Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

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Sir Xavius
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Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Sir Xavius » Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:32 pm

Now that I'm playing (and modding) D2LOD again, I've picked up my Unique Items creator idea again, as I originally mentioned here. I'm still playing LOD 1.10 (Single-player), and I'm still trying to finish my unreleased mod. To this end, I'm creating Uniquity, a program which helps modders create Unique, Set, and Runeword items, all while previewing accompanying graphics you may want to use, and taking away as much guesswork out of it as possible.

The force of my motivation to finish this BASIC-based program will rely on my audience. So I'm interested in a head count of all those who are still modding and want to use such a tool. Traffic here at the PK is down to a trickle so everyone may have moved on. But if modders are clamoring for a tool like this, i'll push on it.

This is not a thread for requests. I know what I want to do, and it will exist to serve my purposes for my own modding project. As such, it will be built for the 1.10 LOD English-language version, and use the standard UniqueItems, SetItems, and Runeword TXT files. Uniquity will allow you to edit and build your own special items from top to bottom (well, you have to use a third-party software for creating your own graphics and sounds), with tooltips and help messages everywhere.

Is anyone interested, or are you fine without it?

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by jetaman » Mon Aug 22, 2016 7:29 pm

First, is it going to make lines for txt files or it's more like braistorming? Second, think about this. What are unique items? Are they just stronger version of rare items? In zy-el mod there are thousands of unique items, but is there a need for this? If i were you i would think about the "uniqueness" of unique items. Items which have unique properites and skills, like in path of exile.

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by SpiKe. » Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:46 am

Since i'm working with some guys together, who do the "creative" part of the work, it would be nice to get them, so they could create them directly in .txt files and sent it to me w/o sending me a message how something should appear or not :D
It would be also nice, if we would be able to load our own properties into it, since it's different for everyone.
looking forward to it.

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Barby » Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:32 pm

He Sir Xavius,

if the tool writes the txt lines, i´m intrested too.


Greetings

Barby

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Xaphan » Tue Aug 23, 2016 5:30 pm

Hello Sir Xavius,

I am greatly interessted in any tool that can make the making of multiple unique set and runewords easier. I still have to work on thems on my mod and anything that can make my life easier while doing so will be welcome :)

Also, I know this is not a suggestion thread, but it would be nice if Uniquity could read a customised properties.txt, even if one has to manually add some things in so Uniquity can recognise the custom properties.

Anyway, it's up to you, but I'm 100% for it.

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Sir Xavius » Mon Aug 29, 2016 6:12 pm

jetaman" wrote:What are unique items? Are they just stronger version of rare items? In zy-el mod there are thousands of unique items, but is there a need for this?
Au contraire! Unique items can have their own graphics, and as such, if you have the right plugin, can be animated! And if done properly, can allow your character to do things that can't (shouldn't) be done with magic or rare items. Think hit-skill just to name one.
Xaphan" wrote:I am greatly interessted in any tool that can make the making of multiple unique set and runewords easier. I still have to work on thems on my mod and anything that can make my life easier while doing so will be welcome :)

Also, I know this is not a suggestion thread, but it would be nice if Uniquity could read a customised properties.txt, even if one has to manually add some things in so Uniquity can recognise the custom properties.
Oh this will make your task SO much easier!

And that's not a suggestion; the ability to use your own custom TXTs is already part of the whole concept. I do it too!

You will be able to use your own custom properties and items and itemtypes. HOWEVER, the advanced modder with these editing skills will need to get in and edit the INI file that Uniquity uses, because these TXT files are parsed for easy display and selection. It's not difficult and i'll even provide a simple spreadsheet you can edit to install in the INI. As long as you put the right data in the right place (you can even rate the "power" of your properties to help with randomization), it'll be there for you.
Just keep in mind, I'm doing this for me not you! But if plenty of modders are going to be using it, i'll push the accelerator down on it!

I will submit an advanced beta copy of the Help manual in the near future to give you an idea of what you'll be able to do and what it will look like.

Thanks for you support and patience! I'll keep you all abreast of the progress!...

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Sir Xavius » Tue Aug 30, 2016 4:47 pm

As promised, here is a screenshot of the working GUI.

On the left is the Preview Pane, which will allow you to use your own custom graphics for your Unique or Set Items. There are 3 zoom levels, a transparency indicator to make sure the image isn't dirty with non-transparent near-black pixels, and navigator buttons to move thru the image files in the most recently chosen folder.
Below that you can assign the flippyfile if you want, colorize the graphic to approximate what it will look like in the inventory, and assign the using and dropping sounds for this item (whose sounds you can test).
GOOD NEWS: I just found out how to animate GIF files in case your Uniques use animated graphics with the D2SmallUtility plugin, so that'll be there.
BAD NEWS: There is no DC6 convertor library available (at least with a matching manual), so Uniquity will NOT be able to read or show DC6s. I'd love to use the CV5 code/plugin but I can't reach the author. This means you'd have to use CV5 to convert the DC6s first to preview the graphics (you'd still be able to type them in if you know the name of the file).

In the middle section is where you will assign the attributes of your unique item. Click on the Set Item tab to assign the attributes as well as the set it will belong to. You will probably not be able to edit the Set qualities with Uniquity, but that may change. Sets can be quite complicated.
Click on the Runeword tab and you define your runewords as well, with Runes of your choosing (you'd have to enumerate your own in Uniquity's INI file), and you can also define runewords as a recipe in case you want the runeworded item to have its own graphic.

On the right side of the window will be Tree View controls (hopefully) of the Items and the magic properties, which you can use instead of the dropdown menus of these types. (You'll be able to either the dropdown or the treeview to find the item or property.)
And both the item list and your properties TXTs can be customized for your mod.

You can also see buttons for randomization, user preferences, and even printing your lists.

Again, this is the working beta, which I'm currently programming. I doubt I will be taking away anything but rather adding more features as the programming trudges along...

In my next session, i'll offer the beta Manual.
Attachments
Uniquity GUI beta.JPG

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Xaphan » Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:18 pm

Looks realy good so far :)

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Barragor » Fri Sep 30, 2016 2:21 pm

That looks great! :)

I revisit D2LOD each year because to me it's still the best game ever made. I'm trying to learn how to mod now, so I can try my own things. A tool that would help create your own set items and unique items would be awesome :D

I do play in 1.13c though. I wonder if it is possible to convert items to later versions. If that doesn't work I guess I'll just play 1.10 to try out uniquity ^^
Also, I'm glad to see people are still interested in D2LOD <3

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by SpiKe. » Fri Sep 30, 2016 3:52 pm

I think this program won't load any .dlls, so it should work with all versions (as long as it only need the .txt files).

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Barragor » Sun Oct 02, 2016 3:46 pm

Some affixes/suffixes are weapon/armour-type specific. Will this program allow for those boundaries to be broken for created items (and doesn't the game throw an error when you do)?

Also, kind of off-topic, but I'm at a loss:
A lot of links are broken / unaccessible to me (for example the tutorial ones). Also, I keep reading about .txt files, but I can't find them. I thought I had to extract them using WinMPQ, but I have no clue how. I found something saying I need to add a filelist first, but I wouldn't know where to find it.
I found some tutorials about hex code editing, but I don't know what line to change for specific purposes. It doesn't help very much.

Maybe I just haven't found it yet, but I've been searching for a long time. Would you happen to know where I can find the right information so I can start modding?

EDIT: >.< okay I just found a link to a pdf "Getting Started - Beginner Guide". I'll read that first.

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by SpiKe. » Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:56 pm

If links are broken try to replace phrozenkeep url with d2mods.info
Due to url changes the most are broken but u can fix it that way.

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Sir Xavius » Sat Oct 15, 2016 8:40 am

Uniquity SHOULD work for all levels of D2LOD, but if you've customized your TXTs, you can edit these entries in the accompanying INI file. There will be an onboard Item Editor (which I've just finished), but these modifications will not change the corresponding TXT files. The modder will need to use a third-party TXT editor for that. In the same way, you can edit the runes, the properties your Uniques might have, and the graphics and sounds the Uniques may use. A certain amount of preparation will need to be undertaken by the modder to get it to go smoothly, but I will walk you thru it in the documentation.
AAMOF, the only TXT files that must be in the 1.10 format is Uniques, Cubemain, Runewords, and Setitems, if in fact they're different in more recent versions. These are also the only files that will be altered by Uniquity.

And J'P is right, Uniquity will not rely on any of the game's DLL's, only the TXTs. IDK anything about the recent versions of D2, if they even use TXT files, so...

And for those waiting, i'm about 70% finished to something workable, but it's coming along nicely. 8)

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by molotow234 » Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:33 am

Really COOOL! :D

greetings molo

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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by Fawahar » Sat Mar 04, 2017 2:24 pm

Sir Xavius" wrote: helps modders create Set items
I am mostly interested in this one. Anyway the concept work for my mod is to remove all unique and replese existing sets with 40 new sets. The other is to change just few char skills. So If I get you right your project might serve me for 90% of my modding(if it is able to make compleately new sets). I'm looking forward to see how it developes. Cheers!
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Re: Upcoming tool for Unique items. Who's interested?

Post by fernsehen123 » Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:48 am

Hi,

are you still working on this? is this available for download?

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