Mod idea: Bookcase that drops spell scrolls (collab?)

[Arkham]

If I were to model and texture a bookcase prop that, when clicked, would drop spell scrolls (sort of like how lecterns and map tables can drop identify scrolls, and also like the bookcases in the first Diablo that dropped spellbooks), would anyone else be willing to do the non-arty, scripty stuff that would actually make it do the function I just described, so I don't have to?

[gluemchen]

I liked the bookshelves. I really wouldn`t mind seeing it being modded in.

[Morbus]

Do you mind if the bookcases are added like chests? That would be very easy to do. Just create it, and I will create a mod for it. If you want them in special places, I will need some help or some more time until I understand layouts better. I still have to re-read a lot of tutorials. Newbie troubles.

[Arkham]

Adding them in as chests is probably fine. If you do eventually figure out how to place them in particular spots in the level, like only a certain distance from a wall or something, that would of course be better for stylistic reasons, but spell-dropping chests that loook like bookcases is all right too.

[Morbus]

Arkham, just notify me when you have the meshes and textures. The simple form of the mod is no problem and I will update to a second version if/when I understand the layouts better.

[Arkham]

Finished it.
I tested the mesh in the editor to make sure it worked, and it did; I didn't test the animation since TorchED's animation editor confuses me.
Hopefully it'll work (I did include the same animations one would need for a treasure-chest-type item), but if something with these assets doesn't work right, let me know.

http://www.mediafire.com/?hpnv0a33q1lc8rw

[Morbus]

I have the file, Arkham. Do you know if the backs and the bottoms of the meshes align with the ones from the lectern model? If they do, I can make them appear as an alternative to the lecterns, and like the lecterns, they would appear in appropriate places.

[Arkham]

That's an interesting idea. The proportions are somewhat different, but not wildly so (the width across differs more from the lecterns than the width front-to-back, which shouldn't be too much of a problem). The front of the bookcase is aligned the same way the top (tilted) stone slab on the lectern faces.
You could give it a shot and see what happens.

[Morbus]

OK, Arkham. I will make one that adds the bookcases to the chests and I one that adds them to the lecterns and test them.

[Rusty]

Just have to say you two, this is a fun idea. Way to pick an area of the mods that hasn't been done.

[Morbus]

Arkham, the bookshelf looks very pretty in the game, that was excellent work!

Version 1 is done, the bookshelf is added to the chest prop spawnclasses. http://www.mediafire.com/file/d2fotogze ... elves_A.7z (instead of a chest or a barrel, a bookshelf can spawn). If you think the bookshelf looks out of place in an area, you can just delete the spawnclass for that area.

Version 2 still crashes, the bookshelves have to be added to every single layout where they should appear. This will take some time, sorry.

[Arkham]

Nice work, Morbus. The bookshelf spawning and scroll/spell dropping appears to work just as intended.

However, there's one problem that I am observing -- the opening animation does not appear to play. The bookshelf just retains its idle state when it's activated. I've checked the XML version of the animation skeleton files, and there doesn't seem to be any problem with them; I also checked the .animation file and while there are some discrepancies there as compared to other openable props' .animation files, changing the entries in that file to match the others hasn't changed anything.
Do you have any idea what might be preventing the opening animation from loading?

[Morbus]

Thank you, Arkham. Yes, I have an idea why it doesn't show your animation. It is because I cannot create the layout file that is needed to do this. I am sorry. I used the default chest layout to make it work without crashing so that the bookshelf can be used in the game. Maybe Sixshot and Phanjam can help.

[N3MES1S]

Very good job Arkham and Morbus, i was reading this thread and i was thinking at the same time, that it will be very cool also a "sword on the stone" stylez shrine that will drop only unique weapons (probably swords lol). The stone is easy to grab, but the sword in the vertical position into the stone... yea, i have a lot of dreams :p

[N3MES1S]

Also i noticed the mesh appears in the wrong direction, so i never noticed the opening animation...

[Phanjam]

Thank you, Arkham. Yes, I have an idea why it doesn't show your animation. It is because I cannot create the layout file that is needed to do this. I am sorry. I used the default chest layout to make it work without crashing so that the bookshelf can be used in the game. Maybe Sixshot and Phanjam can help.

Thanks for the vote Morbus but .layouts are also a nightmare to me wish I could help tho...
Great idea on this mod! Thanks and congratulations to you both Arkham and Morbus!
EDIT (...downloaded and testing )

[Morbus]

Thank you, Phanjam. Yes, the layouts are frightening.


If the mesh faces the wrong way, can this not be fixed by rotating the mesh or will this mess up the animation?

[Arkham]

I could do it that way, by re-exporting it with everything rotated 180 degrees, but I'm fairly certain there's some way of setting the model to do this either in TorchED and/or in one of the layout files. Either way will work, but the latter method would be less messy and much simpler, I think.

[Morbus]

layout

Can we please agree that this is a very nasty word, except for Sixshot?