NWN Dark Sun 3D Game

[Tonden_Ockay]

Our goal for this project is to recreate the world of Dark Sun using NWN (Neverwinter Nights). You can get the complete NWN game on the Beamdog Store or on Steam.

Dark Sun is an original Dungeon & Dragons campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas known as Dark Sun. The product line began with with the original Dark Sun Boxed Set setting which was released by TSR for AD&D 2nd Edition in 1991. The product was released again and updated by Wizards of the Coast for D&D 4th Edition in 2010.

Contact use at:

Website: NWN Dark Sun
On Discord: NWN Dark Sun
My name on it is Tonden9076
Facebook: NWN Dark Sun

[Tonden_Ockay]

About us:

A lot of work went into this projec to get it to where it is today. So I will start off by giving you some back ground on how this project got to where it is currently. Dizzitt Gardan and I (Tonden Ockay) are really close friends in real life and have known each other 27+ years. We first started playing PnP AD&D 2nd Edition Dark Sun in 1992 and still to this day it was some of the funnest times we had playing PnP. We had just about every 2e Dark Sun book/adventure made and read through them all many times. We really loved and enjoyed the Dark Sun Campaign. So in Dec of 2015 the two of us started the discussion with each other about recreating the Dark Sun Campaign we loved so much using NWN.

We continued to talk about thing over the coming months trying to lay out and decide on what we really wanted to accomplish with a NWN Dark Sun world. We took our time until we felt confident on what it was we wanted to do and that we would see this project through. It was at this point in time (in the fall of 2016) that we started reaching out to the NWN community and recruited a very small team of Dark Sun fans. At which point we spent the rest of 2016 searching through yours of content on the Vault downloading anything that we felt might be useable for Dark Sun. Next we went through all of it picking out what we felt we could use. Then opened all the haks that we had downloaded and hand picked what we felt we could use. Lastly we sorted through everyone thing that we were looking to use and created base haks for each area.

• Races
• Items
• Placeables
• Creatures
• Classes
• Sky’s
• 2da’s

After all that we still needed a really nice desert tileset and after spending a lot of time searching and testing different ones we realized we really needed to create a custom one.

This led to most of 2017 being spent researching/learning to work with all the different custom content files and tools needed to change the NWN Forgotten Realms setting into a full Dark Sun game world. Along with learning Gmax to be able to create fully custom models. Plus there was a lot we didn’t know or understand when it came to the limits of the game engine, which we had to learn as well. Due to all of this is a lot of time was spent at this point in the process. However by the end of 2017 we really had started the ground work on a total custom desert city tiles and playable character models.

By the summer of 2018 we had a small collection of some really nice custom models that we felt we could start sharing. This was when we felt that it would be a good time to ramp up recruiting.

Currently our team has been growing a little each week and we are seeing some really great things being create. Even though we have a nice foundation started, we are still in the development process. So a lot of work still needs to be done.

There for we still could use people who know how or are willing to learn how to create custom models and/or scripts. The nice thing is everyone on our team is willing to help others to learn. So don’t be afraid if this sounds like something you would like to do we will help you help us

• Creating Scripts (NWScript)
• Creating Models (Creaturs, Items, Placeables, Tiles, Weapons & Armor)

[ShadowcatX (Joshua Slane)]

It looks great to me. I’d totally play it.

[Tonden_Ockay]

When I first started out with trying to learn how to create custom content for NWN1, I began with texturing. I would just pick different things in tileset I liked the looks of and retexture something I felt may look a little better to me if I was to change it.

So when Dizzitt first started talking about Dark Sun for NWN he showed me a sky that someone had made for NWN1 to be used for Dark Sun. After looking at it for a while I started to wonder what kind of sky I could make using paint.net (which is the first paint program I started working with beyond paint that comes with windows).

I looked around online and found some sunsets of here on earth and played around with them a while until they started to look like how I felt a Dark Sun sky should look, from all the Dark Sun paintings I had seen over the years. I then took the twin moons from one painting and the sun I used from another painting. However the sun wasn’t complete so I had to do a lot of work to it in order to get the full thing.

Using the different layers in paint.net I was able to have two copies of the sky with the sun and moon in between them, which allowed for me to delete parts of the top layer/first sky to allow for the moon and sun to show through and allowed for the other sky behind them to help blended everything together.

Anyway this was the first thing I really did for the Dark Sun Project over 2 years ago. I have learned so much since then and at some point I will try to see if I can create a better looking sky for the project. However for now this sky is the one we are currently using.

[Tonden_Ockay]

Hi all

I thought that I would share a screenshot of one of the many things we have been working on for the Dark Sun project and explain on how I came up with it.

When we first started this project I didn’t know how to make a custom model let alone a custom time or tilesets. So we started off with a tilset that someone else had created. However as I learned more about making models and tileset I decided that it might be nice to create our own.

So we talked it over and decided to just do addons for the standard Desert tileset. However the tiles that we have been creating are so different from anything in the standard Desert tileset that if we left it as an override, we would have to rework all the older tiles to try and match them up with what we are creating, which would be even more work for us.

This led us to splitting off from the Desert Tileset override and creating a totally custom tileset for our project. That said I’m still glade we went through everything that we did because we learned a lot.

So for our custom tilset we decided to go with flat tiles instead of uneven tiles

Uneven tiles are tiles that are raised a little higher on the corners, while not raising the middle edges of the tile. This helps to create an uneven ground look to a tileset.
The reason for not going with the uneven ground was because it makes a tileset look really bumpy and since we are creating a desert with blowing sand we felt that the ground would be more level. Which is why we went with flat tiles but we still added in tiles that are raised and/or lowered in the middle of the tiles to give the ground a little uneven look about them in places which can be seen in picture #2.

After deciding on making a custom tileset and going with flat ground I created raised ground terrain along with slopes/hills. As you can see from picture #1 I went with an uneven edge along the top of the hills. The top wasn’t that bad to get it to look the way I wanted, but rather the bottom was a little more of a problem getting it to blend well from the lower ground to where the ground starts to slant up. All in all as you can see in picture number #3 I think it didn’t turn out too bad.

Well I thought instead of just posting a screenshot that I would take the time to give some background on how and why we did what we did.

[Tonden_Ockay]

Raised Ground Cliffs

It took far more time then I ever thought that is would creating these raised ground cliffs. I learned so much from then, when it comes to what can and can’t be done. That is part of the nice thing when it comes to creating something from scratch.

Now what was it that I wanted from these cliffs one might ask?

1. • No flat clear cut sharp straight line along the bottom of the cliffs where they meet the ground. I didn’t want it to look as if the cliff had flat bottoms to them being placed on a flat even ground. Instead I wanted it to look more blended and natural as if sand has blown up against the bottom of them.
2. • No straight clear cut lines where the sand ends and the rock begins on top of the cliffs. I wanted it to look more natural. So I created a custom texture that slowly blends the two together.

3a. - No sand at the top of the cliffs along the edge ( so it looks as if the sand get blown of the top next to edges)

3b. - Smoother tiles so that they look as if blowing sand has sanded off their sharp edges over time.

When creating these cliffs they really made me have to think outside the box to get what I wanted and work with in the limits of the game engine. So I have to try a few different ideas before I came up with the current look I now have.

[Tonden_Ockay]

[Tonden_Ockay]

Oh and that is a helm on the Females head so it can be taken off.

[Tonden_Ockay]

We currently still have openings on the Team in the following areas.

• Model Creators
• Main story creator
• Class designer

[Tonden_Ockay]

Weekly Highlight #5 Fire Drake

Since the old forums had a lot of content posted on them and may never get seen I felt that we should repost some of it here. There for this week we are looking back and thanking Shemsu-Heru for giving use a very nice creature for our project.

During the former challenge “Dinosaurs”, I had developed a new set of animations for my dinosaurs. So I have made use of the carnosaurs animations for a DS creature with similar appearance, the Fire Drake: http://www.lomion.de/cmm/drakafir.php

it uses a highly modified version of the wyver’s animations. The model is from the final fantasy 8 t-rexaur, free model at “models-resource .com”: https://www.models-resource.com/playstation/finalfantasy8/model/3903/

[Tonden_Ockay]

Weekly Highlight #6

Custom Made Weapons

I thought that I would share only a few of the custom weapons, that the NWN community had made, and we will be using for NWN Dark Sun.

[Tonden_Ockay]

We are always recruiting for this project.

- (Classes) We need for someone go class by class tweaking each one for Dark Sun. There are a good bit of changes that will need to be made for different classes.(edited)

- (Creature erf) We need someone to go through our creature hak and one by one create each creature in the toolset leveling them up, giving them the correct AC, BAB, HP, Attacks, Skills, and Abilities. Then take in game screenshots of them and make custom portraits for each one. After all of them are done they would need to be exported in one large erf. This will allow for use to import the erf into the server module and have all creatures created and working.(edited)

- (Spells) We need someone to go through some of the spells to make them more Dark Sun and MMO compatible.

- (Advertising) We could use someone who would take and create a really nice “Weekly Highlight” every week of something we have done the the project. These things could range between a Creatures, a Player Model, an NPC, a Class, a Placeable, a Tilesets Model, a Script, a spell, and so on. You only only need to take a nice screenshot or two of it and if there is a Dark Sun painting/picture of the same thing on the internet you could post it as well or do a side by side to show how close we are trying to be. Then you would do a write up talking about who created it, thanking them and so on. Again this would only need to be done once a week and then post it to all the websites that we are Advertising on. Then through out the week check on those sites in case someone has a question or is looking to join the team.

- (3d Modeling) Making 3D models creatures, items, placeables, clothing, armor, weapons, NPC’s, mounts, or tilesets. We have 5 people in this area so far, but we still need a lot of help in this area.(edited)

- (Scripter) Creating Custom Scripts, We have 4 people in this area already but we could always use more help.

If you have the time and think you would enjoy working on this project please contact me here on the forums or on Discord (My Discord name is Tonden#9076)

[Tonden_Ockay]

Draygoth is a member of our team here at NWN Dark Sun, who is responsible for creating custom 3D Mounts and Creature models for the project. We really love the work that he is doing because like most of us on this project Draygoth is more concerned with the quality of work he is doing vs speed. He is a valuable member of the team and we are luck to have him.

So thanks Draygoth for all you have done and are still doing for this project.

We are still currently looking for more people who would like to join our team and help with this project. Here is just a small list of things you could be working on.

• Website work
• Recruiting
• Art work
• Interactive Map
• 3D model creation
• Scripting (code)
• NWNX Setup (yes this is something we are looking into for the online server)
• Website to Server features
• Discord to Server features

So if you have the time and would enjoy working with a great group a people come join us.

[Tonden_Ockay]

This team really is working on recreating a living 3D world of Athas (Dark Sun Setting) that we all know and love using NWN (Neverwinter Nights)

I want to thank Azimn for the work he is doing for our NWN Dark Sun Project. Azimn is the newest member of our team, who is currently working on recreating some of the iconic Dark Sun NPCs.

We now currently have six different people on the team who can create 3D custom models.

That said, we are still currently looking for more people who would like to join our team and help with this project. Here is just a small list of things you could be working on.

• Website work
• Recruiting
• Art work
• Interactive Map
• 3D model creation
• Scripting (code)
• NWNX Setup (yes this is something we are looking into for the online server)
• Website to Server features
• Discord to Server features

So if you have the time and would enjoy working with a great group a people come join us.

[Tonden_Ockay]

The in game screenshot is about a year old and some of you may have already seen it. However we have started posting on over 30+ websites and it hadn’t been posted here yet. Plus I have learned a few things since then, so I’m going back and making changes to the Ziggurat.

You can even see some of Broms Art work that I recreated to look as paintings on stone. For example the one of Rikus, you can tell that its the same picture but it don’t look like a picture it looks more like someone painted it on solid stone.

The Real Picture

The Recreated painting for NWN

However I just thought that I would show you all how we are really trying to change Forgotten Realms NWN (Neverwinter Nights) into Dark Sun.

The screen shot isn’t 100% the same as the picture and it never will be, but we do feel that it looks a lot like it and after a few changes/updates to the models and textures it should even look a little closer to it.

Again we are still looking for people who have the time and would enjoy working on this project

• Website work
• Recruiting
• Art work (For example we could use some new Skyboxes)
• Interactive Map
• 3D model creation
• Scripting (code)
• NWNX Setup (yes this is something we are looking into for the online server)
• Website to Server features
• Discord to Server features
  So if you have the time and would enjoy working with a great group a people come join us.

[Ral.of.Tyr]

Interesting: I recently found NWN in one of my old comp-boxes!

[Tonden_Ockay]

NWN Dark Sun

I created this Arena for NWN about a year ago, I have shared it once before on the old NWN Vault forums, but I thought I would share it again with all the websites.

This was the 2nd thing I ever made with Gmax so its a little rough, I’m currently going back and making some changes to to the model and textures. So I guess you can say this is the Alpha model.

These screenshots are of the outer/back side of Arena.

Players will be able to walk under the arches from below, as well as walk behind the upper deck bleachers and look out through the arches at the city and the people below.

Again this is an older model, so I’m currently going back and making some changes to the models textures.

Oh and we are still looking for people who have the time and would enjoy working on this project

• Website work
• Recruiting
• Art work (For example we could use some new Skyboxes)
• Interactive Map
• 3D model creation
• Scripting (code)
• NWNX Setup (yes this is something we are looking into for the online server)
• Website to Server features
• Discord to Server features

So if you have the time and would enjoy working with a great group a people come join us.

[Tonden_Ockay]

NWN Dark Sun

I’m currently working on a Ruin Wall Crosser for the Dark Sun Project Tileset. I will have towers, keeps, and structures. I have always wanted a ruin castle tileset and well now I’m creating it. This will be for the NWN Dark Sun Project but I will also release all my work to the community once I’m done. I’m a really BIg fan on sharing and working with others, I feel we can learn and accomplish so much more by doing so.

Well I just wanted to share what I was currently working on and let everyone know that we are still looking for more help and pass out our Discord channel for anyone who might want to see what we are doing daily and might be willing to help with the project in one way or the other. https://discord.gg/94Bvhf

[Tonden_Ockay]

NWN Dark Sun

Our Team is hard at work turning NWN into Athas (Dark Sun).

Here is a screenshot of some adobe buildings that I’m recreating to be used for the Desert City Tileset I’m working on. This tileset will be used to create Tyr and some parts of the other city states.

This team is really working hard to bring the world of Athas to life in a 3D world using NWN for the base. Even though we have a great team of people already, we are still always looking for more people who would enjoy working on this project to join our team.

• 3D model creators
• Scripters / Coders
• Art creators (Maps, Portraits, Loadscreens)
• Writers
• text documents
• Website organizational work
• HTML5 work
• Ui work
• Animadverting / Recruiting
• Area Building
• NWN Toolset NPC, Creature, Placeable, Creation

If you have time and would enjoy helping with this project, come join us and we will find a way for your to help.https://discord.gg/94Bvhf

Flag Quote · Insightful

[Tonden_Ockay]

We now have a Twitter page for our NWN Dark Sun project and I thought I would share the link for those who would like to follow our progress. NWNDarkSun (@NwnDarkSun) | Twitter

I can also be reached by Twitter as well. There are so many websites that we post on I don’t get to them all the time, so Twitter or Discord would be the fastest ways to reach me.

I’m Tonden#9076 on Discord
Discord - Free Voice and Text Chat