- What You Need For This Tutorial
- What This Tutorial Assumes You Have Already Learned
- What This Tutorial Will Teach You
- Opening An Example
- Basic Movement Controls Within SE
- Create A Map
- Create A Region
- Add Floors And Walls
- Add Details To House
- Add Details To Surrounding Farmland
- Add Starting Positions
- Ambient Light
- Directional Lights
- Point Light
- Node Camera Flags
- Fading Nodes With Triggers
Building a region for Dungeon Siege using the Siege Editor ("SE") is
a straightforward task, even for a beginning mod maker. This Siege U
tutorial has two purposes: familiarization with the Siege Editor and
familiarization with Siege University. At the conclusion of this
tutorial, you will be familar with basic SE functionality and will
possess an understanding of how Siege U works.
This tutorial will walk you through building a simple, small region.
It will not delve into all the options of each section, nor will it
offer much more than a cursory explanation of the motives of building a
region. These topics are covered in further detail in the Siege Editor
Manual (included during the installation of the Siege Editor) and
further, more specific Siege U tutorials.
What You Need For This Tutorial
- Dungeon Siege, updated to version 1.09B or later
- Siege Editor, with the Preferences configured to Appendix B
- Siege Editor Manual (included with the Siege Editor during installation)
- Siege U: 100 companion map
What This Tutorial Assumes You Have Already Learned
What This Tutorial Will Teach You
- Basic familiarization with SE
- Node Placement
- Object Placement
- Lighting
- Fading
- Moods
- Monster Placement
- Tanking/untanking maps for play in Dungeon Siege
Opening An Example
The best way to start is to first take a look at a sample map before beginning this Tutorial. Download the Siege U: 100 companion map and extract it according to the DSReadme.rtf included with it.
Once you have the companion map installed on your computer, you will
need to "untank" it. When working on a map in SE, you are
working on the "bits"; that is, the changes you make are stored
in different files in different locations (all within My Documents\Dungeon
Siege\Bits). However, for performance reasons and size constraints,
these files are compressed into a single "tank" file for use
within Dungeon Siege.
Any time that you want to work on a map in SE, you need to edit
the bits.
Any time that you want to open a map in DS, you need to "tank the
bits" and create a .dsmap file for DS to use.
Fortunately, most of the conversion work is only one-way -- from SE
to DS. That is, once you have started working on bits, you only need
to tank when you are ready to test your regions. Once you have tested
them and are ready to continue editing, you do not need to untank the
map; you can just continue editing the same bits. The only time that
you need to untank a map is when you do not already have the current
bits on your computer (which would happen if you download a new map).
To untank the companion map into its editable format, follow these
steps:
- Start the Siege Editor.
- Select Convert .dsmap to Files... from the File Menu.
- For the Source File, browse to where you installed Tutorial.dsmap
(the default is the Maps folder in the Dungeon Siege game directory):
- For the Destination Folder, leave it at its default setting (My
Documents\Dungeon Siege\Bits)
- Click OK to start the process:
- Once the conversion process is complete, you will see the results with a success message:
- Select Open... from the File Menu.
- Expand the gpg_cgm map on the Load Region dialog, and select the
region named tutorial.
- Click OK:
Basic Movement Controls Within SE
All actions and movement in SE are controlled with the mouse. Please
note that a three-button, scroll-wheel mouse is required for the Siege
Editor to function properly with it's default key settings.
- To move around a map, right click and hold, then move the mouse
in the desired direction.
- To zoom, scroll the mouse wheel.
- To move vertically, hold down shift while right clicking and moving
the mouse, or hold down both the left and right mouse buttons while
moving the mouse.
- To rotate the region, click and hold the middle mouse button, then
move the mouse.
Now that you have seen the end result, let us walk through building
a copy of this region together. The region you build does not have to
match the example identically, so don't worry about switching back and
forth to compare regions.
Assembling terrain is the most important aspect of designing regions
for Dungeon Siege. By snapping together some of our 3,800 different
nodes, you can create almost any type of environment imaginable -- from
vast, rolling plains, to the deepest vertical dungeons, and everything
in between.
Create A Map
- Choose New Map from the File Menu. [default hotkey = Ctrl+M]
- Enter a name for the map. This name will not be visible within Dungeon
Siege and cannot contain any spaces and must be in lowercase. For
example, my_world.
- Enter a screen name. This is the name of the map you will see within
Dungeon Siege. For example, My World.
- Enter a description of the map. For example, This is my SU 100
map.
- Leave everything in the Advanced section as is.
- Click OK:
Create A Region
- Choose New Region from the File Menu. [default hotkey = Ctrl+N]
- From the drop down under Select Map to Create Region, choose
the map you just created.
- Enter a name into the Region Name box. For example, my_house.
- In the Advanced section, click on the Default
buttons for both Scid Range and Region ID. The Scid Range and Region ID
settings must be unique for all regions in the map. Accepting the
defaults ensures that no numbers will be duplicated in the map.
- Select the Target Node (starting node) you will build the world
around:
a. Expand the grass_1 directory and scroll down to the
houses folder.
b. Expand the houses directory and select the node "t_grs01_houses_generic-b-log.sno":
- Click OK.
- Click on the floppy disk icon in the upper left toolbar to bring
up the Save dialogue. Make sure all options are checked and click
Save. [default hotkey = Ctrl+S]
- Your region will now look like a house sitting in black space:
Add Floors And Walls
- Click on the Custom View tab at the bottom found at the lower left
side of SE.
- Expand the tree to CGM_Afterlife_Tutorial/Nodes.
- Select "t_xxx_flr_08x08-v0.sno" (floor node):
- Click on the house node and use the Source Doors:
arrow buttons located at the lower left side of the editor to rotate
through the node?s doors until you get to Door 1. You will see a red
line on the door in the Main Window, with an arrow pointing away from
the node. [default hotkeys = a,
d]
Note: The term "door" (as used in SE) refers to a connectable edge of a node.
- Use the Destination Doors: buttons to rotate the floor node (t_xxx_flr_08x08-v0.sno)
so Door 6 of the floor node is connected to Door 1 of the house node.
[default hotkey = w]
- Select the floor node you just added and rotate through its doors
until Door 3 is highlighted.
- With "t_xxx_flr_08x08-v0.sno" still selected in the Custom
View panel, click Attach Node to add another floor node so
Door 6 of the new node is connected:
- Snap more floor nodes around the house node by rotating to unconnected
doors and adding nodes as described above. Be careful not to overlap
one node over another. Node doors can only connect to one other door,
so if you overlap nodes, your region will not connect correctly and
has the potential to crash or display strange behavior.
- Save after placing every few nodes. When you save, it also connects
all node doors that are adjacent to other nodes. Important note: After
the target node has been placed (which is the house in this tutorial),
all new nodes must connect to other nodes. If deleting a node cuts
off several nodes from the target node, they will automatically be
deleted. To avoid deleting an entire string of nodes, never delete
a node unless you have just saved.
- You should now have a house in the center of a grassy area:
- Add a field to the right side of the house. Select "t_grs01_field-rows-corner-b.sno."
- Rotate the field-row corner so Door 2 connects to the terrain and
the textures match up.
- Continue adding field-row nodes, using all of the variations in
the folder. Create a field that is three field-row nodes wide and
six field-row nodes long:
- Add a Chicken Coop and Well. First select "t_grs01_houses_coop-a.sno"
and add it next to one of the field-row edge nodes, then select "t_xxx_flr_well-a.sno"
and add it to the other side of the grassy terrain:
- Continue building out the grassy terrain around the house, field,
and coop using the available floor node variations.
- Add rock cliffs around your farm to make it into a valley. Choose
from any of the wall ("wal") type nodes (ex: t_xxx_wal-12-thck)
and add them to the edges of the region so Doors 1 and 2 always connect
to the ground level.
- Use the corner ("cnr") type nodes to change Wall direction
by snapping them to unconnected wall sides:
- Save.
At first glance, the generic node naming conventions might seem a bit
unintelligible. However, they actually can be decoded into useful information.
With any node set, there are at least five different subsets separated
by underscores that make up each node's name.
Let's look at the name of the generic node, "t_xxx_cnr_12-ccav.SNO," found
in Terrain Nodes/Generic/Corner. The first part of the name, "t," refers
to "terrain." The second part of the name is the set identifier. For example,
"xxx" indicates the node is part of the generic set and has a swappable
texture. (A swappable textures means that you can select a node, and then
go to Node | Current Node Set to change the texture of the node to a different
texture set.) If this part was something different, such as grs01, it
would tell us that the node belongs to the Grass_1 set and has a grassy-looking
texture. Following the set identifier, is the node type. For example,
there are fifteen different node types that make up the Generic set, plus
water versions for all of them. "Cnr" tells us that it's a Corner type
node. If it was something else, for example, "for," we would know that
it's a Forest type node, and so on. Usually, the next part of the name
refers to the node's size (for nodes that have multiple sizes). "12" means
that this node is 12 meters high, so any nodes we want to connect to it
must also have a "12" somewhere in their name.
At this point, the basic properties of the node have been identified,
and all further information defines variation. "-ccav" means this node
has an inward curve, or is concave. If it was "-cnvx," then the node would
have an outward curve (convex). Both corner types allow you to turn a
wall ninety degrees. The ".SNO" is the filename extension, and means "Siege
NOde."
Populating your world with objects is fast and easy. Within Siege
Editor, an object is any model that is not terrain. This part of the
tutorial will deal with "non-interactive objects", which are decorative
objects that do not contain AI or animation components, and cannot be selected
by the player in-game. Objects, in general, are far more flexible than
terrain. They can be scaled, rotated, and placed with great precision.
The key to good object placement is using enough to make an area appear
lush and realistic, while minimizing the amount of different objects
used, so performance remains reasonable.
Before you can add and move objects, you must be in the correct mode. Under the Object Menu, look at the options under Mode.
"Placement Mode" must be checked to add an object to your region.
"Movement Mode" must be checked to move an object within your region.
Placement Mode has a button that appears on the Object Toolbar, since
you will only want to be in Placement Mode when you are ready to add an
object. If you remain in Placement Mode all the time, you will add
objects when you try to simple click-select an existing object:
Add Details To House
Decorate the house with objects that make it look realistic and lived-in.
- Rotate the view until you are looking straight down into the house.
- Expand "cgm_afterlife_tutorial/objects/house".
- Select "rug_round_blue."
- Click on the center of the house floor to place the rug.
- To move the rug after it is placed, click on the rug to select it
(a green selection box will appear around the rug when it is selected)
and move it to the center of the house by dragging the mouse:
- Continue
placing objects in the house using the method above. Use each of the
house objects in the Custom View window to furnish the house.
- To rotate objects, select an object and choose Properties
from the Object Menu and click the "Rotation" tab in the
Object Properties window. Rotate the "Yaw (Y):" control
to spin it about the Y-axis.
Note:
The Properties window can be resized and moved. If it covers the object
that you are trying to rotate, resize and move it so that you can see
the object as you rotate it:
- Place a candle on a windowsill.
a. Select "candle_short" from the Custom View panel and place it on the floor near a window.
b. To place the candle on the sill, look under the Object Menu and uncheck
Object-->Mode-->Auto Snap to Ground. Click the candle
to select it (you are out of Placement Mode, right?), then click and hold the left mouse button over it, then
press and hold the Shift key. Holding the Shift key allows you to
only
change the vertical position of an object. Raise the candle up to the
level of the windowsill. You can release the shift key while holding
the mouse button to move the candle horizontally. Try to position the
candle so that the bottom of its green selection box just disappears
into the sill. Don't worry if the light source on the candle remains at
floor level -- we'll covering lighting later on. - Note that some objects (like the rug) will not block the player's
movement in the game, while others (the bed) will block the player.
You can find out if an object is "blocking" or "non-blocking" by viewing
its Properties. Look for the value marked "does_block_path" under the "Template Properties" tab:
Add Details To Surrounding Farmland
- Add a crop to your farm in front of the house.
a. When working with foliage, you can easily randomize the
size and orientation of the objects as you place them by using the
"Next Object" function. Select Next Object? from
the Object Menu. On the Next Object Placement Settings window check
the Random Orientation/Yaw (Y) and Scale/Random Scale
boxes. Set Minimum Multiplier to "0.65" and Maximum Multiplier
to "1.1." Click "OK". Now each time you
place an object, Siege Edit will randomly vary its scale from 0.65
to 1.1 times normal size, as well as randomly vary its rotation:
b. Select "grs_cabbage" from the foliage directory
and click on the field area to add your crop, varying the rows to
give them a realistic look. Placing foliage, trees and other plants
"too neatly" almost always looks artificial. - Add a forest around your house.
a. Select "grs_bush_rhod_sm." Add clumps of six to
eight rhododendrons around the valley, as well as a few bushes around
the corners of the house, the back of the chicken coop and some at
the base of the canyon wall. Create two clumps behind and on either
side of the well.
b. Select "grs_flr_aster_blue" and add them around
the outskirts of the rhododendron patches here and there and around
the well and house.
c. Select "grs_pine_9m_sway" and add them on top
of the rhododendron clumps. The trees should look as if they are growing
out of the rhododendron undergrowth. This will help blend the trees
into the terrain, giving a much more natural appearance. Space the
trees so they touch a bit, but without too much overlap. Add in some
"grs_aspen_red_lg_sway_grassy" in the same way for variety.
Add Starting Positions
- Select the Starting Positions Gizmo from the gizmos folder
and place seven of them in front of the house. Move the original starting
position that was automatically created with the house node to be
grouped with the others. These define the location where your heroes
will enter when the map is loaded:
- Save.
Lighting a region well can make a decent environment something spectacular.
Lighting can range from subtle tones to full-on vibrant color, depending
on the mood you want to set. A well-lit level makes an area feel believable
to the player ? for example, every light object in the world (i.e. -
a candle) has an obvious lightsource (i.e. - the glow and flicker of
its flame).
The following steps will explain how to set ambient light for your
region, how to create sunlight using directional lights, and how to
place and modify point lights. Before we start, let's make sure you can
see lighting changes. Under Preferences (View Menu), ensure that
"Ignore Vertex Color" (under "Rendering") is
not checked:
Ambient Light
Set the general brightness of your region's terrain, objects, and actors
by adding region-wide ambient light:
- In the Lighting Menu, select Ambient Lighting to bring up
the Region Ambient Light Settings window.
- In the Ambient Intensity portion, select the value box labeled General:
and enter a value of "0.2" (the "General" setting will affect
terrain). Repeat this for Object: with a value of "0.2" (affects objects),
and Actor: with a value of "0.25" (affects actors).
- View your changes by clicking the Update button. Your region will get very dark - don't panic! We haven't added the sunlight in yet.
- Click OK:
Directional Lights
Create sunlight for your region by adding directional lights:
- In the Lighting Menu, select Edit Directional Lights.
- In the Edit Directional Lights window, click the New button.
A number, representing the ID of a new directional light, will appear
in the small box to the left of the button. Select this number, and
click the Edit button. This will open the Directional Light
Properties window.
- Create sunlight for your region. Select the Lighting tab.
In the Direction section, enter a value of 2.0 in the "X:"
box.
- In the "Options" section of the window, make sure all
boxes are checked. Note that selecting "On Timer" will make the light
change its color and intensity in game based on time of day. Click
OK:
- Create lighting to realistically illuminate shadows in your region.
Add a second directional light and click Edit. Under
Color in the Color Values portion of the window, make the light
a shade of blue by entering in the values 0.5 for Red:, 0.55
for Green:, and 0.98 for Blue:. Click Apply,
and then click the Lighting tab to continue configuring the
light:
- In the Lighting window for the shadow light (step 5), enter a Direction
value of ?2.0 for X:. In the Intensity: box, enter a
value of 0.7. Do not check any additional check boxes under Options:
- In the Edit Directional Lights window, click Update
All, and then click OK. There may be a pause as Siege
Editor updates the region?s lighting before the window disappears.
Point Lights
Add individual light sources to your region:
- Add a light source near the candle. Select point light
from the Custom View (under gizmos), and place it near the candle in the
house.
- Select the point light and, using the same method for moving objects,
position the light slightly above the candle that you placed on the
windowsill.
- Select the light and right click on it. Click Properties,
and then click on the Lighting tab.
- Set the reach of the light by entering a value of 2.0 for the Inner
Radius: box, and a value of 5.0 for Outer Radius:.
- Click Choose Color. In the Color window, select a bright
shade of yellow. Click OK:
- Under Options (still on the Object Properties window), check the
Occlude box so that the light will be blocked by terrain, and
check the Draw Shadows box so that actors near the light will
cast shadows. Leave the rest of the options as they are. Click OK
to close the Object Properties window:
- Under the Lighting Menu, select Update All Node Lighting
to see your changes applied.
- Save.
Fading is the term we use to describe terrain becoming invisible at
times when you do not want it to obstruct the camera. This is done with
a mixture of node camera flag settings and special trigger gizmos that
control node behavior. A detailed explanation of fading can be found
in Siege U: 205 -
Fades.
Node Camera Flags
- Add the door top to the house. The node "t_grs01_houses_generic-b-log-door-top.sno"
connects to Door 16 of the house node.
- Set Camera Flags to define how the game camera will behave when
it encounters the nodes in your region. From the Node Menu, choose
Select All Nodes.
- Choose Properties from the Node Menu to bring up the Node
Properties dialogue box. Under the General tab, only Occludes Light
and Bounds Camera
should be checked. By occluding the light for all the nodes in the
region, no light rays will shine through nodes; that helps create
realistic shadows. "Bounds Camera" prevents the player's camera from
passing beyond the nodes. For example, the camera will stay within the
boundary of the region's walls, following corners, without jumping
beyond. Click OK:
- Select just the house node. Open Node Properties again and adjust
the settings so only Occludes Light and Occludes Camera
are checked. By occluding the camera on the house, the player will not
see through the house if he walks so that the house is between the
camera and his character. The Siege Engine will automatically adjust
the camera up or to the side to keep the character in view. Click OK.
- Select just the Door Top node. Open Node Properties again and adjust
the settings so only Occludes Light and Camera Fade
are checked. "Camera Fade" will cause the node to fade when the camera
ray intersects in (like if you walked inside the house). Click OK.
Note: If the "Camera Fade" flag is checked, "Occludes Camera" and "Bounds Camera" should not be checked. Doing so can cause all sorts of problematic behavior in-game:
- Save.
Fading Nodes With Triggers
Add the roof node to the house by snapping either "t_grs01_houses_generic-b-roof-shingle.sno"
or "?thatch.sno" to Door 15 of the house node.
To make the roof fade away when somebody goes inside the building,
and fade back in when somebody leaves the building:
- Change the roof node's fade flags.
a. Select the roof node and open its Node Properties dialog.
b. Under Fade Settings, set the Section, Level, and
Object fields all to 5, then click OK.
The value "5" doesn't have any special significance, other than that we
know no other nodes have those values. When we command 5,5,5 to fade,
only the roof will fade:
- Add two fade triggers.
a. Under the Settings Menu, select Region.
b. Copy the value from the Region GUID field. Click Cancel.
c. Select "trigger_generic" from the gizmos folder.
d. Click on the floor in the doorway of the house to make a new trigger
there.
e. Select the gizmo by clicking on it, then right click on the trigger
and select Properties.
f. Select the Trigger Properties tab.
g. Press the New button at the bottom-left. In the Triggers
field (directly above), this has created a new trigger attached to our
trigger_generic object. It is hidden right now.
h. Click the box marked with a plus symbol to the left of "trigger_generic",
which will bring down the text "trigger_0". Click on "trigger_0"
to select it:
i. Click the Add Condition button on the right.
j. Select "party_member_within_bounding_box" from the drop-down
dialogue that pops up, then press OK:
k. Change the values (in the Value column) for Half diag X,
Y, and Z to 1, 1, and 0.5, respectively. This creates a bounding box
that is long and thin:
l. Click the Add Action button, and select
"fade_nodes_global" in the drop-down dialog, and press OK.
m. Paste the region GUID (from step 2b) into the value field for the Region ID.
n. Set the Section, Level, and Object all to 5 (remember step 1B?):
o. Double-click on the field in the Value column, to the right
of Fade Type. This will bring up a drop-down list of all valid choices;
select out:black:
p. Click the Rotation tab, and enter in 20 as the Y value.
OR rotate the trigger so that the bounding box covers the
entire floor beneath the doorway:
q. Click OK on the bottom of the Object Properties window.
r. With the trigger selected, click on Copy in the Edit Menu. [default hotkey = Ctrl+C]
s. Point the mouse cursor at the front steps of the farmhouse, and
press Ctrl+V [default hotkey for Edit Menu | Paste]. This creates a copy of the first trigger.
t. Rotate and position the trigger so that its bounding box completely
covers the bottom stair. This way the character will always trigger it when he crosses the first step:
u. Select the second trigger, and bring up its properties.
v. Change the value for Fade Type to in:
- Save.
Moods are atmospheric settings used to polish and optimize a level.
They consist of weather events such as rain, snow, and fog, music, ambient
noises, and a few other advanced features that are covered in greater detail in Siege
U: 204 - Moods. For now, we have provided a pre-created mood to use with
this tutorial.
- Create a new generic trigger in the middle of the start points. Refer to section 105, steps 2c - 2i if you need assistance.
- Add a new Condition and choose "party_member_within_sphere."
- Change the Radius (of the sphere) to 5.
- You
should see a sphere debug HUD with the new trigger in the middle (you
may need to move the Object Properties dialogue out of the way).
Visually verify that this encompasses all of the start points.
- Add a new Action to the trigger and choose "mood_change."
- Enter the following value for the Mood Name: "map_world_fh_r1_4"
(no quotes):
- Click OK to close the Object Properties dialogue.
- Save.
Monster placement is one of the easiest aspects of the Siege Editor,
but also one of the most influential. Where the monsters are placed
directly affects how the game will eventually play out. A few simple
guidelines:
- Never place monsters right next to Starting Positions.
- The monster classes are similar to the player classes: Melee, Ranged,
and Magic.
- Monsters appear in 3 variations: Normal, Revealing, and Generators.
- Normal monsters are visible and ready to attack the player
when spotted. For example, the Krugs at the start of Dungeon Siege.
- Revealing monsters are visible but play an animation
when the player is spotted. They do not attack and are not targetable
until the animation has completed. For example, the gargoyles
that sit on pedestals in the Crypts.
- You can also hide revealing monsters. Those monsters cannot
be seen by the player until the player reaches the reveal
trigger set by the designer.
- Generator monsters do not exist until the player triggers
the generator. Once activated, the generator will spawn monsters
based on its settings.
For this tutorial you will be placing 2 groups of monsters: one group
of Melee/Normal and one group of Melee/Generator.
[Note: This "exploding door" generator is not included with Dungeon
Siege v1.0. If you do not have Dungeon Siege v1.09B or greater, skip down
to the "Move over to the well node" paragraph and continue on. Once you
have upgraded your version of Dungeon Siege, we encourage you to revisit
the "exploding door".]
First is the Generator group:
- From the Custom View open the monsters
folder and select "tutorial_gen_explode_door-krug_grunt".
- Find the house node, and place the "exploding door" object
near the doorway.
- Adjust the door to fit into the doorway. If it is too small
to cover the doorway, open the door's Properties, click on the Template
Properties tab, and adjust the scale_multiplier setting
until the door fits:
You?ve just placed an exploding door that will spawn in a Krug Grunt
(a very tough monster) so watch out when approaching the house. Also
of note, you?ll see a red circle around the door generator; this is
its detection range. In game, when a player enters that circle, the
door will explode and a Krug Grunt will appear.
Move over to the well node. If you did not place shrubbery behind
the well, go ahead and add two groves now. This is a good place
to have a Krug Scavenger ambush.
- Select "krug scavenger" from the custom view.
- Place three Krug Scavengers near the well.
- Select one Scavenger and move it to the middle of the area between
the groves.
- Select another Scavenger, and drag it inside one of the forest groves
(Note: watch the outermost circle as you do this. This is the monster?s
player detection range, just as with the door generator. You?ll want
to make sure each of the Scavengers detection circles overlap, so
they will converge on the player at the same time).
- Repeat step 4 with the third Scavenger, moving it to the other forest
grove;
- Save.
Now that you have built a map, you need to test it. In order to do
that, you will need to "tank" your map into a DS-readable
format.
- Save your map. If you tank and have not saved recently, any unsaved
changes will not be tanked.
- Under the File Menu, select "Save Map as .dsmap..."
- Select
the map you would like exported. We suggested "my_world" at the
beginning of this tutorial, but if you have forgotten the name of the
map you have been working on, it is displayed in the title bar of Siege
Editor. (The title bar is the top strip of the SE window that contains
the minimize/maximize/close buttons):
- Click OK. It is highly advised that you accept the default
Destination File, as it vastly simplifies the export/import process.
Advanced users may elect to redirect the map to a different location,
but we'll stay with the easy route for now.
- On the following window, the only recommended fields to change are
"Title", "Author", "Copyright", and "Description". All other fields
should be modified by advanced users only:
- Click Start!.
- A "Processing Resource File..." progress display will appear. The
final status will be listed in the "Status" window as "Success!" if
you followed these steps properly. If any errors result, read the
error message and start the export over. Often times the error is
the result of varying from the default settings:
- Click Close.
Let's try your map out!
- Close Siege Editor.
- Launch Dungeon Siege.
- Select "Single Player", "Start a New Game", and choose your hero.
- At the "Load Map" screen, select your map, click Next, and
choose "Normal" difficulty:
- Assuming you built your map correctly, you should be standing at
one of your starting locations. Congratulations and watch out for that door!
That concludes this tutorial. You should now be familiar with the Siege
Editor and its basic functionality. We have covered placing nodes, objects,
and monsters; we have discussed lighting, fading, and moods. Finally,
we discussed how to convert your map into DS-usable format and back
to SE-editable bits. If you would like to delve further into modding
Dungeon Siege, check out the advanced topics covered in the Siege
University 200 and 300 series.
Here are some tips from the GPG level designers that might simplify
your SE interaction:
- Use the "generic" node set by default. It contains the
greatest variety of nodes and offers the most compatability.
- Use the generic 8x8 (t_xxx_flr_08x08-v0.sno) or 4x4 (t_xxx_flr_04x04-v0.sno)
node as your starting node. It is a very simple and clean node, offering
the most expandability.
- Get used to using a,d,w
for node placement and orientation. The hotkeys are much faster than
using the Source Doors, Destination Doors, and Attach Node buttons.
- If
you keep the "focus" on a node (ie - you don't select another node),
you can try out different nodes on a particular door easily. For
example, select a node that you would like to attach another node to.
Select the door you would like to connect to (use a and d), select the node you want to attach to that door, and then hit w
until the node lines up. Now, select another node from the list on the
left and carefully click on the "root" node in the main window (the
node you attached the 2nd node to). If the selection does not drop from
that "root" node, you can hit w and rotate the new node in the place of the 2nd node.
- You can add nodes and objects from the Main View window to the Custom
View window. Right-click on the node and select "Add to Custom
View". This is extremely helpful when you are doing "bulk"
nodework, especially with walls and corners. That will greatly speed
up your efficiently, since you won't have to scroll the Main View
window so much.
Here are the suggested Preference settings for generic SE work. The
Preferences can be adjusted under View | Preferences. For information
on what the settings are, click on the "Help" button on the
Preference menu or refer to the Siege Editor Manual.
Node Settings checked:
- Draw Door Nodes
- Draw Stitch Doors
Rendering checked:
- Dynamic Lighting
- Static Lighting
- Dynamic Shadows
- Static Shadows
Misc checked:
- Update Lighting/Effects
- Draw Light Data
- Right Click Camera Scrolling
Content Display: development name
Key Movement Delta: 0.1
Zoom Rate: 0.5
Siege University
Dungeon Siege II
