Crash after "GREETING" topic

[ElijahHouck]

Okay, so I'm getting a crash every time an NPC gets done saying their specified GREETING line (for example, "hello there"). It happens when my mod is loaded, and it crashes the moment they get done saying their line. The only conflict in FO3Edit is that the priority of the "GREETING" topic is different than the DLC's, but mine is same as Fallout3.esm so it's fine.

It doesn't crash when I add anything to the "Topic Text" or "Prompt" text boxes in the GREETING topic, but that just adds a dialogue option called "GREETING" in every NPC's dialogue choice list in-game that makes them say their greeting all over again (which is annoying).

 

Anyone have any suggestions?

[BadPenney]

You want to add a custom GREETING to an NPC but do not intend for it to be repeated by all NPCs?

 

When you created the GREETING topic, did you click "Add Topic" and select the existing GREETING topic from the list to add your custom lines to or did you create a new topic and title it "GREETING"? If you have created a new GREETING topic then it will not act like a greeting. You need to add your new line to the existing GREETING topic.

 

There should be no GREETING dialogue option, since clicking on an NPC should trigger their GREETING. Dialogue options from the Choices list should not return to GREETING unless you have added it there.

 

Have you specified which NPC is supposed to speak the line under Conditions? (as in GetIsID NPC: "MyNPC" == 1) Conditions will prevent every NPC from saying your line and limit to only one NPC or one faction or one Voicetype, etc.

[ElijahHouck]

Yup. I selected the original one. Here's what's happening in a bit more detail:

 

• If nothing is in either the "Topic Text" or "Prompt" boxes in the GREETING topic (the one that's in my quest "AltonMetroDialogue"), the game crashes as soon as any NPC gets done saying their greeting.
  
• When something is put in either the Topic Text or Prompt box, then the dialogue option appears with whatever I have typed (for example, if I put "hello" in the prompt box "hello" would be the dialogue option) and it forces the NPC to say their greeting again, and brings the player back to their main menu.
  
• I have two quests that have dialogue, both of which use the GREETING topic. I tried unchecking both of these quest's "Start Game Enabled" option, but still no luck- it still crashes after the NPC says the GREETING.
  

 

No idea what the problem is here, I've tried just about everything.

 

EDIT: By the way, I'm not having problems with NPC's saying different NPC's dialogue, I know to use "GetIsID." The NPC's all say their own greeting, but afterwards it's met by a crash.

[BadPenney]

The only thing that should be in the Topic Text box in the GREETING box should be... GREETING. It is not spoken by the player and should not appear as a dialogue option.

 

Most topics in the vanilla game have nothing in the Prompt box and GREETING should not need one since clicking on the NPC is the prompt to begin the greeting dialogue. I've created many quests with dialogue that have nothing in the Prompt box at all. You are probably creating a loop back to the GREETING by adding something to the Prompt box.

 

All that you should need to advance past the NPC greeting is at least one topic in the Choices box on the right of the quest window or have "Goodbye" checked. The Choices should be all of the dialogue options that are available from the GREETING. Even without a followup topic choice or a goodbye your game should not crash.

 

Are you using audible dialogue or only text? Are you using unique voicetypes for your NPCs or default voicetypes?

[ElijahHouck]

Some dialogue, some text. Both NPC's I have so far using custom dialogue use their own voicetype.

[BadPenney]

Some dialogue, some text. Both NPC's I have so far using custom dialogue use their own voicetype.

I will assume that you have folders in your /data/sound directory that are named exactly like the unique voicetypes with files inside named the same as the GECK filename assignments.

 

Are you creating a mod that is intended to use assets from the DLCs? When I mod I remove any DLC or other user mod from my Fallout 3 directory that I am not incorporating into my mod, so that I minimize complications while testing it. I reload them later to resolve possible conflicts.

 

If you have done everything right and it still crashes then there is always the chance that your .esp file is truly corrupted. I keep weeks worth of back up .esp files when working on a mod, and there have been times when I have had to dump an uncooperative mod file and restart with an earlier version.

 

Your apparent confusion over the Topic Text and Prompt lines make me think that it may just take more practice and familiarity with the process though. Chasing down problems of the sort that you describe are very frustrating, and I have cursed my own blindness to the obvious when finding a simple solution after days of struggle.

[ElijahHouck]

Some dialogue, some text. Both NPC's I have so far using custom dialogue use their own voicetype.

I will assume that you have folders in your /data/sound directory that are named exactly like the unique voicetypes with files inside named the same as the GECK filename assignments.

 

Are you creating a mod that is intended to use assets from the DLCs? When I mod I remove any DLC or other user mod from my Fallout 3 directory that I am not incorporating into my mod, so that I minimize complications while testing it. I reload them later to resolve possible conflicts.

 

If you have done everything right and it still crashes then there is always the chance that your .esp file is truly corrupted. I keep weeks worth of back up .esp files when working on a mod, and there have been times when I have had to dump an uncooperative mod file and restart with an earlier version.

 

Your apparent confusion over the Topic Text and Prompt lines make me think that it may just take more practice and familiarity with the process though. Chasing down problems of the sort that you describe are very frustrating, and I have cursed my own blindness to the obvious when finding a simple solution after days of struggle.

Well when the DLC's were released, I decided to check them out in the GECK as I was curious to see how a few things were scripted. What I didn't know at the time is that when you load an .esm with your mod, the .esm becomes the master of the .esp. Sadly, that is now the case, and they don't want to be removed in FO3Edit, which is just another of my problems. So yeah, I make sure to remove MZ (which is the only DLC my mod doesn't require at the moment) before I load.

And I truly hope that it isn't corrupted, because if it is I would have to go back months. The computer I used to build the mod on was a piece of crap, so it could barely even run Fallout. I didn't do any testing in the Wasteland itself (except in the area that takes you to the plane's worldspace), so I wouldn't have noticed this issue when it would've occured. I started adding dialogue back in November, I believe... here's to hoping I don't have to go back that far.

 

EDIT: I just loaded Broken Steel without my mod to see some things about the GREETING topic, and you're right- "GREETING" should be in the topic text line. That's where my problem is- I guess somewhere I've linked the GREETING topic to something.