Organize before you write

Getting organized:

Before you start to write your mod, you should get organized. This means taking a moment to work out some of the preliminary ideas you have about your mod.

I thought it might be useful to use the same NPC to outline all the steps of the NPC mod creation process, so I'm going to use the same hypothetical NPC for all cases. I'm planning on writing this NPC someday anyway, so it might prove useful.

Game: BG2, with or without ToB
Name: Lynneth
Stats: (subject to change)
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 15
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 14
Class: fighter (possibly duelist kit)
Alignment: Chaotic good

Romance? Yes - 25 talks total, 15 timed talks, 10 situational
Friendship track? Yes - 15 talks total, 7 timed talks, 8 situational
Quest? Yes - follow up on rumors to retrieve a magic item

Now that the basics are in place, I'm going to set up the files.

I create a folder and name it Lynneth. Inside the folder, I make several subfolders: Audio, Creature, Dialogue, Item, Script. We'll be populating these folders as we go.

But this is a good time to decide on file nomenclature. I'm going to use my own unique modder prefix to avoid conflict with anyone else's work. You can get yours by applying here.

Your script and dialogue file names can only have 8 characters, maximum. Your script name/death variable can have 18, but it's probably best to keep it shorter just so you don't spend the rest of your life typing it.

Un-joined dialogue: B!Lyn
Joined dialogue: B!LynJ
Banter file: BB!Lyn
Post dialogue file: B!LynP
ToB un-joined dialogue: B!Lyn25
ToB joined dialogue: B!Lyn25J
ToB banter file: BB!Lyn25
ToB post dialogue file: B!Lyn25P

Script name/death variable: B!Lynneth

Override script: B!Lyn
Dream script: B!LynD
ToB override script: B!Lyn25
ToB dream script: B!Lyn25D

You might wonder how the files switch between SoA and ToB. The game engine does it automatically. We'll cover that when we go over writing the tp2.

Get yourself a text editor. It makes life much easier, and both ConText and Crimson Editor come with WeiDU highlighters.
Get Crimson Editor here.
Get Crimson Editor WeiDU highlighters here.

Organization accomlished!

Here are a couple useful links to help you during the planning stages. The first two are comprehensive tutorials written by Theacefes and Ghreyfain. The other two are geared toward avoiding some of the pitfalls of mod creation.

Tutorial links:
How to make an NPC if you are a nOOb, by Theacefes
A Beginner's Guide to NPC Creation, by Ghreyfain

Pitfalls:
Overused Ideas, by Shed, et al
Hard Coded, A list in progress of what cannot be done., begun by MajorTomSawyer and expanded by the Spellhold Studios community
The Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test, author unknown
ActionText and abuses thereof, by Jason Compton

Edited by berelinde, 08 July 2007 - 07:20 PM.