I can't seem to get my npc's to talk!!! Somebody help!!!!

okay, so I make my dialogue...give it a five digit prefix, do everything that it says to do, but when I go to click the dialoge button under the npc edit and type in the prefix i put on both the .scr and the .dlg , it says "cannot locate script values, setting to zero" then when I try to talk to the npc in my game, they either don't say anything (not even the pre-programmed general responses like hi and such), or it runs a dialogue from the arcanum game...I don't get it, hell, i've changed the number a thousand times...still nothing, waht am I screwin' up?

 

I had a similar problem...err...okay the exact same problem. First I made double sure that I had the files created correctly so to make sure I used dialog files from "dungeon crawl" tutorial as a basis and of course the script file only needs two lines:
0.dialog1
1.return and SKIP default

my dialog was as simple as:
{1}{Hello there, stranger....how can I help you?}{Hi.}{}{}{}{}
{2}{A drink please.}{}{1}{}{6}{}
{3}{Where am I?}{}{1}{}{9}{}
{4}{Who are you?}{}{1}{}{12}{}
{5}{E:}{}{1}{}{0}{}
{6}{Sorry I've run out of everything.}{Sorry miss}{}{}{}{}
{7}{No way! Can I ask you something else?}{}{1}{}{15}{}
{8}{E:}{}{1}{}{0}{}
{9}{You have found the Inn.}{Look lady leave me alone!}{}{}{}{}
{10}{Ah that explains everything.}{}{1}{}{0}{}
{11}{E:}{}{1}{}{0}{}
{12}{I am just a simple bartender.}{Look bitch I don't want to talk to you!}{}{}{}{}
{13}{Ah...okay.....}{}{1}{}{0}{}
{14}{E:}{}{1}{}{0}{}
{15}{Please do...}{No, please go away.}{}{}{}{}
{16}{Where am I?}{}{1}{}{9}{}
{17}{E:}{}{1}{}{0}{}

After affiming these steps are good. I then named my files 00001keeper.dlg and 00001keeper.scr. The two files should also be placed in the dlg and scr folders respectively in the mod you're using them in.

Lastly, when editing my NPC I selected dialog and then entered only the number 1. Not 00001, just 1. I then saved, compressed the mod, and played it and to my surprise it worked. Believe me I went through several numbers and several file names to try for success. Once the files and the names and numbers are all lined up this combo should work whether you have compressed the module or not.
You oughta try this out on a test NPC in a test map. Use my script and my dialog and the same file names and see if it works. Just copy and paste the dialog so that there's no chance for error. If it does not work then there is something else occuring. But if it does try to mold your dialog the same way and see if it makes it work.

Good luck and don't give up!!