[EXPANSION] City Expansion V1.20

[KelinTor]

This mod adds a new section in Torchlight city.

It's accessible via the graveyard and near the waypoint gate. This mod will give more space to modders so they can add new NPCs/ Portals without overcrowding the city. The area is quite big ( roughly expand the city by 70% i think) so I don't know if netbooks can play the game well with my mod. The lower mine area is accessible too.

IMPORTANT
Modders MUST contact me before adding anything in my area, I will then confirm if the emplacement is available or not, this is to prevent 2 modders placing 2 NPCs at the same place. I will post pics to inform you of available emplacement (you must still contact me before). When asking if an area is available please tell me which part it is (1,2,3 or 4) and the coordinates too (like B,5).

To add new NPC you use your usual merging method with the town (when using the layout link select 'City_Expansion.layout' to place your NPC), as long as it's well placed it will appear in Torchlight.

Here is a pic

Here are the pics (still version v1.1, not updated yet) of available emplacement, before saying anything I know the pics are ugly, this is because of difference in depth so I couldn't make a correct alignement (and hence the 4 pics). Normally a square is large enough for any npc. A red dot means it is already used.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4


Download here : http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/downlo ... ile&id=341.
08/24/11 : I updated the download link since RGF has made some changes.

[hawkn]

that's really cool.

[ElvenAvenger]

although im not a modder, i can say its great, because it will get us alot of space to make new NPCs appear in, while not making Torchlight city too crowded.

[TorchLeech]

Brilliant, but why did you not use the lower mine titleset (from the area which can't be accessed in the original) to expand the area? This version doesn't fit very well in the "atmosphere" or let me say "design" of the town in the rocks/mountain. I would love such a new place with mud, trees, maybe some more dots, copies of houses or something. In combination with CliffSide it would be nearly perfect!

[revility]

If you have already made the area with the mine set, you can easily swap the parts with cliffside because tileset is based off of that set for the main tile pieces. Theres also blends in the set incase you want to add in some paths.

[KelinTor]

.... but why did you not use the lower mine titleset (from the area which can't be accessed in the original) to expand the area? [......] I would love such a new place with mud, trees, maybe some more dots, copies of houses or something. In combination with CliffSide it would be nearly perfect!

There is many reasons why I didn't do that :
- mainly coz' I suck at making map , meaning I could use the mine tileset but it would be uglier
- second the town tileset is not very useable as it was specifically created to make Torchlight city (being in big parts and not divisible, not within my ability at least),
- thirdly I wanted to make this addon as light as possible because Torchlight is already a big town to load, with this addon it's even heavier, with my Mercenary mod I saw a person who wasn't able to enter my map because there was too many mercenaries displayed at the same time thus I was obliged to cut it in 3 parts,
- in relation to third I would have loved to use the 'Cliffside' tileset but it will dramatically increase its size as the tileset must be included with the mod (not in totality but still) and I read (tested also)that each time you clear the cache Torchlight will crash once then reloading works perfectly ('cause it needs to make the massfile > crash and then on reload works great). revility said this bug was Torchlight's fault. So I don't know if users would like to use my mod this way.

Well I will try at least to use the mine tileset to replace the fortress tileset to make it feel more natural. If nobody have problems loading my mod I can later add other objects to make it less empty.

Edit : A little question before I change things, do you prefer accessing my area via a bridge like actually or do you want to use a teleport (no loading map, still in Torchlight city) ? Teleporting will give me more freedom in implementing the area, using bridges need a specific emplacement and I need to adapt the area to the bridges.

[Asmodeo]

Wow this is so great !!! keep working on it

[Scavenger]

Nice idea, even if it kinda looks like a spacestation docked on Torchlight. Especially for modders, who bulld NPCs for testing purpose to get to their items fast. (like I do)

Though, I think that's just a matter of taste, of you are want to use a town extension or a seperate dungeon which is connected to town via portals. I prefer the last one, because it gives you a wider varity of what you can do. I build (and still building) myself a special "chamber" which is connected to town via portal, where I can place portals to my fav dungeon maps (don't need to buy them anymore, kinda was redunant in my opinion), have extras stashes and so on. Really helpful, so you may want to look in that direction. Building something like this also helps in understanding the process in building dungeons etc. I did not build one until now, but I learned quite some things trought that chamber.

[KelinTor]

Hello,

I'm actually reworking on the town extension (either with mine tileset or cave tileset) and will probably be less symetrical than the actual one, so if modders can wait a bit before adding stuff it'll be better for everybody.

Though, I think that's just a matter of taste, of you are want to use a town extension or a seperate dungeon which is connected to town via portals. I prefer the last one, because it gives you a wider varity of what you can do

In fact my goal is to provide an area where modders can add their portals/ NPCs without putting it directly in town because the town is quite small and they have to be careful where they want to put their stuff. Since free space is rare I'm providing larger area to give more freedom to modders. I do agree a special area through a portal have more flexibility (see my Gold Sharing Service ), now you can place your portal without fearing it overlaps with something else.

I build (and still building) myself a special "chamber" which is connected to town via portal, where I can place portals to my fav dungeon maps (don't need to buy them anymore, kinda was redunant in my opinion), have extras stashes and so on.

Actually that's a good idea (you can place your portal on my 'spaceplatform' if you want) if you don't mind maybe I'll do a mod with this idea of yours or you share your "chamber" if you prefer.

[Dusho]

I really like the idea..
I might help modeling stuff that will fit to the city completely (new path to some summit with several paths to custom locations, etc..). If you have ideas what you want (some sketches, images, word description), feel free to send it.

[zebramatt]

Why not use the new outdoor tileset?

[TorchLeech]

now you can place your portal without fearing it overlaps with something else.

You must maintain a list of all mods which integrate them in your expansion and post "open places/locations/slots", where are free places available. Otherwise: What will happen if two modders chose nearly the same "good" place on your expansion. Maybe near the entry/start point. To have more space doesn't mean all modders can/will use it correctly. Another point is the easy access. It does not help if i must use a portal and have loading screens all the time to switch between the town and your expansion. A portal solution is something "strange" and not familiar for the player - than you can rename this mod to "NPC map" instead of "City Expansion". I personally don't like portals, it's something needed to get in a dungeon. Not more.

Another idea: Make the lower mine area on the town reachable (there is always a tiny demo in this forum) and add your part beside the town with brigdes you have done already. That is enough space for 20 new npcs, objects and so on.

[KelinTor]

You must maintain a list of all mods which integrate them in your expansion and post "open places/locations/slots", where are free places available. Otherwise: What will happen if two modders chose nearly the same "good" place on your expansion

I was thinking of something like that, I knew already that giving too much freedom everybody would place to the same area. So my solution for now is to have a pics from above of my map and segment it then mark with a red dot the emplacement already taken, well something like that if you have a better idea don't hesitate. For that any modders that want to add something in my area must inform me first so I can keep the pic up-to-date.

It does not help if i must use a portal and have loading screens all the time to switch between the town and your expansion

When I was speaking of teleportation I wasn't speaking of portals to access my area, there is in TorchEd a teleport option (like when before you fight corrupted Brink Alric teleport the Henchman near him) I was speaking of that. The teleportation is instant and do not load anything, you stay in Torchlight city (see my teleport back to town near the Ember light) it would be the same principle.

Make the lower mine area on the town reachable

I will try to make it reachable.

[zebramatt]

Make the lower mine area on the town reachable

I will try to make it reachable.

This has already been done, hasn't it?

And seriously, what about using the cliffside outdoor tileset?

[KelinTor]

And seriously, what about using the cliffside outdoor tileset?

You should read my previous post,

main problem is the crash each time you clear the cache since it's the town it's problematic,
second is the size of the mod the used tileset will need to be included in the mod,
thirdly it will increase the loading time leading to possible problem for those who have old PCs.

This is more or less why I didn't use the new Cliffside tileset. If I'm wrong somewhere then correct me.

[zebramatt]

And seriously, what about using the cliffside outdoor tileset?

You should read my previous post,

main problem is the crash each time you clear the cache since it's the town it's problematic,
second is the size of the mod the used tileset will need to be included in the mod,
thirdly it will increase the loading time leading to possible problem for those who have old PCs.

This is more or less why I didn't use the new Cliffside tileset. If I'm wrong somewhere then correct me.

Ah yes, I totally missed that in the midsts of that lengthy post! Fair enough!

[KelinTor]

Hi, mod updated to V1.10 see 1rst post.

IMPORTANT

Modders MUST contact me before adding anything in my area, I will then confirm if the emplacement is available or not, this is to prevent 2 modders placing 2 NPCs at the same place. I will post pics to inform you of available emplacement (you must still contact me before).

[rking12345678]

So if enough people add vendors/etc to your expansion, Torchlight Village could become Torchlight Big City? This looks cool.

[Jupiah]

Very nice mod! Adds a lot of area to to the town and I like how it connects to the lower mine area, but the new areas are kinda undeveloped. A few crates, barrels, lamps, small buildings, etc. would really liven the place up.

Also, not a complaint or anything, but after installing the mod I discovered that that two other mods I've installed (Shadow Vault Elevator and Moog the Enchanter) place NPCs right in front of the bridge that connects the graveyard and the new area, making it completely impassable. Looks like they might be good candidates for the first NPCs to be moved into the new area.

[KelinTor]

I discovered that that two other mods I've installed (Shadow Vault Elevator and Moog the Enchanter) place NPCs right in front of the bridge that connects the graveyard and the new area, making it completely impassable.

....ugh, now you see why my expansion is needed . Well since they were there before me I won't butt them out, I'm moving the bridge, the entrance wil be near the waterfall (too bad for the scenery but heck we are not taking photo uh? )

A few crates, barrels, lamps, small buildings, etc. would really liven the place up.

since i'm moving the bridge i'm also adding props so it's less empty ( I do count on modders to fill up my area with portals/ npcs etc). The mod should be updated tonight.

Edit: mod updated to v1.2, the pics are not updated yet to show the houses and props. Now the entrance is near the waterfall.