Dialogue Plugin

[Moth Doctor]

You could use this plugin as convenient base for quest system.
Most of this code (and the most useful one) is the generic node editor. It's super easy to remove dialogue data and logic.
- Data for this editor is defined as UDataAsset, simply addd your properties in C++.
- Add your custom logic for quest system in C++ or blueprints.

Yes, writing it on your own still does requires C++ skills.

[EmpireLion]

I love this plugin, great job CodeSpartan.

Does anyone have a quest plugin/system that would work well with this on MAC as well? Unfortunately the solution I was planning on using (https://www.unrealengine.com/marketp...uest-extension) does not work on MAC. I've been working with that author for a while to try to get it up and running but for some odd reason, the stubborn thing will not show up on a MAC.

[CodeSpartan]

Fixed version is now live.

[CodeSpartan]

The update has been processed by the marketplace team.

I downloaded to test it and noticed two problems.

1) when you launch your project, you may get a warning about DemoDialogueWidget referencing an unexisting asset. It's a fake warning, because it doesn't actually reference it in any way. I'll fix it in the next update. Or you can just fix it yourself by doing "Refresh Nodes", then hit Compile & Save.

2) Trying to copy nodes that have events/conditions that reference assets - will crash the editor. It's some old code that I forgot to remove.

I've submitted a fix. Hopefully it'll get processed soon.

[CodeSpartan]

Resubmitting again today, because I added some more things.

- Added Copy, Cut, Duplicate and Paste functionality (hotkeys use editor's standard bindings).

- Copying nodes produces Json, so it's possible to paste nodes to notepad, to other dialogue viewports or to send the output to other team members through instant messaging.

Example:
Copy the two selected nodes from the screenshot:



Pasting it to notepad looks like this:



Update: I haven't figured out how to correctly serialize/deserialize conditions/events yet, so when you paste nodes, their conditions/events will be empty for now.

[CodeSpartan]

I'm sending a new version to the marketplace today, should be up in about a week.

I've made some changes to the default UMG widget.
1. Added a node PlayDialogueSound, which makes sure that you never play 2 sounds concurrently (by interrupting old sounds). Also added StopDialogueSound node, in case you want to call it when you quit the dialogue, for example.
2. Added a visual representation of a dialogue line that's currently being selected:

3. Moving the mouse away from a line keeps it selected.
4. Clicking on a selected line is now also possible through gamepad's bottom face button (even if you selected it through mouse hover). So a player can switch between keyboard and gamepad at any time.
5. Selecting a dialogue line is possible through mouse hovering as before, but now also by using gamepad (up/down on the d-pad). The widget is now more gamepad friendly out of the box.
6. If a sound is playing from a player voiced line, displaying next NPC lines is delayed until your player finishes saying his line, but you have a "continue" button to skip the delay.
7. I may have fixed a bug where player nodes didn't fire events (not sure if this was done in this version or before that).
8. Added a few instructions to the documentation regarding how to override demo widgets.

In short, these are general improvements that should be useful for most people, but most importantly they're optional.
- E.g. if your player lines are never voiced, you shouldn't worry about the #6.
- If your game doesn't support gamepad, you don't have to worry about #4 and #5.
- If you don't want to have a currently selected line (#3), simply disconnect the HighlightSelectedReply method from its body.

[CodeSpartan]

Hello there, I'm trying to use this plugin for an RPG that I'm making and I'm wondering about multiple dialogue's for the same person. To be more precise, have an NPC who has one dialogue at the start, and then has a different dialogue after a certain event (like finishing quest). My first thought was to create a single dialogue file that has multiple start points and then have an event that just changes which start point to pull from. So first off, is that possible? And if not, what would you suggest?

You can either keep all your dialogue trees in a single dialogue file, or you can change the NPC's dialogue reference through an event once the quest has been completed.

The first scenario requires you to keep a variable on your player that you'd save in a savegame.
The second scenario requires you to save the state of your level in a savegame, and then restore it, so your NPC would always reference the correct dialogue file.

I think the first one is easier and is more versatile. The two approaches can also be combined, if required.

[Ballto]

Hello there, I'm trying to use this plugin for an RPG that I'm making and I'm wondering about multiple dialogue's for the same person. To be more precise, have an NPC who has one dialogue at the start, and then has a different dialogue after a certain event (like finishing quest). My first thought was to create a single dialogue file that has multiple start points and then have an event that just changes which start point to pull from. So first off, is that possible? And if not, what would you suggest?

[CodeSpartan]

I want to fire custom event in player controller thru dialog option, but i don't get even a print string out. I am new to blueprints so I guess it's something silly... What iam doing wrong?

1. Does it work if you put it on an NPC node?
2. If not, could you post a screenshot of how you spawn the dialogue widget? Might be a problem there.

[Modinaddr]

I want to fire custom event in player controller thru dialog option, but i don't get even a print string out. I am new to blueprints so I guess it's something silly... What iam doing wrong?

[Witdarkstar]

Call "Remove From Parent" on the dialogue widget.


I recorded a short vid to answer that question.

I didn't even think of checking for a float variable related to the audio duration. Thank you so much for the short video reply.

[CodeSpartan]

Can you add a node that will close the dialogue?

Call "Remove From Parent" on the dialogue widget.

we don't want the player choices for the response to appear until the audio is finished playing.

I recorded a short vid to answer that question.

[Witdarkstar]

Sorry, don't understand exactly how you want to use sounds in conjunction with conditions.

Please give me a step-by-step example

As for delaying the NPC dialogue lines from showing while your main character's audio is playing, it's something I'm going to add in the 4.20 version. Someone asked how to do it in the widget, I showed them, and since it was already implemented, I decided to add it to the plugin. If this is what you're asking about, here's a hint on how to do it:


There's no PlayPlayerReply event in the 4.19 version yet, and it's a bit more complicated than just adding the stuff from this screenshot, because you also need to be able to skip the audio and the delay if you hit "continue" before it plays out, but it's a start if you want to try implementing it yourself. Otherwise, it'll be out in 4.20.

That sounds right, but I think I mean opposite from what you said? I just want to make sure I'm not mixing it up. The example we are trying to do is the NPC is playing a dialog audio in their node, and we don't want the player choices for the response to appear until the audio is finished playing.

Thanks for the screenshot, that is super helpful to helps us think about it until the update. It sounds like the update is doing what we are wanting to do and are looking forward to it.

Thanks for reply.

[Althaen]

Can you add a node that will close the dialogue?

[CodeSpartan]

Hello,

Is there a way to track the updates of the plugin? we are using it in our SVN and currently working on 4.18.
It will be great if I could know if there were a bug fixes or new features rather then just support of 4.20 for example...

thanks!

Hey CodeSpartan, question: Over a year ago we bought this and made some modifications (so that you don't have to go into C++ to set up conditions, etc). Just wondering if you've made any major changes of your own in that time that we might be missing out on.

Hi. Going to answer both questions here: somewhere during the 4.18, a major update to the dialogue plugin was released that considerably improved conditions/events usability by moving their logic into blueprints.

Then another update was released that allowed using nodes in conditions/events that require World (find actors of class, set timer by event, etc), bypassing the need to do this through PlayerController for example.

The 4.19 version may have some changes for the gamepad functionality in the umg widgets (or not... sorry, I need to start writing it down somewhere), and a minor fix for the engine compatibility.

The only way to see what changes occurred between versions for you guys is to set up a git repository, download the plugin for 4.18, 4.19, etc and put different versions into the repository, making a commit each time. I would've gladly added you to my private repository, but Epic still doesn't allow sellers to see who bought their assets, unfortunately, so there's no way to verify who's who. Thus, doing it manually on your end through version control is the only way.

I just noticed that events aren't firing on PC answers. Is this intentional?

No, but I think I already fixed this bug in previous updates. Are you using the latest version of the plugin and the latest engine version? If not, what version of the engine are you on?

Hi there. I just bought this project but for some reason, even when I enable show Plugin Folder in the editor, nothing show up so I cannot get access to the demo widget. Does anyone know what happen?

Yep, just checked and I've got the same thing. Try also checking the "engine content" checkbox as well, it fixes it for me. If it doesn't help, you can still copy the widgets from the plugin's folder into your project manually, then follow the documentation on how to make the plugin use them instead of the stock version.
They're in: Plugins\DialoguePlugin\Content\UI
Just copy them to anywhere into your project's /Content/ folder or its subfolders.

Hi CodeSpartan,

This plugin has been fantastic and is doing mostly everything I need.

The question I have for you, is it possible to detect when the audio from a dialog selection has ended? I'm not sure where the audio source to bind to is here. It would be nice to use for conditions for when PC choices come up.

Sorry, don't understand exactly how you want to use sounds in conjunction with conditions.

Please give me a step-by-step example

As for delaying the NPC dialogue lines from showing while your main character's audio is playing, it's something I'm going to add in the 4.20 version. Someone asked how to do it in the widget, I showed them, and since it was already implemented, I decided to add it to the plugin. If this is what you're asking about, here's a hint on how to do it:


There's no PlayPlayerReply event in the 4.19 version yet, and it's a bit more complicated than just adding the stuff from this screenshot, because you also need to be able to skip the audio and the delay if you hit "continue" before it plays out, but it's a start if you want to try implementing it yourself. Otherwise, it'll be out in 4.20.