YAML Converter details

[devpitOne]

Hi,

Any details on the YAML Converter you're using to output files, particularly the conversations? Is it RoR? Did you have to configure any type converters? If it's blindingly obvious in the source just let me know and I'll be happy to look it up myself. I've been using the docker version so far.

I'm trying to modify Flamewind's Conversation Editorto take input from the unpacked .yml files but am having trouble dealing with the custom tags.

Thanks and great work!

[jakkn]

Hi, interesting project! nwn-devbase uses the neverwinter.nim toolbox to do conversions. Refer to https://github.com/niv/neverwinter.nim for details on the YAML converter. niv might be able to answer your questions.

I'll close the issue for now, but feel free to reopen should you want to discuss conversion details further.

[devpitOne]

Thanks! I've found the YAML converter in https://github.com/niv/nwn-lib/blob/master/lib/nwn/yaml_support.rb and am digging through it to understand why it is built the way it is. If I get an input stream working with Flamewind I'll let you know.

[jakkn]

Nice, but note that the Ruby library nwn-lib is deprecated by the nim library linked to above. YAML support was added to the nim library around christmas, though I'm not sure if niv has settled on the labels and content. Regardless, file conversions are way faster in the nim library, so you most likely want to use that instead of the Ruby lib. You can probably reach out to niv directly in the nwnx discord https://discord.gg/YyV736

[devpitOne]

I wasn't able to find any yaml usage in the nim library so assumed it's using the older one. The output matches exactly that done by the yaml_support.rb

The main query was around the custom type used which I've since worked around anyway. I'm almost there, just need to make a few more modifications to the serialization. It messes up the formatting causing false flags to git.

[jakkn]

Ah right, the nim tools has a yaml branch that hasn't gone to master yet https://github.com/niv/neverwinter.nim/tree/yaml.

By the way I see the the conversation editor is tagged NWN2 on the vault. I assume it is NWN2 only then?

[devpitOne]

Yes, Flamewind was NWN2 only. It depends on a Toolset plugin to export conversations to an xml file.

Since we've no plugins in Aurora I've added YAML functionality which converts the NWN objects into Flamewind's custom objects. This is actually my first time doing YAML, I think I prefer JSON ._.

[jakkn]

Do I understand correctly that your version should also work for NWN then? If so I'd be very interested in trying!

[devpitOne]

Yes, that's correct. Do you process any of the YAML files into separate editors or do you use them strictly for version control? I know the ncs files can be edited in Visual Studio.

[jakkn]

The main purpose of yaml is version control. Afaik GFF diffs do not merge well so we still have to coordinate changes, but it's possible to edit things that makes sense. I often edit texts directly in the yaml.

[devpitOne]

I've completed an initial release for the Conversation Editor It's available at the Neverwinter Vault However due to the looser construction of NWN1 gffs, editing an existing conversation will cause the nodes to be re-organised. This is bad for the obvious reason that it will cause false flags for any source control programs. I'll look at this problem for the next release.

[jakkn]

Cool, have you considered hosting the code somewhere public like github?

[devpitOne]

Just put the latest version up on github.