Still working with NWN1

Someone asked me the other day, why I was still working with NWN1. I confess, I sat there, and tilted my head like a dog trying to put its ear in position to listen better.

It took a second to put the question into terms that made sense to whit: "Why haven't you moved onto a newer game?" That one, I could answer. The difference lies in the spectrum of answer. Dane Cook, I believe it is, has a joke in his stand up involving a some sort of sandwich.

Rarely ordering this kind, he had no idea what was on it by default, and started telling the waitress what he wanted on it. I understand that, simpler to list the 4 or 5 things you want on it. This being a joke and all, the waitress asked him to list the things he didn't want on it instead. "OK, I don't want a cat's paw on my sandwich. I don't want a sheriff's badge on my sandwich. I don't want motor oil on my sandwich."

Bass Ackwards way of stating what should be, and what shouldn't be on the sandwich 'eh? Anyway back to NWN.

"Why are you still working with NWN?" has so many answers that its nonsensical to even try and answer. "Because I can't make classes for Pacman. Because I dislike like no clerics in Dragon Age. Because I had a dream where merlin told me to. Because the Halo toolset sucks(and it doesn't have classes)."

"Why haven't you moved onto a newer game?" Oh, ok, that's better, and simpler. "Because after all these years of experience, I can make NWN sing A Capella, Oh and NWN has a massive range of CC, and still gets more added on a regular basis. That, and the little fact that all its graphical shiney's don't push graphics cards and the like."

I mean, not to be unkind, but I have played 5 FPS halo games now, and not once did I pay any particular attention to the water. Meanwhile, Mass Effects Hammerhead hover-tank had be constantly paying attention to Lava, and acid and the like. I think you could honestly remove half the VFX from NWN, and I wouldn't mind.

True, graphics are damned nice, but no matter the level of detail, so long as I'm looking at a screen, I won't be immersed. When we have 3d holography draping the area around us when we're playing.. that's when I'll care if the bloom, and source lights and all look perfect.

NWN's graphics are adequate. Most all of the recent content pushes them from that threshold upto "Good", if not beyond.

Now with all that said, yes I am still working in NWN. Mostly on classes at the moment, and a bit on web stuff. I have my Knight base class, and my Warlock, and both handle about as I want them to. I won't share details here, not yet.. But I will share.. a world map. The set up for that was less than you think. A bit of writing PHP code to display it, and a nifty little app on the vault to generate up minimap's from existing area's.

Example:



That was done for a prefab with CTP babylon. But the point is, I can make changes to the maps, save module, Run App, upload images.. and the big world map, will adjust exactly that quick. Talk about awesome. Thus far, I lined up most of the edge borders and the like that way.

Anyway, enough babble for now.. More later perhaps.

Considering we're going with Placeable cities..

The questions(2) on my mind now.. are

1. How weird should city layout be?


2. Should Cities have multiple exteriors?


3. How do I want to tackle this beast?

Really, this is where things get strange. I think the answer's oughta be..

1. No more than required.


2. God no, just.. please.. No.


3. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Now.. Multi-area city exteriors can be done well. They can, it happens. Its been my experience however that this is a 1/10 shot and it usually only happens by accident. Could just be me, but every transition it takes me to leave the city leaves me with 2 reactions.

1. Why is the city this big?
• Are there 20-30 different taverns I can enter until I find one of my liking?
• If no, then it doesn't need to lend that impression.


2. How many more area's must I jog through before I can finally have an adventure?
• Or is leaving the city itself suppose to be an adventure?

OK, I'm ranting now, and I realize it, but this is one of those places that Pencil and paper translate horribly to digital format. A DM can take a worn-out-sock, wave it around like its a magic wand, and describe the atmosphere of the 2nd, or 3rd, or 12th Tavern/Inn/Brothel that the party/player(s) enter, and Poof! Its there and works.

Worn-out-sock or not.. this is no more arcane than how Hugh Hefner can keep it up long enough to do anything with it at his age. DM say's its there, and within 15 minutes.. It is. Now when you have to construct one bit by bit in the toolset.. try an hour or two unless your just slapping something together. While I can't do that and be happy with the end result, I suppose it is possible to do.


But anyway.. rant aside.. I'm thinking 18 X 18 for cities. I know.. Massive.. But by the same token.. I'd rather have that sort of room, and scale it down if needed. Considering the overland map's are 14X14, I think the different of 4 in either direction will make cities feel quite large, all the more so as I don't plan to have excess/pointless doors and the like.

Anyway, Rant over....




For now.

The Winter Wastes

The history of the north is really a rather simple one.  It was occupied first by the prisoners, the unwanted, who had little care for the cold: Dwarves.  Predictably, they were the first to explore the mountains, and as dwarves are want to do, burrow into it.  Claiming the tunnels was by no means an easy task, and at first it was scatterings of dwarves, singular brawlers, and handful's of the little diggers who took caves near the surface as their homes.

As time progressed, they began trading with the other small outposts, and more infrequently, joining forces with each other to dig in deeper.  Eventually, small groups of dwarves returned south to the then burgeoning city of Haven(which has become Nefir Ryjah) to trade. Time passed and the dwarves fought tooth and nail to keep their holdings, but they were eventually driven out of the mountains by the sheer speed with which competition would out breed them.

Most of the dwarven clans, and clusters headed north, feeling certain they'd find another range, and that they'd learned from the failures since arriving in this new world.  They failed, but not entirely.  A number of the clans banded together, and settled in to the North east of the range.



They dug in and thus, the makings of the first northern city were carved into the stone. As years passed, more and more of the Brawlers, the trouble makers, the fierce, the problems, of the south, were taken up over the mountains and left in the wilds, to live, or die as chance had.   At first the dwarves took advantage of this, offering shelter and food in exchange for sword work to secure their new homes.

As time progressed, they dug deeper and deeper, fortifying as they went, and as the need for additional swords was outgrown, but as a charity of sorts, the dwarves allowed the cast offs to settled outside their hold. The dwarves took the small cave they began with and dug.  Generations later, they've all but built their own mountain atop the clanhold, and fortified it to withstand any foe they could imagine.

The North progressed from this to a more civilized region during the foundation and reign of the empire, however, the rough nature of the settlers hasn't changed a hair. Order in the North is strictly maintained by the military, and both of the cities have two companies of standing soldiers assigned to ensure neither safety, nor civil order are threatened.

To this day, the northern spirit is still that of brash fighters ready to cross blades at a perceived insult. As a society the north is a constant struggle between the argumentative nature of its citizens, and the harshness of the northern justice. It's been said that the northern army could conquer the west if not for the likelihood such would invite a southern advance.

The Western Wilds

To detail what occurred in this region, simply put, the empire never truly conquered it. That is to say that with all manner of odd native beasts as well as the results of spells and experiments gone awry, while the empire could secure a large portion of the continent, between the magical cataclysm, and the disadvantage of trying to hold ground from roaming predators, and tribes of humanoids, the empire could never truly chase every foe to extinction, while securing already "cleared" lands.

To explain the west, we must first realize that while things were at their most peaceful, the underground regions were at the most dangerous, but like many, trust and faith in the ruling body was easy enough and people became complacent in trusting the emperor and his children would keep the roads safe, the marauders away from civilization, and the land peaceful. There were from time to time temporary problems, but that was to be expected, and it was understood they didn't last long.

That is until the Emperor's demise.  Mardak immediately recalled all troops as the predictable first step to settling and trying to ensure this was a temporary set back, not a disaster.  Corthyra mean-while perceived this as the likely first step towards military law through out the empire, and sought out those least pleased with Mardak, and began making provisions to keep the South she knew and loved safe.

While her concern was mostly making sure there were troops to reassure the people, Mardak took it as a secession from the empire, as well as a direct challenge to his authority.  As Corthyra was not likely to rule the empire, despite being the older sister, Mardak felt she overstepped her authority by arranging the patrols in the south.  This however is tangential to our discussion of the Western wilds.

Neither sibling showed any care for the west, beyond Mardaks failed attempt to take the capital by force.

A land of mostly rolling plains, and country retreats, the west went untended, as it was neither contested land, nor particularly dangerous at the onset of the conflict.  As the years passed, the assorted creatures and savages driven underground began to find returning to the surface wasn't a quick death the way it use to be, and in an unsurprising turn, the creatures nearest the surface began to ascend and spread.

I mentioned earlier they were forced underground, and this created the predictable problem of space.  as more and more savages and predators were forced off the surface, the warring and conflicts below grew more and more violent and brief.  This in turn lead to each tribe, and pack, and group of creatures to fight meaner and meaner, as only the toughest nastiest sort would survive long.  When these sharpened, almost feral beings returned to the surface, to find space, game, and the civilized settlers, things again took the predictable turn.

Retired soldiers, pompous nobles, serving maids, and expert butlers proved little enough resistance to these bred killers from below, and in short order the empire was again forced to confront the results of its complacency.  Few of the retreats, and summer homes survived til the first winter, those few that can still be found in the west, have learned to live as if besieged, universally these have been situated at the few manse's which were built with walls around when originally constructed.  Such dwellings were usually built by retired officers, or paranoid nobles who staffed their homes primarily with retired soldiers.

The west as it stands is known to be dangerous, and its said to be second only to descending into the earth.

Script Monkeys can't decorate..

Seems like I'm working all by my lonesome again. Oh well. It happens. In related news, I've gotten to work on decorating up the north.. As you can see, the plain area(as seen in toolset) is pretty cut and dried for a lot of the northern plains. Its both unappealing, and tediously blank.



Hence, we get into adding some character.. Believe it or not These tree's were all created by a script I wrote some time(Months?) ago, which is in itself a variant of my traps placement code. This combined with a little known, or at least little fact of the game.. yields me some pre-populate area's.



You see, one can quite easily open a save game in the toolset to edit it. It handles .sav files just like .mod, so its really quite easy to load a save game up and make an Encapsulated Resource File(ERF) out of the saved map.



Back to interesting stuff now. I took the liberty of "Tree-ing" up the north At least A and B rows, and this is about the final difference when all is said and done.



Not bad for a script monkey made area.

Showcasing Imp

Imp's been mostly off on his own series of adventures, Despite that he's checked in a few times and left tidbits here and there, including screenshots of his work.

As I haven't done much of anything lately, and it seems everyone in general has wound-down a bit so to speak.. I'm going to shamelessly put up imp's assorted explanations, Screenshots, and images o showoff what he's done in the vague hope that the pretty pictures will distract you and You'll forget ever having read this.









This proposed map shows the borders of the Underworld's six regions, and access tunnels that connect them, and two access shafts.



To clarify:

Underworld Region: A section of the Underworld where the underground areas are relatively easy to traverse in, though not quite to the degree of freedom found on the surface. Inside the region's borders, areas tend to conform to a certain style, due to the region's environment and conditions. Most space found outside the regions shown is solid rock, or, due to the ocean, open water. Besides that are isolated caves, and the access tunnels. I shall explain the different regions shortly.



Access Tunnel: A relatively straight and easy path from one region to another. An access tunnel could be an artificial tunnel, such as a mine tunnel, burrowed tunnel, (by, say, a giganto-mole), a bridge across a large gorge, or an underground structure found between the two regions, like an Orcish Stronghold, or an abandoned dungeon. A natural example of such would be like a simple cave, underground river, or whatever.



Access Shaft: An access point connecting the surface and the Underworld. I marked two proposed ones on the map, found in region three in the swamp, and region four on the volcano. One being a swampy cave that descends into a fetid pit of fungus and gigantic insects, the other a volcanic shaft leading to a fiery pit of molten rock and lakes of fire, (unless the only way to get to the volcano is through the Underworld.. then I guess it'd be a shaft leading -from- a fiery pit of molten rock and lakes of fire.) Other examples of an access shaft would be like an abandoned mine, with a mine shaft leading deep underground, a river that waterfalls into a large hole leading underground, a dwarven citadel, (which tends to expand downward, rather than outward), or a cave system.



Yes, it seems complex, but its a system, a way things work.. and most importantly, a look at how its going to happen, and work.



Now, to explain the regions themselves, which I have not named.



1.) Abyssal/Bone Region: A cold region that lies beneath the northern snows. This region is unique for its large amount of abysses, (basically, an abyss is a bottomless pit), a remnant of the shifting movements that created the northern mountain ranges. It's also a region famous for the sheer amount of skeletal remains of creatures in its dark caverns. And it's not an uncommon sight to see shallow pits filled to the brim with the skeletons of less fortunate adventurers, and lesser creatures. Its for these reasons that the region is a favored home to flying and climbing creatures that use the area's lack of flooring to their advantage in survival. The region also attracts necromancers fond of animating skeletons, due to the abundance of skeletal dead.



2.)Frozen Region: This region is a world of frozen caverns and deathly cold water, found beneath the northeastern snows and the nearby islands. This region is known for its beautiful caves of frozen water that flows from the above ocean. This region is populated by hardy creatures that are able to ignore the area's piercing cold.



3.)Fungal Region: This region lays beneath the western woodlands and swamps, and is home to a multitude of fungi, insects and disease. The region's caverns are often likened to the swamps that exsist above, as there are no other caves as stench-ridden, muddy, and insect-infested as those that exsist here. Fortunately, the cave's conditions improve, (relatively) as travelers move away from the surface swamps, as the region transforms into sprawling underground forests of mushrooms. This region is also home to giant insect hives.



4.)Volcanic Region: This region lays beneath the central island volcano, and could be considered part of the volcano itself, featuring rivers of flame, lakes of fire, and massive lava flows. The region is home to creatures that can take the massive heat and unpredictable movements of the volcanic region, though some intelligent creatures have moved in, in an attempt to harness the area's heat, seeking to create massive weapon forges.



5.)Cavern Region: This region lays beneath the eastern forest and the edge of the central desert. Though this region lacks the unique hazardous conditions of the others, the region is dangerous due to reasons of its own. This region is a region of caves rich with precious metals and minerals, and, because of how resource-rich it is, the most artificially altered, with scattered mines, refineries, and underground quarries, created by all kinds of races, though many are now abandoned, having been originally constructed and stripped clean years ago. The region's natural inhabitants, consisting of many creatures, often pale in comparison to the greedy sentient races willing to protect their stakeout with their life. This region also contains an underground river, (which I forgot to place on the map), which leads from the frozen region, to the flooded region.



6.)Flooded Region: This region lays mostly beneath the southern oceans. This area is often compared to the frozen region, because it also has water that seeps down into the caves beneath. However, it lacks the cold that would freeze this water, resulting in vast flooded caverns, quick-flowing underground rivers, fully submerged cave systems, and large subterranean lakes. This area is populated by water-dwelling creatures, and by creatures that prey on the fish of the underground water system from the shores.


With all that explained, its a lot more thought out than the normal generic "Oh well there is monster X here because they live here." which is sadly, something of the norm in world design with NWN.



Made some Underworld concept shots; detailed screenies showing regions of the Underworld as they might appear.









Abyssal Region (1): A pit filled with bones and ice. While not an uncommon sight for this region, this one is notably different for its apparant use as a sacrificial pit, with carved ledges on the sides of the pit, an altar inside the pit, and a recent victim, not yet picked clean by predators, who was left to die of cold and hunger.







Abyssal Region (1): An old bridge travels through the rocky cliffs of the Abyssal Region. The cliffs are littered with the common skeletal remains and ice, but also offer a hint of another time: remains of sea life from warmer regions, dead trees, and the ruins of what could almost be seen as an old park.







Volcanic Region (4): A passage deep in the Volcanic Region. A shrine to some unknown being of fire, dragon, or perhaps to the raw power of the inferno itself? It appears to still be in use, if the offerings of gold on the carved altars in the passage are anything to go by. Perhaps they are friendly but, let's be honest, how often do you meet someone in a volcano that ever is?







Cavern Region (5): A salvager camp in an abandoned mine. There is money to be made in salvaging the equipment and supplies left behind in the scattered abandoned mines in the Cavern Region. Adventurers beware, though, not all salvagers welcome company. This camp seems to be enjoying sucess, with plenty of findings boxed and ready to be carted out of the mine and into the markets. They are wary, however, because the mine isn't completely empty, and they have built a barrier out of broken furniture and brought a ballista to cover the entrance.







Fungal Region (3): A forest of mushrooms and underground plant life, the fungal region is a place of twisting plants and disease. This forest thrives on the water that seeps through the muddy cave walls from the swamps above, creating a strange underworld garden.







Flooded Region (6): A waterside shrine nestled in the Flooded Region, the Underworld Region beneath the ocean. Though the residents are peaceful, they are still able to defend themselves. They are living underground, after all. They allow travelers to use the dock in the background, if they behave themselves.







Frozen Region (2): A monument buried in the snow and ice of the Frozen Region, overlooking a cold canyon. Flakes of snow blow through the caves from the surface, carried by chill wind that flows through the frozen region's tunnels, slowly burying the monument, and countless other secrets.
I'll probably reorder all of this, and or turn the source bit into an addition to the main Blackbook site as the first real piece on setting specific stuff, but That will take a while.

It will also mandate larger images which IMO is ideal. To fit them into this little frame, way too much detail was sacrificed.

Daily Debriefing

Alright, see the rant below, additionally, World map coding(with both South East, and South West maps added) is finished, although updating/finish maps is still on the 'todo' list, and cropping mini-maps to make web images will take some time and effort, but at least the structure behind it is all present.

You'll probably need to hit F5 to refresh the page(and your browser cache with it). Will probably be doing more later.

Daily Debriefing

More mapping done: Results Here
Web map of course, updated to match.

Daily Debriefing

• Bit more mapping done in the module.


• North East section of the World Map created.


• World Map changed to point to this section as well.

Daily Debriefing

So, It seems I'm the only one working, or the only one posting updates.. No matter! I've been slacking somewhat lately, but some of my mapping work has been uploaded to the site, so while its still not nearly done.. you can take a look over here to see how the northern mountain range is coming.

On a related note, I may do up a NE section tonight too, and redo the linking for that part too. I also spent some time last night making Patrons and Paragons look a bit nicer. I'll still be kicking it all to Roen when finished so he can ply his hand at being editor, and more pointedly re-authoring it all into a more flowing script. Following that, I'll turn it into a real web page with better formatting and get the hell away from the inline frame its presently using.

I may just be old fashion, but it was pounded into my head when first learning HTML that Frames = BAD. However I confess this page is made possible by an inline frame, so maybe the more I play with it, the less I may cling to that belief. My initial concern lies mostly in targeting it.
{A href="Link_URL"}link{/a}
is how most links are written but the inline frame bit forces me to add another parameter, which I don't really like.

target="" It works, fairly well in fact, but its a pain to have to manually add it to all URL links when making a post.
{A href="Link_URL" target="_blank"}link{/a}

However, let's not forget before I used 3 links in this one post alone already.. Suffice to say, its a cumulative headache as more things need to be referenced.

Daily Debriefing

Trans completed:

• A Row
• B Row
• C Row
• D Row
• E Row
• F Row
• G Row
• H Row
• I Row
• J Row
• K Row
• L Row
• M Row

DONE!

On that note, I took a brief break and came up a fun trap script:

Random save, Random DC, Jumps PC to random location, and hides the map on them. Fun 'eh? I also worked up some AOE traps, but they work less well(there are still bugs, Note the plural form 'bugS'). Spell traps may be next.

I may even take tomorrow off, but eventually I'll clean up A-E and do the Mountains.


Edit: I also did a fair bit of web work today, check the main page.

Daily Debriefing

Trans:

• H Row
• I Row

Some web work completed, Roen also made his first post here, also note on the main page, he's introduced(you may need to F5 to refresh).

Daily Debriefing

Trans Completed:

• Row E
• Row F
• Row G

7/13 Done.

Daily Debriefing

Trans completed:

• A Row
• B Row
• C Row
• D Row

4 Row's down, 9 left. Not bad all in all, even more so as I go over ground I'm taking care to ensure all the edges line up, and heights are maintained consistently. Its a pain, but A-D are my baby, and more to the point, I think I'll be taking over Row E as well to ensure the mountain range mesh's back to land level well. Once I get Row E connected in terms of Trans, then I'll spend probably 4-8 hours going over area's and remapping it all to update on the web-map.



I may go do a few simple area's today, but you can see in particular, I took some time to dress up C10 & C11(Ur'krhurthk). I've also extended the road all the way up and out to B06 where it will lead into the fortress city of A06(Waurhkhathth). But I don't want to get into map making yet when I know C Row is liable to change, and I may change B Row to offer some nice steppe terrain with possibly caves here and there..

Additionally, While I was working on C10 & 11 I thought up a nice little quest to work in there, as you can see on C10 there's a bridge across a lake that leads into the terrain. Its my half cocked notion to have a quest from the cities guard captain(or more likely an LT who doesn't want the job) to send the PC to kill the leader of the Miscellaneous_humanoid_tribe who lives there and return with his head.

The reason being of course, the tribe could easily despoil the supply of fresh water that leads through the town and out into the sea. However, I'm thinking it would be far more interesting if the options were above and beyond a simple killing. Maybe negotiate a truce, or Talk the tribe into serving Prince Mardak.

The possibilities are endless, but it's little things like that which will bring the place to life I think.

Daily Debriefing

Did a few more area trans today. Today in general was a lazy sunday, I'll probably get something more productive done over the weekend.

So at the moment

I'm working on transitions, more notably the seamless trans system I cooked up.

1. Drawing them takes a fair bit of time
2. Most must be 1 tile in size.
3. 2 makes 1 even more annoying
4. All of that is due to the fact that to make it idiot proof I went ahead and well, idiot proofed it.

What this means is that when a PC enters Trans A on map A, their thrown to the corresponding side on Map B, in the middle of trans B. This is where it gets fun.. What happens is when entering the trans, a variable is set to keep you from using another trans. Its removed, when you enter trans B, instead of Trans B actually moving you.