A Question of Alternatives (Tilesets that is But Not J.A.R.S.)

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

While we are all familiar with the standard tilesets that come with 1.69, I was wondering what (if any) viable alternatives to them exist. Now I am not talking about what I would term the specialised tilesets (e.g. Beholder Caves) but the more generalised ones (e.g. Rural). To clarify, here is the full list of the standard tilesets. I have struck-through those that I consider too specialised.

Barrows Interior
Beholder Caves

Castle Exterior, Rural

Castle Interior 1 & 2

City Exterior

City Interior 1 & 2

Crypt

Desert
Drow Interior

Dungeon

Forest
Fort Interior

Frozen Wastes
Illithid Interior

MicroSet

Mines & Caverns

Ruins

Rural

Rural Winter
Sea Caves

Sewers
Steamworks

Tropical

Underdark


One other consideration is that I am only interested in complete tilesets and not JARS (Just Another Re-Skin). So if I was to make a module where I wanted as much of the scenery to look different(better?) what choices do I have (especially on the interiors front e.g. Caverns, City Interior, etc.)?


Thanks in advance for any responses to this query.


PS The actual hak name(s) would also be useful as currently my hak folder has 1,182 files for a total of 41.2 gig of disk space used.


TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Kendaric Varkellen]

               

Well...

 

Medieval City (City exterior) and Medieval Rural (rural exterior, including elven buildings, halfling homes and mountains. Extremely versatile) by Zwerkules.

For sewers I tend to use the DLA Sewers (also found in Project Q), which have a more classic feel than the default sewers.

Mountain Forest by Baba_Yaga and Zwerkules as an alternative for the default forest, alternatively Wild Woods by Six depending on what kind of forest you want. The LOW forest tilesets may also be of interest and are also quite versatile.

Dungeon and crypt will depend on what you want to achieve... I really like Versatile Dungeon and Classic Dungeon by maxam (found in Project Q) and use them for a variety of underground places, including crypts.

Fantasy Interiors by LOW can also be used to great effect to provide a number of great interiors.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy__six]

               

Not to be immodest but I like my Wild Woods set very much for forests '> I'm not sure where you can go to download it these days (anyone else can fill me in?)

 

Dia's underdark for smaller caves. Q's 'Rural Interior' (more shamelessness from me I'm afraid) I tend to use for most largish interiors. I also made a very simple castleish tileset which I -think- is in Q which I combine with a bunch of wall placeables for castles and dungeons.

 

...All of which is basically the full tileset list for the module I was working on. Got surprisingly far with just those and the occasional smattering of defaults (and one DLA sewers level)

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_meaglyn]

               

Wildwoods is in Q2.0 I believe.

 

It's also on the new vault : http://neverwinterva...thrice-tilesets

I don't know that that version has all the last updates you gave pstemarie for Q...

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               

Wildwoods is in Q2.0 I believe.

 

It's also on the new vault : http://neverwinterva...thrice-tilesets

I don't know that that version has all the last updates you gave pstemarie for Q...

 

The Q version is not the same Wildwoods set released by _Six on the Vault. The height was changed to accommodate unilateral integration with TNO and some changes were made to the hill geometry to stitch up gaps between the two sets. It also has some features and other changes not found in _Six's original version.

 

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of all the tilesets I've included in Project Q, especially the expanded/combined TNO/Wild Woods Tileset - IMO, what you can make with that set is just amazing and the load time for a light-placeable 16x16 area is still pretty quick. I also use Zwerkules' Medieval Tilesets and the Mountainous Forest tileset he took over from NWN Baba Yaga. For older cities, I use the Sigil Exterior tileset (also part of Project Q) - you can't beat that tileset when it comes to creating that dirty/ancient feeling.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

So far I have used ctp_dungeon_lok for dungeons and buildings with a stone block type interior. I've also used ctp_cave_ruins (obviously for caves), ctp_elf_interior, ctp_dwarf_hall, ctp_blk_desert and ctp_brick_int. So I was looking for something different for future reference. I'll take a look at the dla underdark as it is definitely one I hadn't considered using that for ordinary caves before.

 

So let's say for arguments sake that I take the preceding suggestions on board, the list now looks like (with those I consider solved, removed)

 

Castle Interior 1 & 2 (maybe, gotta see if I can find sixes one)

Crypt

Desert

Frozen Wastes

Ruins

Rural Winter

Tropical

 

If possible I would like a stone interior with a vaulted ceiling and bays for tombs for a crypt replacement. For the desert something with dunes (any size would do). Anything other than the standard will do for the frozen wastes. As far as the ruins go, well a ruins type tileset that isn't desert based. Then we come to rural winter, could seasonal forest be used for this or is there an alternative? Finally we have tropical. What are the alternatives (if any) here?

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Proleric]

               The Aztec Interior tileset has several distinct styles, good for unique-looking crypts / chambers. To an ignorant European eye, at least, it could be almost any fantasy culture.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

Well I've looked on the new vault for both the dla underdark and also the spider caves and cannot find either so far. Perhaps they haven't been migrated yet.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Well I've looked on the new vault for both the dla underdark and also the spider caves and cannot find either so far. Perhaps they haven't been migrated yet.

 

TR

 

Underdark Spider Caves by Diademus

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

Thanks for the link MDA.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

I won't know for sure until the hard-working people have finished putting the old stuff onto the new vault but I think I may just have identified a tileset that needs creating. It is an interior one that I would call abandoned/ruined castle interior. Now I know that there is a re-skin of the original castle interior, but it doesn't really fulfil (in my opinion) what I believe is needed (and it is quite old).

 

The tileset that I am proposing would have the following features. The floors would be covered in dust that rises with every step taken (with the ability to turn it off in the tile options in the toolset). On the walls pictures would hang askew and tapestries would be faded and have large holes in them. Any curtains would also be falling off, being bunched at one end of the rail. Any water feature would be dried up with just gunk (off-white?) at the bottom. Finally the floors of this tileset would have no furniture whatsoever. Such furniture would come from placeables instead allowing for a mix of broken, overturned and normal.

 

One final thing this tileset would have are arrow-slits (which the bioware ones don't appear to have) thus allowing for, amongst other things, the creation of a common castle feature - murder rooms.

 

Thanks for reading this little ramble.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Kendaric Varkellen]

               

I think Baba_Yaga had something like that in the works, not sure what became of the set though. It's definitely a tileset that would add a lot to NWN, certainly more than the default ruins.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               

I created some (or many if you wish) tiles for a reskinned fort interior that looked very ruined. I think i can dig that one up and release as is.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

That sounds great. To be honest I thought it was just a pipe-dream when I made my original post.

 

I'm just wondering, is there a castle exterior that has a proper moat crosser? That is a smooth depression that has a raised area surmounted by a wall on one of its sides. Also it would be available in both dry and wet variants. And complete with a walkable drawbridge that can be set to be either raised or lowered.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Wall3T]

               

i cant say i know of one that was released to the community. having spent about 6 years roaming the vault for such things, id know if i saw one like that. I do know that zwerkules medieval would come really close. And there is the medieval ruin castle that comes complete with a moat, a drawbridge, a courtyard, and a keep all in one.

 

for castle types i usually end up making them from placeables since it gave me more room to work with. like this:

 

 

I typically like to put my castle up high and out of the way, as if they're hard to reach. I have a few that are pretty low to the ground also, but have large walls to protect it.

 

Having spent about a year researching about castles, i got a real good idea what kind of castles id like to build. It seems any castle with a moat, is usually associated with England, or France (sometimes Germany, but not always the three)