How would I pause/cancel execution of dialogue balloon/resource when I change scenes? (ex. go to Main Menu)

[bmmashat]

Hello there,

When I want to go to main menu through my pause screen, I can successfully "queue_free()" the dialogue balloon if there is a dialogue line displayed. I am simply changing scenes by queue freeing the current scene and loading the main menu scene, so that works find.

However, if I go to main menu during a sequence of executions (ex. cutscene in my dialogue resource), while the balloon is queue freed successfully (UI is gone), the dialogue manager still attempts to execute my commands and hence throws me an error because it's trying to access a function that is no longer part of the current loaded screen. How would I stop that?

Attached is an example of my current dialogue resource content. If I return to main menu, for example, while in line 34 (do Transitions.show_cutscene_text("August 9th, 1986 - International Waters", 2.0)), the game still tries to execute line 38 (do play_phone()) even though I'm no longer in the current scene, destroyed the balloon, and back to main menu.

I don't know if this is helpful, but this is the function I call to go to main menu:

func _on_return_main_menu_btn_pressed() -> void:
	var balloons = get_tree().get_nodes_in_group("dialogue_balloon")
	for balloon in balloons:
		balloon.queue_free()	

	var game_manager = get_node("/root/GameManager") as GameManager
	if game_manager:
		game_manager._load_segment(GameManager.SEGMENTS.MENU)
		print("loading AAAAAA")
	else:
		print("Error: Could not find GameManager")

	hide_pause_menu()
	get_tree().paused = false

[yudin-s]

Queue-freeing the balloon only removes the UI node. It does not cancel an already running DialogueManager.get_next_dialogue_line() call.

The example balloon calls dialogue_resource.get_next_dialogue_line(...) from start() and next(), and that method steps through mutation lines until it reaches printable dialogue or the end. The docs also say mutations are run while requesting the next line, and awaited mutations pause until they resolve. So if your line 34 mutation is still awaiting Transitions.show_cutscene_text(...), the manager can resume afterward and continue to the next do play_phone() even though the old balloon has been freed.

I would handle this as a dialogue-session cancellation problem, not just a balloon cleanup problem:

1. Use your own copied/custom balloon, not the stock example as-is.
2. Add a cancelled flag and set it in a public cancel_dialogue() method and in _exit_tree().
3. In start(), next(), and after any await inside the balloon, return immediately if cancelled or not is_inside_tree().
4. For long scene/cutscene mutations, also make the mutation itself cancellable, because a mutation that is already executing cannot be stopped by freeing the balloon.

For example, in your balloon:

var cancelled := false

func cancel_dialogue() -> void:
    cancelled = true
    queue_free()

func _exit_tree() -> void:
    cancelled = true

func start(with_dialogue_resource: DialogueResource = null, cue: String = "", extra_game_states: Array = []) -> void:
    temporary_game_states = [self] + extra_game_states
    if is_instance_valid(with_dialogue_resource):
        dialogue_resource = with_dialogue_resource
    dialogue_line = await dialogue_resource.get_next_dialogue_line(cue, temporary_game_states)
    if cancelled or not is_inside_tree():
        return
    show()

func next(next_id: String) -> void:
    if cancelled or not is_inside_tree():
        return
    dialogue_line = await dialogue_resource.get_next_dialogue_line(next_id, temporary_game_states)
    if cancelled or not is_inside_tree():
        return

Then call balloon.cancel_dialogue() instead of only queue_free().

For the specific do Transitions.show_cutscene_text(..., 2.0) case, I would also make Transitions know that the game moved back to the menu. For example, store a dialogue_session_id or cutscene_cancelled flag in GameManager/Transitions, set it before loading the menu, and have show_cutscene_text() return early after its timer if the session changed. That prevents the already-running mutation from continuing into scene-specific commands.

The important rule is: any do command that touches the current scene should either be called on an object that is still valid, or go through an autoload that checks the current segment/session before acting. The balloon UI node is not a cancellation token by itself.

If that explains why line 38 still runs after the menu switch, please mark this as answered so others know to cancel the dialogue session, not only free the balloon.

[bmmashat]

Thank you @yudin-s for your thorough explanation! I appreciate the details and have a better understanding now. I like the suggestion of editing the balloon.gd instead of dialoguemanger.gd. I added so many functions to extend both balloon.gd and dialoguemanger.gd and now I'm afraid of upgrading the plug in and losing everything haha. (I'm using 3.7.1).