Sunday, September 3, 2017

Custom exterior textures in nwn2

From http://gameofthrones.net/resources/56-manuals-and-guides/661-nwn2-custom-texture-guide.html
A few notes to clarify things a bit.

It wasn't clear in step four since there are a lot of mask choices, but you want to add a black (full transparency) mask just like in step 2.
Once you have your files working the way you want, save them as .dds files, this will reduce file size to roughly 1/4 of the tgs file size. DDS is also the format of the stock game exterior textures, so it's possible there is some optimization hardcoded we don't know about. Paint.net works fine for converting to dds using the stock settings of conversion when you select save as.
Textures that are not square work fine.

MODDER'S NWN2 CUSTOM TEXTURE GUIDE

Resources Manuals and Guides
Thursday, 07 April 2011 15:28
This tutorial describes one method of creating terrain textures for NWN2. It may not be the best or most complete way, but it works quite nicely. This method also removes the glossy shine from textures for a more realistic appearance. You will need to download the NormalMap plug-in for GIMP and install it in order to use this tutorial.
For each texture, there needs to be three .TGA files:
  1. Primary Diffuse + Layer Mask (TT_MyTexture)
    Diffuse used with Terrain Normal Mapping turned OFF in game/toolset, Alpha used to control strength and location of 'fake' specular highlights
  2. Secondary Diffuse + Layer Mask (TT_MyTexture_c)
    Diffuse used when Normal Mapping is turned ON in game/toolset, Alpha channel does nothing
  3. Normal Map WITHOUT Alpha Channel (TT_MyTexture_n)
    Alpha channel used to control Strength of Normal Map specular Highlights only, Normal Map Highlight and Shadow location and Shadows Strength are unaffected

STEP 1:

Select a .BMP image scaled to 64x64 pixels in size. Make a copy of the texture you're working with, then resize the image in GIMP to 64x64 pixels. In GIMP, go to "Image" then go to "Scale Image". To resize the image, click the small button behind the number field (looks sort of like a broken chain link). Type in the new size, then hit "ok". Put the 64x64 .BMP image into your Program Files/Neverwinter Nights 2/NWN2Toolset/Terrain folder.

STEP 2:

Make another copy of the original image. Scale this texture image to a multiple of 8; 512x512 is the standard texture size in NWN2, but you can use 1024x1024 if you require a crisper texture.
A larger texture will consumer more memory, and in the case of 1024x1024, it will use the space of FOUR 512x512 textures, so choose wisely.
Click on "Layer", then "Mask". Select "Add Layer Mask...". Now, click on "Black (full transparency). Click the "Add" button. Next, go to "Layer", then "Mask", and click "Apply Layer Mask". Now, save the image as .TGA (example: TT_MyTexture).

STEP 3:

Open the image file that has the layer mask that we were just working with. Save it as, for example, TT_MyTexture_c. This file must have the "_c" at the end of it to work properly.

STEP 4:

Open the image that you first scaled to multiples of 8 (the picture with the actual terrain image). Next, go to "Filters" tab, go down to "Map", then "Normalmap...". Where it says "Filter" in the Normalmap box, choose your filter type (ie 5x5), then hit "Ok". Now, click "Layer", then "Mask", then "Add Layer Mask". Now click "Layer", "Mask", then "Apply Layer Mask". Save this file as, for example, TT_MyTexture_n. This file must have the "_n" at the end of it to work properly.

STEP 5:

Edit terrainmaterials.2da. Find a blank row at the end of the .2da file and input the basic name of your texture. Example: TT_MyTexture. Set each to a value of 255, then select for the last entry, the terrain type that most resembles the new texture. If you have a grassy texture, type in "Grass".

STEP 6:

Put the terrainmaterials.2da and the three .TGA files into your My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/Override folder or your Campaign folder. Fire up the toolset, then start painting the textures down.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The textures should be as close to square as possible. If they are not, dark lines will appear around the texture when painted down. And if you prefer to have shiny textures, just don't add the masks described in the tutorial.

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