NPC gossip and npc_text

Cataclysm 4.3.4 (build 15595) gossip: database-driven menus, dialog copy, Lua hooks, and wire packets aligned to WowPacketParser V4_3_4_15595 layouts.

Shipped — NPC gossip menus

When a player talks to a creature (CMSG_GOSSIP_HELLO):

1. Lua first — IGameScriptHost::FireGossipHello (gossip_hello). Scripts can call SendGossipMessage and set _gossipMenuSent.
2. Database fallback — if Lua did not send a menu, load creature_template.gossip_menu_id, filter options by npcflag, send SMSG_GOSSIP_MESSAGE.
3. Close — if nothing was sent, SMSG_GOSSIP_COMPLETE so the client does not hang.

CMSG_GOSSIP_SELECT_OPTION fires gossip_select in Lua, then supports chained menus via gossip_menu_option_action.ActionMenuId.

Opcodes

Direction	Opcode	Handler / builder
C→S	CMSG_GOSSIP_HELLO (0x4525)	WorldSession::HandleGossipHello
C→S	CMSG_GOSSIP_SELECT_OPTION (0x0216)	HandleGossipSelectOption
S→C	SMSG_GOSSIP_MESSAGE	gossip::BuildGossipMessage — full 64-bit NPC GUID
S→C	SMSG_GOSSIP_COMPLETE	gossip::BuildGossipComplete

Code map

Layer	Path
Model	domain/models/GossipMenu.h
Port	domain/repositories/IGossipRepository.h
Logic	application/logic/GossipLogic.h
MySQL	infrastructure/persistence/MySqlGossipRepository.*
Packets	infrastructure/network/sessions/worldsession/GossipPackets.h
Handlers	worldsession/WorldSessionClientHandlers.cpp

World SQL

Migration	Purpose
31_world_creature_template_gossip_menu_id.sql	creature_template.gossip_menu_id
32_world_gossip_tables.sql	DDL: gossip menu tables
35_world_gossip_data.sql	Data via python3 tools/sql/import_ref_gossip.py

Tests

• tests/unit/application/GossipLogicTests.cpp
• tests/unit/domain/GossipMenuTests.cpp
• tests/unit/infrastructure/GossipPacketTests.cpp

Shipped — npc_text (dialog copy)

Gossip menus reference a text id (gossip_menu.TextID). The client expects SMSG_NPC_TEXT_UPDATE with eight text slots (probability, two strings, language, three emotes each).

WorldSession::SendNpcTextForGossipWindow:

1. Load row via INpcTextRepository::TryGetById
2. On miss, use NpcText::MakeFallback(textId) (default Greetings $N)
3. Send gossip::BuildNpcTextUpdate(payload)

After SMSG_GOSSIP_MESSAGE, the server pushes npc text immediately when textId != 0 (15595 clients often skip CMSG_NPC_TEXT_QUERY).

Migration	Purpose
33_world_npc_text.sql	DDL: npc_text
34_world_npc_text_data.sql	Data: python3 tools/sql/import_ref_npc_text.py

Shipped — Quest lines in gossip

Migration	Purpose
36_world_quest_gossip_tables.sql	quest_template, creature_queststarter
38_world_quest_gossip_data.sql	python3 tools/sql/import_ref_quest_gossip.py
40_world_quest_gossip_allowable_masks.sql	Class/race mask backfill

Quest lines filtered by AllowableClasses / AllowableRaces. Overhead markers (! / ?) via CMSG_QUESTGIVER_STATUS_QUERY → SMSG_QUESTGIVER_STATUS.

Until per-character quest status exists, matching starters report as available (yellow !).

End-to-end flow

Client → CMSG_GOSSIP_HELLO
  → Lua (gossip_hello) OR GossipDB fallback → SMSG_GOSSIP_MESSAGE
  → NpcTextDB → SMSG_NPC_TEXT_UPDATE (when TextID ≠ 0)
Client → CMSG_GOSSIP_SELECT_OPTION → Lua + chained menu OR SMSG_GOSSIP_COMPLETE

Lua integration

Hooks documented in Lua Scripting. Scripts run before DB fallback on hello; must set gossip-sent flag when calling GossipSendMenu.

GM tooling

.npc search <fragment> — styled template matches in system chat for finding test NPCs.

Not yet implemented

• Quest accept/complete opcodes (CMSG_QUESTGIVER_ACCEPT_QUEST, etc.)
• BroadcastTextID* columns (stored but unused server-side)

Related

• Database — gossip tables
• GM Commands — .npc search
• Lua Scripting