Making a creature "talk"

[WarRatsG]

Ignore this :cool:

Edited March 10, 2013 by WarRatsG

[scarycave]

Okay, I've got it back up again. I looked into the heading angle and it works perfectly for both the player and creature. I just need to get the ambush package working right, sometimes it just doesn't seem to work right...maybe if I can use the script to activate the npc it would work better.

 

@WarRats

 

Don't worry about it! One of the perks of keeping it simple is that its really easy to remake.

Edited March 10, 2013 by scarycave

[scarycave]

Alright, I made the creature force the npc to activate the player.

At that time, the player and the creature are forced to face each other.

Since the player should be close enough to the dog, it doesn't matter if he can't move so the npc just snaps to the center...

and its working! Well, mostly...The only problem is the head turning animation, sometimes you'll get a close up of the eyes - sometimes the neck,

with no need to change the ini, or obse scripting at all.

 

Then all someone would have to do is make a folder for the voice files, to play for the voice - such as barking, growling, roaring, etc.

If we can just get the head turning adjusted - it should be just about done. :D

 

All you would have to do is make a creature, and the npc for the speaker...duplicate the script and replace it with the reference ID (Dogspeakerref -> Scampspeakerref), then make a simple quest to hold on to the voices and topics (Dog Speak).

Edited March 10, 2013 by scarycave

[WarRatsG]

You're two for two :ninja: Ignore this part again


So is that you sorted?

Edited March 10, 2013 by WarRatsG

[scarycave]

I think I might be as close as its going to get, I'm going to try to get a video of it in here, I just want to set up the voice files and see if it works.

After that though, there's still things like the ambush package - I'm probably going to have to make an ability with a IsAmbush variable or something so I can just plop it on multiple creatures.

[WarRatsG]

How about just using StartConversation instead of a package?

[scarycave]

Never really heard of it before, I can give it a shot though.

Anyways, I got a video up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6gCMUzS7VY&feature=youtu.be

However, there's still a few problems here - if the creature is moving the zoom will get messed up, so I need to find a way to get him to pick the exact idle used in this video. That's also something to keep in mind with other creatures, I had the dog set to the wolf idle, walk animations and the zoom wouldn't work right because his head was lower, I don't know if there's any other creatures that have two idle/walk animations that you can set like the dogs can but that's something to keep in mind. A change in scale should fix it though.

(Also the sound files with Oblivion are wavs, I'll need to find a wav to mp3 converter to get the creatures to play sounds.)

Edited March 16, 2013 by scarycave

[WarRatsG]

If I understand correctly, the problem is when the dog moves after you have activated it and before the speaker can make his way over to you. There are a few solutions you could use here.

 

If "locking on" is a problem, as in the dog moves after SetRestrained is called but before the NPC can start the conversation, then you can use repeated calls of GetHeadingAngle set SetAngle z to track the dog as it moves.

 

Alternatively, there are some commands which allow you to specify an animation group for the reference to play. LoopGroup may be the best here. If you call the idle animation group, the creature should stop its current animation, but sometimes this does not stop them moving. They may just moonwalk. If the creature does not begin its animations again, you can try <PlayGroup Idle 1>

 

Finally, a few script commands on the dog to lock its position, ie repeated calls of SetAngle z may help if nothing else does.

[scarycave]

I actually have a code run to set the Z angle for both the player and the dog. The way it snaps to the player instantly kind of mirrors the way an Npc will automatically face you when you talk. Its just that the npc needs to fade in that causes the delay. The players position also effects where the camera goes, too close, and it will zoom into the back (since you tower over him).

 

Still, what do you guys think of it so far?

[scarycave]

I was able to find some MP3 files online, I got about three different ones - but only one seems to be working.

Still, I'm a bit happy that the thing will actually "bark", I might need to try different mp3's though, the file paths are correct, they just don't play.

I did have a bit of a question though, is it possible to adjust the time it takes for something to "enable" - rather than just fade in, have it instantly appear.

I think that would save me a few head-aches since the slight pause before talking is a bit weird.