How to Edit NPC Dialogue in an Existing Conversation

[FIREFLY11]

Hi to everyone out there in modding land! I've been learning the ropes of cutscene production for a while now & I've gained a decent grasp of the nuts & bolts of it, but there are a few aspects that I would be immensely grateful for some guidance on. First one, I can't seem to find much info on how to change the lines of an NPC in an existing conversation. I've seen YouTube vids that show how to create a conversation w/ a user-created NPC, & one that briefly discusses conditions/actions, but nothing on altering dialogue with say, one of your followers or an NPC you would interact with in the game (i.e., Eamon). There are mods out there that do this, ARR for instance, so I know it's possible. I've looked at the dialogue trees in the Toolset & have found out how to alter the Warden's lines, but not how to change those of the NPC the Warden is talking to. It's probably pretty simple, but I'm a complete dunce when it comes to these things. :tongue: There are some pages in the Toolset Wiki that cover conversations/dialogue, but not this. Unless I didn't look in the right places? :confused:

 

Second, I know how to add lines to a CS in the Toolset by adding a track & then grabbing a line from the game resources & I've even managed to create some "custom lines" by overlapping two different tracks in the timeline. But for an exchange where you have the Warden conversing w/ an NPC, how do you add the choices for the Warden's lines since they appear as text instead of being voiced? I was thinking creating them as a dialogue file, saving, & then pulling them up from the game resources, but I'm not sure.

 

Finally, how do you take pieces of dialogue out from spoken lines & paste them w/ others or just have them one their own? For example In this line from Alistair, "Hello, have you met her? I think she'd need a reason not to betray us", if you want to take out just "I think she'd need a reason not to betray us", how is that done? Again, I know that it's achievable; if you look at kianta's Alistair's Proposal, for example, his lines have been taken from various sources & edited together. I've been able to isolate the first part of a sentence by setting range start & end markers, but while they cut off the rest of the sentence, it just keeps repeating over & over in the timeline, so again :confused:. Wow, that was a lot more than I expected to cover & sorry if it's a bit much. Again, if anyone out there can explain any of this, it would be more helpful than you can imagine! :happy:

 

 

Best to everyone!

 

FIREFLY11

 

[YaraC]

Since no one else has answered you yet, I'll jump in. I will answer you as best I can from my memory to give you some basic guidance.

 

Editing companion´s lines

 

Finally, how do you take pieces of dialogue out from spoken lines & paste them w/ others or just have them on their own?[...] I've been able to isolate the first part of a sentence by setting range start & end markers, but while they cut off the rest of the sentence, it just keeps repeating over & over in the timeline...

 

That is not the way it works. Seems that you have set the start and end markers for the preview which will loop by default.

Let us assume "Hello, have you met her? I think she'd need a reason not to betray us" has the StringID 34567892. The stringiD of a selected line is always displayed in the lower left corner of the conversation editor.

If you only want to reuse a part of a line ("I think she'd need a reason not to betray us.") you will have to extract the voice-over line from the corresponding *.fsb file and edit it.

 

How to?

• If you are searching for a specific text string the string editor could be useful. Not all of the followers´ lines are integrated in the main dialogue files of the companions.
• Identify the dialogue ( i.e. *.fsb file) and the StringId.
• Extract the line (e.g.. "345678_m.wav") from the fsb using Aezay's FSB Extractor.
• Edit the line in a DAW. Audacity is recommended. Export into the required format.
• Then follow the wiki how to generate a new voice-over line.
• The edited wav file must be renamed according to the StringId of the new conversation line, e.g. "354169_m.wav"

 

It is not exactly clear what you would like to do and how you want to trigger it.
Dependant on what you are aiming for you could create an new additional conversation or add a new line to an existing conversation.

Regarding an existing conversation, especially the main dialogues, I would consider compatibility issues. Furthermore, editing original resources is often less advisable. Keep in mind that the resource history is the chance to role back changes or just work with a copy of the original resource.

 

The conversational approach

 

"[...But] for an exchange where you have the Warden conversing w/ an NPC, how do you add the choices for the Warden's lines since they appear as text instead of being voiced?

 

You could choose the conversational approach.

Design the conversation with the warden´s choices. Convert the new companion line (in our example the 354169_m.wav!) to a cutscene and modify the cutscene with the enhanced features of the cutscene editor.

Probably you have already started and worked on a cutscene with the cutscene editor. It works vice versa as well. A cutscene can be assigned to a line as well. Conditions: 1.The name of the cutscene must match the stringId of the line, i.e. 354169_m.wav. 2. The cutscene can contain only one voice-over line, no more. If your cutscene contains more, you could split the scene.

 

This should give you for now some orientation how to continue, Firefly.

[FIREFLY11]

Hi YaraC, thanks for reaching out & hope all is well where you're at! Sorry about the delayed response--got sidetracked by work. Wow, many thanks for all the info & the how-to! :happy: That's gonna keep me occupied for a while since I'm still sadly in noob territory when it comes to this area. Another kind soul also pointed me in the same direction (thanks earlsmith852 :thumbsup:). Good to know about Audacity, I'll go & grab that. And thanks for the link for that program for creating BINK movies. I checked out the site, but unfortunately it has a strike over the security icon. I threw an email to the company letting them know, but haven't heard anything. :confused: Guess I'll try phoning them. Also, just checked the place for Aezay's FSB Extractor & found the same thing going on w/ the security icon, so again, :confused:. Is there a particular version of it you would recommend BTW?

 

As for what I'd like to do & how I want to trigger it, I'm hoping to create a romance mod in the vein of ARR/IRS for a female Cousland warden. It would involve altering lots of the Warden's dialogue, dialogue from NPC followers as well as a few NPC non-followers that are triggered by various events in the game, so it would require altering existing conversations as well as creating custom ones. (Eventually I'd also like to create a quest mod for use in the game where the Warden finds a cure, but my guess is something that involves cutscenes & dialogue will be easier than level creation). For instance, the Warden can have the option of discussing w/ Alistair whether or not he should be willing to become king at various points in the game & his responses will evolve to correspond to events in the story (i.e., whether he was changed by his personal quest, the completion of the Urn of Sacred Ashes Quest) & the responses of the Warden. I would even include a second chance/alternative means of hardening Alistair as well. For the NPC followers, I'd like them to have different conversations w/ the Warden that are dependent upon how far Alistair & the Warden's relationship has progressed. I'd be using the existing lines of course, just moving them around to create customized conversations. Too bad it can't be as easy as grabbing lines out of the game's resources & plopping them in a new track! :tongue:

 

Thanks so much again for the outline, especially re: how to get the Warden's lines into a CS; I'll probably come running back for help sooner rather than later, but for now I'll get cracking. :happy:

 

Kind regards,

 

FIREFLY11

Edited March 17, 2021 by FIREFLY11