All-In-One Arcanum

*Moved from Modding and Scripting*

People have been after me since day one to either include all the available modules into the A:WIP hack or else make a version of the game where that’s possible.
I’m currently looking for something to do, and this seems like a worthwhile project.

There are a number of problems associated with such an endeavor:

1) Getting the PC to and from the modules. Do you recreate the modules onto the main map or construct a teleport interface between Arcanum and the various modules? And then there’s the matter of getting them back again.

2) Do you allow the PC’s follower(s) to travel to a module?

3) Should the module’s follower(s) to stay with the PC on the return to Arcanum?

4) What about the extra experience points accumulated in playing the module? Those will quickly skew the leveling scheme in the main game (getting to Tarant the first time and you’re at level 20 or more) as well as make subsequent modules too easy. They are, after all, built for a starting level of 1.
Which raises the question of:

5) How early in the game should the access to the modules be?

6) Modification of modules. Most of the Troika modules are hopelessly buggy and at least one fan-made one is unfinished (White Sands). Although all the added modules will need some tweaking to be playable (listing numbers, flags, exit spells), how far should the customizing go?

7) Fan-made modules. These are labors of love by individuals who may or may not want their work become just another adventure in a game that’s already top-heavy with them. Should permission be actively sought out before adding these?

8 ) Foreign modules. The French in particular have an active modding community. Should their works be translated and added?

9) Older fan-made modules. Too many of these were made by people who abandoned the Arcanum community a while back. Getting permission could be rather difficult.

10) Teleportation from the modules. Should this be allowed and if so, how?

11) What about the modules’ journal entries?

No doubt there’s more questions but these 11 cover the main points.

Here’s some ideas I happen to like at the moment:

1) Make this for the stock game.

2) Do not modify Arcanum’s main map but rather use a teleport interface from one of the secondary maps to the module’s main map - ala A:WIP & Vormantown.

3) Use the 2009 UAP + Extras Pack + High-Rez townmaps + High-Rez music as the foundation. This’ll cut down on the number of added elements – dats – that ultimately get added to everyone’s game and help ensure a smooth install.

4) No custom artwork.

5) Use the Shrouded Hills temple as the interface location. Adding Vormantown to A:WIP showed that even with the PC at level 10, stand-alone modules could still be challenging.

6) Keep the modules’ adventures separate from the main game. A fantasy within a fantasy. Just like a story in a book might reflect the real world but is actually a reality all its own.

7) This leaves a three ways to rig the interface. First is the magic portal that you walk through. A second floor would need to be added to the temple, but that is not a problem. This would be the easiest to do, but would look amateurish in my opinion.
The second would be a “magic book” on a pedestal that you use like the ships’ wheel. Pick your destination and away you go. Another one that's easy one to do.
Third – and I have no idea if this’ll work but it sounds really cool – is individual books that are scripted in such a way that you open them for reading, actually read a single page, and after a few seconds, get teleported to the module. Kind of like actually being in the story you're reading.
In the stock-game, there’s a nightstand beside the bed that would make the most logical place to put the books.

8 ) Departure location from Arcanum: With the individual books, I’ll need to block off an area via scripting tiles near the bed as the only place where the books will function. This’ll help minimize the possibility of someone opening a book in say, Ashbury at level 25, then being returned to Shrouded Hills. The individual portals and the book on a pedestal take care of that by themselves.

9) Getting back again: There a couple possibilities, one being a stationary portal added to each module that’ll take you back to the temple. Or - inspired by “Quantum Leap” – you’re stuck there until you’ve finished the adventure, then fade out, and back to the temple. This one is the most realistic for the two magic book options. It’s also the option I like best.

10) No followers. Not from Arcanum to a module and not from a module back to Arcanum. In the stand-alone modules, you start with no followers anyway, and bringing none from Arcanum will preserve that effect.
Taking no new ones back to Arcanum also solves a problem concerning Dusty Dunes; what to do about Franklin Payne. Script the transfer to teleport only the PC. This’ll probably mean having to re-recruit the Arcanum followers each time you return, but….

11) The extra experience points. A while back a fellow was good enough to figure out an extremely long-winded set of commands that would store all the PC’s settings prior to teleportation, then restore them upon his return. In short – It would be like the module’s adventure never happened. Regrettably, I’ve lost this scripting, and would need to recreate it, but it effectively solves the problems of skewing the leveling scheme and keeping each adventure somewhat challenging.

12) Teleportation from the module. Nope. Going back to number 9, once you’re there, you’re there. This'll solve the problem of unfinished quests hanging open.

13) The game quest and rumor entries: Let them be added. It may clog up the reading with items unrelated to the main game but is far less risky than adding an additional check or two to try and remove them upon returning to Arcanum.

14) Modify the modules only to the absolute minimum needed to make them playable. Modules like White Sands will need to be carefully examined to see if the story could be concluded quickly or script a way out where the build stopped. Most of the rest may require music to be set, translation into English, or an odd piece of artwork moved just a touch, and all will need a way for the PC to exit the module.

15) The abandoned modules: They're abandoned. If the creators want to scream at me a couple years down the road, let 'em.

16) The other modules (English, French, whatever) : - Make resonable efforts to obtain permission. Take a non-reply within a month to indicate a go-ahead but be willing to remove said module if the creator pipes up while the addition is still in progress.

17) Consider a beta release for be final on adding a module. If a creator wants a module pulled after a release, sorry - I tried to contact you beforehand.

Comments? Ideas? Opinions?

 

At first I was unsure about your teleportation idea, though I think it may work after all. The idea of the book on the pedestal sounds good, the PC could read an ancient tome that transports him to the story he is reading, forcing him to act it out.

 

You mean this? http://terra-arcanum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=14976

Firstly, I must apologize to you rroyo, that I totally forgot to send my created scripts (Storing Abilities, etc.) to you. Sorry about that. Secondly, I have rewritten these scripts, and compressed them into a zip file. Thirdly, you don’t have to type them over, because they are already in .scr.

Now when I get home from work, I will upload the compressed file with the scripts, dialogs to here.

 

OH, GODDAMN!!! I LOVE YOU!
And thank you more time!

You know, I had completely forgotten all about that thread.
My print-out would have been lost in the fire, the copy of what was posted at IGN was lost due to a failing hard-drive, and then IGN deleted almost all of their Arcanum forum entries, so I thought I was screwed.

And - There's nothing to apologise for.
Back then, I wasn't ready or willing to try this project. Now that I am, you've come through again. :thumbup:

 

Here it is: http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/9/18/ ... toring.rar

Included in the compressed .rar:

*.scr files.

*Dialogs.

Extra: Secret Door dialog and script.

PS: If there is something missing or wrong, please tell me.

 

Got it!
And will do.

Edit: It seems to be missing the dialog side of 00018GM_StoringSkills&Level. I'm less certain about the others.
There's only three dialogs needed for all this?

 

I have included that dialog with the reseting dialog. (I accidently left this script there.)

Strange it seems that some of my dialogs, and the reseting script have disappeared from this file and even from my computer! Sorry about this. I shall work on it right away.

Edit: You don't need a dialog for the storing abilities scripts, because these are tile scripts.

 

Fair enough. I'm still doing the initial resetting of LoDS so it'll be a few days before I'm ready to complicate the teleports.

FYI everyone: The Lost Dungeon of Souls & Vormantown will be the first two mods added.

 

It may be a bit early but what should this hack be named?
Arcanum Plus, Arcanum Tales, All-In-One Arcanum, Maxi-Arcanum, Mega-Arcanum, or can you think of something better?

I'm kind of torn between the first two.

 

Arcanum Tales or All-In-One Arcanum in my opinion, though I am leaning towards the latter of the two.

 

Arcanum Revisited has a nice ring to it.

 

I like Arcanum Tales personally.

 

how about Arcanum Infinity? A. I. for Short.

 

I too am for Arcanum Tales. It does sound quite climatic.

 

I think Arcanum Tales might just be the way to go.
Of course, this did add a bit of influence:

 

lol yea

 

The font used for the actual content looks quite default. May I suggest using a different one? The one used in-game in the Living One's Log Book would do just fine.

 

Comic Sans MS would be appropriate.

 

Muro - The font in question is Bookman Old Style. Due to the way the letters are styled, at 10 points it was leaving far too many open-ended lines for my liking, but I just went back and tried a different approach. What's below is with a 9 point setting, no bold (like in the game) and Central European instead of Western. Although I had to add a few words to fill in the spaces, it's not too bad.
Wish I could have gotten the word Caladon to quit crowding the border so much. (And yes, I tried reversing the listings. That looked even worse.)
But - Even with a 800 x 600 screen, it's still readable, but a bit of a strain for me. At 1024 X 700 the font actually looks similar to what's in the game - just a little more crisp.
I think I'll keep going with this.
Thanks for making me try again. :thumbup:

Zanza - Surely you jest.....