"NPCs match PC experience" on every joining

[Kulyok]

The component which brings NPCs's experience to PC level is great. Really, before I had to deal with 15000 and 40000 XP-difference, and now it's only a few hundred XP(over a thousand if PC is high enough level).

 

But when I dump an NPC and pick him up a few years(levels) later, the NPC in question still has his old experience. Naturally, that's how the component works now.

 

But what if the cool joining spell worked each time the component was added to party? ("Jaheira not in party" - a variable(spell effect?) gets set, so when she's in party again, a trigger based on this variable fires).

 

Example: Dragon Age. Whenever you pick followers in camp, even if they were several levels below, now they are only one level below you.

 

I think this component could be even more useful, and it would work splendidly. For those who do not want this particular option(levelling on every joning), and only want XP adjustment to happen once, there could be option 1] and option 2] upon installing the component, just like with, say, "NPCs don't fight or complain about reputation" in BG2 Tweaks.

[phordicus]

if i may...

 

how about this being controlled by a simple "welcome back" dialog when they rejoin?

 

-Hey Korgan, please rejoin the party.

 

'Bout time you came to your senses.

 

1) Well, the bodies are piling up around here and it'd be better for all if I got you out of here. [add XP]

2) Yes, I can smell you've done nothing but drink and violate immobile creatures the entire time. [leave XP as is]

 

something like that.

[Kulyok]

I suspect the XP option on install(not in dialogue) might work better - not because of the immersion-breaking, but because the dialogue option may potentially require rewriting mod(BG1 NPC) dialogue, introducing possible incompatibility problems. But, yes, both would work for me.

[Miloch]

Will look into it, but it might be something for Nythrun's v2 (if she ever resurfaces). The component already rewrites dialogue (at least the actions therein) by applying the XP-matching spell upon the first JoinParty() instance. So I'm not sure how it'd handle rejoining unless it were as simple as applying it on every JoinParty() instance.

[Kulyok]

Applying it on every JoinParty instance sounds just about right to me. But you're right, I'm not into this complicated code, so you or Nythrun will know better.

[Miloch]

BG1 NPC's phase3/wait/dlg/x#npcwait.d (NPCs wait at an inn component) APPENDs the re-JoinParty()s to their post dialogues (e.g. jaheip.dlg) rather than the initial meeting dialogues (e.g. jaheir.dlg). So an alternative subcomponent would be dead easy, since it just has to account for the list of those as well.

 

If anyone has a custom NPC with funky rejoin dialogue files, now's the time to post them here if you want them included. Not sure if I feel like going through them all again, though I may do something quick and dirty like grep the pdialog.2da references from a BWP install.

[Kulyok]

Not really funky, no, but I've a question: in Xan BG2 NPC, I have JoinParty() commands in O#Xan.d, O#Xan25.d(first joining) and O#XanP.d, O#Xan25P.d(re-joining). Each file has several JoinParty() commands. Should I add or include something else?

[Miloch]

The o#xan and o#xan25 are already there, so just the o#xanp and o#xan25p need to be added in this case.

 

As it turns out, I have a JoinParty grep I output from NI the last time I looked at this, so I can probably just crunch that to compile the list.

[Shaitan]

Stealing the thread:

 

When ie having a fighter level nine, dualling him to ie cleric and then freeing Jaheira from the prison in Irenicus' dungeon makes Jaheira having 1000 xp. Was that the intension with this component?

 

Cheers

[Miloch]

When ie having a fighter level nine, dualling him to ie cleric and then freeing Jaheira from the prison in Irenicus' dungeon makes Jaheira having 1000 xp. Was that the intension with this component?

Well that's how it's coded, yes. When you dual class, you become level 1 in the new class and your experience is reset to zero. I can't think of a good way to account for the inactive XP without some sort of detectable stat that could read the original class in the CRE file. Maybe it's something Ascension64 could whip up for TobEx - he seems to be wizarding just about everything else these days.

[Kulyok]

Makes sense.

 

By the way, files for Tiax are O#Tiax.d, O#Tiax25.d(probably already there), O#TiaxP.d and O#Tia25P.d, if they are neeeded. Maybe another thread for mod NPCs(or, rather, modders) is needed to dump various relevant dialogue file names to?

[Miloch]

Maybe another thread for mod NPCs(or, rather, modders) is needed to dump various relevant dialogue file names to?

Shouldn't be necessary - I think I got them all from my JoinParty grep. Even Aran, due to cmorgan's verbose documentation, so he now has the dubious distinction of being the only mod author who has another mod supporting his mod that doesn't actually exist yet .

 

Only odd one (apart from TS NPCs and the like but who cares about them) is Gavin since supposedly he already has an XP-matching component, so it's up to berelinde to say whether this alternative component should support his rejoin dialogue. I know which files they are but I've left them commented out for now (as his join files are in the original component).

[Kulyok]

Let me say that again: Level 1 NPC rocks. And you folks rock for supporting it.