I'm probably retired too though that as more to do with the player counts. I'd still work on some bugfixing and stuff if I had more players. Not sure if I'll work on 2 or not. If I do it will be something smaller scale or with a team so I can focus on what I actually like doing.
I think there are definitely reasons for mods like XC though for people who come to the series later. While Epic is a nice project it's not the type of mod I'm usually interested in. I generally prefer mods I'm going to play with to have a lighter touch and be closer to original. Also once 2 releases, 1 will have a lower price and more sales which bring players. I notice a spike in my mod downloads every sale.
And just a random note about the respawn thing, it's been a while but it looked at that for someone months ago and I think the script would actually just bolt on to the EE version just fine, with all the issues Frau mentioned regarding balance of course. Possibly needing some minor syntax fixes.
About the wood chopping... How about using the mining animations used in the ore mines, but with an axe over a lumber pile (chop wood)?
As for the merchants... would someone in the forums assist me in making this small mod? These new NPCs would be non-voiced, unless we could repurpose them to speak a few existing greeting lines (for the next game, perhaps Larian could ask the voice actors to do a few generic extra lines as "modders resources"? Something simple like "Greetings!", "Hello!", "What would you like to buy?" etc.?
There was a tutorial somewhere I think on adding new items to the game, right? I need to learn how to make the loot tables and inventories, so the merchants will have the right items and in correct quantities.
Ok, I think I´ll go play some divinity now...
As far as adding a merchant goes, you'll have to learn the treasure table part from scouring forum posts (don't forget to adjust the search to 3 years). Part of the problem though is you need to be familiar with a lot of different parts of the editor to do something like "make a working npc".
But adding an actual NPC is pretty easy, here's a broad outline:
1. Find the root template for a character and place it somewhere.
2. Open the character panel in the editor and name the character something descriptive. EX: MYMOD_CYS_CraftingVendor
3. Click your character on the map, open the sidebar, select global.
4. Save your work and generate definitions in the story editor.
5. Open the keyword editor (see the video on how to use it) and make a dialog. Usually I keep it simple as hello/goodbye to start. There are also templates in the editor folder somewhere if you want to use those, but I usually prefer to make my own templates. If you use a template don't forget to save it as a regular dialog file in the proper folder. I think it's public\my mod\keywords but I'm going from memory and my modding memory is atrophying since retiring :P
6. When you save the dialog file, name it descriptive as well. Ideally name the dialog file exactly the same as the character so MYMOD_CYS_CraftingVendor
7. Save the mod again in the editor and open up the story editor. Create your own goal file and place it under start (again see video tutorials if you don't know what this is).
8. In the INIT section of your goal, place this line:
DB_Dialogs(CHARACTER_MYMOD_CYS_CraftingVendor,"MYMOD_CYS_CraftingVendor")
The first entry should auto populate as you type, the second "" entry is a string you'll need to fill out.
9. Save your work again, generate definitions and build the story. I'd probably outright close the editor at this point and load it up again just to make sure. Sometimes I've had issues with the first time using a dialog but after that restarting the editor should not be needed.
10. Go to the character and try to talk to it.
The pickaxe is only a visual effect, I think, and somehow tied to the animation. I don't think you can use this animation for chopping.
I would just use 1H weapon attack animation. It would look a little weird but probably the best one.
Oh and one random D:OS modding story since I brought up templates. When I made my dialog templates for Dunamis I unthinkingly left in a few typos/silly words. This wasn't a problem when Dunamis was a 15 minute mod that had 5 NPCs but I just kept adding and adding.....
So yeah I had to before release edit like 115 dialog files for the same exact typo/word issues
