Does anyone know of a good tutorial that exists for class based scripting? While I decent idea how to modify other things (such as spells), I don't really know how one goes about making any changes or creating new classes or prestige classes.
Now that you mention it, I've never seen a class creation tutorial anywhere. I think I figured it out by downloading a single custom class from the vault and looking at its components (large work like Kaedrin's is hard to pick apart to glean things from). I could try writing up something later if you're really interested.
Oh right, there's those too. They might be a little bit more information than you want at first, but look in your NWN2 install folder for the data folder then 2da. It should be a path like so: C:Program Files/Atari/Neverwinter Nights 2/Data/2da.
-- Edited by MimiFearthegn on Friday 16th of November 2012 01:37:59 AM
In the game files there is a copy of an unfinished mystic theurg Light suggested taking a look at that and finding the txt files that explain the 2das, feats, and some other aspects of the scripting. They apparently explain a lot on how everything works such as the different columns and and what not.. I'm probably not explaining this right but i'll try and locate them myself.
Ok, as promised, some class building guidelines. Its all a matter of plugging different things into 2da files, which can be viewed (and edited, and saved to your override folder) in the toolset, or with a simple text editor. I suggest making yourself a copy of 2da folders/files (base, X1, and X2) found at the above file path. Then you won't be constantly searching through a zipped folder for the one you want.
The easiest way to view a 2da file is to see it in the toolset. Just open it up, and go to View-->2da. There are dire warnings in various tutorials about editing 2da files in the toolset. Don't worry, I am 99.9% sure that saving it here will not overwrite your base game's 2da. It just puts it in your override folder (in this case, the filepath should be something like Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/ override), where it can be deleted or modified or tested.
You want the following 2da files: classes (from 2da_X2) feat (from 2da_X2) skills cls_bfeat_(whatever) cls_feat_(whatever) cls_skill_(whatever) cls_atk_(whatever) cls_savthr_(whatever) cls_pres_ (this is only for prestige classes)
classes.2da
This is your master file. I suggest copying an entry from whatever base class or prestige class is closest to what you want, and then modifying accordingly. Most of the headings should be self-explanitory--this is where you set your base statistics like hit die, skill points, the class icon, the class description (stored in a tlk file, which shall be covered later), and point it towards the other class 2da files.
feat.2da
Unless you want to start scripting lots of stuff, you probably just want to use existing feats. Thus the only reason this one matters is for looking up the numbers and constant names of feats to plug into other files.
cls_bfeat
A really simple one. Just rename to be cls_bfeat_yourclass and put a 1 next to any level you want a bonus feat at.
cls_feat
These are the class features. Feat label is the "LABEL" entry in the feat.2da. Feat index is the number listed before the label in feat.2da. List is the category the feat will appear under when you get it. GrantedOnLevel is self-explanitory, and OnMenu is a cosmetic thing.
cls_skill
Most of the time you can probably just use another class' skill list, but of course you can modify and rename this too. Like the cls_feat file, the information you need should be in skills.2da.
cls_atk
Unless you really want some strange BAB progression, you can probably just plug in cls_atk_1 (for high, I think), cls_atk_2, or cls_atk_3 (low progression) to your entry in classes.2da.
cls_savthr
Again, you can probably use an existing class' saving throw progression for most things, but if there isn't something exactly like what you want, then you can modify and rename and plug a class specific one into your entry in classes.2da.
cls_pres
This is your requirements for entry into a prestige class, so its irrevelant if you're making a base class.
I've always found tlk editing to be a pain, as my files are always being corrupted. I suggest looking around the vault for an editor, and be prepared for half of them not to work. When you do find one, do not modify the base game's dialog.tlk. We'll want our own custom tlk file, and you'll need to talk to Light about where to put your entries.
Custom feats for classes will require scripting. However it really depends on the nature of the scripts you need to write to make a 'feat' work. Feats for classes are sometimes linked to the spells.2da and from there the spells.2da links to a script. So that is how you can attach custom scripts to your feats that you then link to your custom class.
