Creating dialogues impossible - Text gets stuck on the left edge of the screen :(

#1, by goudasunsetTuesday, 29. October 2024, 13:48 6 months ago

Hello,
I have a huge problem and I can't find a solution.

I am teaching myself how to use the program, but I have the problem that the dialogues cannot be placed! No matter where I place the dialogue area, the text always gets stuck on the left edge.

This means that the project cannot be continued and the entire software can no longer be used! I mean the dialogues can of course not remain in this position! They can't stick to the left margin outside the interface intended for them!

Now I have already read here in the forum that this is perhaps a ‘bug’ that has come in with an ‘update’... Yes, but that can't be true, I mean it's been like that for two months? That makes the entire software completely worthless! I mean, what is the user and buyer supposed to do with it now? Create an adventure without dialogues?

Surely there must be a solution? I have tried all the tutorials, whether from the manufacturer or from the Internet, and no matter how exactly I follow the instructions, it is not possible to place the dialogue text using the ‘Dialogue Area’ function, the text is stuck on the left edge of the screen.

Do any of you have any ideas what else I could do or try? I'm getting really desperate
(For your information, there is no moving character in my game, the player looks into the scene from the first-person perspective)
goudasunset

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#2, by goudasunsetTuesday, 29. October 2024, 14:05 6 months ago

So if the dialogue function in Visionaire is just plain broken in the long run, are there other ways to implement dialogues that I just don't see at the moment?
goudasunset

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#3, by NigecWednesday, 30. October 2024, 10:29 6 months ago

The text is up there because that is were your invisible character will be.
One way is to create a small way system were you want the text to show and start your character inside it.
Another way is to us narrator text and place the text wherever you need it
A harder but better way is to use the object text component with a translate component
the object text will always be in the right place, you need the text to go away with a timer, I have a toggle condition on left click, called with a wait to condition changed, which hides the text
Nigec

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#4, by goudasunsetWednesday, 30. October 2024, 13:19 6 months ago

The text is up there because that is were your invisible character will be.
One way is to create a small way system were you want the text to show and start your character inside it.
Another way is to us narrator text and place the text wherever you need it
A harder but better way is to use the object text component with a translate component
the object text will always be in the right place, you need the text to go away with a timer, I have a toggle condition on left click, called with a wait to condition changed, which hides the text

So I have now downloaded the older version as you advised, unfortunately it is a much older version with 5.0. I really hope that I'll be able to finish the game properly in the end, but it worked as a test. The main thing is that you can at least position the dialogue options in the old version. Thank you very much for the advice

I don't have any moving characters, everything takes place in the first-person perspective, i.e. point-of-view. The dialogues should run entirely in an interface on the right-hand side of the screen, similar to Disco Elysium.

I don't specify a response and instead trigger a display text as soon as a dialogue option is triggered, and position the display text in the interface. Unfortunately, it is very impractical to position the display text. This is because the text is not only awkward and imprecise to position, it also does not have a definable frame. This means that I always have to edit the text by hand to make the line breaks, otherwise it writes over the edge of the interface. And then I have to do the whole thing again for the English version (game is German/English, Dub but I only do it in German).

Do you know a way to define a text field for a display narration text so that Visionaire automatically makes the line breaks itself? So can you roughly imagine what I mean? Otherwise I'll upload a picture.

Many, many thanks for your help.
goudasunset

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#5, by NigecWednesday, 30. October 2024, 14:13 6 months ago

in the font settings you can set word wrap and define the width, in a recent game jam I just did my own simple dialog system, with the object text I mentioned before, dialog text is in an interface and the options are just object text in the scene,, my font is word wrapped with a width of 800
Nigec

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#6, by esmeraldaThursday, 31. October 2024, 11:38 6 months ago

It's hard to say what is going wrong here with the dialog area without knowing what exactly you are doing.
The dialog area is not broken, it's just the options for the alignment of the text, that is not working properly. If you keep the alignment to left (game properties / behaviour) all is working fine.

So it's the text for the dialog options that is stuck on the left side for you? Not the actual text spoken by the characters?

The dialog area needs to be defined in the tab of your main character.

1. add an image for your dialog area

2. place the image with the moving tool, you can additionally highlight your game resolution
(If you don't have a background image for your dialog area, skip steps 1 + 2 )

3. draw the text box for your dialog area
This box needs to be where the area should be - if you aren't using a background image, highlight the game resolution to be sure you are drawing in the correct spot.
esmeralda

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#7, by goudasunsetTuesday, 05. November 2024, 12:35 6 months ago

It's hard to say what is going wrong here with the dialog area without knowing what exactly you are doing.
The dialog area is not broken, it's just the options for the alignment of the text, that is not working properly. If you keep the alignment to left (game properties / behaviour) all is working fine.

So it's the text for the dialog options that is stuck on the left side for you? Not the actual text spoken by the characters?

The dialog area needs to be defined in the tab of your main character.

1. add an image for your dialog area

2. place the image with the moving tool, you can additionally highlight your game resolution
(If you don't have a background image for your dialog area, skip steps 1 + 2 )

3. draw the text box for your dialog area
This box needs to be where the area should be - if you aren't using a background image, highlight the game resolution to be sure you are drawing in the correct spot.

Well, I've tried exactly what you're describing countless times. I've also watched various tutorials on this and, to be honest, there's not much you can do wrong.

Here is an example image. On picture 2 we can see that I have positioned the text selection on the left edge, not exactly on the left edge, but with some distance. As a result, however, we can see in image 1 that this positioning is only taken into account in the height, i.e. on the Y-axis, whereas the X-axis is ignored in the width! It is therefore not possible for me to position the dialogues, because there is of course no question of them sticking to the left edge.

Of course I would also like to position the answers themselves, as there are no moving characters in my Point of View and I define people as objects. However, I have not yet found a way to position answers, which is why I replace them with display texts, which is of course very inconvenient as I can hardly use the dialogue system this way.

BUT it would be enough for me if I could position the dialogue selection and move it on the x-axis, but unfortunately I can't do that.
goudasunset

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#8, by goudasunsetTuesday, 05. November 2024, 14:39 6 months ago

Ok, I have now found out that it works if I set the box for the dialogue selection in the old version and then update to the new one, a first ray of hope

Now I have to position the answers so that I no longer have to replace them with display narration texts and can actually use the dialogue system properly.

But how do you position answer texts in dialogues?
They are always displayed in the top left corner -.-

I've read a lot about the fact that this is an invisible character and that I should somehow capture it with the path system... Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea what this means. Since my game is a point of view from the first-person perspective, I was planning to completely dispense with a path system and movement, so I didn't create anything like that.
Can you tell me how I should imagine this?

The big question is: How do I get the answer text into my dialogue box?

P.s. Warum schreiben wir eigentlich in Englisch, wenn wir offensichtlich alle drei Deutsch können?
goudasunset

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#9, by esmeraldaTuesday, 05. November 2024, 15:16 6 months ago

When you set the alignment for the dialog choices to "left" the problem with the text box should be fixed.

Regarding the display texts for the characters:
the character needs to be on the current scene to display the text. By default the engine will display the text of the character just above the top of the character sprite. If the character has no image, the text will appear on the upper left corner.

You can either:
- add a transparent image to the character (delete the directions save one) and position that character on the scene, so the top of the transparent image defines the text position (no waysystem needed for npcs)
- use narration text (display the narration text via the action tap of the dialog, leaving the answer box empty and check the box for alternative text and leave that box empty too, to avoid having your main character repeat the dialog choice)
- use a script to position text

there are examples how to position texts in the wiki
https://wiki.visionaire-tracker.net/wiki/Change_Text_Position

(while I am German, others helping here are not. Your chances to get help are better when keeping to English)

By the way - the Visionaire Discord is more lively than the forum. If you want quicker help and more people answering questions, consider dropping by there. The link is on the bottom of the page.
esmeralda

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