BMU

BMU stands for BioWare Music Unit. This is the file format for background music files. AFAIK, essentially, it's an .mp3 file with some tinkering done on the first few bits of the file and the extension changed.

Here are some tools to convert bmu files:

MP3toBMU 0.35
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Other.Detail&id=225

Prince Rouse's Mp3toBMU and WinMP3Converter
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Other.Detail&id=821

Using the tools above, you can convert all the music in the Music folder under Program Files to an mp3 and listen to them.

You can find information on the BMU format in this NWN1 tutorial on custom music. (Note that a good deal of this has changed for NWN2).
http://nwn.bioware.com/builders/sounds_bmu.html

At the time of this writing, there are still some complications with bringing your custom music into your module, and I remember seeing a post talking about improvements that will be coming soon. If anyone has any resources along these lines, please let me know.

ERF

ERF stands for Encapsulate Resource File. It is used when importing and exporting resources from one module to another.

Most people keep .erf files in a folder in their My Documents folder called erf. Note that you don't get an erf folder by default, so feel free to created one when you need it.

PFX

The .pfx file extension is for particle-based effects. As I understand it, these are used as resouces when creating .sef files. You can find some of them in C:\Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2\Data\NWN2_VFX.zip.

SEF

The .sef files are special effects files for NWN2. Most of the ones that come with the game are located in C:\Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2\Data\NWN2_VFX.zip

From the official documentation:

"Visual effects are composed of effect files, which are individual components of an effect (a particle system, a trail, a billboard, etc.), and SEF files, which point to the effect files and organize them into a more complex visual effect."

As I understand it, .sef files are what you create when you save a visual effect from the visual effects editor.

WMP

A .wmp file is created by the world map editor plugin.

Bloom

From the NWN2 Teakguides:

Bloom Effects: Bloom effects change the quality of the lighting to create a more saturated, richer and hazier looking game world. The screenshot comparison above demonstrates the difference between enabling or disabling this option in NWN2. If bloom is not to your taste, you can disable it to gain a few FPS, however aside from making the game world seem more vibrant, it also works to reduce the appearance of aliasing (jaggedness) at far less impact than enabling Antialiasing. Note that the more advanced HDR lighting can't be enabled in NWN2; even though there is a UseHDRIfAvailable setting it does not currently work.

Periodiko posted additional comments in this forum thread:

Technically speaking, if you crank bloom up then it will blur everything you see a little, but it will blur bright things far more than dark things. If you crank it really high it will create a dreamy sort of effect, where the bright lights are a little too bright and everything is a little blurry. If you turn it off then the area will seem darker and more sterile.

The main ways it's used in the Neverwinter Nights Toolset that I've seen is with the "hazy" effect. For example, the Githyanki house in the OC has the bloom cranked up really high so the whole area feels magical and dreamy. It is also cranked higher during daytime lighting settings to reproduce the haze of the sun. I think the default morning setting that you see first-thing when you don't adjust the time-settings has it running pretty strong.

ciViLiZed posted the following explanation of some of the settings:

BloomSceneIntensity (BSI) : Sets the overall brightness level of all lights. (With this, individual light intensity values in effect become relative rather than absolute.) As it brightens light, it will not brighten places where light does not reach. A setting of 0, eliminates all light except the highlights (see below). A negative value creates negative brightness which effectively darkens highlights. A BSI of 1, with other bloom settings set to 0, has the same effect as if bloom was disabled.

BloomHighlightThreshold (BHT): Sets the size and quantity of highlight hotspots. Models and tiles have defined zones (“hotspots”) where light causes highlights when it hits them. Different hotspots will be highlighted depending on the angle of the light (e.g. GroundLight vs SkyLight). A higher BHT value will result in bigger and more numerous hotspots. A negative value (regardless of the number) sets hotspots to their maximum. The minimum value at which hotspots appear seems to be about 0.5.

BloomHighlightIntensity (BHI): Sets the intensity of the highlights. Highlights will expand/flare more and more as the value is increased. A very high BHI value (e.g. 1000) with a low BHT (e.g. 0.5) will show clearly where the hotspots are located. Increasing BHI and BHT will eventually burn out the entire scene. A negative BHI value creates darker and darker highlights (eventually creating a negative effect if BSI is positive)

BloomBlurRadius (BBR): Multiplies each individual highlight and spreads these “clones” around the original, like petals of a flower in… bloom. (Original highlight size though seems to be reduced in this operation, making it seem that the highlight might be broken down and its pieces spread, rather than it being cloned.) A higher value increases the distance (i.e. radius) between the center of the original and the center of the clones/pieces. The clones/pieces are spread regularly in a flat grid pattern around the original highlight. Typically, 8 clones/pieces appear to be created. The angle of the flat grid remains perpendicular to the point of view, while the distance between the clones/pieces varies with viewing distance. BBR value is an absolute, so prefixing a negative has no impact. BBR, BHT and BHI combine to create a blur effect. Increasing the BBR up to a point where the additional highlights detach themselves from their model will result in a ghosting effect.

BloomGlowIntensity (BGI): No effect in interior areas. (In fact, the default interior DayNight stages settings have it set to 0.)

Ovocean added these also:

As I understand it, the bloom effect is a filter applied to each frame by the 3D card.
More precisely, it sorts of make a blured copy of the frame and mix it together with the original. (Consequently, dark parts of the frame spread around as much as bright parts (depending on the BHT). There is no direct link between light sources and the bloom effect.)
The toolset gives us some control over the blur filter and how the blured framed is mixed (I would say 'multiplied') with the original frame :

BloomSceneIntensity : Controls how much of the original frame will be in the final mix (= it's luminosity). Set to "0", you'll only see the blured copy of the frame. "1" stands for "luminosity 100%".

BloomBlurRadius : Defines the radius of the blur (how far colors are spread).
Actually, the blured frame is made by mixing a great number (47, if I can trust my sight) of copies of the original frame, arranged in a repeating pattern. The greater the shift of a particular copy, the more transparent it is. The BBR defines the shift between each copy.
If this is not clear to you, try setting the BSI to 0 and play with great values for the BBR.

BloomHighlightIntensity : Well, now, it looks like there is even one more filter put somewhere in the process. This filter controls the luminosity of the blured frame and the BHI is the main parameter of it : it's the global luminosity value (of the blured frame).

BloomHighlightThreshold : This second parameter sets the (color's) intensity threshold beyond wich the colors are affected by the BHI. I don't know what threshold corresponds to what intensity, but when a particular pixel's intensity is under the threshold, it's luminosity is set to 0.

Finally, here are the settings I use when I want a bloom effect wich slightly blends the colors without modifying the overall luminosity of the scene :
BSI = 0.8
BBR = 10
BHI = 0.25
BHT = 2

PS : I've seen no effect for the BloomGlowIntensity.

Check out the full thread here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=564969&forum=113

AmstradHero: Exterior Area Proofing Tips

AmstradHero has posted a great list of tips for proofing your areas over at the Vault. It's a good checklist of things to remember both before and after building your areas. He's got it posted as a very nice looking pdf, but I've duplicated it here as well (Rember to head over and give it a vote if you found it useful):

Here are a few guidelines for working with and improving your areas, whether prefab or not. It's useful to keep in mind as a sort of "final proof" of an area before finishing with it.

Terrain Tips:

Avoid Steep Edges

• Unless you have a specific need to do so, avoid having huge height differences over a short period. The textures will stretch vertically and will not look as good.
• This also applies to edges that are at a uniform incline over a large area. Breaking the slope up with a small flat section will improve its overall appearance dramatically.

Blend Textures

• Vary your opacity when laying down textures to get a blended edge unless there is a specific reason for not doing so.
• Paths don't immediately end in a sharp line, and dirt/grass should blend over the top of the edges in an uneven fashion.
• Don't blend too much, otherwise you'll lose definition in your texturing and the area will look too monotonous.
• Look at the minimap of your finished area – if there are large areas that repeat, blend.

Use The Colour Tool

• Use the colour tool to provide additional variance in your paths or grassy sections. Typically, use a colour that is similar to those of the nearby textures unless you are aiming for a specific look.
• Paint greens and browns over grassy/dirt sections, and use grey over mountain cliffs. Typically, gullies or depressions should be darker due to the implication that water would sit and make the ground damper and darker - though obviously this doesn't apply to deserts.
• Try using a little bit of brown and grey in "junction" areas that would see a lot of wear and tear.

Darken Terrain Underneath Placables

• A big way to improve the appearance of the terrain is to darken the area under and around placeables, typically with a grey brush. Keep the effect tight and focussed around the placeable.

Fix Your Walkmesh

• Do not leave your walkmesh at its default. Fix it so that rocky mountainous sections are not walkable, along with deep pools & lakes.
• Do use walkmesh cutters around your trees - this cannot be stressed strongly enough.
• Prefabs that have a good walkmesh are greatly appreciated by modders.

Placeable Tips:

Check Placeable Heights

• A beginner mistake that occurs lots is objects floating in the air. Just because a particular part of a placeable in sunk into the ground, it does not mean that part of it might still not be 'floating'. Make sure that this is not the case unless it makes sense for it to do so.

Use Height/Position Lock

• Double clicking on an object will cause it to raise up so its centre point is at the level of the terrain. Moving an object will also have the same result. Seeing as in many cases objects are "sunk" to provide a better effect, it is extremely annoying to have to reposition their height if this is done accidentally.
• Using the "Z" key to toggle height-locking on any selected objects, or the "*" key to lock their position entirely.
• Modders really appreciate this being done for prefabs, and it's a very good habit for builders to get into.

Convert Placeables to Environmental objects

• Any placeables in non-walkable areas of the map should be converted to environmental objects seeing as the player can never interact with them.
• Many placeables in walkable areas of the map should be converted to environmental objects as well. Any object the player is unlikely to interact with is a likely choice. Make sure you fix the walkmesh around them as described previously.

Sound Tips

Limit Non-Positional Sounds

• Carefully check the volume of any area wide-ambients - these should be used very sparingly, as a low volume is quite loud.

Adjust Intervals

• Non-looping sounds should have the "Random" & "Continuous" checkboxes ticked, but not looping.
• Increase the time between durations and also the interval variance.
• Make sure the sound will play only at appropriate times during the day/night.

Implement Variance

• Look at adjusting the volume and pitch variation on the sounds. Often a slightly softer sound with more variation can provide a more varied feel.
• Use positional variance. Remember that you can limit that positional variation to a single axis to focus a sound within a particular corridor, alleyway or gully.

Lighting Tips

Use Colour

• Don't use the default lt_white light. It's far too nondescript. Add some colour to your light, using warmer colours (yellow/orange) for a calming effect, or cooler colours (blue/green) to give a more ominous feel.
• Be careful not to use too much saturation unless you are aiming for a particular effect. For example, saturated green can give a sickly/diseased atmosphere, whereas bright red gives a hot and dangerous feel.

Tweak Your Day/Night Settings

• Pay attention to this for exterior areas. There are various lighting settings available on nwvault that might be useful. Take one of these and tweak.

Beware of Shadows

• Point lights will often have very heavy shadows. Set your shadow intensity to no more than about 0.4 in most cases.
• Lamp placeables will often need to have their shadow settings set to not cast shadows from point lights if you are using them with point lights.

Don't Overdo It

• Don't have too many lights close to each other. Look at their ranges and make sure you have no more than 3 or 4 lights overlapping at any given point.
• Shadow casting point lights are very resource intensive. Limit their use within an area.

Final Words

This is just a quick document to provide a few areas to focus on as the final touches for when producing an area – it's not intended to be a full area creation tutorial. I hope you find it useful to glance at before closing an area for the final time.

- AmstradHero aka Shadow Beast

Again, if you found this useful, make sure you head over to his Area Proofing Tips page on the Vault and give it a vote.

Anduraga's area building tips

One of my favorite builders when it comes to textures is Anduraga. He's given some great tips for the Waterdeep project and other projects over at the Weave. He recently posted a great list of tips for people looking to build good exterior areas. Here's his intro:

I find that many people find area building a very difficult task, and when they do make areas, they are often basic, because of the lack of tutorials, tips, etc. I can relate that to somewhat in a different department. Scripting isn’t really my strong suit, but I can manage to do the basics. But anyway, to the point of this post/thread. I have designed this thread to help new builders, adept builders and even master builders with tips and tricks of the trade. I haven’t checked out many of the tutorials on the vault (Shame on me, I know), so all this stuff I’m throwing out here now might already have been covered.

Check out his list of tips here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=578694&forum=113

DLA Tutorial: Exterior Area

BenWH over at DLA has posted a great tutorial on creating exterior areas in the DLA Toolset forums:

Trying out the NWN2 toolset for the first time? Here are the results of my explorations on building an exterior area, combined with the wisdom of several others…

Read the full tutorial here:
http://www.dladventures.net/vB/showthread.php?t=3791

FRW: Texturing a good grasslands area

Phoenixus posted a great tutorial on texturing a good grassland area. Check it out here:

http://nwcitadel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=858

Importing terrain with YATT

You can import terrain data into the toolset to help build exterior areas using YATT. From the YATT website: 

Yet Another Terrain Tool (YATT) is a plugin for the Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset allowing importing of terrain information (including heightmaps, colourmaps, texturemaps, etc) directly into the toolset. It does the importation of height, colour and texture data directly through the TRN stream, meaning it's reasonably nice and fast.

You can download the YATT plug-in form the vault. There's also a good tutorial on the vault for beginners by Laban. The YATT website also has a number of case studies and additional information.

One way that some builders generate terrain data is with L3DT. From the site:

L3DT is a Windows application for generating artificial terrain maps and textures. It is primarily intended for game developers seeking to make large high-quality 3D worlds (eg. for RTSs, MMORPGs, etc), as well as for digital artists who have designs for their landscapes and need a program to build them. 

Thanks to nicethugbert for point me in the direction of some of this (I read his sig on the forums). I've known about YATT for a while, but didn't have much luck with other mapping programs. L3DT seems to be more promising. Also check out NTB's Eroded Hills and Valleys, where he has posted some of the areas he generated with these two tools.

Layering textures and sounds

The layer with the highest percentage is the one that determines what sounds a creature makes when it walks on that area. Make sure you bake the area in order for the sounds to take effect.

NWN2 Mods: The Arena

Mike - aka Plane Walker, aka soulraven666 - over at NWN2 Mods has posted a step-by-step tutorial on creating a "roman Colosseum."

I thought I would detail the process I am going through in creating this Arena so this post is going to be an ongoing one that I continue to add to as I progress. Please feel free to reply with comments.

Head over to the NWN2 Mods forum and check it out:
http://www.nwn2mods.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21

NWN2 Toolset: Areas

NWNmaster over at nwn2toolset.com has a great set of tutorials for creating areas. His current list of topics include:

Create an area
Interiors
All about Terrain
Texturing
Tips for creating an Area
Grass
About Water
How to add a Start Location
Create a waterfall
Create door transitions
Day and Night Settings
Walkmesh
Baking

Head on over and check it out:
http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/ToolsetTuts/area.html

NWN2 Toolset: Bridges

NWNmaster over at nwn2toolset.com has a great tutorial for placing a bridge.

After seeing a few people having problems with placing bridges I thought I would give it a go and see what the fuss was about. First thing I did was to create two raised areas like so:

Head on over and check it out:
http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/ToolsetTuts/placeables/bridge.html

TerraCoppa: Copying and rotating areas

A great tool for making changes to your area is TerraCoppa, by Tani. The most obvious benefit of this tool is being able to rotate areas, so that north matches with north. Here is Tani's description:

TerraCoppa is a toolset plugin allowing you to copy and rotate parts of one (exterior) area to another, including:

- terrain (heightmap)
- tinting (colors)
- textures
- gras
- water
- objects (creatures, placeables, ...)

of course you could copy objects via toolset as well, but it lacks the ability to copy or rotate terrain (heightmap).

Go grab the tool here:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=25

Documentation is a bit light, but here is a quick rundown on how I got it to work:

1. Install the plug-in and restart the Toolset.
2. Back up your module!
3. Open your module and the area you want to rotate.
4. Create a new external area, of the same size.
5. Launch the plug-in from the Plug-ins menu.
6. Set the first area as the source and the new area as the destination.
7. Leave everything checked.
8. Look for the dropdown at the bottom of the screen and choose the amount you want to rotate the area. (90, 180, 270).
9. Click the green button and let it go.
10. Make sure you bake afterwards.

For additional reading, here is a thread on the forum talking about "North Direction" and rotating the area.
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=558621&forum=113

The walkmesh helper

The walkmesh helper is a tool created by Zarathustra217 and apparently quietly slipped into the 1.05 patch.

I came across this post by TheStoryteller01 asking about making creatures hover above terrain. Grinning Fool posted some really amazing looking screenshots that he created using the walkmesh helper.

The walkmesh helper is a tool on the vault by Zarathustra217. Here's the description:

This is a simple package intended to make a builder's life easier. It consists of simple squared invisible placeables with a walkable walkmesh. When scaled, the Walkmesh Helper objects are handy to use along with Walkmesh Cutters (found under trigger) to have more control of the walkmesh. This especially is evident when using a combination of placeables, like several bridges. Place the Walkmesh Helper just above the walkable plane of the placeables, scale it to properly cover the desired area, and cut away with Walkmesh Cutters as fit. You might get the best result by converting the placeables to environment objects, but it shouldn't be required.

It is intended to work as an override, and doesn't require that the end users of your module have this package in place. They will still experience the effect it has on the walkmesh without it installed.

Here's the link:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2HakpaksOriginal.Detail&id=27

Here's an additional tutorial on using this that Feargus Urquhart posted in the developer blog:
http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=2&showent...

As far as I can tell, the tool on the vault contains a flat plane and a ramp, while patch 1.05 adds two flat planes: a stone version and a wooden version (I'm guessing these are for the footfalls.)

Warning: At the time of this writing, putting the walkmesh helper files in your override seem to cause problems with the official walkmesh objects that came out in 1.05. Hopefully OEI will add the ramp objects soon.

For those of you looking to use it for those annoying house placeables that don't allow you to actually walk up the stairs, try the ramp with a scale of 2, 10, and 7. Getting in place can be a bit tricky, just because it is hard to see exactly where it is sitting. Try baking the area and viewing it with baked and surface mesh enabled and you should see a seamless yellow path onto the roof. I had pretty good results with house 1, but house 3 would only work if I created an additional plan on the roof.

jlf2n: Learning shading

jlf2n posted a great thread about how to reverse engineer methods for shading. In his post, shading refers to using the color brush to add shadows. You'll also see this sometimes refered to as "grayscaling." Here's his intro:

Being new to the NWN2 toolkit I set out in search of a tutorial to show me a terrain shadowing tricks. I couldn’t find any so I set to dissecting one of the areas that came with the main quest to see what I could see. The process I used was very helpful to me so I thought I would run through it here for you guys.

He goes on to walk you through opening an area from the OC, removing all the shading, and trying to recreate it. A great idea for learning how the people at Obsidian put some of the areas together.

Check out the thread on the nwcitade here:
http://nwcitadel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1158

Creating seamless areas

ScreminMemes and Miserere posted some great advice in the Toolset Q&A thread on the official forums on making seamless exterior areas:

Quote: Posted 10/13/06 02:03 (GMT) by ScreminMemes
The off limits area is there to create the illusion of seamlessness. All you need to to to make your areas seamless is copy one then move it to the side until the last two in-bounds rows from the original area are the first two out of bounds in the next area.

Quote: Posted 10/16/06 17:28 (GMT) by Terror2001
I've been looking for a way to copy sections of a map to create this seamless effect but have yet been unable to. I understand the copying of the map to a new map, but how do you select and move a group of tiles?

Don't try to copy sections of a map. Instead:
(1) Make a copy of the entire area (i.e. copy the area itself, not the terrain and stuff in it). Just select the area in the area list, right-click, and select copy.

(2) Identify the edge you want to carry over (let's say it's the North edge of the original area, so you want to preserve the *North* edge of the new area as well).

(3) Select and delete all objects that do not fall within the 4 tiles along the edge you are preserving (otherwise all those objects will collapse to the new edge when you do the next steps, which will screw up the areas you want to preserve). So in our example we delete all objects that are not within 4 tiles of the *North* edge of the new area.

(4) Use the Resize option (I think it's in the Edit menu, but I don't have the toolset in front of me right now) and reduce the size of the edge *opposite* the one you are preserving until you have only 6 tiles in width, total (4 of which will be off limit areas). The 2 off-limit areas from the other area will now be the walkable areas of the new area. In our example, we would remove most of the tiles on the *South* edge of the new area.

(5) Use the Resize option again to increase the size of the area back to what you want it to be, this time on the other edge. Now you have extended out the walkable area in the other direction and can build it up however you want. So, in our example we would add several tiles to the *North* edge. Et voila.

Think of the process as kind of inch-worming your way from area to area. You move to a new area (by making a copy), contract the area to eliminate the parts you are leaving behind, and then extending again in the direction you are moving. Does that make sense, or do I sound like I'm on crack?

Anyway, hope that helps. I've tried this and it works like a champ. Where this method falls apart is if you try to create four areas arranged in a square pattern, since the fourth area you make will only be able to "inherit" the edge of one of its two adjoining areas, not both. That's where you'd have to do some fudging.
_________________
Miserere
Project Lead (Retired)
Tales of the Pendragon (Defunct)

You can find the conversaion here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=502381&forum=1...

DLA Tutorial: Interior Area

BenWH over at DLA has posted a great tutorial on creating an interior area in the Toolset forums as a follow-up to his exterior area tutorial:

http://www.dladventures.net/vB/showthread.php?t=5016

Kivinen: module debug tools

Kivinen has some great tools for working the the toolset on his site here:

http://www.kivinen.iki.fi/nwn/

check-module

One of the best tools for debuging your module is his check module tool, which can be downloaded here:

http://www.kivinen.iki.fi/nwn/exe/check-module.exe

You can find the documentation here:

http://www.kivinen.iki.fi/nwn/docs/check-module.html

Some have suggested you will actually need to save the module out to a directory.

update-ifo

After you find errors, you can try fixing them with his update-ifo tool:

http://www.kivinen.iki.fi/nwn/exe/update-ifo.exe

Here's the documentation:

http://www.kivinen.iki.fi/nwn/docs/update-ifo.html

He also has perl versions of everything, if you want more up to date options, but I've included the exe files since that's what most people will probably be grabbing.

Companions

Gnorian asked for help making companions in this thread and Dorateen came up with the following reply:

Credit to Celestian the Good:

Making a companion, step by step.

First create your companion NPC. I made a fighter/wizardlevel 1/1 and called him Melf the Elf. His Tagname is "melf" and his resref/template was gh_henchman_melf01.

Load up this new NPCs properties and select import properties->script set and load up "c_CompanionScripts.xml". If you do not have this file you can create it by loading the properties of one of the official campaings companions and selecting export properties->script set and save as "c_CompanionScripts.xml".

Next create a conversation.

Right click the root section, select add and for the text just say "Would you like a new companion"?
right click the line you just created and click add and for the text use "Yes, please join my group.".

Now, find and click the "Actions" tab below and add the following global action scripts:

ga_roster_add_object
ga_roster_selectable
ga_roster_party_add
ga_reset_level

Once you have all the scripts added and in the order above click "refresh" for each script to see the variable options. Once you see those enter in the following values:

ga_roster_add_object sRosterName:melf sTarget:melf
ga_roster_selectable sRosterName:melf bSelectable:1
ga_roster_party_add sRosterName:melf
ga_reset_level sCreature:melf bUseXPMods:1

Replace "melf" with whatever tag you used for your companion.

Save the conversation and then add it to your new companions conversation (under properties).

Place the NPC somewhere in your module and go talk to him. Hit the "yes" response and he should be your new best friend!

Further down, ByblosHex adds this advice:

Note that the NPC's tag must be 10 or less characters for these scripts.

Continue further in the thread for a discussion about how to structure companion conversations. I'll try to pull all of these elements together in a more coherent form at some point.

Check out the full thread:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=537485&forum=113

NWN2 Character Builder

lancerlot_30v recently posted a great new site with a robust character builder tool called the NWN2 Character Builder. Check it out at http://nwn2db.com. It's great for those times when you are in the toolset and can't remember what feats an NPC should have.

See the full forum thread announcement.

Thanks to BeyondthePale for posting this to the nwvault front page.

NWN2 Toolset: Creatures

NWNmaster over at nwn2toolset.com has a great set of tutorials for working with creatures and encounters. His current list of topics include: Create an NPC Adjust Creatures Inventory How to setup Generic Encounters How to setup Custom Encounters Head on over and check it out:

http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/ToolsetTuts/blueprints/creatures/creatures.html

Persistent Zombie

This is a quick to tutorial I posted to the Vault while exploring creatures and scripting in the toolset. It will show you how to:

• Create a custom creature
• Create custom items
• Change properties on creatures and items
• Edit a script for a creature.

Specifically we will create a new zombie that has the properties of a troll. Our zombie will regenerate and can only be killed by fire or acid, but we'll make a few adjustments to the script.

You can view it from the vault here:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Tutorials.Detail&id=37

Why is everyone injured?

Patch 1.04 is apparently responsible for making all the NPCs standing around the module injured. It has something to do with current hit points versus max hit points. Here's a thread talking about it:

http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=561730&forum=1...

Reports suggest that this only affects previously created module. New modules don't seem to suffer from this bug.

A suggested fix was to manually look at the characters' current and max hit points in the Toolset.

Containers

Don't forget that containers (chests, dressers, long dead corpses to loot, etc.) should have the following flag set under the behavior section of the properties window:

Has Inventory?: TRUE
Static: FALSE
Useable?: TRUE

If you want dynamic treasure, make sure you define a treasure script for the On Death and On Open events. One option, gp_treasure_op_de, is documented here: http://www.wendersnaven.com/node/65

Leaving the faction to hostile will allow players to bash the object without any real repercussions. In NWN1, setting the faction to a neutral faction would cause any nearby members of that faction to attack the PC if certain events were triggered. If I recall, these were On Death and On Disturbed. I'm unsure what events trigger reactions in NWN2, but they are probably the same.

Converting to Environmental

Converting placeables to environmental objects reduces the size of areas. I think it also increases performance for players. Environmental objects do not cut into the walkmesh, meaning that players will be able to walk right through them. Sometimes this is not an issue, such as when they are out of the walkmesh anyway, but otherwise you will want to use the walkmesh cutter trigger to keep players from walking through your objects.

DLA Tutorial: Effects

BenWH over at DLA has posted another great tutorial for the nwn2 Toolset. This time he takes on the effects editor.

Well, this is actually a plug in, but it comes included with the toolset, so I've placed it here with the tutorials.

We're going to create just one effect to get started, but because I am far from being a dab hand with this editor, you can then use this experience to get comfortable with it:

Read the full tutorial:
http://www.dladventures.net/vB/showthread.php?t=3843

nwn2toolset: Visual Effects Plugin Tutorial

There's a good tutorial on nwn2toolset.com on using the visual effects editor, where he takes you though the process of making a snow effect.

Check it out here:
http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/ToolsetTuts/plugin/visualeffects.html

pfx/bbx/sef

Pfx get generated by the effects editor and should be saved in your campaign's individual folder inside the campaign folder.

For example:
C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\Campaigns\\effect1.pfx

More from LysanderReturns at http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=520330&forum=1...

"The pfx/bbx/sef files associated with your custom vfx can go into a custom campaign folder, ie a new campaign. The /campaigns folder is for holding /campaigns/[individualcampaign] folders.

ie: campaigns/Purgatorio/customvfx.sef would make the customvfx.sef accessible for any modules associated with the Purgatorio campaign (using the campaign editor).

The .sef can also go into a hak. It will also work in override.

Finally, there is Dev post around here somewhere that says you can put them in the temp module folder and they will get saved into the module.

-Monty"

Currently, the suggested way to add a sef file to a module at the time of play is to place it in the override directory. The next patch is supposed to address some issues hak files.

nwn2toolset: lighting tutorial

Nwn2toolset posted this great tutorial on using lights by Geethree. It covers shadows, lerp and some other great items that you might have missed on your first pass through the lighting options.

Check it out here:
http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/ToolsetTuts/blueprints/lights/light.html

Issues with stores in patch 1.05

GodBeastX, Ash Darkwood and others recently reported a problem with patch 1.05 where you can no longer  set the buy and sell list of item types for stores. Apparently this worked fine in 1.05 beta, but now throws an exception and makes it impossible to set up these lists in 1.05 final.

The bug was reported and acknowledged by Rob McGinnis, Obsidian Community Coordinator.

Check out the thread here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=560804&forum=113&sp=0

Machinations: Conversation Tutorial

BetterThanLife over at Machinations.org has posted a tutorial on conversations. This tutorial teaches you how to implement conversations, and then goes into some of the more advanced details of creating different types of dialog conversations. The included module, gives three distinctly different examples. An explanation of the use of 'static cameras' is also given and shows how they aren't as 'static' as many think.

Download the zip file with a pdf and example module here: http://www.machinations.org/NeverwinterNights2/ConversationTutorial.zip

(Thanks to Usheen for pointing out the new, working link.)  

NWN2Toolset: Conversation Tutorial

NWN2 Toolset has a great section on conversations.

You can find it here:
http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/ToolsetTuts/conversations.html

Cutscenes, multiplayer and OnClientEnter

Kid Gloves asked a great question on the official forums about cutscenes and multiplayer. Nimdolf gave this answer:

Well after playing the OC with my friend online, it works like this. Whoever triggers the cutscene gets to control it, pick what to say, etc. and all of the other players see the cutscene also and what choices you choose. If you join the game midway through a cutscene however you must wait until it is over to do anything.

Check out the thread:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=521668&forum=114

jackyo123: Cutscene Tutorial

jackyo123 posted a cutscene tutorial here:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Tutorials.Detail&id=65

This tutorial document (in rtf format, for those who hate MS-Word) and associated .MOD file walk a basic toolset user through their first cutscene, with animations, movement, etc.

It explains:

- Triggering cutscenes
- Setting up cutscenes that the Player isn't part of (NPC to NPC)
- Camera controls
- Animations
- Basic use of included scripts
- Some snags that you can avoid, that are associated with Cutscene creation

There is *no* scripting in this tutorial, and no scripting knowledge is required. But you should have a basic familiarity with the Toolset.

nwn2toolset: How to make cutscenes

NWN2 Toolset has this tutorial, which might help those trying to figure out cutscenes: How to make cut scenes by Montgomery Markland of Rogue Dao Studios.

An overview of setting up a cinematic-style cutscene conversation

What you will need:

1) A conversation
2) A blocking script
3) A way to begin your cutscene (either a speak trigger, an on_client_enter script or something else)
4) Plus the area, npcs etc., etc., etc.

Check it out here:
http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/ToolsetTuts/blueprints/staticcams/cutscenes.html

Static Camera Orientation

UPDATE: Patch 1.07 and MotB changed the way you interact with the camera. Now you just hold down the right mouse button and you can control both turn the camera and control the pitch. 

Kephisto posted a great set of instructions in the Toolset forum concerning the camera:

Holding down the control and shift keys then right dragging should roll the camera while holding down alt and shift with right clicking will pitch the static camera up and down.

You can rotate it towards the left and right like other objects as well. To raise and lower it hold down the alt button while moving them. All together you can put it in just about any position and angle you want.

If there are any problems it could be, just guessing, that your keyboard shift and alt and control keys may have a different configuration, but in general play around with those three keys when the static camera is selected and you'll discover a feel for it.

In case you may be wondering, I've already placed many static cameras behind NPCs, across treetops and roofs, angled upwards from the ground, and even upside down viewing a monster.

When you're ready to have even more fun, Inder, right click on the static camera and select properties in new window - which, believe it or not, will bring up another properties window of which you can select view and actually see exactly what the camera does, in real time.

From there it is a matter of selecting a line of a conversation and selecting that static camera. Overall, I hope you enjoy using them.

And further down:

Each line in a conversation, whether spoken by the player or the NPC, has its own properties. For example, please highlight any line in a conversation and look at the bottom left, which should have the four tabs : Conditions, Actions, Node, Animations.

While you have a line in your conversation highlighted (selected) please click on the bottom tab named Node. In the Node panel that comes up in the bottom left should be a wondrous amount of options, divided into three main categories : Behavior, Camera Settings, and Line. Click the left (plus) sign of the Camera Settings category.

Now you should see many options for the Camera Settings, for that one specific line of conversation alone. You are now able to set if you want the camera settings to be random or want the Movement Type to be None, Pan, or Track, or even if you want that line of conversation to use any of your Static Cameras or even if you want the visual shot to be a Close Up, Walk-by, Medium, Over the Shoulder, or even more.

Even without using a static camera, just about all the above options (and more) are still available. So if you want to have a specific part of a conversation have a certain look to it, you can merely select a specific option and leave it at that.

When using Static Cameras all that is needed is to place the desired static camera’s tag in the Static Camera field, which is listed in the Camera Settings of the Node panel. There is probably a better way to say all this but I hope at least this information helps.

And a follow-up by LysanderReturns:

Perfect summation Kephisto. Just to add one last step, you need to set the mode field on the node to "static camera" if you want to use a static cam or "user defined" if you want to choose one of the preset cams (like worms eye or walk by or whatnot).

Check it out: http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=514512&forum=113

The invisible cameraman

You can use an invisible cameraman to control where the camera is facing and make the static cameras pan and track to follow the action.

Creating your cameraman

First create your invisible cameraman. Go to blueprints > creatures > special to find the "Attach Spell Node" creature. Place him in the area and give him the following attributes:

1. First create your invisible cameraman. Go to blueprints > creatures > special to find the "Attach Spell Node" creature. Right click and choose "Copy Blueprint" > "Module" to create a module level blueprint.
2. Change the new creature blueprint's identification fields to "c_cameraman." The full list would be:
   • Comment: {c_cameraman}
   • Template Resref: c_cameraman
   • Resource Name: c_cameraman
   • Localized Description: leave blank
   • Tag: c_cameraman
   • First Name: {c_cameraman}
3. Make the creature a plot element by changing "Plot" to "True." This is just in case he gets stuck in a fireball or something, so that he won't start attacking the party.
4. Place the creature in the area. (You can also spawn him in later via a script using CreateObject(). This would also allow you to change his tag.)
5. Give the placed creature object a unique tag. If you are following campaign naming conventions, this might be in the form of "c_" + area_id + "_cameraman". If you have serveral cameramen in one place, consider using and "A," "B," or "C" at the end.
6. Consider giving the placed creature object a name in brackets so you can easily find him in the toolset. You may want to use the tag as the localize name so it is easy to locate him in the creature list.

Using your cameraman in a conversation

Now you can select the cameraman via GetObjectByTag() in a conversation switch. This will allow you to move him around using AssignCommand() calls.

Place a static camera in the area and give it a unique tag. To get the camera to follow him we will use the Node tab on the conversation nodes. To do this open your conversation and go to the node you want perform a moving camera effect on. Follow these steps:

1. Under the camera settings expandable field, click in the "StaticCamera" field to get a dropdown. Use this to find your camera and choose it. You can also just paste in the tag for your camera.
2. Set the "Mode" field to "Static Camera"
3. Go down under the "Line" section and set the speaker to be the tag of your cameraman. Note that this is the tag of your placed creature object, not your blueprint.
4. Finally, go back up under the "StaticCamera" section and we will set the "MovementType." There are three types to choose from.
   • None - The camera will not focus on the speaker for the duration of the conversation node, but will alsi not move. Good to use if you want an establishing shot that doesn't focus on the speaker.
   • Pan - The camera will swivel left or right to follow the speaker. It will also pitch up and down. This is a nice way to follow the action from a static point. You should note, however, that the camera will level out to the horizon when you choose this, meaning that any custom orientation you gave the camera when you placed it (such as having the camera on an angle) will be lost.
   • Track - The camera will change position to follow the creature. Custom orientations seem to be kept with this option, but I have not played with this one as much. I'll follow up once I have more information.

References

Thanks to Deist who suggested the use of the Attach Spell Node creature. Originally I was trying to use the ScriptHidden flag, but found that the camera does not follow the creature if this is on.

Check out the full thread:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=535548&forum=113

Campaign variables

These get get saved to the Bioware Database, which is included in NWN2. They can be accessed via the SetCampaign* and GetCampaign* functions. This is a physical write to the hard drive, and can bog down servers if there are a lot of requests happening at once.

It is worth noting that variable names cannot be longer than 32 characters, or the setting of the variable will fail.

A good system for managing campaign variables is Knat's NBDE.

Globals

Globals get saved to a globals.xml file that gets placed in your save game directory when you save the game. You can set and get global variables with the SetGlobal* and GetGlobal* functions.

These variables exist at a level similar to the campaign folder, meaning they exist in the context of a saved game and can cross from one module to another. They are not physically written to the xml file until a save happens, however.

A good way to check that your variables are getting saved correctly is to save the game an open the file.

One important thing to note is that global variable names can have spaces, but they cannot be more than 32 characters long.

Conversation Switch

Use this template when you are creating a script that will control actions during a conversation. Pass the variable nAction from the conversation to tell the script which case you want to perform. For instance, pass 100 as the nAction argument to execute the code for case 100.

If you need more information on what a case statement is, see the Wikipedia entry on case statements.

A common way to control the action in conversation switches is with ActionPauseCutscene() and AssignCutsceneActionToObject(). A cut scene action is an action that has a special flag that tells the pause function to resume once the action has been complete. An example from the OC would is:

ActionPauseCutscene(1000, FALSE);
AssignCutsceneActionToObject(oRegulator, ActionWait(1.0f));

This example uses a regulator because the example it comes from (a romance script in module 3500) needed to keep both speakers available for other actions. For best results, a regulator is an Ipoint speaker, which can be found under Blueprints > Placeables > Misc Props. I found that removing the heartbeat from the Ipoint and also using it as the speaker is a good way to make sure that you don't run into conflicting action assignments.

Once you have the pauses set and you static cameras place on your converations nodes, you can add custom functions in the case that will control the movement of other characters. For instance, in the following example you can see that there are a number of custom functions that are included in the file that get referenced.

		case 6:
			ActionPauseCutscene(15000, FALSE);
			AssignCutsceneActionToObject(oRegulator, ActionWait(15.0f));
			MoveCameraman1Again();
			PlayRomanceStinger();
			MovePC();
			DelayCommand(11.0f, FadeOut());
			break;	

and further down:

void MoveCameraman1Again()
{
	object oCameraman = GetTarget("3501_cameraman1");
	object oWP = GetTarget("3501_wp_camerman2");
	
	AssignCommand(oCameraman, ClearAllActions(TRUE));
	DelayCommand(1.0f, AssignCommand(oCameraman, ActionForceMoveToObject(oWP, FALSE)));
}

Note that I usually use GetNearestObjectByTag instead of GetTarget, but that's just because I'm not sure what GetTarget really does.

Obviously you can go pretty crazy with this. Here is the base code from the template for reference:

// 
/*
    master script for conversation X
*/
// 

#include "ginc_actions"


void main(int nAction)
{
    object oPC = GetPCSpeaker();

    switch ( nAction )
    {

        case 100:	//
			break;

        case 200:	//
			break;

        case 300:	//
			break;

        case 400:	//
			break;

        case 500:	//
			break;
    }

}

Area OnClientEnter Cutscene

The onClientEnter cut scene script is a great way to start a cut scene conversation. Create either an Ipoint with a new tag or use a creature as the main speaker. Also create a conversation. Then plug these two into number three (below).

The condition to play and the additional cutscene scripting are great places to use variables, either on the module or campaign level, to control whether the cut scene should fire. For instance, if you set a quest tracking variable called "sidequest2" to be 10 when the party got the quest, and you wanted to test for condition sidequest2 == 10, you'd place that in step two below. Then in the additional cut scene scripting you'd update the quest tracking variable to 20 so that the game knew not to play this cutscene again.

// Area OnClientEnter Cutscene.nss
/*
	Area OnClientEnter event handler template. Setup cutscene(s) to fire when the party enters a new area.
	This script will execute after a group area transition using JumpPartyToArea().
	bCutsceneCondition will determine if a cutscene should play, but each cutscene is restricted to play only once.
	
	HOW TO SETUP A CUTSCENE:
		0. Copy and paste script block into "CLIENT ENTER CUTSCENES"
		1. Specify a title for your cutscene
		2. Replace (FALSE) with condition to play cutscene
		3. Specify Speaker and Dialog of conversation
		4. Add additional cutscene scripting
	
		// Cutscene: 1. Example Title
		if (GetIsCutscenePending(stCI) == FALSE)
		{
			bCutsceneCondition = (FALSE);	// 2. Replace (FALSE) with condition to play
			sSpeakerTag = "";				// 3. Specify Speaker and Dialog
			sDialogName = "";

			stCI = SetupCutsceneInfo(stCI, sSpeakerTag, oPC, sDialogName, bCutsceneCondition);	

			if (GetIsCutscenePending(stCI) == TRUE)	
			{
				// 4. Additional cutscene setup
			}
		}
*/
// BMA-OEI 2/3/06
// BMA-OEI 2/7/06 added speaker == PC check
// ChazM 2/7/06 modified implementation
// ChazM 2/7/06 moved funcs to ginc_cutscene
// BMA-OEI 2/7/06 support multiple cutscenes
// BMA-OEI 2/7/06 revert original controlled char
// BMA-OEI 2/8/06 added comments, Group Area Transition restriction

#include "ginc_cutscene"

int StartingConditional()
{
	// Do not execute if OnClientEnter was not fired from a group area transition
	if (FiredFromPartyTransition() == FALSE) return (FALSE);

	// Get party leader, force control of owned PC
	object oPC = GetFirstEnteringPC();
	object oLeader = GetFactionLeader(oPC);
	oPC = SetOwnersControlledCompanion(oLeader);

	// Initialize temp CutsceneInfo
	struct CutsceneInfo stCI;
	stCI = ResetCutsceneInfo(stCI);
	int bCutsceneCondition;
	string sSpeakerTag;
	string sDialogName;

	// *** START CLIENT ENTER CUTSCENES ***

		// Cutscene: 1. Example Title
		if (GetIsCutscenePending(stCI) == FALSE)
		{
			bCutsceneCondition = (FALSE);	// 2. Replace (FALSE) with condition to play
			sSpeakerTag = "";				// 3. Specify Speaker and Dialog
			sDialogName = "";
	
			stCI = SetupCutsceneInfo(stCI, sSpeakerTag, oPC, sDialogName, bCutsceneCondition);	
	
			if (GetIsCutscenePending(stCI) == TRUE)	
			{
				// 4. Additional cutscene setup
			}
		}
	
	// *** END CLIENT ENTER CUTSCENES ***

	// Cue cutscene or revert control to original character
	if (GetIsCutscenePending(stCI) == TRUE)
	{	
		FireAndForgetConversation(stCI.oSpeaker, oPC, stCI.sDialog);
	}	
	else
	{
		SetOwnersControlledCompanion(oPC, oLeader);
	}

	// If cutscene is pending, fade to black
	return GetIsCutscenePending(stCI);
}

Adjusting Characters when they enter a module

A common task that can be more confusing that it should be is adjusting the level, equipment or gold of a character when entering a module. A solid understanding of what scripts are called when the PC enters is a good place to start. Much of this information is taken from this post: http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=528278&forum=1...

What happens when a PC enters a module

When a PC logins in, the first events to fire are the OnAcquireItem and OnPlayerEquipItem events. At that point, the PC object exists and can have inventory. But it has no location.

Then OnClientEnter fires. The PC object is complete, but still has no location. (the lack of location is what causes most scripting issues)
Once the PC has been assigned an area, OnPCLoaded is called.

Then OnEnter and OnClientEnter are called for the area the PC ends up in. (OnEnter is called for all creatures entering an area - including NPC right after onModuleLoad, OnClientEnter is just for PCs)

A trigger would be called last.

Transitioning between modules in a campaign

One more thing I noticed: when you transition to a new module in a campaign (StartNewModule and LoadNewModule), OnPCLoaded is not called. OnClientEnter is called, and so are the area's OnEnter and OnClientEnter. (onClientLeave is also not called)

OnPCLoaded is called when a PC logs out and back in.

Adjusting the new characters

The best way I've found to adjust a new PC is to use an OnClientEnter Script. Go to View > Module Properties to get to the Module Properties window. Under the Scripts heading, look for the On Client Enter Script.

The following script is an example that checks to see if this is the first time the PC has entered the current campaign, removes all inventory, then sets the XP and gold for a level 3 character.

// example_oncliententer
/*
	Description:
	Onclient enter to call
	Also has additional functions to set up first time
	entry scripts for the pc.
	FRW xp and gold guidelines:
	Level 	XP		Gold
	2nd 		1,000	450
	3rd 		3,000	1,350
	4th 		6,000	2,700
	5th		10,000	4,500
	6th 		15,000	6,500
	7th 		21,000	9,500
	8th 		28,000	13,500
	9th 		36,000	18,000
	10th 		45,000	24,500
	11th 		55,000	33,000
	12th 		66,000	44,000
	13th 		78,000	55,000
	14th 		91,000	75,000
	15th 		105,000	100,000
	16th 		120,000	130,000
	17th 		136,000	170,000
	18th 		153,000	220,000
	19th 		171,000	290,000
	20th 		190,000	380,000
*/
// Vendalus Nov 15, 2008

// Removes all items from the players inventory
void RemoveAllItems( object oPC )
{
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_ARMS, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_ARROWS, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_BELT, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_BOLTS, oPC));
 	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_BOOTS, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_BULLETS, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_CARMOUR, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_CHEST, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_CLOAK, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_CWEAPON_B, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_CWEAPON_L, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_CWEAPON_R, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_HEAD, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_LEFTHAND, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_LEFTRING, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_NECK, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_RIGHTHAND, oPC));
	DestroyObject(GetItemInSlot(INVENTORY_SLOT_RIGHTRING, oPC));

	object oItem = GetFirstItemInInventory();
	while( GetIsObjectValid(oItem) ){
		DestroyObject(oItem);
		oItem = GetNextItemInInventory();
	}

}

// Checks to see if this player has already entered the campaign for the first time
int GetHasEnteredThisCampaign( object oPC )
{
	return GetGlobalInt("ENTERED_"+GetName(oPC));
}

// Notes that this player entered the module for the first time
void SetHasEnteredThisCampaign( object oPC )
{
	SetGlobalInt("ENTERED_"+GetName(oPC), TRUE);
}

// Gives some starting gold
void GiveStartingGold( object oPC, int nAmount )
{
	int nGold = GetGold(oPC);
	TakeGoldFromCreature(nGold, oPC, TRUE);
	GiveGoldToCreature(oPC, nAmount);
}

void main()
{

	// get our entering player
	object oPC = GetEnteringObject();

	// Only run if this is a pc who is entering for the first time
	// and who is not a DM.
	if( GetIsPC(oPC) && !GetHasEnteredThisCampaign(oPC) && !GetIsDM(oPC)){

		// Note that this pc has entered for the first time
		SetHasEnteredThisCampaign(oPC);
		
		// Remove all items from the entering player
 		RemoveAllItems(oPC);
	
		// Give them some starting gold for level 3
		GiveStartingGold(oPC, 1350);

		// Adjust to level 3
		SetXP(oPC, 3000);

	}
	
}

Obviously in a case like this, you'd want to present the character with a store immediately. Note also that there is a chart at the top of the script showing the XP and total gold guidelines per level as outlined by the Forgotten Realms Weave.

What happens when a PC leaves the module

Similarly, when the PC logs out OnClientLeave gets called. At that time, the client information is no longer associated with the object, just the physical characteristics. (which is another scripting issue) Then OnExit for the area is called (unless the PC logs out dead, then it is not called). Usually, there is nothing to do here and there have been some reports of this not firing correctly all the time.

Ambient Animations

A good place to start with general animations is the switches page here:

http://wendersnaven.com/node/43

The short answer is that you can set the following variables on a creature:

Ambient Animations
X2_L_SPAWN_USE_AMBIENT = 1

Immobile Animations
X2_L_SPAWN_USE_AMBIENT_IMMOBILE

With no waypoints, "X2_L_SPAWN_USE_AMBIENT" includes the familiar wandering around near their spawn point and doing some basic interactions with other NPCs. "X2_L_SPAWN_USE_AMBIENT_IMMOBILE" causes them to do the same interactions (waving, force talking, etc.), but they stay in one place. They will turn to face other NPCs, however.

There are a few waypoints that cause additional behaviors. From x0_i0_amins:

Creatures will move randomly between objects in their
area that have the tag "NW_STOP". (I think there is a % chance of them doing this or the standard wander around.)

UPDATE:  After some testing, it appears the behavior in the next two paragraphs does not work. Generally speaking, waypoints across areas don't work at all in NWN2. They tended to be inconsistent in NWN1, also. Begin incorrect documentation:

 Creatures who are spawned in an area with the "NW_HOME" tag
 will mark that area as their home, leave during the day,
 and return at night.
 
 Creatures who are spawned in an outdoor area (for instance,
 in city streets) will go inside areas that have one of the
 interior waypoints (NW_TAVERN, NW_SHOP), if those areas
 are connected by an unlocked door. They will come back out
 as well.

End incorrect documentation. 

There is a good conversation about ambient animations scripts happening here:

http://nwcitadel.forgottenrealmsweave.org/showthread.php?t=1184

Changing area music with a trigger

qwertyuiop666 asked a question about how one would go about changing the background music in an area when a player walks over a trigger. Here's his question:

I would like to have the music change when the player walks down a path. I am assuming that the best option is to do it from a generic ground trigger to change the music playing when I step on it? I managed to make a trigger that stops the current song. That was easy. I made the ground trigger and then in the "On Enter Script" I just used the "ga_music_stop" script from the drop down.

Shaughn78 and Melirinda were kind enough to give some helpful suggestions. Here is the script that Shaughn78 eventually posted with some minor tweaks for readaiblity:

void main()
{
	object oEnter = entering object;
	object oArea = GetArea(oEnter);
	int nMusic = GetLocalInt (OBJECT_SELF,"music");
	int nDefault = GetLocalInt (OBJECT_SELF,"default");
	int nCurrent = Get Current Music;
	int nOnce = GetLocalInt (OBJECT_SELF,"once");
	if(!GetIsPC(oEnter)) 
	{
		return;
	}
	if (nOnce == 0)
	{
		SetLocalInt (OBJECT_SELF,"once",1);
		SetLocalInt (OBJECT_SELF,"default",nCurrent);
	}
	if(nCurrent != nMusic)
	{
		MusicBackgroundChangeDay(oArea, nMusic);
	}
	else
	{
		MusicBackgroundChangeDay(oArea, nDefault);
	}
}

See the full thread here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=645938&forum=114

Death and Respawn

UPDATE: Kaldor Silverwand recently posted a good walkthrough on how to use the death and bleeding scripts from SoZ on the official forums. If you've got that installed, it might be a nice reference.

There are a number of options out there for dealing with death, but when dealing with respawn, there is one very important thing to know:

The death and respawn event scripts never on Respawn fire when you use the GUI_DEFAULT_DEATH_SCREEN with DisplayGuiScreen. This is the call for nwn_o0_death, the default script for death events.

Both nwn_o0_death and nwn_o0_respawn contain respawn code, but the gui actually uses a callback script named gui_death_respawn. Opening this file through the File > Open script/conversation menu, you'll see that the default death script is:

// gui_death_respawn.nss
/*
    Death GUI 'Respawn' callback: wake up groggy
*/
// BMA-OEI 6/29/06


#include "ginc_death"


void main()
{
    // Resurrect PC
    object oPC = OBJECT_SELF;
    WakeUpCreature( oPC );
    RemoveDeathScreens( oPC );
    
    // Apply Groggy penalty
    effect eGroggy = EffectDazed();
    //eGroggy = EffectLinkEffects( EffectSlow(), eGroggy );    
    ApplyEffectToObject( DURATION_TYPE_TEMPORARY, eGroggy, oPC, RoundsToSeconds( 2 ) );    
} 

This results in the character standing up right where the died. Generally, it is better to send them to a safe place, such as a standard waypoint with the tag "NW_DEATH_TEMPLE".

For example, here is how Lordniah did his respawn callback script in the FRW base module.

// gui_death_respawn.nss
/*
    Death GUI 'Respawn' callback: wake up groggy
*/
// BMA-OEI 6/29/06


#include "ginc_death"


void main()
{
    // Resurrect PC
    object oPC = OBJECT_SELF;
    WakeUpCreature( oPC );
    RemoveDeathScreens( oPC );
    
    // Apply Groggy penalty
    effect eGroggy = EffectDazed();
    //eGroggy = EffectLinkEffects( EffectSlow(), eGroggy );    
    ApplyEffectToObject( DURATION_TYPE_TEMPORARY, eGroggy, oPC, RoundsToSeconds( 2 ) );    
    
    
    //Jump respawner to temple waypoint if it exists
    object oTemple = GetObjectByTag("NW_DEATH_TEMPLE");
    
    if(GetIsObjectValid(oTemple))
    {
        ClearAllActions(TRUE);
        ActionJumpToLocation(GetLocation(oTemple));
    
    }
    
} 

Thanks to Lordniah for putting that comment in his k_module_respawn script that it never fires. Hopefully this info will help someone else out there.

GetGoldPieceValue()

Thanks to cdaulepp and loudent2 for pointing this one out:

When you are using GetGoldPieceValue() on an item to get the value, if the item is not identified the function will return 1.

See the full post here:

GetGoldPieceValue() Does it work correctly?

Lugoun's Find and replace a word in a string

Lugoun posted this handy script in the Helpful Scripts thread in the official forums. It allows you to do a find and replace on a string. Just pass in the text you want to perform the find and replace on, the string to find and the string you want to replace it with. His script is below and I've added comments.

// Returns a string based on sStartString where sCurrentWord is replaced by sNewWord 
string FindReplaceSubString(string sStartString, string sCurrentWord, string sNewWord)
{
	int nLength = GetStringLength(sStartString);
	int nCurrSubLoc = FindSubString(sStartString, sCurrentWord);
	string sLeftSide = GetStringLeft(sStartString, nCurrSubLoc);
	int nCurrentLength = GetStringLength(sCurrentWord);
	int nLeftSideLength = nCurrSubLoc + nCurrentLength;
	int nRightSideLength = nLength - nLeftSideLength;
	string sRightSide = GetStringRight(sStartString, nRightSideLength);
	string sNewString = sLeftSide + sNewWord + sRightSide;
	return sNewString;
}

So for instance, you can do a call like this:

string sStartString = "the quick brown fox is quick";
string sNewString = FindReplaceSubString(sStartString, "quick", "slow");

Which would assign sNewString a value of "the slow brown fox is slow".

Making a creature lay down

You can make a creature lay down by placing the following two commands on a dialog node:

ga_play_ca_snd with the sAnim set to "laydownB"
ga_play_custom_animation with the sAnim set to "proneB"

Make them stand up by using:

ga_play_custom_animation with sAnim set to "standupB"

Note that this only work for NPCs you can select via a tag.

Thanks to John B. Gardner's Animation Viewer, where I figured out how to do this.

Making an invisible object cast a spell at the PC

In this thread, puiwaihin was trying to figure out why his invisible creature couldn't cast spells at the PCs. In the end they figured out that anything that is invisible or hidden can't do it.

jackyo123  suggested making the creatures super small instead.

Check it out here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=576056&forum=114

NWScript: Giving gold in a conversation

Bemmu over at NWScript.com has created a tutorial that will take you through creating a basic conversation with an attached script to give the PC Speaker some gold.

Tutorial level: very basic

Following along with this tutorial should only take a few minutes. The goal will be to create a new Neverwinter Nights 2 module with one creature in it that you can interact with to receive gold from it.

Click here to view the tutorial:
http://www.nwscript.com/how-to-make-an-npc-give-you-gold.php

NWScript: Levers and doors

Bemmu over at NWScript has created a tutorial for attaching a script to a lever that will open a door.

Tutorial level: very basic

The goal in this tutorial is to create a lever that will cause a door to open when pulled. Following along should be very easy and there will only be about three lines of nwscript (the scripting language in Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2) involved.

Head over to NWScript to check it out:
http://www.nwscript.com/making-a-lever-operated-door.php

NWScript: Object Creation

Bemmu over at NWScript.com has created a tutorial for creating multiple objects in a line using vectors. The object in question happens to be beer!

Tutorial level: basic

A nice feature of virtual worlds is that things can be created out of thin air without cost. In this tutorial we will play a bit with this by creating a sort of beer vending machine, where pulling a lever will add a new beer bottle to the end of an endlessly expanding row of them.

Head over to NWScript to check it out:
http://www.nwscript.com/infinite-beer.php

Scripted Waypoints

A great way to control ambient movement of NPCs is using scripted waypoints. See the sticky thread here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=512800&forum=114

Examples

You can see scripted waypoints at work in the Official Campaign's 1700_Merchant_Quarter.mod and 3000_Neverwinter_A3.mod merchant exterior areas. In module 1700 the road network method is used for ambient commoners (although I could not find the actual script) and in 3000 the dock workers use it.

Here's what Charles Mead (Gameplay Scripter) posted:

Here's some info on a new feature called Scripted Waypoints.

Scripted waypoints builds on the current waypoints system by making the arrival at each waypoint call a script. There are no special requirements for preparing this – it will work with any NPC using the regular default scripts and any new or previously placed set of walkway points.

Quick refresher of the standard waypoint system:
Creatures will automatically walk along a sequence of waypoints that are tagged according to the following convention: “WP_<creature’s tag>_##”. The NPC will begin the journey at waypoint 1 and continue traveling sequentially to waypoint n, and then back again in reverse.

Basic Useage:
In the new “scripted waypoint” system, whenever a creature reaches a waypoint, it calls a script that is named very similarly to the tag used for the waypoints, like this: “wp_<creature’s tag>”. Notice there is just one script for the entire set of waypoints. If the script does not exist, then nothing additional happens and the NPC simply walks back and forth through the set of waypoints.

Below are some examples of “scripted waypoints” scripts:

Example 1.
This script tells the NPC to stop at every waypoint and face in the direction the waypoint is facing and pause 1 second before continuing to the next waypoint.
Notice the inclusion of “ginc_wp” which has a number of helpful functions such as FaceAndPause().

#include "ginc_wp"
void main()
{
    int iCurrentWP = GetCurrentWaypoint();
    FaceAndPause(iCurrentWP, 1.0f);
}

Note how we call GetCurrentWaypoint() which returns the waypoint we have just reached. This will typically always be the first thing called in a “scripted waypoints” script.

Example 2.
This is a more complex script that completely overrides the normal waypoint behavior and demonstrates how each waypoint can be individually scripted. It accomplishes the following:
When the NPC reaches waypoint 1, he will sit down for a few seconds, and then randomly travel to one of the other waypoints in the set other than the first.
When the NPC reaches waypoint 2, he will play a “get low” animation, and then proceed to waypoint 1.
When the NPC reaches waypoint 3, he will simply head back to waypoint 1.
If there are more than 3 waypoints in the set, then when the NPC reaches one of those he will behave in the default way.

 
#include "ginc_wp"
 

  
#include "ginc_wp"
 
void main()
{
    int iCurrentWP = GetCurrentWaypoint();
    int iNextWP;
    switch (iCurrentWP)
    {
        case 1:
            iNextWP = Random(GetNumWaypoints()-1) + 2;
            SetNextWaypoint(iNextWP);
            ActionPlayAnimation(ANIMATION_LOOPING_SIT_CROSS, 1.0, 7.0);
            break;
        case 2:
            SetNextWaypoint(1);
            ActionPlayAnimation(ANIMATION_LOOPING_GET_LOW, 1.0, 4.0);
            break;
        case 3:
            SetNextWaypoint(1);
            break;
    }
}

Note in this example the use of SetNextWaypoint(). The “next” waypoint is the one the NPC is enroute to. SetNextWaypoint() allows us to override this and redirect the NPC to an alternate waypoint.

The script template “wp_tag” is available in the script templates directory in source safe. Simply copy and paste it with the proper script name, replacing the word “tag” with the tag of the creature that will be walking waypoints.

*Advanced Usage*
How to have two or more creatures with different tags walk the same set of waypoints:
To override the initial waypoint set a creature uses, simply set a local string variable “WP_TAG” on the creature with the value of the desired waypoint set to use. So, if you have a bear waypoint set for a creature tagged “bear”, you could get a chicken to also walk these waypoints by setting the chicken's local variable WP_TAG to “bear”.
Note that this variable is only checked when the creature is first spawned, so changing this value via script will have no effect.

How to change the set of waypoints a creature walks dynamically:
You can change the set of waypoints a creature walks at any time via script using this function:
object SetWWPController(string sWalkWayPointsTag, object oCreature=OBJECT_SELF);

So from the previous example, we could have our chicken walk the bear’s waypoints by calling this function in script:
SetWWPController(“bear”);

How to pause/restart a creature walking waypoints.
To stop a creature from walking waypoints, use:
SetWalkCondition(NW_WALK_FLAG_PAUSED, TRUE);

You may also want to clear all actions, otherwise, the creature will still complete his pending actions which will take him to whatever the next waypoint is.

To Restart a creature walking waypoints, use:
SetWalkCondition(NW_WALK_FLAG_PAUSED, TRUE);

The creature should get started on his next heartbeat.

How to create a road network:
The basic outline for a script like this is available in the script template “wp_road_walker” and reads as follows:

  
#include "ginc_wp"
      
const int REDIRECTOR_WP = 1;
 
void main()
{
    int iCurrentWP = GetCurrentWaypoint();// where we are
    int iNextWP;
    switch (iCurrentWP)
    {
        case 1: 
// Node 1 should be placed off somewhere out of the way.  This is where the creatures
// will hang out in between reaching the end of the path and starting on a new path.
// Creatures will change their appearance in between travels.
 
// 1st param is the list of nodes they may reappear at. Must follow the pattern XX,YY,ZZ...
// 2nd param is the length of time to wait before reappearing.
                  StandardRedirectorNode("02,03", 5.0f);
            break;
        case 2:
// Nodes 2 on up define the network the road walkers travel.  They will never return to the node
// they just came from.  When they reach an end node (typically a door or a route out of the area)
// they will be be "redirector node" - typically node 1.
 
// 1st param is the list of nodes they may travel to. Must follow the pattern XX,YY,ZZ...
//                (end nodes are those with only 1 element in the list)
// 2nd param is the redirector WP
                  StandardRoadNetworkNode("03", REDIRECTOR_WP);
            break;
 
        case 3:
                  StandardRoadNetworkNode("02", REDIRECTOR_WP);
            break;
 
    }
}

Where can I learn more about other thing I can do?
Many useful functions are listed in the prototypes of the include file “ginc_wp”.

Sitting

Patcha posted a script to let PCs sit on objects.

I'm providing you the way to let object be "sittable" and the script that allow PC to sit on them!

The file contains:
- the script (in a .erf to import)
- the English tutorial to bring "sittable" objects
- the Italian tutorial (the same)
- a module with many brench and chairs, to test this mothod

Check it out on the vault:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Scripts.Detail&id=43

Starting a conversation with a placeable

This apparently still uses the old "nw_g0_convplac" from NWN1. Follow these steps:

1. Start by copying the placeable you want to use. Right click on it and choose "copy blueprint > module". Find it at the bottom of the list and click on it to access its properties.
2. Change the name, tag, resref as needed in order to keep track of it.
3. Under the behavior section, set the following:
   • Plot = TRUE (optional, but suggested)
   • Static = FALSE
   • Useable? = TRUE
4. If you have not already done so, create your conversation file and give it a name. Return to the behaviors section and either paste that name into the "Conversation" field, or use the dropdown to choose it from the list.
5. Finally, under the Scripts section, set the On Used Script to "nw_g0_convplac"

Test it out and your should get your conversation when you use the placeable.

Treasure

The default treasure generation script seems to be gp_treasure_op_de. It seems to check variables set on the container it is called from. It includes some of the X2 scripts from HotU. I spent some time walking through how this all works.

Note: After playing with this system a bit more, I've found that:
1. The base chance is 50%. This means that unless you set the base chance on an area, you'll get just a few gold just over 50% of the time.
2. The magic treasure type tends to give one or two +1 weapons for a level 1 PC. This may be a bit over-powered for low-level mods.
3. For better customization, consider lordniah's FRW base module's implementation of the NWN1: SoU treasure scripts (For more see http://www.wendersnaven.com/node/98).

gp_treasure_op_de

Here is the header comment, which explains the basics:

// gp_treasure_op_de
/*
    Spawns in general purpose treasure and gold based on variables:

	TreasureClass - one of three values.  Default is low
		const int X2_DTS_CLASS_LOW     = 0;       //Treasure Class Low
		const int X2_DTS_CLASS_MEDIUM  = 1;       //Treasure Clas Medium
		const int X2_DTS_CLASS_HIGH    = 2;       //Treasure Class High

	TreasureType - add desired types together.  For example, gold + disposable = 5
		Defualt is 5 (gold + disp)
		Note that you cannot add the same type more than once (i.e. no gold+gold).
		const int X2_DTS_TYPE_DISP 	= 1;
		const int X2_DTS_TYPE_AMMO	= 2;
		const int X2_DTS_TYPE_GOLD	= 4;       	// actually gold and gems
		(not allowed) const int X2_DTS_TYPE_ITEM	= 8;        // char specific Item (ignores treasure class)
		const int X2_DTS_TYPE_MAGIC	= 16;       // random magic items
		const int X2_DTS_TYPE_MUNDANE = 32;     // random mundane items

	This script should be placed in the container's OnOpen and OnDeath events.
	If bashed, disposeable will be dropped and broken item generated.
	If no treasures are generated, 1d20 gold will be created.
*/

This allows module authors to quickly create random treasure of different types by setting both the "TreasureClass" integer variable and the "TreasureType" integer variable on the container. "TreasureClass" uses a simple 0, 1, or 2. "TreasureType" uses a single number that adds up the type values you want for the container. For example, ammo (2) + gold (4) + magic items (16) would be a value of 22.

An important thing to note is that X2_DTS_TYPE_ITEM (8) is not allowed. Here is the reason given in a comment further down in the script: "these don't scale and are to dangerous for balance reasons to have in the standard treasure generation."

x2_inc_treasure

Our script then calls DTSGenerateTreasureOnContainer(), which is located in "x2_inc_treasure." This script first calls gets a random number of items to create based on the call to DTSGetMaxItems().

Looking at DTSGetMaxItems(), we see that it first looks for the module-level integer variable "X2_DTS_MAXITEMS." If it can't find it, it uses a default of 2. Note that this variable is not set in the switches file or in the default "On Module Load" file, which means the value will be 2 unless you have specifically set it.

Returning to DTSGenerateTreasureOnContainer(), the next step is to call DTSGenerateTreasureItems() for each item we are going to create. This function checks the chances for each of the types of items we told it to create with the variables set on the container. The chance is defined by DTSGetBaseChance(). The default is defined as 50 in the constants at the top of the file, but these can be overridden at the area and module level with the variable "X2_DTS_BASECHANCE." If a class and chance condition is met based on a randomized number, an item is created by DTSGetRandomItemResRef().

Looking at DTSGetRandomItemResRef(), we see that we first have to get the name of the .2da file we want to reference using DTSGet2DANameByType(). This file looks for a module-level string variable, and uses a default if it can't find one.

The variables it looks for are:

• X2_DTS_TYPE_DISP
• X2_DTS_TYPE_AMMO
• X2_DTS_TYPE_ITEM
• X2_DTS_TYPE_GOLD
• X2_DTS_TYPE_MAGIC
• and X2_DTS_TYPE_MUNDANE

(Note that these match the constants uses for the treasure type.)

The default .2da files that will be used are:

• des_treas_disp
• des_treas_ammo
• des_treas_gold
• des_treas_items
• des_treas_magic
• des_treas_mundane

Remember that all these files can be found in Data/2da.zip, in your NWN2 programs files ("C:\Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2\Data" by default). Extracting the .zip files to your desktop and opening the .2da files in Microsoft Excel, will reveal how these are laid out. For example, looking at the random magic .2da file (des_treas_magic.2da), will show that the low class items are all +1, the medium class items are +1 and +2, and the high class items are +2, +3 and +4. There is also a very high column, which is probably left over from the epic levels in NWN1: HotU.

Wandering Monsters

Controllore posted a concise answer to using the old HotU "wantering encounter while resting" script.

View the module properties, in the On Module Load event you will see "x2_mod_def_load". Uncomment the line (around 123)

SetModuleSwitch ( MODULE_SWITCH_USE_XP2_RESTSYSTEM, TRUE )

Then where you see

SetWanderingMonster2DAFile( "des_restsystem" )

uncomment it and change "des_restsystem" with any other name you choose.
"des_restsystem" is the name of the 2da file that will be used for the wandering monsters (type, percentage of appearing at daytime/nighttime).
Edit des_restsystem.2da, do your changes and save it with the name you used in x2_mod_def_load.

That should do it.

Edit:
Into your areas, insert a variable named X2_WM_ENCOUNTERTABLE of type string. Its value must be the name used for the TableName in the des_restsystem.2da.

Read the full threat here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=535148&forum=114

Companion Influence

The companion influence system used in the OC is not available by default in new modules. To get them, copy all of the kr_influence* scripts from "C:\Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2\Campaigns\Neverwinter Nights 2 Campaign." You can then paste them into your own campaign. Note that you will need to edit the constants and companion names across all scripts to match your own companions.

FRW: suggestions for dealing with companions

In a conversation between Wayne and Lord Niah over in the FRW forums Lord Niah had some good suggestions for working with companions.

Here are some rules of thumb for dealing with companions and the roster. I don't recall some the exact names for commands and do not have acces to the toolset at the moment.

#1 You should only have one instance of a companion placed within your campaign and you should never spawn that companion using CreateObject.
#2 If you want to destroy a companion, then use the despawn command (not the DestroyObject command)
#3 If you want to spawn your companion back in, use the spawn command instead of CreateObject
#4 If you want to add your companion to the roster, but don't want players to see them in the GUI selection screen, then just mark them as Campaign NPCs. Don't waste time adding/removing the companion from the roster every time they join or leave the party. Once they are in the roster, you just have to add/remove them from the party.

Check out the forum here:
http://nwcitadel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873

Henchmen

Henchmen are companions who the player cannot directly control or adjust inventory for. Thanks to sgt_why for this explanation on how to set them up.

Here's his post from http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=545390&forum=114

for this example;
string sTag = "c_human"

// is this a henchmen ? TRUE or FALSE
gc_henchman(sTag)

// this adds them to your party as henchmen, not companion
ga_henchman_add(sTag);
/*
note: this has (4) actual parameters ... the last flag can be very useful.
sTag - tag of the creature you want to add
bForce - if set to 1, sTarget will be added even if player already has maximum henchman
sMaster - The Creature you are adding the henchman to (default is PC Speaker)
bOverrideBehavior - if set to 1, sTarget's event handlers (scripts) will be replaced with henchman ones.
*/

// removes the henchmen from the party
ga_henchman_remove(sTag);

- - - - -
I put all of these into the conversations and seems to work great. In fact, think if the henchman dies .. they are removed from the group as well.

And you cant click on them and change thier inventory .. although I did notice there appear to be scripts out there to make the henchman show you his inventory and such, like a companion. But it would need to be during a conversation or such. (I think?)

I wanted to add a couple "friendly"(s) in my areas .. that if the PCs save them, will offer to help out for a short time .. as well as award 50xp for not letting the mobs kill them off.

Following his directions, I was able to create a few henchmen and get them to work with very little setup. Some quick things I noticed:

• A "guard this area and I'll come back for you" dialog option with the ga_henchman_remove script on it worked great to when you want to temporarily ditch them.
• Use unique tags for each creature. If, in his example, you have a set of friendlies standing around, each one needs it's own conversation and tag. It helps to write the conversation first, then duplicate it. This will lead you to creating more distinctive NPCs anyway.
• Set the bOverrideBehavior = TRUE if you didn't do anything with the scripts on your henchmen, or they won't follow the PC.
• Commoner NPCs won't attack, which worked just how I wanted. I was able to create a lost little girl that the party could escort home. Thankfully, she didn't run up and try to punch people in the groin.

Kudos to OE on making such an easy to use system, and thanks again to sgt_why

CODI naming conventions

Barry The Hatchet posted a good roll up of the script naming conventions the CODI project came up with in NWN1. Here's the link: http://nwcitadel.forgottenrealmsweave.org/showthread.php?t=1131

Here's the actual list:

Include Scripts
Include scripts should be prefixed with INC_

Event Driven Scripts
Following the prefix for EVENT driven scripts, this is the majority; you have 1 letter denoting the object type that has the event this script goes in, they are as follows:
* N - NPC
* M - Monster/Creature
* A - Area
* O - Module
* P - Placable
* T - Trigger
* D - Door
* R - Trap
* C - Conversation
* E - Encounter
* I - Item - This script is not placed on an item per se, but called by module level scripts.
* X - No Object - Use this for a script that is called by other scripts. Executable scripts.

This character is followed by a two character short for the event it goes in, by category:

* N, M
o CO - onConversation
o DI - onDisturbed
o PA - onPhysicalAttacked
o SP - onSpawn
o UD - onUserDefined
o SC - OnSpellCastAt
o BL - onBlocked
o DM - onDamaged
o HB - onHeartbeat
o DE - onDeath
o CR - onCombatRoundEnd
o PE - onPerception
o RE - onRest

* A
o EN - onEnter
o EX - onExit
o HB - onHeartbeat
o UD - onUserDefined

* O
o CE - onClientEnter
o CL - onClientLeave
o PR - onPlayerRest
o RS - onRespawn
o DY - onPlayerDying
o DE - onPlayerDeath
o LE - onPlayerLevelUp
o IA - onItemActivated
o IQ - onItemAquired
o UI - onUnaquireItem
o ML - onModuleLoad
o HB - onHeartBeat
o UD - onUserDefined
o EI - onEquipItem

* P
o US - onUsed
o HB - onHeartBeat
o DE - onDeath
o AT - onAttacked
o SC - onSpellCastAt
o DM - onDamaged
o OP - onOpen
o OC - onClosed
o DI - onDisturbed
o LO - onLocked
o UL - onUnlocked
o UD - onUserDefined

* T
o CL - onClick
o EN - onEnter
o EX - onExit
o HB - onHeartBeat
o UD - onUserDefined

* D
o AT - onAreaTransitionClick
o OC - onClosed
o DM - onDamaged
o DE - onDeath
o FO - onFailedToOpen
o HB - onHeartBeat
o LO - onLocked
o OP - onOpened
o AT - onAttacked
o SC - onSpellCastAt
o UL - onUnlocked
o UD - onUserDefined

* R
o DI - onDisarmed
o TT - onTrapTriggered

* E
o EN - onEnter
o EX - onExit
o OE - onExhausted
o HB - onHeartBeat
o UD - onUserDefined

* C
o AT - Actions Taken
o AP - Appears When (StartingConditional Script)
o AB - onConversation Aborted
o EN - onConversation end

* I
o US - Called when the item is used.
o AQ - Called when the item is Aquired.
o UA - Called when the item is UnAquired.

Prefix examples

Module OnClientEnter script prefix: OCE_
Area OnEnter script prefix: AEN_
Placeable OnUsed prefix: PUS_
__________________
Just bend the pieces 'til they fit.

Official Documentation: Script Naming Conventions

buried in the official Toolset documentation is a section about naming conventions for scripts. I've replicated it here for easy reference.

All scripts in NWN2 are are prefixed with one of the following:

• “g” for global scripts
• “i_” for item related scripts (these are also global)

Item Scripts

Use the following for item scripts:

The module events will be written to automatically execute the proper script.

Conversation Scripts

Conversations have 2 script types.

Event Scripts

Scripts for events on objects should have a prefix to indicate the Object Type. If an object has multiple events, a suffix should be added each script to indicate the Event Type.

* These abbreviations don’t use the first 2 letters of the event name.

** Areas don’t need abbreviations.

Boldfaced events are defaults and are assumed if no event is given.

Other Scripts

Scripts not covered above should use these prefixes

NWN Lexicon: visual effects samples

The following samples for creating visual effects through scripting are from the NWN1 Lexicon. (Currently the lexicon is at http://nwn1.nwn2lexicon.com/, but I'm unsure what's in store for that site.)

// Sample code for applying a VFX_IMP_ visual, a AC-bonus
// (Mage armor) visual, to a target.
void main()
{
    // This is the Object to apply the effect to.
    object oTarget = OBJECT_SELF;

    // Create the visual portion of the effect.
    effect eVis = EffectVisualEffect(VFX_IMP_AC_BONUS);

    // Apply the visual effect to the target.
    // - We apply VFX_IMP_ constants instantly, to a target.
    ApplyEffectToObject(DURATION_TYPE_INSTANT, eVis, oTarget);
}

// Sample code for applying a VFX_DUR_ visual, a 
// stoneskin visual, to a target.
void main()
{
    // This is the Object to apply the effect to.
    object oTarget = OBJECT_SELF;

    // Create the visual portion of the effect
    effect eDur = EffectVisualEffect(VFX_DUR_PROT_STONESKIN);

    // Apply the visual effect to the target.
    // - We apply VFX_DUR_ constants for a duration, here 
    //    it is permanent (could be temporary), to a target.
    ApplyEffectToObject(DURATION_TYPE_PERMANENT, eDur, oTarget);
}

// Sample code for applying a VFX_FNF_ visual, a fireball, 
// to a location.
void main()
{
    // This is the Target to apply the effect at.
    location lTarget = GetLocation(OBJECT_SELF);

    // Create the visual portion of the effect
    effect eAOE = EffectVisualEffect(VFX_FNF_FIREBALL);

    // Apply the visual effect to the target.
    // - We apply VFX_FNF_ constants instantly, and only
    //   at a location.
    ApplyEffectAtLocation(DURATION_TYPE_INSTANT, eAOE, lTarget);
}

Non-functional Visual Effects

Jassper asked a question in the official forums about certain VFX constants not working. Cracking open the visualeffects.2da, it was discovered that a lot of the effects listed don't have .sef files associated with them.

From loudent2 :

It turns out a lot of the effects have been deprecated. It isn't immedietely apparant which ones (I had a similar problem using the tornado effect). Not sure if this is the problem in your case.

And from Ravine_HU:

I've read somewhere about this... coz the VFXs totally changed in nwn2 - everything is in the sef-files. U can check the visualeffects.2da for the list - find the row, and if there is no xy.sef references in it...unlucky.

I personally miss some nice effect from nwn1, like this raise dead for example. I can't even find that kind of effect which is only visible to the PC whom attached to (for example, no effect for blindness...).

However, the visual effect editor is cool.

Oh yeah, and check the "broken functions list" topic too, there are some issues with applying visualeffects.

More from Jassper

After looking in the 2da file for spells, NWN2 uses visual sp_conjuration_conjure.sef for raise dead. I copied that to the visualeffects.2da under the heading VFX_IMP_RAISE_DEAD and vola! I have an effect - altough it is not the NWN1 style raise dead.

So that indeed seems to be the issue - these effects simply wern't included, or haven't been replaced yet.

BTW, quesion about saveing changes in the 2da's. Will the new 2da be local to that mod only, or is it now a global change for all modules?

And finally, from mykael22000

Saved .2das get written out to your override directory - meaning they'll affect all of your games, but aren't stored inside the module you edited so if you send it to someone else, they won't have a copy...

Get the nwnhak utility from NWN1, create a new hak and move the .2da into it. Then park it in your Hak directory and tell the module to use it. It still won't be sent to anyone with the module, but at least it'll complain and tell them that they are missing it. it also won't stuff up all of your other games.

ka_hotspot_click

The script ka_hotspot_click is the most basic world map script from the Official Campaign. It is meant to go in the "ActionScript" field for a hotspot in the world map plugin interface. At end of the script, notice that this calls SaveRosterLoadModule (located in ginc_companion). This function takes two parameters: the name of the module to load and the name of the waypoint the party will jump to. Here are the parameters for this script: string sModule - The file name of the module string sHotspot - The name of the hotspot clicked for the purposes of checking for a special case int nProbSpecial - Percentage chance for a special encounter int nProbRandom - Percentage chance for a random encounter string sDestinationOverride - The waypoint to go to intead of the default for a module string sCustomScript - Name of a custom script to execute There is a percent chance per transition that the party will have an encounter, but it only happens once. I think that the encounter area sends the party along to where they were going after they have completed the encounter. Note the use of GetIsObjectValid(oDest) to determine if the transition is in the current module and SinglePartyTransition( oPC, oDest ) to jump to the waypoint if it is in the current module.

// ka_hotspot_click
//
// Action script for when a hotspot is clicked on the worldmap.  Determines the location to send
// the party to.
// BMA-OEI 4/12/06 - replaced LoadNewModule() with SaveRosterLoadModule()

#include "kinc_worldmap"
#include "ginc_debug"
#include "ginc_companions"
#include "ginc_transition"
	
void JumpParty(object oPartyMember, object oDestination)
{
    object oThisArea = GetArea(oPartyMember);
    object oJumper = GetFirstFactionMember(oPartyMember);

    while (GetIsObjectValid(oJumper))
    {
		PrettyDebug("Jumping " + GetName(oJumper) + " to " + GetTag(oDestination));
        AssignCommand(oJumper, JumpToObject(oDestination));
        oJumper = GetNextFactionMember(oPartyMember);
    }
}
	
void main(string sModule, string sHotspot, int nProbSpecial, int nProbRandom, string sDestinationOverride, string sCustomScript)
{
	string sDestination;
	object oDestination;
	int nRoll;
	object oPC = OBJECT_SELF;
	
	if(!GetIsSinglePlayer())
	{
		if(GetWorldMapLocked())
		{
			SendMessageToPC(oPC, GetStringByStrRef(STRING_REF_MAP_LOCKED));
			return;
		}
		else
		{
			SetWorldMapLocked();
		}
	}
	
	//we only want one map encounter per player attempt to travel --
	//prevents the player getting barraged by module cutscenes
	//when he just wants to get to point B.
	if(!GetGlobalInt("bPlayedEncounterOnThisClick"))
	{
		sDestination = GetModuleEncounter(sModule, sHotspot);
	

		PrettyMessage(sHotspot + " clicked.");
		if (sHotspot == "1302OldOwlWell")
		{
			if (GetGlobalInt("10_met_grobnar") != 1)
			{
				object oDest = GetObjectByTag("wp_1003_enter");
				
				SetGlobalInt("10_met_grobnar", 1);
		
				if (GetIsObjectValid(oDest))
				{
					ForceRestParty( oPC );
					// BMA-OEI 6/14/06
					SinglePartyTransition( oPC, oDest );
					//JumpPartyToArea(oPC, oDest);
				}
				else
				{
					ForceRestParty( oPC );
					//LoadNewModule("1000_Neverwinter_A1", "wp_1003_enter");
					SaveRosterLoadModule("1800_Skymirror", "wp_1003_enter");
				}
				return;
			}
		}
		
		if(sCustomScript != "")
		{
			ExecuteScript(sCustomScript, OBJECT_SELF);
		}
	
		if(sDestination == "")
		{
			nRoll = Random(100);
	
			if(nRoll < nProbSpecial)
			{
				sDestination = GetSpecialEncounter(sModule, sHotspot);	
			}
			else if(nRoll < nProbSpecial + nProbRandom)
			{
				sDestination = GetRandomEncounter(sModule, sHotspot);
			}
		}
	}
	if(sDestination == "")
	{
		SetGlobalInt("bPlayedEncounterOnThisClick",FALSE);
		if(sDestinationOverride == "")
		{
			sDestination = GetDefaultDestination(sHotspot);
			PrettyMessage("Sending to default destination " + sDestination);
		}
		else
		{
			sDestination = sDestinationOverride;
		}
	}
	else	//we're doing a special, module, or random encounter
	{
		SetGlobalInt("bPlayedEncounterOnThisClick",TRUE);
		
		// unless our present encounter overrides the message with a global variable, we play it 
		// and return.
		if(!GetGlobalInt(ENCOUNTER_MESSAGE_OVERRIDE))
		{
			ShowEncounterMessage(sDestination, sModule);
			return;
		}
		SetGlobalInt(ENCOUNTER_MESSAGE_OVERRIDE, FALSE);		
	}
	
	//this variable handles origin-dependent redirection, like changing the point of
	//entry in the docks district depending on whether you came from blacklake
	//or the merchant quarter.  We reset it to its default here.  It is set in the 
	//cliententer scripts of applicable areas.
	SetGlobalInt("OriginArea",0);	
	
	oDestination = GetObjectByTag(sDestination);
	
	if(GetIsObjectValid(oDestination))
	{
		ForceRestParty( oPC );
		// BMA-OEI 6/14/06
		SinglePartyTransition( oPC, oDestination );
		//JumpPartyToArea(oPC, oDestination);
	}
	else
	{
		ForceRestParty( oPC );
		PrettyDebug("Unable to find waypoint in current module.  Initiating module transition.");
		PrettyDebug("Loading module. Destination = " + sDestination);
		//LoadNewModule(sModule, sDestination);
		SaveRosterLoadModule(sModule, sDestination);
	}
	
}

kinc_worldmap

This is the heart of the world map functions. Not that all the includes and constants work for the OC only.

// kinc_worldmap
//
// Functions and constants for the NWN2 world map functionality
	
// EPF 12/8/05
	
#include "ginc_debug"
	
// the below files contain all the encounter logic
#include "kinc_module1000"
#include "kinc_module1100"
#include "kinc_module1200"
#include "kinc_module1300"
#include "kinc_module1600"
#include "kinc_module1700"
#include "kinc_module1800"
#include "kinc_module1900"
#include "kinc_module2000"
#include "kinc_module2100"
#include "kinc_module2200"
#include "kinc_module2300"
#include "kinc_module2400"
#include "kinc_module2600"
#include "kinc_module3000"
#include "kinc_module3100"
#include "kinc_module3400"
#include "kinc_module3500"

	
/////////////////////////
// FUNCTION DECLARATIONS
/////////////////////////
	
// ** hotspot functions	**

//make a hotspot visible on the world map
void ShowHotspot(string sHotspot);
	
//make a hotspot invisible on the world map
void HideHotspot(string sHotspot);

//returns true if a hotspot is visible on the world map
int GetIsHotspotVisible(string sHotspot);

//make all hotspots with numbers between nLow and nHigh (inclusive) visible
void ShowHotspotRange(int nLow, int nHigh);

//make all hotspots with numbers between nLow and nHigh (inclusive) invisible
void HideHotspotRange(int nLow, int nHigh);

//run at the start of a module to associate a hotspot with its default waypoint
void SetupDefaultDestinations(int nAct = -1);
	
// ** conversion functions **	

//hotspot number is the 4-digit area code for the area that the hotspot points to
string GetHotspotNameFromNumber(int nAreaNumber);
int GetHotspotNumberFromName(string sHotspot);

	
// ** encounter functions **

// returns the waypoint tag for a plot-based critpath encounter or the empty string if none is available
string GetModuleEncounter(string sModule, string sDestHotspot);

// returns the waypoint tag for a non-critpath encounter that isn't just random monsters or the empty string if none is available
string GetSpecialEncounter(string sModule, string sDestHotspot);

// returns the waypoint tag for a random monster encounter or the empty string if none is available
string GetRandomEncounter(string sModule, string sDestHotspot);

// show a "you have encountered a thing on the world map" message.  Callback initiates the transition.
void ShowEncounterMessage(string sDestination, string sModule);


// ** world map locout functions **

// multiple PCs simultaneously clicking travel on the world map causes problems.  We use a cooldown time to preven this.
void SetWorldMapLocked();
int GetWorldMapLocked();



/////////////////////////
// CONSTANT DECLARATIONS
/////////////////////////

// GENERAL //

// these are used with the Encounter message box
const int STRREF_ENCOUNTER_MESSAGE = 182995;
const string ENCOUNTER_MESSAGE_OVERRIDE = "00_bOverrideEncounterMessage";
const string LAST_DESTINATION = "00_sLastDestination";
const string LAST_MODULE = "00_sLastModule";
const string PC_CLICKER = "oLastWorldMapClicker";	//this is stored on the module not 

// these are for locking the world map so only one user can use it at a time
const string WORLD_MAP_LOCKED = "00_bWorldMapLocked";
const string WORLD_MAP_LOCKER = "oWorldMapLocker";
const int STRING_REF_MAP_LOCKED = 183512;
const string WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_DAY = "00_nWorldMapLockDay";
const string WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_HOUR = "00_nWorldMapLockHour";
const string WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_MINUTE = "00_nWorldMapLockMinute";
const string WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_SECOND = "00_nWorldMapLockSecond";
const int WORLD_MAP_LOCK_COOLDOWN = 18;	//seconds until we allow another click
const string WORLD_MAP_LOCK_INITIALIZED = "00_bWorldMapLockInit";

// ACT 1 HOTSPOTS HERE // 

// 1000
const int HS_NWC_A1 = 1001;

// 1700 Merchant Quarter
const int HS_MQ = 1013;

// 1800 Skymirror and Grobnar
const int HS_GROBNAR = 1003;
const int HS_SKY = 1040;
	
// 1900 Back Alley
	
// 1100
const int HS_WEST_HARBOR = 1100;
const int HS_WH_RUINS = 1120;
	
// 1200
const int HS_WILLOW = 1202;
const int HS_LIZARD1 = 1206;
const int HS_FORTLOCKE = 1209;
const int HS_GRAVEYARD = 1211;
const int HS_BANDITCAMP = 1214;
const int HS_HIGHCLIFF = 1217;
const int HS_HC_SHANDRA = 1208;
const int HS_HC_RUINS = 1218;
const int HS_LIZARD2 = 1220;
const int HS_GLADE = 1223;
const int HS_WIDOW = 1225;

// 1300
const int HS_OOW_A1 = 1302;
const int HS_BG_APPROACH = 1303;
const int HS_IRONFIST = 1308;
const int HS_EG_APPROACH = 1314;

// 1600
const int HS_EMBER = 1616;
const int HS_GITHAPP = 1620;
const int HS_GITHCAVE = 1621;
const int HS_GC_SHANDRA = 1610;
	
// ACT 2 HOTSPOTS HERE //

//2000
const int HS_NWC_A2 = 2000;
const int HS_NWC_BLACKLAKE = 2024;
const int HS_NWC_MERCHANT = 2013;

//2100
const int HS_CK_COURT = 2100;

//2200
const int HS_PL_A2 = 2200;
const int HS_PL_EMBER = 2210;
const int HS_PL_DUSKWOOD = 2211;

//2300
const int HS_CKA_FARM = 2300;
const int HS_CKA_TUNNEL = 2340;

//2400
const int HS_IR_OGRUINS = 2410;

//2600
const int HS_AJ_EXTERIOR = 2600;


// ACT 3 HOTSPOTS HERE //

//3000
const int HS_PARTY 			= 0000;
const int HS_HIGHCLIFF_A3	= 3010;
const int HS_LIZARDMEN 		= 3014;
const int HS_IRONFIST_A3	= 3030;
const int HS_GALARDRYM		= 3031;
const int HS_COT_MERE		= 3040;
const int HS_REAVER_A		= 3050;
const int HS_REAVER_B		= 3051;
const int HS_NWC_MERCH		= 3063;
const int HS_SH_FARM_A3		= 3070;
const int HS_PORT_LLAST		= 3080;
const int HS_WENDER			= 3081;

//3100
const int HS_CK_COURT_A3	= 2100;
const int HS_NOLALOTH 		= 3090;

/////////////////////////
// FUNCTION DEFINITONS
/////////////////////////

void ShowHotspot(string sHotspot)
{
	SetGlobalInt("WM_bShow" + sHotspot, TRUE);
}

void HideHotspot(string sHotspot)
{
	SetGlobalInt("WM_bShow" + sHotspot, FALSE);
}

int GetIsHotspotVisible(string sHotspot)
{
	return GetGlobalInt("WM_bShow" + sHotspot);
}


void ShowHotspotRange(int nLow, int nHigh)
{
	string sHotspot;
	while(nLow <= nHigh)
	{
		sHotspot = GetHotspotNameFromNumber(nLow);
		if(sHotspot != "")
		{
			ShowHotspot(sHotspot);
		}
		nLow++;
	}
}

void HideHotspotRange(int nLow, int nHigh)
{
	string sHotspot;
	while(nLow <= nHigh)
	{
		sHotspot = GetHotspotNameFromNumber(nLow);
		if(sHotspot != "")
		{
			HideHotspot(sHotspot);
		}
		nLow++;
	}
}


void SetDefaultDestination(string sHotspot, string sDestWP)
{
	SetGlobalString("WM_sDestWP" + sHotspot, sDestWP);
}

string GetDefaultDestination(string sHotspot)
{
	return GetGlobalString("WM_sDestWP" + sHotspot);
}

void SetupDefaultDestinationsAct1()
{
	// 1000 Neverwinter City Act 1
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_NWC_A1), "10_world_to_docks");
	
	// 1700 Merchant Quarter
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_MQ), "10_wp_docksi_to_merchant");
	
	// 1800 Skymirror and Grobnar
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_GROBNAR), "wp_1003_enter");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_SKY), "10_wp_OL_to_skymirror");
	
	// 1100 West Harbor
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_WH_RUINS), "wp_OL_to_1120");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_WEST_HARBOR), "tr_1100_from_1120");

	// 1200 Highcliff
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_WILLOW), "wp_OL_to_1202");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_LIZARD1), "wp_OL_to_1206");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_FORTLOCKE), "wp_OL_to_1209");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_GRAVEYARD), "wp_OL_to_1211");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_BANDITCAMP), "wp_OL_to_1214");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_HIGHCLIFF), "wp_OL_to_1217");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_HC_RUINS), "wp_OL_to_1218");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_LIZARD2), "wp_OL_to_1220");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_HC_SHANDRA), "12_wp_shandra_farm");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_GLADE), "wp_1223_enter");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_WIDOW), "12_wp_widow");

	// 1300 OOW Defaults
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_OOW_A1), "NG_From_Tavern");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_BG_APPROACH), "1303_enter");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_IRONFIST), "13_Bonegnash2_To_Bugapproach");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_EG_APPROACH), "13_Casavir_To_EGApproach");

	// 1600 Githyanki Caves Defaults
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_GITHAPP), "wp_from_ambush");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_EMBER), "wp_from_patrol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_GC_SHANDRA), "wp_shandra_farm");
}

void SetupDefaultDestinationsAct2()
{
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_NWC_A2),"10_wp_city_to_flagon");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_NWC_BLACKLAKE), "wp_from1013_to1024");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_NWC_MERCHANT), "10_wp_docksi_to_merchant");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_CK_COURT ),"wp_CKA2_start");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_PL_A2 ),"2200_wp_entrance");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_PL_EMBER ),"2210_wp_entrance");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_PL_DUSKWOOD ),"2211_wp_entrance");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_CKA_FARM ),"23_wp_pc_ritual_start");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_CKA_TUNNEL), "23_wp_tunnel_ext");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_IR_OGRUINS ),"2410_wp_entrance");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_AJ_EXTERIOR ),"2650_wp_pc");	
}

void SetupDefaultDestinationsAct3()
{
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_PARTY),"wp_30_overland_enter");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_HIGHCLIFF_A3),"wp_3010_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_LIZARDMEN),"wp_3014_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_IRONFIST_A3),"wp_3030_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_GALARDRYM),"wp_3031_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_COT_MERE),"wp_3040_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_REAVER_A),"wp_3050_pc");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_REAVER_B),"wp_3050_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_NWC_MERCH),"wp_3063_enter");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_SH_FARM_A3),"wp_3070_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_PORT_LLAST),"wp_3080_from_ol");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_WENDER),"wp_3081_enter");	
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_CK_COURT_A3 ),"wp_21_enter_ck");
	SetDefaultDestination(GetHotspotNameFromNumber(HS_NOLALOTH ),"wp_3090_from_ol");
}

void SetupDefaultDestinations(int nAct = -1)
{
	switch(nAct)
	{
	case 1:
		SetupDefaultDestinationsAct1();		
		break;
	case 2:
		SetupDefaultDestinationsAct2();
		break;
	case 3:
		SetupDefaultDestinationsAct3();
		break;
	
	default:
		SetupDefaultDestinationsAct1();
		SetupDefaultDestinationsAct2();
		SetupDefaultDestinationsAct3();
		break;
	}
}

string GetAct1HotspotNameFromNumber(int nAreaNumber)
{
	string sName = "";
	switch(nAreaNumber)
	{
	// 1000
	case HS_NWC_A1 :
		sName = "1001flagon";
		break;

	// 1700
	case HS_MQ :
		sName = "1013merchant";
		break;
	
	// 1800
	case HS_GROBNAR :
		sName = "1003grobnar";
		break;
	case HS_SKY :
		sName = "1040sky";
		break;
	
	// 1100
	case HS_WH_RUINS :
		sName = "1120whruins";
		break;
	case HS_WEST_HARBOR :
		sName = "1100harbor";
		break;

	// 1200
	case HS_WILLOW :
		sName = "1202willowinn";
		break;
	case HS_LIZARD1 :
		sName = "1206Lizard1";
		break;
	case HS_FORTLOCKE :
		sName = "1209FortLocke";
		break;
	case HS_GRAVEYARD :
		sName = "1211Graveyard";
		break;
	case HS_BANDITCAMP :
		sName = "1214BanditCamp";
		break;
	case HS_HIGHCLIFF :
		sName = "1217Highcliff";
		break;
	case HS_HC_SHANDRA :
		sName = "1208ShandraFarm";
		break;
	case HS_HC_RUINS :
		sName = "1218HC_Castle";
		break;
	case HS_LIZARD2 :
		sName = "1220Lizard2";
		break;
	case HS_GLADE :
		sName = "1223glade";
		break;
	case HS_WIDOW :
		sName = "1225widow";
		break;
	
	// 1300
	case HS_OOW_A1 :
		sName = "1302OldOwlWell";
		break;
	case HS_BG_APPROACH :
		sName = "1303Bonegnasher";
		break;
	case HS_IRONFIST :
		sName = "1308Ironfist";
		break;
	case HS_EG_APPROACH :
		sName = "1314Eyegouger";
		break;

	// 1600
	case HS_EMBER :
		sName = "1616ember";
		break;
	case HS_GITHAPP :
		sName = "1620approach";
		break;
	case HS_GC_SHANDRA :
		sName = "1610shfarm";
		break;
	
	default: 
		sName = "";
		break;
	}
	return sName;
}
string GetAct2HotspotNameFromNumber(int nAreaNumber)
{
	string sName = "";
	switch(nAreaNumber)
	{
	case HS_NWC_A2 :
		sName = "2000Neverwinter_A2";
		break;
	case HS_NWC_MERCHANT :
		sName = "2013MerchantQuarter";	
		break;
	case HS_NWC_BLACKLAKE : 
		sName = "2024Blacklake";	
		break;
	case HS_CK_COURT :
		sName = "2100CrossroadKeep";
		break;
	case HS_PL_A2 :
		sName = "2200PortLlast";
		break;
	case HS_PL_EMBER :
		sName = "2210Ember";
		break;
	case HS_PL_DUSKWOOD :
		sName = "2211Duskwood";
		break;
	case HS_CKA_FARM :
		sName = "2300CKAdventure";
		break;
	case HS_CKA_TUNNEL :
		sName = "2340TunnelExt";
		break;
	case HS_IR_OGRUINS :
		sName = "2410OvergrownRuins";
		break;
	case HS_AJ_EXTERIOR :
		sName = "2600AJExterior";
		break;
	default: 
		sName = "";
		break;

	}
	return sName;
}
string GetAct3HotspotNameFromNumber(int nAreaNumber)
{
	string sName = "";
	switch(nAreaNumber)
	{
	case HS_PARTY :
		sName = "0000PartyCentral";
		break;
	case HS_HIGHCLIFF_A3 :
		sName = "3010Highcliff";
		break;
	case HS_LIZARDMEN :
		sName = "3014Lizardmen";
		break;
	case HS_IRONFIST_A3 :
		sName = "3030Ironfist";
		break;
	case HS_GALARDRYM :
		sName = "3031MtGalardrym";
		break;
	case HS_COT_MERE :
		sName = "3040Mere";
		break;
	case HS_REAVER_A :
		sName = "3050ReaverA";
		break;
	case HS_REAVER_B :
		sName = "3051ReaverB";
		break;
	case HS_NWC_MERCH :
		sName = "3063MerchantQuarter";
		break;
	case HS_SH_FARM_A3 :
		sName = "3070ShandrasFarm";
		break;		
	case HS_PORT_LLAST :
		sName = "3080PortLlast";
		break;
	case HS_WENDER :
		sName = "3081Wendersnaven";
		break;
	case HS_CK_COURT_A3 :
		sName = "2100CrossroadKeep";
		break;
	case HS_NOLALOTH :
		sName = "3090Nolaloth";
		break;
	default: 
		sName = "";
		break;

	}
	return sName;
}

string GetHotspotNameFromNumber(int nAreaNumber)
{
	string sName = "";

	// Divide and conquer by act
	if(nAreaNumber < 2000)
	{
		return GetAct1HotspotNameFromNumber(nAreaNumber);
	}

	else if (nAreaNumber < 3000)
	{
		return GetAct2HotspotNameFromNumber(nAreaNumber);
	}

	else
	{
		return GetAct3HotspotNameFromNumber(nAreaNumber);
	}
}

int GetHotspotNumberFromName(string sAreaName)
{
	return StringToInt(GetStringLeft(sAreaName, 4));
}
	
string GetModuleEncounter(string sModule, string sHotspot)
{
	int nModule = StringToInt(GetStringLeft(sModule, 4));

	PrettyMessage("nModule = " + IntToString(nModule));

	SetGlobalString("KA_HOTSPOT_DEST_MODULE",sModule);
	SetGlobalString("KA_HOTSPOT_DEST_HOTSPOT",sHotspot);	
	
	string sDestination;
	switch(nModule)
	{
	case 1000:
		sDestination = Get1000Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1700:
		sDestination = Get1700Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1100:
		sDestination = Get1100Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1200:
		sDestination = Get1200Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1300:
		sDestination = Get1300Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1600:
		sDestination = Get1600Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;		
	case 2000:
		sDestination = Get2000Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2100:
		sDestination = Get2100Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2200:
		sDestination = Get2200Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2300:
		sDestination = Get2300Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2400:
		sDestination = Get2400Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2600:
		sDestination = Get2600Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3000:
		sDestination = Get3000Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3100:
		sDestination = Get3100Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3400:
		sDestination = Get3400Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3500:
		sDestination = Get3500Encounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	default:
		PrettyMessage("kinc_worldmap: invalid module string given to GetModuleEncounter()");
		sDestination = "";
	}

	return sDestination;
}
	
string GetSpecialEncounter(string sModule, string sHotspot)
{
	int nModule = StringToInt(GetStringLeft(sModule, 4));
	string sDestination;
	switch(nModule)
	{
	case 1000:
		sDestination = Get1000SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1700:
		sDestination = Get1700SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1100:
		sDestination = Get1100SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1200:
		sDestination = Get1200SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1300:
		sDestination = Get1300SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 1600:
		sDestination = Get1600SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;		
	case 2000:
		sDestination = Get2000SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2100:
		sDestination = Get2100SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2200:
		sDestination = Get2200SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2300:
		sDestination = Get2300SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2400:
		sDestination = Get2400SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 2600:
		sDestination = Get2600SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3000:
		sDestination = Get3000SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3100:
		sDestination = Get3100SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3400:
		sDestination = Get3400SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	case 3500:
		sDestination = Get3500SpecialEncounter(sHotspot);
		break;
	default:
		PrettyError("kinc_worldmap: invalid module string given to GetModuleEncounter()");
		sDestination = "";
	}

	return sDestination;
}

string GetRandomEncounter(string sModule, string sHotspot)
{
	return "";
}

void ShowEncounterMessage(string sDestination, string sModule)
{
	// so the callback knows where to jump the player to.
	SetGlobalString(LAST_DESTINATION, sDestination);
	SetGlobalString(LAST_MODULE, sModule);
	SetLocalObject(GetModule(),PC_CLICKER, OBJECT_SELF);
	SetCommandable(FALSE);	//freeze player until the callback is clicked.
	DisplayMessageBox(OBJECT_SELF, STRREF_ENCOUNTER_MESSAGE, "", "gui_map_transition");
}

void SetWorldMapLocked()
{
	SetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_DAY, GetCalendarDay());
	SetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_HOUR, GetTimeHour());
	SetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_MINUTE, GetTimeMinute());
	SetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_SECOND, GetTimeSecond());
	
	SetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCK_INITIALIZED, TRUE);	//so we know the timer is initialized
	
	PrettyMessage("World map locked at time " + IntToString(GetTimeHour()) + ":" + IntToString(GetTimeMinute()) + ":" + IntToString(GetTimeSecond()));
}

int TimeToSeconds(int nHour, int nMinute, int nSecond)
{
	//for ease, we just convert the time into seconds -- 60 for 60 seconds in a minute, 3600 for number of seconds in an hour.
	return nSecond + nMinute * 60 + nHour * 3600;
}

int GetWorldMapLocked()
{
	if(GetIsSinglePlayer())
	{
		return FALSE;
	}

	if(!GetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCK_INITIALIZED))
	{
		return FALSE;
	}

	int nLockedHour = GetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_HOUR);
	int nLockedMinute = GetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_MINUTE);
	int nLockedSecond = GetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_SECOND);
	
	int nCurrentHour = GetTimeHour();
	int nCurrentMinute = GetTimeMinute();
	int nCurrentSecond = GetTimeSecond();
	
	int nTotalLockedSeconds = TimeToSeconds(nLockedHour,nLockedMinute,nLockedSecond);
	int nTargetTime = nTotalLockedSeconds + WORLD_MAP_LOCK_COOLDOWN;	//10 sec cooldown
	
	int nCurrentSeconds = TimeToSeconds(nCurrentHour,nCurrentMinute,nCurrentSecond);
	
//	PrettyDebug("Target time for unlock = " + IntToString(nTargetTime));
//	PrettyDebug("Current time in seconds = " + IntToString(nCurrentSeconds));		
	
	//same day
	if(nTargetTime < nCurrentSeconds)
	{
//		PrettyDebug(IntToString(nCurrentSeconds - nTotalLockedSeconds) + " seconds passed since the last transition.");
		return FALSE;
	}		
	
	//we've rolled to the next calendar day
	int nLockedDay = GetGlobalInt(WORLD_MAP_LOCKED_DAY);
	int nCurrentDay = GetCalendarDay();
	
	//!= is the check here because the day change could roll the month
	//so going from month 1 day 28 to month 2 day 0 should still register as a day having passed.
	if(nCurrentDay != nLockedDay && nCurrentSeconds > WORLD_MAP_LOCK_COOLDOWN)
	{
		return FALSE;
	}
		
	return TRUE;
}

gtr_world_map_cl

If you paint down a new map transition, you'll notice that it has an onClick script of gtr_world_map_cl. You'll also noticed that this script doesn't actually exist in new modules. I think what happened is that this script started as a global, but at some point ended up with some code specific to the OC and was removed. Here the script, pulled from 1000_Neverwinder_A1.mod (The Docks).

// gtr_world_map_cl
//
// Transition to the world map
	
// EPF 
	
// EPF 2/2/06 -- modifying to have a default map for each act if no other map is specified.
// EPF 3/24/06 -- this is now an OnClicked event
// BMA-OEI 6/24/06 -- Added gather party check
// BMA-OEI 8/11/06 -- Autosave before transition
// ChazM 8/21/06 -- updated constant CAMPAIGN_SWITCH_REMOVE_DOMINATED_ON_TRANSITION
// BMA-OEI 8/22/06 -- Replaced auto save w/ AttemptSinglePlayerAutoSave()
	
#include "ginc_debug"
#include "ginc_autosave"
#include "ginc_transition"
	
void main()
{
	object oPC = GetClickingObject();
	if ( GetIsPC( oPC ) == FALSE )
	{
		return;
	}

	string sMap = GetLocalString(OBJECT_SELF, "sMap");
	string sOrigin = GetLocalString(OBJECT_SELF, "sOrigin");

	if(sMap == "")
	{
		int nAct = GetGlobalInt("00_nAct");

		switch(nAct)
		{
		case 1:
			sMap = 	"Highcliff";
			break;
		case 2:
			sMap = "Act 2";			
			break;
		case 3:
			sMap = "Act 3";
			break;
		default:
			sMap = "Highcliff";
			break;
		}
	}
	
	// BMA-OEI 7/04/06 - Check if using remove dominated campaign flag
	if ( GetGlobalInt(CAMPAIGN_SWITCH_REMOVE_DOMINATED_ON_TRANSITION) == TRUE )
	{
		int nRemoved = 0;
		object oFM = GetFirstFactionMember( oPC, FALSE );
		while ( GetIsObjectValid(oFM) == TRUE )
		{
			nRemoved = nRemoved + RemoveEffectsByType( oFM, EFFECT_TYPE_DOMINATED );
			oFM = GetNextFactionMember( oPC, FALSE );
		}
			
		if ( nRemoved > 0 )
		{
			// Abort transition if dominated effect was found and removed
			return;
		}
	}

	// BMA-OEI 6/24/06
	if ( GetGlobalInt( VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY ) == 1 )
	{
		if ( IsPartyGathered( oPC ) == FALSE )
		{
			ReportPartyGather( oPC );
			return;
		}
	}

	// BMA-OEI 8/22/06 -- Autosave before transition
	AttemptSinglePlayerAutoSave();
		
	ShowWorldMap( sMap, oPC, sOrigin );
} 

ka_hotspot_click_force

The script ka_hotspot_click_force gets called when the devs needed to make sure a certain NPC is along for the ride. Otherwise, it seems to work very similar to ka_hotspot_click.

I've removed a number of the plot checks to avoid spoilers.

// ka_hotspot_click_force
//
// Action script for when a hotspot is clicked on the worldmap.  Determines the location to send
// the party to.  This variant checks a global variable sCompVar, and if it's equal to nCheckValue, 
// fires a message box instead of sending the player on.  That message box is defined in this file 
// as well, in DisplayForceCompanionMessage.  The nMessage parameter chooses what message box to use.

// EPF 1/10/06
// TDE 1/31/06 - Added messages for Act 3, and scripting for if any one of a list of companions is required.
// EPF 1/31/06 - Using IsInParty instead of GetIsRosterMemberAvailable().
// TDE 3/23/06 - Fixed a bug in the companion list script
// EPF 3/29/06 -- uses JumpPartyToArea now
// BMA-OEI 4/12/06 - replaced LoadNewModule() with SaveRosterLoadModule()
// TDE 4/25/06 - Added support for excluding companions using "-" instead of ","

#include "kinc_worldmap"
#include "ginc_debug"
#include "ginc_companions"
#include "ginc_transition"

// Each case here needs to do the following, in this order:
// 1. Set a global string "00_sLastForcedCompanion" to be the roster name of the companion you're forcing to join.
// 2. Display a message box.  Callback script is always gui_force_comp.
//
// TDE - Eric, if this becomes a permanent solution rather than temp, these strings will need to be 
//		 added to dialog.tlk and called with SpeakStringByStrRef(nNum)

void DisplayForceCompanionMessage(int nMessage)
{
	object oPC = OBJECT_SELF;
	switch(nMessage)
	{
	case 1:
		//You must have xin your party in order to travel to y. Proceed?
		SetGlobalString("00_sLastForcedCompanion", "sand");
		DisplayMessageBox(oPC,178912, "", "gui_force_comp","",TRUE,"SCREEN_MESSAGEBOX_DEFAULT",66,"",67);
		break

        // PLOT CHECKS REMOVED HERE!!!!

	}
}
	
void main(string sModule, string sHotspot, int nProbSpecial, int nProbRandom, string sCompanion, string sCompVar, int nCheckValue, int nMessage)
{
	string sDestination;
	object oDestination;
	int nRoll;
	object oPC = OBJECT_SELF;
	object oFirstPC = GetFirstPC();
	object oFM;
	
	if(!GetIsSinglePlayer())
	{
		if(GetWorldMapLocked())
		{
			SendMessageToPC(oPC, GetStringByStrRef(STRING_REF_MAP_LOCKED));
			return;
		}
		else
		{
			SetWorldMapLocked();
		}
	}
		
	//companion is supposed to be forced at this point
	if ( GetGlobalInt(sCompVar) == nCheckValue ) 
	{	
		// Added by TDE: to allow passing in a list such as "zhjaeve,ammon_jerro"
	    int iLen;
	    int iCommaPos = FindSubString( sCompanion, "," ); //find first comma
	    int iMinusPos = FindSubString( sCompanion, "-" ); //find first minus
		int bDisplayMessage = TRUE; //Display the message if is a required companion is NOT in party or an excluded companion is in the party

		if ( iCommaPos == -1 && iMinusPos == -1 )
		{
			//only checking for one companion
			if(IsInParty(sCompanion))	
			{
				bDisplayMessage = FALSE;
			}
		}
		else
		{
			//Checking for multiple companions
			//PrettyMessage("Checking for multiple companions");
			string sNewString = sCompanion;
			int iPosEnd;
			int iPosStart;
			int bExclude;
	
		    while ( iCommaPos != -1 || iMinusPos != -1 )
		    {
			//	PrettyDebug("Trying to find " + sNewString);

		        // determine length
		        iLen = GetStringLength(sNewString);

			    // get next comma or - position (returns -1 if not found)
		        iCommaPos = FindSubString(sNewString, "," );
				iMinusPos = FindSubString(sNewString, "-" );
				bExclude = FALSE;

				if ( iCommaPos == -1 && iMinusPos == -1 )
				{
					iPosStart = 0;
					iPosEnd = iLen;
				}
				else
				{
					if ( iMinusPos != -1 && (iCommaPos == -1 || iCommaPos > iMinusPos) ) 
					{
						PrettyDebug("Minus Pos = " + IntToString(iMinusPos));

						bExclude = TRUE;
						iPosStart = iMinusPos + 1;	// Minus is the next in the sequence
						if (iCommaPos > iMinusPos) 
							iPosEnd = iCommaPos - 1;
						else iPosEnd = iLen;
					}
					else
					{
					//	PrettyDebug("Comma Pos = " + IntToString(iCommaPos));
						iPosStart = 0;
						iPosEnd = iCommaPos;	// Comma is the next in the sequence
					}
				}
	
		        // get companion name in string
		        string sTempString = GetSubString(sNewString, iPosStart, iPosEnd);

				PrettyMessage("Getting " + sTempString);	

				// If this companion is in the party, set flag
				if ( IsInParty(sTempString) )
				{
					//PrettyDebug(sTempString + " is in the party.");
					if ( bExclude )
					{
					//	PrettyDebug(sTempString + " should NOT be in the party.");
						// Make sure they are selectable, so they can be removed from the party
						SetIsRosterMemberSelectable(sTempString,TRUE);
						bDisplayMessage = TRUE;
						break;
					}
					else 
					{
						PrettyDebug(sTempString + " should be in the party.");
						bDisplayMessage = FALSE;
					}
				}
				else PrettyDebug(sTempString + " is NOT in the party.");	
	
		        // drop first tag and comma
				if ( bExclude )
				{
				//	PrettyDebug("Getting index between zero and" + IntToString(iMinusPos));
			        sNewString  = GetSubString(sNewString, 0, iMinusPos);
				}	
		        	
				else 
				{
				//	PrettyDebug("Getting index between " + IntToString(iPosEnd + 1) + " and " + IntToString(iLen));
		        	sNewString  = GetSubString(sNewString, iPosEnd + 1, iLen);
				}
		    }
		}

		if( bDisplayMessage )
		{
		//	PrettyDebug("Displaying Force Companion Message.");
			DisplayForceCompanionMessage(nMessage);
			return;
		}
	}
	
	//we only want one map encounter per player attempt to travel --
	//prevents the player getting barraged by module cutscenes
	//when he just wants to get to point B.
	if(!GetGlobalInt("bPlayedEncounterOnThisClick"))
	{
		 sDestination = GetModuleEncounter(sModule, sHotspot);
	
		if(sDestination == "")
		{
			nRoll = Random(100);
	
			if(nRoll < nProbSpecial)
			{
				sDestination = GetSpecialEncounter(sModule, sHotspot);	
			}
			else if(nRoll < nProbSpecial + nProbRandom)
			{
				sDestination = GetRandomEncounter(sModule, sHotspot);
			}
		}
	}
	if(sDestination == "")
	{
		SetGlobalInt("bPlayedEncounterOnThisClick",FALSE);
		sDestination = GetDefaultDestination(sHotspot);
	}
	else	//we're doing an encounter
	{
		SetGlobalInt("bPlayedEncounterOnThisClick",TRUE);
		// unless our present encounter overrides the message with a global variable, we play it 
		// and return.
		if(!GetGlobalInt(ENCOUNTER_MESSAGE_OVERRIDE))
		{
			ShowEncounterMessage(sDestination, sModule);
			return;
		}
		SetGlobalInt(ENCOUNTER_MESSAGE_OVERRIDE, FALSE);		
	}
	
	//this variable handles origin-dependent redirection, like changing the point of
	//entry in the docks district depending on whether you came from blacklake
	//or the merchant quarter.  We reset it to its default here.  It is set in the 
	//cliententer scripts of applicable areas.
	SetGlobalInt("OriginArea",0);	
	
	oDestination = GetObjectByTag(sDestination);
		
	if(GetIsObjectValid(oDestination))
	{
		ForceRestParty( oPC );
		// BMA-OEI 6/14/06
		SinglePartyTransition( oPC, oDestination );
		//JumpPartyToArea(oPC, oDestination);
	}
	else
	{
		ForceRestParty( oPC );
		PrettyDebug("Unable to find waypoint in current module.  Initiating module transition.");
		//LoadNewModule(sModule, sDestination);
		SaveRosterLoadModule(sModule, sDestination);
	}
	
}

ka_hotspot_show

This simple script can be placed on a conversation node to make a certain hotspot visible at some point in the plot.

// ka_hotspot_show
//
// Set as visible the hotspot with name sHotspot

#include "kinc_worldmap"
		
void main(string sHotspot)
{
	ShowHotspot(sHotspot);
}

kc_hotspot_show

The following function checks to see if a hotspot has been found. It is meant to be placed on the ConditionalScript field of a world map.

// kc_hotspot_show
//
// global conditional script for world map hotspots.  Returns TRUE if this hotspot should be displayed
// on the world map.
	
// EPF 12/8/05
	
#include "kinc_worldmap"
	
int StartingConditional(string sHotspot)
{
	return GetIsHotspotVisible(sHotspot);
}

kinc_module1000

This script is an example of one of the encounter scripts that kinc_worldmap includes. It's worth noting that none of the OC module includes seem to do anything with the SpecialEncounter() function.

// kinc_module1000
//
// global include file for the module.
	
// EPF 12/8/05
// DBR 02/22/06 - if I havn't had the Sand intro, don't warp to the Sunken Flagon.
// DBR 08/03/06 - Initiate Olov ambush if player tries to leave Old Owl Well

#include "ginc_debug"

//const string OLOV_CS_FLAG = "13gb_olov_ambush";
//const string OLOV_CS_WP = "13_Cascamp_To_Olov";

	
string Get1000Encounter(string sDestHotspot)
{
	int nOrigin = GetGlobalInt("OriginArea");

	if (GetGlobalInt("13gb_olov_ambush") == 1)	//Olov ambush should occur, don't leave Old Owl Well without Ambush occurring.
	{
		SetGlobalInt("13gb_olov_ambush",2);
		PrettyMessage("Time for Olov to appear");
		return "13_Cascamp_To_Olov";
	}
		
	if ((sDestHotspot=="1001flagon")&&(!GetGlobalInt("10_arrival_done")))
		return "10_wp_cs_arrival_elstop";
	
	//Sydney/Johcris scene
	if (GetGlobalInt("00b_ReadyJocrisNataleCS")==1)
	{
		SetGlobalInt("00_bOverrideEncounterMessage", TRUE);
		return "1025_wp_player";		
	}	
		
	if (sDestHotspot == "1001flagon" || sDestHotspot == "2000Neverwinter_A2")
	{
		PrettyMessage("Calling redirection script");
		
		switch (nOrigin)
		{		
			case 1013: //Player coming from Merchant Quarter
			{
				SetGlobalInt("00_bOverrideEncounterMessage", TRUE);
				PrettyMessage("Entering from Merchant Quarter");
				SetGlobalInt("district_redirect", 1);
				return "10_wp_docksi_to_dockso";
			}
			break;
			case 1600: // Player coming from Blacklake
			case 2024:
			{
				SetGlobalInt("00_bOverrideEncounterMessage", TRUE);
				SetGlobalInt("district_redirect", 1);
				return "10_wp_docksi_to_dockso";
			}
			break;
			case 1900: // Player coming from Back Alley
			{
				SetGlobalInt("00_bOverrideEncounterMessage", TRUE);
				SetGlobalInt("district_redirect", 1);
				return "10_wp_alley_to_docks1_st_exit";
			}
			break;
		}
	}
	return "";
}
	
string Get1000SpecialEncounter(string sDestHotspot)
{
	return "";
}

kinc_module1700

 The world map include file for the Merchant Quarter shows how the origin variable is used to redirect to a different waypoint, based on which direction the party is coming from.

// kinc_module1700
//
// global include file for the module.
	
// JYL 04/17/06
// DBR 08/03/06 - Initiate Olov ambush if player tries to leave Old Owl Well
// DBR 08/16/06 - Changed waypoint override to a tag that is not also in the Docks	

//const string OLOV_CS_FLAG = "13gb_olov_ambush";
//const string OLOV_CS_WP = "13_Cascamp_To_Olov";

string Get1700Encounter(string sDestHotspot)
{	
	int nOrigin = GetGlobalInt("OriginArea");

	if (GetGlobalInt("13gb_olov_ambush") == 1)	//Olov ambush should occur, don't leave Old Owl Well without Ambush occurring.
	{
		SetGlobalInt("13gb_olov_ambush",2);
		//PrettyMessage("Time for Olov to appear");
		return "13_Cascamp_To_Olov";
	}
	
	

	if (sDestHotspot=="1013merchant" || sDestHotspot=="2013MerchantQuarter")
	{
		switch (nOrigin)
		{
			case 0: // Player entering from outside city
			{
				SetGlobalInt("00_bOverrideEncounterMessage", TRUE);
				SetGlobalInt("district_redirect", 1);
				return "10_wp_oow_spawn";
			}
			break;
			case 1000: // Player entering from Docks
			{
				SetGlobalInt("00_bOverrideEncounterMessage", TRUE);
				SetGlobalInt("district_redirect", 1);
				return "10_wp_docksi_to_merchant";
			}
			break;
			case 1600: // Player entering from Blacklake
			case 2024:
			{
				SetGlobalInt("00_bOverrideEncounterMessage", TRUE);
				SetGlobalInt("district_redirect", 1);
				return "wp_from1024_to1013";
			}
			break;
		}
	}
	return "";
}
	
string Get1700SpecialEncounter(string sDestHotspot)
{
	return "";
} 

ERFinder

tani's ERFinder is a great tool for creating hak files.

ERFinder is a small tool like the old hak-packer of nwn1. it can open/import/export/save any ERF-formatted files for nwn2, especially HAK, MOD, PWC and ERF itself. it uses OEIShared.dll from your nwn2-installation for all file-io (so it should be placed in your nwn2-folder) and needs .net 2.0 (like all nwn2 tools). it complies to the new ERF v1.1 format, thus allowing filenames to be 32 charakters long (hak-packer from nwn1 only supports v1.0, limiting filenames to 16 chars).

Get it from the vault:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Tools.Detail&id=9

Encapsulated Resource File Editor

Another tool for creating hak files is Ranmanu's Encapsulated Resource File Editor.

Edits, imports or exports data from Encapsulated Resource File files also known as ERF files (.HAK, .MOD, .ERF and .NWM).

Can be used for NWN1 (ERF version 1.0) as well as NWN2 (ERF version 1.1).

Get it from the vault:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Tools.Detail&id=30

Patch 1.13

See the official 1.13 thread here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=643393&forum=1...

Fixes

Neverwinter Nights 2 Game Update 1.13
Patch Notes - June 2, 2008

Bug Fixes
---------------

General

• The toolset and game now load hak files in the same order.
• Skills such as Search will no longer broadcast multiple messages to the chat window while in use. A single message will be displayed when turning the skill on or off.

Multiplayer

• The chat channel will no longer revert to Local when a player transitions to a new area or module.

DM Client

• Fixed an issue where DMs would not receive messages on the DM channel if they were filtering out the shout channel.
• The console command dm_setfaction will no longer cause crashes.

Toolset

• The toolset and game now load hak files in the same order.
• Fixed an issue where you could not tint multi-selected tiles.
• Light spheres shall now display properly.
• Sound spheres shall now display properly.
• The creature cache in Area Properties shall now work as intended.

Scripting

• The GetNextItemInInventory() script function should now work properly with stores.

Custom Content

• The Skills.2da file will now accept up to 100 rows of data.

New Features
---------------
Multiplayer

• The chat system now has a /r command for replying to the last private message a player receives. After receiving a private message, the player can enter "/r" into the chat system which will automatically address a private message to the person that sent the previous private message.
• The ability to send a private message by right clicking on a character's portrait in the party bar has been added to the DM and player client.

Toolset

• The ItemPropertyActivationPreference property for items is now accessible through scripting.

DM Client

• DMs can now jump to object when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now jump a player to the DM's location when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now examine the character sheet of a player in the same area when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now shift the alignment of a player in the same area when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now toggle the invulnerability of a player in the same area when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now force players to rest when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now Give/Take gold to/from players when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now Give/Take XP to/from players when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• DMs can now Give/Take levels to/from players when right clicking on a portrait in the party bar.
• Character names will now display when you mouse over a character's portrait in the party bar.
• The ability to send a private message by right clicking on a character's portrait in the party bar has been added to the DM and player client.

Scripting

• A SetCollision(object oTarget, int bCollision) function has been made available. This will allow builders and DMs to turn the collision of a creature or placeable object on or off dynamically. This function is only useful on creatures/players/placeables that already have collision and will set collision to NONE if called on an object that never had collision in the first place.
• A GetCollision(object oTarget) function has been added. This function will return the collision Boolean for an object.
• The ItemPropertyActivationPreference property for items is now accessible through scripting.
• A GetBicFileName function has been made available. This function will return the file name of a .bic file in a server vault.
• New List Box functionality has been added to the game. This includes the following script commands:

o ClearListBox
o AddListBoxRow
o RemoveListBoxRow
o ModifyListBoxRow

• A SetScrollBarRanges(object oPlayer, string sScreenName, string sScrollBarName, int nMinSize, int nMaxSize, int nMinValue, int nMaxValue) function has been added to the game. This function will allow you to set custom values to a scrollbar.
• A SetFactionLeader(object oNewLeader) function has been added to the game. This allows you to set a companion to be the speaker in a conversation.
• A GetFirstSubArea(object oArea, vector vPosition) function has been added to the game. This function lets you iterate over the ‘subareas’ at a given position in an area. A subarea would be a trigger, an encounter, or a AoEEffect.
• A GetNextSubArea(object oArea) function has been added to the game.
• A GetMovementRateFactor(object oCreature) function has been added to the game.
• A SetMovementRateFactor(object oCreature, float fFactor) function has been added to the game. This function sets the creature's movement factor to that value. This movement factor is also modified by effects, encumberance, etc

Patch 1.21

This patch came out November 5, 2008 in conjunction with SoZ being released.

Issues

I've seen two major issues that affect builders:

Area OnEnter scripts not working

Seems like some builders were having problems with Area OnEnter scripts not firing correctly after they updated the game. Seems the problem tends to be an incorrect use of OnEnter instead of OnClientEnter.

From Rob McGinnis in this thread about OnEnter and 1.21:

The way OnEnter works is that it fires off before the client is fully loaded into the game. This means that when you call the OnEnter function to fire off a conversation or other script, such as giving an item to a character, it may seem like the scripts/conversation is not working, when in fact it is. It is just happening BEFORE the client enters the game fully.

We will not be changing this behavior because there are benefits to this, but we are looking for ways to make it so modders do not need to change their mods.

Moving forward, we suggest you use OnClientEnter as it should handle these things properly.

Speaker triggers not firing correctly

There also seems to be an additional issue where some speaker triggers are not firing correctly. In the same thread Rob suggests making sure the speaker field is set on the dialogs as opposed to leaving this as the default blank for OWNER. I'm unsure if this is a solve for the problem.

Discussion

See the official thread at:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=656414&forum=109

Neverwinter Nights 2 Game Update 1.21 Patch Notes

November 5, 2008

The following list contains the majority of fixes and features added in the 1.21 Game update. All spoilers for Storm of Zehir have been removed from this list.

Bug Fixes

General
* Item costs in the game should match the costs in the toolset.
* Party members that have wands with 0 charges will now attack and use spells normally.
* When dropping an item, characters will now use the appropriate "drop" animation.
* Fixed an issue with opening two bags at once. You will now only be able to open one bag.
*The tool tip for the Player Chat menu item will now say Player Chat.
* Fixed an issue that caused freecam (console command) to not work properly.
* Made several corrections to the Doomgude class description.
* Snake's Swiftness, Mass will now affect the entire party.
* Hellfire Shield should now play an appropriate sound effect when activated.
* Hellfire Blast should now play an appropriate sound when activated.
* The description of Hellfire Shield has been changed to appropriately reflect it is an Area of Effect shield.
* Weapon Focus: Warmace will now be available to all qualified characters.
* The ability score descriptions in character creation have been changed to be more informative and reflect changes to the game.
* Fixed an issue that was causing certain AI behavior feedback to be displayed, even after being deactivated.
* When the game is paused, a much more noticeable message is displayed.
* Aura of protection will no longer provide "No Stacking" feedback.

Toolset
* Item costs in the toolset should match the costs in game.
* Changing checkboxes with multiple objects selected will no longer cause the toolset to crash.
* Changing dropdown lists with multiple objects selected will no longer cause the toolset to crash.
* Fixed an issue where resizing a creature may not have resized the collision spheres.
* Fixed an issue where the creature cache was not working properly.
* Dropdowns generated from 2DAs will no longer start with the wrong row selected.
* Redesigned the fields associated with setting Tints to no longer be collapsed controls.
* Fixed an issue that caused light and sound spheres to not render at their proper size.
* Fixed an issue that caused ceiling tint changes to not show up in the toolset.

New Features

General
* Playable races now have a proper stealth animation.
* Added in the AI functionality from TonyK's AI.
* In a peer-to-peer multiplayer session, the hosting player may now unpause the game unconditionally.

Toolset
* Added properties associated with the overland map, including camera positioning and the flag to mark the area as an overland map.
* Added camera positioning functionality settings in the area properties to support overland maps created by the community.
* Added a flag in the area properties to set an area to be an overland map.
* Added Campaign flags for Unrestricting NPC level ups (Lets them chose any class at level up)
* Added Campaign flags for Conversation Distance limit override.
* Added Campaign flags to turn off party-control character swapping for dialogs on a global level.
* Added Campaign flags to enable Party Creation and setting what the size of the party should be.
* Added Campaign flags to toggle the new death system.

Scripting
* PlaySound() now takes an optional parameter: bPlayAs2D. This parameter will default to FALSE. Setting this parameter to TRUE will force the engine to play the sound you specified as a 2D sound rather than 3D Positional audio, regardless of what the engine would normally do before.
* BeginConversation() now has a parameter that allows you to block the character's 'Greeting' VO from playing.
* Added a script function SetScrollBarValue()
* Added a script function SetPause()
* Added a script function GetPause()

Additional items that will be int he patch, but are not listed int he patch notes are:

* Added in the authentication system to support the Adventure Pack system.

* Fixed issues that would cause the Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep to crash on transition if they had certain items or metamagic spells in the quickbar.

* Use Magic Device will no longer supersede a character's caster class or level, when that caster level is higher than the UMD skill.

* Fixed an issue that caused high level items to be used when a character had a single point in Use Magic Device.

Patch 1.22

Neverwinter Nights 2 Game Update 1.22 - December 19, 2008 

I've attempted to compile links, known issues, patch notes and 2da changes from the forums.

Official forum thread is here: http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=669454&forum=1...

Available on the vault here: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Other.Detail&id=212

Known Issues

• Hard core difficulty setting - AOE spells only hurt caster, not entire party. Some notes from this conversation: http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=669443&forum=109&sp=0
  • Tony K - I think the source of the problem is the switch from GetCurrentMaster to GetCurrentRealMaster. For companions GetCurrentRealMaster will now return the companion instead of the PC. GetCurrentMaster returns the PC. Companions are not friends of the PC, but their factions are the same. Similar results should also occur if you switch to another party member – PC is now the currently controlled party member, companion is the original PC.
  • Rob McGinnis - I have asked that this get looked at again.

    What has been presented to me is that party damage was supposed to be based on the PvP setting for an area, regardless of the difficulty setting.

    So, on hardcore difficulty, in most cases in NWN2 OC, your party will not take damage. However, on a PW, or in a module where areas are set to be full PvP, then the party will take damage.

    If there is a bug in all this, it will probably wait to be fixed in 1.23

• ActionCastSpellAtLocation() function from spell.2da got changed parameters (noted by rpgplayer1). New parameter is added, nDomainLevel, but it's between 2 existing parameters.
  • Implication: Any script that uses ActionCastSpellAtLocation() function, and has more then 4 arguments will give unpredictable behavior.
  • Rob McGinnis - I am going to have a hotfix created for this. We don't expect that this issue will impact things too much, but there could be some wonky AI behavior (no comment).
• Just to make sure... The triggers' OnEnter script on module/area load hasn't been fixed yet? (by Mazena86)
  • It is fixed. However the problem you experience may not be the same as what was reported.
• Attempting to compile nx2_s0_hlfrblst.nss results in an error; it seems that EffectHellfireBlast() is no longer defined anywhere that the compiler can find it (by ladydesire).
  • rpgplayer1 - nx2_s0_hlfrblst is actually obsolete script, not used in the game by anything (there is no complied version in scrips_x2.zip either). EffectHellfireBlast isn't defined anywhere because such effect doesn't really exist in the code.
• I got all excited about greater fang and jagged tooth working on the shapeshifted druids, but DENIED! (by DTHWSH)

Bug Fixes

General

• Spell focus feats are no longer available for Warlocks during character creation or level-up
• The class description of Stormlord has been changed to reflect the skills available.
• Weapon switching has been enabled for enemies, but not party members.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to get the dinosaur companion for free.
• The item &quotStone of Alarm&quot will now work as intended.
• Yuan-ti Purebloods now gain Alertness and Blind-Fight instead of Snakeblood, per PnP rules. Race description has been altered accordingly.
• The Flurry of Blows feat description has been altered to more accurately reflect which weapons can be used to gain the benefit of this feat.
• The Default Swashbuckler package will no longer choose Luck of Heroes at level 1.
• Familiars will always follow their masters, unless told to stand their ground.
• Fixed an issue that caused the 2d/3d bias option setting to not save.
• &quotAlchemist's Fire&quot will now add a damage bonus when applied to a weapon
• The Eldritch Lore feat description has been revised to reflect that its use is automatic, not selected.

Toolset &amp Custom Content

• Fixed an issue that was causing conversations to abort when no speaker is designated (the PC was designated as the speaker by default).
• A single TLK file is now required for custom content and module building. It must have a TLK extension to be seen by the toolset and the game.
• Two new module properties are available to designate a module as needing NX1 (Mast of the Betrayer), or NX2 (Storm of Zehir).

Scripting

• DespawnRosterMember() will no longer cause a crash when used.

Multiplayer

• Action queues will no longer be cleared when a player toggles hostile/friendly in the player list. (In process).

Spells

• Animate Dead now randomly summons a 5 HD skeleton or zombie warrior.
• Create Undead now randomly summons an 11 HD mummy, wraith, or ghast.
• Create Greater Undead now randomly summons a 15 HD vampire fighter or warlock, but only for 1 round/level to prevent it from being too powerful.
• The druid elemental wildshape form will now properly categorize the druid as an elemental.
• The Polymorph spell's gargoyle form will now properly categorize the caster as a monstrous humanoid.
• The Shapechange spell's nightwalker form will now properly categorize the caster as undead.
• Aura of Glory will no longer apply Charisma bonus to party members
• Cacophonic Burst: damage applied to first target won't be used when calculating damage to other targets (will roll damage separately for each target)
• Cacophonic Burst: will be properly maximized if having caster level below 15 (will not do full 90 points of damage anymore)
• Made adjustments to the number of enemies that Chain Lighting will affect.
• Made adjustments to the number of enemies that Wail of the Banshee will affect.
• Fixed Cloud of Bewilderment, so the Empower and Maximize metamagic abilities properly increase duration of effects on the target.
• The constitution damage of the Cloudkill spell now stacks properly and can no longer be dispelled.
• Color Spray: Blindness will no longer affect creatures immune to mind affecting spells.
• Color Spray: Will no longer trigger a spell resistance check on caster in some situations.
• Fixed Curse of Impending Blades (including Mass version), so it will check for spell resistance properly.
• Fixed Delayed Blast Fireball, so only enemies can trigger explosion.
• Fixed Doom, so saving throw isn't rolled if spell is blocked by spell resistance or immunity.
• Fixed Extract Water Elemental, so only non-living creatures are immune to it (Constructs and Undead), and not everyone who has immunity to Death magic (just like Horrid Wilting).
• Fire Storm is now capped properly at 20d6 damage.
• Fixed Flame Weapon, so it doesn't cancel out spells or abilities that add non-fire elemental damage to the weapons.
• Glyph of Warding spell will now check for spell resistance.
• Glyph of Warding spell will now allow a Reflex save for half damage.
• Glyph of Warding spell will now be properly affected by Empower or Maximize metamagic abilities.
• Glyph of Warding spell will no longer affect creatures outside its area of effect (vfx_persistent.2da change).
• Fixed Haste (including Warpriest version), so it can affect proper number of allies (enemies won't be counted anymore).
• The Jagged Tooth spell will now work when used on magical beasts or dragons (Dragon Companion and Druid epic wildshape forms included). (Work in progress - does not affect dragon companions).
• The Magic Fang spell will now work when used on magical beasts or dragons (Dragon Companion and Druid epic wildshape forms included).
• The Greater Magic Fang spell, will now work when used on magical beasts or dragons (Dragon Companion and Druid epic wildshape forms included).
• Critical hits from the Meteor Swarm spell will now double fire damage, not just blunt damage.
• Creatures immune to critical hits will no longer receive doubled damage on critical hits from a Meteor Swarm spell.
• Mind Fog will now properly check for spell resistance.
• Remove Fear now properly removes shaken effects caused by fear auras.
• Fixed Shades (Self), so that depleting damage reduction won't end its other effects.
• Critical hits caused by the Shocking Grasp spell will now be calculated properly.
• The Solipsism spell will now bypass paralysis immunity.
• The Solipsism spell will no longer be removed by spells that cancel paralysis.
• The Solipsism spell will be removed by Greater Restoration or the Mind Blank line of spells.
• The visual effects of the Solipsism spell have been changed.
• Stone Body, will no longer add electricity immunity, if same is already applied by the Stormlord class (prevents a bug with getting no immunity at all).
• The Storm of Vengeance spell will now calculate damage for each affected creature.
• The stun effect of the Storm of Vengeance spell is now removed properly if a target successfully saves.
• The effects of the Swamp Lung spell will no longer stack.

Creature Abilities

• Fixed the Angel Protective Aura used by Planetars and Solars, so it affects all his allies. Also, it will give proper +4 bonus to saves and AC.
• Fixed Blindness/Deafness spell-like ability of Deep Gnome, so it has consistent save DC (always Cha based, with +4 racial modifier).
• Fixed Dragon Breath for all Dragons (including companions), so that damage is rolled for each target, instead applying the same value to all targets.
• Fixed Dragon Breath for Black Dragons, so it won't affect targets outside the &quotline of effect.&quot
• The visual effect for the dragon companion's breath weapon will now display properly.
• The dragon companion's breath weapon will now have a proper save DC.
• The dragon companion's breath weapon damage output has been adjusted.
• The damage caused by the fire genasi's Reach to the Blaze ability has been adjusted.

Class Abilities

• Fixed Dragon Breath ability of Red Dragon Disciples, so that damage is rolled for each target, instead applying same value to all targets.
• Fixed Favored Soul and Warpriest Haste ability, so it affects multiple targets correctly if targeted on caster himself.
• Fixed the Warpriest Implacable Foe ability, so it will not trigger attacks from companions if allied NPCs get affected by it.

Neverwinter Nights 2 Campaign Fixes

• Fixed an issue that was causing a crash when exiting the Sunken Flagon.
• Fixed various conversation issues in the Skymirror area.
• Storm of Zehir Campaign Fixes
• Reduced the spawn rate and maximum number of encounters on the overland map.
• The NPC Redfeyer will no longer simply sing in combat.
• The difficulty of the Priory of the Depths puzzle has been adjusted.
• Losing the deed to Parrum's Rock will no longer block quests.
• Resolved an issue where the Team Rush feat would cause the game to crash on module transition.
• Fixed an issue that caused Adreum to repeat his conversation.
• Fixed various text and misspelling issues in conversations and quests.
• Fixed a sequence issue with the &quotWrath of Umberlee&quot quest.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the quantity of trade bars being carried to be misreported.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the players' demise to be reported prematurely.
• Fixed various issues with the Priory of the Depths puzzle.
• Septimund has been made unkillable in Port Llast.
• Fixed an issue that caused the undead to remain in Port Llast after you raise the army of the dead.
• Fixed an issue that was causing certain conversations to be presented as cutscenes.
• Players can now access rare resources stored in the warehouses.
• Septimund should now have the proper level.
• Fixed an issue with unlimited loot in some areas.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the scrying orb to give unlimited XP.
• Creature parts are no longer forced into the bounty bag and must be manually placed. This only applies to any new creature parts the player picks up. Existing parts in inventory still suffer under the old blueprints.
• Fixed issues related to customizing a character's package in the party editor.
• Fixed a sequence issue with the &quotPrice of a Song&quot quest. The quest will now update properly.
• Chir's familiar will no longer be nameless.
• The NPC Soraevora has been improved.
• &quotShipwreck Survivor&quot epithet feat is now granted to all player-made characters.

SoZ Crafting

• Sound effects have been added to crafting

Changed 2da files 

(Thanks Senalaya)

\2DA\classes.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_archer.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_arctr.2DA
\2DA\cls_feat_bard.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_cler.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_dradis.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_druid.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_eknight.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_harper.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_pal.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_palema.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_rang.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_sorc.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_wiz.2da
\2DA\cls_feat_wprst.2da
\2DA\des_crft_spells.2da
\2DA\feat.2da
\2DA\packages.2da
\2DA\polymorph.2da
\2DA\spells.2da
\2DA\vfx_persistent.2da
\2DA\visualeffects.2da
\2DA_X1\classes.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_bard.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_cler.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_dradis.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_druid.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_eknight.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_favored_soul.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_harper.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_pal.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_palema.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_rang.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_sacredfist.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_scholar.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_sorc.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_spiritshaman.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_stormlord.2da
\2DA_X1\cls_feat_wprst.2da
\2DA_X1\feat.2da
\2DA_X1\iprp_spells.2da
\2DA_X1\packages.2da
\2DA_X1\polymorph.2da
\2DA_X1\spells.2da
\2DA_X1\vfx_persistent.2da
\2DA_X1\visualeffects.2da
\2DA_X2\classes.2da
\2DA_X2\cls_feat_doomguide.2da
\2DA_X2\des_crft_spells.2da
\2DA_X2\feat.2da
\2DA_X2\iprp_spells.2da
\2DA_X2\packages.2da
\2DA_X2\packftswash1.2da
\2DA_X2\race_feat_yuanti.2da
\2DA_X2\spells.2da
\2DA_X2\vfx_persistent.2da
\2DA_X2\visualeffects.2da
\GUI\chargen_appearance.xml
\GUI\chargen_appearancex1.xml
\GUI\chargen_appearancex2.xml
\GUI\noticewindow.xml
\GUI\playerlogin.xml
\GUI\playerloginx1.xml
\GUI\playerloginx2.xml

Patch 1.23 notes

As BeyondthePale pointed out on nwvault, the 1.23 patch notes were posted in this forum thread by Rob McGinnis. Apparently the patch is coming very soon. Here are the notes:

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed an issue that was causing the "Character has too many feats" error message to display when attempting to cross-class a level 5 Sorceror with a level of Cleric with the Earth or War domain.
• Players can no longer remove the last living party member from the party.
• Fixed an issue that was causing enemies to remain highlighted if they died while being highlighted.
• Fixed crash on exit to Desktop when hak pak(s) are in use
• Infinite items in stores should no longer lose focus after purchasing.
• Fixed an issue that was causing creatures to show as "Effortless" when Show CR was enabled.

Toolset & Custom Content

• The UI Atlas system has been removed so that UI objects that are not 1:1 will no longer appear blurred.
• Hook points should now appear properly in the toolset.
• Compile All Scripts now compiles campaign scripts too
• Hovering over a property sheet value in the toolset will now correctly display any truncated text as a tooltip.
• A more friendly message is displayed when plugins fail to load, telling the user which files are not loading in a single messagebox.
• Fixed an issue with settings that was causing hook points to not display properly.
• Fixed 'out of bounds' issues that were causing toolset crashes.

Scripting

• Fixed the ActionCastSpellAtLocation() script so that the nDomainLevel parameter is in the right place.
• SetCollision() has been changed to work with placeables. However it will only turn collision on if the blueprint for the object has collision already.
• Removed the setmaterialtype limitation, which required you to limit materials to predefined GMATERIAL consts.
• Fixed an issue where compiling all scripts would dump the .ncs files into the mod folder and would ignore the campaign folder.

Multiplayer

• Fixed an issue that was causing servers to crash when a polymorphed character would attempt to transition.
• Players possessing their familiars will no longer lock up when transitioned by a DM
• The Missing File error message, when attempting to connect to a server, now reports the file that is missing.
• When examining other players and creatures, CR will no longer be displayed twice.

Spells & Invocations

• Warlock Invocations are now properly marked as somantic in the spells.2da file.
• Fixed an issue that was causing you to damage your own party members, on Normal difficulty setting, with AOE spells.
• Casting invisibility will now make the affected character silent, as well as invisible. There will no longer be an opaque appearance on invisible creatures, which should reduce confusion.
• Concentration check for Warlock invocations is now DC10+DamageDealt+SpellLevel.
• Fixed an issue that was causing Vampiric Regeneration to work intermittently.
• Animal Trance has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Hammer of the Gods has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Animalistic Power has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Blades of Fire has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Bladeweave has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Conviction has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Living Undeath has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Nightshield has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Reduce Person has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Reduce Animal has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Greater Reduce Person has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Mass Reduce Person has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Arc of Lightning has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Blood to Water has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Castigate has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Dehydrate has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Healing Sting has been fixed to allow for certain types of metamagic.
• Animal Trance will now make the proper spell resistance check.
• Healing Sting will now make the proper spell resistance check.
• Casting the spell Avasculate will now cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting the spell Bestow Curse will now cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting the spell Death Knell will now cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting the spell Hypothermia will now cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting the spell Moon Bolt will now cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting the spell Swamp Lung will now cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting the spell Deep Slumber will now cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting the Curse of Despair Invocation will now cause the caster to become visible.
• The Bestow Curse spell is now considered supernatural and may no longer be dispelled.
• Blade Barrier will now be properly dispelled.
• Blades of Fire now provides a benefit for two rounds.
• Blood to Water will now properly check for spell resistance.
• The Constitution damage caused by Blood to Water may no longer be dispelled.
• The effects of the Camouflage and Mass Camouflage spells will no longer stack.
• Mass Camouflage will now affect characters within a targeted area.
• Castigate will now properly check for spell resistance.
• Castigate will no longer affect creatures with the same alignment as the caster.
• Gray Orcs will now be affected by the Charm Person spell.
• Gray Orcs will now be affected by the Daze spell.
• Gray Orcs will now be affected by the Dominate Person spell.
• The Dehydrate spell will now properly check for spell resistance.
• The Dehydrate spell will now be negated by a successful Fortitude save.
• The Constitution damage caused by the Dehydrate spell will now stack.
• The Constitution damage caused by the Dehydrate spell may no longer be dispelled.
• The duration of the Deep Slumber spell has been reduced.
• The Devour Magic invocation will now properly grant temporary hit points when an area effect is dispelled.
• The Devour Magic invocation will no longer attempt to dispel temporary hitpoints granted by the use of devour magic.
• Negative levels granted by the Enervation spell may no longer be dispelled.
• The effects of Enlarge Person will no longer stack on a Duergar already affected by Entropic Husk.
• The duration of the Flame Weapon spell has been reduced to one minute per level.
• Fixed the duration of the Foundation of Stone spell to match its description.
• Casting Lesser Visage of the Deity will no longer cause the caster to become visible.
• Casting Greater Visage of the Deity will no longer cause the caster to become visible.
• The gust of wind spell will no longer remove auras.
• The Living Undeath spell will now impart a proper Charisma penalty.
• Mass Blindness will now only effect enemies on hardcore difficulty setting.
• Mass Deafness will now only effect enemies on hardcore difficulty setting.
• Mass Curse of Impending Blades will now only effect enemies on hardcore difficulty setting.
• Mass Reduce Person will no longer affect enemies.
• Mass Reduce Person will no longer be canceled if there are non-humanoids in the area.
• Nightshield will now provide the proper +3 bonus to saving throws for casters 9th level or higher.
• Slay Living will no longer trigger a spell resistance check if the melee attack fails.
• Tasha's Hideous Laughter will now be properly affected by dispel spells.
• The Magic Fang spell has been changed from the Conjuration spell school to the Transmutation spell school.
• The Greater Magic Fang spell has been changed from the Conjuration spell school to the Transmutation spell school.
• The Mind Fog spell has been changed from the Illusion spell school to the Enchantment spell school.
• The Shroud of Flame spell has been changed from the Transmutation spell school to the Evocation spell school.
• The Bless Weapon spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Death Armor spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Elemental Shield spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Flame Weapon spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Heal Animal Companion spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Mage Armor spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Mass Snake Swiftness spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Poison spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Rejuvination spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Cocoon spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Tortoise Shell spell can no longer be maximized.
• The Creeping Cold spell can no longer be extended or made persistent.
• The Greater Creeping Cold spell can no longer be extended or made persistent.
• The Cause Fear spell can no longer be made persistent.
• The Lesser Dispel spell can now be made silent.
• The Scare spell can now be made silent.
• The Greater Resistance spell can now be cast with Still metamagic.
• The Superior Resistance spell can now be cast with Still metamagic.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Animal Trance spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Animalistic Power spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Arc of Lightning spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Blades of Fire spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Bladeweave spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Blood to Water spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Castigate spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Conviction spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Dehydrate spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Healing Sting spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Living Undeath spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Nightshield spell.
• Fixed various issues that prevented the use of certain metamagic feats with the Stabilize spell.
• The Blindness spell will no longer have a somatic component.
• The Deafness spell will no longer have a somatic component.
• Changed the range for the Crushing Despair spell from medium to short.
• Fixed an issue with Lesser Planar Binding that was preventing its use on hostile outsiders in SoZ.
• Fixed an issue with Planar Binding that was preventing its use on hostile outsiders in SoZ.
• The Castigate spell will now properly be centered on the caster.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing Mordenkainen's Disjunction from targeting enemies.

Feats

• Increased the duration of Divine Might and Divine Vengeance feats for one round, to compensate for inability to attack in same round when those abilities are activated
• Fixed the Divine Vengeance bonus, so it gives extra 2d6 damage against undead, and not some random value between 2-12
• AI Controlled characters with the Two-Weapon Fighting feat will no longer unequip off-hand weapons.

Racial Abilities

• Fixed Cause Fear, Charm Person and Entangle spell-like abilities of Yuan-Ti Purebloods, so that duration and DC are not based on first class taken at character creation. Instead, as per PnP rules, DC is Charisma based and duration depends from total character level.
• Fixed the aura used by Drowned undead, so it does not affect creatures with Iron Body, which gives immunity to drowning.
• Fixed the Howl of Fear ability used by Shadow Mastiffs, so it will no longer affect the casting creature when part of the player's faction on Hardcore difficulty.
• Fixed the Summon Gale ability of Air Genasi, so it will not remove auras from other creatures anymore.

Class Abilities

Bard

• Fixed an issue that was causing the Chorus of Heroism to not work properly when used by NPC AI.
• Fixed an issue with Legionnaire's March Song so the increased attack bonus is calculated properly.

Cleric

• Turn Undead will no longer include previously turned outsiders in the Hit dice calculation for new turning attempts.
• The 'Turning Failed' message will no longer display for a creature that cannot be turned.

Druid

• Fixed an issue that was causing the game to crash if a druid, with a sling attached, casts Elemental Shape > Air.

Neverwinter Nine

• The duration of the Furious Assault ability has been increased by one round.
• Fixed an issue with Guarding the Lord so that its duration is now properly based on the character's level.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing the concurrent use of a persistent aura from multiple creatues and characters of the same type, in the same area.
• Fixed an issue that was causing icons for persistent aura effects to not display properly.

Paladin

• Fixed an issue that was preventing the concurrent use of a persistent aura from multiple creatues and characters of the same type, in the same area.
• Fixed an issue that was causing icons for persistent aura effects to not display properly.

Ranger

• Ranger abilities will no longer be disabled when equipping mithral chainmail armor.

Blackguard

• Fixed an issue that was preventing the concurrent use of a persistent aura from multiple creatues and characters of the same type, in the same area.
• Fixed an issue that was causing icons for persistent aura effects to not display properly.

Doomguide

• Fixed an issue that was preventing the concurrent use of a persistent aura from multiple creatues and characters of the same type, in the same area.
• Fixed an issue that was causing icons for persistent aura effects to not display properly.

Hellfire Warlock

• Fixed an issue that was preventing the concurrent use of a persistent aura from multiple creatues and characters of the same type, in the same area.
• Fixed an issue that was causing icons for persistent aura effects to not display properly.

Warlock

• Imbue item will now properly substitute for any spell needed in SoZ Crafting.

Warpriest

• Fixed an issue that was preventing the concurrent use of a persistent aura from multiple creatues and characters of the same type, in the same area.
• Fixed an issue that was causing icons for persistent aura effects to not display properly.

Items

• Improved versions of Alchemist's Fire will now provide the correct damage bonus when applied to weapons.
• Fixed an issue with electrical traps that was causing neutral creatures to be affected by the secondary damage.
• Electrical trap damage will now arc to other creatures when the trap is set with the Set Trap skill.
• Fatal sonic traps will no longer damage neutral faction creatures.
• Epic sonic traps will no longer damage neutral faction creatures.
• Fixed an issue that was causing gas traps to apply poison twice to the same target.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing gas traps from damaging enemies when placed with the Set Trap skill.

New Features

General

• New client command line option: -home. Allows user to specify an alternative location to "My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2"
• New INI file option "Pause On Lose Focus". A setting of 1 will cause the game to pause when losing focus. A setting of 0 will not pause the game when it loses focus.

Multiplayer

• New server ini option: HideChallengeRatingInExamine
• New server ini option: HideEffectListInExamine
• Files located in the C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\hak (Vista) and in the C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\hak directories will now load prior to character creation.
• Added support for Server to Server transitions through the function ActivatePortal() - Currently the parameter for seemless transition must be set to TRUE
• A new .ini option has been added to allow server admins (hosts) to toggle the auto-heal feature on or off for player login. With the feature turned off, when a player rejoins a server, they will be in the same condition as when they logged off (HP, Spells per day, etc.).
• A new Content Autodownloader system has been added to Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer. It is designed to be used with the dedicated server. Changes have been made to the Dedicated Server, Game Client and Toolset to accommodate this new feature. Two documents, Autodownloader Server Admin Guide.pdf and Autodownloader Toolset User Guide.pdf, can be downloaded separately.
• Server admins now have the ability, as an option, to preempt the use of the override folder on clients
• New server command line option: -home. Allows user to specify an alternative location to "My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2"
• New server command line option: -cs 0/1 <- turn off/on downloader (defaults to no downloader behavior)
• New server command line option: -du 0/1 <- turn off/on custom UI on the client (defaults to allow custom UI)
• New server command line option: -do 0/1 <- turn off/on override folders on the client (defaults to allow override)

Scripting

• Added script function int GetVariableValueInt(object oObject, int nIndex); Get the value of a local int stored at the index provided. 0 if no var is present.
• Added script function string GetVariableValueString(object oObject, int nIndex); Get the value of a local string stored at the index provided, empty string if no var is present there.
• Added script function float GetVariableValueFloat(object oObject, int nIndex); Get the value of a local float stored at the index provided. 0.00 if no var is present there.
• Added script function location GetVariableValueLocation(object oObject, int nIndex); Get the value of a local location stored at the index provided. Invalid location no var is present there.
• Added script function object GetVariableValueObject(object oObject, int nIndex); Get the value of a local object stored at the index provided. OBJECT_INVALID if no var is present there.
• Added script function int GetVariableCount(object oObject); Get the number of local variables stored on this object.
• Added script function void SetBaseAbilityScore(object oCreature, int nAbilityType, int nScore); EXPERIMENTAL! Note that any changes to skill rank will NOT be lost if the character is de-leveled. IMPORTANT: Most usages of this will cause characters to fail 'enforce legal character' restrictions.
• Added script function void SetBaseSkillRank(object oCreature, int nSkill, int nRank, int bTrackWithLevel = TRUE); EXPERIMENTAL! set bTrackWithLevel = TRUE if you wish for the skill change to be associated with the character's level. In other words, should the character lose the skill change if they lose their current level? IMPORTANT: Most usages of this will cause characters to fail 'enforce legal character' restrictions.
• Added script function void SendChatMessage(object oSender, object oReceiver, int nChannel, string sMessage, int bInvokeCallback = FALSE); This function is used to send a chat message, as if spoken by a PC or by the server. Except for 'CHAT_MODE_SERVER', oSender must be a PC or nothing will occur. oSpeaker - the PC who will speak, OBJECT_INVALID if channel is CHAT_MODE_SERVER. This must be a valid PC object for CHAT_MODE_PARTY to work. oReceiver - if nChannel is CHAT_MODE_TELL or CHAT_MODE_SERVER, then this must be the PC who will be receiving the message. nMode - CHAT_MODE const indicating the type of message to be sent. Only the CHAT_MODE_* values provided are accepted. sMessage - actual message text bInvokeCallback = the module's nChat script will be invoked to filter this message, if this is TRUE. WARNING: use extreme caution if setting bInvokeCallback to TRUE from within the OnChat handler itself -- this could lead to an infinite loop and hang your module!
• Added script function int GetIsLocationValid(location lLocation); Returns TRUE if the location is a valid, walkable location.
• Added script function int GetSurfaceMaterialsAtLocation(location lLocation); Returns a bitmask composed of 0 or more SM_* values.
• Added script function int GetSpellKnown(object oCreature, int nSpell); EXPERIMENTAL! Returns if the spell is known to this creature under any class or level.
• Added script function int GetItemBaseMaterialType(object oItem); returns the GMATERIAL_* const to get the base material type of the item specified. At this time, only the pre-defineid base material types work.
• Added script function void SetItemBaseMaterialType(object oItem, int nMaterialType); EXPERIMENTAL! Set the base material type of oItem to nmaterialType, which must be a valid GMATERIAL_* const value.Added instant feat support. New column "Instant" in feats.2da
• GetClassLevelByPosition and related script functions will now recognize custom classes. (This also applies for anything internally that performs calculations based on class level, and in particular should correct custom classes not being used in spell caster level calculations. )
• New script function: void SetGlobalGUIVariable( object oPlayer, int nVarIndex, string sVarValue ); Sets global GUI variable, available to all UI screens as global:x. globals can be used in most places that locals can be used. This can also be used to work with the new UI callback UIRadialNode_OnInit_TestGlobalVar, which allows you to display/hide radial nodes based on global variable values. This value is available to all screens. oPlayer - player whose GUI will have the variable. nVarIndex - variable index, from 100 - 400 (values outside of this range will be ignored). sVarValue - the value to set.
• Added support for reading texture and terrain 2da files from hak packs.
• Added script function int FindSubString(string sString, string sSubString, int nStart = 0); // modified to add nStart
• Added script function void SetSpellKnown(object oCreature, int nClassPosition, int nSpell, int bKnown = TRUE, int bTrackWithLevel = TRUE);
• Added script function object GetLimboCreatureCount(object oCreature);
• Added script function object GetCreatureInLimbo(int nTh);
• Added script function void SendCreatureToLimbo(object oCreature);
• Added script function void SetSkillPointsRemaining(object oPC, int nPoints);
• Added script function int GetSkillPointsRemaining(object oPC);
• Added script function int GetSpellSchool(object oPC, int nClassSeq);
• Added script function void SetGender(object oCreature, int nGender);
• Added script function void SetTag(object oObject, string sNewTag);
• Added script function int GetArmorRulesType(object oItem);
• Added script function void SetArmorRulesType(object oItem, int nType);
• Added script function void SetItemIcon(object oItem, int nIcon);
• Added script function object GetObjectByTagAndType(string sTag, int nObjectType, int nTh);
• The following new script functions work together as a group:
• void AddScriptParameterInt(int nParam);
• void AddScriptParameterString(string sParam);
• void AddScriptParameterFloat(float fParam);
• void AddScriptParameterObject(object oParam);
• int ExecuteScriptEnhanced(string sScript, object oTarget);
• int ClearScriptParams();

Toolset & Custom Content

• A new Content Autodownloader system has been added to Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer. It is designed to be used with the dedicated server. Changes have been made to the Dedicated Server, Game Client and Toolset to accommodate this new feature. Two documents, Autodownloader Server Admin Guide.pdf and Autodownloader Toolset User Guide.pdf, can be downloaded separately.
• Files located in the C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\hak (Vista) or in the C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\hak (WinXP) directories will now load prior to character creation.

User Interface

• UIObject_Misc_ExecuteServerScript no longer truncates data that contains apostrophes
• There is now a Close option on transition doors for players. (Used to be that if a door was a transition, they could only use it - not close it.)
• New UI callback: UIRadialNode_OnInit_TestGlobalVar(global-index,test-type,rvalue, action)
  • This UI callback allows modders to control when menu nodes are hidden or displayed, based on the results of comparing a global UI variable against a specified value. All tests are performed as int values if both values are valid ints; otherwise they're perform as case-insensitive string comparisons.
  • Parameters are as follows
    • global-index: global var index in format of global:x
    • test-type: test to perform (all tests are done as as int if both values are int, else as case-insensitive strings)
      • EQ = two values are equal
      • NEQ = two values are not equal
      • LT = global value is less than the comparision value
      • LTE = global value is less than or equal to the comparison value
      • GT = global value is greater than the comparison value
      • GTE = global value is greater than or equal to the comparison value
    • rvalue: a constant value that you are comparing the global variable to.
    • action: SHOW or HIDE.
      • The menu node will be displayed or hidden based on the value given:
        • if the expression evaluates true and the action is SHOW, then the node will be shown
        • if the expression evaluates false and the action is SHOW, then the node will be hidden
        • if the expression evaluates true and the action is HIDE, then the node will be hidden
        • if the expression evaluates false and the action is HIDE, then the node will be shown

2DA File Changes

Neverwinter Nights 2

• Added Henchspells.2da
• Spells.2da - Various spell changes
• Feat.2da - added an "Instant" column.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

• Added Henchspells.2da
• Spells.2da - Various spell changes
• Feat.2da - added an "Instant" column.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir

• Spells.2da - Various spell changes
• Feat.2da - added an "Instant" column.

Additional Resources for builders

Here are some great additional sites meant for builders.

http://www.nwn2toolset.dayjo.org/
Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset Site

http://www.nwscript.com/
Neverwinter Nights 2 scripting tutorials

http://www.nwn2mods.com/
NWN2 Mods - prefabs and modules

http://www.nwnwiki.org/Neverwinter_Script_directory
Searchable collection of Neverwinter Nights Scripts.

http://www.nwcitadel.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=77
The Forgotten Realms Weave: "A project by SP/MP module designers to create a series of interconnectable modules that all support the major canon of the Forgotten Realms and allow cross module compatibility for players of the modules."

http://www.forgottenrealmsweave.org/wiki/tiki-index.php
The Forgotten Realms Weave wiki site

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
The Forgotten Realms wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms
Wikipedia entry on the Forgotten Realms

http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/home.html
d20 System Reference Document v3.5: Open Source documentation of the 3.5 d20 rules. Contains a quick reference of all rules that end up in the PNP rule books.

Forums

Here are a number of links to forums with useful information concerning the Toolset.

http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewforum.html?forum=113
The official NWN2 Toolset forum.

http://www.dladventures.net/vB/forumdisplay.php?f=87
The DLA Toolset Forum.

http://www.nwn2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html
The Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset Site forum.

http://www.roguedao.com/phpBB2/index.php
Rogue Dao Studios forum index

http://www.nwn2mods.com/forums/index.php?s=e6766d6b4858155332909a2862d8c...
NWN2 Mods forum

General information about nwn2

Here are a number of links concerning nwn2:

http://www.nwn2.com
The official site.

http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/index.html
The nwn2 forums.

http://nwvault.ign.com
The vault.

http://nwn2.warcry.com/
NWN2 WarCry

http://nwn.stratics.com/
NWN2 Stratics

http://www.nwn2hq.com/
NWN2 news and updates

http://www.thieves-guild.net/
ThievesGuild.net

Project Websites

Here are some notable sites and blogs of nwn2 module authors.

http://adamandjamie.com/nwn2/
Adam Miller's Dark Water nwn2 site.

http://www.roguedao.com/PlanescapeTrilogy.html
Rogue Dao Studios' Planescape Trilogy

http://www.forgottenrealmsweave.org/wiki/tiki-index.php
The Forgotten Realms Weave wiki: "To allow builders to create coordinated campaigns set in the Forgotten Realms while retaining a high level of autonomy for their individual projects."

http://www.nwcitadel.com/blog/index.php?blogId=5
The Rusty Spike
Jaks design diary of sorts for his upcoming NWN2 DM led campaign.

Kobold Names

Don't ask my why, but I needed to come up with Kobold names and started looking around. It's an odd subject to do a google search for and the results are even stranger.

My favorite, and probably the most useful, was this:

The Kobold Namer
http://www.dungeonraiders.com/files/kamb/

Just keep hitting refresh for more names.

And speaking of niche needs, try this amusing conversation if you're bored:
http://www.treasuretables.org/2006/07/itty-bitty-niche-products-how-much...

Name generators at Grey's Castle

Grey Starr and Dimitria Night-Starr over at Grey's Castle have several quick name generators based on articles in Dragon Magazine. Here's their description from the page:

"All generators here-in are created from the works of Owen KC Stephens from the pages of Dragon Magazine... They follow the exact rules and no changes or modifications were made to the information used."

At the time of this post, they have the following generators:

Random Male Elf Names

Random Female Elf Names

Random Male Drow Elf Names

Random Female Drow Elf Names

Random Halfling Names

Random Gnome Names

Random Male Dragon Names

Random Female Dragon Names

Random Male Dwarf Names (with Stronghold name)

Random Female Dwarf Names (with Stronghold name)

Random Dwarf Cusses (Swear like a Dwarf)

Visit the site here:
http://grey-starr.ca/index.html

Samuel Stoddard's Fantasy Name Generator

Another good name generator I've found is Samuel Stoddar's Fantasy Name Generator. From his introduction:

One of the perks of creating fantasy stories -- whether by writing a story or game or by role-playing -- is you get to make up the names. Some people relish the task while others are frustrated by it. Some like it but can't seem to create names that are diverse enough. Fantasy Name Generator is a tool that can help you. It can generate an endless number of random names (of people, places, or anything) that would be suitable for use in a fantasy setting. It can generate names on its own, or you can tell it what kind of name you're looking for. Feel free to use this tool and any name that comes out of it (assuming it doesn't accidentally generate a legally protected trademark or something).

Check it out here:
http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/

Seventh Sanctum: Name Generators

There's a fun suite of name generators over at Seventh Sanctum that has a lot of good resources.

Check it out here:
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php

Here are some of the more useful generators listed:

Tavern Namer - Where's the next drink, next clue, or next bar fight coming from? Inns and tavers are such an integral part of the average fantasyscape that naming them can be difficult (or boring). Skewed towards fantasy-style names, obviously.

Angel/Demon Namer - A mix of latin and hebrew-sounds, this is a generator for Judeo-Christian style Angels and Demons (just don't expect them to actually translate to anything). 

Dark Elf Namer - Not all elves are nice, after all.

Dwarf Namer - Need a name for your latest bearded burrowing buttkicker? Come here! Generates names, full names, and clan names.

Elf Namer - Names for both Tolkeinesque elves, Wild Elves, and general fantasy.

Evil Deity Generator - Dark gods, evil spirits, basphemous amorphous horrors - all in one easy package!

Goblin Namer - Need to name members of your Rampaging Hordes of Vaguely Humanoid Evil? This is the place to do it - from first names to last names.

Kaiju Name Generator - Generates names for your general Rampaging Giant Monster.

Tree-Being Namer - Call them Ents, Treants, Treemen, what you will, this generator gives you something specific to call individuals.

Vampire Namer - From "common" sounding names to outrageous fantasy, it's all you need to name your latest bloodsucker!

Ship Namer - Generates ship names in a variety of style - perfect for anything from a personal craft to a starship, just spend some time generating to get one that fits.

The Realm's of Otara: Drow Names

I found this handy table to help create drow names that seems to be parked on The Realm's of Otara Role Playing group's site.

http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/vortexshadow/drownames.html

I'm not sure what the source is, but it's a quick handy way of throwing some names together.

Examples

It's always good to review what has been done in the past, so this section contains examples, both good and bad, of puzzles in NWN1, NWN2, and similar games.

Tea Leaves: Puzzles

I ran across a post by peterb over at Tea Leaves talking about the state of puzzles in video games.

In a video game context, I'm speaking of puzzles as being parts of games. The typical puzzle implementation is self-contained ("Solve this puzzle to advance past this door,") but that is a matter of habit, not a requirement. A puzzle can have a scope that encompasses all of the non-narrative parts of a game, or can even be intimately intertwined.

Further down her gives four general guidelines for making good puzzles in games:

1. The puzzle has to have a reason for existing.

2. The existence of the puzzle should move the narrative forward somehow, even if only by a little bit.

3. The more integrated into your game world the puzzle is, the better.

4. This one is debatable, but I believe that where possible, the puzzle should be to figure out what the puzzle is. That is, if you have to explain the rules to the player when they start, you've already lost. Ideally, once the player recognizes that they have encountered a puzzle, they should be able to solve it within moments of figuring out how to solve it.

Check it out:
http://www.tleaves.com/weblog/archives/000031.html

Encounter Calculator

If you need to get a rough idea on how much XP a party will get from an average encounter for a certain level, consider the Encounter Calculator v3.5.

http://www.geocities.com/edymnionii/EPLvsEL.html

It's a great way to figure out how many encounters a party might need. Remember to divide by 10 (assuming your experience slider for the module is set to 10%).

Credits: Tiera Starr, John Dells, arcady, Maladaar.

Thanks to dirtywick for pointing this out.

The experience formula

I know I forget this every few months, so here it is thanks to kevinodie and Jassper who posted this on the official forums:

(Current Level * NextLevel)*500 = XP needed for next level.

So level 1 = 0xp,
(level 1 * Level 2)*500 = (1*2)=2*500= 1000 xp for level 2
(level 2 * Level 3)*500 = (2*3)=6*500= 3000 xp for level 3
ect.

This can also be expressed:

N*(N-1)*500 is the minimum XP needed to get to Nth level.

Originally posted here:
http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=470745&forum=46