MastArea.2da

[theacefes]

It's listed but not defined in IESDP. I found an old post from 2004 here that describes it as such, or attempts to anyway:

 

 

"There is another 2DA file in both games called MastArea, which is listed but not described in IESDP. It seems to list all of the valid master areas in the game. That is, those areas which contain smaller sub-areas, but which aren't sub-areas themselves. Master areas include places like towns or town sections, sewers, caves and dungeon/tower levels. Sub-areas include things like houses within towns, small dwellings in caves, small temples in dungeons, and so on."

 

Anyway to get clarification on this?

[lynx]

in some engine variants, critters can move through areas, but these are always master-sub pairs. For example when a lich chases you out of its tomb in bg2. So underneath it is related to whether scripts should be running or not.

[devSin]

That's not a master area, that's your wife!

 

They predate NPC-usable transitions. I'm not sure if you guys have yet reversed all the effects of the master/slave loading?

[lynx]

That's hard to know.

[Avenger]

Master areas don't have much to do with NPC traversal, More like, scripting/area loading. Though traversing between master areas is usually party only, but this is done by editing the areas as such.

 

Some rules:

There is always one master area loaded.

If you enter a non-master area, the last master area remains loaded.

Scripts of the master area keep running.

When looking at the 'you are here sign' it is decided by the master area.

 

I think there could be problems with partymembers residing in multiple master areas. Weather could also be weird, but this is just a guess.