Custom Content Challenge - January 2024 : Neverwinter Epic Laboratory

Neverwinter Nights 1 Custom Content
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Neverwinter Epic Laboratory

Who doesn’t love a fine laboratory ? Well: every Wizard, Necromancer or Alchemist would probably kill for one ! Add to the mix, advanced makers like chemists, astronomers, tinker gnomes or any mad scientist worth its salt… To build a good laboratory, we need a delicate blend between magic and science so… Let’s make fantasy science instruments, machines, regents, prototypes, laboratory glass of every kind, tubes, bottles, stills, crucibles, lab creatures (minions, guardians, failed biomagical experiments, golems, etc.). Of course, electric things are an entire subpart of this theme (think doc Frankeinstein lab) and what about some cool prefabs or scripts systems!

This theme was suggested by CaveGnome.

Guidelines:

  • It must be fully working in game.
  • Use of vanilla NWN or publicly available texture is fine. Just remember that NWN textures must have dimensions in powers of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.).
  • Teamwork is welcome.
  • Beginners most welcome. Don’t be afraid, just try, you’ll be surprised!
  • “Custom Content” includes many sorts of things: models, scripts, prefabs (areas, items, creatures, conversations, quests, etc.), sounds, portraits, or anything else new for the game.
  • All submissions must be finished, working, and emailed to nwvaultccchallenge@gmail.com (or a non-Vault link provided) by the first of the following month. Sooner than that is perfectly fine too. :wink:

Some things you could include in the download/email that would make packaging everything up easier and faster:

  • Any 2da lines needed.
  • Screenshot from in game for use on the Vault page. Formats: .bmp, .jpg, .png, or .tga
  • Portraits (if needed) of your new goody. Placeables and monsters should include a portrait.
  • Inventory icons (if needed) of your new goody.
  • Any credits you would like listed.
  • If this is your first entry, please tell me what name you would like your work listed under and provide a link to your other NWN content if you want that displayed as well (the link bit is totally optional).
  • Remember, the Challenge is all about fun, sharing, creativity, and surprise!

This thread is for all sorts of discussion about this month’s theme: ideas for things to make, questions/concerns, announcement of what you intend to make, screen-shots of work in progress and/or finished projects.

If you want to discuss the Monthly Custom Content Challenge idea as a whole or wish to submit ideas/themes for future monthly Challenges, please post in its thread here - Custom Content Challenge - Theme Suggestions.

When submitting a new theme, please provide a title and short summary of the theme.

If you have a technical question about some custom content creation, please create a separate thread so that the answers can be found later by anyone, not just people interested in this Challenge.

We’ll try to help!

Have no fear and join the fun!

And finally, you can:

Custom Content Challenge - Theme Suggestions.
Vote 4 for Febuary’s
Email content to: nwvaultccchallenge@gmail.com

TR

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January methinks… and 2024 :slight_smile:

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Apparently you missed the wrong year (now fixed) on the poll’s title… :innocent:

TR

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Wasn’t looking at the poll, just this one… Nice how you made that about me missing something :smirk:

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I took this cooking pot thingy from the original alchemists apparatus, tossed in some poly’s and stirred twice (counterclockwise, the direction of stirring is important). I got the thing on the right (animated placeable):
AlchemistsPot

The height needs to be adjusted …

Hopefully I can better up all those alchemists table objects a bit.

4 Likes
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Stirring direction is very important. I can relate, I am also very meticulous. I opened every table model in my hak and made every table surface sit at 0.9 height for consistency. And I see you have also discovered the power of the cylinder. Almost all my original parts and objects are cylinders (8-24 sides, never below 8 or above 24 because I’m cheap but not too cheap) but some are cubes.

3 Likes
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Here is it now, the first alchemist lab. I ripped it into single parts which can be used anywhere.
There is

  • The table: You won’t see much of a difference, but it’s completely rebuilt.
  • The pot: each circle with 48 vertices. Smoke animation can be turned on and off.
  • A boiler/heating plate: Looks like the floor design. Heat animation can be turned on and off.
  • A larger flask. 12 vertices per circle
  • A small triangular flask. Changed some subtle details only.

Lab1
Lab11024×419 47.6 KB

I’ll continue to salvage the other original labs, save somebody has a better idea what to create?

2 Likes
8

How about the tesla effects like in the ancient Universal Frankenstein movies. You know those big sparks. Some moving up and down between a pair of diverging electrodes, others just jumping from a large electrode into the air where they dissipate. See -

Giving Off Sparks: The Movie Machines of Kenneth Strickfaden

TR

1 Like
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Hello @Mmat, salvaging the original labs is a good idea. Could be really cool to have a new lab table with a white tiling ceramic top, better scales (original model is awful), a lab sink (with water?), a metal stool, glass tubes containing reagents on a support, etc. For my part, i will try doing a still with condenser. Speaking of sparky stuff, i think Tarot_Redhand hints about a Jacob’s ladder, but Some Van De Graaff generators or Tesla coils would be supercool too.

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Mmm, I can’t do overly complex objects, such as creatures, but something like this should be doable
grafik.
Could use the Illithid thingy as base …

But first: I dreamed of the book
grafik
this night and got an idea for an animation of it

2 Likes
11

Alternatively, how about some NwN/D&D heads in jars (think Futurama) -

image

TR

12

The book (Animated):

grafik

It has now a proper backside :slight_smile: and examine it more closely will reveal the secret formula. The texture for the formula is separated and can be easily exchanged.

3 Likes
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Who do you want to see here? Nasher? Aribeth?? A Cat??? :smiley:

I don’t know how to handle the transparency … yet. This is why I eventually want to make those other flasks.

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See (or use parts of) the Homunculus Jar by Cestus Dei found as part of -
CCC 2013 Jan: Spells and Spellcrafting. IIRC, there are 3 parts to it - the jar, the fluid and the large eye that tracks the PC.

Any head you can get in a jar. However, a small black cat in a jar with a lid is special to an ancient TSR module (B1 I think) as there is one in a room in that dungeon. Once the lid is removed, the cat appears in the room, meows, runs off and is never seen ever again.

TR

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Something that would be interesting in this theme would be seperating the alembic and other tools from the table placeable that has them, so they can be used seperately.

I might take that on myself if I get over this miserable covid.

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There are 3 placeables (Alchemists Apparatii) in vanilla NWN, which one do you mean?
grafik

The first one is already ripped apart.
grafik

From the two others only the coloured bottles and the mortar are left for a redo. Is there something I’ve overseen?

I hope you will be better soon.

1 Like
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Good to know, I’ll eventually have a look. By now I create a globe for this electrifizer thingy …
grafik

1 Like
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The one I’m thinking of I believe comes from CEP2 - which is itself I believe imported from NWN2:

image

Having the individual items like the alembic or test tubes from this would be handy!

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Having the individual items like the alembic or test tubes from this would be handy!

Right, exactly my thinking. However this one is already in CEP:

grafik

I guess, I’ve now enough suggestions to be busy for the next two or three month … :smiley:

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Ok, this looks quite harmless
Globe1

Still quite harmless
Globe2

but now …
Globe3

5 Likes