Strife dialog compiler

Post by **Enjay** » Fri May 27, 2005 1:10 pm

Kaiser wrote:There are still some people who would like to make Strife maps for the vanilla engine, and for zdoom users they won't be able to play that map because the entire scripting system will be changed?

Is that really an issue? How many Strife maps for the Vanilla engine have been made so far? I think you could probably count them on the fingers of one hand.

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Fri May 27, 2005 1:23 pm

There have been exactly 2. One's a deathmatch map and the other was made by Kaiser himself.

But Kaiser misunderstands our intentions anyway. Nobody wants to make ZDoom incompatible with this. All we want to do is the same as with other stuff: enhance it so it becomes more flexible. The format would remain the same but the items represented by the numbers could be changed. Reading text dialog files would be similar: an option, not a requirement.

Of course these extensions would be ZDoom only.

Killo Zapit · Post by **Killo Zapit** » Fri May 27, 2005 1:55 pm

Graf Zahl wrote:Well, it is already there so why re-invent the wheel again? It's not that all of this has to be implemented. The dialog system as it is is fully integrated into the engine and if you provide the dialog scripts there is nothing else you have to do. So why go the extra way and do even more work?

Why go the extra way and do even more work? Precisely my logic as well. Aside from the actual moving of the curser with the arrow keys, everything the dialog system does can already be done in ACS nearly a hundred times easier and better. I am not asking to "re-invent the wheel" here. I am mealy asking for an ACS command that would call the menu with whatever text you pass to it, or some way to emulate the menu. (Then again, I don't understand at all how the dialog menu really works. I attempted looking at the code once and it just went way way over my head.)

Graf Zahl wrote:With my latest DECORATE additions it's really easy to integrate this with ACS and all the other neat stuff.

Exactly how would you integrate this with ACS?

Graf Zahl wrote:To use this for computer consoles isn't that hard also. All you need is an invisible actor you place on the console and it will work.

Can the actor also be non-blocking?

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Fri May 27, 2005 2:50 pm

Killo Zapit wrote:
Graf Zahl wrote:Well, it is already there so why re-invent the wheel again? It's not that all of this has to be implemented. The dialog system as it is is fully integrated into the engine and if you provide the dialog scripts there is nothing else you have to do. So why go the extra way and do even more work?
Why go the extra way and do even more work? Precisely my logic as well. Aside from the actual moving of the curser with the arrow keys, everything the dialog system does can already be done in ACS nearly a hundred times easier and better.

It can be done but not a hundred times easier and better. You'd have to code all the stuff that is already there.

I am not asking to "re-invent the wheel" here. I am mealy asking for an ACS command that would call the menu with whatever text you pass to it, or some way to emulate the menu.

That shouldn't be too hard. But first it has to be integrated into the base code. Otherwise it would get too messy to change even more source files.

(Then again, I don't understand at all how the dialog menu really works. I attempted looking at the code once and it just went way way over my head.)

If that simple code goes over your head, how can you understand ACS then?

Graf Zahl wrote:With my latest DECORATE additions it's really easy to integrate this with ACS and all the other neat stuff.

Exactly how would you integrate this with ACS?
[/quote]

You can call any ACS stuff from the items the dialog system passes

Graf Zahl wrote:To use this for computer consoles isn't that hard also. All you need is an invisible actor you place on the console and it will work.
Can the actor also be non-blocking?

Sure. Just make sure it has positive health. That's really the only requirement.

Killo Zapit · Post by **Killo Zapit** » Fri May 27, 2005 9:46 pm

Graf Zahl wrote:If that simple code goes over your head, how can you understand ACS then?

It's not that it's complex as much as it was confusing. But your right, now that I take the time to look at it more fully I guess I do understand what it's doing. Man, I need to take the time to sit down and get back into programming. Not that I ever was seriously into it in the first place.

Shadelight · Post by **Shadelight** » Sat May 28, 2005 12:47 pm

whatabout a heretic script compiler? hmmm?

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Sat May 28, 2005 1:11 pm

Heretic doesn't have any native scripts, so what should that help us?

Shadelight · Post by **Shadelight** » Sat May 28, 2005 1:53 pm

because I wanna make a zdoom (heretic in hexen) format level!

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Sat May 28, 2005 2:06 pm

Then do so. Nobody is keeping you from it. DoomBuilder has a configuration for it.

soft_haxorz · Post by **soft_haxorz** » Tue May 31, 2005 1:52 pm

How do you make a special DECORATE monster that you can talk to? Also, how do you attach the special dialoge to this new monster?

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Tue May 31, 2005 2:30 pm

You give the monster a conversation ID and make sure that it doesn't attack on its own. That's all.

soft_haxorz · Post by **soft_haxorz** » Tue May 31, 2005 3:03 pm

Can you please give me an example? The thing is, I don't know how to give it a conversation ID. What do you mean when you say "doesn't attack on its own"? Also, does the map have to be in strife format? Man, I feel like such a n00b asking all these questions.

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Tue May 31, 2005 3:29 pm

The conversation ID is an actor property available in the latest unofficial version.

By "doesn't attack on its own" I mean exactly that. Make the monster dormant or use a Strife style setup like the Acolytes or Rebels or whatever you think may suit you.

The map itself can be in any map format. The dialog system decides only by actor type what to do.

soft_haxorz · Post by **soft_haxorz** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:36 pm

Where can I get the latest unofficial version?

X-DOOM · Post by **X-DOOM** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:16 am

can someone explain how to use the conversation ID ?
what is the object number, tid... script
everything
is it for the ZDoom 2.0.96 version or another new version hidden somwhere...

sorry i was not here on the forum since a long time.