UE5 Plugin Changelog

What's New

Bug Fixes

• Editor crash when a synced asset cannot be saved: a single .uasset that could not be written (checked into revision control and still read-only, or with its permissions stripped) took down the whole editor on every sync, reported from Linux as a crash inside UPackage::Save with Error saving '.../Characters/characters_leonardo.uasset'. The plugin was leaving the engine’s default save error device in place, and that device raises on any failure before the plugin’s own error handling could run. A failed save is now reported by name and skipped while the rest of the import continues, and the log names the actual remedy: a read-only target asks you to clear the read-only flag or check the file out of revision control, anything else points at file permissions and free disk space
• Dialogues missing from packaged builds: script assets took their package path straight from your StoryFlow file and folder names, so any name containing a character Unreal does not allow in package names (a space, an apostrophe, a dot) produced assets the loader and cooker can never resolve. The editor and Play In Editor kept working from the in-memory packages while every dialogue silently dropped out of the packaged game, sync logged Ensure condition failed: ConvertedToPath, and a name containing a dot could hard-crash the editor in the asset registry during import. Script names and each subfolder segment are now sanitized, with a stable suffix so distinct sources cannot collide (act 1 stays separate from act_1), and a warning names the offending script and the path it imported as. Names that are already valid pass through unchanged, so a clean project gets no duplicate assets on re-import, and runtime lookups still key off the raw relative path. If a project already synced under a broken name, delete the assets it produced (the Content/StoryFlow folder in a default setup) and sync again: the fix creates the correct assets but does not remove the old unusable ones
• Downloads that would not extract on Linux or macOS: the release archives were built with a tool that writes Windows path separators inside zip entries. Windows extractors tolerate that, but Linux and Mac extractors treat the backslash as part of the file name, so the archive unpacked into a garbage tree and Unreal reported Failed to open descriptor file '...StoryFlowPlugin\StoryFlowPlugin.uplugin'. Archives are now written with spec-compliant forward slashes, every engine package is checked for stray separators and for the descriptor at its expected path before it is uploaded, and a release step then extracts a published zip on real Linux to confirm it lands where Unreal looks for it
• Global and character image and audio variables falling back to defaults: a global Image variable wired into a Set Character Variable node showed the character’s default portrait at runtime even though the editor preview was correct. The import read only the variables and strings from global-variables.json and never its assets section, so the asset key was never registered in the project’s resolved asset pool, which is the runtime’s final fallback for images and audio. Custom image and audio character variables and character map values had the same gap in characters.json, where only the single portrait was imported. Both files’ asset sections are now imported into that pool, which is also what makes global and character audio resolve
• runScript map parameters arriving empty: a map wired into a runScript node’s map parameter reached the called script empty, while scalar parameters, array parameters and direct global map reads all worked. The importer dropped the parameter’s key and value types, so the runtime rebuilt the wrong input handle name and never matched the wired edge. Key and value types are now carried on the parameter and the handle is rebuilt the way the editor wires it

New Features

• Dialogue tag events: a dialogue node tagged in StoryFlow editor 1.6.0 or newer now raises OnDialogueTagReached(Tag) on the component, once per tag in authored order, immediately after OnDialogueUpdated, matching the editor’s On Dialogue Tag Reached semantics. Tags fire only when a node is entered through an edge, so returning from a Set node, resuming and live variable re-interpolation never re-fire them, while revisiting the node later does. The current line’s tags are also on FStoryFlowDialogueState and readable at any time through GetCurrentDialogueTags(). Untagged nodes and scripts exported by older editor versions behave exactly as before
• Access to the dialogue widget: GetDialogueWidget() returns the widget the component created from DialogueWidgetClass, and the new OnDialogueWidgetCreated(Widget) event fires once that widget has been created, initialized and placed, before OnDialogueStarted, so you can parent it before the first content event arrives. The getter is valid from that event until dialogue end, and every dialogue creates a fresh widget, so ask again rather than caching one across dialogues
• bAutoAddWidgetToViewport: a new component setting that decides who places the dialogue widget. It defaults to true, which is exactly the previous behavior: the component adds the widget to the viewport when dialogue starts and removes it when dialogue ends. Turn it off and the component only creates and initializes the widget before handing it over, so it can live in your HUD, a widget stack or a 3D widget component, with OnDialogueEnded as your cue to tear it down. Two things to know in that mode: the component’s reference is the only one it keeps, so a widget it lets go of is garbage collected unless you parented it or hold your own reference, and a dialogue that restarts while an earlier widget still exists broadcasts no OnDialogueEnded, so the cue there is OnDialogueWidgetCreated arriving with a different widget
• DetachFromComponent on the dialogue widget: unsubscribes a widget from its component’s events and forgets the component. With the game owning placement, the component calls it on every widget it lets go of, so a widget in the middle of a fade out is not driven by the next dialogue: without it that widget would still receive the next OnDialogueStarted, replay its show animation and repaint itself with the new lines. After detaching, GetStoryFlowComponent returns null and the widget helpers routed through it (SelectOption, AdvanceDialogue, GetCurrentDialogueState) do nothing, so a fade out that still talks to the component needs your own reference. Call InitializeWithComponent again to reattach

Improvements

• Sync only rewrites what changed: every sync used to rewrite every script, character and project asset even when nothing had changed, so one unwritable file anywhere failed the whole sync. Each asset now records a hash of the source it was imported from and skips the disk write when that source is unchanged and the asset file is still on disk. A steady state sync writes nothing at all and a real story edit writes only the assets it touched. The hash is recorded only after a successful save, so a save that failed (or was deferred because you were in Play In Editor) retries on the next sync
• Synced assets are checked out of revision control: sync wrote packages directly, so in a Perforce workspace every checked-in StoryFlow asset failed to save on every sync, because those files stay read-only until they are checked out. The importer now checks a tracked file out before overwriting it and marks newly created files for add, so a sync lands in your pending changelist as exactly the assets the story edit touched, ready to review and submit. A file it cannot check out (exclusively checked out by a teammate, for example) is reported by name with the reason while the rest of the import continues, and a newly written file that revision control already tracks warns that your workspace is out of date. Projects with no provider enabled are unaffected: every one of these calls is a success no-op
• First sync after upgrading rewrites every asset once: assets imported by earlier versions carry no import hash, so the first sync after installing 1.2.2 rewrites every script, character and project asset once. Under revision control that first sync checks out the whole StoryFlow folder, which is expected. Every sync after it touches only what actually changed

What's New

New Features

• Typed map get/set API: read and write map variables from Blueprint or C++ as a native TMap without touching FStoryFlowVariant. Eight typed getters cover the supported key and value combinations: GetStringToBoolMap, GetStringToIntMap, GetStringToFloatMap, GetStringToStringMap and the integer-key GetIntToBoolMap, GetIntToIntMap, GetIntToFloatMap, GetIntToStringMap, each returning a populated TMap. The StringTo* getters accept both string-keyed and enum-keyed maps. *ToStringMap returns the string-family value types, resolving string and enum values through the string table for localized text and returning image, audio and character values as raw asset keys
• Typed map setters: SetStringToBoolMap, SetStringToIntMap, SetStringToFloatMap, SetStringToStringMap and the matching SetIntTo*Map functions write a whole TMap into a map variable. Writes fire OnVariableChanged and live-refresh the active dialogue. A type mismatch logs a warning and leaves the variable untouched
• GetMapKeysInOrder: returns a map variable’s keys as a TArray<FString> in the order the editor serialized them. Because TMap is unordered, this is the way to iterate a map’s entries deterministically. Integer keys are returned stringified
• Typed array getters: GetBoolArrayVariable, GetIntArrayVariable, GetFloatArrayVariable, GetStringArrayVariable, GetEnumArrayVariable, GetImageArrayVariable and GetAudioArrayVariable unpack an array variable into a plain Blueprint array of the matching type, so reading array values no longer means unwrapping each FStoryFlowVariant by hand. String and enum elements resolve through the string table while image and audio elements stay raw
• Unreal Engine 5.8 support: the plugin now builds against UE 5.8 and ships a 5.8 package, covering Unreal Engine 5.3 through 5.8

What's New

New Features

• Map variables: full runtime support for the editor’s map variable type. getMap, setMap, getMapValue, setMapValue, hasMapKey, mapSize, mapKeys, mapValues, removeMapKey and clearMap are all handled, with entry order preserved exactly as the editor serializes it so key and value listings iterate like the HTML runtime
• forEachMap loops: iterate a map with the current entry snapshotted per iteration and both the key and the value exposed as loop outputs for the body
• setMap aliases live map storage like the HTML runtime, so after assigning one map variable to another both observe the same mutations; asset to runtime copy boundaries detach the storage so script data is never modified
• runScript input parameters and output returns now carry map values across script boundaries
• Added GetMapVariable on UStoryFlowComponent, returning a map variable as parallel Keys and Values arrays of FStoryFlowVariant with string and enum values resolved through the string table for localized text while keys stay raw identifiers
• Added the typed Set*ArrayVariable Blueprint functions (SetBoolArrayVariable, SetIntArrayVariable, SetFloatArrayVariable, SetStringArrayVariable, SetEnumArrayVariable, SetImageArrayVariable, SetAudioArrayVariable and SetCharacterArrayVariable) so game code can write array variables, mirroring the Unity plugin’s API; writes fire OnVariableChanged and live-refresh the active dialogue like the scalar setters
• Added modulo and moduloFloat math nodes
• Map variables persist through save games and map string values resolve through the strings table like scalar strings

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bool array elements reading false inside their own forEach loop body (e.g. wired into a branch condition) caused by the boolean chain processor wiping the loop’s live element cache and replacing it with a stale default
• Fixed ResetVariables leaving raw string-table keys (like var_3_value) in string variables instead of localized text
• Fixed setArrayElement nodes reading their inline index and value from the wrong exported data fields, which broke set-element operations without wired inputs
• Fixed float reads returning the default for whole-number inline values, so a value of 2 now reads as 2.0 instead of 0
• Fixed IntToEnum and StringToEnum conversions always evaluating to an empty string; enum value lists are now kept on import and resolved from the downstream node like the HTML runtime
• Fixed Set* nodes returning the type default instead of the variable they set when used as a value source for downstream nodes
• Fixed setCharacterVar destroying array character variables on first write; array writes now evaluate the wired array input instead of coercing the array to a scalar
• Fixed input handle matching where a scalar suffix could swallow its array sibling, breaking arrayContains and findIn needles and getArrayElement indexes
• Fixed setArrayElement and addTo* nodes never resolving wired image, audio and character values due to handle names not matching the editor’s exported numbered handles

Improvements

• Execution trace output now matches the shapes emitted by the other runtimes for cross-runtime comparison, and a map trace fixture package was added under TestContent
• Added the plugin’s first automation test suites: StoryFlow.EnumConversions (6 tests) and StoryFlow.ArrayVariables (5 tests) drive the real component, subsystem and globals path through a standalone GameInstance

What's New

New Features

• Character runtime APIs — GetCharacter, GetCharacterArrayVariable, GetCharacterVariableNames and GetCharacterPortrait are now exposed on UStoryFlowComponent so game code can drive multi-character UIs without reaching into private runtime state
• OnCharacterVariableChanged delegate — Blueprint-assignable multicast that fires after a setCharacterVar node mutates Name, Image or a custom variable, with (CharacterPath, VariableName, Value) parameters; lets non-speaker portraits and HUDs react to live mutations
• Added GetArrayVariable on UStoryFlowComponent — returns any array variable as TArray<FStoryFlowVariant> with string and enum elements routed through the string table for localized text; image, audio and character elements pass through as raw keys
• GetCharacterPortrait(CharacterPath, AssetKey) walks the standard character → script → project asset pools and falls back to the cached cross-script texture, mirroring the resolution path used by BuildDialogueState; pass an empty AssetKey to use the character’s current Image field (which reflects runtime setCharacterVar("Image", ...) changes)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed FStoryFlowVariable, FStoryFlowNode, FStoryFlowDialogueState and related struct fields not appearing in the Details panel for Blueprint variable instances — fields are now marked VisibleAnywhere so authored values and runtime state can be inspected in-editor

Improvements

• GetStringVariable now resolves the stored value through the string table before returning, matching the Unity plugin and giving Blueprint callers localized text instead of raw string keys — callers that relied on the raw key will need to look it up directly on the variant
• Evaluator chains (EvaluateBooleanFromNode, EvaluateIntegerFromNode, EvaluateFloatFromNode, EvaluateStringFromNode and the shared array evaluator) now log a one-shot warning per node when they encounter a source node of an unsupported type instead of silently returning the type’s default value — surfaces scripts that use node types from a newer editor version
• The ProcessNode “unhandled node type” warning now reports the node id alongside the type string for easier diagnosis

What's New

New Features

• Data-only sync support — when the StoryFlow Editor syncs with “Data Only” enabled, the plugin reuses previously imported assets from the Unreal project instead of requiring source files in the build directory, enabling fast script-only iteration without re-copying images and audio
• Added WBP_Dialogue_Portrait example widget with the character portrait displayed as a large image anchored to bottom center of the screen, separate from the dialogue panel
• Imported textures are now automatically configured for UI usage: UserInterface2D compression, no mipmaps, UI texture group, and sRGB enabled — prevents blurry images in UMG widgets

Bug Fixes

• Fixed PlayAudio not resolving audio assets from character or project resolved assets
• Fixed SetBackgroundImage not resolving image assets through evaluation chains
• Fixed SetCharacterVar with Image type not evaluating connected node chains for the value
• Fixed character images not resolving when referenced across script boundaries (e.g. via RunScript)
• Fixed media variable evaluation (GetImage, GetAudio) not checking all asset resolution sources
• Fixed RunScript output parameters not passing return values back to the calling script
• Fixed array Push, Pop, RemoveAt, and Insert operations not correctly modifying the source array
• Fixed execution tracing for cross-runtime debugging

Improvements

• Added execution trace logging ([SF-TRACE] prefix) for node processing, edge traversal, variable changes, and script calls — matches the trace format used by the Godot and Unity plugins for cross-runtime comparison

What's New

New Features

• Added typed character variable Blueprint functions (GetCharacterBoolVariable, SetCharacterBoolVariable, GetCharacterIntVariable, etc.) that accept a UStoryFlowCharacterAsset reference instead of a string path — enables native Unreal asset picker in Blueprint for selecting characters
• Character Name field now properly resolves through the string table, returning the localized display name instead of the raw string key

Bug Fixes

• Fixed all variable getter/setter Blueprint functions (GetBoolVariable, SetBoolVariable, GetIntVariable, etc.) failing with “Variable not found” warning when called outside of active dialogue (e.g., from BeginPlay) — global variables now fall back to the subsystem’s runtime state when the execution context isn’t initialized
• Fixed character variable access (GetCharacterVariable, SetCharacterVariable) also failing outside of active dialogue — same subsystem fallback applied
• Fixed GetLocalizedString not resolving string keys when called outside of active dialogue
• Fixed character variables being keyed by internal ID instead of display name in the importer, causing runtime lookups by name to fail
• Fixed GetCharacterVar nodes not working as array sources for forEach loops
• Fixed forEach loops not clearing boolean evaluation caches between iterations, causing stale results from previous iterations to carry over
• Fixed forEach loop context being pushed once at initialization instead of per-iteration, which broke nested loop tracking and the loop index
• Fixed defensive NodeId checks on loop stack pop operations to prevent popping the wrong loop context in nested forEach scenarios
• Fixed ProcessBooleanChain default case not clearing cached output before re-evaluation, causing stale boolean values when the same node was evaluated multiple times

Improvements

• Legacy character variable functions (GetCharacterVariable, SetCharacterVariable) moved to “Character (Legacy)” Blueprint category — still functional but new typed versions are recommended
• Updated example WBP_Dialogue widget to auto-advance dialogue after a short delay for narrative-only nodes

What's New

Bug Fixes

• Fixed text blocks in dialogue nodes ignoring their visibility conditions — text blocks with conditions were always shown regardless of whether their condition evaluated to true or false; they now use the same visibility evaluation as dialogue options

What's New

Bug Fixes

• Fixed connected node inputs not being found when evaluating data edges (e.g. a SET node receiving a value from a RANDOM or GET node) - the editor exports handles with numbered suffixes that the runtime now matches via prefix fallback

What's New

New Features

• 3D Audio Support: Optional bUse3DAudio toggle that switches dialogue audio from 2D to attached 3D sound on the owning actor, with DialogueAttenuation property for controlling falloff
• Overridable Audio Functions: PlayDialogueAudio and StopDialogueAudio are now BlueprintNativeEvent for custom audio system overrides
• Audio Advance-on-End: Dialogue nodes with audioAdvanceOnEnd auto-advance when audio finishes playing, with audioAllowSkip to let players skip early
• GetCharacterVar in Evaluators: GetCharacterVar nodes can now be evaluated in boolean, integer, float, and string contexts with dynamic character input resolution

What's New

Improvements

• Multi-Version Build System: New build script for compiling the plugin against UE 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, and 5.7 in a single run
• Improved API Documentation: Updated variable API comments and type annotations to reflect the name-based lookup introduced in v1.0.2

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Build Script: Resolved issues with the automated build pipeline that could cause packaging failures on certain configurations
• Fixed Variable Lookup Edge Case: Corrected a rare issue where stale variable name indices could return incorrect values after rapid script switching

What's New

Improvements

• Name-Based Variable API: Get/Set variable functions on StoryFlowComponent, ProjectAsset, and ScriptAsset now accept variable display names instead of internal UUIDs, with O(1) name-to-ID index lookup

What's New

Improvements

• OnVariableChanged Delegate: Now passes the full FStoryFlowVariable struct instead of raw VariableId and FStoryFlowVariant, giving Blueprint users Variable.Name, Variable.Type, and Variable.Value from a single output pin

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Live Sync Crash: Assets are now updated in-place instead of deleted and recreated during sync, preventing UObjectArray refcount assertion crashes
• Fixed Concurrent Import: Added import guard to prevent overlapping imports from rapid WebSocket messages

What's New

New Features

• Full Runtime Engine: Complete execution engine with full node type coverage and O(1) edge lookups
• StoryFlow Component: Actor component for running dialogues with full Blueprint and C++ API
• Variable System: Boolean, integer, float, string, enum, image, audio, and character types
• Array Operations: Full array support with ForEach loops across all variable types
• Text Interpolation: Live variable interpolation with {varname} and {Character.Name} syntax
• RunScript Interface: Parameter passing, output extraction, and exit route routing for called scripts
• Random Branch Node: Weighted random path selection with dynamic integer weight evaluation
• Character System: Per-asset character DataAssets with GetCharacterVar/SetCharacterVar and built-in Name/Image fields
• Audio Playback: Dialogue audio with SoundClass, volume controls, loop, reset, and MP3-to-WAV auto-conversion
• Save & Load: Slot-based persistence for global variables, runtime characters, and once-only option tracking
• Click-to-Advance: AdvanceDialogue() for narrative dialogue nodes with no options
• Built-in Dialogue UI: Default widget with auto-fallback when no custom UI is assigned
• JSON Importer: Import preserving folder structure with Textures/Audio/Data asset organization
• Live Sync: WebSocket client with PIE-safe sync guard to prevent asset replacement crashes
• Toolbar Integration: StoryFlow toolbar in Blueprint, Widget, Animation BP, and Behavior Tree editors
• Localization: String variable values and inline strings resolved through string tables at runtime