NWN 2 Toolset First Look

[terryrayc]

Well I spent 14 hours downloading the toolset (2.1gb).

Now I'll start by saying all we received was the toolset. We did not get the game app or the multiplayer app or the dm app so there is no way at this time to test anything we build.

Okay onto the first look. I'll start by saying the Toolset is interesting. There is a lot of stuff....I mean a LOT...which I think leads to my first complaint. There's too much stuff...no not content but windows, boxes, buttons...the Screen is way OVER crowded. Forget about the simple clean look of the NWN 1 toolset, the developers have tried to put everything on one screen. The only except are things like item properties and creature properties that load as a new window. If anyone has used programs such as Adobe Photoshop or such where you get a big center windows and then all these little windows load all around that...well that's the toolset.

Now I'm going to continue by saying, I've only spent like 20 minutes playing around with it. But this is a first look not a detailed review so it's all good.

I'll start by pointing out some of the differences I've noticed.

First the use lets create a module....it's about the same, click file, new module.
Creating areas: Click file, new area. A window will open asking for the name and type...you get 2 types, Interiors(tilesets) and exteriors. That's it....I'm guessing they've moved away from the days of picking which tileset you want...it seems you get access to them all...which is nice.
also the area size has changed, after you name your area and pick it's type you get to give the size...you have, tiny up to giant, giant being 32x32.

Once you create your new area the center window turns into a live shot of your area. This is one of the reasons you need a powerful computer. By the way things look, you could almost rotate the cam, drop your character in and start playing...it looks great.

On the lower right window are items you can drop into the map, creatures, items, encounters all crammed into 1 little window. I'm telling you they've overdone the cramming a bit.

I've not played with scripting or dialogs yet, but I will tonight.

It does seem the formats are the same. Directory structures are close...hell there's even a nwplayer.ini and nwn.ini....which at first glance have about the same items in them.

Currently my only major complaint is that the way they've layed things out and the changes they've made have increased the learning curve probably 50%. Just because you are a master of the nwn1 toolset doens't mean anything..it's time to relearn.

I'll continue tonight after I play with scripting and dialogs.

[terryrayc]

toolset screenshots.

[Alphonse]

Having seen these screenshots I'm really optimistic about what we can achieve with Arkaz 2

[Alphonse]

also the area size has changed, after you name your area and pick it's type you get to give the size...you have, tiny up to giant, giant being 32x32.

This isnt actually true. The biggest useable area is still 16x16. The toolset now lets you build the areas that are in the distance for your area rather that just repeating the edge tile so you get straight roads and streams and stuff.