Work at our property feels like it's taking ages - more like a campaign length project than a module! Hopefully, from tomorrow, we enter the final stages and I am hoping normality should return soon. Thankfully, this latest bank holiday has also given me a brief respite from the hubbub to be able to write this blog and give an update on some things I have managed over the last few weeks. Read on ...
Increasing The Spec!
Whether it was the brick dust floating around or simply its time, my wife's 10-15 years old computer (subject to various part changes) died a few weeks back. At first it looked like a GPU issue, but even after replacing that with an old card I had, it still failed to boot into Windows. Only later, after sorting out a replacement PC and rearranging the hardware did I also discover the OS had corrupted. So, whether the old PC is now fixed (and would boot from the reinstalled OS), I have left as an unknown, because I do not wish to risk corruption of the OS again on some potentially dodgy hardware.
The bottom line, I gave my wife the PC I have been using and acquired a new computer for myself with better spec to help with the module building process. (Moving forward, it will also benefit the odd newer game here or there of course.) My old PC is certainly good for my wife's needs and we are now both able to get on with our hobbies again. For the new PC, I switched to an AMD Ryzen 5600x CPU this time around, as opposed
to using an Intel (my normal preference), so it will be interesting to see the results. I was
also able to get a reasonable price on an Asus RTX 3070 in the build. At the moment, I am not noticing a great deal of difference (same drives being used from the older PC), but I imagine file compression and such applications will be quicker as I continue to build the module.
Frustrating Delays
Having to cope with our current situation is, without doubt, placing a strain on me. This limits me to what I can do even more than normal, causing frustrating delays. Rather than lose the thread completely, I have tried to load the toolset at least once a week to add the odd conversation update, or plot addition, but I confess that it has been so disturbed that it cannot amount to more than a few days work in total. So instead, I have also been trying to help out a little on the forum posts where I can, simply to keep my mind involved in "module" mode.
I did manage to fix a few issues with my module one and upload the latest v1.38E, which is now at the most stable it has ever been with respect to any issues, mechanics or plot. My wife helped to find the broken uploaded v1.36E after she wanted to play it again. This had been one of the most frustrating discoveries to date, as v1.36E never needed to have been broken, and had gone unreported for a couple of months. I'm just glad that is now replaced.
Module Two Actual Progress
Since the last blog episode I have shifted focus to an area where a key part of some action will take place. It involves a couple of cutscenes, some involved conversations as well as a fair amount of player interaction. It brings together a lot of those things I have learned from making module one, including animations, walk ways, spawning, as well as a multiple path conversation to cater from various playing styles both SP or MP.
This section also allowed me to use some code I had developed in module one, but never (until now) had a reason to employ. It involves my Read Language scroll, which allows its caster to be able to read a foreign or magic language while active.
It was while testing this latest spell addition when I noticed some VFX I had been using were no longer supported in NWN2, and so I went through the lists looking for ones that worked better for the various places I had used them. Changes included the VFX_DUR_SPELL_PREMONITION, which is used in the cocoon spell I have designed. For the record, this update is not available until v1.39E release, but I will also be keeping an eye open for any other failed VFX constants used between now and then.
So once again I have to apologise for the lack of news, but, hopefully, things will begin to improve in the not too distant future. For the time being, here is a screenshot from one conversation I have been working on.
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| All In A Day's Work! |
