barks vs. prompted conversation?

[geekminxen]

I've been combing through vanilla NPCs' dialogue quests, trying to learn how to set up random barks, and I can't determine the difference between barks and prompted dialogue (where the PC activates speech with the NPC before they'll say anything). Does simply leaving the Topic line blank make the NPC spout the line without prompting? Can someone point me toward a tutorial or, if it's simple, let me know what I'm missing?

 

Thanks so much.

[llamaRCA]

I've been combing through vanilla NPCs' dialogue quests, trying to learn how to set up random barks, and I can't determine the difference between barks and prompted dialogue (where the PC activates speech with the NPC before they'll say anything). Does simply leaving the Topic line blank make the NPC spout the line without prompting? Can someone point me toward a tutorial or, if it's simple, let me know what I'm missing?

 

Thanks so much.

 

The NPC saying things that isn't caused by the PC or another NPC talking directly to the NPC is usually handled through some amount of scripting with or without a dialogue package helping it happen.

 

The best example for the most chattering by a vanilla are probably the two scripts that handle Cass' chattering she does when you walk around with her. The scripts sets up when and where she chats. Her generic chatter is handled there as well.

 

Those two scripts are:

 

VCassTimerGeneralBarkScript

VCassTimerRegionBarkScript

 

However, I know there are bits of scripting for handling other yakking by the other vanillas for various things, although it might not be what you need as they may all be force greets to the player. If you search in the GECK by the name of the vanilla you find the stuff they've done with them and you can hunt up stuff (packages, scripts, etc) that way too.

[drakeelvin]

You can download my mod Cass Barks and look at it.

 

The optional downloads Rex Barks and ED-E barks are a lot simpler because I did those from scratch, and they only have 5 or 6 random barks each, plus you can easily see the prefixed quests (ID starts with "DXE" in GECK). Easy to figure out if you want to look at them. (They do exactly the same things as Cass barks just on a smaller scale, plus Cass barks just changes the timer on her barks all her scripts were provided by the game, whereas Rex and ED-E were done by me from scratch.)

 

In general, the bark script simply has a timer set to a predefined span of time and when the timer expires the script uses

 

NpcRef.SayTo NpcRef Topic

 

You only see the Npc response, so you can leave first dialogue empty.

 

To add variety you can use a random number to generate a variable timespan.

 

For the random text, you put all the dialogue responses in one topic and set them all to random, so the game engine chooses one randomly. If you look at the Rex or ED-E barks quest topics you'll see the random entries.

[geekminxen]

Thank you both tons! Drakeelvin, I have your Cass & EDE mods already and will check them out. And llama, as always, thank you-- and hopefully the Cass timer scripts you pointed out will be doubly useful since I'm trying to figure out timers, too. :P

 

Thanks for your patience-- I've gotten several questions answered on the forums now and I really appreciate the time you experienced modders invest in us newbies. :)