Dialogues

[Tsewe]

How does the dialogue box work?

 

How can I do to add an existing dialogue to a new NPC (for example a merchant)?

[David Brasher]

Dialog works in a most cumbersome and unenlightened fashion. In some cases you may be able to change the dialog conditions to be sort of like:

GetIsID George == 1 OR

GetIsID MyNewNPC == 1 OR

 

In other cases, you may have to copy the sound files and attach them a second time to your new NPC. This is not very pleasant because sound files are large and the gamer already has them, but they are in the wrong place and the game can't use them. So you are obliged to give them to the gamer a second time.

 

Someone made a comment once about invisible continues that I need to investigate.

 

If all you want is standard merchant dialog, then you can probably just set the factions right, and make sure that your new merchant uses the race and voice type of an existing merchant that the game supports. (I do not think that all races and all voice types have voice acting available for merchants.)

 

This tutorial series would get you started on learning the type of skills you would need to edit dialog: Quest Tutorial Series

Edited May 3, 2012 by David Brasher

[steezmyster]

How does the dialogue box work?

 

How can I do to add an existing dialogue to a new NPC (for example a merchant)?

 

Also if you just want to add already made merchant dialogue this video should help

[Tsewe]

Thanks guys.

Actually I know how to create a merchant and give him a "merchant" voice . But that is incomplete; I would like to give him a few more lines from Addvar (fish vendor in Solitude). So i gave my NPC the same voice as him, but it doesnt make him yell "fresh fish, fressh fiiisshh". I just want to make him yell that sentence.

So I opened up the dialog box and i tried to find out how it worked, but without any satisfying result...

 

So you're telling me in order to add only one dialogue line, I'll have to learn all of the quest tutorial stuff? I just want to make sure there's no other way...

[gasti89]

Open that Addvar dialogue.

 

I don't know wich quest is attached to, and don't know if it's a normal dialogue, a hello or what else.

 

But just locate the dialogue you want in the CK.

 

Then look at the conditions. They're pretty self-explanatory.

 

You have to make your NPC match the conditions. Let's make an example

 

Let's say the only condition is GetIsID Addvar == 1. Here you can't match the condition (cause it's only for Addvar).

 

So you have to make a new GetIsID condition, point it to your NPC and MARK IT AS "OR" ("OR" is the most important part).

 

If there are other conditions, like being in a cell or being in a specific time of the day, you have to figure out a way to make your NPC have the dialogue without messing Addvar one.

 

Remember that the conditions are read by the game as a stack from up to down, and that "OR" is stronger than "AND" (like * and / are stronger than + and - in equations).

 

so a stack like this: 1 OR 2 AND 3 OR 4 OR 5 AND 6 will be read as (1 OR 2) AND (3 OR 4 OR 5) AND 6.

 

So the NPCs can match different conditions to have a dialogue, like 1 + 3 + 6, 2 + 5 +6, 2 + 4 + 6.

 

Hope it helps

[LukeH]

One hint about understanding dialogues and their conditions, it may be nothing, in the end is the same thing just the way you build your mental model is different but once I started to see them as I'll describe things became easier:

You must not think at player options in a dialog then possible answers from NPC in a flow like #1NPC, #2Player, #3NPC, etc. This seems more natural but all the conditions you put in CK are on NPC lines. In fact it is #1NPC #2NPC #3NPC each step may come from different topic or even different quest but between each of those Player just helps selecting which is the next thing the NPC will say when conditions for multiple NPC options are fulfilled. I don't know if I made myself understood cause I'm not native English speaker but for me this helped a lot.

 

Also I'm the one that made that topic about using invisible continue which may help the OP in this case too not to create voice files. You can see it at work in my Localized Guild Jobs (link in signature)

[gasti89]

I can't catch how invisible continue may help in this case.

 

The fact is that he may want as a follower an NPC with a voice type that hasn't got the sound files for the follower lines.

 

As i said before, suppose that there's no Argonians followers.

 

So the Argonian voice type doesn't have the follower lines recorded.

 

So the only ways to make an argonian speak those lines are:

 

- making the argonian speak like some other races with follower lines recorded

 

- record all the lines with a Argonian voice

 

- record few seconds of silence and link them to the Argonian voice type (wich will result in muted dialogues but at least not flashing)

 

 

The invisible continue is useful if you want a custom topic to lead to a Vanilla response. (for custom responses you can use shared topics, since you still have to voice them)

[LukeH]

OP already sayed he wants to add existing dialogue to the new NPC and for that invisible continue would work. I suppose he already found the ones he wants to use and we are not talking about creating a female and adding a dialogue that exists only for males.

[gasti89]

Yes, i said that just to make him actually understand what he's doing without just following instructions.

 

But again, invisible continue is useless in this case:

 

- it's only a matter of conditions. That line pops up only with Addvar because the conditions tell this

 

- reading the line (fresh fiiiiiish) i'm 99% sure it's a hello, or maybe the other type of line that belong to merchants (don't remember the name)

 

So what he needs to do is just locate the quest that holds that line (could be DialogueSolitude), click on "Misc", locate the line and look at the conditions.

 

If the conditions just say GetIsID Addvar == 1, then he just has to add a new condition GetIsID myNPC == 1 with OR.

 

If there are other conditions, then he has to find a way to make both Addvar and his NPC match them.

[Tsewe]

Thank you very much for all your answers, here is what I found:

 

This line (fresh fiiish) is a Misc Idle dialogue, and there are 3 conditions linked by 2 "AND"

Here are the 3 conditions:

 

1-get "SolitudeOpening" quest completed

AND

2-get IS Current Package (package Solitude fishmonger etc) (which I guess is the working AI package of Addvar)

AND

3-GetIsID (Actor: Addvar)

 

So does only one of those 3 is required? or all 3 of them??? I guess only one of them, no?

In case I am right, I need to do as you said gasti89?