The World of Layonara
The Layonara Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Acacea on June 20, 2010, 11:19:09 AM
-
Dear Neverwinter Nights,
I never actually finished your official campaign (any of them), and most of even my favorite modules were left off around 95% completion. No more than a handful of areas from the module project I started were ever done, even though building was the only reason I went PW surfing to begin with. I am a poor modeler and have not given you any shiny new toys like other people have over the years, as with my most valiant efforts I am generally just translating the work of others to work for us. I rarely finish stories, and my scripting in any language is akin to the tourist that greets natives with "the cat is black" and says his farewells as "the cheese is stinky".
I only dabbled with your sequel, and even when I poked my head into another PW I didn't speak with another soul. I bought that nice premium module that I heard was very good, but like other very good modules I only got halfway through it, along with that expansion. Expansions. I've found that the things I love most about your sequel are the models that got ripped from it and given to you. Enjoy! (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=User.EntriesListing&id=46806)
I did not get you a card, because I hate cards, and also I don't care for wrapping paper, bows, and in general anyone bothering me, and also I am officially 2 days late. But I thought I would say it anyway.
Happy 8th Birthday, NWN!
Eight years later you are getting some of the best content since your release. Here are just a few examples of the continued labors of love on your behalf, to cheer you and make up for my own lack of contribution. I did not even count the last patch they labored on for you, and the premium modules that were cancelled but given to the community, or any of the older content that is still in the top ranks!
NWShader (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Other.Detail&id=1443) (Ignore them when they say adding bloom to NWN is like putting lipstick on a pig - they should have said gilding a lily. The possibilities cannot be measured!)
NWNCQ (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7848)
NWN Enhanced (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7730)
sixesthrice's pretty tilesets (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7652)
CTP Babylon (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=6992)
CEP 2.3 (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7849) (the new DM tools are crazy!)
Senemenelas' Underdark Tileset (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7750)
KotoR Heads (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7796)
SciFi Placeables (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7933)
Worms Fantasy Interiors (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=6631)
Sen's Seasonal Workshop (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=160229&id=7540) (remember when we were trying to make the seasons change dynamically with worms, NWN? That was silly. This is easy.)
Community Music Pack (http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Sounds.Detail&id=554)
Lastly, while I do not have anything of my own that is anything of note, and have not in general added to your lifespan with so much as a font, you must understand that with your kind I am a fickle creature. Drawn to shiny and ever dissatisfied with its empty reflection, I move on and on and on from "games," leaving a trail of open manuals and dusty boxes behind me, bouncing from latest and greatest back to Betrayal at Krondor, Mario, and King's Quest, and, more recently, Lemmings. Forget all the others. You are the only one I have been (semi-)faithful to, and with you are the only characters (singular) I've made that have lasted any significant length of time, even when we are called silly for still caring about a game nearing a decade-old and wanting to do good things for it. Did I say a decade? No, no, you are closer to 5 than 10. Forget all that.
So thank you for the toolset, and thank you for Acacea, and happy birthday!
-
Happy Birthday! (NWN better hit the thanks button, it's customary for birthday threads) :P
-
I love the NWShader and NWNCQ!!
Thanks for letting me and us know!
-
PS: I do not mean to detract from your birthday well-wishes, but I feel it is imperative that I explain to you, NWN, what something like NWShader will do for you, even in its current alpha state. Laugh at bloom and SSAO all you like, but you must understand that users can make their own shaders... and that peachykeen has made them accessible via NWScript. For you, he has made a reality the possibility of taking the same old quest area and adding a moody red shader to all player clients for some abyss. All you need is a player with NWShader... and of course, a moody red shader to begin with. It doesn't even crash those who don't have it, which is something of a miracle for you. Ignore that.
Here we are testing the theory of "If he builds it, they will come," and hoping for ourselves to become more shader-savvy for modding, and for those who already are to unleash a host of goodies for it.
He also has material shaders working, as you can see with the glorious mithril golems, and chico was drafted into CEP and is working on his own set of shaders for his override project NWNCQ in addition to the textures he has already released. Material shaders and NWscript means you can set shaders on a specific material at will.
In case I have not explained to you fully this newest and most wonderful of presents, please be directed to youtube for hints of what might be done with it. These are not even new :)
YouTube - NWShader: Scripting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SbZ7Vl2-KM)
YouTube - NWShader: Normal mapping (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pC7IgFsti8&feature=related)
YouTube - NWShader: Velvet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aeXWNAPg4I)
YouTube - NWShader: Material Shaders (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOxf9poK7LI)
YouTube - NWShader: Xyr & area shaders (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8FRa5Y75RA)
All this, and Bahamut, the current release, is an alpha. I didn't even need a critical rebuild after it, like I thought I did for Asgorath. You are loved!
-
For you, he has made a reality the possibility of taking the same old quest area and adding a moody red shader to all player clients for some abyss. All you need is a player with NWShader... and of course, a moody red shader to begin with.
;)
// Abyssal Plane Shader
// Red-map and horiz-jag
sampler2D lastShader = sampler_state {
generateMipMap = true;
minFilter = LinearMipMapLinear;
magFilter = Linear;
WrapS = Mirror;
WrapT = Mirror;
};
sampler2D lastFrame = sampler_state {
generateMipMap = true;
minFilter = LinearMipMapLinear;
magFilter = Linear;
WrapS = Mirror;
WrapT = Mirror;
};
float3 black = { 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 };
float3 white = { 1.00, 0.75, 0.10 };
float shader_flags = 0x0001; // off by default
float rand;
float time;
float2 viewport = { 1/1024, 1/768 };
float3 lumContrib = { 0.33, 0.61, 0.16 };
float getLum(float3 input)
{
float3 adj = input * lumContrib;
return ( adj.r + adj.g + adj.b );
}
float4 xyr_abyssal_func(float2 uv : TEXCOORD) : COLOR
{
float4 color = tex2D(lastShader, uv);
float value = getLum(color.rgb);
int timeD = time;
//timeD = timeD % 100;
timeD = abs( (float)( timeD % 100 ) - 50);
float4 temp = tex2D(lastShader, float2(uv.x - (viewport.x * ( 1 + rand * value ) ), uv.y));
temp += tex2D(lastShader, float2(uv.x + (viewport.x * ( 1 + rand * value ) ), uv.y));
temp += tex2D(lastShader, float2(uv.x - (viewport.x * ( 1 + rand * value ) ), uv.y));
temp += tex2D(lastShader, float2(uv.x + (viewport.x * ( 1 + rand * value ) ), uv.y));
temp /= 4;
value += getLum(temp.rgb);
value /= 2;
color.rgb = lerp(black, white, value + ( timeD / 5000 ) );
color.g *= color.g;
return color;
}
technique xyr_abyssal
{
pass
{
FragmentProgram =
compile latest xyr_abyssal_func();
}
}
(save as something .cgfx)
Here we are testing the theory of "If he builds it, they will come," and hoping for ourselves to become more shader-savvy for modding, and for those who already are to unleash a host of goodies for it.
I hope so. I'll be making what I can, too.
YouTube - NWShader: Infinite view (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxjRfLwl6og)
(hope you all don't mind me dropping in, I occasionally Google for mentions and caught yours this time 'round. Cheers. :) )
-
Quick question, does the seasonal tileset work/being used on layonara?
-
Certainly. We have a lot of areas made with it, but it is not updated to the latest version. The others in the list were done more recently, though ;)
It's the tileset with all the little twisted trees... Alindor, black ice, Blackford, Silkwood, etc.
-
Here is a teaser of the NWNCQ screenshot taken at Near Bay of Carocsa. Using the full extended plus version of the override with the 1.22 patch. And the best part, now that I have a older video card (min died last Monday) I still have no lag on full graphics!!
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101772/near_bay_of_ccarocsa_with_the_nwncq.jpg)
-
I think I might check it out.. does it require pixelshader 2.0?
-
No, and in fact I suggest that unless you have a "new" video card, you not us nwshader I have to do a complete reinstall of nwn because of it :mad: NWNCQ works like a charm though.
-
Just a FYI, you should be aware that if you use the Plus version files (ie: copy them from the .../nwn/override/plusversionwhatchamacallit folder to /nwn/override , some places are VERY crowded with trees and shrubs you can pass through. Making it a bit hard to navigate.
One place of such is the entrance to the swamps outside of miritrix (sharawoods), and another is just north from Hilm Castle.
So if you use nwncq, I'd suggest you not to copy these files to the override.
The basic plus version does not use these files automatically though.
-
Oh, and as said by HB above there, NWShader could be tough for older graphic cards to handle, since it gives the Bloom effect and uses prettier (newer) shaders.
His card (ATI 1600 something) was not able to handle the NWShader, but cards around and above the performance of say Geforce 8800X and so on should be able to handle the stuff with ease.
If you have trouble with the NWShader, simply run the HookRemover.exe, and remove the files that you copied to /nwn/
Here's a list of the files (the ones that are in the .rar)
/nwshader/ (folder), cg.dll, cgGL.dll, DevlL.dll, dinput.dll, EasyHook32.dll, glew32dll, Hook Remover.exe
-
The hookremover doesn't replace the .exe though so you will have to replace it manually with a back up you did. This was one of the problem I was having with it.
-
An other screeny of the NWNCQ mod. Port Hempstead
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101432/port_hempstead.jpg)
Too bad that it doesn't do the corners, I wonder if someone *hint hint at scriptwreck :P * would be able to fix that.
Fort Wayfare
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101432/Fort_Wayfare.jpg)
The inside of the basic guilds which are based on the city interior. This might be where i find that this mod is a bit short. Some of the overlay seemed too drawn but still, it's a really nice mod.
Entrance
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101432/basic_city_interior1.jpg)
Room to the right of the entrance
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101432/basic_city_interior2.jpg)
Room to the left of the entrance
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101432/basic_city_interior4.jpg)
-
Actually the nwmain.exe remains untouched by the NWShader as far as I can tell.
We tried the .exe replacement and it didn't do any good for you at the first place :)
After we removed the last bit of the .dll files (dynamic link library), namely the dinput.dll which by it's name I'd say links to the other .dll's of NWShader, your NWN started working again?
The hookremover doesn't replace the .exe though so you will have to replace it manually with a back up you did. This was one of the problem I was having with it.
-
Yeah because I realized later that there was still one of it's added file. But when you read the Hookremover.exe when it's asking you for the okay to proceed, you clearly read that "Hookremover will now replace the nwnmain.exe by a backup that was previously made."
-
Well for some reason the forum wont let me upload pictures today, says the image is being processed. skips the screen where it asks you to make sure this is the image and where you can add the title and comment, to your image has been processed, but no image appearing in the gallery so hmmm.. Anyhow
Here is KRANDOR! I love the rustic feel NWNCQ gives it
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a69/Emcha_Audio/Me%20myself%20and%20I/Krandor.jpg)
And to give a better idea here is the non NWNCQ krandor notice the houses
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/100186/DB121B4B-C5DE-4108-B8C6-83C64D2F3905)
And here is the NWNCQ version of about the same shot.
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101032/Krandor_2.jpg)
It's unfortunate that the video card I have now doesn't process the shiny water *shakes fists at Radeon* but eh.
-
Certainly. We have a lot of areas made with it, but it is not updated to the latest version. The others in the list were done more recently, though ;)
It's the tileset with all the little twisted trees... Alindor, black ice, Blackford, Silkwood, etc.
Dapplegreen :)
-
I guess I'm an screenshot addict.
The wandering dune caves.
(http://forums.layonara.com/photopost/data/101772/medium/the_wandering_dune_caves.jpg)
-
As far as the removing NWShader/nwshader can break your game discussion...
An older version of NWShader did patch the NWMain.exe file. A lot of people didn't like that, so I took some time and research and found a different way to hook it in. The hook remover tool is only included for people who used the old version (Asgorath) and need to remove that.
For the later versions, you can just remove/rename dinput.dll (that's the core of NWShader) and NWN won't try to load it. So, with the latest version, there's no installation and removing it is just moving that file. Pretty simple, I think. :)
Those screens look great, though.
And I'm working on a new shiny water for ATis, so hopefully that'll be together soon. :)
-
@ peachykeen, should you read this, would you mind pasteing the code in a quote here for that Endless Vision Range nwshader -file of yours, so I can try it out? :)
-
@ peachykeen, should you read this, would you mind pasteing the code in a quote here for that Endless Vision Range nwshader -file of yours, so I can try it out? :)
You mean the option to turn fog off?
That's not actually something that comes as a separate file. If you have NWShader, in the GUI there's a checkbox and a number-box. The check is "use fog", and you can leave it on or turn it off completely. The number-box is a multiplier, so if you have fog on, you can force it to be further away (if the game distance isn't far enough).
Unfortunately, those don't work well separately. I could paste the code, but without a hook library, C++ compiler and some know-how of Windows DLL system, it probably wouldn't help. ;)
Edit: For anyone curious, the code is here:
SourceForge.net Repository - [nwshader] Contents of /nwshader/src/base/nwshader.cpp (http://nwshader.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/nwshader/nwshader/src/base/nwshader.cpp?revision=35&view=markup)
All NWShader's code is up on there, if anyone code-savvy wants to check it out.
-
The NwShader is awesome! For a player that has been here since July of 2005 the graphic changes are awesome. It takes away the views of the same 'ol same 'ol scenery and makes it more refreshing! I have only one problem.
Any place with a number of trees makes it extremely hard to see anything at all. Even fellow party members. Is there a way to take out just tree effects or a shut off/on switch for when I reach such areas?
-
Are you talking standard trees or something new? If new, did you mean NWNCQ, the override package?
Also, are you hiding second story tiles in your game options?
-
Yes, That helps turning overhead stuff totally off. Thank you very much! :) It was on auto, but full removal was best.
-
actually it's definatly on, chazler is using the basic options of the nwncQ and said he didn't have that problem, I'm using the extended with the plus version.. so basically using the whole power of the thing.
if you go through your options one by one turning them on and off, you will be able to see which one is making that effect, unfortunately, you will have to log in and log out of the game each time.
-
The Shader+CQ is AMAZING!!!
And I love the fact that the camara can be set higher and so.
Brutal! ^^
-
Installed nwncq yesterday after rereading this thread. Jil's right, its almost like playing a new game, the graphics are simply amazing!
-
tried installing the same thing and made my NWN folder go boom... -.-
-
At least for me the 3 newest versions of NWShader do not load the shaders needed for enhanced graphics experience, so I have resulted to using the old version labelled Bahamut. Which actually loads the shaders.
-
I'm using the latest version excluding the newest patch (so using Chronepsis 2.3 or whatever that is xD).
Works good! :)
I'm on w7 64x OS. Just had to copy opengl32.dll from \\wowsys64, rename the copy to hookgl32.dll and put it on the NWN folder along with all the other NWShader related libraries.
Atm I only use depthofield and bloom shaders which came on by default (I just took some of the blur away).
Does anyone use a configuration that looks better then the default? I have no/little knowledge on what Shaders do what and which are compatible with what.
Btw... does anyone know if the Shaders order counts? They have a reordering interface but no documentation on such. Any clue?
And definitly NWNCQ is the hit ^^
tried installing the same thing and made my NWN folder go boom... -.-
What's your system? There are some incompatibilities with some NVIDIA cards as far as I understood.
Did you get hookgl32.dll setup correctly?
If you're not on XP SP3 did you set compatibility for such on the NWShader GUI? Apparently it wouldn't access the XML config file for me without compatibility and admin rights, so if that nwshader.xml file is 0 KB (empty) you won't even be able to start NWN I think.
If you have no way on making the NWShader GUI to run I can PM my config file, they should look the same.
NWNCQ is pretty simple to install right? Hak files to hak folder, rest goes to override if I remember correctly.
-
Since Layonara does not use the .hak files from NWNCQ you won't be needing the .hak download at all.
The override does the trick locally for you.
-
Since I don't know the mechanics of how hak packs can be used and the override files do contain for instance a .bat file I had no clue if the ~.hak files were needed or not.
Still they occupy little space and perhaps other servers might use them :P
-
I'm wondering if it should be made more clear. Nwncq is group of files that goes into the override folder, not the hak folder. Its purely a local client side change. Oh, and don't forget to extract the patch file too.;)
-
Hmm then I have some hak files that look like this "~filename.hak" I have no clue where I got them.
-
How were you able to get the depthoffield.cgfx shader to work?
If I use it, everything is blurred when gaming, no matter the distance.
Could you upload your nwshader.xml to somewhere and give us a link? :-)
-
Goes right here xD
0.2.2.3
false
0
false
0
false
true
true
false
false
1.00
true
true
false
false
true
false
true
2.0
0.0
true
PNG
SCREEN_PATH_HERE
true
false
false
true
80
-10.0
300
false
40
5
en
depthoffield.cgfx
bloom.cgfx
Substitute SCREEN_PATH_HERE for a valid path (like C: \\Users\\).
For reference, I'm using
core2QUAD 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM
Windows 7 Prof. 64x
Saphire Radeon HD 5780
EDIT: btw since the focusinterval is set for 2 seconds whenever I change zoom distance it will look blurred and then during two seconds it focuses. This gives a nice perspective effect imo :) of course I don't play with NWN annoying fog -_-
-
Yeah
Geforce 250GTS here, so I guess this is just bugged for Nvidia
-
I have the same Vid Card Chazzler and I have no problems. Plus when I know when I'm going out into woods I go into options and remove the top view so trees do not interfere, especially for quests.
-
Are you using both NWShader and NWNCQ? Or just NWNCQ?
If both, then I guess it's could be very, very old NWN installation.
Been having other troubles with it as well, like when I try to go from fullscreen mode to windowed mode with Alt+Enter, the game crashes.
Also had troubles with NWShader, in fullscreen mode, when I switched tasks from NWN to say Firefox, the game closed down to the background nicely, but when I switched the task back to NWN the game crashed.
-
using both I believe ... not totally sure, Hellblazer helped me along with the downloads. The Nwn game set is the Plat Version when it first came out. Sometimes I have smooth Alt-Enter transitions, sometimes not. But most times it makes the transition. only crashed once trying this transition.
-
I have both NWShader and NWNCQ on.
NWNCQ was linear to install. NWShader required a few hits here and there (the hookgl32 thing, compatibility xp sp3 for the GUI to create/update nwshader.xml file and then just make it right (default is very slow unblurring).
-
Yeah the GUI for NWShader in Chronepsis without the newest patch breaks the XML file for me, same problem as stated on NWVault by many other users.
Oh well, until a fix comes out I will be using Bahamut version, which still works.
-
nothing to do with my system I'm sure. I run XP SP3 and have Nvidia 8800 GT,
but the problem is that NWN isn't even loading now.. like.. it' aint werkin' :L
-
That happened to me with the new patch for Chronepsis on.
Just put the patch away (and related files) and use "pure" Chronepsis.
Should do.
Ah and make sure your nwshader.xml file in the NWN\\NWShader folder is not 0 KB.
If that file is empty the shader has no config and NWN wont start.
-
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, yeah... Still not working... ;-; I even tried using bahamut... What do you mean by "Pure"?
-
better yet, tell me your path files as they exactly are for your .dll files and the folder labeled NWNShader
-
When you guy's are finished, mind posting "A Noob's Guide to NWNCQ + NWShader for Layonara"? :rolleyes:
-
I moved all the .dll files that came in the .rar file and NWN worked just fine.. it's only when they are in my NWN folder that everything goes to the high derpus. :L
-
well I shouldn't be the one putting that guide up really... I managed to make it go on my comp., others did on theirs.
My best advice is (cause it's what worked for me):
- Remove NWShader folder
- Remove .dll files associated with the NWShader
---
- Download Chronepsis 2.2.3 (http://sourceforge.net/projects/nwshader/files/) (NOT the patch).
- Put all files and folders into your NWN folder!
- Go to \\Windows\\System32 for 32bit OS, copy opengl32.dll to your desktop, rename it to hookgl32.dll and move it to your NWN folder. If a "replace" comes up, replace. For 64bit OS do the same but at \\Windows\\SysWOW64.
- (if you're not in XP) Go to NWShader and set compatibility mode for the NWShader_GUI.exe to XP SP3 and to run as admin.
- Launch the NWShader_GUI.exe and check if there are no warnings or errors related to "the config file". If there are... bad luck. Try opening on notepad the file nwshader.xml in the same folder and, if empty, fill it with the code I've put bellow.
This is not sure to work for all (some NVIDIA won't do apparently).
-
Yeah but even then I'm still gettign an error... :L
says, "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click OK to terminate the application."
the header states "nwmain.exe - Application Error"
;-;
-
try rename your nwnmain.exe to nwmain.exe (you can always rename it back).
If you installed bahamut you might have to do something else, perhaps, dunno.
-
Yeah I give up. :L
-
Link, try go into NWN\\NWShader\\plugins and see if you have ExamplePlugin.dll. If so, delete it. Sorry if that has already been suggested, but this was causing init. error crashes for me some time ago. I don't recall if it was fixed for the patch, so it is worth a try.
If anyone is using chico's bloom that came with NWNCQ, it probably isn't working. See if this one works - it was just having an identity crisis from not being named in the file.
PK is doing one more release I believe before calling it stable, and is also working on a multi-platform system that can all be used for more than one game and will eventually replace NWShader. Supposedly NWN is tied with Morrowwind on the support list for it when its up, and that it handles a lot of things in a less clunky manner than the current system. He's still keeping most of it under his hat, though.
Hope one of those helped at least one person.
EDIT - Helps if I attach the file. Please note this is a .txt - rename the extension to .cgfx.