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Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 8th, 2014, 3:57 pm
by SpottedShroom
IJBall wrote: (Unless the Editor ends up being powerful enough to allow us to 'switch out' and put entirely new Mobs into that entities spreadsheet data file with relative ease...)
MyGameCompany wrote:1) ability to create your own book/scroll items with your own text on them
2) ability to create your own friendly NPCs, complete with dialogue trees, merchant, and trainer abilities
3) ability to create your own quests (add them to the journal, set up completion/win conditions, etc.
The key to supporting all of these feature isn't a better editor, it's mod support in the Book III engine. BW's talked about adding a "load/unload mod" option to the main menu. I would expect that to work by letting us supply our own files as though they were in the datapak. Then we would be able to add NPCs/dialog, new quests, new enemies, new items, new sounds/music, etc. The only things we wouldn't be able to add are things that are hard-coded in the engine, like spells and skills.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 8th, 2014, 4:48 pm
by MyGameCompany
Right. I wasn't suggesting the unsupported editor should be modified for this. As a former game dev myself, I completely understand the need for mod support to be built into the game engine. I was just listing the features that I would find useful, for the record.

By the way, I noticed in the graphics there is a pedestal with a crux on it and a pedestal without. Is there a script that would convert an object from using one graphic to using another? (It would be nice if I put a gem or crux on the pedestal for it to be displayed, or vice versa (if I took a gem/crux from the pedestal to not show it anymore).

The closest thing I found was convert_tile, but it looks like that only changes the type not the graphic itself.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 9th, 2014, 5:45 pm
by raverdave2k
MyGameCompany wrote: By the way, I noticed in the graphics there is a pedestal with a crux on it and a pedestal without. Is there a script that would convert an object from using one graphic to using another? (It would be nice if I put a gem or crux on the pedestal for it to be displayed, or vice versa (if I took a gem/crux from the pedestal to not show it anymore).
Looking at the script attached to that object when used in the Omentor Temple the changing of the graphic and spawning of the undead appears to be achieved using the command "special_event 8", I don't know if those special events are hard coded or if they are something we will be able to script in the official editor but it doesn't look like you can accomplish it using the current one.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 9th, 2014, 5:54 pm
by raverdave2k
I noticed earlier today, it looks as if the character editor is loading your max HP points and actually HP points into the wrong fields which means once you save the character your max HP is reset to however many points you happened to have at the time.
HP before loading in editor
HP before loading in editor
Before.jpg (6.27 KiB) Viewed 17201 times
Character loaded in editor
Character loaded in editor
InEditor.jpg (5.41 KiB) Viewed 17201 times
HP after saving in editor
HP after saving in editor
After.jpg (7.36 KiB) Viewed 17201 times

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 9th, 2014, 8:42 pm
by SpottedShroom
raverdave2k wrote: Looking at the script attached to that object when used in the Omentor Temple the changing of the graphic and spawning of the undead appears to be achieved using the command "special_event 8", I don't know if those special events are hard coded or if they are something we will be able to script in the official editor but it doesn't look like you can accomplish it using the current one.
Special events are little bits of hard-coded goodness. The one in Omentor probably spawns the undead, closes some gates, and shows the message about not taking their gem. Not sure why it couldn't have been written without a special event, honestly. Here's my best guess at what the special events in Book III are:

1. Baptism in fire effect. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside Moonrise.
2. Opens the passage through the trees to Baizel's dungeon. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside its home map.
3. Unused. Makes mouse cursor disappear
4. Unused. Sleep in your own bed from Book II
5. Destroys the clam container after taking Crux of Terra. Not sure how it's called, though.
6. Runs after talking to Erubor when leaving Akadai underground, unknown effect
7. Ulgolek gives you a branch
8. Undead spawn when you take the crystal in Omentor. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside its home map.
9. Creates/removes path through the lava in Omentor. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside its home map.
10. Drink sparkling divinity
11. Explosion when you kill Baelgar in Moonrise Underground. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside its home map.
12. Sets the random combination for the Wizardtorium the first time you enter the Oceana Lowlands map. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside its home map.
13. Shows Karamiklan animation
14. Lucky's gambling mini-game
15. Daedrotha death trap - 100 damage explosion
16. Karamiklan breathes fire. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside its home map.
17. Lets you pick a side in the final battle. Depending on your choice, teleports you to a location and spawns final battle NPCs. Happens at specific coordinates, so difficult to use outside its home map.
18. Xaphus killed, show Malkur win graphic if you sided with him
19. Malgaelor killed, show Erubor win graphic if you sided with him
20. Show dialog between Karamiklan, Malkur, and Erubor. Afterward, main display goes blank.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 9th, 2014, 11:08 pm
by SpottedShroom
raverdave2k wrote:I noticed earlier today, it looks as if the character editor is loading your max HP points and actually HP points into the wrong fields which means once you save the character your max HP is reset to however many points you happened to have at the time.
There's something going on with HP, but it's a little more complex than this. In many cases, the programmed behavior is correct, but evidently sometimes the values become reversed? And if you think that's confusing, sometimes one of the values has a static amount added to it, which I saw in my 704-HP character.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 10th, 2014, 6:44 pm
by SpottedShroom
FYI, I've just written (and xolotl has posted) a guide to Book III scripting.

http://apocalyptech.com/eschalon/b3scripting.php

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 10th, 2014, 9:42 pm
by MyGameCompany
SpottedShroom wrote:FYI, I've just written (and xolotl has posted) a guide to Book III scripting.

http://apocalyptech.com/eschalon/b3scripting.php
Great work! Much appreciated!

One thing I discovered is that the "Sparkles" graphic effect isn't recognized in Book 3. So you might want to remove that one from the list.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 11th, 2014, 1:27 am
by SpottedShroom
MyGameCompany wrote: One thing I discovered is that the "Sparkles" graphic effect isn't recognized in Book 3. So you might want to remove that one from the list.
Still looks okay to me. I just did a big gfx update including animated gifs which should show up on the site tomorrow.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 11th, 2014, 1:09 pm
by SpottedShroom
SpottedShroom wrote: Still looks okay to me. I just did a big gfx update including animated gifs which should show up on the site tomorrow.
Here it is: http://apocalyptech.com/eschalon/b3scripting.php

The animations came out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 11th, 2014, 2:49 pm
by IJBall
SpottedShroom wrote:
SpottedShroom wrote: Still looks okay to me. I just did a big gfx update including animated gifs which should show up on the site tomorrow.
Here it is: http://apocalyptech.com/eschalon/b3scripting.php

The animations came out pretty well, if I do say so myself!
I think you got the "Flare" and "Flare Burst" animations reversed... :P :lol: :wink:

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 11th, 2014, 3:23 pm
by SpottedShroom
IJBall wrote: I think you got the "Flare" and "Flare Burst" animations reversed... :P :lol: :wink:
No, I just double checked and those are correct. If anybody got them backwards, it's BW!

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 11th, 2014, 6:53 pm
by MyGameCompany
SpottedShroom wrote:
MyGameCompany wrote: One thing I discovered is that the "Sparkles" graphic effect isn't recognized in Book 3. So you might want to remove that one from the list.
Still looks okay to me. I just did a big gfx update including animated gifs which should show up on the site tomorrow.
Hm... maybe I mispelled it or something. I'll have to try it again.

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 11th, 2014, 7:02 pm
by Oldhunter
Anybody having trouble with the character editor? Like once you save and then go to close the application it says "You have unsaved game files. Do you want to save?" If you click YES, the whole thing then closes and you can't open the saved game. Is it my Windows Vista or maybe my aggresive Norton that doesn't like trainers or character editors?

Re: Book III Character and Map Editor

Posted: March 11th, 2014, 7:34 pm
by MyGameCompany
I found another object type that is missing: #23, for the red ceramic pots that can only be opened by blowing them up.