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Guard Dog

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Posts posted by Guard Dog

  1. So I joined a modding group two days ago. We are calling ourselves Southern Adventures ( I kinda like that, like a travel agency or something). Anyway, the plan is a series of short but tight standalone mods that utilize the new features from SoZ; the Overland Map and full party creation. The setting will be the Shining South of Faerun.

     

    There is a definite advantage to using full party I've found, there is no need to write hundreds to thousands of words of party banter and dialog. That is a plus. Anyway, my job in this group will be scripting and the overland map. No offense Obsidian guys, but I actually don't care for it. That said I do have a fairly good grip on using it now.

     

    Children of Winter is still a solo project and will remain my primary focus since the group will only be working two mornings a week. Hopefully there will be some news on the vault concerning the first mod within a month or so.

  2. I have a question which has been asked over on the NWN2 boards several times and never answered. Hopefully I will have better luck here. In the Module Properties window there is an Expansion Flag variable. What should the number be for just MotB? Just SoZ? Both? Neither?

     

    An answer would be greatly appreciated.

    I honestly don't know. The best way to find out would probably be to load MotB and SoZ modules in the toolset and check their values.

     

    Thanks Josh. I tried that last night. I created a mod with one area and a dinosaur (SoZ content), another with one area and a Fell Troll (MotB content) and a third mod with one area and both. All three have Expansion Flag = 0.

     

    Maybe it dosen't do anything?

  3. Save your breath Dagon. Rostere and Gorgon are just displaying the typical condescending arrogance you find in people who are incapable of seeing beyond politically correct group think. The truth is you hit the nail on the head when you pointed out that they sleep every night without fear of rocket attacks on their homes. I am sure if there was a legitimate chance they could die from the cowardly attack of an implacable enemy they would be a little more sympathetic towards people who have an actual need to defend themselves.

  4. I have a question which has been asked over on the NWN2 boards several times and never answered. Hopefully I will have better luck here. In the Module Properties window there is an Expansion Flag variable. What should the number be for just MotB? Just SoZ? Both? Neither?

     

    An answer would be greatly appreciated.

  5. What's funny is that you hardly any reporting or condemnation of Hamas rocket attacks until Isreal responded in force. Then all of assudden you get a spamming of 'all violence must stop'. L0L

     

    This is a good point. Hamas rockets killing Israeli civilians barely makes the news. Israel responds and the world laments.

  6. So, let me get this straight Kill. You are claiming the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan were pointless? Should we have done nothing after 9-11 then? There is a historical precedent for that. After the first attempt to bring down the WTC in 1993 Clinton did nothing. After the Khobar towers were bombed in 1995 Clinton did nothing. Two US embassies in Africa were bombed leading to large loss of life and Clinton did nothing. The US Air force barracks were bombed and Clinton did nothing. The USS Cole was bombed and Clinton did nothing. Each attack was progressively bolder because they saw how weak our leaders were. Finally 9-11. And no you say we should have done nothing then? Nice to see you place so little value in the blood of your countrymen. I imagine you would have done nothing after Pearl Harbor was well. If people like you were running the country we would have suffered how many 9-11s by now? Three? Five? Dozens? Which one would have stirred up you ire? If Clinton had been man enough to go after them after 1993 or any other of the nine major attacks he did nothing about maybe 9-11 would never have happened. Now after two wars, most of Al-Qeada are either dead or in prison (you know those nice people you want to set free) and Iran is militarily surrounded by US controlled Iraq, Afghanistan, and US allies Turkey, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. A lot better than doing nothing I would say. Oh, and in case you failed to notice (or perhaps you hate your country and countrymen enough to account it a bad thing) once we put away Clinton's white flags and started fighting there have been no more terrorist attacks against us.

  7. Using a lot of hakpaks and custom content on your first module is a surefire road to errors, big file sizes and tears,

     

     

    Actually this is only true of custom content like added textures and creatures or animations. Some such as Rogue Daos lip flappers add a lot of immersion for just a few lines of code. On thing I've found is that if you are going to use several haks it makes sense to merge them into one. It seems to prevent a TON of trouble and is so much easier to do now with the ERF editor.

  8. Received a call for a job interview. Not a head hunter or a contract job this time. Hopefully this will be a better opportunity than the last two have been. The first one I told no because of onerous contract conditions, the second was OK but they insisted I start right away and obviously, I can't. I am getting a little nervous as the end gets closer.

  9. Who do you think placed Saddam in power. The US interfered in that country back then, placed him into power which gave him the ability to kill anyone he wished.

     

    Absolutely false on it's face. The US had nothing at all to do with the Baathist revolution. If the US could be blamed for anything at all it would be arming Iraq when they were fighting Iran. And that was done because Iran was being armed by the USSR.

     

    It's a damn shame that war ever ended. If it continued on hot and heavy for another twenty or so years we would never have needed to worry about either country.

  10. KEVIN Rudd has left open the possibility of Australia taking former inmates from the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

     

    But he warned that any US request for an inmate to come would be subject to legal criteria and assessed on a case-by-case basis, The Australian reports.

     

    As the Greens warned the Prime Minister he faced a political backlash if he accepted detainees held in the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a spokesman for Mr Rudd confirmed US authorities had approached Australia and other countries about resettling the detainees.

     

    "Australia, along with a number of other countries, has been approached to consider resettling detainees from Guantanamo Bay," the Prime Minister's spokesman said.

     

    "Any determination for an individual to come to Australia would be made on a case-by-case basis.

     

    "All persons accepted to come to Australia would have to meet Australia's strict legal requirements and go through the normal and extremely rigorous assessment processes."

     

    The Australian reported yesterday the US State Department had over the past 12 months cabled more than 100 countries seeking help to clear out Guantanamo Bay.

     

    The incoming administration of Barack Obama, which plans to shut the facility within two years, is expecting help in resettling more than 250 detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay.

     

    About 60 detainees have been cleared for release by US authorities but are unable to return to their homelands because they fear retribution.

     

    Greens senator Rachel Siewert told The Australian Guantanamo Bay was a creation of the US Government and was therefore Washington's problem. She said the Prime Minister should refuse to take any detainees.

     

    Hmmm. All of the regular Afghan Taliban fighters were repatriated in 2006-2007. That means what's left in Gitmo are Al-Qaeda through and through. Everyone left was captured either in the commission of a terrorist act or in training for one. They have been indoctrinated with the absolute worst kind of anti-western hatred imaginable. Doesn't sound like the kind of people I'd want living next to me. Unless they are just trading Gitmo for Australian Parisians. It did not sound that way to me. Good luck with that guys.

  11. Combat... basically, five pre-arranged battles that makes sense rather than a hundred "spawn 5 CR-2 creatures here". The emphasis is on making enemy parties and groups think and behave in ways the player would. E.g. ambushed by a band of mercenaries? It makes sense that some archers would hide in the bushes, as opposed to just spawning in front of you with the rest of the group. Two spellcasters? One specialises in Hold spells, the other on Direct Damage, and work together (no fancy scripting required, either). You are hunting down a rogue? Odds are that he's set up lots of traps and tricks for you, rather than waiting in a room at the end of a dungeon. Also, trying to make sure that each enemy type has a specific distinguishing feature; a wolf is not just a fast melee thing, its bite also wounds and bleeds, etc.

     

    This kind of attention to detail is so important in my opinion. And so lacking in even the professional games (refer to my comments about Tanari'i and Baatezu fighting side by side in NWN2). I've always hated seeing creatures that are frankly out of place or acting out of character so to speak. Like you pointed out, random encounters just to fill space do not make good game play.

  12. No the romances are strictly there to spice it up. Although it does add a little poignancy to the story particularly for the female PC option. However, both of the romance options will at the very least become close friends with the PC because of the nature of their relationship and their shared cause and danger. That much at least is required by the plot.

  13. If you have been following the project blog you know there are two planned romance options. I'm curious, do you guys believe they add any value to the story or is it a distraction most players skip. The reason I ask is they are a hell of a lot a trouble to write and get working properly. Do you guys believe they are worth the effort?

  14. Another thought I had. Now that full party creation has been implemented it would be nice to see a team put together to re-create all of the old P&P modules. It has been done by various builders with mixed results but a team of 2-3 builders dedicated to just that would be very popular I think.

  15. Just a thought on module setting. Depending on they story you want to tell in your mod you can use any setting and no one would be more appropriate than any other. For example Tig, you were thinking of a a low magic isolated world (sort of a medevial setting). You can park such a place anywhere in FR and it is still appropriate. All the setting would do for you is provide a template for what the local enviorment might be like (desert, forest whatever) and provide an easy explanation about all the FR specific races and classes that will be running around. The nice thing about modding is that we unlike the developers have no obligation to maintain canon. Now that game changes a little in my mod because the premise for the main plot is created by the lore and source material.

     

    The biggest advantage for me in using an established setting is it takes some of the work off your hands if you want it to. If you want to set a module in a known city you can look up that city and find a map, a list of NPCs, backstory, etc right there waiting for you. You don't need to expend brain cells on thinking it up. However, if that is part of the process you enjoy the creating you own is the way to go.

     

    Heck, creating a mod is tough enough. I just like to have some thing laid out for me to just pick up and use.

  16. Would you extend a helping hand my side :lol: ? I'm only asking because, if all goes well, I will fix my PC and pick up NWN2 sometime between January and March. Oh, and I suck at ze code.

     

    Of course. I'm fair to middle in my scripting ability. I'd also like extend the same offer to join us at FRW if the Forgotten Realms is your kind of thing.

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