How do you decide order of HAKs (Project Q Material)

Dreadlord_Anwyn

Well, I rebuilt my PW module with project Q but I found myself not wanting a lot of the included material and not wanting to have to rework scripts/edit other people's scripts for stuff I really didnt need. Fortunately, I do have the original version before I rebuilt it. I guess the main issue was how it disabled my onspawns and I was planning a series of a few onspawn scripts for my treasure system. Also, I really want to do as much of the scripting direction of the mod by myself as I can.

There are things I do need out of project Q however, monsters primarily, and if possible, a few tilesets. I figure they should be compatible stand-alone with each other but I am not sure how one decides the placement of load order.

I think I recall some things are placed before others, like maybe areas before creatures before placeables. I can just check the Q build of my mod and how other PWs order their haks to pull that off. But how does one determine order within a set? Here is a wish list of haks. If anyone can help me figure out what order to place them in or a base to start a logical process on, Id greatly appreciate it. Im only trying to make a PW mod because I make fun adventures and I like to share RPG fun with people. I fully plan to give credit both inside the mod and on whatever forums when I start hosting it.

Wildwoods tileset https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/tileset/wild-woods-v07-wild-lands-tilesets

Dwarven chasms tileset https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/tileset/dwarven-chasms-catacombs-barren-lands-deep-dungeon-undercity-tilesets

Dinosaurs! https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/custom-content-challenge-december-2017-dinosaurs

Kuo-Toa https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/kuo-toa-0

Kenku https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/kenku

Giant Ant Set https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/combined/giant-ant-set-complete

Rust Monster (Animated) https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/rust-monster-animated

Scarecrow https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/rust-monster-animated

Baba Yaga's Improved Creatures https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/prefab/creature/baba-yagas-improved-creatures

Bigfoot's Elemental Grues https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/model/bigfootnzs-elemental-grues-fire-and-air

CC 2011 October: Demonic https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/ccc-2011-oct-demonic

Hellbound (Abashai) https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/prefab/creature/hellbound-abishai

Monster Mash (not sure if this has any conflicts with Baba Yaga Oruks) https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/model/monster-mash

Myconids https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/myconids

Weathered and Damaged Golems https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/weathered-and-damaged-golems

Thanks in advance for any help offered!

MadHatter

Are you looking to combine the haks you have linked in your post?

If so you'll need to use a tool to pull out any 2da files, merge them, and create a hak that is at the top of your hak order. In terms of the order, any files that have the same name are overwritten as you go up in order, so if 2 haks models, textures, 2das, etc for the same thing then only the one on top will get used.

Q shouldn't be overriding/changing any scripts unless you're working off the Q base module or importing the scripts .erf. If you just attach the Q haks to your module then you should be good to go.

Dreadlord_Anwyn

Okay, so if I just add the Q hak, and not the base mod - then I can use the above is what you're saying. I did that at first, then added in the base module.

I'll have to check that other build out then. Thanks. I havent really modded with haks recently, and the only thing I could recall was back in like, 2007 or something when I was fiddling with making a PW right before NWN2 came out and used CEP in it for the DMFI wands and treasure system. Which required using the scripts.

I'll have a go again at it and see how the build without the base mod works.

Just to clarify out of curiosity though - if I wanted to just use the haks above without Q, I would have to check for parallel usage in the 2da's? What kind of tool would do this? Im a newbie with blender and unity - I know about basics of ragdolls and skins but havent gotten into practical applications really yet.

LyraVren

All you need for merging 2das is a text editor. For creatures you need to edit the appearance.2da. Extract all the haks to their own folders, and copy the relevant 2da lines from each to your base appearance.2da, (1.69 base 2das are here if you need it) then put your edited 2da to your top hak. You will probably also want to just combine all the creature assets to one hak so you don't need to have dozen little haks associated to your module.

Proleric

To edit a hak file, you need nwhak, which ships with 1.69, or similar tool. You can sort to extension order to find and extract the 2da files. NWNExplorer (available from the vault) also allows you to extract 2da files.

My understanding is that EE does not ship with nwhak, but you can use the other tool. Also, NWNExplorer can't read the core game files for EE yet, but you can get by without them.

There are plenty of free tools that will compare files e.g. WinMerge Compare.

For tilesets, you also need to check that the .set and .itp file names are unique.

Dreadlord_Anwyn

Kewl, ty.

[Deleted User]

Just a heads up, but about 95% of the stuff you listed is included in Q.

MadHatter

I wish Q were updated with more of the CCC stuff even though I’ve made my own top haks.

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure if the new Q Team is even around. Last word from Meaglyn on anything Q related seems to have been last November. Granted, that's not a long time in the scheme of things.

Dreadlord_Anwyn

Ok, after building my mod up to the point where its near playable (though it wouldnt have much in the way of playable content yet) I had to get dinos from the CCC. Project Q is totally awesome by the way, and Ive had zero complaints with it. It makes beautiful areas, creatures, and items.

But one of the major theme areas in Atlantis is Mu, the vast unexplored continent. And I really need it to have dinosaurs, to the point that I am determined to learn.

So, first I thought it was easy. Then I found out the CCC dinos were a sample hak. So I looked at the source file, and looked up information about how haks are erfs and all that, cram educated myself.

And I couldnt find quite enough info via googling and vault searching. So I remembered this thread and here I am.

Now, I see this link from Proleric: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/other/tool/ta-tools-utilities-nwhakexe-replacement (I was using a dl of nwnhak via amethystdragon)

Im gonna experiment with that and your explanations how how 2da's need to be merged.

However, my question is this: Ive read talk about the EE 2da being somehow unreadable in comparison to 1.69? I dont really know what to make of this information. A newb out of the loop, as it were.

I also have this data from project Q about reserved lines. Im assuming I can figure out what that means at some point HAHA. I can guess it is for compatibility from what the text says but then there;s Pstemarie's statement about last November and MIA stuff.

Anyway, any help is appreciated.

No dinosaurs were injured in the writing of this post.

Dreadlord_Anwyn

(Edit - erased that hideous post after I figured out what the deal was - found the files that were specifically 2da, am merging appearance and portraits 2da which were the only matching discrepancies.)

Dreadlord_Anwyn

Ok, I made a merge of both the creature haks and the 2das I found I also merged into a 2da file. Do I also need to make a custom tlk file? Here is my attempt (only project Q shows up and not the dinos)

https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/qcreatures-hak-merged-dinosaurs-ccc-hak

And here are the original files:
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/combined/project-q
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/custom-content-challenge-december-2017-dinosaurs

Dreadlord_Anwyn

PROBLEM SOLVED!