NWN Forum Update

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(Originally posted by Z-Layrex)

David Gaider, Designer

What is a PatternNumber?: I'm not sure how the PatternNumber works. If I'm not mistaken, each PatternNumber corresponds to a specific string that the NPC is listening for, but I certainly could be wrong.

How does the PC talk?: By speaking, simply enough. When a player presses the Enter key, they can type what they wish to speak and it will appear over their heads. They have four 'volumes' to choose from: Talk, Shout, Party and DM. NPC's would 'hear' any text in Talk and Shout if they were in the appropriate range.

How does an NPC listen?: I believe you must tell them by having them execute the command SetIsListening or SetListening... whatever the command is called. When an NPC is actively listening and there is some text spoken within range, their OnConversation event is fired. You can then use GetLastSpeaker to determine who spoke and GetListenPatternNumber to return the PatternNumber integer if a recognizeable string was spoken (it will equal -1 if not). Or so my understanding goes. My suggestion is still to check out the script in OnConversation and how it connects to the 'combat shouts' used by the generic AI.

Bob McCabe, Designer

Maps: The auto-map can be zoomed in on, or out, and it does have pins to place notes. You do not need to scroll the auto-map, as the entire map border is shown (though the contents may not be).

Load Times: We've had some pretty drastic optimizations since the Korean videos were released. It will still depend on the system you're running, obviously, but they are much (much) shorter than they were. As for saved games, they have undergone a similar optimization. On my p3-650, I was having to wait about a minute or two for a saved game. Now, it's, in the largest-sized areas, about 5 seconds. Some areas, I hit save and I can almost see the save game screen pop up. I wondered if it didn't work, but it did.

Rob Bartel, Co Lead Designer

Thick Walls: In the City Tileset, we've designed the height transitions to look like ramparts and have used them as such in the official campaign. To enhance the look, we've also added in a City Gate group and some 1x1 Rampart Towers. To get a general sense of size and functionality, try to build earthen embankments around your village in the Rural Tileset, using height transitions. That should give you a rough indication of what you'll have to work with. Now where did I put my flaming pitch...

Subraces: There are probably a hundred different ways to do this kind of stuff, each with their +'s and -'s. The best solutions are probably going to be ones that mix-and-match a variety of different approaches. A good place to start, however, would be to check the player's Subrace field from within the scripting language. If it says "Drow" then your script could equip them with creature items that you've created (creature hides, bites, and claws -- these are equipped to hidden slots that aren't visible to the player). You can design these items to bestow some of the abilities that you feel Drow should have in your module.

Brenon Holmes, Programmer

Looking around corners: In interior areas you can hear around corners... also the "Fog of War" shouldn't be so close as to obscure any creatures you could potentially see or hear...I should probably also note that if you're quick enough it's possible to dart out and then back behind a corner without being noticed... but I wouldn't advise it in practise... as the odds of you getting spotted are... well, I suppose it depends on what's down that hallway... doesn't it?

Invisible Creatures: Just thought I'd point out that it's possible to *hear* invisible creatures... they are only invisible after all... but only within a certain range. Same as you can still see a silenced creature...