However, adding new or changing existing recruitment locations is a rather simple (but possibly time-consuming) task. There is a file in the mod archive called a7-positions.2da which is a (more or less self-explanatory) text file that defines initial NPC locations. The time-consuming part consists of finding a suitable location for each potential NPC, which requires the area code and exact map coordinates.
Okay, that is handy to know. I presume that it's done in order, where the first entry for a game is where the first NPC you install goes to, and so on?
Available NPC locations are chosen in order of appearance in the location table, but with a slight chance of choosing a random location entry instead.
About table columns, the first column is just an arbitrary (numeric) label. The "GAME" column should be self-explanatory. The "LOC_IDX" column indicates the order of NPCs moving from one place to another (e.g used in SoD or ToB). RESREF, X and Y indicate area code and x/y position. DIR indicates which cardinal direction the NPC is facing in the range 0-15, where South=0, West=4, North=8 and East=12.
I think I have messed up, possibly by having EEkeeper open when I tried installing a character. The mod gave a fatal error because it couldn't access dialog.tlk and now I can't install any character without the dialogue strings being broken, because there doesn't seem to be a way to completely uninstall the mod, is there anything I can do?
I think I have messed up, possibly by having EEkeeper open when I tried installing a character. The mod gave a fatal error because it couldn't access dialog.tlk and now I can't install any character without the dialogue strings being broken, because there doesn't seem to be a way to completely uninstall the mod, is there anything I can do?
You could manually remove A7CHRNPC.DLG from the override folder and try installing an NPC again. The dialog file will be recreated if it's missing.
However, if the whole dialog.tlk is corrupted then nothing short of a complete reinstallation of all mods will fix the issue since WeiDU never reverts changes made to the dialog.tlk.
I thought I would really love this mod and I use it for the first time in my new game to have 2 more companions and have 8 overpowered builds in my team.
But in fact I'm disappointed by this mod for a simple reason: no script works with companions: no auto-attack, no auto-search traps, no auto-chant of bard.... it's necessary all the time to micro-manage them, I don't like it. And it is not written in the readme. It should be "note 4".
I'll see if it's possible to retain or reassign AI scripts in follower mode.
@deratiseur It looks like there is no way to preserve the AI script when you switch into follower mode. The script slot is cleared automatically and there is no feasible way to restore it.
However, it is possible to assign a new AI script to followers by dialog which worked pretty well so far in my tests.
Either way, an "auto" script would be really cool.
Well, I could auto-assign the DEFAULT script which is the least intrusive AI script (aside from NONE). For EE games the ADVANCED AI script would also be an option.
I think you can remove the dialog lines for adding a script to them. I tried many scripts (Attack on sight, protection spells on sight, always search for traps, always shoot (archer) on sight.... ) none of them work, they are still not self-reactive.
Moreover I found another "bug", which I think is not a bug. I equipped one of the pnjs with a ring that allows to cast spells in armor (immune to effect #145) -> when my bard pnj is in my team, with this ring he can wear chain mail and cast spells. But as soon as he becomes a follower, all his spells are deactivated -> the ring and the immunity to the effect #95 don't work on the followers.
I think you can remove the dialog lines for adding a script to them. I tried many scripts (Attack on sight, protection spells on sight, always search for traps, always shoot (archer) on sight.... ) none of them work, they are still not self-reactive.
Yeah, it looks like party scripts are not available to NPCs in follower mode. It sometime "worked" in my tests, but only because there were identically named scripts available in the game with similar behavior. I'll see if I can find a way to make it work.
The second issue sounds like an engine restriction or bug. There's probably nothing I can do about it.
And maybe you can further improve this mod and make it compatible with "Improved movement speed outside of combat" (your mod or the Tweak Anthology option) if installed after the mod/option -> the speed of the followers would be adapted to the players.
And maybe you can further improve this mod and make it compatible with "Improved movement speed outside of combat" (your mod or the Tweak Anthology option) if installed after the mod/option -> the speed of the followers would be adapted to the players.
Well, including NPCs created by this mod should be doable since they all have unique script names. But probably not for NPCs installed after the speed tweak, since this mod doesn't register in the WeiDU.log which might cause all kinds of issues.
Comments
Available NPC locations are chosen in order of appearance in the location table, but with a slight chance of choosing a random location entry instead.
About table columns, the first column is just an arbitrary (numeric) label. The "GAME" column should be self-explanatory. The "LOC_IDX" column indicates the order of NPCs moving from one place to another (e.g used in SoD or ToB). RESREF, X and Y indicate area code and x/y position. DIR indicates which cardinal direction the NPC is facing in the range 0-15, where South=0, West=4, North=8 and East=12.
I think I have messed up, possibly by having EEkeeper open when I tried installing a character. The mod gave a fatal error because it couldn't access dialog.tlk and now I can't install any character without the dialogue strings being broken, because there doesn't seem to be a way to completely uninstall the mod, is there anything I can do?
You could manually remove A7CHRNPC.DLG from the override folder and try installing an NPC again. The dialog file will be recreated if it's missing.
However, if the whole dialog.tlk is corrupted then nothing short of a complete reinstallation of all mods will fix the issue since WeiDU never reverts changes made to the dialog.tlk.
But in fact I'm disappointed by this mod for a simple reason: no script works with companions: no auto-attack, no auto-search traps, no auto-chant of bard.... it's necessary all the time to micro-manage them, I don't like it. And it is not written in the readme. It should be "note 4".
@deratiseur It looks like there is no way to preserve the AI script when you switch into follower mode. The script slot is cleared automatically and there is no feasible way to restore it.
However, it is possible to assign a new AI script to followers by dialog which worked pretty well so far in my tests.
Well, I could auto-assign the DEFAULT script which is the least intrusive AI script (aside from NONE). For EE games the ADVANCED AI script would also be an option.
This version adds French translation as well as a dialog option to assign individual AI scripts to NPCs in follower mode.
Changelog:
Moreover I found another "bug", which I think is not a bug. I equipped one of the pnjs with a ring that allows to cast spells in armor (immune to effect #145) -> when my bard pnj is in my team, with this ring he can wear chain mail and cast spells. But as soon as he becomes a follower, all his spells are deactivated -> the ring and the immunity to the effect #95 don't work on the followers.
Yeah, it looks like party scripts are not available to NPCs in follower mode. It sometime "worked" in my tests, but only because there were identically named scripts available in the game with similar behavior. I'll see if I can find a way to make it work.
The second issue sounds like an engine restriction or bug. There's probably nothing I can do about it.
Well, including NPCs created by this mod should be doable since they all have unique script names. But probably not for NPCs installed after the speed tweak, since this mod doesn't register in the WeiDU.log which might cause all kinds of issues.
Changelog: