Has anyone had blanks appear in-game for strings?

chimeric

Has anyone had this problem: you make some items, make some new dialog.tlk entries, assign them to the items, but in the game they don't appear - they are blanks?

TheArtisan

What did you make the entries in? If it's DLTCEP I think you might need to copy the dialog.tlk file from your game folder into the 'lang' (language) folder. This is VERY RISKY to do though so make sure you backup the one in the en_US folder first.

If it's NearInfinity then... I dunno. Things like this is why people always advise you add new entries via WeiDU instead.

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smeagolheart

Break down and stop trying to use dtclep for dialogue.

NearInfinity is the updated tool, as I said in your other thread. But neither dtclep nor NearInfinity is ideal for what you are trying to do. Weidu is the way to go.

chimeric

But manual editing - through Near Infinity, because DLTCEP is blind to half the resources I have - has to work. There is no reason why it shouldn't work. You add a string, you reference that string. I'm not concerned with making the mod compatible with other machines right now, I'm concerned with making the bloody mod see plain text so I can get something done and move on to the next thing. And I don't need conversations at all right now, which is what Weidu is mostly for. I need some place I can put my item descriptions in so the game can see them. Subtledoctor there suggested a COPY trick, I'm trying that now.

When I go to the dentist the next time and he asks what's wrong with my teeth, I'll just say "command line interface."

Aquadrizzt

If you are editing strings, you should WeiDu (shortened form of Weimer Dialog Utility). It is designed primarily to handle string editing for the dialog.tlk files in the BG games.

smeagolheart

Aquadrizzt said:

If you are editing strings, you should WeiDu (shortened form of Weimer Dialog Utility). It is designed primarily to handle string editing for the dialog.tlk files in the BG games.

This.

chimeric

No kidding, Aquadrizzt??!!??? You know, the guy who wrote Weidu says he did it that way because he's a Unix lover. Oh god, just kill me. Is there any way to make this "utility" a bit more convenient, at least? Like, if I type one wrong letter, I lose all the code I entered, and it won't even let me paste text?

smeagolheart

What are you talking about? I use notepad++ which certainly let's you paste text. The weidu plug-ins on Spellhold studios highlight syntax as well.

chimeric

Ok, @subtledoctor , your method with COPY looks like my best shot with descriptions. Conversations don't look that difficult to make, actually, from the tutorial, but I don't need them right now. Just the descriptions. But how do I put all that text into Weidu? The program, if I'm not mistaken, takes dlg files and turns them into d. files or takes d. and turns them dlg. But what if I want it to read a long list of commands like COPY, with spaces, many lines of descriptions for many items and so on? Is there any kind of file I can put all COPY commands I want in and make the "utility" read them? I'm not going to just type all that in the command window by hand.

chimeric

smeagolheart said:

What are you talking about? I use notepad++ which certainly let's you paste text. The weidu plug-ins on Spellhold studios highlight syntax as well.

Okay, I guess now I have to ask how to use Notepad++ with Weidu?

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Aquadrizzt

You've been command lining for WeiDu?!

Oh you poor tormented soul.

You can write entire setup files in your text editor of choice for weidu to use.

smeagolheart

https://github.com/Argent77/NotePad_PlusPlus_WeiDU

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Mr2150

OK - from a next steps perspective...

It sounds like the first thing you need to do is delete your current install. Yes, you may lose some work but it sounds like you have seriously corrupted things if you are missing strings elsewhere now and BGEE is crashing a lot.

So uninstall, then check your game folder, delete any fragments or remaining items, reinstall then start with a nice clean install.

Then follow the great advice from the guys in this thread...

smeagolheart

should just have to empty override folder, but yeah reinstall wouldn't hurt

chimeric

A reinstall may be a good idea. I think my most recent saved games got corrupted, though. Not from modding, just some bug. Older saves work.

To @subtledoctor and everybody who wrote about the code: thanks, I'll read it all tomorrow. Too tired today. Hey, will somebody please try to use these two wav files for an ambient somewhere? I'd appreciate it and put you in the credits when something gets done. Just stick them somewhere and see if they actually play. I have no clue why, but I put them in place with NI and they crashed my game.

http://www.megafileupload.com/blbW/Ambient.rar

chimeric

All right, I followed the instructions for Notepad++ and tp2. Replaced xyz.itm with another file, saved it. But the setup file doesn't want to see the changes, it's still trying to install xyz.itm. It's like I didn't save the changes - but I checked and there they are. What gives?

chimeric

Okay, got it. Setup uses the tp2 in the game folder unless there is a tp2 in the resource folder. Had to delete that one.

chimeric

Thanks to everyone for the instructions. I'm very slowly getting the hang of it. Where can I get the complete version of command explanations? The Weidu documentation doesn't explain the SAY command, for example, vis-a-vis things other than dialogues and item descriptions. Now I need a spell description. How do I put that in through Weidu? Also, curiously, any kind of error mid-installation forces Weidu to roll everything back, even the successfully installed bits. Can I bypass that somehow?

smeagolheart

http://www.weidu.org/~thebigg/README-WeiDU.html

There's a lot of examples and explanations for commands here

chimeric

Been there, doesn't have it.

A couple more questions while I'm at it: 1) what are "ticks" in spell duration? 2) what is absolute duration? 3) is it possible to have more than one creature with the same filename and the same .cre extension (e.g. by drawing on a resource in another folder?)

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chimeric

I thought about the prefixes, but they make it harder for me to remember what's what. I think I'll avoid toes by just giving individual names to all of the items, spells etc. If I call something LMDSS.spl, others aren't likely to take up this one, especially if they have a prefix for all of theirs.

I have looked at some mods, I just don't know any that introduce new spells outside of the tlk.

With filenames I meant this: suppose I want to have several versions of an NPC, say Edwin. Edwin in his early years, in his later years and so on. Scripts probably refer to EDWIN.CRE, so if I make copies with different file names, various banters etc. won't trigger. But if I could make more EDWIN.CRE files in other folders and instruct the game to replace this one... No?

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chimeric

subtledoctor said:

Dude - don't be that guy who thinks he should get to be the only free rider.

Funny thing is, I actually have a file in my mod called d5_lmdss.spl... my prefix is "d5" - so what would happen if I decided to follow your example and stop using a prefix? For that matter, what about the person whose prefix is "LM?" Is that guy not supposed to make a file called DSS.spl and attach his prefix to it? How could he possibly know another mod (yours) is already using that filename? He has been a responsible citizen and posted up on that website that other modders can expect any filename starting with "lm" to already be in use. You don't think you should show other modders the same consideration?

Because that's not my idea. Prefixes are just something someone came up with, thinking it would be convenient. Well, it isn't convenient for me. In the unlikely case someone does make a spell called LMDSS, we'll sort it out with the guy. I'm under no obligation to make the world a better place. And I have reasons for calling the spell just that. It stands for Leomund's Secure Shelter. Are you making the same spell? If not, my reasons for the name are better than yours.

joluv

This is distilled that guyism.

mf2112

I doubt many people here would use such a mod given the likelihood of it breaking someone else's mod. I personally wouldn't, but I guess you can find out if you like.

Also, the system was not devised for convenience, but interoperability and cooperation. People here cooperate with each other in a friendly fashion.

Mr2150

And it really is no extra effort to name it xxLMDSS now, or whatever prefix you have, to avoid time, effort and unnecessary hassle later. A community lives and dies on working together, agreeing standards and helping each other.

chimeric

The reasoning behind the prefixes thing is about as convincing as traffic rules. Most people in "civilized" countries think traffic rules are a great thing - until they've been to some place like India where neither drivers nor pedestrians follow them and everyone gets around just fine. I'm not doing that, and the chance of anything going wrong is slim. But if we talked to each other about what mods we are preparing, which I'm not really seeing on this site, we would be better off in more significant ways. If he already has Leomund's Secure Shelter spell, I'm probably not going to make another one. If I knew, then there would be no LMDSS.spl in my mod, and we would all happily go do something else.

Mr2150 said:

And it really is no extra effort to name it xxLMDSS now, or whatever prefix you have, to avoid time, effort and unnecessary hassle later. A community lives and dies on working together, agreeing standards and helping each other.

You don't know what's effort for me and what isn't, so don't presume. Sorting through page after of page of small-font gibberish file names, flags, Weidu and all that nonsense just so I can get a little story out IS an effort for me, even without prefixes - more effort than changing a couple of names later would be, in the unlikely case it had to happen.