Making a companion mod. Help?

[XxNightAngelusxX]

I downloaded the GECK a couple of nights ago, and I'm working on a companion mod which I'm hoping to attach a small quest to. I have a basic grasp of the GECK (VERY basic) after watching some tutorials, but there's a lot of stuff I just don't understand.

 

What are scripts for?

 

When I go into the game, there is a clone of my companion. I didn't make two of them. Why is there a clone?

 

Some of his dialogue options won't show up, and I'm not sure why.

 

I've never done anything like this before, and I could really use some tips. What are the most important things I should know?

 

Thanks, peace

[madmongo]

Scripts are for anything that isn't a part of the GECK and the game engine. For example, the GECK doesn't include any sort of companion state, like whether the companion should be following you or waiting or dancing like a stripper or whatever else you want your companion to do. A fairly basic companion really only needs one script, and that script usually doesn't do much other than declare variables which are used to tell the game what the companion should be doing and then initializes those variables. That's about as simple as a script can get.

 

You also have scripts inside the dialog and quests. For a fairly simple companion, all those scripts will do is set the variables that you declared in the companion script.

 

For example, your companion script could have an int FollowMe (an integer variable named FollowMe). The companion script initially sets this to 0 because you have to meet and recruit the NPC. When you meet them, in the dialog for joining you, you then make a script that sets that integer to 1. You then make an AI package that will make the NPC follow you whenever the FollowMe integer is set to 1. When you want the NPC to wait, you set the FollowMe to 0 and set some wait veriable (whatever you choose to name it) to 1 and you make a wait AI package that activates when that variable is set.

 

The companion tutorials should go into a lot more detail about this, but that's the basic idea behind it. You use script variables to turn different AI packages on and off to determine the NPC's behavior.

 

Scripts in the dialog and quests are also used to initiate, advance, and complete the quests. These are usually short scripts done within the quests themselves, not separate scripts like the one you need to make for your companion.

 

I have no idea why you have a clone. Might be a leftover from a save. Try disabling your mod completely (uncheck it in FOMM or the Fallout setup screen or whatever you are using to control your mods), loading the game, saving the game (still without your mod enabled) and then exit, re-enable your mod, and load that saved game.

 

Dialog options need to either be options to other dialog options or they need to have the "top level" box checked. They also need to have at least one condition defined, which at the very least you usually want to check that the ID is your NPC (you don't want other NPCs saying your NPC's lines).

 

This is a good companion tutorial.

http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/45278/?

 

While you can make a simple companion with just a couple of variables and a couple of dialog options, if you want a fully functional companion wheel you need to add in specific dialog options to your companion's dialog/quest. That tutorial goes step by step through the process and shows you everything that you need to do.

 

One important tip - Fallout only applies the correct skin textures to characters in esm files. You can define your character's appearance in an esm and then do all of the quests and everything else in an esp, but if you do everything in an esp then your character will end up with the default white body no matter what (which looks really weird if your NPC is African-American).

 

Another important tip - The GECK's LIP generator is missing. If you search on google you can find how to copy the missing files over from the Oblivion or Skyrim toolkits.

Edited October 15, 2014 by madmongo