I seem to be missing something or doing something wrong. I am trying to build my first mod and would like to try to add some custom content. Often when trying to ADD haks to the Custom Content in Module Properties, my palette gets loaded with what looks like dialog scripts.
I am using Diamond Edition patched to 1.71 but it reads 1.69 on the initial menu. Win 10 environment.
I tried using NWNTool.exe to browse haks but only rarely does the readout seem to populate any information other than the “Information” Tab.
Thus far I have only been successful using erfs to import content, and even then it feels like a crapshoot.
I have had a fair amount of success using the “Mr Hanson” videos for learning the toolset and scripting but no luck finding anything like that about using Custom Content
I just can’t seem to find any help that starts basic enough for me to get started using Custom Content.
But Fortuna has blessed me, for if you are the same JFK as the author of the JFK Coach System, I was just trying to implement your system. That is what started me down this path of adding content.
The coach is a table. And after I buy a ticket, I stop the table but I don’t transition to the interior. Another author had a coach and horse. I’d like to use that with yours.
If you are not the same JFK, disregard, but thank you for your help all the same.
Yes, I’m the same JFK. That Coach System was more a proof of concept, but it should work. I used a table as the exterior Coach, just to keep it simple. Any model, including the horse and carriage one, can be substituted.
You have to make sure you have an Area (I named mine “Inside the Coach” I think) to represent the interior of the coach, and that’s where you go when you click on the coach with an activated ticket.
Note that you must USE the ticket first, then target the moving coach for the transition to work. It’s not enough to just possess the ticket and click the coach.
Edit: Here’s a link to Lord of Worms’ interior travel tileset: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/tileset/worms-wagon-travel-interior
For a full implementation, check out Lord of Worms’ Arbor Falls PW. He adapted my Coach System, and included the nice model you’re looking for, and an interior coach mini-tileset too.
One last question along the basic Custom Content use. I have the CEP haks loaded in order per the 2.65 hak order document in nwn/docs. When I add other peoples haks (like Lord Worm’s) should I just add that to the very top of the hak order?
The rule is that when two haks contain a file with the same name, the top hak wins.
If the new hak has no files in common with CEP, it can go in any order. That’s often the case with tilesets, for example.
By far the most frequent conflict is when the new hak contains a 2da file (listed under Information Files in nwnexplorer). If CEP contains a version of the same 2da file, you have to merge the lines from both CEP and the new hak in a custom 2da of your own. You also need to create a new hak, containing your merged 2da files, then add it to the top of the list (a “top hak”). The Custom Content Guide explains how 2da files work. NWNWiki has detailed info on the more common 2da files.
The new hak can then go before or after CEP, as long as it’s below the top hak.
Other types of conflict are so rare that it’s probably best to discuss here, case by case.
Proleric, thank you for your response, just need to clarify a couple things.
2da Conflicts - How do I know if there is a conflict? Error message? Only when I notice something like the palette having empty spaces or dialog scripts, other anomalies like that? If there are conflicts and I am not aware of them, are there consequences I might not be seeing?
2)“Top hak” - “The new hak can then go before or after CEP, as long as it’s below the top hak.” Does this sentence refer to the new “top hak” you outlined above, or are you saying it needs to be below the cep_Top_2.65 (which isn’t even at the top per docs)? I think you mean the newly created “top hak”, but want to be sure.
3)When deciding to use someone else’s hak (like the one suggested by JFK), is it best to try it at the bottom first, if it works leave it. If not, put it to the top and deal with conflicts as they arise? I am guessing as I get more involved with adding content, becoming more familiar with opening them up, I will start being able to recognize where they should be and what possible conflicts exist before even adding it. In lieu of opening them up identifying what exactly is inside of them, does this method make sense?
There is no error message when two or more haks contain a 2da with the same name. The only symptom is missing content. That’s why I suggest checking haks with nwnexplorer to see which 2da files (if any) they redefine. Nine times out of ten, if a 2da appears in a custom hak it will also appear in CEP.
When adding hak X to CEP, you may need to make a top hak T to contain the merged 2da files. X can go before or after CEP, but T must be on top of all other haks.
Putting X at the bottom to see what happens will ensure that CEP still works, but some content defined in X may not. You might be comfortable with that, but I’d say it’s far easier and safer to check the 2da files (see 1).