Adding Columns to 2da files

[Kexikus 994]

I'm wondering if it's possible to add new columns to 2da files. Or to be more specific, is it possible to add a new lightsaber type by adding a column to upcrystals.2da?

 

And if it is, what would be the tool to use for those edits? (I'm asking since KT can't add columns.)

[DarthParametric 3,767]

I think it has been tried and failed, but if you want to have a crack the easiest way is use Convert2DA to convert the 2DA to tab delimited TXT, open that in Excel or other spreadsheet app, edit as appropriate, save back out as tab delimited text, use Convert2DA to convert back to 2DA.

 

http://www.starwarsknights.com/mtools/Convert2da.rar

 

(SWKnights is back, hurrah!)

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

I'm wondering if it's possible to add new columns to 2da files. Or to be more specific, is it possible to add a new lightsaber type by adding a column to upcrystals.2da?

 

And if it is, what would be the tool to use for those edits? (I'm asking since KT can't add columns.)

It is possible, but I'm not sure the game source is coded to read additional columns.

[LiliArch 115]

I'd prefer the Excel addon, but unfortunately I don't have Excel anymore on my new system...

 

whether it works or not depends completely on what 2da file you're adding columns into. In the factions.2da, it works fine. In appearance.2da... not so much. Don't know about upcrystals, but considering that 99% of the lightsaber-related stuff in the game seems to be hard-coded, I would assume it wouldn't work... you can try, of course. There's no harm in that.

[Sithspecter 908]

I was able to add columns to the .2da file after exporting it using KotOR Tool to .xml format. KotOR Tool's .2da Editor even opened it up and showed the columns, however it deleted them when I attempted to save.

[LiliArch 115]

That's interesting, I've never had KTool eating my newly-created columns, at least after the file has successfully been saved as 2da prior to opening it in KTool. Though I'd assume I have run that .xml route before, too, and it would have worked fine if the game would have liked adding columns to that specific 2da...

[Kexikus 994]

I finally got around to test the new column and I was able to add one with no problems. Neither did KotorTool delete them, but sadly they did not work for upcrystals.2da.

While lightsabers referenced in the new column did work, they were not upgradeable and even worse, they'd disappear from the inventory when chosen in the workbench.

 

Looks like I won't be able to go this route for my mod And with K1s workbench interface I won't be able to take my other route either... (that one involved adding a new option to the workbench, but I don't think that'll work in K1.)

Back to searching a solution then

[Sithspecter 908]

Have you checked out my Crossguard Lightsabers mod? I was able to effectively add a new upgradeable lightsaber type with a little scripting creativity

 

Since we can't add new columns in appearance.2da, we've got to do the models based on what crystal is in the lightsaber. In the instance of my crossguard lightsabers, I chose to add a new essentially blank item, the crossguard emitter. Talking to T3, if you have a crossguard emitter and a color crystal, you can combine them to yield a new "crossguard crystal", for which the new lines in upcrystals.2da correspond. This approach allows the player to use the color crystals they find naturally in the game in the new lightsabers. While it has its flaws, it's a viable workaround.

[Kexikus 994]

Have you checked out my Crossguard Lightsabers mod? I was able to effectively add a new upgradeable lightsaber type with a little scripting creativity

 

Since we can't add new columns in appearance.2da, we've got to do the models based on what crystal is in the lightsaber. In the instance of my crossguard lightsabers, I chose to add a new essentially blank item, the crossguard emitter. Talking to T3, if you have a crossguard emitter and a color crystal, you can combine them to yield a new "crossguard crystal", for which the new lines in upcrystals.2da correspond. This approach allows the player to use the color crystals they find naturally in the game in the new lightsabers. While it has its flaws, it's a viable workaround.

 

That is pretty much what I originally intended. I want to add a unique hilt only for the player to the game and so I wanted to add an entry to the workbench where you can change the color of this saber by using an ordinary color crystal. Using T3 for that is probably a good idea. Thanks for that tip

 

I was thinking if it were possible to disconnect the hilt model from the color crystal in a similar way for all lightsabers in the game, so that you'd find hilts and crystals seperately and only when combined (preferably at the workbench) you'd be able to use them for a lightsaber. I'm quite certain that it'd be doable, but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort^^

Ideally, we would have one column for every hilt, but that won't happen I fear

[DarthParametric 3,767]

What about doing the same scripting idea except using a custom "lightsaber crafting bench" instead of T3 to do what you want, i.e. fuse dummy hilt and crystal objects into a working saber hilt? I assume it would still require a dialogue interface though, so I'm not sure what that gains you (other than not having to chase T3 all over the bloody ship in TSL).

[Sithspecter 908]

What about doing the same scripting idea except using a custom "lightsaber crafting bench" instead of T3 to do what you want, i.e. fuse dummy hilt and crystal objects into a working saber hilt? I assume it would still require a dialogue interface though, so I'm not sure what that gains you (other than not having to chase T3 all over the bloody ship in TSL).

 

I was literally about to suggest this as well. We could have another dedicated "workbench" or lightsaber upgrade station on the Ebon Hawk, maybe even a couple other places also. My reason for choosing T3 to do it was so that you got a little more interaction with him, and being able to combine crystals away from the Ebon Hawk.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

I was literally about to suggest this as well. We could have another dedicated "workbench" or lightsaber upgrade station on the Ebon Hawk, maybe even a couple other places also. My reason for choosing T3 to do it was so that you got a little more interaction with him, and being able to combine crystals away from the Ebon Hawk.

What you're describing is basically what the Duplisaber mod does. The installer takes care of the cartesian explosion of possibilities created by joining hilts and crystals.

 

The problem is that there's no system for Kotor 1 yet... :/

[DarthParametric 3,767]

On 1/19/2016 at 9:18 AM, Sithspecter said:

I was literally about to suggest this as well. We could have another dedicated "workbench" or lightsaber upgrade station on the Ebon Hawk, maybe even a couple other places also.

I whipped up something that Kexikus (or anyone else) is free to use for this sort of thing (although I still need to make a few tweaks to it, plus texture it). I was kind of going for a Mass Effect 2/3-style workbench, albeit with some crystals and lightsaber bits strewn around.

    

 

[Kexikus 994]

That looks great

 

I was thinking however, that it should also be possible to Edit vanillas workbenches to start a Computer dialog instead of The original Gui, where You could then choose these options plus any other option added by mods (like combining hilts and color Crystals).

That's all assuming that these interactions are controlled by scripts that can be edited.

 

But with This new Model, I wouldn't mind making a dedicated lightsaber workbench either This could lead to a cool lightsaber overhaul, I think...

[DarthParametric 3,767]

I was thinking it could be cool to put a display rack at the back, with various hilts. Wouldn't make a lot of canonical sense, seeing as you spend so much of both games running around without a saber (especially in TSL looking for parts), but eh.

[LiliArch 115]

It would somewhat make sense, at least to me, if that lightsaber workbench would be scripted to appear only after you already have at least one lightsaber. Thus, it wouldn't be so much out of place.

[Kexikus 994]

Maybe the Lightsaber workbench could always be there but be inaccessible before acquiring the first lightsaber but be empty. And when you finally have your first lightsaber, it could be replaced with a working workbench that also has those hilts displayed and parts laying around or whatever.

[DarthParametric 3,767]

Maybe you need a workbench upgrade workbench. So you can upgrade the workbench to work on sabers.

 

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[Kexikus 994]

Haha xD

 

But yeah, I wanted to say that the model could change once you have your first lightsaber so that it makes sense to have those parts and hilts lying around there^^

[DarthParametric 3,767]

I'm easy, as long as someone else deals with all the scripting, etc. It's no big deal to split the model into basic and kitted out versions.

[LiliArch 115]

Scripting should be easy enough. I'm sure someone can do it.

[Kexikus 994]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I could do that for example and I certainly like the idea of making this mod