Troubleshoot conversation targeting

Fix a conversation target that will not switch, flickers between characters, or never moves in a Convai multi-character room.

Diagnose why conversation targeting is not choosing the character you expect in a multi-character room. Each entry below covers one symptom you can observe in Play mode.

Before you start

• Select ConvaiManager in the Inspector during Play mode and open the Live section. It names the character currently addressed, whether the player can talk to them, and the verdict behind the last targeting decision.
• Open Convai → Troubleshooter for a one-shot report covering targeting alongside the rest of the conversation state. If you work with a coding assistant, the Convai.DiagnoseConversation tool reports the same thing, including the targeting rule with its values and whether they are still the shipped defaults.
• Confirm the scene has two or more ConvaiCharacter components registered — targeting logic never runs for a single-character room.

Looking at a character does not switch the conversation to them

Symptom: The player's view is clearly on a character, but the conversation stays with a different one, or with nobody.

Cause: The character's distance or angle falls outside MaxDistance or MaxAngle, so it is not eligible to be addressed.

Fix:

1. Open ConvaiManager → Who The Player Talks To and check Range (Metres) and Look Angle (Degrees).
2. Widen whichever value is excluding the character. See Tune conversation targeting.

Verify: The Live section reports the character as addressed once the player's view is within range and angle.

The conversation flickers between two characters

Symptom: The addressed character keeps switching back and forth between two candidates without the player's view or position changing meaningfully.

Cause: SwitchMargin or SwitchDelaySeconds is too low for how close together the characters are standing, so small camera movements are enough to trigger a switch.

Fix:

1. Raise SwitchMargin first — it is measured in degrees under LookAt.
2. If flickering continues, raise SwitchDelaySeconds as well.

Verify: The addressed character in the Live section holds steady while the player's view stays roughly on one candidate.

Nothing switches at all

Symptom: The conversation never moves to a different character, no matter where the player looks or moves.

Cause: ConversationTargeting.Mode is set to Manual, so nothing changes the target except a call to TalkTo.

Fix: Confirm the Chosen By field in Who The Player Talks To. If Manual is intentional, drive the target with TalkTo — see Script the conversation target. If it is not intentional, switch to LookAt or Proximity.

Verify: The Live section's addressed character changes when the player looks at or approaches a different character.

TalkTo appears to do nothing

Symptom: Calling manager.TalkTo(character) does not move the conversation, and the Console logs [ConvaiManager] Cannot talk to '<name>': it is not in the current room. Only characters that joined this connection can be addressed.

Cause: The character passed to TalkTo is not a member of the current room — it either was never registered, or it left the room since the room connected.

Fix: Confirm the character is one of the ConvaiCharacter components that joined the current connection. manager.ConversationTarget and the room roster confirm current membership.

Verify: The warning stops appearing and the Live section reports the requested character as addressed.

The conversation seems stuck holding one character

Symptom: The addressed character does not change even though the player is clearly not looking at or near them anymore.

Cause: This can be correct behavior rather than a fault. The target never clears itself — when nobody currently qualifies as eligible, the last character addressed keeps the conversation rather than the conversation going silent.

Fix: Check ConvaiManager.ConversationTargetingStatus (or the Live section's verdict) to tell a held target apart from a stuck one — AlreadyActive or HeldForDelay mean targeting is working as designed. If the verdict never changes even when the player is clearly addressing someone new, check whether that character is eligible under the current MaxDistance and MaxAngle.

Verify: Moving a genuinely eligible character into range and angle changes the addressed character.

Related pages

How conversation targeting worksTroubleshoot multi-character sessions