I expect to have this last little bit done by tomorrow or Monday; it's just a few bark convos and a handful of cutscenes; frankly after how taxing scripting the damn thing was this will be easy. After which time I'll take a test run to make sure everything is working, upload it for testing and post the link liberally, and work on the finish touches (custom load screens are sounding like a huge hassle I really don't want to deal with right now, but that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about when I say finishing touches) as the bug reports roll in. Maybe it'll be on the Vault as early as next week. How exciting is that?
I had a comment from last blog (you guys don't like screenshots? Almost nobody said nothing! If a picture is worth 1000 words, I wrote 13000 words last blog!) from jameso asking me if after my break the mod got any bigger. I'm not really sure what s/he meant by bigger (what, like in file size? scope? which break?) but I'm going to guess in scope, so here's the deal:
When I plotted this joint out last year, I had it loosely planned out by chapter. Considering I didn't really know what I was doing at the time, it was all loose guesses and I stuck with it as well as I could. The first chapter, though shoddy and weak in comparison in my opinion to this second one, I broke where I wanted to. Here, however, it's another story. It was supposed to be longer than it is now as far as the storyline, but I went a little (lot) overboard with the sidequests in the city; there's just a ton to do there. It kind of ate up my energy and was taking way too long (and there's a lot left to do), and so I cut it short.
Then I was set to cut it off at the end of the city, but that was a bad ending to the mod so I tacked this siege battle on at the end instead. I decided to do that after my last vacation; so yeah, it's bigger than it is but smaller than what it is, if you follow me. This extra siege will probably take 30-45 minutes and I doubt anyone will get it on their first try, because it'll probably kick your ass. But you probably won't find anything like it in a single player mod for a while (hopefully, got to have something, right?), so I think it was worth the effort.
I don't know if that answers your question or not. If it was about file size, yeah it's another 50MB. There's about 600MB worth of mod, cleaned up the item override to about 600MB and the hak is 800MB. Once it's all zipped up and whatnot it's like a 300MB download, which is big but this mod is like 30-40 hours long; there's like 70 areas. Haven't timed it yet, but it's around there.
So, there you go. Thanks for giving me something to ramble about.
Alright, then, ah, keep an eye out for the final beta within the next week or so.
13 comments:
How about this - those are the best screen shoots ever posted on this blog! I love the snowy, muddy look. Two thumbs up.
I was asking about the scope increase since your last vacation.
I Have also replayed the first in the series in prep for the second Cant Wait!
Great shots, dirtywick. The area looks fantastic! :)
And I bet you are excited that this baby is finally almost over ;)
I completely agree with Amraphael. These screens are a cut above what I;ve seen before, which were quite nice to begin with. This whole battle looks like it will be a real treat.
<< Maybe it'll be on the Vault as early as next week. How exciting is that? >>
Very! Congrats, it looks like a ton of quality work
JasonNH
I think the texture Snow 05 came from a frosted cheerio.
Thanks everyone, so far so good. Just a little bit to go and then a full test.
Nice screen shots. Good to see my watchtowers have been put to good use.
Oh yeah, for sure. Also, so you don't get the wrong idea, I'll be putting a vote up soon, yours among some other CC.
Yeah, the above screens are Very cool - the giant zombie does it for me. Awesome looking!
30-40 hours long?!?!
...Wow.
OK, I have a new question. So, what have you learned form creating the first in the series that helped you with this one?
haha good question. Besides generally improving and expanding my skillset with the toolset: Test thoroughly, then let other people test, then test again.
Seriously, it was so buggy the first time on the vault I should have been embarassed if I had known any better.
I learned how important scripting is. Well not so much that you can't do anything without it, but what you can do with it, which is actually a lot more than setting up some basic quests. I had a few neat tricks in the first one, but nothing like what's in here.
And there's even stuff that goes beyond what I did; look at what Adam Miller is up to.
So yeah, that's probably the most important thing for me was getting into scripting early and not giving up when it was frustrating.
I liked Adam Millers whole Sid Meier's Pirates! mini game and Island hopping. Also I really hope the whole house rebuilding thing is still in this mod because I really love that stuff.
I haven't played Dark Waters yet, but I can guess it's probably not nearly as deep as that system, but yes the renovation of the house is still. It's one of the handful of required quests in the second mod of Chapter 2. You really only have to do the Palace sequence, that, and another quest to move on, but you'd be missing out on a bulk of the content. It's really open ended in the second mod.
Speaking of which, I'm about halfway done testing Chapter 2 myself. Looking good for being on the Vault very shortly.
Dang, those screenies are awesome. The pictures that you had on your previous post were bland by comparison. Your latest shots are beautifully chaotic. I can almost hear the cries of battle just by looking at these pictures.
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