Difference between revisions of "A beginner's guide, lesson 6 - Quest Dialogue"

The conditions box in the Topics Tab is used to limit who gets to say a particular response.

We can limit this in many ways

 

Open up the topics tab, select the BGMMessage4u topic and highlight the response we have added earlier.

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 organization of these is the same as the quest conditions we set before.

The default position is to add a topic to all NPCs and we need to use the conditions to reduce this number.  

 

This particular topic is a general one and we want to set some general conditions just to reduce the number of NPCs that can say it.  

Well in the middle part of the window is the response box.  

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 GetIsRace.

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 mathematical speak for a true response.  

We want to change this to the false response 0.000.

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.  

In the parameter box click on it and change the race to Elf.  

We now have two races excluded.  

 

 

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.)  

One such faction is the ICFaction. It groups all the NPCs 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.

Then from the parameter list select BGVilanusVilla.   

Remember to set the value to 0 so that your condition doesn't include him.