NPC Forcing Dialogue Assistance Please

[TotalRookie]

Recently, I've had an interest in creating Fallout Machinima's. Now I haven't even began with making any efforts to create anything yet because of this particular issue. Once this is resolved hopefully I can start making videos. Now, I watched several videos such as Thrown Out and D.C. Chronicles. I noticed in Thrown Out they had the main two NPC's talking to each other quite frequently. (If you haven't watched these videos, now would be the time to so you gain a better understanding of what I'm trying to accomplish) Now I'm not sure how they did this, but I have assumed they accomplished it without either NPC being the player. My guess is somehow they had the two NPC's and created a special "Conversation" tab dialogue for them. And if not that, they might have used the console to force NPC's to say individual lines. My question is...How do I go about doing this? I'm not asking for a full-blown out dialogue tutorial I can grasp the basics of dialogue creation. All I want to be able to do is force my NPC's to say individual lines on console command (or w.e method you would use) or even just general ways to initiate dialogue between NPC's. Keep in mind I do want to create wonderful videos, and my aim is to have dialogue timely and move along fluently. ANY advice you have to offer is appreciated.

 

Thank you for your time Nexus Community,

 

TotalRookie

[BadPenney]

Just for background, here is my own favorite mech video (hate the term "Machinima" myself, sounds like some snobby Cannes Film Festival jazz):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czNtCgtuOI8

 

Don't believe everything you see. Dialogue was created with a combination of scripted interaction between NPCs, conversation between look-alike player characters and NPCs, video editing and audio overdubbing. The seamless appearance of the action is all illusion. There is much more involved than simple GECK editing or scripting in my video, and likely in other videos that you have viewed, as well.

[BadPenney]

(Rambling monologue that may have a point):

 

At one point I worked in the employ of a ubiquitous international corporation. I can say with high confidence that you are using their product right now if you are reading this. They have their own culture and university. They identify personality types. I was classed as an analyst and was sent to mingle with reflectors and activists and such confused and misguided types.

 

It was upsetting.

 

In the end, however, I was forced to see the value in other ways of approaching problems (for instance, I must now admit that getting out the manual to double-check procedure when your submarine is sinking may not reflect the proper sense of urgency and ultimately be counter-productive). I was given a secondary classification as analyst/pragmatist and given clearance to run pell mell into the land of CAD/CAM.

 

Any residue of conceit for my own intellect soon evaporated there.

 

But one thing I did retain from the cultural indoctrination was the handy motto of the pragmatist, “Whatever works!” and I use that totally when modding.

 

I still say gather as much information as possible from different sources before seriously getting into production with a mod or video if you are new to the process and read the manuals first when approaching new tasks. (That’s analyst talking). That will help you get an idea about what you are getting into, what skills that you already have that can be useful to you, what new skills you will need to acquire and it will also help to weed out the misinformation that will cause you to waste your time.

 

Software that I have found useful for making Fallout 3 cartoons: Fallout 3, the GECK, Fraps, Fallout Mod Manager, FO3Edit, Sony Sound Forge, Windows Movie Maker, Word, Excel and Photoshop.

[TotalRookie]

Thanks for the replies guys, still didn't fully answer my questions, but sound advice nonetheless :thumbsup: I do have every one of those programs you mentioned (exception is FO3Edit) and maybe I'll just start playing around with the Geck and see what works. I was just hoping for a fast way to get NPC's to say voiced dialogue in-game. Also I don't think I yet fully realize how much work is involved until I actually attempt to create a machinima. Thanks again for the advice, if you have any more I'm eager to hear it!

[deepside]

Maybe this might help you a bit with the set up for an npc that has custom dialogue.

crows dialogue tutorial

I know however that programs such as music maker let you add your own dialogue to the movie that you make.

All you need for that is a mic, it has some extra's to change your voice into whatever you want.

If you don't need something synchronized to the lipsync files that would be a nice way to do.

[TotalRookie]

Maybe this might help you a bit with the set up for an npc that has custom dialogue.

crows dialogue tutorial

I know however that programs such as music maker let you add your own dialogue to the movie that you make.

All you need for that is a mic, it has some extra's to change your voice into whatever you want.

If you don't need something synchronized to the lipsync files that would be a nice way to do.

Thanks I'll check out those tutorials it may help me out somewhat. I have the necessary tools to do voice overs if needed. Do you know of any way to get NPC's to say dialogue via console command? Keep in mind it would only help if the dialogue was spoken without entering the dialogue box. Thank you again

[deepside]

As far as i know are the dialogues that started without box set by triggers.

This way they will get activated when the player is entering that area.

To use a console command to activate that certain line is almost impossible to do as it would then start immediatly after giving the command.

This will then cause a cut and paste job for the machinima wich probably won't give you the result you seek.

It would then be easier to give those npc's only that line you want to have and let it activated by the trigger that is set.

when you want to use more specific lines i would make copy's of the npc as the only thing that is showing is it's name and not the idname.

You can use for example : mr.givename-mr.givename1-mr.givename2(idnames) while the npc name still could be the same.

Record the parts that you want to use for the specfic dialogue order you have in mind and cut and paste it in your machinima.

hopefully my idea can help you a bit with this.. ;)

[TotalRookie]

As far as i know are the dialogues that started without box set by triggers.

This way they will get activated when the player is entering that area.

To use a console command to activate that certain line is almost impossible to do as it would then start immediatly after giving the command.

This will then cause a cut and paste job for the machinima wich probably won't give you the result you seek.

It would then be easier to give those npc's only that line you want to have and let it activated by the trigger that is set.

when you want to use more specific lines i would make copy's of the npc as the only thing that is showing is it's name and not the idname.

You can use for example : mr.givename-mr.givename1-mr.givename2(idnames) while the npc name still could be the same.

Record the parts that you want to use for the specfic dialogue order you have in mind and cut and paste it in your machinima.

hopefully my idea can help you a bit with this.. ;)

 

Very much so my friend, I was looking for a positive and creative comment Kudos to you :thumbsup: And yes I was thinking about how the dialogue would cut out. I think my best bet is trial and error, figuring out specifically what I want to do, and trying to execute it. I think the problem is there is just so many ways I can go about this. Thank you for your insightful comment.

[BadPenney]

...I was just hoping for a fast way to get NPC's to say voiced dialogue in-game.

The fastest way is to re-use NPC dialague that is already in the game. You can use FOMM to extract the voice files and associated lip synch files from the voices.bsa and then use them for your own NPCs. It doesn't allow you unique dialogue, but it is fast, and I have used it many times for less central characters in both mods and videos.

 

There are many ways to trigger dialogue. Trigger boxes are just one of them. Check out the player force greet script for Lucas Sims for clues.

 

If you want to have a line of dialogue begin with a console command so that you can record it and want to avoid the line being spoken too quickly for a good recording then just program in a delay. That can be done easily enough with silent dialogue and no difficult scripting. If your character says "umm... (14 second pause)Get out before I kill you!", then you have a 14 second pause that you can edit out as needed.

 

I use silent dialogue combined with NPC emotional gestures for more complex NPC reactions as well. For instance, a 3 second bit of silence with anger followed by "OH!" and surprise gives a better impression of someone thinking about something and then figuring out the answer a bit better than simply a surprised "Oh!".

 

BTW, if you do want to record your own voice tracks for custom dialogue for Fallout 3, then it is very handy to have an early copy of Oblivion's TES Construction Set in order to create custom lip synch files for them. The GECK won't do it alone. I'm hoping that feature is returned with the New Vegas GECK.

[TotalRookie]

...I was just hoping for a fast way to get NPC's to say voiced dialogue in-game.

 

If you want to have a line of dialogue begin with a console command so that you can record it and want to avoid the line being spoken too quickly for a good recording then just program in a delay. That can be done easily enough with silent dialogue and no difficult scripting. If your character says "umm... (14 second pause)Get out before I kill you!", then you have a 14 second pause that you can edit out as needed.

 

Once again BadPenney thank you! Now my interpretation of what you said is that you CAN make a line of dialogue play via command console? If so how would I go about doing this? I assume you have to script the dialogue to initiate upon the typed command. Kudos to you btw :biggrin:

 

EDIT: Seems as though I have previously given you Kudos :(