Help with Custom Objects

Neverwinter Nights 1 Custom Content
#21

How about in an image viewing program? does your texture look the same as in game?

TR

#22

Ah, mistake my side. I put your cross.hak in instead of .tga. Now working with your image

#23

Which would suggest there’s something wrong with my image?

TR%20image

#24

Check that your image is actually in the override folder. A pure white appearance usually means that the texture is missing. If it is in there check that its extension is .tga and that it is called “cross.tga”.

TR

#25

05

#26

That is why the error. It needs to have the same name that is in the model which is “cross.tga”. just edit the name of the image file (not the name in the model, that’s fine).

TR

1 Like
#27

You’re a genius !!!

I know there’s another (less palatable possibility) but lets go with the former . . .

Thanks again. The folks here are not only helpful but also pretty damn good at troubleshooting.

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#28

So, just for future reference, if I wanted to create a floor decal called “bus” I would

  1. create a transparent image saved as “bus.tga”
  2. change the 2da file with another line ( adding +1 to the left hand number)
  3. insert your code into text editor and do find/replace on “change_me” to something like “my_bus”
  4. In "plc_cross.mdl I’d find and replace all “cross” with “bus” and save my model as “plc_bus.mdl”
  5. put the 3 files into override folder
  6. edit blueprint from placeable as before ?
#29

Basically yes but there are a few other things to know. About the texture image -

  • Both its X and Y dimensions must be a power of 2 (e.g. 16x16, 32x32, … 128x128, 256x256, etc.).
  • However, your image does not have to be square. Ideally it should have the same aspect ratio as the model. So if your model is 2 metres wide and 1 metre tall its aspect ratio is 2 to 1 so you could use an image of 256x128 or 128x64 etc.

Regarding the model -

  • The part that specifies the image to use is “bitmap”. You put a space after that keyword then the name of your texture image without the extension.
  • Models are specified by points in 3D space. In mathematical modelling these are known as vectors. Just to complicate things in computer graphics they are also known as vertices. The part that specifies the size of the model are the 4 lines after the “verts 4” command in the model. The model I sent you is centred at 0, 0, 0, which is why the some of the numbers on those 4 lines are negative. You can see this in these 5 extra models of various sizes.
  • For now there is one other thing in the models that I have sent you. The coordinates in the model are internal to the model. There is one exception. The “position” command allows you to specify offsets for the whole model when placed in game. These are initial offsets which can be overridden both in the toolset and the game. If you look in the models I’ve sent you, you’ll see that I instruct the model to appear 2 centimetres above the ground. This is so it doesn’t actually disappear under it.

And that’s it for now. Don’t forget, any questions - ask.

TR

#30

Ok, I need to sit down and read that through to take it in but this has been really interesting.

Thanks again.

#31

Grab those extra models.

TR

#32

Done ! :grinning:

#33

And finally (before I go and lie down in a very dark room…:wink:) [shameless self promotion warning] If you want to play around with this, there are a bunch of images that I made that you could try just for fun.

TR

2 Likes
#34

Question @jimdad55 - are you guys going to be working with 1.69 NWN, or the EE? NWN:EE supports tangent space normalmaps and specular maps, too. I could see that making for a nice lesson topic on asset creation, too. See the shading on the flat plane, on the Wikipedia page.

#35

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

We’re working on NWN:EE and yes that sounds good. I’ll check it out now - although, again, I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about: sob:

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#36

Click the “normalmaps” link and prepare to be amazed by the sorcery! :laughing: :heart_eyes:

#37

Or look at this and this of mine. They are still only flat models but they have a 3D look. I didn’t mention them before because I didn’t want to blind you with science… (at least not this early in your learning curve)

TR

#38

In the kingdom of the blind, any port in a storm, Tarot !

Being an English teacher (ex) I’m proud of that as my worst ever mixed metaphor :sunglasses:

I’m off to have a look.

#39

Sandeman’s? (UK alcoholic wine joke)

TR

#40

I think that’s one of the few things you’ve said that I’ve fully understood. Had a wobble last night after managing to import our custom object. Came back to the toolset this morning opened up a new module hoping to do one on my own from scratch and when I opened an area it was just a yellow mass. Couldn’t see anything. Tried several and although different colours the theme was the same. One block of hazy colour. Thought I’d knackered my toolset by updating the system software yesterday as well. Then I thought it was the mucking about with the custom object.

To cut a long story short, it was fog !!! Somehow the fog button had been selected. I know you’ll not believe me . . . but it wusnae me.

All is fine now but you can imagine what went through my mind.