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| − | UNDER CONSTRUCTION
| + | #REDIRECT [[Compatible_Companion_Mod_Creation]] |
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| − | Created by Idomeneas
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| − | Please do not edit this, unless you found a mistake. In that case inform me first.
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| − | The purpose of this wiki is to help the modder community tackle one of the most important problems we face: compatibility between all our mods, in particular those mods that introduce NPC followers.
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| − | I'll share with you my approach to handling companions, based on what I have done with my mod, [http://social.bioware.com/project/3152/ Valeria Addon], my experiments and experience. My goal has always been to be the least intrusive to the game core resources (meaning don't change them at all if possible), while having the companion behave appropriately in most parts of the game.
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| − | What I'll talk about here works for Patch 1.02. If you got Awakening or Patch 1.04 you'll see weird behavior and this approach might have to be altered.
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| − | Let us begin.
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| − | ='''1) Understanding the game mechanics and the module event script'''
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| − | We first need to discuss how the game makes use of scripts, and in particular our module event scripts (every mod has one). Everytime something happens in the game, e.g., you open or close the inventory, talents, skills, or world map gui, all the module event scripts you have installed are fire and processed (probably in the order the mods where installed) as well as the core game scripts (typically these are processed first).
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| − | So if we want to capture the behavior of our NPC follower or a major event of the game it can be done here, e.g., the PC selected or dropped the follower in the partypicker, you begin travel, or the PC just finished talking to everyone at the gates in the climax, or the game is over and we're at the slideshow.
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| − | This game stucture is indeed brilliant since it allows the main game and all mods installed to handle and process the same event, say EVENT_TYPE_BEGIN_TRAVEL or EVENT_TYPE_MODULE_HANDLE_GIFT or EVENT_TYPE_WORLD_MAP_CLOSED and so forth.
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| − | ='''2) What we can't and can do'''
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| − | The only major resource we have to change is the partypicker, otherwise our NPC's won't show up. There is a way around this(item 4 below).
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| − | If you want your NPC to interject in the middle of a major dialog, that dialog resource has to be changed (I can't see any way around this one).
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| − | The thing to keep in mind is that everytime something happens in the game, certain flags from core game resources are set. We can capture when these are set and continue the process appropriately.
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| − | In this way, I'll show you how '''we can do''' the following (I've done these for my mod Valeria, WITHOUT changing any core game resources, I'll use her as a reference):
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| − | 1) Valeria banters with the party randomly WITHOUT changing any original game scripts.
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| − | 2) Valeria accepts specific gifts WITHOUT changing the game scripts.
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| − | 3) Valeria is in a nightmare area WITHOUT changing the game scripts.
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| − | 4) Valeria has a dialog option to eliminate problems with partypicker compatibility. If she doesn't show up in the partypicker she can still be picked up or sent back to camp.
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| − | 5) Valeria has her own dialog after major cutscenes (where appropriate) of the game WITHOUT changing resources of the game.
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| − | 6) Valeria appears in all camps (basic camp, Arl Eamon's estates, post coronation), most cutscenes from the original game and at the city gates WITHOUT changing resources of the game.
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| − | 7) Valeria behaves appropriately if the PC gets captured WITHOUT changing resources of the game.
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| − | 8) Slideshow post coronation WITHOUT changing the resources of the game.(Haven't included it in my mod yet, but it's done)
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| − | ='''3) What do we need?'''
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| − | Well, basic knowledge of the toolset and scripting.
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| − | a) The NPC mod event handler, say "valeria_event_handler"
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| − | b) A plot to hold all our NPC flags, call it "valeria_npc_hire". In the handler we should have the include:
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| − | '''#include "plt_valeria_npc_hire"'''
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| − | c) We need the following basic FLAGS: PARTY_VALERIA_IN_PARTY, PARTY_VALERIA_JOINED, VALERIA_CHECK_RUNIT
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| − | These are there to handle Valeria(is she in party?, has she joined? do we need to run the script? it has to be done if we're in a camp site. you'll see what script)
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| − | d) Other flags to set when needed: VALERIA_WYNNE_KILLED, VALERIA_RESPONSE_TO_BAD, VALERIA_ENTER_FADE, VALERIA_HAS_NIGHTMARE_A, VALERIA_HAS_NIGHTMARE_B, VALERIA_HAS_NIGHTMARE_C, VALERIA_SLOTH_DEMON_ATTACKS, VALERIA_SLOTH_DEMON_DEFEATED, VALERIA_WYNNE_KILLED_AT_CULLEN, VALERIA_DEN_CAPTURED_PC_CAPTURED, VALERIA_CLI_MAIN_PC_FINISHED_SETTING_FINAL_PARTY, VALERIA_EPI_JUMP_TO_SLIDE_SHOW, VALERIA_FIGHTING_ARCHDEMON
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| − | If you drop the valeria_ prefix you'll recognize some flags from the original game. Everytime those are set, we'll need to set a corresponding flag in our NPC plot, so we don't run thing twice.
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| − | I'll tell you which plots from the main game we need depending on what we're trying to do.
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| − | ='''4) Basic structure of the moduel event handler'''
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| − | //core includes here
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| − | //core plot includes
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| − | //valeria function, plots etc, includes
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| − | //constant definitions here
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| − | //function definitions here
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| − | void main()
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| − | {
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| − | object oPC = GetHero(),me=OBJECT_SELF,ohire;
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| − | event ev = GetCurrentEvent();
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| − | int nEventType = GetEventType(ev);
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| − | ....
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| − | //capture events
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| − | switch(nEventType)
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| − | {
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| − | .....
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| − | }
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| − | }
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| − | //functions here
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