Hey, y'all!
I am currently working on writing (or attempting to, anyway) a modding tool for BG. I'm still in the (middle/end)phase of establishing a solid basis for extracting resources from the source files.
There are a few things on which I would like to get some general thoughts from the community, though.
Regarding file formats: Is there anyone in the know on whether the basic file formats like TLK, BIF, DLG, ITM, etc... are likely to change or be altered for BG:EE? Since the devs seem to be using WeiDU a lot, I doubt it, but a heads-up might save me some headaches in the future.
(Extracting resources from Bifs is complicated enough considering the different compression methods for various versions, etc.)
I am planning on integrating a visual editor for writing dialogs. Instead of having to write WeiDU code by hand, the user would be given the option to stitch together and directly edit a sort-of flow-chart that represents the states and responses of different dialogs. The software would then be able to compile that structure or changes to it into WeiDU code.
However, considering how much control WeiDU offers in terms of dialog editing, I am a litle worried that making dialog assembly too simplistic/abstract will prevent that level of control.
On the other hand, I feel like a lot of talented would-be mod authors will never actually finish or even attempt to write dialogs because WeiDU can be really scary in its complexity. Not to mention that writing complex dialog trees is a pain in the ass.
I may have extensively meddled with my own BG games, but I am not a modder. To those of you who are:
Would such a feature be welcome? Does it even make sense? Any thoughts?
Or are there even already existing implementations of this idea?
Cheers;)
I am currently working on writing (or attempting to, anyway) a modding tool for BG. I'm still in the (middle/end)phase of establishing a solid basis for extracting resources from the source files.
There are a few things on which I would like to get some general thoughts from the community, though.
Regarding file formats: Is there anyone in the know on whether the basic file formats like TLK, BIF, DLG, ITM, etc... are likely to change or be altered for BG:EE? Since the devs seem to be using WeiDU a lot, I doubt it, but a heads-up might save me some headaches in the future.
(Extracting resources from Bifs is complicated enough considering the different compression methods for various versions, etc.)
I am planning on integrating a visual editor for writing dialogs. Instead of having to write WeiDU code by hand, the user would be given the option to stitch together and directly edit a sort-of flow-chart that represents the states and responses of different dialogs. The software would then be able to compile that structure or changes to it into WeiDU code.
However, considering how much control WeiDU offers in terms of dialog editing, I am a litle worried that making dialog assembly too simplistic/abstract will prevent that level of control.
On the other hand, I feel like a lot of talented would-be mod authors will never actually finish or even attempt to write dialogs because WeiDU can be really scary in its complexity. Not to mention that writing complex dialog trees is a pain in the ass.
I may have extensively meddled with my own BG games, but I am not a modder. To those of you who are:
Would such a feature be welcome? Does it even make sense? Any thoughts?
Or are there even already existing implementations of this idea?
Cheers;)