SM Event Node

Revision as of 06:24, 18 May 2012 by imported>Ingenue

The SM Event Node allows you to use the Story Manager to start quests based on game events (for example, you can start a quest whenever an Actor is murdered by using the Kill Actor Event). The list of Event Nodes appear in the Object Window under Character.

List of Events

SM Event Node Window

  • Event Type: When creating a new event, select an event from the drop-down menu. For previously defined events, this is grayed out.
  • Expand All: Click to expand all the nodes in the event tree.
  • Collapse All: Click to collapse all the nodes in the event tree.
  • Find Next: Searches for a matching string anywhere in the event tree. A red arrow will appear next to the node that matches and the node itself will be highlighted.
  • Find All: Searches for every matching string in the event tree and puts a red arrow next to every node that matches.
  • OK: Save and exit the SM Event Node.

Event Node Tree

  • Right click on an existing node to create new nodes, add quests to quest nodes, or cut, copy, paste, and delete nodes.

Node Properties

Branch Node Properties

  • ID: The unique ID that the editor uses when referring to the node.
  • Random/Stacked: Select one. A Random node will process all its child nodes randomly, while a Stacked node will process all its child nodes from top to bottom.
  • Warn if no child quest started: Produce a warning if the Story Manager processes this node but does NOT start a quest from it
  • Node Conditions: Conditions for the Story Manager to check. If the conditions are not valid, the Story Manager will not process this node (or any of its child nodes).

Quest Node Properties

  • ID: The unique ID that the editor uses when referring to the node.
  • Num quests to run: Check and enter a number in the corresponding field. The Story Manager will attempt to start multiple quests (up to the number given) when this node is processed. If there are not enough quests with valid conditions to start, the Story Manager will start as many as it can up to the number given.
  • Max concurrent quests: Check and enter a number in the corresponding field. The Story Manager will limit the number of quests that can be started from this node, up to the number given. For example, with a Max concurrent quests of 2, the Story Manager will not start another quest from this node if 2 of the quests in this node are running.
  • Random/Stacked: Select one. A Random node will process all its child nodes randomly, while a Stacked node will process all its child nodes from top to bottom.
  • Do all before repeating: Check and the Story Manager will attempt to start each quest in the node before attempting to starting a quest that has already run.
  • Shares Event: Check and the Story Manager will continue to process the event after this node is processed. This allows you to run through multiple quest nodes from a single event. If the Story Manager every processes an event NOT marked as "Shares Event", the event will be consumed and the Story Manager will stop as soon as it finishes with that node.
  • Warn if no child quest started: Produce a warning if the Story Manager processes this node but does NOT start a quest from it
  • Node Conditions: Conditions for the Story Manager to check. If the conditions are not valid, the Story Manager will not process this node (or any of its child nodes).

Quest Properties

  • ID: The unique ID that the editor uses when referring to the quest.
  • Num quests to run: Not used
  • Hours until reset: Enter a number. The Story Manager will not attempt to start this quest again until the indicated number of Game Hours has passed. If this number is 0.0000, this check is ignored.
  • Node Conditions: Conditions for the Story Manager to check. If the conditions are not valid, the Story Manager will not process this quest.

Known Issues

Make sure that quest nodes you add to the event node have the "Shares Event" check box checked, and that they are higher on the list than any quest node that doesn't have that checked. If you don't check 'Shares event' your mod will be incompatible with other mods that use the event node, since it will stop their events being processed properly if your quest is started first.