Custom Content Tools and Tutorials

thirdmouse

There are a lot of resources and links by many different people floating around, and those that have been around NWN for a long time or never left might take knowing where to find it all for granted. Here are some links (to many more links, in some cases) and EE-specific information. Maybe they will be helpful to someone. Apologies for any misinformation or critical omission

Tools & Utilities

• Blender - It's free, modern, open source, and currently has the most up-to-date tools for NWN:EE.
  
• Neverblender - the aforementioned up-to-date tools, still actively being developed by @symmetric .
  
• gmax - a great many older tutorials for NWN modeling refer to this. Still works
  
• NWMax+ - tools for gmax and (I think) some versions of 3dsMax. This is the most recently updated version, but MDA has been out of touch for a bit now. It does not support some of the newer EE fancymap type features, but was practically mandatory for many years, and is still in use by a lot of people today.
  
• Sublime Text, Notepad++, etc - whatever modern text editor you prefer
  
• CleanModels3 - This is an invaluable tool for batch detecting/repairing/adjusting NWN models.
  
• NWN Crunch - console application for texture compression. Supported formats include bmp, png, tga and dds (standard and NWN). Please test
  
• GIMP - Free and open source image editing
  
• Gimp PLT Plugin - Cross-Platform Loading/Saving of PLT files
  
• NWN Explorer - EE - virusman's update for NWN Explorer, a tool for extracting or browsing game resources either for content creation or reference. "It doesn't detect the installation path automatically yet but you can specify it manually. As a bonus, it supports new mdl parameters: materialname and renderhint."
  
• NwnMdlComp EE - Compile and decompile NWN models - virusman's alpha update for EE, possibly not a lot of testing done on it.
  
• NWN Toolbox - An assortment of utilities, many still in regular use. (eg TGA Flipper, Veltools)
  
• 7-Zip, Peazip, WinRar, etc - You need a file archiver for when you distribute your content, even if you're just posting a single .mod on the vault. You probably have one already, but if you don't, any of these are fine.
  
• Bink to webm converter - Batch file for converting old videos to new format via ffmpeg (included).
  
• Yata - "a really full featured 2da editor which I think is really shaping up to be the best such editor on there" - Tarot
  

Tutorials & Reference

• Vault-Wiki Tutorials - The newest place for tutorials to live - a bit sparse right now, but more organized and likely to become the go-to collection in the future. In particular check out the Aribethorial for some EE model-modifications, or Do It In Blender! for super basic Neverblender introductions.
  
• Neverblender Documentation - "You mean a tool can be useful AND documented?" :P
  
• File Formats - Technical information on various NWN file formats, as well as some shader support notes.
  
• Rigging in Blender - Rigging a "skinmeshed" model for NWN, also includes a_fa and a_ba templates with dummy daggers and shields.
  
• Merricksdad's Placeholder Tileset - "I set out to produce a 3 height transition tileset with a few crosser types, and leave the tiles untextured, so that anybody building a tileset could use these as placeholders for their own tiles. "
  
• NWN University - A massive collection of guides/manuals/tutorials on various subjects.
  
• Custom Content Guide 3.0 - As mentioned in the comments, this is somewhat out of date, but still has information not yet documented elsewhere.
  
• NWN:EE 2das - Beamdog may include a zip of their 2das with the game in the future, but for now this is a great resource.
  
• The 1.69 Omnibus - This is a ton of information, downloadable and made easily searchable for reference - including the old-old Bioware forums. (It would be great if the old Bioware forums could be included, one day.) This will grow ever more outdated as EE progresses, but is still pretty handy for all that Old Lore, when you're sure someone did this back in 07 and don't remember who it was. Check out Proleric's comment at the bottom on getting it working in Windows 10.
  
• neverwinternights.info - References for many different topics and tools (including some linked already, and many more that aren't), some in particular categories like sound or animation. 1.69 oriented, still very helpful.
  
• Head-Aligned VFX Tutorial - (Video) You can grab the templates from the Community VFX Project.
  
• Uploading to Steam Workshop - Guides to getting your stuff on the Workshop. Note that as mentioned in this discussion, if you are not already a Steam customer, you'll need $5 in your steam wallet in order to set the visibility of your content to public.
  
• The Bioware NWN Standard Assets. - If you are wanting to modify a standard asset (e.g. model/texture/portrait etc.) you can grab these instead of having to search for them.
  
• gMax tutorial for importing (legally) free models into NWN - illustrated step by step guide on importing models from outside sources
  
  Other
  • Vault forums - Most people are probably familiar with the vault as a download site, but it is also a community of custom-content makers. Lists like (and more extensive than) this have been made many times by the people there over the years.
    
  • vaultchat - A Discord server for the vault. (The IRC bridge is no longer functional.)
    
    (The vault, which I do not speak on behalf of, also hosts NWN's Brothers/Sisters/Cousins in Modding, the NWN2 community!)
    
    

TarotRedhand

Just a few things to add.

• The Bioware NwN Standard Assets. If you are wanting to modify a standard asset (e.g. model/texture/portrait etc.) you can grab these instead of having to search for them.
  
• Archivers. If you are planning to upload your work for others to download you really need one of these. Apart from reducing the download size and bundling all your files (you do include at least a readme file with your hak don't you?) into a single download, an archived version also removes the chances of a users browser from trying to display your files as garbage on screen. The problem is that certain extensions are used by other programs - a mod file is an ancient sound format and an erf is an image file filter format. There are others. So you need one of these (other archivers are available) 7Zip, PeaZip, WinRar. Also, remember to keep your unarchiver up to date.
  
• The wayback machine. On here you can find copies of pages from old, defunct NwN forums. Here is the original Bioware NwN forum (Just select the year/month/day you want to look at.) and here is the old Bioware Social Network. There was a forum that occurred between the times of those 2 but unfortunately EA re-purposed it, so there is no archive of it.
  
• A Good Modern Plain Text Editor. I find one of these to be essential for custom content work, not just scripting. I personally use Notepad++ for, amongst other things, editing and merging 2da files for which I find column mode very useful.
  

Hope these are of use.

TR

TarotRedhand

Having just re-found this for a reply over on the vault I thought it might fit here. It is one of the best tutorials I have seen.

• gMax tutorial for importing (legally) free models into NwN. This tutorial is a thoroughly illustrated step by step guide on how to import models from outside sources into NwN. Just make sure that you have permission to do so and follow any conditions set on the models usage.
  

TR

ShadowM

Can we get links added to the tool(s) mentioned in this thread for people to convert to the new video format?
Can anyone suggest a good free bink to webm converter?

TarotRedhand

@ShadowM have you tried the Bink / .bik converter to WBM?

TR

MrDamage

Hi everyone!

Just installed cep to my pc in beamdog
folder. Have done this many times over the years. Noticed the file names changed a bit. But where does a BIF file go? I don't remember that one. Any help greatly appreciated. At the moment they are in the data folder. Is this their home? I'll try to attach a pic to illustrate.

TarotRedhand

Assuming you're on windows it would appear you have put the CEP in the wrong place. All third party (ie user made stuff now goes in the Neverwinter Nights folder in your My Documents folder. The BeamDog folder is just that - for BeamDog files only.

TR

Karma7512

Where is the NVWN folder? All I can find is the beamdog folder..
I downloaded direct to desktop.
Also trying to use CEP

zordren3742

Karma7512 wrote: »

Where is the NVWN folder? All I can find is the beamdog folder..
I downloaded direct to desktop.
Also trying to use CEP

It is in the My Documents folder, or user name/Documents.

TarotRedhand

In the tools section of the original part of this thread I think I have an addition It is relatively new and in the NwN2 section of the vault but works just as well with NwN. I am talking about YATA, a really full featured 2da editor which I think is really shaping up to be the best such editor on there.

TR

Xzanos

Years later I now both my gf and I are really getting interested in creating custom content and haks. Unfortunately we are having a lot of trouble getting some of these tools to work. Mainly NWNexplorer ( unable to detect nwn even when browsing to the directory). As well as any kind of .2da editor (unable to find .2da files).

Hope there is some help out there.

TarotRedhand

@Xzanos There is a new version of NWNexplorer. However, for 2da file editing grab Yata (linked to in the post immediately before yours). If the problem is you don't know where to download the EE 2da files grab NWN EE: 8193.34 Full 2DA source compiled by @Shadooow

TR

Dark_Ansem

So; currently the best way to view NWN models (maybe even animations) and export them to other editors for further modifications is Blender?

TarotRedhand

Well, maybe. It is probably the best FREE way to do it as gmax has not been updated in forever, while Blender is now at v 3.5 (just reeleased in the past week or so). To import (also export) mdl files into Blender you will need to install the Neverblender plugin for Blender too. FWIW, if you would like to take your first steps in creating a mdl in Blender and getting it into NwN, I wrote a tutorial to help you to do so -

The simplest Blender model of all

TR

Dark_Ansem

TarotRedhand wrote: »

Well, maybe. It is probably the best FREE way to do it as gmax has not been updated in forever, while Blender is now at v 3.5 (just reeleased in the past week or so). To import (also export) mdl files into Blender you will need to install the Neverblender plugin for Blender too. FWIW, if you would like to take your first steps in creating a mdl in Blender and getting it into NwN, I wrote a tutorial to help you to do so -

The simplest Blender model of all

TR

Thank you. And what if I just wanted to see the various animations?

TarotRedhand

TBH, I don't know. I only make/import placeables. I leave the complicated stuff to the experts.

TR

Dark_Ansem

I'm sure you're an expert too!