Comprehensive IE Modding Tutorial Index

I'd disagree with Kulyok. In RL I'm a programmer and I find the 'old' .d style far easier to read then the 'new' style because it flows as code.

 

-Y-

I'd disagree with Kulyok. In RL I'm a programmer and I find the 'old' .d style far easier to read then the 'new' style because it flows as code.

Yeah, and then there can be other guides that teach shorthand approaches(replacement) to each long things. Like what Jastey said... And BUT_ONLY_IF_IT_CHANGES and BUT_ONLY etc etc etc. Just like there's a lot of guides to weidu file editing functions that can each be done with a lot of other approaches as well, each having their own virtues. And faults.

I'd disagree with Kulyok. In RL I'm a programmer and I find the 'old' .d style far easier to read then the 'new' style because it flows as code.

 

-Y-

 

I usually go long-hand and write GOTO and the other stuff in the old style simply because I find I make fewer mistakes that way. I can touch type so who cares if 'GOTO' takes slightly longer than '+' to type? Most of my time is spent fixing errors and debugging not actually in typing the code.

 

Also I have one tutorial to add:

http://www.shsforums...nes-compatible/

which is an easy way for anyone to make their Mod's rest scenes compatible with those in BG2:EE. It just contains code that anyone can download and drop into their mod. They don't even have to change the prefix or anything.

Edited by BCaesar, 12 July 2019 - 10:48 PM.

Hey guys, I wanna try my strenght with creating mod, are current guides inthis thread still an option, or should I search from some more updated resource? Had some experience with basic of c++ and java well turbo pascall too What would u recommend first? What tools to use right now? Righr now I am thinkin bout creating some npc, simple one, with little dialogue, some special item, after that maybe a bit more complicated scripts..

Hey guys, I wanna try my strenght with creating mod, are current guides inthis thread still an option, or should I search from some more updated resource? Had some experience with basic of c++ and java well turbo pascall too What would u recommend first? What tools to use right now? Righr now I am thinkin bout creating some npc, simple one, with little dialogue, some special item, after that maybe a bit more complicated scripts..

 

The guides here are fine. The learning curve on modding is rather steep and you have to pick up some information here and there until you learn enough to actually make something work. It's kind of like learning how to play baseball if you've never played baseball, have no coach, have never seen baseball played, and all you have is a bunch of books each of which tell you some aspect of baseball without any book outlining the basic rules.

Hey guys, I wanna try my strenght with creating mod, are current guides inthis thread still an option, or should I search from some more updated resource? Had some experience with basic of c++ and java well turbo pascall too What would u recommend first? What tools to use right now? Righr now I am thinkin bout creating some npc, simple one, with little dialogue, some special item, after that maybe a bit more complicated scripts..

 

The guides here are fine. The learning curve on modding is rather steep and you have to pick up some information here and there until you learn enough to actually make something work. It's kind of like learning how to play baseball if you've never played baseball, have no coach, have never seen baseball played, and all you have is a bunch of books each of which tell you some aspect of baseball without any book outlining the basic rules.

The guides can only always be snapshots of one aspect (creature making, scripting, dialogues etc) of modding, since mods can cover a wide range in what their aim is, e.g. NPC mods, Romances, Quests, Shops/Items/Spells, Kits or Tweaks.

My best advice is to look for a mod that covers similar ground of what you intend and then study how it is done there. It is the best way to see how the elements fit together. Then take the tutorials to get more ideas about a specific aspect.

You can make good progress this way - if nothing helps, ask questions on a forum.

Well, was playing with few things so far, I even created some basic item, made copy of one in game then edited, stored description tied to it in .tp2 file as in some guide I found around, then put it on game, seems workin fine. Tho there arethings I dont understand in 'more' modern writing~ When I edit some files around I see marker @ with numbers, that are strings to certain files? or description in files?

Well, was playing with few things so far, I even created some basic item, made copy of one in game then edited, stored description tied to it in .tp2 file as in some guide I found around, then put it on game, seems workin fine. Tho there arethings I dont understand in 'more' modern writing~ When I edit some files around I see marker @ with numbers, that are strings to certain files? or description in files?

@123 for example stands for a reference to text in a tra-file. When compiling your mod, this text is added to the game's dialog.tlk file and becomes displayable text (e.g. a creature's name, an item description, a text displayed overhead, just any kind of text...).

 

in a mod you will find one (or more) tra-files with the corresponding text entries

@123 =~This is the text shown in the game later on.~

 

It is good idea to create at least one (default) tra file for your game, e.g.to put longer texts, item descriptions etc you do not want to clutter your baf-files or such.

Example

(setup-mymod.tra) with corresponding tp2 entry

AUTO_TRA ~MyMod/TRA/%s~

LANGUAGE ~English~ ~english~ ~Mymod/TRA/setup-mymod.tra~

 

This default file is a handy tool for things like item descriptions or journal entries or any other longer text outside of dialogues (you can also format it to appear correctly in the game...)

 

PS: They are called tra(nslation) files, because you can use the same code/dialogue/item text and just different tra files for other languages.

If you want to translate your mod there will be a tra-file corresponding to every d-file (or other files that contain text) - then someone translates it to a new set of tra-files for the other language.

 

PPS: In *finished* mods you will often see the dialogues appearing in the traified format (without any readable text but those references). There is no use for you to care about that, just write your conversations in you d-files in your language, it is much easier to work with. If you really want at a later stage create files for translations, then you will use WEIDU to easily convert your finished d-files and create d-files with references and the corresponding tra text files.

Edited by Roxanne, 02 May 2017 - 03:29 AM.

Got bit ninjaed, but...

When I edit some files around I see marker @ with numbers, that are strings to certain files? or description in files?

Yeah, that's a translation of the description or line... that the mods install adds... from a .tra file.
Look at the start of the .tp2 file to find the LANGUAGE ~~ lines that set variables... there's a lot of things tied to this, like automated tra-fiation etc that help further mod content making too... but that's down the line. What Roxanne said is the for now part.

Edited by The Imp, 02 May 2017 - 03:16 AM.

I want to use these tutorials to learn the very basics of IE modding, but I'm getting overwhelmed with so many tutorials. Which of these would be recommended for beginners?

 

I've noticed that many links are broken. Some examples of broken links are the ones to Gibberlings 3, igi's DLTCEP setup tutorial, IE modding 101, Adding a trigger to an existing map via WeiDU, and Explaining Creature Patching by .tp2: An introduction.

Sorry about the broken links. SHS was a long time without active moderation and now there is so much we would need to do it's overwhelming, because a lot is outdated, too.

 

What kind of mod would you like to start with? Because the tutorial recommendation also depends on whether you want to start with an NPC (I did that for example), or an own merchant with a store, or a kit mod...

(Moved modding questions here.)