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Help! My mod is corrupted!

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Week of June 15th, 2009

Topics:

  • Getting Help
    • The "Assistance" windows
    • The Lexicon
    • The Forums
  • Variables
    • Type-casting and the types
    • Conventions
    • Constants
  • Who Dun' It?
    • Who Spoke?
    • Who Used the Placeable?
    • Who Activated the Item?
    • Who Crossed the Trigger? Who Entered the Area?
    • Was it a Player? a DM?
  • Creating Objects
    • Preparing the Object
      • The Resref
      • The Object Type
    • At a Waypoint
      • Find the Waypoint
      • Find the Location
    • Where the player is
      • Find the Location
    • Create the Object
      • Deciding on a Tag
      • Spawning in the Object
      • Doing Things to the Object after Creation
  • Tracking Variables
    • Local Variables
    • Persistent Variables
  • Some Useful Scripts
    • Making Changes to the Avatar When It Enters the Game
    • Fiddling with the Avatar's Inventory
    • Destroying the Inventory Items
    • Destroying "Non-Destroyable" Items
    • Taking Gold From the Player
    • Giving Gold To the Player
    • Giving General Inventory Items to the Player
    • Giving Equipable Items and Forcing an Equip Action
    • Random Walk

Homework: Dungeon and Quest

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Week of June 7th, 2009

Topics:

  • Items
    • Properties
    • Building your own items
    • How to make an item have a conversation.
  • Creatures
    • Properties
    • Building your own
  • Triggers
    • Choosing the right one
    • Drawing a trigger
    • Trigger Properties
    • Trigger Events and Scripting Preview
    • Examples of Trigger Use
  • Waypoints
    • Waypoint Properties
    • Waypoint Directions
    • Uses for Waypoints
    • Scripting Preview
    • How to Set Up a Patrol Route
  • Conversations
    • How they're used
    • The basic tree.
    • Branching
    • Links (or "Loop backs")
    • Tokens: Built-in and Custom
    • Colorizing the Text
    • Including Other Speakers
    • "Actions Taken" and other events
    • Conditional Nodes
  • The Journal
    • Categories
    • Entries
    • Updating the Journal through Conversations
    • Updating the Journal through Scripting
  • How to Test Your Mod
    • The Build Module Option.
    • The Real Way
    • The Test Module Option

Homework:


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Week of June 1st, 2009

Topics:

  • Areas
    • Area Properties
    • Module Properties
  • Tiles
    • Tile Properties
  • Names
    • Blueprint / Resref
    • Tag
    • Display Name
  • Doors
    • Door Properties
    • Transitions between doors
    • How to make a door close itself
    • How to have a transition without a door
  • Placeables
    • Placeable properties
    • Spawning placeables.
    • How to stack placeables
    • How to have a placeable hold a conversation

Homework:

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May 27, 2009

Topics

Homework

 

  

GAME CONCEPT AND DESIGN
COSC 320.101_SU09
SUMMER 2009

Introduction to Neverwinter Nights

Resources

Since it was released a number of resources have followed to lend a hand to the aspiring Neverwinter Nights world builder. Some of them are:

WorldBuilderGuide The Official World Builder Guide. I wouldn't bother with this one. It gives a very basic outline to the things that are possible with the toolset, but doesn't really give much information that is actually helpful. Get it if you'd like but don't cry if you can't find it.

BuildersProject The Builder's Project's Guide to Building. This is recommended. It's a good collection of data on how the toolset and engine work and they work together. All the major topics are covered. This is not a book as such, however. It's a .pdf file that you can download here (LINK). You can put the .pdf on a Flash drive, take it to Office Depot and they'll print it out for you. If you tell them double-sided printing and to 3-hole-punch it, and it'll cost about $16 (plus a binder).

CustomContent This is another .pdf file that'll get you started on creating your own unique content. It'll get you started on how to create your own 3-D models, textures, sounds, and music, export them for use by the NWN engine, then import them into the toolset and use them. (LINK)

BiowareForums The official Bioware forums. Get an account (free) and you can then post questions and research answers to your problems. (LINK)

Lexicon The Lexicon. This is a hyperlinked document / site that deals mostly with the various scripting commands. The section on Visual Effects is particularly useful. The Lexicon link occassionally goes bad as the site gets moved around. If so, go to the Bioware forums and search for "Lexicon" and you'll find the new site, or a mirror site, or a way to download a working copy of your own. (LINK)

LilacSoul Lilac Soul's NWN Script Generator. The scripting language can be a bear to learn, particularly for a non-programmer. Lilac Soul's Generator is a...wizard...that collects information from you about what you want to achieve and creates the script for you. I've never used it, so I can't vouch for it...but it gets good reviews from other users. Find links to the files here: (LINK)