Options Presenter

The Options Presenter (Yarn Options Presenter) shows your options as buttons. When the player picks one, it tells the Dialogue Runner which option was picked, and the dialogue carries on from there.

If you followed Adding Presenters, you already have one.

Where the buttons go

The Options Presenter needs two things: a Widget Blueprint to make each button from, and a panel in your dialogue widget to put the buttons in.

Each time the dialogue reaches some options, the Options Presenter makes a widget for each one from Option Widget Class, and adds it to Options Container. Once the player has picked, the buttons are hidden, and they’re reused for the next set of options. Leave the container empty in the Designer.

To set it up:

1. Make a Widget Blueprint for the buttons, as described in Making the option widget, and set the Options Presenter’s Option Widget Class to it in the Details panel, under Yarn Spinner > Widgets.
2. In your dialogue widget, such as the WBP_Dialogue from the Line Presenter page, add an empty Vertical Box named OptionsBox, and turn on Is Variable. To fade the options in and out, put it inside another panel, such as a Border named OptionsPanel, and turn on Is Variable for that too.
3. In the Actor’s Begin Play, after creating the widget, add Set Options Container and Set Fade Widget nodes on the YarnOptionsPresenter, and connect them to OptionsBox and OptionsPanel.

Like the Line Presenter’s widgets, Options Container and Fade Widget aren’t in the Details panel, because your widgets only exist once the game is running. In C++, set them in the same place as the Line Presenter’s widgets in ADialogueActor::BeginPlay(), before StartDialogue():

OptionsPresenter->OptionsContainer = Cast<UPanelWidget>(Widget->GetWidgetFromName(TEXT("OptionsBox")));
OptionsPresenter->FadeWidget = Widget->GetWidgetFromName(TEXT("OptionsPanel"));

UPanelWidget needs #include "Components/PanelWidget.h".

The Options Presenter hides Options Container when the dialogue starts, and shows it when options arrive, so there’s no need to hide it yourself once the dialogue is running.

Making the option widget

Each button is a Widget Blueprint whose parent class is Yarn Option Widget:

1. In the Content Browser, choose Add›User Interface›Widget Blueprint. In the dialog that opens, expand All Classes, search for Yarn Option Widget, and select it. Name it WBP_Option.
2. Open it, and in the Designer, add a Button named OptionButton, with a Text Block (Text in the Palette) named OptionText inside it.
3. Style the button and text however you like.
4. Set the Options Presenter’s Option Widget Class to WBP_Option.

The names matter. Yarn Option Widget looks for a Button named OptionButton and a Text Block named OptionText, and the Widget Blueprint doesn’t compile without them.

By default, Yarn Option Widget puts the option’s text in OptionText, turns off OptionButton when the option is unavailable, and tells the Options Presenter when the player clicks the button. The option’s text never includes the character’s name.

#pragma once

#include "CoreMinimal.h"
#include "YarnOptionsPresenter.h"
#include "HighlightOptionWidget.generated.h"

UCLASS()
class UHighlightOptionWidget : public UYarnOptionWidget
{
	GENERATED_BODY()

public:
	UPROPERTY(EditAnywhere)
	FLinearColor HighlightColor = FLinearColor(1.0f, 0.8f, 0.3f, 1.0f);

	virtual void OnOptionSelected_Implementation() override
	{
		Super::OnOptionSelected_Implementation();
		OptionText->SetColorAndOpacity(FSlateColor(HighlightColor));
	}

	virtual void OnOptionDeselected_Implementation() override
	{
		Super::OnOptionDeselected_Implementation();
		OptionText->SetColorAndOpacity(FSlateColor(FLinearColor::White));
	}
};

Picking an option

When the options appear, the first one the player can choose is highlighted. The player can:

• click an option,
• move between options with Navigate Up Key and Navigate Down Key, Up and Down by default, or W and S, and choose the highlighted one with Confirm Key, Enter by default, or Space Bar.

The highlight wraps around from the last option to the first, and skips options the player can’t choose. The keys are read from the first Player Controller, and only while the options are fully faded in. Each key setting can be any key Unreal knows, including gamepad buttons. Turn off Enable Keyboard Navigation to use only the mouse.

Use Fade Effect, under Fade, fades the options in when they appear and out once the player has picked. It’s on by default, but it only works when Fade Widget is set. Fade In Duration and Fade Out Duration set how long each fade takes, in seconds. The Line Advancer’s Option Hurry Up Key skips the fade in. See Line Advancer.

Options the player can’t choose

An option with a condition is unavailable when the condition is false. In this example, the second option is only available if $has_key is true:

Rosa: Are you here about the lighthouse?
-> Yes. I heard the lamp went out.
-> I can open the door for you. <<if $has_key>>
-> No, I'm just passing through.

By default, the Options Presenter doesn’t show unavailable options at all. Turn on Show Unavailable Options, under Behaviour, to show them as buttons that can’t be pressed.

Strikethrough Unavailable, which is on by default, wraps the text of an unavailable option in <s> and </s>. A plain Text Block shows these tags as they are, so turn Strikethrough Unavailable off unless your option widget’s Setup Option handles them.

If every option is unavailable, the Options Presenter shows nothing, logs a warning, and the dialogue carries on after the options, as if none had been picked. This happens whatever the Dialogue Runner’s Allow Option Fallthrough is set to. See Options.

Showing the last line

The Line Presenter leaves the last line on screen while options are showing. To show it somewhere else as well, such as above the options in their own panel, turn on Show Last Line, under Last Line, and give the Options Presenter a Text Block for it.

The Last Line settings appear in the Details panel, but like the other widget settings, you set them from Blueprints or C++ while the game runs:

• Last Line Text Widget is the Text Block for the last line’s text.
• Last Line Container is shown when there’s a last line to show.
• Last Line Character Name Widget is the Text Block for the speaker’s name.
• Last Line Character Name Container is hidden when the last line has no speaker.

The speaker’s name only appears in its own Text Block when you set both Last Line Character Name Widget and Last Line Character Name Container. If you don’t set Last Line Character Name Widget, the name stays at the start of the last line’s text, like Rosa: Are you here about the lighthouse?.

Shortening the last line

A long line can take up too much space above the options. Put [lastline/] in the line where you want the shortened version to start:

Rosa: I've been keeping this light for thirty years, and I've never once let it go out. [lastline/]So, will you help me fix it?
-> Yes.
-> No.

The Line Presenter shows the whole line. Above the options, the Options Presenter shows only what comes after [lastline/], with “…” in front: “…So, will you help me fix it?”

Time limits

The Options Presenter waits until the player picks an option. To give the player a limited time to choose, you need a Presenter of your own. See Building Your Own Presenter.

To show the option the player picked as a line of dialogue, turn on Run Selected Option as Line on the Dialogue Runner. See Options.

Events and functions

To build your own controls for picking options, call these functions on the Options Presenter:

Settings

The Details panel also shows the Auto Advance section every Presenter has. The Options Presenter doesn’t use it.