Holodisks Revisited

[OnTheBounce]

Okay, I discovered something nifty about holodisks that will save you some copy-'n'-paste action and some storage space on your HD. (A miniscule amount, to be sure, but some space non-the-less.)

If you recall I had a deuce of a time getting holodisks to work properly in the first place and Ed Orman was kind enough to relay the proper format to me. I had been putting the info that the holodisks were supposed to contain in the mission's speech file, and this had the drawback that you had to include that speech node in each mission's speech file that you wanted the text to be available in. Well, I found a better solution: place the speech node in the GenericMission.txt file for your campaign and it will be available on all maps w/no pesky copy-'n'-paste action. The player will still have reaccess the data every time they want to read the disk and are on a new map, but you, the designer, do not have to worry about it once you've placed it in a single file.

If you don't know, here's the proper format for holodisks: you have to use the correct Speech Node format for the Text Label field in the holodisk entity type. Don't stray from that format or it won't work. Also, use "title_..." for the title of the holodisk that is to show up in the PipBoy dialogue section.

Cheers,

OTB

[Jimmyjay86]

Can you just assign a campaign variable to the initial reading of the holodisk? Then all you need to do is with the initialization of each mission, automatically read the holodisk so that it will be in the pipboy for that mission. Assuming of course that you can read the holodisk without it being windowed.

[OnTheBounce]

Can you just assign a campaign variable to the initial reading of the holodisk?

I don't think you can do that. You simply add a speech node to a file to get them to work, you don't have to import them into a mission's speech with the level editor for them to work. Since this is the case, you can't assign a Speech Event to the associated text.

Then all you need to do is with the initialization of each mission, automatically read the holodisk so that it will be in the pipboy for that mission. Assuming of course that you can read the holodisk without it being windowed.

They aren't windowed like World Text. When you use the holodisk/upload the info you are taken directly into your PipBoy.

Personally, I don't really mind this solution. While I can see why the designers may have held back on using them because they were working on a professional product, it's more than good enough for use lowly Map Rats.

You could make some nightmare work-around with a holodisk set up as an Object entity that has Click Speech and a certain speech event then triggers a campaign variable and places an actual holodisk in the player's inventory and deactivates the Object entity, of course.

BTW, I forgot to mention how I came up w/this solution: looking at the tutorials and noticing that they displayed in the PipBoy Archives and were included in the GenericMission.txt.

OTB

[JaTe]

How do you make a Holodisk work in the first place? I have one I can read, but it says no data found...how do I set the data?

[OnTheBounce]

How do you make a Holodisk work in the first place? I have one I can read, but it says no data found...how do I set the data?

There are two things that will identify a Holodisk. The first, is the Item Description. This has to be entered in the items.txt (or simply the speech file if you're just slapping together a SP mission) for your campaign. For instance, you could use the following:

name_M01_holodisk01 = {Holodisk}
desc_M01_holodisk01 = {A battered magnetic storage device.}

Then, you have to fill in the "Text Label" field. This is the important one. The one that you left blank or put the wrong format in and hence can't read the holodisk. First, enter a speech node in the GenericMission.txt of your campaign, or the speech file of your SP mission. For instance:

M01_Holodisk_A01 = {JaTe asks a lot of questions and never seems to say, "Thank You."\n}

Enter the "M01_Holodisk_A01" portion under "Text Label" in the Entity Editor. (IIRC, you can also do this in the Level Editor, however, if you're going to place the holodisk in someone's inventory or a container this isn't an option.)

Now, in order for you to have something besides a period display in the PipBoy under Dialogue you will need to assign this speech node a title by entering a line with "title_" in front of the speech node's name. In the above example it would look like this:

title_M01_Holodisk_A01 = {OTB's Observations}

There you go. Now you know...and knowing is half the battle.

OTB

[JaTe]

Ahh got it to work! Thanks.

And this will work for all maps in my campaign, sweet!

Now I'm only days (or a week) away from finishing my campaign and getting into the play-testing

[OnTheBounce]

You're welcome.

*hehe* Cool sig. :mrgreen:

OTB

[Chaos Horror]

I was wondering if you could make a .zar pic show up in the pipboy readout?

[Flamescreen]

I don't think anyone is able to do that yet. Why don't you try asking in the sticky topic?

[Jimmyjay86]

Doubt if its possible unless you did some tinkering with code. And no-one I know has the knowledge or desire to do that.

I take that back Chaos Horror, apparently it is possible to do something like that. Check out Red's topic.

[Max-Violence]

Also of note, something I just discovered, is that if the holodisk is to be placed in an actor's inventory, it must be placed from within the Level Editor, not the Entity Editor.

Dunno if that's already been said, but there ya go. Caused me to pull a couple strands of hair out

[Jimmyjay86]

Wow, MV! It looks like you've been digging to add that addendum! Good job!

[Max-Violence]

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