This is the Sleheyron Planet, which is a Work-In-Progress mod for KotOR

[Sithspecter 909]

This mod will not feature a recruitment.

[TheDarkChocolateJedi 17]

I apologize I was just saying that as a suggestion because I think there should be a new party member along with the new planet, again this was just a suggestion so if it is not happening that is fine. It was a mere suggestion nothing more

[134340Goat 116]

Given our limited knowledge of the story, will there be any original side quests to make this world feel more complete or take more than 10 minutes to finish?

 

I could imagine some form of very quick side quest where you see like a Twi'lek slave or something being attacked by their master then you can choose either to step in and help for LS points or watch on for DS points, something like that (Lol go ahead and use that if you want)

[Sithspecter 909]

Sleheyron Update

 

Work on Sleheyron continues, not at the fastest pace, but at a steady sustainable pace, which is as good as we can hope for at this point. The bulk of the work is still on the area models, but they are coming along quite nicely. Not to reveal too much, but soon we hope the planet will be structured enough to begin placing content.

 

You may have noticed that I've been saying "we" a lot, and that is another important portion of this mod that I'd like to share.

 

Fair Strides and I have struck up a partnership, and we have accomplished much together. We form a real working team, with complementary skill sets. Fair Strides takes on the more technical side of things, while I focus on the more artistic elements. We can talk intelligently about each others' skills, and we've both learned a lot in the process. Fair Strides' enthusiasm has helped me greatly to keep this mod going, and his scripting knowledge is more than up to the task. Additionally, we have worked very hard together hammering out the plot, and filling in the holes from what we know was intended to be on Sleheyron. This isn't a plot we've come up with in 10 minutes, but rather a plot that we've spent months discussing, rewriting, and evaluating. We've stuck to what we know from David Gaider's original plot for Sleheyron, and we've come up with a number of creative elements to fill in the gaps. Expect some fairly unique quests, and remember that the Gladiator fights will only end up being about 1/3 of the entire Sleheyron plot.

 

In any case, I just wanted to make Fair Strides' involvement in this project more widely known. He doesn't seek much publicity, but he is definitely an equal partner in this mod who is helping make a lot of things happen behind the scenes. And for those worried about K1R Compatibility, rest assured that Fair Strides will make it happen. So three cheers for Fair Strides!! Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah!!

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

So three cheers for Fair Strides!! Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah!!

Huzzah!

 

Fair Strides' enthusiasm has helped me greatly to keep this mod going, and his scripting knowledge is more than up to the task. Additionally, we have worked very hard together hammering out the plot, and filling in the holes from what we know was intended to be on Sleheyron. This isn't a plot we've come up with in 10 minutes, but rather a plot that we've spent months discussing, rewriting, and evaluating. We've stuck to what we know from David Gaider's original plot for Sleheyron, and we've come up with a number of creative elements to fill in the gaps. Expect some fairly unique quests, and remember that the Gladiator fights will only end up being about 1/3 of the entire Sleheyron plot.

I know a lot of folks have been and will continue to ask incessantly about the plot but I hope the both of you resist the temptation to reveal too much about it.

[Sithspecter 909]

Huzzah!

 

 

I know a lot of folks have been and will continue to ask incessantly about the plot but I hope the both of you resist the temptation to reveal too much about it.

 

The plot stays under wraps, and we don't really plan to reveal much more of the areas either. We're in this to deliver a finished product, not to get a few comments by posting every little thing we've worked on for Sleheyron. We chose to reveal the street and the arena because we wanted to show that we've been able to replicate Bioware's Sleheyron almost exactly, and that we've been able to restore those bits of Sleheyron that are in KotOR's files. The docking bay was an added bonus that doesn't reveal too much. Anything that we do show will be in a complete state, not something that we've spent 10 minutes on and want to get a little attention for.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Anything that we do show will be in a complete state, not something that we've spent 10 minutes on and want to get a little attention for.

 

Amen to that!

[spacej 0]

Will this version of the Sleheyron mod be easier to install than the one that is currently on here?  I'm not entirely sure what is considered a .MOD file in the old version, I pretty much only put the movie files in the modules folder and put everything else in the Override folder.  Will the new one use TSLPatcher or some other installer?

[Fair Strides 510]

Will this version of the Sleheyron mod be easier to install than the one that is currently on here?  I'm not entirely sure what is considered a .MOD file in the old version, I pretty much only put the movie files in the modules folder and put everything else in the Override folder.  Will the new one use TSLPatcher or some other installer?

Yes it will.

 

But the .mod files in KotOR 1 and 2 are the levels. The .bik files are the movies.

[Vaders Elite 1]

Yes it will.

 

But the .mod files in KotOR 1 and 2 are the levels. The .bik files are the movies.

Could you make it manually installable? Because I want to use it with the Android version.

[Sithspecter 909]

We will decide that when the time comes.

[Vaders Elite 1]

We will decide that when the time comes.

Thanks and good luck ☺

[Zhaboka 91]

And for those worried about K1R Compatibility, rest assured that Fair Strides will make it happen. So three cheers for Fair Strides!! Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah!!

 

HELL yeah! Good work, my friends. My offer of VO is perennially open.

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

My offer of VO is perennially open.

But probably not available until December.

[RevanFan 6]

It's good to see that there's finally progress being made on this. With this and K1R, I'll be able to have a playthrough of KOTOR with a fair amount of new stuff. New stuff is always good.

[Sithspecter 909]

Sleheyron Update

 

Work on Sleheyron continues, not at the fastest pace, but at a steady sustainable pace, which is as good as we can hope for at this point. The area models continue to progress well and are constantly being refined.

 

I've won a major battle against the Walkmesh-Destroying-Federation-of-Sleheyron. I went in to make a minor edit to one of the walkmeshes.

 

"Ah, this will take 10 minutes tops," said I.

 

WRONG.

 

Four hours later I was reduced to snarling like a dog at my computer screen, hoping that the Walkmesh Gods of NWMax would be moved by my plight. Finally, I discovered some rogue vertexes and edges hiding out in the dark corners of the walkmesh. I destroyed them and left none standing. Okay, that was a little harsh. I left all the good ones there, and voila, a good walkmesh is born. Lesson learned: sometimes you can't just weld all the vertexes, you've got to look over the walkmesh, and find extra edges and use some precision. 2 vertexes or 2 edges occupying the same space does not equal a happy walkmesh.

 

Then it was time to add minimaps, which was the main objective of the day.

 

I was dreading working on the minimaps. I did one for the main street a while back, and it was a 4-6 hour trial and error process that was annoying as all get out.

 

So, I pulled up another module, rendered the top down view, and took it to Photoshop. Opened up the .are, and got ready to begin the process again. I knew that the fields in the .are were based on knowing the precise pixel coordinates on the 512 by 256 TGA of the map, and referencing actual meter coordinates of the area. However, last time I tried this, something didn't add up.

 

So I have 8 different values I have to figure out in the .are to get the map and the scaling right, based on 2 (x,y) points on the TGA and the coordinates of the area.

 

MapPt1X (TGA reference of X coordinate #1)

MapPt1Y (TGA reference of Y coordinate #1)

MapPt2X (TGA reference of X coordinate #2)

MapPt2Y (TGA reference of Y coordinate #2)

 

And

 

WorldPt1X (Meter value of X coordinate #1)

WorldPt1Y (Meter value of Y coordinate #1)

WorldPt2X (Meter value of X coordinate #2)

WorldPt2Y (Meter value of Y coordinate #2)

 

I picked out two references I could see visually on the TGA of the map, and got their meter coordinates in MAX. Filled in the WorldPt values, which was the easy part.

 

So I had figured out that the MapPt values were decimals based on how far from the top left corner the pixel representing the coordinates I just found was. For example, if the pixel was halfway to the bottom, the MapPtY for that pixel would be .5. That seemed to work fine for the Y-axis. I would figure out how many pixels from the top the pixel was, divide by 256, then I'd have the right MapPtY. The weird thing was the X-axis. This was off for the X-axis for some inexplicable reason.

 

However, I finally discovered that while the textures are all 512 by 256, the game only uses ~435 by 256 of the texture. By diving the X pixel values by 435 instead of 512, the map worked perfectly!! I did several maps right in a row, making up for the sustained time loss fighting the Great Walkmesh War of 2016.

 

At one time, this was sort of a trial-and-error process, but I've brought it down to an exact science. It has been heartening to see the areas with all of the little features that the default ones have, including minimaps, aurora lights, and the Rapid Transit System.

 

That's right folks, the Republic Rapid Transit System has been implemented in Sleheyron. It may not seem like much, but since it's never happened before on Sleheyron, I think it's about the coolest thing ever. Fair Strides takes the credit for that of course, I just play with area models while he works the magic.

 

And lastly, all of the modules have been connected together, which is a big step in making the planet feel, well, like a planet. You can now roam the streets and other modules, and travel to and from Sleheyron. Once again, it's been a big morale booster to see that happen. Thanks for the continued support. I will try to post updates occasionally, but like I've said before, we're here to deliver a mod, not get the most replies to a WIP thread.

[DarthTyren 103]

This is exciting!!! Well done SS. And great job with the minimap issue.

 

Question though (modding-related): What will the aurora lights actually be used for? I thought that you were using lightmaps instead. I could just be misunderstanding something about lighting (very likely).

[Sithspecter 909]

So, the lightmaps are the biggest part of the lighting picture as far as the area models go. However, this doesn't have any effect on dynamic objects like NPCs, doors, placeables, etc. Using the Aurora lights has just the extra effect of lighting the characters especially, as well as shadows.

[Fair Strides 510]

One thing I will mention as far as the Aurora Lights before anyone goes rushing off to add them all over the area...

 

I recall Quanon saying that the game only uses something like the three lights closest to the player at any one time, so that's something to bear in mind. It might also go a ways towards explaining why the game devs used so many different models when they made their areas (Seriously! Did you guys count them? Must be 30 models minimum per area...)

 

Also, SS, I believe the minimap thing is a prime candidate for this thread:

 

New Area Knowledge Thread - General Kotor/TSL Modding - Deadly Stream

[Damned 20]

Republic Rapid Transit System?

[Sithspecter 909]

Yes, the feature that allows you to travel to the Ebon Hawk and back in the map menu.

[Kexikus 995]

Great news

 

Sounds like you're on the best way to make a new planet that's hardly distinguishable from the vanilla ones.

[Canderis 180]

What is your plan for the leviathan encounter? Are you changing it to trigger after four star-maps, or keeping it at three? And is the "end of game" trigger going to happen after all five, or just after the vanilla four?

[Sithspecter 909]

My plan is to worry about that when the time comes.

[134340Goat 116]

Very excited to hear this update!

 

I know it's still quite early in the making, but do you plan on there being a demo? Good way to have several people test for glitches and the like