Neverwinter Nights Forum News
Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 17:34 CET by Veldrin

Here are today's Neverwinter Nights forum highlights. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Georg Zoeller, Designer

Include Files: Changing include files will not make files located in the gameresources to be recompiled, they must be added to the module:

i.e. changing a function in nw_i0_generic will have no effect until you recompile (i.e. add to your module) the scripts that include this file (i.e. nw_c2_*). In your trap example you would have to recompile the trap spellscripts (x0_t?_* or something) so your changes to the include files will take effect. In HotU we will have a few scripting hooks into the more often changed functions (i.e. DetermineCombatRound()) to allow players to override these functions on a per creature basis without having to recompile all dependent scripts

Blueprints: you always need a blueprint for an item you want to create, thats how the game works. In the future you might be able to change items at a very detailed level, but you will still need a blueprint for the basic item.

Don Moar, Tools Programmer

Bif & Key Files: Did I say what you can and cannot do? ;) I'm just saying that by default the game won't recognize any .key file we don't explicitly tell it to. While there are work arounds to this (hacking either the .exe or one of the existing .key files), the simpler and more elegant solution is to use a .hak pack - that's what the system was designed for, after all. As Ras pointed out, the documentation on this format was really provided to allow people to read the data out using their own utilities. However, if creating your own .key / .bif files allows you to get more from NWN, within the guidelines specified in the section FAQ, then go for it!