When you have murdered your first, Lucien Lachance wakes you up and starts a conversation. I want to do the same for another quest and another set of conditions.

I'm having problems getting the NPC who wakes the player up starting the right GREETING and beginning the conversation. The placement of the NPC is happening properly in the Menumode code, the Player is woken up, but the NPC's greeting is a generic one that you'd get passing them in the street, and it doesn't start a conversation. If I click on the NPC, the correct conversation starts, but I really need to force it a bit earlier.

Looking at the RufioDieScript (I think that's the right name) I notice that there was a "LucienLachanceMurderRef.StartConversation Player" commented out, presumably because it won't work there in the Menumode block. Instead a variable is set, probably for use in another script I haven't tracked down yet. I'm guessing I do need the force-greet, but I can't find where LL does his. I suspect I'll have to fiddle with fQuestDelayTime to make sure the wanted conversation starts before anything else can be said, as I see that being changed in the DB scripts.

Has anyone else been down this path and found the secret incantation?

Edit: I finally tracked down a Find package targeting the player that does it. Now mine's working too.

Well, I think you ought to use the StartConversation Player *CustomDialogueTopic*... Or then you could just block the vanilla GREETING-topic (by setting the conditions (in the Quest Data in the quest "Generic") to GetIsID *CustomWakeyDude* == 0, and then make a custom greeting topic.

As stated in the Edit, the DB initiation quest does it by giving Lucien Lachance a Find package targeting the player. When Find has an actor as a target the NPC will go talk to them, attack them , or whatever their disposition dictates. In this case there's a ModDisposition and a StopCombat to make sure the choice is talk!

StartConversation was obviously considered by gamesas for this, but was removed (turned into comments), so I'm assuming there's a "gotcha" with doing it that way that Find doesn't have. Possibly it relates to the need to get the parties into a conversation position before they'll talk. Using Find requires it to be GREETING, rather than a custom topic.

Anyhow, my problem is solved now, and the conversation starts as it should.

Well, with the custom topic I meant you disable all the GREETING topics from the quest "Generic" and make a new GREETING topic in your custom quest. And you can put the NPC into a faction that automatically changes the NPC's disposition against the player to 100.