New to Modding / recruit npc?

[Aaron00018]

Greetings fellow Jedi and Sith alike,

 

I'm new to modding. I am not new to KOTOR though, got the collections dvd pack of 1 and 2 for my computer recently, whereas before I always played it on the xbox, till it pooped out on me.

 

Anyhow, I'm presently following this tutorial:

 

http://z6.invisionfree.com/Mandalorian16965/index.php?showtopic=57

 

because I want to add my own character to the party on kotor 1 ,

 

(I would try kotor 2, yet the kotor tool won't read the sith lords game for me, I think it may be due to the fact I did not install the Tsl addition . I had at first, but found I preferred the game as it was before it. Not to say they didn't do a great job though , they did ! and God bless them for it).

 

anyhow, I am unclear what to do really, I've got the gff editor open, the "old school" one I think, as the writer of this tutorial called it.

 

I am not sure, when it comes to "conversation field" , dlg file? The writer is not very clear with his/ her instructions on things. Makes it quite hard for us new beginners.

 

I do not know if I am doing things correct really, and I know it's tough to really help without loads more info, yet I'm wondering if anybody knows of a real good tutorial for adding a character to the party.

 

Basically I want to create my own character, I'll use the old white jedi template (I think that's what Nemo's character uses, I'm hoping). I don't even know if I installed all the many tools correctly to the computer, for I am quite an old wizard, more use to the old day's rather than the tech age.

 

I plan , hope, to add my own voice to some dialogue with this character.

 

Any help would be great, links to beginner friendly tutorials for this?

 

I appreciate any thoughts that help.

 

May the Force be with you.

 

(and for you Sith characters - The Force shall set you Free).

 

Oh , the template I chose was N_JediCounM , and number row 303.

 

Onward. I'm guessing that whatever I do , if any problems happen with the game I can always uninstall everything and re-install the game.

 

So I'm trying for creating my own party character.

 

Wait... I said that already.... this old man's mind is definitely getting older LOL.

 

-Aaron

[Fallen Guardian]

When I first started modding some of the first stuff I did was recruiting new party members (thank god those will never see the light of day). This tutorial was the one I followed. It was quite good.

[Aaron00018]

Thank you Fallen Guardian,

 

I appreciate your reply, this link you gave me seems to be a better Tutorial for me to follow than what I was, since the one I had been following, obviously used , (from what it looks like), this tutorial, then converted it to kotor 2.

 

While this tutorial seems to be for the first game, which is precisely what I wanted !

 

And hopefully, this one, will help me get my own new character into the party. I figure if a character from the game has to be replaced in order to do so, as the instructions seem to say, then I will choose to replace HK47, since (though he is indeed one of my favorite characters), he is not needed in order to go through the storyline of the KOTOR.

 

So, I'm going to play the game to the point of arriving on dantooine, then I shall follow this Tutorial you gave me the link of, since I want my new jedi character to be on the one planet that a jedi most obviously would be during this game, Dantooine.

 

Thank you very much, Fallen Guardian. And may the Force be with you.

 

Oh, a few questions more:

 

1-Is there a way to choose the position and map you have the npc ? before they join ?

 

2-The other thing I am unsure of is whether I create a "new project" file into kotor tool for this? or not.

 

3-Also, when it comes to the dialogue , adding the script to it, when I was following the other tutorial, I couldn't figure out how to do it. Perhaps I installed the dlg-editor wrong? I placed the folder into the programs86 folder of my c drive.

 

4- I have the dvd collection for the games, will it still work with that?

 

5- do I place the files I create during this tutorial, into an "override" folder I create in the folder the game is in?

 

By the way, I agree with your quote, " If someone "falls" and "returns", they never really truly fell". Well said, friend.

 

 

-Aaron

[Aaron00018]

well I think so far I know what had me confused, I read the readme file of the dlg editer, to figure it out.

 

Tommorrow I will have the time to finish the tutorial, yet for now, I now know, what was not included in step 4 , which got me confused, was that you have to extract the dlg file that you want First, using the kotor tool .

 

Anyhow will keep updated.

 

-Aaron

[Aaron00018]

something else, "step 2- b" , it does not explain where you get the file for that step....

 

anyone?

[Fair Strides 2]

Can't help on the steps, but a helpful tip that I am following myself:

 

Write the dialogue as if you were having a one-on-one conversation with the person in question. How would expect them to react to a certain action? Are they kind and patient or a hot-tempered and hasty?

 

Think about that, and you;ll begin to make realistic dialogue. Good luck!

[Aaron00018]

Thank you Fair Strides, for your reply.

 

I appreciate your advice. I shall definitely take what you've said into mind as I write dialogue.

 

So far, I have managed to add one sentence of dialogue , which I replaced a blue "continue" line with. I used the dan13_vandar.dlg file in the dlg editor, "reply 88".

 

I would have added it as an option of a reply there, yet I have not got to that stage of progression with learning this stuff.

 

There was one line I took out from the code that I was using as well , I took this out:

 

DelayCommand(1.5,ShowPartySelectionGUI());

 

(purely by guessing that was what I had to do), in order to stop the game from going to the party selection screen during the dialogue there, at which I had added that dialogue sentence and script.

 

I've got my new character in the game's party now, "Master Aaron", I've made him an old jedi. And plan to have him give a good background story in the future once I figure out how to add custom character dialogues, such as you see when you talk to other party members, like when you talk to bastila she eventually tells you her past, carth does too etc.

 

I want to do that with this character eventually as well.

 

Yet anyhow, the part I'm stuck on with this tutorial right now, the same tutorial :

 

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=131944

 

Is step 6 (I have yet to figure out 2-b as well), anyhow I created a saved file of portraits.2da and place that into my override folder,....yet it doesn't seem to add the picture to the party screen.....

 

Also I was unclear as to save as xml or not, so I did not.

 

there's two save as options in the 2da editor for kotor tool.

 

I try to go to the link that it said to go to , for more info on this, yet there is no info that I can understand there....or at least see of...

 

I also plan to add my own voice to his character when he speaks dialogue. Or at least I hope to learn how to do so....

 

One other thing I do not know yet, is how to have it so the character can wear robes and armour. I seem to be able to equip him during game testing, yet it's not visually there...

[Fair Strides 2]

I've got my new character in the game's party now, "Master Aaron", I've made him an old jedi. And plan to have him give a good background story in the future once I figure out how to add custom character dialogues, such as you see when you talk to other party members, like when you talk to bastila she eventually tells you her past, carth does too etc.

 

I want to do that with this character eventually as well.

 

Yet anyhow, the part I'm stuck on with this tutorial right now, the same tutorial :

 

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=131944

 

Is step 6 (I have yet to figure out 2-b as well), anyhow I created a saved file of portraits.2da and place that into my override folder,....yet it doesn't seem to add the picture to the party screen.....

 

Also I was unclear as to save as xml or not, so I did not.

 

To give the character a party dialogue, you have to add the name of the dlg file(minus the .dlg part) to the Conversation section of the character file(the .utc you made). Just see the pics here.

 

And for the portrait, check here. If you need further help, feel free to send me pictures of the files, including the .2da files, in a private message(just click on my name and select the private message option).

 

I also plan to add my own voice to his character when he speaks dialogue. Or at least I hope to learn how to do so....

 

There is an editable section in the dlg editor tool called "VO_Resref" where you type the filename of the audio line. You can make these with sound programs(Windows has Sound Recorder, or you can use Google) and save them as .wav files, in the override folder.

 

One other thing I do not know yet, is how to have it so the character can wear robes and armour. I seem to be able to equip him during game testing, yet it's not visually there...

 

Copy all the model and texture column data from a party member's(preferably same gender) row in the Appearance.2da file and add that to the line of your party member.

[Fallen Guardian]

There is an editable section in the dlg editor tool called "VO_Resref" where you type the filename of the audio line. You can make these with sound programs(Windows has Sound Recorder, or you can use Google) and save them as .wav files, in the override folder.

 

I often find it better to put the voice overs in the stream waves/stream voice folder, it keeps the override less crowded.

[Aaron00018]

Thank you both, Fallen Guardian and Fair Strides, Very much for your help!

 

It is nice to have some help with this. And I can not express enough how much I appreciate your replies ,and indeed anyone else whom replies in the future as well.

 

So many times in the past , when I've worked on different kinds of projects, I've worked on them alone it seems, and when I would post questions on posts, I would not get help, though that was electronic projects. This project , of the kotor game I am working on , is something I have not done before. And so it is all new to me.

 

Having said that, I managed to get my picture of the head of my character on the party selection screen yesterday!!! Thank the Force!

 

I will most certainly take in mind what you both have said. Presently, I am using the DLGeditor to create dialogue which I plan to insert to my "Master Aaron" character. I've also looked up on this page: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Malak

info on Darth Malak. All I knew before, was what was in the two games.

 

I plan to use that info (as I am supposing that it is accurate?), for information my character will know about Darth Malak. This way, the kotor game has some added info about that character, info that perhaps most players might not have known.

 

This way, I can have my character remain true to the storyline, and that way I don't ruin any (hopefully) of the history with my addition to the game.

One thing I find important is to keep true to the Heart of the story as best as one can, while still being able to add your own twist to things.

 

One thing I can't help but add, is comedy. That is for the choices in dialogue the mainplayer can choose.

 

Currently, I have it so that , when Revan returns from the first starmap on Dantooine, and talks to the Council, that right before Master Vandar says that to send him off alone would not be good, I have added the dialogue option for the main player asking whether he will have a Jedi Master.

 

The two options are, good and bad response of course. The bad response, is quite hilarious, and contains swear words.... So um, yeppers, this mod will contain some swear words.

 

I've made this post so much longer than intended I am sorry! I better get on with the main points I was going to say.

 

Ok, onward:

 

1. "To give the character a party dialogue, you have to add the name of the dlg file(minus the .dlg part) to the Conversation section of the character file(the .utc you made). Just see the pics here."

 

- thank you for that link, Fair Strides!! I definitely will use that link. I see in the "basics" tab, using the kotor tool, (as the pics show), the conversation area exists. I imagine that is the area you were speaking of. I have bounced back and forth with that tool and the "kgff" tool. In that tool I'm guessing at "conversations", I would place the name of the file at "value" ? without the extension of .dlg?

 

2. "And for the portrait, check here. If you need further help, feel free to send me pictures of the files, including the .2da files, in a private message"

 

- Thank you most kindly for offering your help. I am trying hard to do the steps myself ,with the wonderful help of some tutorials here, and with any good people (such as yourself, Fair Strides and Fallen Guardian), great words of advice or extra tips .

 

Yet I hope that offer still stands, just in case I get sooo frustrated and stuck sometime please?

 

I want to learn how to do this because I luv the universe which is contained within these two games, so much! That I want to be able to add my own idea's to that universe. And thanks to you wonderful souls, all of you, everyone here, you've made this possible!

 

I plan on going to school next year in january sometime, for video game creations, once I find the right course to do online out here. There's so much I want to create someday.

Yet star wars is where my heart is for video games, especially KOTOR. It's saved my mind more than once in life from being over stressed.

 

3. "There is an editable section in the dlg editor tool called "VO_Resref" where you type the filename of the audio line. You can make these with sound programs(Windows has Sound Recorder, or you can use Google) and save them as .wav files, in the override folder."

 

I have "audacity" on my computer, and a headphones-microphone.

I was planning to use this tutorial: http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=207242

once I got my dialogue written, yet from what you have said, that sounds to be even easier..... Shall I just do as you said? And record my lines, then put the wave files in the override file, and then add to the dlg file? That does, to me sound ALOT easier and better and faster than what the tutorial looks like, (though that tutorial was written quite well).

 

4. "Copy all the model and texture column data from a party member's(preferably same gender) row in the Appearance.2da file and add that to the line of your party member."

 

- I shall try that out, thank you!

 

5. One other question, (when I type that, I am reminded of a great show I use to watch called "Columbo", he was a detective and always would ask "just one more ting.." LOL great character, bless his soul), anyhow, one last question for the moment:

 

- At the moment I have created an "override" folder, and stuck that into the kotor 1 game folder on my c drive. Now, I have heard of a ".mod" file??? Forgive me, for perhaps sounding unintelligent, yet without questions there are no answers are there?

 

Yet, what is that? my guess, and I'm only guessing mind you, is perhaps a person can create a folder to put into the "override" file? I'm not too sure...

 

Well time to get back to work. It's 2:04 p.m. here, and as good ol John Wayne use to say " we're burnin daylight".

 

So, once again, thank you both , Fallen Guardian and Fair Strides, I am grateful for both of your replies and indeed any more info or advice you are willing to give. I look forward to reading more replies in the future hopefully.

 

I will keep updates on this post.

 

And May The Force Be With You.

 

-Aaron

[Aaron00018]

Thank you Fair Strides, I did what you suggested so far, to enable my character to wear normal stuff and gear, and I noticed that by keeping "modela", "texa","modelb" and "texb" the same that my character has, (which is row 303 in this project of mine), yet changing everything else, it does what you said!!!

 

Now my character can wear normal stuff ! So thank you for that! I just thought I'd share my observations. That when I did change those (that which is in quotes in this post reply), to Jolee, it changed his body to it too LOL, so I had an old jedi white man's face with a black body LOL.

 

So I guessed that if I changed those which I mentioned, back to the original of the row source I'm using (303), it would still allow equipment and robes and stuff, yet the body wouldn't change when there is no clothes, if that makes sense...I'm not too good at explaining things at times.

 

Anyhow back to work.

 

Thank you for your help! Thanks to You, Fair Strides, my character can now wear stuff!

[Fair Strides 2]

Thank you Fair Strides,

 

...

 

Thank you for your help! Thanks to You, Fair Strides, my character can now wear stuff!

 

No problem. The only things I can't help with are modelling, sound creation, and texturing. I was a newbie like you and had no idea what I was doing. What I know now is the result of ten months cooped up in my room and school, learning as I went and experimenting a lot. My mods, if you're interested, are at Deadlystream, which seems to be down right now.

 

If it helps, I specialize in scripting and dialogue writing. A free sample, and part of an upcoming mod if modelers and area skinners wanna give it a try, is here.

[Aaron00018]

No problem. The only things I can't help with are modelling, sound creation, and texturing. I was a newbie like you and had no idea what I was doing. What I know now is the result of ten months cooped up in my room and school, learning as I went and experimenting a lot. My mods, if you're interested, are at Deadlystream, which seems to be down right now.

 

If it helps, I specialize in scripting and dialogue writing. A free sample, and part of an upcoming mod if modelers and area skinners wanna give it a try, is here.

 

Thank you Fair Strides. I definitely appreciate all your kindness and help!

 

I will tell you right now, for scripting, I do not know how to add a journal . Like for example, I've got my new Jedi Master character added to the party, yet I want to have a Journal added saying something like "You've been given a Master to help guide you.....".

 

So I'm not sure how to do that, the other Most important thing is, I want to have my "Master Aaron" character (the added party member), perhaps -{though I'm not certain yet} to fight Revan at the end , like , when the mainplayer chooses the dark side at the rakata temple ,and then returns to the group...

 

you know? just as mission and zaalbar fight Revan then.....

 

The other thing I do not know how to do yet, is like, what kind of script to put in and where, for dialogue, to determine if my party member "Master Aaron", will say one thing or another dependent upon whether something else has already been said, if you know what I mean.

 

Today I'm writing dialogue for my character. There's alot to do, as I'm sure you already know what I'm going through while I am a "newbie" .

 

One thing I did notice (as I have yet to play through the entire disc since I bought it for my computer, while before-ways I use to do so on the xbox), is that there seems to be an added destination in the navigator

on the Ebon Hawk. "Yavin" ...?!? Is that something Bioware added later?

Is there a purpose to that place?

 

Anyhow, I didn't get no where near as far as I wanted yesterday with my work, yet here goes "nothing" as they say LOL.

 

I appreciate your help, any help you may give advice or tips on, Fair Strides and indeed anyone else here as well !

 

Thank you for being open about that which you know and do not know about this stuff.

 

Anyways, I have a bad habit of talking way too much, so I better stop for now.

 

I also have a terrible memory , though that's due to being an extremely old man LOL. I'm sure there was something important to ask , I know there was.

Hopefully I will remember soon enough....

 

May the Force Be With you

 

-Aaron

[Fair Strides 2]

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Thank you Fair Strides. I definitely appreciate all your kindness and help!

I will tell you right now, for scripting, I do not know how to add a journal . Like for example, I've got my new Jedi Master character added to the party, yet I want to have a Journal added saying something like "You've been given a Master to help guide you.....".

So I'm not sure how to do that, the other Most important thing is, I want to have my "Master Aaron" character (the added party member), perhaps -{though I'm not certain yet} to fight Revan at the end , like , when the mainplayer chooses the dark side at the rakata temple ,and then returns to the group...

you know? just as mission and zaalbar fight Revan then.....

The other thing I do not know how to do yet, is like, what kind of script to put in and where, for dialogue, to determine if my party member "Master Aaron", will say one thing or another dependent upon whether something else has already been said, if you know what I mean.

Today I'm writing dialogue for my character. There's alot to do, as I'm sure you already know what I'm going through while I am a "newbie" .

One thing I did notice (as I have yet to play through the entire disc since I bought it for my computer, while before-ways I use to do so on the xbox), is that there seems to be an added destination in the navigator
on the Ebon Hawk. "Yavin" ...?!? Is that something Bioware added later?
Is there a purpose to that place?

Anyhow, I didn't get no where near as far as I wanted yesterday with my work, yet here goes "nothing" as they say LOL.

I appreciate your help, any help you may give advice or tips on, Fair Strides and indeed anyone else here as well !

Thank you for being open about that which you know and do not know about this stuff.

Anyways, I have a bad habit of talking way too much, so I better stop for now.

I also have a terrible memory , though that's due to being an extremely old man LOL. I'm sure there was something important to ask , I know there was.
Hopefully I will remember soon enough....

May the Force Be With you

-Aaron

I can help on the scripting and quests, but it'll be through PMs and testing on your end.

And as for the Yavin thing, that is why I hate XBOX Live. The station is a DLC that costs $5, when it is already available on the PC for free. It is the home of a merchant named Suvam Tan.

[Aaron00018]

I got a huge problem right now, I've worked with the DLGeditor all day. Ok what happens is this:

 

The first red line in my dialogue, I have "yes padawan"

 

then afterwards, whenever I place "yes padawan" in the dialogue, I type in afterwards, in brackets, already listed, it doesn't work many times, then it does.

 

Anyhow, so then I go through the entire dialogue, and change it all to (already listed), and I save everything right, with save as....

 

And yet no matter what I do , after re-doing this again and again all day today, everytime I re-open it in the editor, it's been changed from (already listed), to [End dialogue]. Help!

[Fair Strides 2]

I got a huge problem right now, I've worked with the DLGeditor all day. Ok what happens is this:

 

The first red line in my dialogue, I have "yes padawan"

 

then afterwards, whenever I place "yes padawan" in the dialogue, I type in afterwards, in brackets, already listed, it doesn't work many times, then it does.

 

Anyhow, so then I go through the entire dialogue, and change it all to (already listed), and I save everything right, with save as....

 

And yet no matter what I do , after re-doing this again and again all day today, everytime I re-open it in the editor, it's been changed from (already listed), to [End dialogue]. Help!

 

That won't do anything. The "already listed" is added by the program and not seen in-game. It is basically a link in the dialogue to a separate or old branch. To make one, you need to right click the node you want to link to, select "Copy", and then right click above the node you want to add it to. From here, select the option "Paste as Copy". This will do what you want, but you can't add options after without adding to the original branch.

 

If you need help, try reading the read me file for the DLG Editor, or ask me.

[Aaron00018]

Thank you again Fair Strides, for your reply. I shall keep that in mind. The other day, the way I "fixed" it was just by changing the "already listed", to just end the dialogue. So I could move on with the project.

 

Now I'm working on adding the voice lip synch thingy, yet this is proving to be difficult....I will get there though.

[Aaron00018]

Well I gotta say some of the tutorials that is written in this forum is greatly helpful!

 

I just finished this one:

 

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=207242

 

And I'm new at ALL of this modding stuff, yet I managed to do it!!!! Thanks to this tutorial I added my own voice to dialogue! It's a GREAT one for such!

 

I Highly Recommend that one, folks!!!!

 

Now I've got to figure out how to add a journal log.

[Aaron00018]

Well, I have finished that modification. I have successfully added my own character to the party, and fixed the dialogue so as to fit him into the storyline and replace HK47.

 

I've also created a character for a friend of mine as well.

 

Presently, I will not add my modifications to any download page to share them , for reasons of my own. (Yet that may change in time).

 

I do, however, thank you , Fair Strides, and Fallen Guardian, for your great advice!

and indeed everyone whom created tutorials on this forum, and indeed those creators of the software tools used to modify.

 

Thank you all, God Bless you all and Peace be with you all.