Yesterhaven Single-Player Edition

Edited by Father Bronze

Overview
Installation
What you need before installation
Installation Process
Testing the Map
Known Issues
Credits

Overview

This is a simple MOD that changes the Yesterhaven map to a single-player adventure. It changes the main map and some of the resource files for Yesterhaven.

This adventure adds the following:

Two new hireable NPC's (both early in the game so that they can level up with you)
An NPC that will sell you a packmule (also early in the game)
Makes the adventure single-player

That's it. There are no AI adjustments or monster tweaks. If you figure out how to solve some of the bugs listed in the known issues section, feel free to e-mail me at fatherbronze@hotmail.com.

Enjoy!

Installation

Intalling the appropriate files requires some file placement. It isn't the easiest process if you have never worked with .gas or .skrit files. You don't need to rewrite any of the files, just place them correctly. The following instructions try to make this process as painless as possible.

What you need before installation

Before you begin the installation process, you will need to acquire some files. These can be found at http://www.game-editing.net

the Yesterhaven map available on the cover CD in the Aug. 02 issue of PC Gamer Magazine. You can find it for download (50MB) on various websites. NOTE: I had to rename the downloaded file to Yesterhaven.exe in order for the file to extract itself. I don't know if this is a common problem or not, but just be aware of how to get the file to extract/install itself.
tankviewer available at http://www.game-editing.net/projects/tankviewer.php
tankcreator available at http://www.game-editing.net/projects/tankcreator.php
the MOD file you have just downloaded, YesterSP.zip

The first program allows you to view and extract .dsmap and .dsres files. For this MOD you will need to extract the Yesterhaven.dsmap and replace the main.gas file and three region folders.

The second program allows you to recreate .dsmap and .dsres files. For this MOD you will need to recreate the Yesterhaven.dsmap.

Installation Process

Before you start, make sure that you have around 300MB of free space on your C: drive in order to do the editing of the Yesterhaven.dsmap file. While Yestehaven.dsmap is only about 31MB in size, when you extract the files from it the total size of the files will actually be about 130MB due to the decompression of the files.

Make a back up copy of your current Yestehaven.dsmap. Browse to your Yesterhaven directory (mine is located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Yesterhaven\ ) and right- click on the Yesterhaven.dsmap. Select 'rename' and add the extension .mp to the end of the file to create the following file: Yesterhaven.dsmap.mp. You will need this file if you ever really do want to play multi-player with others who haven't installed the YesterhavenSP version.

Also, it's highly recommended that you have these intructions printed out so that they are handy while you are attempting to do this, since if you leave any steps out the map may not work correctly. Please go over the intructions first before starting.

Setup
1.) Download the above files to your desktop.
2.) Create a new folder on your C: drive and name it Editing.
3.) Browse to the Editing folder and create 3 folders inside of it. Name them

TankViewer
TankCreator
YesterhavenSP

They will end up looking like this

C:\Editing\TankViewer
C:\Editing\TankCreator
C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP

4.) Extract all files in TankViewer.zip into the C:\Editing\TankViewer folder. Do the same for TankCreator.zip extracting it into the C:\Editing\TankCreator folder.
5.) Extract the YesterSP.zip files into the C:\Editing directory for now. You will be moving them in a little bit
6.) Close WinZip.

Extracting the files from Yesterhaven.dsmap ("Spilling the .gas")
1.) Open TankViewer by double clicking on tankviewer.exe.
2.) Click on the Open button. At the Open prompt, browse to the directory where Dungeon Siege is installed, and look for the file Yesterhaven.dsmap. For instance, mine is located at

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Yesterhaven\Yesterhaven.dsmap.

Select the file and click Open. TankViewer will have a list of files on the left, in a directory structure just like windows explorer; basically you are looking at all the files contained within Yesterhaven.dsmap.
3.) Extract the files as follows:

Click on the top of the directory, in this case it will say Yesterhaven.dsmap
Click on the Extract button. The Extract prompt will pop up. Browse to the C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP folder. Make sure that 'Files to extract' is set to 'All', and 'Use folder names' is checked.
Click the Extract button.
TankViewer should now be extracting all of the files from the Yesterhaven.dsmap and placing them on your hard drive in the folder C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP.

4.) Close TankViewer.

Creating a new Yesterhaven.dsmap.
Using windows explorer, browse to the C:\Editing folder. There should be 2 files (main.gas and YesterSP.dsres) in this folder, a folder named 'NewRegions', and this Readme.html.

What you are going to do is copy the main.gas file and three region folders to the proper folders in the C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP folder, overwriting the files that are currently there (the ones you just extracted using TankViewer). Readme.html explains this process, which I will describe in more detail.

1) Select main.gas from the C:\Editing folder and press CTRL-C to copy it. Browse to the C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP\world\maps\yesterhaven folder. You should see a file called main.gas already there. Press CTRL-V to paste the copy of main.gas to this folder. Click 'yes' when it asks if you want to overwrite the existing file.
2.) Select the tr_01_ruin folder from the C:\Editing folder and press CTRL-C to copy it. Browse to the C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP\world\maps\yesterhaven\regions folder (You should see a folder called tr_01_ruin already there). Press CTRL-V to paste the copy of tr_01_ruin to the regions folder. Click 'yes to all' when it asks if you want to overwrite the existing files.
3.) Follow the same process for the tr_02_sno folder and the sq_02_sm folder by copying them to the C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP\world\maps\yesterhaven\regions folder. Make sure you click 'yes to all' when it asks if you want to overwrite the existing files.

Recompiling the files into a new .dsmap file ('Filling the Tank')

1.) Open TankCreator by double clicking on TankCreator.exe.
2.) Click on the '...' button next to the 'Source' box. Browse to the C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP folder; this will set the program to look in this folder for the files to compile. Click ok.
3.) Setting the 'Output' box

In the 'Output' box, type the following as the output file:
C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP.dsmap
If you have this Readme.html document open while using TankCreator, you could probably just copy (CTRL-C) the above line of text and paste it into the TankCreator Output box (pressing CTRL-V). If you use the Browse button to locate a destination directory and give it a file name, you might accidentally overwrite some important Yesterhaven files and then your map will not load properly.
WARNING: If you haven't done so already, make a back up of your existing Yesterhaven.dsmap. You can minimize TankCreator and come back to it in a minute.

4.) Click on the 'Advanced' button. Select the 'Misc.' tab and place a check in the box next to 'Allow multiplayer transfer'. I'm pretty sure this will enable future Single Player characters to be able to be transferred from a single player save from this map to a multi player game.
5.) Click the 'Create!' button. A black window will pop up and TankCreator will now compile a new file called YesterhavenSP.dsmap and place it in the folder C:\Editing. When the compiler is finished a 'Press any key to continue' message will display in the black window. Press a key and the window will close.
6.) Close TankCreator.
7.) Browse to the C:\Editing folder. Select YesterhavenSP.dsmap file and copy the YesterhavenSP.dsmap file to your C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Yesterhaven directory. You shouldn't get any ovewrite prompt.

Placing the final files
The toughest part is over. The last step is to place the YesterSP.dsres file in your C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Resources folder.

1.) Open the C:\Editing folder and find the YesterSP.dsres file.
2.) Select the file and press CTRL-C to copy it.
3.) Browse to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Resources folder.
4.) Press CTRL-V to paste the file in the folder.

Testing Your Map

1.) Close any windows that may still be open.
2.) Start up Dungeon Siege using the Yesterhaven.exe and create a new Single player game. Create a character, and after that is done a new screen should pop up asking which map you want to use for the single player game. Select Yesterhaven SP Ed. by Father Bronze.
3.) Test out the map to make sure it works correctly.
4.) After you've verified that the map works, you can delete the C:\Editing\YesterhavenSP folder in order to free up the space that all those spilled .gas files used. You can also delete the main.gas, YesterSP.dsres and NewRegion folders in the C:\Editing\ folder, or you can use good old notepad to view the contents of these files there if you are curious. Another program that you can use to view the .gas files is GasViewer, which can be found on http://www.game-editing.net.

Known Issues

There are a few bugs that I just couldn't manage to erase. If you know how to fix any of these, please feel free to experiment with the game files and e-mail me, fatherbronze@hotmail.com, your workaround. I don't plan on adding any more content to the game. Please read the Yesterhaven documentation to see other known issues with the game.

As a general rule, save your game before talking to NPC's.
I would also save the game as you leave town through the first gate.
If you talk with an NPC and the dialogue box doesn't automatically close, just click on the X in the upper corner of the dialogue box.
If you disband an NPC, you will not be able to hire him back. This is a dialogue glitch. There are conversations assigned, but the game won't recognize them.
Do NOT talk to Skraggs to buy more than one packmule. If you do, your game may crash HARD. Maybe this was addressed in a game patch, but I'm not sure.
If you are slow to rescue Argus from the krug he's fighting off, he might die.

If when starting a new single-player game, you don't see the file 'Yesterhaven SP Ed. by Father Bronze' in the maps list, you need to make sure that your YesterhavenSP.dmsap file is in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Yesterhaven directory.

If you get an error screen that says

   A fatal error has occurred and the app must shut down.
   Unable to open file '<filename not found>' (mesh guid: 0xbeef5892)
   Check your nodes_misc.gas file for a typo. Cannot continue, the program will now exit.

You probably overwrote some important Yesterhaven files. You should uninstall Yesterhaven by browsing to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege\Yesterhaven\Install Files directory and selecting 'Dungeon Siege Yesterhaven Uninstall'. Follow the instructions on the screen. After the process is completed, reinstall Yesterhaven and start over.

Once you have installed your YesterhavenSP.dsmap, it will most likely be the default map for Yesterhaven. Even if you have both maps (Yesterhaven.dsmap and YesterhavenSP.dsmap) in the Yesterhaven directory for some reson only the single-player map will show on your maps selection screen. To revert back to the original Yesterhaven map, you need to rename the YesterhavenSP.dsmap to YesterhavenSP.dsmap.sp (or some other back-up extension).

Credits

There are so many people to thank, but here's a short list.

Myros for putting together the single player version of the Utraen Peninsula and Masakari (whom Myros credited) for a template for these instructions.

The helpful posters at the game-editing.net forums. I don't know if there is a more knowledgeable group on the net when it comes to editing Dungeon Siege.

Thanks to Dave, David, Chris and others for helping debug the files and instructions.

Ziroc and the gang at Ironworks for helping support my RPG addition.

And of course Gas Powered Games and Microsoft for putting together such a fun game.