Are there commands usable in .dlg or .py files (preferably .dlg) that will remove or add a faction to an NPC? I'm deep into my CE Temple Takeover Questline mod and being able to actually subvert factions by recruiting them into other factions would be a great help. I notice that all the other NPCs who change faction in ToEE (Fruella, Jakk Borton, Oohlgrist, for three examples) don't actually change factions -- it's just empty dialog.
Unfortunately no. One of the more lamentable limitations of ToEE. Even reading factions is impossible. As a workaround, however, you can create alternate protos with the desired faction(s) and switch them on. Or, in some cases, grant multiple factions right from the start (what I did with Oohlgrist). Though I guess that sort of thing should be handled with care if applied on a grand scale.
Yes, as you know the whole faction sub-system has great potential -- but it's implementation is totally inadequate. I remember discussing the faction limitations with Troika (Tim) when I was working on Arcanum -- but it was so long ago, and so much has happened that I am having trouble remembering exactly what we discussed. But the impression I have is that because of time constraints, and demands from Atari for other features, the Faction sub-system would have to make do as-is. They did have plans to make it workable . . . I should install Arcanum and look at my work there -- I haven't looked at that in over a decade. My impression is that there's no way to effectively use the Factions dynamically, which is a shame. But I may find some tricks I used there that can be used here. Thanks. As an FYI, I'm almost done with the first 'chapter' -- done meaning the major dialog trees are in place, NPCs fleshed out, and dialog options tested (what a ROYAL pain!) and the story state kept track of by four variables and a few individual flags so far. I haven't used a new global flag yet. The first chapter ends with Lareth joining the party. He's gonna be a piece of work to mod without getting tangled in his other 'lifelines', so I figured that's a good place to stop and see if everything is truly in place. I've been very careful about that -- my mod will intertwine seamlessly alongside 8.1.0 NC. It's what I'm hoping, anyway! Hommlet will never be the same.
I'll look at Arcanum after I get this 'chapter' done. I don't want to sidetrack myself -- especially since i jinxed myself by saying I was almost done with this part <sigh> As soon as I got offline I fired up the mod and bang! A glitch I thought I fixed reared it's ugly head again . . . and to make sure I didn't introduce a bug through console use (checking flags, variables) I have to start another runthrough from the beginning . . .:dizzy: But that's ToEE!
