A beginner's guide, lesson 6 - Quest Dialogue
[url=http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=517001]Index Page[/url]
[b]TES IV: Oblivion Modding for Beginners
B. Scripts, Quests and NPC’s Lesson Six: Quest Focus; Dialogue [/b][b]
[b]Preamble[/b]
This is the Sixth in a proposed series of Tutorial Lessons aimed at teaching how to mod TES IV: Oblivion aimed at beginners. It will build up into a Complete Modding Course. Don't worry there are no exams, though there is some homework. This version has been written for use on the forum. The RTF version contains additional material left out due to formatting limitations
[b]Files[/b]
I have uploaded some files in a zip which we will used to accompany the next few tutorials. It contains
[i]A. BGModTutBase.esp: This contains a building, a farmhouse, and a dungeon that we will use as sets in lessons 6, 7 and 8. This file is referred to in the text as the BASE files
B BGModTutPlayTest.esp This is the interim quest mod illustrating the stage you should have reached prior to polishing the mod. This is referred to in the text as the PLAYTEST files
B. BGModAnvilCheat.esp: This is a small optional cheat mod to give users 5000 septims to allow them to follow this tutorial if they have not completed the quest. (See Introduction to lesson 4)
C. A RTF document containing the text for the first 7 lessons (as requested). [/i]
[url=http://www.tessource.net/files/cache/4865.html]Mod Files are Here[/url]
or URL
www.tessource.net/files/cache/4865.html
[b]Using this Tutorial[/b]
Can I suggest you operate in the following way to make the most of these tutorials? If you have not already altered the CS ini. file to allow you to open two copies at the same time do so now. (See lesson Three) Open one version of the CS with the [b]PLAYTEST [/b]version. We can use this to look at the expected results of the mod. We will not edit this mod. (Unless you want to of course) Open a second version with the[b]BASE[/b] version loaded. This is your working files. If you don’t want to use my version, and have your own buildings and dungeons then load this version here.
[b]Introduction[/b]
Well, we come to it at last. It is time for us to begin to create our own quest, to design our own NPC’s, and to write our own scripts. Of course it’s ridiculous to suggest that these tutorials alone will teach you everything you need to know. However, I hope by the time you finish the next few lessons you will be more comfortable with the key skills needed to create your own great works. The exemplar quest that I am using is not intended as an example of ‘Good Practice’. I have designed it. to illustrate techniques, not good quest writing. The actual details of this quest are fairly unimportant. What matters are the techniques we are using?
The next three lessons will work to develop a release quality version of a quest. While we will do this as whole exercise, I have designed the quest to allow us to focus on key skills as we go on. This lesson deals with the creation of dialogue. In lesson seven we will turn our focus to scripting, although you will begin scripting in this lesson. The eighth lesson will complete the quest by focusing on AI and Audio.
I have assumed, that you have completed lessons one to three, and that that you have at least read through the appendix section on the Quest Interface.
[b]Our Plot[/b]
Quests are the bedrock of Oblivion’s game mechanics. We established in the quest walkthrough a basic technique to progress quests
[i]Action Set Stage Set Conditions for next action. Hiatus[/i]
We will try to use this wherever possible.
We need to tell a story. I have read lots forum posts that begin with the phrase ‘I have this great idea for a quest’. They then go on to explain an elaborate plot which is impossible to implement, especially for a beginner. Keep it simple to start with. The designers of the game have used simple plot devices again and again in their quests. These are
Go find an item and bring it back. Go find a person and bring them back Go find a person and kill them
and the really complex
Go find a person take him with you, then you kill another person, who has an item which you should then bring back.
All of these ideas are clichéd and obvious. But one of the reasons a plot become clichéd is because they work.
So here is my clichéd ‘recover the item’ plot line.
[b]The player discovers that their uncle has sadly passed away. The terrible news is softened by the fact that the Uncle has left the player some property in his will. Unfortunately the courier bringing the details of where the property, is along with the key and deed has disappeared. The player has to investigate the disappearance. This will lead him to an encounter with a gang of thieves who the player will have to defeat to recover his house key and deed. [/b]
This is not the greatest plot ever, but it should allow us to cover all the main points. I have chosen to make this quest as close to the Bethusda ‘Oblivion’ model as I can.
This means setting up lots of ‘hand holding’ journal entries and message boxes. I personally would leave a lot of these out in a ‘real’ mod, but that is a personal choice. For every player who wants more freedom of choice and a more obscure progress there are others who want as much help as possible.
This is at the extreme end of the hand holding scale. Please feel free to add or change any bit of the quest you feel is too helpful to the PC. Remember this is a way to write a quest, but it is NOT the ONLY way. This tutorial illustrates techniques. I do not intend it to be a click by click guide. In fact I will as the tutorial progresses, be feeding you less and less information, and asking you to ‘fill in the blanks’ [b] Pre-Production [/b] Let’s get started then. You can use the base files I have provided or you can create your own. Don’t forget to make the file active in the CS
You will need the following props or sets
A house, which will be our quest reward. Of course you can change the plot detail to make this reward anything you please.
A cave system, to act as the HQ for our baddies. Again I choose a cave system. You could just as easily make it a house, a castle or even an open air camp.
A cottage, to house the dead courier in. This could just as easily be a camp, a house or a room in an inn.
If you are using the base files these have already been added. If you are designing your own you can add these props now, or as and when you need them.
The quest is set in 6 locations
1. In and around the Imperial City 2. In and around Chorrol 3. The Courier Cottage close to Chorrol 4. The Village of Aleswell 5. The Hideout of the Baddies 6. Our Reward Home.
We will also need 5 named NPC’s plus a few generic goons for our hero to fight.
[b] Imperial City, Phase One.[/b]
For convenience we will split the quest into a series of phases. These are artificial divisions, and are not a technical requirement
Phase Objectives: - [i]In this phase we want to set up a dialogue which introduces the quest to the player character. We want the PC to visit an NPC called Vilanus Villa who will in turn give some exposition, before directing the PC to visit Chorrol. [/i]
If we breakdown the first section of the story to see what we need to do.
Create an NPC ‘Lawyer’ who I have chosen to call Vilanus Villa. Add a Topic/Responses that will direct the player to Villa Add Topic/ Responses for Villa that will direct the player to Chorrol. Add a ‘letter’ prop to help sell the introduction.
We can add these in an order, as long as we link them correctly. There is no one way to do things.
However, one thing to consider is that any reference objects we wish to use in condition statements or scripts must exist before we can use them. For this reason it is probably best to start by adding out NPC into the game, because we will be using him as reference in some conditions.
[b] Adding an NPC[/b]
You can of course create an NPC from scratch. If you right click in the Actor section of the object menu and select NEW a new NPC interface pops up. However, I cannot see any good reason to do this, and since you will have to add every aspect of your NEW NPC, including animations, there are many good reasons not to do this.
It is far easier to edit an existing NPC. We want Vilanus to be an Imperial, so let’s select an existing NPC who is an imperial. We don’t actually have to choose an Imperial, but it saves us a job. Avoid NPC’s with scripts attached. Again you can do so but you will need to remove the script which is an extra job. I usually look for NPC’s who have either a 1 or better still a 0 in the user column. This means they are hardly used in the game. Let’s chose the actor called TestORMale as our base.
We will place our NPC in the Foyer of the Imperial Hotel in the Talos District. Again this is an arbitrary choice, based on the fact that Taverns, Inns, and hotels contain public spaces which are ideal for casual contacts. We could of course if we wished to use this NPC again build him a house or office to work from.
Drag and Drop the base NPC into Render window. F key him to get him in position.
Now double click on him to open up his details.
Let's briefly look at the properties on the far left of this interface.
ID -Editor ID for this NPC. Must be unique.
Name -NPC name as it will appear in-game
Script -Scripts can be attached to NPCs here.
Class -Can be defined using the class interface from the menu bar.
Summonable -Mainly used for creatures and defines them as able to be summoned.
Offset/PC Level Offset -Used to set NPC level. Either a fixed value, within a defined range or offset against PC level.
Calc Min/Max These check boxes determine minimum and maximum levels for the NPC.
Race Straightforward - choose a race from the drop-down menu
Female Used to toggle gender
combat Style combat styles influence NPC choices during a fight. (see lesson eight)
Death Item Used for special loot items that we don't want to show up until after an NPC is dead.
Essential -Essential NPC’s cannot be killed and are only knocked unconscious.
Respawn -This NPC will respawn when the cell reloads if you check this
Selecting "PC Level Offset" will lock or unlock the details in the stats tab.
First alter the NPC’s ID to [b]BGVilanusVilla[/b] and the name to [b]Vilanus Villa[/b].
We tend to prefix all items added by a mod with a suitable prefix, like BG or BGM. This help avoid any conflicts, in the unlikely event that another mod adds a character called Vilanus Villa.
This character is classed as a Barbarian. The actual class of a NPC will only affect auto generated statistics and has little bearing on the interaction between PC and NPC. However, it is an easy job to change this, using the drop down list under class.
We will look at levels later in these tutorial for now leave it at level 8. The levelness of a character is only really relevant in action sequences.
For now we want to get rid of all existing AI packages. We are deleting the whole AI because it makes initial play testing much easier. Without these AI’s the guy will stay put and we want have to walk across half of Tamriel to find him when we test the mod.
Open up the AI section by clicking on the AI button.
Delete all the AI packages using right click delete. (This actually removes from this PC rather than delete the whole AI package from the CS).
Now select and check the ESSENTIAL flag. We want to keep Vilanus alive for now.
We can also alter the inventory if we wish. Again by careful pre-selection we can save ourselves a job. Remember to scroll across the information in the object window to select suitable characters that match your requirements as closely as possible, to reduce how much work you need to do.
We want Vilanus to be a rich merchant so he should have some decent clothes, and TestORmale fit’s the bill. We should also remove any weapons and armour from him as he is supposed to be a lawyer. (Note the Hammer may show up in the render window until you reload the window, but will not show up in the game.
We can leave his faction details alone for now.
Finally you can play around with the face to get the look you want. For now don’t spend too long. Use the Auto generator to get a rough look. You can tidy this up in the polishing phase.
Exit and create a new form by saying yes. We now have a brand new NPC. We will have to do some work on him later, but he is in the game. [b] Creating the Quest[/b]
In the top menu select CHARACTER. Then from the drop down menu select QUEST
The quest window will open. We should be familiar with this from lessons four and five.
On the left hand side is the list of all the quests in the game. Place your pointer over this section and right click. A small selection window appears. From this select NEW.
Another window pops up called New Form Editor ID This is the prompt for us to enter our Quest ID.
This should be a short alpha-numeric name, with no spaces, that we can readily identify as our mod. It must of course be unique. I choose to name mine BGM001 (Beginners Guide Mod 1). When you’re done select OK.
We now have a quest. Let’s look at out quest data tab.
We want to give our quest a name. This is the name that appears in the in-game journal entries. You can call it pretty much what you like. You can even duplicate names, which although legal could be a bit confusing. I’ve chosen to call mine
[i]The Inheritance Denied.[/i]
If you remember from lesson 4 we need to choose an appropriate priority.
We will select 50 as this is a miscellaneous quest.
The next set of decisions involves the three flags which were discussed in the appendix
Start Game Enabled Allow Repeated Conversation Topics Allow Repeated Stages
These three tags principally control when and how often scripts are run.
For now let’s go ahead and select the standard Start Game Enabled and leave blank the repeat conversions or Stages. Now have a look at the table at the bottom which contains any quest conditions
[b]Quest Conditions [/b]
At the moment this is blank. We are going to input a generic conditions which has the effect of limiting any conversations and dialogue topic we create in this quest to characters we would expect to speak, and exclude those we don’t like Goblins and Horses.
The conditions are applied to the person speaking the line, called the object. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.
The interface to enter conditions is split into four areas and is surrounded by some flag selectors. (We will look at the flags later)
Condition Function
This is the basis of you condition. It initially defaults to the condition GetDisposition, but clicking on this opens up a long list in a drop down window. This contains the valid functions that can be used in a conditional statement. (See later for IF-ENDIF BLOCKS)
These can be divided into sets of similar functions which I have chosen to call families.
CAN Family: - Tests if something can happen HAS Family: - Tests if something has occurred IS Family: - Tests if something IS true SAME family: - test if two things are the same GET family: - retrieves information from game for comparison
Clearly I cannot go through each of these in turn. In truth most of their general functions are self explanatory even if their specific use is not.
Function parameters
Several functions require a valid parameter to work. Several don’t. It depends on the function.
For Example the Function GetRace requires you to select a valid race from a drop down menu for it to make sense. While GetIsPlayableRace has no parameters.
Comparison
All conditional statements are in effect arithmetical functions. They are all about comparing two numbers. This is because Functions produce or return numerical value when we use them. The function GetRace ‘Imperial’ returns a numerical value of one if the speaker of the line is an Imperial. If not the value is set at zero.
We compare this using standard maths expressions like equals (==), not equals (! =), greater than (>), less than (<) etc.
Value
This is the value we compare the conditional function value with. This can be a number or a variable.
We want to set up a conditional function that check that the speaker is of the right type. I.e. it is one of the playable races.
We select from the list, the Function GetIsPlayableRace.
This has no valid function parameter. (The NPC is either of a playable race or not)
From the list of comparisons we choose equals. This is represented by a double equals ==.
In the value box we select 1.000.
We now have the condition
GetIsPlayableRace == 1.
This is in effect the equivalent to the instruction
Find out if the actor is from a playable race. IF this is true carry on. If it is not true, stop the actor from speaking any lines in this quest.
We have completed the basic set up for our quest.
Now let’s select the Quest Stage tab.
Again this is blank. We can add stages in the same way as we added the quest. In the column marked Quest Stages, right click and select new. The pop-up expects a number between 0-255. We tend to use 10, 20 30 etc to allow room for extra stages. Go ahead and enter 10. Now select new again and enter 100. We now have two stages 10 and 100. Right click and enter 20. Initially the list reads 10, 100, and 20. But if you go back to the quest data tab, and then return to the stage tab again the list will have updated to read 10,20 100. The CS sorts them for us.
(Note that although the CS lists the stages in numerical order, you do not have to work through the stages in that order. Each stage is discrete and exists in its own right without reference to the other stages)
These three stages are blank. Don’t worry about this. Until we set the game up to call these stages they do nothing. If we do call a blank stage nothing will happen.
The next tab is called TARGETS. We will add all the targets at the end of lesson 7. We can add them at any stage. I found it easier to do this at the end.
We are now ready to get down to the fun bit of mod building.
[b]Topics[/b]
Remember we have set this quest up as start enabled, but it has no content. Let’s add some.
Select the Topic tab, from the Quest pop up. DO NOT use filtered dialogue to add topics. This can lead to conflict issues.
Again this is blank to begin with. We will add a topic which will be used at the start of the quest.
In the topic column to left hand side of the tab, right click again and select add topic. A pop-up appears listing all available topics for all the quests in the game. Again we use right click and again we use new to get another pop-up. We need to add a one word unique topic descriptor.
[i]( I will admit that I made a mistake here. It is good practice to use a set of common letters as a prefix for all mod items. I should have added a topic called BGMMessage4u, but I forgot the prefix. It’s not a disastrous mistake, but it does mean this mod might have a few conflict issues with other mods that add a topic called message4u as well. Sorry about that. Also while I‘m apologising, ignore the deleted empty info)[/i]
You should add a topic called BGMMessage4u, to show how much better at this thing you are than me.
The Topic BGMMessage4u has now been added.
If you look at the top this also appears at the top of the screen. This is the topic as it will appear in the dialogue menu when you activate a suitable NPC. Try to keep these fairly short, as they will take up too much room in the game. Let’s change this to something like Message for you.
Great! We have a topic, now we need a response or info. The idea here is to create an exchange where when we click on the topic MESSAGE FOR YOU we get a response that let’s us know that an NPC who I have named Vilanus Villa is looking for us. Of course the name is entirely up to you. Just change any reference I make to Vilanus Villa to suit your characters.
To add a response it is the same procedure. Right click in the info section, select new. A new pop-up interface appears. Ignore the bottom for now. In the upper section type
I hear a Lawyer called Vilanus Villa is looking for you.
Hit Ok to save.
So we now have a topic and a response info. However, if you tested this mod you would not see this topic on any NPC at all. Why?
There are an awful lot of topics in the game list. If the game added every topic to every character the scrolling list of topics would be ridiculously long. So the game works like this. It only adds topic which
a) Have a valid response (one whose conditions are met)
And
B) Your character has learned about that topic.
Characters can learn topics in all sorts of ways. They may as in the walkthrough quest in lessons 4-5 hear a conversation. They may talk to NPC’s and pick up topics that way. They may witness events that add topics. Or as in the case of this mod we teach them the topic by doing a bit of scripting.
So are you ready to write a script.
[b]Our First Script[/b]
We are going to write a bit of script which will add a topic to the players learned list and thus allow NPC’s to use that topic when we activate them.
Before we go further it might be useful to give you a bit of a glossary. I have assumed that you have never programmed before in writing this tutorial. If you have you will be at an advantage when it comes to writing scripts.
Commands and Functions:
These are the formal instructions that you place in the script to tell the game what you want it to do. The Wiki makes a distinction between these do. The difference for beginners is very slight
The commands are
Scriptname: Used to identify the script obviously
Declarations: These are a set of descriptors which identify the VARIABLES used in a script
Begin-End: Used in conjunction with each other to create BLOCKS of script.
If-EndIf: Used together with optional ElseIf and Else commands to form CONDITIONAL blocks.
Return: Use to break a scripts running for that run only.
Set: Used to assign new values to variables
“.” or Use Reference: The full stop or period “.” is a command which identifies the REFERENCE that a FUNCTION should use.
There are a large number of functions, each of which does a unique job. There is not enough space to look at each of these in turn. However, many of the functions do group together to form ‘families’, for example
ADDsomething FORCEsomething GETsomething ISsomething MODsomething SAMEsomething SETsomething SHOWsomething
Variables:
One way to think of variables is as a container which stores a number. The different variables types, Short, Long etc. determined how big a container will be assigned to that variable name.
So for example
Short BOB Long BILL
This assigns a small section of the computers memory to a variable called bob (note capitalisation is purely a matter of personal clarity and style and is not important to the script compiling or running), and a larger part of the memory is assigned to a variable called Bill. The more variables the game has to remember the larger the amount of memory we use, and the slower the game runs. We want to minimise the impact by declaring as small a variable type as possible.
Parameters:
Many functions accept or need you to include extra bits of information called a parameter.
Player.additem gold001 100
The 100 is a parameter that lets the game know how much gold to add.
Object ID: Several functions work by doing something to a game object. Remember all the objects are listed in the object window, so objects include Actors.
Player.additem gold001 100
Here gold001 is the object id
Reference ID:
Several functions work by changing a specific example of an object. There may be many chests of a particular object type in the game and you want to add gold to only one of them. The reference ID is a unique identifier for that instance of an object. You add the reference by double clicking on the example in the render window (or by selecting edit from the cell objects window). In the object pop up dialogue box you add a unique name to the reference id box. Note that for this to happen the object must be placed in a cell. To use this reference in a script you will need to click the persistent reference check box. This tells the game to always remember that object even if the PC leaves the cell that it is in.
Player.additem gold001 100
In this example the player (a constant reference) is the reference id.
Okay let’s move on
The FUNCTION we will use is called AddTopic. Its syntax (the way the computer needs it to be written so it works) is this
[i]AddTopic TopicID[/i]
Firstly the use of capitals in any function is optional
addtopic ADDTOPIC AddTopic aDdToPiC
All work, and all do the same thing. It’s just that AddTopic looks neater so you tend to see this used most. But don’t get worried if you forget or come across script that uses capitals in another way.
The TopicID is the id name we added in the topic list. This is why it has to be unique.
Take a deep breath. Now go back to the quest Data tab. Next to the quest script box is a button with three dots … Click this and the script editing window opens up.
[b]The Script Editing Window[/b]
The script editor is in essence, a very basic text editor, used for writing and editing scripts. Many scripter use external text editors like, word, works, WordPad and notepad to develop long scripts. One reason for this is that the script editor will only save compiled scripts which must be 100% correct. It also allows you to keep a back-up version.
I personally keep a large library of scripts. Some that I have written, and loads copied from forums and other mods. I can then refer to these when I need a solution to a problem.
On the menu bar at the top of the editor you will find two options plus the standard help files.
Script
This menu has the following options available
New: Creates a new, empty script.
Open: Presents a list of existing scripts. Choose from the drop down list for one to edit.
Next Script: Switches to the next script in alphabetical order. If you changed the current script, or the current scripts needs to be recompiled for some other reason (e.g. changed variables in another script) you'll be asked if you want to save the changes.
Previous Script: Switches to the previous script in alphabetical order. You'll be asked if you want to save/recompile.
Save: Compiles and saves the script. If it fails to compile, the script is not saved.
Delete: Shows the list of all scripts. Choose one to delete
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Edit
Undo: Standard undo function that restores the script to its state before the last change. Redo: Standard redo function that restores the last change to the script if it has been undone. Find Text: Standard find function. Find Next: Standard find next function that repeats the last find from the current cursor location. Go To Line: Compile errors list the error by line number. Use this command to go directly to that line number.
Next is a line of icons which give you shorthand ways to do some of the menu actions. In order from left to right they are. Open, Save, Next, Previous, Compile All, Delete, Exit
Script Type: Finally there is a drop down menu. This allows you to select the script type. There are 4 types of script, but results scripts are not edited or compiled in the script editor. We will see this shortly.
The scripts written in this editor can be Object, Quest, or Magic effect. This setting determines which objects in the editor the script can be attached to. Each script type is run in a slightly different way and it is important to let the game know which one you want your script to be. You can edit or change this at a later date if you make an error.
Okay we want to write a quest script, so select Quest from the Script Type drop-down window.
Scripting
Scripting is a set of instructions to the game telling it to do certain tasks which cannot normally be done by the usual game play interaction. It has much in common with programming languages but is not a true language in its self. We do need to use a formal structure called syntax to ensure that the game can understand what we want it to do.
Let’s add a bit of script then
We need to give each script a name, and like all naming that we have covered so far it has the same basic rules. The name must be a single alpha-numeric, which is unique. There is a convention that you should add a prefix to help identify your scripts.
Let’s name the script BGM001QuestScript
(Note: This should be done on the BASE version if you have loaded Both Tutorial Mods at the same time.)
We write this in the editor like this
Scriptname BGM001QuestScript
(We could also use a shorthand version
Scn BGM001QuestScript
Many functions and command have shorthand versions. In this tutorial I will always use the full version.)
Now select save.
The editor compiles the script.
Begin Statements
First we start by adding a Begin statement.
This comes in two parts. The first is the word BEGIN followed by a space. Followed by the BLOCK type statement. There are lots of BLOCK types available.
[url=http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Begin]Wiki Block Types Page[/url]
The vast majority of begin blocks run only once.
This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Many forum posts deal with scripts that need to run continuously, but because of the block type only run once. Selecting the correct block type is a skill you will only develop by practice and observation. For the most part you will be using GameMode, OnActivate and MenuMode.
So lets type
Begin GameMode
(Remember the capitals are purely for clarity)
Now let’s add the instruction
AddTopic Message4U
And finally the
End
Command
So our script reads We can again save our script.
(Please not the quest script in the PLAYTEST file shows the script in its finished state and quite long. We will add small snippets of working script as we progress)
Once of the most common mistakes that beginners make is to assume that because a script complies (saves), that it will work. This is not the case. The editor checks to see that your script has obeyed all the rules to make sure the game can try to carry out your instructions. It does not mean that these instructions will do the job you expect them to do. If you do make a syntax error the editor will put a pop up window detailing the error, together with a disconcerting alarm ring. It also asks you to select whether you should continue. Always say yes or you will lose scripts.
It is always a good idea to back up scripts in notepad or WordPad. Remember you can copy a script using CTRL -C.
Now we need to attach the script to our quest.
Open up the Quest data Tab for our quest. Where it says script open the drop down menu and scroll down to find the BGM001QuestScript. Click on this and you’re done.
Save the mod (you will need to close all pop up windows to do this)
You can now test this mod in the game, but it might be best not to SAVE the game in Oblivion as we will be changing things.
Three Problems
There are 3 problems with the mod as it stands, (other than the fact it is not finished).
The first problem you may have noticed is that the text does not stay on the screen very long and our NPC will, just look at us. This is due to the way the game handles speech. It expects to find for each dialogue response files which we have not created. One is an MP3 which contains the sound files the others control are lip synch files used to animate the actor face as we carry out the dialogue. The text onscreen is set to appear on screen for the duration of these files. Since we don’t have them yet the text runs very quickly. In later tutorials we will look at polishing this mod to include these files. For now these are cosmetic problems. It’s irritating not to see the text for any length of time but it can’t be helped, until we add those MP3’s. It doesn’t stop the quest running. You can repeatedly play the on-screen text by selecting the topic message for you until you get the message
The second problem deals with the script as it currently stands and may not be so obvious to a non-scripter. Remember the quest script works every 5 seconds. That means that every 5 seconds this script adds the topic message4u to the players list. I don’t honestly know the effect of repeatedly adding a topic to the player list. I suspect that having done this the first time the rest of the time the script is ignored.
However, this is still an untidy way to script. If we only want the script to do something once we should write script that does this.
This leads us to one of the most important and common scripting ideas. A do once loop.
This uses an.
[b]If-EndIf Blocks.[/b]
No other command is more important to good quality functional scripts than the if command. Again those with programming experience will be at a slight advantage as you will have used these before. For the newbie let me explain little about the premise behind IF blocks.
These useful bits of code set up the ability to run selected bits of script at selected times.
We control when they run by setting conditions which must be met for the code to run. The conditions are based on mathematical relationships, and are based on numerical values.
The structure of the if block can be summarised as this
[b]If [/b](a set of mathematically based conditions)
RUN THE SCRIPT INSTRUCTIONS LOCATED HERE IF THE CONDITIONS ARE TRUE
[b]ElseIf [/b](a second set of OPTIONAL conditions)
SCRIPT THAT RUNS IF THE SECOND SET IS TRUE. THE CONDITION WILL ONLY BE TESTED IF THE ORIGINAL IF STATEMENT SET OF CONDITIONS ARE FALSE.
[b]Else[/b] (No Conditions)
OPTIONAL SCRIPT THAT RUNS IF ALL OTHER CONDITIONS ARE FALSE.
IF THE ELSEIF AND ELSE COMMANDS ARE OMITTED THE BLOCK DOES NOTHING IF THE ORIGINAL CONDITIONS ATTACHED TO THE IF STAEMENT ARE NOT MET.
[b]EndIf[/b] So all IF blocks, must contain an IF command, a set of conditions, some instructions and an EndIf command. The ElseIf and Else commands are optional, and add versatility to the block.
We are going to write an IF block to limit the number of times our script runs to one.
It is call a DoOnce (do once) loop and is used hundreds of times by the developers, and is a standard tool for all scripters.
First we need to declare a variable. Open up the quest script using the … button next to the quest script.
We can declare a variable anywhere in a script before it is used but by convention we usually do this at the beginning of the script before any Begin Blocks.
The variable we want will only ever have two values 0 or 1. So we can use the smallest possible variable type, which is short. We will call it DoOnce1 for convenience. You can call variable what you like as long as it is a single text string. But again it helps to make them descriptive to help sort out mistakes (Debugging) Remember Capitals are only for show.
So add the line
Short DoOnce1
Just after the script name line. You can leave lines to help clarity. Again these are ignored by the program when it runs the script.
Now let’s add the if block
Change the Begin block to look like this.
Begin GameMode If (DoOnce1 == 0) AddTopic Message4U Set DoOnce1 to 1 EndIf End
This is perfectly fine but it can get a little hard to read, when these if statements get long and complex. So again we use an optional convention. We indent using the tab key all lines after an IF statement, to make clear what is going on. So This script uses another new command called SET-TO.
Whenever you declare variables they are automatically assigned a value of Zero. We can alter this by using the SET-To commands. (Note basic programmers that it is SET x TO y not SET x = y)
The format is Set VARIABLE to VALUE
The VALUE can be any number which fit’s the pattern of the variable. So for a short variable it can be any integer or whole number between (-32768) and (32767).
This can take the form of - A fixed number like our script. - The result of a mathematical calculation. - The value of another variable - Or the outcome of a comparison statement.
IF statements and Set statements both use standard mathematical comparisons
Comparison Operators An IF statement may contain one or more comparison operators. Below is a table of valid comparison operators:
Operator Description == Exactly equal to != Not equal to > Greater than >= Greater than or equal to < Less than <= Less than or equal to
Combining Comparisons
Comparisons can be linked together using the following logical operators:
Operator Description Example && Logical AND If x == 1 && y == 1; considered true only if both x and y equal 1. || Logical OR If x == 1 || y == 1; considered true unless both x and y equal 0.
(Note that "||" is evaluated before "&&")
So this script we have written works this way.
The first time the script runs the variable DoOnce is set up and given the value ZERO).
The game runs through the script to the IF statement.
It tests to see if it is TRUE that DoOnce equal zero. In this case it is true. So it runs the script, adding the topic message4u to the players learned list. It then sets the value stored in doonce1 to the number one. It then ends the IF statement and ends the scripts begin end block. Since this is the end of the script it stops running. About 5 seconds later this Quest script runs again. Again it comes to the test. But this time DoOnce1 is not equal to 0. So the program skips the instructions and ends the IF statement. From now on this bit of script will not run. We have added the topic once and once only.
The third major problem is that this topic has been added to every NPC in the game. It is just about conceivable that if you complete every quest in the game and then some that you might meet every NPC there is, but I don’t see how it’s logical to suggest that they all might know Vilanus Villa and know he has a message for you. We need to limit who speaks to you on this topic. We must set some response conditions.
[b]Conditions[/b]
The conditions box in the Topic Tab is used to limit who gets to say a particular response.
We can limit this in many ways
For example, Restrict by group (GetInFaction), race (GetRace) or limit to only one NPC (GetIsID),Restrict by Worldspace, City, Cell or distance from a particular chair, Restrict by Game Time, Season, Weather or progress of quest
Open up the topic tab, select the message4u topic and highlight the response we have added earlier.
At the bottom of the window is the condition box. Again we can use Right Click-New to add conditions or we can click on the new button at the bottom of the tab page.
The organisation of these is the same as the quest conditions we set before.
The default position is to add a topic to all NPC’s and we need to use the conditions to reduce this number.
Again what conditions you apply is up to you, and the nature of the topic and response. This particular topic is a general one and we want to set some general conditions just to reduce the number of NPC’s that can say it.
First let’s get rid of a number of races. Why? Well in the middle part of the window is the response box. Double click on the response to the message4u topic to re-open the pop-up response dialog box. Have a look at the lower section and you can see a long list.
This is the list of expected MP3 files which we would need to create. It is very long. It expects both a male and female response for every race.
We can remove some of these to make our life easier later on
Select new in the condition box with this response highlighted.
In the function drop down menu, scroll down to the function GetInRace. The function parameter box now reads invalid. Click on this and a list of playable races is display. Select Argonian from the list. The comparison reads == which is correct. The value current reads 1.000. This is mathematic speak for a true response. We want to change this to the false response 0.000.
The Condition now reads In English this means.
Look at the Actor who might say this response. Check what race they are in. If they are not an Argonian (Argonian== 0.000) then carry on. If they are an Argonian they fail this condition and they cannot say this line.
(Note the condition Argonian == 0 is mathematically the same as Argonian != 1)
Now, let’s add a few more Race conditions. Right click in the condition box. Select the condition and copy it using the options in the menu. Now right click and paste. We now have an exact copy of our condition.
In the parameter box click on it and change the race to Elf. We now have two races excluded.
Repeat this process to exclude the other races, until we are left with Bretons, Redguards Imperials and Nords. (I.e. the Human Races).
Is this some sort of cultural imperialism on my part?
No It’s just I reckon I could add an MP3 file which might sound passable in these races. Orcs, Argonians, and Khajiits have unique voice types that are harder to replicate. It is a matter of style and choice. If you want to extend the range do so.
We call conditions set to == 0 as exclusive conditions since they exclude a group or individual from being in that response.
We also want to limit the places that these lines are valid.
Again I could have chosen any number of locations.
I choose the Imperial City because it is after all the Capital, and most PC’s will at some time visit the City. It is as ever about style rather than technique and you are free to choose your own path. All major locations, including the Cities have special cells created to allow us to do conditions easier.
The game then searches for cells with that text string at the beginning. So by selecting a cell called IC, it actually triggers every cell which begins IC even if that cell then has a lot of other text after it.
If you called a cell Icnatta or some such, even though this cell might be nothing to do with the Imperial City the catch all nature of the ‘IC’ description means it will be considered as part of the Imperial City. This means we do need to be careful when naming cells. It also means of course that we can use this trick if we create huge mods that add towns or cities. By carefully naming all my external and interior cells VeronaHouseSomethingorOther, I could then create a dummy, or completely empty cell called VeronaHouse, which would allow me to use VeronaHouse in condition statements and identify if an event or character was taking place in the Verona House area.
In the condition box select new.
Now select condition function GetInCell. The parameter for this is again initially invalid until we click on it and from the drop down menu select a cell. You can only select cells that are named and unique. Notice all those exterior cells called wilderness don’t show up.If you wish to use an exterior cell you must give it a unique name.
Set the condition to test This is an inclusive condition, since it includes a group in that response.
Another way to select groups is by using factions (see lesson 7 for more details on creating a Faction)
One such faction is the ICFaction. It groups all the NPC’s who are considered citizens of this city. It is a useful way to distinguish between the merchants’, soldiers, and workers of the capital and a tourist from Chorrol who is passing through. We can use this to again include or exclude factions
Set up a NEW condition.
Choose the GetInFaction function, and then choose the ICFaction from the list to get a new condition Finally we want to exclude our NPC Vilanus Villa from saying these lines. This is why we added him to the game first. To do this we use the condition function GetIsID. Then from the parameter list select BGVilanusVilla. We can then set the value to 0 to get Finally we want to set a condition that removes this topic from all potential speakers once we have met Villa.
Try this yourself [b]Adding Topics[/b]
We also want to add a new topic as a result of this response.
First create a new topic called BGVilanusVilla using the method we have just used (Right Click-New). You can leave the response blank for now.
On the Right hand side of the Topic Tab window are three boxes called
Add Topic: This is used to add a topic to the players learned list. Once added it can be accessed using the topic menu when we click on an NPC. The player can then decide whether or not to click on this.
Add Choices: This adds a list of FORCED choices to the topic menu. All other options are removed, and the player must make a choice to proceed.
Add Links from: This adds a single FORCED topic which again forces the player to select that option to proceed. It links to a previous response. By using this we can set up long forced conversations.
It is probably best to use the Add Topic box, on this occasion, so we can use the topic several times. Again a bit of preplanning will allow you to use the same topic for several purposes.
Now go back to the Message4u topic and in the Add Topic box to the right, right click and add the BGVilanusVilla topic. Now when we talk to an NPC about the message we will have a new topic added to our learned list called BGVilanusVilla. It won’t show up in the game right now as we have no valid responses.
Finally in the result script box type the following. Now click the COMPLILE button.
This executes a stage bump. The quest is now set at STAGE 10
Let’s summarise what we have for this first topic I’ll use these summaries throughout these tutorials as a direction for you to use. I have used this table as a template when planning my own quests and found them really useful. Remember if you get stuck refer to the PLAY TEST version to see how it should look.
[b]Stage Update[/b]
Now return to the quest stage tab.
We have now progressed through the quest to stage 10. We can of course leave this blank. Sometimes we want to stage bump simple to activate/deactivate conditions that use the GetStage function. However, we can also use this stage bump to do a few things. We can add a quest stage result script to carry out some script instructions relating to the quest and we can add a Journal entry. Let’s do this. It’s the same old routine. Right Click and new in the Log Entry box. Add a suitable bit of text like.
I have been told a lawyer called Vilanus Villa is looking for me. I should find out where he is staying. He may have important news for me.
Ok we have now added a topic called [b]Messgae4u.[/b]
For now save and go test.
You should now find that this topic only appears for human characters in the Imperial City. Try in other locals like Anvil etc to make sure. When your down come back and we can move on.
When you click on the Message for you topic in the game the topic Vilanus Villa will now automatically be added.
I don’t intend to continue to give you a click by click method fro every topic and response. Remember the basic idea of right click and select.
Let’s move on.
Select the BGVilanusVilla topic we added earlier and add a response (See table below). This response should direct the player to the Talos District of the Imperial City.
We need some conditions.
Since this is a direct follow-on from message for you, we can use the same conditions to do the job. In the Message for you condition box, right click and select copy all conditions and then paste these into the BGVilanusVilla response.
This response is fine unless of course we are already in the Talos district.
We need to add one more condition to account for this using the GetInCell function. For this topic we need to add another response. Right click and select new in the info box. This one should direct the player to the Imperial Hotel where we placed Vilanus Villa. Again we can copy the conditions across by using the copy and paste method, and then change the last condition to 1
If you wanted to get really flashy we could add another response for the occasions when we ask NPC’s about Vilanus Villa in the hotel itself.
However, I have not done this to save a bit of time. Feel free to try this yourself. A response like ‘Yeah I’ve seen him around here.’ would do.
Don’t forget to copy the conditions and alter the GetInCell parameter.
[b]Using the GREETING topic[/b]
Another way to pass on information via dialogues is to use the GREETING topic. If you remember the discussion in lesson four about how conversations work, all dialogues begin with a GREETING, which is selected by the game from the GREETING topic. If we add our own greeting and set the right conditions we can force a start to a dialogue. In the topic tab select Right Click-Add and add GREETINGS. This already exists so you will not need to create a new topic when the list appears.
We can now add Vilanus Villa’s little speech. This is quite along response so we should split it up. This reduces the amount of text that appears on the screen at any one time. Add this response first to the GREETING topic. Note this is blank because there are no GREETING responses added by this quest yet.
[i]Hello, my name is Vilanus Villa and I've been looking for you. I'm afraid I have some bad news[/i]
Now click OK to add the response.
Then in the centre response details box, not the upper info box, right click and add a new response. You’ll get a new interface to write in.
[i]Your uncle has passed away peacefully in his sleep.[/i]
Then add another
[i]I have been asked to look after his last will and testament[/i]
We can go adding new lines to this response info if we wish. In the top box we can see the number of responses increments to 3. The text appears in the top box as.
Hello, my name is Vilanus Villa and I've been looking for you. I'm afraid I have some bad news|| Your uncle has passed away peacefully in his sleep. || I have been asked to look after his last will and testament
With the || indicating the separate lines of this single response info
We need to add some conditions, to control who says these lines. This is very important when using the GREETINGS topic as this is so wide spread within the game. While it is silly that every character could respond to Message4u, it is dangerous to have an unconditional greeting as this might override evry other Greeting in the game and prevent other quests from running as intended.
Limiting a response to just one character is easier than using groups.
We can use the GetIsID function.
We need to have an NPC reference which is why we built BGVilanusVilla first. We will also restrict this response to the opening stage of our quest.
[b]QuestStage BGM001==10 GetIsID BGVilanusVilla==1 [/b]
Now we want to add a new topic called BGWill. However, there is an issue, and many thanks to Hecks for pointing this out, when adding topics to the GREETING or indeed any existing Bethusda topic. For technical reasons, the topic might not get added if more than one plug-in is attempting to use GREETING to add a topic. i'll be honest and say I don't know why this happens. It's not difficult to work around once you know the issue exists. When I found out it took me thirty seconds in the CS to fix.
First create a new topic which we can reference called BGWill (Right Click etc).
Now add this by now familiar script function to the result script for this info response.
AddTopic BGWill
Job Done.
The speech that Villa gives contains a lot of exposition, and we don’t want to force the player to repeat this every time.
We can stop this by setting up what I call a conditional pair of responses.
[b]Conditional Pairs[/b]
These are a very common device used throughout the official quests. We set up two response infos to the same topic. We then use a quest variable or a function condition to control which of the two responses is said.
These might take the form
Response 1:- Long Explanation Response 2:- Short Explanation
Response 1:- Female PC Response ‘Morning Ma’am’ Response 2:- Male PC Response ‘Morning Sir’
Response 1:- ‘Ah you’ve found the widget my friend’ Response 2:- ‘You must find the widget my friend’
Let’s try this
Add a new variable called MetVilla to the top of the Quest Script (under the quest data tab). We need to declare any variables used in results scripts in the quest script . Think of the results scripts as children of the parent quest script. We declare the childs variables in the parent script.
This is automatically set at zero. We can use the response result box to bump this up to one after speech with this bit of script .
[b]Set BGM001.MetVilla to 1[/b]
Don’t forget to click the compile button.
Summarising the first response We can then add this alternative response info to the GREETING topic The first time we greet him he gives the longer speech, the second time a shorter one.
We can now add another multi line response info to the BGWill topic added by the first response.
Try this one yourself using this summary to guide you. Don’t forget the quest bump script. You will need to add a new topic called BGHubart. Again we have a stage bump, this time to Stage 20 Add to the Quest Stage a journal update
[i]I have been told that I may have inherited some property, but the courier carrying the details has gone missing. I will need to go to Chorrol and speak to a Captain Hubart of the Chorrol guard to get more details [/i]
We will also add a Quest Stage Result Script.
But first we need to create a prop letter, so we can refer to it in the script.
Again we can create a ‘new’ item, but it means trying to add artwork to the game, and unless we want the letter or scroll to look completely unique, and have some talent in that direction, it is a chore we don’t need to do.
Instead select any letter from the object/items/books list in the object window, change its ID to something meaningful like ‘BGHubartLetter’
The text on the right hand side indicates the content of the letter. We can edit this. I will look at the precise details and syntax needed to produce text in another lesson.
It uses standard HTML instructions.
For now the key command is
which produces a line break, or new line. Leave the font face alone.
BGHubartLetter Save the letter as a new form. Of course you are free to use your own text instead.
Now type this in the results script box for Stage 20 and compile it using the button below. [i] Player.additem "BGHubartLetter" 1[/i]
We can also add a new response info to the topic called BGHubart, to direct the player to Chorrol
Try this for yourself. You can always refer to the PLAYTEST version if you get stuck.
We have completed phase one, now we move to Chorrol.
This has been EDITED to take account of the add topic iss