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Success!
Well, of a sort, anyway
December 31, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 Success!
Well, of a sort, anyway. There's a few minor polish issues I'd like to sort out, but it's working much better now. I can solve the puzzle, ask Heather to solve it, and the following cutscene works relatively well. I also got a second cutscene working, far better than it had previously, anyway. There's a few more issues like that, places which need better sound, visual effects, or camera placement. They work, in the sense that the story progresses, but aren't quite as polished as I'd like.
Still, the list of critical bugs continues to shrink and I have high hopes that the game can go to QA some time in January.
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One of the risks of having other folks help o...
December 31, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 One of the risks of having other folks help out with coding is that I end up not really understanding what's going on. Sunjammer did a fine job writing the fan control puzzle long ago. Unfortunately as I upgraded to NWN2, some things didn't work right and it wasn't until moments ago that I figured out why. It turns out a part I thought was optional was really critical. So, I need to make eight gem placeables tomorrow, otherwise there's nowhere to store certain important variables.
A lot of the debugging I worked on yesterday got tested today. Some worked, others didn't, and some I didn't get to yet. The good news is that most of it turned out well and I'm pretty excited to work out the last of the bugs for this section of the game. I should still test everything through at least once, but we'll see how far I really get.
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I managed some debug time today, going throug...
December 29, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
I managed some debug time today, going through my quite lengthy list of issues and trying to resolve them all. I think I have the easy ones taken care of, leaving a few tricky ones left to sort out. Fortunately I'm getting the hang of things like switching control of the PC to an NPC for a time, working with the new flavor of visual effects, and so on.
I'll be away from work next week, staying home with the kids while my wife goes to a wedding in Mexico. I'm not sure what that means for my little hobby, but I'll sneak in what time as I can.
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It was war, yesterday
December 28, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 It was war, yesterday. I continued to spend some time with the Remembrance: War area, testing it for the first time. NWN2 does outdoor areas fabulously well, and I'm really happy with the look of the place. Since much of the rest of the module is indoors, it's quite refreshing to get out and about.
It's also interesting to have the player control a fairly big party. I switched over to the companion system from the henchmen system, so your soldiers are all individually controllable. In terms of bugs, much of it worked right off the bat. Of course, the very end faltered and things didn't finish like they should have. So, more work for me today.
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Busy day today
December 27, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
Busy day today. I stayed up way too late, trying to get the lip synch stuff working. I have some magic fxe files for the Pirate Cards game, but they may be too difficult to create for the Dark Waters campaign. I have some wacky ideas, but we'll see how much trouble it's worth.
I tested one of the big battle scenes this morning, not getting too far, but making some good debug notes. Today I'm hoping to work my lengthy bug list and get things closer to being ready for QA. Busy, busy.
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I haven't posted the update yet, as I got dis...
December 26, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 I haven't posted the update yet, as I got distracted by a Eureka moment this morning. It turns out I can add my own lip synching to the game. It uses the existing lip synch animation files, so it ends up looking like a badly-dubbed Kung-Fu movie. Still, there's value in having some facial animation, rather than the NPC standing bolt upright and psychically projecting the words.
The tricky party, of course, will be to somehow automate the generation of these files. Perhaps I can work on that today, along with the incredibly long list of bugs I generated over the last few days.
Update: Okay, the latest version of the Pirate Cards game is available, hopefully fixing a bunch of bugs and adding some nifty new features. My favorite new one is the Card Fanatic NPC. You can give him a deck and he'll play against you, allowing you to try out all sorts of deck combinations when playing singleplayer.
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Merry Christmas to the folks who celebrate th...
December 26, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 Merry Christmas to the folks who celebrate that present-laden holiday. Somewhere between the travel, food, and present opening I managed a bit more work on the Pirate Card game. It was like peeling an onion, discovering yet more bugs as the layers came off.
I also managed to add a neat new feature, the addition of a Card Fanatic NPC who you can give decks to play against you. That way you can try out all sorts of strategies. Strangely enough, you can take control of his character during a game and the AI will play both sides. I also fixed various uninstall options, 0 HP bugs, store bugs, and many more.
I'll upload the update tomorrow sometime, as the day is winding down and I'm losing the battle against sleep.
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'Twas the night before Christmas and boy have...
December 24, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
'Twas the night before Christmas and boy have I found a bunch of bugs. I got deeper into the dungeon than I ever had yesterday, working my way from the 1st level to the 5th. There were some pretty massive problems along the way, doors that didn't transition and henchmen that vanished for starters. Still, many of the bugs are pretty easy to fix and some areas worked much better than I'd hoped. In between the various pre-Christmas activities, I'm hoping to sneak away and work on fixing things.
The Pirate Cards game seems to be doing well. I got an e-mail this morning from the German gaming magazines PC Action and PC Games, interested in writing up an article on it. Pretty neat.
Magnus continues to play with his new voice library, so expect some choral music in there from time to time. Derek's latest voice work is hysterically funny, as usual. Things are coming along nicely.
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The debugging continues
December 23, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 The debugging continues. There's entire levels that I haven't looked at with any detail, and sure enough there's massive bugs. Here's some sample ones, just to give you a feel for what I've been up to:
- Three doors placed in a single doorway
- Placeable sounds broken
- Journal entries not working
- Rename Armoire to Dumbwaiter
- Door near theater goes to nothing
The list goes on and on.
Fortunately I took care of a bunch of those bugs yesterday and this morning. Our car trip got delayed, so I spent what time I could working on the module. All the bugs above are fixed, though I have some trickier ones still ahead. Maybe in between the Christmas festivities I can sneak in some more debug time.
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Theoretically I was going to have a "me day" ...
December 22, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 Theoretically I was going to have a "me day" today, spending a lot of time working on the module. I did get some time, though, in between the pre-Christmas family celebrations. This morning I hung out at a coffee place, writing for the end of the third module. Later in the day I worked on debugging and did my first bit of tileset work.
The Shadow Fortress tileset is the only one with multiple levels, which is needed for the first module. The catch is that I wanted something that looked more like a chasm instead of just a short drop down. I ended up removing the floor and extending the walls a bit. The ceilings went as well, as I wanted It was surprisingly simple to do. I suppose if I needed to in the future, I could whip up a quick little tileset. No need so far.
I'm on the road tomorrow and I got some chocolate-covered espresso beans in my stocking. It's a winning combination for lots of writing time, I hope.
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It's finally out
December 19, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 It's finally out. You can grab the Pirate Cards game here and read the interview here. It's been awhile since I've released anything, though I think I remember the drill. Already the bug reports have started to pour in.
Today's Pirate Card is the Gnome Chief, the pinnacle of Gnomish honorifics. Bring one of these out and your other gnomes will be significantly boosted. Plus they're cute and funny looking.
As for today, I'd love to get back into working on the first module. I've set it aside for a few days due to Pirate Cards testing and I have a long list of things I want to work on. I'm taking some time off later this week and hopefully I can sink in some serious testing time. I'd love to get things ready for the QA folks early next month.
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I have absolutely no time today
December 18, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
I have absolutely no time today.
The good news is that I sent in an interview and the Pirate Cards installers off to the Vault. With luck, it'll all magically appear tonight or tomorrow sometime.
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I decided I'd had enough
December 17, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 I decided I'd had enough. I couldn't sit on the Pirate Card game, waiting for the GUI issues to be resolved. I did a quick Google search, found the NSIS installer, taught it to myself, and then made an install/uninstall package that puts everything in their proper places and cleans up afterwards.
I'm also going with two versions - there's a full version that includes high-resolution images for the cards, voice acting, and music. It weighs in at close to 18 MB. The Lite version uses lower resolution images for the cards and is audio free. That version is a mere 3.5 MB, suitable for even dial-up users.
I want to do some more testing to make sure it all works okay. I'll probably get in touch with Maximus and see if I can get a blurb up on the Vault. Still, I have high hopes that this thing will be released sooner rather than later.
Since I have a bit of time this morning, I may continue the debugging of the first module that I started yesterday. Perhaps I'll treat myself and play the official campaign a bit more.
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I got slammed with work and family over the l...
December 16, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 I got slammed with work and family over the last couple days. As I get older, I find that it's more challenging to find gaming time. I still haven't continued the official campaign since I left off, instead focusing on my campaign in the few moments I have.
The psionic system feels pretty done at this point, at least for the first module. I like the way it's turned out and I added a few custom visual effects so that it feels interesting and unique.
I've moved on to more general debugging. Things are still pretty broken, with lots of problems just getting from point A to point B. Still, individual sections seem to be working better, though there's still big sections that remain untested. With the holidays coming up, I plan on taking a lot of time off from work. I've even coordinated a full day exempt from kid watching with my wife. Hopefully that time can be well spent on the module.
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My psionic experimentation continues
December 13, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 My psionic experimentation continues. I've had fairly good luck so far, but run into some odd targeting issues. I stayed up way too late trying to figure out why the Pyrokinetic feat only targets the person using it, while the item spell can target others. I may end up splitting some of the more unusual options into multiple feats for targeting purposes. Or I may just continue to fiddle into the wee hours of the night.
Last night I was getting pretty bleary-eyed but had some fun Dominating some mindflayers and getting them to turn on each other.
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Success! Psionics are working, relatively sp...
December 12, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 Success! Psionics are working, relatively speaking. Right now they're item-activated, which I'd like to turn into a feat instead (you get better animations with feats). The TLK issues are tricky, but I think I can work around them. I may also need to create two separate feats for some powers, depending if you're using it on yourself or a hostile creature.
I also managed a bit of testing, making endless lists of things to tweak, polish, and fix. I also finally caught up with e-mail yesterday and it looks like the voice actors are soon going to be sending a variety of goodies. Fun, fun, fun!
Update: I managed to get feat-based psionics to work too. I may leave both options in (either use the item or the feat), as the only real difference is the animation. Some of the visual effects need some polish, but I'm liking what I see so far. This particular effect is telekinesis, using the Bigby spell effect.
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Okay, I admit it
December 11, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 Okay, I admit it. I got sucked into the official campaign. I woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning and played every free moment until 10 at night, starting again before 5 am this morning. I'm towards the end of the second act and enjoying myself considerably.
Orlando_X has been at the forefront of experiments with TLK files and has managed to get them working properly. For those of you who don't know what a TLK file is, it's what controls the words that appear for spells and such, and is necessary to get them working right. I duplicated his efforts myself and managed to get an item casting a test spell in the game. Today I'd like to sink some time into getting the psionic system working. I think I'm going to go with an item-based approach, so you'll use an item to use the psionic power. You can add it to your quick cast window or examine it for a description of the powers. We'll see how it goes.
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I did something very unusual today
December 10, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 I did something very unusual today. I played the game.
My daughter was sick, and so she spent a lot of time on my lap sleeping away. Fortunately NWN2 plays well with just the mouse and occasional key press. I managed to make it to the end of the first act, finally.
I'm having a good time. There's been a few tactically interesting fights. I've run into a few ideas I'd like to steal along the way. The character interactions started a bit slow, though they've improved. I'm not sure I'll get this same amount of time in a stretch, but I'd like to finish the official campaign before I finish my own.
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I managed a few more pieces of custom content...
December 09, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 I managed a few more pieces of custom content, though the madness of my life continues. My apologies to everyone who hasn't heard from me in awhile, as I haven't had a chance to check e-mail for way too long.
Hopefully this weekend I can dig into the module a bit more, especially doing some testing of various areas. There's still a lot that I'm fairly certain is broken and I'd like to weed that out before turning over to QA.
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I made a good chunk of progress yesterday
December 07, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 I made a good chunk of progress yesterday. The candles now work, after carefully going in with a hex editor and making sure the various meshes were named properly. I also have the mirror puzzle mostly working, though your sidekick Daniel still spouts out nonsense due to tlk issues. I like the new beam effect as well. I'm using the default Holy beam, which I think makes a nice looking effect.
Finally, I got a couple new models into the game. I'm slowly getting the hang of it, and can ususally figure out why the dreaded Cube of Mystery appears. More often than not, it's that meshes aren't named properly or the textures are missing. It even looks like I'll be able to import in a fair amount of NWN content without too much difficulty. Creating a single mesh for the model only seems to be required when doing LODs.
I also realized that it's been nearly a week since I've checked e-mail. Between work being crazy and everyone in my family taking turns being sick, it's been a busier week than most. Hopefully I can get on that today.
Update: For any of you viewers who haven't picked up a copy of NWN2 yet, GoGamer.com is running a $30 special today.
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I continued my fiddling with tlks, making the...
December 06, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 I continued my fiddling with tlks, making the discovery that if you leave off the ".tlk" extension, the module won't open. I still haven't been able to get the tlk entries to work with 2da files, though they work with dialog and other things, which is a plus.
I managed to get a bit of time with the mirror puzzle, which is working better than before. The light beam is a bit dramatic, but easily changed. Mirrors move around. I haven't been able to solve the puzzle quite yet, though it's on my list of things to look into. I'm hopeful that the custom content issues can be sorted out and I can focus in on fixing bugs again.
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Patch day
December 05, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
Patch day.
I spent long hours struggling with it today. One of the risks of doing cutting edge stuff is that odd things seem to happen regularly. After patching this morning, the module wouldn't open. I fiddled for a bit and ended up removing the reference to the tlk on my non-patched computer.
So, we're good for the moment, but there seems to be some issues involving the tlk files. I need it for implementing custom spells, which the psionic system uses. I managed to get a simple tlk file working, but only partially. Obviously more experimentation is needed.
Other than that, I tilted a sewer entrance to make a vent. That's about it.
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No huge update today
December 05, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 No huge update today. I tweaked the script for the blunderbuss a bit, making sure it's appropriately nasty when used up close. I also worked on the fan and whipped up a big pipe to go with it. It's best appreciated when rotating like a fan should.
The only remaining piece of custom content that I'm a little nervous about are the psionic powers. I think I get to wait for the next patch to clean a few things up. Until then, there's endless bugs to fix and various areas to polish.
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My sniffles are slowly fading, and I managed ...
December 04, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 My sniffles are slowly fading, and I managed a bit of work somewhere along the way. This morning I had a few hours to myself and obsessively worked on Raz's blunderbuss. It was mostly ready for texturing and after a couple hours of Photoshop work I got it in the game.
While it was nice to have yet another flintlock model, I wanted the blunderbuss to be unique. Currently it's almost an area of effect weapon, damaging nearby targets at the expense of being ineffective at long ranges. I still need to tweak the scripts a bit, but I'm getting fairly happy with the outcome.
The flintlock positioning is challenging, as I'm stuck with the crossbow stance and animation. I ended up moving it about, rotating it, and resizing in order to fit that particular grip. Tricky.
It was strangely satisfying penning up goblins between crates and then blasting away. Poor little critters.
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The Heavens parted, a host of angels descende...
December 01, 2006 by Adam in NWN2
 The Heavens parted, a host of angels descended, and there were high-fives all around. Flintlocks are in the game.
I'm not sure exactly what my problem was before. I ended up using one of Raz's lower poly pistols and made sure to remove the hook points (which seem to cause problems with the current version of import/export tools). I copied one of the crossbow rows in baseitems.2da and overrode the sling entry. Eventually I added my own weapon sounds as well. The animations are pretty good, using the crossbow stance. While it would be nice to tweak it, I can live with what I've got.
There's a few "gotchas". It looks like I'll have to override the arrow model that flies to the target. It seems that crossbows, bows, and the new flintlocks all share the model, so I'll probably just make it invisible. It's hard to see, anyway, and the arrow trail is good enough. I thought for a moment that I could add in new ranged weapons, but I get "out of ammo" messages which suggests it's hard coded. I had already planned on not having slings in the game, so it's not a big deal.
Other than that, I actually played a bit of the official campaign after being prompted via e-mail the other day. I got past my stuck point (Note to self: open all doors) and am off to the Old Owl Well area. I had to pick up the bard for comic relief. You can't have enough codpiece jokes.
As for today, I'm going to try and integrate all these new pieces of custom content into the real module. It's like buying Christmas presents for myself.
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About Me
I've won multiple awards for my Neverwinter Nights modules, which I've been working on since the year 2000.
In the real world, I'm a web developer for a healthcare organization. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
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