[Articy : Draft 3] Steps to do before importing into Unity

[Olafs Osh]

Hey!

So, I have made couple dialogue branches for two NPC's. Level is already ready in Unity and now it's time to get those words and sentences into it. What are the steps to do for the best result? Considering, that I only have Hero, two NPC's and a Narrator. Two dialogue branches with couple booleans in them and, so far, that's it.

Anything to double-check in Articy? Best way to import? /I understood, that it's better, that I don't touch Articy Exporter at all...

[Tony Li]

Hi,

So, I have made couple dialogue branches for two NPC's. Level is already ready in Unity and now it's time to get those words and sentences into it. What are the steps to do for the best result? Considering, that I only have Hero, two NPC's and a Narrator. Two dialogue branches with couple booleans in them and, so far, that's it.

Here are some things to check:

• Assuming the Hero entity represents the player, add a Boolean property named IsPlayer, and set it true.
• Assign two entities to the Dialogue. The first is typically the Hero, and the second is the the entity that the Hero is primarily addressing.
• Assign a character entity to each Dialogue Fragment.

(more info)

The first time you select Tools → Pixel Crushers → Dialogue System → Import → articy:draft, the Dialogue System will enable articy support. Once Unity recompiles with articy support, select the menu item again to open the importer window.

After importing in Unity, open the dialogue database in the Dialogue Editor and skim the Actors, Variables, and Conversations sections to make sure they look similar to what you created in articy.

To quickly test it in your scene:

• Add a Dialogue Manager. You can add the prefab from Plugins / Pixel Crushers / Dialogue System / Prefabs.
• Assign the dialogue database to the Dialogue Manager.
• Add an empty GameObject to the scene.
  • Add a Dialogue System Trigger.
  • Set its Trigger dropdown to OnStart.
  • Select Add Action > Start Conversation. Select an articy conversation. Assign the GameObjects that correspond to the entities in the conversation.
• Play. It should start the conversation immediately. There is much more that you can do in the Dialogue System, but this is a quick way to run an initial test.

I understood, that it's better, that I don't touch Articy Exporter at all...

That's correct. Unless you absolutely need Nevigo's articy plugin for something else, I recommend that you do not import it into your project. Every time you enter or exit playmode, or make a change to a script, it does some processing that slows down Unity.

[Olafs Osh]

About this one:

Assuming the Hero entity represents the player, add a Boolean property named IsPlayer, and set it true.

Is this the right way to do it?

[Tony Li]

Yes, almost perfect. Change the Technical Name from "isPlayer" to "IsPlayer". (Capitalize the first letter.) It's case-sensitive.

[Olafs Osh]

Allrighty!

But already stuck. The importer asks for .xml file, but all I have is .aph one. Thus, I get an error :/

[Tony Li]

Export your project to XML:

articyExportXML.png (24.95 KiB) Viewed 1453 times

This will open articy's export window. Make sure to select XML export.

[Olafs Osh]

Hey! Next stupid question.

I am clicking on that "bar" to choose conversation but nothing happens :[
/dialogues seem to be in..

[Tony Li]

Is the correct dialogue database asset assigned to the Dialogue System Trigger's Reference Database field?

Normally the Dialogue System Trigger will auto-assign whatever database is assigned to the Dialogue Manager. But if the Dialogue Manager was previously assigned a different database, it's possible that the Dialogue System Trigger still has a reference to that old database. To fix it, just assign your newly-imported database to the Reference Database field.

Make sure it's also assigned to the Dialogue Manager's Initial Database field.

Finally, open the database in the Dialogue Editor window. You can double-click on the database asset, or click the Dialogue Manager's banner (the blue speech bubble) to open the window. On the Conversations tab, verify that the conversations are present.

[Olafs Osh]

Make sure it's also assigned to the Dialogue Manager's Initial Database field.

AHHHA! This wasn't done. And I actually had different database from the yesterday, when I just installed the System into Unity.

I have problem with this, though:

Finally, open the database in the Dialogue Editor window. You can double-click on the database asset, or click the Dialogue Manager's banner (the blue speech bubble) to open the window. On the Conversations tab, verify that the conversations are present.

Everything is there - actors, variables. But Conversation tab is empty :/

[Tony Li]

After you click the Import button, what's reported in the Console window?

It should look something like this:

Dialogue System: Created database 'Your Project' containing 3 actors, 2 conversations, 0 items/quests, 5 variables, and 0 locations.

What are the names of your Dialogues in articy?