Can anyone recommend resources for training new area builders?

omedon666

Man... I never realized how good I had it on my last PW project until I started a new one over a decade later.

My last PW was full of eager, knowledgeable builders who would ask me for area concepts to build and would send me erf files when they were done, which was great because I did not have the time or temperament to teach folks how to build.

Fast forward to now: I have an eager group, a creative group...but NWN hasn't been "in" (among my gang anyway) for quite some time, and they are having a hard time matching all that "MMO housing aficionado" talent to an understanding of the Aurora toolset!

We have a "group building session" planned on our usual D&D schedule, but I'm still a terrible teacher, and my people are claiming there is nothing on the internet to teach them. The link at the NWN wiki to a now clearly defunct NWN bioware toolset guild is of course useless, so I turn to where the happening is happening right now for NWN:

Is there a resource for learning the builder beyond live coaching from a grumpy veteran (like me) with no ability or patience to teach?

Thanks in advance for any and all helpful replies!

FreshLemonBun

Have you tried this list yet?

http://www.neverwinternights.info/builders.htm

If you're really out of the game it might help to map your areas out on graph paper and plan it the regular old way, then convert it to areas in the toolset. Start simple at first and add more detail when you feel comfortable with what you want.

omedon666

FreshLemonBun said:

Have you tried this list yet?

http://www.neverwinternights.info/builders.htm

If you're really out of the game it might help to map your areas out on graph paper and plan it the regular old way, then convert it to areas in the toolset. Start simple at first and add more detail when you feel comfortable with what you want.

Wow, thanks a ton for that link! I'm sure my soon to be amazing builders will appreciate that!

TarotRedhand

Four more links for you -

The Guide to Building Volume I – The Aurora Toolset Manual
The Guide To Building Volume II The Design Manual
NwN Lexicon 1.69
LS-TK Script Generator (Lilac Soul's Script Generator, updated for NWN 1.69)

With those and a good (i.e. not notepad) plain text editor (such as notepad++) you will have a good head start on building modules.

TR

Zwerkules

Join the Neverwinter Vault discord and ask Fester Pot to teach you how to build areas!

NeverwinterWights

This got me to thinking about whether or not there are any changes we should know about when building in EE. Do we still need to make sure not to put placeables on the red lines, etc.?

TarotRedhand

I've never heard that one before. Just think about placeable buildings etc. You can't avoid putting stuff on the red lines with them. Either that was a pre v. 1.29 thing or an urban myth.

TR

NeverwinterWights

TarotRedhand said:

I've never heard that one before. Just think about placeable buildings etc. You can't avoid putting stuff on the red lines with them. Either that was a pre v. 1.29 thing or an urban myth.

TR

From what I remember, anytime you set a placeable on a grid line it had to render it in each tile. So if you had a placeable at a grid intersection of four tiles, the game would need to render it four times. I'm kind of paraphrasing here but this info came from one of the "oldhats". Possible from Funkyswerve, Fester Pot or @Proleric . It's been awhile so I can't remember for sure.

raz651

Wasn't there also a limit on how many placeables per tile square? And was this a memory issue or a processor issue? Since both the memory and processor speed have increased would this still be an issue?

LyraVren

What I've heard about the red lines is that a placeable going over tile lines can affect NPC pathfinding. So I've always tried to avoid doing that where NPCs walk. I wonder if that is true?

FreshLemonBun

Probably something you can ask on the stream on Friday unless one of the devs decides to post before then.