Bugger the Kraken, Apathy is a greater threat

Well after much thought and watching Aeon PW slowly die as players lost interest, I decided to close the world. Makes me sad but also a sense of release, as trying to nurse a body when the soul is gone is rather draining.

I have found that players lost interest, builders were not dependable and DM's well did the best they can before they imploded. Apathy ran riot and ruled at the end, regardless of the engery thrown into Aeon.

I learnt a lot about myself, people and how to run a PW effectively. I made a lot of mistakes and learnt from them as well.

So what next? I am not sure, I do enjoy building in NWN1 and I rather enjoy roleplaying. Perhaps I shall fiddle and see if I can get the Kraken chopped up and served to some unsuspecting people, not really sure.

For now, I shall move forward and fiddle, hacking areas and code together, so that my mind remains engaged, until something comes along that catches my eye in the PW arena.

Aeon, goodbye and thankyou for all the joy and tears.

Sporaxis

Compiling Errors Twice as fast!

An interesting week since my last post on the status of Aeon and awakening the Kraken or better known as Identifier List Full error. This error occurs when the number of functions in an #include exceed the compiling capabilities of the NWN game engine, resulting in an out of memory error. The system I have been integrating in Aeon is the Shayan Subrace Engine (SSE), which funny enough has nearly 400 functions in one include (made up of other includes). When added to a mature world well it crashes out the tool set in a rather dramatic way with the memory error.

Now I better digress a bit on this and share the joy I currently have in having built myself a new PC, to build, game and do a lot of photographic processing, photography being my new hobby. The specs of the machine were put together by one of my best mates BarryTheHatchet for his own machine and after some research I ran with what he had.

• Intel I7 8608GB Ram, generic stuff but not over clocking
• 2 x 1TB WD Caviar Black Drives
• ASUS P57pP55-DE motherboard (sweetness in a board and it glows blue too)
• Generic ATI 5770 PCI Express Graphics card
• Blue Ray Reader/DVD burner
• Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit OEM
• Antek case and 650W power supply

So what does this all mean in regards to NWN, no much except that now I can get the out of memory error twice as fast and with a nice eerie blue light emanating from the case.

OK enough with the digression about my crashing my machine rapidly instead of slowly. The solution according to one of the designers of SSE is to "Be a high end oracle/unix person, recompile the code replaying constants and integers with Macros and"... Well ummm Iwish but I crossed checked my resume and realised I am a geologist working for an Oil Company in Risk management and the closest I come to UNIX is when I audit someone.

Not giving up easy and overwhelmed by the response, I decided to just break up the mega include, which funny enough works, until that is it wants to touch nw_i0_spells and apps_include, former bioware spells and the latter is part of the Fast French data base system. Screw with either and well the Kraken awakes, wraps my machine, glowing with a nice blue light, in it's code based tentacles and sucks it down into the deep ocean.

So I am at an impasse and being a stubborn person I am not willing to give up, especially when I can sense that I am close to turning the Kraken into Squid Rings, big ones though.

Right, time to go get a harpoon and go hunting!

Release the Kraken

Been a while, well a long while, since I last posted in my blog. So much has changed and evolved in my life that the passion I felt for building had slipped away and real life took it's rightful place. NWN2 and the subsequent let down of Dragon Age occupied me for a moment, for that moment I was truly excited, then I realised that the magic I felt building in NWN was not there.

I have turned my back on these pale shadows of multiplayer worlds and returned to my joy of NWN. Yes the graphics are dated now and the players are slowly fading away but there is something true and pure about building in it.

I have been working part time on my PW Aeon and adding content and enriching the world as I go. At times I respond to user needs and spend many thankless hours working on content for them, mostly content that is not used. Now I am more focussed on my needs and find that building stuff in NWN that makes me happy is the way to go and seems to also get implemented so much faster in Aeon.

My Current Joy in NWN is adding Shayans Subrace Engine (SSE) so that I can have all the various races present in Aeon and then I can build legacies on top of them with all the plusses and negatives of a race/legacy. The joy does fade a bit when I realise that choices made in building Aeon aroudn the scripting side have created a some form of a slumbering beast in the code. This Kraken is in the include statements and having too many of them called at once. Adding in SSE was like Hades in "Clash of the Titans" releasing the Kraken, a monster from deep and one hard to quell.
Still this is a joy and I dream about vanquishing the mutiple include error mesages through trial and error and perhaps I shall succeed

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battering upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
by Lord Alfred Tennyson

NWN1 - Visual effects on placeables

It has been a while since I last posted, mainly due to life catching up and becoming a priority for me. You only get one chance at living and interacting with those you love around you, so when they need you stop what you are doing and be with them.

So with that short spiel said, I should step off my soap box and start writing about what the subject of this post is, Visual Effects on Placeables.

A long time ago I read a thread on Bioware forums about applying visual effects to placeables. I can't recall the author, however they laid out the basics for applying effects and thoughts on how to apply them. I must admit after having a look at what you could do with effects I was rather excited.

Applying a visual effect to a placeable, means you are no longer bound by the texture that is set to that placeable. Instead you can choose a Duration type effect from the visualeffects.2da and reskin your object ingame.

I took the basics from the bioware thread and then customised them to be set on enter to an area, using variables to determine if effects were on, and which objects to apply them to. Nothing really exciting in that department, but the results have blown me away.

I was able to make objects of ice, or crystal, blue gems or more importantly reskin objects with Stoneskin and Greater Stoneskin. This means all the bolders, stones and rocks on the tolset, could finally look the same. Some images below of a Henge that I decided to make, based on some comments in the Mystara Dev forums.

This is an image of the basic placebale, viewable in the toolset, hence the red grid and nothing exciting. Due to effects being applied in game, you need to work with the visualeffects.2da and identify an effects that you want to apply. I like to use the glow effects on stones, as they become crystal, or stone on objects that really need to be stone. The stone in the center has the Ghostly Pulse effect, meaning it fades in an out of view. The stones around the center stone, have been reskinned to a basic stone skin. The capped stones, have a Grey Glow applied to them, so that they shine in the dark and are semi transparent.

Following images capture what these reskinned objects look like in game, one the effects apply.

If people are interested, I can put up the code for apply the effects, but if not, well there is no point. I find the application of the effects rather fun and easy to do.

Reference - row_inc_functions - Rowell's PW Functions

Reference to functions called in Rowell's PW Toolkit.

row_inc_functions

GLOBAL FUNCTIONS

GetCDKeyID(object oPC)
Returns the Database Record ID of the CDKey for the Playerint

GetPlayerID(object oPC)
Returns the Database Record ID of the Playerint

GetCharacterID(object oPC)
Returns the Database Record ID of the Characterint

GetItemID(object oItem)
Returns the Database Record ID of the Itemint

GetItemOwner(object oItem)
Passes the Database Character ID of the Owner of the Itemint

GetIsPlayerDM(object oPC)
Returns from the Database whether or not this Player Account belongs to a Server DMint

FormatID(int iID)
Returns a (gIDsize) character string based on the integer passed, with leading zeros// Example: 159 is converted to "00000159"

GetRace(object oPC)
Returns the String Value of the Race of the Objectstring

GetRaceSub(object oPC)
Returns the String Value of the Sub Race of the Objectstring

Get PCGender(object oPC)
Returns the String Value of the Gender of the Objectstring

GetAlignment(object oPC)
Returns the String Value of the Alignment of the Objectstring

GetClass(int iPos, object oPC)
Returns the String Value of the Class of the Object, given the position (1-3)

GetLevel(object oPC)
Returns the true level of the object, combining the levels of up to all 3 classes

GetGameDate()
Returns the Current Game Date in the string form of "YYYYMMDD"

GetGameDate()
Returns the Current Game Date and Time in the string form of "YYYYMMDDHHMM"

StringZero(int iNum, int iSize)
Given a number (iNum), converts it to a String and adds leading zeros to make the string iSize long
Example: StringZero(10,5) would return "00010"

GetItemTag(object oItem)
Given an Item Object, returns the Tag of the Item. If the Database Item Tracking Setting is turned on, the function will return the True Tag (not the modified DB Tag).

GetTrackedItemPossessedBy(object oPC, string sTag);
This function returns the object in the Character's (oPC) inventory, given a particular Tag (sTag). This function should be used when Item Tracking is Enabled (gEnableItemTracking = TRUE) in the place of the GetItemPossessedBy() function. Otherwise, this Function acts exactly like the built-in GetItemPossessedBy(object oPC, string sTag)

Row_ModuleStart()
Use in the Module's OnModuleStart Event

Row_ModuleEnter(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Modules's OnClientEnter Event

Function Comments

• GATHER THE EVENT TRIGGERING OBJECT IF IT IS NOT PASSED
• ABORT IF THE OBJECT IS NOT A PLAYER OR DM
• DEBUG CODE
• ABORT IF THERE IS NO DATABASE ACCESS
• STORE THE PLAYER'S DATABASE VALUES ONTO THE PLAYER OBJECT
• iPID = GetPlayerID(oPC);
• iCID = GetCharacterID(oPC);
• iIsDM = GetIsPlayerDM(oPC);
• UPDATE THE PLAYER'S TIME STATISTICS
• UPDATE THE CHARACTER'S TIME STATISTICS
• UPDATE THE IP ADDRESS TABLE
• INITALIZE THE PLAYER'S CHARACTER ONLINE STATUS
• SISPLAY LOGIN TO DM'S AND TO LOG FILECHECK IF THE USER IS BANNED
• CHECK IF THE USER IS SIGNED ON AS A DM, BUT THEIR PLAYER ACCOUNT IS NOT DMACTIVE (EXTRA SECURITY AGAINST FAKE DM'S / HACKERS)
• SET THE PLAYER FLAG THAT THEY ARE ONLINE TO TRUE

Row_ModulePlayerLoaded(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Module's OnPlayerLoaded Event

Function Comments

• DEBUG CODE
• GATHER THE EVENT TRIGGERING OBJECT IF IT IS NOT PASSED
• ABORT IF THE OBJECT IS NOT A PLAYER OR DM
• ABORT IF THE PLAYER IS NOT READY TO BE TELEPORTED YET
• STORE THE PLAYER'S DATABASE VALUES ONTO THE PLAYER OBJECT
• ABORT IF THE PLAYER IS LOGGING BACK ON (BEFORE THE SERVER WAS RESET)
• CHECK / SET THE CHARACTER'S HIT POINTS
• IF THE CHARACTER IS DEAD IN THE DATABASE, MAKE THE CHARACTER DEAD
• SET FEATS / SPELLS TO NO USES LEFT
• JUMP THE CHARACTER TO THE LAST SAVED LOCATION

Row_ModuleExit(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Module's OnClientExit Event Function Comments

Function Comments

• GATHER THE EVENT TRIGGERING OBJECT IF IT IS NOT PASSED
• ABORT IF THE OBJECT IS NOT A PLAYER OR DM
• DEBUG CODE
• SET THE PLAYER FLAG THAT THEY ARE ONLINE TO TRUE
• SET THE CHARACTER'S CURRENT HIT POINTS
• SET THE CHARACTER'S DEATH STATUS
• UPDATE TIME SPENT ONLINE
• UPDATE THE CHARACTER TIME STATISTICS
• SET THE PLAYER/CHARACTER AS OFFLINE

Row_AreaEnter(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in all Areas' OnEnter Event

Row_AreaExit(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in all Areas' OnExit Event

Row_PlayerUpdate(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use to store the Character information from the object (oPC) into the Database

Row_PlayerRest(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Module's OnPlayerRest

Row_PlayerDead(object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID, object oNPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Module's OnPlayerDeath Script

Row_PlayerRaise(int bPortToBind, object oPC=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Module's OnPlayerRespawn Script with bPortToBind set to TRUE
Use in Raise Dead and Ressurrect Spells Scripts, with bPortToBind set to FALSE

Row_AddToLootTable(object oItem)
Use to add an item to the Database, to catalog the items drop, and how many times each item has dropped in the game.

Row_ItemCreate(string strResRef, sting strTag="", object oOwner=OBJECT_INVALID)
Used internally and should not be used.

Row_ItemGain(object oItem=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Module's OnAcquire

Row_ItemLose(object oItem=OBJECT_INVALID)
Use in the Module's OnUnacquire Script

GetNPCID(object oNPC);
Returns the NPC ID for the given NPC (oNPC)

IncreaseNPCkills(object oNPC);
Increases the Total Number of Kills that an NPC type has inflicted upon Player

IncreaseNPCdeaths(object oNPC);
Increases the Total Number of Deaths that the NPC type has suffered.

Row_ResetCharacter(object oPC);
Used to set the character's (oPC) Feats and Spells to all used. This stops people from logging off and back on to get all their spells back.

Row_DiscoverLocation(object oPC, object oPlace=OBJECT_SELF);
Used to reward the character (oPC) when they step into a trigger (oPlace) and discover a new location.

RemoveEffects(object oPC)
Use to remove all negative affects from a character. This function is a direct copy from the NWN script in nw_i0_plot

Prefabia Restarted - #8

The night is late but I feel a sense of renewed excitement when working within the NWN toolset. The loss of my previous work, left ashes in my mouth and a sense of futility at ever producing a module in NWN2. With time I have found the loss has turned into a win, much like the regrowth of plants through the ashes of a proceeding fire.

My module slate is clean and so this time I have focussed on getting the core systems and haks installed and working. MYSQL and NWNX4 1.08 is installed and persistance is working as it should, and after some poking around under the hood I actually understand it a lot better than before.

I took them time to install BTH's Module Testing Toolkit, an excellent piece of work if you want to debug a module using nothing more than a slick UI. I seriously recommend this to anyone who is building or is considering building. Highly configuraable and easy to use, just ensure you read the documentation.

DMFI has crept into the module as well and seems to compile without issue. I am still working out the DMFI component as I am unsure if it comes with languages like NWN1 DMFI or not. Still to be discovered I suppose, ahh the joy of building.


Some excellent content I added as well seeing as I really like it and have been discussing these packs with BTH for a while now. It is fantastic to see him release some awesome content and if you are curious you can always have a look at his blog to get a feel for what he is working on.

• BTH Weapons Pack
• BTH Shield Pack

So that wraps up my little update and looking at the clock, I reckon it is time I hit the sack. Before I shoot off I noted Relexx, one of the orginal Aeon NWN1 PW leadership team, has started to host a NWN1 PW called Cocoon. You can find it under Multiplayer - Role Play. As soon as I get a chance, I will have to head on over and have a run around, though it is currently alpha and prone to changes on a daily basis.

NWN2 - 1.13 1409 Plugins Rebuilt

A small update but one I hope is useful to the community, on the assumption that anyone visits here. I spent about 5 minutes tonight updating the plugins for REPLUG to 1409 in Visual Studio C# 2008.

Updated to 1.13 1409

• TreeCutter
• M4C Land & Tree Generator
• WeatherChanger
• Resizer / Resizer_NP
• ConversationEditor (only plugin)
• TempCleaner
• HotKeyPlugin
• Align&Distribute
• AreaCameraASDW
• ToolsetUIEnhancer

You can grab the updated dlls here, though bear in mind I only updated them, I don't support or debug.

Tani no longer supports though she was good enough to ensure the source code was available. You can visit this vault page if you are after the source or to review her comments and instructions.

The Tree Randomiser plugin by Aokis (No Longer supported), can be found here. This plugin allows the builder to randomise trees, via different seeds and alter the X,Y & Z scales.