Per @AndreaColombo , EA owns the source, while puts the chance that we ever see the source code at approximately 0%. As I said in one of the other threads on this topic, we have a relatively advanced (albeit clunky and semi-abandoned at the time of this post) open source version of the engine, which can and does allow mods that the base game could never have (such as 10-person parties). The other thing really holding back new campaign development is not the engine, it is area creation (in my opinion). If that wasn't such an absolute chore, I'm sure you'd see a lot more campaign packs of much larger size than the few small single new area mods we currently have.
While the source code would be nice, we have 95% of everything we need to make new adventures without it; now it's just a matter of finding the people with time, resources, and knowledge to develop those new tools.
Yes. I can think of only one bespoke tool--a command-line utility that builds BAMs from PNGs during the build process. Otherwise, everything we use is the same that modders use: WeiDU, Near Infinity, DLTCEP, etc.
I find that hard to believe. Some of the areas in Siege of Dragonspear look like they'd be near-impossible to make with conventional tools. The area BD1000, for example, has nearly a thousand wall polygons, many of which are trees with hundreds of vertices. From my experience, even making a single trap with four vertices in WeiDU or NearInfinity is very time consuming (for each vertex, you need to look at the map and get X and Y coordinates), never mind making something with hundreds of them. Most of the trees in the area also look different from one another; they don't look like their polygons were copied and pasted.
Furthermore, even if the area designers did have the patience to make hundreds of wall vertices with NearInfinity, it would've been so much easier to just cut corners (e.g. not have so many trees in an area, or have the trees mostly be in parts of the area the party cannot access, so they don't have to have wall polygons, or maybe make the polygons less detailed). The fact that this didn't happen suggests that the area designers probably had an easier way to make wall polygons than WeiDU or NearInfinity, like maybe a tool that lets them draw a polygon on the area map using a mouse.
@OlvynChuru DLTCEP would be my tool of choice for area / wall polygons. It gives graphical possibility to do wall polygons. Doing SoD ones would still be a chore, but doable.
Yes. I can think of only one bespoke tool--a command-line utility that builds BAMs from PNGs during the build process. Otherwise, everything we use is the same that modders use: WeiDU, Near Infinity, DLTCEP, etc.
I find that hard to believe. Some of the areas in Siege of Dragonspear look like they'd be near-impossible to make with conventional tools. The area BD1000, for example, has nearly a thousand wall polygons, many of which are trees with hundreds of vertices. From my experience, even making a single trap with four vertices in WeiDU or NearInfinity is very time consuming (for each vertex, you need to look at the map and get X and Y coordinates), never mind making something with hundreds of them. Most of the trees in the area also look different from one another; they don't look like their polygons were copied and pasted.
Furthermore, even if the area designers did have the patience to make hundreds of wall vertices with NearInfinity, it would've been so much easier to just cut corners (e.g. not have so many trees in an area, or have the trees mostly be in parts of the area the party cannot access, so they don't have to have wall polygons, or maybe make the polygons less detailed). The fact that this didn't happen suggests that the area designers probably had an easier way to make wall polygons than WeiDU or NearInfinity, like maybe a tool that lets them draw a polygon on the area map using a mouse.
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While the source code would be nice, we have 95% of everything we need to make new adventures without it; now it's just a matter of finding the people with time, resources, and knowledge to develop those new tools.
That being said, we need a toolset for area creation it seems.
I find that hard to believe. Some of the areas in Siege of Dragonspear look like they'd be near-impossible to make with conventional tools. The area BD1000, for example, has nearly a thousand wall polygons, many of which are trees with hundreds of vertices. From my experience, even making a single trap with four vertices in WeiDU or NearInfinity is very time consuming (for each vertex, you need to look at the map and get X and Y coordinates), never mind making something with hundreds of them. Most of the trees in the area also look different from one another; they don't look like their polygons were copied and pasted.
Furthermore, even if the area designers did have the patience to make hundreds of wall vertices with NearInfinity, it would've been so much easier to just cut corners (e.g. not have so many trees in an area, or have the trees mostly be in parts of the area the party cannot access, so they don't have to have wall polygons, or maybe make the polygons less detailed). The fact that this didn't happen suggests that the area designers probably had an easier way to make wall polygons than WeiDU or NearInfinity, like maybe a tool that lets them draw a polygon on the area map using a mouse.
Well, they own BioWare—and as per the grey text at the very bottom of these boards:
If BioWare own the Infinity Engine, then vicariously EA own the Infinity Engine.
Then what the heck was was used?