Say Once flag doesn't seem to work as advertised

[Belthan]

Question about the Say Once flag in the Topics menu. The GECK doc says "This info is only said once by any given actor. Once spoken, that actor will never say it again. However, a different actor that qualifies may say it".

 

What happens for me is that NO actor will ever say it again. I have some top level topics that multiple NPCs will say, but it doesn't make sense for any individual NPC to say it more than once. However, if I set the Say Once flag on the info, then none of them will say it after the first one says it. I've been working around it by not setting the flag and remembering who already said what with quest variables, but life would be a LOT simpler if I was just missing some nuance that would make the flag work the way the doc says it's supposed to work.

 

Thanks,

 

Belthan

Edited October 25, 2012 by Belthan

[Astymma]

Question about the Say Once flag in the Topics menu. The GECK doc says "This info is only said once by any given actor. Once spoken, that actor will never say it again. However, a different actor that qualifies may say it".

 

What happens for me is that NO actor will ever say it again. I have some top level topics that multiple NPCs will say, but it doesn't make sense for any individual NPC to say it more than once. However, if I set the Say Once flag on the info, then none of them will say it after the first one says it. I've been working around it by not setting the flag and remembering who already said what with quest variables, but life would be a LOT simpler if I was just missing some nuance that would make the flag work the way the doc says it's supposed to work.

 

Thanks,

 

Belthan

 

Have you checked that the quest the topic is associated with has "Allow repeated conversation topics" checked?

[Belthan]

Have you checked that the quest the topic is associated with has "Allow repeated conversation topics" checked?

 

Yep, "Allow repeated conversation topics" is checked, so unfortunately that's not the problem.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Belthan

[llamaRCA]

Question about the Say Once flag in the Topics menu. The GECK doc says "This info is only said once by any given actor. Once spoken, that actor will never say it again. However, a different actor that qualifies may say it".

 

What happens for me is that NO actor will ever say it again. I have some top level topics that multiple NPCs will say, but it doesn't make sense for any individual NPC to say it more than once. However, if I set the Say Once flag on the info, then none of them will say it after the first one says it. I've been working around it by not setting the flag and remembering who already said what with quest variables, but life would be a LOT simpler if I was just missing some nuance that would make the flag work the way the doc says it's supposed to work.

 

Thanks,

 

Belthan

 

Is it one topic and a lot of NPCs are named in the conditions as able to say it or are there multiple NPCs and the topic is repeated over and over and over again for each NPC? This makes the difference for whether it's going to work how you want it to or not.

 

If it's one topic then checking it as say once, regardless of how many NPCs you have in the conditions as eligible to say it, won't change the fact that you said the topic should only be said once (it is, after all, only one topic, and you've told the geck to allow it to be said once). The wiki may say something different, but that's how I'd look at it if I was building my dialogue. Well, actually I'd do what I suggest next if I wanted a lot of control over the dialogue.

 

However, say you have six NPCs. If you make six copies of the topic and tick each instance of the topic as say once then each of the six NPCs will say the topic one time if conditions are met for the topic to be said.

[Belthan]

Is it one topic and a lot of NPCs are named in the conditions as able to say it or are there multiple NPCs and the topic is repeated over and over and over again for each NPC? This makes the difference for whether it's going to work how you want it to or not.

 

If it's one topic then checking it as say once, regardless of how many NPCs you have in the conditions as eligible to say it, won't change the fact that you said the topic should only be said once (it is, after all, only one topic, and you've told the geck to allow it to be said once). The wiki may say something different, but that's how I'd look at it if I was building my dialogue. Well, actually I'd do what I suggest next if I wanted a lot of control over the dialogue.

 

However, say you have six NPCs. If you make six copies of the topic and tick each instance of the topic as say once then each of the six NPCs will say the topic one time if conditions are met for the topic to be said.

 

It's one topic with an IsInFormList condition, but your advice still explains the symptom perfectly. I want to avoid copying a bazillion WAV and LIP files, so is there a way to copy multiple topics that all point to the same info?

[llamaRCA]

Is it one topic and a lot of NPCs are named in the conditions as able to say it or are there multiple NPCs and the topic is repeated over and over and over again for each NPC? This makes the difference for whether it's going to work how you want it to or not.

 

If it's one topic then checking it as say once, regardless of how many NPCs you have in the conditions as eligible to say it, won't change the fact that you said the topic should only be said once (it is, after all, only one topic, and you've told the geck to allow it to be said once). The wiki may say something different, but that's how I'd look at it if I was building my dialogue. Well, actually I'd do what I suggest next if I wanted a lot of control over the dialogue.

 

However, say you have six NPCs. If you make six copies of the topic and tick each instance of the topic as say once then each of the six NPCs will say the topic one time if conditions are met for the topic to be said.

 

It's one topic with an IsInFormList condition, but your advice still explains the symptom perfectly. I want to avoid copying a bazillion WAV and LIP files, so is there a way to copy multiple topics that all point to the same info?

 

No, the only way to have multiple topics is to copy the wav/lip file pair that goes with it, unfortunately. But you could do an incremental variable so it counts up +1 each time the topic is spoken and has the limiting amount as a condition of being said. That avoids copying the topic and lets you keep your list.

 

It isn't as simple as ticking the form (which is what I thought you were asking for earlier), but you don't have to do the copying and it's a lot less stuff to distribute and that's always good. Especially if you are going to be doing a lot of dialogue.

[Belthan]

No, the only way to have multiple topics is to copy the wav/lip file pair that goes with it, unfortunately. But you could do an incremental variable so it counts up +1 each time the topic is spoken and has the limiting amount as a condition of being said. That avoids copying the topic and lets you keep your list.

 

It isn't as simple as ticking the form (which is what I thought you were asking for earlier), but you don't have to do the copying and it's a lot less stuff to distribute and that's always good. Especially if you are going to be doing a lot of dialogue.

 

Thanks, that's what I had done so far to work around it. But it's helpful to know I wasn't missing a better / easier way, so I can stop worrying and get on with it :)