Questions about importing from Arcweave

[mdz_grs]

Hi,

We're currently using Arcweave and importing the project into Dialogue System. On the import page, you can only specify the conversation actor and the conversation conversant. So what happens when you have a conversation with 3 or more actors?

Also, the documentation states that "The Arcweave importer does not yet import quests." But in the current menu, you can specify a board as a quest. So how exactly does that work? Since there is zero documentation for that.

Lastly, the note about "Pipe characters (|) will split elements into multiple dialogue entry nodes." is not entirely clear. How actually do you use it and when in what context should I be using it?

[Tony Li]

Hi,

We're currently using Arcweave and importing the project into Dialogue System. On the import page, you can only specify the conversation actor and the conversation conversant. So what happens when you have a conversation with 3 or more actors?

They'll be imported correctly. You can specify an element's actor by setting its title to Speaker:actor. If you don't specify an actor, the element will be assigned to the conversant you selected in the dropdown, and text on connection arrows will be assigned to the conversation actor.

Also, the documentation states that "The Arcweave importer does not yet import quests." But in the current menu, you can specify a board as a quest. So how exactly does that work? Since there is zero documentation for that.

You can specify a board as a quest, but the importer does absolutely nothing with it at the moment. However, you can define your quests in a separate database using the Dialogue Editor right inside Unity and then either use multiple databases (see Working With Multiple Databases) or sync the quest database's quests into your Arcweave-imported database and just use the Arcweave-imported database, which is easier.

Lastly, the note about "Pipe characters (|) will split elements into multiple dialogue entry nodes." is not entirely clear. How actually do you use it and when in what context should I be using it?

If you have a single element with a lot of text, you can tell the importer to import it as multiple dialogue entry nodes instead of one huge node. The splits will happen where you include pipe characters in the text.

[mdz_grs]

Thanks that was a huge help.

Just a few more questions. Is it necessary to create a "Narrator" NPC and assign it to each arcweave element or should that element be left without any actor component assigned? For reference the narrator doesn't really have a name nor does it have any character portrait...

Also in the import window, there seems to be a property to specify the starting element for a conversation. But what happens if the 1st node branches from an if-else block. I know this is possible to set up in the dialogue editor but can you do this when importing from arcweave

[Tony Li]

Just a few more questions. Is it necessary to create a "Narrator" NPC and assign it to each arcweave element or should that element be left without any actor component assigned? For reference the narrator doesn't really have a name nor does it have any character portrait...

You can define a "Narrator" NPC but leave the elements unassigned. In the import window, set the Conversant to the Narrator. All elements with unassigned speakers will be assigned to the Narrator.

Also in the import window, there seems to be a property to specify the starting element for a conversation. But what happens if the 1st node branches from an if-else block. I know this is possible to set up in the dialogue editor but can you do this when importing from arcweave

No; you may need to create an empty element to use as the starting element. Include "[SEQUENCE: Continue()]" (without quotes) in the empty element to make it a "pass-through" node.