How to get faster iterations

[paul2205]

My current workflow is:
add a node -> set up the sequence -> play and test it
then again
add a node -> set up the sequence -> play and test it

after a few nodes, this process gets very slow and trying to test node 10 for example (multiple times) has me going through all of the other nodes. This might take a lot of time especially when having a dialogue and multiple sequences for each node.

Is there a way of starting a conversation from a specific node and having all the previous sequences run so that I don't miss important setups until the node I'm trying to test?

I see there is an option "Play from here..", but it does not work as expected or I'm not understanding it fully.

[Tony Li]

Hi,

If you right-click on a node and select "Play from here..." then:

• If you're not in play mode, an editor window will open that will let you step through the conversation's text.
• If you are in play mode and a conversation is active, the conversation will jump to that node. It will skip any nodes between the current node and the selected node. This is because it can't always guarantee a straight path to the node. Take the conversation below for example:

  

  branches.png (23.59 KiB) Viewed 230 times

  If the conversation were on "Enter door 1 or 2?" and you were to right-click on "What do you do?" and select "Play from here," should the conversation have taken the left branch or the right branch?

[paul2205]

Oh ok, Thanks.

In my case, I don't have options, just a linear dialogue, so it would be fine if it could take that path.

[Tony Li]

In that case you could use a subclass of DialogueSystemTrigger that, if you've specified a starting entry, plays the sequences of all entries leading up to the starting entry and then starts the conversation. Here's an example:

DS_SkipForwardExample_2024-09-02.unitypackage

and here's the script from the example:

DialogueSystemTriggerWithSkipForward.cs

Code: Select all

using UnityEngine;
namespace PixelCrushers.DialogueSystem
{
    public class DialogueSystemTriggerWithSkipForward : DialogueSystemTrigger
    {
        protected override void DoConversationAction(Transform actor)
        {
            if (startConversationEntryID > 0)
            {
                // Assumes linear conversation:
                int entryID = 0;
                int safeguard = 0;
                int MaxConversationLength = 1000; // Safeguard to prevent infinite loop.
                var entries = DialogueManager.masterDatabase.GetConversation(conversation).dialogueEntries;
                while (entryID != startConversationEntryID && safeguard++ < MaxConversationLength)
                {
                    var entry = entries.Find(x => x.id == entryID);
                    if (entry == null) break;
                    var sequence = entry.Sequence.
                        Replace(@"{{default}}", DialogueManager.displaySettings.cameraSettings.defaultSequence).
                        Replace(@"{{end}}", "0");
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(sequence))
                    {
                        // Play sequence and immediately stop so only 'required' play.
                        var sequencer = DialogueManager.PlaySequence(sequence);
                        DialogueManager.StopSequence(sequencer);
                    }
                    if (entry.outgoingLinks.Count == 0) break;
                    entryID = entry.outgoingLinks[0].destinationDialogueID;
                }
            }
            base.DoConversationAction(actor);
        }
    }
}

Spoiler

The example scene starts a conversation at the third entry. The first two entries have Sequences that activate a Cube and a Sphere. If you play the scene, you'll see that it activates the Cube and Sphere before the third entry activates a Capsule.

[paul2205]

Thank you

[Tony Li]

Glad to help!