In the last 11 days VirusMan has done the following impossible things:

[Legacy_virusman]

               @Failed.Bard - The server doesn't read tile models, it gets the material type from walkmesh.

Actually, there is an internal function in the client that allows to change a specific texture.
Up until now I've been unlocking features that have already been in the client code. Adding new features would require server plugin counterpart and more coding to handle scene updates, overlapping effects, etc.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_KlatchainCoffee]

               The idea of changing facial expressions (usning an emote want?) sounds almost too good to be true.

Alternatively this could be used to overcome the limited head slots  - 're-skinning' the faces that have similar size or shape (which could be coupled with proposed changeable hairstyles proposed in another thread).

A definite thumbs up on visible wound infliction.


Another idea, wich would be amazing if it's ever implemented (which is unlikely because of the huge amount of work it will take) - changing seasons with time in game without having to rebuild and re-upload the world in question. If that ever got done, it would really be something else....
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               Virusman: So it IS possible to change tileset textures? and if yes how are these options handled? THanks again for your great work:)
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_virusman]

               No, it is not possble for a CC maker or scripter right now. There's just a low-level engine function.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               

KlatchainCoffee wrote...

Another idea, wich would be amazing if it's ever implemented (which is unlikely because of the huge amount of work it will take) - changing seasons with time in game without having to rebuild and re-upload the world in question. If that ever got done, it would really be something else....

This could be approximated without any changes to the engine if the builder creates the seasonal variations for each area ahead of time. Then via script you could decide which of the variations loads upon transition into it. Likewise when the season changes in an area populated by PCs and/or NPCs, jump all characters to the alternate area.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_virusman]

               There is something related to texture replacement on tiles, referencing replacetexture.2da. But I guess it was never used, so I'm not sure if it works.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               An especially evil application of dynamic texture use....

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Henry Winkler, covered in bees!!!"



(Sorry Henry...)

As an attack, trap or spell effect, etc, a player is covered in insects (wasps, bees, fire ants...) possibly with a matching VFX. (Creeping Doom upgrade anyone?)

Other possible applications, green slime, acid, boiling oil, tar and feathering, wrapped in chains, 1000 cuts (what happens when you annoy Loviatar in Planescape, or try to walk thru a blade barrier), crystalbrittle, melting flesh, burnt to a crisp...

An animated  texture of blinking eyes and gnashing mouths would make for some awesome varieties of Beholderkin/Far Realm Dwellers/Spawn of the Great Old Ones/Elder Race Servitors as well (shoggoths, gibbering mouthers, spawn of Shub-Nigurrath and the like...)

Also now possible, things that look normal one moment and monsterous the next (vampires, wolfen, etc)
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Carcerian, 18 juin 2012 - 11:57 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               (Semi-related question) Speaking of env-maps, what are the tileset env-maps files used for?

For example:

tno01__env0, tno01__env1, tno01__env2, tno01__env3, tno01__env5 (.tga/dss)



tno01__env4 (.tga/.dss)



tno01__env.txi

cube 1
filerange 6

               
               

               

                     Modifié par Carcerian, 18 juin 2012 - 11:49 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

Carcerian wrote...

(Semi-related question) Speaking of env-maps, what are the tileset env-maps files used for?

Those would be cubemaps and cubemaps can be used like ordinary environment maps, except they have 6 different maps which form and invisible box around every object which uses them.  When you look down on an object, you'll see one map.  When you look from a certain side (like the west side, say) you'll see another map.  And so on.  If you map a cube map onto a sphere you can make out where the maps join, but, IIRC, it's done slightly nicer than that.

Mostly, they play a big role in shinywater.  Can't have shinywater without a cube map although...it's only a sadly superficial ingredient in the shinywater formula.  The reason why people playing NWN on some ATI cards can't display shiny water properly is because of how cubemaps are improperly displayed.

NWN can use (at least) two types of cube maps.  One type (and these types are really how the game loads them, now how they operate, AFAIK) is a long vertical line of six images in one file.  That type will work in NWN, but it's not used in NWN  It is used in KotoR and probably other iterations of the Aurora engine.  The other type is the one we're familiar with and that's six individual images with a txi which tells NWN to load the parts of the cube from different images instead of cutting the sides from one lone one.

I have notes on this in much more detail...someplace.  If you look at the range of files you'll notice there's one image that's brighter than the rest and one darker than the rest.  Those are the faces of the cube that shine "down" onto a cubemapped object and "up" onto the underside of it.  The other four are usually exactly the same and are the "sides" of what's supposed to be around the object.

Edit:I just realized that description probably doesn't convey as much as pictures might.  Make note of the 4 on top and the numbers on either side.  As I swing down for closeups on the spheres, note the same number is also on the cube, between them.  It's worth noting that how an envmap is displayed is also affected by smoothing groups on the object.  Some example shots in the third paragraph here illustrate the effect.- although those shots are from a regular envmap and not a cubemap.


               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 19 juin 2012 - 06:23 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Rubies]

               As a note, the Cube 1 txi property instantly closes my game without an error message - ATI doesn't respond well to it. Just thought I'd mention that before this gets inevitably explored. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_WebShaman]

               Great stuff Virusman!  Thanks for this!  Keep up the great work!

You all know he has been contributing to NWN from the getgo, right?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Failed.Bard]

               Would it be possible to apply VFX derived animations directly to a character object through nwnwx/nwncx using this?
 With texture and environment map swapping being possible, I'm a bit hopeful that there might finally be a way around the woefully small custom animation limit in NWN.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <perks up his...>

Hmmmm, changing texture maps on a hair VFX? Then we have 1 model for hair-style and a texture change for coloring... The smaller the elements are broken down, the more flexible the customization.

A very worthwhile idea to investigate, IMO, FB =)

<...coffee>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Failed.Bard]

               I was playing around with the environment maps, and it seems trying to apply one to a dynamic race gives me a hard crash.  Not sure why exactly, I had thought all models supported envmaps but I guess not.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

Failed.Bard wrote...
I was playing around with the environment maps, and it seems trying to apply one to a dynamic race gives me a hard crash.  Not sure why exactly, I had thought all models supported envmaps but I guess not.

Haven't tried it myself so I can't speak directly to that.  Those models do support envmaps and they come with one on them by default.  I can't recall off the top of my head which envmap the regular default races use but your problem could be caused by switching types.  So if the envmap is set up in the scene graph in one way (say, a cube map) and you attempt to slip in a "regular" (single image) envmap, the scene graph could choke.

Just a guess.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 04 juillet 2012 - 04:13 .