14 replies to this topic

[Black Wizard]

Hi, I'm a long time fan of the Baldur's Gate series and now I'm trying to get into the modding scene. I've downloaded and installed DLTCEP but the problem is there are very few tutorials on how to use it.

My ultimate goal is to make a sort of total conversion mod for SoA, where the player will play through my own original campaign, but I know that might be an overly-ambitious goal to start with.

I would like the people who read this thread to direct me to whatever tutorials may help get started and any other tools besides DLTCEP that I might need.

Thank you in advance!

[Daulmakan]

Welcome.

My first advice is, drop entirely the total conversion idea. It's simply not feasible, even less so for someone who's just starting. Otherwise, you'll get frustrated and burnt out in no time.

For tutorials, see here:
http://www.shsforums...5-ie-tutorials/
http://forums.gibber...hp?showforum=62

[Sam.]

For other tools, you might be interested in NearInfinity and PS gui, depending on what type of editing you would like to do.

[Black Wizard]

Thanks again to everyone who posted here! I'll be search to search through the links you gave to see if I can find anything useful.

Just so we're clear here, when I mentioned a 'total conversion', maybe that's not the right term for it. I don't wanna change anything in the game's mechanics (combat, spells, classes, gameplay in general, etc.). I just want to create a new story, with new characters and quests. Do you think that is doable?

[Jarno Mikkola]

Just so we're clear here, when I mentioned a 'total conversion', maybe that's not the right term for it. I don't wanna change anything in the game's mechanics (combat, spells, classes, gameplay in general, etc.). I just want to create a new story, with new characters and quests. Do you think that is doable?

That's a total convertion...if you look at the Sam's signature, he has been involved with one, the Classic Adventures. It's doable, for a one person, it's going to take it's sweet time though... but there is the original BGT to testify that it can be done.
And you should take Daulmakan advice... try something simple at first, and then expand from there on out.
Yeah, it's nice to have ideas, but to make them to real mods is harder than you would think, and the fact that they are hard can actually make it better when you succeed.
Now, take that as an advice that you should start small, but from there you can do a lot of great things if you put the time in and see what other people have done and how they did it. Also looking other peoples projects helps, but only if you can understand what they did... so and asking is always allowed, and encouraged.

[Black Wizard]

Just so we're clear here, when I mentioned a 'total conversion', maybe that's not the right term for it. I don't wanna change anything in the game's mechanics (combat, spells, classes, gameplay in general, etc.). I just want to create a new story, with new characters and quests. Do you think that is doable?

That's a total convertion...if you look at the Sam's signature, he has been involved with one, the Classic Adventures. It's doable, for a one person, it's going to take it's sweet time though... but there is the original BGT to testify that it can be done.
And you should take Daulmakan advice... try something simple at first, and then expand from there on out.
Yeah, it's nice to have ideas, but to make them to real mods is harder than you would think, and the fact that they are hard can actually make it better when you succeed.
Now, take that as an advice that you should start small, but from there you can do a lot of great things if you put the time in and see what other people have done and how they did it. Also looking other peoples projects helps, but only if you can understand what they did... so and asking is always allowed, and encouraged.

You're right, of course. I won't abandon the Total Conversion idea, but since I'm a total noob, I'll put it on hold. I do have another, simpler project, it's a companion mod. I think I'll start with that.

Thanks!

[Jarno Mikkola]

You're right, of course. I won't abandon the Total Conversion idea, but since I'm a total noob, I'll put it on hold. I do have another, simpler project, it's a companion mod. I think I'll start with that.

And here's a good guide for that.

[Black Wizard]

You're right, of course. I won't abandon the Total Conversion idea, but since I'm a total noob, I'll put it on hold. I do have another, simpler project, it's a companion mod. I think I'll start with that.

And here's a good guide for that.

Thanks, I was actually already reading into that. I've hit one small snag though, in the CRE section of the tutorial, the author tells us to change the override script to our NPC file name, but here's the thing, he (or she) hasn't told us to create any scripts yet, I haven't created BCS files, so naturally there's nothing with NPC filename in the list of possible override scripts. What am I missing here?

[Tempest]

Nothing. Just change it and name the script file appropriately when you do create it later in the tutorial.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Thanks, I was actually already reading into that. I've hit one small snag though, in the CRE section of the tutorial, the author tells us to change the override script to our NPC file name, but here's the thing, he (or she) hasn't told us to create any scripts yet, I haven't created BCS files, so naturally there's nothing with NPC filename in the list of possible override scripts. What am I missing here?

Well, you are missing the fact that the script is created later, and it allows you to control the creatures actions... like say you talk to the NPC, and finish, the script looks up if you made any changes to globals and act accordingly*. So just like naming the creature, you just pick the file name at random** and when the content requires a use of a scripted actions, this script is extended to do that. And you do that by actually writing a text file with extension called .baf, and you compile it with the renamed Weidu.exe in the install.

*Say the player talk the NPC to become a Paladin by predefined path of the dialogs in the mod, the dialog file itself cannot do this action, but it can set a global marker and which the characters script can read and the script changes the global value again and adjusts the characters class to become a paladin.

**By random I mean that you probably should request a file prefix from there at some point to avoid compatibility messes and start trying... or you can wait on that, but read what prefixes have already taken...

[Black Wizard]

Hey, I got a new prob, I got to the point where I get to test my mod. So I installed another mod called Dungeon Be Gone to skip Irenicus's Dungeon, so I wouldn't have to play all the way through it for the sole purpose of getting to the copper Coronet to see if my mod worked out. I ran the installer, and it seemed to install fine but then I got this black screen:



Just so you know, setup-Elisa.exe.debug is the name of the debug file of my mod. I don't know why my mod's name showed up. I guess maybe my mod and Dungeon be gone are conflicting with one another? Anyways the fact is the guide that you're supposed to talk to skip the dungeon doesn't appear, so Dungeon be Gone isn't working. How do I make it so the two mods don't conflict?

[Jarno Mikkola]

How do I make it so the two mods don't conflict?

Well, from the picture, the computer thinks that the setup-elisa.exe.debug is actually a renamed weidu.exe... or you have removed the original setup-elisa.exe ... now the weidu.exe tried to compare the setup-DungeonBeGone.exe to that file, and it gets confused, as the normal procedure would update the all the renamed weidu.exe's to it's last version, this automatic process done to avoid bugs, but it fails...
What you could do is to copy the setup-elisa.exe from your mod folder to your game folder and remove the setup-DungeonBeGone.exe, and then rename the setup-elisa.exe to be setup-DungeonBeGone.exe and then start it.

[Black Wizard]

Nevermind, I got it all sorted out... I just have one little thing now, when I meet Elisabeth (my NPC) in the Tavern, she doesn't have her sword equipped. Now once she joins I can have her equip no problem, but she does look rather silly holding her shield with no weapon. How do I get her to equip her sword?

[Mike1072]

Presumably you put the weapon in one of the weapon slots in her .cre file. You also need to change her "selected weapon" to this slot. You can do this with NI or DLTCEP, or you can remove the item from the .cre and do the whole adding-and-equipping of the weapon in your .tp2 when you COPY the .cre into the game:

COPY ~yourmod/yourcre.cre~ ~override~
ADD_CRE_ITEM ~yourweap~ #0 #0 #0 ~NONE~ ~WEAPON1~ EQUIP

where yourweap.itm is the sword to add and equip.

Edited by Mike1072, 05 December 2012 - 04:58 PM.

[Black Wizard]

Ok, I had to take a couple days off for personal stuff but I'm ready to get back into modding. I'll be sure to post any further questions I have here.

EDIT: There is something you could help with me with, modding IE requires a lot of tools (WeiDU, Shadowkeeper, near Infinity, Infinity Explorer), but from what I understand DLTCEP can do the functions of all these except WeiDu, so I'd like any tutorials I can get on it. I'm currently reading into this one:

http://www.simpilot....ltcep/index.htm

But if you know of any others, be sure to leave the links here on the thread.

Edited by Black Wizard, 08 December 2012 - 07:48 AM.