New Event - EVENT_AGGRO_SAY

[trevius]

While working on some custom quests we found that there isn't currently a way to have an NPC respond to say messages while in combat with them. In most cases, this should be unnecessary, but in order to open up another option, I created this new event. The EVENT_AGGRO_SAY is just like EVENT_SAY, accept it only works while in combat. To use it, it should be just like writing an EVENT_SAY, accept you start with "sub EVENT_AGGRO_SAY" instead.

An example use of this might be a script where you attack an NPC in a city, but then say "sorry" and it whipes it's hate list. So, if you aren't still attacking it, it will just stop attacking and leave you alone as long as you aren't already KoS to it. Though, I can think of a few more uses for it.


In client.cpp after this:

		if (target != 0 && target->IsNPC() && !target->CastToNPC()->IsEngaged()) {
#ifdef EMBPERL
			if(((PerlembParser *)parse)->HasQuestSub(target->GetNPCTypeID(),"EVENT_SAY")){
#endif
				if (DistNoRootNoZ(*target) <= 200) {
					if(target->CastToNPC()->IsMoving() && !target->CastToNPC()->IsOnHatelist(target))
						target->CastToNPC()->PauseWandering(RuleI(NPC, SayPauseTimeInSec));
					parse->Event(EVENT_SAY, target->GetNPCTypeID(), message, target->CastToNPC(), this);
				#ifdef IPC
					if(target->CastToNPC()->IsInteractive()) {
						target->CastToNPC()->InteractiveChat(chan_num,language,message,targetname,this);
					}
				#endif
					//parse->Event(EVENT_SAY, target->GetNPCTypeID(), message, target->CastToNPC(), this);
				}
#ifdef EMBPERL
			}
#endif
		}
		break;

Add this:

		if (target != 0 && target->IsNPC() && target->CastToNPC()->IsEngaged()) {
#ifdef EMBPERL
			if(((PerlembParser *)parse)->HasQuestSub(target->GetNPCTypeID(),"EVENT_AGGRO_SAY")){
#endif
				if (DistNoRootNoZ(*target) <= 200) {
					parse->Event(EVENT_AGGRO_SAY, target->GetNPCTypeID(), message, target->CastToNPC(), this);
				#ifdef IPC
					if(target->CastToNPC()->IsInteractive()) {
						target->CastToNPC()->InteractiveChat(chan_num,language,message,targetname,this);
					}
				#endif
				}
#ifdef EMBPERL
			}
#endif
		}
		break;

In embparser.cpp after this:

	"EVENT_ZONE",
	"EVENT_LEVEL_UP",
	"EVENT_KILLED_MERIT",
	"EVENT_CAST_ON"

Add a comma after the end of the "EVENT_CAST_ON" as shown below and then add the line after it:

	"EVENT_CAST_ON",
	"EVENT_AGGRO_SAY"

And, after this:

	//do any event-specific stuff...
	switch (event) {
		case EVENT_SAY: {
			npcmob->FaceTarget(mob);
			ExportVar(packagename.c_str(), "data", npcid);
			ExportVar(packagename.c_str(), "text", data);
			break;
		}

Add this:

		case EVENT_AGGRO_SAY: {
			ExportVar(packagename.c_str(), "data", npcid);
			ExportVar(packagename.c_str(), "text", data);
			break;
		}

In event_codes.h after this:

	EVENT_CAST_ON,		//pc casted a spell on npc

Add this:

	EVENT_AGGRO_SAY,		//NPC responds to /say text while in combat mode

In parser.cpp after this:

	switch (event) {
		case EVENT_SAY: {
			MakeVars(data, npcid);
			npcmob->FaceTarget(mob);
			SendCommands("event_say", qstID, npcmob, mob);
			break;
		}

Add this:

		case EVENT_AGGRO_SAY: {
			MakeVars(data, npcid);
			SendCommands("event_aggro_say", qstID, npcmob, mob);
			break;
		}

And this is the only part I am not very sure about:


In entity.cpp change this:

	   if (tmp)
		parse->Event(EVENT_SAY, sender->GetTarget()->GetNPCTypeID(), tmp, sender->GetTarget(), sender);

To this:

	   if (tmp) {
		parse->Event(EVENT_SAY, sender->GetTarget()->GetNPCTypeID(), tmp, sender->GetTarget(), sender);
		parse->Event(EVENT_AGGRO_SAY, sender->GetTarget()->GetNPCTypeID(), tmp, sender->GetTarget(), sender);
	   }

Or maybe it is suppsed to be:

In entity.cpp change this:

		parse->Event(EVENT_SAY, sender->GetTarget()->GetNPCTypeID(), tmp, sender->GetTarget(), sender);

To this:

		parse->Event((EVENT_SAY && EVENT_AGGRO_SAY), sender->GetTarget()->GetNPCTypeID(), tmp, sender->GetTarget(), sender);

I have tested this on my server and so far it doesn't seem to work just yet, so I must be missing something or have something set wrong. I am guessing it may be the last part where it parses the event. I will move this post to the Code Submissions section once it is working and tested. If anyone else has any suggestions to improve it, I would love to hear them. I am still unsure which of the last 2 code changes need to be used, but I think it will be the first one of the 2.

Also, I was considering making an EVENT_LISTEN which would be for NPCs to listen for ANY /say messages within range even if they aren't currently the target of the player. I do think it would be useful, but the code for it may be a bit over my skill level. One example I heard a rumor of on live was that there was an NPC in the Plane of Growth that would attack anyone who said "uber lewts" or something like that if they were in range of the NPC for it to hear the say message. Maybe using a within range check instead of a target check for when messages are seen?

[joligario]

I think you deserve to die to a city NPC if you attack it and you aren't KOS. We all have learned that lesson before!

[trevius]

LOL, ya I agree :P I was just using it as an example. The main reason I want to get this working is because there is an event on my server where players are supposed to sing along with an NPC while they are fighting it or they get consequences. With the current EVENT_SAY, mobs won't respond to messages if they are engaged. This new sub event is mostly for custom servers to add more options

[janusd]

Trevius, PLEASE figure out an EVENT_LISTEN. I can think of at least four quests that require you to say a phrase in a specific spot to trigger an event (plate house in Kael anyone?) while there's no NPC targeted (IE an invisible man with a name of _ listens for it?). At the moment we're having to kinda hack together some slightly ugly code to achieve the same effect, and in some cases we're not able to 100% Live on that. With an Event_Listen, the code for the one that's written could be made a lot simpler and the others that are yet to be coded could be coded.

[AndMetal]

The way Live handles quest dialogue is, or at least was, different from the Emu. On Live, NPCs respond to dialogue within say distance. So, if multiple NPCs in the same area respond to the same phrase, they will all speak at once (I can't remember where it was, maybe Neriak or something, that I saw this firsthand and made that discovery). So, on Live, when you hail an NPC, it doesn't respond to the Hail, portion, it responds to "Hail, NPC_001".

I believe the Emu handles quests the way it does for 2 main reasons: server resources and simplicity/directness.

1st, if you have every NPC run through all of the quest stuff, even if you pick out mobs within a certain radius of you, then execute, it's a lot more expensive than just running it through your specific target. This is because, even if you don't have really anything being done, all of the variables available to the quest have to be exported (unless there's a check to see if an NPC doesn't have a quest file?). Just imagine if you had a custom death emote on a bunch of mobs in a zone, and a group AEs them, then tries to talk to one while killing them. All of that processing at once would make the processor blow a gasket.

2nd, if you know what specific mob you want to handle the quest, you don't have to worry about multiple mobs being around each other making everything confusing.

I think if we can find a cost effective way to handle 1, the benefits should outweigh the negatives of 2.

[joligario]

I don't think all NPCs were like that. Maybe that changed throughout the years to be targeted-based. You had to actually target them for it to work with trigger phrases. Inlcuding the hails. I remember trying hailing with the NPC name typed in and got no response. Maybe so it would be less resource intensive, specific NPCs were set up to respond to ranged speech?