Home For Builders Community Leader Profile - Eligio Sacateca

Community Leader Profile - Eligio Sacateca

Profile by Jay Watamaniuk,
Jan 22, 2003

The world of building custom content for Neverwinter Nights can be confusing and daunting for beginners. Eligio's Neverwinter Nights Custom Content Guide is an excellent resource for fans of Neverwinter who are not sure where to start building there own content. Eligio has written a huge document that covers many aspects of creating custom content aimed squarely at the newcomer. Everything from creating new placeables and 3D models sets to creating an introductory movie. This excellent resource is professionally formatted and includes a bevy of screenshots to help clarify the tutorials.

BioWare wishes to thank Eligio for his work in the community and we will be sending him a copy of the super-fine Collector's Edition of Neverwinter Nights which comes with a bucket of fantastic stuff he can parade cruelly in front of his friends.

1. Who are you and how do you know all this great stuff?

Who am I? Not an easy question. A father. A management consultant. A role- player. A traveler. A photographer. And, like BioWare, a Canadian (brrrr!) Not necessarily in that order and certainly not all to the same degree. I stumbled onto Advanced Dungeons & Dragons when I was in high school and was immediately hooked. I even managed to get a module published in Dragon Magazine before my 16th birthday - typed out and submitted, if you would believe, on a huge, clunky old Underwood typewriter that my parents had in the attic. Does anybody remember the Forest of Doom? Hmm. Probably not.

Unfortunately, I eventually drifted away from RPGs until I discovered MUSHing. Ah, the joy of the Internet. I was a player, wizard and eventually god on GarouMUSH in its early years (Eligio Sacateca was the Uktena character I carried through that time). Funny thing is I never really played many computer games until Baldur's Gate. So I... well that is probably more than anybody really wanted to know.

Most of this great stuff I learned putting together this tutorial was either gleaned from the forums or the result good, old-fashioned detective work. I like to pick things apart and make them work. Once I got a copy of NWN Viewer (hands down the most valuable tool developed for the builders) and could look inside the box, it all started to make sense.

2. The tutorial you have created is very detailed and well presented. Why go to all the trouble to create this?

Why did I go to all the trouble? Well, it developed a life of its own. Like most people, I played through the Official Campaign before cracking open the toolset to build my own dungeon. My schedule and the time I spend traveling for work really don't lend themselves to the multi-player mode. So I focused on single-player modules and building. But I wanted to go a lot further than the Aurora toolset itself was designed to allow me to go. Searching through NWVault, Internet sites and the forums turned up a real dog's breakfast of advice on how to build content. Some of it pre-dated the actual release of the game and a lot of it was contradictory (e.g., on changing dialog.tlk). So I slogged through everything I could find and kept my own notes on what people had said, what I tried, what worked and what didn't. After I had my first weapon model up and running - a trident - it occurred to me that other people could benefit from what I had compiled.

At that point it was just a question of cleaning it up and sending it out. I've developed training materials for work before so I think I have a good idea of how to structure things to make them clear - and a picture really is worth a thousand words so I made liberal use of screenshots.

Ultimately, though, I think of it as an investment. I help people understand how to make custom content and in turn they make a lot more innovative and beautiful things than I could ever do. Win-win.

3. What group of people did you intend to read this document- beginner, intermediate or advanced builders?

Definitely beginner and intermediate builders. If I had intended it for advanced builders I would have done more of a reference manual. Instead, it is a tutorial. What I try to do is introduce people to the tools they need and take them through the steps that will help them create their own content. As I go, I try to explain why things work the way they do because that is how people really develop an understanding that lets them go beyond what I have shown. Well, I try to explain why I think things work the way they do.

4. Are there any other tutorials you are working on or hope to put together?

Creatures. Creatures and tilesets. Well, maybe not tilesets - I'll have to see what you guys create first. I have deliberately avoided re-inventing the wheel - there are already some really good tutorials out there on placeables, doors, etc. There are rumours that you will be releasing some materials on tilesets, which means I will hold back for a while. But I haven't found much on creature modeling so I am halfway through writing my own tutorial on it. I have been developing a Giant Crab, using the Giant Spider as a starting point, and it is shaping up fairly well. The tutorial is following along as I learn myself.

5. What would you love to see happen with the custom content creators in the future?

Better organization. Custom content takes a wide variety of skills. I can do 3D models fairly well but I struggle with really good textures and 2D icons. Other people are just the opposite. What I would like to see is a Skills Exchange where people can collaborate on ideas; a shifting, organic sort of organization where creators can identify their skills and interests and then come together to collaborate on small projects that excite them and make the best use of what they do well - whether it is modeling, animating, scripting, texturing, etc. This type of collaboration is what the really ambitious projects do but, as they eventually learn, it is hard to keep people's interests up for months on end. Small projects are easier to manage but currently there is nothing to facilitate them.

6. Are there any projects you would like to mention that really get your attention?

I would have to say the City of Doors initiative has me waiting with bated breath for each new glimpse into their world. The custom content that this team is working on is really top notch.

7. Any final words of advice for the beginner builder?

I suppose I should say something clichéd here like "Just do it." I'll try to avoid that. I would say don't be afraid to take apart the BioWare models and see how they fit together. Then go out and do something that even BioWare never thought of. The way Lisa uses invisible body parts to fix the clipping problem on her robes and dresses is a great example of being innovative. Don't hesitate to go out on a limb like that and just do it. Oops.