Ernie Noa's RPG Blog

I saw this quiz posted on the NWN Podcast and gave it a shot. Looks like I'm a wizard. That is one of my favorite classes to play, that or a dwarf fighter. You scored as Wizard . A few unintelligible words and a fleeting gesture carry more powerful than a battleaxe, when they are the words and gestures of a wizard. These simple acts make magic easy, but they only hint at the time a wizard must spend poring over her spellbook preparing each spell for casting, and the years before spent in apprenticeship to learn the arts of magic. Wizard 90% Barbarian 70% Bard 60% Ranger 60% Paladin 50% Fighter 40% Rogue 40% Druid 30% Sorcerer 30% Cleric 20% Monk 20% Which D&D Class Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

There are great posts on the state of NWN2 over on Berliad's blog and at Alazander's blog . I recommend giving them a read. I posted the same comment on both blogs. It really is worth a read.

Loads and loads of progress.

I have made a great deal of progress this weekend. Very little has been tested or debugged but there is a lot of content, dialog, scripting, etc... in place. I'm almost done with the keep, which leaves the dungeon primarily and more companion dialog etc... That's great. On the downside, the weather is getting warmer, and I want to shelve this thing and be done with it. Hopefully a few more weekends perhaps a month at most and I will be into beta. I love creating modules, but the time requirement is a killer. After every project I say it is my last but I always return. Right now, I think this is going to be my last project. UGH... and this was supposed to be the warm up for an original mod.

I've regained the time lost over the weekend due to the corrupted area. Everything is running well. I am moving forward again.

I have spend the weekend working over the same two or three items that broke when I had to roll back due to the corrupted area. It is very frustrating. They were working just fine, but now it's nothing but trouble. UGH!

Dialog within the keep. Fighting Bandits

I had a reply to a post about my bug on the bioware forums. Others have encountered this. It has to do with the speak trigger I was using. Using it on something not in the area, like companion, appears to be a no no. So, I'm fixed up and cleaning up. Because I had to roll back, my transition out of the area is not working, and I'm not sure why. It's a bit of a mystery to me, but it shouldn't be hard to fix. I also have a long custom script written trying to get the conversation to auto-fire with the henchmen. I'm going to work around that to. I'll have the henchmen say he wants to speak, and then let the PC talk to him manually. I may mess with what I've got a bit longer. I want it to work like the speak trigger without the module corrupting bug of course.

More crashes. Different areas. Restoring seems to solve the problem, but it's more sever in one particular area, the bandit camp. I am going to an old copy of the mod, exporting the area from their and will re-import. Hopefully that will fix it for good. I hope I don't loose too much work...the mod could be toast. Here is my re-occuring error message... ... hopefully this doesn't impact other areas in the module. I found a thread on the forums here: http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=548475&forum=113&sp=0 I'm not sure what to make of it. I read someone found the item that crashed/corrupted their mod and was able to remove it. I know I am restoring the area when it's 'sound'. Perhaps it's something I am adding. I am using a speak trigger with a henchmen. He's not in the area when I open it, you bring him with you later, would this cause the script to fail? *GRUMBLE GRUMBLE FRUSTRATION FRACKIN FRICKING BARK SCREA...

Well, I lost an area this afternoon. When I opened it I got a wicked looking error that went on for about 20 lines. I do back up regularly and keep versions of my work, so it looks like nothing was lost. I have some testing to do but I am moving ahead slowly.

I've been working on dialog for minor NPCs in the keep and for my first few companions. I wanted to knock some smaller items out of the way. Hopefully each NPC is at least mildly interesting. It bugs me when I get bored role playing my way through a module and feeling like the NPCs are pointless. Hopefully each has just a little bit of life. I'm hoping to do a lot with the companions. Next, I think I'll be adding my first few battles, the ones that are necessary to advance the initial plot points. I am happy, but it is going slow. I was very pumped up over the weekend, but although I'm still having fun I'm ready for a break again. Not just a break, but I want to finish this, and put the editor on the shelf for a LONG time. I think I'll be happy with the end product, but I know there will be better stuff out there than I have time to produce. I'd work with a team, but I do this, largely for the same people write books, I enjoy the creative process but...

Here are some screen shots from Keep on the Borderlands. Evil temple. Corridor in the evil temple. Outside the caves of chaos (you can see a cave in the distance) The Keep on the Borderlands (plus some of the modules first inhabitants) Tamarack Stand Enjoy!

I got a merchant up and running properly. I have guys walking waypoints. And I've figured out how to load and save custom script sets. They are saved and imported as XML documents. XML rocks. The time required to build an area was tremendous, but I have to admit there are some very nice improvements I am starting to take advantage of now.

Has anyone seen this? Battlestar Video Kit . If were not working on a NWN2 project I might take a stab at this. Pretty cool.

Lots of small successes and bit of progress over the past two days. I have a few working conversations, some nice little scripts written and a functioning companion/henchmen. I am really enjoying this part of the process. Perhaps just because it's different, but regardless I am having fun! I'll try to grab some screen shots when I can. Cheers!

I have not spent much time trying to figure this out, just an hour or two, but unfortunately my time working with the toolset is limited. Sorry if this is a simple question. I can not get a companion to join in NWN2. I have copied Kelgar and customized him, so he appears to have the companion scripts set up by default. I have tried ga_party_add and various roster_add functions. They are called from a conversation. So far the comment block in each function has been sufficient to help me out but this isn't working. Other actions/conditions are firing just fine. Is there a simple step by step guide to this. 1) Use this function 2) Put this in variable A that sort of thing. I have not found it and I am out of time to look (for now). Hopefully someone can save me a few hours and guide me to a solution. My kids are calling, time to play and entertain them. Thanks, ENoa4

I moved into the next phase of development, building NPCs, doing a little scripting and dialog. I AM HAVING FUN AGAIN! The bad news, NWN2 crashed twice and I lost a few hours of work. I wish I had two huge monitors to work on. The toolset is cool, but I need a ton of screen real-estate to properly leverage it.

I finished my first test pass, 2.5 pages of notes in total. Mostly floating caves, bad doors, etc... I've fixed all the bugs I found and backed up the module again. Next up... the meat and potatoes... All the transitions work (I haven't retested the broken transitions, but we'll assume they are ok). I will probably start with a few more items I need to test. Merchants, henchmen (at least one), and key conversations that will drive the areas displayed on the world map. Although I am 'done' with basic layout, the plot in my head probably will dictate adding one more area and one more minimap point. I'll probably go after that pretty early on too. Enough for today.

At this point there are no monsters, NPCs, dialog, etc... just places to walk and things to look at. I'm checking the whole mod, looking for broken transitions and other defects. All in all it's pretty good. Oh there are a number of broken doors, but it's not awful, other bugs include, the occasional floating object, that isn't seating properly on the ground. I have a few double doors. Open, one and there is another closed door behind it. I found an area missing light from torches. I've checked 20 of 29 areas, and have about 20-30 items to fix, a page and half of notes. I'll finish the test pass, and then fix the bugs. I'm not sure if I'll do another pass now, or add more first. I am VERY pleased with the look of the module. I thought it was going to be drab or dull in a few places and I was pleasantly surprised. I am fairly happy with what I've got. It's a decent foundation. That's enough NWN2 for tonight. I am feeling like this m...

I have completed decorating all of the interior and exterior areas. Now, I will probably run through the mod, checking transitions, secret doors, etc... Then it's on to the fun stuff. The bad guys, the NPC, the dialog... the story! I'm not sure how fast I'll go, but I'm excited to be switching gears in the near future.

I am nearing another major milestone with my work converting Keep on the Borderlands. I have been decorating my interiors and exteriors. I have 1.5 areas (our of approximately 30) to go. Basically 7 rooms to put decorations in. Then the interesting work will being. I will work this weekend, so it's unlikely I'll make more progress for a few days. I'm enjoying the work more lately and some decent plot ideas to insert in what is a nearly plot free module are coming together. I've decided it needs it, it would be too dull if I did a strict conversion of the PnP module. Cheers!