(NWN HAKPAKS) -Rocky Mountains v11.1 - Immersive Swamps v2.5 - Hut Interiors v1.3

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Cattaneo R
view post Posted on 19/5/2007, 22:12




News [17-5-07]:
Hi all, finally found the time to refine the first update for the rocky mountains. It features [1] new content and [2] an improved hak system. I also removed the "alpha" label from the tileset name. It was suggesting that the tileset isn't in a usable state, but after 250+ downloads and no major or even minor issues reported, I think it's safe to consider it stable. Not all the planned material has been included yet, but we'll get there soon, I'm almost done with work and in a couple of weeks I'll have plenty of spare time to work on 3d modeling.


[1] New content includes:
- the remainders of TNO buildings that I had originally planned to use, i.e. a number of great towers that I have adapted for the mountains environment and made available for the three terrains when appropriate.
- I also included a huge group that I named "lake fortress" and that seems to have been worth all the work required. It additionally features a few trees from WoRm's placeables package and one tree from WCoC. Currently there are no natural ways to get on top of the fortress, and I am not sure if I'll add any. In the DEMO module included, I set up a couple of magic portals that do the job, and it sounds quite fitting. But as usual let me know what you think about it. Incidentally, you may notice a few odd artifacts in the water surface, that are due to some limits the engine is showing when it has to render multiple transparent meshes. Annoying, but for the next update I could get to replace the water system I use with a new one that bypasses the problem.
- The update features the first "round house" that I've been designing for the mountains. It feels quite different from the average building that you can find in other tilesets, and I hope it does in a good way. I have already more models and variations in a designing stage, in the next updates they'll start to populate the tileset.
- I've included a "ramp" group that allows climbing up to the mountain top starting from a rocky hill layer. Paint it down, and then add some grassy hill next to the rocky hill, and you'll have a quite realistic path from ground level to mountain level. More "ramps" will come in the future, currently it was urgent to at least include one way to join layers.
- Finally, added a bunch of tiles that increase the number of available combos among terrains/crossers, although it still requires much more work to be happy about combos. I promise that next update will feature much more tiles of this kind.


[2] The improved hak system aims to make much easier to update the haks, to set them up in your module, and above all, to switch between DDS and TGA textures if your graphic card requires it. In fact, in that case you wouldn't need to edit any file at all.
To note, the tileset system is totally backward compatible, replace the old haks with the new ones and everything will work perfectly fine.
The whole material was split this way:
- one top hak that includes all control files and doors, and some sound files from WCoC required for a door model. To merge these haks with any other content, you'll need to update the appropriate files included in this small hakpack. I have already included compatibility with CTP and Barbaric North tileset, you can safely place them below this top hak and everything will work just fine.
- three haks, one for each tileset. Only tileset-specific files and models are included, so the file compresses very well and the final size is quite small.
- two texture packs, which are unlikely to be updated often, and given their size it's a good thing not to download them anew with each update. Each pack comes in two versions, DDS and TGA format. You must place either version in your hak folder along with the other parts of the hak system, and you are done. I just advise to use the TGA version only if the DDS version is giving you problems. DDS are more performant in game, there is no reason, except graphic card issues, not to use them.
- an optional devkit package that you can place above the top hak and that you only need when building a swamp, and that you'll have to remove after the area is done.

To set up the new system, open your Module properties tab, and add the haks in the following order, from top to bottom (if you are not planning to use a specific tileset, do not download/include the corresponding hakpack):
- devkit [v*.*].hak [optional]
- LR top [v*.*].hak
- rkm80 [v**.*].hak (rocky mountains)
- swm80 [v*.*].hak (immersive swamps)
- hut80 [v*.*].hak (hut interiors)
- LR tx2 [v*.*].hak
- LR tx1 [v*.*].hak
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GENERAL INFORMATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS:

All tilesets must be considered WIPs (works-in-progress), although any publicly released version you find here is stable, and all possible future releases will always be backward compatible. If I update a tileset, the new version won't break any area you might have already built.
CleanModels 3
All tilesets that you find here have been run through the wonderful CleanModels 3.0 by OldMansBeard, which is the best tool that a tileset creator can use to achieve high quality standards. Drop by its page and praise the author, he really deserves it.
Compiled Material
Tilesets include all model files in binary format, and all textures in DDS format, except those few that the game engine needs to find in TGA format. Providing the material already compiled allows for faster loading times, and generally better performance on our system. Some very outdated graphic cards could have difficulties using DDS textures, although I've honestly never seen anybody reporting such issues. In any case, if you have an old system and can't load the tilesets properly, drop a line here and I'll provide you tileset versions that would fit your particular needs.
Hardware Requirements
More in general, I considered that since the day of NWN1 first release, the average hardware in our machine has definitely improved, to the point that we now have more freedom than in the past when it comes down to texture quality and models complexity. It doesn't necessarily mean that these tilesets are resource intensive, it simply means that I cannot guarantee that very low end systems will run them smoothly, as such option was not part of my goals when building the tilesets.
Shiny Water
No tilesets use the shiny water effect, it is not a bug. I personally hate it as it looks really unnatural, and overrides the water color and details. I was/will then able to include specific water effects for each environment, example a very dark and immobile waterline for the swamps.
Minimaps
Some tilesets might use a simple blank minimap for their tiles. It is not a bug, but a designer choice. The purpose is to increase the realism and immersivity of the areas built with such a system.
Tilefade
No tiles use any tilefade feature (the "hide second story tiles" option in your NWN game settings). It is not a bug, but a designer choice. Again, to enhance realism and immersivity, hence a roleplay-oriented approach to the game.
Screenshots
All screenshots are taken from areas that only use tileset resources, and never use any additional resources like placeables or similar. What you see is what you get.
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Rocky Mountains v10.1 [alpha release] [04-11-07]

General
First public version of the mountains. The tileset is fully functional although at this stage quite limited regarding content. Updates will be frequent.

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Immersive Swamps v2.4 [04-11-07]

This tileset was published to hopefully provide the appropriate tool for the creation of a true, scary and beautiful swamp. Although there are a few good swamp/marshes tilesets around, I always felt they didn't look "swampy" enough. As a step on the way of a proper swamp environment, I then released a small tileset that was a drastic reworking of some material due to Ilmater, CODI and Tupoun. At a later stage, I went again for a total reworking of it. New textures, new vegetation, new tiles and terrain combos. In the process, I used some material from the CEP compilation of placeables. It was reworked and adjusted to better fit the tileset, and included directly in the tiles.
I also used some material from the Darkness over Daggerford hakpack. Specifically, the huts I used are a reworking of two placeable models included in that hakpack that I retexturized, slightly debugged (they are very well designed, from a technical point of view) and adapted to this tileset.

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[FOR BUILDERS] Development Kit v3.0

Since I expanded the deep water (non-walkable) terrain to be used in combination with the dry/forest terrain, I created a small "development kit" hak that I advise to use to create and fully build the areas. The devkit hak must be placed above the main hak in the module hak list, and it facilitates the creation or walkable paths (or non-walkable deepwater areas) all the way through the swamps. It also automatically defaults the newly created areas to the approapriate values of music, sound, lighting and weather. They can still be changed in the area property tab, but this way they don't necessarily require to be manually set.
Once the area has been built, the devkit can be removed safely from the hak list and the areas will gain their final appearance.

"For those of you who may have large modules (like me) and want to add this, you do NOT have to let the module "build' every time you add the design kit hak. Just cancel the build and start creating... when you're done, remove the hak from the list and cancel again.." (many thanks to Rosietreats for the tip, this procedure doesn't break anything in your modules as the devkit only overrides a few textures and models)
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Hut Interiors v1.2 [04-11-07]

General
The Hut Interiors tileset completes the Immersive Swamps by creating an interior environment to match the huts included in the swamps, whether of lizardfolk culture or not. I started off planning to quickly adapt to my textures the small tileset released by Darkness over Daggerford team with their module. I ended up keeping a few elements from it, and remaking all the rest (including a different approach to doors placement).

Features, Groups and doors
Instead of including a small bunch of pre-made hut interior combos, I decided to create them all as either terrains or crossers. It allows for a much wider range of options by combining any tile with any other tile of the appropriate type. This way there are dozens of variations to fit any specific needs.
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SYSTEM SETUP

Open your Module properties tab, and add the haks in the following order, from top to bottom (if you are not planning to use a specific tileset, do not download/include the corresponding hakpack):
- devkit [v*.*].hak [optional]
- LR top [v*.*].hak
- rkm80 [v**.*].hak (rocky mountains)
- swm80 [v*.*].hak (immersive swamps)
- hut80 [v*.*].hak (hut interiors)
- LR tx2 [v*.*].hak
- LR tx1 [v*.*].hak

Screen
imageimageimage

Link alla pagina su Vault
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=6963

Link diretto al downloadtga_texturepack2_v1.0.rar
This package contains the texturepack2 in TGA format. It is highly advised to use the DDS version, as it's more performant in game. Only download this TGA package (bigger, slower) if you are experiencing graphical issues.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS whose graphic cards can't use the standard DDS texture packs

tga_texturepack1_v1.0.rar
This package contains the texturepack1 in TGA format. It is highly advised to use the DDS version, as it's more performant in game. Only download this TGA package (bigger, slower) if you are experiencing graphical issues.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS whose graphic cards can't use the standard DDS texture packs

dds_texturepack1_v1.0.rar
This package contains the texturepack1 in DDS format. It is the standard, and highly advised format to use, as it's more performant in game. Only download the TGA version (bigger, slower) if you are experiencing graphical issues.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS

rocky_mountains_v11.1.rar
This package contains the Rocky Mountains tileset, and a small DEMO module.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS
You'll also need to download top_hakpack, texturepack1 and texturepack2


development_kit_v3.1.rar
This optional package contains a small devkit hak that helps with the creation of new areas. Add the devkit hak on top of the main haks when building your areas, and then remove it from your module hak list once you are done.
Useful only if you are a BUILDER


dds_texturepack2_v1.0.rar
This package contains the texturepack2 in DDS format. It is the standard, and highly advised format to use, as it's more performant in game. Only download the TGA version (bigger, slower) if you are experiencing graphical issues.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS


top_hakpack_v1.0.rar
This package contains the top hakpack that holds all control files, doors and any miscellaneous resources.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS


hut_interiors_v1.3.rar
This package contains the Hut Interiors tileset, to match the huts included in the Immersive Swamp tileset.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS
You'll also need to download top_hakpack and texturepack1


immersive_swamps_v2.5.rar
This package contains the Immersive Swamps tileset, and a small DEMO module.
Required both for PLAYERS and BUILDERS
You'll also need to download top_hakpack and texturepack1
 
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Karas Adult
view post Posted on 13/1/2011, 11:19




Such a superbly written post.. Thnkx after sharing this notify!
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1 replies since 19/5/2007, 22:12   487 views
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