edge anomalies in CEP 2.6

[Legacy_azaz1234]

               

i'm using the codi swamp tileset as packaged in cep 2.6, and i'm getting some visual anomalies [see screenie].

i'm talking about those broad grey swaths that extend off at right angles from the edges of the area.

 

i don't know a whole lot about tilesets, but from what i understand, this sort of thing is handled by the *_edge.2da files. if i wanted to fix this, would it be as simple as editing the 2da and changing some lines to refer to other tiles ?  if not, any suggestions about how i could make it go away ?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               It looks like the edge tile missing is one that has a wall in the middle that matches the ruins. Look for a tile like that. If the wall is in the middle of the tile horizontally it will be easy to make an edgetile from it. Otherwise it will have to be turned by 90 degrees which is a bit more complicated.

Usually edge tiles are in the z-range of the tiles. If you don't have gmax or 3dmax, you will be able to change some stuff with a text editor, but there's a lot you'll have to remove and rename and I don't have the time to list all that. If you can, open the model with gmax or 3dmax and rename the aurora base of the model. If it is someting like txx01_a01_01 rename it to txx01_z+two digits that are not used yet.

Remove all the tile lights, the walkmesh and any animations and the animation dummy (if there is one, you'll have to link all its children to the aurorabase instead) and export your new edge tile. If your tile has to be rotated by 90 degrees, select the aurorabase, turn it by 90° and unlink all its children, then turn it back to 0 and relink everything you unlinked before.

Now you have to edit the edge.2da file. If it is missing add an entry for floor wall floor or whatever the terrains and crossers are named and for the models name use that of the one you just made. It's also good to add an entry for floor+ wall floor+ with height 1 pointing to the same model.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_azaz1234]

               

thanks for the quick reply, zwerkules.

 

here's an excerpt of the zkw01_edge.2da from the hak :

      Corner1         Edge      Corner2         Height    Model       
0     SwampWater      ****      SwampWater      0         ZKW01_Z01_01
1     SwampWater      ****      SwampGround     0         ZKW01_Z02_01
2     SwampGround     ****      SwampGround     0         ZKW01_Z03_01
3     SwampWater      ****      ****            0         ZKW01_Z01_01
4     SwampGround     ****      ****            0         ZKW01_Z03_01
5     SwampWater      Bridge    SwampWater      0         ZKW01_Z04_01
6     SwampPit        ****      SwampWater      0         ZKW01_Z06_01
7     SwampPit        ****      SwampPit        0         ZKW01_Z05_01
8     SwampPit        ****      ****            0         ZKW01_Z05_01
9     SwampGround     Wall      SwampGround     0         ZKW01_Z07_01

if i understand what you're saying, then the problem would be with either line 2, 4, or 9 -- is that right ?

 

i've verified that the models referred to in the 2da exist in the hak. ZKW01_Z03_01 looks like this :

 

...and ZKW01_Z07_01 looks like this :

 

 

the corner tile causing the problems in the upper left of the screen shot above is called 'zkw01_e05_02', and looks like this :

 

it has no nodes and no animations.

 

i've read through the bioware tileset guide a couple times, and from what i understand, the edge specification for the upper left corner would be line 4 ("SwampGround     ****      ****"). i created a new tile from zkw01_e05_02 above, naming it 'zkw01_z09_01' and added an additional line to zkw01_edge.2da referring to the new tile, but it didn't solve the problem, so obviously i'm missing something. any idea what ?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_shadguy]

               

Line 4 in the 2da is for the edgetile with only 1 corner touching your area - it looked fine in your initial picture post.

 

Line 2 also looks good - it's for SwampGround without a wall crosser touching the edge of the area -  again referencing your initial post.

 

I think the issue is the model referenced by line 9.  It looks like it has 2 swamp corners with a wall crosser, which lines up with that 2da entry.  The ZKW01_Z07_01 models looks reasonable in your screenshot to serve as an edgetile.  So I'm not sure what's up, but I'd be investigating that tile and reference further.  

 

-Dave

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_T0r0]

               

Hmmm, Laptop not handy right now so can't check for you.. off the top of my head.

 

1. Can't really tell from that first pic, is the corner wall a terrain or crosser ? Is there swamp ground behind that wall ?

2. Check that tile entry in set file and make sure it's all proper, check spelling and the appropriate directions in crosser section (top, L,R,bottom) are correctly labeled.

3. Copy and paste edge tile mdl name into edge 2da, again make sure spelling is exact

 

It's probably something simple.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               You can see that z03_01 is used. It has to be z07_01 that is missing. Why it is missing I have no idea, because the entry in the 2da-file and the model are there. If all the terrain were raised, it would be because an entry for raised terrain is missing, but since the edge tiles next to the missing ones are there even though there's no entry for raised swamp terrain either, this can't be the problem.
What about the tileset height? Was the tileset raised and z07_01 was forgotten and is somewhere below the other edge tiles?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_boodah83]

               

Maybe the problem is, that within this tileset the wall crosser doesn't work (if I remember correctly) and those wall tiles show up randomly when painting the normal ground terrain - that's why z07_01 isn't showing up. No clue why z03_01 isn't showing up instead though, but I think it's like Toro said and the set file needs to be checked/corrected...  

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_boodah83]

               

Okay, I took a quick look at the set file and turns out, it's a simple fix.

 

1. Extract zkw01.set.

2. Open it with a text editor.

3. Search and replace "SwampGroundWall" with "Wall".

4. Save the changed set file to a/your custom hak file which goes above cep2_add_tiles1.hak.

 

Wall crosser and edge tiles should work as intended now.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_azaz1234]

               

great news !

 

so now one last question. i've been reading a guide called 'Tileset Construction Version 1.4' by bioware -- where they spent a whopping 3 paragraphs on edge tile creation. i've also been trying to understand merricksdad's tileset tutorial, which is still a bit over my head. [a big bit...]  how on earth were you able to figure out that the problem was at a textual level, with 'SwampGroundWall' ?  and can you [or anyone, really] recommend some sort of guide that explains this sort of thing in detail at a beginner level ?

 

[okay, that was two... i'll shut up now. ]

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_boodah83]

               

To be honest, I figured it out mostly by coincidence because not that long ago I did check out the CEP swamp and noticed that the wall crosser didn't work. That's why I already suspected something had to be wrong with the set file. And your screenshot also showed a tile with walls on it, so a correlation between these two things was quite likely.

 

As to a good tutorial, I'm not sure, sorry. But maybe someone else can point you to one. My advice* is to just start messing around with vanilla NWN and custom tilesets. Dissect existing ones or try to port a few tiles from one set into another for example and you'll learn a lot of the basics in the process. 

 

A nice tool for working with set files (or to get an idea about how they work) is the Set Editor 0.85 (link, should be the second download link there).

 

 

 

_{*advice of a dude who just occasionally funks around with tilesets and doesn't know nearly as much about the subject as lots of other people around here}

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

azaz1234 - You might try google searching "site:ccg.animecafe.net (whatever)" (sans quotes), the same for "harvestmoonconsortium.com" (which has an archive of the Community Tileset Project's website or dig around in the Omnibus, as well.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_azaz1234]

               

thanks for the tips, guys. much appreciated !  i'll give them a looking over.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_thirdmouse]

               

i've also been trying to understand merricksdad's tileset tutorial, which is still a bit over my head. [a big bit...] 

 

*briefly unlurks to drag unsuspecting tutorial back to lair for feeding*

I did not even know that existed, thanks for distracting it bringing it to my attention.