Door Knocking

[Anach]

It only just occured to me (how long has OB been out?), that when we come to a house at night, we either have to sleep/wait, or break in. Why cant we knock?

 

Have you ever come to a house, only t be 10 minutes late and find everyone has gone inside to eat/sleep, then not being able to wait, because an enemy is nearby (you cant find).

 

Now wouldnt it be great if we could knock on the door and have either the NPC come out, or have them wake up and the door to be unlocked and no longer be trespassing when we enter.

 

I had a look around, and couldnt find a mod like this. Does anyone think it's possible, and would like to attempt it?

 

Cheers.

[LoginToDownload]

My scripting knowledge can get to "knocking", and returning the house's owner's base. No idea how to turn that into the owner reference to give him a "Who's there"? AI package. Don't suppose a wide-angle scripted spell would work, fired at the linked door or somesuch? Would it even run in a cell the player isn't in? I suppose then it could still be an "I'm coming in" knock.

[Anach]

No idea about the scripting, but an "I'm coming in" knock sounds good. Would it then be possible to get the Ai to automatically approach the player once they are in?

 

Also I dont think anyone would want to "knock" their way through a dungeon or castle, so I it wouldnt need to be every locked door, which surely must make it more difficult to script?

 

I already found a sound which i thought suited the style of door in OB :)

 

http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/freesounds5/knockdoor.wav

[Vagrant0]

Would require either unique scripting on all the doors in the game owned by an NPC, or doors to be set as owned by the NPC and a spell cast on the door (requires OBSE) to start events. It's doable (barely), but would require a decent amount of packaging and scripting knowledge. It would however fail to work on most of the NPCs in the game since they don't do anything unless they are in the active cell. You would also have to make the NPC either come outside, or make the player go inside for any conversation to take place.

 

Something like this is really only practical for use in quests due to all the planning involved. Having known and unchanging references makes pulling off something like this much easier.

[hoots7]

It only just occured to me (how long has OB been out?), that when we come to a house at night, we either have to sleep/wait, or break in. Why cant we knock?

 

Have you ever come to a house, only t be 10 minutes late and find everyone has gone inside to eat/sleep, then not being able to wait, because an enemy is nearby (you cant find).

 

Now wouldnt it be great if we could knock on the door and have either the NPC come out, or have them wake up and the door to be unlocked and no longer be trespassing when we enter.

 

I had a look around, and couldnt find a mod like this. Does anyone think it's possible, and would like to attempt it?

 

Cheers.

It sounds like a great idea but wouldn’t it mess things up if you’re suppose to wait as part of the quest & you don’t?

Maybe you could have those NPCs say “come back later”

What if shop keepers said “we’re close” after knocking, that would add some realism to the game also.

[LoginToDownload]

Would require either unique scripting on all the doors in the game owned by an NPC, or doors to be set as owned by the NPC and a spell cast on the door (requires OBSE) to start events. It's doable (barely), but would require a decent amount of packaging and scripting knowledge. It would however fail to work on most of the NPCs in the game since they don't do anything unless they are in the active cell. You would also have to make the NPC either come outside, or make the player go inside for any conversation to take place.

 

Something like this is really only practical for use in quests due to all the planning involved. Having known and unchanging references makes pulling off something like this much easier.

GetLinkedDoor + GetParentCellOwner + IsInInterior + GetInSameCell + AddScriptPackage? And doesn't "A decent amount of packaging" just amount to Find Player, Must complete, (Short duration) Unlock doors upon package start? I only ask because I'm seriously considering giving this a go. Admittedly, it wouldn't work for faction-owned buildings, but still strikes me as worthwhile.

[Vagrant0]

GetLinkedDoor + GetParentCellOwner + IsInInterior + GetInSameCell + AddScriptPackage? And doesn't "A decent amount of packaging" just amount to Find Player, Must complete, (Short duration) Unlock doors upon package start? I only ask because I'm seriously considering giving this a go. Admittedly, it wouldn't work for faction-owned buildings, but still strikes me as worthwhile.

I hadn't actually considdered that string of functions (I must be slipping). That might work as a trigger, but would still need to either be scripted on every door, or have to be attached to a target spell (since touch doesn't affect doors). The problem with the packaging is that the NPC wouldn't respond very quickly because they would be in a non-loaded cell, yet the door would be unlocked as soon as they started. As it is an added package, it may even get cancelled by the NPC as soon as they transition, having them just go back to bed, locking their door (if you're lucky) without a word. Or worst case, the NPC tries to find the player, no matter where the player might be. So if someone knocks, doesn't see anything, and runs off to another house, the NPC would attempt to find the player as long as they had that package. You wouldn't be able to use a distance condition on the package since those don't work between cells and scripts on doors only run for 1 frame. It would be multiple packages since you'd need to apply them using a scripted ability and have some way of selecting what packages that ability will give to the NPC depending on the situation.

 

No dialogue or NPC sounds can be initiated until the NPC is in the current cell, so even a "go away" dialogue can't be triggered until the NPC is outside the house.

 

But I could be wrong, and a simple find player package might do the job.

[LoginToDownload]

I hadn't actually considdered that string of functions (I must be slipping). That might work as a trigger, but would still need to either be scripted on every door, or have to be attached to a target spell (since touch doesn't affect doors).

I once poked around with a "Bash Lock" touch spell, and it worked fine on both doors and chests... :confused:

 

The problem with the packaging is that the NPC wouldn't respond very quickly because they would be in a non-loaded cell, yet the door would be unlocked as soon as they started.

Thus the "I'm coming in" knock possibility.

 

As it is an added package, it may even get cancelled by the NPC as soon as they transition, having them just go back to bed, locking their door (if you're lucky) without a word.

Would that be cleared up by the "Continuous Spell Effect" go-round? Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they would lock their doors automatically when going back to sleep, though... Seems like another package would be needed, and the "knock" spell would check if it was locked already or not.

 

Or worst case, the NPC tries to find the player, no matter where the player might be. So if someone knocks, doesn't see anything, and runs off to another house, the NPC would attempt to find the player as long as they had that package.

Do package durations not run in different cells? I might need to use an ability as you suggested, and check GetSecondsPassed to see if he should just go back to sleep.

 

Will definitely give this a try. Thanks for the help.

[Anach]

It sounds like a great idea but wouldn't it mess things up if you're suppose to wait as part of the quest & you don't?

Maybe you could have those NPCs say "come back later"

What if shop keepers said "we're close" after knocking, that would add some realism to the game also.

 

For shops, castles etc, they just wouldnt need the knock ability, or they could have the knock ability, just without the door activation. Same goes for specific quest buildings which are supposed to be locked.

 

I like the "Come back later" idea, but I'd rather see this done without any voiced dialogue, simply because there is too much variation in NPC voices and it wouldnt sound right to have a generic voiced reply.

 

 

The problem with the packaging is that the NPC wouldn't respond very quickly because they would be in a non-loaded cell, yet the door would be unlocked as soon as they started.

 

In regards to the script from an RP standpoint. Having the NPC come to the door wouldnt be necessary (and sounds far too complex). "come in, i'll be with you in a moment" which means the door unlocks and you will enter as normal. I noticed some doors in game will lock after you exit them, which sounds safer than having it attached to the npc and being accidently locked in. Though no idea how that works either. :P