Dragon Age Toolset Wiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Backgrounds tutorial

2009-12-08T11:43:46Z

Deadrockstar:

== Is this correct? ==

I have problems with this solution. I tried it twice now, once I tried to implement it into my module, the other time I did it exactly as written here. 1. The custom templates for the Backgrounds don't work (The character has no equipment, no matter what background I choose) with the scripts on this tutorial, although the changes work fine if I run RESOURCE_SCRIPT_MODULE_CORE 2. The race choice doesn't change the character (But that could be because the scripts are missing alot, it's not that important for test purposes) 3. The strings for the Background description don't work (Yes I have corrected them in the Toolset, because the ExcelProcessor can't handle that big numbers), they don't show up, when I'm clicking on the Backgrounds.

I have not tested dialouge yet, but am I making something wrong? Or has this tutorial some errors? [[User:Nobody123456|Nobody123456]] 13:49, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

:I think you might be making some errors (although it is possible that there is some error or ommision in what I wrote). I tested the tutorial by running through it from scratch after I wrote it and my game worked fine. It is a very sensitive process though, so the slightest thing wrong can really throw you out.

: The first thing I would suggest is to get the background description strings working because I know that can cause issues if you don't get it right. Try a new module and don't make any changes execpt for adding your own strings to the backgrounds and see if that works. Oh and be sure to export your talk table along with any other resources before you play. Actaully that's probably it - I should add that to the tutorial. [[User:Stuntpope|Stuntpope]] 15:01, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

:: I did export the string table, so that can't be it. I recreated it from scratch, now some equipment choices work, some don't. The race choices now works fine, but the strings still don't show up. I tested the background choices in a dialouge, and this works perfectly fine. I uploaded the module, so if you wanna take a quick look, that would be great. [http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CYHIVYJL Background Test Module] and if you want to install the module as an addin [http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2FILLQ5N DAZIP format] [[User:Nobody123456|Nobody123456]] 05:20, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

:I notice your talk table is called strings.tlk. That seems strange to me, I didn't know you could rename tlk files but mine is called bg_demo_en-us, where bg_demo is what my module is called. so i would have expected yours to be bdm_2_en-us.tlk if you hadn't renamed it. You say that you are able to display strings in dialogue though so maybe that's not it. Another possibility is that this is another bug in the description strings. Your strings are a good million higher than mine - try using exctly the same string ID range that I used.

:As for equipment - I didn't really spend any time looking at what equipment those templates start with. I just selected some that had the look I was going for in chargen, so the ones that are just dressed plainly and don't have weapons or anything are that way becasue that is what those templates are (I think i used those for the servants). To check that this is working go into the toolset and find those templates - compare them to what those characters have if you create them. If you want them to have equipment, simply create a new creature and give them whatever equipment you want, then use that template name in the GDA. Try and resolve your other issue first though before you try that. [[User:Stuntpope|Stuntpope]] 07:25, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

:: It was indeed the table name. It was exportet that way, that's strange, but now the Strings work fine, thank you very much! [[User:Nobody123456|Nobody123456]] 07:52, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

::: I ran into this same problem which is a user error. Make sure you export the "talk table" and NOT "string table". The export "string table" option appears on the export menu if you have the talk table open at the time. [[User:Deadrockstar|Deadrockstar]] 11:43, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

:Great to hear you got it working! [[User:Stuntpope|Stuntpope]] 08:14, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Talk:2DA

2009-12-07T01:17:13Z

Deadrockstar:

This is a rather poor page as stands. I think we need two sections. The most prominent section has to address Josh's questions in layman's terms, especially considering the role and importance of these .2DA files when creating modules. The second section shouldn't be too different from what we currently have, but should in no way have prominence on the 2DA page. I do feel parts of this section would be better served in tabular or bulleted form, a kind of technical sheet.

[[User:Deadrockstar|Deadrockstar]] 01:01, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Some more information on the usage of these files would be great.

'''Questions:'''

-- What todo with these files?

-- Where to put them?

-- Do you need to copy them or modify the original? (why is there only one set of these?, should not every module have it's own set?)

-- Where to find them? (tools\source)

-- How do they fit in the whole toolset thing?

-- Meaning and usage in your own mod.

-- Best practices?

For all the people coming from the NWN Toolsets, that should be straight forward.

But for newcomers, this can be a bit confusing.

Thanks
Josh

also -- where the heck ARE these files?

Talk:2DA

2009-12-07T01:01:45Z

Deadrockstar:

Agreed, Josh. This is a rather poor page filled with self-fulfilling jargon and technical details not needed for the average user. This needs to be put into simpler layman's terms, especially considering the role and importance of .2DA files when creating modules. I suggest a complete rewrite; we need the information neccessary for users to be able to work with these files, not simply a documentation of .2DA file format.

[[User:Deadrockstar|Deadrockstar]] 01:01, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Some more information on the usage of these files would be great.

'''Questions:'''

-- What todo with these files?

-- Where to put them?

-- Do you need to copy them or modify the original? (why is there only one set of these?, should not every module have it's own set?)

-- Where to find them? (tools\source)

-- How do they fit in the whole toolset thing?

-- Meaning and usage in your own mod.

-- Best practices?

For all the people coming from the NWN Toolsets, that should be straight forward.

But for newcomers, this can be a bit confusing.

Thanks
Josh

also -- where the heck ARE these files?

2DA

2009-12-07T00:51:41Z

Deadrockstar:

Many of the properties of objects in the toolset make reference to 2DAs (two-dimensional arrays). These are read-only arrays containing various data used by scripting and the game engine. For example, the set of local variables that an object supports is defined in a 2DA.

The source files for 2DAs are Microsoft Excel worksheets. This allows a wide variety of sophisticated techniques to be used to generate the values of the 2DA fields, such as macros and formulas. It also makes editing much easier since the columns can be annotated and formatted in helpful ways, and multiple related worksheets can be grouped into one file.

Data in a 2DA is identified by a row number, with the first row (row zero) usually being reserved for internal use (undefined value, etc.) by convention. Each row has an arbitrary number of columns identified by strings.

Before they can be used by the toolset or the game, 2DAs must be converted from Excel files into a more efficient form. Processed 2DAs are stored in files with the .[[GDA]] extension.

== Excel file formatting ==

Cell A1 will contain "ID". This is checked by the processor and the worksheet will fail if this is not the case.

Column A starting at line 3 will contain an integer row ID number that is unique to that row across all files (unless creating an M2DA override). Row IDs will be listed from smallest to highest within the same file and do not need to be consecutive.

A blank row or column will determine the dimension of the spreadsheet in that direction. Everything past that point is ignored by the binarizer.

Column names are case sensitive. This is because of the CRC32 algorithm used to generate the hash key. Changing the case of a column name after it is in use will break the game. White space before and after a column name will be removed before hashing.

Row 2 will be a "types" row. Each is a single word: [[int]], [[string]] (single chars as well), [[resource]], [[float]] or [[bool]]. A special type "[[comment]]" can be used to exclude a column from export.

Any column with string data that refers to files should have a type of "resource" and not "string". This is because the "resource" type is used to determine dependencies for the 2DA file.

'bool' type may be one of: a zero or non-zero number, Yes or No (case insensitive), or words beginning with T or F (such as True! and False!). NOTE: You cannot use TRUE and FALSE because Excel converts those to a special keyword the binarizer can't parse properly at this time. '''Note:''' the scripting language doesn't have a function for retrieving boolean values from a 2DA, and the behavior of Get2DAInt when retrieving a boolean is untested. It is probably safer to just use an integer for scripting purposes.

If you wish to leave a cell unfilled, the string "****" (four asterisks) can be inserted instead of a value.

Any worksheets that are not exportable 2DA data will have an underscore prepended to their name - the resource builder will subsequently ignore them.

Worksheets need to have unique names among all excel files, duplicates will overwrite each other as each worksheet is exported as a file

You cannot have the workbook open in Excel at the same time as running the binarizer on it.

Strings have a maximum length of 768 characters. Anything longer will be truncated.

ExcelProcessor.exe constrains the name length of a worksheet to 27 characters.

== Extending the game via M2DAs ==

An "M2DA" is a "Multiple 2DA" that stacks a number of 2DA files into one larger table. They work much like single 2DA files except they can be patched or expanded later by adding more resources. These are useful for any table that lists other resources, such as appearance tables, so that new resources can be added later without having to modify a monolithic table.

This is especially important for third-party modders, since BioWare might release an update to a core table at a later date that would overwrite any changes third parties had made to it. By using an M2DA with a unique name, and by using a range of ID numbers significantly separated from those already in use, you can ensure that your additions won't conflict with other portions of the M2DA.

A list of all M2DAs used by the game can be found in [[2DA_base.xls]]. Every 2da listed in M2DA_base is treated as a M2DA, except for those with an ID between 10000 and 10999 which are handled as regular 2DAs. Each M2DA has a label that describes the subject covered by the M2DA and a worksheet prefix that all components of that M2DA must use.

Every worksheet listed in the [[2DA_base.xls]] file is actually a prefix. The system reads this prefix and then searches through all the 2DAs for the ones starting with this prefix and merges them together as one 2DA. For example: M2DA Id 0 is "ANIM_". The system looks through its list of 2das and finds "ANIM_base", "ANIM_combat" and "ANIM_walk". It will read and merge all 3 2DAs into an M2DA called "ANIM_".

Not all of the prefixes end in an underscore. For example, longsword variations are in worksheets prefixed with "longsword_variation", so both "longsword_variation_candyland" and "longsword_variationcandyland" would work as M2DA worksheet names.

2DAs are merged row by row, keyed on the ID column. If two rows in two different 2DAs to be merged have the same ID, the row in the 2da with the highest priority wins.

== Converting XLS files into 2DA files ==

In the "Dragon Age\tools\ResourceBuild\Processors" folder there is an executable named "ExcelProcessor.exe". This is the file that handles conversions from XLS to 2DA format. Below are described 3 ways in which this file may be used.

=== Drag & Drop Method ===

# Copy ExcelProcessor.exe and source .XLS files to a new directory (not explicitly neccessary, but advised)
# Select source .XLS files and drag them onto ExcelProcessor.exe
# Cut & Paste resulting .2DA files, which will be located in the same directory as the source .XLS files, to your desired location (usually to "My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\yourmodulename\module\overrides\")

=== Adding 2DA export to the Windows XP file explorer ===

Here's an easy way to add a context menu item that quickly converts new or updated Dragon Age Excel files into GDA format:

Setup:

# Open Windows Explorer and click Tools | Folder Options.
# In the File Types tab, select the XLS extension from the list and click the Advanced button.
# Click the New button and put 'Binarize 2DA' in the Action field.
# Paste the following in the Application field and click OK (update the drive and folder names to match your client): <tt>C:\DA\tag\main\ResourceBuild\Processors\ExcelProcessor.exe "%l" -outdir=C:\DA\tag\main\build\packages\core\override</tt>

Note that paths with spaces in them can cause Windows trouble, if your paths have spaces in them remember to wrap them in quotation marks.

Usage:

# Using Windows Explorer, navigate to your 2DA folder (in my case C:\DA\tag\main\data\Source\2DA) and select the Excel file(s) to process. Right click and select 'Binarize 2DA' from the context menu.
# Confirm a corresponding GDA file is created in your override folder (in my case C:\DA\tag\main\build\packages\core\override) for each Excel file processed.

=== Using a .BAT file ===

If you have problems using the 2daExporter.xls spreadsheet to generate 2DAs the following method may work instead:

*Create two folders called C:\2DA\ and C:\2DA\Override\
*Copy ExcelProcessor.exe to C:\2DA\
*Copy the Excel spreadsheets containing the 2DA you want to use in the game to C:\2DA\
*Create a batch file with the following line in it (change "placeables.xls" to whatever Excel file you're working with):
C:\2DA\ExcelProcessor.exe placeables.xls -outdir=C:\2DA\override\
*Run your batch file
*Find the GDA file from the C:\2DA\Override\ directory and copy it to the game's override directory. Remember to take into account the naming conventions of M2DAs; you may need to rename your 2DA files with a new suffix unique to your module to allow it to add to the core 2DAs without conflict.

== 2DA XLS files used in Dragon Age ==

''Note: This list is very incomplete right now''

Bear in mind that 2DAs names are actually based on the names of the worksheets inside these Excel files, not the names of the files themselves. Some of these files contain a large number of individual 2DAs within them. They are bundled together into Excel files based on the nature of the 2DAs for convenience.

=== Creatures ===

*[[APR_base.xls]] - appearance types for creatures
*[[ABI_base.xls]] - integrates all talents and spells into the game
*[[ANIM_base.xls]]
*[[ANIM_combat.xls]]
*[[ANIM placeables.xls]]
*[[SyncAnimations.xls]]
*[[CLA_base.xls]] - Defines the character classes used throughout the game
*[[background.xls]] - defines the various origin stories available to each race and class.

=== Objects ===
*[[placeables.xls]] - interactive object types
*[[BITM base.xls]] - item types
*[[ItemVariations.xls]] - item appearance variations (eg, all the different ways a longsword can look)
*[[PRJ_base.xls]] - how various projectiles look and behave
*[[VFX_base.xls]] - Visual effects

=== Areas and plots ===

*[[worldmaps.xls]] - world maps for open-ended travel between areas
*[[plottypes.xls]] - how plots are grouped at the highest level in the game GUI (codex entry types, story, etc.)
*[[areadata.xls]] - sets various properties for specific areas
*[[rewards.xls]] - rewards for plot completion

== Adding Strings ==

When adding strings to a 2DA, you have two options. The simplest is to enter **** for the StringID column. In that case, the name column will be used in the game.

The other approach is to use the toolset's string editor to create a new string. When that happens, you'll get a new StringID. Next enter that number into the StringID column in the 2DA.

The second approach works better when translating your module, at the cost of portability. If someone else wanted to reuse your 2DA, they'd have to generate their own strings, then update the StringID number based on these IDs.

'''Attention:'''

The current version of the "Exelprocessor"-App is buggy as it can't hanlde INT values above 8388607! Many thx to elys for figuring that out.
Also note that the current toolset core-talktable contains wrong ids as well - don't forget to delete it from the "packages\core\override\toolsetexport" directory.

'''Workaround:'''

* Create and export your talktable, delete the core-talktable override.
* Create your M2DA File that you want to refer to your talk-table strings. Never Mind using the real IDs at this stage.
* Use the "Exelprocessor" to create the GDA file.
* Open the GDA-File with the toolset or elys's GDA-Editor App (http://social.bioware.com/project/755/)
[[File:Edit-GDA-Values.jpg]]
* Change the StringIDs to the StringIDs in your talktable.

'''Remark:'''

The previous Version stated: ''Take that StringID and add 16777216 to the number.'' this appears to be wrong.

== Reserved ID Ranges ==

While M2DA files avoid some of the problems associated with ordinary 2DA files, the IDs in each row of the final M2DA must still be unique across all 2DAs associated with it.

To help ensure compatibility between authors' custom content, you should make sure that the ranges you choose don't conflict with ones already in use: [[2DA_ranges_in_use]].

[[Category:2DAs]]