Utraean Seizure of hopless Mapping

Hmmm. I've been through that area a few times during testing without issues so it must be something creating incompatibilities that was introduced when I worked on Yesterhaven (since that was the last map finished). I'll look through the map tonight to see if there's anything obvious that may be causing it and post how you may be able to fix it. LOA is scheduled last to be made into a public release, as there's a lot to be done on the map, so it'll probably be about 6 months before I complete it.

Incidentally how have you found the difficulty level of LOA compared to Ehb and the Utraean Peninsula? I found it extremely easy (without cheating) which is probably to do with the fact that it's monster density and monster count is far lower than the other two maps and so why you reach a lower level at the end as well. I was thinking either making the internal map difficulty higher (as per the earlier post) or just adding more monsters.

UPDATE: I'm at a loss for why you can't proceed, as I've checked the region in siege editor and there shouldn't be anything on that path that could block you. There's no triggers, gizmos or blocking objects anywhere near there and all the objects in your screenshot are present and accounted for. Did you encounter the three zaurask at the top of the steps and where they able to move freely?

There must be some sort of corruption in the region, either making the nodes impassable or moving a blocking object found elsewhere in the region to your path. I did strike one small area in Yesterhaven with the same sort of problem but it was in a remote room in the underground caverns so I didn't worry about it too much.

Our options are limited unless someone else has struck this problem before and knows how to fix it or there's some sort of developer code that allows you to move pass the blocked path. One suggestion is to remove all the objects around that area and see what happens. I can edit the templates and post them for you to rebuild the map if you want to try that.

I guess it's a blocking object nearby. There are two suspicious trees ('tree_des_dead_03') listed in a8_r1_ramparts/objects/non_interactive.gas, they are set up to be path-blocking and they are up-scaled too - so the area they block must be quite large, and actually these trees look like those on the screen shot.

 
Possibly the model/mesh used in DS1 was different/smaller than the mesh used now in DS2 (so far however I noticed this only once with some ice rocks), and depending on how resources form DS1 are provided it's difficult to say which mesh is finally active in DS2.

Moreover... - also the early-fading-out-tweak for trees (via bounding volume) will increase the blocking area of this tree here.
Perhaps I should rethink this tweak, for now however it would be a good idea to set a custom value for bounding_volume_scale (with ~4 odd decimal digits) for trees/bushes as soon as does_block_path is set/enabled manually.

I doubt it's the problem here, but just because two nodes are seamlessly abutted, doesn't mean the node doors are connected. There are a few places where that's deliberate, e.g the broken bridge in Aman'lu, where you're not allowed to proceed until the broken bridge is replaced by the repaired one, which stitches onto the blocking node door.

I've missed that a few times when I was building with the auto-connect off. IIRC the links are all kept in a separate file, which could be corrupted without messing up the display.

The problem was with "tree_des_dead_03". I changed the templates to "does_block_path = false" and it let me through.

Completion of testing for Legends of Aranna. All is working as intended.

Will try to get the north vector problems tackled with the new maps, and "pretty up" the radar as time permits.

Thank you for your efforts. I hope you enjoyed revisiting the old DS1 maps again. Did you start new games on each of the maps or continued with the same party? I'm interested to see how others went with Yesterhaven as I've had a strange bug with the current unified build. A new character can trigger the starting elevator at the obelisk at the beginning but a party can't, the conversation triggers but the elevator doesn't activate.

I also had a bug with Ehb as well and had to restart testing. There's a break up of nodes in a minor region in the Alpine Caverns (ac_r3a I think). I decided to quarantine and lock off the entire region as it's not essential for playing through the map.

I started in Yesterhaven then imported characters to Ehb then LoA. The elevator took me 2 or 3 times before it let me start. Think I had the same problem for DS1 if I remember correctly though.

And about your earlier question of monster difficulty, I found the monsters significantly easier in LoA than they were in Ehb. Ehb had me running for quite some distance to recover gear from corpses frequently. lol

There was a problem with it indeed...

When rethinking it, I remember any spatial checks...
Aren't there any eyes/circles around the obelisk? I guess each member should be on a circle to make the elevator start!(?)

I'm not sure if this really works and if so, if there is any information about this. A written or visual hint would be good (maybe it dropped during DS1=>DS2).

While regenerating the radar bitmaps for ds_r2 ran into a core error that closed SE2, said scid 0x01700350 had no placement block.

Checked and found Andiemus was missing the closing bracket in his "conversations" block.

[t:andiemus,n:0x01700350]
{
  [common]
  {
    b is_multi_player = false;
  }
  [conversation]
  {
    talk_flick = andiemus_hire_talk;
    [conversations]
    {
      * = conversation_andiemus_ds1_accept;
      * = conversation_andiemus_ds1_disband;
      * = conversation_andiemus_ds1_disband_rejoin;
      * = conversation_andiemus_ds1_join;
      * = conversation_andiemus_ds1_reject;
    }
  }
  [placement]
  {
    q orientation = 0,0.382683,0,0.92388;
    p position = 0.222775,-1.35,-0.423213,0xbb8a0f15;
  }
}

That explains why Andiemus doesn't show up ingame. He was meant to be another recruitable character and somehow he suddenly disappeared between builds when I added a save point near the Goblin Warrens. Verma also disappeared but that's because he's after Andiemus in actor.gas. In game DS2 is more tolerant of errors, it just stops processing actor.gas if it finds an error like this as opposed to just crashing.

I discovered a similiar error in the region around Castle Ehb but in non_interactive.gas, which is why there was no trees, scrubs, etc around the castle.

Thanks for picking up that sloppy error of mine. I'll add both of them back to the game.

Had some real life issues that put me a few days behind.

Should be done by this weekend, barring no unforeseen complications.

That's good news, thank you. Real Life does put a brake on many things as I know so well.

I also hope to finish the Beta of the Utraean Peninsula as well (with many more quests, bestiary, lore books, etc) by the end of the weekend as well. As I'm still waiting to hear from Sol77 about whether he can host the mod here, I hope to get some interested people who'll test out the mod in the meantime. I'll send you a link if you're interested.

I would be happy to test it for you Iryan.

Started work on the radar for Castle Ehb.....forgot how much fine detail work had to go into that area. lol

The beta of the DS1 for DS2 mod is about 98% complete and includes both the Kingdom of Ehb map and the Utraean Peninsula. They include everything the alphas had plus quests, bestiary and lorebooks. Hopefully further betas will include Yesterhaven and Legends of Aranna as well.

The tricky thing will be releasing the mod. Currently I'm trying to contact both Microsoft and Square-Enix for permission to release the mod with a simple cd check. Gas Powered Games don't have any objections but they no longer hold the IP rights for the Dungeon Siege series.

I've searched all the major digital distribution sites and strangely Dungeon Siege Legends of Aranna doesn't seem available as a digital download, so including just a cd check shouldn't inconvenience too many people. Let me know if you know of a legitimate site that offers a digital version of Legends of Aranna.

The alternative is to come up with an installer which will disassemble, through the DS1 tankviewer, the Dungeon Siege Resources and then rebuild them, with the necessary addon and modified files, with the DS2 tank creator. If we can't get permission from Microsoft and Square-Enix, we'll have to explore this option which will delay the public release of the mod for quite some time.

So let keep hoping for permission.

@ Iryan: Radar is complete. Check your pm for link.

i started playing, KillerGremal's version of the map, this morning, and have to say, it looks great, but first thing out of town got killed twice, level 5 vs level 5, solo hard hard hard.... me thinks i need to get a party for this... good job Phoenix on the radars, they look nice, and iryan keep up the hard work, i look forward to a finished product.

@Darkelf: Just don't go to the Orchid Cellar until you fell really ok.
In case of other (low-levelled) troubles it might help to fight next to some guards. They are not invincible though but compared to a new hero they will stand much more damage.

@PhoeniX: Your really do a great job with your radar images!
Actually it may be that I could need your help with the radar images on Arhok XP, I still get 'jumping' radar images although i'm quite sure the north directions match and that the 'region puzzle' fits together properly too...

Copied the "hotpoints.gas" from map_expansion and tanked it to world/maps/dsx_xp/info/hotpoints.gas and the radar is functional.

So far I always assumed the north vector would be a global/unique setting, and that stitched regions would adopt it from the region the player is coming from.

As experienced now, stitching doesn't relay the north vector from the starting position. Actually each region can have its own different north vector which is bound to the center/target node of that region. :o
Even worse to see that changing the target node of a region (e.g. if you decide to change a plain into a path) doesn't automatically update the north vector. It still goes towards the same node door though, but this doesn't always mean the
vector is still in sync with the intended North. Like this there's a high chance that there will be problems with compass needle, lightning and radar images too.

Hi All,

The DS1 Map Pack containing the Kingdom of Ehb and Utraean Peninsula maps from the original Dungeon Siege is now in Beta and could be released as it is.

However despite several attempts to contact representatives from both Microsoft and Square-Enix, there's been no reply which means the mod can't be publically released yet. Gas Powered Games doesn't have any objections but they no longer hold the IP for the Dungeon Siege series.

If this situation persists it is likely that only a stripped down version containing mostly DS2 assets will ever be released, which is a pity as much of the appeal of these maps will be lost.

Regardless I intend to continue converting both Yesterhaven and Legends of Aranna and see how everything evolves.

Great work! Stuff like this makes me want to mod again. If they don't respond, I'd release it via p2p.

A quick initial test of the DS1 Map Pack Beta 1 reveals that Mod-DS1Content-Alpha09 and Mod-DS1Map-Utrea-Alpha09g-Postfix are still required resources.

Without them the water runs uphill and the trees do not fade.

Ran into a setback while adjusting the north vector for LoA.

When saving the region I get the message "Cannot write shadow data, lighting will not be correct".

This is the result:

The region stitch nodes are affected, but the region interior is unaffected.

Tried everything I could think of to prevent the node lighting error with no success.

Edit: May try to open the original map in SE1 and see if the changes to nodes will save correctly there.

Strange. I know there's a problem with the water but not with the tree's fading. Have you a pic?

The mod includes all files but 1 or 2 from the postfix and most of them from the Mod-DS1Content-Alpha09. I've done a quick check of the Mod-DS1Map-Utrea-Alpha09g-Postfix and can't see anything that should cause such a problem and I'll check the Mod-DS1Content-Alpha09 tonight. Maybe Killergremal might have an idea of what files may cause this problem so I have an idea of what to look for.

I'm currently 1/3 of the way through redoing Yesterhaven and the node lighting problem from your first pic also occurs there in a couple of places in the first two snow regions. Possibly from the same cause.

There's nothing as dramatic as your second picture except for obvious lighting differences between two regions in one area (also happens in the Utraean Peninsula in the snow region before the Quarry).

I've had time to compare the files in the DS1 Mod compared to Killergremal's Alpha009 mod. I used BeyondCompare 3 which highlights the differences between folders and individual files, including whether they've been updated or no longer present.

With Mod-DS1Map-Utrea-Alpha09g-Postfix there's only 4 files missing or changed. These are town_portal_at_object.skrit, monster_alpha_009_missing, temporary_npc_utrea_missing and Actualized_content_ds2_009.gas which has been altered to remove references to town_portal_at_object, which is no longer required.

With Mod-DS1Content-Alpha09 all files are present except for actor and container files that have been updated or superseded. I honestly can't find anything related to the physics of the water or trees that has been altered between the two mods.

So I'm at a loss unless someone can suggest what files may be missing or altered that control these physical aspects of the water and trees.

Still it was worthwhile examining the files again as I missed a couple related to the vasp pet which prevents it from appearing or being purchased from the pet sellers.

Note that using the alpha009 files will effect the monsters that appear.

Pics taken from the same area with and without the aforementioned ds2res files.

Edit:

It is definately a mystery about why those files would be why the water runs uphill. :?

Starting work on the icons.

First attempt did not look correct in game, but I think the second try looks much better.
Ulora, Gloern and Merik.

Very nice PhoeniX. Looks good and modern. Merik was a problem as they wasn't any bald models to use.

I plan to release a small mod to make Gloern into a proper dwarf if you're using just DS2 and the DS1 Mod by itself as now he's just a small human (to make the mod vanilla DS2 friendly). If you're using Killergremal's version as well then things will probably be different. I haven't tested the mod with other mods, including the Alpha009 so I don't know how many things actually change. There's definitely a change with how much fading occurs but why that would be I'm at a loss (the fading issue occurs with the version of Yesterhaven I'm working with now as well). Maybe Killergremal may have an idea.

At least now the beta is done, you and Killergremal can play around with it and know I'm not going to be making any major changes to it anymore.

One question I have with Yesterhaven is what does everyone prefer, having another couple of recruitable characters or just depend on the pets? I've made the pet seller compatible with DS2 Pets Reloaded and I'm currently testing it with one hero and 4 pets. Do you want me to make all the other pet sellers in the other maps compatible as well? If so how will they be distributed and made available? Thinking of this has also made me aware that the pets don't appear in the bestiary yet.

Nice icons indeed!
Related on this i'm wondering if there is a way to make DS2 automatically generate/display icons (for example during conversations).
Wasn't DS1 able to do this!? - In DS2 i never could (re)enable this so far...

 
 
About the node lighting, it really doesn't go away if you use 'Lighting' => 'Update selected/all Node Lighting' in the SE!?

 
Fixes for animated node textures (flow direction of water, elevator ropes, etc.) should be in gas files inside the resource tank with the terrain nodes.
It may be that some terrain textures are updated as well (should stand out by their date) but I can't remember all the details. :o

 
The file responsible for fading out trees/bushes from far away is actualized_flora_axp.gas, however it's a (big) tweak, also the content of that file is obsolete due to SE incompatibility. Better use this:

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// TWEAK: TUNING FOR BUSH/TREE TO FADE OUT EARLIER IN-GAME.
// BY KILLERGREMAL/F3 - 5-MAR-2010, LAST UPDATE: 14-JAN-2012
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// THESE TEMPLATES HERE WILL REPLACE EXISTING TEMPLATES IN DS2.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[dev,t:template,n:base_tree]				// FOR SE2
{
	doc = "Base template for all trees";
	specializes = non_interactive_nonblocking;
	[aspect]
	{
		does_block_camera = true;
		cam_fade_alpha = 0;

		bounding_volume_scale = 0.55555;		// INTENTIONALLY RATHER SMALL
		selection_indicator_scale = 0.66666;		// IGNORED IN SE2!?
	}
	[common] { screen_name = "Tree"; }
}
[dev,t:template,n:base_bush]				// FOR SE2
{
	doc = "Base template for all bushes";
	specializes = non_interactive_nonblocking;
	[aspect]
	{
		cam_fade_alpha = 111;		// DEFAULT FOR COMMON BUSHES: 165
		does_block_camera = true;

		bounding_volume_scale = 0.66666;		// INTENTIONALLY RATHER SMALL
		selection_indicator_scale = 0.77777;		// IGNORED IN SE2!?
	}
	[common] { screen_name = "Bush"; }
}


[t:template,n:base_tree]				// IF IN-GAME
{
	doc = "Base template for all trees";
	specializes = non_interactive_nonblocking;
	[aspect]
	{
		does_block_camera = true;
		cam_fade_alpha = 0;

		bounding_volume_scale = 4.0;		// TO FADE OUT SOONER, CRITICAL HOWEVER IF IT BECOMES PATH-BLOCKING!
		selection_indicator_scale = 0.24;
	}
	[common] { screen_name = "Tree"; }
}
[t:template,n:base_bush]				// IF IN-GAME
{
	doc = "Base template for all bushes";
	specializes = non_interactive_nonblocking;
	[aspect]
	{
		cam_fade_alpha = 111;		// DEFAULT FOR COMMON BUSHES: 165
		does_block_camera = true;

		bounding_volume_scale = 3.0;		// TO FADE OUT SOONER, CRITICAL HOWEVER IF IT BECOMES PATH-BLOCKING!
		selection_indicator_scale = 0.32;
	}
	[common] { screen_name = "Bush"; }
}

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////