A couple of months seems reasonable to: get to know the innards of the game, play the campaign, beat Frogboy in multiplayer... several times (not me!), get to know what can be done (exposed to Pyhton) and what still needs to wait...

Plus all the initial days after release eating popcorn while reading the forums with lots of people complaining about how dumbed down and for carebears the game is, how too much micro it requires, how the replayability sucks because it has no different races, how the animations suck therefore the game as a pile of something awful (that cannot compete with King's Bounty: The Legend) how Stardock has no idea of how to distribute their games because they don't have Elemental in Steam, how Stardock must work 24/7 to fix bugs A.S.A.P. or CivV is going to get all the players as soon as released, how Elemental is doomed because it has no hexes in map or tactical combat is not pure RTS feast, how the game doesn't work in a Spectrum, what a shit of beta test was done because a truly beta tested game wouldn't have gone to retail with bug *insert bug name*,....

With all that circus I mentioned, two months will fly before you notice it.

Actually, my friend, we can already start work on some things. If you'll look at your file structure you'll see plenty of textures and assets that we can begin Modding and changing NOW . Animations, Wireframes, it's all there. Take a look into your system along this path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock Games\Elemental\Gfx . Now you just need the programs capable of changing some of those things. Editing a PNG is easy. The animations are in HKB format and there are plenty of programs that can open those. You just need the tools and we don't really need to rely on Stardock to get the programs we need to start working .

LoL I'm sure we'll have some of those types too, Winter. See, I'm sure we all already know when Frogboy's Mod comes out it's going to be Awesome and a lot of us are gonna be saying "How did you do this? and That?" etc etc. By this point Frogboy will have some minor tools that I'm sure the rest of us won't have yet , but we'll get them in a patch or something after his Mod comes out. He will have already had access to the content we'll be getting 60 days later so he'll have a head start on us. I'm not saying they'd hold it back on purpose or anything, but we won't get access to it until it's all done and ready to be put out. Frogboy will have access to all the little bits and pieces as they're finished in-house.

Besides....time unfortunately Is a factor for me. It's not about me being impatient, it's about me wanting to finish my vision of the Dragonlance Mod A.S.A.P. so it can be my final (maybe..) gift to the community.

I should know in the next 20 days or so if I'll be getting the funding I need to get my surgery. Then I have to find a doctor I trust to do it etc etc, set it up....and hopefully come through it all ok. If for some reason they deny my paper-work (which they like to do) I'll have to redo and resubmit everything and then wait Another 20 days to find out if that one gets approved. It's a long drawn out process the state does so hopefully as many people as possible drop dead before they can get the help they need and cost the state even more money. People who die waiting to be helped don't cost the state anything at all..... so they make the process take as long as possible to save money...

Do a Google search on "HKB File Extension" . There are other programs out there that can deal with them or maybe even convert them.

Here's a link I found on the Colony of Gamers forums: http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?p=581170

Also, refine your search. Try Googling "HKB file extension graphics animation" . Also, take a HKB file, Any file, and save it to another location. Now rename it to something you know you can open with another program, like Maya3D or 3DsMax. Then try to open it. Some things can be changed just by renaming the file extension. Like a .ISO and a .BIN . I've changed the file extensions on those and made them able to open with different programs. Some-times it corrupts the file, some times it doesn't.

I don't know the details because I haven't taken the time to play around with it yet, but I'm sure there's other programs out there that will open them or something they can be renamed too that will open them. I have a lot of programs to install before I can even try. Right now I need to re-install 3DsMax, Maya3D, and Dreamweaver, and those are just a FEW of the programs I'll be needing to do my work on the Mod. That's not counting various plug-ins, Hex Editors, Scripting programs like Ultra Edit, etc etc. Use what you know about the current HKB's and cross check them against Animations and Textures and things like that. You'll find Something Some-Where that will open them or you'll figure out what you need to re-name them too to get them open.

Note: If I have time I'll do some of those re-installs tonight and see if I can break open one of the files. Hell, maybe we'll get lucky and a Dev would be kind enough to tell us what we Can Use to open them on our own without waiting for the "right" tools. It can't be impossible. Another factor is that a lot of people simply can't afford the software needed to do a lot of these things. Companies can. How many people do you know with a LEGAL copy of both Maya and 3DsMax? Neither of those is what I would call "cheap". The only reason I have mine is because I got them through various jobs I've had, I just kept up with paying for the licenses my-self. A few of the programs I use are also "technically" corporate editions, but, they suite my needs.

True. That link I posted only came up because one of the posts in it talking about the changes in release notes says HKB in it somewhere. I've found a few posts that say HKB files are a type of format used in some annimation programs but those same links don't say "What Program" will open them. I'll most likely be trying the re-naming option as well.

Maybe one of us should just "Ask Stardock" what program we need to open them or what we can re-name or convert them too? Then again they might not want us to know that information right now either for fear we'll start spamming the forums with Modding questions they aren't ready to answer yet...lol.

Hmm. I'm sure that's true, but for some reason I can smell the faint scent of BS in there some-where. Not from you, Strager, from the whole "conversion" thing. There's plenty of games out there with a "custom" file format. The Total War series did this with .Bak files and everyone went nuts trying to convert them and open them and then some random Forum Member on TWCenter made a converter to open them using his own coding knowledge. Then later, Creative Assembly released one due to what they said was "Extreme Community Demand". Extreme Demand my rosey red ass!!! They did it so some random dude wouldn't make them look stupid for not releasing tools to mod their own products.

Nice "Disclaimer" btw

Good Find, brother. Time to start surfing for Havok resources. If these tools are "free" and they were made by the Awesome Code Wizards at Stardock, then it would seem logical that someone else with the right knowledge can make one as well, and maybe get it out to us Before SD gives us theirs.

Or...Maybe...Frogboy will take pitty on us lowly Modders and give us the "tool" early. Please, Brad, PLEASE

Cross you fingers...

Good news! Talking with Cari_Elf on IRC today, and found out some info about exporting hkb files. Turns out they export them directly from 3DS Max and Maya. And also, cycholka directed me to link from Intel http://software.intel.com/sites/havok/ where you can download free plugins for 3DS Max, Maya, and XSI that allow you to export hkb's. Unfortunately, they don't have plugins for the newest versions of those software (ie, no plugin for 3DS Max 2011, XSI 2011, etc). So I'm kind screwed. And there is the problem that none of those are free programs.

A couple more important things. Stardock does have their own plugin, that probably won't be given to us until release. Without this plugin, orientation of your model is likely to be screwy. According to Cari_Elf, their coordinate system has Y being up, and Z into the screen (you can figure out X from there) so you can try to orientate it right. Also, without their plugin, your material ID's are likely to be messed up.

Agreed - Excellent information.

Raven X, I hope things go well for your funding, finding doctor and surgery.  My very best wishes!  (I think it's a measure of a place about how well they treat people who don't have much.  Here in Australia it is better, though not perfect.  My best wishes are with you. )

Best regards,
Steven,

A few weeks to explore the game's assets seems reasonable. And just when those are becoming repetitive/unoriginal, there's the extra packs.

Plus, the first month or two might be for further polishing/patches for the game.

Oh, nice Any chance you could post the steps you used to get that in? I've been having trouble with my attempts. Can't get it to create an HKB file. Likely there's just something wrong with my model and Havok won't accept it, but without any developer documentation I'm not really sure.