Utraean Seizure of hopless Mapping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehfWS7h0w4E&feature=channel_video_title

 
Soon you will reach Stonebridge, but first you have to pass the crypts.
What average level did these monsters have? - ...143? ...193?
At that level the crypt boss monster could be quite challenging... :jawdrop:

There was/is a Tutorial Map for DS1. Its readme (inside the *.zip) starts with...:

Now you could play this map in DS2 as well: CGM Tutorial Map, Alpha 2 (3.7MB, for DS2 v2.2 ReadMe)

...but you also need all the Utrae resource mods from above to play this map!

It's a cross-like map with ~2 regions/dungeons in each direction, maybe 1(-2) hours to discover and conquer all. There are no quests, only a few secret levers, so this map is rather something for people who like exploring.
I only have added some content and fixed the common DS1=>DS2 matters, so fell free to leave a message if you encounter any other problems.

Good work here, you've inspired me to modding DS2 again, that and the DS2 version of the Cat Mansion Mod. I've managed to convert 50 odd DS1 monsters into DS2 and have finished the main campaign with a bit of nostalgia. Thanks.

Nice to see you Iryan. Hope to see more of you in the future. Always loved your mods. :wavey:

Maybe it's interesting to know that most monster template names for the Utraean Peninsula DS2 (in actors.gas of each region) still are the same as in DS1 (just internally redirected to 'stats' template of DS2). So any 'monster mod' with a tank priority >20 (RTC) easily could replace the current (rather auxiliary) monster assignment.
However 1-2 dozens of monsters from DS1 are already content of the Utraean Peninsula for DS2, unfortunately i don't remember all of them but a quick look into tank/mod would tell you more.

Thanks but you deserve all the credit. I actually just expanded what you did in this mod. It's interesting to see what DS1 stuff will still work in DS2 but I suppose it's not surprising as the DS2 engine is just an enhancement over the original. All the models and textures from DS1 will work fine.

There's 90 monsters from DS1 and the expansion converted, including the ones you have done, and I've used 38 of them in DS2. If you want to use any of those templates in this mod, let me know and I'll send them to you. I would love to see the original Kingdom of Ehb campaign finished. I prefer the original campaigns to DS2, despite the obvious enhancements of DS2.

It has always been an ambition of mine to play through all the campaigns from the very beginning. So I'm now modding your mod to add recruitable characters to it, so I can play with a new character from level 0. It's a lot easier to do with the DS2 engine than it was with the original.

@iryan: Thanks for your offer, could you send me once a PM with the (template) names of your additional monsters (or a file listing, etc. - anything to identify them)?
It's really fun to encounter some of the (most) strange/authentic DS1 monsters in DS2 again. It's well possible that there will be an new version Alpha 10, and it would be great if it would come with some new/original monsters.

Currently I have no plans about the Ehb map in/for DS2. I would be interested in it as well, unfortunately i've forgotten too much details about this map to estimate how much time it would take to port/fix it the whole map - and actually there are many other things too on my 'to do/improve/finish' lists...
However if you should have worked on Ehb yourself eventually please keep me informed.

Recently I came across the Diabloish Map v7 so I thought it could be nice to play it in DS2:

Diabloish Map for DS2, Beta 1 (9.6MB, for DS2 v2.2 ReadMe)

 
I've tried to contact Dr.Smooth aka James Lang what he thinks about hijacking his map, but after 8 years the chance is low that my e-mail still reaches him...

I downloaded a copy of the original when it came out and gave it a try. I remember making a few new models of Diablo creatures that it didn't have. I'll see if they're still on my systems somewhere. There should be a goat-man and at least one more, although I don't remember what it was.

does anyone still have these files? I'd like to try it out but the download links are dead for me.

Luckily Iryan mentioned that he already imported most of these DS1 monsters, so upgrading the Diabloish map should be well possible.

Hi all,

As mentioned by Killergremal, I've finished the templates for importing most of the DS1 and DSLOA monsters, as well as two of Ghastley's creations, into DS2.

This is primarily to help Killergremal with his excellent work but I had such fun with it that we thought that we'd share the templates with you for those of you who have some modding skill and are willing to create the resource file needed for them to work in DS2, something that should take only about 30 minutes to do. The included text file hopefully will help you out.

There're map files to modify Killergremal's mod to add a greater diversity of monsters to the map and adds recruitable characters so you can even begin a new game on it if you wish. There's also map files to add some DS1 monsters to the DS2 campaign as I mentioned in an earlier post, though that was the first work I did and could be done a lot better now.

Here's the link to the file; http://www.mediafire.com/?st3jj70i2oxpwj0

Remember that you need DS1 installed (or have the disks) and preferably DSLOA. Tested in Broken World but should work in vanilla DS2. Note that I haven't tested extensively this file, something may be missing in preparing it for upload but the full resource file is about 250 MB. Most things should work and remember that it is a work in progress.

For interest, together with those monsters Killergremal has already converted, it makes available about 120 monster models and over 320 varieties of monsters.

All I've found so far is a mesh for the goat-man, which is really just a Braak with a head transplant so it can use the Braak's animations for most things. I thought I'd also done some pole-arm animations for him, but I haven't found those so far. Maybe they're on another computer somewhere under a pile of dust. The beta version of the map appears to be the same one you found.

I'll keep looking!

There's a monster from Legend of Aranna, the Rune Beast, that's a bit goatish in appearance which may serve the purpose. Especially with new textures.

I've recently got interested in playing Dungeon Siege 2 & Broken World once more.

So I've decided to try your last version using the following setup:

- Elys DS2 Succubus Manager v8 (Succubus modlet enabled)
- ZhixalomsDS2BWInventory1024x768.ds2res
- A_ZhixalomsDS2Inventory1024x768_SuccubusFix.ds2res

- Mod-DS1Map-Utrea-Alpha09.ds2res
- Mod-DS1Content-Alpha09.ds2res
- Mod-Erthos-MonsterLevelAdjust-Beta4g.ds2res
- Mod-TerrainNodesDS1LoA-Beta3.ds2res

Then I've tried the Utrea map for like one hour and it was fun exploring it in Dungeon Siege 2.
Now I've already started a new character and I plan to beat the original and expansion campaigns, and then will continue the adventure with this new character on Utrae map.

That's gonna be fun! Thanks for your work

@Elys: Nice to read that you have some fun with it!
But do you have the postfix too? - Specially if you intend to play with a full party it might be useful.

Unfortunately there aren't NPCs to hire right now, however at least Deru and Lothar are quite easy to 'steal' from the main DS2 map...
Luckily iryan told/PM'd me recently that he made an upgrade for the Utrae with more original monsters from DS1 and additional NPCs to hire. Perhaps he will release this mod soon.

Personally i only did some initial steps to hire that archeology girl in the Hovart's Folly dungeon in the Northern Forests. Eventually i could put this once in another postfix.

 
 
By the way, helpful are also the green potions to re-enter/proceed the original maps/gameplay (at least if you met the level requirements). Like this it would be possible to start on custom maps first if intended.

About the postfix: Now I do

Won't the NPC heroes actually active in my party spawn with me, if I open Utrea map just after beating the original game ?

That should happen and can be easily tested anytime you have at least two members in your party. Just choose to play a new single player game with your current party and choose the Utraean Peninsula map and your party should spawn.

Yes I've added lot to Killergremal's version of the map and sent him a copy. I've also made a version of his Kingdom of Ehb map and a test version of Legends of Aranna too.

I haven't released anything because I didn't want to intrude on his work. Without his excellent work, none of what I've done would have been possible. Also I'm very worried about releasing anything due to the legal implications. Nobody would probably worry about Killergremal's version of the Utraean Peninsula but my version has all of the original DS1 monsters restored plus many DSLOA monsters (like a DS2 version of the Legends Of Utrea minus the quests). Any comments about how such a mod could get released? I've thought about making it necessary to have the original Dungeon Siege game resources required to install the mod but I lack the knowledge of how that may be achieved without some modding ability by the user (I released something similiar earlier in this post. I know about half a dozen people downloaded it, was anyone able to install the mod properly?)

To bypass legal issues, the player himself should convert DS1 resources into DS2 resources as described. Since this is a required step, the monsters (their DS2 templates) should offered in a separate mod (with or without the NPCs to hire, i don't know yet).
However this conversion practically doesn't work for LoA because it has one resource file for everything (incl. conflicting templates and skrit files), so it would be better to exclude the LoA content/monsters until the possibilities of LoA demo have been examined closer.

At the moment however i only plan to tune the hiring of the NPCs so that this separate mod doesn't need rules.skit in order to make it more v2.2<=>v2.3 friendly (currently there is to upgrade the hero if the level gap is too big).

Concerning content exchanges between DS1/DS2 in mods - i've read the EULAs several times, and a lot depends on terms like 'this game or software'. If this would refer on the Dungeon Siege series generally, it wouldn't be a problem to exchange content. Also we shouldn't forget that DS1 and DS2 are the intellectual product of one and the same company.
Many people would say now that DS1 isn't equal DS2, however technically there isn't much difference - both have basically the same game engine, both are using skrit as exclusive language, also the proprietary template structure is almost identical, the file types for meshes and terrain nodes are the same too. This is actually why it's so easy to use content from DS1 in DS2 or vice versa - because there is no significant difference.
Additionally there were public demos of DS1 and LoA, so not all DS1 content had to be from a retail version, and the demonstrating nature will be maintained in DS2 underlining the advantages of DS1.

However i'm neither judge nor lawyer. It's probably a matter of interpretation, what GPG really intended with a 'moddable' game and how they would imagine the legal/fair handling of their work even in cases nobody initially has thought about.
 

That's what I'm looking at doing, trying to create some sort of batch file to help the user. Unfortunately the resources for the monsters are a lot more complicated than the maps and the thing which makes importing them into DS2 possible, also works against us as the objects.ds2res file for DS2 contains a lot of conflicting resources with DS1. So we have to extract the monster resources from objects.dsres and make a new tank file, otherwise the game will crash or lockup.

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I prefer the old dungeon siege monsters to the DS2 ones and far more than DS3. Without the original monsters the maps lose something very important. When I first tried your mod I got very bored with it after the initial wow factor, which has nothing at all against your efforts as I think you've done a fantastic effort.

If it was left to Gas Powered Games I don't think there'd be a problem. The issue is that there's two different publishers and the original game is still being sold, even though it has some issues with more recent versions of Windows. If the user has both games then there's no problem. We just need some way of extracting the required DS1 resources on the user's computer so they're usable in DS2, without posting them on the net. It would be wonderful if someone with programming experience could make such a program.

Hi All,

I've finished making the Kingdom of Ehb map from DS1 fully playable in Ds2. In the same mod I've included the enhancements I've made to Killergremal's original mod. That includes recruitable characters in both maps, additional starting positions and much more. It requires Killergremal's mod to work.

Readme http://www.mediafire.com/?zmvofobc4zridq2

File http://www.mediafire.com/?m4rs4k9pmmc9wm5

I've also uploaded the partial monster resources for enabling the original DS1 monsters on these maps (that's 320 varieties of monsters) but you do need to have both the original DS1 and Legend of Aranna game installed and some modding ability to build the monster resource mod yourself. This is to respect the copyright of the original publishers of the game.

Readme http://www.mediafire.com/?z323zdc6zdqik1d

File http://www.mediafire.com/?6g0a3jj5172a0zo

Woot! I'm kinda buusy these days but as soon as I have some time, I 'm gonna try that

I forgot to mention that to play the kingdom of ehb map you need to convert the original as described here by Killergremal http://siegetheday.org/?q=node/1330#comment-11958

I would have just edited my original post to add this point but the edit option didn't appear, nor was I able to add an attachment for the readme, which would have been simpler.

Wow, this sounds amazing!
I'm looking forward to put my feet on Ehb again. I remember some nice places i would like to revisit!

Sadly this was a stressful month, so I really hope i can care more again about DS2 in November.

I'm now working on Legends of Aranna and have completed the first 9 regions (out of 52).

Whether I ever get it finished depends on how good a game Elder Scrolls Skyrim is and how much difficulty I have converting the map. For instance I had to use a hack to bypass the displacer pad between Arhok and the Island, I keep getting stuck in midair! (see pic below). Any hints?

I'm no expert for elevators, however i assume the 'tube node' of the elevator are not stitched together in DS1, right!?
Because i guess (meanwhile), DS2 can't handle the transition of the elevator/platform node from the loaded into the unloaded region.

If you like to test this assumption, try once to pseudo-stitch the upper ends of the tube nodes together (so DS2 will be forced to load the remote node too).
Ensure the frustum height is equal elevator height plus some meters (for both regions), move then all elevator gizmos to the top of tube nodes so they are available/loaded for both regions.

This sounds a bit crazy indeed, so better make a backup before.
Actually it also could be a problem with elevator component itself - some of them changed for DS2...

 
Alternatively, on the Tutorual map you would see how i added this wormhole-beaming teleportation from DS2 on a DS1 map. A slightly simpler variant is currently used on Utrae for DS2 but it's probably not much easier to examine it there.
It's a proprietary work-around and it uses a couple of custom objects, specially when blocking/quest bools are involved too. Thus finding a way to fix/tune the DS1 method for DS2 would be interesting nonetheless.

Hey iryan! when I launch the map it works fine (but norrick is a pet shop?) but when i try to go down the first hill, it crashes without an error! please help!

Hey do you think that you could add hirelings like the original? or are you working on it? The game in the beginning is pretty hard. tyvm KillerGremal :3

Thank you for that tip. I'll try both methods but I don't want to spend too much time on it right now. I've actually completed the map and for most parts it works well, though for the displacers I had to use a piggyback method to jump to the next region. There's some chests that won't open, some non-critical doors that won't open either (most in the Cityhub region) but these are minor things. The only critical door that wouldn't open I just removed so progress can continue. I think most of these are due to overlaping triggers, DS2 doesn't seem to like that (I fixed one by moving the triggers).

I'll soon upload both versions (DS2 and DS1 monsters) for anyone that's interested. It's actually a lot of fun to play and there's some nice tricks used in the map not found in DS1 or DS2. Maybe I can get some feedback to help us fix these maps properly one day.