Tutorial Requests

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               There are just not enough good tutorials out there '>

I've been workin on a "How-To-Make-A-Transparent-NWN-Inventory-Item-Alpha-Channel" OTR-Workthread-style tutotial.


A few others ones that learning developers might find useful :

"How to add custom content to a nwn module (hak pack useage, basic 2da editing info + specifics of each major 2da)

"NWN Moddings Basics" (a Primer for use of toolset, and 3rd party tools)

"GMax basics" (how to make a simple working item of each major category)

Any other ideas?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Carcerian, 03 juillet 2012 - 03:48 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Tyndrel]

               There are some excellent recent tutorials and some older ones that would be equally good if they were brought up to date but as someone who is a CC learner myself I find those older ones can be a tad confusing. 

I made some (very) basic tutorials a few years ago for my great nephew (then aged 7) when he was having fun with the toolset and (somewhere) I have one on adding haks along the lines of this, I did for CEP.  If they would be of any use I'll see if I still have them.

I'm currently trying to extract all the older texture files from bifs to make reference documents along the lines of the 1.69 one. I really must try again, I ended up pulling my hair out last time! '>  So I suppose what I really need at the moment is a tutorial on extracting bif files, grumble grumble!
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Tyndrel, 03 juillet 2012 - 07:40 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               Your last doc was great, but you defiantly dont have to convert everything to JPGs..

(and as OTR says, always do bitmaps when converting, as they are a lossless format)

Thumbnails: IrfanView gets the job done, its free (just dont let setup add google toolbar) and can see TGAs just fine.


               
               

               

                     Modifié par Carcerian, 03 juillet 2012 - 07:47 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               Atm, I use ACDSee 3 and PSP 7 lol, very old versions but they make work go fast..

Trying to learn to do the same things quickly with Gimp and IV just for freewares sake '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Carcerian, 03 juillet 2012 - 07:40 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Tyndrel]

               Thanks Carcerian  '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               You can DL IrfanView (Cute Panda Version) here : IrfanView@Cnet.Com
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Carcerian, 03 juillet 2012 - 07:57 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               

Carcerian wrote...
(and as OTR says, always do bitmaps when converting, as they are a lossless format)

Just wanted to make a small clarification on that point, I believe Carcerian is speaking about the .BMP format.

Also, one little thing about IrfanView which people should know: It will strip the alpha layer on an image when saving as TGA.  As in, if you load in a 32-bit TGA (or any other 32-bit image) and then save it out to TGA, it will save it out as 24-bit.  You can see this if you go to menu item Image -> Information and then look at Original Colors vs Current Colors.  You can see the disparity in the bit-depth listed there.

I love IrfanView to death and use it 99% of the time to do my image viewing but sadly it falls down on that particular point.  It may also save TGA with RLE encoding.  RLE encoding is basically compression.  If you convert an RLE encoded TGA to Bioware DDS, it will produce ugly artifacts in the resulting DDS.  Interestingly enough, I believe that I tested it recently and NWN can display RLE (compressed) TGA's.  Just converting them to DDS is a nono.

In situations where I need to preserve or work with a TGA's alpha or make sure the image is not RLE encoded (in preparation to convert to Bioware DDS), I use GIMP.  The last paragraph in this blog entry gives a crash course in working with alpha in GIMP.  RLE encoding can be addressed by using "Save As..." on an image in GIMP instead of "Save".  This will cause a little box to pop up on saving, asking you whether you want to use RLE compression- which you can uncheck.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 03 juillet 2012 - 03:16 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Failed.Bard]

               

OldTimeRadio wrote...

Carcerian wrote...
(and as OTR says, always do bitmaps when converting, as they are a lossless format)

Just wanted to make a small clarification on that point, I believe Carcerian is speaking about the .BMP format.

Also, one little thing about IrfanView which people should know: It will strip the alpha layer on an image when saving as TGA.  As in, if you load in a 32-bit TGA (or any other 32-bit image) and then save it out, it will save it out as 24-bit.  You can see this if you go to menu item Image -> Information and then look at Original Colors vs Current Colors.  You can see the disparity in the bit-depth listed there.

I love IrfanView to death and use it 99% of the time to do my image viewing but sadly it falls down on that particular point.  It may also save TGA with RLE encoding.  RLE encoding is basically compression.  If you convert an RLE encoded TGA to Bioware DDS, it will produce ugly artifacts in the resulting DDS.  Interestingly enough, I believe that I tested it recently and NWN can display RLE (compressed) TGA's.  Just converting them to DDS is a nono.

In situations where I need to preserve or work with a TGA's alpha or make sure the image is not RLE encoded (in preparation to convert to Bioware DDS), I use GIMP.  The last paragraph in this blog entry gives a crash course in working with alpha in GIMP.  RLE encoding can be addressed by using "Save As..." on an image in GIMP instead of "Save".  This will cause a little box to pop up on saving, asking you whether you want to use RLE compression- which you can uncheck.

I knew IrfanView stripped the alpha layer, which is a pain.  I didn't know leaving the encoding turned on was why I couldn't convert my GIMP made tga files back to DDS though.  That's very handy to know what the problem was.  It threw me, since the TGA files saved that way worked fine in game.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               Sticking with ACDSee then, havn't had a problem with it and TGAs so far..

Ok, so for the purpose of thumbnails at least then IrfanView is still usefull '>

(To be honest, I havnt used it in ages myself, just seemed a popular freeware image browser to suggest)
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Carcerian, 03 juillet 2012 - 08:51 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               I also use irfanview to view textures in fullsize and for all thumbnails "thumbview"! For texture and image editing Photoshop 6 lol
               
               

               

                     Modifié par NWN_baba yaga, 03 juillet 2012 - 09:04 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <banging his head...>

request: How to make Head-aligned VFX ;-)
request: How to make Torso-aligned VFX
request: How to make New Weapon Effects
request: How to make New Beam Effects

<...for effect>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               Request...

How about a beginners tutorial for using NWNX - setting it up, what the various functions do, etc. I'm sure there's one out there but I'll be damned if I can find it...
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Pstemarie, 06 juillet 2012 - 02:59 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <running...>

+1 NwNx tute.
And the new functions in the NwNCx, also :-)

<...to catch the bandwagon>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               Wait...so NwNx and NwNCx are two different things? No wonder I've been confused...

So if you're a Builder you just need NwNx?
If you're a Player you just need NwNCx?
And if you're both a Builder and Player you need both NwNx and NwNCx?


               
               

               

                     Modifié par Pstemarie, 06 juillet 2012 - 04:01 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               

Pstemarie wrote...

Wait...so NwNx and NwNCx are two different things? No wonder I've been confused...

So if you're a Builder you just need NwNx?
If you're a Player you just need NwNCx?
And if you're both a Builder and Player you need both NwNx and NwNCx?

Correct.

NWNX = Neverwinter Nights Extender (server-side only) - The one that provides multiple functions and allows plugins for even more fuctions/options. Players don't need anything for this on their end.

NWNCX = Neverwtiner Nights Client Extender (client-side only) - Alters some parts of the game client to allow some funky new stuff to be visible/used ("un-hardcodes" some things), also frees up camera angle control.  Players can play without this, but if you put anything in you module that uses it, they just won't be able to see it (such as new weapon VFX or new "skin" VFX (like barkskin uses)).

NWNTX = Neverwinter Nights Toolset Extender (builder only) - Speeds up some things in the toolset, replaces default script compiler with Advanced Script Compiler.

They're independent things...although I think there is a "bridge" for NWNCX that allows you to use NWNX plugins in single-player.