My First Mod!

[berelinde]

Well, Jaheira *is* a bit opinionated....

 

Regardless, NPC friction has worked in the past. The whole Minsc/Dynaheir/Edwin thing works because of the friction. I'm not sure I agree with the basis for that conflict, as Jaheira and Khalid are somewhat arbitrarily assigned low levels by game design.

 

Yet, thankfully, my opinion on that subject is irrelevant.

[jester]

Edwin wants to outright assassinate Dynaheir. If you call that friction I don't want to be near you when you play a little rough with someone you rather like. The abyssmal levels of Khalid and Jaheira are as you said game design and thus more of a glitch (storywise) than the real deal.

 

Other than that levelling Jon might be the real hassle.

[berelinde]

Ha! Might be educational.

 

Seriously, though, I think Jon's level probably falls under the aegis of artistic license, which is also blessedly immune to my opinion.

[SixOfSpades]

Just as a general query, is there a list of mod-NPC banters where the new NPC gets into something of a verbal tussle with a BioWare NPC . . . and loses? Because they seem awfully rare to me.

[Domi]

I think, I'm with Belerinde here, though I think what could be fun is to give a banter a bit of a mystery twist, making a hint at Jaheira-Khalid's Harper involvment (their experience is 'hidden'/'lies elsewhere'/not to be flashed like a banner) as opposite to them going along with being dissed for their apparent low-levels.

[WizWom]

Er, I was actually thinking that she was getting quite mad, and Khalid warned Jonathan off the topic.

 

And, as it's a work in progress, I haven't MADE a readme yet. Er, perhaps I should.

And maybe not package as a SFX ZIP...

[WizWom]

And really, Khalid and Jaheira should be at somewhere around 150K exp, story-wise; but then they would have to be there more as mentors than NPCs.

[WizWom]

I've updated my mod, got at least one banter with each Bioware NPC, and some scripting tricks. Er, I get into hot water in about 5 or 6. And possibly in over my head with Shar-teel.

 

TheWizard set me up a webpage, too:

http://www.iegmc.org/~wizwom

 

And I set up my verizon web page to host it, too.

(at least until it bloats beyond 10 MB. it's only 1.5 MB now.) Nevermind - see top post for the NPC page.

 

I wonder how much of a romance a BG1 NPC really needs.

[berelinde]

The webpage and download link are definitely a step in the right direction. Quite convenient, really.

 

If it were me, and it will be, one day, perhaps, I would flesh Jon out as an NPC as fully as you would like before starting on any romance ideas. It's really cool when an NPC can stand on its own as a party member without having to worry about whether the protagonist is an eligible race/class/stat.

 

Phased implementation is a useful tool. You seem to be using it just fine. You've got your NPC. Presumably, people who have more time to game than I do these days are using him, so you'll be getting some feedback. There will be a few bugs. There always are. You can squash them, then move on to Phase II, where Jon is shown in even more detail. Then, if you like, you can move on to Phase III, romance, if you think you even want to do it.

 

Not every NPC needs to be romanceable. I typically run with BG2 Xan in my party whether I'm romancing him or not. I just like him. Ditto Ajantis for BG1 Tutu. Romance should be considered an added bonus rather than a character necessity.

[Lemernis]

Congratulations on your achievement! I have so much catching up to do on various mods and NPCs (haven't even used Kelsey yet, for example) that it'll be a while before I get around to trying him out. Anyway, good show!

[berelinde]

Having broken my first rule of playtesting (BG1NPC Project), "Never Add Anything New to the Mix Until You Have Played Through The Last Installation," I have downloaded the mod. I have examined its contents, but have not yet played it. To be fair, I will probably not play it until I have completed a play-through using my last installation.

 

But I wanted to make some (hopefully) helpful comments.

 

Your readme needs two very important pieces of information. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this.

 

You *need* installation instructions. Your mod is WeiDU, and everything goes where it is supposed to, without actually starting the game to check. But the mod lists all the components as separate files like a non-WeiDU mod. This could be confusing. No harm would come if you dumped the files into the override, but why take the chance?

 

The second thing your readme must include is Jonathan's starting location. I'm sure if you think about this for a minute, you'll know why this would be helpful.

 

You should not use your own portrait. Quite apart from any personal attachment to it, it is photographic more than contrived. The BioWare portraits are all renditions and could hardly be called true to life. I do not mean to be the bearer of bad news, but the picture is fairly grainy and does not blend with the packaged BioWare portraits. I know, this falls under artistic license, perhaps more than anything else, but one thing I have observed, in the reading of many posts, is that evaluation of an NPC is largely based on BioWare camoflage. Sorry, but the portrait does stand out. You have stated that you are not inclined to take comments personally, so I will comment on the portrait. The cheekbones are definietly prominent, which is decidedly elvish. But the portrait has a strong, square jaw, which is not. Elves are perceived to have more pointed faces and possibly weaker chins. Obviously, you will not be able to alter the packaged portrait to fit these preconceptions. If I might suggest an alternate:

 

http://www.karwal.dk/portraitportal/

 

First portrait on the left. The model shares the strong cheekbones and general coloring of your portrait, but does not posess the same strong jawline. I would not presume to tell you what to do with your own mod, but it might be worth thinking about.

[SixOfSpades]

I think what could be fun is to give a banter a bit of a mystery twist, making a hint at Jaheira-Khalid's Harper involvment (their experience is 'hidden'/'lies elsewhere'/not to be flashed like a banner) as opposite to them going along with being dissed for their apparent low-levels.

I disagree. I for one would appreciate the novelty of seeing at least one person on the Sword Coast who doesn't know J&K are Harpers.

[WizWom]

You *need* installation instructions. Your mod is WeiDU, and everything goes where it is supposed to, without actually starting the game to check. But the mod lists all the components as separate files like a non-WeiDU mod.

The mod does nothing of the sort. Sure - the files that I create new are there ready to be used (except for referring to strings which wouldn't be active) - but the dialogs are made by Weidu; and without them, I don't have an NPC, I have a creature. But go to any other NPC mod, and you'll find the same. Excepting those who do OGG sillyness, you'll have a bunch of files who purpose is just to get dumped in, a few .d and .baf files to do the dialogs and scripting, and the .tp2 which will do the patching.

 

Not that installation instructions aren't a good idea, but I doubt anyone will be confused.

 

The second thing your readme must include is Jonathan's starting location. I'm sure if you think about this for a minute, you'll know why this would be helpful.

So people who want to use (or avoid) Jonathan can do so. It's no secret. He hears about someone being hunted, and he heads out to see if he can find them and help them.

 

You should not use your own portrait. Quite apart from any personal attachment to it, it is photographic more than contrived. The BioWare portraits are all renditions and could hardly be called true to life. I do not mean to be the bearer of bad news, but the picture is fairly grainy and does not blend with the packaged BioWare portraits. I know, this falls under artistic license, perhaps more than anything else, but one thing I have observed, in the reading of many posts, is that evaluation of an NPC is largely based on BioWare camoflage. Sorry, but the portrait does stand out. You have stated that you are not inclined to take comments personally, so I will comment on the portrait. The cheekbones are definietly prominent, which is decidedly elvish. But the portrait has a strong, square jaw, which is not. Elves are perceived to have more pointed faces and possibly weaker chins.

 

Yes, the picture is "grainy" - my forehead is taller now, and it's the only digital pic i have from then :-) Never though of myself as having a square chin, but if that's what you see, that's what you see. He's a half-elf, so a mix of human and elvish features would not be out of order The Noldur half-elves from Lord of the Rings seemed just like men. The coloration is all wonky (not that I have much color anyway), and I should probably clear the brick background. I'll play with it some.

[berelinde]

I was confused, when I saw all the files. In fact, I was confused enough to do a quick check with SK to see if the mod actually did install or if I did something wrong. Don't take it personally. This weekend, I was outsmarted by the door of a minivan.

 

In a lot of ways, it's sometimes helpful to write instructions as if the reader had never touched a computer before.

 

Yes, I do realize that Jonathan is WeiDU and does install as a WeiDU mod. But that didn't stop me from being momentarily baffled.

 

Will Jonathan find you in whatever area of the map you happen to be in, or is he somewhere you are likely to pick him up, like the FAI or the Coast Way? If you install the mod while you have a current game running, will you have to go somewhere to find him? Or does he just track you down?

 

Why would someone install a mod and then avoid him? I guess it's more a question of playing style. Some people might have more than one game going at a time, with different NPCs.

 

A short time ago, I was having some stutter problems. I attributed it to an over-full cache, and an overabundance of NPC mods I was not actually playing. Now I keep a separate mod directory and only install mods I will use immediately. I also finish one game or abandon it before moving on to another.

[Lemernis]

Yeah, just to emphasize Berlinde's oberservations, packaging is crucial if you want anyone to try this out. The modding 'marketplace' is crowded with NPC mods that are voice-acted, have romances, and the product is featured on sleek webpages that really give you a feel for the character--and make the character seem intriguing and appealing to play.