Example Quest Toolings

For toolset tutorials as well as question and answers.
Zelknolf
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

10. Bounty Quests

To effectively talk about the quest from here out, I need to spell out where the rest of the quest is going-- it is, in short, a lot of violence and bug guts. The PCs will be quoting Starship Troopers in no time. So all of the remaining steps, and the ones we're focusing on here:

Arc Step 0: The PC hasn't heard of the job
Arc Step 1: The PC has been told to talk to the mercenary
Arc Step 2: The PC has talked to the mercenary, and has information to report
Arc Step 3: The PC has reported back to the inn keeper with information from the mercenary.
Arc Step 4: The PC has found the centipede den
Arc Step 5: The PC has reported back and been asked to kill a handful of centipedes to reduce the threat
  • Kill Step 1: Has Killed 0 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 2: Has Killed 1 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 3: Has Killed 2 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 4: Has Killed 3 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 5: Has Killed 4 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 6: Has Killed 5 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 7: Has Killed 6 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 8: Has Killed 7 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 9: Has Killed 8 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 10: Has Killed 9 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 11: Has Killed 10 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 12: Has turned in the centipede murder
Arc Step 6: Eldata tells the PCs that the killing of a few centipedes made everything worse, and asks them to contain the threat.
Arc Step 7: PC has tripped a bounty in the centipede lair and slain a slightly-larger centipede

Arc Step 8: PC has held the entrance to the den against swarming centipedes
Arc Step 9: PC has pushed back into the corridor where the centipedes charged
Arc Step 10: PC has taken the pit that the centipedes were crawling out of
Arc Step 11: PC has returned to Eldata, and been asked to find and kill the really big one.
Arc Step 12: PC has killed one of the kinda big ones between civilization and the really big one.
Arc Step 13: PC has killed the really big one.

Arc Step 14: PC has returned to Eldata, and somewhere in these 14 steps did enough stuff to justify some good (for a level 1) gear, which they picked from a list.

I'll go over the example of what takes us from 6 to 7, but these steps are all familiar ground once you've done one of them. New trigger; new quest state; (maybe) new resref; new waypoint to spawn at. But same steps, new numbers.

Inside our area, we're going to draw a quest trigger, like we did with scouting:
bounty_1.png
bounty_1.png (115.38 KiB) Viewed 5363 times
If you can manage it, triggers tend to work well when placed in choke points or obvious paths to walk. If they're squirreled away somewhere counterintuitive (or, more specifically, somewhere that you wouldn't look for the quarry), it tends to result in quests not getting done-- or only getting done by metagaming, which is bad times for newer players.

then, open the trigger's properties...
bounty_2.png
bounty_2.png (9 KiB) Viewed 5363 times
... and this should look familiar, because we used we did it with scouting. But we have a few new ones to draw attention to...
ACR_QST_SPAWN_CRESREF is the Resource Name of the creature you want to spawn. We know what it is in this case because we made centipedes ourselves back on the first page.
ACR_QST_SPAWN_WAYPOINT is the Tag of a waypoint that you want the creature to spawn at, so we need to edit the waypoint to also have that tag:
bounty_3.png
bounty_3.png (6.25 KiB) Viewed 5363 times
Now, it's important to note that there's only one quest state advancement involved here-- even though you might think there'd be two steps (one to trip the trigger and one to kill the thing), but we don't do that in case the PC fails to kill their target. They would never get a second chance if we persistently stored that the creature had spawned, but like this they can retry the next reset.
Zelknolf
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

11. Defense Quests

Again, quest summary and what we're doing...

Arc Step 0: The PC hasn't heard of the job
Arc Step 1: The PC has been told to talk to the mercenary
Arc Step 2: The PC has talked to the mercenary, and has information to report
Arc Step 3: The PC has reported back to the inn keeper with information from the mercenary.
Arc Step 4: The PC has found the centipede den
Arc Step 5: The PC has reported back and been asked to kill a handful of centipedes to reduce the threat
  • Kill Step 1: Has Killed 0 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 2: Has Killed 1 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 3: Has Killed 2 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 4: Has Killed 3 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 5: Has Killed 4 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 6: Has Killed 5 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 7: Has Killed 6 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 8: Has Killed 7 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 9: Has Killed 8 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 10: Has Killed 9 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 11: Has Killed 10 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 12: Has turned in the centipede murder
Arc Step 6: Eldata tells the PCs that the killing of a few centipedes made everything worse, and asks them to contain the threat.
Arc Step 7: PC has tripped a bounty in the centipede lair and slain a slightly-larger centipede
Arc Step 8: PC has held the entrance to the den against swarming centipedes
Arc Step 9: PC has pushed back into the corridor where the centipedes charged
Arc Step 10: PC has taken the pit that the centipedes were crawling out of
Arc Step 11: PC has returned to Eldata, and been asked to find and kill the really big one.
Arc Step 12: PC has killed one of the kinda big ones between civilization and the really big one.
Arc Step 13: PC has killed the really big one.
Arc Step 14: PC has returned to Eldata, and somewhere in these 14 steps did enough stuff to justify some good (for a level 1) gear, which they picked from a list.

Now, this should be a lot of familiar concepts, thanks to the challenges we've been tooling over the last several posts. The defense quest is also a trigger-based quest, and so it's going to go down into the area with waypoints and a trigger (in this case, two waypoints per trigger-- one waypoint says where the monsters spawn, and one waypoint says where the monsters are trying to go). So the scene looks like this right now:
defense_1.png
defense_1.png (51.5 KiB) Viewed 5360 times
And then we have a number of variables to set:
defense_2.png
defense_2.png (21.55 KiB) Viewed 5360 times
So, to explain how the creatures are assembled here-- it's not terribly complex to do, but it's a lot of data to enter. Unfortunately, a defense quest is effectively asking the ACR to spawn an invasion, which means we need to gather a lot of information from you.

Mechanically, the logic is pretty simple-- the defense quest will keep spawning creatures you specify (one would hope minor ones) that you specify at specific intervals, and it keeps doing this throughout the quest. In this case, testing suggests that a tiny centipede every 12 seconds is enough to threaten a level 1 without rolling over them. To do this, I set DEF_QST_TRICKLE_DELAY to 12.0 and DEF_QST_TRICKLE_SPAWN_1 to abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny.

While I'm not doing it here (because, level 1 quest), if I wanted to spawn two things every trickle, I could add a DEF_QST_TRICKLE_SPAWN_2 and set it to something to make it go. If I also set it to abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny, then it would spawn a pair of tiny centipedes every 12 seconds.

DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_#_# works similarly, but the first number is used to determine the wave, while the second number is just used to build a group of them inside of that wave.

So, what I did...
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_1_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_2_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_3_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_4_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny

Every wave, we just spawn an extra tiny centipede. but let's say I hated noobs, and just wanted to murder them, I could do this...
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_1_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_2_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_small
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_3_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_medium
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_4_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_large
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_huge

Now the first wave is an extra tiny centipede, the second wave is a small one, the third wave is a medium one, the fourth wave is a large one, and the fifth wave is a huge one. Of course, while the trickle continues to spawn.

Now, if we were looking to challenge parties, or wanted swarming hordes, we can make larger waves too. For instance...
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_1_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_1_2 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_2_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_2_2 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_2_3 = abr_cr_ve_centi_small
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_3_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_4_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_2 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_3 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_4 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_5 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_6 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_7 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_8 = abr_cr_ve_centi_small
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_9 = abr_cr_ve_centi_small
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_10 = abr_cr_ve_centi_medium

Now wave 1 is two extra tiny centipedes, wave 2 is two tiny centipedes and a small one, waves 3 and 4 are just a tiny centipede, and wave 5 is a rush of seven tiny centipedes, two small centipedes, and one medium centipede.

You can also add more waves if you want by just adding more variables with a higher number in the wave slot, or remove waves by just deleting them. (in theory, the number of waves can go up to Int32.MaxValue, but please don't spawn two billion waves. That's mean). But you can't skip numbers, in waves or groups. The ACR will start counting at 1 and grab things until it doesn't find a number.

So...
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_1_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_2_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_4_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
DEF_QST_WAVE_SPAWN_5_1 = abr_cr_ve_centi_tiny
This is only two waves. But the builder probably wants four, and could get that by changing waves 4 and 5 to waves 3 and 4.


For builders planning things-- the quest is failed if an enemy creature enters the defense trigger when there are no PCs in that trigger (so you could tool a very harsh defense quest where no one may cross this line by making the trigger a narrow line that PCs can't stand in, and you can make a more-relaxed "stand here and fight!" type of quest by making the trigger large and chunky and occupying a lot of space).

And the quest lasts until it checks for a wave to spawn and doesn't find one. So the total time between tripping the trigger and success, if the point is successfully defended, is (initial delay) + ((number of waves + 1) * (wave delay)).
Zelknolf
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

12. Big Fat Bags of Loot

Again, quest summary and what we're doing...

Arc Step 0: The PC hasn't heard of the job
Arc Step 1: The PC has been told to talk to the mercenary
Arc Step 2: The PC has talked to the mercenary, and has information to report
Arc Step 3: The PC has reported back to the inn keeper with information from the mercenary.
Arc Step 4: The PC has found the centipede den
Arc Step 5: The PC has reported back and been asked to kill a handful of centipedes to reduce the threat
  • Kill Step 1: Has Killed 0 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 2: Has Killed 1 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 3: Has Killed 2 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 4: Has Killed 3 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 5: Has Killed 4 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 6: Has Killed 5 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 7: Has Killed 6 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 8: Has Killed 7 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 9: Has Killed 8 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 10: Has Killed 9 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 11: Has Killed 10 of 10 Centipedes
  • Kill Step 12: Has turned in the centipede murder
Arc Step 6: Eldata tells the PCs that the killing of a few centipedes made everything worse, and asks them to contain the threat.
Arc Step 7: PC has tripped a bounty in the centipede lair and slain a slightly-larger centipede
Arc Step 8: PC has held the entrance to the den against swarming centipedes
Arc Step 9: PC has pushed back into the corridor where the centipedes charged
Arc Step 10: PC has taken the pit that the centipedes were crawling out of
Arc Step 11: PC has returned to Eldata, and been asked to find and kill the really big one.
Arc Step 12: PC has killed one of the kinda big ones between civilization and the really big one.
Arc Step 13: PC has killed the really big one.
Arc Step 14: PC has returned to Eldata, and somewhere in these 14 steps did enough stuff to justify some good (for a level 1) gear, which they picked from a list.

Again, previous posts are assumed to be giving you a lot of background here. So the first thing I want to draw attention to is how much XP PCs are likely to get for doing this quest:
Skill Check w/ Drunken Mercenary: 0 - 10xp
Returning to Eldata with information: 10 xp
Finding the Centipede Lair: 15 xp
Killing 10 centipedes: 10 xp (combat, no loot)
Returning victorious from centipede slaughter: 20 xp
Defense Quest and a series of bounties: 70 xp (combat, no loot)
Report Back victorious: 25 xp
Kill the Boss: 5 xp
Final Turnin: 20 xp
Total XP for this: ~185xp

So, for level 1s, we usually want to drop about 1.25 * XP in loot to keep them reasonably on track. Which is about 230. You tend to be able to nudge up values a -little- bit if you're dropping items instead of gold (as selling them means that take-home wealth is half the quest reward, so that won't break things). So I'm calling it 250 in gear for payment here-- Eldata wouldn't have a bunch of cash, but she might have just... stuff... that she got while trying to collect tabs. She tends bar in a frontierey place. Perhaps not expected, but it makes a kind of... very D&Dey... sense.
rewards.png
rewards.png (34.97 KiB) Viewed 5360 times
So OE gives us a perfectly-good script to make someone in a conversation give the PC an item-- but for this kind of reward, it's important to -not- act on every party member. If any of these are set to All Party, then the first person in party picks a reward and everyone is stuck with it. But maybe the wizard learned his lesson, and wants that fortitude ring, and the tank says "Man, screw this chain shirt. I'm only wearing it for lack of starting gold and I wanted a longbow-- gimme that banded armor!"

So, new action lines-- ga_give_item, and then the Resource Name of the item in the sTemplate field, and 1 (or however many you want to spawn-- if it was arrows, maybe 20 or 50 would be a better number). More than one action line if there's lots to give. Make -sure- that you advance the quest state on the same node as when you give awards. If you give loot on a different conversation node either it's an earlier node (and you're exploitable) or a later node (and you're going to screw players out of their rewards).
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

13. Residual Repeatable

Now, if you're thinking about making sure that all of the work you've done gets play, and if you want to encourage people to work in groups if they find people who need to do the quest they just did, what you can do is add a repeatable onto the end that they can pick up and get a little something for their participation.

Now, this is very simple setup-- it's just like the setup we had in step 5, but we want the arc to be on 14 (the post-rewarded quest state) and the _kill quest to be on 12. Then we set the _kill quest back to 1. But to do this, you need to set the override flag on the quest.
quest_reset.png
quest_reset.png (5.85 KiB) Viewed 5360 times
Because the state was 12, we have to tell the ACR that we know we're setting a quest backward, and that's OK-- which is what that flag is for. And then we just let the existing centipedes carry the quest up to 11. So we have a different conversation node for arc = 14 and kill = 12, where we give some little niblet of reward (like 15 gold and 10 xp).
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

And that's it. Above should be the building of a fairly-complex quest end to end: if there's still questions left, please ask them here. Feel free to just drop extra posts onto the thread and I can answer and/or revise the thread to cover your curiosity.
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Rumple C »

How might one spawn a set item on a set bad guy?

Like having the boss centipede drop a "centipede egg sack" for example, upon death.
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

Well that's silly. Centipedes don't lay eggs in sacks. But the males do deposit spermatophores on the ground and do enticing dances to try to make their blobs of spunk look appetizing, so maybe we want to drop a big blob of centipede spunk on death.

You'll want to tool your centipede spunk item and mark it plot, then put it in the inventory (just sitting on the top left-- same screen as when you set up bites and hides back here), provided that you want any instance of that monster to drop the thing (like with wolf hides).

If, however, you want to pick a single instance of the item, then you'll need to do some custom code. Still tool your centipede spunk as plot, and then the script should be fairly simple:

This block needs to go after you've spawned a creature:

Code: Select all

    object SpawnPoint = GetWaypointByTag("<< you know the tag; it's the spawn point for this quest step >>");
    object Critter = GetNearestObject(OBJECT_TYPE_CREATURE, SpawnPoint);
    CreateItemOnObject("<<item resource name>>", Critter, 1);
(that 1 is the stack size-- so if you're dropping stacks, make that 1 into something else; just don't use ammo; plot ammo is bugged somethin' fierce)


If you're trying to drop actual loot, the ACR will try to fight back at the moment-- we do our best to follow the DMA wealth/reward guidelines, which often means it spotting things like the potions in a dead critter's inventory and taking them out behind the shed to be shot. Your best bet is to have a very similar block to the above, getting a container instead of a creature, and spawning the item in the container. This probably means a custom OnDeath script, in which case copy an existing one and write your stuff at the bottom.
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Brokenbone »

Wow. Quite a tutorial. Kudos.

A small point re: XP to loot thinking. Mightn't quest authors ballpark an estimated time to completion and factor that into the XP award at the end (15xp per RL hour)?

I think it's a lovely little quest, but lowbies + poison = poisoned lowbies who may need to withdraw pretty fast. I guess ability damage can be healed point by point with regular rest ("You are not sleepy and must wait 23 in game hours before your next rest.") or of course, Lesser Restoration (can't cast before 3rd, may meet an ally who'll do it for free or cheap, or go buy a scroll for some divines worth 150, scripted NPCs charge 200, potion for universal users 300). Lowbies might have to make multiple sorties into cave zone and chip away at opposition, poor hard luck low resourced adventurers that they are, or could tough out increasingly worse AC and missile AB as DEX damage just keeps piling on.

That said, it's not always lowbies picking lowbie quests, players hit anything questy any time they find it. Level 3 cleric in banded might find this quest, have some lesser restorations, throw on a conviction for the rare poison hit and save situation, and chuck summons into a pile of centipedes who can take the poison hits instead. If you estimated "2 hours 30xp" for ideal audience, higher level users might steamroll in 20 minutes anyhow. So I guess timing estimates are delicate things!
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

I did test this one with a few level 1s-- it takes some courage to do it all in one sitting, for sure, but even brazen mouth-frothing violent soloing centipedeicide seems to have a relatively-low mortality rates. It's true that people who want to live will probably withdraw instead of die in a blaze of centipede-themed glory, though I don't expect that to be necessary more than once and don't expect it to be typically necessary and thus isn't counted for quest completion time (and it's no coincidence that I have them repeatedly return to a social space-- so if they do withdraw, they end up getting drunk in earshot of other people who might like the quest).

As for RPXP acquired while doing the quest, yeah that's a thing and you can account for it when deciding loot-- I was somewhat stuck here, as so much of the quest time is going to be spent like... loading areas and figuring out the floor plan where violence is to happen, which of course didn't take me any time (I built it all) and would be wildly variable for everyone else (trivial time for folk familiar with the UI; significant time for actual newbies). I'd have argued that it was super important at about this time last year, and tried to guess, but we do have other mechanisms to correct for loot today and so I'm less worried about it. I probably could've argued my way up on the reward list, though probably would have to be caches of items as the wealth guidelines say that masterwork weapons are closer to level 2 loot.
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Brokenbone »

Maybe this amounts to "don't be surprised if 15-30 extra XP accrue during questing, without necessarily seeing a corresponding reward." People do also trip over free gp mushrooms and loot piles out in the wilds anyhow, can't account for everything.

Again, great tutorial thing.
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Brokenbone »

This example quest seems to "have it all", kind of a best in class type static. Is it possible that it either already exists as an erf or it could exist as an erf?

I am sure somewhere I've seen someone post a clean build module... maybe it was Foam.

I'd kind of like to grab a build module, import the centipede thing, then see if I'm smart enough to adapt elements into something else. Not a total carbon copy (different bar, different drunk, different infestation) but sometimes it's easier to build off a skeleton and then refer back to a huge post like this to focus on what to change to taste.
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

Sure, all of my work is open source and version controlled; that's the prerequisite to getting me to work on your module. So everything I've done is on the BG repository, which I'd rather reference because (like all software) it had some bugs, and might acquire some bugs in the future (or might have bugs that I just don't know about yet), so best policy to pick up the latest from the latest module if you'd like to iterate:
https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010_bg/

And the initial commits for the quest are here:
https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010 ... e5b63b305d
https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010 ... d5299553ac

Those initial commits will tell you which resources to pluck out of the module for your own machinations. Below this here mark is just the evidence of why it's a good idea to do this, and not me trying to be a jerk or anything (also, probably good to point out at the end of the tutorial that I also had some trouble with the thing; everyone has trouble with the things; you get good by fixing the things once they give you flak).

===========================================

Problem #1: Area transitions which don't use the acr_area_i library look like balls while transitioning.
-- https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010 ... 96b1128223

Problem #2: Glossing over conversation nodes will sometimes cause you to break one of your clever solutions:
-- https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010 ... 86f1860245

Problem #3: Drawing triggers over uneven terrain is dodgey work, which often needs to be redone:
-- https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010 ... 471a0fc0f5

Problem #4: If you have to fix a problem in one place, you should probably check for similar things in other places:
-- https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010 ... 6927bc8f87

Problem #5: An annoyed Zelknolf will eventually change the ACR, and you might want to update your stuff to use the new tools:
-- https://github.com/ALandFarAway/ALFA-Ba ... 662187dced
-- https://github.com/ALandFarAway/alfa010 ... a44bef28dc
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Brokenbone »

Okay... while I haven't opened the toolset yet, what I did do was go to the build module part of the wiki. ---> http://www.alandfaraway.org/wiki/ALFA_Build_Module

It told me to grab four things. Buildmod, something to fix texture errors, builder overrides, those three were fine. A fourth link to the advanced script compiler may need updating, it sent me to defunct nw vault, but there were pages to redirect me to I guess the successor to the vault, and therefore this Skywing content. So that I have.

I am taking it from looking at a few of your github links that I can download things like UTCs, DLGs, JRLs and stuff. Most likely pick up oldest first. THEN sift through the corrections of bugs stuff, and if there happens to be same name resources... well that's on purpose, let the newest stuff overwrite stuff that had problems. Like the initial posts had a "010_sel_eldata.DLG" (pretty clearly a dialogue file for someone named Eldata), but then problem #2 (or really, a solution to problem #2) had an updated "010_sel_eldata.DLG"

So anyhow if I have a build module and drop all that stuff into it (I suppose just dragging it into a folder, we're not talking erfs here), then eventually I'll have a module with a centipede lair, a few loot items, a centipede critter, a drunk mercenary, his convo, and the convo for someone named Eldata, though Eldata's UTC is not itself in the package... since presumably Eldata is an existing BG NPC where you'd have gotten HDM to kindly update her existing convo, whatever it was, to this questy one.

Again then if I was adapting, I could just have some blank room where I have a friendly static granter critter for me to make up, give him/her an edit-copy of the Eldata blueprint and then s/he can whine about their problems, perhaps send PC to go find an edit-copy of the drunk mercenary to go use some social skills on, and then maybe to go search for a lair which doesn't resemble the centipede lair. Stereotypical cellar of bar, sewer, haunted house, whatever.

I think I've got lots to go on, if I am understanding things right here. Or at least understanding well enough to get going. May find myself checking into #alfa-tech to find out a best source of some given monster, if it turns out something or other is already up to SRD and ACR_BEHAVIORS type specs. Like "gee has anyone got a gibberling UTC they're really happy with...?" (Picture some simple task of miners, archaeologists, svirfs, some other underground friendlies warning of an incoming gibberling swarm and it's a turf defense deal)
ALFA NWN2 PCs: Rhaggot of the Bruised-Eye, and Bamshogbo
ALFA NWN1 PC: Jacobim Foxmantle
ALFA NWN1 Dead PC: Jon Shieldjack

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Zelknolf
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Zelknolf »

So what you would do is grab the whole module off of the repository (there's a "download zip" button on the right side), and then export from the module the resources used by the quest, and import them into your build mod. The download zip link will have the latest of everything, so you don't need to muck through individual updates if you don't want to. If you do want to, it's probably time to learn git. It's the best tool for that job.

You can drag and drop resources too, though if you're not particularly familiar with the workings of the toolset, I would advocate opening the module and saving before doing any further work (to update your module.ifo, if it's necessary).



The ASC link does indeed need updating; nwvault's "scheduled maintenance" (lol, going on three weeks now) has us moved to neverwintervault.org.

I've fixed the wiki. Actual link to the ASC here:
http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn ... piler-nwn2



Also, yeah, I pointed out how to hook up conversations to creatures in the tutorial, so you could just attach it to a critter and tinker away. Eldata was an existing NPC who already had a conversation (namely, she sells drinks and sandwiches), so there's nothing on that commit to add the creature or the spawn. I am cautious to not say exactly where, as I'm pretty sure that publishing the precise details on where to find a quest on forums can get one smacked for metagaming, and I'm already toeing that line by posting this. Should be easy enough to search for "eldata" in the module folder and find all of the resources, though.
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Brokenbone
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Re: Example Quest Toolings

Post by Brokenbone »

Okay... all understood.

I wasn't sure how to grab each individual thing within say, the first commit. Yes, I could go click a "View" button to one side... then a "View Raw" on the next screen, prompting a download. That however is a pain in the ass, doing such an exercise I guess ten times in the first link alone. Lots of clicking but short for each to execute. Alternative is download the whole module over course of... well however long it takes to move some massive single file like that. Maybe better off with ten quick DLs (and however many are in the other links) than waiting an hour or more for whole module. Though I guess with the whole module I could search for any ready made gibberlings, or bunnies, banedead, slimes, whatever I was interested in.

Re metagaming, with whole modules hanging around for simple download, I wouldn't worry too much about the forums giving a strong hint that a fully illustrated step by step quest, "probably" kicks off at a certain frontiersy inn. RPGs have taught a generation of gamers to ALWAYS ask bar tenders for work.
ALFA NWN2 PCs: Rhaggot of the Bruised-Eye, and Bamshogbo
ALFA NWN1 PC: Jacobim Foxmantle
ALFA NWN1 Dead PC: Jon Shieldjack

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