Incline Knights of the Chalice 2 - Editor & Module Creation

[Dorateen]

I was able to get the check ability scripts to work, here for characters with intelligence under a specific value. This is good, because I also like to give obnoxious dialogue options to characters with low charisma, and cowardly replies to those with low constitution.

Spoiler

I thought this NPC line seems appropriate considering the importance of Initiative in KotC2

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[The Red Knight]

Funsies

The splash pic doesn't have to be 1000x430. Though as it apparently is centered within that area, if you want some fancy side portrait you need to add some transparent padding to it. The UI-matching shadow visible to the right of the portrait (and any optional frame you want to have around the picture) needs to be included in the portrait pic.

Dorateen :

Spoiler

https://imgur.com/a/RrVhqE7 - rough quick edits

Sadly, the upper font color can't be modded and the blue/green text button is a pain to get right as there doesn't seem to be a typeable command/tag/prefix for it and the button-inserted color is prone to getting removed (would be nice if Pierre let you choose dialogue color with hex values, or make the palette moddable with putting the values in a .txt or making an image file the game reads from, like RPG Maker does). So that currently limits the viability of making dialogue window that dark.

Fonts are inside "Text" folder. Vera.tff is for most in-game text (changing it to your font makes the script editor an interesting experience).

For adding a name in the default spot under the vanilla portrait without selecting any portrait, you'd probably have to modify "Knights of the Chalice 2\Graphics\FrameBlack.png" to be fully transparent (or having a single non-transparent pixel using the background color), and duplicate and rename to something "Knights of the Chalice 2\Graphics\FramedIcons\None.png" pic so it can be chosen as dialogue icon - at this point, since you're modding base game folders, it may as well stay in that folder.

Also the dialogue window needs to be 32-bit or the game will crash.

 

[Dorateen]

Any thoughts on how to add custom sprites to a module? Again, it looks like from the selection window, the only option points to the Graphics/Sprites folder in the base KotC2 folder. I wonder if I could drop sprite files in the ItemIcon folder of the module, and then select to use as a token. It wouldn't function as a sprite, but would at least have the appearance.

 

[The Red Knight]

Player tokens and sprites go only into the main graphics folder I think, because you can enter other modules with created characters. So either way you'd have to ues the main directory (maybe release them as a separate mod or an addon to the module, so you can pack just the module folder as one archive and then the pc graphics at another - or just go all the way of modding other kotc2 graphics and make it a total conversion). You can make uninstalling it easier for players by prefixing all the files (use some batch rename tool) with the name of your module or some other unique keyword.

Sprites folder for module NPCs would have to be patched in by Pierre (likely omitted because current support level is a late addition requested by people). But if he already has code for his sprites, he could also modify it to add another sprite toggle in the options that'd use goldbox-like sprite behavior. Seems fitting for a D&D construction kit game to have support for them, too. You can still use the main directory, though (as another required resources mod? would also let people to use them in their own modules by just telling the players to download the sprites pack first).

The Realmz sprites from my token pack I added as static tokens.

Spoiler

And this is from the icon maker for Dungeon Craft:

Haven't made a custom shadow for them, though, so you'd have to create a shadow mod for sprite tokens (you can also mod the shadow pics to be 100% transparent to get shadowless tokens - maybe they're not dimensions-sensitive and you could just copy-paste and rename that invisible "none" framedicon). If you go with tokens, you could make flipped duplicates to use for hostiles (so you could use the same sprite for an allied knight and a hostile one and still tell them apart)

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Suggestion: that "delete module" button seems not impossible to misclick, so just in case it may be good to keep a backup of work-in-progres custom modules somewhere.

 

[The Red Knight]

In the meantime I've been trying to make a dialogue-nested interactive world map work (because the vanilla world map doesn't seem to have all the features I want, plus I can't get it to work in the first place). Technically it is possible to make a cool-ish one, but all the methods for that are clunky and make me want to wait with that till some patch makes it easier.



Stuff that would be very useful for that (and other things) but doesn't seem to be available (at least I couldn't find it):

- using activable zones of a map in dialogue but without a defined splash picture (i.e. want to click on whatever activable zone is visible within the 1000x430px field of view when the dialogue starts - e.g. if I see the bottom part of a large map and it has zones there, I want to click on them and the game to recognize that); currently, using the command to display the dialogue and wait for a splash pic click without defining said pic crashes the game, and with the splash pic the game only recognizes activable zones put in the top-left 1000x430 corner of the map

- storing of xy coordinates of clicked spot in dialogue splash picture (and dialogue without splash picture) relative to map coords instead of window coords (so like with the above, if the party is in the bottom-right corner of a big map and gets a clickable dialogue, there should be an option to store the coords from that corner instead of from the top-left 1000x430 fragment)

- targetting activable zones of a map by their name/ID and not position (currently the available edit command takes any activable zone of the spot you clicked on for selection (or maybe the "top" one? hard to say), and so is useless for selecting one of overlapping zones) - having this would make lots of things much easier, like let you stack activable zones on top of each other and just hide/show them with a script as necessary (instead of creating many map files for each set of activable zones you need, or the messy and tedious approach of teleporting the zones in and out)

- related, teleporting activable zones seems to require adding two commands to the script, one for the X and one for the Y coord, and also lacks "pick coords from map" option (if moving the zone along just one axis has its uses, there could be another option for the command that lets you quickly change both coords)

- selecting a script to launch after the current one ends, so scripts could call each other as necessary instead of having to copy-paste anything you want from script 2 into the running script 1 (currently using a workaround of teleporting the party leader on top of an otherwise-inaccessible trigger tile when I want to switch scripts)

- preventing the world map dragging from going out of bounds (it looks ugly unless you account for the black space in the world map picture and add some fade-into-black border to it)

- for testing the module, if your world map lacks a way to enter some location from it, you can't exit it / go back to the main menu?

- add dialog answer that's hidden/non-selectable for the skill "Specified Variable NOT EQUAL To Specified Value" (I'm using "if variable is not equal" and putting answers commands under that, but that could be contained in the answer command instead to avoid bloated script when you have many answer options in it)



Fake edit to the first point: (see picture) the used splash pic can be paritally- or even fully-transparent (to get one quickly, stretch nope.png framedicon to 1000x430), so a 1000x430 invisible splash pic lets you use the zones and still see the map (using a smaller picture, e.g. 100x100 px, will only let you click within that 100x100 area) - but you still are limited to the activable zones placed in the top-left 1000x430 area of the map you're loading the zones from.

 

[Dorateen]

I've been posting screenshots of conversations so far, but there is plenty of combat in Hearkenwold. Including this one, which our party was not prepared for:

Spoiler

What I have decided to do, at least for some indoor locations, is create a separate battle map for the encounter to play out. This is because the IceBlink engine was designed around the concept of a separate combat map transition similar to the Gold Box games or Realms of Arkania. The abstract 2D adventure maps in Hearkenwold are just too small in some places to properly stage a fight. So I have added a script to the conversation preceding a battle that will set the party's position on a new battle map. A script added to the enemy's End of fight trigger will transition the party back to the location on the main map. The loading between screens is nearly instantaneous, so it should not be a problem.

Outdoor maps should be large enough to handle without needing to warp to a battle map.

 

[Dorateen]

Just looking to keep this thread active.

I spruced up that battle zone with some beds and a torch. Equipped the party with some basic first level gear. Still got wrecked.

Spoiler

Here is an early outdoor map. To display the transition squares, I am using Interactive Map Site markers that are included with Knights of the Chalice. The glowing trees mark where the forest continues to the east, north and south. While the Map Site Castle to the west shows the way back to the grounds of Castle Hearkenwold.

Spoiler

Party survived an encounter here. This is one of the battles that did not need to switch to a combat map. It was fun having a running fight across this area.

 

[The Red Knight]

A small(?) side project as I'm waiting for some editor-boosting patches.

Spoiler

Is going to be only the Roman side of the shareware demo area, or even less, of the original version of the game (i.e. pretty much a fanmade teaser to make you buy the Resurrection remake, which I hope JV won't mind). With some artistic licence modifications here and there as some things/mechanics can't be ported.

Technically Celts get more interesting combat opportunities (like where-I've-seen-this-before getting thrown to the bottom of a dungeon with all equipment stripped from them, or a series of skirmishes against Roman patrols with superior equipment), but the Romans are cooler.

And another editor demand:
A few obstacle-type tiles that let you move diagonally if they're on both sides of your path:
1X
X2
^like for getting from 1 to 2 here
The "use for pillars" thing seems to only work if there's one pillar and the other tile is open.

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Plus a few findings:
- seems like it will be possible to make a piece of equipment disable spellcasting by giving it a giant PP and Concentration penalty
- you can have two items with the same name (and not that /000X number suffix urging you to rename them) by adding a space or two at the end of the item name (e.g. "Scroll" and "Scroll ") <- you only have to be careful with item-adding scripts not to accidentally delete that space
- in case you've never used "Tiled" map editor before (like me), tileset offset is hidden in layer settings (so you offset a whole layer and place any tiles you want to have that offset on it)

... another idea to annoy players with:
An ambush that checks for party's/individual characters' HP % and only happens if the party is severely wounded (like from backtracking to a campfire through a cleared area and thinking they're safe and thus not healing up after a hard battle).

... and Pierre's guide on making random encounters, that I don't remember being brought up in this thread:
http://www.heroicfantasygames.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=822&p=5491
(thanks to Rpguy for reposting it)

 

[The Red Knight]

How to get from this:

... to this (sans the blurriness):

... when the angle at which I have to modify it is this (it's the second-from-the-right one):

Lagole Gon any artsy/perspective insight on this?

(to elaborate, the slopes descending to the north end up being half a tile wide after converting the map to the KotC angle, and stacking them until they fill a full tile makes them too steep, which is incompatible with diagonal movement and vision restrictions of KotC2 - hence I want to flatten them a bit)

 

[Lagole Gon]

My brain is a bit tired, so I'm not 100% sure I understand the situation.

I'm assuming you have some photoshoop-like software and some time.
Get a grid.
Draw perspective guides on a separate layer.
Copy-paste pixels to fill this shit. Cut it to the right shape. Looks alright. Pretty much no effort.

If the effects are not pleasing you can stretch the pixels to the right perspective. And then try sharpening or layer effects. With simple graphics like that, it should look okay.

I'm not even sure if I'm answering the right question here, I should get some sleep.

 

[The Red Knight]

Seems like the thing I needed (not sure yet, my brain is tired from the heat too), thanks

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Dorateen felipepepe ( JarlFrank too? are you still making the feet adventures?):

Add "CreatureSprites", "FramedIcons" and "SpellIcons" folders to your module's folder to make the game draw resources from them. If that somehow doesn't work, try copy-pasting them from the Augury module's folder.

Previously I was trying to make a copy of the global "Sprites" folder and that didn't work and I assumed it's not implemented yet, but apparently it's named differently for the modules. Accidentally noticed these in the Augury's subfolder (must have forgotten seeing them back when I was browsing through various folders), and copy-pasting them into another module worked. In other words, no need to use the item folder for portraits or keeping monster sprites in the global folder (though the portraits can stay in the item folder if you already have various scripts targetting them, I don't think there's any framedicons call that doesn't also use the item folders).

 

[felipepepe]

I have one new map ready and 4 others half-done for my campaign module, but I stopped for a while to write an article on the history of MMORPGs. Will return to it when the article is done.

I just wish Pierre released SOMETHING about what he plans to do to improve the editor... simply making the script editor work fullscreen would already help so much. Same for it being able to ignore a broken script instead of crashing. And people on Discord keep pressuring for cosmetic things before even basic functionalities, feels like people who don't make mods dictating how a mod tool should be... fuck pretty art assets, I can photoshop those, but no one will play & mod this if the editor is annoying to use and the included campaign is the hardest game ever made.

 

[Mortmal]

I have one new map ready and 4 others half-done for my campaign module, but I stopped for a while to write an article on the history of MMORPGs. Will return to it when the article is done.

I just wish Pierre released SOMETHING about what he plans to do to improve the editor... simply making the script editor work fullscreen would already help so much. Same for it being able to ignore a broken script instead of crashing. And people on Discord keep pressuring for cosmetic things before even basic functionalities, feels like people who don't make mods dictating how a mod tool should be... fuck pretty art assets, I can photoshop those, but no one will play & mod this if the editor is annoying to use and the included campaign is the hardest game ever made.

He went completely radio silent exactly at kotc 2 release both on discord and codex. At this point you'd rather make modules for BG3 . Btw zappa guy ask you on discord , apparently pierre speaks to him aagain...

 

[Dorateen]

Progress report: I have 15 maps loaded into the Hearkenwold module. Still a long way to go, but the goal I am aiming for is to be working on 30 maps by the end of the month.

I've been using a lot of the Gold Box sprites as creatures tokens, because there are not enough default KotC sprites to cover the wide cast of monsters that will be encountered. I don't think the clash of graphics is too bad, both with a pixelated appearance. Maybe it's an acquired taste.

Spoiler

Been hunting for the cook in the castle.

Spoiler

 

[The Red Knight]

You could try grabbing some Tibia monsters too:
https://tibia.fandom.com/wiki/Old_Sprites
https://otland.net/threads/opentibia-sprite-pack.254815/
https://otland.net/threads/all-tibia-sprites-in-gif-format-properly-sized-and-formatted.158650/
https://shivashadowsong.wixsite.com/pixelrealm/archive <- this one seems to have used to sell some quality stuff but that is gone?

Haven't checked if any of the downloads work, but people still play it so there should be something available.

 

[Mortmal]

Progress report: I have 15 maps loaded into the Hearkenwold module. Still a long way to go, but the goal I am aiming for is to be working on 30 maps by the end of the month.

I've been using a lot of the Gold Box sprites as creatures tokens, because there are not enough default KotC sprites to cover the wide cast of monsters that will be encountered. I don't think the clash of graphics is too bad, both with a pixelated appearance. Maybe it's an acquired taste.

Spoiler

Been hunting for the cook in the castle.

Spoiler

https://thetrove.net/Resources/Programs/Fantasy Grounds/Tokens/ Go there change the files extensiosn to .zip and extract all of their tokens. Thas just an example there's many token sets hidden in the book folders too.

 

[Tavernking]

Progress report: I have 15 maps loaded into the Hearkenwold module. Still a long way to go, but the goal I am aiming for is to be working on 30 maps by the end of the month.

I've been using a lot of the Gold Box sprites as creatures tokens, because there are not enough default KotC sprites to cover the wide cast of monsters that will be encountered. I don't think the clash of graphics is too bad, both with a pixelated appearance. Maybe it's an acquired taste.

Spoiler

Been hunting for the cook in the castle.

Spoiler

Have you considered making your own game for your project? With mods you'll only get a few hundred people trying it (UNLESS the KoTC2 has steam workshop or some kind of module searcher imbedded into the actual game, I don't know). If you make your own game and release it for free you'll get thousands if not tens of thousands of people playing it.

 

[Dorateen]

Progress report: I have 15 maps loaded into the Hearkenwold module. Still a long way to go, but the goal I am aiming for is to be working on 30 maps by the end of the month.

I've been using a lot of the Gold Box sprites as creatures tokens, because there are not enough default KotC sprites to cover the wide cast of monsters that will be encountered. I don't think the clash of graphics is too bad, both with a pixelated appearance. Maybe it's an acquired taste.

Spoiler

Been hunting for the cook in the castle.

Spoiler

Have you considered making your own game for your project? With mods you'll only get a few hundred people trying it (UNLESS the KoTC2 has steam workshop or some kind of module searcher imbedded into the actual game, I don't know). If you make your own game and release it for free you'll get thousands if not tens of thousands of people playing it.

I'm not a programmer or an artist. But KotC combat is fun, which is why I enjoy recreating the encounters and context in this engine. It is just a hobby for me. The only aspiration I have is that maybe one day, someone will make a Codexian Let's Play of Hearkenwold.

 

[Dorateen]

More party-based conversations.

Spoiler

More fighting with wolves.

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One of the things that makes KotC combat special is how enemies are so active. They move, they reposition, some using multiple tactics to grapple or take other measures. Even a basic encounter against wolves with a low level party can be dynamic.

 

[Dorateen]

The Red Knight

Have you had any experience with this command "Give HPs" that can be used to injure the party?

It should be pretty straightforward. The description clearly says this can be used to injure characters, and it appears to take negative values.

But when I try to give -2d6 hit points after selecting a dialogue answer, it does not work. Need this for traps and such. Is there any place in Augury of Chaos that damages the characters as a result of a dialogue choice that I could look at?

 

[The Red Knight]

Can't get it working either. Seems like a bug.

I did a file search in the Augury's script folder looking for "Give HPs" and found nothing (checked with notepad what the command is saved as in a custom script and temporarily renamed all scripts to .txt so windows search could target their contents); only three irrelevant scripts that pop up because they contain these two words separately.

Command #56 (set for character NAME the property CURRENT HP) works, but it's changing it to a fixed value and can't target the party. In theory you could employ multiple variables to create a long and elaborate script to retrieve each party member's name and current HP to then set it to current value minus the damage roll using this command, but it's not worth it.

Command #147 (scripted event: let character NAME cast spell SPELL) can be used to make the party leader target himself with an AoE (custom) spell. The command says the caster should be hostile for damaging, but it doesn't seem to matter for spells that damage everyone. As a bonus, the game will take care of calculating saving throws if the used spell has them (if you want the effect to be avoidable). Three possible issues: the damage doesn't seem to kill anyone (you drop down to 1 HP even if that spell would kill the character or the party in combat - though you could then be mean and kill all characters that have 1 HP left), line of sight doesn't matter for choosing the target of the script but it does for spell's spread/AoE (e.g. you can have a wizard attack your leader from the other end of the map with a fireball but then it won't hit a party member separated from the leader/script's target with a wall; tried with all sorts of spell settings), and I haven't tested it in situations where you'd have damageable NPCs in range.

But since it's a bug it's probably best to insert the broken command into scripts, report the issue, and it should start working after the fix (just in case, you can note down scripts where you used it so you can later go back to them if the fix alters the command's behavior)

 

[Dorateen]

Thanks, I think I will go with #147 and create a hidden "trap" character who will cast a spell at the party as necessary.

Edit: Interesting, in the screen to chose spell, I see options including Needle Trap, Poison Gas Trap, Arrow Trap and so on. I wonder if this is how Pierre intended hostile traps to work. I ended up just lobbing a fireball from a hidden character.

 

[Dorateen]

Been getting a lot of work done. Here's some new screenshots from Hearkenwold.

A warning from an NPC.

Spoiler

He wasn't kidding...

Spoiler

The default Troll in the creature templates is given the class of Death Knight. Sure, why not. This makes the monster significantly more deadly for low level characters.

Setting off a trap. Somewhere beneath that special effect is an adventuring party.

Spoiler

 

[Dorateen]

I just upgraded to version 1.05

The whole "display last splash screen during dialogue", is there a way to disable it? This makes no sense. I have a number of splash screens in the game, and the last one used pops up during every dialogue until the next screen is encountered. The images do not fit the other dialogues, and besides, I liked showing the map where a conversation is taking place.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The whole "display last splash screen during dialogue", is there a way to disable it?

Pretty sure it's a bug.