Author Topic: beginner question: mods and dialog compatibility  (Read 1641 times)

monkeypaw

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beginner question: mods and dialog compatibility
« on: January 22, 2009, 12:24:04 PM »
I am a complete newb at this.  I have not created a mod but would like some general info about the following scenario.

Suppose modder 1 creates a mod for BG1.  Let's say that all it does is add a new dialog option to Phyldia in the BG1 prologue.  Suppose further that it allows the player to say "You look nice." to Phyldia and have her respond with "Thanks".  Nothing else happens.  Call this mod1.

Now suppose that modder 2 creates a completely separate mod for BG1 that also adds some dialog options to Phyldia.  Maybe have a "You're ugly"/ "So's your mom." option in there.  Call that one mod2.

If both of these mods are in the override folder what will happen when I talk to Phyldia.  Will I get both dialog options?  Will it use whatever the "newest" mod is?  Will it crash?  Basically what I'm curious about is how do the mods know when they are stepping on each others dialogs?  How is this handled in the modding community?

Thanks for any info.  I'm trying to learn this stuff.

monkeypaw

Offline Echon

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Re: beginner question: mods and dialog compatibility
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2009, 01:04:26 PM »
If you simply extract the contents of both mods to the override folder, the last one wins because it overwrites the changes of the other one. By using WeiDU you can write mods that, in this example, add their contents to the relevant files, on top of what is already there, such as new content from other mods. If the mods change Phlydia to a gnome or an elf, the last one wins since they are altering the same part, Weidu or not.

Offline GeN1e

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Re: beginner question: mods and dialog compatibility
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2009, 03:14:39 PM »
Quote
Basically what I'm curious about is how do the mods know when they are stepping on each others dialogs?  How is this handled in the modding community?
When a modder knows about possible incompatibility with already existing mod they either patch that certain place in more delicate manner (if that's a matter of the same character having two new dialog options) or state plain incompatibility (if one tries to change Phlydia to elf and another - to orc). When a modder doesn't know about a problem then it has to wait until someone runs into it and reports a bug. Then measures similar to the 1st variant are taken.

To avoid possible issues it's considered good to minimize the involvement of already existing characters - making a quest that would require you to kill half of existing NPCs stands a great chance to prove incompatible with a large number of mods. On the other hand, adding a couple of lines into dialog is generally harmless, so having both of your mods installed will result in Phlydia having two dialog options with appropriate responses.

 

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