Stopping player's movement upon clicking dialogue - Unity

Question

I have a problem where when I click the dialogue while passing through an NPC or while moving, the character will continue moving in the direction of the joystick before it is set active to false.

I have tried setting the horizontal and vertical input to zero and even the movement direction which is the calculated horizontal and vertical input, but the character still moves in the last direction it was moving. I'm not sure if the if statement that I created is correct but that was the idea that came to mind.

This is the script for the movement of the player:

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;

public class PlayerMovement : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private GameObject interactButton;
    public float speed, rotationSpeed, ySpeed, originalStepOffset;
    public Joystick joystick;

    private Animator animator;
    private CharacterController characterController;

    void Start()
    {
        animator = GetComponent<Animator>();
        characterController = GetComponent<CharacterController>();
        originalStepOffset = characterController.stepOffset;
    }

    // Update is called once per frame
    void FixedUpdate()
    {
        float horizontalInput = joystick.Horizontal;
        float verticalInput = joystick.Vertical;

        Vector3 movementDirection = new Vector3(horizontalInput, 0, verticalInput);
        movementDirection = Quaternion.Euler(0, 45f, 0) * movementDirection;
        float magnitude = Mathf.Clamp01(movementDirection.magnitude) * speed;
        movementDirection.Normalize();

        ySpeed += Physics.gravity.y * Time.deltaTime;

        if(characterController.isGrounded)
        {
            characterController.stepOffset = originalStepOffset;
            ySpeed = -0.5f;
        }
        else
        {
            characterController.stepOffset = 0;
        }

        Vector3 velocity = movementDirection * magnitude;
        velocity = AdjustVelocityToSlope(velocity);
        velocity.y += ySpeed;
        //transform.Translate(movementDirection * speed * Time.deltaTime, Space.World);
        characterController.Move(velocity * Time.deltaTime);

        if (movementDirection != Vector3.zero)
        {
            if(EventSystem.current.currentSelectedGameObject != null)
            {
                if (EventSystem.current.currentSelectedGameObject.name == "InteractButton")
                {
                    horizontalInput = 0f;
                    verticalInput = 0f;
                    movementDirection = Vector3.zero;
                    animator.SetBool("IsMoving", false);
                }
                else
                {
                    //transform.forward = movementDirection;
                    animator.SetBool("IsMoving", true);
                    Quaternion toRotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(movementDirection, Vector3.up);
                    transform.rotation = Quaternion.RotateTowards(transform.rotation, toRotation, rotationSpeed * Time.deltaTime);
                }
            }else
            {
                animator.SetBool("IsMoving", true);
                Quaternion toRotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(movementDirection, Vector3.up);
                transform.rotation = Quaternion.RotateTowards(transform.rotation, toRotation, rotationSpeed * Time.deltaTime);
            }
        } else
        {
            animator.SetBool("IsMoving", false);
        }
    }

    private Vector3 AdjustVelocityToSlope(Vector3 velocity)
    {
        var ray = new Ray(transform.position, Vector3.down);

        if(Physics.Raycast(ray, out RaycastHit hitInfo, 0.2f))
        {
            var slopeRotation = Quaternion.FromToRotation(Vector3.up, hitInfo.normal);
            var adjustedVelocity = slopeRotation * velocity;

            if(adjustedVelocity.y < 0)
            {
                return adjustedVelocity;
            }
        }

        return velocity;
    }
}

The function that will make the button to set active to true and add its onclick listeners is a trigger enter function and a trigger exit for setting it active to false and removing the onclick listeners. It is attached to multiple NPC whenever I go near them, the button will appear. In case someone needs to see the script for the button here it is, but I'm gonna paste only until the related part:

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Drawing;
using TMPro;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;
using UnityEngine.UI;

[System.Serializable]
public class DialogueManager : MonoBehaviour
{
    /*
    // NPC INTERACTION
    private static DialogueManager buttonOwner;
    private Camera mainCamera;
    */

    // NPC DATA
    private Character characterJson;

    // FOR DIALOG FLOW
    private int multiDialogCycle;
    public static int dialogId;
    // GAME OBJECTS REFERENCE
    [SerializeField] private GameObject dialogBox, addPanel, m1, id, darkPanel;
    [SerializeField] private Button nameBtn, choiceOneBtn, choiceTwoBtn;
    [SerializeField] private TextMeshProUGUI npcName, choiceOne, choiceTwo, dialogName, dialogMessage, addedText;
    [SerializeField] private TextAsset characterData;

    // FOR MULTIPLE DIALOGUES WITHOUT CHOICES
    private bool clickEnable;
    private string[] multiDialog;

    // CHOICES STORAGE
    private static Choice[] choices = new Choice[2];

    //private TryInstantiate tryInstantiate = new TryInstantiate();
    private GameData gameData;

    private void Start()
    {

        // LOAD NPC DATA
        characterJson = JsonUtility.FromJson<Character>(characterData.text);
        
        // SET DEFAULT VALUE
        //dialogId = 0;
        multiDialogCycle = 0;
        clickEnable = false;

        // SET SCRIPTABLE OBJECT FOR DATA STORAGE
        gameData = Resources.Load<GameData>("GameData/GameData");
    }

    private void Update()
    {
        if(nameBtn.gameObject.activeInHierarchy)
        {
            if(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.Space))
            {
                EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject(nameBtn.gameObject);
            }
        }

        // FOR ENDING DIALOGUES WITHOUT CHOICES
        if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0) && clickEnable == true)
        {
            if (multiDialog.Length > 1 )
            {
                if(getDialog(dialogId).choices.Length == 0 && multiDialogCycle == multiDialog.Length - 1)
                {
                    addArticles();
                    addObjectives();
                    addClues();
                    closeDialog();
                    Debug.Log(getDialog(dialogId).minigame);
                }
                else
                {
                    if(getDialog(dialogId).minigame != "" && multiDialogCycle < multiDialog.Length - 1)
                    {
                        if(!gameData.idShown)
                        {
                            darkPanel.SetActive(true);
                            id.SetActive(true);
                        }
                    }else
                    {
                        multiDialogCycle++;
                        loadCharacterData();
                    }
                }
            }
            else
            {
                if (getDialog(dialogId).minigame != "")
                {
                    if(getDialog(dialogId).minigame == "spot_object")
                    {
                        m1.SetActive(true);
                    }
                    dialogBox.SetActive(false);
                    gameData.dialogActive  = false;
                }
                else
                {
                    addArticles();
                    addObjectives();
                    addClues();
                    closeDialog();
                }
            }
        }

        if(gameData.idShown)
        {
            multiDialogCycle++;
            loadCharacterData();
            gameData.idShown = false;
        }

        if (gameData.dialogActive && dialogId != 0 && getDialog(dialogId).minigame != "" && !gameData.loadedData)
        {
            updateID();
            loadCharacterData();
        }
        
        // FOR NPC NAMES
        /*
        if (buttonOwner != this) return;

        if (!mainCamera) mainCamera = Camera.main;
        var position = mainCamera.WorldToScreenPoint(head.position + offset);

        //uiUse.transform.position = position;
        nameBtn.transform.position = position;
        */
    }

    private void OnTriggerEnter(Collider collisionInfo)
    {
        if (collisionInfo.CompareTag("Player"))
        {
            nameBtn.gameObject.SetActive(true);
            nameBtn.GetComponent<Image>().sprite = Resources.Load<Sprite>("InteractionAsset/DIALOGUE");
            nameBtn.transform.GetChild(0).GetComponent<TextMeshProUGUI>().color = new Color32(75,75,75,255);

            //buttonOwner = this;

            nameBtn.onClick.RemoveListener(onNameClick);
            nameBtn.onClick.AddListener(onNameClick);

            choiceOneBtn.onClick.RemoveListener(onChoiceClick);
            choiceOneBtn.onClick.AddListener(onChoiceClick);

            choiceTwoBtn.onClick.RemoveListener(onChoiceClick);
            choiceTwoBtn.onClick.AddListener(onChoiceClick);

            npcName.text = characterJson.name;
        }
    }

    private void OnTriggerExit(Collider collisionInfo)
    {
        if (collisionInfo.CompareTag("Player"))
        {
            nameBtn.onClick.RemoveListener(onNameClick);

            choiceOneBtn.onClick.RemoveListener(onChoiceClick);
            choiceTwoBtn.onClick.RemoveListener(onChoiceClick);

            nameBtn.gameObject.SetActive(false);

            //buttonOwner = null;
        }
    }

    // DIALOGUE SYSTEM
    public void onNameClick()
    {
        nameBtn.gameObject.SetActive(false);
        dialogBox.SetActive(true);
        gameData.dialogActive  = true;
        FindObjectOfType<AudioManager>().Play("ButtonSound");
        if (dialogBox.activeInHierarchy)
        {
            if (dialogMessage != null && dialogName != null)
            {
                loadCharacterData();
                interactedNPC();
            }
            else
            {
                // Debug.Log("null dialog message");
            }
        }
    }
    public void updateID()
    {
        if (gameData.win && !gameData.loadedData)
        {
            dialogId = gameData.targetId_1;
            gameData.loadedData = true;
        }
        else if (!gameData.win && !gameData.loadedData)
        {
            dialogId = gameData.targetId_2;
            gameData.loadedData = true;
        }
    }

How can I atleast reset the Joystick's position. I am currently using the Joystick Pack from Unity Asset Store.

Try `characterController.Move(new Vector3(0, 0, 0));`, if that doesn't work, validate your comparison statement to ensure that `EventSystem.current.currentSelectedGameObject.name` does match "InteractButton" — Juris, Dec 07 '22 at 12:01

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 07 '22 at 13:13

As I understood you dialogue window is modal. Depending on your needs you can stop the internal increment of time progression with

Time.timeScale = 0f;

But this will stop e.g. (UI) animations and the proper function of the event system, so some people use

Time.timeScale = 0.0001f;

This has the drawback that the gameplay continues slowly and our player hero could be hit by a very slow rocket while the user was resting in a pause screen.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 07 '22 at 14:18

I for one would start the Conversation flow from the dialogue step. Once the dialog starts, you can either set a bool or any other type of property (even a referenced object such as the dialogue itself or the NPC that it's chatting to, but a bool is simpler) that would be a marker. Simply put: public bool IsTalking;. This could be in PlayerMovement or the main Player-like component (or SO) which you can access from PlayerMovement via GameObject or a different public variable.

Next, once the dialogue mechanism starts, you can set the marker (such as the bool or NPC ref) in the Player-like component or PlayerMovement to true, false when the chatting stops.

Then in PlayerMovement.FixedUpdate() you can just stop code execution:

// Update is called once per frame
void FixedUpdate()
{
    // or if (Player.IsTalking == true) if you want the marker there, 
    // but you can have it inside PlayerMovement if you wish as long as   
    // you can reference it without overhead - meaning don't do crazy 
    // stuff like searching all game objects/components for PlayerMovement)
    if (IsTalking == true)
    {
         if (characterController != null)
             characterController.Move(Vector3.zero);
         if (animator != null)
             animator.SetBool("IsMoving", false);
         return;
    }

    // everything starts executing once the player stops talking to NPCs
    float horizontalInput = joystick.Horizontal;
    float verticalInput = joystick.Vertical;

    Vector3 movementDirection = new Vector3(horizontalInput, 0, verticalInput);
    movementDirection = Quaternion.Euler(0, 45f, 0) * movementDirection;
    float magnitude = Mathf.Clamp01(movementDirection.

This works for me. But when the dialogue disappears, the joystick is still at the direction it was pointing in. So the character will move after the conversation. I am currently using the Joystick asset or package. any tips on how to avoid that? — Ledjoric Libiran, Dec 09 '22 at 19:34
I haven't used that asset pack yet. I recommend you use the debugger to track what sets that while the dialogue is open (and then closed). — TheNomad, Dec 09 '22 at 20:34

Stopping player's movement upon clicking dialogue - Unity

2 Answers2