Repost: [Advanced Building Technique: Manual Tile Placement]

[Legacy_Guest__Miqu__*]

               This is a copy pasted repost of the original post on the (now closed) official NwN 1 forums. '>

Why are you reposting this?
So that people who are left with questions can fire away and ask them somewhere. I was also left feeling like I wanted to add something to the thread on the old forums. Please read the post following this one before commenting.

Building Technique: Manual Tile Placement


This is a brief walkthrough to demonstrate a technique used to achieve tile positions in modules that aren't achievable by using the toolset alone.

It will cover editing the tiles of an area manually to creatively combine different tiles.

All players will be able to see (and walk on) the newly re-ordered tiles without the need to download any form of modification for the game. This procedure doesn't add new content, instead letting you use already existing content in a new and different way. It can be used in any module.

All information provided here is gained through empirical testing I conducted myself, through trial and error. There is no guarantee to the accuracy of this information.


Quick Pre-Emptive FAQ:

— How safe is it to modify the files used by the toolset?
In this case you'll only be editing the area file the toolset uses to construct the module, the resource that will be packed in. PLEASE NOTE: If you do something not described here and change something else, you risk having to reinstall your game to fix your toolset.

— Can I potentionally corrupt my module by making a mistake during the "manual editing"?
Yes, you should always backup your work before attempting to manually edit files. Unless you can rollback the changes you make you might end up permanently corrupting the copy of the module.

— What do I need to get started?
You will need a basic multipurpose editing application for NwN 1 along with the game's default Aurora Toolset. In this walkthrough, I will describe the steps with Bioware's GFF editor.

The introduction and words of warning being said, the walkthrough begins.


Step One: Opening the area file.

While the toolset is open, the active module's data is unpacked to the (default) directory "C:\\Neverwinter Nights\\NWN\\modules\\temp0". If that directory is empty, open "...\\temp1", "...\\temp2" and so on until you find the one all of your module is unpacked to. This operation isn't indispensable, but it's more convenient than unpacking and again packing your module with NwPacker whenever you want to change something using the method in question.

If you decide to do so, all you need to do is save the changes done to the file opened from that folder in the editor and after that save the module in the toolset to have it all packed to a module file.

The file the area's basic information and tiles are located in is named "****.are", where "****" is replaced by the specific area's ResRef.

Before opening the file, make sure you have saved the area in toolset if you have made changes to it.


Step Two: Editing the area's tiles.

The tiles of the area within the ".are"-file are located in a list titled "Tile_List".

The order of the tiles on the area is very important, and they are laid out this way:
The South-Westmost tile (down-left corner when camera is in the default position which you can restore with the numpad key "5") is the first on the list with the list index 0. The tiles then continue by the X-axis forwards, east, without changing Y-axis coordinates for as long as there are tiles on that row, for simplicity this is a 10x10 area so the southmost tile row of the area will be the index numbers 0 to 9. Then the row continues one block of tiles forwards on the Y-axis, north, move to the beginning of the row and the same will repeat, the second-southmost row of tiles will be the index numbers 10 to 19. Here is a link for an image to clarify this: i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz341/anon17/demonstrational_map.jpg

Within a structure of the list ("Tile_List"), you can find an entry titled "Tile_ID", this determines the contents for that tile. These are tileset-specific. Another for this walkthrough important entry is "Tile_Orientation". Incrementing this value turns the tile counter-clockwise by 90°, decrementing clockwise. IMPORTANT: The minimum value for the "Tile_Orientation" entry is 0 and the maximum is 3. Anything not from within these values will cause an error in the toolset forcing you to change the value back manually. Using a non-existent tile ID will do the same. Be careful with these entries!

The easiest way to find out the ID for a tile is to paint it in the toolset and look it up from the area file. Propably needless to say, you'll need to re-open the area in the editor after making changes with the toolset.


Step Three: Example.

To put this technique to action, I edited an area with the tileset "Illithid Interior" To transform a "Fighting Pit" (with two exits) into a fighting pit with 4 exits. The exit from the pit is in the previously provided picture on tile #37. The exits to be created should be located on tiles #46 and #48, first one's door "facing" east and the second one's to west. As can be seen from structure number 37, the tile ID is 62 and Orientation 0, door of the tile "facing" north.

After setting both IDs to 62, facing of the first one to 3 and the second one's to 1 after which I had the toolset "refresh" the state of the area by swithing to a different area and back, the fighting pit looked like this:

i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz341/anon17/Demostrational_SC.jpg


So ends the brief walkthrough. In case you noticed my poor writing skills I'd like to point out I had stayed up a night before starting to write this "guide".

If you have any questions, please ask in this thread and I'll answer as my abilities allow.

Have fun editing!

— Miq / _Miqu_
               
               

               

                     Modifié par _Miqu_, 22 novembre 2010 - 08:22 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Guest__Miqu__*]

               Although reading this guide leads to the understanding of the same principles that the builder known as "PvP-Master" knew in order to be able to create a HakPack on the vault (which allows you to place a portal without changing the surrounding tiles), my post wasn't in any way related to his work. He seemed to think I was plagiarizing him when he commented the original post... I didn't learn this trick overnight, it developed over time and for a long time I kept the information to myself. It's not something new either, there have been other builders using this technique in their modules for years.

How can two people coincidentally post something so similar on the internet on successive days is just mind-blowing in my personal opinion.

To clarify a common misbelief:
You can do much more this way than you could by just copy-pasting tiles around in the toolset. You won't be bound by the usual rules, you can take *any* tile on an area and use it as you see fit. <>

Finally, to add something to the original post:
One good way to deal with tiles not matching together is to use the placeables to your advantage, especially in interior areas. You can use rugs and the such for floors, pillars, book-cases and so on for walls. The only way to learn to use it to your advantage is creatively experimenting with it. Propably that sounds a bit far-fetched but I'm very happy with some of the results I've reached in my modules. '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par _Miqu_, 22 novembre 2010 - 08:19 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               A little OT: (I am pvp-master) Well I really thought you plagiarized me, but after you told me details, I dropped it. Conincidences happens.



Your post is more useful than my hak, because you took that work to completely describe how it works, which was too much for me, so I just made simple hak which will allow to place that portal in different terrains of City Interior tileset.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               Thanks for reposting this, _Miqu_.  I must have missed this on the old forums, and it could prove quire useful.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_FunkySwerve]

               Nice repost, and definitely not something new. We've been using this technique on HG for years, both for simple area tile edits, and for more complex effects. Our entire elemental plane of air was done with this, as well as the Ur-gate in our aboleths area. More recently, we made a bridge of invisible tiles, so that we could make a bridge of bones crossing the twin spires of Demogorgon's Abysm in the Abyss).



Funky
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Werehound Silverfang]

               Can you use the GFF Editor to set a creature's abilities over the 100 base cap safely?

This would be so much more useful, and less resource intensive, than using NWNX_Functions to set a creature's abilities.

**EDIT**

It is possible, and will remain at whatever was set until the creature is opened in teh toolset again, at which point it will revert to 100 (if was over 100).
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Werehound Silverfang, 09 décembre 2010 - 11:21 .