Cookies

[sheek]

What do the different cookies refer to? I don't think there's any way to read the save game files so it's impossible to work out. I searched over the forums but didn't find anything except what was in the operations thread.

Those of you who've modded must know.

The only one I have worked out so far (and I'm not sure) is that 173 is the faction number.

What is cookie 284?

What is cookie 156?

 

[Ancientwanker]

I have no idea. Cookies seem to be used for the quests but I didnt use any when I made the new bandit quests. The operations list wasnt released when I did all that so I was guessing what 90% of the operations were and the cookies didnt seem required to make the quests work.

I think youll still find remnants of them from copy/paste in the bandit quests but they arent functioning in any coherent way as far as I know.

 

[sheek]

Oh OK.

I thought I needed to know them because I was looking at your new dialogue in Mag7. The cookies were still there.

Maybe you can help me out actually. I tried to make a copy of your Baron Rolf dialogues for signing up to a new faction. I changed the Conversation IDs and of course all the Speaker IDs to Count Hareck. I also changed the (I thought) factions cookie settings to a new faction.

In a new game I go up to Count Hareck and I get the first line of the dialogue which is "Well [player name]..."

The next ID for that is "So you have come to the Baron at last [playername]... would you like to join our army" / "you are an enemy to us" / "yes" (Conversation ID 450 for your bandits).

The problem is that it gets stuck on "Well [player name]". The NPC keeps moving around but the next conversation line doesn't come up.

I am wondering if I need to add an operation to say that you must click to trigger the next conversation line (there is no player dialogue response to give).

I'm thinking of deleting all the Count's previous dialogues to see if that could be the problem (conflicts).

Actually you must have used cookies. Line 450 checks faction ID. If you are faction ID 2 you get "you are an enemy to us" dialogue (I think they're the "commoners faction").

You also must have used cookies in Line 454 which changes your relations with other factions (-30 Vaegirs/Swadians, +3 Bandits, -3 Caravans etc).

Where did you copy the operations from?

 

[Ancientwanker]

There seem to be some operations that specifically modify "cookies" with the quests... those I never really understood and havent looked at since the operation list was released. I just made it work and ran away.

The faction setting I dont call a cookie, I call it a variable since I located where the free variables probably were and made a new one. Its just a straight up variable set to either 0, 1, or 2. Edit: By faction setting I mean the check to see what your status is with a faction. There is also the "player faction" setting which I dont remember much about.

The conversations always take alot of bugtesting. You need to get the flow right logically and make sure it doesnt hang. When you get a hang just go back and see why. Usually you'll find a problem like the conversation goto number sending it to the wrong line number after the line is spoken. Sometimes there will be a logical hang where you have set some conditions but it doesnt cover all possible results for the variable you are testing. In that case you need a default result after the conditions have been checked (and failed).

If the faction relations are a cookie or variable I have no idea. I just found the elements from other parts of the file and copy/pasted what I needed. I dont even remember what they look like.

 

[sheek]

The faction setting I dont call a cookie, I call it a variable since I located where the free variables probably were and made a new one. Its just a straight up variable set to either 0, 1, or 2. Edit: By faction setting I mean the check to see what your status is with a faction. There is also the "player faction" setting which I dont remember much about.

Hmm. Are you talking about the reg[x]? I think I understand.

A different question: am I right in thinking that Conversation ID 6 is something special, that ends the dialogue? I see a lot of references to it.

 

[Ancientwanker]

Ya, 6 ends a dialogue.

There are two ways (at least) to store info in the game, the temporary registers and the variables. The registers are reused, emptied and altered constantly. They are used to store short term information within a bit of code. The variables are different and are written like 33554922. They are used to store more or less permanent information.

Sometimes the game loads your faction ID, or the # of the npc you are talking to, for example, into a register. It plays around with the register to check something and then forgets all about it. The register is then reused by some other part of the program. The variables like 33554922 can be used all throughout conversation.txt and in this case that variable tracks your exact status with the bandits. It remains constant unless you change it.

I think you should go to the operations thread and spend some time with the operations list (check the mod info:_operations link in the mod resources thread at the top of this page). There is really no reason to guess at this stuff anymore which is why Im less interested now, heh. It was more fun when modding was detective work.

 

[yehrom]

I mean a "cookies index" should be usefull,
I have begin a little list, using the unofficial_editor.084 :

[164] 0-7 : Army mission evol.;

[173] 2 : already recruited;
1 : FOE recruited (?);
0 : not recruited;

[271] 0-11 : army rank;
[272] : army wages;
[177] 0 : wages amount;

[480] : --gold (?);
[416] : too (?);
// deduce gold relativ to quest, it seems;

[405] : conversation ID||evol. (?);
// [400...] seems as trader mission evol.

[454] : ransom val.;
[461] 0-1 : kidnapping mission status;

[166] 0-1 : vagabond mission status (?);

[254] 0 : FOE;
1 : neutral;
2 : Army member;
// swadian "mobil" relationship;
// [473] deserter report (!);

[146] 0 : FOE;
1 : neutral;
2 : Army member;
// vaegir "mobil" relationship;
//[471] deserter report (!);

[119] 0-2 : same for Kergh relationship;

//conversation_ID ... 415 to 415, hiding surely ?!;

Someone have an idea about free range allowed to create new var (not reg)?

 

[Hardclyff]

Someone have an idea about free range allowed to create new var (not reg)?

I wondered that too and found out unused cookies are pretty scarce. The valid range seems to be 0 - 511 and if I remember correctly there could be about 50 left unused, but not in one row.

You can use my console tool for listing free cookies if you want: Clicky. Just copy both files in your mods\native directory.

 

[yehrom]

Nice .exe, that's it.
Thanks you very much. ^^

...there are a lot of them being Free


But, about the other "permanent" Var.,
Ancientwanker how are they declared or introduced ?
I don't remember read anything in the operation post... or not so good understand all the txt, maybe too

 

[Hardclyff]

As far as I know there ain't any other permanent vars, just cookies.

 

[Ancientwanker]

I just call them variables. I think I started my free ones around 490 and ended up using about a dozen to track various things like npc status or bandit membership. Armagan said previously that there are around 512 of them.

I picked 490 as I searched the files and couldnt find any immediately below that being used so I started mine at 490 just to be safe.

Here ya go:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/viewtopic.php?t=1372&highlight=bits&sid=c959946d1dc815c3c84d7d21dfdc4995

Armagan says here..

There are 512 variables in version 0.633. The first 483 are used. 484 - 511 should be free to use.

 

[yehrom]

Okay.
Thanks you for this Good Old News