Adding custom dialog to Cass?

[squee913]

I am trying to make some custom quests and I want to had custom dialog to Cass. I understand the basics of how dialog works and I can spawn a clone of her and give her the dialog, but that is a very messy way of doing it. Is it possible to add conversation topics to her question section? I tried copying the way the dialog was set up on her already (like giving it the ID of been hired, been fired, and joined the party. Also adding {Question node} like pre-made topics look) but it doesn't work! :( I know this is kind of advanced, but any suggestions?

[davidlallen]

Sorry if this is obvious because you say you understand the basics of dialog. But, I think the key technique is to add your new topic in the "Choices" field. So if she has a line like, "Do you have any questions?", then the choices field will list the possible replies. The game filters out replies if they don't meet the conditions. You can add your topic, add it to the topic list on the left, and then add the topic name in the choices field. Be sure to link back to the existing dialog in the choices field for your new topic, or else check "goodbye" to exit the dialog altogether.

 

Of course, there won't be any voice acting for this line, or if you add one, it will sound different. Are you sure that adding to an existing NPC's dialog is the best way to go? Another way would be to add dialog to a new NPC, or an existing one who doesn't have any dialog.

[llamaRCA]

Of course, there won't be any voice acting for this line, or if you add one, it will sound different.

 

This doesn't have to be true. You can get the sound files out of the bsa and cut and paste them with something like Audacity to make new lines or you can reuse existing lines. If you create new ones then you would want to lip sync them.

 

 

@squee913-

 

Cass' dialogue is interesting because not everything is there for you to see and understand. What I would do is set up the new topics in your quest. I think to make it work smoothly, I would try setting up a new greeting, conditioned just for your quest and have your topic added as a choice to that greeting. ( It won't look exactly like you were hoping for, but it will get your topic into her menu. That should work, but dialogue can be weird, these followers are weird, and not all of their dialogue shows everything that is going on with it, so I cannot guarantee this will work for you. Sometimes you have to mess around with dialogue and try a few things to get it working right.

 

Good luck,

 

:) llama

[squee913]

Of course, there won't be any voice acting for this line, or if you add one, it will sound different.

 

This doesn't have to be true. You can get the sound files out of the bsa and cut and paste them with something like Audacity to make new lines or you can reuse existing lines. If you create new ones then you would want to lip sync them.

 

 

@squee913-

 

Cass' dialogue is interesting because not everything is there for you to see and understand. What I would do is set up the new topics in your quest. I think to make it work smoothly, I would try setting up a new greeting, conditioned just for your quest and have your topic added as a choice to that greeting. ( It won't look exactly like you were hoping for, but it will get your topic into her menu. That should work, but dialogue can be weird, these followers are weird, and not all of their dialogue shows everything that is going on with it, so I cannot guarantee this will work for you. Sometimes you have to mess around with dialogue and try a few things to get it working right.

 

Good luck,

 

:) llama

I think I see what you are saying, so that when the quest triggers and I talk to her, my custom topic shows up instead of her normal greeting? I can try that. As for just getting a new NPC, I am doing a Let's Play and making custom quests that pertain to my particular play though. Since Cass is my companion, I need to add dialog to her. So far I've done it by spawning a copy, but that is messy because I have to leave the real Cass somewhere and pretend the clone is her :( I will try what you suggested :)

[llamaRCA]

I think I see what you are saying, so that when the quest triggers and I talk to her, my custom topic shows up instead of her normal greeting? I can try that. As for just getting a new NPC, I am doing a Let's Play and making custom quests that pertain to my particular play though. Since Cass is my companion, I need to add dialog to her. So far I've done it by spawning a copy, but that is messy because I have to leave the real Cass somewhere and pretend the clone is her :( I will try what you suggested :)

 

 

Oh, wait, there's a much easier way to do this. Just put the conditions for your quest into the topic and tick it top level. It will show up in her topics when you go to talk to her. It won't be tidily in with her other "questions" topic but it will be among her other topics waiting for you to talk to her. Then you don't have to worry about what priority you give her quest and you can give it a higher priority on just that topic if you want it higher in her list of topics that are in her menu.

 

The greeting thing was for a tidy entry into her menu, but if it's just for you, that makes it much more complex than it needs to be and presents other issues, actually.

[squee913]

Oh, wait, there's a much easier way to do this. Just put the conditions for your quest into the topic and tick it top level. It will show up in her topics when you go to talk to her. It won't be tidily in with her other "questions" topic but it will be among her other topics waiting for you to talk to her. Then you don't have to worry about what priority you give her quest and you can give it a higher priority on just that topic if you want it higher in her list of topics that are in her menu.

 

The greeting thing was for a tidy entry into her menu, but if it's just for you, that makes it much more complex than it needs to be and presents other issues, actually.

 

Yes, that does sound easier! I have no plans to release this as a mod. It is just for me and the viewers so I don't care about tidy as long as it works well :) btw, the tutorial never covered how to give an npc more than one page of dialog. Say for example the npc has a lot to say; in the game it would display the first 150 characters, then the next and so on until you have a choice again. It never explained how to do this. I can only have 150 characters between each choice :( any idea how to do multiple pages of dialog? Or better yet, is there a tutorial for this? I searched the geck wiki with no luck :(

[llamaRCA]

Yes, that does sound easier! I have no plans to release this as a mod. It is just for me and the viewers so I don't care about tidy as long as it works well :) btw, the tutorial never covered how to give an npc more than one page of dialog. Say for example the npc has a lot to say; in the game it would display the first 150 characters, then the next and so on until you have a choice again. It never explained how to do this. I can only have 150 characters between each choice :( any idea how to do multiple pages of dialog? Or better yet, is there a tutorial for this? I searched the geck wiki with no luck :(

 

On the page where your topic is finally entered (where the conditions are), there is a line that says "prompt." Below that your dialogue line shows up after you have entered it (it's a second appearance of your line about half way down the page). If you go to the second line (the first blank line), just under that second appearance of your entered dialogue, and do right click new, you can type another "new" line of dialogue with another 150 characters (you'll get another popup window to do this). This "new" line is really a second additional line of dialogue which will be said immediately after the first line and is part of the same topic. I don't know if there is a limit to how many lines you can enter. I think the most I've done is four.

 

I think that's what you were asking about.

 

:) llama