Dialog Editor and Dialog Browser

Overview

The Dialog Editor is used to play spoken words in CryENGINE during normal game sequences and in cutscenes. The Dialog Editor references specific lines of dialog, and is fully compatible with regional language localization and subtitling.

The functions of the Dialog Editor can be referenced using the Flow Graph.

The Dialog Editor

Instead of a menu system, there are two buttons at the top of the editor.

Add ScriptLine: Adds a line to the current dialogscript
Delete ScriptLine: Deletes a line from the current dialogscript

The Dialogs panel contains a browser for all dialog scripts organized within folder Libs\Dialogs. By default editing dialogs is locked to remind that editing happens locally.

Right-clicking on the script and selecting 'Edit Locally' will enable editing.

The task menu allows access to management options for the dialog menu.

New: Allows the creation of new DialogScripts and dialog script groups.
Delete: Deletes the currently selected !DialogScript, if it is not write protected. Deleting the last remaining DialogScript will cause its parent group to also be deleted.
Rename: Brings up a rename dialog for the !DialogScript. Renaming its parent group will create or move the DialogScript to the defined group.

The description box shows details and properties of the lines used within the !DialogScript.

Underneath the description is the main panel for editing dialog lines.

Setting	Description
Line	Current line. Click this column to select the whole line. You can then drag the line around. To add a new line, double click in free area or use Add ScriptLine from the toolbar. To delete a line press Delete or use Delete ScriptLine from the toolbar. Double-click to play or stop the Sound of the Line.
Actor	The Actor for this line. Select this from from the combo-box. Any Entity can be an Actor. An Entity can be assigned as Actor using the Dialog:PlayDialog flownode.
Sound	The Sound to be played. Use browse button to choose the sound through the Sound Browser or paste a Sound key from the Localization sheet. Note: The sound name will show no '.wav' extension. If a sound is specified the time of 'Delay' is relative to the end of the sound.
Animation:	Name of Animation Signal or Action. You should select an entity first and then browse its signals/actions.
Type	Signal {{OneShot animation. Action }} Looping animation. Animation can automatically be stopped, when Sync is enabled.
EP	When checked, Exact Positioning [EP] will be used to play the animation. The target for the EP is the LookAt target. If you want to make sure that an animation is exactly oriented, use this option.
Sync	When checked, the animation or Action will automatically stop when the sound ends.
FacialExpr.	Facial expression. Normally, every sound is already lip-synced and may already contain facial expressions. Use with care. This feature can be useful when you don't play a sound, but simply want the Actor make look with a specific mood or expression. Use #RESET# to reset expression to default state.
Weight	Weight of the facial expression [0-1]. How strong the facial expression should be applied. When sound already contains a facial expression, use only small values < 0.5.
Fade	Fade-time of the facial expression in seconds. How fast the facial expression should be applied.
LookAt	Lookat target of the Actor. Actor will try to look at his target before he starts to talk/animate. Sometimes this cannot be guaranteed. Also, while doing his animation or talking he may no longer face his target. For these cases use Sticky look at. To disable sticky look-at use #RESET#.
Delay	Delay in seconds before advancing to the next line. When a sound is played, Delay is relative to the end of the sound. So, to slightly overlap lines and to make dialog more natural, you can use negative delays. When no sound is specified, the delay is relative to the start of the line.
Description	Description of the line.

Dynamic Help underneath the main panel displays context sensitive help for the currently selected element of the dialog editor.

Triggering a Dialog in Flow Graph

A simple dialog setup.

The Area Trigger entity Enter port links to the Play Port of the PlayDialog node. This will cause the dialog node to play when the Enter condition of the trigger is fulfilled. This may be caused by traditional methods (the player enters the trigger), or by manually triggering the condition using a trackview event track trigger on the object.

The actors defined within your by DialogScript Actor property in each line of dialog are listed in the node. These actors are defined by the entities linked to the appropriate port of the flownode.

Input Ports	Description
Play	Starts the dialog node playing.
Stop	Stops the dialog node playing.
Dialog	The DialogScript which the node will play.
Startline	The line of the DialogScript which the node will play.
AIInterrupt	Set the level of alertness at which the AI will abort the dialog.
AwareDistance	Max. Distance the player is considered listening. 0 disables this check.
AwareAngle	Max. view angle the player is considered listening. 0 disables this check.
AwareTimeOut	Time after which the player will be considered not listening any more when out of range.
Flags	Additional flags for dialog options.
Buffer	The dialog buffer type. Only one dialog can be played each time in the same buffer. Other dialogs in the same buffer get queued and played back once the buffer is free again. The different buffers have no priorities and can't block each other. The buffer types can be defined here: Libs/FlowNodes/DialogFlowNodeBuffers.xml
BufferDelay	The delay in seconds after a queued dialog starts to play once the buffer is emptied.
Actor X	Defines the objects to be used as actors for the scene. Actor numbers defined in the dialog editor.
Output Ports	Description
Started	Triggered when the dialog has started playing dialog.
Done	Triggered when the dialog node has stopped performing actions.
Finished	Triggered when the dialog node has finished playing dialog.
Aborted	Triggered when the dialog node action has been halted by any influence.
PlayerAborted	Triggered when the dialog node action has been halted by player action.
AIAborted	Triggered when the dialog node action has been halted by AI action.
ActorDied	Triggered when any actor in the scene dies.
Lastline	Outputs the last line spoken.
Curline	Outputs the current line spoken.

The Dialog Browser

The dialog browser can accessed on the Sound Menu as well as the Line property of the Dialog Entity. Use the Dialog Browser to select a line of dialog.

The dialog browser.

CVARS

g_debugDialogBuffers 1: Enables the on screen debug info for flownode dialog buffers.

s_DialogVolume: Sets the volume of all dialog sounds. Default is 1, which is full volume.

s_GameDialogVolume: Controls the dialog volume for game use. Default is 1, which is full volume.