Near Infinity Creature Creation.

[Demtrek]

So I am attempting to modify my Mega Mod installation. The problem I am having is with these awesome mods I am finding awesome items and weapons...which is making the game way too easy.

 

So for example a simple Gibberling being encountered in the Cloud Peaks when Im running around with the Sword of Death is laughable.

 

With Near Infinity I see I can "Add a copy of" of the Gibberling and save it under a different script name, and it goes into the override folder, which I am assuming I can then just open the Cloud Peaks, go to the spawn script and change "gibber.cre" to "mynew.cre".

 

However I dont want them to have the same Name showing in the game. But when I try to edit it, I get a warning to save the text file.

 

Are these the correct steps to create a new creature.

 

1-Open the CRE file.

2- Find a creature that is similar.

3- Right click the name and click "add a copy of"

4- Make a new 7 letter script name.

5- Edit my disired changes.

6- Save. Automatically saves in "Override Folder".

7- Open "Override Folder", and find my new creature.

8- Right click to edit, and click the actual edit tab.

9- Click the name space, in this example it says "Gibberling".

10- Box opens at bottom of screen with the word "Gibberling"

11- Hit Edit.

12- Tells me to back up my Text.file

13- Change Gibberling to Super Gibberling.

14- Do I need to create a new "StringRef"?

 

If so what number? Do I just find out what the last number in use is and add one and use that?

[Roxanne]

14- Do I need to create a new "StringRef"?

Yes.

Do everything until 10

At the bottom below the text box, hit *Add*

Create a new entry with your name - you will see the new stringref displayed in the box that opens.

Save your new entry

Now do 11

Change the current string to your new string - hit update value - Do the same for the name in tooltop - save the cre.

 

Of course all of that will be lost when you re-install the game.

 

(PS - Make a backup of dialogue.tlk first - really - because if anything goes wrong with the editing, you made your current install unusable - and nobody can help you since this file is different in any single installation, at least for any modded version.)

[Demtrek]

 

14- Do I need to create a new "StringRef"?

Yes.

Do everything until 10

At the bottom below the text box, hit *Add*

Create a new entry with your name - you will see the new stringref displayed in the box that opens.

Save your new entry

Now do 11

Change the current string to your new string - hit update value - Do the same for the name in tooltop - save the cre.

 

Of course all of that will be lost when you re-install the game.

 

(PS - Make a backup of dialogue.tlk first - really - because if anything goes wrong with the editing, you made your current install unusable - and nobody can help you since this file is different in any single installation, at least for any modded version.)

 

Hey thanks a lot.

 

Two things.

 

You say all will be lost. There is a mass export option in NI. Cant I just export the override folder and re-add it to a new instalation loaded up in NI?

 

After I change the name (string) to my new one, and then I hit "update value", that will automatically pick a unused new string number?

[Roxanne]

You say all will be lost. There is a mass export option in NI. Cant I just export the override folder and re-add it to a new instalation loaded up in NI?

If you want to re-use your changes in a new game, you should consider to create yourself a mini-Weidu mod.

A) the changes you have in mind are done easier than to go through all of it with NI.

B) you can re-install it in a sensible way on any new installation.

 

(Not sure about that mass export, something you could ask on the NI forum.)

 

 

After I change the name (string) to my new one, and then I hit "update value", that will automatically pick a unused new string number?

First you create a new string like I described.

Then you put that new string number into the box that displays the string of the current name - you hit update - you see the text box update to the new name - you save.

You go to the tooltip name line and repeat the operation. Your cre is re.named.

[Demtrek]

Ahh, ok, now I get it. Thanks alot. Im not a modder, so I dont think I could learn how to do something like that. Im more of a modifier. But I like to micro modify. I plan on going through all the random encounters in the outdoor areas and some of the dungeon and totally adding a mass amount of diversity.

 

I think the current random encounter mod Im using, used something like what you are talking about, because what spawns is a number of similair creatures that look robotic. 4 Hobgoblin Captains, 2 Hob archers, 2 Hob Wizzards......something like that I would change to 1 Captain, 2 Archers, 1 or 2 trained beasts, 1 wizzard, 1 cleric......looking at the script I see what spawns is level, night/day, and number in party dependant, so I was planning on changing all of them, each one different and unique.

 

Using all races and mixing in stuff like mercenary ogres, giants....ect , then also throwing in some wierd stuff like a young dragon out hunting or some wierd cult looking for a sacrifice. I figure by the time I actually get done...a few months...I'll have something I wont remember what I did, and every game I can wonder around encountering a few 1000 things that will throw me some loops. Otherside of that is getting rid of low level stuff showing up in the mid level range. BoneHill for example. Encounters seem the toughest part of that entire mod, the rest is a push over for a 3rd level party so replacing lone level 1 hobgoblins with smaller groups or 2-4th level for example would do just fine.

 

I think all I have to do after creating the monsters is go into the encounter scripts and just change the script name of the actual creature and the new one will show up when I trigger the script in game....or add/remove identical script lines to the script to add more or less monsters..

 

Typing all this out in case there is any warning advice or tips you or anyone else may have.

[Roxanne]

Sounds a bit like what i did before I started to mod the game. This was when I found that all my efforts were lost forever when overwriting my own changes I had forgotten about having done earlier. And then one day I had to re-install my game and all was gone.

That is when I decided to learn a bit of how to preserve those changes and re-use them.

 

So as a minimum you could

- export and save those creatures you have changed

- export and save the scripts you changed

If you ever want to re-use some of your work you can later learn about how to get these things into a new game with a simple weidu-install, but you will have already some *raw* material and do not need to start from scratch.

[Mike1072]

Ahh, ok, now I get it. Thanks alot. Im not a modder, so I dont think I could learn how to do something like that. Im more of a modifier. But I like to micro modify. I plan on going through all the random encounters in the outdoor areas and some of the dungeon and totally adding a mass amount of diversity.

That sounds suspiciously like modding.

 

Typing all this out in case there is any warning advice or tips you or anyone else may have.

Learning to use WeiDU to copy over the files and assign new text will be immensely helpful, even if you do all the other work in Near Infinity.

 

It lets you quickly uninstall and reinstall your work, which can be very helpful when you need to fix a bug. Plus, it provides a permanent record of your changes that you can distribute if you ever need to.

 

Without WeiDU, all of your modifications are locked into your current game. They can't easily be extracted and if anything goes wrong, they could be lost permanently.

[Demtrek]

Ok Roxanne and Mike, ya talked me into it.

 

Kinda also thinking about my current modifications. After I create a new creature it saves in the override folder. I then exported them, thinking I could import them into some sort of creature folder....well I cant find a import option in Near Infinity, So I went looking in the actual installs and only found a BIF.file in the "data" folder named "creature". When I opened that with msword, it took like 3 mins to open and was a huge mess of code.

 

Will WeiDU install these creatures there? So they show up in the Near Infinaty "cre" list, instead of the "override" list?

 

http://www.weidu.org/~thebigg/README-WeiDU.html Browsing through this I see alot to ad text and NPC's but not CRE, probably just missed it, alot of what I was reading is a bit overwhelming. I have lots of time to learn however, just making the modifications to every random encounter and creature will take me many months.

[Roxanne]

You can export your modified cre files from the game. The *import* of cre's into the game is done via weidu commands, there is no direct import function in NI. You can *import* files from another game on your computer into the current one - but this is not recommended, since all their references will be wrong.

 

For a start

- create yourself a folder *nameofmyprivatemod" somewhere on your PC.

- Create a subfolder *creatures* into which you export your modified cre-files.

- Create a subfolder *scripts* where you store your script modifications. >>> you can either store whole scripts or just the changes you make to existing scripts. In any case, copy the code from the bcs file in NI and put it into a text file (individual file for each script) and name them Onebaf.BAF, Twobaf.BAF (or whatever name, 8 characters or less).

- also in the *nameofmyprivatemod" folder create a new text file nameofmyprivatemod.tp2 (This file will contain all the Weidu commands to install your stuff into a game, i.e. a mini-mod.

 

In the tp2, there are some basic headers you need to set and then the actions you want it to perform. Example

 

BACKUP ~nameofmyprivatemod/backup~
AUTHOR ~demtrek~

VERSION ~01~

BEGIN ~Import custom creatures~ //This is the first component of your mod, you may add others later if you wish.

 

COPY ~nameofmyprivatemod/Creatures/Creature1.cre~ ~Override~
SAY NAME1 ~New Troll~
SAY NAME2 ~New Troll~ /*This copies the first creature from your folder into override and gives it a name that is stored in the dialog.tlk file of the game - the name is what you see in all text references to this creature.*/

WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~Onebaf~ #8 /*This is optional if you like to replace the override script with your own script.

 

You go on like that with other cre's like that

 

For your scripts, you have two options.

 

For a complete script

 

COMPILE ~nameofmyprivatemod/Scripts/Onebaf.BAF~ //This will create a new BCS called Onescript

 

Or add to partial code to an existing script

 

EXTEND_TOP ~Exist.bcs~ ~nameofmyprivatemod/Scripts/Onebaf.BAF~ //puts your contents in onebaf to the top of Exist.bcs

EXTEND_BOTTOM ......//same for putting stuff to the end of a file

 

....and there a thousands of options of WEIDU you can find here http://www.weidu.org/~thebigg/README-WeiDU.html#hevea_default444

 

_________________________

To put your *mod* to the game you now need another file.

Make a copy of Weidu.exe or of any other Setup-xxxxx.exe in your game folder. Rename the file to Setup-nameofmyprivatemod.exe.

Put this file and your mod folder into you baldur game folder and start the exe. It will work like all the mods you installed before.

 

NOTE - This is intended for a *mod' to store your local modifications, not for one to be published (overriding files this way in other people's games can easily make it incompatible with other mods in that game,)

[Demtrek]

 

BACKUP ~nameofmyprivatemod/backup~

AUTHOR ~demtrek~

 

VERSION ~01~

 

BEGIN ~Import custom creatures~ //This is the first component of your mod, you may add others later if you wish.

 

COPY ~nameofmyprivatemod/Creatures/Creature1.cre~ ~Override~

SAY NAME1 ~New Troll~

SAY NAME2 ~New Troll~ /*This copies the first creature from your folder into override and gives it a name that is stored in the dialog.tlk file of the game - the name is what you see in all text references to this creature.*/

WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~Onebaf~ #8 /*This is optional if you like to replace the override script with your own script.

 

You're awesome. That actually made sense after reading more on Weidu. Thanks for taking the time to type that out like that.

 

But......

Here is what I am understanding. Lets say we have..

Hobgob_1A

Hobgob_2A

 

Hobgob_1A - I just want to beef up using NI. So I change HP and AC, ect....and if I just save it, it will continue to show up in the CRE section of NI.

Hobgob_2A - I want to keep a original, but I also want to "create a copy" using NI. I change the copy the way I want and save it as Hobgob_3A, it saves in the override and now shows up in NI under Override not CRE.

 

So now, lets say, Im finnished with all the creature modifications and I have them in two different folders CRE and Override. So I export all 13,000 from the CRE section and 500 or so from the Override section into the "creature folder" you said to make in your instructions. ( Im assuming I have to sort through the Override section and somehow filter non-cre files out). Now I make the Weidu mod and use it to import/install all these new creatures.

 

So at this point all 13,500 will only show in the "Override" section? Or will using Weidu allow me to overwite same named creatures in the CRE.bif and also add new named creatures?

[Roxanne]

 

 

BACKUP ~nameofmyprivatemod/backup~

AUTHOR ~demtrek~

 

VERSION ~01~

 

BEGIN ~Import custom creatures~ //This is the first component of your mod, you may add others later if you wish.

 

COPY ~nameofmyprivatemod/Creatures/Creature1.cre~ ~Override~

SAY NAME1 ~New Troll~

SAY NAME2 ~New Troll~ /*This copies the first creature from your folder into override and gives it a name that is stored in the dialog.tlk file of the game - the name is what you see in all text references to this creature.*/

WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~Onebaf~ #8 /*This is optional if you like to replace the override script with your own script.

 

You're awesome. That actually made sense after reading more on Weidu. Thanks for taking the time to type that out like that.

 

But......

Here is what I am understanding. Lets say we have..

Hobgob_1A

Hobgob_2A

 

Hobgob_1A - I just want to beef up using NI. So I change HP and AC, ect....and if I just save it, it will continue to show up in the CRE section of NI.

Hobgob_2A - I want to keep a original, but I also want to "create a copy" using NI. I change the copy the way I want and save it as Hobgob_3A, it saves in the override and now shows up in NI under Override not CRE.

 

So now, lets say, Im finnished with all the creature modifications and I have them in two different folders CRE and Override. So I export all 13,000 from the CRE section and 500 or so from the Override section into the "creature folder" you said to make in your instructions. ( Im assuming I have to sort through the Override section and somehow filter non-cre files out). Now I make the Weidu mod and use it to import/install all these new creatures.

 

So at this point all 13,500 will only show in the "Override" section? Or will using Weidu allow me to overwite same named creatures in the CRE.bif and also add new named creatures?

 

1) There is an option in NI to show all creatures in their category instead of cre vs, override. Where NI shows them is not relevant for your task at all. (Options >>> Show Override Files >>> In ? folders)

 

2) Why would you export 13.000 creatures? Only those that you modified.

 

3) Example Hobgob_1A, the one you want to beef up

With Weidu in your tp2

 

COPY_EXISTING ~Hobgob_1A.cre~ ~override~

WRITE_BYTE 0x24 50 //Sets current hp to 50 or any value you want

WRITE_BYTE 0x26 50 //Sets max hp to 50 or any value you want

WRITE_BYTE 0x48 8 //Set AC to 8

 

That is all (see remark 5 below why it is good to do itn this way)

 

4) For the other example, you can use one of these methods (depending on the amount of change you want to do and whether you only change stats or maybe also equipment or spells).

 

a) make a copy with NI - change all the values you want, save and export to your mod/creatures folder

 

In tp2 you use:

 

COPY ~nameofmyprivatemod/Creatures/Hobgob_3A,cre~ ~Override~

SAY NAME1 ~Hobgoblin~

SAY NAME2 ~Hobgoblin~

 

OR

b) use Weidu as in 3) but this time

 

COPY_EXISTING ~Hobgob_2A.cre~ ~override/Hobgob_3A.cre~ /*This makes a copy of the original under the new name - the copy you now change to your liking just like in the other example*/

SAY NAME1 ~Hobgoblin~

SAY NAME2 ~Hobgoblin~

WRITE_BYTE 0x24 50 //Sets current hp to 50 or any value you want

WRITE_BYTE 0x26 50 //Sets max hp to 50 or any value you want

WRITE_BYTE 0x48 8 //Set AC to 8

 

5) Also keep in mind - If you do changes via mod + weidu, the installation you run makes a copy of all the files into your mod/backup folder before applying the changes. If you uninstall your mod again, the backup files are returned to the game. This way you can easily undo your stuff, eventually correct things that need change, then re-install the updated version.