People, let him do one version first, whichever it is (tbh, I'd assumed EE would be preferred here simply because the new creature animations are a pain on classic without ToBEx AL, but shows what do I know), because that's already one thing where this can be PoCed.
Skyfire will be a 100% Enhanced Edition modification on its first public release. For the last ten years, I've exclusively played the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition series - mostly on my iPad. Almost every single day. I love the EEs.
But there's a difference between playing and developing.
During the current development cycle, I have to rely on some things from Vanilla BG2 - writing dialogues in ANSI format and editing areas with IETME. For a while I tried to develop on both versions simultaneously and lost a lot of time because I had to keep track of the changes I made in the different versions. That will not happen again. As soon as this stage is finished, I will switch to the EE version.
One way to frame NPCs wandering to find the party from seemingly nowhere is to claim they're using sending. Having NPCs from the party just warp back to Athkatla is another matter.
Project looks gorgeous. Honestly, I haven't seen locations that detailed in a mod for a long, long time. I am currently recording a series from BG:EE with big amount of mods. After I finish first one, I'll go for the second one and would like to introduce your mod to viewers. Could you tell me when it will be released, relatively.
Thank you very much! I can't give a release date at the moment, sorry. But I'm making good progress and hope to be able to post another update soon on this or the other mod I'm currently working on.
Thank you very much! I can't give a release date at the moment, sorry. But I'm making good progress and hope to be able to post another update soon on this or the other mod I'm currently working on.
Ok. Thank you very much for the answer. Good to know that release date is closer to release. May I know what is the other mod you're working on? Just to take a look
Well, to be honest, I'm working on several mods at the moment. They will remain unannounced for a while, but all contain many areas with new graphics, so I hope they are worth the wait.
Well, to be honest, I'm working on several mods at the moment. They will remain unannounced for a while, but all contain many areas with new graphics, so I hope they are worth the wait.
I admire you. You make a few mods at the same time and seem experienced. I was trying to do one content mod with 7 quests for BG1 and it was so hard for me, I gave up fairly quickly. Kinda sad because I'd love to see these quests implemented but well. Good luck with finishing your mods
Thank you! Well, the downside is that I've been working on these mods for a very long time - more than ten years now. But the good side is that I've invested so much time in each of them that I'm not going to abandon any of them.
I've played the baldurs gate series constantly since it was first released way way back when but have not touched it in over a year. This mod has got me super excited, it looks amazing!
We have slain a yellow dragon. That was pretty hard! And adjusting the right colour of the dragon was difficult as well. (I tried to make sure that the animation could also pass for a gold dragon if needed.)
But now we've got its scales. I wonder if someone could make armour out of them?
And adjusting the right colour of the dragon was difficult as well
Which tool did you use? Near infinity? Switching color or palette?
I find very hard to edit creature bam, especially when they are made of several bam like dragon
Nice to see that you are still on your mod, it sound very promising.
Which tool did you use? Near infinity? Switching color or palette?
For this I used the fantastic Bam Editor from NI. At first I tried to edit just the palette. This is how Bioware added different colours to the chromatic dragons (e.g. the MDR1_GR*.bmp files for the green dragon). However, this doesn't seem to work as it may be hard coded. So I had to post-process every single animation file of the Red Dragon animation bams using NI's HUE/Saturation/Lightness filter. On the plus side, you can export the settings, so this is a tedious but fairly simple workaround.
Nice to see that you are still on your mod, it sound very promising.
Thank you! Of course I'm still working on it.
At the moment I'm not happy with the last two final crucial story elements, but I can't figure out a good solution. So I've moved on to some technical things and other mods of mine and wait until inspiration grabs me again. There's always something else to do until you get good ideas again, which unfortunately you can't force.
For this I used the fantastic Bam Editor from NI. At first I tried to edit just the palette. This is how Bioware added different colours to the chromatic dragons (e.g. the MDR1_GR*.bmp files for the green dragon). However, this doesn't seem to work as it may be hard coded. So I had to post-process every single animation file of the Red Dragon animation bams using NI's HUE/Saturation/Lightness filter. On the plus side, you can export the settings, so this is a tedious but fairly simple workaround.
I once tried to edit the palette, but it gave me a very bad result and I stopped trying that. I was able to use Hue/Saturation filter and also color swap but only on spell BAM so far. I will try on some creature too later. Thanks for the info.
At the moment I'm not happy with the last two final crucial story elements, but I can't figure out a good solution.
May be the communauty can help? Or you prefer to keep this secret?
ait until inspiration grabs me again
Take shower Inspiration always came to me after a shower lol
We have slain a yellow dragon. That was pretty hard! And adjusting the right colour of the dragon was difficult as well. (I tried to make sure that the animation could also pass for a gold dragon if needed.)
But now we've got its scales. I wonder if someone could make armour out of them?
This is INCREDIBLE, thank you for sharing!! I am so excited
As someone who loves the art style of IE games I´d have to break several forum rules to describe how this makes me feel. As for the inspiration you need, have you considered setting Minsc and Boo on the case? That hamster is an excellent tracker.
As someone who loves the art style of IE games I´d have to break several forum rules to describe how this makes me feel. As for the inspiration you need, have you considered setting Minsc and Boo on the case? That hamster is an excellent tracker.
Thank you very much! The best way to keep going is that I know that there are players who are looking forward to such a kind of mod.
This week I have finished a small test project. It has no connection to Skyfire, but I needed something small to figure out the best way to implement graphics, animations and areas into the EE. I hope that I can share that small "blueprint-mod" with you within the next weeks. Don't expect an epic adventure with plenty of dialogues and story twists, but instead a one-or-two-hour-long quest mod with new 3D rendered areas that (hopefully) relies closely on the quests of the original game.
this mod of yours looks like a combination of amazing and awesome!
Something like awemazing .
Kudos for that.
Also thanks for the "Adding water to new area graphics" tutorial.
It would be great if you ever found time to do a tutorial on how you did the creature animation process.
I think it could be very helpful for beginners to do such things and thereby make modding IE games more attractive.
Until then, I wish you a lot of fun and progress with your mods.
I'm very curious about the results.
this mod of yours looks like a combination of amazing and awesome!
Something like awemazing .
Kudos for that.
Thank you very much!
I could do a tutorial on adding animations, but it is quite a complicated process, and I'm not an expert in this either. I am not sure if this would be very annoying for everyone else.
this mod of yours looks like a combination of amazing and awesome!
Something like awemazing .
Kudos for that.
Thank you very much!
I could do a tutorial on adding animations, but it is quite a complicated process, and I'm not an expert in this either. I am not sure if this would be very annoying for everyone else.
Best case scenario: you educate a bunch of people.
Worst case scenario: you educate a bunch of people, through the act of your tutorial being improved by input from the community
No matter what, I don't think it would be annoying. Process documentation is pretty spotty in the IE community, if you're so inclined I would encourage you to do it.
Comments
Great work as usual.
But there's a difference between playing and developing.
During the current development cycle, I have to rely on some things from Vanilla BG2 - writing dialogues in ANSI format and editing areas with IETME. For a while I tried to develop on both versions simultaneously and lost a lot of time because I had to keep track of the changes I made in the different versions. That will not happen again. As soon as this stage is finished, I will switch to the EE version.
Many thanks to @bonewhiteglory , @jastey , @LavaDelVortel , @GraionDilach and @Cahir for your kind words!
Thankee for your updates! Alleluia!
One way to frame NPCs wandering to find the party from seemingly nowhere is to claim they're using sending. Having NPCs from the party just warp back to Athkatla is another matter.
Ok. Thank you very much for the answer. Good to know that release date is closer to release. May I know what is the other mod you're working on? Just to take a look
I admire you. You make a few mods at the same time and seem experienced. I was trying to do one content mod with 7 quests for BG1 and it was so hard for me, I gave up fairly quickly. Kinda sad because I'd love to see these quests implemented but well. Good luck with finishing your mods
We have slain a yellow dragon. That was pretty hard! And adjusting the right colour of the dragon was difficult as well. (I tried to make sure that the animation could also pass for a gold dragon if needed.)
But now we've got its scales. I wonder if someone could make armour out of them?
I was about to ask you about progress today on Skyfire, but you posted something of note! What else is there to share?
Thankee!
I will post an update on the project when I think the time feels right.
Which tool did you use? Near infinity? Switching color or palette?
I find very hard to edit creature bam, especially when they are made of several bam like dragon
Nice to see that you are still on your mod, it sound very promising.
Yes, that could fit as well. For the mod, I wanted to add a yellow dragon, as this creature suits well in the desert setting.
Thank you! Of course I'm still working on it.
At the moment I'm not happy with the last two final crucial story elements, but I can't figure out a good solution. So I've moved on to some technical things and other mods of mine and wait until inspiration grabs me again. There's always something else to do until you get good ideas again, which unfortunately you can't force.
I once tried to edit the palette, but it gave me a very bad result and I stopped trying that. I was able to use Hue/Saturation filter and also color swap but only on spell BAM so far. I will try on some creature too later. Thanks for the info.
May be the communauty can help? Or you prefer to keep this secret?
Take shower
This is INCREDIBLE, thank you for sharing!! I am so excited
Thank you very much! The best way to keep going is that I know that there are players who are looking forward to such a kind of mod.
This week I have finished a small test project. It has no connection to Skyfire, but I needed something small to figure out the best way to implement graphics, animations and areas into the EE. I hope that I can share that small "blueprint-mod" with you within the next weeks. Don't expect an epic adventure with plenty of dialogues and story twists, but instead a one-or-two-hour-long quest mod with new 3D rendered areas that (hopefully) relies closely on the quests of the original game.
this mod of yours looks like a combination of amazing and awesome!
Something like awemazing
Kudos for that.
Also thanks for the "Adding water to new area graphics" tutorial.
It would be great if you ever found time to do a tutorial on how you did the creature animation process.
I think it could be very helpful for beginners to do such things and thereby make modding IE games more attractive.
Until then, I wish you a lot of fun and progress with your mods.
I'm very curious about the results.
I could do a tutorial on adding animations, but it is quite a complicated process, and I'm not an expert in this either. I am not sure if this would be very annoying for everyone else.
Consider posting it as a new thread here: https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/forum/62-modding-how-tos-and-tutorials/
Best case scenario: you educate a bunch of people.
Worst case scenario: you educate a bunch of people, through the act of your tutorial being improved by input from the community
No matter what, I don't think it would be annoying. Process documentation is pretty spotty in the IE community, if you're so inclined I would encourage you to do it.
Thankee.