Scripting npc interactivity over long periods of time
- Thread starter Endocore
- Start date
Fermi Paradox
First time out of the vault
Glovz said:@Endocore
Seems like a nice mod but be careful with balance and depth, you could easily make Miria even more anoying to be in the players party or maybe that's what you're going for.
This all seems familiar though - hmmm - Dragon Age Origins perhaps?
Well, if she's more annoying, I'm sure the player could just as easily not pick her up. I've essentially gone through most of my playthroughs doing exactly this!
Thanks to everyone for the comments. Testing is going well and the only real problem I had so far is that for some reason sleeping with Miria at the Abbey must offend the monks, as the game screen went dark/faded out but then didn't come back up/fade in (I had to alt-tab out of the game and shut it down). There isn't any code in my script that does anything unusual at the Abbey, so I'm not sure yet what's going on there. There was a kind volunteer to help test the script, so hopefully if there are any other bugs I'm not seeing they'll be discovered and squashed.
I made an frm of a nice wedding ring but didn't do a very good job as it has a jagged blue fringe around all the edges when shown on the in-game inventory screen. I'll hold off on that until I have time to do a better job on it.
In general, I have learned a lot by seriously studying scripting in order to implement these ideas for Miria. By initially tearing her script apart and then rebuilding it, I'll have a much easier time making other npcs into potential teammates for the Chosen One in the future (which is one of my long-term modding goals).
@Riel88
I was thinking of doing something with that makeup case in general (not just for Miria), but haven't decided what exactly it should do or be used for yet.
@earthdude
That's a good point. Perhaps she's trying to provoke robbers to get the Chosen One into fights as it turns her on or something (sadly there are some women and men like that IRL).
@Grayswandir
Those are all very good ideas. I didn't include any negative effects from adultery for a few reasons (I see Miria as free-spirited and someone who understands the wasteland is a hard place where people do what they must to earn a buck, etc, my own style of play normally includes the pc/miria/both turning tricks for extra cash, and so forth). In a future version, however, I think there should definitely be some consequence for having affairs with Leslie/Angela Bishop, etc, since those are for fun rather than paying the bills. I originally had her making comments specifically about wanting to see her father and Davin, but later got rid of those due to all the possibilities of checking whether they were alive or dead, etc. I have also given some thought to and would like to include the idea of buying her special presents or baubles eventually (prompting various reactions), but I first want to iron out any wrinkles in what I already have. I'd also have to give some better consideration to what these items should be and where to place them in the game (should they be in shops vs. should they be quest items, etc). If I had more time, something I'd like to do someday is add a whole new store (with guards, etc) on the New Reno #3 map that would sell nothing but fluff/trivial items that serve no real purpose in the game except to enhance role-playing and soak up the pc's cash. I initially considered parts of another idea you mentioned by thinking about whether Miria should demand actual privacy during "intimate moments," but gave it up as checking to see whether anyone on the map could see the pc and Miria seemed too complex for me at this time (it's much easier to use my imagination and just pretend they go somewhere private at these times).
@Glovz
That's definitely a concern I share. I tried to avoid making everything too demanding by only requiring the player to make an effort on each aspect of the relationship once in every two months. In my testing so far however, it seems like two in-game months pass very quickly (although I've mostly been just roaming the wasteland rather than spending time doing quests in towns). On the other hand the whole point of the mod is to add something different to the game so I'm not just on "autopilot" cruising through yet another playthrough doing the same things for the 50th time.
I made an frm of a nice wedding ring but didn't do a very good job as it has a jagged blue fringe around all the edges when shown on the in-game inventory screen. I'll hold off on that until I have time to do a better job on it.
In general, I have learned a lot by seriously studying scripting in order to implement these ideas for Miria. By initially tearing her script apart and then rebuilding it, I'll have a much easier time making other npcs into potential teammates for the Chosen One in the future (which is one of my long-term modding goals).
@Riel88
I was thinking of doing something with that makeup case in general (not just for Miria), but haven't decided what exactly it should do or be used for yet.
@earthdude
That's a good point. Perhaps she's trying to provoke robbers to get the Chosen One into fights as it turns her on or something (sadly there are some women and men like that IRL).
@Grayswandir
Those are all very good ideas. I didn't include any negative effects from adultery for a few reasons (I see Miria as free-spirited and someone who understands the wasteland is a hard place where people do what they must to earn a buck, etc, my own style of play normally includes the pc/miria/both turning tricks for extra cash, and so forth). In a future version, however, I think there should definitely be some consequence for having affairs with Leslie/Angela Bishop, etc, since those are for fun rather than paying the bills. I originally had her making comments specifically about wanting to see her father and Davin, but later got rid of those due to all the possibilities of checking whether they were alive or dead, etc. I have also given some thought to and would like to include the idea of buying her special presents or baubles eventually (prompting various reactions), but I first want to iron out any wrinkles in what I already have. I'd also have to give some better consideration to what these items should be and where to place them in the game (should they be in shops vs. should they be quest items, etc). If I had more time, something I'd like to do someday is add a whole new store (with guards, etc) on the New Reno #3 map that would sell nothing but fluff/trivial items that serve no real purpose in the game except to enhance role-playing and soak up the pc's cash. I initially considered parts of another idea you mentioned by thinking about whether Miria should demand actual privacy during "intimate moments," but gave it up as checking to see whether anyone on the map could see the pc and Miria seemed too complex for me at this time (it's much easier to use my imagination and just pretend they go somewhere private at these times).
@Glovz
That's definitely a concern I share. I tried to avoid making everything too demanding by only requiring the player to make an effort on each aspect of the relationship once in every two months. In my testing so far however, it seems like two in-game months pass very quickly (although I've mostly been just roaming the wasteland rather than spending time doing quests in towns). On the other hand the whole point of the mod is to add something different to the game so I'm not just on "autopilot" cruising through yet another playthrough doing the same things for the 50th time.
Endocore the problem you had with your ring in due to anti-aliasing. If you made it in a 3d program, render two versions – 1 with no anti-aliasing (it should have a hard jagged edge), and – 2 with anti-aliasing (it should have a soft blurred edge, and an overall softer appearance). Now if you have access to Photoshop or an equivalent, load them both and place the soft ring on top of the jagged edge ring in the layers. Make a selection of the jagged edge rings shape and use it to mask the softer ring. Save as an index using the Fallout color palette, and use the frame animator to complete the FRM.Endocore said:
DGT
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Endocore, you should release this mod to people -- preferably with RP compatibility. I like Miria (as people have said before, only female NPC), but her exceptional uselessness and lack of depth usually keep me from picking her up in Modoc. Excited to hear more about this.
@.Pixote
.Pixote wrote
I really outsmarted myself on this one. I wasn't sure what size the final image for the frm would be; thus I followed the process you described, but my renders were of large images that I then resized (thus defeating the point of rendering one image with AA off to underlie the one with AA on). Next time I'll make the renders at the size I intend to use for the final frm, but as I had quite a few items I was adding (some other jewelry, a harmonica for Cassidy to play while the party is sitting around the campfire, etc) I won't try again until I have time to redo all the renders.
@DGT
I see that killap released his RP 2.0 today. I think what I'll do is (after a little more testing) post the code changes here for the RP 1.2 mcmiria.int that are necessary to make this mod work soon (so anyone can use it however they like), and then take a look at RP 2.0 to see what changes were made there. Then I'll either post an update here, or if no one else is working on an RP 2.0 Miria mod I'll upload a file set to NMA. That final step will be at the very least several weeks off, though, as I'll need to download the RP 2 (I'm on dial-up) and look through it thoroughly before updating the files I'm working with now. Thanks, though, for the encouraging words.
[/quote]
.Pixote wrote
I really outsmarted myself on this one. I wasn't sure what size the final image for the frm would be; thus I followed the process you described, but my renders were of large images that I then resized (thus defeating the point of rendering one image with AA off to underlie the one with AA on). Next time I'll make the renders at the size I intend to use for the final frm, but as I had quite a few items I was adding (some other jewelry, a harmonica for Cassidy to play while the party is sitting around the campfire, etc) I won't try again until I have time to redo all the renders.
@DGT
I see that killap released his RP 2.0 today. I think what I'll do is (after a little more testing) post the code changes here for the RP 1.2 mcmiria.int that are necessary to make this mod work soon (so anyone can use it however they like), and then take a look at RP 2.0 to see what changes were made there. Then I'll either post an update here, or if no one else is working on an RP 2.0 Miria mod I'll upload a file set to NMA. That final step will be at the very least several weeks off, though, as I'll need to download the RP 2 (I'm on dial-up) and look through it thoroughly before updating the files I'm working with now. Thanks, though, for the encouraging words.
[/quote]
I try to render artwork at actual size, and avoid re-scaling; otherwise the pixels get screwed in the process. When you get a chance put up some images of the new items…Endocore said:
I've done enough testing of my script to be satisfied that everything is working as intended. Although I sent some files to a previous poster in this thread to get a second testbed last week I haven't heard back from them, so I presume either everything is going fine or they haven't yet gotten started; in either case, I'm pretty confident the mod is bug-free after my own testing which was fairly thorough. I also downloaded the RP 2.0, examined killap's new mcmiria.int line by line, and made an RP 2.0 compatible version of my own script. Perhaps some veterans could advise me, though, as I'm not sure what to do next.
My intention was to post the script changes in this thread in an attempt to encourage a technical discussion rather than just make a releasable mod and send it out into the world. However, there are two problems:
1) The only way I can come up with to distinguish what's changed in some nodes/where to insert what is to use colored text; however, I just tried and the font color function doesn't seem to work for me when used within sections marked for posting as "code." On the other hand just posting the script parts as regular text would remove all the indentation formatting, surely making it incomprehensible. Is there a way around these issues?
2) Due to the level of detail involved, I wrote out my post in a text editor before signing in to post it. As a plain text file the post I wanted to make is 105kb (yes, I enjoy writing), and I don't know if there are size limits to a post or if it will all fit onto a single page here (of if it did, whether it would be understandable, particularly in light of problem #1). By comparison, the entire updated mcmiria.ssl plus mcmiria.msg are only about 160kb if I were to just post them as text without any comments so people could just copy and paste the whole thing if they were interested in trying it.
I don't have any capability to post or host files for folks to download and look at, so that option is out.
For those interested in this topic, is there a consensus on how I should proceed in offering this code for discussion?
Thanks
My intention was to post the script changes in this thread in an attempt to encourage a technical discussion rather than just make a releasable mod and send it out into the world. However, there are two problems:
1) The only way I can come up with to distinguish what's changed in some nodes/where to insert what is to use colored text; however, I just tried and the font color function doesn't seem to work for me when used within sections marked for posting as "code." On the other hand just posting the script parts as regular text would remove all the indentation formatting, surely making it incomprehensible. Is there a way around these issues?
2) Due to the level of detail involved, I wrote out my post in a text editor before signing in to post it. As a plain text file the post I wanted to make is 105kb (yes, I enjoy writing), and I don't know if there are size limits to a post or if it will all fit onto a single page here (of if it did, whether it would be understandable, particularly in light of problem #1). By comparison, the entire updated mcmiria.ssl plus mcmiria.msg are only about 160kb if I were to just post them as text without any comments so people could just copy and paste the whole thing if they were interested in trying it.
I don't have any capability to post or host files for folks to download and look at, so that option is out.
For those interested in this topic, is there a consensus on how I should proceed in offering this code for discussion?
Thanks
You could always start your self an article on the modding wiki, and use the talk page to post all the code and stuff.
Dude101 said:
I second that. The modding wiki definitely needs some love from the community
All my code for this project has been posted over at the modding wiki as part of a larger article that deals with all aspects of making your own Miria mod starting from scratch. Just copy and paste the script sections into a script and compile it, copy and paste the dialogue section to make an .msg, and start a new game of RP 2.0 if you're interested in trying out the features discussed earlier in this thread.
While writing the article I was trying to explain a bit about how scripts and other things work as well as how to build a Miria mod, so hopefully it will be interesting and useful in a variety of ways to beginners without being boring to read for veterans. If the article contains any factual errors, please let me know.
I'm not sure yet if the page is displaying quite properly, but I left a message for Dude101 about my concerns so if it's hard to read check back there in a day or two and it should all be fixed.
Hopefully any Miria fans will enjoy the mod, and I encourage anyone who wants to do so to adapt the code I posted for their own purposes.
While writing the article I was trying to explain a bit about how scripts and other things work as well as how to build a Miria mod, so hopefully it will be interesting and useful in a variety of ways to beginners without being boring to read for veterans. If the article contains any factual errors, please let me know.
I'm not sure yet if the page is displaying quite properly, but I left a message for Dude101 about my concerns so if it's hard to read check back there in a day or two and it should all be fixed.
Hopefully any Miria fans will enjoy the mod, and I encourage anyone who wants to do so to adapt the code I posted for their own purposes.
Excellent work Endocore, the Wiki page will be a huge assistance to those modders wanting to build new critters. It was decent of you to explain the technicalities involved. Are you considering working on any further critters in Fallout 2? I’m sure people will start suggesting as soon as they have had an opportunity to test your mod – (Davin) for instance. Again thanks for your efforts… 
Is there a chance that Endocore (or anyone else, if he agrees) could also post the changed files? As I understand it, I would need to install the mapper in order to apply the changes, and I don' t think I would use it for something other than this mod... (sorry if I sound whiny, but it seems to be an hassle...)
@.Pixote
Thanks.
Right now I'm sprucing up Bess the Cow. I ported her script from the Megamod to RP compatibility, allowing her to be a full-time party member. I want to add two new features to Bess, as soon as I figure how I want them to work exactly:
a) Twice a day the player can milk Bess for a quart of tasty brahmin milk (haven't figured out if a bottle is required to collect the milk, or if I can just pretend there are enough bottles laying around in the wasteland trash for the player to be assumed to have one whenever they want); although the brahmin milk will heal 1 point of damage or sell for 2 bucks, the main point is to enhance the role-playing rather than add even more loot to an already bloated game;
b) Balthas the Tanner in Modoc can make a harness/saddlebags for Bess, allowing her to carry things. I'm thinking the carry weight for a cow would be 500-700 pounds, but haven't figured out how the saddlebag thing will be represented in the game; although my main hobby in addition to Fallout is cg art and I have the means to do so, the chance of me making 2000+ new animations for Bess is 0.00%. To avoid the oddity of a bartering cow, the player will only be able to trade with Bess while she's in the party and while she's wearing her saddlebag.
I already gave her two level-ups (levels up every 5 player-levels). She seems to be working out fairly well even without (a) and (b). Vic got killed in my RP game, so Bess has been filling in on the northern part of the map; she moves as fast as Vic ever did, and she doesn't shoot me in the back. She seems to especially enjoy grazing on spore plants and has a particular dislike of baby deathclaws (some say it's all random, but I say it's more fun to use my imagination).
@mdqp
I'm reluctant to release the mod as a fileset, because a) I don't want to compete with Grandson of Sam's Miria mod that is already available, and b) I want to encourage people to try modding an easy project for themselves (I did all the work already, all that's needed is for anyone to follow along in the tutorial).
If you don't have the mapper installed, you could use the .pro files/pro_crit.msg/critters.lst from Grandson of Sam's mod while copying/pasting the script and dialogue file from my tutorial to use for Miria. This would work fine.
@Skiewolf
Thanks.
Regarding Davin, hopefully there's enough information in the tutorial for anyone to make a brand new Davin (or any other brand new npc) whenever they want.
Thanks.
Right now I'm sprucing up Bess the Cow. I ported her script from the Megamod to RP compatibility, allowing her to be a full-time party member. I want to add two new features to Bess, as soon as I figure how I want them to work exactly:
a) Twice a day the player can milk Bess for a quart of tasty brahmin milk (haven't figured out if a bottle is required to collect the milk, or if I can just pretend there are enough bottles laying around in the wasteland trash for the player to be assumed to have one whenever they want); although the brahmin milk will heal 1 point of damage or sell for 2 bucks, the main point is to enhance the role-playing rather than add even more loot to an already bloated game;
b) Balthas the Tanner in Modoc can make a harness/saddlebags for Bess, allowing her to carry things. I'm thinking the carry weight for a cow would be 500-700 pounds, but haven't figured out how the saddlebag thing will be represented in the game; although my main hobby in addition to Fallout is cg art and I have the means to do so, the chance of me making 2000+ new animations for Bess is 0.00%. To avoid the oddity of a bartering cow, the player will only be able to trade with Bess while she's in the party and while she's wearing her saddlebag.
I already gave her two level-ups (levels up every 5 player-levels). She seems to be working out fairly well even without (a) and (b). Vic got killed in my RP game, so Bess has been filling in on the northern part of the map; she moves as fast as Vic ever did, and she doesn't shoot me in the back. She seems to especially enjoy grazing on spore plants and has a particular dislike of baby deathclaws (some say it's all random, but I say it's more fun to use my imagination).
@mdqp
I'm reluctant to release the mod as a fileset, because a) I don't want to compete with Grandson of Sam's Miria mod that is already available, and b) I want to encourage people to try modding an easy project for themselves (I did all the work already, all that's needed is for anyone to follow along in the tutorial).
If you don't have the mapper installed, you could use the .pro files/pro_crit.msg/critters.lst from Grandson of Sam's mod while copying/pasting the script and dialogue file from my tutorial to use for Miria. This would work fine.
@Skiewolf
Thanks.
Regarding Davin, hopefully there's enough information in the tutorial for anyone to make a brand new Davin (or any other brand new npc) whenever they want.
@ Endocore.
Holy shit man !
I always had a weak for Bess the Cow & its so awesome to hear your story.
I really feel what you´r trying to say with people creating their own little piece in the fallout universe.
Im giving it a go.
Though that harness balthas is going to make for her does sound really nice.
Bye !
Holy shit man !
I always had a weak for Bess the Cow & its so awesome to hear your story.
I really feel what you´r trying to say with people creating their own little piece in the fallout universe.
Im giving it a go.
Though that harness balthas is going to make for her does sound really nice.
Bye !
@ Endocore
What about "Bess" when you get the Highwayman?
I also have some thoughts about the whole plot that concerns Miria.
I think miria´s father should react in another manner when the "chosen one" take Davin as his Spouse. He should probably kick out both of them.
He should say something like "kick them gays in their ass get the fuck out of here-both of you".
Then the player has the posibility to take "Davin" as his companion, following a new script a little bid altered as the Miria ones.
I could imagine a very funny gay conversation with him travelling during the wastelands.
Otherwise, when you are playing as a woman and take Miria he just kicks you out an give miria a real good spanky..
And finally as a woman with "Davin" he just says: oups... don´t want to disturb you...or similar.
What about "Bess" when you get the Highwayman?
I also have some thoughts about the whole plot that concerns Miria.
I think miria´s father should react in another manner when the "chosen one" take Davin as his Spouse. He should probably kick out both of them.
He should say something like "kick them gays in their ass get the fuck out of here-both of you".
Then the player has the posibility to take "Davin" as his companion, following a new script a little bid altered as the Miria ones.
I could imagine a very funny gay conversation with him travelling during the wastelands.
Otherwise, when you are playing as a woman and take Miria he just kicks you out an give miria a real good spanky..
And finally as a woman with "Davin" he just says: oups... don´t want to disturb you...or similar.
Endocore said:
I think a critter builder might have to consider making the artwork of the Chosen One riding a two headed Brahmin, could be cool if they could fire their weapons while riding Bess…
