6 replies to this topic

[Saigon1983]

Good day (or night) to everyone!

 

This morning I found a big problem of modding in my country. Most of those, who actively participated in mod creation about five-ten years ago in present have no time for it or have no wish to start... Very sad.

 

But the basic problem, IMHO, is in lack of russian tutorials of IE Modding. Some of previous utilites are now not supported. Or the source code had changed a lot, or something else...

 

So, I need your help, brothers and sisters in arms! I want to resurrect an interest in IE Modding among my compatriots! We love mods! We need mods! We want to make mods!

 

For the start, I want to create a library of IE utilites tutorials, translated to russian. For this I need a list of actual modding tools and programs and links to their manuals (if such exists). Especially for EE version of IE. There is no avaliable russian database of these tools for now.

 

So, please, post here everything, that would help. There is no sense to roam through the tones of texts, posted in this forums. Especially, that 50% of it is not actual now. I (as a represent of others) would be thankful to know:

 

1. How do you make mods? I mean, what actual programs and tools do you use to create a mod? Included animation, graphics, items, kits, NPCs, maps etc. If someone post a list of resourses, needed for it and actual for EE, I would be very grateful.

2. What manuals are good for translate? I suppose, that noone of us wasn't born as a majestic modder. So, everyone somehow began his/her way with definite instructions. If you mind to place a link to an actual and well-written  manual - it would be very good!

3. If someone somehow has any russian manual of any age, please also post a link here.

 

In general, any help would be accepted)

Edited by Saigon1983, 14 March 2015 - 11:46 AM.

[Mike1072]

The most important is probably the IESDP.

[Aldark]

Mike, thank you for your reply!

IESDP is indeed a great source of information about IE inner formats but what we need is more like an overview of the modding process, As far as I know nowadays the most useful tools for modding BG are NearInfinity and WeiDU but they are not enough to build complete mod, e.g. to generate tileset from a picture we have to use DLTCEP and DLTCEP is legacy utility without any piece of source code provided. What are alternatives and what kind of tools do you use exectly to create your modifications?

 

Also, I hear from time to time about some kind of mod resource prefixes which are provided by BlackWyrm to modders. What are they for and should I register mine if I want to create some mod?

 

In short, we want to see a big picture of mods development process and its pitfalls, understand what tools to use for making the mods, how to use these tools and how to distribute ready-to-install mods in fashionable way (hi BWP). As the result we are going to create manual in Russian which will help other people to make their mods.

 

I have seen a lot of information on modding on this website and on others but I haven't found such manual anywhere.

 

And last but not least, it will be very helpful for us if you describe your own experience in modding.

Edited by Aldark, 14 March 2015 - 04:44 PM.

[K4thos]

and DLTCEP is legacy utility without any piece of source code provided.

it supports relatively new PVRZ format, so I wouldn't call it legacy software. Source code is available: http://sourceforge.n...ci/master/tree/

 

Also, I hear from time to time about some kind of mod resource prefixes which are provided by BlackWyrm to modders. What are they for and should I register mine if I want to create some mod?

Infinity Engine supports up to 8 character file names. Let's say you create a creature named JAN.CRE If you don't use some kind of prefix it will conflict with vanilla JAN.CRE file. And if you choose prefix that is already reserved it's possible that your, let's say A#JAN.CRE, will conflict with another mod that already use the same prefix and also added such file. It's also easier to identify which resource come from which mod when they are all properly named. I wasn't aware about BlackWyrm index up until recntly, which is a damn shame, as changing the prefix in all my mods now will be a big hassle (not even sure if I'm going to do so, due to amount of things that would need to be changed and possible regressions). It's better to follow the standard from the start, so yep, register your prefix on BlackWyrm (or whatever site has that list).

Edited by K4thos, 14 March 2015 - 08:58 PM.

[The Imp]

about BlackWyrm index ...

And pre-fix petition thread.

[Aldark]

and DLTCEP is legacy utility without any piece of source code provided.

it supports relatively new PVRZ format, so I wouldn't call it legacy software. Source code is available: http://sourceforge.n...ci/master/tree/
 
 

Thanks for the link K4thos! I haven't seen this one earlier so I am taking my words back. That is why we need a hand exactly.
 
 

I wasn't aware about BlackWyrm index up until recntly, which is a damn shame,

 
And if there was any guide on modding which describes the process from idea to distribution you would know about this index from start (clearly, I doesn't mean technical side which some guide like "Your first custom NPC for BG" is covering but rather methodological side). That is the shame that there is no such guide yet (or again I have overlooked the one like I did with DLTCEP).
 
Is there something else we should know about pitfalls of IE modding?

Edited by Aldark, 15 March 2015 - 11:45 AM.

[Almateria]

Generally, I think that the dwindling interest in modding Baldur's Gate is caused by, it being an insanely old game, build on an ass backwards engine, that not much people play anymore