KWITS

March 17, 2012

Good Day,

During extensive testing of my pre-release of the WaV Mod under TESIV Oblivion, I have encountered a problem with NPC movement between successive transitioning of each new quest.

Here is the scenario:

The Player first encounters a NPC during a quest which the topic of discussion triggers the next quest. The Player moves on to the next quest level of completion. Using packages to control NPC behavior, I attempted to control the movement of the NPC from one location to another location on the change of a quest. However, after several successive quests when the Player returned to the original location to find the said NPC, the NPC was no where to be found. During my troubleshooting, I continually unloaded my Mod against my saved Player file, saved my game and then loaded back my Mod to another saved game version. This action had limited positive effects but did not resolve the issue at hand. I was able to mediate the problem by creating a new NPC reference of the same character by placing the NPC within the desired location but is this a best practice? Wouldn't eventually during real game play, the NPC would meet up with its doppelganger? My top priority within any Mod development for Oblivion is to create an intriguing world with an exciting story line and a realistic, innovative environment. I often think about my gaming world when going to bed each night. Yes, I do have a life but this is how creativity within the human brain works, at the unconscious level. I have resolved script issues even in the shower! Anyway, I suspect my issue arises from the actual aspect of going back and forth between game saved levels between each quest. I am planning today to begin my main quest over from the beginning and observe the results. I would prefer that my NPC would simply be waiting for me at my own convenience and choosing. This is how is in the real world. If someone give you a job assignment and says, "I will be here when you get back", it is a reasonable assumption to expect this individual to be at the designated location as expected.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Cheers,

KWITS

March 17, 2012

I am glad to hear this. Good luck with the rest of your mod!

Thank you sincerely Khettienna for all of your ideas. I am not a programmer by trade but an artist and a novelist of ideas. However, I have intermediate expertise in VB scripting; this is my main stumbling block. My resolution for this topic of interest was interesting. When I initially chose to place the GetDead script piece within the main WAV001 script, this was the the track of success. I had earlier devised several script versions within the actual quest topic results area but without any success. The CS allowed both object IDs and reference IDs within the main WAV001 script which threw me for a loop. The final resolution was to change WaVDarkPriestVoidNPCRef to simply WaVDarkPriestRef. This topic is now closed; moving on to my next topic of interest!

Have a great day,

KWITS

March 17, 2012

Good Day,

Thank you again for reviewing my postings. I tried your recommendations but still my new stage did not start. I tried placing the code snippet within a script for the NPC and tried to place it under my main script but with no positive results.

Begin GameMode

; main WaV001 Quest sections
If ( GetStage WaV001 ==30 ) && ( WaVDarkPriestVoidNPCRef.GetDead == 1 )
SetStage WaV001 31
Endif

End

Everyone,

I was finally able to get my script to work late this Friday evening. Once I corrected the object ID ref for my NPC to be killed, everything began to work. Thank you for all of your help.

Best Regards,
KWITS

March 17, 2012

Good Day,

Thank you again for reviewing my postings. I tried your recommendations but still my new stage did not start. I tried placing the code snippet within a script for the NPC and tried to place it under my main script but with no positive results.

Begin GameMode

; main WaV001 Quest sections

If ( GetStage WaV001 ==30 ) && ( WaVDarkPriestVoidNPCRef.GetDead == 1 )

SetStage WaV001 31

Endif

End

Best Regards,

KWITS

March 16, 2012

At the time the dialog is spoken that has this script attached, is WaVDarkPriestVoiceNPCRef actually dead? Because results scripts only fire once, so it's only going to check that once to see if he'd dead or not.

The Player encounters the NPC and begins a conversation dialogue sequence. As soon as the NPC finishes his dialogue, he immediately begins attacking the Player. When the Player kills the NPC, I was trying to set a new stage to prompt the would be Player to check the body for a special document.

Regards,

KWITS

March 16, 2012

Either in your quest script's GameMode block, like this:
	If [YourNPC'sRef].GetDead == 1

		SetStage [YourQuestID] [Stage#]

	EndIf

[/codebox]
or on the NPC's script in an OnDeath block, like this:

[codebox]
Begin OnDeath

SetStage [YourQuestID] [Stage#]

I just tried the code for Begin OnDeath and still no positive results upon killing the NPC that was in combat with my Player. No stage was set.

Regards,
KWITS

End

In either case, of course replace the stuff in brackets with the appropriate IDs/numbers.

March 16, 2012

Good Day,

Thanks again to everyone's contributions to my forum thread! Here is my latest code update for beginning a new Stage upon the immediate death of a NPC in active combat with the Player:

WaVDarkPriestVoidRef.Startcombat Player

If WaVDarkPriestVoidNPCRef.GetDead == 1

SetStage WaV001 31

Endif

This code is actually within the topic discussion area as a resulting script to be executed upon end of the said topic with the Player.

Cheers,

KWITS

March 15, 2012

Either in your quest script's GameMode block, like this:
	If [YourNPC'sRef].GetDead == 1

		SetStage [YourQuestID] [Stage#]

	EndIf

[/codebox]
or on the NPC's script in an OnDeath block, like this:

[codebox]
Begin OnDeath

SetStage [YourQuestID] [Stage#]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my request. Unfortunately, the code you referenced did not produce the results that I had expected. After I killed the NPC and the battle was ended, there was no set stage, pop-up. Do you have any more ideas?

KWITS

End

In either case, of course replace the stuff in brackets with the appropriate IDs/numbers.

March 14, 2012

Good Day,

What a wonderful website! I have an issue that still stumps my understanding and it deals with triggering a new stage immediately upon the death of a battling NPC. I have tried several functions such as GetDead or GetDeadCount but all without success. There is a note within the NPC's inventory that I want the Player to be reminded to search for. Please provide a sample script how you would resolve this issue.

Regards,

KWITS

March 13, 2012

Good Day,

My issue with activating, landscape waterfalls within interior cells is now resolved. In addition to everyone's invaluable help, I am one step closure to modifying existing NIF files through NifScope in support of my pre-release Mod, "Word and Void".

Regards,

KWITS

March 13, 2012

Good Day,

I just modified two landscapewaterfall type files that were extracted from the BSA meshes file. Under NifScope, I went under Render\Settings and adjusted around the Emissions wheel under the Materials tab counterclockwise about 45 degrees. Lastly, I saved the modified files under separate file names. I modified the original waterfall file and the foam file. I guess the next step is to add the two modified files back to the original BSA file.

Regards,
KWITS

Okay, I am almost there but not quite. I quickly learned that I can't repack customized NIF files into the original BSA Meshes file. However, I did learn that I could simply move my customized files into a directory path that the CS tool would recognize. Here is my problem. I am receiving a persistent error message when I try to save my NIF file. The error indicates a link block error.

March 13, 2012

Good Day,

I just modified two landscapewaterfall type files that were extracted from the BSA meshes file. Under NifScope, I went under Render\Settings and adjusted around the Emissions wheel under the Materials tab counterclockwise about 45 degrees. Lastly, I saved the modified files under separate file names. I modified the original waterfall file and the foam file. I guess the next step is to add the two modified files back to the original BSA file.

Regards,

KWITS

March 13, 2012

By default, it *isn't*. It will be in the Oblivion Meshes BSA (archive) file, which is also in your data directory. You need a program like BSA Commander to extract the BSA file into a working directory on your hard drive. I do NOT recommend extracting the BSA directly into your game "Data" folder. Extract the meshes and the textures to the same (non-game) directory -- I have one called OblvionExportData. Then set up your tool options to treat that directory as an alternate root location for texture search.

Thanks so much for your post! I have BSA commander so what is the process? Do you first export all of the files to a custom directory, modify the files desired, and then do you wrap everything back up under the original BSA file?

March 13, 2012

Thanks, Tamira and WillieSea. Your comments explain my situation. The cell where I used the waterfall meshes is interior, but well lit by lanterns. Just to be safe, though, I'll probably clone and edit the NIFs and use my custom versions in my mod. I won't overwrite the originals but rather will copy them to my own folder to edit.

But where oh where is the darn, LandscapeWaterfall01.nif file?

March 13, 2012

Waterfalls, in an interior, can be seen if your cell ambient light is set high enough. If you have a dark interior, then the vanilla waterfalls are almost invisible.

You are absolutely correct friend! Once I adjusted the ambient light within my interior cell, the once invisible waterfall is now seen. However, I consider this process as a workaround. At least now I know I am sane! I want to modify the LandscapeWaterfall01.nif to change its parameter to a higher value than zero. This way, I can continue to make use of ambient lighting from torches and candles within a more realistic environment. Light always has a natural or artificial source.

March 13, 2012

Good Day,

Thank you sincerely to everyone that has posted to this most frustrating topic. I have learned in my short time of TESIV modelling that contrast and detail are the two most important concepts in building a gaming environment. Using a beautiful waterfall sequence is no exception. I have Nifscope installed but I am having difficulties in locating the NIF file for LandscapeWaterfall01. Where is the file located under the Oblivion\Data directory?

Regards,

KWITS

March 12, 2012

Can you specify which objects you placed to make waterfalls? The ones I use don't have intrinsic sound effects; rather, you place a sound effect object near the waterfall to produce the ambient loop sound. You may be doing something different from what I am doing.

I just tried once again this evening to utilize a Landscape Waterfall from an exterior cell and pasted it into an interior cell that is part of my Mod. I encountered the same results as before. I can see the waterfall under the CS tool but during play mode, it is invisible. Do you know of another type of waterfall that is recommended for interior cells like in caves or dungeons?

Regards,
KWITS

March 4, 2012

Good Day,

Back to the discussion thread's topic, Landscape Waterfalls, I am still having problems with the visuals. In fact, none of the water particle effects are working under my Mod. However, other special effects are working fine.

Regards,

KWITS

February 24, 2012

Good Day,

Well, I have GECK working but only after I purchased and installed Fallout 3 through my Steam account. Do you know if GECK is compatible with Oblivion data files? I can't get my esp or esm files to load under the tool's IDE.

Thanks,

Keith

February 23, 2012

Good Day,

Do you know anything about using GECK instead of the TESIV Construction Set in support of Mod development? I discovered that Bethseda released Fallout Los Vegas through Steam. GECK is used to develop Mods for this game. Therefore, shouldn't GECK be used in support of TESIV? I tried to launch GECK but I receive an error against an unregistered DLL. I suspect that there is a dependency between GECK and Fallout. Where I am going with this conversation is, I am curious if I can resolve some of my Mod issues like activating waterfalls through using GECK. Your insights are most welcome.

Best Regards,

Keith

February 23, 2012

Good Day,

Thank you sincerely for your prompt post on this topic. I was mistaken about the version of OBSE. I just checked and I am indeed on v20. I do know that waterfalls fall under the subject Particles. I will check around the rest of the Oblivion world and see if other waterfalls are affected. My laptop is running Windows 7 SP1. It is a Dell Vostro 1710.

Regards,

Keith

February 23, 2012

As far as the disappearing waterfall, I'm not 100% sure.

But your OBSE is outdated, you can download the latest here V.0020.

Sorry but, I'm picky about outdated items whether its software, device drivers or mods

I do wish you the best of luck on the missing waterfalls.

February 22, 2012

Good Day,

I am not sure what happened but at some point, all of my waterfalls that I enabled under my TESIV mod while developing under the Construction Set, suddenly became disabled. In other words, I can hear the waterfalls but I can't see them any longer. Aren't landscape waterfalls self-activating? I am currently using Oblivion with Shivering Isles installed along with OBSE v19.

Regards,

Keith

February 19, 2012

Good Day,

During my Mod development, I ran into an issue when I had to troubleshoot a XMarkerHeading reference that I was using to enable/disable specific items under my environment. During this process, I elected to remove the customized XMarkerHeading. When I attempted to accomplish this task, the TESIV CS gave me a warning about checking out my selected reference under my Mod. I clicked Yes and now every XMarkerHeading reference is no longer working when called under my main quest script. How do I repair these orphaned references?

Thanks,

Keith

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Posts posted by KWITS