1168 replies to this topic

[jastey]

 

Wait - the game can run while NI is open? I always tried to prevent this from happening.

Yes, that should work fine with all IE games. However, changes made in NI while the game is open are usually not registered until you restart the game.
 

 

 Also, it depends on the game--the original BG locks the tlk file, so NI can't read any of the strings while BG runs. BG2(EE) + NI is just fine but, as argent says, changes generally won't show up until you restart the game.

Thanks for the info! I learn something new every day. (Awesome feature, btw.)

[Sam.]

Here you go:

Thank you Sam!!!!
It works great in your tool. Off to make same new items.
I hope it didn't take a lot of your time.

For your reference, PaletteGenerator has been updated with better default paperdolls and 1ppv4 paperdolls than I had provided previously.

[Gwendolyne]

Whenever I try to put bam into resource field of #215 opcode (Graphics: Play 3D Effect), if there's vvc with the same name NI changes resource from bam to that vvc upon saving. Either a bug or intended behaviour which I disagree with

If I'm not mistaken, this is simply a reflection of engine behavior--if you specify "foo" as the resource the engine will play foo.vvc if it exists, and will only play foo.bam if foo.vvc does not exist*. If you want to play a BAM file directly you'll have to specify one that doesn't have an identically-named VVC.

The resource field is only eight characters, so you're actually specifying "filename" not "filename.bam". NI is simply adding the file extension for your edification.

* Should note that 'foo.vef' would also take priority, but VEFs are used pretty much nowhere.

 

I agree: the priority display order is VEF, VVC, BAM. Using VEF files is an awesome way to play complex visual effects with opcode #215.

 

To handle with this, I use general names for bam files and specific ones for vvc. For example, firegr would display a blast of green fire vvc file using feuvert.bam (green fire in French); or firegree.bam

That way, I can use the bam firegree (or feuvert) both in maps and in vvc files used by spell effects or projectiles.

[Creepin]

Using VEF files is an awesome way to play complex visual effects with opcode #215.

Thank you for mentioning that Gwendolyne! I am building a (relatively) complex animation right now with the use of multiple nested effects, and I had no idea there's already a format just for that. However there's no single VEF in BG2, do you know where I could get one to use as an example and template?

[Gwendolyne]

IESDP doc.

 

But the must to read is this.

 

I use VEF file to play long duration effects mixing many vvc and wav files. However there is a limitation to use VEF format you will discover in the tutorial.

[Creepin]

Great tutorial, thanks for the link!

[Creepin]

I have noticed that NI sometimes give me "G" in bcs files instead of "Global" and "GGT" instead of "GlobalGT" (weirdly, not in the each block of the same bcs). Is that intentional or some weird quirk?

[The Imp]

I have noticed that NI sometimes give me "G" in bcs files instead of "Global" and "GGT" instead of "GlobalGT" (weirdly, not in the each block of the same bcs). Is that intentional or some weird quirk?

Is this in the original or the EE games ? Cause I would remember something like this to be in the EE games.

[jastey]

I have no hits on "GGT(" neither for BGII nor BGII:EE. Could you give a script name? And I feel silly for even asking, but might it be a mod added script?

[Creepin]

Is this in the original or the EE games ? Cause I would remember something like this to be in the EE games.

Original of course

 

I have no hits on "GGT(" neither for BGII nor BGII:EE. Could you give a script name? And I feel silly for even asking, but might it be a mod added script?

I noticed that in a BWS' dplayer3.bcs, so yes, it's absolutely mod added    What puzzles me though is that while such truncation could indeed been used in baf, why is it still visible after being compiled into binary and decompiled back?

[CamDawg]

G, GGT, and GLT are all valid triggers (0x40c6-8 in trigger.ids) and do exactly the same function as their longer counterparts. One key difference is that the GLOBAL scope is assumed, so it can't be used for LOCALS or area variables.

[Ulb]

@Argent

I've noticed that NI's Bam converter (awesome tool by the way) has issues with bigger file/frame sizes. Using larger frames (which the EE's can handle) or too many will result in an unexpected error when trying to save. I assume this is some kind of memory issue.

To clarify: the converter can handle larger frames just fine as long as there are just a few but it can't handle enough to save a full set of 8 animation sequences..

Edited by Ulb, 01 March 2019 - 12:55 AM.

[Gwendolyne]

Since I installed java 64 bit, I don't have any more this kind of issue, even with 800x640 creature animation bam files.

[Ulb]

Thanks for the hint, I'll give it a try.

[Ulb]

Works like a charm, thank you!

[Argent77]

Yeah, several features of NI require a great amount of memory (e.g. BAM converter or area viewer). By now I would strongly advise to use NI with the 64-bit Java Runtime only.

[Andrea C.]

Speaking of BAM converter—is it possible to support bulk conversion of an arbitrary number of files from and to the BAM format?

[Gwendolyne]

Argent77 is developing a BAM creator utility but I don't think he released it yet.

 

Otherwise, you can export a session files (.ini) that records all the operations you did with your bam file (cycles, frames order, coordinates, color post-processing, resizing...) and apply it to other bam files.

[Sam.]

Speaking of BAM converter—is it possible to support bulk conversion of an arbitrary number of files from and to the BAM format?

PS BAM supports converting an arbitrary number of BAM files to a number of formats including individual BMPs, animated GIF sequences, and BAMD files, and then can convert them back to BAMs again (or vice versa).  If you're interested, I'd be happy to show you how it works.

[Sam.]

I think I have identified an issue with how NI Area Viewer renders night areas with animated overlays.  When the overlays are enabled, the night shading doesn't seem to be correct:

BG2:

 

NI Area Viewer with overlays disabled:

 

NI Area Viewer with overlays enabled:

 

 

Additionally, BAMs don't seem to render properly when Background Animations->Show actual animations is enabled, but the transparent color in the BAM is something other than the traditional green (such as BW1's stupid teal color).  The BAM renders properly in the game (BG2).