[SOLVED] Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

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bset
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Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2019 4:37 pm

[SOLVED] Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by bset »

I'm trying to use the Standard UI with TextMesh Pro to have a dialogue sequence occur between two NPCs. All actors speak in the same area RPG style with portraits switching with each new actor. In the ultimate end state, I would like to have an arbitrary number of NPCs speaking in this traditional JRPG style to create cutscenes.

When I initially created the scene I had 3 lines of dialogue and all worked well. Since then I have only ever been able to display 3 dialogue items. I've tried a modified version of the original conversation, copying it to a new one to try it, and re-making a longer conversation from scratch. I also tried re-indexing with IDs in the event there was an ID problem. Inevitably I only ever get 3 lines of dialogue with varying behavior of how it plays depending on how I set actors and conversants on individual nodes.

I've attached what I hope is relevant data. I seem to remember this happening once before and I had to re-create the scene to get all dialogue items to play. Any help here would be really appreciated. Thanks much!
Attachments
Sample Screenshot - Final dialogue before conversation end.png
Sample Screenshot - Final dialogue before conversation end.png (139.27 KiB) Viewed 377 times
Log for dialogue sequence.png
Log for dialogue sequence.png (97.52 KiB) Viewed 377 times
Intended dialogue sequence.png
Intended dialogue sequence.png (12.9 KiB) Viewed 383 times
Last edited by bset on Wed Jul 03, 2019 11:29 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Tony Li
Posts: 22055
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by Tony Li »

Hi,

Make sure that you're playing the correct conversation. It's possible that your Dialogue System Trigger (or however you're starting the conversation) is starting your old, 3-node conversation. Also, check the internal ID numbers of the conversations and the nodes. If you somehow changed these ID numbers, the links could be going to the wrong places.

Then inspect your conversation, right-click and select Auto Arrange > Vertical. If there are any weird links, this may help show them.

Then check the node that the conversation stops at. Is there anything in the Conditions field?

Keep the Dialogue Editor window open on the conversation while playing in the editor. It should look something like this:

runtimeConv.png
runtimeConv.png (9.95 KiB) Viewed 379 times

The green node is the one currently being displayed. Notice the green arrow leading to the next node. This indicates that the Conditions to the next node are blank or evaluate to true.

You can also set the Dialogue Manager's Other Settings > Debug Level to Info. This will log a lot of info to the Console window.

When it checks the Conditions for a node, you'll either see this:

Dialogue System: Add Link (NPC): ID=17:1 'They call me Text Box...' (True)

or this:

Dialogue System: Block on False Link (NPC): ID=17:4 'Test1' Condition='(some condition)'
bset
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2019 4:37 pm

Re: Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by bset »

I noticed a couple of my screenshots didn't make it into the first post, including info log data. I've attached them now. You can see the odd system behavior there. It appears to be playing multiple lines at once in rapid succession.

I kept the dialogue conversation window open this time and stepped through. You can see the conversation sequence from the attached files. The conversation ends after it gets to the "Test 1" node.

I didn't see any obvious issues with IDs. The conversation is triggered with a DialogueSystemTrigger using the OnStart event. I didn't see a great way to check the IDs in the editor, but I did try re-assigning them. Since the debug view of the dialogue tree is working, I would assume the IDs are correct.

Thanks again for the help!
Attachments
Third displayed dialogue.png
Third displayed dialogue.png (230.53 KiB) Viewed 376 times
Second displayed dialogue.png
Second displayed dialogue.png (212.88 KiB) Viewed 376 times
First displayed dialogue.png
First displayed dialogue.png (230.01 KiB) Viewed 376 times
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Tony Li
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Re: Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by Tony Li »

Can you send a copy of your dialogue database to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com?
bset
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2019 4:37 pm

Re: Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by bset »

Should be sent your way under the same title as the thread.
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Tony Li
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Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by Tony Li »

Thanks! I sent you an email reply. Something unusual is definitely going on in your scene/project that's preventing sequences from playing for nodes after Test1.
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Tony Li
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Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by Tony Li »

Set up the continue button's OnClick() event to call the dialogue UI's OnClick() event:

configureContinueButton.png
configureContinueButton.png (20.22 KiB) Viewed 369 times

This works around a bug in the way subtitle panels automatically set up the OnClick() event if it's not set up at design time. I'll fix the bug in the next update.

If you end up using a typewriter effect, add a StandardUIContinueButttonFastForward component to the button and configure OnClick() to call its OnFastForward() instead.
bset
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2019 4:37 pm

Re: Dialogue Ending Early / Difficulty with Dialogue Between NPCs

Post by bset »

Workaround fixes it! Thanks for the help!
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