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Black Pits implementation


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2) PVRZ file format. The mobile game versions use a different, more compressed, PVRZ variant then the desktop versions. Someone (I think it was Argent77) made a conversion utility, and most mods that add new content can now be installed. But we can't just grab the EET PVRZ files and convert them, because a) there are tons of them; and b) they are all biffed, and thus not easily available to be identified and manually converted by an end-user.

adding option to convert pvrz to different format (if such tool is indeed available - where can I download it?) is trivial. Converted files could be available for download in correct format or made on the fly if Argent's tool is fast enough to use it like that.

 

 

I've just coded the WeiDU wrapper (see here). The actual encoding tool is part of the Imagination PowerVR SDK (and quite slow at encoding). IIRC the tool itself has also some issues on macOS (unless they have fixed it by now).

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3) UI. I got EET to start up on my iPad, and could select a campaign, before the it crashed upon starting gameplay presumably because the Candlekeep PVRZ file was in the wrong format. But the UI was all screwed up, some elements were not shown, some were only visible when interacted with, etc. I don't remember whether this might have been related to the PVRZ issue (are UI elements in that file format?) or because the iOS game has a set resolution... I think the main menu screens are rendered at 1024x768, whereas most UI mods I've seen, possibly including EET (I'm not sure) seem to assume the player has a 1080p or better display.

Yes, I think the UI was all screwed up mainly due to the wrong format.

As a matter of fact, I managed to successfully install a custom Record Screen, Inventory Screen plus some minor adjustments to the Journal (I'm talking about the mod "EEUI Tweaks") simply by converting the relevant PVRZ files in the appropriate format. The Screen Resolution of my iPad is 2048x1536.

Yes, I didn't install many things, but it does sound promising.....

Edited by Luke
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reviving this topic, it's time to implement this idea into separate mod (BP-in-EET, or whatever).

 

...

 

hey, i had an almost identical vision for how to do it mechanically http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29038&do=findComment&comment=257102

 

except: i think BP1 should take place at the start of SoD because:

 

1. it can replace the way you lose your gold in SoD which is crap. in any other case, there will be an increased number of times when you lose all your gold in the saga and that's undesirably repetitive.

2. in terms of balance, the difficulty of the fights in context of the surrounding content is right there, and nothing has to be changed, so the super lazy approach will suffice

 

 

 

BP2 should take place during this quest with it's content intelligently interpolated with the already-recycled elements (vanilla BG2EE already recycles BP2)

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making biffing optional is trivial. It's not like it's crucial for anything (it's there so that files that you're never going to edit don't show up in override)

Trivial for you :undecided: I briefly tried looking at the EET code, but it wasn't obvious to me how to prevent it without messing things up. Just the typical issue of looking at someone else's code... But yeah anyway, making this optional would be great. Most people wouldn't care about this so my suggestion would be to do so in a way that is the least effort for you and the least obtrusive for players.

 

adding option to convert pvrz to different format (if such tool is indeed available - where can I download it?) is trivial. Converted files could be available for download in correct format or made on the fly if Argent's tool is fast enough to use it like that.

Also cool. I don't think any mods are including this converter, and many content mods are no longer being updated, so for now players who need this are just doing it themselves, after the fact. Of course, that is fairly simple for mods that only add a few areas, but EET is at least an order of magnitude larger. One thought I had was, to minimize your effort, just have EET create a simple .2da list of all such PVRZ files. Then I could whip up a mod that could read that list and convert those files.

 

Another option I just thought of: allow EET to pull files from the mobile game folders instead of from a desktop SoD install. Those PVRZ files will already be in the correct format, so there shouldn't be any conversion necessary at all!

 

Except wait... I think the mobile version of SoD is a standalone game, rather than DLC for BGEE. (Is that the case? I haven't played it yet.) If that's the case, then I suppose it would be a lot more work for you to make SoD pull files from two separate games instead of just one... :(

 

 

3) UI.

if pvrz doesn't work then that's the problem here. EET uses pretty much vanilla GUI with just minor adjustments. Should be fixed if above stuff is implemented.

 

Cool! :)

 

In other words if you're interested in testing it I can prepare additional EET weidu flag for installations meant to be used on iOS and android.

I would love to test it. I can't really do substantial playtesting right now, but I could test whether it installs, whether the UI works, and whether each campaign starts up.

 

except: i think BP1 should take place at the start of SoD because:

 

1. it can replace the way you lose your gold in SoD which is crap. in any other case, there will be an increased number of times when you lose all your gold in the saga and that's undesirably repetitive.

2. in terms of balance, the difficulty of the fights in context of the surrounding content is right there, and nothing has to be changed, so the super lazy approach will suffice

Back on topic, that's a very interesting point. Makes good sense. And easy enough to set up an ambush/teleport from the undercity, while looking for an exit to the surface after beating Sarevok. In SoD, only need to remove that one conversation with the thieves.

 

To avoid EET-dependence ( ;) ) it could actually be a pure SoD mod, which actually starts you off in BP1 and only sends you to the SoD start after escaping the Pits.

 

Eh, clearly there are multiple ways to make it work...

Edited by subtledoctor
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except: i think BP1 should take place at the start of SoD because:

 

1. it can replace the way you lose your gold in SoD which is crap. in any other case, there will be an increased number of times when you lose all your gold in the saga and that's undesirably repetitive.

2. in terms of balance, the difficulty of the fights in context of the surrounding content is right there, and nothing has to be changed, so the super lazy approach will suffice

Back on topic, that's a very interesting point. Makes good sense. And easy enough to set up an ambush/teleport from the undercity, while looking for an exit to the surface after beating Sarevok. In SoD, only need to remove that one conversation with the thieves.

 

To avoid EET-dependence ( ;) ) it could actually be a pure SoD mod, which actually starts you off in BP1 and only sends you to the SoD start after escaping the Pits.

 

Eh, clearly there are multiple ways to make it work...

 

 

I still favour the option to do it during BG1 with a bit of a choice margin, but early SoD still feels more suitable than the underdark part of BG2. By that point many parties could (and will) have beaten two dragons, some liches, Kangaxx, and the Twisted Rune. Possibly also an entire beholder lair. The BP1 challenges and theme just don't seem very relevant against that backdrop.

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Just to make sure this stays forever convoluted and indecisive ( ;) ):

 

Yes that BG2 party in the Underdark will have done major quests and killed major enemies and acquired serioudly powerful items... BUT many of those accomplishments are achieved in large part due to using powerful items. The idea of being stripped of those crutches items and dropped to low level via slave rings actually sounds pretty fun and enticing.

 

Could just eliminate the quest XP after each battle and replace it with a version of the slave rings with less level drain. So you get progressively closer to your true power level as you go through the fights. That would be cool!

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Could just eliminate the quest XP after each battle and replace it with a version of the slave rings with less level drain. So you get progressively closer to your true power level as you go through the fights. That would be cool!

Yeah, but whose to say that the party is not 3 level 1 chars that you kill with the equipping of the rings ?
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Yeah, but whose to say that the party is not 3 level 1 chars that you kill with the equipping of the rings ?
LevelGT(O:Object*,I:Level*)
LevelPartyGT(I:Num*)
ClassLevelGT(O:Object*,I:Category*CLASSCAT,I:Value*)

-----------------------

 

Another option I just thought of: allow EET to pull files from the mobile game folders instead of from a desktop SoD install. Those PVRZ files will already be in the correct format, so there shouldn't be any conversion necessary at all!

are they packed somehow? Can weidu extract those files?

 

Except wait... I think the mobile version of SoD is a standalone game, rather than DLC for BGEE. (Is that the case? I haven't played it yet.) If that's the case, then I suppose it would be a lot more work for you to make SoD pull files from two separate games instead of just one... :(

not hard really. A matter of overwriting BG:EE files with SoD ones (that's what Beamdog does with DLC file in steam release)

 

In the meantime I will make biffing optional (-b weidu flag during installation) and copy all imported PVRZ files into separate directory and list them in text file to make testing Argent's tool easier.

Edited by K4thos
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IIRC the tool itself has also some issues on macOS (unless they have fixed it by now).

How can I check if this issue has been fixed on macOS? The latest version of your tool (i.e. v3.2) still has some issues on macOS.....

 

Only by installing the PowerVR SDK. You only need to install the PowerVR Tools > PVRTexTool part though. The tool binaries can be found in the "CLI" subfolder. Simply replace the tool version from the mod.

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Another option I just thought of: allow EET to pull files from the mobile game folders instead of from a desktop SoD install. Those PVRZ files will already be in the correct format, so there shouldn't be any conversion necessary at all!

are they packed somehow? Can weidu extract those files?

 

The iOS games are in .ipa format... anyone who is modding them knows to change them to .zip and extract the game folder from that .zip file. (Then you bundle up your modded /override and dialog.tlk and email them to your iPad.)

 

So the procedure for them would be:

1) Extract your BG2EE game folder. This is what we will be modding.

2) Extract your BGEE game folder.

3) Extract your SoD game folder.

4) Extract your IWDEE game folder (if installing IWD-in-EET).

5) Install EET, and when prompted, point it toward your extracted BGEE/SoD/IWDEE folders.

 

This way, the only PVRZ files that would need conversion afterward would be UI/menu stuff, and IWD2 files (if installing IWD-in-EET).

 

Theoretically, anyway.

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IIRC the tool itself has also some issues on macOS (unless they have fixed it by now).

How can I check if this issue has been fixed on macOS? The latest version of your tool (i.e. v3.2) still has some issues on macOS.....

 

Only by installing the PowerVR SDK. You only need to install the PowerVR Tools > PVRTexTool part though. The tool binaries can be found in the "CLI" subfolder. Simply replace the tool version from the mod.

 

Still no luck (I'm talking about 2018 Release 1)

 

I'd like to try it on a Linux VM. Could you provide me with instructions on how to install WeiDU mods on that system? If I am not mistaken, it's a real PITA :( ......

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I'd like to try it on a Linux VM. Could you provide me with instructions on how to install WeiDU mods on that system? If I am not mistaken, it's a real PITA :( ......

It's even more than that.

 

My experience with WeiDU on Linux is limited though. Afaik, you need to lowercase the whole game installation to make WeiDU usable. But that may cause trouble with EE games. To work around this limitation you can install the game on a case-insensitive filesystem. Many Linux users seem to use ciopfs for that. I have only tested it with games installed on a partition formatted by JFS with OS/2 compatibility mode (which disables case-sensitivity). Both options should work as long as the mod doesn't use paths that point to files in your case-sensitive filesystem.

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IIRC the tool itself has also some issues on macOS (unless they have fixed it by now).

I'd like to report this issue on their forum -----> What do you think I should include in the bug report (Will your WeiDU wrapper be enough)?

Edited by Luke
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IIRC the tool itself has also some issues on macOS (unless they have fixed it by now).

I'd like to report this issue on their forum -----> What do you think I should include in the bug report (Will your WeiDU wrapper be enough)?

 

I wouldn't include the WeiDU wrapper at all. It is just a convenience option to save you from running the tool at the command line directly. It's more likely they reject your bug report outright because it involves a second layer of execution.

 

You should prepare a simple repro case which involves a direct call of the tool. The general syntax as used by the WeiDU wrapper is this:

/path/to/PVRTexToolCLI -i "input_file.PVR" -o "output_file.PVR" -f PVRTC1_4,UBN,lRGB -potcanvas + -squarecanvas +

Replace "input_file.PVR" by the PVR file you have prepared to be converted. "output_file.PVR" is produced by the conversion process. The -f parameter defines the output format. The remaining parameters ensure that the resulting texture is always squared and a power of 2.

 

You can export PVRZ to a PVR file with NI (Export -> as PVR (uncompressed). You can also convert a PVR back into PVRZ with NI: Tools -> Convert -> Image to PVRZ. These steps are not needed for the repro case though.

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