Morrowind Mod:MessageBox

MessageBox

                MessageBox, "Message", [Var1], [Var2, ...], ["button1"], ["button2"], ...

       Where:   Message      = String message to display
                Var1, 2, ... = Optional variables to insert into message
                Button1, ... = Optional button texts for displaying choices

        Type:   Misc

     Returns:   none

     Example:   

     Scripts:   

The MessageBox function has two main abilities, to display simple text messages to the player at the bottom of the screen and to display a list of choices to the player. To display a message use the function like the following:

                MessageBox, "This is a simple message"          ; Simple text message
                MessageBox, "GameHour = %.2f", GameHour            ; Display a float value with 2 decimal points
                MessageBox, "Long/Short = %G", 101         ; Display a short/long value, not %D as in the help file!
                MessageBox, "String = %S", "SomeString"            ; Display a string value, kinda useless, might not work

Use the optional variables to display numbers/strings in the message text. When displaying float values you must specify the number of decimals places to use. You can also use the %.0f format to display short/long variables. Although the help file only shows 1 or 2 optional variables, there can be more than 2.

To display a list of choices to the user, use the format:

                MessageBox, "Press ok to continue...", "Ok"             ; One choice
                MessageBox, "What is your answer?", "Yes", "No"         ; Two choices
                MessageBox, "Choose a number", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5"  ; Five choices

There are also a number of special strings which can be used within the MessageBox string. They all begin with the ^ and not the % character as written in the help file:

                ^PCName         The player's name.
                ^PCClass        The player's class.
                ^PCRace         The player's race.
                ^PCRank         The player's rank in the speaker's faction.
                ^NextPCRank     The player's next rank in the speaker's faction.
                ^Cell           The cell the player is currently in.
                ^Global         Any global variable value (ex: ^Day). Floats display with 1 decimal. 

To return the user's choice, use the GetButtonPressed function, for example:

begin TestMessageScript
        short MessageOn
        short Button

                        ; Display message when the player activates the object
        if ( OnActivate == 1 )
                set MessageOn to 1
        endif

                        ; Display the choices to the user
        if ( messageOn == 1 )
                MessageBox, "Do you wish to drink from the Bitter Cup or to pick it up?", "Drink", "Pick it up"
                Set messageOn to 2
        endif

        if ( messageOn == 2 )
                set Button to GetButtonPressed

                if ( Button == -1 )     ; Nothing
                        return;
                endif
                if ( Button == 0 )      ; drink it
                        Disable
                        player->ModStrength, 20
                        Set MessageOn to 0
                        return
                endif
                if ( Button == 1 )      ; pick it up
                        Activate
                        Set MessageOn to 0
                        return
                endif
        endif
end

Use a similar setup for asking the user other choices.

If you pop up a message box with an 'ok' button when a saved game is loaded immediately after running Morrowind, you won't have a mouse pointer to click on the 'ok' button to get rid of the message box. The game also keeps running while the message box is displayed; it doesn't pause as it normally does. You can right-click to get into Menu mode, and then you'll have a mouse pointer to clear the box with. This only happens the first time you load a save after running Morrowind; if you load a save from within the game, you do get a mouse pointer to click the 'ok' button with. So apparently it's some sort of initialization problem.

See Also: GetButtonPressed