When fiddling around with my module, that uses a mod_load based on Christopher Holmes’ Companion System mod_load that in turn is based on the k_mod_load, I noticed that ga_area_transition didn’t work anymore in dialogue. This baffled me until I found that it was because of this:
//This variable makes all transitions a “gather your party” transition.
SetGlobalInt( VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY, 1 );
Once I deacitvated that by putting a “//” in front of the SetGlobalInt line, ga_area_transition worked again like when you use the default x2_mod_def_load.
So my question to all the script wizards out there is: Is it important to have the “gather your party” transition or could I leave this off by putting a “//” in front of the SetGlobalInt line, thus being able to use the ga_transition_script? Sure, I guess one could make a new custom transtion script but…and I also found the ga_jump_players script that worked when using the VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY, but what I am wondering is: is this an important thing to use? Will there be more bugs if not setting the VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY to 1?
Curiously, ga_area_transition uses a particular function that conflicts with SetGlobalInt( VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY, 1 );
That’s probably why it’s not used. Use ga_jump_players or ga_jump_party_in_formation instead.
VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY is really only needed in multi-player games. It works along with a couple functions in the ginc_transitions include to check some things before a party transition can occur. It checks if any party members are dead, or in conversation, or over 200 meters from the caller. If the answer to any of these questions is TRUE, it will abort the transition. So you could say one of it’s purposes is to essentially be a fail-safe to prevent human players from transitioning while another human player in the party is in conversation, thus kicking him out of a possibly important dialog. That’s why ga_area_transition fails when VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY is activated - you are in conversation for the script to run.
Bottom line - it’s probably best to leave VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY activated (TRUE). Just don’t use the ga_area_transition script.
Now I understand a whole lot more about this. I’ll take your advise and leave the VAR_GLOBAL_GATHER_PARTY activated (although my module is a single player module) and use ga_jump_players from now on. That script also looked more solid, IMHO, than ga_area_transition.