Hi. A quick question about Quests.

Is there a reason why it is preferable to split the storyline of a mod into multiple small quests that lead from one to the next? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

Cheers

MVK

There's no single reason really. Much of it has to do with the amount of scripting and stages involved for any particular quest, but time, both in game and between releases of the mod is also a factor. When working with a particularly large or complex quest, you can sometimes break earlier parts of the quest as you work on the end parts. Smaller quests can sometimes be easier to manage, but can quickly clutter your journal and lack the same sort of permanence that longer quests have. It's one of those reasons why it's usually a good idea to work out your quests by either laying out stages in the CS or diagramming it on paper. That way you can get some sense as to how long it will be and where any natural breaks in the quest might be should you need them. That said, it is usually a good idea to have a chain of events which follow eachother within the same quest, and to only complete that quest when a major point is reached or when the player becomes free to move around again. But ultimately, it's just about personal belief as to how you want events to flow and whatever you can manage to contain within a single quest.

Hmm thanks. I see your points. I have indeed planned my storyline, it has a beginning a middle and an end, and there is an overall objective. During this storyline the player has to visit the various cities in a kind of loose order, with a series of events culminating in the Factions of my custom race (the player) and the factions of the current city suddenly liking each other (from a position of loathing).

The ultimate aim is of course to make everyone friends again (aah!) with the final set of events taking place in the Imperial city. My initial plan was to have a quest for each city, however, it seems to me that the whole thing is a single story and perhaps should then be treated as a single quest, indeed, each event that takes place leads directly to the next via the dialog with the NPC's.

Iv a feeling that it might work out easier in the long run for me to make a single quest, rather than having one for each city, since the storyline weaves between cities anyway.

Thanks for your comments

MVK

In terms of the Construction set, you'll be setting up a lot of quests whichever way you go. It's often convenient to be able to delay when a script starts running, or stop it completely, and the commands you have available are StartQuest and StopQuest, rather than StartScript etc.

Dialog among members of a faction is easiest set up with a quest that the player doesn't get involved in. They don't contribute to your journal, or have stages, just LOTS of topics and conversations.

So it's really a question of how you want things to appear in the journal. If you want things the player has done to appear in the "completed" section, make them separate quests, if you prefer a running commentary in the current section, make it all one.

Yes, I have a single, separate quest for all of my dialog, although there is no conversation, just topics, because I'm not doing any vocals this time around. As for the journal - Id rather have a constant running commentary that a list of completed - after all the mod is really a single quest so it makes sense that there would be a progression to an end. Of course if I add any side quests to the NPC's in the city, they will appear as separate because they will have no bearing on the main quest.



The only experience Iv had with StopQuest is in smaller mods that I made as experiments. Could you explain a little of the mechanics behind using both commands, for example, why would I stop the quest, and if I did so and then re-started it, would it continue from where I stopped it?

Also, another question to anyone:
I read early on that when playing with the AI its important to start a new game each time, because the AI can get caught up with the save game. Does the same apply to quests?

Example: I play the game and complete the first 3 sections of the quest then save. If I DO NOT edit or change any of the three quests I have played OR their results, but I DO edit sections 4 (onwards), do I need to start again, or can I load the save game and continue from there?

Thanks for the input guys

MVK