Do i dare?

maxcell · Post by **maxcell** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 2:39 pm

ok now that I have nwn2 and can run it on the lowest settings. Do I dare even look into building? I looked through these threads and my head hurt...
I have no idea where to start

danielmn · Post by **danielmn** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:26 pm

Max, interiors is the best place to start, as they are, from what I hear, simpler than exteriors and they are the most needed by the two beta servers at this point. If you have the coin, I would suggest buying the expansion as well, as it widens the toolset ability, but if not, the servers can still use all the help they can get with interiors. Plus, interiors aren't changed too much from the NWN toolset...still placements of tiles, placements of placeables, doors, transitions ect. Simple interiors are just as needed as the more complex interior builds that are being posted, so don't let the examples in here make you shy away from building. Get in touch with Rick or Thangs and see what you can do for em! And if you do build, glad to see another builder aboard!!

DAniel

Rick7475 · Post by **Rick7475** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:54 pm

Interiors save us a lot of work. Silver Marches could use some more builders on interiors if we want beta 2 by Christmas or near about there.

All I like to see is the interior layout and all the furniture and stuff done, I can do NPC's or whatnot, but doing the layout, the decorating, etc, is time consuming. Plus, the more builders, the different styles and tastes. My fav color is blue, so, well, it will get over done if I am doing interiors all the time

Wynna · Post by **Wynna** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:33 pm

Oh, you do so dare. You do. It's eeeeeeaaassssyyyyy. Trust me.

Seriously? The new toolset layout is so much easier to work with. Come into #alfa-builders. Get AL to walk you through getting set up with the haks and ACR. (Sorry AL). After that, it's just throwing placeables at the screen to see where they stick. (And then turning them environmental and placing walkmeshes.)

Easy peasy, Max.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:43 pm

qui audet adipiscitur

AcadiusLost · Post by **AcadiusLost** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:56 pm

I'll echo the sentiments on the toolset: interiors are a good place to start. I'd go one further and suggest not worrying about getting the haks and ACR set up to start off with- neither adds much to interiors, and areas built with plain ol' NWN2 should import fine to any module.

I'd recommend starting simple, with a blacksmith shop, a small residence, or something like a potter's or bakery. Practice laying down tiles that match up with each other- once you've got a basic layout you can live with, then start dropping in placeables to liven it up. The only reason interiors take so long in the NWN2 toolset, is that the tiles set down empty- so absolutely everything has to be added manually. The good news is you can recolor and stretch placeables in all three dimensions, which can allow you to do all sorts of tricks with them if you start to get creative. The scaling and coloring show up in the properties box for each placeable.

Glad to hear the rig is managing NWN2 decently- I've heard the expansion actually boosts performance by using some better code, so that'll be something for you to look forward to down the line. I think there are also some guides on which visual settings to drop to speed things up out there.

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:14 pm

Look at a few of the tutorials. The orientation they provide is invaluable.

Curmudgeon · Post by **Curmudgeon** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:57 pm

If I can do it, I'm certain you can. There are many folks here who will help you get started.

Thangorn · Post by **Thangorn** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:47 pm

Rick wrote:Silver Marches could use some more builders

erm.. heh

I have a bunch of urban dwarfie things you can build Max

darrenhfx · Post by **darrenhfx** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:14 pm

Lots of people here who are more than willing to field any questions you may have.

Start small. (not a dwarf-crack)

(damn, now I have dwarven plumber images in my head)

maxcell · Post by **maxcell** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:10 pm

ok so reality set in and my old rig died....completely...I was rebooting after updating nwn2 and the harddrive diedski.....

sooo.....I have lost everything on my harddrive, nwn1 ...photos....etc....but the good news is I am in tremendous debt because I lucked upon a computer show and got all the guts for a whole new rig that kicks butt.....I was up until 1 am last night installing windows xp and making sure the internet worked...

It looks good but give me a few days to bug test and update.

( I am thinking that Acadius put a curse on my old rig to make sure I had to upgrade

)

AcadiusLost · Post by **AcadiusLost** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:33 pm

Sorry to hear that! I seriously hope it wasn't some leftover bad mojo from my server crash contributing, though technically neither the XP2000 processor nor the NVidia card were actually in the server when it went, so I'd guess it was a random event. Thought you said you'd installed a new SATA hard drive? Maybe you said you'd put in the SATA card, but hadn't bought the drive yet. Always sad to hear about data loss, though, hard pill to swallow. Hope the new machine works well, and my deepest condolences on the rest.

indio · Post by **indio** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:45 pm

It would be strange if all the data was lost from that hard drive. Connected it as a secondary drive in the new system?

As for building interiors, you won't see much of a practical difference to NWN1. Bite off more than you can chew and chew fast.

Grand Fromage · Post by **Grand Fromage** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:23 pm

indio wrote:It would be strange if all the data was lost from that hard drive. Connected it as a secondary drive in the new system?

Yeah, you should try this and see if you can retrieve anything. If it was a full-on head crash there might not be anything you can do, but it won't hurt. Also try the freezer trick. Stick the hard drive in a ziploc bag and toss it in the freezer overnight, then plug it in and see if it'll spin up. I realize this sounds completely ridiculous but it does work sometimes. You'll need to get the data off as fast as possible because it's not going to stay working for long, but it should be enough to recover the vital bits.