Question about modding

[trinsic]

Hi, Im currently working on a screenplay idea for a stalker film and I want to do some previs work in the game engine to get an idea of what its going to look like. I have some basic knowledge of game engine commands, but I dont have alot of knowledge about scripting. I want to load a map and do some basic things in the game engine like spawn and work with actors and I was wondering if you can do any of that from the in game engine command line or if you have to script everything ahead of time. Also If someone could point me to some information on how to script if thats the case that would be a great help.

[Nightwatch]

Hi trinsic, welcome to the forum.

In regard to your question, first of all, I think you are referring to "console commands" by stating "in game engine command line," but please correct me if I understood wrong. Considering it's the console commands that you enter during an ongoing game-play, it wouldn't be possible to achieve the effect and result that you are seeking. However, if you give more details about what exactly you plan to achieve and create, we may be more helpful in the the easiest practical ways to achieve such targets.

In order to work on NPCs, as long as their appearances concerned you don't need scripting, but you would need to use software like Photoshop, or Autodesk/Maya, or X-Ray SDK, or possibly a combination of them. But if you intend them to behave in a certain way, then, yes, you would need to input a relevant script (beforehand) as to what's expected of them that would instruct the engine accordingly.

STALKER uses a scripting language called LUA. As you'd appreciate, it will require a significant amount of time by any standard and it seems that you'd prefer a quick, shortcut solutions (as far as they are possible of course.) So, I can recommend that you check this STALKER MOD Portal site, it may not be as extentise as you might like, but it may answer a couple questions on som epre-set type script pieces that you may find useful. just follow the links as you'd wish:

http://sdk.stalker-game.com/en/index.ph ... MOD_portal

And if you detail your project and the targets that you want to achieve, we may be give more specific answers.
Hope it helps.