Devlin Opera for the 65742th time

[Sebrian]

If anybody wants to help otherwise
1) Go to Turks and visit Short Jack Gold. Everybody at his meeting should have a brand new piratey voice clip. But for some reason, a certain Bartholomew Roberts is still talking like a dutch shipyard owner. This has been around for a long time and I never made it a priority to look at it.
2) In general, are the unique voice clips for Blaze and Bonnie, Emmanuel Devlin, Rico Diaz and Toni and Ernesto Haraldo okay?
3) Play until Santiago or use the jumpstart, choose Beatrice to go talk to the navigator. There's a new mini quest and I'd be glad about a few opinions for final fixes and adjustements.

I will try to help you out as much as i can when i'm done with finishing up my own story to a cerain point, which should be done today/tomorrow.

 

[BathtubPirate]

Never mind, there shouldn't be any "_" between first and last name in the character id... Thank you anyway.

 

[Sebrian]

Never mind, there shouldn't be any "_" between first and last name in the character id... Thank you anyway.

By the way, as a fan of the POTC series i bet you could help me out too... as i too need someone to test it for me and give feedback, and it's close to being done, while @Grey Roger is busy preparing the update we could definetely help each other out here

Basically you could run a little test of the story that i have so far (around 40 min gameplay), and see if it's good enough, so i can be done with it faster and we can then focus on
Devlin Opera together, just an idea of course!

 

[BathtubPirate]

I could probably do some test-playing.

Finishing the Santiago part shouldn't be that much of a problem, as Blaze's and Bonnie's paths are relatively easy to code. After Santiago it will get a bit harder over here.

 

[Grey Roger]

There was something very odd about a few of the "sit" locators in that, if a character was put on them, he became invisible; and if the player was put onto one of them, the whole room went dark. Rotating them a fraction of a degree solved that, and you should have the fixed locator file because it's in the January 2022 installer.

Oops! It seems that while I fixed some of the "sit" locators, I didn't fix them all, and "sit2" was one of those that I missed out. Extract this and put into "RESOURCE\MODELS\Locations\Inside\Tavern_1". That ought to correct the ones previously missed out. If you would prefer "sit2", this file should allow it to work properly.

 

[BathtubPirate]

Thanks, so far Bonnie and Balboa are happily using the table vis-à-vis, but it doesn't matter too much as long as the player doesn't sit back to the wall (camra perspective would get really close). But it's always good to see something fixed.

A lot has happened this week already, Bonnie's route on Santiago (which has three different routes in itself) is making good progress.

 

[Jack Rackham]

@BathtubPirate if you need any location not found in the game maybe I can fix something for you too.

 

[BathtubPirate]

@Jack Rackham that's very kind. Last year l installed VCO to check it out and I saw this location (see link) and I immediately thought it might be nice to have in PotC and being able to visit the wreckage. But if at all, that would be in the future and nothing is planned super specifically yet.

https://mmos.com/wp-content/gallery/voyage-century-overview/voyage-century-wolf.jpg

In general I don't really have new locations planned, but I also don't really know what would be available from TEHO or VCO, as I don't have TEHO and VCO is incredibly annoying to play. If I cold see locations, maybe I would have an idea how to use one, but I don't really have specific requests at the time.

 

[Jack Rackham]

Do you know what the number of the VCO model is, or the name of the location?

 

[Sebrian]

I could probably do some test-playing.

Finishing the Santiago part shouldn't be that much of a problem, as Blaze's and Bonnie's paths are relatively easy to code. After Santiago it will get a bit harder over here.

Thanks, would be much appriciated!

Download link

As i'm done with DMC for some time now, i can kick back open a bottle of rum and play Devilin opera from the beggining with your updates, so ill give you some feedback and help if you shall require it.

 

[BathtubPirate]

Do you know what the number of the VCO model is, or the name of the location?

Unfortunately not. I can't get into VCO right now, it requires an update but I get a runtime error. And I've never really managed to look at locations or do much else with TOOL and stuff, even though I managed to create one locator last year.

In other news, this dialog doesn't work. I can't even talk to Balboa, no dialogue window at all.

This is in the quest file:

        case "Torres_has_spoken":
            Locations[FindLocation("Santiago_port")].reload.l4.close_for_night = 0;                      // Open Shipyard
            LAi_SetPlayerType(pchar);

            LAi_ActorRunToLocator(characterFromID("Don Evaristo Torres"), "goto", "goto27", "byebye_DonEvaristo", 8.0);
            Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Rocoso Balboa")].Dialog.CurrentNode = "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard";
        break;

And these are the dialog cases. First they talk through the lines 57-62, then I tried to make a workaround without if-conditions to make a dialog loop (so he'll always say the same, 63-64, when spoken to, until later in the quest). Weird that I don't even get to the case "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard".

        case "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard":
            dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[57];
            link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[58];
            link.l1.go = "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard2";
        break;

        case "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard2":
            dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[59];
            link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[60];
            link.l1.go = "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard3";
        break;

        case "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard3":
            dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[61];
            link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[62];
            link.l1.go = "exit_checksafe";
            AddQuestRecord("El Navegante", 18);
        break;

        case "exit_checksafe":
            AddDialogExitQuest("Bonnie_look_if_safe");

            Diag.CurrentNode = Diag.TempNode; //"First time";
            DialogExit();
        break;

        case "crying":
            dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[63];
            link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[64];
            link.l1.go = "exit_crying";
        break;

        case "exit_crying":
            Diag.CurrentNode = Diag.TempNode; //"First time";
            DialogExit();

            Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Rocoso Balboa")].Dialog.CurrentNode = "crying";
        break;

Maybe the quest case "byebye_DonEvaristo", which changes Don Evaristo's location to none, overrides Dialog.CurrentNode = "Balboa_is_inside_shipyard" and I should assign the latter once again? Could that be it?

 

[Sebrian]

Durring Blaze's path i let myself get beat up and after recovering, Chico Malo was waitng for me outside, and well... as i did not level up much he beat me up yet again, so after getting pretty angry at him i decided not to wait on the dialogue and start the fight myself as he was approaching, and well... he got killed, and the quest got a bit broken

You might want to add:

LAi_LocationFightDisable(&Locations[FindLocation("LOCATION")], true);

Or implement a check, in case he gets killed without the dialogue happening...


As @Grey Roger has taught me before, many quests can get wacky if the player can draw his blade at any time, i bet there are some moments in my questline that i might have missed.

 

[Sebrian]

In other news, this dialog doesn't work. I can't even talk to Balboa, no dialogue window at all.

Might be a silly question, but have you defined a dialogue filename for Rocoso Balboa in his character stats or elsewhere in the quest ?

Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Rocoso Balboa")].Dialog.Filename = "Rocoso Balboa_dialog.c

 

[Jack Rackham]

I can't play VCO but have most of the files downloaded to my hard disc. At least models and textures.
I can look at the models with gm-viewer.

Perhaps you have access to VCO in another way?

 

[BathtubPirate]

My dialogue problem is solved. Once again, I've mainly been stupid.

@Sebrian Chico shouldn't be that hard to kill, even for my standards (I believe fighting in this mod is really difficult compared to the stock game) it should be doable. Remember there are several different paths you can take to avoid the fight. But obviously we can take precautions at this scene if you think it's really neccessary.

@Jack Rackham I try to re-download VCO right now.

@Grey Roger once again, Sea Hawk is sadly my main point of reference. I'm thinking of the soldier stopping the player when he first goes to see Silehard. Seems this is based on a locator. Would you know whether the placement of the locator in the middle of the gates is just well done, or whether this operates somehow with the range of the locator to ensure that the soldier will always talk to the player? Soon I'll try to do something similar with the port stairs in Santiago de Cuba. Two characters will be placed ideally on goto4 and goto25 and one of them should talk to the player when the player goes down the stairs.

 

[BathtubPirate]

@Jack Rackham I still can't play VCO. As for GM viewer, I can open a model and see a small silhouette of the location, but I don't know how to apply a texture and move the camera to fully look at it.

I'm currently working on a quest part where an NPC sells his cloak to the player which brings me to two more questions:
1) How do I do it? Can I change the NPC model mid-conversation via code in the dialogue file or only after the dialogue closes via quest case? I guess I can only do it after the dialogue, because I've never seen the talking head change during the dialogue. But then I still don't know the exact code, because in the Hornblower quest I've found two different codes:

            SetModelfromArray(characterFromID("Richard Sharpe"), GetModelIndex("SharpeS_Rif8_18"));
            Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Richard Sharpe")].headmodel = "h_SharpeS_Rif8_18";
            
            AND
            
            Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Patrick Harper")].model = "Rifleman_Harper";
            Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Patrick Harper")].headmodel = "h_Rifleman_Harper";

2) I assume you're familiar with a lot of character models and made so many special models for your quests. Is there a good half-naked model for a character who just lost his cloak? A bit like the RabBlack models but white (and the RabWhite models have hats and huge beards, which don't really fit the cloaked Animist models).

Thanks for any help!

 

[Grey Roger]

@Grey Roger once again, Sea Hawk is sadly my main point of reference. I'm thinking of the soldier stopping the player when he first goes to see Silehard. Seems this is based on a locator. Would you know whether the placement of the locator in the middle of the gates is just well done, or whether this operates somehow with the range of the locator to ensure that the soldier will always talk to the player? Soon I'll try to do something similar with the port stairs in Santiago de Cuba. Two characters will be placed ideally on goto4 and goto25 and one of them should talk to the player when the player goes down the stairs.

The trigger for the soldier stopping you is set at case "Story_leavingOxbay":

                if(GetServedNation() == ENGLAND || GetServedNation() == PERSONAL_NATION)
                {
                    pchar.quest.first_time_to_redmond_townhall.win_condition.l1 = "locator";
                    pchar.quest.first_time_to_redmond_townhall.win_condition.l1.location = "Redmond_town_01";
                    pchar.quest.first_time_to_redmond_townhall.win_condition.l1.locator_group = "goto";
                    pchar.quest.first_time_to_redmond_townhall.win_condition.l1.locator = "goto10";
                    pchar.quest.first_time_to_redmond_townhall.win_condition = "first_time_to_redmond_townhall_complete";
                }

                Locations[FindLocation("Redmond_town_01")].locators_radius.goto.goto10 = 2.0;

I'm not sure what happens if you start the game as anything other than British or Personal. But if you do, that sets the soldier dialog (at case "first_time_to_redmond_townhall_complete") to trigger when you hit locator "goto10". To make sure you do hit it while you're on your way into the town hall, it's set to be large enough to cover the entrance by that 'locators_radius' line. (In "Ardent", I did something similar to make sure you trigger a certain event by setting a locator to radius 28!) What "Tales of a Sea Hawk" fails to do is put the locator back to radius 1.0 when it's done its job - not critical for this story, but you may want to tidy up after the event in "Devlin Opera".

You can try it out with console first. Put this into "console.c":

Locations[FindLocation("Santiago_port")].locators_radius.goto.goto25 = 2.0;

Edit "InternalSettings.h" to enable visible locators. Start the game, be somewhere in Santiago other than the port area - the town centre or shipyard will do - and save game. Press F12, then go to the port area and look for locator "goto25", which should now be larger than usual. If it's not big enough, quit the game, change that 2.0 to something else, load the savegame and try again.

For the model of the disrobed "Animist", he doesn't need to be stripped to the waist, he could have a vest under the robe. In the "Kapitein of Kralendijk" sidequest, you steal the uniform from a drunken soldier who then changes into "man5". You could use the same, or you could use "Animation View" to look through the various character models in the game to see if one of them is close enough.

 

[Grey Roger]

Durring Blaze's path i let myself get beat up and after recovering, Chico Malo was waitng for me outside, and well... as i did not level up much he beat me up yet again, so after getting pretty angry at him i decided not to wait on the dialogue and start the fight myself as he was approaching, and well... he got killed, and the quest got a bit broken

You might want to add:

LAi_LocationFightDisable(&Locations[FindLocation("LOCATION")], true);

Or implement a check, in case he gets killed without the dialogue happening...

Or just move these lines...

LAi_SetHP(CharacterFromID("Chico Malo"), 200.0, 200.0);
GiveItem2Character(characterFromID("Chico Malo"), "blade33");
EquipCharacterByItem(characterFromID("Chico Malo"), "blade33");
LAi_SetCheckMinHP(CharacterFromID("Chico Malo"), 0.0, 0, "Showdown_ends");

... up to case "Chico_Showdown" so that he's already armed, and case "Showdown_ends" will trigger, even if you don't give him time to talk to you before you kill him. (Which will be very easy because he's in "actor" mode at this time and probably won't defend himself.)

But at case "Chico_Showdown2", you'll certainly want to add 'LAi_SetFightMode(PChar, false);' to disarm the player because it's entirely possible the player has a weapon drawn for other reasons, e.g. an attack by random thugs. And if the player has a weapon drawn, the dialog will fail.

 

[BathtubPirate]

That's exactly what I was looking for! (the locator radius) Thanks a lot. The stairs are quite wide at this point, but this will ensure the quest case gets triggered.

This means Bonnie's route on Santiago de Cuba (including three different little routes in itself, lots of wine, an angry captain, impending gallows, tall tales and a comfy robe) will soon be finished.

Animation view... what? where? Seems my limitations when looking at models in GM viewer are not the only thing I still need to learn...

 

[Jack Rackham]

Which is the model that should loose it's outfit. Maybe I can fix an undressed model for you.