I'm back, and I have DS1 modding questions

I guess you can't have too many re-s.

Well, thanks for the cheers! So, the mod isn't finished yet, I'm still dithering about the textures and need to make character icons. Right now they are doofus looking smiley faces. I was able to re:re: reinstall Dungeon Siege and hopefully it will work now. Before, the game was loading normally, but as soon as I tried to move the cursor the whole thing would freeze up. After several years of working just fine. I like to test things before I post them.

Somebody at GPG was awfully fond of green and I'm not sure why. I mean, maybe it's my computer but I got a new graphics card for my birthday, sooo ... I don't know. Some of those skin tones and hair colors are rather odd looking. One female face was almost the color of pea soup. Check them out and see. I think that's part of the dithering, trying to make the colors more realistic looking.

Oh, by the way I found where Steam installs games.

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So I believe Steam's Dungeon Siege directory would be in there also. This character mod would go in the resources folder.

Re: Wrrry! I think it is some anime guy's battle cry or something. Personally, I enjoy screaming "Soooockss!" or "For the Alliance!" or even "Spoon!" as I rush into battle.

Remember, they make take our lives, but they will never take our FREEEEEDDOOOMMM! (sorry, too many Braveheart commercials on television for an upcoming Saturday movie.)

I do not have a battle cry its more of a battle whine. "oh crap not again!" This however does cause the Krug to become quite confused. Well more so than normal anyway.

I hope things pan out for you.

MY SPOON

IS TOOOOOO BIG.

"Not if I can help it" "If I can help it, it won't happen"

I tried out your Rehtaels Characters mod Kathy and I have to say that its a good little mod indeed, there's just 1 small problem with it and that is ziegy cannot materialize like the other one's can.

So, I put my modding head on and searched out where the problem was and, lo and behold I found it in the pm_fg_based file, you need to add the lines below at the top of said file and all will be well again in the kingdom of Aranna.

[t:template,n:base_pm_fg]
{
	category_name = "1W_character";
	doc = "Base template for female party members based on farmgirl.";
	specializes = base_farmgirl;
	[conversation]
	{
	}
	[inventory]
	{
		[equipment]
		{
			es_feet = bo_bo_le_f_g_c_avg;
		}
	}
	[store]
	{
		can_sell_self = true;
	}
	[water_effects]
	{
	}
}

I must apologize for not putting it in code brackets but I don't know how to do that.

Thanks for the help. I was finally able to test the mod late last night and noticed that she was missing. I also forgot a couple of new shirts I made. Not having Dungeon Siege working for a while has been frustrating. Besides, every mod I make always has a thing or two wrong on the first try, lol. So, this mod isn't finished. I need to add in a few more character, plus all their portraits. I'm afraid the orange smiley faces won't cut it.

I appreciate the feedback, it's always helpful to find out what people find or think.

Also:

Your code is now displayed correctly.

I thought I'd let you know that the current Rehtaels Characters mod has another small problem kathy, your pm_fg_based file is conflicting with the hireable farm girls as in Ulora wasn't in the crypts to be hired.

I put my modding head on again and sorted that little problem out too, I renamed the pm_fg_based file to pm_fg1_based and renamed the template inside that file from [t:template,n:base_pm_fg] to [t:template,n:base_pm_fg1].

I also renamed a part of your ziegy template as well just to make doubly sure, you might have to do this for the farmboy characters too, I tested my little edits out and all is well in the kingdom of Aranna again.

[t:template,n:ziegy]
{
	doc = "ziegy";
	specializes = base_pm_fg1;
	[actor]

Thanks Kathy and bare_elf for the code bracket stuff.

Hey Moros:

Normally what I do with this type of mod is to rename the gas file from pm_fg_based to something like "pm_fg_based_k" in order to differentiate it from the regular game file. You're right on target as my pm-fg.gas file was taking priority over the game's pm-fg.gas file and kicking Ulora and the other girls to the curb. All this modding at 2:30 AM is not good. Not good at all, as I often fall asleep while working on something. It's actually pretty disconcerting to wake up and be all "whuh"?

You came up with a clever solution and thank you for that. At this rate you will become the ultimate hero of Aranna! Also, you are correct, I do need to change the file for Farmboy and I really appreciate the reminder. I might not have noticed when I make the next update to the mod and then Zed in Stonebridge would be all Moaning Myrtle about being overwritten.

I hate that guy!

Thank you all for putting so much effort into this mod! Sorry to be a bit vacant, unemployed and the job hunt is really sucking.

Kathy, how would I go about putting ziegy on the map in Stonebridge and hiring her instead of summoning her, that would take the mod one giant leap forward me thinks.

Hmmm, but if I did that it would limit the map the player could use to just the Kingdom of Ehb campaingn. The summoned characters can be used in any map the player wants.

But if you are interested in doing that for yourself, I suggest browsing through the map directory to start. I couldn't find Stonebridge and the whole thing looks just a wee bit confusing to me.

*edit* If you can find Stonebridge, look over the placement of some of the "not essential to the story, just here for local flavor" townsfolk, both outside and in the inn. Perhaps one of those could be edited, we just don't want to eliminate anybody who has anything remotely Quest like to say.

Also, check in the upstairs of the inn where Rusk is sleeping. That might be a good spot to edit someone in. Seems like some space to work with. And seriously, who has actually hired Rusk? He's a drunkard, rude and really really pricey too, in addition to being particularly fugly. I guess we should not actually replace anyone, but checking these places to find where to put Kziegy that's somewhere accessible. *edit*
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Also, this particular mod is being tailored to Rehtael (character appearance, names and starting skills). My understanding is that he wants to assemble a complete starting party and then quest in the Arhok campaign. BTW, the mod is almost completed. I am just about done with faces (I really like working on textures) and then I need to add the rest of the party into the templates. Plus can't forget to check for those pesky errors!

Really, I'm just trying to keep busy with different things due to "Real Life" crap, so I have several projects going, catching up with a couple of TV shows and also reading two books in tandem. Yay for multitasking (she said, sarcastically, harhar). Speaking of real life crap, my sympathies Rehtael. Job hunting can be so frustrating and discouraging.

BUT

I like this idea. I could incorporate it into "my" character mod I'm working on. I'm for sure adding some of the faces from Rehtael's mods. Having a few recruitable npc, plus having some be summoned, that's cool. The only thing that I would need to do is study how objects and actors are placed, so the npc wouldn't be stuck inside a wall or something. I've done that already in a very rudimentary way, by putting a character in a particular area, saving the game and then looking over the party.gas for details.

I could make a couple of versions of the mod, one that is for a specific map or w/e and also one that is simply all summons. I have basic templates for the characters with skills in place, but that can change based on whichever map the mod is intended to be used with.

Thanks for your ideas and input, Moros. This is fun, like a collaboration. I would put a smiley face here, but I don't know where all the smileys went!

EDIT: just to spoil the fun, map_world\info\bookmarks.gas has GPG's own explanation (description =). Bt stands for besieged town. And nt_r1 (Glacern) is for northern town.

I remembered that I have elys_ds2_succubus source files somewhere and it has Pinky and Angelys placed on the map, it can't have changed much from ds1 so I'll find it out and give it a look over.

Kathy you might wish to look at Iryan's Cat Mansion Adepts (DSLoA) As he has added several additional characters to the map. Like Sarah That can be found at Norick's farm at the start of the map. It appears he used existing character templates, but changed things like character name, icon, stats, Skin and Hair color. There are several characters. True it only works for one map. But I assume that you could make the same changes if the mod contained info on both the Kingdom of Ehb and Legends of Aranna maps. I would not worry about any of the third party maps no matter how good they happen to be. Maybe iryan or KillerGermal can give a few suggestions. Wish Witness was still around As some of the things she did with her elves might also be relevant. Some times I wish these ideas occurred many years ago, when there where so many more talented modders and DS web sites. Crap the is showing her age again. Strange it all started so very long ago. Has it really been 16 years? I would have been 11 then. DS player and modder more than half my life. The runs away screaming "Where did my life go!"

Bare_elf is right, you can easily change existing templates to create recruitable characters. For instant Sarah started life as a humble chicken. In some ways it's a lot easier to create recruitable characters in DS1 than it is in DS2. The key is the job_talk you assign to the character and the conversation required to recruit them. Sarah is an easy one as there's not much else in FH_R1 (Farm House Region 1) to confuse her with. Her job_talk is located in \world\ai\jobs\actors\good , her template is located in \world\contentdb\templates\regular\actors\good\npc\adepts_sarah.gas and her conversation in \world\maps\map_world\regions\fh_r1\conversations\conversations.gas. Her scid is 0x01c00c2a and this is important as it has to be referenced in her job_talk.skrit.

For fun if you look up 0x01c00c2a in FH_R1 of the Kingdom of Ehb version found in the Legendary Mod, you'll see that it is a rabbit!

There is nothing to stop you adding the same character to every map and every mode. Especially since DS1 is designed that it's extremely difficult to migrate singleplayer parties between maps unlike DS2.

Thanks all! I really appreciate the information. It is hard to believe so much time has gone by. I've been a member here for 12 years (!). Some marriages and stuff don't even last that long.

So looking at that bookmarks document has been great at deciphering those region descriptions. Some of them seem to make more sense then others though. For example an area like cd_r1 = castle dungeon region 1 makes sense to me, but others had me scratching my head.

[t:bookmark,n:dm_r0]
	{
	description = path2dm and glitterdelve;

Would not have guessed that in a million years.

Several weeks ago, I actually thought about adding in a shopkeeper (just for fun) near the farmhouse and I looked over Irwin's templates regarding Sarah and where she is on the map for clues on how to do something like that. I didn't realize she was originally a chicken, lol. I thought I had to use a completely blank area on the map, but if I can overwrite a chicken or something, that's cool. I will have to use the job talk recruitment thing as a reference. I never even knew to refer to the numbers in the beginning (Ox-whatever) as a scid. Lots of great information.

All this is definitely food for thought and I need to do some "trying out" stuff to learn more. Actually, Moros came up with the idea to have one (or more) of the characters be a recruit-able in Stonebridge. I still like having the summons because of the versatility, but I definitely see the possibilities for map specific characters. Perhaps even add some folks to different places like Wesrin Cross or Glacern.

ideas-ideas-ideas-ideas...

Anyway, I still need to finish this particular mod for Rehteal and then plan out what else I want to do with it and another character mod I've been fooling around with. Plus start reading Siege University again.

Here are some screenshots I took tonight. Things are looking good, but I have more chores to complete.

Seeing Double?

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Lovely UI
Fixing these. Definitely one of the chores on the list.
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The Main character's inventory, complete w/summon spells and newbie equipment.

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So that's it for now. Please feel free to check it out.

I can't believe how much work you all put into this. It's completely blowing my mind.

The challenge now (For me at least) is figuring out how I'm gonna screenshare this since old games were not future proofed in resolution. I'm honestly looking for a way to zoom in on a certain portion of your screen since that might be the best option for streaming it.

I had a go at putting Melisandre at the farmhouse chicken coop just like Sarah is in the Adepts mod, it was a complete failure as per usual, the game didn't crash on me but Melisandre just wasn't visible. All the files that have been mentioned have been modified and triple checked but still no joy, me thinks that at least 1 or more files need to be added to make this work.

As that little modding idea is on the backburner for now I had a little play around with Kathy's mod and came up with this small effort, I've got us all on gardening duty for now before I decide on which one's to place on the map, that's if someone can come up with the answer to my previous dilemma.

From left to right, Suki, Kirani, Ariana and Melisandre.

If your template is correct, you should even be able to place it within the editor. If it's not available in the editor then again there's something wrong with the template. The character should appear in Game Objects/actors/good_characters/guards_and_pms/regular.

Often if there's a problem with a template, Siege Editor will complain about it when you try to use the program.

Alternatively if you are using notepad to edit actors.gas, try putting one of the existing character's template in the map using the scid you eventually want to use for Melisandre. For example Gyorn or Rusk. If they appear, then try putting your custom template there. If it doesn't show up, then it's definitely a fault somewhere in the template. It can take a little time to fine tune templates to remove the errors from them. Start with a bare bones template, just enough information for the character to appear and then add the extra additions to them until you find what is causing the error.

The only thing I can think of is something like DS1 Camera. Ir has versions for both regular DS1 and DSLoA. It allows for a lot more flexibility w/ angles and zooming in or out.

It was Misandre's template that was the problem, thankyou for that tip iryan, I used Naidi's template as a test and it worked first time.

Now I need to find out about her co-ordinates so I can move her closer to the farm house, her current position is position = 1.04237,-2.29999,-2.27142,0x5026bc9a;. The last set 0x5026bc9a is something to do with her streamer node, but I haven't a clue what the others represent, I'll keep digging through the files to try and find the answer.

I've downloaded that camera mod Kathy and I'll give it a whirl, thankyou.

You're welcome. I can't imagine playing without a camera fix and a bigger inventory, but I only wanted the bare bones for testing, plus the camera to take decent screenshots.

*edit* I have edited this post for clarity (and also because I am a complete bonehead).

As an update, the mod is just about done. I hope to have some time Friday or Saturday night to finish it. All I need to do now is update a few gas files and a final play test. I've also made the character portraits and fussed around with the face textures some more. Sometimes I get annoyed because the textures don't always look the way I would like when viewed in 3D. All of the face textures have to be symmetrical as well as the character models being blocky and "clunky" (more specifically, the head mesh). Dungeon Siege is great, but those models are showing their age, but I guess still not that bad for such an old game.

Oh yeah, see what I mean? Stupid symmetry! Dungeon Siege 2 face textures are a definite upgrade in that sense.
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You're right that 0x5026bc9a is the node where your character is located. The other numbers are the x, y and z coordinates which tell the game where to place the character. I believe they would be virtually impossible to work out without using Siege Editor.

Siege Editor is the best thing to use to move your character. Just select the character, hold the left mouse button and move her to where you want her to go. Then either save the map, find the actor.gas and copy-paste it to your mod or right click on the character and select properties to open the Object Properties Dialog. Make sure you're in the Template Properties tab, and scroll right down to the bottom to the placement field. Copy the value in the position line and paste it in position line of your character's scid in actor.gas.

Alternatively you could use another object that is closer to the farmhouse and swap your character there. For instance, 0x01C00600 is another chicken that's right in front of the farmhouse or a chicken located at 0x01C005F8.

siege editor + placement mode = happiness....
siege editor + movement mode = fine tuning...
siege editor without replacing chickens = true learning to use the editor
getting siege editor to save without f'ing up the map....priceless!

the farm area at beginning is good place to put new npc it was always void of anything but monsters...perhaps u could say these new npc are your cousins or family members and instead of the "farmer" fighting alone "the farmer and family will fight the krug" farming is a family business now days...farmer, wife, their sons, daughters, grand kids all do the farm life..thus in DS should involve the cousins etc..think u get the point. as a starter weapon could equip them with a rake or pitchfork...shoot could even put a little straw in beside the pitchfork, the area could be beautified even more

lol, I grew up on a farm, taking care of animals and the garden. It was only just for our family, nothing commercial. So anyway, there is a pair of blue overalls in with type1 armor. I think this would be a great for a young farmer. Perhaps that brimmed hat as well, farmers need hats to protect them from the sun.
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*edit*

I was working on the mod, and this happened...
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Completed version of Rehtael's character mod. The file is attached to this post. I included a read me, so, like, read it or something.

Here is the gang in formation:
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Super fun Krug punching!
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You can disband or re-invite party members.
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Its probably a good idea to put the following code into everyone's template Kathy.
spew_equipped_kill_count = ;

I've just had some nasty encounters with the trolls in the dark forest and I can tell you I got rather annoyed at having to pick up my characters equipment and make sure they had the right stuff on them again. Those trolls are blinking mental and knowing what is yet to come was enough for me, I'm going to re-start the game and make sure everyone including the summoned one's has it in there template, that'll teach me for not checking it in the first place, oh well back to the farmlands I go.

Thanks for the suggestion Moros. I had that line in the heroes.gas and must have had a senior moment when it came to the npc templates. I changed all the templates to reflect this and version 2 has been attached to this post.

If anyone else has been playing the mod, you should probably delete all earlier versions. Sorry!

spew_equipped_kill_count = ignore;

Both the [code] and [ quote] won't format the < and > around the word ignore and I'm not sure why, but whatever. Probably something to do with some sort of html code thingy that all those damn kids are going on about.