New party members

[StevoSegalovic]

I was thinking a bit about DAO story. You are a warden and you are using treaties to gather an army that will help you defeat the blight.

As you progress you get Emissaries at your camp.

But they are just one person representing whole race and just standing there and not helping you fight.

 

My idea is to make new NPCs , male and female to be recruitable at the Emissaries and to represent their race/class.

Nothing to much about it just simple things for example:

Dalish female rogue (archer) ranger (same level as PC) with some dalish warrior female soundset (no story, no romance)

 

Now to the troubleshooting part:

1. if this has been already done someone point me where to download this mod.

2. is it possible to add random NPC to party by using scripting and dialogue even if that NPC doesn't exist in current area?

3. Is it possible to add NPC to party without using party picker screen but instead showing different NPCs in a mode similar to UDK mode (while changing color of items) 1 NPC at a time?

 

Notice: I don't want to use party picker screen coz its limiting number of recruitable NPCs. I want to be able to use lots of different NPCs with lots of different morphs (lots of modders are creating some great faces and this would be a great way to use them) Other things can be added later as well but it should be simple at start so im not aiming for something to big. If anyone can do this with ease then feel free to consider this as a mod request.

[kassuper]

1. Not that I've found, I like the idea. The way the armies are used in the climax only and in such a limitted way annoyed me after the trouble I went through to gather allies.

2. As far as I know, NPCs do need to be in the area, but they can ofcourse be somewhere you'll never see them on the area map. Or they could simply be inactive by default. The bad news is I haven't found a way to "spawn" an NPC using a script (the mobs are always there just not activated until the appropriate time). This means you would have to make all the NPC templates you want to be able to select from, beforehand. While this is mostly copy/paste work, it is still a limitation.

3. I don't know UDK, but it is possible to add NPCs without using party picker. For example it is done when Sir Gilmore is added to your party during the Human noble background.

Edited July 16, 2012 by kassuper

[StevoSegalovic]

I was playing with this and i got some results. i created an area in my module and put npc ef_merrill there. Then i gave her a conversation that starts a script that i want. Then i created some scripts and they worked pretty well.

party_merrill.nss script looks like this:

 

#include "utility_h"

 

void main()

{

object oFollower = GetObjectByTag("ef_merrill"); //Use CreateObject() if the creature isn't present in the module yet

 

UT_HireFollower(oFollower); //Hires the follower

 

AddCommand(oFollower, CommandJumpToLocation(GetLocation(GetHero()))); // sets follower behind the player

 

// SetPartyPickerGUIStatus(2);

 

// ShowPartyPickerGUI(); //Shows the Party Picker; necessary for the follower to gain XP

 

}

 

and to remove her from party i used dismiss_merrill.nss script that looks like this:

 

#include "utility_h"

 

void main()

{

object oFollower = GetObjectByTag("ef_merrill"); //Use CreateObject() if the creature isn't present in the module yet

 

UT_FireFollower(oFollower,FALSE,FALSE); //Fires the follower

}

 

 

I also tried to spawn another npc and add it to party. i created df_alice.utc creature and then this script create_alice.nss:

 

#include "utility_h"

 

void main()

{

object oPlayer = GetHero();

location lLocation = GetLocation(oPlayer);

 

object oFollower = CreateObject(OBJECT_TYPE_CREATURE, R"df_alice.utc", lLocation);

 

UT_HireFollower(oFollower); //Hires the follower

 

}

 

So now while all of them are working i have another trouble. I don't know how to target existing npc in the area while using conversation. what i mean is if i want to use first script how can i select merrill without typing her tag in script. i would like to make script that is universal for recruiting any npc that exists in current area. or in simple words i want to approach some npc start convo and say hey start this script and party me. then get to another npc and tell him to use same script and party me as well.

 

I have noticed that in comment of the script it says that npc wont get exp and thing is i like it that way. My idea is to make NPCs certain lvl lets say lvl 10 then if im lvl 15 i get new NPCs that are lvl 15 etc. problem with this is i still dont know how to make npcs certain level and with certain skills. can i do that when im creating utc files, or i have to use scripts or i have to make gda files for their skill templates?

 

Also another question. I realized that if i try to leave camp party picker starts so i would probably lose any npc i add to party (maybe not not sure), so is there a way to make things go this way:

1. attempting to leave camp doesn't start party picker (override some script or something)

2. party picker starts if player uses some object next to exit - like in da2 (i choose 2 companions)

3. player gets to emissary and gets npc as follower

4. Player leaves camp.

 

PS by udk i meant universal dye kit. when you use it you get into cinematic mode and you see your player and have options to change items. I believe this mode would be good for selecting what NPC player wants to party with.