[WIP][Beta] Expanded Galaxy Project

[Thor110 500]

Previous message.

Spoiler

So, some bad news... I am going to have to shelve all of my projects in-definitely as I am going to be homeless within a matter of days.

Wish me luck returning swiftly

Thor110

Luckily though this is still the case I am sort of around again now, read the latest post for more info.

Next message.

Spoiler

Thank you for all your messages and support, I have uploaded the latest version to moddb.

I am doing my best to avoid this scenario but it may be unavoidable, I don't want to go into further detail as it is relationship / personal issues.

Will still be looking for people to get involved in the long-run as my initial project is still nearly complete, which was a complete port of all of the maps, which turned out to be a little un-necessary as there has been a solution to this for a while, just tedious, but this way I have at the least provided a resource / template of all 255 odd modules for people to use as well as a short set of tutorials that I still hope to continue.

My hopes are that the community would get involved as much as possible, being that it is of course going to be impossible for me to integrate all the planets through-out either game as well as add an extension to both stories on my own, so for the time-being the entire project has also been cut down to just the Yavin Orbital Station for a "Demo" and I hope to include Tatooine & it's swoop track as well as the ability to access other swoop tracks from one NPC on Tatooine.

Wish me luck and while I may not be around so regularly for a little bit I am sure it won't take me too long to get back on my feet either way, hopefully I can return in a week and say everything will be ok and that I have managed to avoid difficulties in a break-up, hopefully continuing to rent the tiny space I occupy.

Please feel free to message me any ideas that you think would be good for the Expanded Galaxy Project, the more ideas, the more chance of something good, I have already just cut my 47 page design document down to about 2 pages because most of it was drivel and ramblings / notes about editing the files or documenting where I had stopped for the night.

As well as having begun to play both games again but not getting very far, with the amount of active Modders for these games and on-going projects, I just think it would be great for us all to get together and make a "mod team" maybe even under DeadlyStream, none of this would have been possible without many other people and the encouragement from people as well, allowing the creation of a modular installer / launcher that allows for extreme mod compatibility / user preference and the ability to integrate many more through a series of tutorials that help people make the changes and upload them to the community, I know TSLPatcher provides most of these capabilities, but a lot of users are lacking in these areas I myself have been offered money in person by real life friends to install mods for them, which I can not accept because it is such a simple process.

Sorry for the long-messages, I hope to be back soon and partially active until the last possible moment, thing's are looking a little 50/50 at the moment so at the least I shall say don't worry about me, may the force be with you all too and if I do not return perhaps the project is worth salvaging, though I know I will not, I haven't felt as strongly about a project like this ever before so I will be back to complete a Yavin Orbital Station storyline about Suvam's Disappearance that leads to Tatooine and maybe more.

Thank you for reading.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Thor110
Archived and next message edited to become an update.

[ebmar 893]

20 hours ago, Thor110 said:

...I am going to have to shelve all of my projects in-definitely as I am going to be homeless within a matter of days...

May the Force serve you well. Be back stronger; and looking forwards to some good news!

[Salk 374]

I can but wish you the best of luck and a swift return to your virtual family here at Deadlystream.

I do hope the situation will be only temporary.

[JediArchivist 70]

On 26 ianuarie 2019 at 5:05 PM, Thor110 said:

So, some bad news... I am going to have to shelve all of my projects in-definitely as I am going to be homeless within a matter of days.

Wish me luck returning swiftly

Thor110

I am verry sorry to hear that!  I hope You manage to do something to avoid that.

I wish you all the best, lots of luck, and may the Force be with you, and hope to hear some good news from you soon!

[Thor110 500]

I am sort of back around as a friend has put me up, though access to my PC will be irregular until I have some money to put towards the electricity where I am staying, I also have a lot of other things to focus on like trying to find work and a place to live of my own, but luckily I am in a better position now than I was a few weeks ago.

Having now set up multiple GitHub projects and a NexusMods account as well as pages for both mods I have essentially resumed work on the project for both games, but I will be focusing on the K2 Expanded Galaxy starting with the Yavin Orbital Station Swoop Demo that will consist of 4-5 Modules.

[ . yav_m50aa, . tat_m17mg, . man_m26mg, . tar_m03mg, . 510ond++ . ]

I am not sure those module designations are correct, but Taris, Manaan and Tatooines Swoop Track as well as the Yavin Orbital Station, hopefully to include the Upgradeable Swoop Bike Mod by bead-v and potentially an updated version of the Onderon Swoop Track that will allow access to the Onderon Swoop Track using the Modified Bike via the Yavin Orbital Station Merchant / Swoop Bike Mechanic.

I think the option to not use the modified swoop bike should remain also, via dialogue it could be enabled or disabled, IE : "I would like to use the Modified Swoop Bike now" or "I am going to practice with the Regular Swoop Bike for a bit" this would also allow for an original playthrough even if the player decides to purchase or try the modified swoop bike as well as visit Yavin.

The Expanded Galaxy Project is aimed at becoming a community project, an overall renovation of both original KotOR games for all platforms as well as compatibility for as many mods as possible, I also hope to include items, maps, stories and content from mods galaxy-wide given I can attain the relevant authors permissions, this should allow for both games to become heavily fleshed out.

There is also plans to totally port K1 to K2, which would require an installer that would verify both games installations, this would be somewhat necessary to make the K1 Expanded Galaxy Project ( or K2 modules in K1 ) more relevant and worthwhile, giving the first game access to the second games engine, which would allow for more placeables, better cut-scenes and overall game-play.

Along-side my project I am still writing a tutorial series that will cover everything I learn about KotOR 1/2 Modding ( primarily K2 ) that will be somewhat aimed at helping people make a Total Conversion for Obsidian's version of the Odyssey Engine, set in the Old Republic / Star Wars Universe or otherwise.

I hope this inspires people to make more KotOR games ( following other characters in the old republic universe, perhaps even their own characters from, before or after SWTOR ) there is also the potential for non-sw related total conversions, point & click type story adventures and much more using the Odyssey Engine's Unique Features and innovate game-play mechanics.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Thor110
Update on my situation and the project.

[JediArchivist 70]

On 28 ianuarie 2019 at 8:29 PM, Thor110 said:

I am sort of back around as a friend has put me up, though access to my PC will be irregular until I have some money to put towards the electricity where I am staying, I also have a lot of other things to focus on like trying to find work and a place to live of my own, but luckily I am in a better position now than I was a few weeks ago.

I am very happy to hear that you are doing better and have a more stable situation now. I hope you do manage to find the job you are wishing for and a nice home, and wish you all the best!

 

It is great news that you have resumed work on the Expanded Galaxy Project, I can't wait to play or at least beta test the Yavin Orbital Station mod!

Best wishes and success!

[Thor110 500]

I am glad to be back, I have released a new version of the Modders Resource and overall Expanded Galaxy Project for K2, on ModDB, NexusMods and finally here on DeadlyStream!

This is the second to last version of the template pack that I will be releasing, when I reach 0.5.0 it will be finalised and being duplicated to be used for various different project.

K1 Story Port into K2
K1 Expanded Galaxy
K1 + Free Roam
K2 Expanded Galaxy
K2 + Free Roam

The above five projects would end up replacing Kotor 2 & Kotor 1 with 2 versions of Kotor 2 the k1 story port, expanded galaxy and free roam, then the k2 expanded galaxy and free roam.

& hopefully if I am given access to the files, the continuation of the RoR mod and the TC Template Pack is the current and upcoming v0.5.0 resource release.

A total of 6-7+ Projects with 2 Primary Projects as well as a launcher / download / config utility that I need to start work on and the tutorial series that I have been documenting while working on the projects.

Template Module Construction Files
https://deadlystream.com/files/file/1455-module-templates-for-v040-full-update/

Main Release v0.4.0 Expanded Galaxy
https://deadlystream.com/files/file/1456-expanded-galaxy-v040-update/

Though the project and module files are compatible with the K1 Expanded Galaxy Project, everything is primarily tested with K2 and focused towards the K2 EG and K1 Port Projects which are my main two projects of the varying off-shoot projects created by this endeavour.

As previously mentioned the overall focus of this project was initially just to port the Yavin Orbital Station into The Sith Lords, but it ended up making me set up templates for all of these projects.

I hope to focus my efforts on the K1 Port and K2 EG projects for now as well as continuing work on the Swoop Demo for now.

Thor110

 

[LDR 234]

On 3/9/2019 at 8:11 PM, Thor110 said:

[...] The above five projects would end up replacing Kotor 2 & Kotor 1 with 2 versions of Kotor 2 the k1 story port, expanded galaxy and free roam, then the k2 expanded galaxy and free roam [...]

Wait a minute I thought we already went over this...?

On 1/5/2019 at 3:01 PM, jc2 said:

[...] Do not port the entire game from one engine to the other. They will notice, and they will shut you down, and they could shut down Deadlystream.com. [...]

[Thor110 500]

Currently it is still a template version that is being prepared for the seperate projects, so it isn't actually applicable to any potential projects just yet.

As far as I am concerned as a developer, provided I can verify both installations there is nothing wrong with this.

The installation of such a thing would most require an installer to verify the existing installation of both games.
I also wouldn't upload it here without permission from DeadlyStream so as to avoid such issues and I thought the general consensus was that as long as it was done through an installer and verified the existence of both games, it would be fine?

To be honest having gone back over the topic, I still feel the thoughts on this were still not made clear. But the kind of concern that just talking about the matter could get the site shut-down is just insane amounts of paranoia, the very fact this entire project got likened to Aperion I found laughable, Aperion wasn't even a port but a full remake that turned into a port to try and get around legal issues, where as this is wholesomely different.

Feel free to get people to chime in and considering how long any of these projects are likely to take and how they may not even be started, finished or released, what does it ultimately matter for the time being? The Mods here have already made their views on the matter quite clear, basically that they aren't sure, if EA have a problem, it would have to be with me not the website.

I am also only going to be porting the tutorial level of both main stories and seeing if I can gauge a potential reaction from EA / Bioware to begin with.

I studied game development for two years, I am well aware of the in-s and out-s of the Game Industry, they will never shut down a project like this, it would be a waste of their time.

Aperion got shut down because it was a FULL FLEDGED REMAKE not a port, they tried to change it to become a port once they encountered legal issues.

Regardless my intentions are still clear for the time-being, to work on the Module Templates until reaching 0.5.0 Final Release of the template pack, then I will be porting the tutorial levels and seeing what happens, more than happy to keep that away from DeadlyStream and uploaded elsewhere.

But unfortunately I forgot everybody was worried about doing something that has already been done...

The JS KotOR engine remake is just as dangerous as a product to EA / Bioware as this is, if not more so.

Anyway, it's still just a modules template / modders resource at the moment, apologies if my message startled anyone, forgot that everyone here was oh so worried about a repeat of Aperion ( Which actually isn't possible, both legally and technically ) due to the nature of this project as opposed to Aperions Remake.

Thor110

8 hours ago, LDR said:

Wait a minute I thought we already went over this...?

Apologies though you are right, but having been homeless and away from the project / forums for a few months, I somewhat forgot about this and am still unsure on the final conclusion.

[JediArchivist 70]

I'm glad you are OK and back working on your projects!

The conclussion, as discussed with the Moderators and Administrators was that we are allowed to freely discuss complete story ports of both games from one to another on Deadlystream, as well as discuss and post tutorials for such works, as long as we do not post entire ported games here on DS!

As Thor110 mentioned, this can be done completly legal by automating the process as a standalone installer that contains no files from the games, and just takes the files from the respective source, genuine copy of the game, modifies it, and injects it into the destination game. Or he could simply post a detailed tutorial that skilled users could replicate at home, without distributing any files!

Check out Fallout: A Tale of Two Wastelands, that did exactly that, porting and including the whole Fallout 3 game into Fallout New Vegas, 100% legal, by only providing a standalone installer and tutorial without sharing any game files.

https://taleoftwowastelands.com/faq#What-is-ttw

Quote from website:

• What is TTW?

  Tale of Two Wastelands is a total conversion project that seamlessly merges Fallout 3 and its DLC into Fallout: New Vegas, allowing both games to be played in a single playthrough. It upgrades Fallout 3's mechanics to those of FNV without compromising the feel and balance of the original. New Vegas mechanics like companion wheel, companion perks, weapon mods, crafting, recipes, harvestable plants, and poisons have been added to the DC wasteland items, NPCs, and world.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

Forgive me if any of the following has been mentioned before as I don't wish to scour through multiple threads to find the answer.

• When completed, will this set-up allow for a continuous play-through from KotOR1 through TSL without resorting to going to the menu or starting a new game?
• If the last proves true, will the conversation between Atton and the Exile - the one where you set Revan's gender - be eliminated?

[Thor110 500]

56 minutes ago, Sith Holocron said:

Forgive me if any of the following has been mentioned before as I don't wish to scour through multiple threads to find the answer.

• When completed, will this set-up allow for a continuous play-through from KotOR1 through TSL without resorting to going to the menu or starting a new game?
• If the last proves true, will the conversation between Atton and the Exile - the one where you set Revan's gender - be eliminated?

This has not been brought up yet no, but you make some interesting points.

I have thought about this before, but I think it will likely still need to remain two seperate K2 installations in order to preserve save integrity and eliminate the need to make the above changes.

Given that I already had two free-roam type expansions planned for both games it seems unlikely that I could provide seamless gameplay or transition between them, thinking about the time frame between the two games also makes me think it doesn't need to be done.

As well as this, both games follow different characters, so it wouldn't make much sense, or it would have to loop back to a new character creation screen, a lot of global variables would need re-writing, duplicating and possibly renaming, for the sake of development I believe the best choice is to go for making an installer that does the following :

Verifies K1 & K2
Duplicates K2
Copies Necessary Files from K1
Deletes K1 ( Optional )

This would leave the user with two versions of the "kotor2.exe" in different folders pertaining to the K1 EG and K2 EG projects overall.

So the short answer is no, it won't, but I did think about it.

I still need to re-play the first game to see how well new planets would fit into the story-line as I get a strange feeling the first game is just as on-rails as the second, it has been some time since I played the first game.

@JediArchivist Thank you for the example, there are many a mod that have taken this route, I personally would take this route to save space for the over-all download over any other reason, but it is also a safe way to avoid legal issues at the same time, serves two functions.

Thor110

[JediArchivist 70]

Have you been working / made any progress running K1 in K2's engine (your project to make both games run from K2, as a single, continuous story gameplay experience)?

You said you were experiencing some issues with differences in the scripts between the two games, preventing you to make an easy full K1 to K2 engine port, but you were thinking of coming up with some ways around this problem (creating an automated tool that converts all scripts from K1 to K2 format and vice-versa).

Have you found a way (at least in theory) to convert K1's scripts to run with K2's engine, or vice-versa?

Maybe Fair Strides could help you with this, since he is the greatest programmer / scripter around for the Odyssey / Aurora Engine, he knows everything there is to know about the K1 and K2 script formats and the differences between them, he worked on most great mods such as TSLRCM, Revenge of Revan, etc. I talked with him some time ago and told me that he could easily teach me how to script for both games and that it isn't so difficult, because all scripts in both games are based on C / C++!

So, if you're stuck, go ahead and ask him for a bit of help, he is a great, very helpful person and i'm sure he would help you figure a way to to develop a tool that automates the script format conversion from K1 to K2 and vice-versa, enabling You to quickly develop both K1 in K2 - both games in K2's engine as a single, continuous story gaming experience, and also the K2 to Mobile K1 port!

I wish you a great weekend, all the best of luck and to accomplish everything you wish! Many Kudos for the great work so far (the map ports, the modders resource packs, etc), you will forever remain known and respected in Deadlystream's and the Star Wars KOTOR modding comunity as a genius, an innovator, and one of the greatest contributors!

Kindest regards!

[Basil Bonehead 99]

Small bump, curious to know if there’s been any new progress over the last few months

[Thor110 500]

7 hours ago, mrmann said:

Small bump, curious to know if there’s been any new progress over the last few months

Unfortunately I have not had the time to work on it, I was homeless for a little while earlier this year ( some 6 months odd, I can hardly remember ) but in the past few weeks I have been getting back to grips with the project, coming back to a whole mess of files all over the place I was a little lost at first.

I am going to try building the demo I had planned some time back over the next few months, though I have a lot of other things to keep me busy at the moment, looking for work being my main focus.

[Thor110 500]

 

Screenshots

Spoiler

The Yavin Orbital Station

The Upgradeable Swoop Bike mod by bead-v of DeadlyStream which I have obtained permission to include with my mod.

Big thanks to bead-v for allowing me to include and update his Upgradeable Swoop Bike mod, I feel like it deserved some attention.

Yavin IV - 4 Planets Demo Release 0.7.8 - KotOR II The Sith Lords

The mod now includes 6 new planets for the game, Manaan, Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Lehon, Yavin Orbital Station, Sleheyron and it also contains updates to M478 and the ability to manually travel to Malachor V instead of going through a whole host of cutscenes and being forced to travel there straight away.

The foundation of the entire project is in place as of 0.7.5 and requires testing for anybody interested.

This mod requires TSLRCM 1.8.5, M478EP 1.5.1 and the Jedi Temple / Coruscant mod to be installed in that order followed by the seven files below.

 - three files also need removing as noted below.

0.5.9 Yavin Demo.7z

[NOTE] - Please delete the three .ncs scripts contained in the "end_" folder within "override" in order to fix a conflict issue with the Royal Palace on Onderon.

Yavin Demo 0.6.0 TO 0.7.3.7z

This is a patch not a "Demo", the above file is wrongly named "Yavin Demo" instead of "Yavin Patch".

 

0.7.4 Includes an optional file that moves Korriban and Dantooine to the positions they had in the first game.

0.7.5 Should fix every instance of being able to exit during hyperspace, as well queues the hyperspace movie during these new pit stops in hyperspace.

0.7.6 Fixes most of Sleheyron, the doors and most of the buildings appear properly now but the skybox is still missing.

0.7.7 Adds a new planet model and icon for Lehon to the galaxy map as well as some other small changes. - see patch notes.

0.7.8 Adds Peragus back and makes the Galaxy Map accessible after Peragus, also now including Kexikus's Planet Texture and Icon for Coruscant.

0.7.9 Fixes the Ebon Hawk, somehow I broke it applying fixes to prevent leaving the Ebon Hawk after the Ravager and Malachor V I will take a look into fixing this again at some point, it also fixes a number of other small issues and begins to populate Sleheyron.

0.8.0 Further decorates Sleheyron and includes a preview of some of the questline I have started working on.

Yavin Patch 0.7.4 TO 0.8.1.7z

0.8.1 Updates and fixes the Rodian Encounter, it also adds another HK encounter to Sleheyron and more placeables.

Yavin Patch 0.8.2.7z

0.8.2 Fixes some things in Sleheyron and adds the Dialog / Lip files for the Mysterious Box Quest.

Experimental Files

Spoiler

This is the state of "end_m01aa" and "end_m01ab" at the moment and an example of how I would merge the 2DA and Journal files.

The doors, music and sound 2da files are already merged in my project, these files also contain the same global categories and journal entries as 0.8.1 of Expanded Galaxy and are therefore compatible, I will possibly include these demo levels in the future. ( This is for K2 along with Expanded Galaxy )

K1 Demo Install 0.8.4.7z

Extended Carth Meeting

Spoiler

This simply plays the exit Telos cutscene at the moment and returns you to the Ebon Hawk but I will revise it, it also fires the same scripts as at the end of the cutscene, the player can now choose when to go to Malachor V. ( now including the Extended Carth Meeting Dialog by danil-ch )

 

There is now a group of HK-50s on Tatooine, Manaan, Kashyyyk and Sleheyron that are capable of contributing to the HK Factory Questline or dropping a HK part, I have also re-added the missing areas of Dantooine from K1, these can only be warped to at the moment.

Prerequisites : I suggest using a fresh install combined with TSLRCM, M478EP and the Jedi Temple Mod followed by this to test it out.

Due to the way I am publishing updates all of the above files are required to be installed in chronological order following the prerequisites.

Spoiler

Motta (Tatooine), Swoop Registrars (Manaan & Tatooine), Thor(Yavin), Prisoner (Mysterious Box) and HK-50's (Tatooine).

Bonus if you take Mandalore to speak to Thor on Yavin!

The Mysterious Box makes a Surprise Return to the Ebon Hawk!

I am slowly trying to write dialog and plan quest lines for these planets, please get in touch if you have any ideas or would like to join the project.

Latest : 0.7.8 Patch

Peragus has now been put back and the Galaxy Map can be accessed after Peragus, I am not sure it's possible to add it back to the tutorial without having a different planet selected, this is what the original Ebon Hawk was for, so that somewhere was selected first, but this way works just as well.

 

The game also continues after completion and allows free roaming of the galaxy, though I will work on this a little bit and try to make sure quests can be handed in, I won't be giving the galaxy a whole new set of quests after the game is complete just yet, I will instead be focusing on the new planets introduced during the main game, I think it should give the game a bit more variety, I will also be making it possible to go to the HK Factory even after the Ravager, both before and after Malachor.

This will be via one of the shuttles on Telos : Citadel Station, I have also added the option to deny Carth an audience after the Ravager which is listed as something that was originally intended, currently it just cuts to leaving Telos but I plan on making the guards walk away as they do anyway and then to fade out and leave Telos.

Thor110

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Thor110
0.8.4 Endar Spire Demo

[JediArchivist 70]

I am very glad to see that you managed to finally release the additional planets and Yavin mod! I am very happy that you are doing fine and you had the much needed time to work on the mod! I hope that you also managed to find the ideal work place that you wished for!

Thank you for the test version link! The mod is truly great, I love it so far, I see it is coming together really well! Congratulations for the great work and passion that you put into this project, it has really paid off!

I wish you all the best in your continued endevours!

[MAQS 12]

Glad yo see such a ambitious Mod still around, you can PM me whenever you need a tester.

 

 

Can link this to R/kotor so people there know they can try this?

[Grisham4life 2]

This mod is a dream come true for me, been playing kotor since it first released on the original xbox.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Grisham4life

[Thor110 500]

Previous Messages

Spoiler

 

On 1/18/2020 at 3:05 PM, MAQS said:

Glad yo see such a ambitious Mod still around, you can PM me whenever you need a tester.

Can link this to R/kotor so people there know they can try this?

I have linked it there before, but you are welcome to do so if you want, realistically it will be a while before there will be much to actually test.

On 1/25/2020 at 7:52 AM, Grisham4life said:

This mod is a dream come true for me, been playing kotor since it first released on the original xbox.

 

A word of warning this is still very much a WIP, there is not really much content for the new areas yet.

 

I really need to sit down and not only play both games again, but write a proper story and reason for being able to access the new areas.

If anyone is interested in discussing the project or writing stories and quest lines for the project please message me here or on Discord.

The latest release and patch still contains very little and is full mostly of the NPC's and Placeables from the first game, apart from the few interactions I noted in my last post, I will be removing all NPC's and Placeables from the first game soon, I kept them as reference for their co-ordinates in the level.

Latest Story Ideas

These are some rough drafts of the story ideas I have planned out for the areas I have added into the game, I have noted major plot points so that I can start planning out each level accordingly and trying to tie everything into the main game as best as possible, I have also added a group of HK-50s to each new location so as to offer even more chance to get the HK parts as well as more opportunities to track down the HK Factory ( Which I missed in my recent playthrough )

Spoiler

Tatooine Rising

Spoiler

As you touch down on Tatooine, upon leaving the ship you are harassed by a crowd.

You see Jawa's, you see Humans ( Czerka ) and you see various aliens ( Twi'lek, Bith & Ithorian )

Being confronted with the option to choose who to speak to, you can either speak to the

[JAWAS]"Hey little guy, how can I help your clan?"
[CZERKA]"I take it this is a Czerka owned starport?"
[EXCHANGE]"Spice running comes out this far, does it still pay well?"

This sets the scene for the rest of the planet, you are given the choice to side with any of the above.

You can also decline to side with anyone, unless you side with the Exchange they will become your enemy.

The Jawas and Czerka will try to remain neutral throughout the entire process anyway.

Jawa Chieftain Izla
Czerka Manager Kratos
Exchange Leader Varlem

Each group will have their say and make their way out of the starport.

They all wish to purchase your services or ask you to help them with their local troubles.

Jawas wish to reclaim their cave and sandcrawler ( West Dune Sea )

Czerka wish to claim the entire planet if they can do so

the Exchange just wish to keep their business going and ask you to take care of a few problems for them
this will include the Jawa Camp which the Exchange are trying to use as slave labour
as well as trying to oust Czerka from their control of Anchorhead.

Kashyyyk Ruling

Spoiler

Czerka are still active slaving on Kashyyyk, even after the events of K1.

Depending on DS or LS Revan, the village will be ruled by Freyyr or Chuundar respectively.

Zaalbar will have been banished to the Shadowlands if Chuundar Rules, or will be lost in the Shadowlands
if Freyyr rules the village.

This will also lead the player to either freeing or enslaving the wookies, regardless of who rules.

The lower Shadowlands will be blocked off by Exchange forces.

If Chuundar Rules, Zaalbar will be hunting the Exchange, if Freyyr Rules then Zaalbar will be captured by the Exchange.

On enter of kas_m22aa, kas_m23aa and kas_m24aa a DS/LS check will occur for Revan.

This will determine the layout of each area.

The other areas will be relatively generic and contain extra sidequests, pazaak, merchants etc

 

This might also be dependant on if you obtain Hanharr or Mira as a Companion!

Manaan Reality

Spoiler

With the crushing events of K1, Manaan restricted travel and trade for years to follow.

They started trading with some Mercenaries in recent years and they have exclusive use of their hangers, the old Sith Embassy and have been working closely with the Selkath that attempted to restore the underwater base to it's former glory.

This is subject to change as I feel it might not be right to re-use the underwater base and as such have not included the modules at the moment.

Dantooine Grove - Turning Point

Spoiler

Speaking to the local militia you are told to do anything you can to help out in the local area.

If you speak to the Rodian situated by the blocked entrance to the grove, you will be able to lend a hand removing the mercenaries from the Sandral Grounds and it's Estate.

Alternatively if you side with the mercenaries you won't be allowed access.

Defeating the Mercenaries inside the Sandral Estate will greatly reduce the amount of mercenaries that attack the Matale Estate during the local questline.

Yavin Orbital Station

Spoiler

The Merchant on the Orbital Station is another Mandalorian Clan Leader that can be recruited by Mandalore, throughout the game will provide you with access to different speciality goods from swoop bike upgrades to equipment.

Though he sends his clan to Dxun he pledges to remain behind and continue his work until he is needed.

HK Factory Questline Journal Entry Update

Spoiler

Please let me know what people think about this, I felt the HK Factory Questline was a bit out of place, it disappeared from the quest log and only takes place at a specific point in the game ( quite near the end ) which got me thinking about modifying it so that it can be visited by choice, this is just an idea at the moment.

Very short and rough descriptions at the moment, trying to get a feel for how it will all tie together but at the same time not be mandatory for the player.

This is a much more definitive outline of what is now planned for the project than any of the far-out ideas I had to begin with, I look forward to finding out what people think, constructive criticism welcomed and appreciated.

Visibility File Fixes

Spoiler

I don't know how often people come across these, it is usually when I am running out of a room for just a split second but I find it really offputting so I decided to fix any that I come across in the game.

Screenshots

Spoiler

These are images from before the .vis files were edited, I will be keeping an eye out for anything like this on my next play-through.

If anybody comes across issues like this feel free to let me know.

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Thor110
Visibility File Fixes

[MAQS 12]

Just tried the mod, its great to be able to visit the planets from kotor 1 in kotor 2, this mods adds a sandbox possibilities for these games.

[DarthTycho 12]

It's amazing and fantastic that you are still working on this!

I hope that you are able to enable the Swoop tracks! That would be awesome. Maybe even some pazzak players on Tatooine or Manaan?

[Thor110 500]

11 hours ago, DarthTycho said:

It's amazing and fantastic that you are still working on this!

I hope that you are able to enable the Swoop tracks! That would be awesome. Maybe even some pazzak players on Tatooine or Manaan?

Thank You, I am still working on this regularly but slowly.

I have had trouble getting the swoop tracks working but I am still trying and I will be adding Pazaak players to each planet at some point, trying to focus on laying out a decent storyline for each area that fits with the game and trying to make links between both games.

Also pin-pointing things that need fixing throughout the main game.

Currently the mod only has three HK-50 encounters and the mystery box ( which doesn't have a journal entry and no way to end the quest yet ) but this allows players to get HK-47 restored before visiting their first planet, it always annoyed me that players had to miss out on at least one planets worth of dialog for HK before they could restore them.

Being that it is just me working on this it is likely going to take quite some time ( possibly years ) before I finish everything, but I am still holding out hope that others will begin to contribute, offering their expertise or fixes for the game to be bundled as one in the future, I have already reached out to some mod authors and been given permission to include some fixes / mods.

I am trying to stay true to the original game and only include fixes / mods that feel like they should be in the game.

[DarthTycho 12]

11 hours ago, Thor110 said:

Thank You, I am still working on this regularly but slowly.

I have had trouble getting the swoop tracks working but I am still trying and I will be adding Pazaak players to each planet at some point, trying to focus on laying out a decent storyline for each area that fits with the game and trying to make links between both games.

Also pin-pointing things that need fixing throughout the main game.

Currently the mod only has three HK-50 encounters and the mystery box ( which doesn't have a journal entry and no way to end the quest yet ) but this allows players to get HK-47 restored before visiting their first planet, it always annoyed me that players had to miss out on at least one planets worth of dialog for HK before they could restore them.

Being that it is just me working on this it is likely going to take quite some time ( possibly years ) before I finish everything, but I am still holding out hope that others will begin to contribute, offering their expertise or fixes for the game to be bundled as one in the future, I have already reached out to some mod authors and been given permission to include some fixes / mods.

I am trying to stay true to the original game and only include fixes / mods that feel like they should be in the game.

Well judging by what I saw in game, it looks like you got most of the really hard/weird stuff done in terms of Swoop racing. From a total layman's point of view. It looks like maybe animations are missing? It loads perfectly and the countdown/timer works, just the swoop bike is static (and I'm guessing the exit transition script?).

I did notice some weird things that I'm not sure if it's the result of the appearance file differing between the two game or what.

The Sith Prisoner on Manaan is a droid.

One of the Czerka miners by the Sandcrawler is using Mandalore's unique appearance.

Less noticeable is that some of the Czerka on Tatooine and Kashyyyk are TSF, and some Sith on Manaan are Onderonian Military.

 

Another "problem" I ran across is that the mod actually causes the "New Game" option on the main menu to load instantly, without a loading screen. This causes the "Sith Lords" theme to not play during character creation for whatever reason. I also found that your new main menu actually causes considerable performance issues on my system. Granted, my system is old now (980 GTX, 4790k, 16GB RAM) but it still should be able to handle it. Removing the new main menu files and reverting them to the old TSLRCM one fixed the performance problems.

Additionally, one really annoying thing I found was that none of the mod's dialogue can be skipped. This is really annoying in the Dune Sea where the "out of bounds" pop up happens. Speaking of the Dune Sea, the Sand People turrets are unkillable. I do love that you left a bunch of enemies in the modules to kill though. Makes exploring more interesting.

 

I realize this is an extremely preliminary, preview version of the mod, and that it will only improve with time. Again, it's really cool what you've done, and I'm eager to see what you do, less in terms of added story, but in more sandbox, side stuff! 

[Thor110 500]

14 hours ago, DarthTycho said:

I realize this is an extremely preliminary, preview version of the mod, and that it will only improve with time. Again, it's really cool what you've done, and I'm eager to see what you do, less in terms of added story, but in more sandbox, side stuff! 

Thank you for the in-depth review of sorts it's really appreciated, these are definitely some things I will need to look into.

Leaving the characters in place was just so that I had sets of co-ordinates to work with when placing new NPC's and so that it was not just a bunch of empty levels, though this is much easier now using the Kotor Toolset, but it is still good to have the Z Axis values as reference especially for placeables.

One thing to note is that I don't remember modifying the main menu and wonder which files you are referring to? The only alteration to menus I believe was the TSLRCM / M478EP Animated Logo that I obtained permission to include.

Making it so that dialog can all be skipped is definitely something I will change in future versions, I only tested the borders of Tatooine once and didn't think to make them skippable, though the same can be said for the rest of the dialog I have added into the game.

As for the swoop tracks, the current versions are based off of the Telos Swoop Track but modified to have the relevant rooms, swoop bike and camera models from the first game, I really need to spend a bit of time diagnosing the problem properly ( such as the exit transition script / going through it step by step ), I also need to make sure it loads two different versions of each track for the upgradeable swoop bike mod by bead-v that I have permission to include.

The Swoop Tracks are definitely an integral part of the mod that I need to get working, I haven't spent as much time on this project recently as I would have liked to but intend to sit down and work on it again properly for a few days sometime soon.

Though I have the story ideas laid out now, I also have sets of test rooms to view all the placeables, characters and alien dialog to help me choose what I will want where.

Using just alien dialog might be a bit of a setback in terms of quality it is the best option for the moment.

I spent quite a while making changes to M478 because I felt the jumping transitions were really off-putting / disorientating, I have also played the game through a few times looking for odds and ends to fix ( distracting myself from the main part of the project ) I have since played M478 through quite a few times and found everything to work correctly, though I haven't been able to find two items to finish a quest there neither in the vanilla nor in my modified version, but this might just be that I have overlooked a container / placeable somewhere. ( Quest is Archon Communication - I obtained the schematics from one droid and didn''t find the other two items )

But eventually I do intend this project to come bundled with various fixes, the extra areas and as many Quality of Life improvements as I can make, I am also looking for suggestions on anything that might need changing, fixing or editing in the main game, I have a large folder of screenshots that I need to go through pin-pointing things I have already located to modify, move, remove or fix.

Again thank you for your kind words and notes on any issues, also apologies for my long-winded response.