve this animation when I convert it to a NWN2 object, because as I understand it, MDBs do not contain animations. The animation would have to be converted to a skeleton somehow, which would be applied to an object that's prepared in some way to accept that skeleton. I don't have experience in that process.

 

A walkmesh could indeed be applied to the stairs right into the MDB so that they would be like the balconies. Bob Hall has been making some placeables with included walkmeshes recently, but I've only made one partially successful experiment with that sort of thing.

 

I can take a shot at adding a walkmesh. Seem to have the hang of it now.

 

I only asked because applying a walkmesh helper on them could prove a headache, or actually impossible given their bendy structure. Maybe with the expansion from Bob, but still. If you would try it, now that you got the grip as you said , would be an awesome addition.

 

Well, here it is, then. At your leisure, Bob.

[Tchos]

Nice work, Tchos.

 

It sounds like there's a problem in baseitems.2DA. Since the rake item didn't make it into the finished game, that's not so surprising.

 

[Edit: weapon size is set to ****, which the game probably doesn't understand. I'd probably set it to medium (3) so anyone can equip it]

 

That won't be a problem as a 'Handy VFX' though. They're really just smoke-and-mirrors. Although having it as an equippable item (preferably not a two-hander though, so gnomes and halflings aren't excluded) would allow peasants to use it as a weapon. Especially if their name happens to be Pigsy.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vhEuUIagZys/TLZjDnyYhCI/AAAAAAAAAC4/fLCKFPHkDf4/s1600/pigsy.jpg

 

You know, I've still never sat down and watched any version of the original Journey to the West. I've just seen the characters appear in other things. I'll see about making wieldable brooms and hoes, too, since the rake came out well enough despite the smoothing issue.

 

Ahhhh monkey!

 

I am just integrating these models now. I had done utp's for the null files and for the other new items. I have just seen that this did not extend to the house model you did so I will fix that too.

 

Can I just confirm that the only new placeable (outside of the original 2da) is the rake and the bird cage options? or have you worked exclusively with NULL locations on this update?

 

PJ

 

The rake doesn't require a 2DA entry, because it's not a placeable. Weapons use a standard naming convention that allows you to add more without any 2DA editing.

 

All of the new placeables that were not already in the 2DA are occupying slots formerly occupied by NULL items. There are no new numbers used.

 

If you make them as a "quarterstaff" appearance like the shovel headed staff, then my commoner ai will handle rakes/brooms as two handers automatically for halflings/gnomes.

 

Yes, it is a quarterstaff.

 

And here's the hoe in action. (Also as a quarterstaff.) I switched to Shandra because Aldanon's robe was obscuring some of the model.

[Tchos]

These are just the sort of things angry villagers need to wave about while storming a nearby ruined castle, where a mad scientist/mage is creating unholy abominations. We already have sickles, scythes and axes, and flaming torches. Equippable pitchforks would be the icing on the cake!

 

I've used one of the models from this pack for aquatic elves. None of them are particularly pitchforky - although the fishing spear is the sort of thing you'd expect to see lying around in a village.

 

Most pitchforks tend to have four tines. Would that make them quadents? http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/tongue.png

 

hmmm yeah. I googled pitchfork and the farmer ones are four tines, the devil ones are three. Well I guess those farmers are secretly tieflings or something.

 

I'm sure I have a pitchfork around somewhere. I found it when I was looking for a good trident for my sahuagin.

 

Here you go: one walk mesh. It seems to bake properly, although the camera goes wonky.

 

Thanks for the walkmesh. I'll try it out and include it in the next batch once I apply the texture. This is one of the objects that doesn't have its own dedicated UV map, so I have to apply a shared architectural texture.

[Tchos]

Hello Tchos,

 

you said I could post a wish list and here it is I need a very run down area over the next few weeks. the mattresses you did for me are great but these other items would help me out a great deal.

 

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e377/PJ156/wishlist_zps499985ee.jpg

 

Thank you

PJ

 

I don't need a run down area but I can say these would be nice additions .

• Mine shaft wheel, sideboard, wheel, and rocking chair
• Bloody remains, clay jar, round platter with mug and bottle
• Rough bed or pallet, wood and wicker screen
• Wardrobe/cabinet and smaller rough bed/pallet
• Row of pots with soup hanging over a pile of burnt wood
• Copper bell with pull-string

The piles of rubbish will take a bit longer, since their textures are not single UV maps (the soup pots also used more than one texture, but at least that was only two.)

[Tchos]

You sir, are something of a star in my opinion. And I shall hear no others gainsay me.

 

Should you find something I may do in return, please do not hesitate to shout out.

 

PJ

 

If I think of something, I'll take you up on it. I'll have the rest out and ready to go perhaps tomorrow night.

 

The bloody remains would be perfect as lootable body bag models dropped by dead creatures (which is what I think they were used for in The Witcher as well). There are a couple of unused mutilated corpse models already in NWN2, but they're nothing to write home about.

 

Indeed they were. And there are some more intact mutilated corpses to come in the Witcher placeables as well, whenever I get to them.

 

For now, here's a small new release including PJ's requests, some of Andy's requests, and some other items that I was working on for other reasons. All of the new objects are placed in Interior4 for easy checking if you open this as a module folder. Certain objects use more than one texture, which means you'll have to copy all of the textures which have different names if you want the object to show up with textures. One of them, ob_debris01, uses 10 different textures and was a bother to convert. The textures are listed in the text file "multi-object placeable textures.txt".

 

21 new placeables in this, plus the wieldable hoe mentioned earlier. Can't remember if I released it before. Screenshots of some of the new items that I haven't shown screenshots of will follow later.

 

[Link in initial post]

[Tchos]

Many many thanks Tchos. Some of this is going direct into my mod so screen shorts will be forthcoming.

PJ

[Edit] I've just seen all the new toys and there are some real treats in there

 

Really nice stuff this, and I'm very glad you're doing it Tchos. But I'm thinking it will probably render as unnecessary some of the models I was going to add to the City-State project. I'll probably focus more on unique or esoteric content now. Thanks.

 

Not so methinks RJS! Variety is everything afiak, especially in the mundane items. there's a lot of furniture still to come in the Witcher set but there is much that is missing or could be doubled up on without the resource pool being cluttered.

 

I may sound greedy but what, for me, would be very cool is more industrial items. Something so that we could model a coopers or tanners. I would really like to see the two man saw in the lost OC content set completed as well.

 

Ahhh so much to do and so little time and skill

 

PJ

 

Yes, that's a problem I kept running into when I was working on a settlement. I'd want to create a workshop, but be unable to do so because of lack of placeables. An example is the pottery shop--a manual potting wheel with some unglazed pots would work wonders. Maybe a finished amphora, jug, some ink pots, a brush, large kiln, and tongs. I was able to get by with other parts to build a fabric shop, but a spinning wheel would have been nice. Likewise a stack of planks and some woodworking tools for a carpenters, hanging fish and nets for a fishmongers, and so on.

 

I've been the same, especially would like to see some hanging nets for a fishing village dock ... it goes on. we can just about scratch together a potter as you say but a wheel would help a lot. There are some bolts of cloth in the witcher set that i would like to see but some fullers equipment would be very nice to go with them.

 

PJ

 

Thanks for these, I really enjoy having these items to play around with.

 

Glad these are of use. Despite doing these, personally, I long for more fantastical items, whether they're interesting things in a style suited for the civilised races like elves, halflings, dwarves, etc. (building placeables, furniture, and decoration/usable items), or more magical things for witches (things to decorate a witch's cottage, for instance), alchemists/wizards (beyond the usual glassware), druids (something to distinguish a normal forest from an enchanted druid grove). Generally, things to stress that we're in a fantasy world, and not just Earth's middle ages. We have so much less to work with for that sort of thing compared to the mundane human items like what most of these represent.

 

Nets are definitely on my list, though.

[Tchos]

Some of the NWN CCC placeables look like they would be really nice for porting to NWN2, including a number of non-human placeables. (For example: the furniture from the Drow Stuff collection.) A lot of NWN placeables are low poly efforts though, so probably not worth the effort.

 

Drow stuff is good, and is generally by definition the kind of exotic high fantasy I'm talking about, though drow are sort of a one-note race, or are at least typically played that way.

 

Also on my wish list are things that can be used to build things like an ice palace/crystal fortress, or the kind of special doors, traps, and places shown in D&D modules that take you to exotic and fantastic locales.

 

Yes, an ice/crystal palace/fortress would be cool. Not sure how to get the semi-transparent appearance though.

 

Perhaps you know the answer to this one: is it possible to resurface a standard door with a different appearance using a vfx? Maybe an ice crystal surface like you mention, or a stone surface for a dwarven door? It would need to follow the swinging animation, of course.

 

I'm not sure about how VFX might affect doors, since I know doors are a little special, but I know it's possible for a VFX to replace the texture of a placeable or creature with a different texture, so I imagine it would also work on a door. Such a texture replacement follows the creatures affected, so it should follow the swinging as well. It would bear testing.

 

As for semi-transparency, that would perhaps best be done with the illumination map. Certain stock building placeables, such as at least one of the temples, have coloured transparent windows that are done with illumination maps. I used a similar idea in some of these Witcher placeables to make a glass effect.

[Tchos]

For non-static placeables, you can generally apply one of the translucent SEF files (like the camouflage spell effect). You could also create unglazed vases and urns by making them non-usable and non-static and giving them a texture-swap effect (like stoneskin without the falling dust).

 

But as Tchos suggests, doors are special objects that might not behave quite like other placeables. I'm not even sure they have an SEF slot in their properties window (although you might be able to apply an effect to then via script).

 

Weapon models certainly don't seem to want to accept translucent effects. If you want transparent ice weapons you've got to clone a weapon model, make sure the 'use alpha channel' flag is checked, make the diffuse texture invisible using the alpha channel, and give them a glow map. Although weapons seem to have no trouble becoming translucent if you put the effect on the creature holding them, instead of on the weapon itself.

 

Ice palace is easy enough with my tile textures. The problem I wasn't able to solve was having the tiles be translucent, totally transparent is doable.

 

Kamal: I was thinking mainly of placeables to build the exterior of an ice palace to set the stage for retextures like what you provided.

 

Screenshots of the as-yet unshown new objects:

• Pile of debris (another angle)
• Pile of burnt wood with some dirt underneath
• More debris -- broken pots, planks, rocks and dry grass
• Even more debris -- planks, rocks, leafy plants, and dry grass
• Large decorative sarcophagus with broken bars to the inside. The pile of bones at the base are part of the model.
• Big elaborate mirror with snake fixtures. Question: Is there any better method of creating the impression of a mirrored surface in this engine? I don't know of a way to have true reflections, so I simply have the surface of the mirror part being extremely specular, creating a bright glare if you have a light near it. Without a light near it, it looks like a stone or metal surface.
• Wreath with white and yellow ribbons for a wedding celebration. There are a few other items in this set, like a maypole, but this is the only one I've done so far.
• Mine apparatus. Crank and rope with a wall attachment. I thought something like this could be used for the machinery that controls a trap as well.
• Throne. Not as fantasy as the Iron Throne, but if you want a big chair, here it is.

Also, PJ informs me that there's one otherwise-finished object in the pack to which I forgot to assign textures. There are also two unfinished objects accidentally included in the pack. I'll get the fixed one up soon.

[Tchos]

That transparency setting is used all over the place on models in the game. Just look at trees and grass. It's how you see individual leaves and all those blades of grass spread over large polygons, rather than thousands of individual polygons for each leaf and blade of grass. It's also used on the moss hanging off the dead tree placeables, like in this shot: http://img845.images...stofwyrms07.png

 

Anyway, those settings are applied to the model in 3ds Max or Blender.

 

Those are simple 1-bit alpha channels. We're talking about 256 levels of transparency through an 8-bit alpha channel, which is what's necessary for something to be semi-transparent.

 

Don't get me wrong -- I tried to use a diffusion pattern in a 1-bit alpha channel to simulate semi-transparency, but the automatic antialiasing of textures ruins the effect, even though it probably would have been poor results anyway.

 

I've certainly been there. You can only do so much with 1-bit alpha channels.

I'm thinking that still might be okay for use on an OM placeable, where it takes up relatively little screen space. Worth an experiment, anyway.

 

Yes, I use that kind of transparency all the time. The last batch of Witcher placeables has several objects that use it (for chains, dirt, and dry grass). It's fine for things that just need irregular edges. I'm just finished experimenting with it for partial transparency, when illumination maps and placed FX textures do such a better job, and there's this promising other technique to try.