How to make NPC send PC a private message in convo side of chat window?

MrZork · August 17, 2021, 8:12pm

I want an NPC to send a PC a message that only that target PC (not other party members or other nearby PCs) can see and I want the message to show in the conversation part of the chat window, not in the combat message side. Is there a way to do this? (Obviously, SendMessageToPC() makes it easy to do this in the combat side of the chat window.)

SiliconScout · August 17, 2021, 9:26pm

Do you want just a message or do you want the entire conversation to be hidden?

MrZork · August 17, 2021, 10:05pm

SS, I was thinking just a message. Essentially, I am looking for the same functionality as SendMessageToPC(), but only broadcast to the target PC.

SiliconScout · August 17, 2021, 10:23pm

You probably want to look at this SetPCChatMessage()

SiliconScout · August 17, 2021, 10:24pm

that can clear out the message so that other players don’t see it.

MrZork · August 17, 2021, 11:44pm

I had the impression that that function only worked as part of an OnPlayerChat event. Is that not the case? Does SendMessageToPC() somehow trigger the chat event?

If a player hasn’t entered anything in the chat bar, there is no message to work with. For instance, assume I have an NPC and I want to send a message to a PC “NPC whispers that you should talk to the guard.” How would I do that using the chat event functions?

Shadooow · August 18, 2021, 12:28am

You need NWNX for that.

MrZork · August 18, 2021, 3:41am

I was worried that was the case. Thanks, Shadooow.

Shadooow · August 18, 2021, 4:14am

however shout and probably whisper too works. SpeakString allows to specify TALK_VOLUME, but obviously not “Tell”. And another issue is that the npc cannot speak a multilanguaged line. All players will see same text - that was the reason I switched to NWNX as I needed to shout a text that would appear as A to english speaking players and B to czech speaking players.

MrZork · August 18, 2021, 6:42am

I got the impression BW was thinking anyone supporting multiple languages would use the DLG files. More options for that sort of support can’t help but be a benefit to the game.

Anyway, I have resorted to wrapping SendMessageToPC and SpeakString in a custom function that uses the latter for “normal” messages and then uses the former for “private” messages that I don’t think other nearby PCs should be hearing. Those private messages have to show up in the combat side of the chat window, but I have them in a custom color and prefixed by the NPC name so that it’s more clear that they are private chatter. Not exactly what I wanted, but I think it will work.

Proleric · August 18, 2021, 6:57am

PostString allows you to message just one PC, albeit not in the chat window, but at any screen location of your choice.

Shadooow · August 18, 2021, 9:12am

I am maintaning the (in my knowledge) the only multilanguaged multiplayer server for NWN. And it wouldn’t be possible without NWNX.

But some limited functionality is there. In all text fields in toolset there is the “…” button which lets you specify text in another language.

And with GFF editor you can set TLK line reference if you know how.

Ultimately putting a conversation or npc names/description into TLK is bad idea. Especially now in NWN-EE where the multilanguage support is actually worse than in 1.69 - servers using nwsync no longer have the option to provide different language TLK files.

Also there are extremely annoying issues in toolset where it messes up the TLK reference anytime you open the blueprint of creature/item/placeable/other having one. So the best solution is to get rid of tlk reference, delete it via GFF editor/letoscript-moneo and input the names in all languages you want to support manually.

Eitherway, this functionality is not something you can/should be using for the problem you want to solve. Player has its language and it cannot change during gameplay. And you cannot specify in script that the npc will speak a text from specific language either.

What you want to do can be solved by:
SendMessageToPC
PostString
NWNX and SendChatMessage function which allows to send chat message (of any volume type) to specific player.

MrZork · August 19, 2021, 9:22pm

Also there are extremely annoying issues in toolset where it messes up the TLK reference anytime you open the blueprint of creature/item/placeable/other having one.

Just because I am unfamiliar with this and it sounds like a problem I want to avoid, can you describe this, or point to a thread where someone is describing it? Are you saying that the Toolset changes the number of a string reference that was set earlier when you edit some other field in the resource?

Shadooow · August 20, 2021, 12:42pm

github.com/Beamdog/nwn-issues

Toolset is overriding TLK references (strref).

opened 12:41PM - 20 Aug 21 UTC

Shad000w

toolset

**To Reproduce** - Open any module in toolset. - Create a copy of standard p…laceable blueprint, lets say Ballista (under Military) and save it without any edits. - Go into /userfolder/modules/temp0 and open the newly created balista blueprint copy in GFF editor. You should see this: ![blueprint_before](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/5374108/130232026-5a126261-fe73-4f50-9754-1514d6788f3e.png) - Now, invoke the blueprint properties in toolset and click inside its Name field, which has yellow background color (which is supposed to tell builder, that the name is pointing to TLK reference, ie. strref, and click OK. ![blueprint_edit](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/5374108/130232418-3de8c8d6-5166-4fd7-9765-a62b0a411340.png) - Go into temp0 again and open the blueprint in GFF editor yet again. You will see this: ![blueprint_after](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/5374108/130232427-0e61ccfe-d8b8-4619-9059-dd9dedb73ea3.png) **Specifics** - all builds - OS: all windows for sure, never tried toolset under linux so can't tell - not a regression, this was happening in 1.69 as well **If needed, describe the bug** Now, why is this a problem? Because if there is a localized string, which is exactly what toolset in the steps above create, then the placeable in game will show as "Ballista" to all players no matter what is their language. Instead, players should see a different name based on their language. This is not limited to placeable and Name field, this affects all blueprints and all text fields. Very likely texts in journal and conversations as well (but I never used TLK references there since toolset is missing an option for that in first place). And the worst part is that toolset will automatically place cursor inside these fields when switching tabs. (Not always, and I was able to reproduce it just now only with creature blueprint, but I am 100% sure this happens with doors and placeables as well. In fact, this is the main reason why the problem exists, as peoples just doesn't click inside text fields without intentions to change them.) This is especially a problem when a polish or italian builder is working in their language translation but on a server which is supposed to be english. Placeables and npcs in areas/blueprints they send have Polish/Italian name and the only way to get rid of it is manually via GFF editor (or moneo script). That is because toolset does not allow to delete localized name, I mean, you can delete it in properties window and the placeable/creature/item name/description field gets yellow background again (which means that toolset is able to recognize, that there is no custom text), but it still adds an English localized name anytime you click into that field. So you can only replace Polish localized text for english. An expected behavior would be to never add localized text, if it doesn't differ from text from TLK reference. Ie. if I manually delete the field and rewrite the name to be Ballista again, toolset should not add localized text into Name field. It should not add it when I simply click into that field either.

I posted it on Beamdog’s current bug tracker. Maybe this time they decided to fix it.