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How to make dialogs that work? I can make broken ones ._.

WithinAmnesiaWithinAmnesia Member Posts: 958
edited December 2018 in General Modding
Hello I am trying to make some more encounters in Baldur's Gate and I bumbled my way into a few problems: namely dialog. @Arunsun

Here is a broken dialog, how can this be fixed / improved? 
BEGIN OLMELIAQ

IF ~  True()
~ THEN BEGIN 0 // from:
  SAY ~Your life means nothing to me. Although my employer has placed a pretty penny upon a head that much like your own. Say would you be as so kind and lay down and die? T'would be most convenient.~
~+ ~Over my dead body you runt legged wench! I'll be knocking you flat to be pushing up daisies and taking your pretty pennies!~ + OverMyDeadBody
~+ ~Hold on there my lady, what if this head is not the one you are after? There are many heads that look alike, who is your employer anyway?~ + HoldOnThere
~+ ~Why ask your foes to lay down and die? I see you come baring arms surely you don't expect myself to just lay down and die? What about the struggle of life and death? If I am to die I would first like to know who put a price on my head. + WhyAskYourFoes


IF ~~ WhyAskYourFoes
   SAY  ~Why this line of work gets so tiresome, tracking and hunting for days on end; I just want to get paid. Eh a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do. I ain't telling nobody who pays me mate, lest me head roll off one night. Everytime the same question! Stubborn ilk you all are.~
      ~+ ~Lazy bastard! I'll give you a fight you pint-sized ragamuffin!~ + LazyBastard
      ~+ ~I will not give my life to you willingly, especially to fatten someone else's coin purse. Get a real job you hack scum brained bandit.~ + IWillNotGive
      ~+ ~Such needless violence, live by the sword, er, flail die by the flail. One day all this indiscriminate killing will catch up to you my lady. Can't we just part ways without violence?~ + SuchNeedlessViolence
 
 IF ~~ OverMyDeadBody
   SAY  ~So rude! I'll swing me flails extra hard to crack your thick skull open; beat some manners into ya I will!~ EXIT

 IF ~~ LazyBastard
   SAY  ~So rude! I'll swing me flails extra hard to crack your thick skull open; beat some manners into ya I will!~ EXIT

IF ~~ + IWillNotGive
   SAY  ~So rude! I'll swing me flails extra hard to crack your thick skull open; beat some manners into ya I will!~~ EXIT

IF ~~ HoldOnThere
   SAY  ~Well I'll take that risk, last time it was not so bad when I got it wrong. I got to keep the loot anyway, that is what everyone wants these days anyway. The boss does not take kindly to finks. So will you be a darling and just, DIE!~ EXIT

IF ~~ SuchNeedlessViolence
   SAY  ~Well I'll take that risk, last time it was not so bad when I got it wrong. I got to keep the loot anyway, that is what everyone wants these days anyway. The boss does not take kindly to finks. So will you be a darling and just, DIE!~ EXIT
   END


It is for Melia Quicknight an assassin on the Crossroads that drops a Ring of Accurate Striking +1. Poor girl just walks up and cannot talk to the party yet spams her first meeting dialog. Any solutions anyone reckon? I am looking to improve here so I can make more content for the community.



___________________________________________________________________


Also here are some Works In Progress of other stuff in the same Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters module.

Daenni WIP Wand of Frost and Arrows of Ice


Fire Drake, Greater Wyverns, Extra Wyvern and Ring of Accurate Striking +2



U.M.B.E.R.S. Encounter Work in Progress and the OLHELM00


Bimmy and his Composite Longbow +2 'Strong Arm' and the highwaymen gang. How does one link Ioin Gallchobhair's shout dialog to make Bimmy (OLBIMMY) attack the party as well if they pick to fight instead of give their gold away in the dialog?

Comments

  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736
    At a glance, three things.

    1) Each state should be closed with an END.
    2) The transition triggers should be +~~+ ( or does ++ work too? I forgot, probably yes) rather than ~+
    3) EXIT still requires proper transition syntax, even if it doesn't contain any player text. So, iirc ++ ~~ EXIT will work.
  • GwendolyneGwendolyne Member Posts: 461
    Ardanis said:


    2) The transition triggers should be +~~+ ( or does ++ work too? I forgot, probably yes) rather than ~+

    + ~CONDITION~ +
    or ++ without condition.
  • CamDawgCamDawg Member, Developer Posts: 3,438
    Man, I feel like I'm the only person who still uses longhand dialogue syntax. I find it 10x more readable.
  • LavaDelVortelLavaDelVortel Member Posts: 2,700
    Hah, I think you're not the only one, Cam! I longhand is so much easier to read...
  • WithinAmnesiaWithinAmnesia Member Posts: 958
    edited December 2018
    @Ardanis @Gwendolyne @CamDawg @LavaDelVortel @Arunsun Okay so how do I fix this broken dialog?

    I have a few ideas but I am without the technical knowledge to work in confidence as to what I should do to solve these current issues plaguing the broken dialog. I will listen diligently I just need an example / template to follow is all. Just an example of what works for I am with problems and I am without solutions.

    There are talented people here within the community with a great deal of skill that I hope to learn from. If someone with much more dialog crafting skill than I can fix this it will be worth your while to take the time I assure you. This is for you will be planting a seed that will let a whole bunch more of backlogged content blast forth that is bottlenecked with the same issues.

    I am hungry to get a whole truck load of content released for Baldur's Gate. I need to learn dialog / encounter / script crafting and WeiDU better in order to achieve these goals. Once I am there I can unleash a mighty fonte of content from years of creating bits and pieces of what I could but not the whole experience; yet now I with just a bit of help I can create whole experiences.

    Once I get this done I can copy the method and make more content for everyone. I got the rest of the module working minus the dialog. If I can fix this weak part of my skill set I can launch the content before Christmas as a second gift to the community.

    Also there is an extra bit to link Ioin Gallchobhair's shout dialog to make Bimmy (OLBIMMY) attack the party although it works without the dialog link. Although if I can fix that it would make the content a more better and smoother experience. I would greatly appreciate any help with this dialog content piece herein.

    Take a look at some recent progress, I got the Undercity Magma Bulwark Encounter; Red Skeleton (U.M.B.E.R.S.) working finally after a year or so:


    I just need some technical help to get some content off the ground. Once I can stand on my own rounded knowledge set I can produce more whole experience content for the community. Then finally I hope to get some Work In Progress content 'irons in the fire' that have been brewing on the back burner finally properly forged and launched for the community to enjoy.

    I want to be of service to the community and put my creative talent to use instead of just making 'works in progress'. I want to bend my creative clout into tangible content to share with the community to empower my favourite R.P.G. experience. I know that I can do this I just have to grasp the potential.

    When I first played the community content modules like Dark Side of the Sword Coast and Dark Horizons and Grey Clan in Candlelight I always desired to come full circle and be the one who makes content. Yet I had no people but myself to achieve this goal. So I struggled away to be the creative force alone and now I can finally can stand tall and forge full content experiences.

    Now I have developed myself through the years of constant failure in the search of success to finally be able to achieve these creative goals. I filtered and rebuilt myself thought failure to be strong enough to create what I wanted and elevate myself from the people who say everything and do nothing, to instead grow and become a person who can say nothing yet do everything.

    Yet I am not there quite yet. I am blundering forward and I recognize that I need a bit of help right now to further develop my weaknesses into strengths to make the difference that I seek. I need to get stronger creatively in order to get this content properly launched.

    As humans we are stronger together and can become greater than the sum of our parts via cooperation. This is why we seek friends and allies, to defeat the adversity of life. No one can solve every problem alone; we need each other. In this I know that in order to fulfill my dreams and make the content for the community; I need to seek the strength of the community where I am weak in order to give my strength to the community where the community is weak. One must first become strong if one wishes to be strong for others.
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736 
    BEGIN OLMELIAQ

IF ~True()~ THEN BEGIN 0
  SAY ~Your life means nothing to me. Although my employer has placed a pretty penny upon a head that much like your own. Say would you be as so kind and lay down and die? T'would be most convenient.~
  ++ ~Over my dead body you runt legged wench! I'll be knocking you flat to be pushing up daisies and taking your pretty pennies!~ + OverMyDeadBody
END
 
IF ~~ BEGIN OverMyDeadBody
  SAY ~So rude! I'll swing me flails extra hard to crack your thick skull open; beat some manners into ya I will!~ 
  ++ ~~ EXIT
END
  • WithinAmnesiaWithinAmnesia Member Posts: 958
    Good news!

    I got the Melia Quicknight dialog to work in its full form and I copied the format and made a dialog for Daenni on the bridge encounter in Cloakwood with the Wyvern Cave (AR1700). Also the Fire Drake works great now.

    I am trying to just add in the remastered Gnolls to the Gnoll Stronghold here https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/73729/how-to-replace-or-delete-an-area-actor-from-a-preexisting-area/p1 to get version 1.0 finished.
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