LoA

Since Zonematch is no longer available some workarounds have been developed.

More information about them can be found here:

Dungeon Siege Game Zone (zonematch workaround)

Temporary Solution to ZoneMatch

Well, the first thing you have to understand is that the game uses the NNK to know where to find meshes, animations, and textures. The NNK is basically a list of directories and directory trees that the game executable uses to look up a filename, and figure out where that file is stored.

For example, Farmgirl's face skins are found in the folder art\bitmaps\characters\good_a_heroes\farmgirl\
So, if we were looking for b_c_gah_fg_skin_01, we would find it under this folder.

Assigning a Pre-Set Minimum Gold Value To Your Item

We will use the Simple Sword template, from the Creating A Simple Item - Sword tutorial, and modify it here. All items are assigned gold values the same way:

1. Under the [aspect] block we will assign a new field that is simply gold_value = AMOUNT;. Replace AMOUNT with the miniumum amount of gold you want your item to be worth when generated.

[t:template,n:nivisec_simple_sword]
{
	doc = "Dragon Lords Sword";
	specializes = base_sword;
	[aspect]
	{
		model = m_w_swd_055;
		gold_value = 1000;
	}
	[attack]
	{
		f damage_max = 407;
		f damage_min = 307;
	}
	[common]
	{
		pcontent_special_type = rare, unique, normal;
		screen_name = "Steel of the Dragon Lords";
	}
	[gui]
	{
		active_icon = b_gui_ig_i_ic_swd_005;
		equip_requirements = strength:30, dexterity:45;
		inventory_height = 4;
		inventory_width = 1;
		inventory_icon = b_gui_ig_i_w_swd_088;
	}
	[pcontent]
	{
		[base]
		{
		  f modifier_max = 14.000000;
		  f modifier_min = 7.000000;
		}
	}
}

Making Your Item Un-sellable to Smiths/Vendors

We will use the Simple Sword template, from the Creating A Simple Item - Sword tutorial, and modify it here. All items are assigned this value the same way:

1. Under the [gui] block we will assign a new field that is can_sell = false;. Set this to true or false depending on if you want your item to be able to be sold to NPCs.

[t:template,n:nivisec_simple_sword]
{
	doc = "Dragon Lords Sword";
	specializes = base_sword;
	[aspect]
	{
		model = m_w_swd_055;
		gold_value = 1000;
	}
	[attack]
	{
		f damage_max = 407;
		f damage_min = 307;
	}
	[common]
	{
		pcontent_special_type = rare, unique, normal;
		screen_name = "Steel of the Dragon Lords";
	}
	[gui]
	{
		can_sell = false;
		active_icon = b_gui_ig_i_ic_swd_005;
		equip_requirements = strength:30, dexterity:45;
		inventory_height = 4;
		inventory_width = 1;
		inventory_icon = b_gui_ig_i_w_swd_088;
	}
	[pcontent]
	{
		[base]
		{
		  f modifier_max = 14.000000;
		  f modifier_min = 7.000000;
		}
	}
}

Having Your Item Not Be Part Of The PCONTENT Pool

We will use the Simple Sword template, from the Creating A Simple Item - Sword tutorial, and modify it here. All items are assigned this value the same way:

1. Under the [common] block we will assign a new field that is is_pcontent_allowed = false;. Set this to true or false depending on if you want your item to be able to be considered for the pcontent pool. That means wether or not the monsters will drop it and the smiths will sell it randomly. If you set this to false, your item will never drop in the game unless you assign it to drop by force (addressed in a later tutorial).

Adding Your Items To The PCONTENT Pool (Random Drops/Sellings at Vendors)

We will use the Simple Sword template, from the Creating A Simple Item - Sword tutorial, and modify it here. All items are added to pcontent the same way:

1. First we need to specify an optional type of pcontent drop under the [common] block. If you do not include this line, it defaults to dropping only "normal". It is in the form of pcontent_special_type = TYPE(S);. You can replace types with rare, unique, and/or normal. Each one seperated by a comma if you include more than one type.

2. Next we have the introduction of the new block [pcontent]. It is here you will define the randomization levels of your item.

3. Inside of the pcontent block you will need to create a [base] block.

4. Now we must specify f modifier_max = #; and f modifier_min = #;. It's hard to give a good rule of thumb for this, but do not confuse these values with the other power modifiers we used earlier in the blacksmith editing. These define more of where things drop in the game and how good of modifiers can go onto that item. You obviously replace # with two numbers, making sure min is less than or equal to max or the game will crash.

5. Your item is now in the pcontent pool once you save and recompile your mod. It will show up randomly on the types you specified at the vendors/smiths and off monsters.

6. To not leave you hanging on defining a good min/max, I have some examples.
max = 0, min = 0 will make the item drop anywhere in the game pretty much with terrible modifiers.
max = 87, min = 63 will make your item drop mainly in elite skill near the end of it in grescal or chicken level but not before that.
Anything with a min above 30 will likely not show up in regular skill at all.
Anything with a min above 50 will likely not show up in veteran skill at all.
max = 81, min = 47 is the ever famous dragon wing sword's pcontent levels.
max = 270, min = 11 is from the Noble Vesture, 113 Armor cloth body piece.
max = 9, min = 4 is from the Black Widow Helmet
max = 33, min = 9 is from serpentine scale, which drops unique only.

Creating A Simple Item - Chain Mail

This was written for DS1 but will apply to the other games as well. This tutorial also assumes that you understand about directories in resource files when creating a mod.

Making a simple item helps to understand the bare necessities for more complex ones. Open up any text editor that you want (notepad is fine) and create a new file. Follow these steps to create a simple chain mail using template 1 below as a reference model:

1. Create a template header in the format of [t:template,n:TEMPLATE_NAME] : Replace TEMPLATE_NAME with a unique name of your own. This is used by the game to uniquely identify your item, but is never seen by the normal user.

2. Each new [] tag must be enclosed by a set of braces { } to begin and end each block, so keep that in mind throughout your creation.

3. You'll now want to specificy the doc tag in the format of doc= "TEXT"; : Replace TEXT with any name you wish, it is not the name of your item and will never be seen except by those using the Siege Editor choosing to look at documentation over names.

4. Notice that after each line except those with { } or [] in them, there is always a semi-colon ;. Your item will not compile right if you forget one.

5. All your items will need some type of base specialization in the format of specializes = SPEC : Replace SPEC with a template name of your choice. In our case we would use base_body_armor_chain and a complete list of commonly used ones will be available in a later section.

6. Common to all armor is the defend tag. It is always specified by [defend]. It is also the most important part of the armor in which you specify the armor defense as well as the mesh style and texture.

7. First inside the defend tag you'll need to specify armor_style = TEXTURE; : Replace TEXTURE with the name of that which you want. In our example we will use the one for Dark Scale.

8. Second inside the defend tag you'll need to specify armor_type = MESH_TYPE; : Replace MESH_TYPE with the name of the armor type mesh you want. This must correspond with the texture you are using as well, or it will not wrap right on the character. For simplicity we will use a3, which goes with our 018 texture for Dark Scale.

9. Last inside the defend tag you need to specify a defense rating by f defense = DEF; : Replace DEF with the amount of defense you want on the armor.

10. Next is the common tag which is always specified as [common]. It includes a few details, but is mostly used for naming the item.

11. Inside the common tag you will need to specify the screen_name = "NAME" of your item. This is the name that shows up to the user in game. : Replace NAME with any name you wish, it does not have to be unique to the item also.

12. The most visually important tag is the gui one, which is specified by [gui]. It containts all the information about displaying the object other than on the actual character model.

13. Now the requriements to equip your weapon are in the form of equip_requirements = TYPE:VALUE; : Replace TYPE with the attribute (strength, dexterity, intelligence) and VALUE with the amount to require. You can also require multiple attributes by seperating each with a , as I've done below.

14. The inventory_height = VALUE; and inventory_width = VALUE; are very important attributes that set how much inventory space your item will take up. It is best to use a general guess value and then change it if needed later. : Replace VALUE in both cases as needed. Setting to a low value does not resize the icon for the inventory and creates wierd looking results. In this case, I know the Dark Scale icon of the armor is 3 x 2 already, so use it.

15. Lastly, an inventory icon needs to be specified in the form of inventory_icon = GRAPHIC;. This is the actual icon for your inventory and equip slot that shows up. : Replace GRAPHIC with the name of the inventory graphic. In our case use b_gui_ig_i_a_pos_a3_018 which is the one for Dark Scale. The ending number usually, but not always, matches up to the texture we used above with the default game grahpics.

16. You have now completed the code for a very simple chain mail that the game uses. You'll need to save it as a .gas file in your items directory you created in Part 1 of the tutorial (Figure 3.2). It must be in this directory and saved with a .gas extension. The name of the file otherwise is unimportant, but should be unique.

17. The last step is to tank the directory. Go here for instructions: Handling tanks and resource directories.