SetTextureOverride(string, string, object)

Note: This article documents Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition new content or changes/updates/fixes to 1.69 functions. These are all listed under the category and patches pages.

Makes oPC load texture sNewName instead of sOldName.

void SetTextureOverride(
    string sOldName, 
    string sNewName = "", 
    object oPC = OBJECT_INVALID
);

Parameters

sOldName

The texture name specified in game models.

sNewName

The replacement texture name.

oPC

The player for whom the texture is overridden.

Description

Makes oPC load texture sNewName instead of sOldName.

If oPC is OBJECT_INVALID, it will apply the override to all active players.

Setting sNewName to "" will clear the override and revert to original.

Remarks

This changes a texture over an entire module. This is per-PC. It needs further testing on the effectiveness with PLT files. See further below for information on how it works with MTR files and PBR texture sets.

Note that any new players (in an MP game) that join need this setting if you want it to be consistent, even if OBJECT_INVALID is used. Presumably if the override already exists an existing PC won't reload it but if you're using a lot of this it's worth testing performance.

Also note the known bugs below.

A variety of uses for this come to mind; you can alter textures of the ground tiles to replicate snow falling and piling up. You can alter the texture of a certain unique placeable (which affects the entire module). Per-PC madness effects, or even altering entire tileset appearances can occur.

You can also replace portraits, icons and textured used by effects. In fact replacing icons can show uses or timers as needed since it can be done per-PC so just affect their icons (eg if you have a cooldown on an ability you could have it fade to an unusable colour even if the feat, technically, can be clicked anytime).

Note regarding MTRs and PBR texture sets:

If you are using an MTR with a set of PBR texture maps (diffuse, normal, roughness etc.), you can run SetTextureOverride("[name of MTR]", "[name of another MTR]"); to swap out the entire PBR texture set for a different set, according to the contents of the two MTRs in question.

You can also, however, swap out individual PBR texture maps e.g. your normal map, height map, roughness map etc. for other individual texture files, one at a time. This can be useful for e.g. making a surface shiny and reflective when it wouldn't normally be shiny (by e.g. swapping out the roughness map for a very dark/low roughness map).

Importantly, if your MTR file has an identical name to your Diffuse texture map, then trying to swap out your Diffuse texture for another Diffuse texture will actually swap out the entire MTR.

So if your starting Diffuse texture is called 'tdc01_floor00'(.dds) and your MTR is also called 'tdc01_floor00'(.mtr), then running SetTextureOverride("tdc01_floor00", "cat01_floor23_d"); will not only swap out the Diffuse. Instead, it will swap out your MTR file (tdc01_floor00.mtr) for a single, Diffuse, texture file (cat01_floor23_d.dds). This results in only that Diffuse texture being shown at the end (no normals, heightmap etc. will be applied any longer).

This is a good reason for not giving your Diffuse textures identical names to your MTRs, but instead using the proper suffix i.e. '_d' at the end of your Diffuse texture file's name.

Known Bugs

This function is relatively...hacky for what it is. A note from a builder:

"We found that not unloading texture overrides before a PC leaves an area would frequently result in crashing during the next area's loadscreen. Attempting to unload overrides in an area's OnExit was too late, but wrapping all JumpToLocation/Target calls that exit an area to first unload overrides fixed all crashing. Some nwnx was required for hooking DM goto/jump events too. We also found that attempting to replace water textures frequently resulted in PCs crashing when the overrides are applied."

So test, test test, especially on a MP server and especially when doing large amounts of texture replacement.

Version

This function was added in 1.74.8193.6 of NWN:EE.

Example

This article is in need of examples. You can help the NWN Lexicon by showing how to use this code effectively.

See Also

functions:

ReplaceObjectTexture()

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