Category Archives: Sanctum: The Modules

Posts related to the Sanctum of the Archmage module series

Sanctum 1&2 v3.4 Beta (Now Final) Release

1 - The Sight, 2 - The Quest

UPDATE 9/22/2010: My schedule’s gotten busy this week, so I’ll probably have to postpone updating the Vault pages until the weekend. However, v3.4 (final) is available in the meantime from the links below for anyone who’s already installed v3.3.

– Andarian

Here’s a pre-release beta for version 3.4 of Sanctum chapters 1 and 2, for anyone who’d like to try it out. It only contains the updated parts and assumes you already have all the components needed to play version 3.3. Once I have feedback from a couple of test players that it all seems to be OK, I’ll upload the new version to the module page.

Sanctum v3.4 Beta Final Release

You’ll also need the following NWNCQ haks from here:

NWNCQ Hak
NWNCQ Patch Hak

And the updated “Patch Hak” from here: 

Sanctum v3.4 “Patch Hak”

The update affects both chapters, although it has more of an effect on chapter 1 because it uses more of the baseline NWN tiles that NWNCQ revamps. There are a few bugfixes and a couple of new features to look for, including a new entry on Robin’s “special ability” list that may come in handy. There are also about a dozen new hi-res player heads now available, chosen from Salt’s Female Head and Estelindis’ KOTOR Head packs.Also, make sure to check out the “cape-making” and cloak-to-armor conversion ability of the Cloak of Flying if you haven’t already. It’s been in there since v3.2, but I found and fixed a serious bug with it that made the cape feature disappear once you’d converted it

.

I hope you enjoy the update — let me know what you think! – Andarian

A Pre-Update on Sanctum 3

3 - Mission to Rayche

Aderyn recently asked: “By the way, how is the Sanctum 3 going now? Please update soon!”

Sorry to keep you in suspense! The reason I haven’t updated in a while is that there are a few things that I’m currently working on that I want to complete before doing so. In particular, Estelindis and I have been developing some very unique new custom content for the module. When it’s ready for screenshots I think you’ll find it was worth the wait. 😉

An NWNCQ Makeover for Sanctum 1?

1 - The Sight

I recently became aware of an extraordinary new hak for Neverwinter Nights: NWNCQ by Chico400. It revamps virtually the entirety of Bioware’s default tileset assets, giving them a whole new look with stunningly higher quality.

Most of my first module, Sanctum of the Archmage 1, The Sight, was built using the standard Bioware tilesets. It took me all of a thirty seconds to open that module and add NWNCQ to the bottom of the hak list. After another few minutes to do a rebuild, the look of the module had been dramatically transformed. I’ve been playing it this afternoon, and it gives the module a whole new visual experience. Aside from needing a few relatively minor tweaks to get the look just right, it was very easy to do.

NWNCQ increases the quality of the default tilesets by replacing them with higher definition (higher-poly-count) models and better textures. The replacements are well thought out with often original designs that are built to still be compatible with areas made using the original versions. Among other very welcome things, it finally adds ceilings to many of the Bioware tilesets that needed them (City Interior, Ruins, Caverns, etc.). It makes Blackwing Lodge actually look more like a lodge now, to say nothing of the Ancient Ruins. 😉

Because of all this I’m thinking of taking a short break from working on Sanctum 3 to release another update to my first two modules, mainly to enable using NWNCQ. The update would mostly affect Sanctum 1, although while I’m at it I’d also make a few additional updates to go along with it — such as adding skyboxes to Sanctum 1 and some additional high-quality head models to give players a better selection.

Here are some screenshots to show what I mean:

City Interior (Bioware Default)City Interior (Bioware)

City Interior (NWNCQ)City Interior (NWNCQ)

Blackwing Lodge (NWNCQ)Blackwing Lodge (NWNCQ)

A Picnic by the Lake (NWNCQ + Skybox)A Picnic by the Lake (NWNCQ)

Continuing Sanctum in NWN1 vs. DA

Dragon Age, The Alliance, The Miracle Worker

Shuurai recently offered the following thoughts about continuing the Sanctum saga in Neverwinter Nights as opposed to Dragon Age. Since they might be of general interest, I thought I would post my own thoughts on that here.

“Just to throw it out there, I too think it’d be cool if the entire series was kept in NWN1. Despite the age of the engine and it’s limitations, I personally find the interface to be much better than NWN2 and even Dragon Age. That said, the most important thing (to me) is the story, and I think this one will be strong no matter what the platform.”

I very much appreciate the kind words about the story (thanks, Shuurai!). This is an issue that I’ve been torn about since the first module came out — first with NWN2, and then with Dragon Age. As some of you may know, I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity last year to be invited by Bioware to participate in the Dragon Age toolset beta and Builder’s Event. So I’m very familiar with what Dragon Age has to offer the series, and I’ve been very impressed with it from the beginning. I think it was designed much more for the kind of story-based modding that I’m trying to do with the series than was NWN, and that I could do a great deal more with it as a result.

So to be honest I really would prefer to switch to Dragon Age as soon as possible, for that as well as other reasons. For example I do strongly prefer the interface and game design, and the Sanctum world never has really fit well with the D&D ruleset. But I’m in the awkward position of being in the middle of the saga and having a lot invested in building the mods in NWN1, including an established player and fan base there. Those are things that I can’t just disregard.

If I come into enough free time or can recruit enough DA collaborators to help, then I may port Sanctum 2 to DA as a test. If that’s successful I could then port the rest of Part II (“The Miracle Worker”) as well. I think I could handle that for DA-only players by including a video “prologue” telling the story of Part I (“The Sight”). If that works out then I’d end up with Part I as a NWN1 only mod, Part III (“The Alliance”) as DA only, and Part II ported to both.

Either way, though, I don’t plan on building “The Alliance” in NWN1. But I also really don’t want to stop building in NWN1 until the end of “The Miracle Worker”. That’s when the story will reach a point where I can at least give NWN1-only players a sense of closure with the series, even though it will be continued in “The Alliance.”

And, I hope, in a series of novels to pick up the story after that. From the beginning, the Sanctum modules were intended mainly as an experiment on my part: a way of exploring the new medium of CRPG modding as a means of telling the backstory to those novels. So with any luck, it’ll be a long time before I have to commit to giving folks a full sense of closure with the saga as a whole. 🙂

Companions vs. Henchmen

3 - Mission to Rayche

A player asked me the following regarding a recent post about my plans for Sanctum 3. I thought it might be of general interest, so I decided to re-post it here.

  • “A question if I may, what do you mean by three companions and five henchmen?”

This is probably my own terminology more than anything else, but by “companions” I mean long-term party members who are tied to the overall plot. In Sanctum, that’s Robin, Orion, and Diana. By “henchmen” I mean party members who join or are “hired” mainly for combat support and story flavor on a specific quest or quests. Since I made you leave one of your three companions behind near the end of Chapter 2 (and don’t worry, you’ll see them again in Chapter 4), I felt that it would be a good idea to let you be able to “hire on” some temporary help in Chapter 3 if you need it. There will be five such “henchmen” available in different areas and for different quests. Although they’re intended to be more “henchmen” than full “companions,” they’ve already developed very vivid personalities in my mind that I want to try to translate into the module as well. Two of them will also be potential (though not long-term) romance options (one male, one female).

Sanctum 3 Designed

3 - Mission to Rayche

I just wanted to post a quick update on the progress of Sanctum 3. I’ve been alternating between design work and technical integration to make the module compatible with Project Q, and I’m pleased to be able to report that both of those tasks are basically done now.

A lot of basic 2DA and Hak work was needed to make the new module compatible with both its previously existing custom content (including CEP 2.2), and Project Q. This was a big job, and while it had several very tedious parts to it, it turned out not to be as bad as I’d feared. The worst part was moving some of the conflicting phenotypes to new numbers, which required a lot of editing and renaming of individual files. Now that it’s done, I’ll be able to combine features from Sanctum Chapters 1-2, CEP, and Project Q.

I’ve also been working feverishly for the past month or so to complete a comprehensive design write-up for the module’s quests, areas, and custom content. With that done, I now have a clearer idea of what the scope of Sanctum 3 will be, as well as some material that I can give to collaborators. To give a hint at the scope, the current design comes out at:

  • twenty-two quests
  • sixty-six areas
  • three companions
  • five henchmen
  • five romances

I’m also happy to report that I now have two confirmed members of the Sanctum Team, one of whom is the very talented Estelindis. You may know her from her NWN1 CC work, and as the creator of the new custom heads for Orion, Diana and Robin in Sanctum v3.2. She’s going to be helping with some very special custom content for the next chapter, which if it works out as we hope should be really terrific. Aderyn has agreed to join the playtesting team, and several others have expressed interest in helping as well.

So barring complications, the pace of development on the saga should be ramping up substantially in the near future. I’ll keep you all posted. 😉

An Update on Sanctum 3

3 - Mission to Rayche

It’s been a while since my last blog post, so I just wanted to take a few minutes to say “Hi” and to give everyone a quick update on the progress of Sanctum 3.

I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can spend most of my spare time working on the next chapter, and I’m having a great time at it. It’s coming along so well that it’s actually exceeding my expectations, which I’d set pretty high for the project. I’m still aiming for a release sometime this summer, although it’ll be a couple of months yet before I know how well my progress is matching that goal.

One of the things I’ve done to help expedite the next release is to scale back the scope of Chapter 3, which as I’m now planning it will only cover the quest to ally with Rayche. I’d always intended the Rayche mission to be the most extensive and elaborate of the quests to form the alliance, and I think that will give the module a good starting point as well as a good point of closure. Now that I have most of the quests written out in detail I’m also realizing that it’s going to make a sizable module in its own right (and will certainly be much longer than Chapter 2 was).

It’ll also have a somewhat different design from my previous work. Chapter 1 and especially Chapter 2 were very linear, and had what I think was an unusual quest structure compared to most other modules. In Chapter 3, though, I’m planning a more non-linear plot with a more familiar adventuring quest style — but without compromising any of the story-driven focus that players have come to expect from the saga. The different quest threads will be thoroughly interwoven with the main plot, but they will also offer a lot more choice regarding which quests to do, in what order, and how they can be resolved. Indeed, I expect that it will be difficult to complete all of the available quests on any one playthrough (and impossible to see all the outcomes), which I hope will make Sanctum 3 an especially good module for replayability.

The Sanctum Team

AME, General, Sanctum: The Modules

Although I’ve been talking for a while now about my intent to finally get back to finishing Sanctum of the Archmage, circumstances have for some time had a habit of conspiring in one way or another to delay those plans. So I’m pleased to announce that I’ve recently made several decisions aimed at ending those delays, and at speeding up when the remaining chapters of the saga will be available.

The first step was finally completing my graduate work. I had gone back to college part time for a second Master’s degree (in physics) several years ago, but it had ended up dragging on longer than I had expected. Sanctum chapters 1 and 2 were actually built in the spare time I could find between (some very challenging) classes, which is one reason for the slow pace of the saga’s development. I finally graduated earlier this year, and that’s started to allow me more time for other projects again.

The second step was one that I initiated a few weeks ago, when I regretfully announced my resignation as Chairman of the Academy for Modding Excellence, effective at the end of 2009. Working with the AME, first as Vice-Chairman and then this year as Chairman, was a wonderful and fun experience that also allowed me to meet some really terrific people. Although I’ll be retaining my membership with the Academy, it will be with a much reduced workload that will allow me more time to work on my modules.

The third and most recent step, which I’m pleased to announce here publicly for the first time, is that I’ve decided to form a modding team to finish the Sanctum of the Archmage saga. I concluded that this would be a good idea for several (probably obvious) reasons, not the least of which is that my chances of being able to finish the modules in a reasonable amount of time would be significantly increased if I had some help. Since modding is beginning to move more and more in the direction now of team-based rather than individual work, I thought this would be a good time to make that transition myself.

I think this is especially true given the plans that I’ve hinted at in previous posts, but would now like to make official: that the final part of the Sanctum of the Archmage saga, The Alliance, will be developed in Bioware’s new CRPG, Dragon Age (or DA). Some of you may know that I was a member of the DA Toolset Beta team earlier this year, and participated in Bioware’s “DA Builder Event” this summer. These unfortunately also helped to delay my work on developing the next chapter; but they were good opportunities that I think will ultimately help me to improve as a modder and to make the series even better in the long run. Since it has a much more complex and powerful toolset than Neverwinter Nights, team development will probably be typical for modules developed for Dragon Age.

My plan for the Sanctum Team is to have two groups working on parallel development tracks. One group will be working on finishing the last two modules of Part II of the saga, “The Miracle Worker,” which will be in Neverwinter Nights and will use the fabulous new Project Q content. The second group will start development on the first act of Part III, “The Alliance,” in Dragon Age. It’s my hope that with these parallel development efforts going on simultaneously, that the end of Part II and beginning of Part III could be brought out without too much time between them.

It’s a fairly ambitious plan, and you can probably see why I’ll need to recruit a team of folks to work with to make it happen. So far, I’ve got four team members from the Neverwinter Nights community interested in the project (including myself), and I’m hoping to at least double that in the near future. The team will need folks with several different skill sets, from level builders to the voice actors that we’ll need for the Dragon Age modules. I’ll be in the role of lead writer and designer, and the prospect of working together to make an RPG with a group of really talented folks is one that I’m really looking forward to. 🙂