Toolset beginnings...

[SirCobalt]

Ok, so after starting to play and looking at all the custom content and everything everyone's made, etc... it made me really want to make my own stuff, or at least learn how to.

I looked over the toolset, read parts of different tutorials (not a whole lot), and got a basic understanding of the toolset. The main problem I have with it is understanding the whole .hak's and .2da's and things like that... i don't know why, but they just confuse the hell outa me.

Now I was wondering what those who are really experienced with the toolset would recommend for a newbie; as for where to begin (tutorials and whatnot) and perhaps a brief explanation as to where .hak/.2da/.erf/etc, go, what they do and stuff. I downloaded a couple packs from the vault to look at tilesets and so far I haven't been able to get it to work for me so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Until then though, I'm going to bed it's early in the morning (1:44) and i'm tired.
Thanks in advance

-Cobalt

[Rotku]

Deleted the second identical topic you posted. Hope it was a mistake and not something you wanted to keep for sentimental reasons

Anyway, if you're looking just toolset some basic armor and stuff for you, go check this thread:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/forums/view ... 90&t=41833

If you're looking to dive a bit deeper into the toolset, I've heard Don't Panic: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the NWN2 Toolset is really good.

Of course, there's always our Builders IRC channal where people are always happy to answer any questions - #alfa-builders I think it is.

[Aelred]

As you know AcadiusLost just updated the haks for us so they include all the SoZ content and a few new goodies as well. In the next few days he will compile the extra things for builders and I promise I will post a complete guide for setting up your toolset with all of our custom content.

There is more than enough in the toolset to keep you busy for a couple days even without the custom content. I second Rotku's suggestion to start out by using the Hitchhikers guide. It is a perfect guide for beginner's.

If you can't find anyone on for quick help in the #alfa-builders chatroom go ahead and post any questions you come up with here in the toolsetting forum and we'll help you out.

[ElCadaver]

For exteriors, I use YATT and World Machine 2.0, both easy to learn and use, works for me. Just google the names.

[SirCobalt]

Deleted the second identical topic you posted. Hope it was a mistake and not something you wanted to keep for sentimental reasons

Ah, sorry about that, my inernet isn't the greatest at times and it freezes or 404's for no reason, so i had to hit 'submit' twice to make sure it went through. I'll be sure to see if it submits if that happens again

...and I promise I will post a complete guide for setting up your toolset with all of our custom content.

That would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much.

There is more than enough in the toolset to keep you busy for a couple days even without the custom content. I second Rotku's suggestion to start out by using the Hitchhikers guide. It is a perfect guide for beginner's.

Yeah, just looking through the toolset it looked quite complex, but not to hard to understand (I used to make custom content for Far Cry and Morrowind, years ago). And I just downloaded the Hitchikers guide so i'll read through that and see what I can learn.

For exteriors, I use YATT and World Machine 2.0, both easy to learn and use, works for me. Just google the names.

Are those for generating heightmaps and importing them into NWN2? I think I saw YATT on the Vault, thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks for all the responses and help.

[zicada]

Are those for generating heightmaps and importing them into NWN2? I think I saw YATT on the Vault, thanks for the suggestions.

Pretty much. They autogenerate random terrain that you can use as a base.

Some people swear by them while others (including myself) think its better to do it manually.

Here's a thing i uploaded to youtube that i found on the vault that shows off some pretty good techniques for exterior terrain building:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-NskwAt ... playnext=1

[Wynna]

All builders welcome in #alfa-builders . Even if you're not actually building at the moment (or we're snoozing in there at that moment) a lot can be soaked up just by idling in the room. If you do have a question, there's no better insta-gratification-answer place.

[Rotku]

Deleted the second identical topic you posted. Hope it was a mistake and not something you wanted to keep for sentimental reasons

Ah, sorry about that, my inernet isn't the greatest at times and it freezes or 404's for no reason, so i had to hit 'submit' twice to make sure it went through. I'll be sure to see if it submits if that happens again

Dont' be worry. I always like hitting the delete button - has to be the best part of the Admin job!