Hotspots labels showing up with Naninovel during conversations
Hi, first message in the forum, and congratulations for such a great extension for Unity. 😊
I have been creating games for a while, but this is my first project in AC. I'm not expert in Unity but I understand the basic concepts. So I have the following problem:
1. I'm using AC with the Naninovel extension (NN). So far so good. Dialogues trigger with the NN action script but...
2. The hotspot label is visible during the Naninovel execution. The NN gives some advices about using the NN with a specific layer so it doesn't mess with AC. (https://naninovel.com/guide/adventure-creator.html#setup)
3. I followed the NN instructions but still, the Hotspot label is visible during the dialogues. I tried to replicate the issue in the demo project the NN creator uploaded, but there it seems to work fine.
4. There is an option in the NN script to "swap cameras" but I couldn't see any difference turning it on/ff.
5. My implementation is a First Person Camera. (following the AC tutorial in Youtube)
Any ideas about how I could fix it, please?
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Welcome to the community, @Alatriste.
What are your AC and Unity versions?
In your screenshot, both the Hotspot label, and the "Menu" button in the corner, are showing - indicating that your game is in "Normal" mode. For these to become hidden, the game will need to be in "Cutscene" mode.
You can get a definitive check about this by enabling AC's Status box from the bottom of the Settings Manager. This will detail the game's current state in the Game window at runtime.
Any ActionList whose When running Inspector field is set to Block Gameplay will automatically place the game in "Cutscene" mode while it is running.
If the ActionList in your screenshot is already set up like this, then it may be that the NN Action isn't "running" continuously - i.e. it'll trigger the NN dialogue but then end the ActionList in the same frame. You can test this by adding an ActionList: Comment Action to the end of the ActionList and seeing when the text you add to it appears in the Console.
If this shows up at the same time that the NN dialogue appears, it may be an issue with the Action.
It's NN who provide the integration with AC, but looking at their Github page it seems like the Action should wait for the NN dialogue to complete before the Action ends. I wouldn't expect "Turn OFF AC" needs to be checked, though, as blocking gameplay should be enough to prevent Hotspot interaction etc.
Hi Chris, thanks for your answer. I was digging last night to see if I could solve the problem and I found out that it happens when I use the Unity UI Prefab implementation rather than the AC UI implementation. (AC Editor->Hotspot->Source)
On the other hand, I checked the debug settings and as soon as NN kicks in, the AC debug's panel disappear.
Do you recommend me to launch the NN dialogues through cutscenes rather than Hotspots interactions? Right now that's how I was playing the dialogue.
Also, I have noticed other issue, which is how to select the dialogues choices within NN, as my cursor is locked. I was thinking of using the PlayerConstrain (free aiming and cursor lock options disable.) Is this the way to go?
Thanks a lot!
By the way, I'm using AC 1.78.0 and Unity 2022.3.2f1
I also added the comment right after the NN action, and it's displayed right after the NN runs and goes back to AC. So AC is not running at the same time. (There is also a info message from NN reporting that "AC has been turned off" while the NN script is running.)
That'll be expected if you're opting to turn AC off in the Action - is it showing if you uncheck this option?
Sorry for the confusion - there's a bit of a terminology overlap here. A "Cutscene" object in AC is essentially just an ActionList in the scene that isn't tied to a particular Hotspot. "Cutscene" mode refers to the industry term - i.e. gameplay is blocked.
Any ActionList can block gameplay and place the game in "Cutscene" mode - so running from a Hotspot Interaction should be just fine.
Normally, AC will unlock the cursor automatically when the player is presented with dialogue choices. If you're using a separate system such as Naninovel, then yes - you'll need to unlock the cursor manually. The "Free-aiming" option won't have an affect here, as it only affects gameplay behaviour - or rather, it won't once the NN is correctly placing the game in "cutscene" mode.
(A quick aside: it's not strictly necessary to place the game in "cutscene" mode to prevent Hotspot interactions etc. The Engine: Manage systems Action can also be used to disable individual AC systems, such as Interaction and Movement.)
"AC has been turned off" will appear if you have the Turn OFF AC? option checked, but this will prevent AC to go into "Cutscene" mode and wait for the Action to complete. When does the comment appear if this is unchecked?
If it appears at the same moment, i.e. when the Action is run, then it may be an issue with Naninovel itself, as the "waiting" behaviour of the Action looks tied to a callback from Naninovel. I'd suggest contacting NN's developers if this is the case.
Sorry for the confusion: When I leave uncheck the NN option "Turn off AC" then the debug AC panel is visible. Current game status: Normal. So it seems to be doing what is expected.
Understand. Thanks for the clarification. I read it in the manual but now it's clear.
I found out that I have to let AC to run in the background in order to use the cursor during NN conversations. But the problem is that also the Hotspots are visible.
I have also noticed that the comment below the NN action script triggers immediately, so AC is not waiting for NN script to finish.
If I enable "Turn off AC" option, then I cannot recover control over the cursor and I cannot select anything in NN with the mouse.
Not sure if this is helpful, but when I click while NN is running, I can see in the AC debug panel for just a moment "Current game state: cutscene". After the mouse button is up, then it returns to Normal.
And I'm triggering the action using the Hotspot option.
A bit more info:
This is the best execution order I found to run NN. Notice that there is a wait action before running NN actions. If I don't add it seems that AC doesn't have time to finish all its stuff and the cursor is still the AC, and Hotspots are still visible.
With the wait, the cursor is fine and I can select the choice options.
The comment at the end never runs though. But NN can trigger actions after returning the control to AC, so no problem there.
This'll be expected - as you're turning off AC once the NN Action runs. When AC turns off, so too will the ActionList.
This sounds like an issue with the NN Action - technically, it's this Action that is waiting for the NN script to finish. I would recommend contacting the authors of this Action for advice.
You can use the Engine: Manage systems Action beforehand to disable the Interaction system first, and then re-enable it afterwards. If the NN Action is not correctly waiting for the NN script to finish, though, that will need to be addressed first - as otherwise the second Engine: Manage systems Action (set to re-enable Interaction afterwards) will run before the NN script has completed.
Thanks, Chris! I'll contact the NN creator to investigate the issue.