Script the conversation target

Move the conversation to a specific character from a script, and choose which character a room opens on when it connects.

Move the conversation to a specific character from a script with ConvaiManager.TalkTo, or choose which character a room opens on with ConvaiManager.SetInitialCharacter. Use this page when a dialogue menu, a quest step, or a trigger volume needs to decide who the player is addressing, rather than the player's view or position.

Prerequisites

• Two or more ConvaiCharacter components registered in the scene
• A reference to the active ConvaiManager

Point the conversation at a character

TalkTo is the verb for a scripted conversation change. Call it at any time — it does nothing when the room is not a multi-character room or the character is not in it.

ConvaiManager manager = ConvaiManager.ActiveManager;
manager.TalkTo(questGiver);

TalkTo works under any targeting mode, including LookAt and Proximity — it does not require Manual. Under an automatic mode, the next evaluation can move the conversation again once the player looks elsewhere or moves. Choose Manual when nothing but scripted calls should ever move the target.

If the player is mid-sentence when TalkTo is called, the request is held until that utterance ends, so a call made while the player is speaking does not split their sentence across two characters.

Choose which character a room opens on

SetInitialCharacter chooses which character speaks first when the room connects — a different job from TalkTo. It is setup, not steering: it decides where a conversation starts, and calling it on an already-connected room queues a reconnect rather than moving the current conversation. Leaving it unset is normal — the first character in scene order takes the first turn.

manager.SetInitialCharacter(receptionist);

SetInitialCharacter only decides who takes the first turn. Under LookAt and Proximity, the conversation is re-evaluated from the moment the room is ready and moves off this character as soon as another one scores better. To move the conversation in a live room, call TalkTo, not SetInitialCharacter.

Read the current target

ConvaiCharacter target = manager.ConversationTarget;
ConversationTargetSwitchVerdict why = manager.ConversationTargetingStatus;

ConversationTargetingStatus names the reason the last targeting decision went the way it did — useful for telling a held target apart from a stuck one, since from the outside they look identical.

Subscribe to targeting events

manager.ConversationTargetRequested += character => ShowHint(character);
manager.ConversationTargetChanged   += character => Confirm(character);

ConversationTargetRequested fires after the SDK closes player input and immediately before it attempts to send the target change; the send can still fail. ConversationTargetChanged fires when an authoritative response from Convai reconciles the route — a round trip later. Anything Convai does as a consequence of the move, including ending the previous character's turn, happens between the two events.

One character speaks at a time

Calling TalkTo ends the previous character's turn immediately, even mid-sentence — see One character speaks at a time for the full rule and how to avoid cutting off a scripted line.

Verify the change

Call TalkTo in Play mode and confirm the conversation moves to the specified character — the character's audio and lip sync should start on the next response, and ConversationTarget should return that character.

Next steps

Write a custom targeting ruleConversation targeting reference