Testing new NPCs

Krynus · Post by **Krynus** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 4:29 pm

Is there a way to test out new NPCs without having to go through the whole opening cutscene each time (assuming the NPC is in the first area of Chateau Irenicus)? What about if I want to make a number of new NPCs... do I have to go through the cutscene after each character creation?

jcompton · Post by **jcompton** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:24 am

You could always just save your game after the opening cutscene.

Ease of Use contains a "shorter cutscenes" component that speeds things up as well, at the cost of making them silly.

UncleScratchy · Post by **UncleScratchy** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 10:12 am

If you have a Multiplayer saved game load it and resave as something like "NPC test game". Now drop various chars out and bring newly created ones in to test them. This is especially useful if its a save from late in the game where you have a huge stash of gear to try out on them - like various armors for thieves, scimitars for druids, etc. Be sure to pre-create the chars you want to test so you can start a new game with them.

Edit: If you don't have any multiplayer saved games try coping a regular saved game over to the MP Save folder - it should work.

Krynus · Post by **Krynus** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 11:47 am

What about if I make him into a joinable NPC? Will I be able to reload a save game after an edit and still have any changes to the NPC since the save in the game?

UncleScratchy · Post by **UncleScratchy** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 5:21 pm

Originally posted by Krynus
What about if I make him into a joinable NPC? Will I be able to reload a save game after an edit and still have any changes to the NPC since the save in the game?

I'm not sure what your question is. Are you talking about editing existing NPC's in the game like Jan or Jaheira with a game editor such as Shadow Keeper? Or do you want to make a custom character that can join a multiplayer game and then perhaps tweak him with an editor? Keep in mind that you can't edit multiplayer save games - only single player save games. To get around this you have to copy a mutliplayer save over to the single player save folder and then you can open it in Shadow Keeper. However, you can edit a character you created for a multiplayer game with SK if you exported him to the Character folder. When you're done editing him, resave to the Character folder and restart the MP game. Then you have to drop the unedited char out of the party (he should walk away and disappear) and then use the MP console to add the edited version of that same char back into the game.

I think I could help you more or better if you could be very precise in stating what you want to achieve. Even the term "NPC" can be confusing as some consider it to mean any Non-Playable Character in the game (like a merchant or commoner walking around), others think it means Non-player Char as in any char that can join your party who you didn't create yourself (like Minsc). Do you just want to edit the main character in your party? If so, then just use SK to edit a saved game and then resave it with SK. SK will give it a modified saved file name that you can then load. If you don't like the results you can either delete the edited saved game and go back to the original save game or you can re-edit it.