Contingencies and Sequencers Post v2.0 - How or Why?

kjeron

Does anyone know how to use Opcode 234 (Create Contingency) or Opcode 257 (Create Spell Sequencer) in v.2.0 or later without hijacking one of the vanilla spell's parent resref's (SPWI420, SPWI617, SPWI710, SPWI809, or SPWI908)?

So far it appears to now be hard-coded to require one of these parent resources, otherwise the game crashes immediately upon activating the effect or completing the spell selection, depending on how its used.

Are we now limited to a maximum of 5 different Contingency/Sequencer spells?

Their related opcodes (232, 256, 258, & 260) all continue to work just fine, as they did pre-v.2.0.

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kjeron

@subtledoctor
I found the issue, and as suspected, its the new UI.
Need to add a line:

	RESREF = {tip = STRREF, title = 'L_en_US_ENTRY', action = "L_en_US_ENTRY"},	

In UI.menu,here:

mageBookStrings = {
	SPWI908 = {tip = 24615, title = 'CHAIN_CONTINGENCY_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_CONTINGENCY_LABEL"},
	SPWI617 = {tip = 24615, title = 'CONTINGENCY_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_CONTINGENCY_LABEL"},
	SPWI809 = {tip = 24617, title = 'SPELL_TRIGGER_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_TRIGGER_LABEL"},
	SPWI710 = {tip = 24616, title = 'SPELL_SEQUENCER_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_SEQUENCER_LABEL"},
	SPWI420 = {tip = 24616, title = 'MINOR_SEQUENCER_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_SEQUENCER_LABEL"},
	}

And other Parent Resources will work.

smeagolheart

kjeron said:

@subtledoctor
I found the issue, and as suspected, its the new UI.
Need to add a line:

	RESREF = {tip = STRREF, title = 'L_en_US_ENTRY', action = "L_en_US_ENTRY"},	

In UI.menu,here:

mageBookStrings = {
	SPWI908 = {tip = 24615, title = 'CHAIN_CONTINGENCY_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_CONTINGENCY_LABEL"},
	SPWI617 = {tip = 24615, title = 'CONTINGENCY_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_CONTINGENCY_LABEL"},
	SPWI809 = {tip = 24617, title = 'SPELL_TRIGGER_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_TRIGGER_LABEL"},
	SPWI710 = {tip = 24616, title = 'SPELL_SEQUENCER_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_SEQUENCER_LABEL"},
	SPWI420 = {tip = 24616, title = 'MINOR_SEQUENCER_TITLE', action = "ADD_SPELLS_SEQUENCER_LABEL"},
	}

And other Parent Resources will work.

@kjeron
please make a bug report for this.

kjeron

smeagolheart said:

please make a bug report for this.

I don't think they'll view this as a bug.
I think it's a terrible place to put this functionality, but the fact that after extending the table to include my custom spell it works perfectly, it does appear intended.

I made a function to suit my needs, but current Weidu does not extract .MENU or .LUA files yet, so they have to be exported manually with NI first:

DEFINE_ACTION_FUNCTION ADD_SEQUENCER_LABEL
 // Can be used for Contingencies too, just using Sequencer Labels for defaults.
 INT_VAR desc_ref = ~-1~	// String Reference for Help/Description text
 STR_VAR
  resource = ~~	// File name of Sequencer/Contingency spell.
  title = ~~	// Title string, only necessary if not using default title_label
  title_label = ~SPELL_SEQUENCER_TITLE~	// Must be unique or use default.
  action = ~~	// Action string, only necessary if not using default title_label
  action_label = ~ADD_SPELLS_SEQUENCER_LABEL~	// Must be unique or use default.
  language = ~~	// Language, in ~en_US~ format, or empty for all
BEGIN
 ACTION_IF ((~%resource%~ STRING_EQUAL ~~) OR (STRING_LENGTH ~%resource%~ > 8)) BEGIN FAIL ~Must specify a valid resource for Sequencer labeling~ END
 COPY_EXISTING ~UI.MENU~ override
  REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~mageBookStrings = {~
~mageBookStrings = {
%TAB%%resource% = {tip = %desc_ref%, title = '%title_label%', action = "%action_label%"},~
 BUT_ONLY
 ACTION_IF ~%language%~ STRING_EQUAL ~~ BEGIN
  ACTION_IF NOT ~%title_label%~ STRING_EQUAL ~SPELL_SEQUENCER_TITLE~ BEGIN
  ACTION_IF (~%title%~ STRING_EQUAL ~~) BEGIN FAIL ~Must specify title text~ END
   ACTION_FOR_EACH lang IN ~cs_CZ~ ~de_DE~ ~en_US~ ~es_ES~ ~fr_FR~ ~it_IT~ ~ja_JP~ ~ko_KR~ ~pt_BR~ ~ru_RU~ ~tr_TR~ ~uk_UA~ ~zh_CN~ BEGIN
    ACTION_IF FILE_CONTAINS_EVALUATED (~L_%lang%.LUA~ ~\( \|%TAB%\)%title%\( \|%TAB%\)~) BEGIN
     FAIL ~Sequencer title_label must be unique~
    END
    COPY_EXISTING ~L_%lang%.LUA~ override
     REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~}~
~%TAB%%title_label% = "%title%",
}~
    BUT_ONLY
   END
  END
  ACTION_IF NOT ~%action_label%~ STRING_EQUAL ~ADD_SPELLS_SEQUENCER_LABEL~ BEGIN
  ACTION_IF (~%action%~ STRING_EQUAL ~~) BEGIN FAIL ~Must specify action text~ END
   ACTION_FOR_EACH lang IN ~cs_CZ~ ~de_DE~ ~en_US~ ~es_ES~ ~fr_FR~ ~it_IT~ ~ja_JP~ ~ko_KR~ ~pt_BR~ ~ru_RU~ ~tr_TR~ ~uk_UA~ ~zh_CN~ BEGIN
    ACTION_IF FILE_CONTAINS_EVALUATED (~L_%lang%.LUA~ ~\( \|%TAB%\)%title%\( \|%TAB%\)~) BEGIN
     FAIL ~Sequencer title_label must be unique~
    END
    COPY_EXISTING ~L_%lang%.LUA~ override
     REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~}~
~%TAB%%action_label% = "%action%",
}~
    BUT_ONLY
   END
  END
 END ELSE BEGIN
  ACTION_IF NOT ~%title_label%~ STRING_EQUAL ~SPELL_SEQUENCER_TITLE~ BEGIN
  ACTION_IF (~%title%~ STRING_EQUAL ~~) BEGIN FAIL ~Must specify title text for Sequencer labeling~ END
   COPY_EXISTING ~L_%language%.LUA~ override
    REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~}~
~%TAB%%title_label% = "%title%",
}~
   BUT_ONLY
  END
  ACTION_IF NOT ~%action_label%~ STRING_EQUAL ~ADD_SPELLS_SEQUENCER_LABEL~ BEGIN
  ACTION_IF (~%action%~ STRING_EQUAL ~~) BEGIN FAIL ~Must specify action text for Sequencer labeling~ END
   COPY_EXISTING ~L_%language%.LUA~ override
    REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~}~
~%TAB%%action_label% = "%action%",
}~
   BUT_ONLY
  END
 END
END

Grammarsalad

You wouldn't by any chance be willing to upload an example, would you?

Mr2150

I would say it is a feature, but one that needs changing.

Most of the other tables that are hardcoded are stored in BGEE.lua (eg the portraits table). Therefore, I would suggest to raise it as an issue on redmine with the suggestion to move the table to BGEE.lua, if possible.

Then, a simple M_*.lua file can edit the table at the start of each game session, adding in the extra line items as needed (much like @Dee suggested with the portraits table).

I've done some testing with @kjeron regarding using a lua file on it's own, but it DOES need to be called from the UI.menu first (requiring a UI.menu edit). Having the table in BGEE.lua should eliminate this...

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Mr2150

That would probably work too... but it would need a bit more work by them.

WEIDU can build lua files and edit them... the portrait picker mod that I wrote does it... Calling @Pecca to the thread...

kjeron

subtledoctor said:

Yeah but even the ability to use M_*.lua files is pretty crappy as long as those files can't be easily patched by Weidu. Takes us right back to the bad old days when the only way to mod was to completely overwrite files.

You wouldn't need to patch any files though, you could just add a new M_*.lua file for each one.
If your not worried about translation strings, this is all you would need in each file(replace the variables):

	mageBookStrings.%RESREF% = {tip = %STRREF%, title = 'Your Title Here', action = "Your Sub-Title Here"}

smeagolheart

really sounds like a bug and not a feature to me

Mr2150

(I'm using feature in an ironic sense... )