Trying to use the Standard VN template and having questions

[simplepleasuresdxy]

Hi there,

Just was wondering how I could move the portraits of the characters around between dialogues or even change the size, shape, or color of the portraits.

Additionally, how do I have more than one non-player sprites in the scene or is that something that I have to completely make from scratch?

[Tony Li]

Hi,

Yes, you can have more than one NPC sprite and move characters between dialogues by changing which subtitle panels they use. See the "DS_VNFocusStyleDialogueUI" example (direct download) on the Dialogue System Extras page.

To change the size, shape, or color, you could use animated portraits. See part 3 of the Dialogue UI Tutorials.

[simplepleasuresdxy]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for sending this stuff and the download for this as well. It really helped.

One question additional question for this, is there anyway to hide the name of a narrator type character? Or do I just create a panel and set the narrator to that panel with the name given zero opacity?

Also, when I tried to go back to a narrator character, the character's sprite the player was originally talking to just disappeared from the panel 0. Am I missing something?

[Tony Li]

One question additional question for this, is there anyway to hide the name of a narrator type character? Or do I just create a panel and set the narrator to that panel with the name given zero opacity?

Yes. Create a subtitle panel for the narrator. You can duplicate one of the existing panels. Then delete the Portrait Name from that subtitle panel. Finally, add your new panel to the dialogue UI's Standard Dialogue UI component > Conversation UI Elements > Subtitle Panels. In the screenshot below, my narrator panel is panel number 3:

vnWithNarrator.png (79.39 KiB) Viewed 721 times

Create a GameObject for your Narrator actor. You can add a Narrator actor as a child of your Dialogue Manager GameObject. Add a Dialogue Actor component, set Actor to Narrator, and set Dialogue UI Settings > Subtitle Panel Number to your new panel's number:

narratorDialogueActor.png (56.29 KiB) Viewed 721 times

Also, when I tried to go back to a narrator character, the character's sprite the player was originally talking to just disappeared from the panel 0. Am I missing something?

The changes above may address that. If not, examine the Standard UI Subtitle Panel components on your subtitle panels. The Visibility dropdown tells the panel when it should be visible and when it should disappear.

• Only During Content: The panel (portrait and text) is only visible while a character is displaying a subtitle on it. As soon as the subtitle is done, the panel hides itself.
• Until Superceded: The panel becomes visible when a character displays a subtitle. It stays visible until another panel starts showing a subtitle.
• Always Once Shown: The panel becomes visible when a character displays a subtitle, and it stays visible for the remainder of the conversation.
• Always From Start: The panel becomes visible as soon as the conversation starts, even if it doesn't yet have any subtitle text to show.

[simplepleasuresdxy]

It works! Thank you very much!

[simplepleasuresdxy]

Oh ... I am noticing something a bit strange. When I try to do "set Panel" command for a character, it fails to move the portrait and it causes a bug with the narrator thing. I'm not sure how to describe it. It says that it can't find the narrator or something.

Additionally ... is there a way to flip the portrait with simple commands or will that require more work than I realize? Like, I just want to just turn the sprite the other way. Same for hiding a portrait?

[Tony Li]

Hi,

One way to flip a portrait is to create another subtitle panel in which the Portrait Image is flipped. An easy way to flip an Image is to set its Rect Transform > Scale > X to -1.

Here are some options to hide a portrait:

• Hide a panel using the HidePanel() sequencer command.
• Or tell an actor to use a panel that doesn't have a portrait image.
• Or assign an invisible image to the actor's Portrait Sprites list. The invisible image could be a single pixel that's fully transparent. Note the [#] number in the Portrait Sprites list. Then include "[pic=#]" in the Dialogue Text of the dialogue entry node where you'd like to hide the portrait.

Another option is to use animated portraits. This requires a bit more to set up, but then you can play "animations" such as flipping the image or hiding it. To learn about animated portraits, see video #3 of the Dialogue UI Tutorials video series.

[simplepleasuresdxy]

Hi tony

Thanks for the help with hising the portrait and the flip thing. That being said, im still not sure how to troubleshoot the furst issue i mentioned.

[Tony Li]

Hi,

Would you please post the error/warning that it reports when you try to use SetPanel()?

[simplepleasuresdxy]

Okay! Will do. All i remember is that is said that it couldnt find something.


Hopefully a more simplier question, is there a way to make it so that a portraits or even multiple portraits don't grey out even when they arent talking?