Need Help Making Dialogue Work

Author	Topic: Need Help Making Dialogue Work
Guardian of Eternity Warrior Member # 1250	written Thursday, July 29 2004 10:22 Profile #0 I am completely new to Blades of Avernum. I never had Blades of Exile, although I have a tiny amount of experience with C+, and I've wrapped my head around some of the simpler ideas of Avernumscript. I'm working with the standard editor that I got from Spiderweb's site. I'm running a bunch of little tiny experiments editing the script for my experimental town, Expoville. My first question is about dialogue. I have a super-limited town script (t2expoville.txt), with all the basic states, and I have the town dialogue script (t2expovilledlg.txt) which *seems* in order. Since I've already defined the name of the one character inhabiting my town (in my town script), what else do I need to put in the main town script to get the dialogue to work? Apologies for being so generic. I suppose I ought to post my scripts... I'll do it after a reply or two. [ Thursday, July 29, 2004 10:24: Message edited by: Guardian of Eternity ] Posts: 93 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Thursday, July 29 2004 10:33 Profile Homepage #1 Hrm, lessee... set the memory cells in the appropriate character. If you're using basicnpc, which I'm assuming you are, then cell 3 is the one that you want to set, and you want to set it to the number of the first dialogue node that the character uses. Erm, proper header for the dialogue script, which you can literally copy out of a script from the included games. That's pretty much it. Then you try it and see if you get an error. If you do, then we can help you debug if you tell us exactly what the error message says, post the script around the line number of the error, and identify the line that BoA is complaining about. EDIT: I wrote an article that you may find useful, and I highly recommend Erik Westra's cookbook for introductory purposes, specifically the dialogue section in this case. [ Thursday, July 29, 2004 10:36: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Guardian of Eternity Warrior Member # 1250	written Thursday, July 29 2004 11:06 Profile #2 Hah... all right, I'll once again show my extreme neophyte status, here, but I've been wondering what's with all the memory cell stuff. From the documentation, I've gathered that it's important in lots of stuff, and while I understand the idea of storing and retrieving intergers for running code, I wasn't exactly sure what each of the designations in the memory cells *stood for.* Thanks for the help. Recommended help sources are noted, too... I'll hunt around in those when I start my next run of experimental learning stuff. Posts: 93 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00
Garrison Agent Member # 2820	written Thursday, July 29 2004 15:49 Profile #3 Every memory cell is a chunk of memory that can be set INSIDE the editor (it is an integral part of every creature), and will always have that value when the object is initialized. The purpose of memory cells is to allow us, the designers, to pass paramters to the scripts and to store that kind of information directly inside of the [B]lades of [A]vernum [S]cenario file. But, I'm pretty sure what you mean is what each memory cell is 'supposed' to represent. Basicnpc.txt (the default script for every creature) designates memory cell 0 as the movement type, cell 1 and cell 2 as the SDF to be set upon creature demise, and cell 3 for the dialogue node to be activated when the creature is talked to. Look inside the script in question because there are usually comments to tell you what each memory cell is for. -------------------- Thuryl: I mean, most of us don't go around consuming our own bodily fluids, no matter how delicious they are. ==== Alorael: War and violence would end if we all had each other's babies! ==== Drakefyre: Those are hideous mangos. Posts: 1415 | Registered: Thursday, March 27 2003 08:00
Guardian of Eternity Warrior Member # 1250	written Thursday, July 29 2004 18:07 Profile #4 Thanks again for the help. I'm getting this, little by little... I've just been reading up on the SDFs... rather important stuff, there. You mentioned that the memory states... 1 & 2, I think, comprise the SDF that's set upon the creature's demise... Incidentally, I don't need to set an SDF to be changed on the demise of *every* creature, do I? I'd expect that it's necessary for boss creatures, and perhaps friendly NPCS... But, hey, I'm the new guy, here, right? Posts: 93 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00
Garrison Agent Member # 2820	written Thursday, July 29 2004 18:18 Profile #5 No, you don't. Be sure not to confuse state with cell, by the way. There are 9000 SDFs, and the number that associates itself with a monster's wellbeing is its global (as opposed to local) ID, not an SDF. As a side note, all memory cells for terrain scripts and creatures default to 0, so you can't have SDF 0,0 set from any of the default scripts. I think it is best to use 0,0 for the flag for the intoductory message in your scenario. -------------------- Thuryl: I mean, most of us don't go around consuming our own bodily fluids, no matter how delicious they are. ==== Alorael: War and violence would end if we all had each other's babies! ==== Drakefyre: Those are hideous mangos. Posts: 1415 | Registered: Thursday, March 27 2003 08:00
Guardian of Eternity Warrior Member # 1250	written Thursday, July 29 2004 18:20 Profile #6 Whoops... Sorry about that mistake, with the memory *cells.* I'm getting a handle on terminology, too. Posts: 93 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00