Seems like this thread is getting stalled on logistics of how it will all come together. If we are getting blocked by some “by design” issue, we may be able to make some requests to the AH guys.
Please know I’m new to modding, so some of the ideas and suggestions I have below may not be possible or may even be just plain stupid. My goal here is to help keep this fire lit, and to work through the logistics so we can all enjoy a roaring bonfire of fun, seeing the fruit of our efforts!
When I made my suggestion for an open community project to build out the Legend of Grimrock World, I had not yet come across CFD—as I’m new to the community. The open community project of building out “The Northern Realms” of LoG is pretty much CFD++ on steroids. The difference is:
• Peoples’ dungeons can be much bigger; I’m thinking limited to 12 levels or so
• The amount of dungeons created to be connected to the LoG World is unlimited
• The dungeons are created with tilesets appropriate to their locations on the LoG map included with the game (I posted the map at the beginning of this thread).
• The dungeons are connected via outdoor tilesets which may use hidden teleporters for traveling east west etc. giving the player the feel they are still walking down the same path to the next traditional up/down dungeon—think playing Skyrim/Morrowind while traveling to the next custom modded-out dungeon crawling experience.
• The dungeons all contribute to an overall goal/purpose to reach the final dungeon, whether by achievements or collected artifacts; more suggestions are welcome!
The goals of the project:
• Showcase peoples’ mods in a related universe
• A seamless, expansive, immersed experience
• To take Dungeon crawling to the next level; as msyblade said:
Really think this is the beginning of the "Grandaddy of all mods". If executed flawlessly, it could change the entire genre of dungeon crawlers, and heck yeah I wanna be part of that!
Now lets start talking about some issues. If we want the scalability to be endless, then 1.dat file is not possible, but Brodie301 brought up the point:
Items don't follow import, only the current state of party selected.
And
Akroma222 mentioned:
As mysblade has mentioned about HH2, I am happy to re-work Labyrinth of Lies to fit into whatever is agreed as far as level formats/scripts that do not conflict etc.
Neikun raises critical point about the consistency of items/loot and what not. Perhaps we should set about creating a commonly shared items list. It would be like a pool that everyone can access and take it into account when setting loot for mods. This way, modders can still stick to their custom item ideas for their own mod, but allow the introduction of 'foreign' items found in other dungeons. There would need to be collaboration on this to create the list to ensure there is nothing crazy that conflicts or anything that would totally break dungeons other than the one the item was created for.....
So, we need to deal with the items import issue, and a common shared list that needs to be common everywhere in order to reach the final dungeon. I want dungeon creators to be motivated to contribute to this project, so we need to allow as much custom modding as possible—this is one of the main goals of the project—show case everyones’ mods! So, I really like akroma222’s suggestion above combined with letting the dungeon creator mod to his heart’s content, but only common items will be exported out and follow the party.
Rhetorical question: how do we deal with items not following import into the next mod?
My question to everyone: How many custom skills can be created?
If we are not going with 1.dat file and items will not follow the party from mod to mod (different .dat files), then we might be able to do something out-of-the box here—another shared list, but of “items list skills” with each new “items list skill” attached to the common shared item list. If we can create as many skills as we want, then items on the items shared list (as suggested by akroma222) could be attached to a “items list skill” that we achieve. So, when the party is imported to a different mod, we look at which “items list skills” that have been achieved. Then the mod loads the appropriate items according to the ”items list skills” achieved for each party member. The higher the “items list skill,” the greater access you have to the items on the common shared item list (suggested by akroma222). So, skill level 5 you may only have access to 15% of the items, while skill level 50 you will get all items on the common shared list imported with your party into each mod.
Again, custom items not on the “common shared list” will stay in the dungeon they were modded for—these items will not be required to reach the final dungeon. Now you might be asking: how will 100’s of items fit in the inventory of your party when they are imported into a new dungeon? If it is possible, I was thinking at the beginning of each dungeon there would be a storeroom; your party will be imported with keys to the storeroom depending on your “items list skill” level. So, if you don’t have access yet to the entire common shared list, your party will only be imported with the keys to rooms with items appropriate for your “items list skill” level.
I think several peoples’ dungeons that are close in proximity should be compliled into the same .dat file to mitigate the amount of times you have to visit storerooms.
Moving on...
If we're going to do this, we might want to have some people allocated a code/mod devs, while others as builders.
My suggestion here is just pick an area on the map you are interested in and start building a dungeon for it, following the rules and guidelines we still need to come up with. People could just reply with which area they want to work on, and I will add them to the top of this thread under that area they want to develop. So, if bob90210 wants to develop the Frostbites, I will create that area at the beginning of this thread and put bob90210 under it. If iluvGolam57 wants to also develop the Frostbites, then I’ll put him under that area, and now bob90210 and iluvGolam57 can start collaborating on the entrance points between their dungeons and whether they want to combine their dungeons into one .dat file.
Please continue coming with suggestions!
!