SIEGE UNIVERSITY 2 |
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Siege University II Tutorials Modding FAQ 095: Upgrading DSII 100: The Basics of Siege Editor 201: Compass Map Radar 202: Conversations 203: Journal 204: Quest Indicator Icons 205: Start Positions 206: Teleporters 207: Town Portal Restrictions 208: Weapon Effects 209: Flick 210: Tuning Grids 211: Setting Up Good Map Lighting 212: Setting Up Simple Node Fading 215: Building Data Tables Siege University I Tutorials 200: Concepts and Terminology 201: Templates 203: Triggers 204: Moods 205: Fades 206: Elevators 211: Naming Key 213: Dungeon Siege Resource System 301: Introduction to Dungeon Siege Architecture Third Party Tutorials A Simple Mod Part One - Armor Textures A Simple Mod Part Two - A New Armor Beginners Guide to Stitching Regions How to Open and Create Tanks Making Chants Work in a New Map Ornaments Understanding the NKK Useful Links Siegetheday.org Dungeon Siege Outpost Dungeon Raider Kdawg.org - List of useful Links MCarp DS Nodes Dungeon Siege 2 at Gamefront Broken World at Gamefront |
·
Overview ·
Keywords ·
Macros ·
Adding a Conversation to an NPC
·
Tips
Conversations This
guide is intended for people who are familiar with DS1's conversation
system.
If you need a refresher, reread SU 208A: NPCs/Talking.
Overview The
conversation system has undergone a few changes since DS1. DS2 uses
much more
robust conversation trees that allow you to create branching
conversations,
have multiple NPCs involved in the same conversation, and launch flicks
and
skrits. While DS1 used the Siege Editor to create and manage
conversations, DS2
uses Microsoft Excel with a Visual Basic
macro for exporting to
GAS and writing out VoiceOver scripts. This format makes it much easier
to
manage all of the dialogue for the entire game. However,
there is one trade-off: since conversations are now created outside of
the
editor, wiring them to a specific NPC in the world must be done
manually.
The
Script Excel Doc While
you can still edit Conversation.GAS files manually if you wish, I don't
recommend it unless you are going to have a very small number of total
conversations to manage. The benefit of the script excel doc is that
you can
view and edit all of the NPC dialogue in the map without having to open
a
hundred individual gas files. Download
the Script here: DS2_Toolkit_Conversations.zip The
zipped folder contains the DS2_Toolkit_Conversations.xls doc and the
Voice
Script Template.dot file. These should always reside in the same
directory. Please
start by reading the README tab. It explains how to read the script, as
well as
how the formatting and macros work. Keywords
There
are a few keywords used either by common flicks, skrits, or the
conversation
code itself. These have exclusive functions and should never be used as
a
choice-reply pair. The most useful ones are: ·
Choice
names: ·
shop
(opens the shopkeeper ui) ·
accept_member
(causes a potential party member to join your party) ·
decline_member
(tells the hire code that you don't want a potential party member to
join your
party) ·
show_hire_stats
(opens a potential party member's stats ui) ·
run_flick
(triggers the flick in column G to start) ·
conversation
codes: ·
<hero_name>
(prints the hero's screen name) ·
<c:0x00000000>y</c>
(hex-based color code for coloring y) Macros
There
are three Visual Basic macros embedded in the
Script doc: ControlPanel,
ExportToGas, and ImportToGas. Please see the README tab of the
DS2_Toolkit_Conversations.xls doc for directions on how to use the
macros.
Adding
a Conversation to an NPC To
add a conversation to an NPC, you'll need to manually insert it into
that NPC's
instance, which is found in the region's actor.gas file. The
[conversation] component is inserted at the top level of the instance
and
contains the talk flick and the [conversations] block which lists the
individual conversation names. EX:
cdimage/world/maps/ds2_world/regions/a1_01_06_jngtown/objects/actor.gas,
npc_ghost instance: [t:npc_ghost,n:0x00101a7e] Talk
Flicks Talk
flicks specify the conditions under which a specific conversation is
played.
They are necessary whenever an NPC has more than one conversation in
their
instance. You can learn more about writing talk flicks by reading the
flick
documentation: Talk Flicks Tips ·
The
script doc formatting is unforgiving to spacing errors and lacks error
checking
for that type of mistake. Use a "diff" tool such as Beyond
Compare
2 to compare your newly generated conversation.gas files to
the old ones to
make sure only the expected changes were made. ·
Occassionally
run the Control Panel macro and parse for errors. It's a good way to
find
choice names that don't have a corresponding reply name. Note that it
will also
pick up choice names that intentionally don't have a reply name, such
as
"shop" ·
If
you observe the region folder list the ExportToGas macro creates and
see a
folder called "text" or "reply," that's evidence of an
error somewhere within the script. Parse for errors via the
ControlPanel macro
or look at the conversations.gas file within that folder to see if you
can
identify where the error is. |