Yarn Spinner
If the node-based approach is nothing for you, then you can also use Yarn Spinner to write you visual novels, and then import the yarn files.
Basics
If you want to use yarn, the language used for Yarn Spinner, you can check out the docs here.
This documentation will only explain the special extras that you can use in yarn spinner to generate Visual Novel Machinery specific nodes.
Writing dialog, choices, and using variables is integrated out of the box. For all the other nodes, they can be created using commands in yarn spinner.
Commands
The following commands spawn the following Visual Novel Machinery Nodes:
Dialog Nodes
| Node | Command |
|---|---|
| Dialog Window Node | <<dialog window <should hide (true/false)> <set to automatic (true/false)> [<transition event> <DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)> <CustomTransitionName>] >> |
| Dialog Widget Show Node | <<dialog widget show <widget blueprint name (ex: W_TestWidget)> [<Wait for widget to close again (true/false)>] >> |
| Dialog Widget Hide Node | <<dialog widget hide <widget blueprint name (ex: W_TestWidget)> >> |
| Dialog Memory Get Node | <<dialog memory get <dialog id> <memory id> <variable name to save the memory value to ($<variablename>) > >> |
| Dialog Memory Set Node | <<dialog memory set <dialog id> <memory id> <variable name to save the memory value to ($<variablename>) > >> |
Character Nodes
| Node | Command |
|---|---|
| Character Show Node | <<character show <character id> <emotion id> [<character positioning> <transition event> <DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)> <CustomTransitionName>] >> |
| Character Hide Node | <<character hide <character id> [<transition event> <DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)> <CustomTransitionName>] >> |
| Character Move Node | <<character move <character id> <character positioning> [<MoveWithAnimation (true/false)] >> |
| Character Rename Node | <<character rename <character id> <new character name> > >> |
| Character Interactive Rename Node | <<character rename interactive <character id> > >> |
| Character Add Layer Node | <<character layer add <character id> <layer id> <image id> > >> |
| Character Add Layer Node | <<character layer remove <character id> <layer id> > >> |
| Character Memory Get Node | <<character memory get <character id> <memory id> <variable name to save the memory value to ($<variablename>) > >> |
| Character Memory Set Node | <<character memory set <character id> <memory id> <variable name to save the memory value to ($<variablename>) > >> |
Character 3D Nodes
| Node | Command |
|---|---|
| Character 3D Show Node | <<character3D show <character id> <emotion id> <dialog scene id> <spawn location> >> |
| Character 3D Hide Node | <<character3D hide <character id> >> |
CG Nodes
| Node | Command |
|---|---|
| CG Show Node | <<cg show <cg id> [<transition event> <DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)> <CustomTransitionName>] >> |
| CG Hide Node | <<cg hide [<transition event> <DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)> <CustomTransitionName>] >> |
| CG Add Layer Node | <<cg layer add <cg id> <layer id> <image id> > >> |
| CG Remove Layer Node | <<cg layer remove <cg id> <layer id> > >> |
Scene Background Nodes
| Node | Command |
|---|---|
| Scene Background Show Node | <<scenebackground show <scenebackground id> [<transition event> <DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)> <CustomTransitionName>] >> |
| Scene Background Hide Node | <<scenebackground hide [<transition event> <DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)> <CustomTransitionName>] >> |
| Scene Background Add Layer Node | <<scenebackground layer add <scenebackground id> <layer id> <image id> > >> |
| Scene Background Remove Layer Node | <<scenebackground layer remove <scenebackground id> <layer id> > >> |
Dialog Scene Nodes
| Node | Command |
|---|---|
| Dialog Scene Show Node | <<dialogscene show <dialog scene id> <camera name> >> |
| Dialog Scene Hide Node | <<dialogscene hide >> |
| Dialog Scene Switch Camera Node | <<dialogscene camera <dialog scene id> <camera name> [<DontWaitForTransitionToFinish (true/false)>] >> |
Audio Nodes
| Node | Command |
|---|---|
| Dialog Audio Play Background Music Node | <<audio play bgm <background music id> [<volume> <pitch> <start time> <WaitForAudioToFinish (true/false)> <IsLooping (true/false)>] >> |
| Dialog Audio Play Sound Effect Node | <<audio play sfx <sfx id> [<volume> <pitch> <start time> <WaitForAudioToFinish (true/false)>] >> |
| Dialog Audio Play Character Voice Over Node | <<audio play charactervo <character id> <voice over id> [<volume> <pitch> <start time> <WaitForAudioToFinish (true/false)>] >> |
| Dialog Audio Play Dialog Voice Over Node | <<audio play dialogvo <dialog id> <voice over id> [<volume> <pitch> <start time> <WaitForAudioToFinish (true/false)>] >> |
| Dialog Audio Stop Background Music Node | <<audio stop bgm >>> |
| Dialog Audio Stop Sound Effect Node | <<audio stop sfx >>> |
| Dialog Audio Stop Voice Over Node | <<audio stop vo >>> |
Custom commands
If you want to add custom commands you can do so by following the steps below:
- Create a blueprint from the class YarnCommandBlueprintLibrary
- Add a function to this blueprint called “MyCustomCommand”
- Add any amount of string/float/boolean variables to the input parameters. For example: (boolean test1, float test2, string test3)
- Do not add any output parameters.
- Navigate to to Project Settings -> Plugins -> VNM Yarn Settings
- Set the Yarn Command Library to your blueprint
- Use your custom command in your yarn file. Using the above example the result would be: << MyCustomCommand true 0.0 “test” >>
Functions
The yarn spinner integration supports all functions found in this documentation.
There are two exceptions: “visited” and “visited_count”.
Custom functions
If you want to add custom commands you can do so by following the steps below:
- Create a blueprint from the class YarnFunctionBlueprintLibrary
- Add a function to this blueprint called “MyCustomFunction”
- Add any amount of string/float/boolean variables to the variable inputs. For example: (boolean test1, float test2, string test3)
- You need to add one output parameter of type float called ReturnValue. The import of the yarn file will fail, if the output parameter is not called ReturnValue. Don’t add more than one output parameter.
- Navigate to to Project Settings -> Plugins -> VNM Yarn Settings
- Set the Yarn Function Library to your blueprint
- Use your custom function in your yarn file. Using the above example the result would be:
Cube: My custom function result is: {MyCustomFunction(true, 0.0, "test")}
Important Notes
You cannot jump to nodes outside of the currently imported yarn file.
You cannot at the moment use the “visited” or “visited_count” function.
You need to add all the scene backgrounds/cgs/characters/memories to the definiton data tables before importing yarn, or Visual Novel Machinery will be confused, because it can’t find the specified scene backgrounds/cgs/characters/memories in the definition data tables.