Sunjammer’s TileMagic System by Sunjammer
Archives contain : sj_tilemagic_203.zip (main package) - 1 erf
sj_tilemagic_docs_cs_100.zip (cheat sheet) - 1 pdf
sj_tilemagic_docs_ig_100.zip (Installation Guide) - 1 pdf
sj_tilemagic_docs_tn_100.zip (Novice Tutorials) - 1 pdf
sj_tilemagic_vp_100.zip (Prefabs) - 2 erf
guides.zip (flash movie) - 1 html and 1 swf
Plug and play (prefabs but see below)
Tilemagic explained (poorly?) :
For those that don’t know tilemagic is an old method to create a particular group of visual effects. These visual effects give the illusion of being able to change the appearance of tiles to other tiles that are (usually) not part of the tileset that is in use by an area. To give an idea of what I am talking about see this -
So how old is tilemagic? It made its first appearance in “Hordes of the Underdark”, so if you’ve played HotU, you will have see it in action. There is a small article in the Lexicon (under Lyceum/Tutorial/Advanced Scripting/An Introduction To Tile Magic) written by Bioware’s Georg Zoeller. One thing to note is that with tilemagic you only get the visuals of the tile and not any effects associated with it. So, walking through tilemagic water does not create ripples and walking on lava does no damage.
Sunjammer’s TileMagic System :
The first thing you will notice is that the whole system comes split across 6 archives. My recommendation is to grab all of those that start “sj_tilemagic_*” if you decide to try it. I advise against getting “guides.zip” because of the format of the movie.
The main package is while primarily intended for scripters does come with 13 prefab placeables some of which I used in the above picture (hint that caravan is one of them). If you require more prefabs, you will also need sj_tilemagic_vp_100.zip. The 2 erf files contain 2 different types of prefab and both greatly expand on the number available. If you are scripting averse, the erf that you need is sj_tilemagic_vp1.erf as it contains a lot more placeables of the type I used in the above picture. Note that you will need to have already imported the main package first, before importing either of the sj_tilemagic_vp? erf files.
Given that there are 3 pdf documents, it follows that there is a lot to read here. In my opinion all 3 are essential and are reasonably well written.
Pro :
(for scripters) The ability to change the appearance of a tile(s) on the fly.
Large number of prefabs.
Comprehensive documentation.
Con :
Flash movie.
Package spread across 6 downloads.
Only the appearance is affected.
Conclusion :
Simple, give this a try. The prefabs (especially the AutoTile placeables) mean that even non-scripters can have these effects. For scripters there are a large number of dynamic effects that can be achieved.
Voted 10/10. Tested on EE.
Bonus links :
For those interested Sunjammer’s website is still live even though its last update was back in December 2010. If you use the sidebar and go to Neverwinter Nights/Systems/TileMagic/About, you will get a better explanation on TileMagic and this system’s history. Using the wayback machine it is also possible to view the original thread on this particular version of this system where you may find additional help in using it (hint it is read-only).
TR
) - go for it.