Completion bonuses are essential to make a good relic or charm. For those who followed my artifact-making tutorial, creating those is just as easy. Right-click on the right portion of the Art Manager, and select New > Record. Open your new record, and set its template to "lootrandomizer.tpl".
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Just like you edited the bonuses for your relics moments ago, do the same for your bonuses. Create and edit as many as you wish, but do not forget to save them and build them too.
When this is done, create another record, this time with this following template : "lootrandomizertable.tpl". Open it, and insert your freshly-made bonuses in the "randomizerNameX" spaces.
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Below every "randomizerNameX", there is a "randomizerWeightX". This is used to determine how often will a bonus appear. The value will be a flat chance of the matching bonus to appear. Edit this file as you see fit, then save it, build it, and build your mod.
Once this is all done, retrieve your relic file and insert your lootable full of completion bonuses in Relic Config > Bonus Table Name. Save, and build your relic.
III. Add a custom description:
Our work is not done yet! We have yet to include a fancy description to go along our relic or charm. For this step, we will need to open our Modstrings.txt. This file contains all the texts from your mod. You can find it in the Source Tab. Double-click on it to edit it.
To first add text to your item, you will need to use a tag (for example, "relic_1_Desc".) You will use this tag as a reference for your relic description. It is quite useful if you need to edit for whatever reason a piece of text you used in several places.
Following your tag, put a "=" and then the text you wish to be displayed in the player's inventory.
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You will probably notice I used some text codes. This is for the text to look just like the other relic descriptions. {^n} breaks a line, and {^y} changes the color in yellow. For more informations regarding those text codes, visit this page : http://titanquest.wikia.com/wiki/Modstrings.txt
Once your text is done, save your Modstrings.txt, and build its asset. Then, open your relic file and insert your tag in Item Parameters > Item Text. Following my example, I would put "relic_1_Desc". Save your file, build it.
IV. Make an Epic and Legendary version:
Now that our relic is completed, we can now create its superior versions. To do so, copy and paste your relic file (you may want to rename them proprely, too.) Open those new records and make sure to edit the following parameters:
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General Parameters
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Relic Config Shard Bitmap : Set the texture of your epic/legendary uncompleted relic. Relic Bitmap : Set the texture of your epic/legendary completed relic. Bonus Table Name : Your new relic is likely going to use another table of stronger completion bonus. You should copy paste your other records and change the necessary values to accelerate the process.
Item Parameters Item Cost : Your upgraded relic might cost more gold.
Item Requirements You may want to increase the level requirement.
Actor Variables Description : Update the name of your relic or charm to differentiate it.
Item's Bonuses Parameters Increase the values of the bonuses you have set earlier to conceive bonuses fitting the Epic and Legendary difficulty.
Save them, build them, and they are now ready to be used in your mod!
Hello! This guide will describe the creation process of the relics and charms. At the end of the tutorial, you will know everything you need to make your custom relics!
I may assume you have some basic knowledge and overlook some manipulations. Feel free to tell me if anything is unclear.
Without further ado, let's get started.
I. Creating the pictures
This step will require:
Software for image-editing A custom artifact isn't truly "custom" without your own picture. To make one, you will need a software that edit images, such as Photoshop. If you don't own it, GIMP is a free software that will suffice for this task. MS Paint just won't cut it.
I. Load your canvas and draw a picture: If you haven't used such software in the past, you should try out a few tools and experiment. Also, you may use some images as models to get the shape of an item just right. Anyways, we're not here to make work of art.
Save your files when you are done. Very important to save your pictures in .tga/.psd format! Those are the only formats the Art Manager can read.
II. Import your picture in your mod: Open the Art Manager and select your mod. It will now be time to import your texture into your mod. Before importing it, I'd recommend creating a folder specifically for your custom textures. To do so, right-click on "name_of_your_mod/source > Create New Directory".
Now, select the matching folder, right-click, and select "Import...". Find your texture and select it. It should appear in the menu. Right-click it and choose Auto-Create Asset. You will be prompted to choose between Texture or Bitmap. Choose Bitmap, and proceed by pressing OK.
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III. Build your texture: Your texture isn't quite in your mod yet. You will need to visit the "Assets" tab, and seek your texture in the folder structure, wich should be the same as in your "Source" tab. Right-click on it and choose "Build". When that is done, build your mod by pressing F7. Your texture will now become usable in your mod.
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II. Create the relic or charm
Procedure:
I. Create the relic entry:
In the Art Manager, go to the Database tab. Find a spot where you wish to put your relics in. When you found it, right-click > New > Record, and choose the template ItemRelic. You can also copy+paste an existing relic of the game and work from it. In fact, I'd recommend the latter method, since creating a new record out of the blue removes many parameters common to all the relics that you probably won't bother to change.
You are now ready to edit your item! Check the spoilers below to see what is each panel about and wich parameters are worth editing.
General Parameters
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Header File Description : For your eyes only! Leaves a description or a note for the developper. No effect in-game.
Relic Config Completed Relic Level : Determines how many pieces must be gathered to complete the relic. Shard Bitmap : Tells the game wich texture to use when the relic is not completed. !!! Modify it to show your own texture !!! Relic Bitmap : Tells the game wich texture to use when the relic is completed. !!! Modify it to show your own texture !!! Bonus Table Name : Manages the completion bonuses. We will get to that later...
Relic Qualifiers This section is filled of booleans that determines wich pieces of equipment your relic can enchant. 1 will allow the enchantement, 0 will not allow it.
Item Parameters Item Text : This is the description for your relic. We will get to that later... Item Cost : The value in gold of your relic. Add entries in the array equivalent to the Completed Relic Level set earlier to determine the price for 1 piece, 2 pieces, etc...
Item Requirements Self-explanatory.
Actor Variables Description : The name of your relic. The other parameters are irrelevant for us.
Item's Bonuses Parameters
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This is a review of the many (not all!) basic parameters you may set on your item. If you know about those, skip this. Many of the parameters share the same proprietes. I'll explain them once.
Offensive Parameters
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Offensive Global (for offensive bonuses with a global chance (5% of +10% Total Damage, +20% Poison Damage, ...))
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offensiveGlobalChance : Chance of offensive global effects to occur (choose the effects with booleans in the sections below.)
Offensive Absolute (for flat/percent based damage bonuses)
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offensiveXMin : Minimum of flat X damage.
offensiveXMax : Maximum of flat X damage.
offensiveXChance : Chance of the X damage set above to occur.
offensiveXXOR : Boolean. Set to 1 to select only one bonus in the global pool.
offensiveXGlobal : Boolean. Set to 1 to make the bonus part of the global chance pool.
offensiveXModifier : Increases by X% the damage of the selected type.
offensiveXModifierChance : Chance of the percent damage bonus to occur.
Offensive Duration (for damage/debuffs over time bonuses)
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offensiveSlowXMin : Minimum of X damage over time (every second).
offensiveSlowXMax : Maximum of X damage over time (every second).
offensiveSlowXDurationMin : Minimal duration of the DoT effect.
offensiveSlowXDurationMax : Maximial duration of the DoT effect.
offensiveSlowXChance : Chance of the X damage over time set above to occur.
offensiveSlowXXOR : Boolean. Set to 1 to select only one bonus in the global pool.
offensiveSlowXGlobal : Boolean. Set to 1 to make the bonus part of the global chance pool.
offensiveSlowXModifier : Increases by X% the damage of the selected type.
offensiveSlowXModifierChance : Chance of the percent damage bonus to occur.
offensiveSlowXDurationModifier : Increases the duration of the DoT effect by x%.
Offensive Influence (for debuffs for a set duration, such as Confusion, Mind-Control, etc.)
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See the above sections, they share similar parameters.
Retaliation Parameters
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Retaliation Global (for retaliation bonuses with a global chance (5% of 15 Piercing Retaliation, 20 Elemental Retaliation, ...))
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retaliationGlobalChance : Chance of retaliation global effects to occur (choose the effects with booleans in the sections below.)
augmentAllLevel : Level by wich all skills should be increased.
itemSkillName : See the part IV.
itemSkillLevel : See the part IV.
itemSkillAutoController : See the part IV.
Racial Bonus (for increased offense/defense versus certain races)
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racialBonusRace : Races that will be affected by the bonuses below. You can have as many as you like.
racialBonusPercentDamage : Percent damage increase versus the race.
racialBonusAbsoluteDamage : Flat damage increase versus the race.
racialBonusPercentDefense : Percent reduced damage received from the race.
racialBonusAbsoluteDefense : Flat reduced damage received from the race.
Pet Bonus (for bonuses to all pets)
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petBonusName : Select a pet bonus for the item. May explain the creation of one of these later.
The parameters above regard the base bonuses of your relic. You will want to edit at least one parameter, unless you want your relic to do absolutely nothing (you could!). For this example, I will make something really basic and make a relic that boosts Physical Damage.
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Here you will need to input values for every stage of your relic (1 piece, 2 pieces, etc...) up to its maximum value. This relic is completed at 3 pieces, so I put 3 entries. The values can be set in a non-linear fashion if you wish.
Edit the bonuses of your choice until you are satisfied. When you are, save your work.
In lategame, you will probably have maxed everything you needed and be left with an amazing amount of exceeding skill points. You will probably be forced to put some skills points on pets.
Getting the item itself isn't so bad but getting it with decent affixes IS an insane grind. And like you said, you don't need to minmax anything, so keeping Sajun for now looks fine.
Also, that looks like TQ:IT. Why's that on AE board?
It is the Anniversary Edition, it just doesn't have Ragnarok
That's weird... your screen shows much less resistances than AE does.
Anyways, for now I would stick with the Sajun and farm for a Prowler's Cuirass. It could be a better choice assuming it gets good affixes. It would require an insane grind.
What your rings too? Apollo's Will might be good for you.
I'd go for the Sajun over the Honor Guard. Resistances are often more valuable than armor, and the Honor Guard torso lacks a suffix too, making it much less attractive.
Also, that looks like TQ:IT. Why's that on AE board?
Yes, I hadn't expected you to include all the 100 affixes at once. I made a Google Doc with the most interesting ones. It will be sent to you with the forum's PM feature. Hopefully some of these will reveal themselves useful for you. ^^
Also, I figured I lacked experience with SV so I'm probably not best suited for the hero-design part. I guess I could help doing custom effects with PSEditor, though.
Lastly, I just figured you were from France. We could comunicate together in french by now. :p