Icewind Dale: ToEE - Total Conversion

Discussion in 'Icewind Dale Total Conversion' started by Allyx, May 7, 2016.

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  1. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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    Finally managed to get an IWD map into ToEE, and actually, the scale seems to be near on perfect just the way they are, I would have posted a screenshot, but I reused the upstairs of the inn of the welcome wench as a map to replace, so all the old clipping files were applied where they shouldn't be. I can try a different map to edit tomorrow, and post a screenshot for you guys.

    Incidentally, the original ToEE map numbers, are they to be completely written off for new modules, or can the .mob files etc be overwritten to avoid the .dat backup files conflicting with new content?
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2016
  2. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    Ummm?

    Take a look a the innards of KotB, we just wrote over everything.

    Basically, unless you want to make new .dat files (doable but probably unnecessary) the game will download the .dats, as I understand it, then download folder stuff and overwrite everything. So, overwriting for map numbers is definitely the way to go. Ignore .mobs - if your new map 5001 is "CandleKeep" or "IWD Map 1" or whatever, then the game will go to the appropriate folder to get it's mobs. It will have the old ones loaded someone (from HOMMLET_01_Exterior or whatever 5001 is in the dats) but it won't come into play. Just make sure you don't delete any protos, or the game will crash when trying to load the maps - you just overwrite what you want. 14060 goes from being Lareth to being Sarevok, etc.

    Another piece of advice - the map number should match up with ToEE similar ones. Specifically outdoor maps and Inn maps. The CTD bug that plagued KotB 1.0 turned out to be because the Inn map was not matched up with the original (Welcome Wench) map and when you slept there, it had conniptions for some reason. I doubt you have to be anal about it but the worldmap areas and Inns should be matched up.
    Call me a Luddite but I can't see the link, can you point me to it?
     
  3. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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  4. Sitra Achara

    Sitra Achara Senior Member

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    I think the command line switch -mod XXX tells toee which modules folder to load. You could then just create a new dat file without all the unnecessary junk. Haven't tested it yet but it's worth a try.
     
  5. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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    Hmm, is there a dat creator tool that works with windows 7? or a known working compatibility mode configuration?
     
  6. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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    Ok so here's a screenshot of an IWD map in ToEE. I didn't adjust the size at all.
     

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  7. ineth

    ineth Member

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    Looking good!

    But try it with an indoor map that has chairs and tables and shelves, such as the starting tavern in IWD (AR1006).
    Then you'll see whether the characters look weird next to the furniture, or if they look appropriate.

    Here's a modified version of the AR1006 map background, with some IWD character models (copied from a screenshot at the 100% zoom level) baked in:
    https://i.imgur.com/Ap2DxZx.png
    The red one is a male Human, the yellow one a female Elf, and next to her a female Dwarf.
    The bar keeper and sitting patrons are also humans, I think.

    If you turn this into a ToEE map, you'll be able to see the ToEE character next to the IWD characters and the furniture.
     
  8. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    Those sizes look good Al :)

    Ineth, do you know how to get our hands on the dialogue files?

    EDIT: Gimme about 24 hours and I will upload a playable version of Ineth's map (I need to get a new mouse).
     
  9. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    I have nothing to offer but words of encouragement, but this project sounds fantastic! I hope you guys are able to complete it.
     
  10. ineth

    ineth Member

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    @Shiningted

    Dialog files


    Each talking non-player character in the game has a .DLG file associated with them, which describes their dialog tree.
    A dialog tree consists of a set of states, with transitions between them based on which response the player chooses.
    Each state and each response can also have a trigger (i.e. a script condition that must be fulfilled in order for it to show up), and responses can additionally have an action (i.e. a script that is executed when the response is chosen, for example to update quest variables).

    NearInfinity lets you browse the DLG files using a visual interface. It looks like this:

    [​IMG]

    This screenshot shows the first state ("0/15"), and that state's first response ("0/2"), in DGRISELL.DLG - the dialog file associated with Grisella, the barkeeper in the AR1006 map shown in my previous post.
    As you can see, this state has a trigger to make sure it only shows up the first time you talk to her, and only if the quest variable Know_Balance hasn't been incremented yet.

    NearInfinity can also mass-extract the DLG files. But there is a complication: The actual dialog text is not stored in the DLG files themselves. Instead, each state and each response merely specifies a string index ("StrRef").
    All the strings of the game are compiled into a single dialog.tlk file.

    I don't think NearInfinity can export dialogs in a useful form that includes the actual strings for each state, but weidu can.

    Weidu was initially written exactly for this purpose: To read from and write to dialog.tlk. It became much more powerful than that, and because it can be automated using its own scripting language, it is now used as the mod installer/uninstaller for pretty much all mods that exist for the Infinity Engine games. But it can still perform basic dialog decompilation just fine... :)
    It has no UI, however - it is fully controlled by command-line arguments and/or scripts.

    You can download the latest stable weidu version from here. All you need from that ZIP file is the weidu.exe.
    Put the weidu.exe in the IWD "game" directory, open a terminal to that directory, and then you can decompile Grisella's aforementioned dialog tree by running:
    Code:
    weidu.exe DGRISELL.DLG
    It creates a .D file in the game directory as output (in this case, DGRISELL.D), which is a "weidu script" text file.
    Here is the content of the file in this example: http://pastebin.com/raw/ur2E3RrH

    It looks messy at first sight, but it is actually a well-structured format that could be parsed by an InfinityEngine→ToEE conversion script:

    IF ~[trigger]~ THEN BEGIN [state ID]

    SAY #[StrRef] /* ~[string that the NPC says]~ */

    IF ~[trigger]~ THEN REPLY #[StrRef] /* ~[player response 1]~ */ DO [action] GOTO [ID of the next state]

    ...
    END

    (In fact, Weidu itself can parse it and turn it into a DLG file again, and patch the dialog.tlk accordingly.)
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2016
  11. Sitra Achara

    Sitra Achara Senior Member

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    You can use the attached one (TioPack). It's just a light app that calls the tio.dll pack function actually (source code here).
    Usage intructions:
    https://github.com/GrognardsFromHell/TempleFileFormats/wiki/TioPack-Usage

    It requires tio.dll present in the same folder, which itself might require other DLLs, don't remember which if any (I just copied all the ToEE DLLs into the same folder).
    Also included a .bat file I commonly use to run it.
     

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    Last edited: May 18, 2016
  12. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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    Right, in the inn, again no map size alteration.
     

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  13. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    That inn looks strikingly similar to the Welcome Wench. ;)

    Scale looks fine to me, fwiw.
     
  14. Sitra Achara

    Sitra Achara Senior Member

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    Je suis d'accord
     
  15. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    Ya know, when you guys manage to recreate Baldurs Gate (and possibly Icewind Dale) in ToEE, Temple will be the de facto best DnD crpg of all time in my opinion, as there would be no need to play the games outside of Temple due to its amazing 3.5 and combat implementation.
     
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