New monster & character models and stand-alone mod campaign - is it possible?
rotfarmer
Member Posts: 4
Is it possible to make new monster or NPC with its own model (and paper doll)? For example, if I'd like to create a thri-kreen or another non-humanoid companion? As far as I know, 2nd edition settings -Dark Sun, Speljammer - should have a lot of interesting creatures, more than hobgoblins or skeletons.
Another question - is it possible to make some stand-alone campaign (not a long, of course), which could be played independently, just like Black Pits?
Another question - is it possible to make some stand-alone campaign (not a long, of course), which could be played independently, just like Black Pits?
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It's possible to make new models and new campaigns. It normally hasn't been done because of the work required.
Classic Adventures is a buncha 1e & 2e modules ported into the BG engine.
New creatures have (somewhat) also been done in OlvynSpells for the animal growth spell to increase the model size. New paperdolls are assumedly also doable.
I suggested ToEE-in-EET months ago, but no one seemed willing and able then to invest the resources to build it.
It's also entirely possible to add whole new original campaigns. The problem with this kind of effort is inevitably area creation. I maintain that area creation is the largest untapped well of potential in this modding scene, but it is so. horrifically. tedious.
There are very very few mods that add totally new areas, and basically all of their author's have said that implementing areas in the engine takes forever.
Why has making new areas been so unpleasant? What can/should be done, especially tool-wise, to improve it?
You need area art of the right format, size, visual complexity, and angle to begin. You then need additional art for any animations or terrain altering effects (such as open/closed doors).
Once you have this, you then need to construct a bunch of subtile maps of the area to define things like collision maps, the lighting and height of the area so that things look correct when characters move through the area and they can't walk through walls or closed doors.
Once you've done that you need to go and populate the area with all of the actual content (characters, spawn points, chests/placeables, scripts, etc).
While all of this could be done solo if the person is particularly talented, areas really seem like a group effort between a couple of talented artists (including a 3d modeler and a 2d sprite animator), some utility savvy modders, and the content writers who come up with what to put in your area. It's a lot of work and most people can't do it all themselves, so it doesn't happen outside of big projects.
Thankee for your summarized explanation!
SubtleDoctor's psionic mod is Will to Power.