5 replies to this topic

[Korahan]

Good day everyone,

 

I've registered in this forums, because me and my team have built up an IE project. Everything is finished except two bugs we aren't able to solve on our own yet. I have searched the internet for solutions but wasn't able to find one. 

So I hope you may be able to help us out, if you will.

 

- The first one concerns wallgroups in DLTCEP.

All the wallgroups in our project work just fine. There is only one (very important) bugged. So I entered DLTCEP (uptodate), loaded the Area (writeable) and corrected the bugged polygon. But no matter what i try, DLTCEP wont save my changes to the WEDs polygons. There is no error, but if I make a new polygon, save the area, close it, reload everything, reopen the area -> the polygon ist gone. The same with changes to existing polygons. I didn't have any problems with the wallgroups when I first created the area/wed.

 

- The second is about the PVRZ export of Bam files in Near Infinity.

We've created new visual effects for spells. They look awful without transparency. Since we built the project for the EE of BG1, we thought the PVRZ format would do the trick. So we created a new .bam file in NI, added our images (.png) and exported it PVRZ-based (default settings). The game crashes whenever the effect is called. The same effect works just fine, when we export it for the legacy BAM Version. What are we doing wrong? And is there a way to get our transparencies into the game.

 

Thank you,

Korahan

[The Imp]

I realize I might not be the best to tell you about this, but I'll try.

- The first one concerns wallgroups in DLTCEP.
All the wallgroups in our project work just fine. There is only one (very important) bugged. So I entered DLTCEP (uptodate), loaded the Area (writeable) and corrected the bugged polygon. But no matter what i try, DLTCEP wont save my changes to the WEDs polygons. There is no error, but if I make a new polygon, save the area, close it, reload everything, reopen the area -> the polygon ist gone. The same with changes to existing polygons. I didn't have any problems with the wallgroups when I first created the area/wed.

The ****.web file refers to the ****SR.bam -file, as the Search map. Unless I am mistaken. And to get your hands to the .bam file, I would use the Near Infinity... if DLTCEP the refuses to export the resource when you export the area graphics. Yeah, the **** should stay in 6 characters as the ****SR.bam end takes last 2 characters from the file name and the game can't process more than 8 character files.
So editing the .bam file by hand is likely to get you a better result ...

What are we doing wrong? And is there a way to get our transparencies into the game.

The .bam files assign a transparency color as either first or second color of the files palette. So coloring the transparent sections with that should remove the non transparency.

Edited by The Imp, 15 March 2016 - 06:13 AM.

[Argent77]

I can't help you with the wall polygons.

Regarding the BAM issue, BAM V2 files cannot be used for visual effects yet. That might change with the next game patch though. You can achieve a similar effect however by creating a VVC file for legacy BAM files. There you can specify how alpha blending should be applied and many more parameters. This topic on the Beamdog Forums contains some useful information about alpha blending.

Edited by Argent77, 15 March 2016 - 06:32 AM.

[Korahan]

First of all, thank you! :-)

I didn't expect someone willing to help so quickly. 

 

@ The Imp:

Afaik the search map is meant for defining walkable areas and the sounds of the the foodsteps. So there should be no connection between Wallgroup polygons and the search map. Do I have this wrong?

I've tried to correct single vertices of the bugged polygon in Near infinity but even NI refuses to save the changes... 

 

I'll try to color the transparency - thanks :-)

 

@ Argent77:

I'll give that a try too. Hopefully I am able to achieve the goal with one of these solutions. :-)

[The Imp]

The non walk-able space should be the (0-solid obstacle) in DLTCEP(v7.7) as in black, but the spaces that are something else are non-black in the mini view, as that's the actual print of the file. ... but I never actually have done a thing with those ... so I might be very wrong.

I've tried to correct single vertices of the bugged polygon in Near infinity but even NI refuses to save the changes...

The NI and DLTCEP v7.7 are not really equipped to deal with changes to the the .bmp files. If I were you, I would just export the files with one of them and edit it with MSPaint, yes it can edit the files, and then put it into the <gameinstall>/override .folder just like you'll do within the install of the mod.

Edited by The Imp, 15 March 2016 - 09:08 AM.

[Korahan]

Thank you guys, solved the problem by changing to the VVC format and using black as transparency color! Now see what you have done! :-D

 

 

Now we only have to fix them Wallgroups somehow, get the music into the game and we are done.