MOD:[K1] Environment Map Restoration

[InSidious 237]

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[K1] Environment Map Restoration

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[K1] Defaultenvmap Restoration
By Darth InSidious

Description
Both KotOR games were designed to have environment mapping, i.e., reflections on armours and weapons that
looked like the area the player character was in, rather than generic shinyness.

In the default game, this is switched off, perhaps for performance reasons. This mod partially restores this
feature, using the environment maps for the game which Obsidian included in the default game files.
As a result, not every area has environment maps, but I have been able to enable the feature in about 80 areas,
listed below. This includes the Ebon Hawk and parts of every planet (and large ship, and space station) in the game, except the
Yavin space station.

This mod is intended as much as a proof-of-concept as a restoration in itself. A full restoration would likely
require cube-mapping all the areas in the game, which I don't have the time or resources to do. If someone
feels like doing that, and knows how, let me know.

The full list of areas included in this mod is:
m01aa
m01ab
m02aa
m02ab
m02ac
m02ad
m02af
m03aa
m03ab
m03ad
m03ae
m03af
m04aa
m09aa
m09ab
m10aa
m10ab
m10ac
m11aa
m11ab
m12aa
m13aa
m14aa
m14ab
m14ac
m14ad
m14ae
m15aa
m16aa
m17aa
m17ab
m17ac
m17ad
m17ae
m17af
m18aa
m18ab
m18ac
m20aa
m22aa
m22ab
m23aa
m24aa
m25aa
m26aa
m26ab
m26ac
m26ad
m26mg
m27aa
m28aa
m28ab
m28ac
m28ad
m33aa
m34aa
m35aa
m37aa
m38aa
m39aa
m40aa
m40ab
m40ac
m40ad
m41aa
m41ab
m41ac
m41ad
m42aa
m43aa
m44aa
m44ab
m44ac
m45aa
m45ab
m45ac
m45ad

Known bugs and compatibility issues
Because each area has only one environment map, sometimes the reflections will be wrong for a given part of an area
which looks different. Also, because of the limited number of environment maps included in the game, I have
reused several of them in different places. Hopefully this isn't too obvious, but it may mean that the environment
mapping isn't always exact.

The mod currently installs as a series of .are files directly into your Override. This is because it's
difficult otherwise to take account of .mod files with the same filename as the game's default .rim area files,
so it was difficult to make the mod work with, e.g., K1R modules.

This mod hasn't been tested for compatibility with K1R, but I don't anticipate issues for the most part,
since the .are file isn't used for much that can be modded.

*Nevertheless, this mod *may* cause some compatibility issues in some areas with K1R.*

Installation

Double click on "[K1] Install Defaultenvmap restoration", and hit the "install mod" button.

Uninstallation
Delete the .are files from your Override folder, and restore the baseitems.2da file
backup made by TSLPatcher on install, and placed in the "backup" folder.

If no such baseitems.2da backup exists (i.e., you haven't used any other mods that modify this file)
simply delete baseitems.2da from your override folder.

 

Credits and thanks
Thanks to JC, DarthParametric, and Cortisol, for their feedback and help during development of this mod.

Disclaimer
All materials and copyrights belong to LucasArts, Bioware and Obsidian Entertainment Inc.,
Kotor Tool belongs to Fred Tetra, NWNSSCOMP belongs to Edward T. Smith.
I own none of the materials, and I'm not making any money out of this mod. It is to be distributed
as-is without alteration, unless by permission of the mod author. This mod is not to be distributed for profit, either.
Use it how you like, but if you're going to post it up somewhere, or make a derivate mod, or use it in another mod, you must
ask for my permission first.

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• Submitter
  InSidious
• Submitted
  10/23/2022
• Category
  Mods
• K1R Compatible
  No

 

[Salk 374]

Hello, InSidious.

Thank you for a commendable effort. But from what I understand dumping .are files in the override seems really a bad choice.

I am no TSL Patcher expert but couldn't you just ship the modification with .mod files for each module whose .are you are changing and let the TSL Patcher patch the .are files inside them?

Cheers!

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

@Salk This very subject is being discussed in the Deadly Stream Discord.