I’m working on a module to be loosely based on stories and plots found in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Based on the books, I think I will probably need to allow the creation of a party of some sort, or the ability to add and remove member NPC’s as part of the plot. There are factions in series that team up, such as Bridgeburner Mercenaries, a Wizard coalition, etc.
I’d like to try out tools that improve on player companion control. I need to be able to distribute the code with my module easily. I was looking at Balkoth’s Minion Control:
Balkoth’s Minion Control | The Neverwinter Vault
Does anyone have successful developer experience with this, or even something similar?
Thank-you.
Is this for NWN1 Diamond, or NWN:EE?
EE has better controls for non-combat tasks for henchmen built in.
What do you want your henchmen to do?
Well, for a wizard companion, it would be nice to have some intelligence in spell casting, or, to be able to use his spells manually. There are a few important wizard NPCs in the book that might tag along.
For the other characters, the mercenaries, being able to move them and use them for combat. That seems doable from the minion control modules I’ve tried so far.
Apart from that, I’ll need to write scripts for plot point dialogue triggers along the way, which I suppose some of which could be cut scenes. I’d like to use voice overs that I have as well for the dialog.
I was thinking about how to compose the plot, and how much the characters contribute to that advancement and discovery, and I figured I need some degree of control to create the drama as needed, which I assume I’ll have to code, but I want them to be valuable assets during the game as well, not quite as dumb as just a tag along.
I also thought, if I had a good library example, I’d be able to learn from the code so I could customize. You know, something well written, commented, like Gestalt’s cut scene kit. He did a great job creating a well described library of cut scene procedures and functions.
I forgot, I’m using the Enhanced Edition, a patch from last year. A couple of patches back broke the toolset for my graphics card. I have the Diamond Edition also, but I haven’t used it. Honestly, I can’t tell under what circumstance one would be a better choice than the other. I don’t know enough about the differences. I’ve only played the Enhanced Edition.
Really, I’m very interested in good design and coding technique. I’ve been playing Swordflight given its great reviews and I’m about to dig through its module for good coding and organization ideas. It has great structure. I also like the drama of the Dance with Rogues module so I’m looking through that for ideas about dramatic writing. I don’t have sexual sequences, but her methods of writing a female character were compelling and even though the opening cut scene was a little corny and clunky, it had drama. And, you can’t beat starting with a horrific crime as a good dramatic entry point.
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I like Balkoth Minion Control.
In recent years I’ve been using it as the starting point, modifying it a little, then adding my own custom companion system (which is mainly additional dialogue).
Much of the work remains unpublished, but there is a small example in my Crown of Creation module.
Spoiler:
In particular, the battles with the ogres benefit from the custom abilities to move the party out of melee range and focus fire on one enemy at a time (as in Dragon Age: Origins).
Thank-you, sincerely. I’ve installed Crown of Creation and will start it tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a playthrough and then digging in.
An odd thing happened after I tried to play it. It said I was missing a bunch of CEP hak files. I installed the CEP with NIT 7.1. Why would it fail to install so many hak files I wonder?
Anyway, I’m manually installing it now . . .
The log file said:
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_sb_v1.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core7.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core6.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core5.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core4.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core3.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core2.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core1.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_core0.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_top_2_65.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_build.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_skies.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_reforge.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_phenos5.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_phenos4.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_phenos3.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_phenos2.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_phenos1.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_loads.hak”
Couldn’t load the Hak Pak File “cep2_add_doors.hak”