I'm starting this thread to discuss the dialogue conversion for Skyblivion since I spend numerous hours on this topic for Skywind.
To give a little history, at first I was adding all dialogue lines manually, with conditions and scripts in our master.
When Zilav joined and showed us the errors of our way, we got the dialogue converted but in a very simple manner, saving us a lot of time but still giving us a lot of work to do afterwards.
The conversion was:
- Creating the branches
- adding the topics
- adding the topicInfos*
- adding the responses
*
Since Skyrim no longer allows for topics to have the same name, some topic infos were copied under the first topic of a given name which ended up having some unrelated dialogue in a given quest.And now manually, we are adding the conditions, the script fragments, reorganizing the topics in different quests etc..
Now, what we would need for the Skyblivion conversion:
- 1 Branch per topic (name needs to be unique)
- If same topic name for different quests in Oblivion, one topic in each quest (needs to find naming rule)
Naming rules
We need to define the clearest naming rule possible. For modders first, but also for voice assets conversion.Voice resource naming rule in Oblivion
ex: FGC02Protect_contract_00071E96_1
- FGC02Protect > quest editor name
- contract > topic editor name
- 00071E96 > topic info formID
- 1 > response line
Voice Resource naming in Skyrim
ex: CW03_CW03BalgruufAxeDanger_000C3472_2
- CW03 > quest editor ID
- CW03BalgruufAxeDanger > topic editor name (cut if > 21 char ?)
- 000C3472 > topic info formOD
- 2 > response line
- Topic infos in the right order with Topic Text
- Topic Infos flags
Flags
From Oblivion
- Run Immediately
- Run for Rumors
- Info Refusal
- Goodbye [yes]
- Say Once [yes]
- Random [yes]
- Random End [yes]
From Skyrim, we need
- Has LIP file
- Force subtitle (if we don't package the voices)
- Conditions as much as possible (need to list the functions and their matching versions)
- Responses (including script notes, emotions)
- Oblivion "choices" -> Skyrim "Link to" (if only one link to, need to check "Invisible continue")
- Special topics conversion
Special Topics
I suggest we have a topic in every concerned quest, with the matching subtype
- Greetings >> Misc/Hello
- Combat - AcceptYield >> Combat/AcceptYield
- Combat - Assault >> Combat/Assault
- Combat - AssaultNoCrime >> Combat/AssaultNC
- Combat - Attack >> Combat/Attack
- Combat - Flee >> Combat/Flee
- Combat - Hit >> Combat/Hit
- Combat - Murder >>Combat/Murder
- Combat - MurderNoCrime >> Combat/MurderNC
- Combat - Pickpocket >> Combat/PickpocketCombat ?
- Combat - PicketNoCrime >> Combat/PickpocketNC
- Combat - PowerAttack >> Combat/PowerAttack
- Combat - Steal >> Combat/Steal , >> Combat/StealFromNC
- Combat - StealNoCrime >> Combat/Steal , >> Combat/StealFromNC
- Combat - Trespass >> Combat/TrespassAgainstNC
- Combat - TrespassNoCrime >> Combat/TrespassAgainstNC
- Combat - Yield >> Combat/AcceptYield
- Persuasion - XXXX This is for the mini-game
- ...
- Detection - Lost >> Detection LostIdle, CombatToLost
- Detection - Noticed >> NormalToAlert
- Detection - Seen ??
- Detection - Unseen ??
- Service - Barter
- Service - BarterBuyItem
- Service - BarterExit >> Service/BarterExit
- Service - BarterFail
- Service - BarterSellItem
- Service - Recharge >> Service/Recharge
- Service - Repair >> Service/Repair
- Service - ServiceRefusal >> Service/ServiceRefusal
- Service - Training >> Service/Training
- Misc - Corpse >> Misc/NoticeCorpse
- Misc - Idle >> Misc/Idle
- Misc - InfoRefusal
- Misc - ObserveCombat >> Misc/ObserveCombat
- Misc - TimeToGo >> Misc/TimeToGo
- Conversations [??]