Dispatches From Neverwinter

A journal of my progress as I (attempt to) learn how to build modules for Neverwinter Nights.

Name:
Location: United States

Started playing Neverwinter Nights back in November '05 and got hooked. Tried to write my own module, but I just didn't have the time. Maybe I'll try again someday.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Really and Truly Almost Finished With the Village

I think, finally, that all the problems I was having finishing the village of Cheswick have been overcome.

  • Fixing the trigger/conversation problem was simply a matter of putting in a ClearAllActions line. I don't know why this worked, but it did.
  • Crissa wasn't following because, as I suspected, I had a custom script in her OnHeartbeat event. I moved that to the OnPerception event, and that solved that problem. However, it created a new problem: if I tried to leave the village with her, but without Jocen, she wouldn't run up and initiate a conversation. So I eventually had to add a switch case to her UserDefined event that would handle the stuff in her OnPerception event script. Then I restored her OnPerception script to the default, and that problem was solved.
  • I ran into a few conversation problems, such as journal entries not being added, missing sound effects, etc... but they were just minor issues that were easily resolved.
  • Taking a cue from Saleron's Gambit, I added in more detailed descriptions of the NPCs. Unfortunately, this meant putting in a new conversation node in Jerym's conversation tree right at the start, and then cutting and pasting the existing conversation into that node. This broke all the links in his conversation. Fixing them all was a big pain in the ass.
  • The encounter triggers kept re-firing every time the PC passed through them. I eventually fixed this.
  • I decided to strip the cure light wounds potions the PC starts with and give him a medicinal broth to start with instead. I ran into a couple of problems with this, and eventually decided to just clear the PC's inventory at the start and then give the PC all the items I wanted him to have. I also stripped his gold and then had him start with a lot less (once again taking a cue from Saleron's Gambit).
  • I changed the trigger that fires when the PC enters the village to give a longer description, rather than a line of floating text. This meant changing it to an ActionSpeakString command. I also added a second trigger that does the same thing in the middle of the village, but which only fires if the PC makes a relatively easy listen skill check. In theory, it'll only activate once, whether or not the PC makes the check.
  • Did lots of minor tweaking, including changing music, changing some items in containers, adjusting the inventory in Jerym's store, adding descriptions, changing movement speeds of some of the NPC's, and so on.
The only things I might still have to do in the village is add some music to some or all of the buildings, and possibly tweak some of the items. I've done some testing, and so far everything is working the way it should. I think I can finally move on to new areas. I'll be happy to do so.

Of course, as old problems are fixed, new ones arise. I just discovered the cutscene isn't working the way it should. The NPCs just stand around instead of fighting, until they finally flee. This makes no sense at all. I haven't changed anything since I last tested it (I think). Also, I have no idea why the NPCs are ignoring the fighting part of the script but not the fleeing part. The script is obviously being executed, and the tags are obviously correct too, so what the hell could be causing this problem?

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