Portraits: a way to have expression & unique level graph

[Eleazar]

OK, i'm working on a campaign and i frakenstien some different expressions for the hero, and make a version for each of his levels.
Then i realize i don't know how to use these in the scenarios.

What's the easiest way to select a emotion for a particular chunk of dialog, but have the the character's correct level shown?

[scott]

Lots of [if] statements. That's the only way I can think of.

[zookeeper]

Store the unit (kill=no) and put some [if]'s which check what the unit's type (unit.type) is. That's what I'd do, and I'm not sure if it could be done a whole lot simpler.

[turin]

name the portraits after the unit type, then store unit type before each dialogue sequence and have image=portraits/$herovariable.type|-{normal, angry, etc}.png in the [message] tag.

I'm not sure if "|" will work in [message] image= [/message]. If not, you'll have to concatenate at the beginning - you should store the unit, then set the variable $profile-normal equal to portraits/$unitname|-normal, etc.


This way has the advantage that, after the initial 20 lines or so per message sequence (which you can make into a macro), you don't need any if-statements or stuff like that. The disadvantage is that you have to have the portrait file names named after the unit type, complete with capital letters, spaces, etc. You could probably fix that with [if] statements in the initial macro...

[Ranger M]

just choose a character, name the portriats according to the expression, and then use the right one in the right place.

Code: Select all

[message]
description=Eleazar
message="Nothing here"
image=portraits/Eleazar-angry.png
[/message]

for angry guy

Code: Select all

[message]
description=Eleazar
message="Wow! four thousand gold pieces!"
image=portraits/Eleazar-happy.png
[/message]

for happy guy



I really don't see the need for [if] tags (unless his expression depends on previous events, if so, just use the [if] tags, and then do the same as above, but have message the same (or different if you want).

[zookeeper]

I really don't see the need for [if] tags (unless his expression depends on previous events, if so, just use the [if] tags, and then do the same as above, but have message the same (or different if you want).

The reason for needing [if]'s:

different expressions for the hero, and make a version for each of his levels.

[Ranger M]

I really don't see the need for [if] tags (unless his expression depends on previous events, if so, just use the [if] tags, and then do the same as above, but have message the same (or different if you want).

The reason for needing [if]'s:

different expressions for the hero, and make a version for each of his levels.

ah, didn't see that (and even when I did, It took me a moment to understand)

[toms]

Do you mean that you want to change your leader often?

Code: Select all

#define CHG_LEADER TYPE
[store_unit]
variable=leader_store
kill=no
[filter]
(the leader)
[/filter]
[/store_unit]
{VARIABLE leader_store.type {TYPE}}
[unstore_unit]
variable=leader_store
[/unstore_unit]
{VARIABLE msg {TYPE}}
#enddef
#define LEADER_MSG TEXT
[message]
description=(leader´s description)
message=_{TEXT}
image=$msg|.png
[/message]
#enddef

[turin]

*Sigh*

What Eleazar is trying to do is not hard to understand. He wants to have 1. different portraits based on the level of the hero, and 2. different portraits for different "emotions" of messages. Toms' macro is useless here.


This is doable. Here's the macro:

Code: Select all

#define START_DIALOGUE
[store_unit]
   [filter]
   description=Leadername
   [/filter]
variable=temp
[/store_unit]
[set_variable]
name=leader-portrait
value=portraits/$temp.type|-normal.png
[/set_variable]
[set_variable]
name=leader-portrait-happy
value=portraits/$temp.type|-happy.png
[/set_variable]
- - -
#enddef

Then, in all situations where there will be dialogue, put:

Code: Select all

{START_DIALOGUE}
[message]
description=Leadername
image=$leader-portrait
message= _ "Hi."
[/message]
[message]
description=Leadername
image=$leader-portrait-happy
message= _ "I'm happy."
[/message]

Then have files in images/portraits/ named "Unit Type-normal.png", "Unit Type-happy.png", etc.

[Noyga]

Not that if it is for 1.1.1+ you can use level= as a key for standard unit filter.
Then you cound do things like :

Code: Select all

[if]
   [have_unit]
      side=1
      canrecruit=1
      level=1
   [/have_unit]
[then]
  <code for level 1 unit>
[/then]
[else]
  ... idem for lvl 2, 3, ect...
[/else]
[/if]

However i find Turin's technique more elegant and portable.