tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73842895313167377242024-02-08T07:04:37.344+01:00Middleforest - A Project for NWNCasahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-35787392638685603172016-11-14T05:45:00.001+01:002016-11-14T05:46:18.994+01:00Bored!Well hello out there! Anyone still following?<br />
Tonight I felt horribly bored and suddenly missed my old roleplaying days in Dammendrech. I fired up pretty much every RPG I still have on my hard drive, from Fallout 4 to Baldur's Gate, and nothing really inspired me but one little thing... building settlements in FO4 is kinda fun. But such a waste of time. You can make yourself a wonderful little home and it's just lifeless, nothing going on there... Well, long story short, I miss building. And roleplaying. Both. But for now, building.<br />
<br />
If anyone of you talented builder folks out there are still reading this, I've got a question:<br />
I made a lot of areas and other stuff for Middleforest, some of that I really like. But for now, if I really build something again, I'd rather start with something small, some tiny areas with lots of stuff in it, creative building for myself, some NPCs that do something... anyway, I did soooooo much work with my haks back then, tlk edits, whatever, and I can't for my life remember what it all was and how to do it, nor do I want to start making haks from scratch again. I just want to start building.<br />
Sooo... I know some people use loose files in campaign folders for their modules, and that reminded me... wasn't there some way to easily extract or even have the toolset/game "autoextract" only the files from haks that it actually uses? Without me having to dig into my gigabytes of Middleforest haks for weeks again? <br />
<br />
Also, if you have a recommendation for multiplayer servers that are still alive, I'm listening. Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-23047149656045919162015-02-14T06:46:00.002+01:002015-02-14T06:46:52.963+01:00Huh? Where did this come from?2015 seems to get more and more promising regarding RPGs... sign me up for this one too!<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jZmyUfDP1no" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
Don't forget though, never preorder games.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-64553437248127170932015-02-08T11:53:00.005+01:002015-02-08T11:53:59.859+01:00So yeah... I have that new blog... <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hey ho... well, my Middleforest project is dead, and so seems to be this blog about it... I didn't really feel like ranting about other games again like I used to, although Dragon Age Inquisition provided a lot of good reasons... But, I kept myself busy with other stuff lately that involves going out and getting some fresh air and all that. So I decided to try blogging about that instead. So if you're interested in rants about other things, like... photography maybe... feel free to keep an eye on my <a href="http://casadechrisso.blogspot.de/" target="_blank">new blog</a>, not much to see there yet but that'll probably change soon.</span>Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-30267890062037677482014-06-24T17:22:00.001+02:002014-06-24T17:22:37.804+02:00Blergh. Getting Dragon Age Facebook updates from Bioware, seeing another Emo-Character included as fanservice for troubled teenagers... Bioware won't sell me any games anymore I'm afraid.<br />
<br />
And if Obsidian was my last hope for good RPGs, well, yeah, Pillars of Eternity is coming for the real oldschool kick, but instead of another Fallout New Vegas they're working on a World of Tanks-clone now. I'd say my RPG addiction is finally cured, real life here I come.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-27333512533729645642014-04-25T22:53:00.001+02:002014-04-25T22:54:18.082+02:00A little sign of lifeOh, hey there. Quite dusty here.<br />
So, as you might have imagined Middleforest is pretty much dead. Well, it certainly smells funny and my life has changed enough during the last 2 years that I'm pretty certain I won't touch the toolset anytime soon again. I'll be back when NWN3 is out and I'm having another depression I guess. Currently I'm trying to get to Uni (have to pass a few tests, wish me luck) to study something completely different, and I'm really looking forward to that. It might not be totally unrelated to Middleforest, but has nothing to do with game design, design and the crap I did before. Wooo!<br />
Anyway, Middleforest might be dead for now, but there's a little hope that some of it's DNA will live on... I gave the whole module to Cipher and gave him permission to use whatever he wants in his <a href="http://gameofthrones.net/" target="_blank">Game of Thrones PW</a>. I hope he'll be more successful than I was, keep a look at his work. Who knows, if I ever get an itch again, maybe I'll plant some trees in his areas or send him a few not lore-friendly naked elves.<br />
As for blogging, I had the vague idea of making another blog, dunno if anyone would be interested. For the last year or so I rediscovered photography again after years of absence (working for a pro-photographer ruined my hobby) and made a busload of concert photos, along with some street- and some amateurish "home studio" photography. All not on a professional level, but I'm having lots of fun and it's a hobby that gets me more into real life and people again. I'm already sitting on a huge pile of pics I personally like a lot, and - a little connection to gaming - I thought about getting in contact with cosplayers or LARPers maybe for some portraits... let me know what you think, it might be a project for the later summer (Gamescom is here in August), if I overcome my shyness and agoraphobia until then. ;)Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-7290993120098286282013-11-19T22:54:00.001+01:002013-11-21T00:08:36.744+01:00KudosApparently there are still some lone survivors working on new content for the game... I wish I could be arsed to open the toolset again, some new and almost unnoticed stuff over at the Nexus would actually be worth it. But me, ever combine 2da files again...? I doubt it. Anyway, have a look, I totally would've used this stuff in Middleforest.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://neverwinter2.nexusmods.com/mods/828/?" target="_blank">Lights Pack</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://neverwinter2.nexusmods.com/mods/850//?" target="_blank">Pits and Entrances</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://neverwinter2.nexusmods.com/mods/848//?" target="_blank">Visible Breath Effect</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://neverwinter2.nexusmods.com/mods/845//?" target="_blank">Startled Ravens</a><br />
<br />
Great to see new and really nice stuff again, I hope somebody will put it to good use.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-5373869461253207952013-07-25T23:32:00.002+02:002013-07-25T23:33:05.569+02:00What could've beenSo very very sad. If you've read my rants in the past you should remember my hate-filled posts about Bioware's art and design decisions. So here's what could've been and the only question left is why don't they have the balls to actually do it like that? Sigh.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://mattrhodesart.blogspot.ca/2013/07/concept-art-behind-scenes.html">http://mattrhodesart.blogspot.ca/2013/07/concept-art-behind-scenes.html</a>Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-23114016097944427462013-05-24T02:13:00.001+02:002013-05-24T02:25:40.028+02:00The big Casa interview: Missing the role-play fix and other brainfarts<br />
Oh, hello there... how did you find me in this quiet dark corner? Let me just dust off that chair... oh no, not a cold, just not used to talking much anymore... <ahem>... </ahem><br />
<br />
So how's your roleplay been lately? Oh? Well, mine... pretty much nonexistant really... your NWN project? Good? Mine... oh... um... chest over there, last drawer... oh yeah, that's dirty sheets and pistachio shells, look on the left... yeah, looks a bit roughed up, doesn't it? Oh! Don't toss that away, it's not a rug but my 3D pro... oh, whatever, just put it in the ashtray there. What I'm up to? huh... let me just get a smoke and refill my glass...<br />
<br />
___________________<br />
<br />
So, Casa is sad because there's no roleplay fix to find anymore anywhere and the faith in NWN has apparently left finally. "But why is that?" you ask? Hmm, where do I start... Why not start with an interview by my cat? He's watching me all day, maybe he asks the right questions.<br />
<br />
___________________<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPw2w3PQZY_RaZr4iiulpTIqim4tK1OCc8jdTKxN91vl4ks7hQyfHSTE1udDjskCFDBwB3WEm62n8PiU8KAFszpNRdRbl_pyHDPzofzfovmpI_9ljbbR8QqpuNvZCcUZrWFl3rV-3AoqKt/s1600/946670_10201158406663392_559888668_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPw2w3PQZY_RaZr4iiulpTIqim4tK1OCc8jdTKxN91vl4ks7hQyfHSTE1udDjskCFDBwB3WEm62n8PiU8KAFszpNRdRbl_pyHDPzofzfovmpI_9ljbbR8QqpuNvZCcUZrWFl3rV-3AoqKt/s200/946670_10201158406663392_559888668_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interview: Dalaigh the Casa-cat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Dalaigh: Welcome tin-opener, glad you found the time to make it from your desk to our couch. First of, let me ask you a basic question: Why did you start creating a Neverwinter Nights Persistent World in the first place (instead of cuddling me)?</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Casa.: Thanks for having me on my couch, cat. Well, I started as a player on Persistent Worlds back in NWN1 times and enjoyed the roleplay very very much, however I always thought something could be done about the environments we played in, making them more immersive and role-play-friendly. So as soon as I could finally get a Windows PC (I started playing the Mac version without a toolset and for a long time could only complain about other people's areas) I learned the basics of the toolset and offered help to the people who hosted the PW I played on... </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: Make it short, I'm getting bored </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: Okay, so I made some area designs, but was constantly unhappy about the limits set by the PW (rules, hak sets etc.), and since not all my ideas were met with applause and praise, I thought I'd make something where only my own rules apply and I'd not have to fight for it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: I see you can't wait to give us more insights on why you just can't play by the rules of others and had to do your own genius thing. Let's start with area design, I know you want me to ask about that and rules seperately because I'm your cat. So, area design... have you always been so picky about that?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: To tell the truth, yes. My main concern has always been immersion and truly immersive gameplay, whereas many other builder's and player's concern has been gameplay only and going along the building "rules" for optimal performance. There are some building "rules" for PWs out there most people applied to, while I never liked them and went by the rule "everything's possible as long as it doesn't seriously breaks things", where "serious" of course is always in the eye of the beholder. One example would be the so-and-so many placeables per tile rule of thumbs, or where on the grid to place them... or, so and so many heartbeat scripts or... many of those rules led to boring area design, while I threw together stuff for the looks and only changed it when it broke stuff. Anyway, yeah, I wanted the game to look as good as possible, and as immersive as possible. And strangely all the stuff I build was perfectly playable in multiplayer. Just like very large areas are perfectly playable, depending how you build them... most rules of thumb are outdated or only apply to servers that are almost as crowded as a MMO, which never happens in the roleplay niche. On a huge action PW totally different things matter than on a small roleplay PW, a roleplay world can get away with some pathfinding bugs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: But you never finished your NWN project anyway, so no proof for that. Let's go over to gameplay then, I'm sure you nitpicked a lot about that too and claimed you can do better. </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: Yes, definitely. I always wanted to get away from the "I need to kill lots of stuffs to proceed", also rewarding teamplay instead of punishing for it was a big deal - how often I heard "I'm better off fighting alone" or "you're ruining our xp"... bah! The base xp system of NWN is rewarding solo play, so a different form of xp distribution is preferred, and also rewarding non-combat activities and roleplay. I learned very early on that this is possible, witnessed a very good attempt on Vives and totally wanted something like that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: There are other systems for hardcore roleplayers too, like HCR (eat and drink, sleep, fatigue, resting limitations etc.), have you considered those?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: I'm impressed how well informed you are about these things, my cat. Considered yes, but not seriously. I like realism, but hate if it's packed into too many limiting rules. Eating, sleeping, all that should be a matter of roleplay only, once role-play is forced by game mechanics it becomes a burden, and playing should be fun. No, I'm not a fan of those hardcore systems, I like having fun and now and then ignore the rules too. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: I did my research. </i></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMR4DmaNJ-ReaJnEkPBTncGChBHV5DeHloQzTCLck9XRu8N03DD18YCu-rsLpDMdijY2ygF-xQcUnk3jL1qlfI7keKtXjne6m7qgfC0VfCi8HINvVrlA715lK84hH4QAFc487vmTM0P4Z4/s1600/525290_10200883890240653_605255702_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMR4DmaNJ-ReaJnEkPBTncGChBHV5DeHloQzTCLck9XRu8N03DD18YCu-rsLpDMdijY2ygF-xQcUnk3jL1qlfI7keKtXjne6m7qgfC0VfCi8HINvVrlA715lK84hH4QAFc487vmTM0P4Z4/s200/525290_10200883890240653_605255702_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The interviewer researching</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
<i>D.: So let me get this straight, you want roleplay and immersion, but without enforcing it by game mechanics? Do you think you can get away with that? How do you think you can keep people away from simply hacking and slashing away in your world?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: By area design and general atmosphere. You have no idea how much an immersive world can actually "make" people want to roleplay, simply because everything else would be unfitting. That said, I don't want to keep people from having some fun now and then, everyone needs to let some steam off or enjoys a dungeon crawl from time to time. Roleplay nazis are no fun. A too strict ruleset is no fun either. I'm all for freedom, as long as it doesn't ruin the experience for others. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: What about the setting, doesn't that define the rules and roleplay too? What about classes, are there roleplaying rules for those?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: Setting, yes... of course the roleplay should fit into the setting. As for classes, here we are at the main problem I always had with D&D, I don't believe classes shouldn't be taken too seriously and enforce a certain kind of roleplay that is defined by standard rulesets. Nothing is more boring than yet another stereotype, I hate stereotypes. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: Can you elaborate on that? I know you want to. So you're basically okay with building any kind of character and not roleplaying the build at all? Intelligence 8 and a smartass because stats don't matter? Hardly a roleplayer's approach. </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: No no, don't get me wrong, I'm all for playing out your build and stats, but not in a narrow ruleset or stereotypic way. I don't think the classes should matter much, more it's abilities. I like class-less systems, but D&D is not one of those, and actually I also like a certain kind of build "guidance" they provide, however I'm very much for giving people as much freedom as possible as to how to play them out. Some people don't think in class categories, but have a certain idea of a character in mind that has this and that ability to spice them up and make them interesting. All that with roleplay in mind - I'm not talking about cherrypicking for a power build, more like... well, maybe a roleplaying power build. "My character is a badass soldier, but he has a soft heart, so he needs a rabbit in his backpack to cuddle". Take a wizard level for the rabbit, no problem... or, I want to make a charming hippie elf. She's singing and dancing all day and loves nature and has a thing for exotic spices... so, bard/druid it is... see, it's about weird and fun characters, this is what I like to see in a RP world, and I hate to ruin it or limiting a player's creativity by saying "no no, if you take that class you must play it so-and-so". </div>
<div>
Of course, if they WANT to play a class out in an oldfashioned manner, all fine with that, I've seen wonderful examples of roleplay "by the rules". Just, no enforcement. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: Well, that's all good and fine... do you have any other examples of changing the rules to your liking or doing stuff others don't? </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C: First and foremost getting rid of the Forgotten Realms setting and lore of course, it comes with a huge amount of rules on it's own and frankly, I neither care nor know much about it. It bores me to tears. Also, getting rid of that allows me to go more into european and non-Tolkienesqe folklore, at least partly. Second, the black&white alignment system. Nothing good to say about that. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: Tin-opener, this all was another huge advertising for your strange project that so far still hasn't seen the light of the day. Did you notice you talk a lot and do nothing at all? Why is the progress so slow, or should I better ask, will you ever go public with this project of yours or are you done with it?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: That's a very good question cat, and honestly I don't know the right answer. I'm feeling a little itch to build almost every day, actually I'm thinking of areas all the time. When I see something inspiring or beautiful I think "wow, that's an idea I should try in the toolset". When I see what content people like Tchos <a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/163/index/16601583/1" target="_blank">work on</a>, I'm feeling the itch to use it too. But... at the same time I just feel that I've lost all faith in NWN2's future, especially in it's multiplayer, and that it's not worth the effort. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: Can you explain what led to this hopelessness?</i> </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: Aside from all the building problems I've had you mean? There are a few things, let's see... </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>The shrinking community and the overall lack of enthusiasm for the game. Apparently I'm not the only person who's had a NWN depression, it seems to affect a lot of builders, content creators...</li>
<li>My experience with Dammendrech and the end of that PW. It meant a lot to me as a RP haven, I think it was a wonderful world that did at least a lot of things right and had wonderful area design, along with some of the most wonderful roleplayers I've ever met. I never understood why the world wasn't more successful - I mean, it lacked some advertising, the autodownloader came way too late, there wasn't much to do for one player alone etc... but still, this world deserved better, and seeing how a PW with so much heartblood in it just failed to attract more players discouraged me a lot. After Dammendrech's end I had a hard time finding an alternative and after trying some PWs gave up. Without playing NWN2 anymore I guess my interest in building faded too. </li>
<li>The fail of the Nexus. I honestly believed that move would bring some fresh blood into NWN again, getting support by the most popular mod site on the net. First it even looked like finally NWN would get some publicity again, but sadly that didn't last long - it didn't help that half of the community felt like supporting the Nexus would mean a betrayal to the NWN Vault I guess. It was never meant to, and it was a publicity stunt trying to get NWN closer to the big modding scene again. That this was not only a fail but actually was met with some hostility was very discouraging. </li>
<li>Gamespy support, which was dropped. The community made a fix, but it still means NWN is even less accessible to new players than before, because they have to find the fix and have the will to use it, which is already too much to ask of most people who just got the game on a GoG sale out of curiosity. If the multiplayer for such an old game with such a small community left doesn't work right out of the box, I don't think any new player would go through the effort to research. It might be a small thing for long-time players, but it was another huge discouragement to me.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<i>D.: So does that mean you're done, you end the project with this?</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: I don't know, I think I'd never say "it's over" as long as I still have the toolset on my computer and feel a certain itch to build from time to time. But I honestly don't think I should make any more promises or even speculate about a future. At this time it has collected dust for I don't know how many months, and as much as I want to I don't see any future in NWN2's multiplayer. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: Have you ever thought about making a single player module then?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: Briefly, but no... First, this is something even harder with my limited scripting abilities. I once considered a conversion of "A Dance With Rogues" because I think I could make beautiful areas for it, but that's too much for me alone. Also, frankly it was never the singleplayer I played NWN for, it has this unique multiplayer role-play experience no other game in this world offers and that hooked me up on it. If I wanted to do singleplayer stuff I guess these days I'd sooner learn the Skyrim toolset, this game REALLY needs better stories - NWN2 has great storytelling from people who are better at it than I am. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: So where do you get your roleplay fix nowadays if not in NWN2? </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: Nowhere, and I miss it a lot. It's funny that every shit game on the market these days has a multiplayer mode and that there are more MMOs than anyone can count, and yet there's no roleplay to be had anywhere that comes close to NWN's PW experience. I tried a lot, but there's nothing. Strangely there are singleplayer games like Skyrim that offer everything a good multiplayer roleplaying game should have, like I don't know... countless emotes, useable furniture, shitloads of RP items... just no multiplayer. MMOs on the other hand, you can't even use a chair there and you're constantly overrun by some stupid player mounts. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>D.: That's a very sad tale and I'm horribly bored by it's lenght and all your unproductive whining. Feed me now. </i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
C.: <sigh> okay. </sigh></div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-61633454197344496972012-12-14T16:46:00.001+01:002012-12-14T16:46:33.024+01:00Stop teasing me! Oh, and some music stuffs. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4FuHmXC9yzw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Just stumbled over this while reading Tchos' <a href="http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/693975-the-black-scourge-of-candle-cove-tchos-development-diary/" target="_blank">development diary</a> ---<br />
GOD! How long have I wanted a watermill in NWN2? This is so gorgeous! Beautiful! Amazing!<br />
What a goddamn shame it's from Skyrim and therefore will probably never be available for us. Hey Mr. Mysterious modder, show yourself and make us stuff like this we can actually use! Pretty please? And while you're on it, please do all my custom content wishes for me... ah well, let's start slow.<br />
<br />
Another little teaser comes from Tchos himself, I like that:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/2IwYOanuFIo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
This video raised a few questions maybe some of you might answer:<br />
<br />
1. Do you have any recommendations on free music in a similar style? I was always hoping to find some appropriate tavern music, medieval style, that is free to use. If you have tips on ambient music too, I might be interested - but I'm very picky here! As some might remember, Michael's tip on Arcanum's soundtrack was so far the best addition. If you know of any other free game music in a similar style, I'd be very interested. I'm NOT interested in any Synthie or modern-ish styles though, it must be classic, classy and atmospheric.<br />
<br />
2. I was happy to see that old NWN1-style music effect, I also liked the Zzzzz for sleep which I would like to have back too. But I was wondering, does anyone know about flavor text in NWN1's and how to add it? <br />
<br />
<br />Finally let me praise Xaltar's <a href="http://neverwinter.nexusmods.com/mods/212/" target="_blank">Facelift pack</a> again: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://neverwinter.nexusmods.com/mods/images/212-1-1348936241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="http://neverwinter.nexusmods.com/mods/images/212-1-1348936241.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I nitpicked a bit about that in the comments, I know, but still... why did it take so long until someone finally did a mod like this that quality-wise goes through the roof compared to the vanilla stuff? I might have some issues with the makeup etc, but still, these heads eliminate the horrible "I have a flashlight in my mouth" problem of the vanilla heads, they look a few years more modern and actually COULD start a wave of new content - because so much else in the game is not on par with the quality of these heads and hopefully some people will say "Hmm, the base armor's texture doesn't work with these heads anymore, I need a retexture...." etc. etc.<br />
I'd say this pack can be a huge advertising for NWN2 (and you should try it right away!). So kudos to Xaltar and hopefully it'll be an inspiration to others. <br />
Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-40812417971664022052012-12-12T13:50:00.000+01:002012-12-12T13:52:17.890+01:00NWN2 is only as dead as the community wants it to beMore devastating news have struck our good old favorite lately (among other games), as most players might've noticed already:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/12/10/gamespy-shuts-down-multiplayer-support-for-swat-4-neverwinter-nights-and-other-classics/" target="_blank">PC Gamer</a><br />
<br />
It always seems to me that as soon as there's a bit hope on my side for an extended life of NWN2 and I feel like building again, something new happens that ruins it all completely. <br />
Fortunately, there's a bunch of really good people on the NWN forums (probably because D&D is a game for nerds :) ) and a community fix<a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/199/index/15214095" target="_blank"> is already on the way</a>, one that sounds very promising too.<br />
<br />
Now that alone doesn't necessarily justify a blog post, but it got me thinking once more. The NWN1 community, which always outnumbered NWN2's, was so fast in adjusting to this new situation and fixing it with a patch that just on the side works for NWN2 too... but if it didn't work on NWN2, I wonder if anyone bothered to fix it too... the NWN2 boards are again awfully silent.<br />
<br />
One more thing that also bugged me all the time and especially lately again is the custom content side of NWN2. I guess that my hope that a NWN Nexus site would revive and spice things up again was in vein, very few new files ever got uploaded that actually got me excited (a shining example against the trend is <a href="http://neverwinter.nexusmods.com/mods/212/" target="_blank">Xaltar's Facelift pack</a>). What makes me sad though is that I often stumble over teasers... pics on the forums, pics on the Nexus that even show stuff I tried to do myself and failed badly at. Sometimes these are teasers for a PW community, but often they're private modifications or modifications for long cancelled projects. That these little gems are unreachable and rot away on some hard disks is incredibly sad and discouraging, and I really wonder what happened to the sharing aspect of the community, especially NWN2's.<br />
<br />
Kamal said in some comment on this blog that he wishes that if I cancelled Middleforest completely, I'd at least upload my areas as prefabs to the vault. And yeah, I would - if it made any sense, because due to my heavy hak customizations oin any other computer without my complete hak set the areas will look like total garbage. That's the only reason I didn't upload them really, because hell, whatever keeps this game alive I'm willing to do. My nudie skins mod isn't that great and I only made it for my own project, but hell, just in case somebody else can use it, I uploaded it anyway. That little fix for dresses - most builders probably figured that out themselves because they're much smarter than me, but since I haven't seen it on the vault I uploaded it just for the sake of giving anything back, as mediocre or silly as it might be.<br />
<br />
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, if you want to keep this game alive there should be some change of attitude, an attitude I see more in NWN1's and maybe Bethgames communities, and that is - please share your little haks, you can never know if there isn't someone who desperately needs it, even if you think it's not worth sharing. Maybe you think it's great and you want to keep it for your future project you've been working on for 5 years already, as a teaser that makes your project unique... but really, if you don't release it this week, think again, I think keeping a great game alive should be the greater good nowadays. <br />
<br />
Now I'm trying again to get this stupid Blender/mdb stuff working, oh hell... :PCasahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-75995579311553087642012-11-30T03:38:00.003+01:002012-11-30T03:38:53.827+01:00Oh what a mess again...As a Mac user I wasn't aware of the absolutely stupid and unreliable Windows backup feature, so moving on to a new computer I'm back at an ancient Middleforest backup from 2010. Well, I considered starting over anyway... blegh.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-21187946438305444502012-11-21T02:43:00.002+01:002012-11-22T01:59:35.383+01:00Making an area 1 - YATT from a dummy for dummies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vf8e_TjBpfGJeD-dFbuB34hRRID8C-gopLE37KBMgIBtipmplJdpcgPE5zj0XDsnoJEkebDsp_zZKrLjaan6IMejAOoO99i1LpP03cLCCYMMyuu913Qb-KBcVyYtNK8ONJX49FaSOYIa/s1600/Yatt_26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vf8e_TjBpfGJeD-dFbuB34hRRID8C-gopLE37KBMgIBtipmplJdpcgPE5zj0XDsnoJEkebDsp_zZKrLjaan6IMejAOoO99i1LpP03cLCCYMMyuu913Qb-KBcVyYtNK8ONJX49FaSOYIa/s320/Yatt_26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's winter now and the toolset fingers are itching again, but after such a long time it's not easy to find a start for something creative. One of the worst things in the Toolset for me is hitting "New Area" and then staring at that plain boring grassy default field, not knowing where to start. So sometimes I need a little help, like a random base that gives me ideas. And this post should be a step-by-step tutorial on how to get such a random base, from a complete dummy for himself as a reminder/diary and for other dummies who hate learning new geeky stuff and best get an idea of something by looking at pictures.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Let's grab the <a href="http://nwn2yatt.sourceforge.net/index.htm" target="_blank">YATT plugin for the NWN2 toolset</a> and get some ideas, huh? </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So, YATT has been around for years and some people have been using it for a while, like nicethugbert with his <a href="http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PrefabAreas.Detail&id=406" target="_blank">area prefabs</a> on the vault, or Cipher in his <a href="http://gameofthrones.net/" target="_blank">Game of Thrones PW</a> (where I first thought "I want to do that too!"). There are some tutorials out there, and a thread on the old Bioboards that explained the usage very well, but I couldn't find that one anymore. So I'll start a new one here. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Basically YATT is an import plugin that makes you a nice terrain out of height maps. Height maps, that's some Black&White images that tell you where the terrain is deepest and highest, a hole in the ground is pitch black while a mountain top is white, and in between you have grayscales. You can paint those yourself in Gimp/Photoshop if you want to, but I don't, so we let someone else create our map, and that's an external terrain editor. There are many, but I (like most others) use <a href="http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/downloads/standard.php" target="_blank">L3DT Standard edition</a>, last but not least because it's free. If you later want to paint your own maps and have a program add erosion and realism, you might want to check <a href="http://www.world-machine.com/" target="_blank">World Machine</a>. But I just need some basic ideas and usually get lost too much if I experiment too much, and after all we don't want to forget the actual area design, so I'll leave that out. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've been playing around with YATT a bit since then, but never got any satisfying results because back then I never learned how to get textures into it properly. So I ended up with a nice random terrain, but it was all grass and I couldn't be bothered to paint textures on it. Because that's another tedious job. I like texturing, as I like painting, and I have a tablet and learned graphics design and all that, but still... getting the texture base done before going into detail is tedious and no fun for me. And last but not least, as good as you might be, YATT seems to achieve much more natural and realistic texturing if used right.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Now to the step by step guide, and mind you it's very basic and I just learned this myself, there might be better ways and tips and tricks I don't know of. If you know them, by all means let me know! </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Getting started. We need:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
- <a href="http://nwn2yatt.sourceforge.net/index.htm" target="_blank">YATT</a> of course. Bookmark the page, you WILL need those numbers you see there. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
- <a href="http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/downloads/standard.php" target="_blank">L3DT Standard Ed.</a> (I'm using the latest Developer build, but it probably doesn't matter)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
You also should very soon decide on how big your area should be. For landscapes like the ones we create here large areas make sense, and don't worry, I have never had much problems with large areas in NWN2. I'll just go with 28x28 in this tutorial, because I was thinking of a large snowy area to get lost in. If you want to build huge cities with many placeables, you might not want to go that far, or if you're really spamming grass like crazy like I often did. :D</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Install both - I hope you remember how to install toolset plugins? If not, there's a guide on the YATT page, don't forget to enable 3rd party plugins in the toolset options. L3DT is a simple installer. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So, we start with L3DT once it's installed. Run it and you'll see a boring grey screen and not much else. What we want is to create a new project under File. Select it and we'll get the wizard.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YOHV2zmq9e-_2NvvF0hh-HbaZ5_KtQKG6wsZ68vRzqDm1ZQTdG9OaG0xwWlwsfEzieT6AZ_yY5l1kn-U5GFdCdHjD47uo7pQ_TqTJTrI2rCZLhyphenhyphenBx37batb6kujCqug7I_Vim4-XC4fm/s1600/Yatt_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YOHV2zmq9e-_2NvvF0hh-HbaZ5_KtQKG6wsZ68vRzqDm1ZQTdG9OaG0xwWlwsfEzieT6AZ_yY5l1kn-U5GFdCdHjD47uo7pQ_TqTJTrI2rCZLhyphenhyphenBx37batb6kujCqug7I_Vim4-XC4fm/s320/Yatt_01.jpg" width="314" /></a></div>
<br />
We'll just follow along going with the recommended options for now until we get to the screen below:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcM07G8pP7quBgIcFNSbSMpSwKRVNAPI7Uag_lratIl6hPyLgPwl91wPNttQDUNeNxk3FxpmpSpDzn7cqmTF0Ocm4FSWu63lA4c8f2z4PyoY7Ete0o5XxYioo16vUlOnaIgUPVacK7W28y/s1600/Yatt_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcM07G8pP7quBgIcFNSbSMpSwKRVNAPI7Uag_lratIl6hPyLgPwl91wPNttQDUNeNxk3FxpmpSpDzn7cqmTF0Ocm4FSWu63lA4c8f2z4PyoY7Ete0o5XxYioo16vUlOnaIgUPVacK7W28y/s320/Yatt_02.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>
<br />
This is the step where you can play with settings. To get new ideas, you'll always want to get back here and change stuff just to see how it turns out. Play with those default climates and change parameters for fun until you get either a nice surprise area during the following steps or you get a feeling of what parameters suit you best. Don't worry about the textures, if you make an Arctic region and then think "doh, that terrain would suit a rainforest much better!", no problem, we can change all textures later. Anyway, we adjust a little and then hit next.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdX1hm5WUesGpJlHUvkCV0MED0KxmdJqdLiTu6tBvrxgPy-WI2xAFewVSUwW-t4pFQm8734DRsWX4QYU2Sr__sQPrwOGr2Bx0DR6rPwIpcdFwoEp6EbGzLQdJT1xTDoIdnv7lSVxO5AP7L/s1600/Yatt_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdX1hm5WUesGpJlHUvkCV0MED0KxmdJqdLiTu6tBvrxgPy-WI2xAFewVSUwW-t4pFQm8734DRsWX4QYU2Sr__sQPrwOGr2Bx0DR6rPwIpcdFwoEp6EbGzLQdJT1xTDoIdnv7lSVxO5AP7L/s1600/Yatt_03.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
In the above screen you see what we need and what not. Just go with me here. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyuBkOVyVJMv37k-1LGA_59K8wgvAmXs_a2DFBzY8OsV6QYoragFK2fFJp9VtEub_VXF6HxQjPEgIi5LSERxhjhnmeVjedcSiQng7DZO6y3WgLei3H0hznABPpZLU6yRPxcTBb_tDJ0pyM/s1600/Yatt_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyuBkOVyVJMv37k-1LGA_59K8wgvAmXs_a2DFBzY8OsV6QYoragFK2fFJp9VtEub_VXF6HxQjPEgIi5LSERxhjhnmeVjedcSiQng7DZO6y3WgLei3H0hznABPpZLU6yRPxcTBb_tDJ0pyM/s320/Yatt_04.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<br />
Same here, I have actually no idea what this is all good for, let's just move on and hit okay. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbpmhhSWA5z1t3noqNmFc5vrFZUpeCuZsQTwtb4NIIqNBCS_nPwDZ7EYNZtrha8XZJnUEBtywaOZrEV-nK9tMy64xfgpXzIQbJgUiWaYxAEcPAOLGq86nfLc0QrX6pdgLXHq71YikOmhG/s1600/Yatt_04a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbpmhhSWA5z1t3noqNmFc5vrFZUpeCuZsQTwtb4NIIqNBCS_nPwDZ7EYNZtrha8XZJnUEBtywaOZrEV-nK9tMy64xfgpXzIQbJgUiWaYxAEcPAOLGq86nfLc0QrX6pdgLXHq71YikOmhG/s1600/Yatt_04a.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Now you can watch L3DT do it's thing for a minute or ten depending on your CPU. Get some coffee, have a smoke until....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fVP8oZTbjhRZ2MeekUc3oYMitxueW5HnKE5tb0h6E5Nv-pHPCXBMT6LHTgJLGJIJ8Z_zc1e2HRhTibKEeaFTPzExEPemFwve1vyHSvofH-gJ9_g67Xdf4t2_aaQuDF_FHqbARLqRscSV/s1600/Yatt_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fVP8oZTbjhRZ2MeekUc3oYMitxueW5HnKE5tb0h6E5Nv-pHPCXBMT6LHTgJLGJIJ8Z_zc1e2HRhTibKEeaFTPzExEPemFwve1vyHSvofH-gJ9_g67Xdf4t2_aaQuDF_FHqbARLqRscSV/s320/Yatt_05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
.... you get that above pic. Hooray, a nice minimap picture! But to really get a feel for it, Hit that small 3-D button above for a 3D preview. Hint: Move around using WASD, E and Q to change altitude for a better look, and when you're done hit ESC to go back to the former map view. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXP_ltGQCBtL7un6HAvH_VgNmWYJPlc5Q5M10um40Cx_wSJh_QzAs9VPONCapLY_fn1-zCEuI6kaO0otvKu84yF3uWrIHFjKCP_XEk9JXs3ejeeImZufrxGtC1u7oLuQtswzqCYu8D2XFX/s1600/Yatt_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXP_ltGQCBtL7un6HAvH_VgNmWYJPlc5Q5M10um40Cx_wSJh_QzAs9VPONCapLY_fn1-zCEuI6kaO0otvKu84yF3uWrIHFjKCP_XEk9JXs3ejeeImZufrxGtC1u7oLuQtswzqCYu8D2XFX/s320/Yatt_06.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Satisfied? If not, just try another one with other settings. Play around, this is the point where we hope to get some new inspiration. If you're finally done, we need those numbers from the YATT site and enter the tedious geeky stuff we don't like (do you?). Look at the pic below, remember we settled for an area size of 28x28 in this examples. Can you tell me what pixel size the height map has to be? And the texturemap? <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6ZS0IUy9Y7yBkr5B6gO2CujRc8XZY-meXBHRZqdvt-cNl6yEBJahWh2Sr-CF2m_eFf7njw_e4r4pW4Ih4smDq_2zPole7dosGD6UCKGleIMvlguTe81PMAu-2YrrvFnON8bI9-GeA-wt/s1600/Yatt_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6ZS0IUy9Y7yBkr5B6gO2CujRc8XZY-meXBHRZqdvt-cNl6yEBJahWh2Sr-CF2m_eFf7njw_e4r4pW4Ih4smDq_2zPole7dosGD6UCKGleIMvlguTe81PMAu-2YrrvFnON8bI9-GeA-wt/s320/Yatt_07.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
Right, you knew that the height map for an area of 28x28 should be 265x265 pixels! Because the YATT site told you. Well done! While we're here, also write down that texturemap size below, which is.. yes? Hmm? 1408, good!<br />
So, now we switch back to L3DT and look at all those small buttons above our image indicating what we currently look at. We want to look at the height map, so click that button.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvlIDfFUgnqnNsqReKO8JbHJK_a6gMQ-dQRt1rpniwXlBQPT6pKV0_7odJf2rye9kWUXQDzWY6nwcx9sUlSswT8RwnqU8dzZwnvGRglUcbuDFh_LrvsCLEzIw6AVsy6UYh7qsLqPwHl0Cc/s1600/Yatt_08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvlIDfFUgnqnNsqReKO8JbHJK_a6gMQ-dQRt1rpniwXlBQPT6pKV0_7odJf2rye9kWUXQDzWY6nwcx9sUlSswT8RwnqU8dzZwnvGRglUcbuDFh_LrvsCLEzIw6AVsy6UYh7qsLqPwHl0Cc/s320/Yatt_08.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We want to export this map now, a right-click on the map is all we need to get there. Now, let's get serious for a moment, this step is crucial: <u>File format must be changed to .bmp</u> and you have to <u>check resize for export and change the numbers to 265</u>. Save the file in a place where you can easily find it later, give it a name that makes sense (e.g. arctic01_height.bmp or whatever).<br />
If you only care for a base terrain, that's it. But we also want the basic texturing done for us. So, we switch back to the texture map and right click on it, and this time we choose <u>Operations -> Alpha Maps -> Generate maps</u>. We get the following screen which already gives you an idea of what alpha map is responsible for what texture, and you might want to take a note on what NWN2 texture to use for it later, but that's all optional. You can simply hit Next. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagXIN5lERtaVDEdHmjvteiBMcFKBldOkNGOm66f2GrT3UDXJJ41K39jQyYRhfPcUNIgdFYDPEHsKPqF5KErbsBxwzBbJfH65ShRzQ2QOwz9q5gEPEaUDz01OA5IPHe_3ApmpE3qQqwclk/s1600/Yatt_09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagXIN5lERtaVDEdHmjvteiBMcFKBldOkNGOm66f2GrT3UDXJJ41K39jQyYRhfPcUNIgdFYDPEHsKPqF5KErbsBxwzBbJfH65ShRzQ2QOwz9q5gEPEaUDz01OA5IPHe_3ApmpE3qQqwclk/s320/Yatt_09.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now we get the next geek screen, just hit okay.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKkfG32Jf-2PLdnQV0tT3BN2RyT1Qinu-LXAkEVZgyBpMF4dWuwtaLmZMInfn86kzPFjfUk30KJtkR1Bk8bQn0Ey6t_qCjog2f2S5p4VmzZR1OMdpRN1OZjdHMJdvlrOUz6MCLm-1fGQYV/s1600/Yatt_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKkfG32Jf-2PLdnQV0tT3BN2RyT1Qinu-LXAkEVZgyBpMF4dWuwtaLmZMInfn86kzPFjfUk30KJtkR1Bk8bQn0Ey6t_qCjog2f2S5p4VmzZR1OMdpRN1OZjdHMJdvlrOUz6MCLm-1fGQYV/s320/Yatt_10.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
We end up with 4 new alpha maps in our main L3DT window. Time to export each one of them again just like we did with the heightfield earlier, BUT with a different size. Remember? Right, we save as <u>.bmp resized to 1408x1408</u>, well done! Save each one in the same place as the heightmap earlier, you can rename or not whatever suits you best. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvev5x7F2GyE9LDEh8O4RqGPapUO9n5lkI-Pj_u9YkLI8Rofl7a-p9vO7aeKvLNr_ZHFLUj9PlRrcrv2XU_9HQ3T_CEuNA81VtGG_bWi_4VnGVWdZ9J01aH9T-y0JI_U-zsiUKqMYHNySA/s1600/Yatt_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvev5x7F2GyE9LDEh8O4RqGPapUO9n5lkI-Pj_u9YkLI8Rofl7a-p9vO7aeKvLNr_ZHFLUj9PlRrcrv2XU_9HQ3T_CEuNA81VtGG_bWi_4VnGVWdZ9J01aH9T-y0JI_U-zsiUKqMYHNySA/s320/Yatt_11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now, let's look at what we have. I saved my L3DT project in the same folder too, so there's a bit more inside than just the exports. I marked the files we need, make sure to select the .bmp files, not the .png with the same icon. And with that, we're done in L3DT. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIy4HzeOHsvwGUk9BKpxwQjIwfi0hOk44p0kvZ6emnu6ITo8Xul2eZebEzIAmzKNjOQv4G2j3IPLdec-RtQRL138s9p1il8GnsakZgLYrAArvcHW0Oh_k3GT64NvIhKshVEjoRF1oR2uF/s1600/Yatt_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIy4HzeOHsvwGUk9BKpxwQjIwfi0hOk44p0kvZ6emnu6ITo8Xul2eZebEzIAmzKNjOQv4G2j3IPLdec-RtQRL138s9p1il8GnsakZgLYrAArvcHW0Oh_k3GT64NvIhKshVEjoRF1oR2uF/s320/Yatt_12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Okay, let's start the NWN2 toolset. I prefer doing my YATT experiments in a plain empty module/directory that is only for YATT and nothing else. Better import a good area into my main module later than being sorry after hitting a wrong button and overwriting an existing area or whatever...<br />
Anyway, start YATT from your plugins menu and go directly to <u>File -> Define Input Images</u>. We're looking at the following image. I'm sorry for it being partly German, but you'll figure it out easily. I marked the two image lists we need with a red dot, start with the height map and click that small file button on the right:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXSVvBGSbV9BZ5-XQnonrcvqFs8Fiil2rIXVZ6rOmdo8OVDyqp8Qf-sMNWCuEW2-mXIlJJZ3FTK_BB3p_kESeTmcWqWfjNPF-hAzJIQNUqDGFHY-DN3mcYNpB8TKTUiZga9DWR4ks3VNQ4/s1600/Yatt_13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXSVvBGSbV9BZ5-XQnonrcvqFs8Fiil2rIXVZ6rOmdo8OVDyqp8Qf-sMNWCuEW2-mXIlJJZ3FTK_BB3p_kESeTmcWqWfjNPF-hAzJIQNUqDGFHY-DN3mcYNpB8TKTUiZga9DWR4ks3VNQ4/s320/Yatt_13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
In the next window, we need to add our heightmap we created before. Hit that Add button (in the image below "Hinzufügen"... <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXC5l6h8q24lY9aRLPMtonaAHoiaY3vTzTKE-RCEm4HleSle_C5LEahn2AI1HARvaKNI9fQrab7Uzck5Ke07zPyonuurvmGTC8bCcLj0layqygf_VQ08eiDC5pa12gv5THDI35ar4jagHW/s1600/Yatt_14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXC5l6h8q24lY9aRLPMtonaAHoiaY3vTzTKE-RCEm4HleSle_C5LEahn2AI1HARvaKNI9fQrab7Uzck5Ke07zPyonuurvmGTC8bCcLj0layqygf_VQ08eiDC5pa12gv5THDI35ar4jagHW/s320/Yatt_14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
...and then on the right side open the heightmap image we saved earlier. And now another crucial step: <u>We need to adjust the maximum height! </u>This is also a subject of experimentation, but a general rule of thumbs I read in other tutorials is that <u>85</u> works fine in most cases, at least for a first test. If your area is looking too flat later, you know where to change settings. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEbxx-sNUzWD65miVxR1oqF9WYPWt5UDwJrXx8z2sCca-zq5bG_PFRTwl96FdNXV1BZ-aOAc4Bf-Lp2TCdR2gnOSG7M0SdOgwQrvw_oxEbHhW6uTgt97NpKOJIvpC8VRBsUwqhU6VTGKd8/s1600/Yatt_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEbxx-sNUzWD65miVxR1oqF9WYPWt5UDwJrXx8z2sCca-zq5bG_PFRTwl96FdNXV1BZ-aOAc4Bf-Lp2TCdR2gnOSG7M0SdOgwQrvw_oxEbHhW6uTgt97NpKOJIvpC8VRBsUwqhU6VTGKd8/s320/Yatt_15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kBYLNIzhos6sYWrOwZ-c30N1So4wERqHkWLC0XelYcvRfoIy-16OE9_xC4xPdKBJOp3u-7LamJx2t3P4xhGvJ3hi1Mhm9EA59m0XDGtVGKEIC61yDQAZKMm1tUxJor-7g13rGx-iJyJb/s1600/Yatt_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kBYLNIzhos6sYWrOwZ-c30N1So4wERqHkWLC0XelYcvRfoIy-16OE9_xC4xPdKBJOp3u-7LamJx2t3P4xhGvJ3hi1Mhm9EA59m0XDGtVGKEIC61yDQAZKMm1tUxJor-7g13rGx-iJyJb/s320/Yatt_16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Now when that's done and you hit okay, it's time for the texture maps. This works pretty much like before, just that we add 4 images to the list instead of just one. Our Alpha 1-4 maps.<br />
The other main and crucial difference is that as you can see in the pic, there's a point "texture" and the standard NWN2 dirt texture is assigned to it by default. This is where we define our textures, and you have to make absolutely sure that each Alpha map has a different texture assigned to it. Don't worry too much about it being the perfect texture now, just see that you don't assign the same texture twice. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgm9UGv4_148zjYt2CzJ6rV71Zf1AAiSlDj-HicDFcpmgrWJt_BpfNLY6TvCL7ReNcpJ6Yl8dQFi-3pr66J-29pA6JXZ9lVBjV69FZtRurldLPYN_2N8jjqjtaTxio4BSyytAXAaJtcM3h/s1600/Yatt_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgm9UGv4_148zjYt2CzJ6rV71Zf1AAiSlDj-HicDFcpmgrWJt_BpfNLY6TvCL7ReNcpJ6Yl8dQFi-3pr66J-29pA6JXZ9lVBjV69FZtRurldLPYN_2N8jjqjtaTxio4BSyytAXAaJtcM3h/s320/Yatt_17.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
In the end, your window should look similar to this, a list of 4 .bmp files, each with a different texture. Close. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsIZ0PnDSC492t_N9LbBstgN-vTNUIG-eMx7zYEfZ6rp0GYN2Unr7BXxnDF2MnRGzH2W0fgmq2cVjH4eZjgE5icf28Y4oyXVwtt8rcE4t8_kPIjue6tqOsBcM5sKqJm_eg-JUWZFBpVD3b/s1600/Yatt_18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsIZ0PnDSC492t_N9LbBstgN-vTNUIG-eMx7zYEfZ6rp0GYN2Unr7BXxnDF2MnRGzH2W0fgmq2cVjH4eZjgE5icf28Y4oyXVwtt8rcE4t8_kPIjue6tqOsBcM5sKqJm_eg-JUWZFBpVD3b/s320/Yatt_18.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Finally, back in the main window, we should change the <u>Texture Overflow Action to Merge</u>. Simply because the default "Prefer Last" option has buggy results. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNr_6g1tw4r4SP5-hg9xsqatudkqjzZYSjCMa8Zl5RaDW35tPdTZo9FNab4ZE-ND3A288K4uho-1lvYWXoyK6oHWjaqa1p2gbA6gnhIBHSWppYfdW5Fd4zOoX0qisrItVGt8mYVRcc5qW/s1600/Yatt_19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNr_6g1tw4r4SP5-hg9xsqatudkqjzZYSjCMa8Zl5RaDW35tPdTZo9FNab4ZE-ND3A288K4uho-1lvYWXoyK6oHWjaqa1p2gbA6gnhIBHSWppYfdW5Fd4zOoX0qisrItVGt8mYVRcc5qW/s1600/Yatt_19.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
When all that is done, it's time to hit okay and then... woot!... go to "Area" and hit "Build Area from image(s)". Oh, Stop! First make sure there is NO area opened in the toolset already, or it'll fail. Okay, that said, go ahead. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFfe3JN7JrebhSglvi1F3beMJBwG9f-hSPpT9hfvzAOqiYHK9kt3JDLgo5Oa2zTAWCRbx1H5Ix75fh-Dkw-RUm6gyNDwQwksItO-61vY_VWYNjROj4lEuq7tP-GVLVpONWnEWeXjDUcYf/s1600/Yatt_20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFfe3JN7JrebhSglvi1F3beMJBwG9f-hSPpT9hfvzAOqiYHK9kt3JDLgo5Oa2zTAWCRbx1H5Ix75fh-Dkw-RUm6gyNDwQwksItO-61vY_VWYNjROj4lEuq7tP-GVLVpONWnEWeXjDUcYf/s320/Yatt_20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now we watch YATT work for a moment. It will create a new area called New_Area_1 or something. When it's done and nothing happens anymore in the YATT window, close it and open your new area. *drumroll*<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYlM_23PiSnWcIwFv4p91V-eKDOOC4f7dVrTjsGfjQ6fXaFj5uh4ioJSV9NwJIT6EB1RKEc_A5wRrXrjkFLjSqsmaNuspfbk506mT_0B5GKbxVltShueg2jqAkm85HCkmfO4YtVIV6lzIL/s1600/Yatt_21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYlM_23PiSnWcIwFv4p91V-eKDOOC4f7dVrTjsGfjQ6fXaFj5uh4ioJSV9NwJIT6EB1RKEc_A5wRrXrjkFLjSqsmaNuspfbk506mT_0B5GKbxVltShueg2jqAkm85HCkmfO4YtVIV6lzIL/s320/Yatt_21.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Oi! Now what is that? Nice terrain but silly Casa got the textures all wrong! Oh well, let's start o... NO! Don't fret!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNKMUFsi1hhKk3K1ymc4zsOaJlvKHsdBAlC50Tr6GNhnjT_jDZkxhiXktbxR9lO1c2EKWdkpJn9WjmKCmg1ajafPUphEV6BmV3P5Is3Nr1jDjI7y2SQPcA2kKOwSw7s3Nm6c4-JWUSlbQ/s1600/Yatt_22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNKMUFsi1hhKk3K1ymc4zsOaJlvKHsdBAlC50Tr6GNhnjT_jDZkxhiXktbxR9lO1c2EKWdkpJn9WjmKCmg1ajafPUphEV6BmV3P5Is3Nr1jDjI7y2SQPcA2kKOwSw7s3Nm6c4-JWUSlbQ/s320/Yatt_22.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Because Obsidian is so awesome, we got the texture swapper in the toolset! In your Terrain palette, Textures, remember? This will make it all good! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsmDozpV-7IZnW52TprPJ578_UZOnMV6g9lwkxuG9CyF0CpbP3Y3z1g5vxbzOaXZlr1mj9MipXekLyKBsiL2I7K6QQiQmzFgCICx60Or6QheV-acQdHHCJvskVBtIvipADSK4xTAjB8Dq/s1600/Yatt_23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsmDozpV-7IZnW52TprPJ578_UZOnMV6g9lwkxuG9CyF0CpbP3Y3z1g5vxbzOaXZlr1mj9MipXekLyKBsiL2I7K6QQiQmzFgCICx60Or6QheV-acQdHHCJvskVBtIvipADSK4xTAjB8Dq/s320/Yatt_23.jpg" width="190" /></a></div>
<br />
In case you don't know how it works, just hover your mouse over a tile and you see the textures assigned to it in the textures palette (see above pic). If you swap a texture now, it'll be replaced in the whole area. So let's open the texture swapper. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlkLbNFq0wX9g5IdgMqoAHIhveWyjU3FDCmrf2WusRuUtlxiKveKMxI2T2qoqmaU7q_P13RxEDbmr0-2_D53e6BtiuOXZ77K6vIBIJ9iVMe_JLG5BmQEfRYonWCvVTpXeexTZvQ1AFs_5/s1600/Yatt_24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlkLbNFq0wX9g5IdgMqoAHIhveWyjU3FDCmrf2WusRuUtlxiKveKMxI2T2qoqmaU7q_P13RxEDbmr0-2_D53e6BtiuOXZ77K6vIBIJ9iVMe_JLG5BmQEfRYonWCvVTpXeexTZvQ1AFs_5/s320/Yatt_24.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now swap textures as you like and see what happens. Just be careful with one thing: Never swap two different textures for the same one, or you lose a texture layer. Make sure you always have 4 textures.<br />
After a bit of swapping I guess I ended up with a result I can live with. Nothing great, but it'll do for the test.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiL0tVQIMNf4Sws3NyZ-pieQamT1KDNHwPs2k0zFdzhdZdGFrGl75h793l34mUeiRl8Twq26U43EAl_m7rCuaUMhwS4uSBsW5GFBw74YZPq1rAI0AdoZIiJLQrjUKAv1EGduV44ZpkNge/s1600/Yatt_25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiL0tVQIMNf4Sws3NyZ-pieQamT1KDNHwPs2k0zFdzhdZdGFrGl75h793l34mUeiRl8Twq26U43EAl_m7rCuaUMhwS4uSBsW5GFBw74YZPq1rAI0AdoZIiJLQrjUKAv1EGduV44ZpkNge/s320/Yatt_25.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now we can place the start thingy, bake it and run. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vf8e_TjBpfGJeD-dFbuB34hRRID8C-gopLE37KBMgIBtipmplJdpcgPE5zj0XDsnoJEkebDsp_zZKrLjaan6IMejAOoO99i1LpP03cLCCYMMyuu913Qb-KBcVyYtNK8ONJX49FaSOYIa/s1600/Yatt_26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vf8e_TjBpfGJeD-dFbuB34hRRID8C-gopLE37KBMgIBtipmplJdpcgPE5zj0XDsnoJEkebDsp_zZKrLjaan6IMejAOoO99i1LpP03cLCCYMMyuu913Qb-KBcVyYtNK8ONJX49FaSOYIa/s320/Yatt_26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Well, not so bad for a start. Look at how nice the minimap looks! I bet it'd look ten times better once I replace the stupid default daynight cycle. Oh, have I ever mentioned that you should NEVER use the default daynight settings? It looks crappy! If you want to create a nice atmosphere, spend an afternoon with making a new default. I know it's tedious, but... hell, the original campaign would actually look not THAT bad if they just had a better daynight setting... while you're there, also always make sure you tint your water... ack! Okay, before I start ranting too much, that's it for now. Maybe I helped someone, maybe not. I'm just glad I finally figured this out and I'd also appreciate any additional tips from the Pros to optimize this workflow. Casa out. Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-71721244450936069292012-05-16T18:39:00.000+02:002012-05-16T18:42:03.281+02:00Picking it up again... I hope<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnP2Sn0qYAgRrTffV0zIxweSOMa-D9BuFLNA202MzbUocbmeWJEtMp5HB6CsvmhIFgxOsuiC8Xkv0IW5EoYu5Gw2-nxDn0X8aCjGFVq_5knmOssHHF8gvhhpsUw7QVLdvi5Wa9imlMSDAs/s1600/mf_codi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnP2Sn0qYAgRrTffV0zIxweSOMa-D9BuFLNA202MzbUocbmeWJEtMp5HB6CsvmhIFgxOsuiC8Xkv0IW5EoYu5Gw2-nxDn0X8aCjGFVq_5knmOssHHF8gvhhpsUw7QVLdvi5Wa9imlMSDAs/s320/mf_codi2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
No, Middleforest isn't completely dead yet. It just smells funny.<br />
After all my failed attempts at doing some techy stuff (first the scripting, then creating custom content) I simply had to take a long break and do other things. There's real life for one, and for the lonely evenings some other games to try out. After all my Singleplayer adventures like Skyrim etc. I needed my roleplay/interaction fix again and tried both other NWN2 PWs and some commercial MMOs just to get an idea where I'm going and what my aim is. After a long time I came to the conclusion that my goals haven't changed and my basic ideas for a PW are still good ideas.<br />
<br />
There's no alternative to Neverwinter Nights multiplayer if you're looking for immersive roleplay in a multiplayer game. No MMO can even get close, and nothing will come in the near future. While some MMOs have an interesting concept ( <a href="http://www.thesecretworld.com/">TSW</a> ), they're still MMOs and you will never find the same quest qualities and roleplay quality as in a NWN world made by and played by people who are looking for the same thing. I actually liked some MMO ideas, Age of Conan wasn't half as bad as I expected, but still you have the same boring and meaningless hack&slay, dull quests and, sorry, stupid players. Rift, a game that got nice reviews a while ago, was on a Steam sale and I grabbed it for like 7 Euros. I couldn't even make it past the first noob quests, the dialogues and endless respawns are mind-numbing.<br />
<br />
So no, MMOs are not what I'm looking for. I always wanted to have Middleforest lots of things that make it feel like a singleplayer game at times. A very good example is <a href="http://www.dasaria.net/">Dasaria</a>, another NWN2 world. I haven't played long enough to go into detail about the setting, world design and combat stuff, but their initial quests for new players are perfectly done. Cutscenes with emotes, great dialogues, quests that are actually fun to play (Vampires!). A huge thumbs up for that, Dasaria guys! The only nitpick I have is that the quests are repeatable after every reset, but well...<br />
<br />
As for area design, that's where I aim for more, and from all the worlds I tried <a href="http://dammendrech.myzen.co.uk/">Vulpina</a> still makes the nicest areas. I wish more modules would go into so much detail and love for atmosphere. Couple this with Dasaria's quest/writing quality and you're already close to perfection. One world that I tried early on that had also some very nice areas was <a href="http://legacydarkage.com/">Legacy - Dark Age of Britain</a>. One big problem I want to avoid in Middleforest though is that you notice that there are different builders with different styles. Other than that, it also has something I like: A unique level system with roleplay focus. However, I don't like permadeath servers, so there you go, Legacy, have fun without me. <br />
<br />
Anyway, all this only makes me want to pick up building again. Of course I will run into the very same problems as before, mostly tech hurdles and the lack of a scripter. Also, as hard as it is, I will have to rebuild Rungholt. I never build for lowend systems, especially nowadays anyone with a mild interest in games will have a setup that works for NWN2 at a good quality. But hell, Rungholt makes my own comp melt, and I don't want to know how it feels with many players around too. So, it looks like areas have to be split up, smaller quarters etc. Which is actually quite nice for the atmosphere. But yeah, lots of work. Fortunately, at least area design is fun.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-87612911168334577072012-03-04T21:11:00.003+01:002012-03-04T21:23:38.603+01:00Learning 3D stuffs, part three: The showstoppers<a href="http://middleforest.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning-3d-stuffs-part-one-setup.html">Part one</a><br />
<a href="http://middleforest.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning-3d-stuffs-part-two-getting.html">Part two</a><br />
<br />
In this part, which should sum up where I'm standing now, I think it's best to simply answer to some quotes from people trying to help directly or indirectly. This is not to say you're not helpful, quite the opposite! It's only to illustrate where I have the real problems and that the small things many take as given can be horribly frustrating for a newbie.<br />
<br />
A while ago I asked Jester for some advice, after he already reinstalled everything NWN2 just to fulfill a model request for me. He's incredibly helpful, but... the thing is that his tips on a workflow mean absolutely nothing to a complete noob, and it actually ended with me thinking "I must come over as completely retarded" and being too shy to ask any further questions. At that point I decided that trying to learn this is a complete waste of time and I'd never make any progress, so I stopped trying until now. <br />
<br />
Anyway, I'll just copy/paste some parts of the workflow and comment as good as I can:<br />
<br />
Jester said: <br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"NNWC workflow:</i></span></div><div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><br />
The NNWC bases were done with Blender and Daz Studio and the Rachel base. I imported a simple female mesh into Blender and exported it as an object. Also did this with some gloves and boots. I then imported the objects into Daz. I then set up a Rachel figure to have the same size and pose as the female meshs from NWN2. You can set meshes to be partially transparent in Daz which made this easier."</i></span></div><br />
This part is quite clear, the main problem probably being that I don't use DAZ at the moment and need other means to pose. If it was just the body, I could probably get rid of Make Human and use DAZ instead, but this won't help with the .nifs or whatever else I export. Anyway, no problem understanding this part. <i> </i><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Once the Rachel mesh was as close as I could make it to the NWN2 meshs (this took a while) I exported it as an obj and imported it into Blender. I now had a high poly base for the NNWC mesh."</i></span></div><br />
Quite clear too, although I had problems with the object export the one time I tried. Could it be that it affects quality? In any case, the idea is clear. Going on. <i><br />
</i><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"I then created the NNWC mesh using Blender's retopo tools and shrink wrap modifier." </i></span></div><b><i><br />
</i></b><br />
Fill in a Homer Simpson face here. I.. have... no... idea. Not what these are, not where to find them. This short sentence makes me cry. <br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Once this was done I had to rig it to the P_HHF_skel by painting on vertex weights. This took a while too..."</i></span></div><br />
<br />
Ahh... my favorite topic. Vertex weights or lolwut? Okay, seriously... I have a basic understanding on what they are - they handle how much the mesh is affected by bone movement... so if you move the right arm bone upwards, the mesh of that right arm should move nicely along while the left foot doesn't move at all. This is what I understand. Now... when I switch Blender to vertex paint I get this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCKqeC4C3kSc2Fu4i7janY7Wt4ElYP9DAfahMGySHg7l3acIZtnjloG-m1EQOHsyHdj_kGvMGraIZh07nBEdN0gjtFo-fBs91o2Y1PK3QtLj1GfzY_gNOAXwNsQm8dJ8loFw9fNDHgDGR/s1600/vertex_wtf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCKqeC4C3kSc2Fu4i7janY7Wt4ElYP9DAfahMGySHg7l3acIZtnjloG-m1EQOHsyHdj_kGvMGraIZh07nBEdN0gjtFo-fBs91o2Y1PK3QtLj1GfzY_gNOAXwNsQm8dJ8loFw9fNDHgDGR/s320/vertex_wtf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Yup. So... I can paint a question mark there and that's all that comes to my mind in this mode. I understand that in theory I should tell the body mesh how much the movement of a specific bone affects it. But HOW I do that here, I have no idea. Or... how could I see existing weights? I mean, this mesh is already rigged to the skeleton below and moves with it (this is the Jester model), shouldn't that mesh already be colored like a rainbow? Where do I choose which bone I want to paint weights for? Or am I just in the wrong mode and should switch to Weight Paint...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-V_NBnpUinYvNeSf8fve6OLKcE3EBFFx14_F4e2WOuasiihlCshtks_24CAVBgezwObuZYligRYl-QRVkj8eUNOmxqNOeXJFo8dVf2gcE9NdfLLohU2c7_1f4RuqTr1RDZLyyVq_fwhn/s1600/weight_lolwut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-V_NBnpUinYvNeSf8fve6OLKcE3EBFFx14_F4e2WOuasiihlCshtks_24CAVBgezwObuZYligRYl-QRVkj8eUNOmxqNOeXJFo8dVf2gcE9NdfLLohU2c7_1f4RuqTr1RDZLyyVq_fwhn/s320/weight_lolwut.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Which is exactly the same problem in blue? I'm sorry, but this is where I'm totally lost and think I'm too dumb.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Then I marked seams on the mesh and unrolled it to get the UV map."</i></span></div><br />
Got the idea of it, I guess it takes some trial and error but I understand why and how (might have to google the exact steps again, but anyway).<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Edited it to make the best use of the texture space."</i></span></div><br />
Now how to do that is a different topic, no idea how to edit that UV map... inside Blender? Can you move stuff around on the map and the model later still knows what you did? I'm far from those steps yet, so we'll see.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"The baked the diffuse texture, ambient occulusion and normal map from the high poly model to the low poly model. This captured all the muscles and features in the high poly model."</i></span></div><br />
This would probably a whole new chapter of the walkthrough I need. I get the idea of using a high-res normal map to make a low-poly model appear smoother, but how...<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Saved the textures, combined the diffuse and AO in GIMP, saved as .dds." </i></span></div><br />
Not sure about the whole AO map and combining it with the diffuse, but I guess that's a topic for much later. Saving something as dds, that much I learned already! Yay. <br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Reduce the alpha value of the normalmap in GIMP, blurred and smeared out any baking artifacts. saved as .dds"</i></span></div><br />
Same as above, not sure about the alpha value thing, rest makes sense. <br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Set up the material in Blender, deleted all unnecessary meshes (the high poly ones), checked it all looked OK."</i></span></div><br />
I just have to mention what a major pain in the rump the setting up of textures in Blender is. I only get that done accidently, never exactly knowing what I do.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Exported to mdb. Done..."</i></span></div><br />
Well, I tried that before, just for the laughs... <br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycpmBnRZHRgqJeIwu078BWHgFO9EK1GchGTQb10qWjtUOpDWODyk7Qq8fuvDLSS_k9fXS7s72UEqPowlygwaMGX-9PhvHQCQIZDTAtxNofIlq5ah9IIdnz421MMCoMYzDfCVnk7tCtjB-/s1600/mdb_exp02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="87" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycpmBnRZHRgqJeIwu078BWHgFO9EK1GchGTQb10qWjtUOpDWODyk7Qq8fuvDLSS_k9fXS7s72UEqPowlygwaMGX-9PhvHQCQIZDTAtxNofIlq5ah9IIdnz421MMCoMYzDfCVnk7tCtjB-/s320/mdb_exp02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
... but then found out it's probably because I deleted everything that isn't the mesh, like the collisions (no idea what to do, how to deal with collisions)<i><br />
</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"NIF usage:<br />
To use .nif meshes the big chunk of work will be reskinning - the<br />
skeleton used in NWN2 is different to the Fallout 3 one. There is a<br />
script in Blender 2.49 that interpolates weights from one mesh to<br />
another, but this doesn't work in 2.56. I mean to update this as well<br />
because it's very useful."</i></span></div><br />
I think this is the Bone Weight Copy script I mentioned before and already installed in a version that works in 2.6. How exactly to use it is another question. I assume I should put the two meshes (say, a body and a shirt) as close to each other as possible )like the body wears it), then select both, then run the script, and it should translate. However, same as above with the manual painting: How do I actually check if it worked, where can I SEE the weights, where can I make my adjustments? That's the part that is too much for me, and I bet a model that doesn't fit the other mesh as nicely as a catsuit will need a lot of adjustments.<br />
The most helpful thing I could google for that is <a href="http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Skyrim._Part_1#Add_weights_to_the_armour">this TES tutorial</a>. Sadly it's not explaining most of my questions and is also for Blender 2.49 which is essentially a totally different programm.... <br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"LO1/LO2 meshes:<br />
These are lower poly meshes that are provided in the NWN2 .mdbs. They are meant to provide lower poly models to be used if the object is a long way from the camera. In practice they are not necessary. I've tried to understand what makes the engine use a low poly model but can't - I think that at high graphics settings it just doesn't bother. These meshes are not necessary and can be removed. None of my models have them."</i></span></div><br />
Never heard of 3DSMax people deleting those (I've looked over some 3DSMax tutorials hoping to get some pointers), but from what I know from using his stuff he's probably right, everything works without them and it probably saves me a lot of extra work and headache ignoring those. <br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"You do need the COLs - these objects are used to store the collision sphere info from the .mdb. Don't try and edit them."</i></span></div><br />
Which raises the question, how to deal with them when I made a new mesh? Should I... somewhat... assign them to it? Should I, say, position the new model into the exact same postion as the old one so that, uuuh... those collisions keep working? I have no idea, these collisions confuse me, I only know I accidently deleted them way too often. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"General points:<br />
Always model in quads. This thread is useful:<br />
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93651<br />
Let the export script triangulate it for NWN2. Don't worry too much about poly counts, graphics cards are much faster than they were five years ago. Do try to remove unnecessary faces, have enough to get your meshes profiles looking smooth. Having too many faces near joints will look bad because the NWN2 skeletons don't have extra 'joint' bones to prevent the joint squashing (You'll see what I mean when we get to rigging proper)."</i></span></div><br />
I almost missed that last sentence there, which might explain my problem with the Make Human model in the last post (armpits). So reducing the vertex count down below the arms could help if I understand right? Something to try. <br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="color: #f1c232; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"The export script doesn't handle relative paths correctly - make sure you have specified your texture files with absolute paths. Although Blender can read .dds files it can't write them. Do the UV and texture last. Get the mesh right first."</i></span></div><br />
Dunno what that absolute/relative paths is about. DDS thing is clear. Doing UV and texture next year as it seems anyway.... Hoping to get the mesh right until then.<br />
<br />
<br />
Well, so far for this walkthrough... I hope Jester doesn't mind using his quotes here, but I think this serves well to illustrate my problems.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-50973427859690240232012-03-04T18:45:00.002+01:002012-03-04T21:22:42.567+01:00Learning 3D stuffs, part two: Getting started<a href="http://middleforest.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning-3d-stuffs-part-one-setup.html">Part 1 is below </a><br />
<br />
Now to the part where things get really messy: Importing and starting to work in Blender.<br />
Sadly this is probably where most misunderstandings occured in the past when people like Jester tried to give me some hints - the problem isn't really how to import or sticking to NWN2's specific conventions (well, once we get to exporting that's not quite true), but the main Blender workflow itself that most people who have experience in 3D apps take as given, like "then just paint the vertex weights..." - lolwut?<br />
<br />
Well, let's start with the things I have covered already. Import.<br />
<br />
Importing a NWN2 mdb works. I'm using Jester's nude as a base here because it comes with everything I need and armors can't be slimmer than that. Importing with the standard settings + "find amature" I end up with this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6aiGK3An1oOfwIDhhaeUiB54_FWgsGtUVDxeXhjijZFMlDhHXlAjsrzGOea-Z5q5SynRwCesTwO2w8RRfmAvrRgQTjfYdVXa0NcOCK810iY8uHxyPtEj0CCW8MakvsPHaBy8t0YL-TfDK/s1600/jester_blend01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6aiGK3An1oOfwIDhhaeUiB54_FWgsGtUVDxeXhjijZFMlDhHXlAjsrzGOea-Z5q5SynRwCesTwO2w8RRfmAvrRgQTjfYdVXa0NcOCK810iY8uHxyPtEj0CCW8MakvsPHaBy8t0YL-TfDK/s320/jester_blend01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Just for the record, I also managed to get textures in somewhere in the past and even on this import they show when rendered (F12), but that's another topic. So what I have is the main mesh and an amature to work with. The amature is actually not the NWN2 skeleton, only a replacer to give you an idea where what is. Posing this or making changes to it is no option if I understand correctly, you can only use it to make sure the mesh fits it as good as possible. So much for mdb files, let's hop over to Blender 2.49 and .nifs:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNftnu2bLuoCwbGI-cCyLNONSCLpmlN7KOJMERjN1lWx4NuE9BtRHErelN_JhXoni7_6XEtaVnbLeLu3QTPtNX_sLSrsofDq773Z4ZUs16PNQ4mwWw5VtH9xmLGPsFwsCK4FEYWNp2chK/s1600/nif_in_blender01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNftnu2bLuoCwbGI-cCyLNONSCLpmlN7KOJMERjN1lWx4NuE9BtRHErelN_JhXoni7_6XEtaVnbLeLu3QTPtNX_sLSrsofDq773Z4ZUs16PNQ4mwWw5VtH9xmLGPsFwsCK4FEYWNp2chK/s320/nif_in_blender01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Again using the default settings for the nif imports, I'm ending up with a model that looks quite okay for now. Note: I'm only using this one for testing, I only plan to convert content I'm allowed to convert ;) ). But, if you compare the picture with the mdb import above, you should already see a difference - the pose. A comparison pic from an older post:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D-Bf3RB_3H5YGHg3maCDIRyoAFz2rW53HBj3jPXG3lmfh4jeFuNuG2INSK_VP7JnhR6OpJeLrcfdQ9RNHnGj4PQR6NjBaLudo65HX5M7lcY62sT-xy9jNiIPuFHU_qIbpr_siKlWifx-/s1600/Pose_problem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D-Bf3RB_3H5YGHg3maCDIRyoAFz2rW53HBj3jPXG3lmfh4jeFuNuG2INSK_VP7JnhR6OpJeLrcfdQ9RNHnGj4PQR6NjBaLudo65HX5M7lcY62sT-xy9jNiIPuFHU_qIbpr_siKlWifx-/s320/Pose_problem.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So the main problem with all the new models is getting them into the same pose as the NWN2 skeleton. And booooy, that's where the trouble starts. I'm not even talking about making it fit exactly already, only about... lowering the arms?<br />
The .nif model for example comes with no skeleton... or rather, there's some sort of amature included which I can't quite figure out how to use. When I try to move/rotate/etc, I get....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOHkdDPXPcALxuaXSbMPv79eDTm-ivzvKlP55nY7G764md40Y0GVnRzq1HqRV44bef2DOEiEv5FnXiqeB8Fm8jZ3K9K-pwkIMdgDSv-XEuLUY26aSbhqrP6-KSlC1uYa5Uh98KNMFybal/s1600/nif_blender_nopose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOHkdDPXPcALxuaXSbMPv79eDTm-ivzvKlP55nY7G764md40Y0GVnRzq1HqRV44bef2DOEiEv5FnXiqeB8Fm8jZ3K9K-pwkIMdgDSv-XEuLUY26aSbhqrP6-KSlC1uYa5Uh98KNMFybal/s320/nif_blender_nopose.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><br />
So. And that model should fit the base human mesh from NWN2 some day? I don't see that coming... I assume I have to make a new amature, and paint new weights... which, frankly, is only sentences I have picked up while reading the webz, because, hell I have no idea how to start with that.<br />
<br />
What I know so far from resources like the <a href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro" target="_blank">Blender Noob to Pro</a> is basic manipulation, I know how to grab, move, add verex points, edges, faces and cut them off, I also can scale bones... but that's it, and learning even that is very hard in Blender because it's the damn most unintuitive thing ever. I'm no computer illiterate, I learned the toolset, Photoshop, whatever, but.... this? This is rocket science. Anyway, rant over... switching to Make human now because the problem there is similar and yet different...<br />
In make Human I created a slim female figure I'd like to use as a new base (I know people start with easy things usually, but I'm not interested in creating a new barrel for NWN2, I want to work on what I really want! ;) ). The big problem is that you can't pose in Make Human, but you get support for that in Blender. I export using the usual settings and import it, scaled to 0.13 which is the closest I can get to the NWN2 model. I end up with this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw59RacDRSQt3CU0ey8ITl5CJm2udyFx4eihla2v_-buLAoqPaVUYW2ky7VLellvI_hHKPrx2Q3d_0kaDvKK4cmiZ1__gH17GTVoI-MOykBpfClKzzCl3HqZcEBWMF8s6Pga0n3RVSHfQw/s1600/makehuman_import.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw59RacDRSQt3CU0ey8ITl5CJm2udyFx4eihla2v_-buLAoqPaVUYW2ky7VLellvI_hHKPrx2Q3d_0kaDvKK4cmiZ1__gH17GTVoI-MOykBpfClKzzCl3HqZcEBWMF8s6Pga0n3RVSHfQw/s320/makehuman_import.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Not too shabby, isn't it? The problem is, even though it comes with a skeleton and already set up for posing, actually posing it is much harder than I thought. Some rotations are completely impossible, like turning the hand. I found it almost impossible to come even remotely close to the NWN2 mesh. Here's what made last night:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FYnvuQLN3_1P-LqEzQhjIUhp2Hzwrljfl17wfo0DNN0swjLtH50KkdEhLXICJOqOcDNRj-Q37_vzADBym4vDCKV7N_2wT7-LKE_v0C1KGV1YmhTrhnzeKUUpA5PNHPz-mJTh06R_rbqE/s1600/makehuman_pose01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FYnvuQLN3_1P-LqEzQhjIUhp2Hzwrljfl17wfo0DNN0swjLtH50KkdEhLXICJOqOcDNRj-Q37_vzADBym4vDCKV7N_2wT7-LKE_v0C1KGV1YmhTrhnzeKUUpA5PNHPz-mJTh06R_rbqE/s320/makehuman_pose01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Left you see the NWN2 model, right the Make Human. Yes, I managed to lower the arms, but it looks already less natural than the NWN2 one, even though the mesh is of a much higher quality. Look at the hands, I can't get them into the same position (important later for gloves or bare hands). And I can see the exact same problem coming with any Bethesda models too, all of them, even if I could manage to pose them, would be very hard to pose in detail. Details like... the Make Human skeleton doesn't even have all the finger bones, just one for each finger where the NWN2 skeleton features every knuckle (you want to make a fist later to hold a weapon, yes?).<br />
Another issue is the heavily deformed mesh once you start posing things in Bender. Take shoulder and armpits...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyT_9mfPvleleA27yqnAUhdDpxE5AT7VrXt9vVvzd-WNK5t2HWT9YSHo0BcbclNTrrkcpRoirP8ejwZaQ2Iota2zTgzgQ90_ghvikV_0h75UgpLzP_QtRV0Cd8DQdFFDnqOQA6EtRwU9RS/s1600/mahehuman_armpit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyT_9mfPvleleA27yqnAUhdDpxE5AT7VrXt9vVvzd-WNK5t2HWT9YSHo0BcbclNTrrkcpRoirP8ejwZaQ2Iota2zTgzgQ90_ghvikV_0h75UgpLzP_QtRV0Cd8DQdFFDnqOQA6EtRwU9RS/s320/mahehuman_armpit.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br />
You don't even see it that much here anymore because the arm is too low, but if it's at say... 20 degrees more upwards the armpit looks ridiculously deformed. The shoulder already looks absolutely unnatural. This is the problem with posing in Blender. If you compare it to Jester's base (posed in DAZ), the result looks much better:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbv2dvr-kcZEcX0J8teZv4tJKL8D03kJhXHmj12WZrez_CP3CSq2xRRSfQCEJNv4g4xXZeyS_LK7J3D5UJ99bMuNtgmv-_xOBsblQnjq1UfM3nfaJ3uinPDpm_fm1Cab2BalUERVoDl8hu/s1600/jester_armpit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbv2dvr-kcZEcX0J8teZv4tJKL8D03kJhXHmj12WZrez_CP3CSq2xRRSfQCEJNv4g4xXZeyS_LK7J3D5UJ99bMuNtgmv-_xOBsblQnjq1UfM3nfaJ3uinPDpm_fm1Cab2BalUERVoDl8hu/s320/jester_armpit.jpg" width="269" /></a></div><br />
Pity the DAZ body isn't to my liking and you can't pose the Make Human one in DAZ... anyway, you might say "who cares for nude bodies", but the same problem will probably occur with .nif models too (if they were even posable in Blender), I'm not looking forward to it.<br />
<br />
All this is still very basic stuff. I've not talked about cutting heads off yet etc, but I managed this. Where it really gets over my head is the posing for one, then the whole "rigging up to NWN2 skeleton" thing which is absolutely mindblowing for me. But as you can see, my problems already start long before that.<br />
<br />
To be <a href="http://middleforest.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning-3d-stuffs-part-three.html">continued</a>.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-76342593371810639182012-03-04T17:16:00.001+01:002012-03-04T20:03:00.792+01:00Learning 3D stuffs, part one: The setupAs I said in my last post, I'm always looking jealously over at the Bethesda community which seems to put out hundreds of new models every week with ease, a lot of them armors or body replacers of high quality. The NWN2 community started off with quite some enthusiasm years ago too, but seems to have died out when it comes to nice clothes etc. Unacceptable! So the only solution is, trying it myself. As long as it's just retexturing of existing models, no problem, I have figured that out myself, being familiar with Photoshop and having learned the basics of file conventions in NWN2. But where I'm completely lost is the 3D side of things, actually doing stuff in a 3D app.<br />
<br />
As some sort of reply to, say, Jester's helpful mails last year, the few tutorials I've found and Frank's comment to my last post, let me start with where I'm coming from and where I really get stuck.<br />
<br />
As for NWN2 works, what I did so far can be seen in that <a href="http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2HakpaksOriginal.Detail&id=441" target="_blank">little hak</a> linked on the right (I still don't get why I have that age restricted thingy there). That is based on <a href="http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2HakpaksOriginal.Detail&id=438" target="_blank">Jester's New Nudes (with clothes)</a>, basically a collection of textures attempting to suit every race as good as possible.<br />
Furthermore, not uploaded, there's my attempt to use Jester's belt-slot clothes to create some dresses and undies. Example:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimXAhrX8aSlUX4DxNukr1CMXERPyoxfL118UsRpWjqBpEfswZ9bBkO2rZwpoJ62KF5TH1mrMDG_6vBrvsgg9TNlKnQN3AaxuAsqY-rLSvv3tM4pM8XJGOKy7byTo0GxxbNtAmoxewFSw6Q/s1600/lingerie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimXAhrX8aSlUX4DxNukr1CMXERPyoxfL118UsRpWjqBpEfswZ9bBkO2rZwpoJ62KF5TH1mrMDG_6vBrvsgg9TNlKnQN3AaxuAsqY-rLSvv3tM4pM8XJGOKy7byTo0GxxbNtAmoxewFSw6Q/s320/lingerie.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br />
What you see up there is actually not a painted body model, but the lingerie is a 2nd model worn as an extra piece of clothing above the main body, enabling you to use any body texture with it (a blue one for Genasi, a dark one for drow etc.). The lingerie model is a piece of clothing worn as a second layer in the belt slot (NPCs) or gloves slot (PCs), based on Jester's catsuit model with most parts transparent. All this can be done in Photoshop alone, along with the regular NWN2 tools like<a href="http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Tools.Detail&id=37" target="_blank"> mdb cloner</a>, <a href="http://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop" target="_blank">nVidia plugins</a> for Photoshop etc. etc. And of course existing models, which is the tough part. <br />
The problem is that I'm stuck with the basic shapes of those models, so a, say, dress with puffy arms, certain skirts etc. are not possible. Also, to get a bit more into detail, my undies like that up there look incredibly 2D, like paper cutouts. You can fake some structures with normal maps, but usually the seams never look convincing. To add actual volume, you need a model and edit it in a 3D app.<br />
<br />
Anyway, this just to sum up the following: I'm familiar with NWN2 content and naming conventions, know how to use mdb cloner, know the basics about texturing in 2D, can edit 2das etc. etc. <br />
<br />
Now let's get into 3D, because this is where I feel like a 3 year old....<br />
<br />
Starting with my setup. I've collected most tools needed to import, export and edit both .nif (Bethesda) and .mdb (NWN) files, plus some tutorials:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1WayWpqGCREPa9rCa8QD2UFqGJVeIObd0v7Dm2qYfDFpL-QxM-DHEN6wHjtNwZpg-vgx8k5fcv6-NoezRK0INournIKoFE99arcZyi0s7H8fLBoq3pqovpme_pRej8uA0ubI0h5GI-lG/s1600/3D_collection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1WayWpqGCREPa9rCa8QD2UFqGJVeIObd0v7Dm2qYfDFpL-QxM-DHEN6wHjtNwZpg-vgx8k5fcv6-NoezRK0INournIKoFE99arcZyi0s7H8fLBoq3pqovpme_pRej8uA0ubI0h5GI-lG/s320/3D_collection.jpg" width="157" /></a></div><br />
Missing in that pic are of course the NWN2 toolset, standard tools like mdb cloner, NWN2 Packer and stuff I use for other things too like Photoshop (Elements and CS5 on the Mac side). I also have Gimp in there for some specific functions - mostly to follow a Blender tutorial, but there's also neat things like a "make seamless" filter to quickly create texture tiles, which requires a bit more work in Photoshop. <br />
<br />
Where things already get messy is the basic setup of Blender and it's plugins: Certain plugins ask for certain versions. That's why you see both Blender 2.49 and Blender 2.62 in the folder. Finding out the right combination was already one of the most frustrating parts:<br />
<br />
- 2.49 is required for importing/exporting Bethesda's .nif files, because the niftools haven't been updated yet.<br />
<br />
- 2.62 is for the rest, including the .mdb plugins which have been updated. I also prefer using this version, and the two look so different that it's almost like learning two different 3D programs at once. I prefer to go with the newer version and only use 2.49 to import a .nif and save it for using in 2.62 later. After all I don't plan to export a .nif again.<br />
<br />
Having both versions introduces a new problem: You have to change the install paths to get them both running at the same time, otherwise 2.62 overwrites the 2.49 content.<br />
Also, what barely anyone tells you, stick with the 32bit versions!!! It took me a long and frustrating time to find out the 64bit version will only result in much more headache when installing the plugins.<br />
<br />
Now for the required plugins:<br />
<br />
- Niftools: Install only exactly <a href="http://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3148" target="_blank">following this post</a> - No experiments. A 64bit version or a different python download than linked there will screw everything up. Don't try the alphas for newer Blender versions, screws things up too. Stick with the regular downloads and Blender 2.49.<br />
The only exception - you can (additionally) use the latest release candidate of <a href="http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/NifSkope" target="_blank">Nifscope</a>, only this will enable you to get Skyrim models into Blender (a different topic for later, haven't tried it yet). <br />
<br />
- <a href="http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Tools.Detail&id=94" target="_blank">mdb plugin</a>: Not half as much headache installing it than the niftools. Works with the latest Blender release, as long as you stick again to the 32bit version all is fine. Remember you have to enable plugins in the User Preferences -> Add Ons of Blender before you can use them. <br />
<br />
Additionally, as I've read in many places, <a href="http://blog.machinimatrix.org/bone-weight-copy-in-blender-2-52-6/" target="_blank">Bone Weight Copy</a> should make things much easier. It was included in past versions of Blender, now you have to find it again on the interwebz. Funny, the name of the original author sounds somewhat familiar.... <_<<br />
<br />
With all the Blender stuff covered, maybe a few words on the additional stuff in my folder.<br />
<br />
First we have the DAZStudio, which was a free download during February. This is almost exclusively for making human bodies (or clothes) and posing it. I was quite excited to get it for free first, but I'm a bit less excited now. I don't really like it. I wanted to use it for making a new base model that looks a bit more natural than what's available currently, but hell, they even want you to BUY the nipples... hahaha... I used Poser a long time ago, which would be more useful for that task. The big pro argument for DAZ is that you can actually pose the figure, a topic I'll get to in my 2nd part.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEins1RDBsTjX1YmJLZ6-o-lVWw7EuP9w6EW08s7_S6nTMfcALllItHM-xJ77uglEcdPC6Tl9sq8L6wPfP0fa8vmMSlQKQdAeu9zr6c1qJa7N_zhgGtW-f6X8qmTGZmdUTjwX7DIpuDEYOlg/s1600/Daz3D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEins1RDBsTjX1YmJLZ6-o-lVWw7EuP9w6EW08s7_S6nTMfcALllItHM-xJ77uglEcdPC6Tl9sq8L6wPfP0fa8vmMSlQKQdAeu9zr6c1qJa7N_zhgGtW-f6X8qmTGZmdUTjwX7DIpuDEYOlg/s320/Daz3D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
As an alternative to the above, we have an Open Source app called <a href="http://www.makehuman.org/" target="_blank">Make Human</a>. I'm using the latest Nightly Build because it comes with quite a few new features not available in the stable one yet, and it works fine.<br />
For making a base body I'd actually prefer this program by far over DAZ. Because the body looks much more natural (based on full body scans), you can make very believable fat/anorexic/etc persons and, well, it's not a biggy, but you don't have to pay extra for nipples (etc) too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh_ooOKednIPfKNG-bDqg-CvBHq5otRfNcRhZmDw9Vr847Ja2SvY55oCk-uAba1q_KgYFKncUNLfX8STvQhVFa-mfipJCg8Gj8VIvf5hsjjBDzmKIJ8Gax6rrONVxL58L8RvHMFRISMHT/s1600/makehuman1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh_ooOKednIPfKNG-bDqg-CvBHq5otRfNcRhZmDw9Vr847Ja2SvY55oCk-uAba1q_KgYFKncUNLfX8STvQhVFa-mfipJCg8Gj8VIvf5hsjjBDzmKIJ8Gax6rrONVxL58L8RvHMFRISMHT/s320/makehuman1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
One of the big Pros of this program is that it has a very smooth Blender export, Blender actually comes with a Makehuman plugin by default and you get a posable, rigged, neatly setup model from Make Human into Blender with just a few clicks. Theoretically, because there are issues I'll mention later. One of the real big issues in this program is that you CAN'T pose yet. This issue is so big it almost ruins things completely. You can pose in Blender, but.... later. <br />
<br />
Well, so much for the basic setup. You can also see some documentations in my folder, some from tips from Jester, some Blender tutorials, release notes. Hexagon, Bryce etc. are of no importance for NWN2 now.<br />
<br />
Finally, there's also gmax in there. I don't know much more about gmax other than it's free basic version of 3D Max, fairly old, but should have enough functionality for NWN2 modelling... I haven't looked much into it yet. <br />
<br />
To be <a href="http://middleforest.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning-3d-stuffs-part-two-getting.html">continued.</a>Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-30459190441350949742012-02-20T21:28:00.001+01:002012-02-20T21:31:55.272+01:00If I had the skill: My long wishlist starts hereTime to move that stupid EA post down a little and post some pics again, even though they're not mine.<br />
Current problem: Since playing Skyrim I have such a need for custom content for NWN2 again! I want more, and I'd love to be able to do it myself, but I just can't figure it out.<br />
I really don't know if I'm that thick... I mean, I did computer stuffs for years and studied graphics... what is it that I just can't get into 3D proggies? Am I getting too old?<br />
<br />
Last week I installed pretty much all the DAZ stuff that is available <a href="http://www.daz3d.com/">for free</a> during this month (grab it if you're interested!), but it didn't really help at all since my main problem is still the import/adjust/export procedure with Blender. At this time even the installation of the required plugins and finding the right version is getting more and more confusing, I didn't even get as far as in my first clumsy attempts. What pains me so much is knowing that other people have zero problems with it and all I want to do should be easy for anyone who UNDERSTANDS THIS CRAP! *sigh*<br />
<br />
Anyway, I've collected a lot of things that is on my personal wishlist just for a simple conversion of the base models. Highest on the list is of course armors and clothing, that's where I'd start. I know animations are hard stuff even for the skilled ones, so that's nothing I even think about at the moment. Models might be easier than armor, but there are no urgent needs for any specific ones (other than my NWN1 ships... *waves to Hellfire* ).<br />
No, clothing is something I'm a sucker for, anything that improves the character looks. And sadly, the input of such on the vault has stopped long ago. But often I stumble over a great model on the Nexus sites while looking for New Vegas/Skyrim mods and think "damn, it's there, it just needs someone to do it!". I'm not even speaking about the gorgeous ingame stuff I'd love to see, but I'm scared of running into legal issues when grabbing Bethesda's official stuff so usually collect things from other modders in my link list.<br />
<br />
Long story short, here's a bunch of stuff I'd loooove to get into NWN2. Some might not look so great first, but textures aren't the issue, I know how to use Photoshop etc. No, it's the meshes I want, either with the original textures or just as a plain white base for doing my own stuff.<br />
<br />
Now the prettiness of my hitlist part one - all pics are from the Nexus sites and the original authors:<br />
<br />
1. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4708" target="_blank">Triss armor</a>. Maybe the prettiest of all. Has to be scaled down on polys, but hell... I'd love to get this! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqzI4F84ucDzUp40ysN1WEw2PfbJic6VF7wrR-uPMY-FIONE4FD-U1v0kIxYVrmHnqCobmOcrc8KdEqyyVMiU_2TtzfAo4EkwKve8Bh7oYBVeoZbCBCkn61KuKjRLbosvRj-1j7I_54St3/s1600/001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqzI4F84ucDzUp40ysN1WEw2PfbJic6VF7wrR-uPMY-FIONE4FD-U1v0kIxYVrmHnqCobmOcrc8KdEqyyVMiU_2TtzfAo4EkwKve8Bh7oYBVeoZbCBCkn61KuKjRLbosvRj-1j7I_54St3/s320/001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
2. <a href="http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=37173#" target="_blank">The RoadStroker's Rogue outfit</a>. Was my favorite before Triss' armor. Here in the <a href="http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=40654#" target="_blank">FalloutNV version</a>, the original was for Oblivion, Skyrim version <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7818" target="_blank">exists too</a>. I managed to import that into Blender at least, ha... ha... *sniff*<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK7M1Xku22DR31ULbh3ejDY0Y8qA4ZvX4bO9V81iw5viY6BkMc6U_Y82ubUs_KR9MecLcsZrNoSVFVSgSTSOyzvV19WXIEbzXzhAAZvyhXa_slcsYOAbITk94kFcPpvFvw0SWxrUL209Y/s1600/002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK7M1Xku22DR31ULbh3ejDY0Y8qA4ZvX4bO9V81iw5viY6BkMc6U_Y82ubUs_KR9MecLcsZrNoSVFVSgSTSOyzvV19WXIEbzXzhAAZvyhXa_slcsYOAbITk94kFcPpvFvw0SWxrUL209Y/s320/002.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
3. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7807" target="_blank">Blue Stripes Elite</a>. More from the Witcher, now with love for males too (yes, I do care for male outfits, those are just even more rare).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27yV4g5Xe2eJ3IF_YYGFkVR6cJaxqDjTUAOu4k-_LE_2h83tKfPo5H_xslPQ7R0E3sfsErBqEx5aEPBIDujWMODqQ22xp8ACB1rDj49iM_r1I26Ou2EyIfeEoFI305aVku4JnaC25UgcU/s1600/003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27yV4g5Xe2eJ3IF_YYGFkVR6cJaxqDjTUAOu4k-_LE_2h83tKfPo5H_xslPQ7R0E3sfsErBqEx5aEPBIDujWMODqQ22xp8ACB1rDj49iM_r1I26Ou2EyIfeEoFI305aVku4JnaC25UgcU/s320/003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
4. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5588" target="_blank">The Witcher 2 models</a> (various). Still not the last of the Witcher 2, that content is just good. Cudos to CDPR who apparently gave their okay. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MvyAeSWIJ2q4MjsSwIloE4XT1TSjFWm4qvEpWk22miMTEOPzLrp-UchjKstSUH0O2ePZ370ahWhgiR0XKnhgMVzua7MZUbjg3SCcxzDX-sXUx_cK3V8vI7YLRz6N-kthAt53UPOvi-w-/s1600/004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MvyAeSWIJ2q4MjsSwIloE4XT1TSjFWm4qvEpWk22miMTEOPzLrp-UchjKstSUH0O2ePZ370ahWhgiR0XKnhgMVzua7MZUbjg3SCcxzDX-sXUx_cK3V8vI7YLRz6N-kthAt53UPOvi-w-/s320/004.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
5. <a href="http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=28765" target="_blank">Captain Molly For HGCE</a>: Huge jump back in time to Oblivion days. This would make a great outfit for NWN2 too. The textures certainly need to be redone, but a good base for nice outfits!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_Iwcl7qzry4Gf0HJ7k_BIsQw-mZjvwL9_-j_TlxdmZb2JSeSjFsCmOH0VGJHcHohQiXJarHFj80bUBQhkbgWUOd3L06fftisrimuySwROH6nJFiPy_dBZ4G60GtF7SSb8ENu-0M_D-XD/s1600/005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_Iwcl7qzry4Gf0HJ7k_BIsQw-mZjvwL9_-j_TlxdmZb2JSeSjFsCmOH0VGJHcHohQiXJarHFj80bUBQhkbgWUOd3L06fftisrimuySwROH6nJFiPy_dBZ4G60GtF7SSb8ENu-0M_D-XD/s320/005.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
6. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4803" target="_blank">Summer Fashion for CBBEv2</a>: Some more revealing but not lore-breaking or ridiculous outfits, prefer this by far to modern skimpy stuff. Not all, but I'd like to have a few. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGviPIu0Mj_1aiv_a93K8MN2W9OpHqf_6eOLi_FzDCYrh9_u72Wfl5Suk1HGQN8zz6MFn_U_FOPYDRRXzDUKRl8LVHB21cUgRx735AibNKJ0Vo6TpRw5X8AolQpmWuteeKgi6CxfUQtfyF/s1600/006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGviPIu0Mj_1aiv_a93K8MN2W9OpHqf_6eOLi_FzDCYrh9_u72Wfl5Suk1HGQN8zz6MFn_U_FOPYDRRXzDUKRl8LVHB21cUgRx735AibNKJ0Vo6TpRw5X8AolQpmWuteeKgi6CxfUQtfyF/s320/006.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br />
<br />
7. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=6006" target="_blank">The Witcher 2 - Geralt Light Armor and Witcher Swords</a>: You saw it coming, didn't you? The Witcher in person, or rather, his outfit.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho7yPt8wHJr_Zf6nAgRe9PkoQcfDJB-1onaSMAD_LcWwI7hgWi1rv09pAHhcr7nYEDRNfapQnu5aUNV1A3Llk80aYeXm_R-LJ9Tv8ubCFoh_DvOYJ3xBM3YN2FUXBIhWDcjQQ7xeP-NxLG/s1600/007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho7yPt8wHJr_Zf6nAgRe9PkoQcfDJB-1onaSMAD_LcWwI7hgWi1rv09pAHhcr7nYEDRNfapQnu5aUNV1A3Llk80aYeXm_R-LJ9Tv8ubCFoh_DvOYJ3xBM3YN2FUXBIhWDcjQQ7xeP-NxLG/s320/007.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
8. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7109" target="_blank">Scout Armor</a>: More love for males - an armor I just stumbled over, apparently an original. Would be nice! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQrDurQLsaqJNTc2zwi0cflGlXDzmKOYJMkbkMj8XduSsLlGdzXdTsceefoCzjPB1nmx1vmCoJAmKzng5IpReGbEeuFjm6UEaHwM0iyGMJPTZcpvseDQ5km5yo8uA0rKSZ9ttSYVFmHr4/s1600/008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQrDurQLsaqJNTc2zwi0cflGlXDzmKOYJMkbkMj8XduSsLlGdzXdTsceefoCzjPB1nmx1vmCoJAmKzng5IpReGbEeuFjm6UEaHwM0iyGMJPTZcpvseDQ5km5yo8uA0rKSZ9ttSYVFmHr4/s320/008.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
9. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4041" target="_blank">Get Married in Skyrim in Style</a>: A rather simple base, but nevertheless good base for many medieval dresses. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAe96EidJHfbKECdAInn8Vnb63yzWkfYQveGYnRhCOVhwd7_IswQeWzlnQsK4guBAPyxMwgYsWuoLxCq5XQxwBfC7SZcnjdcdzAot2kxOUP7mJ5nMfyypqq_1XXRq12X_gGuyeYz1o_ZH3/s1600/009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAe96EidJHfbKECdAInn8Vnb63yzWkfYQveGYnRhCOVhwd7_IswQeWzlnQsK4guBAPyxMwgYsWuoLxCq5XQxwBfC7SZcnjdcdzAot2kxOUP7mJ5nMfyypqq_1XXRq12X_gGuyeYz1o_ZH3/s320/009.jpg" width="169" /></a></div><br />
<br />
10. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5577" target="_blank">Ashara Romantic Outfit for CBBE</a>: Another simple but pretty base for all kinds of experiments. Not very medieval, but you can probably do a lot of texturing experiments on this.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVyoxBRmN6j88Y6U3W9ecY-eih4EqVXQqF9vcMKcwEeZVHu9cUY4W2sA62Bt7OW-Dq_geWRH58nWUx4U1jFbAj7x064xUK5ajQB-xrjrDPccr_eOoK4AE2Ypua-N_LYra3cc5OqAWLO3n/s1600/017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVyoxBRmN6j88Y6U3W9ecY-eih4EqVXQqF9vcMKcwEeZVHu9cUY4W2sA62Bt7OW-Dq_geWRH58nWUx4U1jFbAj7x064xUK5ajQB-xrjrDPccr_eOoK4AE2Ypua-N_LYra3cc5OqAWLO3n/s320/017.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
11. <a href="http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=25734" target="_blank">Underworld Armor</a>: One from Oblivion, kinda neat! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_WKd9SiY3YBUlcgwkVGEnEfwBjS03tpYzlcdfOyZF9aMSpERCWT9ZJLoshRVNUN5Kg07gu8YHIuOqbcBog2HV4XXNjJmmPW5FDzbt1-42F4srRWkaaFJU0ruHCupoUH7G1IwvOlVQ7QG/s1600/010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_WKd9SiY3YBUlcgwkVGEnEfwBjS03tpYzlcdfOyZF9aMSpERCWT9ZJLoshRVNUN5Kg07gu8YHIuOqbcBog2HV4XXNjJmmPW5FDzbt1-42F4srRWkaaFJU0ruHCupoUH7G1IwvOlVQ7QG/s320/010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
12. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=2899#" target="_blank">InStyle Welchy's Culinary Desire HD Chef outfit</a>: Another of these simple but pretty and useful ones. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4AwJ5kjFM2gtfQPjUgZ_PM0gHfvKw1-ucYXJGS6huHCqbJ1US3lc8ROkqnip9se-je38hADWCT4VBeTfjfDc8UVQdcCY1XNNlsDFtYp6za3Guf8I7KBxv_qMo0IBxRl004NudlfXIkzMx/s1600/011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4AwJ5kjFM2gtfQPjUgZ_PM0gHfvKw1-ucYXJGS6huHCqbJ1US3lc8ROkqnip9se-je38hADWCT4VBeTfjfDc8UVQdcCY1XNNlsDFtYp6za3Guf8I7KBxv_qMo0IBxRl004NudlfXIkzMx/s320/011.jpg" width="167" /></a></div><br />
<br />
13: <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=6544" target="_blank">Noble Female Clothes Non-replacer</a>: This would make a great base for all kinds of new clothes! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3ppO6ca_JQlqreVWFsMATHoyM5NE5j-FjI4OYHfPVGbmq2NywKqQCBdU7HsO2wfNwHVgZgp5y-HxfXmXIkyISMZ12UGKyl5V6He6VgZ2SdkGt0dZGg5CouhAxth9IJ_zCq5qCUqZFe_D/s1600/012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3ppO6ca_JQlqreVWFsMATHoyM5NE5j-FjI4OYHfPVGbmq2NywKqQCBdU7HsO2wfNwHVgZgp5y-HxfXmXIkyISMZ12UGKyl5V6He6VgZ2SdkGt0dZGg5CouhAxth9IJ_zCq5qCUqZFe_D/s320/012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
14: <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4566" target="_blank">Feuermagierrobe</a>: Apparently a model from Gothic 2, but looks good!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOD_YaYu1O4mwwqbuHlsbQIF7dNgXQ2sXuB9NHZqeD6uMQ_L4-K24wcNhrl9mhA9-AMt0bd8n4kdSgzMFW2MBrRPIiNj8rekhKV_u3IPMZm550H2BkTYhbH1UVsGTbdbuDIxWxTFk4LMbZ/s1600/013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOD_YaYu1O4mwwqbuHlsbQIF7dNgXQ2sXuB9NHZqeD6uMQ_L4-K24wcNhrl9mhA9-AMt0bd8n4kdSgzMFW2MBrRPIiNj8rekhKV_u3IPMZm550H2BkTYhbH1UVsGTbdbuDIxWxTFk4LMbZ/s320/013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
15. <a href="http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=25014" target="_blank">HGEC Bare Shoulder Dress</a>: This pic might look not as impressive as the rest, but with a new/improved texture I'm sure it's a great base. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWljUgMLgJEe8hX-5tkTt8RVDanhyphenhyphenVJxtnM7Nlzr0mZ_YPgynb5hoYHAtWMnlKGfZEO6A-sdLvyQdrawl4O396EVJkz97-sKRv87wSRx6DUvIW3kjKAU4BSG8zVzBWdAdvtr47NuTdf87k/s1600/014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWljUgMLgJEe8hX-5tkTt8RVDanhyphenhyphenVJxtnM7Nlzr0mZ_YPgynb5hoYHAtWMnlKGfZEO6A-sdLvyQdrawl4O396EVJkz97-sKRv87wSRx6DUvIW3kjKAU4BSG8zVzBWdAdvtr47NuTdf87k/s320/014.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><br />
<br />
16: <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8622" target="_blank">Triss from the Witcher 2 Companion</a>: Actually, I want her hairstyle! Maybe the head too, but the hair would be great. :) <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQT5lY3pYbUYvg78ks6rAmRfBigXHqnbiEekpoFHD5Bw_DGTpW7jTiGJ1Tq8oamdqOJp7Nt5gnIK0Ddsleqmoayv55_l2MiohYc1B1TilZUIOSKxZyrEgzuM7hyphenhyphen1eW8lVyPX9GFEYVdF01/s1600/015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQT5lY3pYbUYvg78ks6rAmRfBigXHqnbiEekpoFHD5Bw_DGTpW7jTiGJ1Tq8oamdqOJp7Nt5gnIK0Ddsleqmoayv55_l2MiohYc1B1TilZUIOSKxZyrEgzuM7hyphenhyphen1eW8lVyPX9GFEYVdF01/s320/015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
17. <a href="http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3201" target="_blank">Fur Hoods HD</a>: Rather simple maybe, but Skyrim, Fallout etc. Had a lot of great hoods, I could grab a dozen of them. But since we're only looking at community stuff now, here's a fine example.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR-HSgnBJaaaIssAUB4YoekcMofKSKoEvrY5wu8bpSpqfbLpe6ggSYSficDUyWaHDciAfiuUFLo9LQYr9gDmaRiqBksg8-z1q0JwRa6_SzPmZ3rfTV2ipHGxhrGabbF9ZamTr3WPhm-W8l/s1600/016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR-HSgnBJaaaIssAUB4YoekcMofKSKoEvrY5wu8bpSpqfbLpe6ggSYSficDUyWaHDciAfiuUFLo9LQYr9gDmaRiqBksg8-z1q0JwRa6_SzPmZ3rfTV2ipHGxhrGabbF9ZamTr3WPhm-W8l/s320/016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
So much for now. So who gives me a real step-by-step guide for doing this? Or just grabs all that stuff and converts it for me? Hmm... I knew it!Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-79940804209190083772012-01-16T04:47:00.002+01:002012-01-17T07:16:22.509+01:00EA - Deal with it<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx34_-00ScODd09RRkN4raba5_puzTAvAegFZqEJN9aa3hB3b3h5S4d4DsDxqONi66LCwI3nXnwT0cJGjSmFBj-q7kV7mwo4ZalRcQtChV7rZiBTAt74GFKsWTnz9aWHWbfF367hwQqJ4H/s1600/ealogon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx34_-00ScODd09RRkN4raba5_puzTAvAegFZqEJN9aa3hB3b3h5S4d4DsDxqONi66LCwI3nXnwT0cJGjSmFBj-q7kV7mwo4ZalRcQtChV7rZiBTAt74GFKsWTnz9aWHWbfF367hwQqJ4H/s320/ealogon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(logo courtesy of someone on the Bioboards.. I guess)</span></div><br />
<br />
<a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/8975536">Chris Priestly says: </a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Below are answers to the most commonly asked questions about Origin and Mass Effect 3. Thank you for your patience as we have worked to answer them.</i><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffd966; font-weight: bold;">1) Will Origin be a requirement to play all versions of Mass Effect 3? (Digital and/or from a retail brick and mortar store) </span><br />
<i>Yes, Origin is required for all PC editions of Mass Effect 3, physical or digital.</i></blockquote><br />
Wooohoo, another bloatware running alongside my games, preferably as a Windows service, and does absolutely nothing for me then being an inoperable cancer that eats ressources and is a constant annoyance.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-weight: bold;">2) Is constant Origin connection required or is it a single one off authentication when the game is first installed. Is there also a limit to the number of installations available? </span><br />
<i>Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game. There is no limit to the number of installs. Playing Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer will require a constant connection.</i></blockquote><br />
Nothing a CD check couldn't do as well, and multiplayer is the best DRM even without having to run Origin. Don't come with anti-cheating, punkbuster functions etc. now, ME3's multiplayer is a Coop mode (which most people probably have zero interest in anyway). <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-weight: bold;">3) Is Origin required for the retail versions of the game?</span><br />
<i>Origin is required for the PC versions of Mass Effect 3, both physical and digital.</i></blockquote><br />
While you say PC - Just for the record and as some sort of comparison to your competitor - EA is also the largest publisher for Mac games, yet Origin is not available for the Mac. Steam has that neat little feature called "SteamPlay", which allows you not only to start a game on computer 1 and continue on computer 2, but even allows that cross-plattform. Oh right, and when you buy a cross-plattform title, you automatically own the game for all supported plattforms. EA does not even have any solution for Mac gamers, can't even download one. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-weight: bold;">4) Will ME3 be available on Steam?</span><br />
<i>During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers. </i></blockquote><br />
Let me rephrase this: Steam wants to offer the DLCs and patches and everything the consumer needs to play all in one place - their store. That does NOT mean Steam restricts publishers to sell the DLCs only to their store, it just means that if they want to publish their game on Steam, they have to offer all the DLCs on Steam too instead of having the customer buy it in their own place only.<br />
Steam of course wants a little share of the profit in return. <br />
What EA would have to deal with is 1. that customers can pay for the DLCs with real money and not with abstract Bioware points, and 2. that Steam might offer the customer a better deal, while EA has never ever had a special deal for DLCs ever. Oh, and has anyone ever tried to buy only one single DLC like, say, Kasumi for ME2 for I think 540 Bioware points? Right, you can't buy 540 Bioware points, only 800 or 1600. So if you want to buy Kasumi, you pay for 800 Bioware points and then look for an option to spend the remaining 260 points somewhere... oh damn, there is no DLC for 260 points? Ah, too bad.<br />
Oh, and have you ever compared prices between the Bioware point shop and the only other place where you can get Bioware points (the EA store?) Don't laugh if you do, it's just sad. <br />
End of the line: Stop feeding us EA's PR talk, it's ridiculous. For the player, Steam offers the better deal. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">5) Is there an opt in or opt out clause for data collection? </span> </span><br />
<i>Users will be allowed to opt-out of Mass Effect 3 data collection from inside the game. </i></blockquote><br />
Great wording here. You can opt out of ME3's ingame feedback just like you could in Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2. This has nothing to do with Origin, you can't opt out on anything in Origin.<br />
For the recoird, Steam asks before it does hardware surveys and you can opt out anytime, you even have to opt in in the first place. Origin just mines. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-weight: bold;">6) I’ve seen reports that Origin is spyware. Is this true?</span><br />
<i>Origin is not spyware, and does not use or install spyware on user’s machines. In order to allow Origin to install games and their patches for everyone to use, Origin implements a permission change that results in Windows, not Origin, reviewing the filenames in the ProgramData/Origin folder. This is an ordinary Windows function, not an information-gathering process. </i></blockquote><br />
Past versions looked very much like Spyware, current versions don't, but EA's EULA grants them every right to change that right in the next update. We'll see what happens once the current shitstorm is over and EA has forced a large enough user base together. It could happen anytime without further notice. Also, there might be a difference between "Windows just does stuff without us doing anything" and actively using these ordinary Windows functions to your advantage. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-weight: bold;">7) Has the Origin EULA been updated following recent questions in Germany?</span><br />
<i>The German Origin EULA has been updated. For more information, please review the Origin EULA here</i>: <a class="bb-url" href="http://www.ea.com/1/product-eulas" target="_blank">http://www.ea.com/1/product-eulas</a>.</blockquote><br />
Wrong link mister Priestly, the German EULA is here: <a href="http://www.ea.com/de/1/dokumente">http://www.ea.com/de/1/dokumente</a> <br />
Here I must say I'm proud of the <a href="http://www.theorigin.de/wordpress/">German community</a> that actually seems to care a lot more than what I've seen elsewhere. It's the proof for what the naysayers don't want to see, that you don't have to be sheep and actually can do something as a consumer, instead of just swallowing everything a company feeds you. It just takes a little more than sitting around saying "can't change them anyway, gotta accept it, and I have nothing to hide anyway". If you have enough backbone, you can do something, in the end it's YOUR money that leads to any company's decisions. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-weight: bold;">8) Is there a double-opt in for Mass Effect 3 marketing emails for German residents?</span><br />
<i>Yes, we always adhere to the German requirement of a double opt-in standard for marketing emails. Mass Effect 3 users must opt-in twice to receive these emails.</i></blockquote><br />
Another proof for the above. German residents get their own EULA and their own opt-out/opt in standards. Do you think EA did that on their own because they're nice? No, they were forced to because the German gaming community caused a <a href="http://www.amazon.de/EA-Battlefield-3-Limited-Edition/product-reviews/B004M17DVM/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1">shitstorm</a> for them. Without that, the EULA in Germany would still be the same as the international version. Don't ever think you can't change anything. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>I appreciate everyone's patience on this topic. Please continue to ask questions about Mass Effect 3 and Origin and I will continue to try to get the answers for you.</i></blockquote><br />
... said on Friday evening before he ran off to the weekend, while the Thread has been coming near the 200 pages by now full of unanswered questions. It was stickied and unstickied too multiple times, Mr. Priestly says it's not needed to sticky it because if it's really important for players, they'll keep bumping it up anyway.<br />
<br />
<br />
A few things not covered in that FAQ:<br />
<br />
<b style="color: #ffd966;">1. EA's ridiculous Banhammer.</b><br />
If you want to <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/12/05/ea-origin-bans-update-edition/">lose access to all of your games</a>, just use the F-word on their boards. Hell, not even that, just quote someone who used it. There are other options too, this is just one example.<br />
EA's PR talk already said it was an accident when it first happened a year ago, after it got media coverage. One year later it still happens, and only when the media picks it up it's another "error in the system". The result is always the same. Account ban, you can't play any of the games you bought on Origin, and the support is usually unavailable or unhelpful. So everytime that banhammer swings into your direction by accident, the fastest and easiest solution to fix the issue is simply getting the most media attention you can, other ways don't work. Which brings me to....<br />
<br />
<b style="color: #ffd966;">2. EA support.</b><br />
Honestly, EA's support is about the worst thing I've ever experienced myself. Just took me a week to get my Mass Effect 1 DLC back which I lost access to due to Bioware pulling the old Bioboards down. Quick summary: Contacted US support because local support was unavailable. Chatted with EA guy. EA guy had no clue what I was talking about, assured me the current Bioware site and my account is accessable and threw me out of chat.<br />
Phoned german support line. Waited 45 minutes in the line until I was fed up and hung up. This hotline is not free. Phoned them again two days later due to being unable to get into another chat. Waited 45 minutes again. Hung up. Finally got into US chat again after turning the "unsolved" ticket into a new issue. EA guy was more helpful but made me sign up for a new account on EA's kiddie/casual game website without any reason. Finally got my new DLC key.<br />
This is just my personal experience with EA's support, but apparently this experience is quite average. Losing access to my Mass Effect 1 DLC btw doesn't really reassure me that all the other DLC I bought for DA or ME2 will still be accessible in 2 or three years.<br />
<br />
I could continue, but if you compare Origin to Steam, like it has become a hobby of everyone who tries to prove what morons people are who complain about Origin, you have to take customer relation and support as much into account as possible datamining. Steam makes people sign up freely because they offer them an all-in-one solution comparable to Apple's iTunes: Sure, they have a monopoly, but they also have great deals, speak the right language and offer players some real advantages (SteamPlay, autopatches, daily deals on DLC too, etc. etc.). Many people like Steam, nobody likes Origin. That's not to say that Steam is the good guy, would never be interested in your data, and there are many games that force you to use Steam too Bethesda comes to mind. But honestly, Steam makes it much easier for customers to swallow, and there are enough who sign up without being forced. <br />
<br />
Well, look for yourself, make your own opinion if you think I'm too biased, but I hope the shitstorm against the most useless bloatware forced on gamers recently won't cease. There's a <a href="http://social.bioware.com/group/6871/">Group</a> on the Bioboards you can join, they have a nice little banner for your sig too. ;)Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-80976575289177954972012-01-07T00:56:00.001+01:002012-01-07T01:03:14.785+01:00The state of my (our?) NWN2 depression<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2XUsVwl6I8QmDL7pd4OAPKUou9GueGy2sdnI-eM22Wc-8on5AnVC6z-MGczcu7aT5wSuxbffxd4uMR6VhWZTqO8oXkYZq_zevzaX4lL_vc8uISeiTvq9Xr9X73CywS4Xd6y8wV0xqoKDc/s1600/NWN2_SS_100611_103405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2XUsVwl6I8QmDL7pd4OAPKUou9GueGy2sdnI-eM22Wc-8on5AnVC6z-MGczcu7aT5wSuxbffxd4uMR6VhWZTqO8oXkYZq_zevzaX4lL_vc8uISeiTvq9Xr9X73CywS4Xd6y8wV0xqoKDc/s320/NWN2_SS_100611_103405.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Time for another rant. As you can see from my last posts, this blog has more and more drifted away from it's original purpose - being a diary of my building efforts in Neverwinter Nights 2. By now, most of the posts are probably reviews of and rants about other games. So have I completely lost the connection to NWN2? No... I wouldn't say so. I actually think about building every day, and all the games I play on the side are a great source for inspiration. But taking this inspiration and making something out of it, that's the main problem.<br />
I said it before and it still hasn't changed - it's become too much and I have so many ideas I just can't make real use of because I wouldn't know where to start - and the technical hurdles are often too frustrating and making me drop the whole thing before I even really started.<br />
<br />
Another thing though that frustrates me is the state of NWN2 and it's community. I often get the impression it's not only me who's depressed and frustrated, it's the community and the game itself. NWN2 has been in a constant state of being half dead, comatose maybe, for the last two years or so. When I look at the multiplayer tabs in Gamespy, there are maybe 5 worlds that share all the remaining player population, and a lot of very promising PWs (often of much better quality) hang there with zero players, maybe 4 on a lucky weekend. Do I really want to add another one to those?<br />
<br />
Then there's the custom content scene. The good old <a href="http://nwvault.ign.com/">NWN Vault</a> is dying slowly too, hardly anything new and exiting anymore, instead it's overrun by Spambots and only sours my mood everytime I browse for something. I often thought the Vault might need a relaunch like the <a href="http://www.skyrimnexus.com/index.php">TES/Fallout/DA Nexus sites</a>, they really show how to keep these games alive and interesting. Not to mention the ease of use with their download manager. And I think it's fantastic what modders do with the games, I mean, Skyrim hasn't even it's Creation Kit yet and still you can already turn the game completely upside down.<br />
<br />
So, why don't I just follow the crowd and hop over to the TES/Fallout modding crowd? Because yeah... Multiplayer for one. And second, I never saw much on the story side from any Beth games and their modding scene. A lot of eye candy, lots of weapons, locations, etc. etc. But I believe the real storytellers can't be found over there, they stick to games like NWN.<br />
Also, the Beth games never allowed you to make real standalone modules, another thing I would sorely miss. As nice as it is to discover new, community-made locations in Skyrim or New Vegas, I prefer making my own world. Still, I think the most immersive roleplay you can have in a game is not with an AI, but with a real person who enjoys roleplay as much as I do. That's why I believe in multiplayer.<br />
<br />
Now for those who never play Neverwinter Nights 2 in multiplayer mode - you might say "join a MMO and be happy", and I'd have to yet again explain why NWN2's multiplayer is so unique. I spare you, the few people who read this are aware of that anyway. But this winter I tried out pretty much every free or free to try MMO I could get my hands on. <a href="http://www.lineage2.com/en/">Lineage 2</a>, <a href="http://www.ageofconan.com/">Age of Conan</a>, <a href="http://eu.riftgame.com/en/">Rift</a>, <a href="http://www.ddo.com/">DDO</a>, you name it. The only effect it has on me is that I appreciate NWN2's unique multiplayer more than ever, and it will probably be the last of this kind. It is, for me, the lone king of multiplayer games. <br />
<br />
So, back to NWN2 and it's custom content. As I said above, it saddens me to see NWN2 in this state, because I still think it is a diamond in the rough and has extreme potential, even these days. Everyone goes on and on about how moddable Bethesda games are, and yet NWN2 is even more moddable than any Bethesda game. Where are the multiplayer capabilities of Beth games, where can you make your own PWs, where can you DM a campaign or make the whole world like you want? And all the rest, all the custom content you see popping up for Fallout, Skyrim etc: It just needs someone to do it, NWN2 can do.<br />
<br />
Now comes my bitter view back to some really innovative things the community started for NWN2, which showed how capable this game is. If we starts with models and custom content, NWN2 saw great things and I wish people wouldn't have stopped making more of it so early.<br />
Some of the greatest things that never really got used came quite early by the way. YATT is an example. Creating maps with it IS geekish, I admit, but if someone knows how to use it the results are amazing. With terran like that, NWN2 doesn't have to hide behind Oblivion. I don't know of any PW that uses YATT but one that is still in the making (good luck, Cipher!), but I recently decided that if I give Middleforest another chance, I must make more use of it. <br />
<br />
RWS is probably the most shining example of making great community content, but yet Hellfire dropped the ball just when things got really exiting. The swimming hak was a masterpiece that's at least useable:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="287" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eGPoHKBI6tI" width="380"></iframe><br />
<br />
... but the <a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum%3Cbr%20/%3E%3Ca%20href=/for../forum/1/topic/163/index/7413881/1#7413881" target="">horse riding</a>, although looking as good as done, will remain unseen as it seems.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSJ1QWWDyIlk4SmlzImKShaSJbKe2SUr8rcpnMR-s9BRIfV4N5twOYnycA-aiMyLGlP1tV-lUhD6FbyhAjwjYcGL_w9AhnxP4cIaDEJWrYKR2yVLJfgnSDuRa6DiAa_9qh8h6uvZcgchC/s1600/HorseSpeck.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSJ1QWWDyIlk4SmlzImKShaSJbKe2SUr8rcpnMR-s9BRIfV4N5twOYnycA-aiMyLGlP1tV-lUhD6FbyhAjwjYcGL_w9AhnxP4cIaDEJWrYKR2yVLJfgnSDuRa6DiAa_9qh8h6uvZcgchC/s320/HorseSpeck.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Or what the hell happened to Qk's Custom animations? He had so much in the pipeline...<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="223" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9rb0zqbyqYE" width="380"></iframe><br />
<br />
I'm still having wet dreams of those commando crawl animations I added to the wishlist.<br />
Animations have always been a huge point for me in NWN2, and when people actually started making new ones I got very excited because I was hoping for a similar thing like in NWN1 (combat animations, romantic suite etc.). Sadly, nothing came out of it. <br />
<br />
These are some of the most exciting projects, but there have been so much more. There are smaller things like... my small <a href="http://social.bioware.com/%C3%82%C2%A0http:/social.bioware.com/forum/Neverwinter-Nights-2/NwN-2-Custom-Content/repost---request-Ship-model-conversion-5743310-1.html">requests</a> (coughs). Or outfits, hell, I'm such a junkie for nice armors! If I had any idea HOW, I'd start right away with wonderful community-made things like <a href="http://newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40654">this</a> or <a href="http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4708">this</a>. I know it's possible, I know people who know how to use Blender or 3DSMax would convert them within an hour. I tried to use Blender, I know I can import a .nif file from Bethesda and export a .mdb file for NWN2. The steps in between, i.e. translating the outfit to the NWN2 skeleton and making a lower resolution version, are totally beyond me. No biggie for someone who knows what he does, but nope, I'm clueless. And then we have <a href="http://falloutd20.blogspot.com/2011/04/fallout-d20-armors-in-progress.html">some who do</a> what I'm trying so hard, but have a <a href="http://falloutd20.blogspot.com/2011/02/fallot-d20-basic-armors-released.html?showComment=1298900082860#c6060554186783283099">problem with the community</a>, which saddens me even more. If someone could at least provide a step-by-step... these are some things the Bethesda community did much, much better, I'm afraid.<br />
To sum up, during the past two years NWN2 was a constant rollercoaster between high enthusiasm and, well, huge disappointments. A lot of great stuff never got release, some high hopes were shattered, and the community died out slowly.<br />
<br />
At this point I think we have a catch 22 - the modders slowly give up because they think nobody's interested anymore, and the players/users of mods give up because they think the CC Creators have left the field. <br />
If anyone's interested in hearing it, I could make a very long list of very specific requests - from changing the clouds over some models to armors. But I guess I'd have to switch to Skyrim for that. :)<br />
<br />
Anyway, at this point I have no idea how the dying community could be revived again, but I wish it would happen because I still see no alternative to NWN2 on the horizon. If some skilled people would give it another whirl, I'm sure NWN2 could be modded upside down just like all the Beth games. I mean, there's no technical reason why the ENBSeries that are so overhyped in Skyrim and other games shouldn't work with NWN2 too, is there? Just needs somebody who knows that stuff to make the adjustments and we'd have an almost new game.<br />
Ack, if I just had the skillz...<br />
<br />
<br />
Rant over.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-41951874032054627872011-11-24T20:15:00.000+01:002011-11-24T20:15:57.341+01:00Quick advertisement: Steam autumn dealsJust after praising New Vegas again, the game is available for just 4.99 Euros on Steam for the next couple of days, so if you were on the edge of buying it, now's the time. The DLCs come at very reduced prices as well. NWN2 Platinum for 9.99 is a very good deal too, Dragon Age Ultimate Edition for 14.99, and countless other RPGs including Witcher 2, Mass Effect, etc. etc. I assume the prices in $ are as low as the €. Great time to grab those RPGs you always wanted to try out.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-74750835772650283692011-11-22T01:52:00.004+01:002011-11-22T02:41:03.645+01:00Obligatory Skyrim Post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH4Nv-G_5eey0i1zg2SM4kmdNO6a9J4HD9GvUwuVCBi27Mr_fXvaXGeTSdHlIAIXWNCVmDmMgQQnputOb0iPOipumJf4RccINJfYl5pvQflw2N9fAb2wm6HRYZig2g7MwpB45Ulfxr-tcP/s1600/skyrim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH4Nv-G_5eey0i1zg2SM4kmdNO6a9J4HD9GvUwuVCBi27Mr_fXvaXGeTSdHlIAIXWNCVmDmMgQQnputOb0iPOipumJf4RccINJfYl5pvQflw2N9fAb2wm6HRYZig2g7MwpB45Ulfxr-tcP/s320/skyrim.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
You didn't expect me to forget making a post about the Game of the year 2011, did you? No, certainly not. Although, frankly, why waste any time on it when everyone's talking about it anyway? Well, I will keep the praises short, because everything that has to be said about how gorgeous it is has been covered elsewhere already. Just read the reviews, but actually... you're probably too busy playing the game already.<br />
Fine, let's get the praise over with quickly, of course I have my obligatory screenies to share again. Just, before going into detail, Skyrim looks amazing. Fantastic. Breathtaking. The world design is wonderful.<br />
And it's not (as some who stopped playing games after Oblivion might think) the latest, greatest next-generation graphics we have here. Actually, technically Skyrim is almost a little dated, at least compared to modern shooters. If you played the last two Fallout games the graphics are just the logical evolution from there on, a lot of it looks very familiar. That's not a bad thing at all, it only makes the game run very well even on slightly dated hardware like mine - much better than the Witcher 2, for example, which I had to tune down a lot. My dated comp (4-core 2Ghz Xeon from 2007, ATI 4870 graphics) easily runs it on Ultra, as long as I keep the Antialiasing on 4x - and there's really no reason to push that further up. Anyway - no, Skyrim is not the next Crysis, technically. But the world design is simply breathtaking. Period. And it runs on a wide range of hardware too, hooray! Chances are good you can play it with decent graphics - if you can run NWN2 with nice settings, you can run this.If you can run Fallout 3, you can run this.<br />
<br />
And while we're there, let me explain that Fallout 3 thing here quickly for those who never touch anything non-medieval: Fallout 3 and New Vegas are both very very close to Oblivion and Skyrim technically and are the logical evolutionary steps in between the two. If you played one, you will immediately feel familiar in the other, Fallout 3 could simply be called Oblivion in a post-nuclear setting. And both Fallout 3 and New Vegas are great RPGs you really should play unless you're stubbornly demanding your elves and orcs. Hey, you can even use swords! That just for those who still think the Fallout games are First Person Shooters... <br />
<br />
Back to Skyrim and.... Screenie time!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWHmtMf2CB90COw-neYPqXAORFMweSXQq0y8H9GCEbfi90JbcCW45O8FF3aKm2lO5gchdkHUSWfZYIgpLlwAJK9SKfQqoTF3KOKsyDOiwxrDfuNIAVDlg9i5s3b6zbhQ4h-BBcrL9gue9/s1600/Water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWHmtMf2CB90COw-neYPqXAORFMweSXQq0y8H9GCEbfi90JbcCW45O8FF3aKm2lO5gchdkHUSWfZYIgpLlwAJK9SKfQqoTF3KOKsyDOiwxrDfuNIAVDlg9i5s3b6zbhQ4h-BBcrL9gue9/s320/Water.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Water in Skyrim - probably the real "next-gen" thing, at least I've never seen better than this. I get teary eyes when I watch those streams and waterfalls. Wonderful! </i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOgJ5Cn9aBagnzRTALdkNcejQ4VwLO4QIEQTEUhkx5zZHQ96Z97pPivFb1WQsUIyaZPTmA0a-oUYvW0wMKZ5W7nv6Ran8CkE3CIbzSfnfnHZGU2BeSGWCxGKuq9iTFOUBgxAiyv5tUUeM/s1600/Forest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOgJ5Cn9aBagnzRTALdkNcejQ4VwLO4QIEQTEUhkx5zZHQ96Z97pPivFb1WQsUIyaZPTmA0a-oUYvW0wMKZ5W7nv6Ran8CkE3CIbzSfnfnHZGU2BeSGWCxGKuq9iTFOUBgxAiyv5tUUeM/s320/Forest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Forest - probably not the best screenshot, but the forests are... what else, wonderful. </i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedhqV2sEbDtbKDj-yrpFwEkF0FBIX6XyU7BcrDD79aTuxn0rvvuHUTZfnfK9QUstkI2WlpblVxMSoGs4WFskjcLK4Sn6HhnEnQ1wLV29hF6j1gnPNJBrW4x4IpMFs_iWLKJw8BdZoXsgT/s1600/Mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedhqV2sEbDtbKDj-yrpFwEkF0FBIX6XyU7BcrDD79aTuxn0rvvuHUTZfnfK9QUstkI2WlpblVxMSoGs4WFskjcLK4Sn6HhnEnQ1wLV29hF6j1gnPNJBrW4x4IpMFs_iWLKJw8BdZoXsgT/s320/Mountain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Climbing snowy mountains... </i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqupQJ8vsjaBY2vx6caFXCRn7CdqZedN3V67o_NSCsG8TB8Oe4PICCBS_Kr5fC45lGorhZrd2XeL2WnFIoRWpC5quCZOfg5nBaN0WUrj7V75kuoijyU7xBQePen0gz_MNACj0GVamjScc3/s1600/Blizzard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqupQJ8vsjaBY2vx6caFXCRn7CdqZedN3V67o_NSCsG8TB8Oe4PICCBS_Kr5fC45lGorhZrd2XeL2WnFIoRWpC5quCZOfg5nBaN0WUrj7V75kuoijyU7xBQePen0gz_MNACj0GVamjScc3/s320/Blizzard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Walking into blizzards... </i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr9Fi6hMD7NhyphenhyphenE7o2vkHPoziy-JccgoPqIBQjEw8aXowYDdDZH16UCGQ79SXUla-S0xMHAg9uBsBcnEzkUy4CzguAy7D8uDc4jDC94Yx1sMSuuNTk6P_IceGmz3tEyesuoYbJQBQK0SDx/s1600/Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzr9Fi6hMD7NhyphenhyphenE7o2vkHPoziy-JccgoPqIBQjEw8aXowYDdDZH16UCGQ79SXUla-S0xMHAg9uBsBcnEzkUy4CzguAy7D8uDc4jDC94Yx1sMSuuNTk6P_IceGmz3tEyesuoYbJQBQK0SDx/s320/Night.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>... and watching the northern lights over some icebergs at night. </i></span></div><br />
<br />
Those are just some of the many screens I took, but I'm sure you've seen enough already. The world is incredibly believable (not to use the word "realistic" for a fantasy game), yet still artificial enough not to pass as a cold, hyper-realistic setting like Crysis etc. In one word, atmospheric.<br />
<br />
Interiors and caves actually look a little less realistic, they're still good, but here it's easy to see the roots from Bethesda's past games.<br />
<br />
What Bethesda really improved is the character creator. One possible reason why I never really got into Oblivion might've been that whatever you did, your character looked ugly as sin. Fallout 3 improved on that, but only Skyrim is really satisfying now. Whatever's still missing the community can and will fix with some mods.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5c8nmlb8O5V6Waw4LHaMKZp6fnJkMxeZJ04QU-cAVeyl9N0z9mZ2az4oKPGbNG67Wv0X5eQ0kOVFuukDwWwaAzZQ7nlIYsxNcOawQeJYLuckaCy8WHORll0_-CShQD6JWgbAeENvOHl5e/s1600/Oblivion-Character-Creation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5c8nmlb8O5V6Waw4LHaMKZp6fnJkMxeZJ04QU-cAVeyl9N0z9mZ2az4oKPGbNG67Wv0X5eQ0kOVFuukDwWwaAzZQ7nlIYsxNcOawQeJYLuckaCy8WHORll0_-CShQD6JWgbAeENvOHl5e/s320/Oblivion-Character-Creation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Oblivion: Whatever you did, ugly as sin. Some mods improve that a bit, but it never got really good. Game of the Year or not, other games at the time had much nicer looking characters, even NWN2 could do better (without the face morphing of course). </i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK64b7QXoVno_G8rJ1IA3Rcyv8S0MptF168Mjrog8NZ6O504xMrj5XGU2DzJSOaijYTqShpA0uAxNClj3ane4B0i8Ejls-3gtfDFNIspqtSxUbLjylB89csrUAmLk2oHPfrWfu-ZZ-y0yY/s1600/F3character.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK64b7QXoVno_G8rJ1IA3Rcyv8S0MptF168Mjrog8NZ6O504xMrj5XGU2DzJSOaijYTqShpA0uAxNClj3ane4B0i8Ejls-3gtfDFNIspqtSxUbLjylB89csrUAmLk2oHPfrWfu-ZZ-y0yY/s320/F3character.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Fallout 3: A lot better than Oblivion, but it still took quite a long time to make a decent face - most of the presets are still ugly as sin and require a lot of work. In the end, my characters always looked quite the same because only a few slider positions really looked okay. Some mods help here again. </i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS8sNUz26Hftd6CmELAhjnSgJyeE-OetvWeaCNZAR5_XcWbvcwhB8qCgM_BF3jbErlwfLnxoJXqoQ8oKdp03oAMXokO6cPEUAj5a-aiEjA5h2ToXkx14X4SZ3c8n7sYjhqFSxwHZ9m3w1u/s1600/skyrim_character_creation.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS8sNUz26Hftd6CmELAhjnSgJyeE-OetvWeaCNZAR5_XcWbvcwhB8qCgM_BF3jbErlwfLnxoJXqoQ8oKdp03oAMXokO6cPEUAj5a-aiEjA5h2ToXkx14X4SZ3c8n7sYjhqFSxwHZ9m3w1u/s320/skyrim_character_creation.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Skyrim: just a googled pic, I think one of the presets. A very decent working base, can even be improved. You can make very realistic and good looking characters right out of the box, with upcoming mods I doubt there'll be anything left to be desired anymore</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
What else is left to say about the world design? A lot of it is familiar from older Bethesda games but nevertheless great, like the realistic items and loot, the careful design of it, the little physics games. If other companies like Bioware just invested a little percentage of that into their own games (and don't mark everything as "junk" without even using a unique icon), they could improve their games a lot.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bethesda also improved the NPC behavior quite a bit, their daily routines and reactions to what happens around them is very pleasant to watch (just run a few items over in their home and listen to them complaining). The Witcher is the only game I know that did better on the daily routines, but then again at least Skyrim's NPCs react to stealing in a realistic way and all, something the other game designers constantly forget. In that aspect, Bethesda's games were always well crafted and improve from title to title. Seriously, the world design can't get much better anymore than this. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Okay, now enough of the praise. "Casa", you ask, "where's the stinker? You always complain about something, don't let me down here!" </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Why of course, I won't let you down. I'll leave the usual bugs and not-so-great UI design to the others.... The real stinker is the notorious bad writing in Bethesda games. And I don't blame Bethesda alone for this, I also blame you. <b>YOU!</b> Yes, that's right. Because wherever I nag about the writing, people don't seem to care - "It's a sandbox game, I don't expect good writing in one" is a typical reply, or "can't expect Bioware quality" or whatever. I reply: Yes, I expect that, especially in such an ambitious game that focuses so much on the detail in it's general world design. And don't tell me it's not possible - that has already be proven wrong. We'll get to that. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">First of, the notorious "Bioware is the holy grail of writing" thing - I disagree. Bioware's stories haven't really improved since Baldur's Gate, and their standard formula is getting quite boring over the time. They still write a lot of dialogue trees, probably more than any other company, right.<br />
<br />
Doesn't help with the fact that e.g. Dragon Age 2 was an incredibly boring game. And don't tell me either Mass Effect's or Dragon Age's main plot was anywhere new or exciting. It was just the presentation that made it good. But this is not about the main plot, because as I heard someone say recently - "who cares for the main plot in a Bethesda game? The main point is avoiding it as long as you can so you can explore the world!".<br />
<br />
True that, nothing to add, and frankly, the main plot ideas in a Bethesda game were never any worse than Bioware's. No, it's about the small things, the dialogues and persons you meet on your way where Bethesda disappoints so greatly - and sadly, that's exactly the one and only thing that can't be easily fixed by the modding scene.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Now my real problem with Bethesda is that they just don't seem to care, and the best example for this is again companions. No, I don't expect Leliana or Morrigan in a Bethesda game, that's too much to ask for. But Bethesda's games have companions, and their companions have no life, they are simple tools/player slaves without any personality at all. You can give them orders, but you can't even ask them "who are you, what's your story?"<br />
This was already my main problem in Fallout 3 (I never made it far enough in Oblivion to meet a companion, if they even exist), and Skyrim repeats it. Here's the main dialogue from a follower: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyKcW1Al-VVCDp60I8ty_iMcAGmYwsWz9-L4QVUf_Kkc1qp2K6k-6WwLId-AR3keN33n3eJND3uZGKA8CF3yvXOnp47SDTvkb-1NetsAMIkoIBKwtDYQ0ZxZWDrRxrxZhTpd3Z5WoSFCz/s1600/Dialogue-Skyrim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyKcW1Al-VVCDp60I8ty_iMcAGmYwsWz9-L4QVUf_Kkc1qp2K6k-6WwLId-AR3keN33n3eJND3uZGKA8CF3yvXOnp47SDTvkb-1NetsAMIkoIBKwtDYQ0ZxZWDrRxrxZhTpd3Z5WoSFCz/s320/Dialogue-Skyrim.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And you know what? This is so immersion-breaking for me it ruins my game. Realism (or say, a believable world) is not only nice landscapes, it's the right balance of everything. Bethesda is not Bioware, that's true, but they don't even care, they don't try at all. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And frankly, when I see reviews, comments or some youtube videos, I see that the target group of gamers just doesn't care either, and that's what saddens me most. The whole setting and atmosphere of this game is gritty, realistic, mature, but then they take a whole jump back and make the writing for kids who go on an egoistic power trip only. If you watch some youtube clips about Fallout 3 quests, you usually end up with the kiddo explaining a quest over his headset while running around like on pills, in power armor with a huge cannon... target audience. Doesn't care for dialogue, wants to blow stuffs up. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No exaggeration here on the power trip too, because another problem I had in the game, regarding quests, is that I'm yet again not only the saver of the world, but people fall on their knees again too when I come by and want to make me king of their own little world once I helped them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was literally bullied into the leadership of three guilds already, simply because Bethesda apparently didn't expect anyone NOT wanting to lead a guild. I promised my soul to 3 different factions too, simply because I had no choice, and my afterlife won't be pleasant when the werewolves want me here, the Nightingales there, the dragonborns... etc. etc. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now, the most ridiculous idea Bethesda had was the introduction of in game wedding. This is so sad it's almost funny again. Don't get me wrong, this is not about romances or such - Bioware's romance plots are famous and probably the reason half of their audience still loves them. But what Bethesda did is... sad? I don't know how to put it, let me just explain quickly how it works. You see the above dialogue pic with a follower. Now, if you want a "romance" in game you have to acquire a certain amulet and wear it, which adds another dialogue option:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ong4YC87xbEbSk7BgiFOmpzt2GB4CgwAs6RQ2tWUCTFvwPTuxjdxwGuumxUC1Vlb9z3A-0FQIju-45ALN6V8vI81fg1urzGe3161cd66EGQyOTHscBoC8-zBdItbF3EDwRyiDJAJ28sp/s1600/marriage1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ong4YC87xbEbSk7BgiFOmpzt2GB4CgwAs6RQ2tWUCTFvwPTuxjdxwGuumxUC1Vlb9z3A-0FQIju-45ALN6V8vI81fg1urzGe3161cd66EGQyOTHscBoC8-zBdItbF3EDwRyiDJAJ28sp/s320/marriage1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
To which she replies... "I won't lie, I am. And you?" ...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim1k39tWOzZoetKppOE4c2pBBOu5aD8bgmR51XewsG_rQvV2FteYgusBDzmoJh-boLQWI7Bka30FIhULOroJowpRaN9yAfvX8r_GTXCZm-l57wom_Nn7CwEi93NIkUsofPEoKXH6PrA0aB/s1600/marriage2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim1k39tWOzZoetKppOE4c2pBBOu5aD8bgmR51XewsG_rQvV2FteYgusBDzmoJh-boLQWI7Bka30FIhULOroJowpRaN9yAfvX8r_GTXCZm-l57wom_Nn7CwEi93NIkUsofPEoKXH6PrA0aB/s320/marriage2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
To which she replies: "It's settled then, you and me." Expect a kiss or something? Ha, no no, new quest:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hmVvWoXxU1C1aV7T6NukGUh8lxhROXj9VqCWZiYGHEbOQqIkvHdQOHxfVMD_V4drqe19aeypeQNPuBSaTXjkBTP4AZ4b-YDZtv_EBXOiuIg1kJcazJM49bDoBhLERvpe7vDVLI9rZSYU/s1600/marriage3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hmVvWoXxU1C1aV7T6NukGUh8lxhROXj9VqCWZiYGHEbOQqIkvHdQOHxfVMD_V4drqe19aeypeQNPuBSaTXjkBTP4AZ4b-YDZtv_EBXOiuIg1kJcazJM49bDoBhLERvpe7vDVLI9rZSYU/s320/marriage3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Isn't that romantic? Hand me a tissue... well, the explanation is simple. This is not for the romantic souls among us, it's for the powerplayers who like extras: If your spouse is a shop owner (or opens one), you get extra coins once a day. They cook a meal for you once per day that increases stats (sexism anyone?). Resting in the house you share adds a stat bonus too. Did you expect something like a nice dialogue or a kiss? Well, this is a Bethesda game, go to Bioware, you fool! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In general, during the quests, the story is streamlined like a shooter and often makes no sense at all, I mean, at least give me the option to say "no" sometimes, or let me explain that they can't have my sould because it was promised to someone else already...? What I hate most is not that Bethesda's writing is not up to Bioware's, it's that they don't even give it a try at all. And that's probably because <b>YOU</b> didn't ask for it, but go by the rule "if I want to explore, I play Bethesda, if I want story I play Bioware". </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That there's room in between the two has already been proven by Fallout New Vegas, a Bethesda game. That's what makes this story so sad. Yes, the actual developer was Obsidian, using Bethesda's base, and that makes the huge difference. It's still generally regarded as a Bethesda game though, after all it's their logo most present on the box. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I already said it in my <a href="http://middleforest.blogspot.com/2010/12/rant-day-obsidian-fallout-communities.html" target="_blank">Fallout NV post</a> back last December - the combination of those two studios would be ideal and Bethsda should for Christ's sake just buy Obsidian and let them do their writing. Obsidian is the notorious "We are excellent writers but have no clue about artwork" candidate who will probably go bankrupt after the next Alpha Protocol disaster, and Bethesda is the one with breathtaking game design but no clue about writing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The problem is the gamers: Everyone complained about Obsidian's bad looking games, but nobody complains about Berthesda's non-existant skill in writing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyway, what Obsidian made of the Fallout 3 base is easy to find out on youtube. And just for the record, Fallout 3 companions were exactly the same as in the Skyrim companion pic above. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now here's as an example the dialogue with Veronica, one of the followers in New Vegas (btw, you Dragon Age 2 nuts, that's Felicia Day too, before Bioware decided to hype her for a mediocre DLC):</div><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="233" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BnptUku3934?rel=0" width="400"></iframe><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Notice something? Like, she talks about herself? Notice the amount of dialogue options you get? Should I continue with the whole questline each follower brings with them and that they never get tired to comment on a situation and are generally available for some small talk? Now, they might not be a Morrigan or a Leliana, and I don't even expect half as much from Bethesda as I expect from Obsidian. But hey, a little bit of life just for immersion? Because what Bethesda does with their companions is honestly an insult to roleplaying. And it completely ruins my immersion and throws me far out of the game. And yeah, it's sad that so few people agree. And it's sad that Obsidian brought the whole Bethesda series of RPGs a huge step forward in that aspect, and Skyrim jumps all the way back again. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now, there might be hope... at least it can be assumed that Skyrim was already long in the making when Fallout NV came out, it was simply too late and that Bethesda's next RPG might actually be inspired more by Obsidian's writing. For Skyrim there's no hope, maybe for a DLC, and knowing the modding community for Bethesda games I know one thing that they'll never improve is story and dialogues. As sad as it is this is not the NWN modding scene that cares a bit more about things like that. One hope remains, another future cooperation with Obsidian that again gives us (or me) the best from both worlds. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyway, even with the huge disappointment on the story side, Skyrim's sure Game of the Year and a must buy. It could just have been even better - if anyone cared. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-41044197141039159802011-10-07T15:29:00.002+02:002011-10-07T15:38:27.905+02:00.. and another laptop post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipif7e15sbZCRWqNPX5JY8GHbd9XMVcXc1T_8Kjh8bYuIsi-O2b2QBzeQWsda6BypC1KcxIZbFxfYGOYzBZmVlu0m0PPkZvsh0hqav1S0BbujI5_O821Xp3xUCuIwUqhXGcXnOR3OS9Lha/s1600/Targa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipif7e15sbZCRWqNPX5JY8GHbd9XMVcXc1T_8Kjh8bYuIsi-O2b2QBzeQWsda6BypC1KcxIZbFxfYGOYzBZmVlu0m0PPkZvsh0hqav1S0BbujI5_O821Xp3xUCuIwUqhXGcXnOR3OS9Lha/s320/Targa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
No, this is not turning into a hardware blog now, no worries. I don't want to show off my gadgets either, not that the thing up there is one. It's again NWN2 related, trust me. :)<br />
<br />
So, what about that lappy up there? Well, it's a cheapo laptop, Europeans will know what Lidl is (a supermarket) and what kind of hardware is sold there. I didn't buy that thing either, my dad did. Unfortunately, my dad passed away early last month and left me with the burden of all his stuff (no sympathies needed, we hadn't much contact, although I'm not exactly happy about the sudden loss). <br />
<br />
Well, anyway, that lappy up there was his and it's as good as new since he obviously had no clue how to use it. It's recent enough to be not complete junk too, something like 2008 or so. Well, my first thought was, I don't need it. I already have a lubberlee lappy (see last post) and a big comp for all my stuff, so... sell? It's not worth much, I almost considered giving it away as a gift.<br />
Then it occurred to me... when I was working on Middleforest, wasn't one of my big worries about running a PW having to get a dedicated server? One powerful enough to run the server application, but still with a low power consumption that you can hide away in a corner and forget about? My initial thought was getting a used Mac Mini, but even a used one costs money I usually don't have lying around. So... here's the solution, my new Middleforest dedicated server! Say Hi server! <br />
<br />
I already wiped the HD and installed a fresh NWN2, now I'm in the geekish process of reinstalling MySQL and NWNX2. All nothing compared to the router issues I'll have again, I'm sure. Anyway, this takes away a big burden from my past building plans, and I can leave a server up and running for test purposes now while building or playing elsewhere.<br />
<br />
I'm still wondering about the specs though and would be interested in what other people with PW experience have used as a minimum server machine for NWN2. This lappy features a Pentium Dual Core T3200 processor at 2.00 Ghz (actually an entry-level Core 2 Duo Merom with no level 3 cache), which I figured should be enough for a server (my thought was that any dual core would do). 2GB RAM might or might not be sufficient (maybe someone has insights?), the HD runs at 5400rpm like most laptop HDs, not sure if this will affect performance. I doubt I'll ever see 20, maybe not even 10 regular players at once, so I doubt I'll need MMO specs. Anyway, if someone has NWN2 server experience or some tips, they'll be welcome.Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-54291431194273697982011-10-06T11:12:00.001+02:002011-10-06T11:55:17.381+02:00RIP SJ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgra8LJIomyoxta_5DklSSBJ3kjDK2LFOQ0_MN_tGdhYSiboU9r1GbKV68BVyue3PAPz4U4KEjFkhUAQAAJo5qdYAGXZANCfybMnyeycPPYmZTD9AYpgePVZu2FwTzaeDualWV5STjVKmTd/s1600/macbook-pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgra8LJIomyoxta_5DklSSBJ3kjDK2LFOQ0_MN_tGdhYSiboU9r1GbKV68BVyue3PAPz4U4KEjFkhUAQAAJo5qdYAGXZANCfybMnyeycPPYmZTD9AYpgePVZu2FwTzaeDualWV5STjVKmTd/s320/macbook-pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Just reinstalled NWN2 on my beloved little Apple lappy (in Bootcamp, ha!) when I heard the bad news, so yeah, this <i>is</i> NWN2 related.<br />
<a href="http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/">Goodbye</a>, mister Jobs... thanks for having given me this bedwarmer that still runs my favorite game, and uh...my trusty old iPod. And all that other stuff I used or had to use, including the Microsoft "inventions". ;)<br />
Having used your computers for 14 years and staying updated on any hardware news (even if I couldn't care less about all those gadgets you introduced lately) there was no way around you and it's hard not to be a little sad to see you pass. Even if often I could've sent a bag full of dog turds to your company and many times promised only to build Windows Peecees anymore. Even if I couldn't care less about iPhones as long as they don't run NWN2. Rest in peace old chap. Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-78622113338890806162011-08-16T07:46:00.001+02:002011-08-16T07:47:47.390+02:00A late look at Dragon Age 2, part 1: Gameplay, first impressions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjH5fUnlZgE5BWCNUS8cpfJmLmH_Hji3IrDkLa2XM3Qb1s29LeVYYTPnEdgCy9yrMSGgmOw1Gwa-wwN_k1aWcJIwk-4VJ46zKLpYz5mbmH3S28IuW8R2-rlzXbsjcwTKZeBOzuftuP6aKY/s1600/title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjH5fUnlZgE5BWCNUS8cpfJmLmH_Hji3IrDkLa2XM3Qb1s29LeVYYTPnEdgCy9yrMSGgmOw1Gwa-wwN_k1aWcJIwk-4VJ46zKLpYz5mbmH3S28IuW8R2-rlzXbsjcwTKZeBOzuftuP6aKY/s400/title.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Another month without opening the toolset has passed, and I still can't be bothered. All ideas I had for Middleforest during the past months are so different from what I've done last year that I could as well start building from scratch. But I can't find the energy to do anything NWN2-related lately, not even playing.<br />
<br />
Instead I decided to finally give Dragon Age 2 a go. Prices for it fell rapidly and it has now reached the sweet spot where it might not be a complete waste of money anymore (EA seems to think different, they still want €54.99 for it in their Origin store... well, the box is available for below €20 nowadays). Same as with Mass Effect 2 for me really, I didn't expect much from it (still more than from DA2 though), but when it fell below 20 Euros I considered it a fair deal. <br />
<br />
So, after all the heat around it's release and my hate-driven review of the demo, has anything changed? Well, for those who don't like my long ramblings and want a short answer... no, not much, my expectations were mostly met. But, I have to admit there were some surprises, even good things, and at one or two points I was even wrong. They won't change much of the conclusion I'm afraid, but maybe they are still noteworthy. Anyway, expect a long, chaotic rant again - even though I made 3 letter-sized pages of notes I'm just blabbering away now. Let's start again with the first impressions and the beginning of the game.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gOqjtntbY_OQJQ1Xv1IE7dDt5p5srNITD8RgCiBGzEKGA7f_rNLLbjeUxYM4XRXcAu16jB-IcjMYV2IYf2akA4yBKmJPwc8mrIzUhPZ5zg-3iXraTNcfFHcpFUFn-pzGq7TPBIkgGvp3/s1600/Hawke1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gOqjtntbY_OQJQ1Xv1IE7dDt5p5srNITD8RgCiBGzEKGA7f_rNLLbjeUxYM4XRXcAu16jB-IcjMYV2IYf2akA4yBKmJPwc8mrIzUhPZ5zg-3iXraTNcfFHcpFUFn-pzGq7TPBIkgGvp3/s320/Hawke1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The game and the first bad impression starts, of course, with our default Mr/Ms. Hawke. <br />
Have I already mentioned I hate Hawke? And I mean, really everything about Hawke. For me this person stands for Bioware Mass-Effecting everything, for bad taste and bad name choices, for heroes I can't identify with, bad art design (why the f... would I smear a red dash in my face every morning? It does not look cool, really not!) , bad marketing, I could go on and on. Good, fine, we know all that already, so let's get our medieval Shepard going.<br />
<br />
So, we find ourselves in the demo again, been there already. But now I must really ask, why does the character creation come after this intro? That Varric exaggerated the breast size in his story, that joke I got by now (it's not that funny really), but using the same excuse for giving me the default Bioware appearance of Hawke in this first part of the game is a bit far off, don't you think? Anyway, knowing myself and that I probably get bored of a male character after level 3 and start over, I chose a female rogue right away. Shortly after the intro finally the character creation (isn't that the best part of any RPG really?) and I create some Jeanne-D'Arc-style redhead using the new hairstyles I actually like a lot. In fact, I ended up with a Hawke I consider quite an improvement over Dragon Age Origin's looks when it comes to realism, a small positive surprise.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZU6qkrhn2jhp2tRtA4DsXSPql5pGZsihDFtNu19-XiTeuyPm_AqAx8wiykdk9aWfZefI6W_N-e7aIT6YmW3z1ls2MEtV8VwUkPYqfswmi7BLoxHgPn7YGb2KNzWqJWlXdMlFM5SWNnt_/s1600/cusHawke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZU6qkrhn2jhp2tRtA4DsXSPql5pGZsihDFtNu19-XiTeuyPm_AqAx8wiykdk9aWfZefI6W_N-e7aIT6YmW3z1ls2MEtV8VwUkPYqfswmi7BLoxHgPn7YGb2KNzWqJWlXdMlFM5SWNnt_/s320/cusHawke.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Then comes the attributes and skill trees and.. well. I'm not really sure about it. First off, the classes are a lot more limited than before, and that's a really really bad thing. Why the hell can't a warrior use a bow anymore? Where are the crossbows anyway? Why can't a rogue use a shield? Right... because Bioware has a very clear idea on how these classes should play and don't want you, the player, to experiment. Fine, moving on. The skill trees might be considered an improvement by some, but I kinda liked the old system as well and don't think it's a real improvement, it's just different. What I miss terribly though is rogue skills, conversation skills, the usual Roleplay skills that are probably not of any interest in an action game anymore. WTF happened to lockpick, traps etc? Oh, just raise your Cunning attributes... really.... fascinating. <br />
<br />
No, during the first 15 minutes you learn pretty much everything about DA2's new direction, which is clearly, undeniably streamlined action. It's what I expected, yes, and I still hate it, but maybe I'll also find some positive things? First off, I installed that Highres-Texture patch immediately and must say it does make an impressive difference to the very shabby Demo. Impressive does not mean I stare at the screen in awe and drool t the graphics, but at least the game looks much better now. With this patch, the difference between DA2 and Origins is really clear to see and this patch is a must for everyone who cares a bit about atmosphere, really. Why (and if) it requires a graphics card with 1GB memory while other games get the same thing done on much older cards I cannot say, but you definitely don't need DirectX11 to see it. My card doesn't support it.<br />
<br />
The next thing is something I only discovered after a little while... how the look of your family depends on your customization of Hawke. Now that's a neat detail! If you look up at the pic, you can see I ended up with a short-haired sister, and if my Hawke was tanned or black, my family would match that look too. Also, the facial structure changes depending on your choices etc. Why they invested that much into realism here and ditched it totally again at other points in the game is beyond me, but at least this little detail I really like.<br />
<br />
Anyway, a small detail, but the big first and lasting impression is the really bad general art design. I know I'm repeating myself, but some things can't be said often enough. I really really wonder who the target audience of this game is, because everything I see is all but a "gritty, mature RPG". Origins was neither, but DA 2 makes it worse, last but not least by taking a few of the more interesting characters from Origins and ruining them completely.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1msLZmW7bHtDVbUK-PKnqi4XjrGGOngRFjdsAQaBovlBQufFEHI9NlQrP2Spmj9eimayDbYRBbzzJsMzS-bOUxFF_gHWJVc8ZOAY5FGTj9Mn_19NalAj83UAOmh6BEncFsHHfAJEqV15H/s1600/flemeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1msLZmW7bHtDVbUK-PKnqi4XjrGGOngRFjdsAQaBovlBQufFEHI9NlQrP2Spmj9eimayDbYRBbzzJsMzS-bOUxFF_gHWJVc8ZOAY5FGTj9Mn_19NalAj83UAOmh6BEncFsHHfAJEqV15H/s320/flemeth.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Next, of course, the combat animations. "button-awesome" might have that tiny little advantage that your character really react on click, instead of thinking for the long while that usually decides between life and death. But this... this is just cheesy, come on Bioware. Mages might enjoy their characters moving a little more, but how my rogue flies over the battlefield is just not funny anymore. This is for hyperactive kids and as mature as Ronald McDonald, really.<br />
<br />
Or how about weapon design? Origins wasn't a prime example of good weapon design already, but this really isn't funny anymore. I'm feeling like playing some Free2Play kiddie JRPG, but clearly not a mature game. At the latest when Fenris with his two-handers comes into play it's time to hit your forehead on the desk, but my rogue daggers are already bad enough. Most of the time in the game I had to search for weapons that don't look totally ridiculous on my character. The standard daggers were okay, I never got to use any unique weapons because I simply couldn't stand their look.<br />
So, for you, Bioware (I know you're not listening, but anyway). Look at the pic below, there's a a really cool badass sword from a mature RPG, and a really cool badass sword from a kiddie game. Where does Dragon Age 2 fit in?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXKHF4oPArhRv0N1j020zDX-9Nytc6_9cAO9dnvOVBpaTp850A9QU-vFkQ_1e3xX2tVJjku7emXwrfFp3-1DdO_7H49F7UkLykA8NFl4gVntHSIx20hYoasCUOU4-16jV8rzbZZA596kA/s1600/wpns2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXKHF4oPArhRv0N1j020zDX-9Nytc6_9cAO9dnvOVBpaTp850A9QU-vFkQ_1e3xX2tVJjku7emXwrfFp3-1DdO_7H49F7UkLykA8NFl4gVntHSIx20hYoasCUOU4-16jV8rzbZZA596kA/s320/wpns2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I know this is a matter of taste and artistic style, but in a serious, mature game I expect one, in a kiddie hack&slay game the other version. And now I present you Bioware's own version of the most badass sword in the game!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkv3iZI7nhfN-ObUtW346eDvbSWMGNHLGQxbh8DongGbWSQTNCOiw4da_esyXeaYsNWh6h71AOvc_GrnSND0tR6FT_q92GRxiCQVT21aKAvJmtWsSRMIMeqTLHjAXpMh9vnrCk_49TRRB/s1600/wpns1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkv3iZI7nhfN-ObUtW346eDvbSWMGNHLGQxbh8DongGbWSQTNCOiw4da_esyXeaYsNWh6h71AOvc_GrnSND0tR6FT_q92GRxiCQVT21aKAvJmtWsSRMIMeqTLHjAXpMh9vnrCk_49TRRB/s320/wpns1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Nuff said.<br />
<br />
At least, and I'm thankful for that, you hid some items for us elderly players deeply, and after I found some normal looking daggers (actually swords, look at the size) and an actually really good looking armor, I was seeing things a little bit milder for the next.. well, one or two levels until the stuff got so old and outdated I couldn't survive with it anymore. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMy2L71LkwCgcjxw-sAPzRPh9rAXXR9GQZgkVvgr3qaOxpMojo0i2w8jkBJfVT5Ygtgh9Y8Qftu0YYYXl0xRIDApHBW4IzFRjO-fuh_FNFVva-178n6Mu_IVaVaCo1wG5lnlrwbHp1x9P9/s1600/normalstuff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMy2L71LkwCgcjxw-sAPzRPh9rAXXR9GQZgkVvgr3qaOxpMojo0i2w8jkBJfVT5Ygtgh9Y8Qftu0YYYXl0xRIDApHBW4IzFRjO-fuh_FNFVva-178n6Mu_IVaVaCo1wG5lnlrwbHp1x9P9/s320/normalstuff.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><br />
Which brings me to the topic of loot... partly a technical, partly an artistic matter. Technical side: Stuff outdates so fast that unique weapons are really not worth keeping or upgrading anymore. That cool thing you found in the deeproads an hour ago is useless junk now. And speaking of junk... you know, before calling every loot that isn't equipable "Junk", just leave it out right away. This is such an immersion killer, I'd rather have no loot at all than an item with a trashcan icon. Give me coins right away.<br />
You know, I hate excessive looting, but in some of the better games it can be really fun to find out what loot is useful and what not. Maybe it has some secret meaning? Maybe it's a gift? This is one of those "minigames" in a good RPG, think of the flowers or shawls in the Witcher for example that you first toss away as junk until you realize you can finally get a nice lass to do you a favor, or such.<br />
And please, the meaningless gifts that are marked as plot items for companion X right away... I actually liked to see the different reactions by different companions in Origins and finding out who likes what most. I know, that's details you might not care about, but it gives the game dept.<br />
<br />
Moving on in the art design, let me show you a few random faces from the endless Hall of Shame: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rxq0EF2SZty1D24X5Ht6W0y_UOQctILeX1VCcuDrzuasjpc4U71PibCJA23vuwr1ZX551Bt8wSZAKfEu5PjqhFH-zXP9Z9dZdtnxg_JtE1ybnzJAMBwpyds6DMQhY9WcIJfn2Q7j_Vhr/s1600/npcs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rxq0EF2SZty1D24X5Ht6W0y_UOQctILeX1VCcuDrzuasjpc4U71PibCJA23vuwr1ZX551Bt8wSZAKfEu5PjqhFH-zXP9Z9dZdtnxg_JtE1ybnzJAMBwpyds6DMQhY9WcIJfn2Q7j_Vhr/s320/npcs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Is this... an... artistical choice, really? To create such freaks? And what have you done to pretty much everyone's eyes anyway? Replaced with candy? And don't get me wrong, I don't mean the new appearance of elves per se - I'm fine with what you did there, make them less "cute human" and more like a really different species. As long as they look like in that pic below and not like those Playmobil figures up there.... *headdesk*<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUl0-jXTlmgPoOMSA19ug4DGouYo6BwlSPEzWR7p7P_rjZXHacqfttwhKc8YWAgwZvjHcJqN7n1EaXy2cfg81tJDyViPcsCpR0Fx0bO2Q8jkdRfogfWCRfQw7nA9La073WuJmN0aru2VHn/s1600/newelves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUl0-jXTlmgPoOMSA19ug4DGouYo6BwlSPEzWR7p7P_rjZXHacqfttwhKc8YWAgwZvjHcJqN7n1EaXy2cfg81tJDyViPcsCpR0Fx0bO2Q8jkdRfogfWCRfQw7nA9La073WuJmN0aru2VHn/s320/newelves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Oh, oh, oh.... and... what the hell is this?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5R3GkxBK_3raBsgjPLwLd5qx-xUozJw0vZAXPaLrofUYMwvb9TO1BH1kSGH6FCEF1zypMnUC8Kfr1uTDCeCqRkBRv7x0_XwlD59tYs5eUm49AT70B2flyx8twf4s-zYb9J6cDS7rTuE9/s1600/NPC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5R3GkxBK_3raBsgjPLwLd5qx-xUozJw0vZAXPaLrofUYMwvb9TO1BH1kSGH6FCEF1zypMnUC8Kfr1uTDCeCqRkBRv7x0_XwlD59tYs5eUm49AT70B2flyx8twf4s-zYb9J6cDS7rTuE9/s320/NPC.jpg" width="141" /></a></div><br />
Yes, that's your low-poly default NPC that simply shouldn't be in this game at all. Really not. Origins didn't have those, do you call that an improvement?<br />
<br />
As you can see, I'm getting into a rage again when it comes to Bioware's "artistic choices". But seriously, until now I must've missed that part that makes this game "mature" in it's art design. Oh wait, wait, I got it...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cxwCSqS3_Ws6kq2kZF6OyuNjyD2m-taQxL8rY2YRBJNM2S0nuAiNzUS1JEnGSUJcSeApZ7sYQyAnXKv1BuciWomkto3wwhy7NRjYkwEBIX4daKJJbZ-g-JUFqON7H7QgTj-QoVN-x1Jg/s1600/Hurts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cxwCSqS3_Ws6kq2kZF6OyuNjyD2m-taQxL8rY2YRBJNM2S0nuAiNzUS1JEnGSUJcSeApZ7sYQyAnXKv1BuciWomkto3wwhy7NRjYkwEBIX4daKJJbZ-g-JUFqON7H7QgTj-QoVN-x1Jg/s320/Hurts.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><br />
Don't worry about Hawke there, it's just a little scratch and she still kicked those Qunari asses.<br />
<br />
Then of course there's the matter of the legendary waves. <br />
Now, the initial idea is not so bad because it can, potentially, add a lot of surprises and variation to combat. Not that I like combat that much, I usually play for the story and combat is an annoyance between the cutscenes. But there can be interesting combat, and Origins had some interesting and very challenging combat scenes at times.... between the tedious long hacking through miles and miles of darkspawn of course.<br />
But as interesting as the potential of waves might be, as poor is the execution. Laidlaw and Co. stated multiple times that they wanted to improve combat because one fan somewhere long ago called Origins' combat boring. Now the improvement is the most tedious clickfest I've had in a long time, maybe comparable to the horribly boring combat in Venetica. It wasn't fun, it was even much more less fun than in Origins because I always knew exactly the next parachutes would come for sure. And boy were they immersion-killing. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaJXYRrFEVtcyjoIgIThXDNgfUhxobYUCn8MMlt5YuFKsazRpg3uVIE42UrV6Jqs9g26roIGLthAH09iHEpDijBe92kKrKf1_u9GJRERqQcdPKk4019hooGD1lH7-x-w6Ip0T25QeuMf_/s1600/parachuter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaJXYRrFEVtcyjoIgIThXDNgfUhxobYUCn8MMlt5YuFKsazRpg3uVIE42UrV6Jqs9g26roIGLthAH09iHEpDijBe92kKrKf1_u9GJRERqQcdPKk4019hooGD1lH7-x-w6Ip0T25QeuMf_/s320/parachuter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Finally, to end this first post about the... what could I call it, main problems, first impressions, overarching issues... the Copy&Paste areas.<br />
<br />
Now, when I first read about them I had no idea how bad it actually was, that there was really absolutely no variation at all, that you visited the exact(!) same place a dozen of times and were told "hey, you're wrong, you're in a totally different place now".<br />
Mister Laidlaw said at the Bioware forums that every individual cave or house would take away resources from writing or whatever, but... call me stupid, maybe I'm a n00b to game design and I really only played in NWN2's toolset for a longer time (I tried Bethesda's Eden-thingy briefly and only looked at DA's toolset long enough to figure I hate it), but.... aren't interiors still tilesets, kinda? Can't you click a few tunnels together? How long does it take me to make a simple interior for NWN2? An hour? If it's not that easy, how hard can it be to change at least the lighting, drop a few placeables to change the look, whatever? But reusing the exact same area... There's no excuse. It only proves, just like a lot of other things in DA2, that whatever Bioware says they had NOT enough time, or were lazy as hell. And they can't sell me on the argument that a simple cave would've taken too much effort. Clicking together a basic cave from your existing tiles or prefabs is the easiest thing, and if it's not, then your game base has serious issues and you should consider a new Engine or whatever.<br />
<br />
Enough nerdrage. In the next part I'll look at the story, companions and all that and see if I can dig out some of the nicer details. But one thing before I go - a proof that Dragon Age can look quite okay at times. The few exteriors aren't so bad. They have decent texturing, a sky that outshines Origins easily and I would've liked to see that quality standard throughout the game really.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqUbcrup9u-LKFgap06s5iTTsOIbe5jfP3bPdOem67TrBZ07KSWO443Pu8K0Ktlm_exm9QQwt3gRexi-1G4SzUeOsY5Tt6HGTTTfcS1-Cy_GZZXfMPKxlFnNzCrEfjRPDyMxKs4Z_hf23/s1600/areas1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqUbcrup9u-LKFgap06s5iTTsOIbe5jfP3bPdOem67TrBZ07KSWO443Pu8K0Ktlm_exm9QQwt3gRexi-1G4SzUeOsY5Tt6HGTTTfcS1-Cy_GZZXfMPKxlFnNzCrEfjRPDyMxKs4Z_hf23/s320/areas1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7384289531316737724.post-14423889376745366382011-07-03T22:06:00.002+02:002011-07-03T22:10:33.602+02:00Casa update and a quick look on the Dungeon Siege III demo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielkbc5zTKMJDPmkXLVE2slYke3wl8oyKA_itU4CWjm3scbegCs6tFqsFPEhbtoX5KPKq4EFiIs70IyDQEYOFnN-AqwoGSDIK_WDAMXN_XUljuajZcaAUJ540DYBs1XgNaMizjSEF1yAea/s1600/title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielkbc5zTKMJDPmkXLVE2slYke3wl8oyKA_itU4CWjm3scbegCs6tFqsFPEhbtoX5KPKq4EFiIs70IyDQEYOFnN-AqwoGSDIK_WDAMXN_XUljuajZcaAUJ540DYBs1XgNaMizjSEF1yAea/s320/title.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
Hi there, long time no see!<br />
<br />
I guess I owe the few people who read this a little apology again for the silence. But when I check other blogs, I think I'm not the only one who's sometimes thrown out of the loop by reality.<br />
<br />
Middleforest has been a little silent lately, especially since last winter. As fruitless as my toolset work was my custom content work too, and on Blender I completely gave up, call it a burnout if you wish, because it was. In real life I was completely burnt out too, which is nothing new. But it got worse and worse since last winter, so I took a little vacation, or should I say, it was suggested to me to take some time off out of town, which I did. Why am I telling you people this? Well, I think I'm not the only one in this rather nerdy circle who's been "under the weather" quite a lot, and I know how much it takes to admit that you need to be taken out, nursed and pampered for a while. Even though I panicked at first at the thought, it was good and I'd do it again anytime. The first week out there was the best week I had in the last two years, which means a lot, and in the end I came back with a lot of positive thoughts and insights - like, apparently you have to go to a place like that to finally meet people as normal as you. Anyway, that much about my long silence. And if you ever thought about doing something similar and have doubts - just do it, it's good.<br />
<br />
Anyway, nobody there told me that gaming is bad, isn't that great? I even spoke about my favorite Dammendrech character once and it was quite interesting, I never got an odd look. The task is just finding a good balance between the hobby and real life, and not fleeing into some dreams all the time because you can't face reality anymore. And one thing I promised myself for the first week back home was playing my games until I fall from my chair.<br />
<br />
Now that I'm here that's a little bit harder than I thought, I can't decide which one to play first! So what I did was starting with something easy, grabbing the Dungeon Siege III demo on Steam and have a look what Obsidian did this time. And I must say, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm not going to review it, just some quick notes on my first impression really.<br />
<br />
So, Dungeon Siege III is of course not the latest great AAA title, neither were the first and second part. I only played the first part once, around the same time I discovered Neverwinter Nights 1. And while NWN1 was the much better game with a more interesting story, Dungeon Siege was still a fun casual RPG that was actually nicer looking in many parts. I also liked the lack of load screens...<br />
<br />
Anyway, Obsidian making the third part meant to me "oh, it must look shitty and run like crap, but maybe it has a story now!". I can't really compare the games anymore since DS1 was too long ago, but that much stuck. In a review I've found a few weeks ago the usual Obsidian failures were mentioned again: Aging graphics, robot-like animations, horrible controls. Nothing surprising. Anyway, demo time.<br />
<br />
Firing it up, it actually doesn't look so bad at all, and the first positive thing I noticed was that a simple assistant for gamma correction was actually <i>forced</i> on me, which was quite good because it helped the atmosphere later a lot. And of course I immediately raised the graphics options to as pretty as possible.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzdoCj9E4zrW3TgDdOPGKuMS4OITLd9TcCp4YqnvnvKnowafHDhOzmmn6tDeCkJWtOdajmYRnYgPwKogrAd8-p-1I3IfGKUdPm0MOeZWH16fHOdMnux6MqAshA1IvJeQiA21BXFQUhBwEE/s1600/gamma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzdoCj9E4zrW3TgDdOPGKuMS4OITLd9TcCp4YqnvnvKnowafHDhOzmmn6tDeCkJWtOdajmYRnYgPwKogrAd8-p-1I3IfGKUdPm0MOeZWH16fHOdMnux6MqAshA1IvJeQiA21BXFQUhBwEE/s320/gamma.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
First thing you notice when playing the game is that you can't create a character. Sad, but at least you can choose from a few, which is already more than a Geralt (no customization at all) or a Hawke (looks only). The demo includes two characters, a male warrior and that female fire chick... guess which one I choose.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit5rIQXCQ4QHW5PEaqaZLoG9vkj0pDdFmCO7gFEZJRhB7lTm1amdHAkIGUbTL5d0qSKWJNf7BxDN047EMZ4KwkEZkzuY0MNBT5wjtGM5F_lmmy5zaS7-s_E7hKBjU8najeWVWSYJIY7uao/s1600/character.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit5rIQXCQ4QHW5PEaqaZLoG9vkj0pDdFmCO7gFEZJRhB7lTm1amdHAkIGUbTL5d0qSKWJNf7BxDN047EMZ4KwkEZkzuY0MNBT5wjtGM5F_lmmy5zaS7-s_E7hKBjU8najeWVWSYJIY7uao/s320/character.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Now, that character looks actually... okay. You don't have the wonderful customization of a Dragon Age and it looks a little bit dated, more like Neverwinter Nights 2 actually than a 2011 game, but.... it's not ugly, I can live with the lack of realism. Then comes the intro and the first thought of course is "oh, hello Dragon Age". But, it's actually, and here we have a debut for Obsidian, a really good looking intro, rip-off or not.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrf-Tdto12QU-KGsO0S3HQfNP6MkO-MMBlx3LARUUeiYympTAQhqbDuRh9yBArl730pG6tE8GDW-9LuAjlTMJGMi25gCokX9UruKoVoUDE8wQ5TfEBSWf_Jmb8SnwYORVZAn-2uZbgMt5P/s1600/intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrf-Tdto12QU-KGsO0S3HQfNP6MkO-MMBlx3LARUUeiYympTAQhqbDuRh9yBArl730pG6tE8GDW-9LuAjlTMJGMi25gCokX9UruKoVoUDE8wQ5TfEBSWf_Jmb8SnwYORVZAn-2uZbgMt5P/s320/intro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So, has Obsidian maybe worked on the art department? Some new artists maybe, even though they had to <a href="http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?showtopic=57290&st=0">fire employees</a> lately? Good move, after the horrible New Vegas intro it was time to ring some changes! And furthermore, it was an intro I actually listened to - in most games I actually forget it the second it was told.<br />
<br />
What comes next is a quick tutorial on how to move and do stuff while you run to your first objective. One word.... clunky. This is truly a console game, moving is no fun and hitting number keys for special moves extremely unfriendly to PC users. But: The game runs smooth! How can it be? It runs as smooth as Dragon Age! Not even my graphics card's fan going crazy like in a 5yr old NWN2! And what can I say... the graphics aren't half as horrible as I thought. No, it looks just "classic". No hyper-realistic, high-resolution textures and polygons up the limit, but the game does not look shabby at all. It reminds me positively of the old Dungeon Siege game which were simply nice looking without being fancy. And this is where I need to give Obsidian many cudos now: They actually managed to do some good area design! Yes it's simple, yes it's dated, but so was Dragon Age 2, an AAA title. And what can I say, this game is just much better looking. Because believe it or not, Obsidian got the atmosphere right!<br />
Yes, I fell from faith too, but I really like the darkness, the autumn colors, the simple but efffective placeables. The game might look like from 2006, but at least it looks good. See...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAbvVq5CFaDPa4qTO9MirBCB-DcQwjLZuFa16YfiS0hA_OLTYIisvG1V765YMGWNtNH6KuR_L01PV_iKMGJGQB3wCwjhM1is56838WVZ54Jluml5sUHBM4cXl_2Hq6nV5ex8Ez4br0jpI5/s1600/Flames.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAbvVq5CFaDPa4qTO9MirBCB-DcQwjLZuFa16YfiS0hA_OLTYIisvG1V765YMGWNtNH6KuR_L01PV_iKMGJGQB3wCwjhM1is56838WVZ54Jluml5sUHBM4cXl_2Hq6nV5ex8Ez4br0jpI5/s320/Flames.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Early in the demo you have to fight your way through a burning house. I say, this looks nice!</i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCh_YbPfU8UnrvDwtBeHtfpK7YmPAV3NxASSYl4d892wr0F3Ws1bUYQtOcs5qs6bDrGeWp3qRpG1xbeELic5kWbzZNeTjUDFuwG-orbY3KZU74WxnGINM_AzNKPyDwkLC87k0AOSWlNn-w/s1600/candles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCh_YbPfU8UnrvDwtBeHtfpK7YmPAV3NxASSYl4d892wr0F3Ws1bUYQtOcs5qs6bDrGeWp3qRpG1xbeELic5kWbzZNeTjUDFuwG-orbY3KZU74WxnGINM_AzNKPyDwkLC87k0AOSWlNn-w/s320/candles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> I really liked these candles too. </i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qhnKBLuXieu2BU_3pmABL_LuZs8krYn-WuRlUDrgJ8LR7Urpedn-4Kv61YpifHU3bEHaC9SzC-u2iq46hl3Z4wC0uPwQbSaMQCpWXVh-TFCZosrDxXd_UGna49OV0QFXt1sPPeSLoLJ9/s1600/forest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qhnKBLuXieu2BU_3pmABL_LuZs8krYn-WuRlUDrgJ8LR7Urpedn-4Kv61YpifHU3bEHaC9SzC-u2iq46hl3Z4wC0uPwQbSaMQCpWXVh-TFCZosrDxXd_UGna49OV0QFXt1sPPeSLoLJ9/s320/forest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-style: italic;">A forest road. </span>Warm autum colors, nice tree shadows, and trees that remind me of the Neverwinter Nights 1 forest tileset - you know, where you never see the trees in a whole. I still miss that badly in NWN2</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCb8h1iHKhU0PPnhpI-MWesUObujrmMuhGoNjw0wD8UJ18UY-7a3iu4LmvL3JQpgQYO2ukAWWFUKvyGgfPdMtq8Gyi616qelsXD6tfecbCJYOIt54kTnEWVO2ugvL_IRIgvCXee23z7yas/s1600/forest_water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCb8h1iHKhU0PPnhpI-MWesUObujrmMuhGoNjw0wD8UJ18UY-7a3iu4LmvL3JQpgQYO2ukAWWFUKvyGgfPdMtq8Gyi616qelsXD6tfecbCJYOIt54kTnEWVO2ugvL_IRIgvCXee23z7yas/s320/forest_water.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>A lake in the forest, texturing is simple but effective, again reminding me of the old Dungeon Siege in comparison with NWN1</i></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MG3OcGvYAKaxjGhwR2wEa7gT0Ko3lDHZa4BXbnHG6i0tmPdd1RTKbhBATJI02bMLMAMiPLWC24OgFPvOZnMx9erhrWSDtHG9iddozlFAi8Pq6qz5N1Fpue5SvFsgn9UIzz4Ts9Lq-TA2/s1600/village.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MG3OcGvYAKaxjGhwR2wEa7gT0Ko3lDHZa4BXbnHG6i0tmPdd1RTKbhBATJI02bMLMAMiPLWC24OgFPvOZnMx9erhrWSDtHG9iddozlFAi8Pq6qz5N1Fpue5SvFsgn9UIzz4Ts9Lq-TA2/s320/village.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>A village, not fancy but atmospheric enough. NPCs actually move around and even sweep the floor. Not as nicely looking as in the Witcher and often cloned too, but... again better than the NPCs in a certain AAA game released not long ago. </i></span></div><br />
<br />
Last but not least, some more mechanical stuff. Bioware set a standard with the dialogue wheel now and everyone has to do it, but, again, I think Dungeon Siege III makes it a little better and not as idiot-proof as Dragon Age with it's stupid icons. I can live with this.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmlDM4bN4famuNkrN6rTEQTt1hcaHecS8IwiZrWIArfYyCZ1lH-x7tNP9xcCZXHE2kqet0-PkiJ8_VD26Inrv_BE7cPNiVkKxmcXXcl8HQZgbYwEPtkeBu0-dMzu8awDmhA0cjtBorVDbw/s1600/dialogue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmlDM4bN4famuNkrN6rTEQTt1hcaHecS8IwiZrWIArfYyCZ1lH-x7tNP9xcCZXHE2kqet0-PkiJ8_VD26Inrv_BE7cPNiVkKxmcXXcl8HQZgbYwEPtkeBu0-dMzu8awDmhA0cjtBorVDbw/s320/dialogue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The dialogues are very static, instead of making horrible animations like usual, Obsidian wisely decided to better not even try it, so these guys don't emote at all and there's nothing like a real cutscene with camera turns. Not good, but in Obsidian's case better than ruining the whole thing with embarrassing emotes. It's okay, guys, you've learned. :)<br />
<br />
Okay, that much on the atmosphere, and that's why I even bother to talk about Dungeon Siege III. We all know this is an Action RPG that is mainly about looting and killing hordes of stuff, and it's also really a console game frustrating to play on a PC without a game controller. But, in Obsidian's favor I just have to say that I can see some big improvements here: The general atmosphere is well done, the game ran incredibly smooth and, who knows, maybe even Dungeon Siege got an interesting story now, because that's what Obsidian can do.<br />
<br />
Might buy it someday once it's cheap. :)Casahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14075247810535022772noreply@blogger.com1