I'm just a sad starter

[berelinde]

More questions: is the kickout dialogue typed in the same file as the first one? And what about the other lalalaJ, lalalaB, lala25J and such, do I make new .d files, or put them all in the same one?

 

These are all different, but take one thing at a time. Get your joining dialogue down. That will be lalala. From there, I moved on to banters, which go in the lalalaB (or Blalala, as it often known), and from there on to lalalaJ for party dialogue like interjections and pc talks, and from there on to the post dialogue file, lalalaP, for dialogue that happens once the NPC has been in the party and been kicked out. Don't worry about lala25J, Blala25, or any of that quite yet.

 

You don't have to do stuff in any one particular order! That's just what worked for me.

 

Joining dialogue = lalala.d

Banters = Blalala.d = lalalaB.d

Interjections and in-party dialogue = lalalaJ.d

Kick-out and rejoin dialogue = lalalaP.d

 

anything with a 25 in it is ToB.

[Bardess]

...I'm a writer. A Serbian writer, though. Wrote a "book", but I still have to finish things and then try to publish it.

I'm also a 16y old girl! (not exactly the qualifications for a good coder, with due respect for all the girls who are it) I do like Maths, though, but this is different. Someday I'll learn

 

But... YAAAAAY, it's working! He spawned and initiated dialogue when he saw my char (that's what I wanted him to do). Well, he *is* still in the Government district, as I used Vondo's coordinates. I think I'll put him in the Docks later.

Still haven't made peace with my small portrait, so I used Xzar's for now.

However, there are more things unclear to me, about the dialogues the NPC should start. I've read about it, but I don't understand some Globals, I think, like the timer(and the number it includes, what does 30 mean? and 1000? (that's what I saw in Tsujatha's script)).

 

Still got much to learn, but I wanted to make a joinable NPC for BG2 for a long time. Last summer I wrote a few dialogues and several banters with bioware's NPCs, and I'm about to continue doing it (I'm just not sure whether and when I will have time for that).

 

A different question than before:

Suppose I've finished everything and have tried to draw a portrait of my NPC, but neither of the versions is in the same style as the official ones. Is it allowed to edit a picture of Antonio Banderas and use it? Or do I have to ask Antonio Banderas for a permission?

[berelinde]

...I'm a writer. A Serbian writer, though. Wrote a "book", but I still have to finish things and then try to publish it.

I'm also a 16y old girl! (not exactly the qualifications for a good coder, with due respect for all the girls who are it) I do like Maths, though, but this is different. Someday I'll learn

 

You're 16, which is an advantage, believe me. Gender is irrelevant. You will learn, and you are learning already.

 

However, there are more things unclear to me, about the dialogues the NPC should start. I've read about it, but I don't understand some Globals, I think, like the timer(and the number it includes, what does 30 mean? and 1000? (that's what I saw in Tsujatha's script)).

 

Then postpone it until you do understand. This mod isn't like Athena, springing from the head of Zeus fully formed. You're going to be doing it in stages one way or the other. Now that you have your joining dialogue, maybe make another one, slightly different. Or move on to banters. Learn how to use CHAIN, maybe, because they make writing banters easier. As for variables, keep reading. You'll see it. BTW, global variables are alwas singular. it's always Global as a trigger, or GLOBAL in a variable expression, never a plural.

 

Global("B!GavinExists","GLOBAL",1) // global trigger

 

SetGlobal("B!GavinExists","GLOBAL",1) // global action

 

Suppose I've finished everything and have tried to draw a portrait of my NPC, but neither of the versions is in the same style as the official ones. Is it allowed to edit a picture of Antonio Banderas and use it? Or do I have to ask Antonio Banderas for a permission?

 

I haven't heard of any celebrities suing anyone using a celebrity portrait. I'll let you know if David Wenham ever decides to sue me. I guarantee that if you use a picture of Antonio Banderas, I will definitely like it!

[Guest Keldon]

Hello,

 

I was wondering if I could just ask a quick question? (Heh, no...that wasn't it!)

I am new to creating NPC's, so I followed the instructions in this post right to the "T" and ran into an error, so I then copy / pasted the code, just to make sure that I wasn't making an error there and still the same error. I then double checked then triple checked that I had all the files exactly where I was told to put them....still the same error. (I know, I know...right about 2 sentences ago you were probably screaming "WHAT ERROR IS IT?")

What is happening is that when I click on the weidu.exe to install the character, I am getting an error back saying that it can't find the TP2 file, to make sure it was unpacked (or whatever) properly and not in an archive (whatever that means).

(Pauses for a breath....)

Now, for my question......can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong, or what I have missed...even what I need to do to make this work please? I would be very greatful. I have written what I think is a very fun, exciting to plat NPC and I would just love to be able to share it with the rest of the community. So, really, any help you can give would be great!

 

Thank you

Keldon

[Kaeloree]

Answered via PM at SHS, Keldon. (you name the tp2 MyNpc-setup.tp2, not MyNpc-setup.exe.tp2 ;P)

[berelinde]

Or you can call it MyNPC.tp2. That also works.

[Bardess]

About Antonio Banderas... I made that portrait of mine yesterday. (haven't finished a third of the conversations, though, and those I have written are mostly from last September) Only that it doesn't work.

 

Could you tell me again, how exactly do I assign a portrait to my NPC - from the beginning?

I wrote some lines about it in my tp2 file, and the portraits appear in the override folder, but something's still wrong. Maybe I made a mistake in assigning them to my character? I have two of them, bmp format, 16bit. That OK or...? Near Infinity can only open the L one (or M if I name it that way), and S is in the list, but it refuses to do anything with it.

 

Sorry for boring you with my starter's problems, but when I'm not reading or trying to figure how things work on my own, I'm sick of all that headbanging and just feel like asking for help

 

And, berelinde, thank you for your time

[berelinde]

I'm going through the same thing myself, just a couple months ahead of you.

 

For a BG2 character, you are going to need 3 portraits, whose names can be a maximum of 8 characters long, with the last character being H, M, or S.

 

The big, epilogue portrait:

Not sure of the exact dimensions. Could be 235x350 pixels, 24-bit bmp format, with a bmp extension. The name should be along the lines of xxxxxxxH.bmp. I wouldn't use a "!" as one of the characters, if I were you.

 

The "large" portrait you see on the inventory page:

That portrait needs to be 110x170 pixels, 24-bit bmp format, with a bmp extension. The name should look like xxxxxxxM.bmp.

 

The small portrait that shows up on the right panel and also next to dialogue:

This one must be 38x60 pixels, 8-bit bmp format, with a bmp extension. Note that this differs from the other two. The name should look like xxxxxxxS.bmp.

 

I need to look up the hex numbers for portrait assignment. While I'm doing that, maybe you can post the creature copying and naming portion of your tp2. It's going to have to wait until I get home, I'm afraid. I've got all that on my home computer, but not here.

[Bardess]

Edit: Latest news: I made it that after installing the mod Fiars's portrait is shown in his cre file as well. Every good news of mine has an "only", though The game has just crushed me when Fiars tried to initiate dialogue! Could this be because of the portrait, or is it something else? I've talked to him before and it all went well.

 

About my NPC Fiars's portrait, I think there was a problem in formatting. Well, the main one anyway. I've noticed something about the problems I am facing. I always make, like, two mistakes, or I make only one and then, trying to get to its core, mess it up for a medal. Just like this time. Where's the third mistake, I wonder!

 

I must be annoying, not being able to even set a portrait into my mod on my own.

 

Umm, I will need a large portrait as well? But the picture of Mr A.B. that I liked the most and edited isn't that big, I think.

[Domi]

Not sure of the exact dimensions. Could be 235x350 pixels, 24-bit bmp format, with a bmp extension. The name should be along the lines of xxxxxxxH.bmp. I wouldn't use a "!" as one of the characters, if I were you.

 

The size is 210x330. You need it if you intend the character to have the same epilogue in ToB as all others.

 

 

COPY ~AssassiMod/Z#Fiars.cre~ ~override/Z#Fiars.cre~

COPY ~AssassiMod/Z#fiarsM.bmp~ ~override/Z#fjarL.bmp~

COPY ~AssassiMod/Z#fiarsS.bmp~ ~override/Z#fjarS.bmp~

 

Well, what these lines mean is that you copy your Cre file (your actor) and two portraits into the game. (The game draws modded files from the Override folder).

 

What you need to do in addition is to _assign_ the portraits to the CRE.

 

Either edit your initial CRE in NI - the portrait names will appear on the drop down menue after they are in the override folder. Make sure that after you saved the CRE that the assignment 'sticks'. I usually move the cursor away from the changed line, that helps.

 

or assign them via TP2.

 

Assigining via TP2 is done via this structure:

 

//Seasnake #1

COPY ~Kivan/CRE/P#SEASN.cre~ ~override/P#SEAS1.cre~

SAY NAME1 @150

SAY NAME2 @151

//a bunch of lines that assign the soundset//

WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~P#IHTIA~// override script

WRITE_ASCII 0x34 ~seas~//small portrait

WRITE_ASCII 0x2CC ~P#IHTIA~// dialog

WRITE_ASCII 0x280 ~seasnake1~// death variable

 

the name in quotes corresponds to the name of the file (without the extension)

 

the number after ASCII is a so-called offset. It shows up in NI editor if you go under Options and ask it to 'Show Hex Offset'

 

I'll leave it up to you to find the Hex Offset for the large portrait and assign both to your CRE

[Bardess]

Oh. I guess I'll try that sometime. Right now, my head feels like exploding. I think I'll just open Word and write a mere dialogue...

 

Oh, and... There's a valuable piece of information about me and ToB... I better write my will fast...

I never actually completed the game A few years ago, I came to the place you are supposed to defeat Melissan. I used all of my sorcerer spells on the first fight with her and when those things I was supposed to fight in the meantime appeared, I got mad and quit. My brother later uninstalled the game. But now I have my own comp (I only use his to acces the internet... ) I've played the game several times over and over later, but not much of ToB.

ToB is hard to play and the fights are unfair. Alltogether with that smart monk guy immune to Time Stop! Imagine what a blow it is for a sorcerer to cast a spell as powerful as that and realise they've only done harm to their own party, because now the smart guy can kick them at will!

Just don't get me wrong, I think BG2 is the best game ever. I'll also have to complete Throne of Bhaal someday.

[Domi]

Don't worry you'll get it. Once you understand three-four main principles, it all gets easy (well, the garden-variety stuff). Just don't fall into the trap of the "Oh, I am soooo artistic, I can't possibly get this coding bit."

[Bardess]

Coo! When it's not boiling your brain, modding is fun! I just did the assassin-cat operation*tm! You'll get to see it one day, it's an amateur's work of an invisible npc talking to you (the cat behind a building - aka the assassin you are unable to see - threatens to kill you, it looks so cool! After finishing the dialogue, the cat destroys itself. Coo! ) .

 

Edit: this problem's been solved, it would seem: Still that small portrait

I think I have my portraits assigned to my character. It seems that, when I type it in my tp2 file for the installation to copy the portraits in the override folder, the small one doesn't work. If I put them there manually and disable those lines in tp2 about it, the S one does show, both in NI and the game. It's not about different file-naming; NI won't open the small portrait copied by the installation at all.

[Rabain]

Can you upload a copy of your L and S portraits. We can take a look at them and see if there is some other problem.

 

It says in the readme S portraits should be 8bit but can be up to 24bit. 24bit do work. It also needs to be 38x60 and the name can only be 8 characters long. I'm sure you've checked all this though!

[Bardess]

Hm, and I've tried with different versions of portraits as well. Hope the problem is in that. Umm, I don't know how to upload a bmp image