New Modding Practices
SFisch
Member Posts: 59
Hey everyone! I haven't modded since before the enhanced editions. As I'm getting back into it, I am wondering about which processes have been updated with different/improved workflows. A few specific topics I'm interested in:
Area creation: does Yovaneth's DLTCEP area making tutorial still hold up? Its last update was in 2013, but I know there is now an alternate to .TIS files that I don't fully understand how to use. Also, can someone please tell me that there is an alternative to doing in wallgroups in DLTCEP?
Yovaneth's tutorial:
http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/dltcep/index.htm
Game Music: back before the EEs came out, music had a hardcoded number of slots. Has this been relaxed? Is there anything more one needs to know about getting music into the game?
BAM files: I believe these had a maximum size/dimension limit. Is there a limit on the number of animated frames? I know for the dead trees in the Umar hills quests, they used bams to get around complex wallgroups (see above).
Anything in general that an old modder would need to know about modding in the Enhanced Edition era? Any new tools/tricks/workarounds that you know or could point me to? Thanks!
Area creation: does Yovaneth's DLTCEP area making tutorial still hold up? Its last update was in 2013, but I know there is now an alternate to .TIS files that I don't fully understand how to use. Also, can someone please tell me that there is an alternative to doing in wallgroups in DLTCEP?
Yovaneth's tutorial:
http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/dltcep/index.htm
Game Music: back before the EEs came out, music had a hardcoded number of slots. Has this been relaxed? Is there anything more one needs to know about getting music into the game?
BAM files: I believe these had a maximum size/dimension limit. Is there a limit on the number of animated frames? I know for the dead trees in the Umar hills quests, they used bams to get around complex wallgroups (see above).
Anything in general that an old modder would need to know about modding in the Enhanced Edition era? Any new tools/tricks/workarounds that you know or could point me to? Thanks!
0
Comments
1. Areas and all are created just the same than before. Without knowing the details of the tutorial, it should still be valid. Once you have all your files, you need to convert the Tis files to the new format. There is no more need to compress them to Tiz and uncompress them in the install later. Just copy the Tis and related PVRZ files into override with your mod install.
To create those files, you can use Near Infinity or a Tis converter from Argent77. NI is easier, you just select a Tis file and export it as Tis+PVRZ. You need all the files that are created by the export.
2. There is no more limitation for music slots. Also, you can use wav format directly.
3. Look for tutorials about how to convert old mods to EE, there are a few and they tell you about bams and also new NPC portrait standards.
4. There are new requirements to add journal entries to the game. Look for a tutorial or simply look into an existing tp2 from an EE mod.
5. EE does not like certain non-ANSI characters, there is a conversion mechanism for it, you find that in most mods that have been converted to EE
6. EE has a number of new opcodes that make life easier, e.g. one restrict personal items to a single character and thus avoid a lot of script coding. Just google for the new opcodes.
Those are just a few things that came to my mind immediately.
Does the NI converter (or the PVRZ format) eliminate the problem with grid lines on the tileset that DLTCEP seems to have?