[WIP]Recruit Sarna

[Neville 19]

Sarna was a Sith officer on Taris when Darth Malak ordered a bombardment. If Calo Nord survived, why not her? I wanted to create a mod in which she survives and will help fight the Sith who nearly killed her. She would get new armor and wait on Tatooine. When Bastila is captured, the soldier would take the place of the Jedi. My modeling skills are not enough to create a unique helmet and suit of armor for her of an earlier style (see picture), which I believe is similar to Sith armor, and I cannot create dialogue trees. I have never had success with the type of scripting for such a mod, and I want a brief interaction with Sarna (player surprise that a Sith officer is on Republic-held Tatooine, Sarna explaining) before she joins the others aboard the Ebon Hawk. I need help with this.

[Neville 19]

I realize I have posted a similar request elsewhere, but I need help. I have been finding models and editing Sarna's template to make her recruitable on Tatooine, but I have to create new armor (the most I have done is create a TSF helmet model), and I have never used scripts for a recruit mod. I hope to have Sarna replace Bastila after being on the Leviathan.

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

In the tools section, I have attached ancient tutorials from LF that cover much of this.

RedHawke mods can be very informative, even if their method isn't the current best practice you can at least see what they did and how via the source scripts.

I am happy to help you, but my help will be intermittent and depends on you taking a lot of initiative.

MTFBWYA

[Neville 19]

I have programs and mods that add characters. I saw the basic tutorials on how to recruit characters. I was never able to place characters, create a working dialogue tree, or assign scripts and voice files. I found the head model and basic body model for Sarna. I was never able to create the armor I was thinking of, but I thought a female version of the red Sith armor would work best for the body. I can try to alter the armor or find similar armor, but I have difficulty working with lighting. I had to message SithSpecter when the TSF helmet model I made did not have proper lighting, and the resource he gave me is no longer available.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

So folks can have a firmer grasp of your abilities,  what have you successfully done?

[Neville 19]

13 hours ago, Sith Holocron said:

So folks can have a firmer grasp of your abilities,  what have you successfully done?

I have located Sarna's character template and I am modifying it. I found all models and textures for the head and base clothing. I have modified objects, reassigned textures, and found positions for characters and other objects. I have made some items by modifying game models and textures. I have modified weapon and armor templates. I have created other models.

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

You have found positions for characters and objects, I assume using the console and 'whereami'?

The best way to make your mods is to modify the modules so that everything isn't done by script injection and the override folder. Testing however can be easier with script injection, as you can spawn your items/chars with a script that replaces the module OnEnter script and then fires the original script so that the game doesn't fall apart.

This is actually quite easy, and the scripts to spawn items and characters are already written for you, you just need to insert your vector locations and your filenames.

Download a recruit mod and look at the source scripts. Really. This can be a cut and paste affair for the most part. Once you have something that compiles, it will either work or do nothing. That's where I can help.

[Neville 19]

1 hour ago, Qui-Gon Glenn said:

You have found positions for characters and objects, I assume using the console and 'whereami'?

The best way to make your mods is to modify the modules so that everything isn't done by script injection and the override folder. Testing however can be easier with script injection, as you can spawn your items/chars with a script that replaces the module OnEnter script and then fires the original script so that the game doesn't fall apart.

This is actually quite easy, and the scripts to spawn items and characters are already written for you, you just need to insert your vector locations and your filenames.

Download a recruit mod and look at the source scripts. Really. This can be a cut and paste affair for the most part. Once you have something that compiles, it will either work or do nothing. That's where I can help.

I have forgotten how to use the "whereami" function. Creating  new armor is difficult.

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

So, you have locations chosen, but do not have the coordinates.

In KotOR, you can enable the console with an .ini edit. This is something you will need, although there are armbands you can download for help with this sort of thing as well.

After that, by pressing the tilde ( ~ ) key, the console will appear and you can type "whereami". It has been a while, but I believe your coordinates either appear in console or in your log. This is a part of the puzzle, and then you will need to play with your orientation to make your character or item face the correct direction.

Spawning unique placeables is something I no longer do, since there is a cap to this and I have several mods I don't play without that take me to that limit. So, YMMV here but you will want to keep this to a minimum.

Everything is difficult when you are brand new, and we are a helpful community but it is not a really active community any more, so you will need to do some trial and error to get yourself up to speed as much as you can.

Read the old tut's! They contain the base scripts you will need for spawning creatures and placeables, which you are allowed to use and edit as you see fit. There is nothing new under the sun, and imo artwork and story are the only "IP" in this game, so using other people's scripts is fair game as long as you give credit where credit is due.

You have a lot of reading to do

[Neville 19]

On 4/14/2021 at 6:18 PM, Qui-Gon Glenn said:

So, you have locations chosen, but do not have the coordinates.

In KotOR, you can enable the console with an .ini edit. This is something you will need, although there are armbands you can download for help with this sort of thing as well.

After that, by pressing the tilde ( ~ ) key, the console will appear and you can type "whereami". It has been a while, but I believe your coordinates either appear in console or in your log. This is a part of the puzzle, and then you will need to play with your orientation to make your character or item face the correct direction.

Spawning unique placeables is something I no longer do, since there is a cap to this and I have several mods I don't play without that take me to that limit. So, YMMV here but you will want to keep this to a minimum.

Everything is difficult when you are brand new, and we are a helpful community but it is not a really active community any more, so you will need to do some trial and error to get yourself up to speed as much as you can.

Read the old tut's! They contain the base scripts you will need for spawning creatures and placeables, which you are allowed to use and edit as you see fit. There is nothing new under the sun, and imo artwork and story are the only "IP" in this game, so using other people's scripts is fair game as long as you give credit where credit is due.

You have a lot of reading to do

I had to look up sites that gave information, and it may be that the function does not work with the Steam version any longer. I tried adding "EnableCheats=1", but cheats did not activate. I am checking the CD version. I may have to use the conditional of helping Sharina and spawn Sarna in the same location, or spawning her where the Duros was after meeting Helena.

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

Make sure your swkotor folder is not set to read-only. It is possible your .ini edit didn't save because of this.

[LoneWanderer 103]

15 hours ago, Neville said:

I had to look up sites that gave information, and it may be that the function does not work with the Steam version any longer. I tried adding "EnableCheats=1", but cheats did not activate.

If you have added “EnableCheats=1” correctly, then maybe the locale of your keyboard is not set to ‘En’ in-game. Try pressing “Alt+Shift” (or whatever combination changes keyboard’s language in your system) in the game before opening console. Because there are no mentions about console not working on the Steam topic: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149122961

[Neville 19]

I checked the files. One should consider the posted information is dated several years ago, but I am trying.

[Thor110 495]

6 hours ago, Neville said:

I checked the files. One should consider the posted information is dated several years ago, but I am trying.

Which piece of posted information? If you mean the Steam Guide to cheats, nothing's changed in that regard.

I can personally verify that EnableCheats=1 works on the Steam version, add it under [Game Options]

As for the whereami armband, personally I don't use that and I use Fairstrides KotOR Toolset to quickly get the location of an asset within a level. Or even find a new set of coordinates.

Also the old tutorials are a valuable resource, they aren't really outdated in any way because the game is still running the same code, still contains the same bugs it did way back in the day.

Effectively all you need to do is add the dialog tree, lead it to a script which then adds the NPC to the party using their template.

AddAvailableNPCByTemplate(8, "sarna");

Is the line of code you will need in your script to add them to your party. ( The number applies to the slot you are putting them in and the string applies to the template resref which needs to be the same as the file name.

[Neville 19]

I thought the number for Bastila was 0. I believe coordinates that would work for tat_m17ab would be (-11.17, -37.85, 0.00). Several years ago (2015), I tried creating a dialogue tree to recruit a new character. I asked Rece for help. He removed me from friends lists on three platforms because I often mentioned problems with textures and models without porting and took a long time to think of what a new character would say. FairStrides would not help due to porting rules. SithSpecter said he did not know how to create new armor. I tried to contact InyriForge. There exists the problem also that dialogue changes following recruitment.

[Thor110 495]

12 hours ago, Neville said:

I thought the number for Bastila was 0. I believe coordinates that would work for tat_m17ab would be (-11.17, -37.85, 0.00). Several years ago (2015), I tried creating a dialogue tree to recruit a new character. I asked Rece for help. He removed me from friends lists on three platforms because I often mentioned problems with textures and models without porting and took a long time to think of what a new character would say. FairStrides would not help due to porting rules. SithSpecter said he did not know how to create new armor. I tried to contact InyriForge. There exists the problem also that dialogue changes following recruitment.

That's not a problem if you learn how to do it, take apart the game or a level or two and figure out how to do these things following existing examples within the game.

All that you need to do is set a variable and check it as a conditional to change the dialog tree.

Porting rules I believe have changed now somewhat, I can't remember exactly the wording but I believe it was to allow assets from older games to be ported from and into one another.

Take apart the first three levels in their entirety ( end_m01aa, end_m01ab and tar_m02af ) and you should be able to learn everything you need to make levels in the game.

Good luck.

Edit : these might be helpful.

https://deadlystream.com/topic/3419-kotor-1-dialog-editing/

https://deadlystream.com/topic/524-conditional-scripts/

Edited April 18, 2021 by Thor110
Added Links

[Neville 19]

I mentioned I found the head model and the base clothing model for Sarna. Does anyone know the designation for the model for the underclothes for the White Female Player Character, and does anyone have the skill to create a female variant of armor like that in the pictures I have posted? I was trying to modify Sith armor to resemble it. The visor on Sith armor starts below eye level.

[Thor110 495]

4 hours ago, Neville said:

I mentioned I found the head model and the base clothing model for Sarna. Does anyone know the designation for the model for the underclothes for the White Female Player Character, and does anyone have the skill to create a female variant of armor like that in the pictures I have posted? I was trying to modify Sith armor to resemble it. The visor on Sith armor starts below eye level.

It's quite unlikely that someone will do that for you, but it never hurts to ask I guess.

The female player designations are in appearance.2da ( shown in the spoiler box below ) and the model names / texture names highlighted within a red box on the right hand side.

Spoiler

I do not know exactly which one you are after, as there are multiple variants.

I would personally suggest maybe taking the female TSF officer ( K2 ) and the Male Republic soldier ( K1 ) and making a combination of the two to achieve something similar to what you are after.

ie : Female TSF Officer with Male Republic Soldier texture / colours or along those lines, would likely need a fair bit of tweaking / editing.

 

Alternatively you could just nab this one from K2 and split it into a body and helmet. ( I am not sure if this model exists in K1 )

Edited April 19, 2021 by Thor110
Alternative

[Neville 19]

The model is in both games. I found the models when I started. I tried to combine textures. Insignia on the shoulders and chest of TSF armor is not easily covered with Republic armor textures, and the chinstrap is difficult to fit over another head model. I had difficulty with lighting retexturing SithSpecter's Republic helmet. I found an earlier form of Republic armor. This is an image of Republic soldiers during the Mandalorian Wars, but the armor would be more difficult to make than to merge textures. Note the armor plates and the different helmets with orange-tinted visors. 

Seen in this image are variants:

[Thor110 495]

1 hour ago, Neville said:

The model is in both games. I found the models when I started. I tried to combine textures. Insignia on the shoulders and chest of TSF armor is not easily covered with Republic armor textures, and the chinstrap is difficult to fit over another head model. I had difficulty with lighting retexturing SithSpecter's Republic helmet. I found an earlier form of Republic armor. This is an image of Republic soldiers during the Mandalorian Wars, but the armor would be more difficult to make than to merge textures. Note the armor plates and the different helmets with orange-tinted visors. 

Seen in this image are variants:

Well that's the best suggestion I have along with all the information to get started, sorry if it's of no use to you.

There are more than enough tutorials and I have provided more than enough information for you to make a start on it, unfortunately I don't have the time or the skill to make this for you, I am no good with texturing or modelling.

Thor110

[Neville 19]

On 4/18/2021 at 11:11 PM, Thor110 said:

Well that's the best suggestion I have along with all the information to get started, sorry if it's of no use to you.

There are more than enough tutorials and I have provided more than enough information for you to make a start on it, unfortunately I don't have the time or the skill to make this for you, I am no good with texturing or modelling.

Thor110

My modeling was limited to pulling the helmet off the female TSF officer head. My texturing was using GIMP to merge three textures, and, with SithSpecter, applying TSF textures to a Republic helmet model. I mentioned I had difficulty with lighting.

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

This is in no way meant to dissuade you.

Complaining that the tutorials are "old" is ridiculous. They worked then, and nothing has changed. Newer tuts might use newer tools that didn't exist then, however the engine has not changed even with the Aspyr patch for TSL.

Modding isn't the kind of thing you jump into and have instant success at. My first mod was "complete" in one day, and took me three weeks to make it actually appear in game. This was done by trial, and error. Mostly error. There is no other way, so either this is a mod request that will likely never get picked up, or it is your project and you make it happen.

This is a helpful community, but we have also moved on to many other things in life and nobody is going to do the heavy lifting for you in most cases.

You can do this, but you have to try.

[Neville 19]

On 4/22/2021 at 10:51 AM, Qui-Gon Glenn said:

This is in no way meant to dissuade you.

Complaining that the tutorials are "old" is ridiculous. They worked then, and nothing has changed. Newer tuts might use newer tools that didn't exist then, however the engine has not changed even with the Aspyr patch for TSL.

Modding isn't the kind of thing you jump into and have instant success at. My first mod was "complete" in one day, and took me three weeks to make it actually appear in game. This was done by trial, and error. Mostly error. There is no other way, so either this is a mod request that will likely never get picked up, or it is your project and you make it happen.

This is a helpful community, but we have also moved on to many other things in life and nobody is going to do the heavy lifting for you in most cases.

You can do this, but you have to try.

My first mod effort was labeling item templates. I use GMAX/NWMAX, MDLOPS6, and GIMP 2 in modeling and texturing. I overlaid textures, but some do not match well for merging. I was noting that I was looking for a page from LucasForums that showed information regarding correcting lighting of retextured models. The models always appear too dark when the player enters such an area as the Ebon Hawk. SithSpecter referred me to it, but it now cannot be accessed. I have been checking for dialogue and recruit in tutorials and the game. I found many, though, lines of code required to add a character to a module. I am looking at the addition of Trask Ulgo and HK-47.

[Thor110 495]

On 4/22/2021 at 5:08 AM, Neville said:

My modeling was limited to pulling the helmet off the female TSF officer head. My texturing was using GIMP to merge three textures, and, with SithSpecter, applying TSF textures to a Republic helmet model. I mentioned I had difficulty with lighting.

That's honestly a good start, my modelling is limited to making a placeable by cutting it out of another model. ( See Ebon Hawk & Damaged Section ) ( Damaged Section is now a placeable )

Spoiler

Even then I have to clean it up as it still has some part's it doesn't need which are showing through on the floor.

You'll get there if you keep trying!

[Neville 19]

2 minutes ago, Thor110 said:

That's honestly a good start, my modelling is limited to making a placeable by cutting it out of another model. ( See Ebon Hawk & Damaged Section ) ( Damaged Section is now a placeable )

  Hide contents

Even then I have to clean it up as it still has some part's it doesn't need which are showing through on the floor.

You'll get there if you keep trying!

I do  not understand the tutorials on creating a new character. Recruit mods seem focused on existing characters. Further, I really need to know how to correct lighting on new models. There should be something on how to do that. LucasForums was the only site to have related information.