Talk:Add A New Class Tutorial

Initial edit

I have started to edit this page at the author's request to try and fix up some of the formatting. It was prety much a cut and paste from the forum. I think it has a way to go yet. I would recommend replacing all the capitalised text with appropriate markup such as bold. Also the structure could perhaps be improved and some of the content organised better in sentences rather than point form. Please help out if you have the time and incliniation. Stuntpope

edit

Embedded all images and added dascript tages

--Rigortauri 13:12, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

did some table formating

--Apolyon6k 09:14, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

Errors

The following section is incorrect:

Next goto "// Undo Class and Race selection" and add the 4th CharGen_ClearAbilityList

            // Note: This wipes the ability list clear
            CharGen_ClearAbilityList(oChar,1);
            CharGen_ClearAbilityList(oChar,2);
            CharGen_ClearAbilityList(oChar,3);
            CharGen_ClearAbilityList(oChar,4);

Next goto "// enabling proper tactics presets" and add the ValidForClass4 parts

            nForClass1 = GetM2DAInt(TABLE_TACTICS_USER_PRESETS, "ValidForClass1", nCurrentRow);
            nForClass2 = GetM2DAInt(TABLE_TACTICS_USER_PRESETS, "ValidForClass2", nCurrentRow);
            nForClass3 = GetM2DAInt(TABLE_TACTICS_USER_PRESETS, "ValidForClass3", nCurrentRow);
            nForClass4 = GetM2DAInt(TABLE_TACTICS_USER_PRESETS, "ValidForClass4", nCurrentRow);
            if(nCoreClass == nForClass1 || nCoreClass == nForClass2 || nCoreClass == nForClass3 || nCoreClass == nForClass4)
                AddTacticPresetID(oCreature, nCurrentRow);

The author has misunderstood the purpose of these methods. There is no need to modify the first of these. The int parameter in CharGen_ClearAbilityList is actually the ability type - not a class id. In the second part there is no point modifying this unless you also modify user tactics 2da table. The three columns allow up to three classes to be listed and since the third column is not used already there is really no need to add a fourth column anyway.

I considered removing this but it really needs to be replaced with the correct approach. I suspect that there are other aspects of AI that need to be dealt with too. Stuntpope 13:13, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

I went ahead and deleted it, as those should really be part of an advanced tutorial, rather than a basic one; I also went ahead and added some new data that I've been testing that eliminates the need to provide files in packages\core\override. Ladydesire 21:48, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

"Cleaning up" errors?

I'm not sure but there seems to be an error in the section about cleaning up. If you delete all files you also delete your edited core files (2ds_constants_h and chargen_h). Without those files the new class wouldn't work. It should be mentioned after the export section that those files are needed and that they should be moved to module/core/override.Apolyon6k 03:46, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Those files aren't needed by the module; the only thing needed are the compiled scripts (*.ncs) and any plots created for the module. Ladydesire 23:33, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

String IDs above 8.3 million don't work?

There is a discrepancy between the current tutorial and the actual functionality of the toolset with regards to the string table entries; it is no longer necessary to manually set a range for the string tables, as ExcelProcessor now handles up to at least 650,000,000. Ladydesire 20:18, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Heh. I just spent a bit of time asking around the office about this bug too, the line's been in the tutorial since November. And then I posted here on the talk page without reading it completely first, is my face red. I'm going to provisionally remove the line from the "creating a module" section and store it here:

Make sure your string sets go from in between 8,000,000 - 8,300,000, if it goes above that range the strings will not work. BioWare has already posted about this SQL problem.

I'm pretty sure this has been fixed now, unless this is a separate bug that we weren't aware of. BryanDerksen 23:28, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

I've been using a class built with string tables as I indicated in my comment, so I'd say it's safe to remove it. Ladydesire 22:22, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Will there be an advanced class tutorial?

This is a basic tutorial for quickly creating new classes, but those classes are rather basic themselves. They use standard spells, talents and abilities but those are not really the right ones for costum classes. In the forum there were questions about custom spells and such, wouldn't it be nice to have a page here that combined or even linked to all the tutorials required to create a full customized class? Apolyon6k 03:59, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

I've been planning to do a much more extensive class and specialization creation tutorial by editing the existing tutorial, but since I'm working on two mods at the moment, time to create one is rather scarce. Ladydesire 23:35, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Help

i have followed this tutorial step by step but I have run into a problem in that my command prompt gives me an error message when I input the command excelprocessor.exe New_Class.xls -outdir "<My Documents path>\Bioware\Dragon Age\AddIns\New_Class\module\override"

the error message is: ERROR: Unknown command line parameter -outdir Press any key to terminate...

i have done everything else, but my class is not showing up in the character creation. I am guessing that this error is throwing it off.

I would suggest creating a separate folder to make your gda files and them move or copy them into the addin folder manually. Ladydesire 01:38, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. That worked. I can select my class in character creation, but when i actually play it, it becomes either a rogue or warrior. I am guessing there is a problem with one of my worksheets, but i have gone over them carefully and cannot find anything wrong. |Dragoteine 13:19, 16 January 2011

The excelprocessor requires the -outdir parameter to use an equal sign, as in -outdir="<My Documents path>\Bioware\Dragon Age\AddIns\New_Class\module\override". I changed the article to reflect this. DeadlyGrim 22:38, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Hi. After follow up the tutorial, the class is show but i can't select it, whatever the race i choose. By the way, "Shaman" isn't selectable in the utc dropdown list. Any idea ? --LordHinateur 01:36, 25 November 2014 (GMT)