Topics, Page 1
Topics and greetings are very similar in how they work. Just like greetings, you’ll need to pay attention to the order in the CS and the conditions on the topics. So we’re going to use what we just learned and add on to it by looking at how to effectively use that box at the bottom of the window labeled Result. In short, the Result box allows you to add “mini-scripts” to dialogue, which will execute when the dialogue is said. It’s a very powerful tool, and lets you avoid writing complicated scripts to do many of the things that you see Morrowind NPCs doing. Sounds complicated, but I’ll show you what I mean.
Contents
1. Introduction and
Background
2. General Quest-Creation Tips
3. The Sample Quest
3.a. Adding the NPC
3.b. Adding the Book
3.c. The Dialogue Window
3.c.i. Journal Entries
3.c.ii. Greetings
3.c.iii. Topics
3.d. The Script
4. Testing Your Mod
5. Additional Tweaks
6. What Tribunal Added
7. Final Notes
8. Glossary and Links
1. First thing’s first. A topic will not show up in an NPC’s dialogue options unless they have “heard” it or said it somewhere before. The easiest way to make sure of this is to use a word or phrase from their greeting(s) as a topic. From Madera’s initial greeting, I think a good topic to add would be “upset”. Morrowind doesn’t already use it in an existing quest, and she says the word in her first greeting to you. So go back to the top left and scroll over to the Topics Tab and click it. Every possible topic in the game comes up in the list to the left. Right click anywhere on that list, select New, and type in “upset” without the quotes. Hit enter, then find it again and highlight it.
2. Let’s add some things for her to say about this topic. From the way the quest will work, we’re going to need three different things for her to say about “upset” at different points in the quest. You should add these just like you added the greetings.
3. First, we need one that she says to you before you get the quest. Before you get the quest, the Journal sd_lostbook (or whatever you called it) index is less than 10. So right-click in the Info/Response box, select New, and type in: Oh, yes. It seems I’ve misplaced my book! It was a family heirloom, and very special to me. Just like the greetings, put Madera’s ID in the Speaker Condition: ID drop-down. Now, we only want her to say this before you’ve received the quest, so go over to the Function/Variable section and add Journal sd_lostbook (or your name for it) less than (<) 10. Because this is the most restrictive response for this topic, leave it at the top.
4. Now right click on the next line in the Info/Response box and select New. Type in: Please, I would feel so much better if you found my book! This will be what she says about “upset” after you’ve given her the quest but before you’ve returned her book to her. Once again, set the Speaker ID condition to Madera’s ID, and over in the Function/Variable area set Journal sd_lostbook (or your name for it) to be less than (<) 30. I hope you see what this does. Now when the PC clicks “upset” in the game when speaking to Madera, the game will check the value of the journal index. If it’s less than 10, the player will get the first response (from step 3). If it’s not less than 10, but less than 30 (any value from 10 to 29), the player will get this newer response.
5. We need one more response to the “upset” topic, for Madera to say after the PC has completed the quest (e.g. when the Journal index is set to 30). Right click on the next line in the Info/Response box, select New, and type in: I’m not upset anymore thanks to you! Just like before, add the Speaker ID and Journal conditions, but this time have the Journal sd_lostbook (or your name for it) be greater than or equal to (>=) 30. Here’s what my “upset” topic looks like in the Dialogue window. Note the order:
6. Errr….save your mod. Please.