Few Questions Before I Buy

[Mackerel_Sky]

Hi there,

I'm considering upgrading to Dialogue System as my previous dialogue manager system wasn't really integrating well as my project developed. Before I make the plunge I want to ask a few questions to make sure it's the right purchase for my purposes. (This is my first project so maybe these will be a little basic ;_;)

1- How does Dialogue System handle loading new scenes/reloading old areas? Do we have to take any special precautions to ensure that scene-specific NPCs or the overall handler don't break?

2- Does Dialogue System support keyboard navigation for its dialogue menus? From the material I've seen it seems to use mouse control only.

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

[Tony Li]

Hi,

Thanks for your interest in the Dialogue System!

1- How does Dialogue System handle loading new scenes/reloading old areas? Do we have to take any special precautions to ensure that scene-specific NPCs or the overall handler don't break?

Generally you don't need to do anything special. The Dialogue System's state is maintained on a GameObject named "Dialogue Manager" that by default survives scene changes. (If the new scene also has a Dialogue Manager, the one from the original scene can take precedence and get rid of the duplicate.)

The Dialogue System does have an optional save system, however. If you want to take advantage of the save system, it's recommended that you change scenes by using SaveSystem.LoadScene() in code, or the equivalent visual scripting action (the Dialogue System supports all the major visual scripting systems), or using a utility component such as ScenePortal. This allows you to save additional information, such as NPC positions, so when the player returns to the original scene the NPCs' positions will be restored.

2- Does Dialogue System support keyboard navigation for its dialogue menus?

Yes. It supports keyboard, joystick, touch, mouse, and VR input. Since the UI part is modular, you can even replace all that with other input/output methods such as text-to-speech and voice recognition if you want to do something similar to an Alexa app, and the rest of the Dialogue System will work happily with it.

Please feel free to try out the evaluation version first if you're unsure about the purchase.

• Evaluation Version
• Manual

[Mackerel_Sky]

Thanks for the prompt reply! I'll check out the evaluation version and see if I can get it to work with what I have in mind. Is there any functionality missing or other differences between that version and the full version?

[Tony Li]

The only differences are that the evaluation version has a watermark, and it doesn't include source code or TextMesh Pro integration. Switching to TextMesh Pro in the paid version is a simple matter of ticking a checkbox and then assigning your TextMesh Pro UI elements in place of Unity UI Text elements. Any content you create in the evaluation version is 100% compatible with the paid version.

The best introduction to the Dialogue System are the Tutorials.

If you have any questions about setting up your project with the Dialogue System, just let me know.

[Mackerel_Sky]

Hi again,

I've been playing around with the program and for some reason have ended up with two errors that say:

Code: Select all

Assertion failed on expression: 'm_CurrentHiddenGameObjects->find(gameObject.GetInstanceID()) == m_CurrentHiddenGameObjects->end()'
UnityEngine.Object:DontDestroyOnLoad(Object)
PixelCrushers.DialogueSystem.DialogueSystemController:Awake()

and

Code: Select all

Assertion failed on expression: 'm_CurrentHiddenGameObjects->find(gameObject.GetInstanceID()) == m_CurrentHiddenGameObjects->end()'
UnityEngine.Transform:SetParent(Transform)
PixelCrushers.DialogueSystem.DialogueSystemController:LateUpdate()

I'm not sure what they are but I think they might be generating problems I'm having in porting my previous shopkeeper functionality over to Dialogue System. Do you know what these items might be caused by? I've tried to follow the error to the best of my abilities but am rather stumped.

[Tony Li]

Hi,

Does your scene have a Dialogue Manager? This is a GameObject with a DialogueSystemController script on it (among other scripts).

Does the included DemoScene1 work correctly?

Do the basic tutorials work correctly, such as Quick Start?

[Mackerel_Sky]

Hey Tony,

I'm overseas at the moment and I'm not sure when I can get access to the project. I'll test the DemoScene when I'm able to, but there is a dialogue manager with many other scripts attached and to the best of my memory, I was able to get the quick start tutorial to work. (I didn't test demo scene when I started the plugin).

[Tony Li]

Okay. When you get a chance to check your scene, please let me know how I can help, and also what version of Unity you're using.

The errors suggest that something external to the Dialogue System is causing a problem with the Dialogue Manager GameObject.

[Mackerel_Sky]

I'm back!

I tested the demo scene and it seems to work fine. I am using Unity 2019.2.9f1 but I usually keep up to date on stable releases.

I'm not sure where to begin fixing the issue, for now I will try generating a new scene and gradually adding in gameobjects to see if I can isolate the issue.

[Tony Li]

Sounds good!

The Dialogue System is tested on Unity versions 2017.4 - 2020.alpha, although only release versions can officially be supported since beta and alpha versions of Unity are subject to API changes, and on just about every platform - Windows. Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Xbox, PS4, Switch, etc.

If you reproduce the issue and can't find the cause (it's probably a different, misbehaving asset or script), please feel free to send a reproduction project to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com. The best way is to zip up the Assets, ProjectSettings, and Packages folders. The other folders aren't necessary.