Author one spoken line

Turn the First Contact start scene’s Start-to-End shell into one community-acquired spoken line with one named exit in WolvenKit.

Procedure boundary

Clean-save requirement: authoring and structural checks can use any disposable project copy, but runtime acceptance establishes two untouched manual originals that have never loaded any CQA Lab 1–5 candidate. Case 1 creates the exact pre-scene, post-contact, and completed manual seeds; later cases use closed-game full-slot clones. Labs 3 and 4 share the Lab 5 site. Active quest nodes, checkpoints, journal state, facts, community state, scene state, triggers, and streamed-world state can survive archive removal or replacement. A save made after any tutorial checkpoint or failed probe is not an eligible original.

Work in a copy of the Lab 5 start project. Keep the completed checkpoint beside it as executable reference material, but enter and inspect every supplied node and property rather than treating it as a magic template.

1. Audit the inert start scene

Open mod\cqa\cqa005\scenes\cqa005_first_contact.scene in WolvenKit. Before adding dialogue, verify this exact shell:

The start root and child must not invoke the scene shell. Otherwise the meeting can complete through Start-to-End without playing the line.

2. Add the screenplay item

Under screenplayStore.lines, add one scnscreenplayDialogLine with:

Do not paste All clear. Keep moving. into the scene. The RUID owns the join; the English text lives in the external subtitle-entry resource.

3. Replace the direct edge with a timed section

Keep Start ID 1 and End ID 3. Add Section ID 2, containing:

• actor 0 behavior OnlyIfAlive;
• actor 1 behavior OnlyIfAlive;
• one handled scnDialogLineEvent at startTime: 0;
• screenplayLineId: scnscreenplayItemId(1);
• unsigned event ID 8646165628675208917;
• event duration 2598 ms;
• sectionDuration: scnSceneTime(stu = 2998);
• normal output stamp 0/0 to End 3 input 0/0;
• cancel output stamp 1/0 with no destination.

The section is 400 ms longer than the line in this fixture. Preserve that explicit tail; do not let End become reachable at 2598 ms.

4. Add the parallel PuppetAI branch

Add scene node 4 as an scnQuestNode wrapping a questPuppetAIManagerNodeDefinition. Give the inner node CutDestination, In, and Out sockets, map them through the wrapper, target the contact entry, and set aiTier: Cinematic.

Rebuild Start 1 as one output socket stamped 0/0 with two destinations:

destination Section 2: input stamp name 0 / ordinal 0
destination PuppetAI 4: input stamp name 0 / ordinal 1

The PuppetAI wrapper retains one output stamped 0/0 with no destination. It is fire-and-forget. Do not connect it to End and do not add a join. Keep startNodes[1], endNodes[3], entry start -> 1, and exit contact_done -> 3 unchanged.

5. Verify actor and resource joins

Confirm actor 0 still selects community acquisition from #cqa005_com_contact, entry contact, while actor 1 still selects findInContext with Character.Player_Puppet_Base. Confirm performer IDs remain 1 and 257.

Both actors must reference lipsync slot 0, and slot 0 must remain backed by:

base\animations\facial\generic\interactive_scene\
generic_facial_lipsync_gestures.anims

The native collection property is resouresReferences. Do not add a duplicate row merely because two actors share it, and do not change V to slot 1 while the array still contains one row.

6. Complete the external localization and audio path

Use the same unsigned RUID in all three joins:

scene line: scnlocLocstringId.ruid = 9638591835734011695
  |
  +-> registered subtitle map
  |     -> cqa005_subtitles.json
  |     -> localizationPersistenceSubtitleEntry.stringId
  |     -> "All clear. Keep moving."
  |
  +-> registered VO map
        -> locVoLineEntry.stringId
        -> femaleResPath / maleResPath
        -> contact_i_85c3283507e7ef2f.wem

The subtitle branch needs two resources: a localizationPersistenceSubtitleMap registered under localization.subtitles.en-us, and the localizationPersistenceSubtitleEntries resource referenced by that map. The VO branch needs a locVoiceoverMap registered under localization.vomaps.en-us; both gender paths point to the supplied WEM in this focused fixture.

The supplied WAV and WEM are synthetic lab assets. Keep their license with redistributed copies. Audio conversion is covered in External VO, WEM, and lipsync.

For the full field-level localization chain, see Localization paths.

7. Connect the questphase only in the completed project

In the completed child phase, reach the scene only after community activation, CharacterSpawned, and broad setup. The questSceneNodeDefinition must use:

• soft scene path mod\cqa\cqa005\scenes\cqa005_first_contact.scene;
• scnWorldMarker NodeRef #cqa005_sm_contact;
• input start;
• output contact_done;
• unconnected CutDestination, Default INT, and Default RET routes;
• interruptionOperations: [];
• notAllowedToBeFrozen: 0;
• reapplyInterruptionOperationsAfterGameLoad: 0;
• syncToMusic: 0.

There is no end output. Connect contact_done to the quest’s success and post-scene flow. Keep the start root and start child unable to reach the scene.

8. Round-trip and inspect

Use WolvenKit 8.19.0 to convert/serialize the edited resource, deserialize it again, and compare the focused contract:

1. root type, v5/platform/category, typed empty containers, and exact native property names;
2. actor acquisition and performer-symbol joins;
3. lipsync reference array length and every slot index;
4. screenplay item 1, event-to-item join, distinct unsigned event/RUID values, and 2598/2998 timing;
5. graph IDs, all five output-socket states, all three connected edges, and both destination input stamps;
6. startNodes[1], endNodes[3], and the named entry/exit;
7. questphase socket names/types, soft depot path, and marker NodeRef;
8. subtitle map-to-entries path, VO map-to-WEM paths, and exact matching RUIDs.

Then pack the normal WolvenKit project and inspect ArchiveXL and game logs for missing paths or localization merge errors. A clean round trip and successful pack are Structurally validated evidence only.

9. Runtime acceptance

From the pre-install manual save, verify in one recorded run:

1. the community activates and the contact becomes ready before scene launch;
2. normal approach does not crash or race actor acquisition;
3. the contact says All clear. Keep moving. once;
4. the subtitle appears and the synthetic WEM plays;
5. the scene reaches contact_done, not a nonexistent end route;
6. the post-scene objective/pin handoff occurs once;
7. leaving the cleanup area deactivates the contact, after which the child returns and the root writes its terminal fact;
8. the named pre-scene seed loads in Cases 3/4/7 and the post-contact_done and completed save/reload cases behave as recorded in the Lab 5 matrix.

The supplied Lab 5 cases cover the ordinary cqa005 route. Facial and animation quality, active-line interruption or CutDestination behavior, arbitrary/unlisted pre-scene active-child states, and active-line/interruption reload remain Experimental independently of that marker.

Common mismatches

Previous: Entry, exit, and quest handoff. Next: Cleanup and save state.