[RELEASED] Nottorus - Unlimited Visual programming plugin

Hi somosky. Should work fine with any C# or .dll assets.
I'm working on a Vive game and Nottorus seems fine finding all the additional addons so far.

 

So I bought this asset about a week ago. It took me a good 3 or 4 days to start getting a handle on it. Definitely was frustrating at times but I think that's more on me not knowing C# very well (I've exclusively used Playmaker up until a week ago) not Nottorus being difficult to work with.

I do have a few questions though if anyone could possibly help out. I've tried to do some research on these things before posting but haven't been able to figure them out by myself.

1: I can't seem to be able to figure out how to change UI Text through Nottorus. For example if I'm trying to do a scoring system and I was saving it to a Int how could I use that Int to update into my UI Text?

2. This one might be because I'm so used to State Machines and Playmaker but how could I use some sort of "Wait" function to make a script wait a certain ammount of time before it can be run again. For example if I have a Script set up to instantiate a ball on Fire1 but I only want the player to be able to instantiate a ball once and then have to wait 5 seconds before they can instantiate another one how would I go about doing that? I've found "Waitforseconds" but I'm not sure how to use it and if that's even what I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

 

I suppose you are using GUIText class, so: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66755699/ShareX/2017/01/ShareX_2017-01-05_22-31-14.jpg

There are a few ways to do that. You can use corotines, or check it in update: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66755699/ShareX/2017/01/Unity_2017-01-05_22-41-47.jpg

 

First of all thank you for responding. The wait function answered my question and I have a good understanding of it now.

I'm still having issues with the UI though. I'm creating a new Canvas and that creates a Text game object. On that game object is a Text (Script) component and on that is the text. Let's say I have 0 on there to start the game. I can't seem to figure out how to change that initial #. I'm not using GUIText just trying to change the text within the Text Script on my UI.

 

See the animated gifs below on how to access the UI in Nottorus.
You basically need to add the UnityEngine.UI assembly before you can access the Text class

Let me know if there's any questions.

 

I've been watching visual scripting tools for years, and this one looks harder than C# scripting. I would give it a try, but the $250 price tag stops me. Is there any kind of demo?

Is this going to be updated soon for the latest Unity versions? I'm using 5.5.0f3 and your current submission is up to 5.0.

 

Sorry it took me so long to say thank you MrMetwurst2. Worked like a charm. Once I check marked the Unity.UI I was able to do what I needed to do and everything worked great. Thanks again.

LarryWP I can't say whether there will be a demo or not obviously but I can speak on the value of Nottorus itself. Unity has been a hobby of mine for a few years and have made a handful of basic boring generic games mostly just for me and friends. I purchased Playmaker about 2 years ago and have pretty much mastered it at this point. There are quite a few drawbacks to using Playmaker though (although I'm not knocking it it's a wonderful asset) and you end up spending way too much time trying to fit a round peg in a square hole when you get to the more complex ideas. I've had Nottorus for almost 2 weeks now and I'm loving it. The first 3-4 days I wanted to throw my computer out of my window because it just wasn't making any sense to me. I blame that on two things. One I was so used to State Machines and Playmaker that I was just having a hard time figuring out a new way to do things and that's totally on me. No fault towards Nottorus at all. The second issue was the lack of tutorials for the asset itself. It's a pretty pricey asset and I think it would significantly enhance sales and the reputation of the asset to have 5 to 10 more basic tutorials to get newcomers up and running.

It's a fantastic asset though and I do highly recommend it. Once it clicks for you will love it. It's not going to hold your hand though because trust me if you aren't a master coder in C# you will be checking the Unity Docs a lot to get things working. But to me that's a good thing because it helps me learn the language which for me really is the end goal. Hope this helps.

 

I just became aware of this when it was featured on the Asset Store today. I'm strongly considering buying it. I see early in this thread that the plan became to price it at $200, but on the store it's $250. Will it become $200 anytime soon?

 

Somosky; Thank you for spending your time and sharing that with me. That's nice of you. I am not a master C# coder in Unity scripting. I too am a hobby programmer since a bad accident years ago disabled me. I write fun stuff and try and stay at it to keep my brain active. I have used many tools, including Gamemaker, Unreal4, AGK, Fusion, Marmalade, C++, cocos2d, GameSalad, MonkeyX, 001 Creator, and more, but Unity has the best of everything for me. I just don't always click with their scripting in it though, and I am always looking at the visual assets. I have Playmaker and do not like it at all. It seems to get too wrapped up in making things harder than they really are.

I have looked at Blox, Makinom, NodeCanvas, FlowCanvas, UScript, and ICode. However, Nottorus looks to be better and I am hoping so. I just don't have $250 to gamble with right now and was hoping for a demo. Plus I do wonder about when it will be upgraded to the latest versions of Unity.

 

Well you have tried way more engines than I have. I have stuck mainly with Unity for the past few years. It is a great hobby though and even sometimes when something isn't working the way it should or the way you think it should it's the most frustrating thing in the world when you finally get it working it's just such a great feeling. So keep up the good work.

Now on to Nottorus. I only have experience with Playmaker out of the other Visual Scripting Tools you mentioned and I can say pretty confidently there is very little in common between Nottorus and Playmaker. They both have nodes is really the only common ground they have. Playmaker both holds your hand and holds you down at the same time. Doing simple tasks is quicker (not necessarily easier but quicker) in Playmaker but a lot of things that have been added into Unity in the past few years (Mecanim, UI) aren't built in and need to be found on the Playmaker Ecosystem to download and install in your project to make work. Nottorus has everything you need already built in but you need to know what should be coded in even if you aren't 100% sure how to code it exactly. I'm using the latest build of Unity because I'm using Oculus and it's working fine so I hope that answers your question on that.

$250 is a lot of money so I wouldn't ever tell anyone what to do with their money. What I will say is that the publisher of this asset is very helpful and seems to be happy to help and there are also a couple of users of this asset that seem to check up on this forum that are very helpful as well. I think some sort of a Discord server, Reddit subreddit or maybe a Twitch channel or something would be a great way to start a community to help this asset grow more because I really do believe in it and at least for me it was worth the money. I'm using it to make games and since it creates C# scripts I'm using it to learn C# as well. So I justified the purchase as a tool to make games and learn while I go as opposed to watching tutorials on C# coding. Good luck with everything if you decide to invest in Nottorus.

 

Hi Larry. Ive had no issues yet with Nottorus and v5.4.0
Also be aware that Nottorus doesn't hold your hand if you're learning c#. If you know what you need it's great and you know if something doesn't connect you're doing something wrong generally. But it has complete freedom which it sounds like your problem with the others.

 

Complete freedom sounds good. Thanks for all the replies! I really want to try this but need to wait until I hear from the dev on my questions first.

Update 24 hrs later: Still nothing from the devs here? Not good....

Update 48 hrs later: Still no answer? For an asset this expensive, I expected an answer by now.

Update 72 hrs later: Still no answer. Moving on...

 

As I saw some questions is already answered, maybe I miss some questions, sorry.

>>Is this going to be updated soon for the latest Unity versions?
What for? Just for changing version number? It will not works faster.
For now it works from unity 5.0 up to v5.4.
It works even in 5.6.0b3 (I just test it)

There was a lot's of questions about demo, I think should write it in FAQ.
As I answered on the first page:

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thank you for your reply. It's always a comfort to know that a dev keeps tabs on things.
I own quite a few assets and many of them have needed to be updated. I did not know if this one needed it or not to work 100% with the latest version of Unity. Now that the dev told me this, my question has been answered. Thank you.

Too bad about the demo though.

 

Actually you have a bit of hidden advice there Larry...

... @Stridemann even if you don't need to update your asset, being aware that there's a new version of Unity and then subsequently 'updating' your asset to make it clear it supports the latest and greatest version of Unity helps to ensure both that the asset will work if they upgrade, and moreso that you're still around and active.

Too many times have we seen great assets fall by the wayside and the developer ghosting...

Cheers guys

-Steven

 

Is anyone else having issues with Debug.Drawray? I'm able to get the actual Raycast working fine but can't get Debug.Drawray working in my scene view using the same parameters as my Raycast. I think I have all the correct gizmos enabled but still no luck.

 

Check the length of dir vector, multiply it by ~10...
(I suppose in raycast you have separate parameter for length)

 

Website is down, and because this product uses DRM, that means I have a $250 tool that does nothing. I'm about two steps from asking for a refund.

Pretty infuriating. What use is the DRM anyway? Your pirates aren't going to ever buy it, so all your doing is pissing off your paying customers.

 

Website works fine for now, plugin also works. Any problems with this?

 

Would it be possible to use Nottorus in game? Like a visual scripting tool, players can use?

 

Sure, but after it is possible to play Unity in game.

 

There are other free node systems that work ingame. I have been using one and have been finding it very useful. It works in editor and ingame.

 

Which one do you mean?

 

Its a free one, I probably should not share on this thread

 

Hi Stridemann.

How do I make a class Serializable please? [Solved]

e.g.

Code (CSharp):

1.    [System.Serializable]
2.     public class AxleInfo {
3.         public WheelCollider leftWheel;
4.         public WheelCollider rightWheel;
5.         public bool motor;
6.         public bool steering;
7.     }

[EDIT]

It's OK. I found the Attribute "SerializableAttribute" which does the same thing.

[/EDIT]

 

I just received message from my site host:

Nottorus site under maintenance:
2017-01-25 06:00 UTC
to
2017-01-27 17:00 UTC

Nottorus site may be temporarily unavailable.

 

Change your host! 2 days is a long time. Do not you think nonsense that our development should depend on your site works or not?

 

That does not mean that site will be permanently down for 2 days. Nottorus connect to the site only once per day, and can work up to 2 days without connection.

 

Input from someone still waiting to purchase.

I've been watching this asset for 4 months+ and still have not purchased. Main reason is this asset is expensive. I'm sure you've done the math, but decreasing the price may increase sales. More then enough to offset the difference in price. When price goes down, more people are willing to purchase it and participate in the community.

other minor issues holding me back, lack of demo, lack of examples (per feedback in the forum).

Obviously i don't know what your sales volume is, i can only ballpark it by the number of reviews (which is a crapshoot). currently standing at 21 reviews (my guess is only 1/2 the people even bother reviewing things), so maybe 40-60 purchases (just guessing). while other virtual scripting tools have a ton more reviews (playmaker at 2700+), (node canvase 200+), etc.... Dropping the price under $150 would at least compete with the other tools on price (at least in the same ballpark). Then it's really around features, functionality, which of course your asset win hands down. Really it looks like a wonderful product.....
i have both playmaker and blox and this asset looks to really hands down beat them functionality wise. i'm not saying the tool isn't worth the money, but there are a lot of indie developers like myself that cant/wont part with $250 for 1 asset.

quick math
60 sales @ $250 = $15,000
150 Sales @ $150 = $22,500
playmaker @ $65 w/2700 (reviews) = 175k (probably more since that's only review numbers)*
*of course playmaker has been around a long time, so it's given that it has more reviews and sales.

as for DRM, server based DRM is awful. taking an outage which could leave your customers unable to use the tool for "potentially" days is unacceptable (especially at the current price). Have you looked at something different, maybe just a serial number based DRM, one that doesn't require a fulltime internet connection? You could do something like only give out serial numbers to those that have validated with a PO Number (which you could than be embedded in your core product for tracking, if it shows up on torrentz). might take a bit longer to get running initially, but wont need a internet tether. There are a number of options, without having to do server based.... internet validation.

if not, and your really stuck on this way of doing DRM, then you should look at aws or something similar where you have a significant less chance to take an outage. Maybe a pair of app/web servers behind a load balancer to ensure availability.

 

I'd add: more customers = more community. After entering DRM nascent community virtually ceased to exist. High price + DRM = fail.

 

Guys, I too constantly check in with hope this tool gets a reality check but it won't happen. Look at every similar post for the past few months - they get zero replies. This tool is specifically targetted to experienced coders, meaning they don't mind the price and don't need a community. Why would a coder need help when he/she can google for a C# example and simply convert to nodes?

If it ever goes half price, I'll buy with hopes for a community similar to blueprint. This is a hobby, and I want to participate with like-minded hobbyists. Given that the pound is weak against the dollar, this tool would cost me over £200 which I'm simply not going to part with. $250 converted in other countries could be a substantial monthly wage. No need for high sales.

I'm sticking with FlowCanvas. The dev there is committed to community, and is currently posting on his website that he'll pay someone to help produce video tutorials on both FlowCanvas (visual scripting) and NodeCanvas (Behavior Trees). They integrate together very nicely, and you can purchase both for half the price of this...

 

I had hoped that this tool is for all developers, not just wolves) It is better to learn how to program using the right tools.

 

@Rixly239 ya wasn't really expecting a response, as I've read all the forums also and noticed the dev doesn't respond to these messages, which is fine. Just want to voice my opinion....

 

What can I say..
In future the price will be reduced, and DRM will be removed. Everything has its time.
I can find the way to put nottorus on week discount (I planned it in January 2017).

 

i didn't mean anything bad by that btw, I've read the forum, i get it... your product does look great and i will continue to lurk... ;-)

 

Does that mean it will be discounted within the next few days?

 

Oops, misprint. I mean "I can't find the way to put nottorus on week discount".

Seems this is the only way: https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/s...-store-earn-70-each-sale-non-exclusive.78039/
but that link gives me a 404 error. As I read they going to fix it, but no changes since Dec 16, 2016

 

I have been using the Nottorus forums, and would encourage others who are seeking answers to do the same. It would be good for us to have answers there because searching through one 17 page forum post is not ideal.

http://nottorus.net/forum/index.php

I also want to put this in everyone's thoughts (I did it in the forums but not much happening there at the moment,) because I think it will elevate the tool to a phenomenal level (DRM issues aside.) Nottorus COULD be amazing, it's pretty close actually. It also could disappear because it if it doesn't nail the last few interface issues.

Right now Nottorus use is primarily one way. You can create a script using it, but once it leaves the Nottorus environment you are (mostly) stuck.

When opening a file in Nottorus that has been modified externally, the only option is to override your new work and go back to the Nottorus file.

In other words, if you want to modify a line of code via text, you are (mostly) stuck.

(Mostly, because you could actually create a new Nottorus file, and parse your script. This sucks though, as now all layout is gone, and sometimes Nottorus doesn't actually parse scripts that it created completely accurately. Hence, the BETA warning. And this is a huge work around when you could have just typed it all in and been done an hour ago.)

(The other work around is to create a new c# file, type the line, create a new file in Nottorus, parse the file, copy the new nodes, and paste them into the old one Nottorus file.)

Nottorus already does a pretty good job of parsing, but it's not always perfect (sometimes there are some disconnected nodes) but I really feel like it will handle single lines very well.

They could be parsed in a temporary group, so if you like what you see you connect them up, if not, delete.

This will also be a huge boon for learning how to use Nottorus, and take some of the burden off of the sad state of documentation. Now, if you don't know how to do something you just type it in and you can immediately see how to do it!

 

Parser is the most hardest thing that I made in Nottorus. It contains tons of undiscovered magic, sometimes I wonder what it works at all .
Nevertheless, I venture to implement it. (as I know nobody try to make it in other visual scripting tools before)
I even not expect such progress that it has today.
But it's close to impossible to implement parsing with checking existing nodes/partial parsing. Very high chance to break all what we have today.

 

I think what your looking for is the Asset Store Sales Application that can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfk2igksChzS0zSyu5xNCkX5q9R0BaYm6y3FZoRRpD3y-dSNg/viewform

 

The parser is magic, and your competitive advantage. It's the only reason I bought Nottorus. You should leverage it. It is what will finally make Visual Programming a thing. You are so close to breaking the old rule that text coding is better, that you should probably apply for patents. But close isn't good enough, we have to be able to blend text coding in or it won't fly.

Can you parse a single line? We could then hook the resulting nodes in ourselves.

Right now Nottorus can only be used up to a certain point because as soon as we want to type in any code, Nottorus can no longer (efficiently, without tons of work arounds) be used. This means we might as well stick with text, and is the age old reason that Visual Programming hasn't taken off.

You're close to breaking that rule. You could be that guy. Make your millions.

 

Hey Stridemann.

Unity 5.5.1.
When I hit Compile the Nottorus window disappears after the compile. It pops back up when you click in Unity but kind of annoying. Can you have a look please?

Cheers!

 

Hi, well, that happens because Nottorus is also additional code in the editor, not part of it, so, when you add new code into it, the editor automatically updates all the data (including Nottorus, speaking about reflection data), when that occurs, in this case the editor windows partially hides until all the new data it's included, I think there's a way to avoid that (in Node Canvas only shows a text saying wait to compiling or something like that).

 

All I know is it didn't disappear before v5.5.1 and now it does! Somethings changed in Unity. If he can't fix it it's no biggy. I just click in Unity and the Nottorus window comes back. But it's not the intended or original behavior.

 

I made few tests with that trouble and that is not a problem in Nottorus. That bug works for any undocked window in unity (even with Scene window) after compiling scripts and I can't do anything with that even trying to Focuse nottorus window.
I test it on Unity 5.5.0p4 and 5.5.1.

 

Hi so I've created a few different scripts with Nottorus where this has become a problem. I'll create a script that runs properly but I get the error message in the console that says

NullReferenceException : Object Reference not set to an instance of an object WeaponSnapToLocation.Update ()(at Assets/WeaponSnapToLocation.cs18)

The code for this script is

using UnityEngine;


public class WeaponSnapToLocation : UnityEngine.MonoBehaviour
{
public UnityEngine.GameObject RightParent = null;
public UnityEngine.GameObject WeaponRightSnapPoint = null;
public UnityEngine.GameObject LeftParent = null;
public UnityEngine.GameObject WeaponLeftSnapPoint = null;


void Start()
{
}
void Update()
{
var _TempVar_112_1 = gameObject.transform.parent.gameObject;
if ((_TempVar_112_1 == RightParent))
{
var _TempVar_140_2 = WeaponRightSnapPoint.transform;
transform.position = _TempVar_140_2.position;
transform.rotation = _TempVar_140_2.rotation;
}

if ((_TempVar_112_1 == LeftParent))
{
var _TempVar_141_3 = WeaponLeftSnapPoint.transform;
transform.position = _TempVar_141_3.position;
transform.rotation = _TempVar_141_3.rotation;
}

return;
}
}

Any help on how to fix this would be appreciated. I was originally not using the var_TempVar_112_1 to save the object before it compared the == the Right and Left Parent but after doing some research I thought that may solve the issue but it has not. Thanks.

 

Everything is ok with your code. Check that all the transforms is assigned in inspector and gameobject with your script has a parent.

 

I didn't even think to try it with another undocked window!
If that's the case I hope it gets fixed in a Unity update soon.
Thanks for checking it out

 

If I count correct it looks like your error is on Line 18 which is "if ((_TempVar_112_1 == RightParent))"
I would say maybe you forgot to assign RightParent a GameObject in the inspector?

 

This line cannot cause an error, unlike this:
var _TempVar_112_1 = gameObject.transform.parent.gameObject;