wiki [K1/TSL] RandomAccessMemory

[ebmar 894]

[Updated: April 26, 2020]

 

 

Greetings, fellow Jedi! Hope you all doing fine.

This will be an archive-thread-miniwiki to accommodate my curiousness in some aspects from either KotOR/TSL; either with placeables, textures , models, anything- which is too valuable to lost for just a status update but is too exclusive for each of them to have a single thread, in my perspective.

I have archived some past random questions with its essential responses, should their information would be useful and will be easy enough to have access to:

 

• [August 14, 2018] PlasticCrate_cylinder
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  ebmar: Can anyone help me with guessing what [I believe is a] PLC_xx is this?

  

  DarthParametric: Use the placeables.2da. young Padawan. Should be "PlasticCrate_cylinder" model PLC_PlstcCrt.

• [August 16, 2018] LTS_Rwall01
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  ebmar: Can anyone help me with guessing what [I believe is a] PLC_xx is this?

  

  Had surfed through the placeables.2da but I can't seem to find its existence.

  DarthParametric: It's part of the level model:

  

  This specific room is M02aa_04a.mdl/mdx.

  ebmar: So, will the chair's texture be editable then?

  DarthParametric: Of course. It's LTS_Rwall01. As the name might suggest, it's likely used elsewhere for walls, so expect unintended consequences if you change it.

  ebmar: So this one uses the "share the same texture" method like the PlasticCrate_cylinder and the KoltoTank_empty. I could make the texture unique can I? By pointing the texture to a unique name using the MDLEdit?

  DarthParametric: You could reassign the diffuse texture the chair meshes use, yes.

  LiliArch: It may or may not work neatly, I might add. Depends on the model.

• [August 19, 2018] PLC_Statue2
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  Information regarding the issue could be found by accessing the aforementioned thread.

• [August 24, 2018] Taris' Upper City Cantina Entrance Wall Panel
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  ebmar: After countless time revisiting the Upper City cantina, I have just noticed a weird thing with its wall. I thought this problem was local with my end, but then I checked some UC cantina's footage on YT and it seems it was shown on others end too. Is this black wall thing fixable?

  

  DarthParametric: Probably bad light maps. What room is it in?

  ebmar: It is the entrance.

  DarthParametric: It's a bad reference. Those panels have lightmap "M02ae_09a_a000l6" but that doesn't exist as far as I can tell. It doesn't appear compatible with any of the lightmaps m02ae_09a_lm0 through to m02ae_09a_lm7. The possible solutions are bake a new lightmap, copy the lightmap UVs of the panels next door and use its lightmap, outright replace the mesh with a duplicate of the one next door.

  JCarter426: It might be pointing to a lightmap that doesn't exist, though that would be the first case of that I've ever heard of. I've seen similar issues like objects missing the lightmap flag or they are lightmapped but the UVW map for it is crap. One example of the latter is the ceiling near the entrance in 204TEL. And yes, to fix those sort of problems you don't want to stare at hex code, you want a modeling program.

  DarthParametric: It seems like those panels aren't even part of the same room model as the rest of the room. Could how the screwup occurred in the first place.

  Here ebmar, try this. Should fix it. https://www.darthparametric.com/files/kotor/k1/[K1]_M02AE_Taris_Upper_City_Cantina_Entrance_Fix.7z

  DarthParametric's "Taris Upper City Cantina Entrance Wall Panel Fix":

   

• [August 28, 2018] Taris' Upper City South Fountains [M02ac_02b_02e]
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  This is a fast-access to a tutorial by DarthParametric, for us to add the water plane to the ring-like structure in the Upper City South section using the KOTORmax. Just click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for a fast-access to the said topic. The discussion can be found in this thread.

• [August 30, 2018] Ebon Hawk's Unique Cubemaps [CM_eh]
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for a fast-access to the said discussion. The discussion can be found in this thread.

• [September 12, 2018] Locate Area Model
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for a fast-access to the said discussion.

• [September 12, 2018] Sith Soldier Bump Map Restoration
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for a fast-access to the said discussion. The discussion can be found in this thread.

• [September 17, 2018] Bump-map Breaks Level Geometry Animation?
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for a fast-access to the said discussion.

• [December 10, 2018] Jedi Enclave's "Unused" Bump-map
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for fast-access to the said discussion. The discussion can be found in this thread.

• [November 08, 2019] Trigger's ScriptOnEnter x GetEnteringObject
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for fast-access to the discussion. It can be found within this thread.

• [November 24, 2019] ActionJumpToLocation >= ActionJumpToObject
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for fast-access to the discussion. It can be found within this thread.

• [December 08, 2019] Rakatan "SWAG" Idle Animation VS ANIMATION_LOOPING_TALK_NORMAL
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for fast-access to the discussion. It can be found within this thread.

• [December 11, 2019] [Success] VS [Failure]
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for fast-access to the discussion. It can be found within this thread.

• [December 14, 2019] GetNearestCreature > GetPartyMemberByIndex
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for fast-access to the discussion. It can be found within this thread.

• [April 26, 2020] TSL's Hologram
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  Click the "arrow-button" on top-right of the widget for fast-access to the discussion. It can be found within this thread.

____________________________________________

 

That was some questions-responses that I thought would need a proper archiving should they delivered any useful information for future modding attempt.

Also, I'm taking this opportunity to ask to the forums too. Will it be possible to change that grey area in the center of Taris' city-walk to some kind of a mini-pool with water model/textures in it?

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One example in mind that could be used as a reference is this mini-pool inside Davik's estate:

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Many thanks for considering this!

Edited April 25, 2020 by ebmar
Added a new entry: TSL's Hologram

[DarthParametric 3,811]

  On 8/25/2018 at 5:42 PM, ebmar said:

Will it be possible to change that grey area in the center of Taris' city-walk to some kind of a mini-pool with water model/textures in it?

Yes, you could edit the room model to add a water plane, maybe some fountain VFX nodes. That particular section of walkway would appear to be M02ac_02c.

Edit: Here's a quick and dirty example. A simple plane with one of the Manaan pond water textures (not sure if it is the best option) and some emitters stolen from the metal fountain placeable and duplicated three times:

I was actually thinking more in the vein of a traditional vertical type of fountain. I was sure I had seen something like that in one of the games, but it seems like there's nothing of that sort in K1 at least.

 

[ebmar 894]

  On 8/26/2018 at 3:33 AM, DarthParametric said:

Edit: Here's a quick and dirty example. A simple plane with one of the Manaan pond water textures (not sure if it is the best option) and some emitters stolen from the metal fountain placeable and duplicated three times:
...

Damn. The very first time I opened the post there wasn't a preview already, but then minutes ago...

That is awesome, DP! I mean, how could that be a "quick and dirty example"? That is simply amazing. 😂

  Quote

Yes, you could edit the room model to add a water plane, maybe some fountain VFX nodes. That particular section of walkway would appear to be M02ac_02c.

Thanks for the insight! I hope I can do this myself, but at the very least; would you consider releasing that as a mod? I really want to feel that experience strolling the Taris' city-walk with fountain init! 😁

  Quote

I was actually thinking more in the vein of a traditional vertical type of fountain. I was sure I had seen something like that in one of the games, but it seems like there's nothing of that sort in K1 at least.

I have no any idea actually; how my vision about the mini-pool already presented right at the very front of my eyes; and it was lot better than my expectation to tell the truth! 🙌

Edited August 26, 2018 by ebmar

[DarthParametric 3,811]

  On 8/26/2018 at 9:49 AM, ebmar said:

would you consider releasing that as a mod?

It probably needs some adjustment first. Testing of different water textures, maybe altering the textures of the fountain heads (they aren't lightmapped and are just using the placeable's texture). I'm about to head in to work for a few hours, but I'll play around with it when I get home. Plus there's the whole mod approval logjam (I think I have 3 already waiting for someone to hit the red button), so who knows when it would turn up.

[ebmar 894]

  On 8/26/2018 at 9:53 AM, DarthParametric said:

I'm about to head in to work for a few hours, but I'll play around with it when I get home.

Many thanks for considering my query and, then comes-up with an amazing settlement. Very much appreciated.

  Quote

That particular section of walkway would appear to be M02ac_02c.

...

Testing of different water textures, maybe altering the textures of the fountain heads (they aren't lightmapped and are just using the placeable's texture).

In the mean time I will try to fiddle around with the said area model. Hoping to find something to help at least.

[DarthParametric 3,811]

Should have uploaded this for you earlier. Here's the model if you want to play around with it. You can load the ASCII in KOTORMax.

https://www.darthparametric.com/files/kotor/k1/[K1]_Taris_Upper_City_South_Fountains_M02ac_02c.7z

[ebmar 894]

  On 8/26/2018 at 1:00 PM, DarthParametric said:

Here's the model if you want to play around with it. You can load the ASCII in KOTORMax.

Awesome! Thanks, DP! Hahah, yeah- I haven't figure out yet how to create those panels like you did, but I have managed to locate what mesh are used for the panel's flooring.

• An earlier attempt of guessing what floor that should replace the "LTS_Bwall04" which have been used with the vanilla model:

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I believe the "LTS_Bwall04" used for the floor should be changed, but haven't figured out yet what it should be.

[DarthParametric 3,811]

You can edit the ASCII directly in a text editor and reassign a new texture. Look for

node trimesh Mesh04

(should be line #12776) and then change

  bitmap LTS_Bwall04

Don't change "bitmap2", which is the lightmap. After you have pointed it to a different texture, you can compile it with MDLEdiit. You can discard the WOK (which is the walkmesh), as the vanilla one is fine.

It's easy enough to also split out the bottom of the grey surround if you also want to change the texture for that. In both instances though there might need to be a UV adjustment, depending on what texture/s you want to use.

Edit: Oh, and you might want to try lun_water01 for the water. It's a dark blue. Probably won't need any editing of the pond bottom using that. The fountains are using PLC_FntnMtl which doesn't actually look metal at all. You could maybe try a stainless steel kind of look.

Edit 2: Perhaps something like this:

https://www.darthparametric.com/files/kotor/k1/[K1]_Taris_Upper_City_South_Fountains_M02ac_02c_v2.7z

[ebmar 894]

  On 8/26/2018 at 1:32 PM, DarthParametric said:

You can edit the ASCII directly in a text editor and reassign a new texture. Look for

node trimesh Mesh04

(should be line #12776) and then change

  bitmap LTS_Bwall04

Don't change "bitmap2", which is the lightmap. After you have pointed it to a different texture, you can compile it with MDLEdiit. You can discard the WOK (which is the walkmesh), as the vanilla one is fine.

It's easy enough to also split out the bottom of the grey surround if you also want to change the texture for that. In both instances though there might need to be a UV adjustment, depending on what texture/s you want to use.

Thanks for the heads-up!

  Quote

Edit: Oh, and you might want to try lun_water01 for the water. It's a dark blue. Probably won't need any editing of the pond bottom using that. The fountains are using PLC_FntnMtl which doesn't actually look metal at all. You could maybe try a stainless steel kind of look.

Edit 2: Perhaps something like this:

Yes! I have tried using "LUN_water01" as an exchange for "LMA_water02", and then using the vanilla "PLC_FntnMtl", I tweak the alpha to show its reflection bolder.

It is obvious, your "DP_FntMetal01" shows better details there 😁

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To tell the truth, I'd prefer the "LMA_water02" than "LUN_water01"- as it looks more natural. It fits well with the fountain panel and Taris' ambience overall, matter of personal preferences really. 😁

[DarthParametric 3,811]

  On 8/26/2018 at 3:04 PM, ebmar said:

It is obvious, your "DP_FntMetal01" shows better detail there

It's just LTA_metal26 (or one of those) with an added alpha (inverted greyscale copy of the RGB) and a TXI pointing at an envmap.

Edit: Here's a version with the sides of the bottom of the pond split out into a different mesh so you can change the texture.

https://www.darthparametric.com/files/kotor/k1/[K1]_Taris_Upper_City_South_Fountains_M02ac_02c_v3.7z

I have no idea what the UVs are like though, so it may not look great with complex textures. Look for

node trimesh DPPondBaseSides

 

[ebmar 894]

  On 8/26/2018 at 3:15 PM, DarthParametric said:

Edit: Here's a version with the sides of the bottom of the pond split out into a different mesh so you can change the texture.

...

Amazing! Many thanks for this version.

I have come up with something using the latest version; not the best result I believe.

• The sides of the bottom of the pond and the pond's bottom itself had their texture's changed. I am using some CC BY 4.0 templates to work with: [K1]_Taris_Upper_City_South_Fountains_M02ac_02c_v4.7z

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I'm utilising bump-map to the stone part, but it seems the result is insignificant. Perhaps the bump-map is not a good one. 😂

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I have no idea what the UVs are like though, so it may not look great with complex textures. Look for

node trimesh DPPondBaseSides

 

Yes, I'm aware of that. Thanks for the heads-up anyway!

[DarthParametric 3,811]

It may also not work very well through the water. You should try setting the Render flag of the water plane to 0 and recompiling so you can get a good look at it.

[JCarter426 1,242]

Interesting idea with the water. I always thought it was meant to be a reflecting pool, but never thought to do anything with it out of laziness/lack of ideas.

I also suspect the water might be blocking it. Bump maps are reactive to light sources - if you put a bump mapped model in a really dark room, for example, you won't see much of a difference due to how even all the lighting is. So the water mesh may be blocking all light, even though it's meant to be translucent, just because of how the game calculates things.

However, there may be some fix for it. I believe there's a water alpha setting that isn't entirely understood, and you may also want to look into alpha blending to see if it would have an effect here.

[ebmar 894]

  On 8/27/2018 at 5:10 PM, JCarter426 said:

Interesting idea with the water. I always thought it was meant to be a reflecting pool...

Yes, it have always bugged me the very first time I see the panel, second your thoughts; I have always thought it was meant to be some kind of a pond, but actually I have not think about the fountain, DP improvised with it and the result is just awesome! 🙌

Anyway, I do have concern with this space inside this structure too, maybe another pond could be implemented init? 🤣

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  Quote

I also suspect the water might be blocking it. Bump maps are reactive to light sources - if you put a bump mapped model in a really dark room, for example, you won't see much of a difference due to how even all the lighting is. So the water mesh may be blocking all light, even though it's meant to be translucent, just because of how the game calculates things.

Thanks for the insight! Actually I have just found that with my latest attempt, I bump the bumpmapscaling inside the TXI from 3 [which is the earliest attempt] to 8 and the result is quite significant. But it doesn't looks good lol.

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However, there may be some fix for it. I believe there's a water alpha setting that isn't entirely understood, and you may also want to look into alpha blending to see if it would have an effect here.

Again, thanks for the link! Could the alpha opacity inside the water texture [let's say- "LMA_water02"] have its role with the transparency too? 🤔 Interesting to find out. 😁

Edited August 27, 2018 by ebmar
Fix a typo.

[DarthParametric 3,811]

  On 8/27/2018 at 6:58 PM, ebmar said:

I do have concern with this space inside this structure too, maybe another pond could be implemented init?

You could add a water plane to the floaty art statues at each end of the walkway easily enough.

Edit: Here you go -

https://www.darthparametric.com/files/kotor/k1/[K1]_Taris_Upper_City_South_Fountains_M02ac_02b_02e.7z

There was already a circular plane as the base, so I just duplicated that and repositioned/scaled it to make the water plane. The whole "pond" piece though is probably a tad high for water. It puts it at an awkward position to see it properly. Perhaps it needs to be moved downwards closer to the height of the central "trough".

[ebmar 894]

Amazing DP, many thanks for it! I'm looking forwards to test it soon! If you don't mind, could you describe what are basic things to do to add the water plane to the structure? I have had opened the particular model of the area using the KotORmax and/or MDLEdit but I'm stuck like not knowing what to do. 😂 Many thanks for considering this! 

[DarthParametric 3,811]

Some general tips. When importing level models, in order to see what you are doing you'll typically want to change to default lighting:

And hide walkmeshes:

         

In this case things were pretty simple as there was already an existing mesh that could be duplicated for the water mesh. It was simply a case of selecting the mesh, going to Edit->Clone, choosing the Copy option (you must choose Copy in order to get an actual standalone duplicate), giving it an appropriate name, and then hitting OK.

         

Then, with the new water plane object selected, go to the Editable Mesh modifier and enable the Vertex sub-level. Select all vertices and with the Move tool position them appropriately. You may also need to use the Scale tool in order to resize the mesh, if necessary.

Now you can create a new water material and apply it to the mesh. Then edit the OdysseyTrimesh modifier options. Turn off Lightmapped, set Self Illum to pure white, enable Bumpmappable if it isn't already.

Then you are pretty much done. Make sure your new mesh is a child of the base, then export and compile.

In other cases you may need to create custom meshes, for example the rectangular trough from the initial central walkway model.

[ebmar 894]

Fantastic! Many thanks for the efficient-yet-rather-effective tutorial DarthParametric! I'm in progress on practicing this information now. I will attach the said tutorial in the first post to have the potential reader an easier access to its knowledge. Again, thanks! And very much appreciated.

____________________________________________

Anyways, I just found something that is quite "important" while ago; I surfed through the game files with the KotOR Tool and found a cubemap which labeled "CM_eh", and then leads me to assuming that it was linked to the Ebon Hawk's specularity. And yes it is; I opened the file using PS and there are E-Hawk's reflections init. So, I fiddled around with the vanilla EH's textures and have them all implemented with the said cubemap- assigning vanilla bump-map to the linked textures and later having this results:

• This is the entrance/exit passage of the Ebon Hawk. I haven't checked the bump-map inside this room model so as we can see there are no bump-map applied there; but more-or-less, this how the room looks with the "CM_eh" applied to the textures:

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• This is the Hawk's dorm, and bump-map feature has been checked for this room.

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• This one of the Hawk's alley'; no bump-map applied but "CM_eh" has been utilised on them textures.

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• This is the intersection near the engine-room. The bump-map and "CM_eh" has been applied in this room model.

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• This is the Swoop's room; I ended-up changing the alpha on the bike with the standard reflection because the vanilla alpha is not really effective, I mean; I am certain that BioWare wanted to give the impression that the Swoop was having an incident before, looks from the reflection it gave. It produces an inside-bump-and-dents-like reflection but I don't know, maybe the execution could be nicer, I think.

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• This is the cabin whom Juhani used to chill. No bump-map applied yet in that room.

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• This is the cockpit. Bump-map applied.

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• This is too from the cockpit but from another point-of-view. This is not really vanilla because as we can see there are Sith Holocron's "KOTOR2 More Subtle Animated Ebon Hawk Monitors (still not including Galaxy Map)" and Fallen Guardian's "Ebon Hawk Texture Enhancement" computer panel featured there. Must haves!

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• And this is the Hawk's center room. Bump-map applied.

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Edit: ndix UR's "Ebon Hawk K1 Fixes" are featured in the screenshots.

____________________________________________

To tell the truth, the primary motivation of this research was because of this screenshot of Ebon Hawk's interior from one of Apeiron's tweet while ago. I know, and it was obvious; different engine means different results. And even if with the same engine but with the wrong application of feature could leads to different results too. I only kind of curious about how optimal is this [IIRC] Odyssey Engine could be?

Many thanks for taking your time here. Hope this finding kind of helps.

Edited August 29, 2018 by ebmar

[ebmar 894]

Greetings, fellow Jedi!

I am curious; am I the only one encountering this oddity- which Master Vandar was facing [the way I see it] to a wrong direction?

Screenshots:

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This happens right when we board-off from the Ebon Hawk to meet with the council the very first time. This glitch only appeared once, but somewhat bugged me point to the fact that it appeared in an important scene.

• Can it be fixed?
• Or was it intended in the first place? 😂

Many thanks for considering this, and may the Force be with you all!

Edited September 11, 2018 by ebmar

[DarthParametric 3,811]

It can happen in conversations where the character is scripted to face towards a the party but the script chooses a party member that is off in another room. In this instance you'd expect the script to be looking for the player specifically, but you'd have to check the DLG for that scene to work out the specific script that is firing. I'd guess it is probably some generic global script, not a module-specific one, which could be the problem.

[ebmar 894]

  On 9/11/2018 at 9:22 AM, DarthParametric said:

It can happen in conversations where the character is scripted to face towards a the party but the script chooses a party member that is off in another room.

I would prefer to speculate that way too, than to think that it was intended by BioWare to give an easter-egg that Vandar can't bear to see the future lol.

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In this instance you'd expect the script to be looking for the player specifically, but you'd have to check the DLG for that scene to work out the specific script that is firing. I'd guess it is probably some generic global script, not a module-specific one, which could be the problem.

It would have to wait then. I have had passed this scene but hoping this issue will be fixed in the near future by someone. 🤞

[DarthParametric 3,811]

Poking through the module, the dialogue used for that scene is part of dan13_zhar.dlg. That first line, "Ah, so you are the one who rescued Bastila." fires script k_pdan_zhar08:

void main() {
	ActionPauseConversation();
	ExecuteScript("k_pdan_player03", GetFirstPC(), 0xFFFFFFFF);
	ActionWait(12.0);
	ActionResumeConversation();
	DelayCommand(2.0, SetDialogPlaceableCamera(37));
	DelayCommand(6.0, SetDialogPlaceableCamera(2));
}

And k_pdan_player03 is:

void main() {
	ClearAllActions();
	ActionJumpToObject(GetObjectByTag("wp_pc_start", 0), 1);
	ActionMoveToObject(GetObjectByTag("dan13_WP_council", 0), 1, 1.0);
}

Perhaps that is the problem - there is no command to face the player. But scripting is not really my thing.

[ebmar 894]

Greetings, fellow Jedi!

I have just found out that in the game files there is actually an idle bump-map for N_SithSoldierxx variant, which is inactive in the vanilla state of the game as seen in the screenshot here:

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The said bump-map labelled as N_SithSoldier_b. We could find it with the KotOR Tool by scrolling down through the ERFs\TexturePacks\swpc_tex_tpa.erf\N\N_SithSoldier_b. The end result with assigning the Sith Soldier vanilla texture to its bump-map [N_SithSoldier_b] would show-up like this:

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   Note that I had AFP's "Sith Soldier Texture Restoration - Alternate Texture option" installed on my end so the soldiers that is roaming around Taris was assigned to the 01 variant.

Actually the texture is not 100% vanilla as I am using mycube instead of CM_Baremetal for the cubemaps, and deepen the alpha quite a few- but we can see there is quite significant differences in the surface of the armor; as the bump-map version appears more lively. And the bump-map had a decent resolution as its TPC sized at 1,366 KB which I believe is 1024x1024 of resolution.

I'm not really sure why the dev decided not to activate it; as it immensely affect the appearance of the texture.

Hope this findings kind of helps!

[JCarter426 1,242]

Funnily enough, @DarthParametric noticed that too just last week.

If you want to see how it looks in the game, you can load the model in MDLEdit and go to edit > textures to enable the bump map flag for that. Then, change N_SithSolder01.txi to:

bumpshinytexture cm_baremetal
bumpmaptexture N_SithSoldier_b

[DarthParametric 3,811]

  On 9/12/2018 at 4:26 PM, ebmar said:

it immensely affect the appearance of the texture

You must be looking at something different, as there is no discernible difference with or without it as far as I can tell. We were discussing this a week or so ago on the Discord channel, looking at it in TSL. My conclusion was that neither game bothered using it because it added nothing of value.