WIP: Beh Lem in U7

Post by **marzo** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:25 am

Does something similar happen for east-facing frames?

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:30 am

No, heading west is the only occasion when something like this happens. I have fully implemented all of the frames apart from the ones for spellcasting (which I have no plans to include anyway), and this is the only frame that gives any grief. I also tried giving the shape to a non-party member, and the problem still persisted.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:37 am

Ooh, problem solved. I had accidentally given the shape one frame too many, and for some reason deleting frame number 32 fixed everything.

Post by **Malignant Manor** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:10 am

Frame 32 (the one that didn't show) is the mirrored frame 0. Having an actual frame 32 must have screwed it up.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:19 pm

Now the shape is done with all offsets in their proper places. Due to the size of the sprite there will be some clipping issues, especially with the sitting frame.

I think this is rather intrinsic to how chair graphics behave, and changing it would probably be more trouble than it is worth.

Now I am focusing on writing the conversations. I'll have to alter the dialogue of some other characters to take into account the presence of Beh Lem as well, especially in Vesper. Limiting the use of inventory slots via usecode will probably be my next big hurdle.

Post by **Colourless** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:47 pm

The sorting algorithm could possibly be changed to fix the gargoyle clipping on the left chair, but its risky. Slight changes to it can cause major trouble elsewhere.

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:53 am

clipping or no clipping, its still freakin' awesome!

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:30 pm

I got back to working on this after some off-time. Nothing new to show, really. The big graphics project I'm working on now is SI-style paperdoll for Beh Lem.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:00 pm

Here's something new: a SI-style paperdoll. I'm not entirely happy with the current head, but I'm not sure how much can be done with it without causing problems with the overlaid equipment. I'll mull over it while adding wings, I suppose.

Ooji Jerrik · Post by **Ooji Jerrik** » Sun May 16, 2010 7:45 pm

That Paper Doll is amazing! When I read this post I noticed you may have said (or I may have misread) that you are keeping the one handed swing. an Interesting Idea might be since the Gargoyles are so big and strong that a two-handed sword is considered one handed for them? Kind of like in D&D I had a Werewolf character with the monkey grip feat to allow him to wield two great swords in each hand, just a thought. It looks terrific! OH and when you figure out how to add dialogue could you give me some pointers? thanks for the Mod!

May we create worlds!

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon May 17, 2010 2:10 pm

While going through the shapes I noticed that unlike every other winged gargoyle, Draxinosum has both one- and two-handed swing animations, so I adapted those for Beh Lem. I still wonder why they added those frames for him specifically, especially given that over the normal course of the game Draxinosum never enters combat.

Ooji Jerrik · Post by **Ooji Jerrik** » Mon May 17, 2010 5:08 pm

I believe I read somewhere there Drax was supposed to be a party member but they took that out. That could also explain why he has been around for 200 years.

Balron · Post by **Balron** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:36 am

So in this Exult module, you can now play Beh-Lem?
Can beh-lem also use magic?
And where can I find him?
Or...has this character even been uploaded to the game yet?

Post by **Dominus** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:12 pm

no mod available with this.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:06 am

Yeah, it's not done yet.

Kaiser6012 · Post by **Kaiser6012** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:23 am

Here's an interesting question: have you given any thought to how you're going to tie Beh-Lem into the story? Where will he dwell (I'm guessing Terfin, but interested to see), what is he doing now, what happened to his pet lizard?

Just curious is all.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:33 pm

I don't have any solid storyline ideas regarding that. I was thinking of having him present in Terfin at the time, with some vague references to him having traveled around Britannia during the intervening 200 years. Maybe something about being inspired by the Avatar and his/her companions to help people and lessen the prejudices against gargoyles where possible.

I would hope to eventually add to some existing NPCs for them to take note of Beh Lem in the conversations, mainly some other gargoyles and the folks in Vesper. However, that seems like it would be tricky business given how it would require translating the entire conversations from Ultima 7 usecode to Exult usecode.

As for the lizard, I would imagine it has died of old age by now. Unless it was a newborn dragon or something.

Post by **Dominus** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:12 pm

I think conversations can be extended using the patch or mods approach of Exult. See the bg keyring mod for example.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:39 am

Helping out with two other mods got me around to working on some of my own stuff as well. So, here's a go at adding wings to the paperdoll:

I did experiment with the game files a bit to confirm that you can set individual coordinates for different basic body frames without affecting others.

Jaesun · Post by **Jaesun** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 2:26 am

That looks awesome Crowley!

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:43 pm

I've been thinking that it's probably best for me to release this mod one version at a time. 1.0 will just have Beh Lem with his own graphics set and dialogue. From there I'll polish up the details, like disallowing certain pieces of equipment and amending dialogues to account for his presence.

Post by **Dominus** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:49 pm

Sounds like a sensible plan that avoids getting too sidetracked by RL to not release anything at all.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:26 pm

Hmm, Terfin doesn't have an inn where I could have Beh Lem staying. The healer has spare beds, but that wouldn't be appropriate to use for casual staying over. Fortunately there is a small abandoned house at the sidelines that I can convert for his use!

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:11 am

I had a brain fart: I want to put the magical gargoyle equipment someplace special that takes some effort to get, but not on the other side of the world. Solution: add Blackthorn's castle on the island! Nobody is going to miss those nondescript caves that contain little but inexplicably hostile gargoyles.

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:13 pm

I always felt that the ruins of the castle were oddly missing from the game since Batlin mentions it in the Fellowship book that comes with the game.

I have also though about drawing sprites for gargoyle architecture around the time that I start drawing the Nahuatla pyramid sprites for Savage Empire. If I do & you and/or Agentorangeguy want to use them, let me know & I will send them when completed.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:06 pm

I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of Avatar watching Beh Lem sleep like the creepy stalker he is:

Just kidding. We all know that he barges into private homes, rummages through the place and picks up anything that looks useful or valuable whether there are witnesses present or not. Stalkers do not act like that.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:55 pm

I finally got around to implementing the paperdoll.

I did not realize that the black belt automatically appears on top of all paperdolls. I'll have to remove the gargoyle belt from the graphics. Oh well, I was thinking of making it a separate item anyway.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:47 pm

To approve of this paperdoll.

Korneluk · Post by **Korneluk** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:50 pm

To second the approval and,
to be glad that you moding types still go bravely forward!

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:29 am

Crowley: I could totally use a wingless version of that paperdoll for TFL if it's not something you minded parting with.

Cheers,
Peter M Dodge
aka Wizardry Dragon

Post by **Dominus** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:20 am

Great paperdoll

Jaesun · Post by **Jaesun** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:42 am

That's great Crowley!

disASM · Post by **disASM** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:51 am

That paperdoll is fantastic, Crowley! Would it be weird if I asked what he looks like without pants?

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:58 am

To believe that would be wierd.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:16 pm

You can see a pantsless version some posts up. I haven't changed that part since.

disASM · Post by **disASM** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:16 pm

To be jealous of thy skills. Great job!

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 4:12 pm

Wizardry, what address should I send the graphics to? I tried the same @thefeudallands.ca address where I sent those mystic armor graphics some time ago, but that bounced back.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 4:21 pm

Odd, it shouldn't, it just forwards to my normal address >.>

petermdodge@vtelectronics.net should work. Much appreciate it

Cheers,
Peter M Dodge
aka Wizardry Dragon

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:58 pm

And now, an screenshot to give the idea of how I'm sticking Blackthorn's castle in there.

Pegbyter · Post by **Pegbyter** » Mon Apr 15, 2013 4:08 pm

To be very impressed by your actions human!

Jaesun · Post by **Jaesun** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:30 pm

That looks great Crowley!

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Sat May 31, 2014 8:02 am

I've been getting back to stuff. Have some detail from Blackthorn's castle:

Do they come to life and attack you? Will they split when hit? Who knows!

Post by **Dominus** » Sat May 31, 2014 10:12 am

Mimu · Post by **Mimu** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 1:05 pm

Very nice, even!

Aidanleer · Post by **Aidanleer** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:12 am

Is this available for download Crowley?

Aidanleer · Post by **Aidanleer** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:14 am

And did you ever finish your work on Blackthorns castle?

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:16 am

I am still working on this. I don't know when I'll put this up, but I can say I have no intentions of abandoning this project.

voskat · Post by **voskat** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 12:10 am

Great to know that people are still pushing things forward here, albeit slowwwwly.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:10 pm

Time to share something new. I'm trying to make Blackthorn's castle look like Sutek came in, shoved aside stuff that was in his way and set up shop. And also he knocked some holes in the walls while blocking in some existing ones.

Come to think of it, maybe I'll make a double-headed horse skeleton and stick in the basement...

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 5:48 pm

And here is something people should find familiar. Might need a bit more clutter...