Author Topic: Area Editing 7 (Doors) - by Cuvieronius  (Read 7879 times)

Offline Ghreyfain

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Area Editing 7 (Doors) - by Cuvieronius
« on: May 19, 2004, 03:11:29 PM »
Area Making Basics
Beginners Guide #7: Doors

Using IETME©, Photoshop© and Near Infinity©
By Cuv (Lorne Ledger) <Cuvieronius@aol.com>
Area Making Basics, Copyright © 2003, All rights reserved

Part 1: A Standard Door

First of all, let me give credit to Theo at TeamBG for his wonderful tool IETME. Also used in this series is Photoshop Elements and Jon’s fantastic tool, Near Infinity.

Included with this tutorial is a pre-made area (.ARE) complete with Tileset(.TIS) intended to be used with BG2 or ToB.  IWD file structures are similar, but I make no guarantees this method will work with that modified version of the Infinity Engine.  The door bitmaps are included, but are not incorporated into the .TIS… that is for you to do while following the instructions.  Hopefully this basic tutorial will help all those eager mod makers out there who have had trouble with doors.

The area you will be working with is named ARMine.  It is suggested that you familiarize yourself with each file by opening each with Near Infinity and look over the structure. I intend to keep things simple and straightforward.  You will be adding two doors; the first is a standard door, while the other is a secret door. Part 1 of this chapter deals with a single standard door.  Here is a list of all the files included:

ARMine.are
ARMineHT.bmp
ARMineLM.bmp
ARMineSR.bmp
ARMine.mos
ARMine.tis

Door01.bmp
Door02.bmp

These files can be downloaded from PPG Mods or from IEModders. - Ghreyfain

Let us begin.  Place all the included files into a folder on your desktop.  I suggest naming the folder ARMine.  This will save time when browsing to the folder as its name begins with the letter “A”.  Once that is completed, start up IETME and follow the steps below:

File  CreateNew/Switch to Area Editing  File  Open Area

This will open a browser window, which will allow you to navigate to your ARMine folder.  Browse inside that folder and select ARMine, then select Open.  The pre-made area will then open in IETME.
Inserting Closed Door Bitmap:

Let’s add our standard door.  On the left navigation bar you will see many tabs.  Find the one that says Insert Closed Door Bitmap and press it.  This will open a browser window.  Now browse to the ARMine folder on your desktop and select Door01 and open it.  The bitmap will appear in the top left portion of your IETME window.  Put your mouse cursor over it and drag it into position by holding down the left mouse button as you move your cursor.

 (http://www.pocketplane.net/mods/cuvtut02.png)

Once you have it positioned exactly matching the background, right-click with your mouse.  This will bring up a tab inside the viewing area (Fit Here) asking if you want the bitmap fitted in this position.  When you have the bitmap in the proper place, left-click on that tab.  A message will now appear that a new door has been added to your area, and can now be accessed via the door drop-down menu on the left navigation bar.

Now, test the door.  Find the Draw Closed Doors box on the left and check the box.  Your door should now be closed.  Open and close your new door a few times and give yourself a pat on the back and a quiet round of applause.  Congratulations!  You have just added a door to the .TIS.  The next part gets tricky, you need to be able to open and close your door from within the game.

Open and Closed Door Polygons:

These function as walls and can be adjusted to hide or shade your character animation as if behind a solid obstacle.  The area included already has walls positioned, but it will be necessary to create a Closed Door Polygon.

First thing to do is to select Door01 from the dropdown menu just underneath the Sleep Interruption tab.  Below is a picture that shows the location of this menu. With your cursor, draw an outline of the closed-door.  Make it slightly bigger than the actual door.  This takes a little practice getting right.  If you aren’t happy with the shape of the polygon you have drawn, simply left-click and it will disappear and you can start over.  Once you are satisfied with your work, right-click inside of this new polygon.  This will bring up another set of choices.  Next select the choice pictured below: Add As Closed Door Polygon.  The polygon will then turn white and the box above the Draw Closed Doors will now have a checkmark inside it.  We will not be adding an Open Door Polygon on this door.  You can add one if you wish, but it isn’t necessary and you will understand exactly why when we get to the Impassible Blocks portion of the tutorial.

 (http://www.pocketplane.net/mods/cuvtut03.png)

Open and Closed Door Outlines:

These polygons function as the visible doors that are represented in blue or pink outlines when viewed from the game screen.  They are set with an Info Cursor that is usually represented with the door game cursor.  The Cursor Frame Index is assigned the number thirty(30).  This tells the engine to show the door icon when your game cursor is over the Open or Closed Door Outline.  Most of this information is stored within the .WED file, but some can be easily viewed with NI. We will be fine-tuning the doors with Near Infinity later, no worries.

Now, uncheck the Show Closed Door Polygons box and follow the steps above once more.  This time we will be adding a Closed Door Outline.  Carefully draw around the actual outline of the door as it appears with the Draw Closed Doors box selected.  Once you have finished and are satisfied with the appearance, then right-click and this time choose Set As Closed Door Outline.  Again, the outline will turn white and the Show Closed Door Sector will now be checked.  See steps for creating a Door Polygon if you are unsure.

Next we will create an Open Door Outline.  This step is the same as above, but first you will need to un-check the Draw Closed Doors box.  Draw your polygon and when it looks good…right-click and choose Set As Open Door Outline.  Once this is completed, the designation of your door will also appear on the screen (DOOR01).

 (http://www.pocketplane.net/mods/cuvtut04.png)


Don’t worry, we are almost finished with our door.  The next step is setting a region where the PC can open the door.

PC Region:

This polygon functions to show the place where a door may be opened.  By default, you can simply left-click anywhere and have the option to add Set As Region Where Door Can Be Opened.  This will produce a small box that can be easily moved anywhere.  But we aren’t going to use that, we want our door to be opened from either side if closed.

Carefully draw a polygon similar to the one pictured below.  The lines you draw cannot have any razor-edges and must be straight in all four directions otherwise IETME will default to the small square PC region.  The top left and bottom right corners must be within the Search Region for the door to be accessible.  Once you have successfully created a polygon as pictured below, right-click and choose Set As Region Where Door Can Be Opened.

 (http://www.pocketplane.net/mods/cuvtut06.png)

Impassible Blocks:

Impassible blocks are stored as Vertices in the .WED file.  They function to allow or disallow passage overriding the Search Map.  These can be used creatively with any door to set areas where the PC may not walk when the door is either opened or closed.  For this door, we will be using standard blocking.  In other words, when the door is closed we will deny passage into the next room, and when the door is opened we will be denying passage to the region where the opened door occupies.

The next task is to set Open and Closed Impassible Blocks to our door.  In the picture above you can see these tabs, they are directly below the PC Region For Opening Door.  Uncheck all boxes and hit the Select Open Impassible Blocks tab.  This will change the viewing screen of IETME to a smaller mesh grid.  You can select individual blocks by left-clicking with your mouse.  When complete, press the Select Open Impassible Blocks tab one more time.  This will return your screen to normal and set them.  After you have finished with your Open Door, then check the Draw Closed Doors box and then Select Closed Impassible Blocks.  When finished, press the tab one last time to set them. See below for a standard pattern used.  We don’t want players wandering through our door without having to open it first, do we?

 (http://www.pocketplane.net/mods/cuvtut05.png)

Bravo!  You have completed the first door

Now it’s time to save our area and test it out. 

File  Save Area

This will open a browser.  Navigate to the Override in your BGII Directory.  Type in the name: ARMine and save.  You will be asked the following:

Do You Want To Rebuild The TIS File?
YES!
Do You Want To Save A Mini Map?
YES!
Do You Want To Save Search, Light and Height Maps?
NO!

Once the save is complete, exit IETME.  Open your ARMine folder and COPY the following to your Override:

ARMineHT.bmp
ARMineLM.bmp
ARMineSR.bmp

 (http://www.pocketplane.net/mods/cuvtut01.png)

Now, close all your programs and open up Near Infinity.  Look in your Override for ARMine.are and open it.  Look down just below the listing of Containers for your new door.  Select it and hit View/Edit.  At the top of that screen you will see Name: (blank at Offset 804 h) and the next line will show your door ID: (DOOR01).  On the top line at Offset 804 h, write in the name of your door.  Write Door01.  Then click on any other line in that screen to make sure it registers, then save the area again.  It will say that the file already exists and do you want to replace it…say YES!

Excellent.  You are finished for now and ready to try out your new door.  Start up your BG2 game…either SoA or ToB.  Load a save game.  With your cheats enabled,

CLUAConsole:MoveToArea(“armine”)  Enter

You should appear inside the small room.  Test out the door.  Make sure you can open it from either side. 

Congratulations!  It’s a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to create something.  In my next tutorial, I will go into greater detail on how to create unique doors by adding the Secret Door bitmap that is included in this tutorial.  Feel free to try your own hand at adding the second door or if you have a problem, you can write me. I hope you have enjoyed this basic tutorial and have learned something of door placement and the possibilities it offers mod makers.

Cuv
Lorne Ledger
Cuvieronius@aol.com
« Last Edit: May 19, 2004, 06:01:56 PM by Ghreyfain »
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Offline Cuv

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Re: Area Editing 7 (Doors) - by Cuvieronius
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2004, 03:41:18 PM »
Thank you Ghreyfain for putting this up.    The pix still arent linking, but at least more people can find this tutorial now.   Feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer them.

Cuv

Offline Bons

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Re: Area Editing 7 (Doors) - by Cuvieronius
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2004, 05:38:48 PM »
ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!!!!!!
Newt had always suspected that people who regularly used the word "community" were using it in a very specific sense that excluded him and everyone he knew.

             --Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, "Good Omens"

Offline Ghreyfain

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Re: Area Editing 7 (Doors) - by Cuvieronius
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2004, 05:58:37 PM »
Aha, now that I'm full of sushi I figured out what was wrong.  Heh, "pocketplanet.net" indeed.  Fish truly is the brain food.  Anyways, yeah, now this can be classified as the snazziest tutorial we have online. :)
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