Howto create a Convo bundle

[peardox]

This is a long and complex subject so I'm doing a Part (1, 2, 3)

 

As this is aimed at both newbies and the experienced I've over-detailed the first part (sorry my friends - the more people who know how to this meand more fun Mods)

 

The conversationbundle MOD is NOT recommended until Obsidian fix conversationbundle overrides. Personally I won't release a MOD using this information, I urge fellow Modders to apply the same restriction. I've got some old REQs that would be easy to do this way.

 

The following will re-write some things at a base level - it's not too bad, only some useless NPC

 

For the sake of showing as much useful information I'm going to take a non vendor and turn them into a vendor

 

This process is currently tied to a real vendor to open their shop, there is no current way to create a new shop but this process is a useful to be aware of if/when Obsidian add ModShops

 

So, let's get started...

 

There are many ways to create a Mod, the simplest only have a single file - <something>.gamedatabundle

 

To make things clear to your fellow Modders it is advisable that you use the same layout as found in exported as while the <something>.gamedatabundle can exist anywhere some files, notably stringtables ATM, MUST exist in a specific place in your Mod.

 

As you've, presumably, played the game and quite likely in a language other than English it's notable that there are a LOT of stock phrases you can easily 'borrow'. All you need is the stringtable ID for that phrase to get nine (9) translations of those.

 

For new phrases you can simply use Google Translate to get some text that (hopefully) is close to what you want to say.

 

For the purposes of this tutorial I'm going to use TT1's Dead Parrot, it's my go-to for explaining things so go grab it from https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/111 as this is a Mod item. Install TT1's Uniques (which includes the infamous Parrot) or the rest of this won't work.

 

While this is possible without a Dead Parrot it's far more informative with one as you'll most likely be Modding that includes some of your own special items.

 

So - let's get started...

 

Create a directory in override - I'll call mine convo, name yours whatever you like but make it unique. As this is a Tutorial I'm not concerned about what I call my personal mod as I'm not releasing it. If/when you do a release it is important that you use a unique directory name, personally I call mine pdx-<mod-name> but the choice is yours.

 

In convo (or whatever you call it) we need to create two directories - design and localised

 

We've now got ...

 

convo

  + design

  + localised

  

In design we now need to create a gamedata directory and in localised we need a deep structure (lemme just go get one I prepared earlier)

 

convo

  + design

    + gamedata

  + localised

    + de

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + en

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + es

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + fr

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + it

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + pl

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + pt

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + ru

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

    + zh

      + text

        + conversations

        + game

 

The text/game directories are there simply for convenience, we're not going to use them but they're handy to have as it is presumed you're going to want your new items translations so thought it advisable to make this as simple as possible

 

OK - that's a lot of typing - let's pick on some naff NPC and automate as much of this as possible

 

First off I should point out that I generally use a Linux Shell as I have Windows, Mac and Linux boxes - you can install a Windows-friendly Ubuntu to make everything work everywhere - see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10 if you want that option.

 

As some people will be put off by this I've created versions of both files to automate stuff for you - take your pick of dirstruct.unix or dirstruct.windows

 

Right - you've created your localised directory...

 

cd localised

 

Take your preferred dirstruct version copy it then paste it into a command prompt making sure you're in localised

 

If everything went OK you've now got a load of directories with nothing in them

 

This is the start of a convo Mod - A lot of nothing. Now we want to add something to our nothing...

dirstruct.zip

Edited July 3, 2018 by peardox

[peardox]

Don't worry

 

Part 2 is on the way

 

See the Killed Darmo thread

 

I have to alter some instructions for part 2

 

Once again this will do nothing useful (part 3 does that)

 

Part of learning is doing absolutely nothing useful paid off with a big "Wow" - Cool! at the end

 

Part 3 has the "Wow" - Cool factor

 

Let me fix that one now

 

It's likely I'll end up finishing this tomorrow as part 3 is a real bitch

[peardox]

1.2.0 just came out - I thought it'd be Friday

 

I have to ANNOUNCE this many times

 

So, in lieu of 1.2 all development is being with-held

Edited July 3, 2018 by peardox

[peardox]

OK - the patch notes imply I can do a convo mod without breaking the world if you've got 1.2.0

 

I'll be working on this today

 

Killing Darmo was a happy coincidence if that hadn't happened the tutorial would be out of date at the point of publication

 

I've got the rest of my original text that only needs minor tweaking before I hit the hard stuff in part three (3)

 

Expect part two (2) in not-too-long