Base Mod Content Thread: Areas

Development of standard ALFA palettes (ABR)

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Overfilled Cup
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Post by Overfilled Cup »

We have decided exterior areas should be 16x16 correct ? Can we set that as a standard.
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ç i p h é r
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Post by ç i p h é r »

16x16 is the recommended max area size, yes, as advised by Bioware. This may change with NWN2 though, but for now, it's what we should roll with.
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Overfilled Cup
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Post by Overfilled Cup »

Exterior toolset will be versatile, will we need "templates" ?

Interiors will be barewalled. Should we make ALFA templates of these?

I notice in the current templates there are several "flags" in them. Though I could never find any documentation of what they actuallty do..How to set them up for what scenarios etc....That will need improvement IMO.
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indio
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Post by indio »

Templates are essential and should be used compulsorily.

Areas require:

- Script Placeholders in Area Properties
- Area Transition Triggers
- Appropriate Ambient Noises
- Appropriate Lighting


Area Templates should also exist for:
- Inns (with a working Inn System)
- Temples (with coded priest)
- Moneychanger
- Bank
- Afterlife System
- Start Area with required elements (merchant, campaign info)
- Quarantine
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darrenhfx
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Post by darrenhfx »

Hope that this question fits the thread...

Should there be anything in the base mod that covers standardization of the world map? I know we have only limited information on this system, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway.
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ç i p h é r
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Post by ç i p h é r »

The only things that would apply (which I can think of) are travel and random encounters. I think we already intend to incorporate these things, but as you said, we'll need to know more about the world map first.
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Overfilled Cup
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Post by Overfilled Cup »

* If we have useable tents that have ATs, then ~20 tent areas that people can AT into (allocated when tent set up, deallocated when tent pulled down).
With what we know now about max areas for mods I dont think this is a good idea.
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ç i p h é r
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Post by ç i p h é r »

Yeah, one tent area template will have to suffice. :)
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Fionn
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Post by Fionn »

From what I've seen of the toolset, I think it's possible we may see the ability to dynamically copy/destroy an area as you would any other resource. If so, that will work perfectly. If not, We should likely have 5-10 tent/cabin/room areas we can use for travel, housing, etc. These will be tiny, and have few placeables. If they optimize the walkmesh for interiors (e.g. no Z axis), we should be able to afford a lot of these.
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ç i p h é r
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Post by ç i p h é r »

Keep in mind too that interiors will have no placeables so the arrangement is entirely up to a builder. As such, do we need more than one version of a tent? As long as we have the necessary components in place (AT's and other script hooks), I think the canvas is all we need to provide to the artist. :)
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Fionn
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Post by Fionn »

NESS placeables should provide variety. We can also script a waypoint/trigger into our travel system such that the mod caches where you are on the world map and puts you back there when you leave. If your 'cabin' has moved in the interim, this will not be where you entered it.
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Thangorn
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Post by Thangorn »

on base mod template area size:

we actually need to make 24x24 areas to get a 16x16 walkable zone due to the non-walkable border zones. I dont think I can cope with much smaller exteriors than that as a builder.
most builders will already know this but the area size as listed in the Nwn2 area creation wizard thingo, is calculated by counting the small squares of surface mesh to be accurate.

can we make it so we have template areas in clearly labelled seperate erfs so when we want an area of a specific type, we import one of that type and then alter it accordingly?
This will mean we dont have 20+ template areas cluttering up our mods when we only actually use half to a third of them. This should help cut down on mod size giving builders a little more freedom with limited space.
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Post by HEEGZ »

I am definitely going with 24x24 for wilderness exteriors. 32x32 is extremely hard to build and i've heard that low end systems struggle with them. I've not been able to see this for myself though. Anything smaller than 24x24 for a wilderness area is just too small IMO. Also, we can use rectangular shapes for roads, etc. For urban areas I am going to make the maps as small as I can to fit in the details for that particular settlement or area of a larger city.
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