The Harvest Moon Consortium

Hello! I got a question about pathnodes. I tried to find information on
the new pathnodes that are not in the Bioware tutorial, but all the websites
(like brickbuilders, ccg wiki, dla-adventures) that might have had that in-
formation are gone and the posts in the forums also link to either websites
or pictures that are long gone.
Does anybody have information on those pathnodes? What would be really
great would be if someone had images that represent what the path nodes
stand for in 3D. The 2D images Bioware used in their tutorial are really hard to
understand.

Thanks in advance for any help you're able to offer!

Zwerkules wrote:Hello! I got a question about pathnodes. I tried to find information on
the new pathnodes that are not in the Bioware tutorial, but all the websites
(like brickbuilders, ccg wiki, dla-adventures) that might have had that in-
formation are gone and the posts in the forums also link to either websites
or pictures that are long gone.
Does anybody have information on those pathnodes? What would be really
great would be if someone had images that represent what the path nodes
stand for in 3D. The 2D images Bioware used in their tutorial are really hard to
understand.

Thanks in advance for any help you're able to offer!

If you could be a little more specific as to which tutorial you're looking at I might have some info, but I'll have to dig for it

Zwerkules wrote:Does anybody have information on those pathnodes?

Here is an attachment that has all the 2d versions. ALL of them, in .JPG format. I grabbed these from Velmar's Tileset Creator.

What would be really great would be if someone had images that represent what the path nodes stand for in 3D. The 2D images Bioware used in their tutorial are really hard to understand.

There is no such thing as a 3d pathnode. ALL pathnodes are 2d. They can be used in a 3d environment, provided you pay attention to them.


The way they work, is the black lines are what is considered walkable. Most specifically, along the edges of a tile, the points when the black lines intersect those edges, is where someone can walk INTO/ONTO the tile.

As an example, take a look at this screen shot of the standard Bioware City Exterior, with a raised section, on a corner, you would need to use pathnode 'B' (capitol B) to access both the top and bottom sections of this tile. It of course, has to be correctly rotated to match the way the tile is defined as well. IE, if the set starts that tile using non-raised, non-raised, raised, non-raised then the default position for pathnode B works fine.

In the above pic though, that tile is actually rotated inside the toolset, from the camera perspective.

Anyway, the real key is that any line that intersects an outside edge of the pathnode, SHOULD be connected to a matching line in the next tile over. This is handled by the pathnode you choose AND by how the tile is defined in the .set file.

Another example, using TCN01_H02_03 ( a wall tile) which uses pathnode "C"


If you take a close look at C, it allows you to walk onto the tile from either side, and from top or bottom, but, that wide white section in the middle prevents you from walking across the middle... just like the wall in the above pic.

Thank you, Bannor!
Those pictures by Velmar where exectly what I was looking for. I only
had pictures of the pathnodes that are in the Bioware Tileset Tutorial and
they are only for A-Z and a-e.
With "images that represent what the path nodes stand for in 3D" I meant
images like the one of TCN01_H02_03 and TCN01_A04_01 of the C and B node. I think I'll go looking for tiles that use the new path nodes in the
tilesets that came with path 1.69 and look at those to get an idea of what
those path nodes are for.
Thank you very much for your help!

Zwerkules wrote:Thank you, Bannor!
Those pictures by Velmar where exectly what I was looking for. I only
had pictures of the pathnodes that are in the Bioware Tileset Tutorial and
they are only for A-Z and a-e.
With "images that represent what the path nodes stand for in 3D" I meant
images like the one of TCN01_H02_03 and TCN01_A04_01 of the C and B node. I think I'll go looking for tiles that use the new path nodes in the
tilesets that came with path 1.69 and look at those to get an idea of what
those path nodes are for.
Thank you very much for your help!

See, the thing is, 3d doesn't mean anything to the game engine. And technically doesn't mean anything to the pathnodes. Some of those pathnodes can be used for multiple tiles, some flat, some not, and some both... if that makes any sense.

They might be easier to figure out if they were reversed in color though, if the black lines were white lines on a black background instead of the way they are... something in my mind makes it easier to understand that way.

Anyway, that "C" pathnode used for that wall section? That could also be used for a non-walkable stream, OR possibly for a crack in the ground like a narrow pit type thing.

But yeah, I definitely agree, they are difficult to figure out sometimes. Some of the later ones that were added, the double character ones, were added for a specific tileset that was created by Chandigar, but doesn't get much attention now-a-days. His original Aztec Exterior. His buildings, especially the steep, high temple sections, required some special path nodes to be created. I am not sure if they actually made it into the game prior to his final release though, you would have to check the .set file to be sure. Anyway, those extra pathnodes most likely won't be used by very many sets out there.

pstemarie wrote:Bannor,

That post you did needs to go in the tutorial section, albeit with slightly larger pics (I can't see the writing man ).

What browser do you use? With what extensions? With firefox, I can 'zoom in' on individual images...

If you were one of my students I'd give you an A+ :thumb: Good job as always.

Uhhh thanks, I think...

I will have to see about doing a real tutorial on it at some point, complete with .set bits, max scene shots, etc... but it's gonna be a while since I am working overtime for the next couple weeks. 12 hours per day and only one day off per week.

Bannor Bloodfist wrote:What browser do you use? With what extensions? With firefox, I can 'zoom in' on individual images...


Uhhh thanks, I think...

I will have to see about doing a real tutorial on it at some point, complete with .set bits, max scene shots, etc... but it's gonna be a while since I am working overtime for the next couple weeks. 12 hours per day and only one day off per week.

Man that schedule's gotta suck. I'm using firefox - and it was the path node images in the post itself I was referring to.

Pstemarie wrote:

Bannor Bloodfist wrote:What browser do you use? With what extensions? With firefox, I can 'zoom in' on individual images...


Uhhh thanks, I think...

I will have to see about doing a real tutorial on it at some point, complete with .set bits, max scene shots, etc... but it's gonna be a while since I am working overtime for the next couple weeks. 12 hours per day and only one day off per week.

Man that schedule's gotta suck. I'm using firefox - and it was the path node images in the post itself I was referring to.

Oops, I must have missed your reply here, sorry.

I use an "Addon" for firefox, called "Image Zoom" that allows me to zoom into or out of an image IE I can enlarge, or reduce the image as it is dsiplayed. Please note though, that increasing image size, may not display the REST of the page the same, as the web page typically has itself oriented for specific sized images, so when you zoom in, it increases the required screen space, and will extend off to the right. Some webpages will "hide" whatever is beyond the size of the original image. You can typically scroll that image though.