6.2 Dispatchers of the Manager Component

Manager Events (Dispatchers)

The Manager Component provides Blueprint Assignable Delegates to react to the overall state of the Dialog System.

OnDialogStarted

Description:
This event fires when a dialog session has successfully started. It is primarily used to switch the Input Mode to UI Only or Game and UI, and to show the mouse cursor.

This Dispatcher has no output variables.

OnDialogFinished

Description:
This event fires when the active dialog session has concluded. It is primarily used to switch the Input Mode back to Game Only, hide the mouse cursor, and restore normal gameplay controls.

This Dispatcher has no output variables.

Manager Component Events

The BDC_DialogBackend_ManagerComponent provides two high-level Event Dispatchers (Delegates).
Unlike the Actor Component, which fires only for specific participants, these events fire whenever any dialog begins or ends in the game world.
This makes them ideal for handling global game states.

Event	Description
OnDialogStarted	Fires immediately when the Dialog Subsystem begins a new dialog sequence.
OnDialogFinished	Fires when the active dialog sequence ends (naturally or cancelled).

---

OnDialogStarted & OnDialogFinished

These events are primarily used on your Player Controller or HUD classes to manage how the player interacts with the game while reading text.

Use Cases

1. Input Management

This is the most common use case. When a dialog starts, you usually want to stop the player from walking away or shooting.

• On Started:
  • Call SetInputModeUIOnly (focusing the Dialog Widget).
  • Disable movement inputs on the Player Character.
  • Show the Mouse Cursor.
• On Finished:
  • Call SetInputModeGameOnly.
  • Re-enable movement inputs.
  • Hide the Mouse Cursor.

2. HUD & UI Cleanup

To keep the screen clean for reading, you might want to hide combat-related UI elements.

• On Started:
  • Hide the "Health Bar", "Minimap", "Quest Tracker", and "Crosshair" widgets.
  • Play a subtle "UI Slide Out" animation.
• On Finished:
  • Show the HUD elements again.
  • Play a "UI Slide In" animation.

3. Global Audio States

Enhance the atmosphere by focusing audio on the conversation.

• On Started:
  • Push a "Dialog" Sound Mix that lowers the volume of "Ambient" and "Music" classes (Ducking).
• On Finished:
  • Pop the Sound Mix to restore normal audio levels.

4. Camera Behavior

If you have a dynamic camera system, the Manager Component is the place to trigger global camera modes.

• On Started:
  • Enable "Depth of Field" (Blur background).
  • Switch Camera logic to "Dialog Mode" (framing speakers).
• On Finished:
  • Reset Camera to "Gameplay Mode".
  • Disable Depth of Field.