Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 - The Modding Dungeon Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Modding General Making an NPC follow the party?

Hi.

I want to make some of my NPCs being able to follow the party around as followers (not companions at this stage).

My campaign has NPCs that the party will have to team up with - but they do not need to be able to control them as regular party members/companions.

I have read here: http://larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=632089#Post632089

But my scripting and Engine skills are bad.

Can someone please walk me through it like I am six years old? That would make my week.
For instance, the flag, is that made as a new script? Basic things like that.

Go into the Story Editor, then right click on the "Start" category on the left and "Add sub item" (or something like that) and type a name for the goal. Then go into the goal you made and put in the KB section something like:



Which would make the NPC follow the player once the dialog with the name "DialogName" (the dialog for an NPC you made and saved in the dialog editor) ended. Replace "_NPCGUID" and "_PLAYERGUID" with the CHARACTERGUID of the NPC and player. Can get these by right clicking on the character in the editor and then "Copy TypeGUID" (or something like that) then copying and pasting it. Or you can start typing the Name of the NPC/Player in the script then hitting control+space bar, then you can select them from the drop down. Make sure you do File > Generate Definitions first.

Once it's all done do File > Generate Definitions, Build and Reload. Then you can test it.

Thank you so much Branvex.

I will test this a s a p. One (stupid) question:

Where do I find the Players GUID?

How to obtain the player GUID depends a lot on the context of the event that drives the action. It can't be answered too confidently without more details about how you plan to have this work. If we dovetail with Branvex's suggestion, then it would be something like:



But again, this assumes certain things like there is only 1 player and 1 NPC involved in the dialog and that you want to assign the NPC to follow the player in the dialog regardless of any choices made in the conversation. Presumably you want to have some choice in the matter, in which case you would want to handle this with flags instead of merely ending the dialog.

I highly recommend spending time learning the language and going through some of the scripting tutorials out there. If you plan to create some kind of campaign, there is no getting around learning Osiris.

Thx Windmere.

Sorry for not being all clear. This is for GM mode and I am GM, so no alternatives or anvanced dialog needed.
I only want the pure functionality of an npc following the party. Easiest way possible.

It would be nice if this was a part of the GM tool. Like a condition you could add to a NPC. "Follow Player 1 around".

Yes, absolutely!

I have tried to follow the instructions here above but it doesn't work when testing inside the editor at least, maybe I must test it in my GM-campaign for it to work? Will try that, hopefully tonight.

If you post the code here maybe we can find out what the issue is. If it's not working in the editor I'm doubtful it will work in game.

Clunky workaround would be using the follow party function already in GM Mode , before changing scene saving npc amd respawm in new level.

@Windemere

Hi. I cannot access the game from this computer but for example I have tried this:

IF
DialogEnded("DialogName", _ID)
AND
DialogGetInvolvedNPC(_ID, 1, _NPCGUID)
AND
DialogGetInvolvedPlayer(_ID, 1, _Player)
THEN
CharacterSetFollowCharacter(_NPCGUID, _Player);

Where I put int the dialog name between "".
NPCGUID (by starting the NPCs name and then ctrl+space)
Player (The GUID of the player which I guess is the top one that shows when I write Player then ctrl+space (GM_player_1_something)
Then NPCGUID + Player again in last row.

Maybe it is because the NPC I test with has multiple versions in my campaign, i e he exists in another version as well (this one had ...001). Gonna try more tonight.

The dialog I created seems to work, but the NPC won't start follow my Dummy when it is ended. (when I test in game mode inside the Editor). Maybe it is because the dummy doesn't work as placeholder for Player 1 in this case?

Actually you don't fill in the _NPCGUID with a specific value in this case. The Query DialogGetInvolvedNPC() finds the value for you and stores it in the variable _NPCGUID, which gets used later in the CharacterSetFollowCharacter(). Let Osiris do the work for you here. So try the code as is, only replaceing the "DialogName" with the real dialog file.

Oh, ok. That clears things up a bit I guess;) Thank you for all your help friend!

@Windemere

Hi again.

I got it to work, but at the same time not. I put down the NPC with the dialog in my NPC level. There are other NPCs there as well.

The NPC had the dialog as usual, but when it ended another NPC came running from the other side of the level and started following the dummy character.

So I got an NPC to follow, but not the right one. And then I tried some more and tried to go back and redo that other NPC following, but could never replicate that again...

Check the assigned speakers in your dialogue and make sure they are the ones you expect.

I suppose the problem is related to 'DialogGetInvolvedNPC' and 'DialogGetInvolvedPlayer' already being false at this point. I'd look for another solution (setting a flag on the NPC during dialog, catching the event, checking for the involved player and setting the NPC to follow).

Thanks for trying to help a lost soul...

@windemere
I changed the speaker several times and tried with different NPCs. I think I handled that right, but hey, I am never sure.

@abraxas
Thanks. How do you do what you describe?

@windemere
I set the speakers to GROUP_players and the NPC. Maybe that is wrong?

I'm not modding D:OS 2, but it should look like this:



For setting character flags in dialog see this wiki-entry:

Dialog editor (the relevant information should be under: Node Actions).

@abraxas

Thank you!

So "EventName" is the character flag?

Yes, it's the name of this character flag. Choose whatever name you like (as long as it isn't identical with the name of another character flag).

If you want to keep this flag (so you can check for this flag sometime later), remove the 'ObjectClearFlag' call.

Wonderful, thank you.

Where would the world be without all you helpful people.

Small addition: as https://docs.larian.game/Osiris/API/CharacterFollowCharacter mentions, it's better to use ProcCharacterFollowCharacter.

Thanks all.

I have tried all different combinations. Can't get it to work, except that one strange time when the wrong NPC came running (I can't even replicate that).

I must be doing something wrong or it is because this is in my saved GM session and the players are already set, so to speak?

Either it is too difficult or I am too stupid for this.

Sorry, I missed that this was about GM mode. There is a big caveat about using Osiris/story scripting in GM mode, although it does not apply to your particular situation (yet). While GM mode does not block or interfere with Osiris/story scripting directly, it completely reinitiases story every time you load a game. This means that any databases that were set, are gone (I've added a warning about this on https://docs.larian.game/Osiris).

You are not setting any databases in your code, so that is not the issue here (although ProcCharacterFollowCharacter does use databases, so you should not use it in GM mode). The "follower" state is part of the game state rather than Osiris, so even that should keep working (assuming you get it to work in the first place). I don't think anyone can help further by seeing the actual code and dialog though.

The reason for the limitations regarding combining Osiris/story with GM mode is that GM mode is all about full control for the game master. If Osiris starts interfering, this becomes impossible. E.g. if you have an NPC following through Osiris and the NPC then gets possessed by the game master, both systems will start fighting because Osiris commands go straight to the game engine just like player input. But again: I can't think of a reason why you would not be able to do this right now, it should just result in an awkward situation in case you try to possess the follower later.

I know there has been talk internally about functionality character following in GM mode because it's indeed something a lot of people want to do. I don't know if there are any concrete plans yet though, but I would expect that in the end this will be something that is controllable by the GM from the GM interface (so there is a GM-specific follower state, which can be disabled by the engine as soon as the GM possesses a follower).

Also have a look at http://larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=629934, it seems someone else has already figured this out (and by using status effects, it will indeed be persistent across saves even in GM mode).

Yes, it seems like I need to put my hope in Larian adding that much needed function in GM mode.

I am also following that thread you linked, and I have been in contact with the creator.
Unfortunately he has more or less given up on that mod as it collides with the status effects mods out there that most of us GMs use.