[KotOR] Decompiling .ncs files and camera issues

[Salk 363]

Hello!

First of all, a very simple question: is DeNCS the best tool for decompiling .ncs files? I tried KotOR Scripting Tool but did not manage to make it work. DeNCS has always worked fine but the amount of failure (partial and not) when decompiling is pretty high.
 
Is DeNCS no longer maintained by anyone?
 
I was checking the tat17_10czerk_01.dlg and there I found a Iine I suspect is never triggering rarely triggering... The conditional script associated with it cannot be decompiled though so I cannot verify.
 
I am talking of:
 
E1 <k_ptat_raceone> "Hello again. I hear you've made an impression down at the swoop track. Czerka Corporation wholly supports local events." <>
 
It triggers only if the Player has won the first tier. I swapped the <k_ptat_raceone> with <k_ptat_racechamp>, which seems more appropriate (beating the first tier does not make an impression, becoming champion does).
 
Also, I noticed that there are several dialogues where the camera is on the player even when the speaker is someone else (it happens often when party members are interjecting but not only... There are three such instances also in the .dlg file above mentioned). I can usually correct this by changing the camera angle from 0 to 1... Is this something that might cause any further problems? (I think not, but I want to be sure...)
 
Thanks!

Edited May 17, 2016 by Salk

[DarthParametric 3,767]

DeNCS hasn't been maintained for years, probably a decade. It came out of TSLRP. I don't think they ever provided the source.

[Fair Strides 508]

No source provided, but when it says Partial, you can right-click the left pane with the gibberish and select "View Source".

[Salk 363]

Thanks for the suggestion, guys.

 

Unfortunately in the case above the failure was total.

 

If any can also shed some light on the camera being on the player when it shouldn't and whether or not my work around is safe, it'd be nice.

[JCarter426 1,212]

The camera problem you're having is just one of the game's oddities, and there's no easy way to fix it. When the camera is set to angle 0, the game randomly selects another angle - usually 1, 2, or 3. 1 is a close-up of the speaker, 2 is over the listener's shoulder, and 3 is a wide shot. When angles 2 and 3 can't be displayed correctly - if there are other characters between the speaker and listener, or if they're too close to a wall, or whatever - then the game defaults to another angle instead. In this case, the game is defaulting to a close-up of the player.

 

This problem can happen anywhere at any time, and it's not a problem that's going to arise every time, because it depends on the positioning of the characters and the random selection of the camera angles. So the only thing you can do is what you've been doing - fix each problem as they arise. Changing the angles to 1 shouldn't cause any problems, although it removes the variety of the angles, or at least, the variety that's there when it actually does work correctly.

[DarthParametric 3,767]

I was checking the tat17_10czerk_01.dlg and there I found a Iine I suspect is never triggering rarely triggering... The conditional script associated with it cannot be decompiled though so I cannot verify.

 

I am talking of:

 

E1 <k_ptat_raceone> "Hello again. I hear you've made an impression down at the swoop track. Czerka Corporation wholly supports local events."

So what script couldn't you get to decompile? Were you talking about k_ptat_raceone? That does fail to decompile using DeNCS or nwnnsscomp, but the NSS is included with the game files:

 

//:: k_ptat_raceone
/*
     The player has won the first of the races on Tatooine.
*/
//:: Created By: John Winski
//:: Copyright (c) 2002 Bioware Corp.
#include "k_inc_tat"

int StartingConditional()
{
    if (GetRaceCompleteGlobal() == 1)
    {
        return TRUE;
    }
    else
    {
        return FALSE;
    }
}

[Salk 363]

Hello!
 

Thanks for your help, JCarter426 and DarthParametric.

 

Yes, I was trying to decompile k_ptat_raceone. I didn't even consider the possibility that the source might have been available. I swapped it with k_ptat_racechamp because it does make more sense to me. 

 

It seems the camera quirk won't happen with the "1" value. 

[DarthParametric 3,767]

Check out BIFs -> scripts.bif -> Script, Source in KOTOR Tool.