Problem Creating Areas in IETME & DLTCEP

Corsymyr

http://www.shsforums.net/topic/28080-cuvs-area-making-class-tutorial/

I followed the above tutorial to a letter, and when I try to CLUAConsole to the Area, my game crashes. I also tried the DLCTEP tutorial as well (which was more difficult for me), and ended up with the same crash. What could I be doing wrong?! The BMP I am using is 20 x 15 (x64), saved as 24bit BMP. The BMP was from IWD originally and was downloaded from;

http://phrozenkeep.hugelaser.com/index.php?pid=33

I can send someone the ARE, BMP, MOS, TIS, WED, HT & LT files if it would help. Is there any special settings for BG:EE that are different from the tutorials? I set the HT to 6, then tried 7 (no difference). I set the LT to white, then black (no change). Set the Search Map to Stone. The naming I used is ARUNxx for all files.

Any help, advice, or direction would be much appreciated.

I also tried going into NI, and exporting the area from IWD (along with all the components), put the files into my BG:EE Override folder and it still crashes .... hmmm.

TIA
Corsymyr

(attached a Rar of my last edit)

CoM_Solaufein

@cuv would be better at answering this. They changed the TIS format in EE slightly. I've heard that other game TIS files would be okay to use and I also heard that is not the case.

At first glance I don't see anything wrong. A blank area with no sounds, animations and creatures.

Cuv

Heya @Corsymyr If you are running the live build 2012, TIS in the override will crash the game. There is another patch coming soon and that override problem will be fixed. There is likely nothing wrong with your areas. If you want to verify, throw them into the override of normal BG1/BG2 to check.

There is another option if you like. If you are familiar with WeiDU... if you Biff your area, it won't crash:) The TIS in the override will be taken care of next build though.

Corsymyr

@Cuv ... that helps so much ... I thought I was losing my mind! It worked in my BG-II standard install fine.

Cuv

Then you are good.... just hang on until the next patch:) Then you should be good for new areas in BGEE

horredtheplague

@Cuv: I just biffed up a working BG2 custom area. While it loaded (at last!) in BG:EE, it froze up immediately after entering. As stated, the area works perfectly fine in BG2. I even tried using tispack/tisunpack to insure a proper (and improper) header status. Header intact/removed seemed to make no difference in results.

Cuv

Heya @horrdtheplague , been a long time:) Did you create the bif from within BGEE using the compatible WeiDU.exe? http://forums.pocketplane.net/index.php/topic,28279.0.html You probably did.

The only other thing I can think of is you may be missing some resource, maybe something you expect to be in BGEE but is not? Some cruft was removed from the game. Not really sure what you tried or if you ran a check for missing resources. Hopefully all these problems will be resolved with the coming patch.

horredtheplague

@Cuv--long time indeed, maybe 10 years since any direct communications. I made a second attempt after updating the weidu (I think I had an earlier release of Wisp's, the filesize changed). I also left out the .pvr and .pvrz files I had made from my 3ds Max render via the Texture Packer Photoshop plugin and DLTCEP. It loaded, and was able to move around. Now, it's crashing a bit later on--but I suspect it's something else now. I recall reading about some bug with area transition icons in BG:EE e.g.--something along those lines I think, happening near the transition point. Not sure which made the difference--the newer weidu beta or the lack of pvrz/pvr. Guessing the former...assuming the PVR/-Z files are needed for the iOS-based app only.

Another question that's been on the backburner--do you know if BG:EE applies the same strict 8-bit 256-color pallette restrictions that BG2 did? It was my thought that the logical process of modernizing/incorporating the PVRCT format into the engine would also eliminate that requirement, but one never knows until they ask. Also, any insights into the naming conventions of those pvr files? Looks like [first letter] + [4-digit area number] + [00-xx counter for the 1024x1024 slices] which is very limiting (doesn't allow for AR1000 and AW1000 areas e.g.) ---is this even needed?

Thanks for the help and insights!

Cuv

@horredtheplague I just tested with the new build patch that is live. You don't need to mess around with the PVRZ files... the TIS work just fine loose in the override. If you are getting a crash, its likely something missing from the data, yeah.

As for how those work... I am still not sure. They have a tool that does that. They save on space. From what I understand, the door tiles and still in the TIS (but its mostly blank with a TIS header) and the PVRZ are the background images. I have no idea about the naming... seems totally random to me too.