Dialogs : head, sounds, camera

[zorglub]

Ahoy.
Here is a brand new tutorial, hopefully less confusing and more up-to date than the original one, which appear to have lost the most important post in a past forum crash.

Like its predecessor, it will deal with the talking head that is loaded during dialogs on the upper left edge of the screen. A small detail that can enhance the general game ambient. But I added extra chapters about other things as well.
I don't think experienced modders will learn anything from this tutorial, but as new comers keep showing for time to time, they might find it useful.


Sections : (todo : add shortcuts)

I. Head expression

Introduction
How to give the proper head expression while loading the dialog
How to change head expression during dialog
Bonus : dream for the day the source code will be ours
Non functional stuff

II. Dialog sounds

Greeting system
Playing another sound during dialog in stock PotC
Build mod (not finished)
Non functional stuff

III. Camera

PotC crappy system
Enabling looking in 1st view
Seadogs camera mod attempts
Moving the camera
Non functional stuff

________________________

Comments - add your comments here.

Don't think ASVS is back yet.

 

[zorglub]

I. Head expression


:mm Introduction

In stock PotC, all heads had the same neutral expression. All others were left unused, but in fact the system was still partly operational as I found out while looking at the dll file, with a bit of guessing & luck.

We have four different head expressions : 'Normal', 'Smile', 'Angry', 'Afraid', as shown in the picture below.

Files :

\MODULES\DIALOG.dll
\MODULES\CameraDialog.dll
\PROGRAM\dialog.c
\PROGRAM\Dialog_func.c
\PROGRAM\DIALOGS\ //is where the .c files are
\PROGRAM\DIALOGS\[language] //is where the .h files are
\RESOURCE\INI\dialog.ini
\RESOURCE\MODELS\Heads		//model files
\RESOURCE\animation\Heads\ 	//.ani files
\RESOURCE\animation\Heads\AN 	//.an files

:mm How to give proper head expression while loading the dialog

The .dll file expects some Dialog.mood attribute.

You have to give it one of the following sentences, in the first node of your character dialog .c file :

Dialog.mood = "afraid";
Dialog.mood = "angry";
Dialog.mood = "smile";
Dialog.mood = "normal";

Of course, the "normal" mood is not useful as the head will have the same look if you don't give it anything. So forget about that one!

For example, if you want a happy Malcolm Hatcher in stock PotC :

		case "start":
dialog.mood = "smile";
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[0] + NPchar.name + DLG_TEXT[1];
link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[2];
link.l1.go = "start1";
break;

:mm How to change head expression during the dialog

Included in Build 14 is a very simple function of my that allow you to do that.
In your dialog node, use Change_Mood([whatever]), whatever being "normal", "smile", "angry" or "afraid".

For those who'd like to change head expression the same way in stock PotC, you might just want to write a normal Dialog.Mood = [whatever]; followed by a Dialog.headModel = NPChar.headModel; or a new greeting sound.


Bonus : dream for the day the source code will be ours

I personally hope that when we'll have the source code we will add the animated heads directly on the beheaded characters via locators (like sabre, pistol ; or armours in AoP).
This could allow us to save space, by having only one type of body for several different people (I'm sure Thomas the Terror agree with me!)
Then we would remove the talking heads from the separated window in the upper left edge, and makes the people themselves talk. Additionally, we'd make so you can see those people in 1st person view even in dialog mode, which is currently *partly* impossible.


Other things apparently not functional

Yes/No
Looking in DIALOG.dll or dialog.ini, it seems that apart from talking and staying idle, the heads could be asked to play 'yes' or 'no' animation.
Unfortunately I have no idea if this is really functional or not, and what could trigger that.


Ani
In some dialog .c files you can find the following Dialog attributes left. They seem to be useless. It looks like it was part of an original more complex system.

Ani
defAni
defLinkAni

'ani' do appear in DIALOG.dll, and might be used by CameraDialog.dll (don't know what this one is doing)
However most of the animation names given for 'ani' don't exist. In all case, these refer to the character and not the talking head.


___________________________________________________________________

 

[zorglub]

II. Dialog sounds

:mm Greeting system

In stock PotC a sound is played when the dialog is launched, while the animated head takes the 'talk' animation. When the sound stops, so does the head.

\RESOURCE\Sounds\VOICE\[language]
\RESOURCE\INI\ALIASES\Greetings_[language].lng or Greetings_alias.ini (before Build 14)

The greeting sounds are stored as a character 'greeting' attribute.


:mm Playing another sound during dialog in stock PotC

In stock Potc you can make the head talk again at any time by adding a Dialog.greeting = [something] in the dialog file.
Something can be either a sound file or a greeting entry. Playing the new sound, if you've just given a new .mood attribute it will be taken into account.

Example : Malcolm Hatcher in stock PotC

	case "start":
dialog.mood = "smile";
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[0] + NPchar.name + DLG_TEXT[1];
link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[2];
link.l1.go = "start1";
break;

case "start1":
dialog.mood = "afraid";
dialog.greeting = LanguageGetLanguage() + " Gr_Balltesar Figueiredo";
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[3];
link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[4];
link.l1.go = "start2";
link.l2 = DLG_TEXT[5];
link.l2.go = "Skip_tutorial";
break;

case "start2":
dialog.mood = "angry";
dialog.greeting = "VOICE\FRENCH\Fre_m_b_055.wav";
dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[6];
link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[7];
link.l1.go = "start3";
break;

...However, please note that the game will start playing your new sound even if it hasn't finish playing the old one.


:mm Build mod

In Build 14 synchronisation between sound and talking head was lost. But you can now stop the former sound.
Note that the Dialog.greeting trick still work, but you shouldn't use it.

I'll edit this tutorial later to tell you what you shall do, as I don't remember.


Non functional stuff

It seems that originally another system existed, in which all dialog lines would have been recorded & played during dialogs.
You can still find remains with those three attributes scattered in some dialog files :
snd
defSnd
defLinkSnd

None of them are functional and of course the sounds files they call don't exist.
___________________________________________________________________

 

[zorglub]

III. Camera


:mm PotC crappy system

Please excuse my harsh words. In stock PotC, camera stays below your main char while you load a dialog, and cannot move. If you are in 1st person view, it will goes in 3rd person view the time of the dialog.


:mm Enabling looking in 1st view while in Dialog

In Build 13 this was enabled, thought only when you talk to CCC buildings owners - because otherwise you wouldn't be able to see them as the camera would go behind the wall...
If you want to enable them completely, uncomment the following line. However, I suspect this might be related to some crashes in populated area so be careful with that.

SendMessage(mainChr, "lsl", MSG_CHARACTER_EX_MSG, "InDialog", 1);

:mm Seadogs camera mode attempts

In Seadogs, if you were in 3rd view, when a dialog was launched the camera was moving nicely to the side in order to see both characters. Attempts have been made to recreate this behaviour.

The first one by myself, that's why you can still find locCameraRight() and locCameraLeft() functions in PROGRAM\Locations\locations_camera.c. On a side note, I never released my latest version of that mod.

The second attempt was made (independently?) by Maximus. It is off by default, you can enable it in the advanced option in the Camera's behaviour section.
Both shared the same big inconvenient : camera doesn't care about walls, patch or anything. Thus you can have silly views (behind the wall, etc).


:mm For quest scenes

In some quests you might want the camera to show a different view than the main character back. For those, you could consider several possibilities.
- using the

locCameraToPos(locx, locy, locz, false);

function. 'false' allow nice smooth moving. Find the best coordinate for the camera. Don't forget to use locCameraFollow(); at the end of your dialog!
- use this kind of line if you want the camera to focus on another character :

SendMessage(&locCamera, "li", MSG_CAMERA_SETTARGET, CharacterFromID("Nigel Blythe"));

Combining camera moves and head model changes can allow you to avoid the annoying exit dialog / enter dialog again issue when you want some discussion with more than two characters.


Non functional stuff

Once again, we have some remains : useless attributes.

cam
defCam  
defLinkCam

Please note that 'cam' is still present in DIALOG.DLL, so it might not be completely useless. You can find '.cam' in CameraDialog.dll' as well, but again I don't know what that's about.
No matter what, 'cam' is always given "1" whereas Defcam is sometimes given "2", and Deflinkcam "9" only once.

 

[zorglub]

______________________________________________________

*end of the tutorial - you can add your comments*

for moderators : the old, confusing tutorial can be move out of the tutorials subforum.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Thanks a lot, ASVS! This is a great tutorial with some interesting stuff!
In fact, since most storyline writers don't actually use the moods code,
maybe this might encourage them to make use of that small, but fun addition.

Apparently this was removed in Build 14 (thought it might be a mistake because the code looks a little contradictory)

That sounds weird and I don't remember this being intentional. Could you fix it properly and upload the file?

The first one by myself, that's why you can still find locCameraRight() and locCameraLeft() functions in PROGRAM\Locations\locations_camera.c. On a side note, I never released my latest version of that mod.

New version? WHAT new version?
Actually, those functions ARE used in some spots where for quest purposes,
we want to show relevant things to the side of the talking characters.
Examples are the HMS Interceptor moored when talking to the harbour master upon the Jack Sparrow Grand Entrance.
The other is the burning of the Wicked Wench, which happens DURING the dialog.
However, I seem to have noticed that these instances don't actually work anymore.
Would there be any chance you could check this?

Combining camera moves and head model changes can allow you to avoid the annoying exit dialog / enter dialog again issue when you want some discussion with more than two characters.

That sounds like it's worth trying to do something with.
I know there's some of those weird multi-character dialog scenes in the Jack Sparrow and Hornblower quests.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Old thread is moved to Build Alpha and Brainstorming:
http://forum.piratesahoy.net//tutorial-how-to-get-the-talking-heads-look-better-t11234.html

 

[zorglub]

Thanks a lot, ASVS! This is a great tutorial with some interesting stuff!
In fact, since most storyline writers don't actually use the moods code,
maybe this might encourage them to make use of that small, but fun addition.

Thanks Pieter, yes, that was the whole idea. I bumped recently into my old tutorial about head expression alone and find it so bad that I thought a rewrite was necessary!

That sounds weird and I don't remember this being intentional. Could you fix it properly and upload the file?

Forgot to remove that from the tutorial script. Nope, everything is fine, that was my mistake!

New version? WHAT new version?
Actually, those functions ARE used in some spots where for quest purposes, we want to show relevant things to the side of the talking characters.
However, I seem to have noticed that these instances don't actually work anymore.
Would there be any chance you could check this?

I know the functions are used, but all this code is outdated, I changed it a lot from my side - trying to acheive something better than Maximus. I'm quite happy with what I've acheive so far but it's not finish yet. If I remember well, I wanted to work on keeping 1st person view in dialog, and better angle for the barmans, things like that. And for the scenes you're talking, I think we could acheive the same effect with a single locCameraToPos(locx, locy, locz, false); with the appropriate coordinates.

Combining camera moves and head model changes can allow you to avoid the annoying exit dialog / enter dialog again issue when you want some discussion with more than two characters.

That sounds like it's worth trying to do something with.
I know there's some of those weird multi-character dialog scenes in the Jack Sparrow and Hornblower quests.

I haven't played those, but yes indeed. The only issue might be the character name, which appears on top of the screen if I remember well. But avoiding camera sickness and having some better clarty in the dialog is much more important.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I don't like locCameraToPos because it requires me to come up with coordinate values.
As far as I'm concerned, your original functions worked quite nicely for it.
Only I think they now actually refuse to work, which I don't understand.
So if you have time, could you please use the cheatmode shortcut and try:
- The burning of the Wicked Wench
- The Grand Entrance in Port Royale?
Please check if the camera changes in the dialog work and, if not,
would it be at all possible for you to have a quick look into what's wrong?
I know it USED to work.

 

[zorglub]

Okay, I'll try to look at it Friday.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Thanks a lot. There's no rush since I'm at sea for four months anyway,
so Friday would be perfect.