Chapter 1 - Bigot's and Hypocrites

Discussion in 'Module Discussion' started by Xayvong, Jan 16, 2012.

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  1. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    Hey guys, just decided to give an update to the mod I'm working on for Arcanum. I'm going to do this story in chapters so that It will be easier to manage, and to introduce new characters for OpenArcanum.

    I also realized I have never showed proof of the music I was working on, and since you guys seem like a fickly bunch, here's the links to what I've shit out so far.

    Bedokaan themed song...maybe
    http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/465923

    Just an orchestral piece, maybe a bit too epic though
    http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/465688

    If there is, or will be haunted area's added to the game..which totally should be.
    http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/465707

    Basic outline of Chapter 1

    Welcome to [insert name here}

    Chapter 1 - Bigot's and Hypocrites

    Synopsis

    The PC arrive's in this new land to find something of importance (Still working on this part). After hearing rumors about said something, you leave the safety of the Mainland to arrive in a new land that is experiencing colonization. You arrive in a port town called Dockland. Here is where you adventure will begin.

    Town 1 - Ere' in Dockland

    The first dock connecting Arcanum to [name], at first a no name town, it has grown in size and stability, and its inhabitants are more like the natives from the mainland than anywhere else. Named eventually because this was the first Dock in this new Land, therefore, Dockland.

    Here in this town, is where you meet your first companions.

    The intimidating, enigmatic leader of a shady underground organization, Mr. Smiles

    The crazy, and experimental Doctor, Dr. Needles

    The sarcastic, yet good natured foreigner, Xay

    A silent, but good humored werewolf, Silver

    And a strange, delightful man named, Curtis

    In this town, you immediately notice that the town is undergoing some kind tension with a local tribe of werewolves.
    You find it strange that werewolves even have tribes, but you will learn more of this later.

    The Werewolves - We who roam this land

    Indigenous to this land, werewolves are a nomadic species that were born out of the natural habitat, rather than being afflicted by a curse usually associated with their kind.

    Known to do a lot of trading with several of the settlements in this land, they specialize in bone jewelry, fur trading ect.

    Quest!

    The inhabitants of Dockland seem to think the recent disappearance of their people is because of the nearby werewolf tribe, and are beginning to take arms to eliminate them. This town looks down upon anyone, or anything that is generally not a native species of the mainland.

    This is where you come in.

    You will be persuaded by Mr. Smiles, because he believes it would be far more beneficial as a whole to help the werewolves, because they have valuable information regarding your personal quest. And, like any disappearance themed quest in Arcanum, there is more to this than meets the eye.

    Chapter 2 - The Greedy and The Selfish

    To be continued. :-o
     
  2. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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    This sounds like it has possibilities.
    Please continue.
     
  3. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    Of course Rroyo!

    Although a quick question, do you know how I can replace the portraits for the followers in a Module? It usually just displays the first picture of whatever race you pick them to be from a new game.

    Honestly, its pissing me off that they all have the same portraits when you recruit them.

    And do you know if it's possible to change the color of the hair in the sprites?

    It seems the default for humans is just brown hair.

    But strangely, Doc Roberts sprite has black hair. Huh, I can't seem to find his sprite in the editor either.

    Any info on this would be appreciated :-?
     
  4. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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    1) As you create the followers, right-click on the sprite and select edit. Just over half-way down on the left side of the edit menu is a section marked Portrait. Change the stock number to the one you want. Gameport.mes or userport.mes will have the listings.

    2) It's possible - but far more effort than it would be worth due to the hundreds of tiny pictures you'd have to unpack, modify, then repack.

    3) Doc Roberts - I spotted a possibility.
    Try looking in Arcanum1.dat/art/unique_npc/hmmtn.
     
  5. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    Thanks for the info!

    1) It seems I don't have a Gameport.mes or a Userport.mes, so I have no idea what the listing is.

    2)True enough, more work than needed.

    3)It also seems that Doc Roberts is an anomaly since he isn't in any of the hmm folders when I used the art view. Either that or I just plain dumb.

    It seems I'm not going to be able to have all the things that I want in my upcoming mods, but the Portrait one seems the most possible right now.

    Any direction as to where my gameport.mes or userport.mes is rroyo?

    And if/after I find it, how would I add new portraits for use in the mod?

    Thanks!
     
  6. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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    1 & 4) Gameport and userport is an mes file in the portrait folder that tells the game which picture belongs to which NPC.
    Sadly, I can't seem to find a stock main game version in my collection so here is one I snagged from Tomb of Tol Guldur. It has a lightly modified gameport in it.

    http://www.multiupload.com/IWAN1M1N96

    I've also never tried adding portraits to a stand-alone module, but you should be able to just add this to your module's folder.
    If you've already created a follower, temporarily assign Faithe's or Van's portrait and see if the new picture is displayed. If not, move the portrait folder to your Sierra/Arcanum/data folder and try again.

    If all goes well, you can simply add new listings to the gameport (Van, at the bottom is a good example), then reset the NPC to the correct portrait number without hassle.

    3) I'll keep my eye open and if I happen to spot Doc's sprites I'll let you know.

    Edit: I found Doc!
    In Artview, just above the picture is a numerical indicator. Click it and select 1.
    Black-haired Doc is a variant of the brown-haired fellow in hmmtn.
     
  7. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    Wow thanks rroyo! Thanks for helping me figure this out little by little!

    Got the portraits to work, found the Doc Roberts sprite, and things seem to be going well!

    And then another problem....

    It seems if I want to use Doc Robert's sprite, none of the equipped armor given to him will show up.

    So now I have to decide: Use Doc's sprite for the sake of black hair, or use the normal brown haired sprite so that equipped armor will show up.

    What a dilemma :cry:
     
  8. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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    1) You're welcome. Glad to hear about the portraits.

    2) Forget trying to use the Basic Unique NPC - Those are useless as followers because they have very few animations and nothing for attire changes.
    Start with the generic city or village dweller, fighter, whatever, and go from there. They have the range of armor and weapons animations to cover most combinations.
    I'm afraid you'll just have to live with a brown-haired follower.
     
  9. Jojobobo

    Jojobobo Well-Known Member

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    I will say that I thought the music you've recorded sounds awesome. I don't think the orchestral piece sounds too epic at all, I thought it sounded fitting to the setting but also a little tense and uneasy - but I'm guessing from the storyline you're proposing so far that's probably fitting. I've never actually played a mod for Arcanum despite playing the game for years but this really caught my eye and I'd definitely give it a go if you released it. I guess I can't really help with the modding side of things, but nevertheless keep up the good work!
     
  10. Vendigrothian

    Vendigrothian New Member

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    This sounds promising, and the orchestral theme is brilliant (in my humble opinion). I hope to hear more about this project in the future.
     
  11. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    I'd play a game with such a soundtrack no matter what it would be about.
     
  12. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    Thanks Muro, and I'm glad everyone liked my orchestral piece!

    Anyhow, I can't seem to figure out how to put custom music into a module, so I don't know if you'll be able to listen to it while playing it unfortunately.

    But we're making good progress on the mod, expect it sometime at the end of this month!
     
  13. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Oh, but we must!

    Let's see... I'm not of much help here but I can tell you this: rroyo added custom music in his Forgotten Places of Arcanum, used in two halfling shires in the mod. I opened the mod's dat file to figure out as much as possible from it.

    I can see he added a new file to the "sound" folder (hobbits.mp3) and added these lines to the following mes files:

    • New line in sound/schemeindex.mes:
      Code:
      {62}{M.Hobbits #6200}
      New lines in sound/schemelist.mes:
      Code:
      §§§ Hobbit Music §§§
      
      {6200}{hobbits.mp3 /loop /vol:50/time:5-19}
      {6201}{village_night.wav /loop /time:19-0}
      {6202}{village_night.wav /loop /time:0-5}
      {6203}{ambient-rooster-crow.wav /scatter:100 /freq:30 /time:6-8}
    It's a start, I guess? Hopefully rroyo will be able to tell you more.
     
  14. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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    You're spot-on, Muro.

    Add a sound/music folder to the module, add the schemelist.mes, schemeindex.mes, and/or any others you might need *, as well as any and all music and new sound effects you wish to use**.
    From there, make sure you have the music in mp3 format and sound effects as wav and you should have little or no problems.

    * Available in the Arcanum3.dat/Module template/sound folder.
    ** Modules are notorious for using the sound effects but not the music from the main game. You'll need to add any of the standard Arcanum music to your mod you want to use. Arcanum/modules/Arcanum/sounds/music has the stock stuff, or you could use the lossless music available in the downloads section.
     
  15. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    Awesome, you guys are a ton of help.

    I'll leave some cameo's in the mod dedicated to you guys!

    So don't be too surprised if you find something in the module with your name in it somewhere :p
     
  16. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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  17. Arthgon

    Arthgon Well-Known Member

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    Sounds great. I really look forwards it.
     
  18. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    Thanks Arthgon! So progress on the mod has slowed down a bit because of some computer problems, but we're starting to pick up the pace again now that my partner has gotten his computer back from the shop!

    I've been busy bug testing and testing out all the quests to make sure that they still work.

    Here's a new song for the mod specifically. It's based on the theme of the main characters ( thats you!) main quest in this new land.

    Pretty simple, but needs a ton of more work with the mixing and mastering.

    http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/468095

    Enjoy!
     
  19. rroyo

    rroyo Active Member

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    I'm afraid you're right. Listening to it reminded me of the early 80's console games and their shrill midis.
     
  20. Xayvong

    Xayvong Member

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    I completely understand.....

    What part do you think needs to change/more work?
     
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