An initial release of SENTInce, Smacky's Enhance NPC Talk Interface, is now on the test server.

Before you all rush over to see it in all its majesty you should no that the point of this test is to prove/test its backwards compatiblity, nothing else. Therefore if all goes well, you should notice absolutely no difference!

If you do notice a difference in play, post here please.

Of course there are a few technical changes, but these should only affect efficiency (improve it I hope, although only a bit) and make it easier to track errors in your scripts.

By all means, feel free to read the Lua source -- heavily commented -- which is publically available in streams/SENTInce on the SF SVN and marvel at the new features.

But don't expect to see these in action yet, because they aren't. Of course you're free to experiment with them; the commenting in interface_builder.lua and topic_list.lua should explain things, maybe a little technically. But remember these are not howtos. I'll write those when I've got the technical side finished.

For now just stick to the old stuff. As I say SENTInce should handle the old stuff flawlessly.

clever name ill go test it for you smacky :}

~missy

Thanks Sub. I just restarted on you for your trouble.

Remember, anything that doesn't work exactly like it always has is a bug ATM.

strange... it seems my edit button simply vanished...... sorry for the double post.....

anywho, i tested every npc in the starting village and stonehaven (except the throne room and arena) and the NPC's seem to be fine

(i just went back to my client and saw your message, i hope i wasnt testing it out too early :p)

~missy

No, I made a very minor change, perfectionist that I am.

ah, well before i could read this post, i retested them all again still working, ill go ahead and do throne room and arena and that completes stonehaven, ill move to the old b3 town and then i dont know where the other NPC's are

~missy

ok.. even tried to relog on the forum and my edit button is still missing its making me sad... anyway

all the NPCS are clean ! except one... on the main server i remember getting a quest from him before (when you try to talk to this npc it doesnt show the chat window, it doesnt even say the small talk that regular npcs have) it just says /talk hello

the NPC in question is the red looking knight underneath the house right by the church/cherbots jail cell (with the polearm quest ect. inside) his name is Supreme Commander Erane

i hope someone looks into this NPC, i hope its not just me

~missy

hehe Thank you. It shouldn't be necessary to test every NPC (although more testing never hurts). Just the ones who use different features. Which probably means you need to know exactly which methods etc the talk script is calling...

I'm satisfied it works overall then, so probably no need to actively 'test' it. Just if players or map wizards notice odd things happening on test server when they talk to an NPC it could well be because I've replaced the basis on which all talk scripts are built. So post problems here.

Thanks Sub.

Gj smacky . I haven't tested it yet, but i think grommit's rosie is first on my list...

Cheers,
Unislash

Yes, Rosie is a good choice, the whole quest. That's probably the most complex (in terms of interaction) set of talk scripts publically available ATM.

Sub, I missed your last post before. Will check out that NPC on local. EDIT: This was due to a typo made by someone other than me for once () in the last commit of that script. Nothing to do with SENTInce. Fixed.

I think the disappeared edit button is my fault. Will fix. EDIT: Fixed.

there we go that NPC is working fine now ! goodjob smacky

~missy

EDIT: and my edit button is back <3

ill look into grommits maps and try to test that NPC rosie, but i probably wont get far (my character is still saved with nothing but a grace ring on hahahahhaha)

Now on the test server is a SENTInced version of Fanrir's talk script plus the latest (development) versions of SENTInced tl, ib, and qm scripts. All of this is publically available in streams/SENTInce at the SF SFV (browse here).

Old and new

Although SENTInce is fully backwards compatible (so old scripts will work 100% with the SENTInced tl, ib, and qm) SENTInced talk scripts (of which Fanrir's is the only publically available example so far) have several enhancements.

These enhancements benefit both players and scripters.

Players

By following the SENTInce style guide and by using the extended and new tl, ib, and qm methods, SENTInced talk scripts are consistent and intuitive to use. While players can navigate them as a simple point and click interface, as of old, SENTInce encourages players to actually type things in, to experiment and actually talk to the NPC. This will lead to a fuller, more satisfying experience for those who choose to try. If you have some moral objection to typing, don't do it. SENTInce is designed so that the mouse jockeys won't actually lose anything, but the typers stand to gain something.

Scripters

SENTInce encourages talk scripts to be written in an organised way. This has three main benefits:
[list=1]

• Writeability -- because of this organisation of the basic framework, SENTInced talk scripts are easier and faster to write than old-style talk scripts.
  
• Readability -- Therefore also they are easier to read. This benefits both new scripters trying to learn by example, and maintainers trying to update or bugfix the existing script.
  
• Expandability -- It follows that SENTInced scripts are technically easy to expand with new feature, quests, etc. For example, to add a fourth quest to Fanrir's script, you need only put another entry in the qb table and then update the various topic functions to recognise this fourth quest.[/list:o]
  
  Example talk script
  
  Please test out Fanrir on the test server, and/or checkout SENTince from SVN and run it on a local server (you can simply copy SENTInce/maps over your local maps).
  
  Please also read the lua source files if you're a scripter (they are all heavily commented).
  
  Known issues (I'll keep this bit updated)
  
  Fanrir has a way to go yet. I only updated what was there, I didn't add anything (well, I added a bit ). I will add more quests and more hints (for example, there is more to be explained about Talking to NPCs).
  
  Currently icons do not indicate the quantity (this problem is noticeable when Fanrir gives you 4 breads or remove 2 tails. It is easily fixed, but unfortunately requires a fix to the client, which can't really be done until the autoupdater is ready. So for now, just use your imagination.

Sounds really good Smacky - lot of work, and a good move forward.

Now, for my part I am playing creating a small map with quest/talk/arches/etc., but given my time demands in RL I don't expect this to be finished any time soon (2 weeks lol!).  I assume your advice would be for me to continue working on these as they are, and then when SENTInce goes live on the main server then at that point I should rework my talk scripts to the new standard?

Yes. No doubt I'll be tweaking the SENTInce scripts for a while yet, though I don't anticipate any more major changes. I have yet to put qb into its own script (see gh_fanrir.lua).

And of course the commenting is not proper documentation.

EDIT: I just committed a minimally SENTInced bank.lua to streams/SENTInce and the test server. Currently it is completely uncommented and makes no effort to use the standard topics (except greeting).

The idea is to let players and scripters compare the SENTInce version with the old version, so technically it is a straight port.

A fully SENTInced bank.lua is now in streams/SeNTInce and on test.

This simple script responds to the 4 (greeting, background, quest, and rumours) plus one (services) standard topics and demonstrates how to get the player back on track when he is getting OT.

It also demonstrates  a (simple) use of patterns and captures in topic triggers and how to write a topic action function which recognises a parameterised trigger.

It also does what it's for.