One thing I cannot stand about the game is how the avatar for human PC's is so skinny (at least for taller humans). After messing around with the hex editor I discovered that the same entry that determines race also determines the type of avatar (human, orc, etc...). Another entry determines the avatar's height (also, to add more confusion - there are two entries for height - one is for the number that displays on the character screen; the other is the actual height of the avatar). These two entries (race and avatar height) appear to be solely responsible for the avatar's basic appearance (height & build). The entry for weight has no affect on the avatar (just like the height entry that appears in the character screen). Has anyone discovered a way to bypass this so you could use for example the half-orc avatar for a human pc without chaning the human's race to half-orc? I don't know how to edit the protos.tab and .mes files; I cannot even find them in the game directory (I am a total newb at this stuff; the hex editor is about all I can handle LOL!). My apology if any of this has been covered before; I have not been able to find much about altering avatars on this board and the other internet TOEE boards. Thanks
Well, I'm a total newb at hex editing but do have some experience altering protos.tab and .mes files. Sorry I can't help more. tkurgan used to fiddle with editing out permanent spells and had considerable success but that's as far I know. Ferros came up with a character editor some time ago but I hear he is no longer maintaining it. Perhaps you can dig out his address from the Atari forums and mail him. I hear he is willing to pass the code to anyone who wants to work on hex editing. Nice info regarding race and avatar height. We really need people of differing expertise to make modding a more complete experience. Your input regarding info on PC characteristics and various stats as well as how to alter them would be highly welcome. P/S - If you do want to meddle with protos.tab and .mes files, get Zane's ToEExtract (http://www.co8.org/files/tools/toeeextract.rar) Phalzyr's ToEE Proto Editor (http://www.kasec.org/toee/ProtoEd2-4-1.zip) and follow the instructions. It's not too hard and quite a number of the people around here are familiar with it so we should be able to answer any queries better.
Zhuge, I have downloaded both of these programs before and they do not have any instructions (that make sense to me) about finding and modifying the files; I do not have have any .tab or .mes files in my TOEE directory; when I run the extract program it just opens up a DOS command box for a split second - I have no idea what it is doing. Do I need to to run the extract program from the TOEE directory? What does it do? Will it mess up the original TOEE files? Where are the instructions? I have never used programs like this so there is problably something obvious I am missing.
Ok, after downloading ToEExtract.rar, unzip all its contents to the Temple of Elemental Evil folder. You will now see 3 files: ToEExtract.exe, ToEExtract.cpp, ToEExtract.h Click-drag a ToEE dat file like ToEE4.dat on top of ToEExtract.exe and release to begin extraction (may take a short while) You will now see an additional folder named TOEE4 (or whatever .dat file you extracted) with all all the subdirectories and files for the extracted .dat file. Extract ToEE3.dat to a ToEE3 folder for the pre patch files Extract ToEE4.dat to a ToEE4 folder for the post official patch files You can browse these extracted files through Notepad or an editor like Phalzyr's Proto Editor which does come with a help file. .dlg files contain all the dialogue used in the game .mes files are usually just simple lists .tab files are ordered databases with fields .py files are files which contain a number of Python commands for executing spells and encounters For any changes you make to files to take place in the game, you will need to place the altered file in the Temple of Elemental Evil/data directory. This will override the original unextracted data from the data files. Hope it works out for you.
EURKEA - I figured it out!! Now all of my human PC's have the Half-Orc avatar; they are no longer skinny. The only issue is that their hair looks funny (bald looks the same); with a helmet or cloak it is not noticeable at all; basically its like they have a small bald spot. Also, they have kept their skin color. OK - using Protoed you have to open up the protos.tab file; go to line 13000 (human male) to line 13011 (half-orc female). Now go to column 34 (model) - you will now see the avatar model numbers for all of the player pc races/sexes; I think human male is 100 and half-orc male is 104 - but anyway you will be able to see all of the model numbers for the pc's (and also for other stuff in the game). Just change the model numbers and you will associate that avatar/model with whatever is on that line. I have only played for a little bit after changing the fields so I don't know if making these changes will cause problems. Zhuge - thanks for the help!!!!
That's good news. Anything else in particular that you want to work on. It would be nice to have a particular goal in mind. Have a look at rex blade's stickied post on new content. If you are interested in rewriting dialogue and quests that can be done as well.
