[RELEASED] Dialogue System for Unity - easy conversations, quests, and more!

I'm a scrollwheel junkie, but both might be a good way to go

 

Personally, I prefer the mouse wheel.. But maybe you could also show the slider for those without one. Different options always a good thing.

 

Thanks for the input, @NioFox and @Shawn67! I'll make the mouse wheel zoom and, to keep the canvas uncluttered, instead of a slider I'll add a Zoom submenu to the existing menu button in the upper right. It'll have some common zoom choices from 10% to 200%.

 

Hello,
I'm using the Dialogue System in combination with Playmaker and Master Audio, so as you can imagine I'm not a brialliant programmer.
The plugin is just wonderful, actually a bit too overloaded for my needs, but it's ok, my own written typewrite system was a bit too much buggy.

I would like to fire MA audio events from the letters or words being typewritten and get a random sound from a Bus, and this for the different Actors speaking to the player, a bit like in Starfox.
But I don't get any connection between the settings I use to have in the Actors panel and the typewrite unity GUI effect, is there such a function? I am trying to get trough the documentation, and there is a lot of stuff I have still to understand.
On it Is it possible to change the typewrite speed by Actor? (I saw there are such symbols as \, \< \> to change the text speed, but I didn't found anything about changing it by number in the text, in my buggy script I used to write <p=0.1> and the pause between letters changed.

Sorry for the noobish questions, I am in production crunch and I have got dizzy by digging in the gigantic documentation.

Cheers

Pivetta

 

Something that has started happening on the newest version of dialogue system which was not happening on previous versions -- when building for xbox one I receive the following compile error which prevents unity from completing the build

"
Cross compilation job DialogueSystem.dll failed.
UnityEngine.UnityException: Failed AOT cross compiler: C:\Program Files\Unity-5\Editor\Data\PlaybackEngines\XboxOnePlayer/Tools\mono-xcompiler.exe --aot=full,asmonly,nodebug,print-skipped,outfile="DialogueSystem.dll.s" "DialogueSystem.dll" current dir : C:\Users\friken\Documents\StarDiver-Unity5\Temp/StagingArea/Data/Managed
result file exists: False. Timed out: False"

 

I thought I was on a new version but I was on 1.5.8. I installed 1.5.9 and all is well again w xbox one builds.

 

Hi @Pivetta - Are you using legacy Unity GUI or the newer Unity UI? I can provide you a custom version of the corresponding typewriter effect script that you can use to fire an MA audio event.

By the way, the RPGMaker-style commands (\. \, \^ \< and \>) are only implemented in the newer Unity UI typewriter effect, since this is the direction everyone's heading.

Hi @blaher - Glad it's working now. It might have been some junk from a previous failed build that upgrading to 1.5.9 cleared out. If you notice any other issues, just let me know!

 

@TonyLi Thanks for the fast response, I'm using the newer UI version! Is there any chanche to change the event fired event based on the actor? If it's not that easy nevermind, breakeavens are ok in the production status I am.

Thanks for the amazing tool, I hope I will master it as I like long and complex dialogues in games!

 

Since you're using PlayMaker, later today I'll post an example that uses PlayMaker. It will send an event to a PlayMaker FSM when an actor speaks a line. When the event occurs, the FSM can run actions such as adjusting the speed of the typewriter effect. I'll also include a version of the typewriter effect that has an On Character event. This will work like a UI Button's On Click event. You can assign a method to it, and that method will be called whenever the typewriter effect types a character.

 

Hey there Tony, was curious if it is possible to collapse groups in the quest log window similar to how you can collapse individual quests. Also I just want to say that your Dialogue system is very well done and its been perfect for our game!

 

Hi @Kelkith - Thanks! I'm glad the Dialogue System is working out well for your game.

I'll add the ability to collapse quest groups to the next release, and I'll try to get a patch out before then.

 

Oh wow I really appreciate that, thanks for the quick response

 

Hi @Kelkith - The Dialogue System Extras page contains updated support packages for Unity UI and NGUI. If you import the package and add a UI Button to your quest group template, you can collapse groups.

Hi @Pivetta - This package contains an example: PlayMaker_MasterAudio_Typewriter_Example_2016-02-17.unitypackage

The contents are:

• A scene in Dialogue System Examples/PlayMaker MasterAudio UnityUI Example.
• A small custom PlayMaker action in the same folder that gets the name of the current speaker.
• A customized version of Unity UI Typewriter Effect that has an On Character event. I haven't decided yet whether to include this event in the regular release version of the typewriter effect script.

The scene has two FSMs:

• On the NPC Subtitle Line, the typewriter effect uses the On Character event to send an event to an FSM on the same GameObject. This FSM plays a Master Audio sound. It assumes you've also imported Master Audio's PlayMaker support package.
• On the Dialogue Manager, the Dialogue System Events To PlayMaker component sends Dialogue System events to an FSM on the same GameObject. This FSM shows the current speaker name in a GUI label. I wasn't sure exactly what you wanted to do, but you should be able to use the same idea in your FSM.

 

Hi @TonyLi Thanks again for your amazing support and for incorporating my idea into the Dialogue System.

I just have a couple of questions today:
First, I can't seem to get to your support form on pixelcrushers.com. I can go to the page, but the form doesn't show up. Are you still using that?

Second, the LipSync asset updated to 0.61 and now the sequencer commands no longer work. Do you have an update for this or an idea of how I might be able to change the script to fix it?

 

Also, Delay() doesn't seem to be working for me when I have another command in the sequencer. I had it working in the same exact way in an earlier build of my project (probably before 1.5.9) then I switched to iOS which doesn't use the same sequences, but now I switched back to pc/mac and it seems to be skipping right over the delay. Though it seems to work when it is the only sequencer command in an empty node.

 

Hi @Mentalcase - Thanks for letting me know! The Wordpress form plugin went belly-up. The forms should work now.

I'll try to post an updated support package later today.

Can you please post an example sequence? Keep in mind that the Delay() command will start as soon as the sequence starts unless you use the "@time" syntax. For example, this sequence command runs for 3 seconds:

Code (csharp):

1. Camera(Closeup,,3);
2. Delay(2)

This is because the Camera and Delay commands both start at the zero second mark. The Camera command runs for 3 seconds, while the Delay command runs in parallel for 2 seconds.

If you want the Delay to start after the Camera command, change it to:

Code (csharp):

1. Camera(Closeup,,3);
2. Delay(2)@3

Or, if you want to get fancy:

Code (csharp):

1. Camera(Closeup,,3)->Message(CloseupDone);
2. Delay(2)@Message(CloseupDone)

 

This is my command:

Camera(Clues, HClueVid3, 0.5); Delay(38);

It seems to just pass through, but if I do Delay(38)@3; it will wait 3 seconds then move on. This is in the START node.

 

I'll check it out and get back to you as soon as I can.

 

Hi @Mentalcase - The LipSync support package doesn't require any code updates, but due to an internal change in LipSync asset files (unrelated to the Dialogue System) you need to open all of your LipSync asset files and re-save them in the editor. Otherwise LipSync won't be able to load them at runtime. I did that in the example scene and published an updated package on the Dialogue System Extras page. You can download it here, too: RogoLipSync_Support_2016-02-18.unitypackage

I can't reproduce the Delay() issue you described. Can you send a reproduction case to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com?

Is it possible that there's a typo in the "38" part of Delay(38) -- for example Delay(3B) instead? If you temporarily set the Dialogue Manager's Debug Level to Info, the Dialogue System will log sequencer commands to the Console view. For example, I tested this in the Feature Demo by changing Private Hart's START node sequence to:

Code (sequencer):

1. Camera(Closeup, listener, 0.5);
2. Delay(38)

The Console logged this:

Code (Console output):

1. Dialogue System: Sequencer.Play( Camera(Closeup, listener, 0.5)@0 )
2. Dialogue System: Sequencer.Play( Delay(38)@0 )

and delayed for 38 seconds.

 

@TonyLi THANKS! With I can do everything I need! You are awesome!

 

Hiya,

Few questions if I may:

- can I route the responses to translations?
- I'd like to do procedural conversations too, by this I mean randomly change parts, if possible... maybe it's just better to make lots of dialogue trees instead.

Looks like an interesting asset, thinking of picking it up

Thanks!

 

Hi @Pivetta - Happy to help! If you have any questions about the example, just let me know.

Hi @hippocoder - The Dialogue System has Localization support.

If you need to translate on the fly, you could add a script that has OnConversationLine and/or OnConversationResponseMenu methods. Send the content off to your translation service and assign the result back.

Please feel free to try out the Evaluation Version. It's possible to build conversation trees on the fly in code, but if you want to use the visual dialogue editor you need to build the conversation trees at design time. (Although you can also import from articy:draft or Chat Mapper XML at runtime.) Each node of the tree has access to a Lua scripting environment (which also easily interfaces with your C# code), so you have a lot of dynamic control over which nodes are available at any given time, and you can also make the text content dynamic using [var=varName] and [lua(code)] markup tags. You can also interrupt lines as they're playing if you want to implement flowing conversations like those seen in games such as Oxenfree.

 

@TonyLi Here is a log of one of the conversations I'm having trouble with the delay. The 4th and 5th entries are from a playmaker sequencer action. Everything else is from the first node

 

The first two lines are sending your sequencer commands to the Sequencer, which queues them to be played.

The last two lines show the commands as they're parsed and played.

I see that the last line is "Delay(0)". This leads me to suspect that the "23" in "Delay(23)" isn't parsing properly into a number. Is it possible there's a blank space or other strange character in there? Could you try retyping that command?

Does the problem occur in a new, empty project that only has the Dialogue System?

If that doesn't help, would it be possible for you to send a reproduction project to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com?

 

Updated Realistic FPS Prefab Support Package

Due to a change in the AI in RFPS 1.22, I had to update the way the Dialogue System pauses NPCs. Instead of the current instructions on the RFPS Support page, just add the new "Pause AI On Conversation" component in the updated support package available on the Dialogue System Extras page. This component also has general-purpose PauseAI() and UnpauseAI() methods that you can use for your own purposes, too.

 

Dialogue System for Unity 1.5.9 Patch 2016-02-20 Available

Patch 2016-02-20 is now available on the Pixel Crushers customer download site. (PM me your Asset Store invoice number if you'd like access.) The major additions in the patch are collapsible quest groups in quest log windows and the ability to zoom the node editor in and out.

Patch Notes:

• [2016-02-20] Dialogue Editor:
  • Added: Can now zoom node editor in/out.
  • Added: Cross-conversation links are now indicated by short red arrow.
• [2016-02-20] Fixed: SetContinueMode(true) now correctly shows re-enabled continue button.
• [2016-02-20] Unity UI, Unity GUI: Quest groups are now collapsible in quest log windows.
• [2016-02-20] NGUI: Quest groups are now collapsible in quest log windows. Added Wait for Continue Button option to bark UI.
• [2016-02-20] Realistic FPS Prefab: Added PauseAIOnConversation component to properly pause AI during conversations.
• [2016-02-20] Rogo LipSync: Updated for LipSync 0.61.
• [2016-02-14] Fixed cross-conversation link dropdown menu, which was showing incorrect options.
• [2016-02-14] Added import/export of dialogue entry canvas positions to/from Chat Mapper.
• [2016-02-14] Lua condition wizard Apply position now positions correctly when Inspector view is narrow.
• [2016-02-13] Fixed editor issue with conditions in trigger editors sometimes not using selected dialogue database.
• [2016-02-12] Unity UI scripts no longer force Time.timeScale=1 during show/hide animations. Quest log window properly populates when paused.
• [2016-02-12] Added Unity UI Ignore Pause Codes component; updated prefabs to use this for reminder lines and use Unscaled Time animation.
• [2016-02-08] Increased Dialogue Editor node canvas size 10x in each direction.
• [2016-02-08] Unity UI Typewriter Effect now only allows one copy on a GameObject.
• [2016-02-08] Added LocalizeUIText.UpdateFieldName().
• [2016-02-08] Localized Text Table editor can now specify encoding type (UTF8 or Unicode) to use when importing/exporting.
• [2016-02-08] Dialogue Manager banner image now shows even if the Dialogue System folder moved in the project.

 

I'm using a trackpad mostly, so an onscreen slider would be great regardless.

Edit: uh sorry, for some reason I only saw your request for feedback and not all the messages since then....

 

No worries; I ended up adding a slider after all. The Zoom submenu thing was awkward. So good call!

 

Hello , I have the " GameTemplate Dialogue System " menu after this scene "menu" , I have an introductory scene for not starting the game directly but when I load the level " Gameplay " after the introductory scene I was no longer the " menupause " . How do I keep the " menupause " ? ?

 

Here's an example that uses two scenes: MainMenu and IntroScene. When you click START in the MainMenu, it loads IntroScene. After 3 seconds, IntroScene loads the next scene (in this case RFPS's Obstacle Course Test) using a Sequence Trigger. Test_DS_RFPS_MenuTemplate.unitypackage

If it doesn't help, please feel free to send a reproduction case to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com.

 

@TonyLi - So I had been cut/copy and pasting the delays. I decided to just delete the whole command and manually type it back, and it worked. Haven't had any other problems, and thank you for helping me with my lipsync problem.

 

Hi @Mentalcase - Happy to help! Glad the delay commands are working now.

 

Hi,
Regarding local/couch co-op - is it possible to have dialogue options for two (or more) players present on screen in the same time, working parallel to each other? A schematic representation of the idea is on the picture.
Will it be possible without coding (or eventually using Playmaker)?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCFovJcrGff/

 

Hi @jeremiasz - Yes. Will they be separate conversations running in parallel? Or will the players be racing to select responses to the same conversation?

What are the input devices? This is actually the difficult part. Running multiple conversations in parallel is easy; just tick the Dialogue Manager's Allow Simultaneous Conversations checkbox. But you need to set up separate dialogue UIs that accept input from different input devices.

 

For now one shared keyboard will be more than enough. From what you are saying I presume that split screen solution is also viable?
I was thinking about the same conversation between two player characters and one or more NPCs. The course of conversation should dynamically change regarding of what dialogue options will be selected by particular player.
Of course multiple conversation are a must too

 

It's possible, but it will almost certainly require a little bit of scripting. Here's one approach:

1. Write your conversation with links to both players' responses. Add a custom field (e.g., PlayerNum) that specifies which player the response belongs to. For example:

• [NPC] "Hello!"
  • [PC1] "Hi, I'm Juan!" {PlayerNum=1}
  • [PC2] "Hi, I'm Tou!" {PlayerNum=2}

2. Create a custom dialogue UI with two response panels. In the ShowResponses method, check each response's PlayerNum field. If the value is 1, add the response to player 1's response panel. If the value is 2, add it to player 2's response panel.

3. As I mentioned before, player input is the hardest part. It's easier if you assign key triggers to each button. For example, player 1 selects responses by pressing Alpha1 - Alpha4, while player 2 select responses by pressing NumPad1 - NumPad4 (or gamepad buttons X,Y,A,B). In this case, just assign a UIButtonKeyTrigger to each button.

If you want the players to be able to navigate the selection up and down through their response menus, it's more complicated. You'll need to set up two EventSystems, one for each player. This blog post describes how to do it.

 

Tony, your help is invaluable. I am very impressed.
I was going to do it the easier way assigning key triggers to each button. I've already invested in Rewired asset

 

Happy to help! If any issues come up that I can assist with, just let me know. (And good choice -- Rewired is awesome.)

 

Hi, I noticed that the Continue button visibility has some bugs when it comes to the fastforward function, maybe it's me breaking it, but I don't get what is going on with it. I trigger it with my xbox controller (Fire1) and it appears and disappears not always in the same logic (depends on how fast you press and wich case you start)
What I understood by looking at it is that is being switched, instead of being enabled or disabled depending on a case. So actually if I press twice it may disappear and appear again in the wrong moment.
Sorry for me explaining it this badly, but I already told you I am not a coder (this could be something I could solve maybe, but I haven't the time for it).
To debug this is there any way to know something like "typewriter is typing" "typewriter has finished and is waiting for input", I could then build my own button that just appears when the sentence in the line is complete and disappears when the fire1 button is being pressed.

This is just a nice to have for me, I have already told my team, so it's actually fine as it is.
Cheers

Pivetta

 

Hi @Pivetta - If you'd like to send an example project to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com, I'd be happy to take a look. I may be able to suggest some changes to your configuration. I can also send you a version of the Unity UI Typewriter Effect that has events for On Begin, On Character, and On End. Let me know if you want that.

 

Updated Support Package for RPG Kit Coming Soon

The latest version of Unitycoding's RPG Kit made a small API change. I'll publish an updated support package later today. If you're in a pinch and need to fix it now, double-click the errors in the Console view. This will open the code editor. Add or replace UIWindow with UIWidget to resolve each of the three errors.

 

The updated support package for RPG Kit 3.1.3+ is now on the Dialogue System Extras page.

 

Are there any news about Quest Machine?

 

It's still in the works. The core has been finished for quite a while, but some UI stuff remains to be done. I just added you to the beta list for when it finally goes into beta. Frankly, I'm humbled by the popularity of the Dialogue System and all the projects that are using it. My deepest thanks to everyone who's supported it. My development time has been split between Quest Machine and implementing some great feature requests I've received for the Dialogue System. Version 1.6.0 of the Dialogue System is coming out this weekend, and then it's back to work on Quest Machine!

 

Dialogue System for Unity 1.6.0 Released!

Version 1.6.0 is now available on the Pixel Crushers customer download site! If you need access, please PM me your Asset Store invoice number. It should be available on the Asset Store in 5-7 business days.

The highlights of this release are:

• Dialogue Editor improvements -- zooming!
• Unity UI support improvements -- collapsible quest groups
• Updates to several third party support packages

Version 1.6.0
Core

• Added: ShowAlert() Lua function.
• Fixed: SetContinueMode(true) now correctly shows re-enabled continue button.
• Fixed: Cross-conversation link dropdown menu was showing incorrect options.
• Fixed: Lua condition wizard Apply position now positions correctly when Inspector view is narrow.
• Fixed: Conditions in trigger editors sometimes didn't use selected dialogue database.
• Fixed: Computation of {{end}} duration now correctly ignores rich text codes.
• Fixed: Dialogue Manager banner image now shows even if the Dialogue System folder moved in the project.
• Dialogue Editor:
  • Added: Can now zoom node editor in/out.
  • Added: Cross-conversation links are now indicated by short red arrow.
  • Added: Orphan nodes are now highlighted in red.
  • Improved: Increased Dialogue Editor node canvas size 10x in each direction.
  • Improved: Localized Text Table editor can now specify encoding type (UTF8 or Unicode) to use when importing/exporting.
  • Fixed: Editor lost current database selection when switching into playmode.
  • Fixed: Dropdown entry text misinterpreted slashes in rich text codes as submenu dividers.
• Unity UI:
  • Added: Unity UI & Unity GUI quest groups are now collapsible in quest log windows.
  • Added: Quest Tracker now has checkbox to show/hide container if empty.
  • Added: Unity UI Ignore Pause Codes component; updated prefabs to use this for reminder lines and use Unscaled Time animation.
  • Added: LocalizeUIText.UpdateFieldName().
  • Improved: Unity UI scripts no longer force Time.timeScale=1 during show/hide animations.
  • Improved: Unity UI Typewriter Effect now only allows one copy on a GameObject. Added OnBegin, OnCharacter, OnEnd events.
  • Fixed: Quest log window properly populates when paused.
  • Fixed: Canvas Animator Controller Show animation clip ensures Canvas gets re-enabled properly even after deactivating & reactivating GameObject.

Third Party Support

• articy:draft: Converter now logs Articy ID with conversion errors to make it easier to track down missing assets.
• Chat Mapper: Added import/export of dialogue entry canvas positions.
• Cinema Director: Added Show Alert event. Visible events now show stand-in message during preview. Updated example scene with Show Alert and Start Conversation events.
• NGUI: Quest groups are now collapsible in quest log windows. Added Wait for Continue Button option to bark UI.
• ORK: Added Get DS Variable and Set DS Variable event steps.
• Realistic FPS Prefab:
  • Added PauseAIOnConversation component to properly pause AI during conversations.
  • Added instructions on how to stop conversations if NPC gets hurt.
• Rogo LipSync: Updated for LipSync 0.61.
• RPG Kit: Updated for RPG Kit 3.1.3.
• S-Inventory: Updated S-Inventory Realistic FPS Prefab SInventoryWeaponPickup to call ActivateObject for MonsterItemTrap.

 

Updated S-Inventory Support Package Available

There was a minor API change in S-Inventory that prevents the S-Inventory Support package's Persistent Item Pickup from recording that items were picked up. You can download an updated S-Inventory Support package from the Dialogue System Extras page.

 

Hey Tony,

a quick question. For the LookAt() sequencer command, how do I escape the brackets for the transform names? (for example, for instantiated prefabs, which get the '(Clone)' suffix added by Unity).

Cheers!

 

Hi @barjed - Unfortunately that's currently a gap in the way sequencer commands are parsed. But it's something I can address this week and make a patch available.

 

That's not a problem, I've written a quick script that strips the "(Clone)" suffix and it works

 

Hi again TonyLi

I'm using TextMeshPro and I started converting the previous UI to the new one using TMP and I noticed that the response PC image is not a sprite Image it's a RAW image, is this the intended behavior? I managed to change it using the similar code from the PC subtitles but I wanted you to know about it, I'm also not sure If I changed it all correctly.

cheers