First, welcome back.
Now, as far as editing 2da files goes, there are several programs floating around that will do that. I personally use
NWN2daTool, an Excel file that contians helpful scripting for importing, merging, editing, and exporting (with nicely lined up columns) 2da files. Just found a
NWNWiki page for it that could be useful.
I recommend downloading
NWN Explorer Reborn (by Acaos), an updated version of NWN Explorer, which will allow you to more easily dig into the game's resources and any hak files you have installed in your NWN/hak folder. I use it all the time, even to dig into my owh haks. You can use it to export just the files you'll want to work with.
Using NWN Explorer, find the Project Q placeables.2da file and export it somewhere easy to access. Also find and export the same file from other sources that you're taking placeables from for your merge hak...just give them different prefixes so you don't overwrite the one from Project Q. You'll use these other ones as sources of 2da lines for the placeables you're merging.
Find and export all of the model files you want to merge. Take a look at the ascii tab for each one in NWN Explorer and look for the "bitmap" references...these are the names of the texture files for those models. You'll need to export those as well, or your new models may just end up a blank white. If your search finds both a .dds and .tga texture file of the same name, go with the .dds version.
You can do a search within NWN Explorer...the shortcut is Ctrl+S (not Ctrl+F!). You can use this to find partial or full file names.
To export, just right-click on the file in the left panel list and pick Export. Send the files all to the same folder for easy finding later. For placeables, be sure to do a search for the same file name as the model, but ending in .pwk instead of .mdl...this is the "placeable walkmesh" file that controls the space occupied by the placeable that PCs and others can't walk through. You'll want this or creatures will be able to walk through your placeables as if they aren't there.
Now, in the Excel file (or your choice of 2da editors), import the Project Q placeables.2da. You want to use this one as a base since you're using it as the base hak set for your module. Import the 2da files from the other haks that had your desired placeables. Copy the lines for you new placeables out of those other haks and paste them into your merge version 2da, into a blank line space. Change the line number to match the order of the merge 2da...this line number doesn't really matter to NWN, but does make it easier for us humans to read and use.
Once you've copied all of the 2da lines for all of your desired placeables, save your work (a good idea to do several times along the way). Export your finished placeables.2da file where it won't get overwritten (or lost).
Note on model names: In both placeables.2da and appearance.2da, the column right after the line number is used for the model name in the toolset unless it appears as four asterisks (****). Just make sure you surround your words with quotation marks if the model name you want to use includes spaces or other special characters, otherwise the game will try to read the different words as if they are in different columns. You could avoid this by using a custom .tlk file entry for the model name...but that's
a lot more work than is necessary for your own use.
Open NWHak.exe (found in your NWN/utils folder). Drag and drop you new placeables.2da file on the program window (which will add it to a new hak). Do a Save As... to save your new custom hak to the NWN/hak folder. Go to your folder with all of the additional models and their textures. Select them all and drag them all onto the NWHak window so they get added as well. Save again! Then close the program.
Do the same procedure for monster models as with placeables. The 2da in this case is appearance.2da. In the end, instead of starting another new hak for monsters, just run NWHak.exe and open your recently saved one (with all the placeables). Now your can drag other new files into it and save again.
For doors, I think the 2da file you want might be doortypes.2da. I haven't done much merging of doors over the years, so I'm not up on the procedure, though I think it must be similar. I do know the walkmesh file for doors end in .dwk.
Once you get all of your 2da files, texture files (.dds and/or .tga), and model files (.mdl .pwk and .dwk) into your new hak and saved, close NWHak.
Open your module in the toolset. If you haven't already, go to Edit > Module Properties > Custom Content.
Add the Project Q haks in the proper order. Then add your new hak above the Project Q haks (so that your updated 2da files are used by the game instead of the same-named ones from Project Q). Be sure to add the project Q .tlk file in this same screen!
After letting the toolset add the contents of the haks to the module (you can cancel the "build" after a few moments to save lots of time), you can use all of the custom content for building.
If you have more questions, feel free to ask. I'm definitely not the only one around here that can help. I'm not a Project Q expert, so others may prove more useful in that regard.
Modifié par The Amethyst Dragon, 28 mars 2012 - 09:24 .
