Making Text Box Stay Onscreen with Loop Points

[TheShiningAbsol]

Hey, all. Hoping you can help me with a bit of an issue. Minor, perhaps, but it's been bugging me.

So the problem is that when I use the loop command for dialogue options, the text box disappears before the choices come up.



This is the typical response tree, where the dialogue box is still onscreen.



And here is one where I set a loop point right before the choices.

Is there a way to go about getting the text box to stay up? I need the loop points so that all of the investigate options will loop back to the choices. And setting the loop point before the text box is a no-go, because then it pops up after you ask a question which doesn't work conversationally 99% of the time. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Shaz]

If you need help with an event, please post a screenshot of the event you currently have, so we can see what you've done and what needs to happen to make it work the way you want. Make sure to include the whole event window, not just the list of commands, as there are often things in other areas of the window that give important information.


However, I'm going to guess, in the absence of a screenshot, that your Show Choices command doesn't IMMEDIATELY follow the Show Text command. They need to be together, one after the other with nothing else (not even a comment or a conditional branch) in between, in order to have them both on the screen at the same time.

 

[TheShiningAbsol]

If you need help with an event, please post a screenshot of the event you currently have, so we can see what you've done and what needs to happen to make it work the way you want. Make sure to include the whole event window, not just the list of commands, as there are often things in other areas of the window that give important information.

However, I'm going to guess, in the absence of a screenshot, that your Show Choices command doesn't IMMEDIATELY follow the Show Text command. They need to be together, one after the other with nothing else (not even a comment or a conditional branch) in between, in order to have them both on the screen at the same time.

That is precisely the case, as I set a loop point between them in order to have it loop back to the dialogue options after the player asks a question. I know why they won't appear together (I guess I didn't make that very clear, apologies), but what I'm trying to determine is whether there's an alternate way I can set it up. Could I set the loop point before the Show Text, and then is there some way to prevent it from reappearing after it loops back?



Here's the event window, if it helps. And thanks for your help.

 

[Shaz]

I'm confused.


You said in your first post that you want the text box to stay up, and now you're saying you don't want it to stay up?


Maybe if you explain what you want to happen, from the player's point of view, it might help with understanding your requirements better.

 

[TheShiningAbsol]

I'm confused.

You said in your first post that you want the text box to stay up, and now you're saying you don't want it to stay up?

Maybe if you explain what you want to happen, from the player's point of view, it might help with understanding your requirements better.

I want the text box to stay up the very first time that the choices appear. If the player selects one of the first three options the loop will be broken, and the dialogue continues. If the player selects one of the questions, the NPC will provide the player with information before the same choices will appear again. But what I don't want is for the NPC's original text box to reappear every time the choices appear, because when the NPC answers your question, his the last sentence of his answer will effectively reword the original text box, so it would make no sense for him to say something and then repeat what he said in his original text box.

What I want to happen:

- Text box appears along with choices

- Player selects a question

- NPC responds

- NPC's final sentence makes conversational sense so that the choices would still make sense following that sentence

- Choices appear once again

Example:

NPC: I need you to help me.

Player: "Okay" OR "What do you need"

Player: Chooses "What do you need"

NPC: (blah, blah, blah) ...So that's why I need you to help me.

Player: "Okay"

It wouldn't make sense for the NPC to say "So that's why I need you to help me" and then follow up immediately with "I need you to help me" again. It's similar to dialogue in a BioWare game (not sure if you're familiar with those).

What I'm trying to do is see if there's a certain way I can arrange the event commands (such as the loop points and loop breaks) so that it will function like this. Thanks for the help--sorry I'm not too good at explaining myself.

 

[Shaz]

The problem is, if you put the Loop before the Show Text, you would have to use a switch and a conditional branch to determine whether to show the text. That means there will be a Branch End between the Show Text and the Show Choices, so conditioning the text isn't going to work.

You could have the Show Choices within the conditional branch too, but that means all the choice results will also have to be duplicated.

It's ugly, but the only way I can think of is something like this:

Loop Conditional Branch: Self Switch A is ON Show Choices: Okay, What do you need When Okay Jump to Label: Okay When What do you need Jump to Label: What do you need Branch End Else Control Self Switch: A = ON Show Text: blah blah blah Show Choices: Okay, What do you need When Okay Jump to Label: Okay When What do you need Jump to Label: What do you need Branch End Branch End Label: Okay do stuff Jump to Label: Repeat Label: What do you need do stuff Jump to Label: Repeat Label: RepeatRepeatSo you still have the Show Text and Show Choices together the first iteration, and on subsequent iterations only the Show Choices, but you only have to put the consequences of each choice once, and use labels and jump to labels to get to them from each choice group.It's ugly.

 

[TheShiningAbsol]

Yeesh, I had a feeling it wouldn't be a very elegant solution. Thanks for the help.