Behold my pants.

[SweatyGremlins]

Hello everybody, i have decided to start playing through all the old CRPG's that i either missed or never finished (which is basically any games from the 90's). I went to my local EB store and picked up Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate Collection and Icewind Dale Collection for AU$50 all together.

 

I figured i might as well start with the Infinity engine games, i played them a lot when i was smaller but never finished them. My main reason for posting here is because i am not really familiar with what is the most popular game with the most active mod community, there are so many games in this genre (after i finish these it's onto Neverwinter Nights or Arcanum, though Fallout 1&2 are sitting restless in my cupboard). After i have finished playing through everything i would like to actually try and create a mod, so it would probably be a good idea to get to know what game\engine has the most active community\resources. I know games like Dragon Age and Neverwinter Nights 2 are probably more popular at the moment (and are probably more user-friendly) but i would rather use an engine like Infinity, i find 3D ages rapidly and i am really enjoying the mix of art and narration that i have come across in Planescape: Torment, it's like a game and a book combined.

 

I am guessing the Infinity engine is the most popular but i could be wrong.

[Jarno Mikkola]

... picked up Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate Collection and Icewind Dale Collection ...

 

...so it would probably be a good idea to get to know what game\engine has the most active community\resources.

Of those games, the Baldur's Gate II is the most popular, as it has the largest base game and it can be combined to the BGI's resources with mods like the BGT-WeiDU or EasyTutu.

[SweatyGremlins]

Yea i thought so, it's quite pretty as well so i'm not surprised. How hard is it for people to make new content? I imagine making NPC's and Items is not too hard but scripting new stories & quests and changing menu's might not be so easy, are there any official editing tools or fan made programs? If i ever got to make what i am planning i would need to redo how the character screen and attribute distribution works, as well as new character status screens, i would have to learn how to script i think to do things like that though.

[Jarno Mikkola]

How hard is it for people to make new content? I imagine making NPC's and Items is not too hard but scripting new stories & quests and changing menu's might not be so easy...

Well, the basic item and (hostile monster)creature making is easy, you just have to have the basic IE editing tool, like the DLTCEP, configured the right way, load a same type file from the default game files(the DLTCEP configuration needs them), and change them a bit and there you go. Now making the creature, items and so forth appear in the game takes learning of scripts, but the first few steps are easy in that too, if you know what you are after, and ask. The scripts are the building blocks of the games Artificial Intelligence, or a way it's used within the game.

 

...are there any official editing tools or fan made programs?

They are all fan made, in addition to the DLTCEP, there's WeiDU(.exe) tool that is used by everyone of the IE game mods that actually install something, and then there is the Near Infinity, java based tool that's much like the DLTCEP.

 

If i ever got to make what i am planning i would need to redo how the character screen and attribute distribution works, as well as new character status screens, i would have to learn how to script i think to do things like that though.

Sounds like you are trying the impossible... I myself would advice against it, but...

I would advice trying something really simple, like a monster created in the first area of the game... simple? Not actually.

[SweatyGremlins]

So there is no way to add\edit new menu screens? That's too bad, pretty impressive how many fan made tools have been made though. I guess i'll just enjoy playing the games and worry about it later, i could use some of the newer games tools but i really like the Infinity engine.

[lynx]

It is possible with gemrb, but really, why bother? It would also take much more than just menu editing to do what you listed.

[Jarno Mikkola]

So there is no way to add\edit new menu screens? That's too bad, pretty impressive how many fan made tools have been made though.

Well, you can edit the basic looks of the menues, but the basic functionality and the values still are on the background as they should be tied to the executable(the BGMain.exe -file).

So basically what lynx says is true, you would need totally open game source that none of the IE games have, the GemRB is close half sister of them, but it still needs to be compiled by hand.

[SweatyGremlins]

It is possible with gemrb, but really, why bother? It would also take much more than just menu editing to do what you listed.

 

I just have some ideas that that would need me to change certain things, there are plenty of traditional mods out there so i would rather try something a bit different. I am guessing it's possible but outside my skill\reach, also i would need the main character to develop differently than any NPC he might have in his party which would be a pain to do too. I'll put the idea away for now, maybe something similar to Infinity is out there that is easier to tinker with it's guts, thanks for the information it makes it easier than digging through pages of documentation.

[Miloch]

You might check out total conversions like Classic Adventures, which remakes the entire game into something else. Also such things as ToB Extender which changes the way the actual engine works, including choices on the menu screens and so forth. I am quite surprised Jarno didn't mention either, actually. However, both those things are a bit beyond the starting or casual modder, and they would be regardless of which game or engine you chose to mod.

[SweatyGremlins]

Ok thanks i will look at these, Classic Adventure seems like a total conversion mod which is pretty impressive. I realize that the things i want to edit are not as simple as opening up an editor tool, i would need to learn how to script but i think it would be worth it, it's why i was asking which game\engine had the biggest community because i would really need a lot of help to get started.

[reddkey]

I was actually very disappointed with NWN2, the first one was great for multiplayer though. Some of the PW servers by the community were excellent, however, if I was going to do that I'd just play a real fantasy MMO.

 

I think the beauty of NWN is the DM/module function, but NWN vaults organization is lacking. Trying to sift through every crummy module to find a couple decent adventures is rather painstaking.