Dragon Age Toolset Wiki - User contributions [en]

Conversation

2009-11-09T04:34:21Z

Kemayo:

Conversations contain lines of dialogue, usually focused on one NPC and the player's interaction with him or her. Each line of dialogue can have the following associated with it:
*The text of the line, which can be displayed in-game
*The voice over (for non-player characters)
*The speaker's facial performance (lip synching and expression)
*[[Stage]] information for positioning the actors and cameras in an area (optional, some conversations can occur anywhere and use default staging)
*[[Cutscene]] cinematics that can potentially override any of the above with more detailed and complex events.

A conversation is usually associated with a [[creature]], which is referred to in the conversation with the "OWNER" tag. They can also be associated with placeables, or simply used as a container for lines of dialogue used in a cutscene.

The main body of the display for this type of object is one or more tree-shaped structures containing all of the lines or actions that can be reached in the course of following this conversation. For example:

[[Image:Conversation tutorial 2.png]]

Red lines are those spoken by NPCs, blue lines are those spoken by the player (usually chosen from a group of alternatives). Grey lines are lines that are 'linked' to other lines, allowing the flow of the conversation to jump to other branches or repeat itself if needed.

Below the main display is a tabbed pane containing options that can be set on a line-by-line basis.

== Global Settings ==

The global settings tab is only present when the root node of the entire conversation is selected. This is where one can set defaults for who is listening and who is talking (in conversations with more than two individuals you'll need to override these defaults on a line-by-line basis as needed).

You can also set a number of flags involved in cinematic effects:
*Lock all gestures
*Lock all poses
*Lock all RoboBrad
*Lock all cameras
*Ambient Soundset Type

Also available in the root node are a simplified plot and scripting tab (see below for details) that allows you to modify plot flags and trigger scripts when the conversation ends; this is helpful for preventing errors and saving time when crafting a conversation that is always supposed to have the same effect on the world when it's over but that has many different conversation end nodes scattered throughout it.

The cinematics tab of the root node allows default cinematics information to be set, which is inherited by the rest of the nodes in the conversation unless overridden.

Finally, the root node has a conversation synopsis text field where a summary of the content and purpose of the conversation can be placed for ease of reference.

== Dialogue ==

[[Image:Conversation dialog.png]]

This tab contains the string of text that is displayed to the player when this node in the tree is reached.

At the lower left corner are some statistics for this line and for the conversation it's a part of.

*Player Response Length Maximum: 60 characters
*NPC Response Length Maximum: 200 characters

Also in the lower left corner is the string ID for this line of dialog, which is used when recording voice over audio.

=== Formatting tags ===

==== Emphasis tags ====

To indicate that a word in spoken text is emphasized, use <emp> tags. In subtitles, text inside the tags will be bolded.

For example: "I don't <emp>think</emp> so." appears in-game as: "I don't '''think''' so."

==== Description tags ====

Description <desc> tags are used in three ways: 1) To set apart a non-spoken sound (NPC lines), 2) To describe action that is not voiced (player lines), 2) To indicate that a persuade line is a lie or charm (player lines), 3) For text that describes an object (object lines).

In subtitles, text inside <desc> tags will be italicized and put into parentheses.

1) Unspoken sounds (such as a sigh, sob, or grunt of pain) - NPC lines only.

Write out the sound, not a description of the sound.
* Incorrect: "No! Please don't kill me! <desc>gurgling sound as she is stabbed</desc>
* Correct: "No! Please don't kill me! <desc>Aaargh!</desc>

"If only... <desc>sigh</desc> Alas, it cannot be." appears in-game as: "If only... ''(sigh)''' Alas, it cannot be."

2) Persuade lines that need to be marked as "lie" or "charm" - player lines only: When a line that has been flagged in the toolset as a "Persuade" line needs to me marked as a specific "lie" or "charm", write Lie or Charm at the line's beginning. Then, use <desc> tags around that word so that it will be set off from the rest of the line.
For example: <desc>Lie</desc> "Of course I didn't report you to the authorities." appears in-game as: "''(Lie)'' Of course I didn't report you to the authorities."

3) Text that describes an object - Object lines only: When a line is created to describe an inanimate object, such as a bookcase or chest, descriptive lines for that object should be marked with <desc> tags. The writer creates a "character" in the toolset ("bhm700_bookcase"), and writes a line to describe that object. For example, <desc>This bookcase is full of dusty, moldering books.</desc> or <desc>The phylactery is warm to the touch and filled with a small amount of viscous, red liquid. You see no way to open it.</desc>

* Correct: <desc>This bookcase is full of dusty, moldering books.</desc>
All such text should be written in third-person, present tense, with the player always referred to as "you".
* Incorrect: <desc> The phylactery is warm to the touch and filled with a small amount of viscous, red liquid. I can't see any way to open it.</desc>
* Correct: <desc>The phylactery is warm to the touch and filled with a small amount of viscous, red liquid. You see no way to open it.</desc>

The tech designer will need to create a placeable in the appropriate area. The character for that placeable should be set as "null". (This indicates that no VO recording is needed for that line.) It should also be set to appear on the screen even if subtitles are turned off by default.

==== Action Tags ====

Action tags <act> describe player action. In subtitles, text inside <act> tags will be italicized and put into parentheses.

For example: "If that's the way you want it. <act>Kill the soldier.</act>" appears in-game as: "If that's the way you want it. ''(Kill the soldier.)''"

* Incorrect: {Owner}: "Here. Take this. <act> Opens chest, removes sword.</act> It was your father's."

=== Macros ===

The <FirstName/> macro will be replaced with the first name entered by the player for his character. Since the player character's name can be anywhere up to 20 characters long, player lines using the <FirstName/> macro can only have 40 characters (not including the macro itself).

Macros are used fairly rarely in Dragon Age since voiceovers accompany most lines and cannot be modified to match lines with variable text.

=== Other settings ===

Also on this tab are some additional flags and tags that can be set for this line.
*Skill/Icon - allows an icon to be placed next to this line indicating that a skill must be used when the line is selected by the player
*Speaker Tag and Listener Tag - defines which character is the speaker and which is the listener (can be set to default)
*Language - defines which language the line is spoken in.
*Fast Path - Any line with "Fast Path" set will be the first option presented to a player when they reach this conversation node. This can be useful if you want to provide an easy way to blow through the conversation tree without having to read it; if you mark the shortest path through the tree with this flag the player will only have to tap the "1" key to pass through it. You can also do this without the fast path flag by arranging your conversation nodes in the correct order, but restructuring an entire conversation tree for this purpose is a more complex task.

== Plots and Scripting ==

See [[conversation plots and scripting]] for details on how to use plots and scripts to make certain lines of dialog "conditional" (appearing or not appearing based on conditions in the game) and how to have certain lines cause scripted actions and change plot flags.

This tab also includes an option to easily set a line so that it appears to a player only once (either once per conversation or once per game).

== Cinematics and Animation ==

See [[conversation cinematics and animation]] for details of how to control the performance of your virtual actors. Conversations without cinematic direction set for them will use a default over-the-shoulder camera style that's serviceable for most conversations, but which might become dull when used for all of them. Adding some animation and varying the camera angles can go a long way to spicing up a conversation, and for special events you can add much more than that - even integrating full-blown cutscenes into the middle of a conversation.

== Localization and Editing ==

These two panels are used for keeping track of the status of the localization and editing process for this line. This is useful for large-scale collaborative projects, such as Dragon Age itself, but may not be of as much use for individual adventure designers.

== Slide Show ==

The Slide Show tab is used to produce a simple form of "cutscene" that consists of a pre-rendered still image that's shown while the line is displayed or voiced. Images used in a slide show can be in [[TGA]], [[TPC]] or [[DDS]] format.

== Toolbars ==

[[Image:Conversation toolbar labeled.png]]

* "Find links" generates a list of other places in the tree that have this line as their child. See the "looping conversations and re-using lines" section below.
*The highlighting toolbar is handy for rapidly finding and paging through conversation nodes with particular properties. There's forward and backward buttons for jumping from highlighted node to highlighted node, and a set of togglable highlight selection buttons that turn on and off highlighting based on node characteristics.
* "Once-per" lines include both once-per-conversation and once-per-game
* Highlighting lines with plot involvement will prompt you to select which particular plot to highlight.

== Looping conversation and re-using lines in multiple places ==

Although the basic structure is tree-shaped, the flow of the conversation can be structured to return back to previous nodes in the conversation. To cause a node in the tree to repeat:

*select the node you want to return to,
*"Copy" it (control-C, or select copy from the right-click menu),
*select the node you want the repeated response to be a child of,
*select "Paste as link" from the right-click menu.

The link node will appear in gray and cannot be edited. If you edit the original copy of the node all linked copies will reflect the change. You can only link nodes that have the same type (player/non-player), the paste-as-link option won't be available if the node currently saved to the clipboard can't be linked to a child of the currently selected node.

To find the original copy of a linked node, right-click on the grey node and select "Jump to Target".

Using the "once per conversation" or "once per game" visibility setting for the children of a repeating node is useful for preventing the player from cycling multiple times through the exact same dialogue.

== Recording VO ==

To record your own voice-over, you'll need some method for recording your voice as a wav file. Windows comes with a basic sound-recording program but other more sophisticated programs are available free for download as well. The wav file must be recorded in or converted to PCM 24 khz 16 bit mono format, otherwise the process will fail and an error message will be displayed in the log.

Real vo needs to be stored in ~installpath~\Dragon Age\addins\[moduleuid]\module\override\toolsetexport\[lineid]_m.wav - you can dump wav files anywhere under the toolsetexport directory and they will be picked up but for organizational purposes you should probably organize it into subfolders grouped by conversation.

The wav file's filename must be of the form "[lineid]_m.wav" with [lineid] replaced by the ID number for the conversation line's string table entry. For example, if a conversation's line ID number is 344169, you'd save the voice over for this line as "344169_m.wav".

When you select "generate VO" from the toolset, the toolset will first check the above directory for properly named files. Any wav files that are not present will have robo vo created, and any that do exist will be used as-is.

A quick way to verify that voice over generation worked after processing: go to My Documents\Dragon Age\packages\core\override\[conversationname].fsb and play it with windows media player. You will hear all of the VO lines for that conversation packaged together with whatever combination of real and robo VO all slapped together in one file.

== Glossary of design terms ==

* Branch: A dialogue option that adds flavor to a conversation, but doesn't change the direction of the plot or story. Branches always come back together at a choke point.
* Clarification Hub: This allows a player to return to an NPC and clarify plot elements, get directions, or find out information about the current area. Generally, an single NPC line asks the player what he wants; a list of questions is then available to the player. Once the player has received an answer, the same list reappears (minus the question just asked). The player can loop infinitely through this NPC dialogue.
* Path: The dialogue options players can select that change the direction of a plot or story. For example, when a player is given the option of accepting a quest, there are two different resulting paths (based on a "Yes" or "No" answer). Unlike branches, paths never come back together. Each path has a different ending condition.
* Question Hub: A list of questions presented to a player that allows him to ask multiple questions to clarify information he's just learned. After a response is given, the player can ask the remaining questions. It's possible to loop indefinitely through a question hub, but only by asking non-critical questions. Unlike a clarification hub, at least one question drives the conversation tree forward and eliminates all remaining questions. For example, an NPC gives plot critical information; once she relates the details, the player can ask four specific questions. Three of the questions are non-critical: they give flavor and/or enhance role-playing. These questions allow for infinite looping. However, the fourth question drives the conversation forward and eliminates all other questions. This important question should always be located beneath the "lesser" questions.

== Associated Links ==

*[[conversation cinematics and animation]]
*[[Conversation plots and scripting]]
*[[Conversation tutorial]]

[[Category:Conversations]]

Conversation tutorial

2009-11-09T04:33:51Z

Kemayo:

Dialog is perhaps the most important part of making an adventure into a story. In Dragon Age, dialog is a collection of lines that are arranged in an interactive tree-shaped structure. This tree structure can be simple or complex, and each line can have conditions and actions attached to it that interact with the state of the world at large.

For this tutorial we will start simple and then progressively add new features and options to a [[conversation]] as we go. Later on there will be a separate tutorial for adding cinematic direction to conversations.

== Creating and setting a conversation for a creature ==

{{sidebox|
* The root node of a conversation tree holds global (conversation-wide) settings.
}}

In the [[creature tutorial]] we created a [[creature]] named "Quest Giver", who is standing outside a hut that's filled with monsters. The goal is to have the quest giver ask you to go in and kill all the monsters for him.

First, we need to create the conversation resource. Using the new resource command, select "conversation" and give it a resource name that will help keep track of its purpose. We're calling this conversation "conv_quest_giver". The new conversation starts out empty, with only a "root" node. The root node of a conversation doesn't contain any dialog itself; it is merely a container that holds various global settings that apply to the conversation as a whole.

With the root node highlighted, the global settings become accessible in the tabbed pane at the bottom of the conversation editing window:

[[Image:Conversation root global settings.png]]

{{sidebox|
* "OWNER" is the creature the conversation "belongs" to.
* "PLAYER" is the player's character
* A conversation is assigned to a creature in the ''creature's'' properties (the "Conversation" property)
}}

These settings have defaults that will be perfectly good for a conversation between a PC and a single NPC, as we will be doing here. The "OWNER" of the conversation will be the creature the conversation is attached to - in this case, Quest Giver. The "PLAYER" is, of course, the player's character.

*Default NPC Speaker: This is the the creature who, by default, responds to the player's dialog selections.
*Default NPC Listener: This is the creature who the NPC is directing those responses to. This is used to determine who the NPC should turn his head toward when speaking.
*Default PC Listener: This is the creature who the PC is talking to when he makes dialog selections, determining who the PC's avatar turns his head toward.

These settings can be overridden on a line-by-line basis, something you'll usually only need to do when you're writing a conversation with more than two participants. We won't do that in this introductory tutorial. It's also possible to have an inanimate object (a placeable) as a participant in a conversation, which we also won't get into here.

Also on this page are a number of checkboxes for locking cinematics. This is usually used to prevent the toolset from generating new automatic animations after you've fine-tuned things manually, we won't need to worry about that for now.

Once the conversation resource is created, we'll need to tell the quest_giver creature that he's supposed to use it when the player tries to talk to him. Open the quest giver in the creature editor and change his "Conversation" property from the default (none) to "conv_quest_giver" by pressing the ellipsis ([[Image:ellipsis.png]]) button and selecting the conv_quest_giver dialog.

== Adding some dialog ==

{{sidebox|
* Red lines of dialog are spoken by NPCs one at a time
* Blue lines of dialog are selected from by the player and are presented as groups of options
}}

To add a line to the root, you can right-click on it and select "Add Line". It's also available as a button in the toolbar (button #23, below) and with the shortcut "control-A".

[[Image:Conversation toolbar.png]]

The added node will be in red text, indicating it's non-interactive (spoken by the NPC) and tagged with <nowiki>[[[[OWNER]]]]</nowiki> to indicate who's speaking it. When the player initiates conversation with the conversation's owner, this is the first line that will be said.

To determine what it is that the conversation owner says, select the node and go down to the dialog tab to enter the text. For the time being we won't need to worry about the other options below the dialog's main text entry field.

[[Image:Conversation dialog.png]]

Once the creature has spoken its line, the player needs to be prompted to give some sort of response. The player could greet the Quest Giver, ask him a question, or choose to ignore him. To add these options, select the line you just added and "Insert line" three times. This will add three blue lines as children of the red one. In each of these lines' dialogue tabs, add the text of the response the player can give.

[[Image:Conversation tutorial 1.png]]

Here's how it looks in game once we've initiated this conversation:

[[Image:Conversation tutorial quest giver speaks.png|600px]]

The conversation can continue being built in this vein with one NPC response for each of the player's options and one or more player options branching out in turn. When the player runs off the end of the conversation it ends, sending him back to explore mode.

{{sidebox|
* "Copy" and then "Paste as Link" allows conversation trees to loop or merge branches
}}

Thanks to this branching pattern it is possible for a conversation's volume to grow at an exponential rate, rapidly becoming very tedious to write. Worse, there could be many points within a conversation tree where the same lines might be spoken, leading to redundancy. This can be solved by "linking" lines to each other, allowing the conversation to jump from one branch to another or to loop back on itself to replay parts over again.

In this example, we'll have the Quest Giver respond to the player's first option with "Excellent! I have a quest I need performed for me!". At this point the player could respond with the same "Oh? What quests do you have in mind?" line that was an option initially, leading to the same response. Rather than duplicate the entire tree, select the existing "Oh? What quests do you have in mind?" line and copy it to the clipboard (control-C, or right click copy, or edit -> copy). Then select the new owner line and paste as link (control-shift-V, right click paste as link, or edit -> paste as link)

[[Image:Conversation tutorial 2.png]]

The linked line is shown in gray. To find out where a grey line links to, right-click on it and select "Jump to Target" (or just double click it). To find all the places the target line is linked to from, right-click on it and select "Find Links"

Now both of these paths through the conversation will lead to the same line, wherein the Quest Giver tells the player that the hut behind him is full of monsters. We can add an option to the dialog after this where the player can accept the mission to slay them all, and now when he enters the hut to fight them there will be more of a story behind about how he came to that point.

== Keeping track of quests via plots ==

{{sidebox|
* Plots contain lists of flags for keeping track of quest status and other world events
* Each flag can also contain journal text for the player to read
}}

Now that we have a mechanism in place where we can assign a quest to the player we'll want some way to keep track of his progress. In Neverwinter Nights this was done using scripting directly, but in Dragon Age a new type of resource has been introduced that helps to simplify the process. These are "[[Plot]]s". Go to the resource palette and create a new plot with the resource name "clear_the_hut".

A plot consists of a series of named flags that can be set to true or false. The intent is for these flags to represent significant accomplishments or developments in the plot, with the values being set in response to the player's actions. Each flag can also have an associated journal text, a block of text that is displayed in the player's journal under the plot's title. Journal text is normally used to keep the player informed of his progress and remind him of important information he's discovered along the way.

We'll need to give the plot a "Name" property, which will be seen by the player as the plot's title in the journal. This plot's name will be "Clear the Hut". There are three significant landmarks in the course of this plot; the moment the player accepts the plot, the moment the player has succeeded in slaying all of the monsters in the hut, and the moment when the player reports back to the quest giver to receive his reward. We will therefore create three flags:

*QUEST_ACCEPTED
*MONSTERS_SLAIN
*REWARD_RECEIVED

Create flags by right-clicking on the plot editor and selecting "Insert -> Main Flag", or by clicking on "Insert Main Flag" in the toolbar, or by selecting "Edit -> Insert -> Main Flag" from the menu bar.

[[Image:Plot tutorial 1.png]]

Each time a plot flag is set, that flag's journal text replaces the previous text that was in the journal for that plot.

{{sidebox|
* The "Action" section of the "Plots and Scripting" tab of a conversation node allows plot flags to be set (made "true") or unset (made "false") when that line is finished
* The "Condition" section of the tab allows the line to be hidden or shown to the player based on the state of plot flags
}}

The easiest way to set a plot flag is in a conversation. When the player accepts the quest to slay the monsters in the hut, we'll want to set the "QUEST_ACCEPTED" flag of the clear_the_hut plot. Select the line where the player accepts the quest and then click on the "Plots and Scripting" tab. Under the "Action" section we'll want to select the clear_the_hut plot. It won't initially appear in the dropdown list since we haven't selected it before (the dropdown list contains recently-used resources), so click on the ellipsis button and select it from the list of all plot resources. Then, once the correct plot is accepted, select the "QUEST_ACCEPTED" flag. The default action is "set", which will set the flag to true.

Now when we reach this line in the conversation, the "QUEST_ACCEPTED" flag in the clear_the_hut plot will be set to true. This will also update the player's journal to show the journal text associated with that plot flag. You'll note that an "A" also appears in the icon for this conversation node, an indicator that this line of dialog has an action associated with it.

{{sidebox|
* The first NPC (red) line that can be shown to a player will be; all subsequent NPC lines branching from the same node will be hidden
* Make sure the last child line of a node has no condition attached so that there will always be a default line to show the player
}}

Once the quest has been accepted, it makes no sense for the Quest Giver to offer it a second time. Indeed, if the player were to partially complete the quest and then accept it all over again, his progress through the quest would be disrupted and quite likely unexpected errors would slip into the game. Therefore, we are going to go back to the first line in this conversation and add a condition to it. Select the first line, go to the "Plots and Scripting" tab, and this time put the "clear_the_hut" plot in the ''condition'' section. Set the flag to "QUEST_ACCEPTED", and set the condition to "is false".

[[Image:Conversation tutorial 4.png]]

This means that this line of dialog will only appear if the quest has not yet been accepted. You'll note that a "C" appears in the node icon to indicate that this line of dialog has a condition attached. Since all of the other lines of dialog depend on this line appearing, including the offer of the quest and the line where the player accepts it, this means that the quest can only be accepted once; once it's been accepted the quest giver will not offer it again.

However, this will now leave the quest giver with nothing at all to say. We'll want to give him a different line to say instead. Select the root node of the conversation tree, add a line, and you'll get a second "first" line for the quest giver to say. The game will always pick the first line that can be spoken, so the player will never see the line "Have you slain the monsters yet?" until after he has accepted the quest and the line "Ahoy! I am the Quest Giver!" becomes hidden.

[[Image:Conversation tutorial 5.png]]

{{sidebox|
* Player responses can also be made conditional, being hidden from the player if the condition fails.
}}

Conditions can also be placed on player lines. In this case, we want the player to only be able to tell the quest giver that he's completed the quest once the monsters are actually dead. We'll be showing how the MONSTERS_SLAIN flag will be set up later, using scripting, but the details of how it is set are not important right now; we can set the conversation up to account for it and implement it later.

Set the condition for the line "Yes, I have" to require the MONSTERS_SLAIN flag to be true. The subsequent response from the quest giver can then set the REWARD_RECEIVED flag to true.

To prevent the player from accepting his reward multiple times, add a condition to the line "Have you slain the monsters yet?" to require REWARD_RECEIVED to be false. Finally, add a third line off of root for the quest giver to say once the quest has been confirmed completed and there's nothing more for him to do.

[[Image:Conversation tutorial 6.png]]

And there you have it, a simple interactive conversation that will affect and be affected by the world around it.

== Simple stages ==

{{sidebox|
* Stages define where characters stand and how the camera is positioned during a conversation
* A conversation without a stage will use a basic default camera positioning
* You need to define a stage for a conversation before you can give the actors animations
}}

If you run through the conversation as it currently exists you'll find that all of the mechanics are there, but that the performance of our virtual actor leaves a lot to be desired - he simply stands there silent and motionless, staring at the player. The camera angle is also somewhat bland. This can be remedied by adding a [[stage]] to perform the conversation in.

A stage is a set of locations where the participants in a conversation will be positioned, and locations where various cameras will be placed. Create a new stage resource and name it something informative, such as hut_exterior_quest_giver. You'll be presented with an empty, featureless stage. The stage editor window defaults to having four different views of the stage; if you want to change this you can find the setting for this under the "Tools->Options" menu.

{{sidebox|
* "place" objects are spots where the conversation's participants will stand
* The identity of the creatures occupying places is set in the conversation editor
* Each place should have a default camera selected. This camera is used by default when the creature occupying that place is talking.
}}

Stages can be complex but in this case we'll keep it simple. Right-click somewhere near the center of the stage and insert a "place" object, and then again to insert a second "place" object. You'll create two blank-looking yellow figurines. These figurines will represent the two creatures who will be involved in the conversation, the player and the quest giver. You'll want to turn one of them to face the other and put them relatively close together.

You'll then want to insert a camera for the conversation to use. Right-click, select insert, and select camera. Position the camera so that it has a view over the shoulder of one of the two figures and is looking at the other figure, a standard over-the-shoulder shot. You can adjust the camera more easily by setting one of the four views to be the camera's view; right-click on the frame, go down to the "camera" option, and select which of the cameras the frame should provide the view of. You can also select the "Safe Frame" option, which puts a border on the view showing only what will be visible in-game.

[[Image:Stage tutorial 1.png]]

For each place you'll want to define a default camera; this is the camera that will be used to view the creature standing in this place when that creature is talking in the game. Select the place and in the object inspector select "camera1" for the default camera.

If you wish, you can put in additional cameras. In the conversation editor you will have options to select which cameras are active, and even to cut from one camera to another in the middle of a line. We won't do that yet, however; we currently want this to be as simple a stage as possible. A future tutorial will cover stages in more depth.

{{sidebox|
* Once a stage resource is created, it must then be placed in the area editor
* Place the stage so that the conversation's participants won't have to be moved far
}}

Once the stage has been created, we'll need to place it in the area where the conversation is to take place. Open the hut exterior area in the area editor and go to the location where you've placed the Quest Giver. Find the stage in the resource palette, place it in the area, and you'll see the blank figures and the camera appear. There will also be a red flag similar to a [[waypoint]]; this marks the center of the stage and is useful for distinguishing them when there are many stages overlapping each other in an area. Position the stage so that the place where the quest giver will be standing is approximately where he is right now; it doesn't have to be exact, but if he changes location dramatically when the conversation starts it might be a bit jarring.

[[Image:Stage tutorial 2.png]]

{{sidebox|
* Assign the stage to the conversation in the conversation editor
* Then assign which conversation participants use which places defined by the stage
}}

Now that the stage has been placed, we can set the conversation to use it. Go back to the conversation editor, select the root node, and then select the "Cinematics" tab. There will be an option there to set a stage. Since we've never selected this stage before it won't be in the dropdown list, use the ellipsis button to select the stage from the available stage resources.

Once the stage has been selected the two places that are part of the stage will be listed below. You'll want to assign them to the two participants in this conversation, OWNER and PLAYER.

[[Image:Conversation tutorial 7.png]]

== Gestures ==

{{sidebox|
* Once a stage is set you can automatically generate gestures
* To generate gestures for all nodes in a conversation, select the root node and generate gestures for children
}}

Select the root node of the conversation and then click on the "Generate Gestures for Children" button (#35 on the toolbar, or in the right-click menu for the node, or in the edit menu)

[[Image:Conversation toolbar.png]]

This will run through all of the nodes beneath root and automatically generate some random gestures appropriate for a man standing and talking to someone. These gestures can be customized and fine-tuned, but this will be the subject of a separate tutorial.

Now at last our actors are a little less wooden; they move around a bit, and the camera is in an interesting place. But their faces are still completely blank. This too can be easily remedied.

== Voice-over and FaceFX ==

{{sidebox|
* You need to have voice-over recorded to generate a facial performance with FaceFX.
* You can generate a basic placeholder voice-over automatically.
}}

Every line of dialog in Dragon Age can have voice-over recorded for it, which as one might imagine can be a daunting task. As a temporary measure during game development you can instead generate a temporary placeholder voice-over using a basic speech synthesis program. Under "Tools" select "Generate VO" and synthesized voice-over will be added to every line.

[[Image:Conversation generate VO.png]]

The synthesized voice over is very primitive, but it allows you to test the conversation and fine-tune other details without having to record voice as you go - you can leave voice recording until later, once you've finalized all the dialog. It also allows us to generate a facial performance using [[FaceFX]].

[[Image:Conversation generate FaceFX.png]]

The most obvious component of facial performance is lip-synching. FaceFX generates lip-synching from the actual audio of the line, not just from the text of the dialog, so voice over needs to be generated before FaceFX can be run. FaceFX also adds emotional cues to the character's expression using an extension called RoboBrad. You can select the emotion to be added from the "Emotion" field in the cinematics tab for each line of dialog.

[[Image:Conversation cinematics.png]]

Once you've generated a facial performance, you can fine-tune it by selecting "Edit FaceFX" from the tools menu. This will open FaceFX with the selected line of dialogue loaded. We won't be doing this in this tutorial, but if you want to try it out and see what options FaceFX provides see the [[FaceFX]] page for more detail.

[[Image:Conversation edit FaceFX.png]]

To record your own voice-over, you'll need some method for recording your voice (Windows comes with a basic sound-recording program but other more sophisticated programs are available free for download as well) as a wav file. The wav file must be recorded in or converted to PCM 24 khz 16 bit mono format, otherwise the process will fail and an unhelpful error message will be displayed.

Real vo needs to be stored in ~installpath~\Dragon Age\addins\[moduleuid]\module\override\toolsetexport\[lineid]_m.wav - you can dump wav files anywhere under the toolsetexport directory and they will be picked up but for organizational purposes you should probably organize it into subfolders grouped by conversation.

The wav file's filename must be of the form "[lineid]_m.wav" with [lineid] replaced by the ID number for the conversation line's string table entry. For example, if a conversation's line ID number is 344169, you'd save the voice over for this line as "344169_m.wav".

When you select "generate vo" from the toolset, the toolset will first check the above directory for properly named files. Any wav files that are not present will have robo vo created, and any that do exist will be used as-is.

A quick way to verify that voice over generation worked after processing: go to ~installpath~\Dragon Age\addins\[moduleuid]\core\override\toolsetexport\[conversationname].fsb and play it with windows media player. You will hear all of the vo lines for that conversation packaged together with whatever combination of real and robo vo all slapped together in one file.

[[Category:Conversations]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]