Text Message

[Sally,1]

Hey

Mines names Sally, Yes, I'm a girl. But who said girls can't play and mod GTA? Well , anyway. As I said , I play Grand Theft Auto and also, attempt modding it. I wouldn't say i'm advanced at modding, You could proably call me a noob. To the point I have scattered through most of the tutorials on GtaForums and have been watching it for quite sometime. But what I couldn't find out how to do was make a simple text message. Yeah, It seams small and simple, But we arn't born knowing somthing. So if someone could please give me a quick run through on a simple text message.

 

Thanks, and I hope to be on this forum more often

-Sally

 

P.S- Really really sorry if this is in the wrong place.

[Justin]

Advice for someone new to the VC coding scene:

 

• Imitate existing code.

• Stick at it. Learn to test, troubleshoot, try different things. It's most annoying to see someone not even give an idea a shot, and come running in here asking for us to do the entire job for them.

 

In your position, I'd think about times in the original game where text messages pop up. The first one that comes to mind is the "all bridges to the mainland have been closed" (or similar). Run a search through the mission script for something along those lines, and bingo, this pops up:

03E5: text_box "BRID_CL" \\ Storm warning: All bridges to the mainland are closed.

 

Now you know which opcode activates a text box. The tricky bit is understanding that the text is held in an external file, called american.gxt and found in the TEXT directory of your VC install. Fortunately, mission scripting and editing the GXT file go hand in hand, so most mission builders come with a GXT editor of sorts. If not, run a Google search for CyQ's 1.2.

 

Once you've got your hands on a GXT editor, open up american.gxt and either edit an existing entry or create a new one. Keep in mind whatever key name you give to your entry, as this is what you must reference in the mission script. For example, if you created a new text entry "Hi I'm Sally and Fuzzy Juzzy rocks my socks" under the name "FUJU_R", you'd need to save your changes to the GXT, and whack

03E5: text_box "FUJU_R" \\ 

in an appropriate place in the script. Note that the actual text (which is stored after the \\ commend in the script) isn't necessary - all that you need is to reference the key name stored in the GXT and you're good to go.

 

Finally, a very important tool is the VC Opcode Database. Get an idea? Run a query through the Opcode Database to see if any functions look like being what you're after.

 

PS: There is a limit to how many extra entries the GXT file can hold. If you're planning on adding a lot, you'll have to delete or edit existing entries.

[Sally,1]

No! Not at all. The last thing I would do is come here and ask for someone to do MY job, I have tried this many times, but still the game continues to crash. Many other times I would get it after a few shots. But doing a simple text message seams a bit harder. Im very sorry for the trouble

-Sally

[Justin]

I wasn't directing those points necessarily straight at you - it's more just general advice - something we see too often. You have no need to be sorry, your topic is one of the more logical and reasonable to be posted by a new coder.

 

Did you manage to get the text box to work now?

[Sally,1]

Did you manage to get the text box to work now?

Yes , I did. I very appreciate your help . My modding seams to be going in the right direction and hopefully i'll be making some mods soon.