A while ago, maybe some of you remember, I was making an orange crystal for KOTOR, so that you actually had a real orange, not that weird Heart of The Guardian orange. I also changed the Mantle of the Force, Heart of the Guardian, and Yellow colors since they weould be too similiar if I only changed one. Those work fine.

Now, I have everything working fine for the orange saber, but when I go to a workbench to make sure upgrading works and stuff like that, I click it, click upgrade, nothing happens, I exit, and the orange saber and crystal disappear. I also don't have the HotG files in the Override right now, but just like last time I had the problem where both the orange saber and HotG stayed the same color. They work fine separately, but I can't figure out how to make them work when they're both in the Override.

Ok, I think I kind of maybe somewhat figured it out. I looked at a Yellow Crystal and noticed that in the description it says:

Upgrade Item, Lightsaber

Blade Color: Yellow

However, my orange crystal only says Upgrade Item, Lightsaber, so I guess the game doesn't have it set as a color crystal. If I can figure out why I lose the saber when I try to upgrade I bet I can figure it out. Anyone have any idea what to do?

Have you added your saber into the upcrystals.2da file? If you don't have this file your saber will not be there when you try to upgrade it, also if it isn't done right when you try to upgrade the saber it will crash your game. Try that and see if it works.

No, the file is in there. And it is in the upgrade list, but I can't "upgrade" it. And I can't put my orange crystal in a different saber either.

What is your line for the orange crystal in your upcrystals.2da?

Are your saber.uti and crystal.uti files in Override?

Is your orange saber upgradeable with other crystals i.e. did you update those fields in your saber.uti?


As for the HotG and orange being the same colour when you equip them both, you will need to tweak the saber.mdl file. See this thread (http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=165484) for details.

What is your line for the orange crystal in your upcrystals.2da?

Are your saber.uti and crystal.uti files in Override?

Is your orange saber upgradeable with other crystals i.e. did you update those fields in your saber.uti?


It's on line 7, if that's what you mean.

Yep.

I'm pretty sure it's upgradeable, but like I said, clicking on it in the workbench doesn't do anything, and then exiting makes it disappear.

What I meant was, what did you write in that line?

Normally, if your saber can't be upgraded even when all the necessary files are in your override, then you're probably naming something wrongly somewhere.

Why don't you post whatever stuff you have - everything in your .2da files and in your override folder - then we can see what the problem is?

Here's what I have in my override:

g_w_lghtsbr44.uti
g_w_sbrcrstl44.uti
iw_lghtsbr_044
iw_sbrcrstl_044
w_lghtsbr_044.mdl
w_lghtsbr_044.mdx
w_lsabregold_02
w_lsabregold_02.txi
And then something called nwscript.nss, I think that's just from KSE though.

Am I missing anything vital to a lightsaber?

upcrystals.2da - I thought you said you edited this?

This needs to be in there as well..

_EW_

Oh, yeah, that's in there too. And since he wanted to know what was on line 7, it has:

Orange under label, under template G_W_SBRCRSTL44, shortmdlvar has 4 asterisks, I guess that means I don't have a short saber for orange, under longmdlvar it says g1_w_lghtsbr44 (but I think it should say just g_w_lghtsbr44) and again under doublemdlvar I don't have anything.

Umm... I think that would definitely be your problem.

It should have your tag / template Resref in that box for the uti of your saber. If your saber is g_w_lghtsbr44 and it is pointing to g1_w_lghtsbr44 that is your problem. That 1 after the g indicates that it is a Suvam Tan Yavin IV item.

_EW_

Edit: but yea, you cant put your crystal in double or short sabers.

Ok, well I keep getting rid of the 1, and then I save it over the old one, and when I try to upgrade the same thing happens, so I check it and the one is still there. I delete it again, save, open it again before starting the game, and the 1 is there AGAIN. What's the deal with that?

I've noticed that too. Try opening the one located in the .2da BIF directly in KotOR Tool and making all your edits again.

_EW_

Alright! It works! Thanks for the help guys. Now I'll just make a short and double bladed saber and they should be upgradeable also right?

Gah I missed all the fun...

Yup, as long as the names are correct in your upcrystals.2da file.

Alright! It works! Thanks for the help guys. Now I'll just make a short and double bladed saber and they should be upgradeable also right?

Anytime! :)

And about the variations - Yes. Remember to also place your g_w_shortsbr44 and g_w_dblsbr044 names into upcrystals.2da.


_EW_

Ugh, it's actually been a while since I made a saber. I know I have to extract the templates for a saber crystal and a lightsaber, but I can't remember if it has to be a specific one. So, can I, for example make my orange short and double bladed sabers from say, a blue short and double bladed sabers?

Yes, if you change it to your orange color in the mdl and the orange in the variation.

_EW_

Ok, yeah, I'm confused. It's probably because I can't remember what I did last time, but I'm kinda lost when it comes to the saber crystal files. Since I'm using files for the blue lightsaber, and a blue crystal, how do I know when I get it in game it will come out orange? The first step is to go in the GFF editor and change the name and everything, but even if I do it'll still be blue.

You know what I mean?

Go into the model file of the saber (*.mdl.) Change all instances of w_lsabreblue01 to w_lsabregold02. There is no underscore between the color and the number. Make sure to change your filename... above you have listed w_lsabregold_02.

_EW_

Alright, but shouldn't there be only 2 of those in a short saber, and 8 in a double bladed? Because I just went into the model for a short blue saber and found w_lsabreblue01 three times.

Alright, but shouldn't there be only 2 of those in a short saber, and 8 in a double bladed? Because I just went into the model for a short blue saber and found w_lsabreblue01 three times.
There should be 4 for either the short or regular saber, and 8 for a double..

Each saber "blade" consists of 4 color planes.. (the .txi file just blends the 4 planes together to make it look 'solid')...

MDlops is far easier than HEX editing a saber if you're wanting to change the color however :)

Ah, yeah I changed the four.

Ok, so one more thing. The first step in Achilles' saber tutorial says to change the tags and other things in the uti file for the saber crystal you're using. Now, since I'm starting off with a blue saber, I put the blue crystal file in, but even if I change the tags to the orange crystals tags, won't it still be a blue crystal?

Ya know, when I type it all out it looks a lot harder to understand what I'm saying...heh. You know what I mean?

I think I understand.

Yes, you are half-right.

The way you make it orange is this:

The model variation points to the model that the crystal references.

See that?

If you change the model variation to the number you are using, (I expect 44) than the crystal, when put in a saber, calls up and uses that model file.

Now, If you change that model file to refer to your custom color, than that saber crystal points to that model that points to your orange color.

You now have an orange crystal.

Don't forget to change the Tag and Template Resref, this makes it a custom crystal versus a replacement of an ingame crystal.

Hope this Helps! :)

_EW_

Ok, I changed the tags and stuff to 44, and did the rest of the steps in the saber making process, then renamed all the files with 44 like it says, but since my normal lightsaber is using a file called "g_w_sbrcrstl44" I can't name all the files for the shortsaber with 44 or they won't be able to go in the override together. Should I rename all the files for the short saber with like, 45 or would that make them not work right?

Just looking at what you wrote you named your normal saber "g_w_sbrcrstl44"? My suggestion is use that ame for the colour crystal itself and not the sabers. For the sabers use the same naming system as the game "g_w_lghtsbr44" for normal, "g_w_shortsbrl44" for short and "g_w_dblsbr44" for double.

Yeah, I meant the normal saber has the number 44 in all of the files, and one of the files, for the saber crystal, is g_w_sbrcrstl44. Then, when I made my short saber, I changed the tag, templateresref and model variation to 44, so after I was done I had 44 in all of those files too.

My question is, can I maybe name the normal lightsaber files things like "g_w_lghtsbr44" and "g_w_sbrcrstl44" and name the short saber files something like "g_w_lghtsbr45" and "g_w_sbrcrstl45"?

You could name the files that way but it would just be adding in more lines to the upcrsytals.2da file. As the saber itself holds all bonuses etc and not the colour crystal you really only need to name it as I suggested. You can do it the other way if you wish but if you look at the 2da you will see things like:

1 Blue u_l_colo_01* g_w_shortsbr01** g_w_lghtsbr01*** G_W_DBLSBR001****

These represent:
* saber crystal (in your case g_w_sbrcrstl44)
** Short saber name
*** Normal saber name
**** Double saber name

This way you only need one copy of your orange crystal uti and can have the three different sabers all pointing to the crystal varient of 44 without conflicting.

Your files would be:
g_w_sbrcrtsl44.uti - orange crystal uti
g_w_shortsbr44.uti short saber
g_w_lghtsbr44.uti normal saber
g_w_dblsbr44.uti double saber
iw_sbrcrstl_44.tga saber crystal icon
w_shortsbr_44.mdl Saber models
w_shortsbr_44.mdx
w_lghtsbr_44.mdl
w_lghtsbr_44.mdx
w_dblsbr_44.mdl
w_dblsbr_44.mdx

So to make my double and short sabers, I don't have to extract any files related to saber crystals? I think I got it now, just wanna be sure what you mean.

Yeah you just need that one crystal uti and icon tga.

Ok, cool, I got it in game and it works fine, but then I went to upgrade it and both my orange and short orange lightsaber were un-upgradeable. I check the upcrystals.2da file, and the 7th line has dissapeared. So, I type it again, test it in game, it's still not upgradeable. The upcrystals.2da file isn't saving the line for the Orange crystal at all anymore, even if I do this:

I've noticed that too. Try opening the one located in the .2da BIF directly in KotOR Tool and making all your edits again.

Wait wait wait!

Did you save the *.2da to the folder with those files? (Override?)

_EW_

Yeah huh...I'll try it one more time.

Hmm... Sometimes that makes it not work for me...

I dunno why it does this....

_EW_

EDIT: I dunno how, but I got it halfway to work.

My current upcrystals.2da has everything you need... except for the doublesaber field, that one won't work.

With your upcrsytals.2da file did you click on a non edited line before saving? ie a box in row 3 or something? If not then it wont save your changes. To fix that, make your changes then click on a box you didnt change, then click save.

Jackel's Suggestion worked. Thanks Jackel!

Clone, try this, and if it doesn't work, I will send you my upcrystals.2da that I made to your specs.

_EW_

Alright, everything is set. All of the orange sabers are working and upgradeable...I just need to script it in game. I might as well ask right now, how would I go about putting an orange crystal in the crystal caves? I know you get a lot of red crystals in them, so I could replace one of them with an orange crystal, but I don't know how to do scripting yet.

Unfortunately if you wish to use the crystal cave you will have to do it with scripting. No other way around it I'm afraid. :(

You can check out Maverick187 and my Lightsaber Pack (http://www.pcgamemods.com/mod/6029.html) for KotOR as it places a backpack with some items in it in the Crystal Cave to see how it is done. ;)

Ooh, I think I made some progress. I changed my mind and I'm going to put the crystal on Sherruk's corpse, so I went through KOTOR tool and managed to find my way into some info for Sherruk, and it had stuff like his feats, skills, all that stuff, and I also found where it tells what he has in his inventory (the two lightsabers) but I couldn't figure out how to put the crystal in with them. Am I on the right track, and if so, how do I do it?

Seeing you are at the inventory page for Sherruks you will need to drag and drop any item (can be a blaster, lightsaber etc doesnt matter) in to his inventory and then rename the uti name that is there to the name of your saber crystal. Click on another spot in his inventory (I dont think this is needed but I do it anyway to be safe) save and go hunting on Dantooine to see what he has on him. If it appears then you are done he now has your crystal.

Of course you could always just put an orange saber in his inventory and not just the saber. Its what I did for my pink saber mod ages ago.

Hmm, well I'm looking through the item list but I can't find the saber or the crystal on the list, and clicking the tab that says "Custom Items" doesn't bring anything up.

Edit: Oh wait, you mean drag ANY item in to his inventory and then just rename it to my lightsaber or the crystal?! Heh, I could try that.

Another Edit: Ok, I changed Sherruk's inventory, and then loaded the game, but couldn't figure out how to get to Dantooine. I tried the warp cheat but it froze while loading...

Sherruk's utc is in override, right?

And you should check the warp cheat and make sure the one you are typing is right...

_EW_

Yeah, and I'm sure I'm typing the right area, but it won't load...and don't I need to use KSE to give myself the Mandalorian quest for Dantooine, so that when I go there, Sherruk is there?

Clone,

When making mods is is paramount that you have a good collection of saves from different points in the game.

Using the warp cheat is no way to test if a mod works as it is glitchy because events in the game depend on globals set during normal play. The only time warp should be used is to test a custom module IMHO.

Sorry.

Ugh...so the only way to really test it is to...? Man...that's just crazy...there's gotta be a better option. I didn't really think it would work, like you said I had just gotten off the Endar Spire so going right to Dantooine would be weird...but I don't want to play through Taris just to get to Dantooine, go through all that Jedi stuff, and then do the Mandalorian quest. I guess I could just let people get it through a cheat, but part of the reason I made it was to make it seem like there was always an orange crystal in the game.

Ugh...so the only way to really test it is to...? Man...that's just crazy...there's gotta be a better option.
You need to be better prepared, that's all. :xp:

My advice is for you to take a time-out, do a playthrough, make some saves for testing purposes *, then go back to modding, simple as that.

The only "crazy" thing is what you said that I quoted. :disaprove

You do also see ChAiNz Savegame thread (http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=157988) stuck above, thought of trying to see if he has a save like the one you need there?

* Oh yeah! Be sure to back up those saves to something like a CD so if you do an un-install and reinstall the game later you wont have to do this again.

Alright, I'm gonna deal with Taris to test Sherruk's inventroy, but before I get started, does anybody have any ways they use to get done with Taris as quickly as possible?

Start Taris...
Go to Cantina, get invited to party...
Go to party, get uniform...
Go to lower city...
Go to lower Cantina, meet Calo, Mission and Big Z...
Talk to good swoop gang...
Go to under city...
Meet Mission...
Enter Sewers...
Save Big Z...
Kill Rancor with grenade...
Enter Bad Swoop Biker Lair...
Get swoop part...
Take it back to Good Gang...
Do Swoop Race...
Rescue Bastila...
Go to upper Cantina meet Canderous...
Go get T3-M4...
Enter Sith Base, get codes...
Meet Canderous in lower Cantina...
Go to Davik's Estate...
Make a B-Line for the Ebon Hawk...
Whack Davik and Calo...
Get on Hawk...


I think that is about it! ;)

Heh, I can do that in a day easily. Dunno why I made such a big deal out of it. Thanks RH.

Edit: Heeeeey! I just saw a topic about D333's warp armband mod! Can't I just use that?! :)

Edit: Heeeeey! I just saw a topic about D333's warp armband mod! Can't I just use that?! :)
No

Using the warp cheat is no way to test if a mod works as it is glitchy because events in the game depend on globals set during normal play.
Sorry, but the same applies to the Warp Armband. If you are going to be testing a mod out then you need a normal savegame to work from, no corner cutting...

Besides you need to make some testing saves anyway. ;)