Request for the next version of Gavin

[berelinde]

Hmmm... messing with state triggers is risky, because I would have the potential to hose another mod or to have another mod hose mine. Dialogue is more my area of expertise, so I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something. Maybe I'll add a state trigger RandomNum(2,1) and then have RandomNum(2,2) point to a completely different rumor set that includes clues about key placement among other more game-related things. I'd like this to be as compatibility-friendly as possible.

[Miloch]

Modding the rumours is dead simple as it turns out, because you can just a regular APPEND.

Hmmm... messing with state triggers is risky, because I would have the potential to hose another mod or to have another mod hose mine.

No you won't, because:

1) No other mod touches this file, not even in a BWP install, and even if it did,

2) Using an APPEND won't mess with any of the previous states, since it's adding your rumours at the end, and

3) This isn't a typical dialogue anyhow, in that the order doesn't really seem to matter, only the conditions.

 

So, e.g.:

<<<<<<<< .../gavin-inlined/b!rumors.d
APPEND %tutu_var%rbereg

IF ~GlobalGT("B!GavinQuestVar","GLOBAL",0)~ THEN BEGIN ~b!rumor1~
 SAY ~There's some mighty paranoid folk in that odd manor behind the Burning Wizard. Keep their door locked at all times. Right strange if you ask me. Not that there aren't thieves in this town, but it's almost as if they've got something to hide.~
 IF ~~ THEN UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~Odd manor

There seems to be some sort of secret concerning the manor in Beregost behind the Burning Wizard.~
 EXIT
END

END
>>>>>>>>

COMPILE ~.../gavin-inlined/b!rumors.d~ EVALUATE_BUFFER

It's that simple. Now you can get tricky with it by putting this as 3 separate blocks along with the random item placement. Then change the rumour text for each case, so it's different wherever the item ends up.

 

If it were me, I'd add about 4 or 5 rumours. A general one like the above, then 2 or 3 more specific variants as to the location that are more or less true, then one that's completely false. But that's 'cause I'm devious like that . AFAIK rumours fire more or less randomly, so you'll get the true ones most of the time.

[berelinde]

Yeah, looking at the diaogue file, I see how it works. Since it's set up the way it is, I can add as many rumors as I like and not screw anything up.

 

I'm working on this at the moment.

[berelinde]

Rumors that I'm adding. I'll also put hints in the readme. Players are probably no more likely to read that than they are to get tanked at a tavern.

// b!rumor.d - adds some rumors to the Beregost taverns

APPEND %tutu_var%RBEREG 

IF ~GlobalGT("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",0) !Global("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",5)~ THEN BEGIN r1 
SAY ~There's some mighty paranoid folk in that odd manor behind the Burning Wizard. Keep their door locked at all times. Right strange if you ask me. Not that there aren't thieves in this town, but it's almost as if they've got something to hide.~ 
IF ~~ THEN UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~Odd manor

There seems to be some sort of secret concerning the manor in Beregost behind the Burning Wizard.~ EXIT 
END 

IF ~GlobalGT("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",0) !Global("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",5)~ THEN BEGIN r2 
SAY ~Some folks say that house behind the Burning Wizard is haunted. Could be, since everybody 'round here knows the previous owner went off adventuring. Some say that he was last seen 'round the Valley of the Tombs, others that he went poking about the old ruins where Ulcaster used to be. Others say he went snooping around the bandits up north a ways. Up to you what you believe.~ 
IF ~~ THEN UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~Haunted house

Rumor has it that the house behind the Burning Wizard is haunted by the ghost of the previous owner, last seen near the Valley of Tombs or the Ulcaster ruins... or investigating the bandits 'up north.' Rumor can be remarkably imprecise.~ EXIT 
END 

IF ~GlobalGT("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",0) !Global("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",5)~ THEN BEGIN r3 
SAY ~Caravan came back with some pretty odd stuff, gear and the like from the man who used to live in the manor behind the Burning Wizard. Says he found it near the old ruins south of the Song of the Morning. Wonder what else got left behind.~ 
IF ~~ THEN UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~Secret cache

A former Beregost native is rumored to have left some gear in the ruins south of the Beregost Temple.~ EXIT 
END 

IF ~GlobalGT("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",0) !Global("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",5)~ THEN BEGIN r4 
SAY ~Say, if you find yourself near the Valley of the Tombs, could you keep your eye out for a man by the name of Willis? Short man, yellow hair. He used to live in that manor behind the Burning Wizard, but then he went off adventuring and left his bar tab unpaid. If he's still alive, that is. If he ain't, well, guess it don't matter much.~ 
IF ~~ THEN UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~Unpaid bar bill

Should I happen upon a man by the name of Willis, I should probably remind him about his unpaid bar tab... if he's even still alive.~ EXIT 
END 

IF ~GlobalGT("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",0) !Global("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",5)~ THEN BEGIN r5 
SAY ~You keep you eyes out for those bandits, hear? One of the locals, used to live in that big house behind the Burning Wizard, went off north looking for them, and he never came back.~ 
IF ~~ THEN UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~Bandits north of Beregost

Bandit activity is reported to be high north of Beregost. It seems to have claimed the life of a Beregost native who used to live behind the Burning Wizard.~ EXIT 
END 
END

[Miloch]

Cool. I wonder if you should put checks to make sure you don't get the same rumour more than once. But then the existing rumours don't have such checks, so I guess you should just match the default behaviour as much as possible.

 

You'll probably want to EraseJournalEntry all that once the quest is solved, but I'm sure you figured that out already.

I'll also put hints in the readme. Players are probably no more likely to read that than they are to get tanked at a tavern.

Far less likely, I'd say . If you're putting spoilers in the readme though, might want to mask them as such, like BG1 NPC does (probably already accounted for that too).

[berelinde]

Yeah, I'm not bothering to put checks in to avoid rumor duplication. If I have to hear about the iron crisis eight times, well, players should have to hear about Beregost's haunted house, too.

 

And yeah, spoilers and journal entries are taken care of.

[Guest Dirty Uncle Bertie]

Wow, I've loved reading this thread and seeing how things have developed. So the haunted house rumours stop once you've done whatever it is you need to do in there? I assume that's what Miloch meant by "You'll probably want to EraseJournalEntry all that once the quest is solved". This is all so clever, so neat.

 

Congrats on making a great mod even greater.

[Miloch]

So the haunted house rumours stop once you've done whatever it is you need to do in there? I assume that's what Miloch meant by "You'll probably want to EraseJournalEntry all that once the quest is solved".

Actually, that just means they'll be removed from your journal because when you solve the quest you'll get a SOLVED_JOURNAL entry instead. But yeah, the house rumours should stop since berelinde's put a !Global("B!GavinBodyThiefQuest","GLOBAL",5) check in there, which I'm assuming is the variable state for the finished quest.

 

It's nice to know this stuff is appreciated and we modders aren't just bantering some really esoteric garbage back and forth . I guess any sort of creative work is really just a collection of miniscule details that seem trivial at the time, but all add up to something greater than the sum, as it were.

[Ankhesenpaaten]

I have a request, if you have time. You know in BG the gnome in Waukeen's Promenade who sells special items? Since you created him and I take him why can't I buy a gift for Haldamir?

 

Just a thought! I was a little surprized that I couldn't. The poor guy was left out!

[berelinde]

Heh. I thought about it, just like I thought about including gifts for Ajantis, Kelsey, Keto, Kivan, Solaufein, Hubelpot, the Luxleys, Nathaniel, Neh'taniel, and a number of other mods that have either open or at least rather relaxed permissions policy, but what held me back was 1) time, and 2) the NPC dialogue.

 

The format is

-Master Grolim launches his sales pitch

-PC identifies recipient

-Master Grolim specifies what he's got for that NPC

-NPC protest/acknowledgment

-Master Grolim brushes protest aside

-PC decides to buy or not buy

-NPC thanks

-Master Grolim farewell

 

Each time an NPC speaks, I've got to add a line to his or her J file. If the NPC isn't installed before Gavin for BG2, the mod installation will fail.

 

If the idea proves to be popular enough, I might just take it out of Gavin entirely and code it up for inclusion in Crossmod Banter Pack. I've been thinking about doing this with the Party Camp idea I've been kicking around.