The most I've ever done with moderating is a lightsaber mod. And while I was incredibly proud of my work, let's face facts: there are hundreds of lightsaber mods out there; it's no surprise it never flourished.
I have a new idea now, though, that's a bit bigger in scope. Trouble is, I'm not sure if any of what I want to do is even possible. So, I'd like to ask a few questions about modding in general to see what can and can't be done.
First, is is possible to introduce a temporary level cap that releases on the completion of a major/specific plot point? For example, would it be possible to stop a player's levelling up beyond level 6 until they completed Taris, after which they can level up freely again? If one such cap is possible, is more than one possible as well?
Could one create drastically different dialogue paths and such depending on which class the player character is?
One thing I might want to do, if possible, is create six different "classes" rather than having only three for each gender. Is it possible to essentially create and add entirely new classes? If not, to what extent can the existing classes be altered?
I've not played very many conversion mods, either partial or total. How flexible is the starting point of the game? Could I have a character start the game on Nar Shaddaa rather than Peragus, for example?
How alterable is the party selection screen? Is it possible to remove portrait slots to, say, five rather than nine?
Also regarding party selection, I seem to recall that it's impossible to add more than two people to a party; that the party size is fixed in the game files and cannot be edited. Is this still true? Is there a way to maybe even simulate more than three people, perhaps by adding puppets that update to match the stats of party members as you level them up?
What legal flexibility is there with the addition of new/different music? I know that porting music between the games isn't allowed, but would adding music from another source be all right? If not, what if they were merely looped and edited clips of music rather than entire songs? If I needed to resort to midi versions (as a definite last resort) of existing songs from other sources, is that any more legal?
Thanks in advance for any and all help you folks can lend me.
First, is is possible to introduce a temporary level cap that releases on the completion of a major/specific plot point? For example, would it be possible to stop a player's levelling up beyond level 6 until they completed Taris, after which they can level up freely again? If one such cap is possible, is more than one possible as well?
Kind of, I don't know enough about the scripting side of things to know if you could achieve that via script. What you could do is change the points on leveling up system so that the points needed to go to the next level was rediculously high, and the only way to do it was to complete a plot which gave you enough points to do so.
Could one create drastically different dialogue paths and such depending on which class the player character is?
In theory from what I understand of scripting this would be possible, however a considerable amount of work in terms of the dialogue.
One thing I might want to do, if possible, is create six different "classes" rather than having only three for each gender. Is it possible to essentially create and add entirely new classes? If not, to what extent can the existing classes be altered?
This thread maybe helpful. ()
[QUOTE=The Doctor;2761345]I've not played very many conversion mods, either partial or total. How flexible is the starting point of the game? Could I have a character start the game on Nar Shaddaa rather than Peragus, for example?
You can pretty much start where you want.
How alterable is the party selection screen? Is it possible to remove portrait slots to, say, five rather than nine?
Don't know the answer to this I'm afraid.
Also regarding party selection, I seem to recall that it's impossible to add more than two people to a party; that the party size is fixed in the game files and cannot be edited. Is this still true? Is there a way to maybe even simulate more than three people, perhaps by adding puppets that update to match the stats of party members as you level them up?
Party size is fixed, although you could have people follow each other in puppet style, though the NPC's pathfinder is awful.
What legal flexibility is there with the addition of new/different music? I know that porting music between the games isn't allowed, but would adding music from another source be all right?
As long as it doesn't have commercial rights attached to it, i.e. its freeware its ok. You can't use others commercial property however.
How alterable is the party selection screen? Is it possible to remove portrait slots to, say, five rather than nine?
Yes, it is, though you will still be able to reach the slots via the arrow keys, you won't be able to select them with the mouse. You can also move the remaining five around the screen, to make it look better.
This thread maybe helpful. ([QUOTE=The Doctor;2761345])
Not really. >_>
Party size is fixed, although you could have people follow each other in puppet style, though the NPC's pathfinder is awful.
Could these puppets be synced regularly with the stat changes and such of party members left behind, so as to mimic as closely as possible having all party members with you?
As long as it doesn't have commercial rights attached to it, i.e. its freeware its ok. You can't use others commercial property however.
Not even clips or fragments? I was almost positive I've used mods before that used clips of music from the Star Wars movies in place of the vanilla allignment shift clips; not sure offhand where I may have gotten them, though, now I think of it...
i believe you can use 30sec samples of a song. I know there is an artist who creates songs using many 30 second samples.
modding new additional classes should be possible, there was a mod released not too long ago that created a Bounty Hunter class (
http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.com/file/Restored_Bounty_Hunter;117560).
I have no idea whether you can make more than 3 classes selectable at the gamestart, but I guess you can create an event where you become one of the new classes (like you become a prestige-class and your partymembers become jedis).
As mentioned, you can start the game wherever you want. I think I read somewhere that the only restriction is, that the starting module has to be named the same as the broken ebon hawk module where you play the prologue with t3.
The intro-movie is supposed to be editable as well.
why do you wanna decrease the number of party-member slots? if I'd want to do anything with it, it would be INcrease them ;)!
I have no idea about that 30sec-rule and I've never heard of it before. I'd say you can put in any music/sound you have the legal rights to put on the internet for other to download. Any music/sound you don't have those rights, you can't legally put in your mod (exept all the music and sound from the vanilla game of course).
But that's just a guess.
modding new additional classes should be possible, there was a mod released not too long ago that created a Bounty Hunter class (
http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.com/file/Restored_Bounty_Hunter;117560).
I have no idea whether you can make more than 3 classes selectable at the gamestart, but I guess you can create an event where you become one of the new classes (like you become a prestige-class and your partymembers become jedis).
You can't actually change the classes, it's hardcoded into the game as far as I've heard (I've never tried to mess with them myself, but there's a recent thread question about it somewhere). All we can really change is the name of the classes which would be a dialog.tlk change.
Edit: Here -
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=206132)