Big problem with dialog files

[Miltiades]

Got some serious problem with the dialog files.

 

I have changed the lines of every dialog files from Endar Spire and Taris. When I talk to a person, no problem. What I noticed was that after every line, when the line was spoken, it would wait for at least five seconds until the next line starts, unless I would click. And for some reason, after a few lines, the conversation abruptly stops. That happens with most (if not all) dialog files. I don't know if I had this problem in the beginning, I'm not sure. It could be I hadn't.

 

The problem gets worse when landing on Taris. Again, a conversation, now with Carth, and again it stops abruptly. Because the conversation wasn't finished, I got no quest.

Then I went out of the apartment. Normally when you go to the partyscreen, you would see Carth as your first partymember. Well, I don't. When outside, again, bad dialog files. I tried going back into the apartment, and now Carth is gone.

Also, I can't hear some sounds, such as blaster fire, doors opening, etc. (This did happen on another PC, maybe it's because of the mods installed, I don't know).

 

Anyway, I was thinking, the dialog files you see in KotorTool, the dialog files of every NPC in the game, are they actually used in-game, are they broke, or what's the problem?

 

I guess this is my own fault for not checking regularly.

[tk102]

Hi Miltiades,

It sounds to me like you're having problems trying to figure out where to start in this debug process. The best thing you can do for yourself here is to rename your override folder to something else (thereby disabling most if not all the mods you have) and create a new, clean Override folder. Then start a new game and make saves prior to each NPC you encounter. Then you can start reintroducing the modified .dlg files from your old Override one by one and test them for bugginess. It's tedious, yes, but I guarantee you will become an expert debugger in no time.

[Miltiades]

Are there any files in the override from an update?

[Darth333]

Edit: evrything that is in your override folder comes from mods.

 

I've edited numerous dlg files and never had such problems. You have to make sure that the scripts you need are still attached to the .dlg file.

 

Also be careful when cutting dialogue lines because you can have different dialogue lines that point to the same answer/reply.

 

. Example:

 

-> npc entry 1: Hello!

---->PC reply 1: who are you? -> points to entry 2

--------> npc entry 2: I am Mr. X and I came here to ask for your help blablabla

----> PC reply 2: what do you want? -> points to npc entry 2

 

If you remove the PC reply 1 in the above example, you are also removing the npc entry to reply no. 2 and pretty much screwing up all the dialogue. I don't know if this explanation is very clear...

[Miltiades]

Hi Miltiades,

It sounds to me like you're having problems trying to figure out where to start in this debug process. The best thing you can do for yourself here is to rename your override folder to something else (thereby disabling most if not all the mods you have) and create a new, clean Override folder. Then start a new game and make saves prior to each NPC you encounter. Then you can start reintroducing the modified .dlg files from your old Override one by one and test them for bugginess. It's tedious, yes, but I guarantee you will become an expert debugger in no time.

 

The problem already starts with the first .dlg file. The problem lays in all .dlg files, I think. There are two things I can think of: I've done something wrong (in all .dlg files), or the .dlg files I extracted from KotorTool don't work properly.

 

I must say, I've edited some lines in the Dialog.tlk file. Not much, only changed the text from the journal entries.

 

I've edited numerous dlg files and never had such problems. You have to make sure that the scripts you need are still attached to the .dlg file.

 

How do I make sure the scripts are attached to the dialogs?

[Miltiades]

Eumm, by changing the Override folder, I've got a graphical problem. I didn't help by changing it back to Override. It does help to change something in the graphics option, when the screen turns black for a few seconds. But I don't want that I'll need to do this every time Io start the game, so I would like it fixed.

[Darth333]

The problem already starts with the first .dlg file. The problem lays in all .dlg files, I think. There are two things I can think of: I've done something wrong (in all .dlg files), or the .dlg files I extracted from KotorTool don't work properly.

That is really weird. I've done this hundreds of times and never ran into any such problems. (the only thing you have to be careful about is if you extract Kotor 2 .dlg files with KotOR tool: make sure you don't open them and save them with KT as some fields are not supported. Just extract them directly without opening them. It is not a problem with K1 files). I also don't see how removing .dlg files from your override folder could cause graphical problems...I suggest you to uninstall the game and resintall it and see how it goes.

 

Make sure you use a clean savegame when you test a mod.

[Miltiades]

I opened it first and saved it with KT, but seeing as it is for K1, that shouldn't be the problem, right?

 

And, well, I can't really use a savegame, because the first .dlg file is the one of Trask, and it fires right after the intro

 

EDIT: I extracted the file from KT without opening it first, and now I have no problems. I guess opening Kotor1 .dlg files in KT also cause problems.

 

I wish I knew this earlier, now I'll have to copy every dialogue line from one file to another.

[Darth333]

EDIT: I extracted the file from KT without opening it first, and now I have no problems. I guess opening Kotor1 .dlg files in KT also cause problems.

Well that's good to know. In the past it wasn't a problem with k1 files. I guess Fred brought some changes to the .dlg editor

[Miltiades]

But there's one other thing. By just extracting the file, rather than opening and saving it, I can't edit the text of the dialog lines in DLGEditor.

 

Edit: Is it safe to change the StrRef to -1 to allow to edit the text?

 

Edit2: And is there an easier way then to change all the StrRefs to -1 manually? Is there a button which automatically changes all StrRefs to -1?

[Darth333]

Edit: Is it safe to change the StrRef to -1 to allow to edit the text?

That's the only way to do it without editing the dialog.tlk file. When you set StrRef to -1, you are storing the string in the .dlg file itself. The change will affect only this .dlg file.

[Miltiades]

Okay, thanks. But I 'll have to change the StrRef of every entry manually, won't I?

 

Btw, renaming overrider map gave me some other graphic problems. In the journalscreen there was a window of some kind of a program

and some parts of a place are black, or screwed. I don't know how this can be possible by renaming an overriderfolder. I'll reinstall my game, I hope then it'll be fixed.

[Pavlos]

That is because the actual game (At least in the UK version of the games) stores information in the override. KotOR I has a lot of files in the override when you install. That could be what is causing the problem.

[Darth_Robinson]

What the hell are you doing modifying ALL of the Endar Spire and Taris dialog anyway? Sounds like you tried to make a drastic mod to the game and only tested it when you were finished. My recommendation when playing with dialog: save before every conversation and mod the dialog files one at a time. Then you can tell when you've made a mistake.

[Miltiades]

The mistake lays with every dialog, not just one. And yeah, I was kind of stupid by not checking regularly. But the first time I checked everything seemed to be fine. So I just kept editing, without checking. Very stupid, knowing I spent A LOT of time on it. But now I know I wont make that mistake again.