ActionList: kill doesn't kill background

Crystal_Warrior

Hey again, 

I have this idle dialogue plays. When the player do any kind of interaction. The idle dialogue should be killed. I have action list: kill at the start of the interaction and run at the end. however the background speech keeps on playing.

What can I do to stop it from playing during interactions with hotspots npcs etc?

ChrisIceBox

Killing the ActionList will not end the result of Actions that have already been triggered, so if you want to end the dialogue, you must also use the Dialogue: Stop speech Action.

Crystal_Warrior

I apologize for the late reply

I am between the game development and masters exams.

Ok, I think I found what is wrong:

when idle talk starts, before starting idle I call an action list that checks if this is the first time the character has been to? if yes then start with a certain line then call another action list that select randomly between 4 different lines. The first time in the room it seems I need to kill the first action list. because when I zone to other scenes and come back kill function seems to work well.

I will try to find a fix for this

However, I believe I have another problem. If I had an idle talk and run anything that runs an asset action list the idle will not be killed. like for example inspecting items or un-handled interactions. Is there a way around that?   

ChrisIceBox

Is this the player speaking?  See my last reply - Dialogue: Stop speech must be used to explicitly cease a character's speaking.  Ending the ActionList that triggered the speech is not enough, because the speech has already been triggered by that point.

Crystal_Warrior

It is NPCs

I know about stop speech and it didn't stop the problem.

It happens as follows:

- idle dialogue starts to play

- player does some interactions that triggers an asset actionlist, I want the idle to stop, I use both kill and stop speech.

- idle will interrupt the interaction that is currently being displayed.

ChrisIceBox

I'm sorry, but you're going to have to explain it more clearly with screenshots.  "Idle dialogue" is confusing, as there is no such concept - "idle" and "dialogue" are separate terms in AC.  Please post as much detail as you can - and check List active ActionLists in Game window? at the bottom of the Setting Manager when demonstrating the issue, as it will help debug exactly what's running when.

Alverik

maybe he means dialogue set to Run in Background?

Crystal_Warrior

Alverik if you are referring to me, then you mean she =P

I will re-explain

I think in your tutorial you called them background speech?

Where NPCs say random lines at random times?

I can't post screenshots of the game am currently working on. I am working on it for someone else.

My problem is:

When I play the background speech. I can stop it with kill actionlist.

however, this doesn't work when I initiate asset actionlist (not the ones in the scene)

for exmaple NPCs is saying:

"I wonder whats that"

after 5 seconds 

"I would really like to know"

etc

When the player interacts wit a hotspot within the scene the background speech is stopped via using kill actionlist

however, for exmaple if the player inspected an inventory item, it runs an asset actionlist. and I am not sure how can I kill the background speech ^^

hope this clear?

ChrisIceBox

You don't need to post screenshots of the game - just the ActionLists involved.

The ActionList that is running the background speech itself - what is that?  A scene-based Cutscene, or an ActionList asset?

To kill a scene-based ActionList from an asset file instance of the ActionList: Kill Action, you should just have to set the Source field to In Scene.  When you assign the ActionList field, AC will generate a Constant ID number for it, which will appear below.  This is how AC keeps track of scene objects from asset files - you just need to make sure to save the scene afterwards, so the Constant ID number is saved properly.

Is this showing correctly?  Again, you can safely post a shot of the Actions and ActionLists involved.

Alverik

Ah, sorry if I offended you Crystal_Warrior, but your user name provides no indication of your gender... how was I supposed to know? 

Anyway, end of off topic comment. lol.

Crystal_Warrior

The background speech action list is a scene based cutscene.

The problem is as follows:

- The background speech works in the background in multiple scenes.

- Every time an interaction happens within the scene the background speech is killed successfully.

However,

using Examine actionlist for inventory items, unhandled interaction with a hotspot, NPC or combine (all asset-based actionlists) will not kill the scene-based actionlist in the scene. 

Let me paste a picture

This is the background speech scene-based actionlist

It is killed correctly when the player interact with anything within the scene.

But it wont if the player:

- does an unhandled interaction with NPC / hotspot in the scene

- Examined an item in the inventory.

If the background speech is in one scene, I can add kill actionlist to asset-based actionlist. 

this is not the case, I have background speech in five different scenes. 

And Alverik

not offended, just thought it is funny XD

Crystal_Warrior

Maybe in the asset-based actionlist I would check the current scene and kill the appropriate scene-based actionlist/cutscene?

ChrisIceBox

No need, with some trickery.

ActionList assets refer to scene-based objects (including scene-based ActionLists such as Cutscenes) via Constant ID number.  It can only refer to one ID at a time, but if each instance of the Cutscene shares the same ID across all scenes, then the ActionList asset will be able to succesfully "see" it each time.

Select the ActionList asset and view the ActionList: Kill Action.  It should list the ID number its linked to inside it.  All you should have to do is go through each scene, find the Cutscene in question, and change it's ID number to match this.

ID numbers are normally set automatically, but the Constant ID component has a Manual setting that allows you to enter in a specific number.  Set the same number to all scenes, make sure it matches that of the ActionList asset, and it should work every time.

Crystal_Warrior

That's really awsome!!!! will try it tomorrow. Thanks a lot.