Dungeon Siege Adepts 2 for Broken World
| Submitted by iryan on Wed, 2013-04-17 07:08 | ||
Some of us here at Siegetheday have been working on making an anime version of Dungeon Siege 2 like Dungeon Siege Adepts. This has been made possible by the recent release of the Cat Mansion Boys mod by AlphaDD which ports the models made by Hamcat, back around 2003 for the original dungeon siege, into DS2. This completes the set since the Girls were released in 2011 by DDlullu (AlphaDD former avatar). An Beta version has just been completed which converts all of the npcs in DS2 and Broken World into Cat Mansion people (including the half-giants and dwarves). Not just a partial conversion replacing all the npcs in the game with Cat Mansion models, DS2BW Adepts is also the largest compilation of mods and new art available for Dungeon Siege 2 with over 1500 new character and npc skins, armor, weapons, spells and gameplay changes from some of the best modders from DS2/DS1 (a lot of DS1 content from 3rd party modders, publically available artpacks, Yesterhaven and Return to Arhok, etc) such as Hamcat, AlphaDD (DDlullu), Phoenix (Volkan), Darkelf, KillerGremal, Theresnothinglft, Lurker, Omniscient_Colossus, Ikkyo and of course GPG themselves. Over 30 mods are incorporated into DS2BW Adepts. You also have more freedom in playing the campaigns. You have full access to Acts 2 and 3 once you have been cured of the plague in DS2 and in Broken World you can access Part Two straight away if you wish. Note that this really needs the Level Adjustment Mod installed to be viable. There's also a new town and associated quest needed to unlock it in DS2. There are two versions of the Mod. A custom folder version which is 166Mb download and requires 876Mb to create the custom folder installation of DS2BW Adepts and a basic version which is a 156Mb download and requires 247Mb to install in your Dungeon Siege 2 Broken World Folder. Both versions at this stage require the Broken World expansion for Dungeon Siege 2. They are also not very compatible with other mods. If you choose to install the basic version you will have to manage the conflicts with other mods yourself, saved games will be mixed up with regular saves and there'll be no custom presaves to play Broken World straight away. *Custom folder version (166Mb download, 876Mb uncompressed). *Separate Modules. *Aranna Legacy Compatible version Elys DS2 Broken World All*Saves is required to launch the mod. *Readme (full of useful information) The mod is ideally designed to be played with the Monster Level Adjustment Mod Thanks to Techiem2 for hosting the files to spare us having to go through Mediafire. Remember that this is a Beta and as such is mostly feature complete and stable but expect some imbalances in weapons, armor and spells. Suggestions, bug reports, fixes, new skins, etc very much welcomed. forums: |
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You're welcome. I'm glad it works. Putting it in your DS2 folder is quite fine as it's similar to DSLOA which used to reside in the Dungeon Siege folder and it's easier to keep track of everything.
It took me a little time to find an installation program that was both fully featured and easy to learn and I finally found it in this one. They also have a small but useful forum where I learnt how to get values from the Registry which was crucial in managing the process of copying files from another game located on the user's pc.
So we'll see what's the consensus is about this custom version versus the regular way mods are used. If everyone agrees we'll make this the official way of distributing the mod.
If it helps to know, both installers worked fine (no virus matter or so) on my Windows 2000 system (actually that's the only PC where DS1 is still fully installed at the moment).
Great job, must be difficult to find such a flexible installer to support such a wide scope of Windows platforms!? :o
In this context partially, what happens if someone doesn't install it from CD and but is installing DS1 from STEAM, is or could this supported too?
Of Adepts all is good. The new start icon is good Iryan, a little on the dark side based on the image you used. I will give it a shot to see if I can adjust the colors. The install went flawlessly each time I tried it.
I ran a few tests besides just installing it. Here is the list of tests I ran.
1. I downloaded the mod to a flash drive. Yes it is a big flash drive 80 GB. The computer I used for the download does not have broken world on it. So when the installer got to the point where it wanted to move the Broken World files it told me it could not and stopped. It created the directory but I could not use it. (test passed)
2. I deleted the directory on the flash drive and plugged the flash drive into a computer with broken world and then did test 1 again. This time it worked coping the necessary bw files to the flash drive.
(test passed)
3. I installed the mod over my existing c:\games\ds2bw Adepts folder and everything worked. it added the new files and did not mess with anything like the special adepts specific mods I had there. All my saved characters are there as are all my saved games and screen shots. (test passed)
Great job Iryan
The computers I used for the testing where:
A netbook running windows xp sp3
A desktop running windows xp sp3
So we know from the comments that the installer works with
Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows 7
Windows 8.0
I do not think that anyone is still using 98SE or ME so I can see no point in installing such on a hard drive to see if it works and we all know to stay away from Win 8.1 until the problems are resolved. So I think it is good to go.
Ancient history now, but if DS2 (which I don't know) is anything like DS1 in this respect I've an idea that might help explain what happened. In DS1 main menu options work off a file called prefs.gas which is not inside the Save folder but alongside it one folder up, your personal Dungeon Siege (or Dungeon Siege LOA). The file remembers various settings, last set of character creation choices (so that by default you repeat them for your next Start New Game), and file name of last save which is what Continue looks for.
When upgrading to Windows 7 I had problems with old saved games (Load as well as Continue) which (coincidentally or not) I got past when I'd restored prefs.gas as it was when they were saved.
Edit [having problems here with edit and re-post - solution: don't preview an edited comment] What this implies is that after removing a mod that affected new character screens, then prefs.gas (or whatever DS2 has in its place) had better be deleted so the game can create a vanilla one.
Does the donkey in this screen shot sound like Eddie Murphy and if not why not?
Did you also have Shrek, Princess Fiona, and Lord Farquaad in your party. Forgot to ask you when you posted it the first time. Was to busy trying to figure out what was going wrong.
Most installers support Windows versions back to at least XP.
All Pre-Steam versions of Dungeon Siege should work and certainly all versions of DS: Legends of Aranna should work as they should all write to the Registry. Steam versions maybe somewhat problematic as they may or may not write to the same place in the Registry.
However if I knew the location where Steam versions of Dungeon Siege write to the Registry then the installer could be modified to support it in theory. This could easily be tested with a small test installer similar to what I posted earlier.
i think ds2 itself doesnt work on or support win 98/me or lower. tho i still use win98se on an old athlon 64 pc i built to play dsloa.
His full name is Samule L. Jackasson so... no, not like Eddie Murphy.
I am assuming that the armor problems with boots, gloves and body armor that I have been seeing are "Cat Mansion Specific" but I am not really sure as both the map pack and the adepts mods have gone through several revisions of late and things have been moved between one and the other. The armor problems also appear to be race specific. There are some boots that do not work with the half giants (they show up as red and black) There are some gloves that do not work with dryads (again they show as red and black) The body armor issue is with the dwarves Here is an image to show what I mean. I might also play through a the map (utraean peninsula) as a standard party to verify that the armor either works or does not as it appears that this is the armor that the character is being issued by the game.
Not to worry Iryan I will find it and fix it since armor and weapons are my speciality
UPDATE
The problem is Adepts specific, I ran through with regular characters as far as Crystwind and checked the armor. on the Dryads, half giants and dwarves and they are not broken. So it is off to look for the missing items in Adepts
Half Giants and Dwarves in Adepts are just resized Cat Boys so that should make tracking down the problem a little easier. Dryads and Elves are just regular humans with different heads.
Bone Plate is found in adepts_typell_suits.gas and is armor_style = 010 and armor_type = a11. Red and Black indicates a missing armor_type while yellow and black indicate a missing armor_style. Yet looking at the armor bitmaps indicates that the armor texture for the bone plate is there for the Cat Boys.
So a bit of a mystery to why this is occurring. Try to make a list of what's broken and on whom. For instance doe the bone plate work on the other characters?
As I noted Armor type a11 works on all character types except the dwarf.
even though the dwarf and half giant are just resized catboys. In writing this I think I discovered the problem I need to run a few tests on Thursday between cooking thanks giving dinner if I have time otherwise I will give it a go friday.
As far as the "White Bone Plate" armor type all armor style 010 not working on the Dwarf and working on all other races my guess was not correct. The image exists in the adepts resources gas file and the template exists and is correct in the adepts logic gas file. so a bit more searching and thinking is required.
Perhaps - since skin areas are on the armor textures too - can't DS2 resolve the index of the skin?
Ususally the index of the skin color is the last part (or the 9th part) of the name of the body texture choosen when the hero is created.
Checking the file names of the head textures would be a good idea as well, should DS2 take the head texture as reference (possibly some more laborious to resolve, e.g. for actors with a helmet) however this piece of skin information must be in sync with the names of the armor textures.
To my knowledge you are correct KillerGremal I had overlooked that because I assumed we where still using all the armor I converted for the alpha mod. I will make a small mod to test this. I will work on testing this over the next few days.
I believe that only the Cat Mansion Boy Type6 armor will use _01 for all skin textures. I do believe for all other types one must have each skin tone noted even if the image is exactly the same. This is true for the Cat Mansion Girl armor type01 through type14. For the females you must have 01,02,03,11,12,13,31,32 and 33. Therefore it might be necessary to include the following The half giant uses 21,22,23 the human and elf males use 01,02,03,11,12 and 13 the dwarf uses 41,42,43. It may even be necessary to have a seperate folder outside of Catboy and catelffemale called halfgiant and dwarf_male.
I know this is a bit convoluted but I am attempting to write this while taking care of my two old relatives and cook a Thanks Giving Dinner with Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus so sorry if it makes little sense.
It seems that the DS1 Map Packs are responsible for this bug after all, in a roundabout way.
In the last build of the DS1 Map Packs I added some converted armors from DS1 in DS2 armor styles. However there isn't any corresponding textures for them in the current version of DS2BW Adepts, thus the textures show up as black and yellow.
Here's a quick fix patch that should fix the problem. However be warned that it may invalidate the current armors you are wearing and they may disappear.
http://www.siegetheday.org/~iryan/files/DS2BW_Armor_Patch.ds2res
I did it this way as all of these armors already exist in the proper format in DS2BW Adepts and it would unnecessarily add to the size of the mod to add the converted textures to the mod. The only one that isn't changed is the Aqua Robe, which will appear a bit odd on the male characters but should still work.
As for the boots and gloves could you please give specific examples? The boots may be showing up incorrectly as they were only fixed on the 24th of this month but the gloves should have been fixed in the last public beta. The boots weren't correctly assigned to be pccontent = false as they were only meant to be worn by DS1 npcs existing in the DS1 Map Packs and would show up as black and red on all DS2 characters and indeed the Cat Mansion characters as well.
The fix for the boots is included in case it's not in the current build of the DS1 Map Pack you are using.
Orwell, it appears the simplest cause is always the one to look at first. I knew the armor had worked in the past, so I should have looked for what was different. The glove fix is there Iryan, After all the installer tests I did I decided to remove all the map pack and adepts files and rerun the latest installers. I had my party members equipped with the items that where not working so I checked and the gloves now work. I will install the patch for the body armor and boots tomorrow and let you know how it goes. I must keep better notes on what has changed and when. What mods of my own that I have modified or created to run tests on things also. So I will give things a good wash then install the patch.
Thank you Iryan the armor patch for Adepts worked great. now the body armor and boots show up on all the races. Happy the fix was so easy and so small.
I see you have updated Adepts. I will download it and verify that all is well. Give me a few days to verify that it is working correctly with the Maps from the DS1 Map Pack and with DS2 quests. If All is well I will put it in the Downloads section.
Yes this is a release candidate version. I know there's still a lot of little things and balances that need to be done but the mod is stable, feature complete and fun to play. So no need to keep it under wraps anymore and the more who are playing it the better the chances of finding things that need fixing.
It now comes in three downloads;
- A fully featured custom folder installation completely separate from your existing Broken World folder so less chance of conflicts (only mods in the Dungeon Siege 2 folder can cause conflicts), saved games are kept separate as well as custom settings, and there's presave characters to start playing Broken World straight away with Adepts Cat Mansion characters if you wish.
It does however require the most HDD space at 876Mb which may concern some.
- A basic install of the two core mod files into your existing Broken World folder. The user will have to manage themselves any potential conflicts with mods and saved games, and there's no Adepts Cat Mansion presave characters.
It does save on HDD space as it requires only 247MB which may be an advantage to some.
- A small update from Beta 1h to Beta 1i, basically just an updated DS2BW_Adepts_Logic.ds2res as the core Resource file is still the same.
So no need to download a 156Mb installer if you already have the last version, Beta 1h. Unless of course you want to help test the installer, which would be welcomed and appreciate.
Since I will be testing all the maps once again prior to posting the Adepts Mod here on Siege the Day.
I think I will Make an entry in my blog for each of the maps and post the bugs and oddities there. As keeping those entries updated will be easier than trying to find my posts in this forum.
That's a very good suggestion and may help others who wish to help fine tune the mod.
Be interesting to see how long it takes you.
DS2BW Adepts has just been announced on Mod DB
http://www.moddb.com/mods/ds2bw-adepts/news/ds2bw-adepts-released-on-mod-db
Be interesting to see what interest there may be in the mod. It's only the second mod for Dungeon Siege 2 or Broken World at Mod DB. The first was the DS1 Legendary Pack for DS2 so I have a monopoly there.
Some adventurous sorts have even downloaded the mods.
I have placed the Custom Folder Version of Adepts into the Broken World Download Area here on Siege the Day. The standard version and the current update can be downloaded from this forum. Iryan if you like I will place both in the download area.
Here: http://www.siegetheday.org/?q=node/2868
That's fine. More players seem to prefer the basic setup than the custom folder setup, even though the downloads are similar size. It's nice to have plenty of choices.
I have placed in the Broken World Download Directory all the current files from the Adepts Forum.
You may download them from the forum here as always or pick them up in the download area here http://www.siegetheday.org/?q=taxonomy/term/78
Here's a minor patch for DS2 Adepts that fixes a quest error with the Pirates Quest in Kingdom of Ehb
http://www.siegetheday.org/~iryan/files/DS2BW_Adepts_Logic_Beta_1j.ds2res
There was a missing instance Trigger block in the Pirate Captain's instance template in the map region. This was ignored in the map but caused an exception error in the Editor! It's strange as often things that cause exception errors in maps will be loaded quite fine by the Editor, though it is sure to complain about it. Yet here's a case that's opposite.
I also noticed that when originally there was simply a bracket missing in the instance template of the Pirate Captain, all other instances were loaded - this is what was reported by Bare_Elf when she first discovered the bug. When I restored the missing bracket but forgot about the missing instance_trigger block, none of the templates after the Pirate Captain's instance were loaded (i.e. no trees, items, etc just a couple of pirate actors that were loaded before the Pirate Captain's instance). Both situations caused an exception error in the Editor.
I'm sure this sort of exception error behaviour is caused by exactly what sort of template has an error in it, core, base, leaf or instance. If we understood better the error mechanisms then it could be easier and faster to track down problems.
Oh my I posted in the wrong forum, for shame bad elf! I thought it was a problem with the pirate captain on the EHB map within the legendary map pack instead of a problem specific to Adepts. It was not until Iryan posted an image of the same area that worked for him that I noticed he was playing with standard characters and I was playing with cat mansion characters. oops
Hehe I'm just as guilty. I keep forgetting that DS2BW Adepts is a mod which also supports an addon - which the Legendary Mod really is. Most bugs reported here are specific for the Legendary Mod but in this particular case DS2BW Adepts changes the actor.gas where the problem was. It changes the actor.gas because humans are present in the region.
You can think of your efforts as testing two mods at once - which is actually quite clever if you think about it. If I remembered that, I would have solved this bug a couple of days ago. I'll attempt to keep that fact in mind now on.
Well the pirate captain was on the map this time, for a very short time, now he is dead and I am off to look around the bone pickers post before venturing underground to fight those evil skellies.
I play using the custom folder setup, and when I played the game, everything went fine but I couldnt recruit any party members like Lothar, Taar, etc. Can someone help?
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