Branwen Romance

[jastey]

importing the Drider...

If you are planning on importing the Drider animation to BGII I would be intersted in that one, too.

[Guest chime-era]

Sorry folks, I should not be dragging it forever, but I am fascinated, and feeling like I am having half of my mod written for me.

 

No need to apologize for having an opinion, Domi, and certainly no need to feel that anyone is trying to rewrite BG1 NPC Branwen Romance for you (aWL even said as much a few posts back). Fascination with the topic is mutual.

[Wounded_Lion]

If you are planning on importing the Drider animation to BGII I would be intersted in that one, too.

 

You'll be welcome to use the animation if I succeed in importing it. I'd love to see someone add wandering packs of Driders (which attack both Drow and the player party alike) to the outskirts of the Underdark areas (perhaps I'll do it myself if no one else takes up the concept).

 

Fair warning: I may continue to write/code for Branwen for a bit before I return my focus to Pai'Na. If you or anyone else is interested in the Drider animation, feel free to go ahead and import it (I'm not making any ridiculous claims of "I called it first!" and whatnot; heck, it'd save me a bit 'o work).

 

 

aWL

[Kaeloree]

importing the Drider...

If you are planning on importing the Drider animation to BGII I would be intersted in that one, too.

Make that three!

[Wounded_Lion]

Make that three!

 

It seems that everyone loves Driders.

 

Btw, Branwen v1.1 is now available. I had a bit 'o free time today, so I tightened up a few bolts and added a tiny amount of new content.

 

aWL

[Miloch]

importing the Drider...

If you are planning on importing the Drider animation to BGII I would be intersted in that one, too.

Make that three!

Um, it's already been done, multiple times... Check the Bodies, Lost Crossroads Bestial Animations, Big Picture... and of course, in a different slot each time. I fully expect Wounded_Lion to use yet a different slot for the same exact animation . That goes for pretty much all the IWD1+2 animations, which are compatible with the BG2 format so there's not much to importing them. I could've answered that more fully if WL's question about "creating new animations" was a little more specific (the "general" answer to that is "can't be done easily without ripping from another IE game").

 

But we digress... other threads have explored that topic in great detail. To return to a lesser digression the last time I looked at this thread:

I disagree with Miloch that it is impossible for a sentient being to be True Neutral.

I didn't say it was impossible - I said it was highly improbable to the point of being virtually unheard of. If you go with the 2D alignment model, it's even just statistically improbable that a given dot (representing a character's alignment) would fall in the exact centre of neutrality. Even if you sectioned the so-called "True Neutral" alignment further into a fairly large grid (say 7x7) there's only a roughly 1-in-50 chance of hitting the centre of that grid.

 

Statistics aside, it's unrealistic, personality-wise, that a dynamic character would stay in the centre of that grid even if she started out there. That would mean either achieving an exact, unswerving balance between law and chaos, good and evil, or being unswayed by those forces at large in the world. That *might* be true of the hermit, the mountaintop sage, the druid who truly lives with nature, isolated from civilisation, but Branwen is anything but a hermit. I can also see why a god of war wouldn't have priests who were "true neutral" unless the same god also happened to be the god of balance.

 

But don't take my word for it - take the game's word:

[Wounded_Lion]

Um, it's already been done, multiple times... Check the Bodies, Lost Crossroads Bestial Animations, Big Picture... and of course, in a different slot each time. I fully expect Wounded_Lion to use yet a different slot for the same exact animation . That goes for pretty much all the IWD1+2 animations, which are compatible with the BG2 format so there's not much to importing them. I could've answered that more fully if WL's question about "creating new animations" was a little more specific (the "general" answer to that is "can't be done easily without ripping from another IE game").

 

Then what we need is an imported-Drider-animation mod resource pack that is freely available for download and incorporation into anyone's mod (something similar to what DavidW has done with DS). Each of the older mods could be updated to use the resource pack if the author is willing. The resource pack would detect itself and not install if already present (in other words, if it had been installed by another mod). Anyone up for this? I've got enough on my plate already.

 

My question on the Modding Q&A forum wasn't more specific because I'd like to create/change other sprites, too. Also, I didn't know that IWD2 included a Drider animation when I posted.

 

In regards to the True Neutral alignment, I'll likely be expressing my thoughts through my mod (as I mentioned).

 

aWL

[Guest Guest_vile fairy_*]

Statistics aside, it's unrealistic, personality-wise, that a dynamic character would stay in the centre of that grid even if she started out there. That would mean either achieving an exact, unswerving balance between law and chaos, good and evil, or being unswayed by those forces at large in the world. That *might* be true of the hermit, the mountaintop sage, the druid who truly lives with nature, isolated from civilisation, but Branwen is anything but a hermit. I can also see why a god of war wouldn't have priests who were "true neutral" unless the same god also happened to be the god of balance.

 

 

You are talking about those who are actively seeking to achieve neutrality; such characters indeed might be rare.

But someone who is not motivated by good nor evil, who is not more likely to obey the law than he is to disobey it; not really. NWN (?) had an example of a wizard, who is interested only in her studies and is bored by the moral debate, as a neutral character. And such a character could be easily found in the middle of a city.

 

Branwen could as well be cleric who is simply interested in becoming a worthy priestess to Tempus; and not motivated by pursuing good or obeying laws.

[Miloch]

Then what we need is an imported-Drider-animation mod resource pack that is freely available for download and incorporation into anyone's mod (something similar to what DavidW has done with DS).

Also been done - see LC Bestial Animations. It is there as a modder resource - you do not even need to inform the author if you use anything (it's all from IWD1/2/NWN after all).

Branwen could as well be cleric who is simply interested in becoming a worthy priestess to Tempus; and not motivated by pursuing good or obeying laws.

The latter part of that tends toward chaos in my opinion, which is just fine because so does Tempus. But if you're a cleric of a god of war, sooner or later you're going to take sides in furthering the cause of war. And you're going to have to tread very carefully, switching sides often just as the description above says if you want stay "neutral." Particularly when your own god doesn't allow you to stay neutral anyway .

[Daulmakan]

And sometimes inaction is an action in itself. Omission also has an effect on balance. Ask Edmund Burke.

[vile fairy]

But if you're a cleric of a god of war, sooner or later you're going to take sides in furthering the cause of war. And you're going to have to tread very carefully, switching sides often just as the description above says if you want stay "neutral." Particularly when your own god doesn't allow you to stay neutral anyway .

 

You are assuming that Branwen would be an "active" neutral character; that is she would be seeking to actively preserve the balance between good and evil in a war.

 

As a "passive" neutral character, however, she simply wouldn't be motivated by neither good, evil nor upholding the balance between them; neither would she have the commitment of a lawful character towards law, nor the free spirit of a chaotic one.

[Wounded_Lion]

Also been done - see LC Bestial Animations. It is there as a modder resource - you do not even need to inform the author if you use anything (it's all from IWD1/2/NWN after all).

 

No, it hasn't. That package is hacky (it adds the creatures in an abnormal manner such that the new creatures don't have death animations and corpses) and huge (350 MB isn't feasible for incoporation as a resource pack).

 

What we need is a working package for each new creature (a seperate Drider package, seperate packages for each creature type, etc). Death animations and corpses are a must-have, too.

 

aWL

 

EDIT: grammar

[Miloch]

You are assuming that Branwen would be an "active" neutral character; that is she would be seeking to actively preserve the balance between good and evil in a war.

I said nothing about good or evil with respect to her, except a long time ago I mentioned her probable suspicion of evil characters due to her stoning by one.

 

I'm assuming she follows a god of war, and Tempus at that, which I thought I made clear. It sounds like *you're* assuming she does not . I don't see that as a passive activity, nor one that promotes flip-flopping and switching sides (all of which is contrary to Branwen's character anyway, as I see it).

What we need is a working package for each new creature (a seperate Drider package, seperate packages for each creature type, etc).

I've started a new topic for this response. We're not talking about Branwen anymore (unless you're talking about morphing her into a drider) and I think we stopped talking about Branwen from a BG1 NPC perspective a while ago, since it's not making any changes to the romance except bug fixes, typos, etc.

[Guest Guest_vile fairy_*]

But if you're a cleric of a god of war, sooner or later you're going to take sides in furthering the cause of war. And you're going to have to tread very carefully, switching sides often just as the description above says if you want stay "neutral." Particularly when your own god doesn't allow you to stay neutral anyway .

 

Considering that Tempus' dogma does not state that there is a balance between forces on the battlefield that has to be preserved, could you elaborate why a cleric of Tempus would have to switch sides often?

Tempus does not care whether evil or good guides the fighting forces, or even whether good or evil wins, but rewards those that he considers worthy.

[Miloch]

Considering that Tempus' dogma does not state that there is a balance between forces on the battlefield that has to be preserved, could you elaborate why a cleric of Tempus would have to switch sides often?

A cleric of Tempus would not have to switch sides often, but a cleric of Tempus cannot be "true neutral" (FR supplement Faiths & Avatars, p. 159). As for why a "true neutral" character would have to switch sides, see the screenshot above. But I'm not the one trying to defend Branwen's alleged smack-dab-in-the-centre-true-neutral alignment, which I'm really not seeing.