[WIP] HK-48

[DarthRevan101 104]

This was an idea I was messing around with for a bit, and I started working on it more after I saw a request thread for a similar mod quite a few months ago, but that thread seems to have been locked so I thought I should make a new one here. I stopped working on this for a while but I decided to carry on since I thought it was a cool idea.

 

Basically what this mod intends to do is add a new companion for HK-47 during his time at the HK Factory -  the eponymous HK-48.

 

A good portion of the work is already done: I've created the character, given him a unique appearance/portrait, spawned him in to the HK Factory, made you able to recruit him, and I've written some dialog for when you talk to him. 

 

Right now the only issue I'm facing is getting HK-48 to behave in cutscenes since he gets in the way a lot. He also gets stuck behind the door during the big fight against the HK-50s so I'll have to fix that too. As for stuff I'm planning to add, I'm considering whether or not I should edit some of the cutscenes in the HK Factory to mention HK-48. Also, I'm hoping to add him to the scene on Malachor where HK-47 kills G0-T0.

 

That's it for the moment I'll update the thread when I get new ideas or get more work done. For now, here's some of what I've got already:

 

 

[jc2 581]

I think this would be a welcomed addition! Best of luck finishing it! 

 

Personally, I won't use it because I love being able to solo HK factory, but still it looks like a great idea, and I've heard plenty of people express that the factory was too hard. 

 

More power to you!

[N-DReW25 1,331]

This is looking amazing! That skin and portrait are absolutely fantastic. It's a shame he's only going to be for the HK Factory.

 

May I suggest UnusualCharacters for the HK-48 Voice Overs. He can do some really good HK-47 voice-overs.

[DarthRevan101 104]

May I suggest UnusualCharacters for the HK-48 Voice Overs. He can do some really good HK-47 voice-overs.

 

Agreed. I did actually ask him about this project back when I was working on it the first time, but that was a while ago and what I had planned has changed since then so once I've finished I'll have to ask if he's still up for it.

[Sith Holocron 2,476]

Get voice over done last.  Seriously!

 

Now that I have that unasked for advice out of the way, Unusual Characters is a good choice.  (I used him myself for a little project for a HK-47 sound alike.)

[UnusualCharacters 105]

Oh my! 

 

Ready to serve.

[DarthRevan101 104]

Oh my! 

 

Ready to serve.

 

That'd be great if you're up for it! 

 

I'm not sure how much work I've got left, but as it stands the mod is functional (although it's quite awkward and not at all ready to release). Since making this thread I've not been able to dedicate as much time to it as I wanted to but I've got more free time at the moment so there should be much more progress soon. 

 

The one thing I'm currently dealing with is incorporating HK-48 in to the cutscenes to make the mod a lot smoother which might take a while because of all the possible outcomes. I don't know whether it's worth making it so that the HK-50s speak to/mention HK-48 or just changing them so that 48 doesn't get in the way during important moments (for example, having a party member following HK-47 around during the cutscenes would look a bit weird).

[Sith Holocron 2,476]

A thought: what happens if the player is using this HK mod by DarthParametric? Will that mod affect the model of HK-48 in your mod? If it does, are you going to make a unique skin to cover that model?

[DarthRevan101 104]

A thought: what happens if the player is using this HK mod by DarthParametric? Will that mod affect the model of HK-48 in your mod? If it does, are you going to make a unique skin to cover that model?

 

48 isn't affected by it. 

[Basil Bonehead 99]

i find it interesting you're making him a temporary companion in this mod where in the old HK factory mod from almost 10 years ago makes HK-48 is the enemy/leader of the hk-50s 

[DarthRevan101 104]

So I've decided that I'm going to edit at least the important cutscenes to include HK-48, however the problem is that the dialog file hk50.dlg is used other times throughout the game so changing it and putting it in the Override will change all the instances. I'm pretty sure the only way around this is to edit the dialog in the .mod file, but I don't know how best to go about it. Can this kind of thing be done with the TSLPatcher or something similar, or am I just gonna have to remake the .mod file and replace the original?

[Kexikus 994]

TSLPatcher can do that. Basically you create a version of the .mod without any edits and tell TSLPatcher to put that in the modules folder if it's not already present there. Then you install your .dlg into the .mod by simply changing the path to modules\<module-name>.mod. It's all described in the TSLPatcher documentation in greater detail.

[DarthRevan101 104]

Good news, this project is getting very close to completion. I decided not to edit all the cutscenes, since I couldn't find a way to incorporate HK-48 without it feeling awkward. All I've got left to do is add scripts to those cutscenes to make HK-48 fit in and not get in the way. One thing I'm considering but not certain of, is whether HK-48 should show up on Malachor during the scene where HK-47 kills G0-T0. I assume it wouldn't be that difficult to do but I'm just wondering if it's a good idea.

[DarthRevan101 104]

I've hit a slight problem. I recently reinstalled the game and now when using KotOR Tool for K2 scripts I get an error saying "Value cannot be null. Parameter name item." Since most scripts from K1 work on K2 i should be able to work around it but I'd still like to know what the issue is/

[DarthRevan101 104]

Quick update at where I'm at with testing: HK-48 is a little too OP so I'm going to take another look his character to make him more balanced. I'm also just learning how to use script parameters so I'm gonna be rewriting some of the scripts to decrease the amount of files and make things a bit smoother. Other than that everything seems to be working just fine, but I've not yet tested all the endings to the HK Factory. Don't want to promise anything yet but I'm really close to getting this finished and released.

If anyone's interested here's a little look at HK-48: 

 

[BK2-Modder 16]

Looks fantastic so far! Really looking forward to making it a permanent addition to my K2 install.

[DarthRevan101 104]

having some trouble working out how to get the voice to play. right now it just skips like there's no voice files attached, but i don't know how to fix it. the only change is that i now use the Steam version of the game, but otherwise everything's the same from when it did work just fine. i've tried putting the .wav files in StreamVoice and Override but nothing seems to work. Is this a Steam thing or am i misremembering something else?

[Sith Holocron 2,476]

Did you not use SithCodec?

[DarthRevan101 104]

On 2/16/2021 at 10:33 AM, Sith Holocron said:

Did you not use SithCodec?

this is new to me, i'll try to figure it out. 

I don't have much to update since I've just been really busy with life and uni and stuff. That said, it would be such a shame to let this project go to waste, especially since I have such amazing voicework provided by UnusualCharacters. I am committed to finishing and releasing this mod when I can, I just don't really know how soon that will be. 

[Sith Holocron 2,476]

50 minutes ago, DarthRevan101 said:

this is new to me, i'll try to figure it out. 

I don't have much to update since I've just been really busy with life and uni and stuff. That said, it would be such a shame to let this project go to waste, especially since I have such amazing voicework provided by UnusualCharacters. I am committed to finishing and releasing this mod when I can, I just don't really know how soon that will be. 

When it's ready, it's ready. You'll know when that is.

[DarthRevan101 104]

4 minutes ago, Sith Holocron said:

When it's ready, it's ready. You'll know when that is.

True. To be honest, there's very little left to compete, it's just been so long for me that I've forgotten how to do it (I think all that's left is some scripts to position HK48 at the right area during cutscenes). I once took some sage advice that I should never ask for voice work until the mod was 100% complete, and here I am several years later, when once I arrogantly thought it was ready at 98%. So, yeah, I def regret not taking that advice. HK-48 means a lot to me personally, so I do promise that I will finish it when I can. I just need to relearn KOTOR modding in the meantime.

[Sith Holocron 2,476]

Just now, DarthRevan101 said:

 I just need to relearn KOTOR modding in the meantime.

You're in the right place for it.

[LDR 234]

On 5/6/2021 at 1:59 AM, DarthRevan101 said:

[...] and here I am several years later, when once I arrogantly thought it was ready at 98%. [...]

Story of my life right there. That's literally me.

The day will come when everything clicks. For me, I had to stop worrying about making one of my mods perfect, and instead I just had to put it out there.

Trust me. You'll know when.