[Crowdsource] Help Request: Writing snippets for areas
CamDawg
Member, Developer Posts: 3,438
I'm currently overhauling IWDification, and one of my projects is to add new components to import base Icewind Dale class abilities, e.g. adding evasion for thieves, expanded druid shapeshifting, paladin immunities and abilities, etc. For rangers, they receive tracking as an at-will ability.
If you've never used it in IWD (or the BG2 version as a ranger HLA), tracking is an innate ability that tells you a little bit about the area and gives you a some information about creatures present. Not every area has tracking info; e.g. the town of Easthaven has an entry but all of the homes within Easthaven use the generic 'no info' message. I've put examples of how Icewind Dale does this into a Google doc for anyone to check out. Disappointingly, while ToB did add ranger tracking, they only added info for ToB areas and the entries themselves are minimal compared to what you get in IWD.
Now, the problem with trying to extend this into BG or BG2 is that I would need to check every area in BG and BG2, decide if it merits an entry, and (if so) write it. BG alone has nearly 500 areas! Which is where I'm hoping that you, as a community, can help out.
I've created Google docs (linked below) with lists of the areas and a short description from the IESDP and (for the handful of ToB areas that have one) their existing tracking information. I'm hoping for volunteers to start working through the lists, identifying areas that merit entries, and then adding them as appropriate. If you'd like to help, send me a PM with your email address so I can add you as an editor.
I want this to be a community resource so I will freely make the end result available to any modder who wants it, e.g. I'm willing to bet K4thos would like to incorporate this into EET. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please feel free to reply or PM me.
If you've never used it in IWD (or the BG2 version as a ranger HLA), tracking is an innate ability that tells you a little bit about the area and gives you a some information about creatures present. Not every area has tracking info; e.g. the town of Easthaven has an entry but all of the homes within Easthaven use the generic 'no info' message. I've put examples of how Icewind Dale does this into a Google doc for anyone to check out. Disappointingly, while ToB did add ranger tracking, they only added info for ToB areas and the entries themselves are minimal compared to what you get in IWD.
Now, the problem with trying to extend this into BG or BG2 is that I would need to check every area in BG and BG2, decide if it merits an entry, and (if so) write it. BG alone has nearly 500 areas! Which is where I'm hoping that you, as a community, can help out.
I've created Google docs (linked below) with lists of the areas and a short description from the IESDP and (for the handful of ToB areas that have one) their existing tracking information. I'm hoping for volunteers to start working through the lists, identifying areas that merit entries, and then adding them as appropriate. If you'd like to help, send me a PM with your email address so I can add you as an editor.
I want this to be a community resource so I will freely make the end result available to any modder who wants it, e.g. I'm willing to bet K4thos would like to incorporate this into EET. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please feel free to reply or PM me.
- Icewind Dale - Included as an example of how to write up other tracking entries
- Baldur's Gate
- Siege of Dragonspear
- Shadows of Amn
- Throne of Bhaal - includes existing tracking entries, but I'd like to upgrade these to the better, IWD-style entries.
- Misc - Black Pits and tutorial areas
6