Ernie Noa's RPG Blog

This is likely to be my last pre-Christmas blog entry, so Merry Christmas to all of my family and friends out there in internetland.

My dad forwarded this. Mark Borlase has built a 5' x 10' Hoth base diorama consisting of between 55,000 to 60,000 pieces of LEGO and containing 50 real lights and a remote controlled device that can deploy troops from the AT-ATs. The diorama took 4 years to complete and cost over $3,000.

Can you guess what this is? . . . . . Its a hard disk drive in 1956.... The Volume and Size of 5MB memory storage in 1956. In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first computer with a hard disk drive (HDD). The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5MB of data. Makes you appreciate your 4 GB USB thumb drive, doesn't it?

I've stopped with Age of Empires III for a little bit, but holy cow did I log a lot of hours playing that game. I'm replaying Half Life 2 right now. Most of my time is going towards movie editing. Each year I make a family DVD that's about 30 minutes in length as a gift to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc... I've a version complete and will watch it with my wife and kids for feedback. I had loads of problems rendering the final DVD which gave me flash backs to NWN2 mod crashes and corruption, but I did eventually get it to render. I may make a couple of movies for my kids, to give to them at Christmas. I used a small green screen and I plan to have their toys eating our house or driving up in our driveway. I think they will get a kick out of it. I've got to make the family holiday card, and it's kid party central this weekend. We had my office party last night (very fun) and my kids have a few parties to attend today. Busy but it should be good. Hope al

This list of classic games was sent by my brother. Supposedly they are all remade and down loadable, but I haven't checked them out yet. Looks like there are some oldies but goodies on the list. Here is the list . RETRO GAMES REMAKES All remade games at classic retro games in one categorized longlist: Action Bomber Bombermaaan Booga-Boo (2) Burgertime (Burgerland) Cannon Fodder Choplifter Chronos: A Tapestry of Time Cookie Cookie (2) Cookie (3) Cosmos Cybernoid 2: The Revenge Donkey Kong Jr. Dynablaster Elite The new kind Freeway Frogger GhostBusters Ghostbusters II Green Beret (Rush'n Attack) Green Beret Fenix H.E.R.O Hunchback Kennedy Approach Lunar Lander Lunar Lander Lunar Lander Lunar Rescue Magical Tree Oil's Well Oil's Well (Tubopac) Omega Race Pooyan Prison Riot Pssst Q-bert Ro

I uninstalled Neverwinter Nights 1 last Wednesday night. Does that qualify as a red letter day of some sort. Definitely weird, it's been on my CPU for a while. NWN2 is of course still installed.

A friend of mine pointed out this game and the following youtube clip. It's a game called 'Big Rigs'. Apparently it's one of the lowest rated games every and some have given it the dubious title of 'worst game ever'. I've never played it but it looks pretty bad. If you can get it to run, which is supposedly quite difficult, it's barely playable. Note the following in the video: * Missing walkmesh on the bridge * Going 160 MPH in a circle (rotating) * Stopping rotation on a dime. * Driving through buildings. * Driving stright up a sheer cliff. * Driving off the edge of the world. I'm told you can't die and the only challenge is trying to find the finish line.

Oh... this is where I will be next May.

It's here! It's finally here! The Bouncy Rock Halloween module is available. Many community members participated and built their own areas with in the mod, myself included. Download it here and enjoy! I certainly plan to. -- EDIT 11/1/2008 -- I've started playing this mod, the quality is quite good from what I have seen. The intro was terrific, the town looks great. I stopped by my house of course which loaded up and looked as expected. I stopped by Amrapheal's, very entertaining. I stopped by Johnny Ree and Liso's house. Uh... very well done... very unexpected... very funny and very twisted. It hurt my brain.

I did a tiny bit of modding. I was asked to tone down the monsters I included in my house for the Halloween Mod. I popped open the editors and scaled them back a bit. It did not take long. Otherwise, lots and lots of Age of Empires III. I've been skirmishing with different civilizations, building up my home cities to level 40. The expansion packs are quite good. Otherwise, lots of busy but fun family stuff. I am looking forward to the Bouncy Rock Halloween Mod. Should be pretty fun.

Anyone seen this commercial. It's too funny. This is going on both of my blogs.

Well I never thought it would happen, but I think I am really and truly retired from modding. When I stopped in the past it was always at the end of a project, never in mid-project. This is also the longest I have been away from modding or level writing. I've even put down my 4th edition D &amp D rule books, although I plan to finish reading them. I'm even on a very long break from playing NWN or NWN2. I'm amazed I ever had the time to dedicate to the projects I completed. Now that I'm not doing it I have no idea how I ever was able to come up with the time. So... what am I doing. I am looking forward to the release of Bouncy Rock Halloween mod. I am spending more time with my kids. I am playing lots of Age of Empires III. I'm happy, but shocked that I actually, truly, honestly think I've stopped.

Not much gaming news, but I'm alive and busy. Read my personal blog if you are curious.

One of my favorite actors, Paul Newman, has passed away. Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83 Saturday September 27 9:16 AM ET Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83. Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends. In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues. ADVERTISEMENT He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more th

Any Lost-ies out there. I am a fan, I watched the show from season 1 - 4 starting in mid summer. Great stuff. There are spoilers if you haven't watched them all, but here are some alternate endings to season 4.

Well there isn't much gaming news. I've been playing Jedi Knight Jedi Academy for the 14th time for my two youngest boys. They LOVE it and can't get enough. I'm a bit tired of the game but I'm never tired of my kids. Otherwise I'm still playing Age of Empires III. Not much Neverwinter in the past few weeks, but I'm keeping up with Neverwinter Podcast and doing a blog roll once and a while. All is well I suppose. Quite busy but well.

I actually had the wrong clip posted... sorry about that...

I submitted my areas for the Halloween module yesterday. Hopefully everyone enjoys them. They are simple but hopefully entertaining.

I've been playing Dark Avenger Part 2 (finally). It's the first mod I've played since I stopped modding. So far it lives up the first part and the area design is better than the original, it's very moody and really contributes effectively to the story, some of the tactical situations are interesting too, the open battle comes to mind right away. It's a great deal of fun and I've got to give two thumbs up to Wyrin for a job very well done. I'll write more when I've finished it. I've talked to Skunkeen about Hythum, and he's going to take a look at my wiki, notes, and finished areas. I've offered them to him if he'd like to try to make use of them. The odds of me returning to modding are decreasing each day, although my closest friends all smile when I tell them I'm done and refuse to believe me.

I did create both levels for my 'house' in the BouncyRock Halloween level. They need a bit of testing and are not terribly complicated but they are done and hopefully will be entertaining. I am guessing 1-4 hours of testing and debugging. What this small project did teach me for good or for ill, is I think my modding vacation will become a true modding retirement. After 6 NWN1 modules (two unreleased) and 3 NWN2 projects (one unfinished), I think I've had my fill of modding. Also pulling me away are some great adventures, I've started to dig in on Pool of Radiance and Dark Avenger 2. It's fun to just PLAY again.

Comcast to make monthly Internet use cap official Thursday August 28, 6:21 pm ET Comcast to set official limit on Internet use to deter bandwidth hogs It's official comacast is imposing a data transfer limit. I'm a comcast user, I doubt I'll go over but it still kinda crappy. NEW YORK (AP) -- Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month. ADVERTISEMENT On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site. Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use. "We've listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amo

So... I opened up the toolset to write the small lower level of my house for the Halloween mod. I'm considering just doing the one room upstairs and a little dialog with my avatar and stopping there. I have some fun ideas for the lower level, but I don't seem to be inspired to mod. Weird huh? I've never been uninspired to mod. The ideas I have would be neat, but I think I may be truly and completely burned out on the toolset. Hythum is massive and looked massive. My Halloween mod is tiny and it seems like a big time sink. I could easily tie off the room I have, which was my original concept and I think I'd be in good shape. At any rate, I'm going to set this aside and if I get the bug over the three day weekend I may work on it, and if not I may wrap it up and be finished! Hopefully it's still a little entertaining.

I've done a good amount of work on my Halloween mod. I've stolen a couple of areas from my unfinished Hythum module, created an avatar for myself and written a bunch of dialog, that will hopefully be humorous and entertaining. I've got the main 'room' done, but plan a small lower level with a wee bit of combat and treasure. Nothing complicated here. Simple and easy. I have noticed it's VERY TEMPTING to take it up again, but I've also noticed it does pull be away from other things. I'm trying to remain very disciplines and put it down whenever my kids want to do ANYTHING else, but it's hard when I am thinking about dialog, even slightly silly dialog to stop. I don't know. This Halloween mod could be my last hurrah. Time will tell.

So... I've been modding for and hour and half and it feels like I've never left it. My six year old son had to ask me for food five times before I turned it off and made him something to eat. THAT is the problem with modding. I can't stop. It's like a drug. I love it but can never seem to get enough. Hopefully this small project will give me something that is not going to consume too much time. I promised one room and already have plans for one room plus a possible level full of rooms. It's VERY VERY Hard for me to stop modding. I am DONE for today , but that's probably a lie. At any rate, I need a little help. I'm thinking about doing something a little humorous in my mod. I need other modders to describe common toolset problems, issues and errors. Particularly things that would be easy for most to understand and recognize. Problems with an area baking, problems with 2da files, crashes, area corruption. If you were a driven half insane by the

Ok... I know I'm on permanent vacation but I'm taking a break from my break to contribute to the NWN2 Bouncy Rock Halloween Modding Project. Liso has gentle prodded me and I've agreeded. Liso used 'persuade' skill Enoa4 fails 'will' check. So what's this all about. Take a look at this bouncy rock post for the straight scoop but in a nutshell. What: This is an idea to bring the community of builders together for a collaborative module project in the Halloween spirit. The system is simple - One exterior area that will link together many individual interior projects. Each builder that joins the project will only need to do the following things: * Build an interior (Your House) * Create yourself (NPC) w/ a simple conversation ("Hi, I'm , happy Halloween!" * Then create a trick or treat for the Player. Example of Tricks & Treats: * Haunted House of Horrors (walkthrough) * Share a Spooky Story * Give out a cool custom item that does neat t

Dragon Age: Origins - Toolset Confirmed I subscribed to the Dragon Age World Builders newsletter. I received the following newsletter tonight. Introducing the Dragon Age Toolset The Dragon Age Toolset provides builders with powerful, developer-grade tools. Key features include: Dragon Age Toolset Ruins in Korkari Wilds area. Toolset in background. Insert: In-Game Create Original Adventures: Using Dragon Age's rich set of assets and locations as starting blocks, you can modify these stunning areas by adding new quests, characters and scripting to create your own adventures, conversations and cut-scenes. Powerful Script Editor: You can fully customize combat and creature AI to create detailed action sequences full of heart-pounding party-based tactical combat. On-Going Toolset Content Updates: We have plans to release additional assets and features for the toolset in the future, allowing for expanded creation of new areas. Toolset Demonstration Highlights At PAX, Dragon Age: Orig

I received a copy of the 4th Edition Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide for my birthday. I have been slowly skimming and reading them to relax. I miss paper and pencil games. I miss running a D & D campaign. I wonder if I'll ever get to do it again. I think I'd get the same 'bang' I get out of modding with much lower time commitment. Funny PnP games take longer to play but can be written relatively quickly and mods take forever to write and not too long to play. Hmmm..... My dream is to rope my three young sons into a PnP game when they are old enough. The youngest, doesn't quite read yet, but I've already got him, I can tell. The oldest will give it a go and I bet he will enjoy it, but he's busy. The middle one, I'm not sure... I'm just not sure. Maybe I can find a local game to participate in. I've also dabbled with the idea of a online game or participating in a DM led NWN2 game. It could be lots of fun. I still think a

I've corresponded with David J Zewalk for several years, ever since I had a site hosted by Lord Alexander over at the now offline RPGS web server. David has been steadily working on a PnP module, 'Ka Mon Ra' ever since I have known him. Recently he finished the module and it is now sold in local gaming shops in the Cleveland area. The Temple of Ka Mon Ra is a 120-page perfect bound book full color book. Independent authors and artist created all artwork and writing, which is reminiscent from the old Dungeon and Dragon Modules. The adventure module features a completely unique storyline that will keep all the players engaged throughout the entire campaign. The Temple of Ka Mon Ra uses the 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons rules system. The 3.5 rules system allows players to completely customize their characters to their choice, which makes this Adventure Module a completely new experience every time it is played with a different group. You just learn about the strange deaths occur

I am tempted to crack open the toolset today. It's the strongest temptation I've felt since I decided to take a break about a month ago. I miss the story telling, and creative outlet. I've even received a kind offer from a fellow modder I greatly respect to help with some scripting. I really want to open it up and get back to work. On the other hand. It tends to DOMINATE my time. I am more likely to stop working on the computer right now and go outside, exercise, get involved in other more practical projects, and spend time with my kids. My wife and kids always come first, but I am also acutely aware of the pull that modding holds over me. I frequently get to the point where I am excited about and trying to carve out blocks of time to work on my modding project, to the detriment of other activities and interests. I feel mentally free since I've been on my break. My kids start school in a few weeks and I'm using that as an excuse to hold off on starting up a

I'm halfway through this weeks Neverwinter Podcast . I'm a big fan of Wyrin D'njargo's work and I've commented many times his Dark Avenger series. It's one of the few mods that really got me out of my typical 'hero' mindset and had me playing a man seeking revenge. Really great stuff. Wyrin, congratulations on the AME award, and congratulation on the podcast interview. This is one of those interviews I was extra excited to listen to. Great job to Wyrin and the podcast team. Listen to the podcast here .

I've mentioned my eldest son is a talented artist, and he won top honors in several categories at the county fair this year. Take a peak here at my personal blog to see photos of his work.

I got it! I got it! My official Neverwinter Nights Podcast T-Shirt. I won it as a part of the contest they ran earlier this summer. Look! It's me. Wearing my official t-shirt! Thanks to the podcast team for my T-Shirt and the wonderful entertainment you have provided via the podcast. Keep the great stuff coming and I'll keep listening.

I received Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs and The Asian Dynasties for my birthday, and I've started playing through War Chiefs. I had been on an AOE III role and was getting a bit burned out on it but I must say the War Chiefs has added some new twists that I am really enjoying. It's really got me going on this game again. That and an epic two player co-op game yesterday afternoon with Darmok really have me itching to play more. I downloaded this weeks NWN podcast but it may get transferred to my IPOD for a listed. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I am looking forward to it.

Darmok, my good friend of *mumbledy mumble* years. (it's been so long we don't speak of it) has commented that he had not checked my blog in nearly two weeks. Well... my good friend and office mate said now that I am not working on my mod I haven't been posting. I was surprised to see a 10 day gap and although I am not quite ready to dive back into mod writing today this 'challenge' from Darmok along with a reply to my previous post from Tauschitz did get me thinking about it again. Maybe... possibly... I don't know, I've got a big work project perhaps when that's done. The thing is my good friend Darmok should be restraining me. He should tell me to 'put the toolset down and slowly back away', but NOOOO... he taunts me. He taunts me! He goads me back towards the toolset. 'Just try one more dose, it won't hurt you'. Darn it! I need to make a will save or call my modders anonymous sponsor. (if anyone is at all unclear, this k

The DMFI version of B2 Keep on the Borderlands has been released. Carlo did a great deal of work making this a reality. I helped with a few screen shots and a bit of information but he really did the bulk of the work. There is a thread on the NWNPodcast forums about a group setting up a multiplayer run through of keep on the borderlands. I hope it goes well.

Hey, I've been working with Carlo on the DMFI edition of B2: Keep on the Borderlands. Actually it would be much more accurate to say Carlo has been working on the DMFI edition of Keep on the Borderlands, and I've helped answer questions and gather screen shots of the maps for the DM to use. The DMFI wands are integrated with the mod and Carlo has done a bang up job of the player and DM documentation. The mod should be up on the vault, under the same entry as the original mod in the near future. Carlo is waiting for the 1.13 patch to be released to make sure there are no issues. Here are some specs on the modl Module PC Level Range 1-3 Suggested Number of PCs 4-6 (fewer if multiple NPC companions are used) Play Time: 10-12 hours Setting: May be placed in any desired campaign setting Keep your eyes here and on the vault for the release of this mod. I rarely get to play multiplayer and am an old DM, but strongly feel this NWN should be played multiplayer or best yet with a DM.

You have to check out this video on Amraphael's blog . Really funny stuff.

Hey Folks, I am officially taking a modding Hiatus. How long? I don't know. I am going to help with a DMFI related adaptation of Keep on the Borderlands, but then I'm turning off the editor for a while. My friend Bruce (aka Darmok) said, maybe modding is more of a winter sport. Perhaps? I don't know. I just know I need to get away from it for a while. I've always joked it's like an addiction and it really is. I feel like I'm in a good place right now. Tomochan just made the hall of fame and received an AME award. I have more hours than I can count poured into Hythum. The area design is done. The plot outline is done and I have dialog done for maybe 5-10% of the mod. It's hard to put it down with so much poured into it. Now for the guilt. Amraphael made an amazing airship model for me to use in this mod. I feel a great deal of gratitude and quite a bit of guilt for stepping away from something that he put so much effort into. I written to a frie

Tomoachan made the NWVault Hall of Fame this month . Many thanks to all who downloaded and rated the module so kindly.

I'm inching my way through dialog. I was ok with my first effort and am not satisfied with my current work. It feels rather flat and I'm afraid it's not terribly interesting. I'm unusually busy professionally and it's hard to find the motivation to mod at the moment but I will continue to inch forward. :-)

WOO HOO!!!! Tomoachan wins for PnP converstion. Visit AME here. Or listen to NWPodcast Community Contribution Award Community Contribution Award: Grinning Fool From beta testing until today, Grinning Fool has continued to support the community and NWN2 tirelessly. He has worked as a Community Rep on the toolset, answering questions and gathering up bugs on behalf of the community and making sure they reach the ears and eyes of Obsidian Entertainment. He’s also enhanced and added to the toolset’s features through a number of very useful plugins. Veteran Award Veteran Author Award: Adam Miller Adam Miller wins the Veteran Author Golden Dragon Award for his consistenly top quality modules, produced across both NWN and NWN2. With the Dark Waters campaign, he continues to innovate and stretch the engine to the very limits. Debut Author Award Debut Author Award: Zach Holbrook Zach Holbrook (aka Maerduin) produced one of the defining modules of 2007 with Harp & Chrysanthemum. His attenti

It's been 11 days since my last post. I've been away on vacation and then got the stomach flu (or something like it) shortly thereafter. In the 11 days since my last post I customized the appearance of one NPC. Let's hear it for progress!!! At this rate I should be complete on July 7th, 2059. The summer is busy with both fun and work so I'm not sure how much work I'll really get done. I've thought about taking a break to play some games too. We'll see.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir hearkens back to the days of the Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale franchises by including full party customization, dungeon crawling, and free exploration of a non-linear game world via an Overland Map. The gripping storyline foreshadows the events that will take place in the Forgotten Realms with the coming of release this June of the Fourth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game. In the aftermath of the defeat of the King of Shadows, the Sword Coast is in the midst of an uneasy economic recovery. Trade syndicates have sprung up to exploit the post-war confusion for their own ends. The players’ party will wade into this uncertain environment; in order to increase their own fortunes, they can either ally with a syndicate to create a trade empire, or cut their own path through Faerûn by preying upon caravans and selling the goods on the black market. As they attempt to extend their influence, players will become aware of a new faction work

I spend most of the day preparing load screens then a few hours trying to figure out why the related HAK file was causing the game to lock while loading. Eventually I realized the HAK file and load screens are fine, it's the fact that I am loading the module as a campaign. I'm not sure what I've got fouled up but I am curious. I'll have to read up on campaigns when I have time. I'm going to noodle with the load screens and confirm they are working then stop for the night. Everything loads fine in the editor. Very odd. * UPDATE #1 * Looks like the load screens are not working either. They don't cause the module to fail, but they don't work either. Very odd. I'll post some of the 2da file here and would be happy to e-mail it to someone for a peak if they'd like. * Update #2 * Found this on Wendersanven.com * http://www.wendersnaven.com/resource/44 There's only one way I managed to solve the unpacking module hang when starting a new campaig

I am building NPCs and witting dialog for Hythum. My time has been limited so I have not made too much progress but I am moving forward. I've decided to re-write dialog as I go rather than import it. I can improve upon what I have written and the scripting options are much more robust in NWN2. So far I'm enjoying it but don't expect as many screen shots for a while. I have some fun personal obligations over the next few weeks so there will probably be a work slow down ahead. Tomoachan is nearing 5000 downloads and has an overall rating of 8.72. It should make the hall of fame when I cross the 5000 mark which is pretty cool. Downloads are coming in at a trickle so it will be interesting to see if I make it in June or July. Keep on the Borderlands has 13000+ downloads but I think Tomoachan is a better mod. Rather curious, but it was out first, it supports multiplayer and was out very early driving more people to it. I've been playing quite a big of Lego Star War

I'm at a bit of a crossroads from a modding standpoint. I had planned to do the area design first. My modding partner Darmok has an area to finish. He was going to do another 6-12 areas of various sizes beyond the one he is working on now. After talking to Darmok it sounds like I will probably take on some of the remaining areas. I've gathered screen shots of everything that's done to use as the basis for load screens. I've exported all the dialog from Hythum for NWN1 and taken a peak. (yuck... what a mess) I've even documented all of the resources I have used thus far for the readme file. What's next? What should I do next? I'm tempted to work on major NPCs and dialog. If so I'm tempted to re-write a lot if not all of the dialog. I could start testing and debugging the transitions and major plot points without many bad guys in place. Or... I could plow ahead with more area design. I'm just not sure what I want to do next. I do feel like I ha

I was grabbing load screen images for Hythum. There are MANY areas in this module. I'll post a semi-final count in a week or two. At any rate I was rather taken with the screen shot I will use for the in transit load screen displayed many times when traveling by airship. Most of the credit goes to Amraphael for the airship model. Here it is.

I'm working on an interior area. The initial draft is done. I tried a few experiments and I'm not completely happy with the result. The screen shots don't quite do it justice, but they give you the idea. I've got an underground lake, and tried to give an underwater effect walk into the lake and lower the camera. I used a blue light that's only visible under the water to give a blue tint and used the steam geyser to produce air bubbles and a distortion. This effect is not required or essential but I thought it would be kind of neat if I could pull it off. The first two pictures are the lake surface in a dark cavern. The next two are shots from underneath the surface of the water. It's not great, I've seen good underwater areas build but usually the whole area is underwater, not just a few tiles within the area. I'm not completely satisfied with how this turned out either but I thought I'd post it anyway. More of that red lighting I've been

I've finished the second to last area I had originally planned to build. I thought this was the last areas, I recalled one more cave area I need to build. There are a few sizeable areas that have not been constructed. Darmok was planning to work on some or all of those. He's got at least one in progress, but I may work on some of the other areas he was going to tackle. If I leave the area design alone for a while I can build some of my primary NPCs and begin porting over dialog from the original Hythum. Any way you slice it this is a milestone of some sort.

Ever want to hang it up? I'm modding now and am likely to continue for an hour or so but in the same breath part of me wants to hang it up. Just a little burn out. It will pass. This is a good activity for me while my foot is healing. :-)

More screen shots from Hythum. It's a good portion of the interior of the evil fortress I posted the exterior of recently. Enjoy! Barracks Temple/Shrine Temple/Shrine Temple/Shrine Temple/Shrine Temple/Shrine Entryway/Hallway Hallway Forge/Armory Forge/Armory Forge/Armory Forge/Armory Forge/Armory Forge/Armory Forge/Armory

When I place the large fire visual effect in the Toolset or when I open an area in which I've used this effect I hear a large fire audio effect at deafening, speaker blowing volume. Anyone else run into this? Any way around it? It's more of a nuisance than a problem but I'd love to avoid it.

Some screenshots from todays work on Hythum. I've been putting this area together all week and it's nearly done. If I have been producing like this during my entire recovery I'd be sitting pretty. Oh well. I don't like some of the weeds in the middle of the road and need to clean them up but overall I am quite happy with what I have.