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Creating a Modding Tool

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  • OgaburanOgaburan Member Posts: 83
    I both admire and appreciate the efforts, i cannot wait for the end-product.
    AndreaColombo
  • salomonkanesalomonkane Member Posts: 48
    edited December 2012
    Baldur Gate Community Works
    Creating a Modding Tool

    a) Inter & Retro Compatiblity, BG.EE vs BG Vanilla, vs Infinity Engine Games Series

    Hi @klatu,

    This tool will be -inter & -retro-compatible with BG Vanilla/BGT/I.E. Games Series, Isn't it ?

    b) BAM Editor, BAM files (Alpha-Blending), BAM Workshop (I,II)

    "I promise to take a look at BAM Workshop(s). We'll see what I can do."

    That would be Great ! : )

    T.Y. .

    Source :
    Possible creation of a toolset for the Enhanced Infinity engine?
    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/3472/possible-creation-of-a-toolset-for-the-enhanced-infinity-engine/p1
    Flipbook animation transparency
    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/12068/#Comment_12068
    Creature Bam Files
    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/11651/creature-bam-files#latest
    Post edited by salomonkane on
    Cuv
  • LordSoverignLordSoverign Member Posts: 12
    I hope this tool will be out in the near future. I'm so looking forward to making a few changes to BG. Btw will there be an option to add things like damage resistances to armor? I always found it weird in D&D that instead of damage reduction you get such strange damage avoidance to damage stat.
  • klatuklatu Member Posts: 108
    @salomonkane
    I'm not sure what exactly you mean with "inter & -retro-compatible", but I can guess.
    To a very significant degree compatibility will depend on WeiDU. The basic idea for this tool (now that I've had time to think more carefully about this stuff), is that there will be TWO ways of interaction with source material using this tool:
    1.) Direct editing
    You take one or more files, edit them to your liking and be done with it. This approach is not something that I would call modding, because the result is not a mod (ie. the result would only be guaranteed to work for YOU). For personal use, this is perfectly fine.
    2.) Projects
    Anything other than directly overwriting existing files should be done in a project. You import files from the source material to a project. Any operation performed on those files will be logged by the tool. At any point, installable WeiDU code can be assembled from that project and will be applicable by everyone.
    That's the basic idea, anyway.

    Therefore, the maximum in compatibility will ALWAYS depend on what WeiDU is capable of. I hopefully can, and probably will, write certain macros for WeiDU to make sure it does stuff my way*, but if e.g. WeiDU can't find certain files, there's nothing I can do about it.
    As for "intercompatible", that depends on what you mean by that.

    @LordSoverign
    I don't even wanna guess as to how long it'll take to get anything functional published. Sorry.

    * E.g.: WeiDU's 2da editing capabilities are arse-backwards, AFAICT. Instead of editing rows and lines by ID/name WeiDU only provides functions for editing it by index. Which is a horrible way of editing text-based files, because you can never be sure that any given index corresponds with a specific value. Even worse, the fact that indexing exists suggests that the 2da table is being parsed value by value, so why limit functionality to such a primitive and ultimately unreliable feature? /soapbox
    AndreaColomboKirinaldoGriegIllustair
  • TimTim Member Posts: 38
    @klatu As far as I know is Whisp from Pocketplane Forum working on a new Weidu version. Perhaps you could work together to sort such things out.

    By the way. Your work is much appreciated and I am looking forward to it!
  • salomonkanesalomonkane Member Posts: 48
    edited December 2012
    Creating a Modding Tool
    purpose, needs and goals

    @klatu,

    Sorry if this bothers you, but,
    Could you, please, clarify some aspects of your Project :

    a) Concept and the name of the editor ?
    b) Transversal functions and specific tasks ?
    c) Limitations of the tool ?
    d) Requirements (software/harware, and human) ?
    d) For which public : players, modders ?
    e) Use : for what kinds of mods ?
    f) Compatibility with other existing tools, platform compatibility (original BG edition, EE, Infinity Engine Games) ?
    g) Ergonomics : in Command Line, WeiDu, with UI, in WYSIWYG, User-Friendly ?
    h) Multilanguage ?

    T.Y. .

    Bonus ; ) :
    Implementation, Resources , Procedure, Deadline, Modality of Evaluation, Criteria Validation .
  • LiamEslerLiamEsler Member Posts: 1,859
    @salomonkane, this project is basically in its beginning stages. Give @klatu a break. He's not going to know the answers to many of these questions yet.

    To answer your questions generally, it looks like this will be a tool in line with Near Infinity. If you think about it that way I think most of your questions will t a basic level be answered.

    @klatu, following with interest. :)
  • salomonkanesalomonkane Member Posts: 48
    Creating a Modding Tool
    purpose, needs and goals
    Near Infinity vs KlatuTool,


    @Kaeloree do not be so omnipotent ^^, so let everyone to appreciate the questions and give the replies appropriate, however thank you for the explanation and the link to NI : ).
    This allows me to raise the question about the differences provided about the current project :
    So @klatu,
    What common points and differences with NI ?, Thank You .

    Source :
    Near Infinity :
    http://forums.pocketplane.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=702729ff9b1887c9384a9bd07d2b6628&topic=28162.0
  • ErgErg Member Posts: 1,756
    edited December 2012
    @klatu

    First of all I have to say that I'm really impress. Your screenshots are amazing and I'm looking forward to this tool.

    Are you planning to release it as portable software like NearInfinity ?

    For "portable" I mean a program that does not write anything in the Windows register and doesn't put files outside of the main program folder (unless exported by the user, e.g. in "override" etc.)
  • klatuklatu Member Posts: 108
    @Erg
    I'm not sure. NetBeans makes this rather difficult. It provides the option to distribute installers for Windows, Linux, Max OS X and Solaris.
    Perhaps I will find a way to make it truly portable in the future, but atm I don't know if it's even possible.

    This is something that will only become relevent when the project is near release anyway, so I'm not gonna worry about it now.

    Sorry.
    AndreaColomboErg
  • ErgErg Member Posts: 1,756
    @klatu

    No Problem. It would be great if you could release it also as portable software (I'm just very fond of them), but I really appreciate what you are doing and I will definitely use your tool anyway.
  • klatuklatu Member Posts: 108
    Crap. I just realized that I now have to externalize (softcode) way more than I thought. Opcodes and Animation naming shemes come to mind.
    *sigh*
  • GriegGrieg Member Posts: 507
    @klatu
    Um... I'm curious if this tool will be released?
    It was pretty quite here recently.
  • LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
    I understand how easy it is to get derailed on a project, but just to encourage you, some of us out here remember and are still hoping it will come to pass.
  • barbarabarbara Member Posts: 30
    Some questions, if this thread still is active:

    1. Is this project open source?
    2. If so, is it on GitHub or Google Code?
    3. What's preventing the program from being portable? Isn't it written in Java with Swing?
    4. Will it include scripting possibilities, for automation of modding tasks?
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