BDC Dialog Backend Plugin

[rancid bough]

Good Morning (at least at my location).

Time to post this, since I am short before Releasing.

Since the past 2 Months, I worked on my own Dialog Plugin, to manage and handle the Dialog Data, Actors, and Widget stuff.
Sure, there are plenty of Plugins out there, but none fit my workflow.

Not only do most of the Plugins use 1–3 Assets per actual Dialog (mostly a DataTable, then a tree… maybe a State Asset…)

I wanted to fuse them together...

So I worked on a way to replace the Default DataTable Editor for my specific DataTable Structure, to a Blueprint Like Graph Editor, with custom Nodes created to easily setup the DataTable in the background.

On Top, I wanted a Subsystem to control the Starting and processing of the current running Data...

• An Actor Component to hold the participating Actors in the current running Dialog...
• A Manager Component to have Events for PlayerState/Controller to trigger Input changes for when a Dialog starts or ends...
• An Interface to easily Control, the Dialog Widgets.

Speaking of Widgets, I want to have at least 2. One for the actual Player Dialog UI, and one for Subtitle/Cutscene UI. A 3rd one is planned for the future, to handle Widget Components for "Bubble" Dialogs of NPCs.

My Plan was to have the easiest setup possible.

As the Plugin, also the Wiki is Work in progress and can be viewed public at: https://github.com/BDCPatrick/BDC_DialogBackend_Doc/wiki
Feel free to discover the current existing pages (some still are missing content… I am working on this…)

The Plugin, after Release, will only be available on Fab.com.

Thanks for your attention (and maybe feedback) 😀

[rancid bough]

Some time has passed and i have plenty of stuff added and updated in my Editor.
~~ ~~

New text Input Methods

The EditableTexts got fully replaced by an AdvancedTextEditor, containing Buttons to open PopUps, to setup Decorators for the Texts.
This not only makes "remember the Command" obsolete, but also shows the direct outcome of your Setup in the PopUp.
~~ ~~

Decorators and Tags

Speaking of Decorators..
I added many of them.
You can find a full List here: https://github.com/BDCPatrick/BDC_DialogBackend_Doc/wiki/7.1-Decorators-and-Tags
~~ ~~

Widget Preview

The project Settings now not only contain Widget Slots for the Runtime Widgets, but also for a Preview one.
This is then used in the Editor, to preview the entered text in your own Widget Setup, as overlay hovering the graph.

Want to know if your text exceeds the boundaries, if Link hovering works, or a ScrollBox - The preview reveals everything?
~~ ~~

More Options!

Also, the Project Settings got much bigger now.

• You can define Sound Assets, which get automatically played by the Subsystem, whenever a Dialog opens, closes, updates…
• Materials for mat-based Decorators can be switched here, if you want to create your own Materials and Effects for the named Decorator classes (maybe copy the existing Materials for the parameters)
• You can give the system a DataTable of Rich Image Rows, to be used by the Emoji Decorator. The Dialog Editor will list all your Emojis automatically, based on this DataTable - As if you select an Emoji in Discord.
  ~~ ~~

Up-to-Date Popup

Maybe annoying for some… But I added a PopUp to the Editor, which automatically appears with each new update later on… This only appears ONCE per Update, since it stores its key in the settings.
Meaning, it won't annoy you on every Editor startup 😉

This Popup also uses the same Decorators as the Dialogues - So, it sometimes shows stuff possible 😉
~~ ~~

Release?

Yet, there are only 2 Bigger Systems left to be added. The Bubble Dialog (NPCs chatting-bubbles as Components) and an optional Feature for Exporting ALL SpeakerNames and messages of a DialogData Asset, to a String Table for Localization.
Since the workload seems to be manageable, I target a Release around Q1 2026.

Wiki?

The Wiki is still under Construction and updated regularly.
Currently, I rework the Node-Pages, to fit the new Layout i imagined.
it will be Ready before Release.

What next?

I currently work on the Dialog Bubble System, which should run separate tasks and timers for the NPC Dialog system. I plan to handle this stuff fully autonomously.
After that, getting in touch with the StringTable Export, which should be a single Button beside the Save one, in the Toolbar. The Localize Export should write the String Table and replace your Node texts with the localized tags automatically.
And here and there while doing that work… I update the whole Style of the Nodes and custom Slate UI. Right now, everything is not clean enough…

Stability

The System runs well and stable. I am using it for my own project, too. Creating all my Dialogues and Subtitles with it.
Additional tests, maybe with Third Party users, will follow soon.
~~ ~~

So… this just as small update…

[rancid bough]

Good News!

The final phase of development has started - polishing, documenting and testing!

All Features, even the optional Export to StringTables for Localization, are implemented.
With over a week ahead of schedule 📅😱

[rancid bough]

Emojis are finally finished

.... and working properly

[rancid bough]

Wiki V 1.0 ready

Again some good News.
The Wiki finally made it into a finished State.

• The base Content is documented
• All Images are up
• Decorator basics are into
• Localization Feature is explained
• Updated Styling of the pages and Images
  ( I maybe will tweak some stuff in the future, but for now, I am happy with it... )

You can find the New Plugin-Wiki here: https://github.com/BDCPatrick/BDC_DialogBackend_Doc/wiki

The Next Task is to produce some Videos and Shorts for the Plugin, before the Release in early 2026.

[lucid swallow]

Good stuff

[rancid bough]

Just wanna share my progress of my DialogBackend Plugin with you..
Since I am pretty proud of it.

Today I packaged the plugin Beta in a fully working and Error free state.
Final test will start now, before I will release it to Fab 😄

[rancid bough]

Today, i will share some Screenshots, which will also be the Media Gallery of Fab.com.

[rancid bough]

The Plugin now has an official Showcase in the Fab Forums:
https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/bdc-dialog-backend-professional-graph-based-dialogue-management-system/2692064

[lucid swallow]

I almost missed this before I went to bed. Very cool stuff!

[rancid bough]

And we have a new Video, this time going through every Rich Decorator of the System:
https://youtu.be/Kt0MXZLubjg?si=BajyJc6w40qUHUBG

The Plugin now is in V 0.95, which is Version 4 of Beta. If no more Bugs appear in Tests, this also is the final V 1.0 for Release.

[lucid swallow]

So where can I get this?

[grim heath]

Hey, This is solid I liked what you’re building. I work as a 3D artist and I help devs clean up visual style and assets when projects start growing. If you ever want a second pair of eyes or need help polishing assets, I’d be happy to help.

[rancid bough]

Release will be very soon.
Since I rely on tests of 3rd party, I have to wait for the reply from them.

[lucid swallow]

Got it. Will wait then 🙂

[rancid bough]

Good News about Release is, that Epic Games already has the current version as pending approval, with manually publish..
So if it is approved and the testers give a green light on being Bugfree.. it's just 1 Button to publish 😉