Fable: The Lost Chapters Mod Scene: Level Scripting

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JohnDoe's Item Spawning Guides [message #37587]

Sun, 03 February 2008 03:07

JohnDoe
Messages: 3007
Registered: October 2007

Retired

.:: NOTES - DO READ

If you adamantly do not wish to use FreeRoam or can't use FreeRoam because you have an FE-compiled wad archive, you can import/export tngs using FE.

If you have successfully used the newer (zipped) version of AlbionExplorer or ChocolateBox, you may not need to do step 1 as these tools dump & rename the FinalAlbion.wad and edit the userst.ini.

If you're going to make one of those huge chests (there's no limit) I recommend you use this handy dandy tool to do it for you. It's easy to make mistakes, we all make them. This is just to help keep from making simple, yet hard to spot, mistakes.

For those who like text editing the TNGs, maybe I can turn you onto using the TNG Parser, a good tool to quickly navigate and edit the tng text.

.:: On to the guide

Prerequisites:
Eyes;
Brain;
The ability to read;
FreeRoam (link supplied); and
Text Editor.

List of decent text editors:

The easiest way to spawn chest is to use the FreeRoam App and edit the tng.
The other method is to extract the tng from the wad, make the edit, and import the tng back into the wad.
I'm going with the FreeRoam App, as it's faster and easier than the tng extract/import via FE method. This is all described in Step 1.
Step 2 involves, in detail, the actual tng editing that takes place using the text editor method.
Hijacking a chest is an easier, but limited, step 2.

Step 1

Step 2

This is the actual spawning of the chest. There are many ways of going about this. My personal favorite is the text editor method.

Now, the chest needs something in it. Grab a copy of the decompiled names.bin or open FE. The decompiled names.bin has a list of all existing objects, but also has everything else in the names.bin, so just look for the things that start with OBJECT_ and that will narrow your search for what you're looking for, unless of course you want to spawn a building. You could also open FE and scroll down to OBJECT and take something out of the list there. If you have new objects that you got from a mod or made yourself, you'll have to grab it out of FE.

So, I have this list of stuff I want in my chest.
To make it easy I'll use one of these tools (there are two tools in that thread).
I end up with

ContainerContents[0] "OBJECT_CARROT";
ContainerContents[1] "OBJECT_TOFU";
ContainerContents[2] "OBJECT_MANA_POTION";
ContainerContents[3] "OBJECT_ADRENALINE_POTION";
ContainerContents[4] "OBJECT_THROWING_ORB_SLOWTIME";
ContainerContents[5] "OBJECT_FISHING_ROD_UPGRADED";
ContainerContents[6] "OBJECT_SPADE";
ContainerContents[7] "OBJECT_RESURRECTION_PHIAL";
ContainerContents[8] "OBJECT_SILVER_KEY";
ContainerContents[9] "OBJECT_WEDDING_RING";
ContainerContents[10] "OBJECT_TATTOO_CARD_CHEST_03";
ContainerContents[11] "OBJECT_TATTOO_CARD_FACE_02";
ContainerContents[12] "OBJECT_DOLL_JACK_OF_BLADES_01";
ContainerContents[13] "OBJECT_TROPHY_DRAGON_SCALE_01";
ContainerContents[14] "OBJECT_GOLD_1000000";
ContainerContents[15] "OBJECT_CRYSTAL_LONGSWORD";
ContainerContents[16] "OBJECT_SWORD_OF_AEONS_GOOD_01";
ContainerContents[17] "OBJECT_LEGENDARY_PUMPCROSSBOW";

There. Take notice that each number goes up by one, it must stay in that order, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, n. If it is out of order, Fable dies. Notice that each object name is in quotes, if it's not, Fable dies. Notice each line ends with a semicolon ( ; ), if you're missing one, Fable dies. If an object is called but doesn't exist, for example, OBJECT_TOF, it is skipped. If it's the only object in the chest, or if all the objects are non-existent, you will freeze and be unable to move, stuck staring at the inside of a glowing chest. Fable doesn't die from this, but you have to kill it to get out, so Fable dies.

Finished product

Have fun with your new chest.

Hijacking a chest

Non-chest spawning

This is written by OrionSR, he get's credit for this piece.

OrionSR wrote on Wed, 03 December 2008 23:51

Chest Rotations: 3 examples

The items in chests require clicking after each item. This can be frustrating if multiple copies of the same item are contained in the chests. However, the rewards from Barrels only require a click on new items. Otherwise they simply display a small icon indicating how many items were collected. The other nice thing about barrels is they disappear when they are broken so they don't clutter the map. Be sure to collect the reward before leaving the area.

Multiple copies of an item in a barrel.

The Guild Bookcase Select objects appear to be unique in their ability to respawn their items after they've already been collected. This seems to be useful for spawning items that may need to be recollected. I've been placing Hero Titles on the shelves in the Guild Interior. In this example I placed some silver keys for opening the chest spawned in the example above. The main problem is that the Select object is just a frame. An associated bookcase is needed to make things look right, but the frame works fine without it.

Respawning Items of the Guild Bookcase Select

This last example is probably a bit off-topic, but I'll risk posting it anyway because I had a hard time finding reference on the method. Individual weapons can be spawned with augments already attached. Not only does this save the hassle of spawning the augments, but more augments can be added than is usually possible without a great deal more editing. So far, it looks like melee weapons are limited to 5 augments, and ranged weapons have a limit of 4, but I haven't mess with many examples just yet.

Spawning a Pre-Augmented Weapon

I've really been enjoying the Ranged Minion weapon in the example above. It has a very high firing rate and each hit contributes to Will experience with no mana cost.

I also have here a more in-depth look at item spawning. This is more advanced because it goes into great detail about CTCs, different types of scripts, etc. and such and so on. Read it if you want to learn more.

New Guide: JohnDoe's Item Spawning 101

I wrote this to be the definitive guide for TNG spawning. If you have a suggestion for improvements or comments, please share. If you have questions unrelated to the lesson plan, ask away. If you have questions about the instructions, read it over again (it's not that I don't care, I just want you to ask for help the right way, as told in this guide).

Description

Lesson 1 - Understanding the FinalAlbion.wad

Lesson 2 - Dumping the FinalAlbion.wad

** DO READ **
Pre-lesson notes:
Before doing anything, you need to know that the apps here require .NET Framework of various versions. Be safe and get .NET Framework 3.5.
If you're on Vista and you're about to poke around in Program Files, you need permission to do so. Read this.

To do any of the cool stuff with the scripts, you need to be able to access the scripts. There are a number of ways to do that. You can open AlbionExplorer or ChocolateBox (you need to grab those prerequisites) and it will properly dump the FinalAlbion.wad for you. No fuss no muss.

If you've already used a mod that edits the FinalAlbion.wad using FE, or if you've already edited a wad entry using FE, you won't be able to use the previous options. You'll be limited to hand-editing the TNGs, and you'll have to extract them using FableExplorer (or FE w/Search or ShadowNet FE) to access the FinalAlbion.wad. Follow this guide to learn how to do that. Once you've extracted the TNGs you want, continue with the guide.

If you don't want to do that, or can't because you think you can't use those apps, use FreeRoam instead. This is what I use. Simply because I like it. Now follow the instructions closely because too many people fuck this up and I won't help them anymore.

FreeRoam Instructions

If you run Vista, read this;
Extract FreeRoam to a permanent location on your hard drive (it'll be zip, don't run it from the zip);
Open FreeRoam;
Click File|Open;
Select the FinalAlbion.wad file in the (Fable directory)\data\levels\;
DO NOT DUMP IN THE LEVELS FOLDER, dump in the data folder (in the DATA folder, not levels), hope I've been clear enough on that;
Rename, move or delete the FinalAlbion.wad file (I recommend renaming, it can be used as a backup should you obliterate your TNGs).

If you've read elsewhere to edit the userst.ini, don't worry about it. It's not needed, so it's not mentioned here.

Problems with FreeRoam?

Did you get "The application failed to initialize properly (0xC0000135). Click on OK to termniate the application."? You have a complete absence of .NET Framework (I provided a link for the latest .NET Framework in the pre-lesson notes).
Did you get "Unable to read beyond the end of the stream." or "The output char buffer is too small to contain the decoded characters, encoding 'Unicode (UTF-8)' fallback 'System.Text.DecoderReplacementFallback'. Parameter name: chars."? Either you're not selecting the right file (there's only one wad file, idiot) or you are trying to dump from an FE-compiled FinalAlbion.wad. If the latter, you'll need to get a clean FinalAlbion.wad off of disc #2 or, if you don't want to undo your level edits, extract the TNGs one at a time using FableExplorer (as explained earlier in the lesson).
Did you get the error: "Try to select a file next time."? Select a file, idiot. Step 5.
Did you end up with a data\levels\levels\FinalAlbion directory? You dumped in the levels folder, idiot. Step 6.
Are your edits not showing up in-game? Idiot. Step 7.
Do you get some other unexplainable error where stuff just isn't working? Are you on Vista? Idiot. Pre-lesson notes.

If you still can't fix the problem, don't just make a post asking for help. Do some groundwork first.

Open command prompt (winkey+r/Start>>Run, type in cmd and press enter).
In the command prompt, type in (or copy this, right-click in the prompt, and select paste):
CD C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\Levels
Then, do the same for this:
DIR /B /S *.* > LevelsDirectory.txt
Now, in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Fable - The Lost Chapters\data\Levels, there will be a text file called LevelsDirectory.txt. This will give us a visual reference of what's going on, a list of all of the files in your levels directory. Upload that text file when you make your request for help.

Please note that if you installed anywhere other than the default install location, you'll need to adjust the directory names accordingly.

In your request for help, include all information about what you did, with what, in what order, how, and what you had for breakfast the day all this happened. Details are very important.

Lesson 3 - The TNGs

Lesson 4 - Understanding Scripts

Lesson 5 - Understanding CTC Scripts and common CTC Scripts

Lesson 6 - Chests

Lesson 7 - Barrels

Basic script:

Script Template

Barrel types:
OBJECT_BARREL_BREAKABLE
OBJECT_SS_BARREL_BREAKABLE_01

The only new thing here that's important is the CTCContainerRewardHero. The only difference between this and the chest is that there's no BarrelOpen line, and items in barrels are given to the Hero once he picks them up. When the barrel breaks, the items will scatter about on the floor. Be careful not to have too many items, though, as too many items will cause lag and, if way too many, will freeze Fable.

There's also exploding barrels. There is more to this one.

Script Template

StartCTCExplodingObject;
MaxDamage 0.0;
Radius 0.0;
FireDamage 0;
TriggeredOnCreatureProximity FALSE;
TriggerRadius 0.0;
EndCTCExplodingObject;

All of these are pretty self-explanatory, but just in case:
MaxDamage is the maximum amount of damage done by the explosion.
Radius is how far the damage will be distributed.
FireDamage is elemental damage that hurts creatures weak to fire more.
TriggeredOnCreatureProximity determines whether or not it detonates when something approaches it. Set it to TRUE to have it explode when something is near it.
TriggerRadius determines how close something has to be to trigger the explosion.

Finished barrel scripts

Lesson 8 - Searchable containers

Lesson 9 - Digging spots

Lesson 10 - Fishing spots

Lesson 11 - Objects, straight up

If you don't mind getting items one at a time, there are a few cool things you can do, aside from spawn the item without leaving behind a chest or container.

Script Template

If you want the item to only show up until you pick it up, change ThingGamePersistent and ThingLevelPersistent to TRUE. This way, you pick it up, you have it, it doesn't spawn again.

That's all you need for inventory items. But let's say you want a weapon. With weapons, you can add a fun script.

StartCTCObjectAugmentations;
SavedInGame TRUE;
AugmentationDefNames[0] "[Augment item]";
EndCTCObjectAugmentations;

Leave SavedInGame at TRUE.

The AugmentationDefNames syntax is pretty much exactly the same the ContainerContents lines in all the previous scripts.

Augment items:
OBJECT_SHARPENING_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_PIERCING_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_SILVER_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_FLAME_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_HOBBE_KILLER_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_LIGHTNING_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_EXPERIENCE_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_HEALTH_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_MANA_AUGMENTATION
OBJECT_BANDIT_SLAYER_AUGMENTATION

Finished Object script

And that concludes my lessons for this thread. Congratulations, you are a master item spawner.

Wait, you're having problems?

I've attached my finished scripts. They all take place in Orchard Farm. You can see them, use them as an example.
The objects are all in the warehouse. The digging spot is just outside the warehouse. The fishing spot is in the little pond near the warehouse. The digging/fishing spots are marked with signs for your convenience.

Hope you've enjoyed JohnDoe's Item Spawning 101. If not, sod off.

Attachment: OrchardFarm.zip
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[Updated on: Fri, 04 June 2010 04:29]

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