Tutorial: Creating dialog in Morrowind (main window)

[Jac]

 

The dialog window in Morrowind is split into four parts: tabs, info/response, speaker condition, and results box.

TABS

TOPIC TAB

The Topic tab is where all of the topics available for the player to click on are located. You can create new topics here or use existing one. 

• To create a new topic, right click on any topic and select new. 
• Type in the topic name and then press enter. 

Your topic will be added and the list will repopulate in alphabetical order.

Info/Response box

The Info/Response box is where the NPC replies to topics are located. In here you can: add new responses, change existing responses or delete responses.

Adding new responses

To add a new response for an NPC, right click on an empty line and select new. An empty line will be created and you can start typing in your new dialog. 

Tip: I recommend that you click on the white box just below the response box because the line editor will truncate your entry if you exceed its character limit; the response box has a larger limit (512 characters).

Speaker conditions

The speaker conditions section contains filters that determine when a particular NPC dialog line will show. All NPCs share the dialog database, even dialog added by other mods, so it’s important to ensure that your dialog will only be available to the NPCs you want it to and only under the conditions that you set.

Filters

ID

The id of the NPC that speaks this line (e.g. the id caius cosades) means that only Caius Cosades will have those lines available. 

Note: Setting this filter prevents the race, class, faction and rank filters from being used.

Race

The race that will have that line available (e.g. Breton, Imperial): All members of that race can potentially speak that line.

Class

Same as race, but filters by class (e.g. warrior, knight, savant, alchemist, etc.).

Faction

Same as race, but based upon the faction the NPC belongs to (e.g. Thieves’ Guild, Fighter’s Guild, etc.)

Rank

Used in conjunction with the faction filter. This is used to limit the NPC response to any member of the rank within a faction and above. Example: a Knight of the Legion and any NPC with a rank above that will have that response available.

Cell

The NPC has to be in the cell listed to have that dialog response. Example: The members of the Thieves’ Guild will only have their dialog available if they are in one of the guild halls. If you commanded one of the members to follow you outside of the guild hall, they would loose the dialog that refers to the Thieves’ Guild (i.e. Join the Thieves’ Guild).

PCFaction

Similar to faction, but this applies to the player character. The NPC will only have this response if the player is in the faction listed here. Example: Imperial Legion NPCs have a different response for players that are members of the Legion versus those that are not when the player asks about joining the Legion.

PCRank

Same as Rank (see above), but it applies to the player character instead of the NPC.

Sex

The NPC’s gender.

Disp

The NPC’s disposition. The NPC’s disposition must be this number or higher for the response to be listed. A disposition of 0 means that the response is always available provided that the other filter conditions are met.

Function/variable

This holds the functions and variables that can be used to further refine when a response is available. Each filter in this function has different mathematical operators available: greater than, less than, equal to, not equal to, greater than or equal to, and less than or equal to.

• Journal filters the response by journal index. Can be greater than, less than, equal to, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, or not equal to.
• Item filters by items in the player’s inventory. Can be used for if the player has or doesn't have an item, and also item quantity. Example: Freeing slaves: if the player has one or more keys that fit a slave’s bracers, the slave will ask them to unlock the bracers. If the player does not have a key, then the slave will mention that. If you are checking for more than one type of item, each item type (key, ingredient, etc) needs to be on a separate line.
• Dead The dead count of an NPC. Note: some NPCs, like guards, are generic and can have more than one in the dead count. NPCs with names are unique and there’s usually only one copy of each.
• Not id when set to equal to 1, this means that the NPC does not have the id listed. Example: the Master Barelo topic. When talking to any Dissident Priest other than Gilvas Barelo will give you the response “Master Gilvas Barelo is the abbot of our monastery, and the head of our secret order.” You can also set this to 0 for non-unique NPCs like guards.
• Global/local This is for local and global variables. These are used primarily in companion and quest mods and will be discussed in a later chapter.
• Not faction When set to equal 1, the NPC is not in the faction listed.
• Not cell When set to equal 1, the NPC is not in the cell listed.
• Not class When set to equal 1, the NPC is not a member of the class listed.
• Not race When set to equal 1, the NPC is not a member of the race listed.
• Not local Used primarily for the NoLore variable to prevent the NPC from having the generic responses to certain topics such as “latest rumors,” “little advice,” etc. Will be covered later.
• Choice Allows you to include choices. Usage covered later.

VOICES TAB
The voices tab is where the game stores the spoken voices for the NPCs (alarm, hello, etc.). You’ll be adding to this tab if you’re adding new spoken dialog for NPCs. Adding dialog here is the same as adding it to an existing topic, but you'll need to specify a voice file in the results box. I've never used the Voices Tab, but I can write instructions if necessary.

GREETINGS TAB
This tab has all of the initial written greetings used by NPCs. It functions similar to the topics tab in that the speaker conditions can be set so that the greeting is only present when the filters are met. Example: when Caius greets you for the first time, he asks if you’re the one that was to report to him. 

The greetings tab is subdivided into ten greetings numbered 0-9. Technically each greeting division is for a specific purpose: Greeting 0 is used by the guard NPCs for the purpose of handling punishments for crimes committed, while another one of the Greetings is for when an NPC greets a player vampire. 

Tip: New greetings can be placed in any of the subdivisions, but Greetings 1 seems to be the best place. 

Guideline: NPCs using the guard class should have their greetings in Greetings 0, especially companions to prevent them from trying to arrest the player. Other NPCs can have their greetings in Greetings 1.

PERSUASION TAB  
This tab holds all of the NPC responses to persuasion attempts (admire, intimate and bribe). Like the other tabs, you can limit the responses to a particular NPC, a class, a race, a gender or leave it open to any NPC.

JOURNAL TAB 
This tab contains all of the journal entries available to the player. 

To add a journal entry:

• Create a new journal topic by clicking in the tab window and selecting new. Give your new journal topic a unique name (usually your initials and whatever else you like to use (for example, I use jac_jasmine as a journal name). 
• In the blank info/response window, select new and then type in the quest/journal name – this is what shows up in the journal’s topic name screen in game. 
• Click the box in the Speaker Condition window that says “Quest Name” and give it an index of zero (0). 
• Add journal entries with the first entry starting just under the quest name (this is usually the initial entry the player gets when starting a quest) and give it an index number of ten (10). 
• Additional entries should go in order below it, starting with index twenty (20) and increasing by ten for each entry. This will give you nine (9) possible entries between entries should find you need them. 

Example:

• Quest name (index 0).
• Initial entry – gives the player the quest and where to start (index 10).
• Mid quest entry – the player got the item/killed the monster/went somewhere but hasn't finished yet (index 20).
• Finished entry - the player finished the quest (index 30, also the finished box was checked in speaker condition).