Party AI on/off: Detection in game?

[jastey]

Is there a way to detect whether the party AI is toggled off (or on)?

My problem is that I assign a script as CLASS script to my NPC when in 7th party member mode (FAMILIAR) which gets executed also if AI is off, which is bad.

Alternatively: Is there a script slot for a FAMILIAR party member that is also affected by the AI button?

[Magus]

There's something in EEEx https://eeex-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/EE Game Lua Functions/game/game_GetPartyAI.html#game-getpartyai, although the usage is unclear.

[jastey]

Thank you for the info! Unfortunately, I'd need a solution which would also be available for classic BGII (ideally).

[Bubb]

I'm afraid it's impossible in classic games. The only place the engine exposes such information is to the UI in v2.0+ Enhanced Edition games, (to render the button on the worldscreen in the correct state). It would be possible to rig UI.MENU to toggle a GLOBAL according to the current state of the party AI, but that's about it.

[jastey]

34 minutes ago, Bubb said:

It would be possible to rig UI.MENU to toggle a GLOBAL according to the current state of the party AI, but that's about it.

Meaning I would need to mod the UI so it gives the GLOBAL?

Thank you very much for the info!

[argent77]

1 hour ago, Bubb said:

I'm afraid it's impossible in classic games. The only place the engine exposes such information is to the UI in v2.0+ Enhanced Edition games, (to render the button on the worldscreen in the correct state). It would be possible to rig UI.MENU to toggle a GLOBAL according to the current state of the party AI, but that's about it.

Well, PSTEE provides a PartyScriptsActive() trigger, which does exactly what the name suggests. Unfortuntately it hasn't been implemented in the other EE games. This feature would have been useful in some of my mods as well.

[Bubb]

42 minutes ago, jastey said:

Meaning I would need to mod the UI so it gives the GLOBAL?

Correct - you can do something like this:

Append to the very top of UI.MENU =>

Spoiler

`
B3OldPartyAI = nil

function B3CheckPartyAITick()
    if aiButtonToggle ~= B3OldPartyAI then
        B3OldPartyAI = aiButtonToggle
        C:SetGlobal("B3PartyAI", "GLOBAL", aiButtonToggle)
    end
    return false
end
`

menu
{
    name "B3CheckPartyAI"
    label
    {
        enabled "B3CheckPartyAITick()"
    }
}

 

Use WeiDU to replace this part of UI.MENU:

Spoiler

Infinity_PushMenu('WORLD_MESSAGES')
if(groundItemsButtonToggle == 1) then

 

with =>

Spoiler

if not Infinity_IsMenuOnStack('B3CheckPartyAI') then
    Infinity_PushMenu('B3CheckPartyAI')
end
Infinity_PushMenu('WORLD_MESSAGES')
if(groundItemsButtonToggle == 1) then

 

 

This patch works for the vanilla UI, (it might break if a UI mod alters the wrong part of WORLD_ACTIONBAR). You can then, in scripts, check if Party AI is enabled with:

Global("B3PartyAI","GLOBAL",1)

Zero being disabled, of course.

 

12 minutes ago, argent77 said:

Well, PSTEE provides a PartyScriptsActive() trigger, which does exactly what the name suggests. Unfortuntately it hasn't been implemented in the other EE games. This feature would have been useful in some of my mods as well.

I always forget that PST:EE had some unique features; I agree, would be nice if some of those were merged into the normal EE branch.

[jastey]

Wow @Bubb it's really amazing what you can do with the engine/UI/everything on the fly-by!

I don't think I will actually do this (as it still has the risk to break (with) UI mods) but it's interesting to know, thanks!

[Magus]

kludgemaster 3000: you can set a short timer in dplayer.bcs, once it expires you'll know it's off. Not instant, and won't work in some corner cases, but hey, it's something.