Our next Hak Update

[kalbaern]

While there is currently no ETA on when we'll next update our haks here, it'll likely be done sometime this fall. While I desire to keep hak updates at a minimum, fixes/additions to some of our custom content are either ready or slated to be soon along with the news that in the near future the CEP will release an update as well (CEP 2.6).

Because we've overridden or removed many things that were -broken- in the CEP haks, I'll have to test the new CEP update thoroughly and see which if any -old- things get readded and see if the new content by them is actually worth the effort to merge with our other custom stuff.

In the meantime, if folks here think a specific hak/tileset/etc... would make a great addition (other than the PRC), post details here on where I can find it so I can review it. Please keep in mind that anything new will have to be worth the effort involved to add it. I.e., any new tileset that would only be used for a specific area/dungeon and never used again is unlikely to be added (even if I do persoanally think the the "Elemental Plane of Cheese" is kind of cool).

[Snubletraad]

Can you tell us what this hak might contain? Can we find info on it elsewhere?

[kalbaern]

Sept 8, 2014 15:21:55 GMT -5 Snubletraad said:

Can you tell us what this hak might contain? Can we find info on it elsewhere?

As of right now, there are only a few things pending addition, but none are actually ready yet.

1 - A small expansion of the "Wild Woods" tileset. This is the tileset we used in our latest incarnation of the High Forest - Eastern Woods maps.

2 - Expantion of the "Elven City" tileset which we are using to create elven treetop towns. Currently, these maps are inaccessable to players. (Tall Trees and another small elven village coming later).

3 - CEP 2.6. We currently use CEP 2.3 (there will be no 2.5) which has more than a few glitches, some going all the way back to 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. Most of these -old- glitches are being remedied by the new CEP Members (there was a revolt and the old CEP Team has been replaced incase any wonder). CEP 2.6 is addressing many of the old bugs as well as adding new content. What actual -new- content is coming I'm not sure of at this time.

In addition to the above, whenever we do make a hak update, we look to see what if anything we can use from the monthly CC Challenge on the Bioware Forums. Every month a new theme is chosen and folks submit new creatures, places and sometimes even tilesets to match the theme. Our last few hak updates have contained alot of this content and when it -fits- our setting, we'll continue to add more. As an example, the CCC April Content - Themed Half Orcs, provided us with a few new half orc heads for both male and females, new portraits and several new placeables we'll be using soon in new dungeons.

I'm not sure yet which new CCC stuff will actually get added, but here's a few links to the New NWN Vault pages where recent works can be found.

CCC July: neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/custom-content-challenge-july-2014-deities-and-demigods

CCC June: neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/custom-content-challenge-june-2014-artifacts-and-relics

Still pending are their submissions for August (African Adventures themed) and September (Ravenloft themed).

The "when" part of when we'll next update haks still depends on what all is ready and fitting. We could even delay until this winter if there is actually little new or suitable in the offrerings I mentioned above.

[kalbaern]

Our next hak update is 95% ready and undergoing bug testing this weekend. I was going to hold off until CEP 2.60 or 2.61 was ready (2.60 breaks some tilesets), but with no new tileset features in it and only a couple of new creatures and placeables that we don't already have we'll just ignore it until next spring most likely. If and when we update to a newer CEP, its only a couple of 2das in our tophak that would need adjusted anyways.

Before we do anymore module updates though, we'll first be doing our hak update. There's things we needed to fix inorder to complete our new town (Secomber) as well as some other new areas (mainly adding tileset specific doors as options elsewhere).

[kalbaern]

Sometime in this coming June, we'll begin parsing through possible new stuff to add here. Right now, we're waiting on updates to two of our existing tilesets as well as the completion of a brand new set before work officially begins. In the meantime it would help if folks made bug reports on things like IG spell descriptions that don't match how they work, new spells or feats to consider, new familiars or companions and other things that need added to our haks. These are things I can start researching and working on in advance.

Thanks ... Kalbaern

[kalbaern]

Our next hak update has begun. On November 1st, 2015 we'll update the module with our hak expansions.

One of the main delays has been that we were waiting on a major update to an existing tileset, along with the addition of a brand new one. Both of these are delayed still, but in the meantime, we've some other fixes and another small expansion of an existing tileset we'll be adding.

If that were all we had in the pipeline, I'd continue to delay. However, there's a ton of new placeables, weapons, clothing/armor, cloaks, helms and creatures (I'm probably forgetting something as well) that we can also add.

Links to the new/updated haks should be available the last week of this month and will be backwards compatible so you can download them in advance and still keep visiting.

[kalbaern]

The new hak list is posted. Existing players will only need to grab the haks noted as "new" or "updated". The haks are backwards compatible, so download them early as they will be required after Sunday, November 1st, 2015.

Link to Hak List