blueprint

[odd ember]

add the CurrentInteraction to the IsValid

that's what you're checking for

[subtle isle]

like this?

[odd ember]

yes

[subtle isle]

got it

[odd ember]

you're basically ensuring that there is a current interaction before using it

before you didn't have that safeguard

[subtle isle]

im assuming not having these could lead to crashes at some point

[odd ember]

probably

tbh I'm not sure how BP handles null pointers in projects

if it was cpp side it would definitely crash

[subtle isle]

so far so good i suppose

[gentle urchin]

bp is very safe in that regard

catches them and throws errors

mostly

[subtle isle]

can i get a reality check real quick?
My deadline is the 2nd of february and I was thinking of making the following things:

- Transported to another area of the map after that interaction we just made
- Roll a dice to lockpick a chest, succeed depending on the roll
- Roll a dice to open a door further down the cave
- Roll a dice to percept what's behind the door after opening it (showing/hiding objects depending on what the player rolled)
- Roll dice to fight a lil spider

I got the dice system working

[odd ember]

hard to say

any of those could have their own amount of complexity

[subtle isle]

Right

[primal smelt]

Transportation would be a simple set actor location wouldn't it?

[odd ember]

but a general dice system is something I could probably do over weekend. then you can ask yourself if you need AI and combat systems for the spider

[primal smelt]

IF you literally just need to go to one place to tick a box for your class

[gentle urchin]

Just for curiousity CE, is there any reason why this wouldnt behave the same way ?

[odd ember]

because that would imply a hierarchy of interactibles

[subtle isle]

Not necessarily, I was told that getting the dice system working was already enough to be considered a playable level

so I could make the player roll dice to see if it hits the spider

and take hp off of it he does

[gentle urchin]

Yeah it wouldnt work across any class i suppose.

[odd ember]

for interactions especially you want the same functionality across many hierarchies

doors and NPCs

for instance

[gentle urchin]

Based in AActor it should generally be quite safe tho ? and all things in the end derive from Object, dont they?

Door and NPC both derive from actor

i would think

[odd ember]

you're misunderstanding hierarchies

if you wanted both to have an interact function

you would have to write it into a separate hierarchy starting from AActor

since you cannot do that in BP, and it would require engine source in cpp, the better alternative is to make an interface

[gentle urchin]

I dont see why i would need to do that

[odd ember]

for which this is one of the few use cases that an interface is actually valid for

[gentle urchin]

the door implements the interface,

and the npc does ..

Both classes naturally comes from Actor..

[odd ember]

the NPC does what?

[gentle urchin]

NPC comes from Actor yes ,

and would , if being interactable, implement BPI Interaction

[odd ember]

so both of them need the interface, correct

[gentle urchin]

Yes

correct

[odd ember]

we've reached the same conclusion

glad we agree

and we can put this nonsense behind us

[primal smelt]

yikes!

[subtle isle]

for me thats exactly what it is because it all goes over my head

at my current level of noobness

[primal smelt]

It probably wasn't the quickest and dirtiest way, but you learned something (so did I!)

[odd ember]

it's a setup in the right direction

[subtle isle]

Certainly, I had been looking through like 5 different youtube videos before this

couldnt figure out how to implement any of them

[odd ember]

with this template you can keep improving it, ultimately getting a really complex interaction system going

the idea is to understand the notion of registration

[primal smelt]

Honestly when it comes to Youtube, i mostly just check up on the mighty Matthew Wadstein

Just nice brief explanations and examples

[subtle isle]

Ill give him a sub

would give CE a sub too if he had something

legend

[odd ember]

you can't rely on this alone. his videos will give you an understanding of what it is every element does in the engine. but he won't teach you code architecture, for instance

[primal smelt]

He does have some longer videos for exploring coding concepts but if you need a quick primer on what a thing does, he's a good reference point for sure

[subtle isle]

yeah I could totally use this to start an interaction with for example the lockpicking chest thing as well right?

[odd ember]

pretty much

as well as NPCs etc.

the whole point of code is to be as lazy as possible while being as flexible as possible

[gentle urchin]

Which was my entire point lol.

Less nodes. Same functionality

[odd ember]

yeah but your code doesn't work for anything but a single hierarchy

[gentle urchin]

Everything is a single hierarchy.

[odd ember]

and it makes me question your understanding of OOP

only if you have access to AActor

which you don't, unless you use engine source

[gentle urchin]

You can even toss it up to Object and support those components aswell. Just avoids the casting, thats all

[odd ember]

you can't

[gentle urchin]

Ok

[odd ember]

you cannot do anything on the base actor or object classes without using engine source

[gentle urchin]

I dont want to do anything in them xD

[odd ember]

yes but how are you going to call that interaction function?

[gentle urchin]

thats the entire point

this is only for storing the reference to whatever object derived class that implements the interface

I think we're walking around each other

[dawn gazelle]

I think what Squize is pointing out is that you can implement the interface into any AActor, therefore, if you call an interface on an AActor reference, and the actual class of object that is stored in that reference has the interface, it'll still work.

[odd ember]

then why not just store the interface variable?

like it's a nonsensical point

[gentle urchin]

Extra work, as you pointed out

[primal smelt]

Question: I'm still not super scrubbed up when it comes to hierarchies. Couldn't you just create a new class from Actor and have everything you possibly want to interact with derive from here?

[odd ember]

you can create a derived class

but you cannot edit functionality on the actor class itself

[dawn gazelle]

Sure, but then you lose the ability to use some other nifty prefab classes... Like Pawn or Character.

[primal smelt]

Would that not be a simple way of doing it for a lot of use cases?

[odd ember]

it would not

custom means that you are ignoring all the functionality that is built into the engine

[dawn gazelle]

Like, it's not a ton of work to implement an interface. You're better off just creating a subclass of what you need to work off of, and build off from there regardless.

[odd ember]

I don't generally like interfaces, but this is genuinely one of the few cases they are useful

[gentle urchin]

If you knew that all your interactables ever is only going to be relatively specific Actors, you could do it with a proper hierarchy.

But it easily gets out of hand

[primal smelt]

Do you mean in respect to the issue Datura raised? I'm not sure if you mean a derived Pawn for example would lose all engine functionality of a base Pawn?

[gentle urchin]

and locks you to that hierarchy .. which is not flexible

[odd ember]

this is overengineering

[gentle urchin]

We agree.

[odd ember]

no but let's say you wanted to add functionality that is unique to a special type of pawn that you wanted, and you wanted that functionality to be shared with, let's say, the specific character derived class (like your own custom character class)

going by regular hierarchies, you could only do that if you edited the base pawn class, since both your custom pawn and the character class ultimately derive from pawn. but that would require access to the engine source, since you would be changing engine code

[dawn gazelle]

yea

[primal smelt]

I'm following. So if you did decide to derive from Actor and then suddenly you realise "oh I want pawns to be able to interact with this" you'd then have to set up another derived class from a pawn and then end up back where you started needing a BPI or something similar?

[odd ember]

correct

so interfaces exist for this particular purpose

to bridge functionality across hierarchies

within the UE ecosystem of classes however, there are also other ways of having this happen

[primal smelt]

Good to know, I have come across BPIs before and didn't fully grasp it. I've mostly been focusing on a single a pawn throughout this project so far with any interaction outside being level geometry data. I'm getting close to the point where I want to start adding enemies to the game so I need to really think about this kind of thing

[odd ember]

the reason I don't like interfaces generally, is because they are basically a function label you slap onto a hierarchy

so you could end up repeating yourself quite a lot

[subtle isle]

eyy, was able to import the chest I modelled yesterday

[odd ember]

the alternative to this is using components, which can be slapped onto classes all the same, but contain functionality in and of themselves

[primal smelt]

You mean actor components? I have these implemented in my pawn currently!

[gentle urchin]

To some degree a compoment can replace an interface

But not fully

[odd ember]

it's not a question of replacing but rather understanding how to abstract logic to a point where you can very easily add or modify classes with little work

[primal smelt]

Mostly for raycasts for wheels, same one just repeated four times

[odd ember]

I like to, as much as possible, treat actors with the general notion of being component managers

so the components do the work, but the actors let the components communicate between each other

[subtle isle]

quick question not quite related to blueprints but is it okay if I just make a room under this landscape and tp the player there?

and have the rest of the lvl play out there

[odd ember]

is it okay? who are you asking permission from?

[subtle isle]

i meant like

[primal smelt]

So long as the collision doesn't overlap, I guess?

[subtle isle]

would it bug out or something yeah

[odd ember]

try it

[subtle isle]

aight x)

[primal smelt]

Check teh collision of the landscape, if you put the room where the collision plane cuts right through it then you may get problems

Completely unrelated but @odd ember and @gentle urchin , I don't suppose you recall my tick timer macro thing?

[subtle isle]

oh yeah its all good

[gentle urchin]

How could that be forgotten

[primal smelt]

So, if I explain the purpose of it. Do you think you could give me an example of a better alternative?

[odd ember]

no guarantees

[primal smelt]

I gave a off-the top of my head example last time but lemme screenshot something more specific

[dawn gazelle]

If you go too far down, the game will destroy anything that goes below the Kill-Z setting (but can be changed in the world settings)

[odd ember]

you'd have to go really far below 0 though

[dawn gazelle]

-1000 by default, no?

Which isn't that far.

[subtle isle]

im at like -2500 right now i think

[dawn gazelle]

That's in the X axis.

-2500 Z

you'd be gone

[odd ember]

I think the default value is negative 16bit max

[subtle isle]

oh right mb

[versed sun]

is there a way to disable the use of Int(64) ? I don't use it in this project and am tired of it being suggested when looking for Int

[primal smelt]

Ok so this part of code that detects how much the player has rotated the thumbstick from one position to another along the outer radius. I haven't worked on this bit of code in some time so bear with I may be misremembering exactly what does what!

The "Amount" float is basically a value based on how much the stick has rotatesd from a starting point, the Amount Last is a saved position from when the stick was moved and stopped (I think it checks over increments of 0.1 or less than that, I forget.)

That isn't too important for my question though. What I am able to do with this is determine the duration based on the difference between these saved positions so to better control the amount of torque and force that is applied

As a bonus, elsewhere in the code I can also check the stored float - which is acting as the timer - to block something else from executing. In this example, due to a complex to explain control system, when the vehicle (or wheelchair in this case) is rotating from this thumbstick input, the brakes will not be applied.

Actually struggling to tease out the question from this... I suppose a good place to start - if you are running on tick, what kind of timer/gate implementation could work where I can track it's current progress as it runs?

And something where the duration can be altered in such a way as it does in this macro?

Here's the guts again, in case that's helpful

[gentle urchin]

Its a lot cleaner if you dont drag everything from the same variable node

Less messy

The first screenshot in particular

[primal smelt]

I know but I have a weird thing for fungi and things sprouting out from a tiny nook or cranny :p

Although bizarrely I hate the curve tangents, which look far more organic than my straight lines

But this was what I came up with as a consistent way to manipulate physics with precise inputs that are framerate independent

[gentle urchin]

Also if Lhand Fr Tpush ? If 1, set to 0, else set to macro value?

[odd ember]

no

[versed sun]

bummer , thanks

[primal smelt]

Yeah basically in this instance the timer stops and does not reset until prompted elsewhere when value is 1

else = incrementing the float and timer ticking

[odd ember]

you could probably get away with using interpTo or a curve possibly over all this complex math that just seems over engineered

but beyond that I still don't know what you're trying to do. what kind of handling does this provide for your vehicle?

what kind of handling do you want?

is there a real life example?

[primal smelt]

In a wheelchair when you are stationary, you can grip both wheels and rotate in opposite directions to rotate on the spot. I have it so you can do this on a per wheel (left and right) basis, adjusting the amount of force and torque applied accordingly

Also, I am not applying torque to the wheels for movement as you would expect. I am applying forces and torque to the chair itself.

[gentle urchin]

Sounds like this could work directly on both axis values instead 🤔

Where the difference would be applied to rotation, and the commonvalue applied to torque

So 0.3Leftstick and 0.7Rightstick would be 0.3Forward and 0.4Rotation

Unless i completely got this wrong lol

[primal smelt]

Hold on, need to put my roast potatoes on

[odd ember]

I think generally #legacy-physics would be a better place to ask about this

it's a case of translating angular momentum to forward momentum basically

and vice versa

I'd have the value just scale linearly based on the input value

you can turn a -1..1 value into an alpha by adding 1 and multiplying by *.5

that way you could use it with a lerp for momentum

then it's a case of states. if both wheels are turning, you would have forward momentum

if only one wheel is turning, you have angular momentum

you could also make it into fluid states based on the alpha value if you really wanted to

[primal smelt]

It's difficult to explain without fully going into the way the control setup works, this timer is more in consideration for the thumbstick rotation demands and also the way braking is input by the player.

But I have these tick timers all over the shop. As a way to gate off code on a timer, with a duration adjustable at runtime that is consistent across framerates - that's kinda what I was hoping to focus on.

Or better yet, what's wrong with the macro itself in your opinion? You mentioned over engineered?

Best way to briefly summarise my game is Arx Fatalis but Am Shagar is in a wheelchair

[odd ember]

timers won't be consistent over framerate anyway

[primal smelt]

But using floats in this way ensures - as accurate as I am able to measure - consistency. A lot of forces are applied over time and even though physics is supposed to be framerate independent when run on tick, I found using this macro gave more accurate results.

[odd ember]

physics aren't framerate independent

nothing is

physics tick at a different rate only for performance reasons

[primal smelt]

Oh boy I wish I could pull up all the chat logs of people telling me it is (on add force, not impulse)

[odd ember]

physics has its own tick

that runs differently than the framerate, yes

[primal smelt]

I do use substepping as well

[odd ember]

but it's not indepedent

[primal smelt]

true, I should have put two and two together on that one.

But I think what has been communicated in the past is that when you add force on tick it should apply that force consistently over framerate - I guess as an instruction to what gets fed to physX

But yeah, didn't mean to turn this into a topic about physics.

[odd ember]

well your question was about physics

[primal smelt]

But this macro certainly has proven useful for ensuring physics applied over time are consistent across framerates

[primal smelt]

It really wasn't

[odd ember]

🤔

have you tried with different framerates? have you tried with low end specs?

[odd ember]

well yeah it was seeing as what you're working in is the physics of the engine

macros aren't all bad, but certainly seeing weird macros in lieu of better functionality definitely sets off warning signs

I would also look into the different types of engineering latches that exist and see if you can translate those into code

[primal smelt]

Ok well let's bring it back to this question:

But I have these tick timers all over the shop. As a way to gate off code on a timer, with a duration adjustable at runtime that is consistent across framerates - that's kinda what I was hoping to focus on.

Or better yet, what's wrong with the macro itself in your opinion? You mentioned over engineered?

[odd ember]

yeah it just seems unnecessary

[deft patrol]

Hey guys, i have a quick question, that i'm sure you'll be able to answer within miliseconds of me posting it. Can i interupt you for just a minute?

[odd ember]

don't ask to ask

just ask

[primal smelt]

Ok well thanks for trying anyway

[deft patrol]

Im having issue with saving blueprint

it worked until it stopped few days ago

[odd ember]

nothing wrong with having timers running on tick time for whatever reason, but the notions of them being framerate independent etc. is something I would disregard completely

[odd ember]

seems like the array is empty

[deft patrol]

array has to have predetermiened size?

[odd ember]

no? it's just an empty array you are feeding into it

[subtle isle]

Greeeetings I have returneeed with some questionez

im adding impulse randomly to this dice

i think

but it always gets shot in the same direction

also, im line tracing to check the number it lands on

is there a sleeker way to delay the line trace other than using a delay node?

like a, wait for impact then do line trace kinda thing?

[deft patrol]

i added an empty array element, and nothing changed, beside length showing "1"

[odd ember]

just call the line trace once the dice has stopped?

[odd ember]

makes sense?

[deft patrol]

i want to copy Names array to Final Names

why does it not work?

[odd ember]

okay well make sure that Names isn't an empty array

[deft patrol]

it isn't

[odd ember]

but it is

because there is nothing in it

maybe you changed code that adds to it

but it is empty

and your code as you've shown it works correctly because it is empty

[subtle isle]

yeah thats what id want to do but how do I check if the dice stopped, is there a node to check for whether its in movement or not?

[deft patrol]

I changed it to show the Names array and it's length

[subtle isle]

I suppose I could get velocity

[odd ember]

seems correct as well

congrats

[deft patrol]

but thats still not

[odd ember]

you can use the Set node to set one array to be equal to another

[deft patrol]

the thing

[odd ember]

well I don't know what you are asking then

[deft patrol]

I did, and it didn't work

[odd ember]

well show code?

[deft patrol]

im setting it here

[odd ember]

use breakpoints to see what values are actually stored inside each array

[twilit gull]

Do i need to store all connected to session players somewhere to be able to get their score?

[odd ember]

I don't know, I don't use physics when I can avoid it. you can always ask in #legacy-physics

[tranquil abyss]

Simple one here, I have a coin that I pick up when I walk over it, The issue is the AI also pick it up. Im guessing once of the pins on the overlap event can solve this issue but im not sure which one

[odd ember]

change your cast to be for your player character

[subtle isle]

Aight, I'll try experimenting a bit, thanks again 🙂

[tranquil abyss]

😕

[odd ember]

I don't know what your player character is called

[tranquil abyss]

TopDownCharacter

so its already doing that

[dawn gazelle]

You want to do a check if "other actor" on the overlap is "get player character 0". if it is, proceed with your cast.

[odd ember]

make your AI a different class

[tranquil abyss]

Their a easy way to do that

also would that break all my other logic around the AI

[odd ember]

I don't know how you got around to having your player and AI be the same

[tranquil abyss]

ctl c and ctl v

and being very new to unreal

and

having almost no clue what im doing lol

[bitter tapir]

Is it possible to get the linear velocity of a body after a collision?

[odd ember]

you can try with Event Hit otherwise try #legacy-physics

[bitter tapir]

Event Hit gives me the old velocity

[odd ember]

I don't know what you're after hten

[bitter tapir]

That's weird. All of a sudden I'm getting the new velocity.

Oh, I know why. With Tick Physics Async activated it returns the velocity before the collision. With it deactivated I'm getting the velocity after the collision.

[indigo bough]

Working on a tool for character customisation.

Right now I have a decal being positioned/rotated based on the surface normal of the mesh under the cursor. It works really nicely in smooth areas, but as you can see, detailed parts of the mesh end up looking strange when moving over them. Any idea how I can solve this?

I thought of using the camera forward vector instead of surface normal, but it doesn't look as nice as the surface normal method (when it works correctly).

I guess I could create a proxy mesh which is simplified and removes these smaller details, but that would mean it'd have to be similarly rigged and have all the same blendshapes/morph targets which is a pain. Any other ideas before I go that route?

[odd ember]

sorry but which part of this relates to blueprint and not #graphics ?

[versed sun]

My idea would be 4 line traces close to where the mouse cursor is, and get the average surface normal. have a variable to adjust how close the 4 points are and adjust with mouse wheel ?

[indigo bough]

The part of the question is about projecting the decal correctly using blueprints 🙂

[indigo bough]

That's a good idea! I'll give it a try - thanks 🙂

[odd ember]

I'd consider asking there first to see if there are better solutions that don't have to involve BP

[indigo bough]

Just figured out a way to do it with material spheremask and world position 🙂

[dire oyster]

how can i learn about how the blueprints system is implemented in unreal and why does it compile so fast?(opening the black box)

[empty needle]

Hi, is it possible to call a function by it's name?

[versed sun]

like from a text/string?

[empty needle]

Yeah, I basically have different functions.

But I want to be able to call them in different orders.

[empty needle]

So, I'd like to have a array of strings. And based on that array, I'd like to be able to call then in different orders.

[versed sun]

this might work for you , leave time and looping default

Object is also blank/default if yo are calling it inside the same blueprint

[empty needle]

Yeah, that didn't work. 🙂

[gentle urchin]

Sounds like a weird way of doing it, may i ask why?

In what scenario do you want to swap the sequence of function calls?

[empty needle]

I have a lot of UMG animations, that are driven by blueprint. And when going through various menu's they close in various orders.

I'm trying to avoid the spaghetti, and see if I can create a universal function that'll run the animations in the order I need

[gentle urchin]

You can always switch on string

Wrap that in a function then you can do an array loop

[empty needle]

https://www.orfeasel.com/utilizing-unreal-engines-reflection-system/

This looks very interesting

[gentle urchin]

If you do c++ sure

My suggestion is bp only friendly

[empty needle]

Appreciate the feedback, thanks @gentle urchin

[gentle urchin]

Did it work? Or didnt try?^^

[empty needle]

I created a function, with an enum based on your suggestion. 🙂

[gentle urchin]

Ah ^^

Less prone to errors, i like it

[empty needle]

🙂

[versed sun]

Does Unbind all Events run on just the BP calling it , or on ALL blueprints?

[gentle urchin]

All afaik

If else, im fucked lol

[versed sun]

ok

i guess i could test it..

yes , its all blueprints

[maiden wadi]

It will unbind every single thing that has ever subscribed to that delegate.

Generally speaking, that call should be avoided if at all posible.

[versed sun]

any easy way to "Unbind All in this blueprint" ?

[maiden wadi]

Not really. Just make yourself a function that unbinds the things you've bound.

[waxen knot]

what would I use as an object when I case to a UI

[versed sun]

thats what i have done

[waxen knot]

im trying to make it so when I hit a key it changes an image on it

[versed sun]

just didnt want to reinvent something that exists

[maiden wadi]

Yeah, nothing easy by default. I wish. 😄

[maiden wadi]

Need explanation here. Not sure what "case to a UI" means?

[waxen knot]

sorry I meant cast to a widget

[maiden wadi]

Then you would use a pointer to the widget.

All Casting does is attempt to change a pointer type.

[waxen knot]

ok but what would I use?

[maiden wadi]

You created the widget somewhere. That returned a pointer. If you want to access the widget again afterwards you need to save that pointer into a property.

However, that is a rare use in that sense, because you're supposed to let UI just poll from game's state and not make gameplay classes affect UI directly.

What is the image you're wanting to change displaying?

[waxen knot]

it looks like a text just cause of how I did it but I have an animation that changes it when I hit a key all set up

Here is what I mean

[maiden wadi]

Is this in your Controller?

[waxen knot]

yes

[maiden wadi]

The correct way to do this is to make yourself a Delegate. AKA Event Dispatcher.

You set your Gun state, on or off, and then call that dispatcher. Your UI can get the local player controller, cast it to the correct one, bind that event dispatcher, and change it's state when that dispatcher runs by polling the current Gun setting.

[waxen knot]

so I do cast to play controller?

sorry im not very smart with this stuff

[maiden wadi]

Try this really quick. In the bottom left, make a new Event Dispatcher in your Controller.

You should be able to set it up just like this.

[waxen knot]

umm the gun type is an animation not a state its a work around I used

[maiden wadi]

Just following your current setup.

If you do that in the controller, you can do this in your Widget.

Set Turret, or Set Rocket can just be a branch where that Print is.

[waxen knot]

umm ok

um sorry but I dont understand this much like I said im kinda dumb

[maiden wadi]

Event Dispatchers are just a way to allow things to communicate, similar to Casting directly do something. Except in this case HUD gets the controller and binds it's own event to when the controller calls that dispatch instead of the controller directly telling HUD to do something.

[undone willow]

how do timers work? should this not execute "right wall jump" after two seconds has passed?

[maiden wadi]

Should. But I would consider ditching the spaces.

[undone willow]

ah yes

still not working, could it be because this is on tick?

[maiden wadi]

Unsure. Could be resetting it, yeah.

[undone willow]

how would I prevent that?

[maiden wadi]

Save a TimerHandle from the blue return pin and check if it's in use before calling SetTimer.

[undone willow]

uhhh how do I do that?

[maiden wadi]

Right click the return value. Promote to variable. Will create a TimerHandle struct type for you. Leave the Set node it creates there. Drag a Get version of that into the graph and drag off of it and call IsTimerActiveByHandle

If timer is active->Not == true, then start a timer and set it's handle into the timerhandle struct. Else timer is active, so don't do anything.

[undone willow]

can I do it like this? 😂

[maiden wadi]

Guess it'll work. That'll get you fired in a few studios though. 😄

[undone willow]

hahaha

[undone willow]

it kind of works now but it is super incosistent

it will do way more than two seconds and then less

i tried using a breakpoint on it, seems like it fails to detach every second time or something, the set timer is activated when I start wallrunning, then two seconds later its activated again and the player falls of the wall, then next time I wallrun, it's activated, and again after two seconds but the player doesn't fall off until another two seconds later when it is activated again.....

wait now its actually working

am confused

huh, when I jump from one wall to another, i seem to be able to run twice as far on the second wall

i don't know, it seems to do whatever it wants tbh

it works better than the delay i used before anyway

[shadow grove]

Hey all, I could use some advice on save/load (persistence) in an RPG context. I came across SPUD (https://github.com/sinbad/SPUD/blob/master/doc/props.md) recently which makes persisting a number of properties straightforward. However, it doesn't appear to support persistence of arrays of structs. Currently, my player's inventory is stored as an array of structs. This would be fine if I chose to persist item names and simply retrieved them from a data table but the items have procedurally generated properties and IIRC I can't write to data tables at runtime.

Some options I'm considering:

1. SPUD supports persistence of actor arrays. I could wrap the items in an actor but that seems like a lot of overhead.
2. Ensure the procedural generation is deterministic and encode the seed/base information into a string and persist that array of strings, rebuilding the objects from that seed at load time. This may unnecessarily constrain the procedural generation of items down the road, however.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[maiden wadi]

I'm not sure what SPUD is, vaguely looked at it. Serialization is exceptionally easy if you know what you're doing. Much easier in C++, but very doable in Blueprints. You just need to learn to write to SaveGame objects. Using managers for your gameplay data makes this much easier. How you serialize it and restore state is entirely up to you. My containers that players put items into for example have an Inventory Component on it. I use the same component as a child class on the player. But any one of these are just an array of structs. To save the data it's just a new struct which is a class for the building type, and then an array of the inventory's data. At load, the game spawns that container building class and populates the new inventory with data from the SaveGame object.

[rough warren]

Hi, I've got a bit of a problem. I have my blueprint here detect the class of a collision and if it's a certain class than do x. But the thing is, it's not returning true even though it's the right class. There is collisions detected and it does output the right class but it just doesn't wanna work. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

[gentle urchin]

Building gen road temp?

Is it a child class?

[rough warren]

So, I forgot to mention, when I do the Building Gen, it works. But it just doesn't work for the road_temp

[dawn gazelle]

2 works fairly well. All you need to do is build in a way to have additional versions of the generator so if you need to change the procedural generation to add new options to it, you use the appropriate version when generating the item, which means the item itself should also store the version it was generated by.

[gentle urchin]

Not sure how class check works against actors being destroyed but i imagine they dont play nice.

[gentle urchin]

Also, is building gen parent to road ?

Not sure how class checks works in terms of hieriarchy etc

Do parent classes pass or are they exact.. 🤔

[shadow grove]

Thanks, Authaer.

This is how my system works as well. There is a component that handles the concept of an inventory. That component has a list of structs, each struct representing an item. My player, and any other container, have their own instance of this component. What I'm struggling with is serialization. Could you elaborate a bit on this? To save the data it's just a new struct which is a class for the building type

[grave yoke]

How do I let the Cheat Manager instantiate when testing with a dedicated server?

[soft peak]

is there a way i can get the "yaw angle" of playable character and a wall?

[broken stream]

this is probably a pretty simple question, but how would i go about having an anim montage play repeatedly whil im holding down the button
I want my character to do a spinning slash on repeat until i release the key

[tranquil abyss]

Does anyone have any insights on how to start building / how to build an inventory system

Im looking to do a list type inventory Kinda like this

The device folder part.

If you know what games this is form Bonus points :p

[empty needle]

You could create a struct with the various items, and then create an array of those structs.

[tranquil abyss]

Im lack of unreal engine knowledge hurts me here

I understand coding but now sure how to set this kind of thing up in unreal

also probably wanna avoid the cpp route here tho

i have never dont sotware dev for something like this so Id for sure break everything

[empty needle]

you won't need Cpp for this, there are a lot of tutorials online on how to create an inventory system;

[tranquil abyss]

Ive looked into some

but they are all for the traditional block style / dayz / tarkov style

ill figure something out

but of course having an array of items is the basic premise

[wide linden]

https://gyazo.com/c6b959fd1a1f3e294aa315206bb92807

would anyone know why when i change x it doesnt change distance

hahah nvm

it is

im dumb

was hitting my map border

https://tenor.com/view/facepalm-really-stressed-mad-angry-gif-16109475

[dawn gazelle]

At their core, they're all the same. A structure of items is stored in an array within an inventory component. You generate and manage your UI based on the contents of that array.

[maiden wadi]

I would start with learning some basic usage of SaveGame Objects. This is a topic that can grow in complexity extremely fast. But if you start simple. For example. If you have your inventory set up already, then start with your player's stats. Make a call in your GameMode to save your game's data. This is what you'll call before quitting the game. Start with your character. Create a new Struct for saving the player's stats. No pointers, just basic data types. Create a custom SaveGame class type, add a property to it of your new struct. Start small, Struct only needs the array of inventory items you have. These need to be serializable without pointers, so FNames, GameplayTags, Floats, Integers, etc. On your controller's Beginplay, you can get this Savegame, pull this struct out, and overwrite your player's inventory.

Realistically to start learning them, all you really need is a SaveGame class. These calls mostly.

[shadow grove]

Good advice, thanks. I have simple properties working. Your point about no pointers may have been my issue.

[maiden wadi]

Yeah. Pointers cannot be serialized. Well.. They can, but they point to memory locations. And you cannot replace that when you reload your game, objects will be in new memory locations, so the pointers will be invalid.

[wild seal]

i made a door using nav link proxy, can i somehow make smart links conditional like only go there if ai has the key?

[jaunty solstice]

Hi guys
Getting about 100 'Access None' errors when I first enter PIE mode.

PIE: Error: Blueprint Runtime Error: "Accessed None trying to read property CallFunc_GetPlayerController_ReturnValue". Blueprint:

I think the faulty logic is here in my EventGraph. Can any Blueprint experts suggest how I would avoid these errors?

[light hamlet]

try this

[odd ember]

where is this code located?

[tawdry surge]

I'm stuck on why

[loud cipher]

Anyone know why anim montages with a negative play rate e.g. -1.0 do not play?

Not working anymore

[odd ember]

are you sure it doesn't play? I reckon it just plays backwards

so your other event might not trigger

otherwise I'd ask in #animation

[loud cipher]

100% it doesnt play

It seems like a engine bug according to unreal engine forums

[tulip mason]

Just duplicate th montage and set th sequence I side to -1 playrate

[glossy drum]

How can I call a function from a widget

[tawdry surge]

same as from anywhere else

[tawdry surge]

Probably none. You could profile it to be sure

[last abyss]

you sure it isn't happening because you're playing it backwards (-1.0) but your starting position is 0.0 ?

[loud cipher]

Ahhhhhhhhhh ty

[rough warren]

The object I'm trying to check, is not destroyed.

[rough warren]

Nope

[rough warren]

^^^

[last abyss]

well yeah, you're destroying the other actor so the next execution you're getting null if you get other actor and compare it

[rough warren]

Ohh

[dawn gazelle]

Not just that but if your building gen isn't a parent to road, how would the second branch here ever execute?

[rough warren]

That is a fair point

[dawn gazelle]

Not even sure if it was parented it would go through... If that == is looking for a specific class, then child classes wouldn't count.

[rough warren]

That makes, sense thank you so much for pointingg that out for me!

[candid dirge]

Default character movement has a sort of ramp up to max speed. Does anyone know how to disable to make character move at max speed immediately?

[brazen merlin]

Acceleration. Try that out.

[candid dirge]

@brazen merlin Yep, thanks! Had to use a giant number

[plucky fractal]

Quick Q about SimpleMoveToLocation, is there a way to detect once the movement has finished? The player is required to click on an actor, then the player will move to the location of the actor and interact with it.
But it's interacting as soon as the move to is fired, is there a way to make it wait till its finished?

[tawdry surge]

Check player location is == destination

[drowsy ferry]

anyone know why my child blueprint editor randomly changed to this?

[brazen merlin]

i dont know why, maybe Window menu can help though

[drowsy ferry]

Ah thanks, finally fixed

[gentle urchin]

Exactøy the pointni was trying to make lol.

[drowsy ferry]

went into class defaults in the window menu and in there was a prompt to open full editor

[topaz badger]

Is there any particular reason unreal makes it as hard as possible (maybe impossible) to set animation of a actor from another blueprint?

context is: Making a train controller, each car will have its own mesh and animation i want to be able to specify through the editor details panel. Ive run into many hurdles as if the engine is purposely built that way. (Cant add an animation reference in a structure, cant set a skeletal meshe's animation in the constructor, cant cast to an animation asset in the event graph (but can in the constructor)

sorry was pretty vague at first lol, just was frustrated that theres a million hurdles for something so simple

You also cant make animation asset object references, but can for almost any other actor. Is it there for some kind of computational reason?

Skeletal meshes have no issue with this among many other actors

[topaz badger]

Thanks for the clarification on the constructor part, its strange that when setting it with other blueprints, the only option is "Set Animation Asset"

Also, is there any way to input data with that? As far as I know the only way to set the animation is to use the drop down as you cant expose that variable.

[trim matrix]

It is the only option if you dont drag off of the static mesh componet.

[topaz badger]

So theres no way to set an animation programmatically besides just a bunch of switch nodes?

[trim matrix]

I dont know of any way to input animation data like that.

Just make a master car class

Then make each car a children

then change the animation in the details of each childrens skeletal mesh componet

[topaz badger]

thats my setup but i would like to change the number of cars and type in the level editor/have it be procedural in the future

[trim matrix]

I dont see any reason why it isnt already ready for a more procedural system

The only things each child needs

is a mesh and a animation asset/anim bp

Unless each mesh can have multiple different animation assests it could use?

[topaz badger]

Ah you are referring to a child as in a descendant of the class not child actor component. My fault misread that.

Yeah that was what I was going to do originally, ill just do that thanks, wayy easier

[trim matrix]

I still dont understand why people use child actor componets

anyways good luck then

[topaz badger]

I used them recently for a car, allowed people to posses each actor in the seat. So I felt comfortable using them again

Thank you for the help! I really appreciate it

[graceful forum]

Is it possible to override the GetDisplayName node for my custom blueprints?

Like internally it uses UObject::GetActorLabel() or UObject::GetName() according to if it's with editor or not. But I guess those are not exposed to blueprints. Is there any trick for this to not have a cpp parent and still override in blueprints?

[mossy mist]

Hi my navigation is not rebuilding

the recast is set to dynamic

and it is set to generate around invokers

it builds in editor fine

but when played nothing regenerates

the ai is just stuck

any ideas?

would be greatly appreciated

[graceful forum]

Is it possible to make a macro like a function set as Pure to make it have an execution line internally but doesn't require to be connected to the execution pin when used as a node?

[gentle urchin]

why would you let a seemingly "pure" macro modify anything?

defeats the pure concept doesnt it

[soft peak]

Hey there, can anyone tell me the difference between those two?

i actually just need a variable inside the animblueclass

[gentle urchin]

one is an instance, the other is just the class

[soft peak]

hmm..okay..so i guess for my needs i just need the instance i guess

?

[gentle urchin]

instance exist in the "world" , so .. probably yes

class would give you class default values mostly

[soft peak]

but i also could use the class to get the custom variable

[gentle urchin]

Its default value, yes

its instance value? No

[soft peak]

Ohh....i actually did something wrong.....
is it even possible to get the animation blueprint INSIDE of character blueprint?

[gentle urchin]

Most things can be done but is it good practice? Unlikely

I'm wondering a bit about my component setup. I was gonna do a NPC_Manager and a Building_Manager, but cant decide if its really a good idea since they will be heavily interacting with each other anyways. Perhaps i should just wrap it all in one manager..

Feels like I'm dividing them just for the sake of dividing them

The same can be said for the planned inventory manager aswell. The interaction between them is so tied up that it's just.. weird?

A scenario would be placing a building:
Player places it -> It registers to its manager -> Manager generates resource request -> sends request to Inventory manager

Inventory manager recieves request -> sources the required items (if avaliable) and sets up a transportation order -> transport order is sent to NPC Manager.

NPC Manager recieves transport request -> sources the required NPCs -> Gives them orders about where to go and what to pick up.

[glass magnet]

hey I'm here to ask for some help/advice

[brazen merlin]

https://tenor.com/view/well-waiting-were-waiting-gif-5848728

[glass magnet]

i forgot what the actual correct name x.x

but

oim trying to change an objects custom depth for stencils thats the word

through a mouse hovering over it

i have it updating whenever the mouse goes over but it isnt changing the stencil depth to my knowledge

oh gorsch my unreal engine isnt launching now

there it goes

am i allowed to send pictures here

[gentle urchin]

as long as they are safe to show, sure 😛

no NSFW content

[glass magnet]

its just my blueprint

the base value is 2

for my current stencil

[brazen merlin]

i dont work with them much, but wouldn't turning off depth matter for the bottom section?

[glass magnet]

you mean not having value checked ot

[brazen merlin]

it should be kept on regardless no?

[glass magnet]

honestly ive tried that and it never seemed to make a difference

[brazen merlin]

can you also test using the stencil debug where you see the numbers on them?

[glass magnet]

i think im either missing a step or my materials are

stencil debug

im still fairly new to unreal engine so wdym?

sorry-

[brazen merlin]

that

[glass magnet]

ah ok i know that

ill try that rn

wait

[brazen merlin]

jc if you have it working at all 😛

[glass magnet]

yeah teh stencils are working

cause im trying to change it from 1 to another

[brazen merlin]

and you didnt mess with other settings.. or?

[glass magnet]

here lemme screenshot what i actually have to give an example

i dont believe so

[brazen merlin]

if you can, please explain what you've done (generally) for getting them to work so far

[glass magnet]

basically trying to change the black to red

ok so

i did the post process array

and have both down there

then i made the stencil to give an outline

and set up that

i also changed the custom depth stencil pass to enabled with stencil in project settings

[brazen merlin]

alright

[glass magnet]

is it a problem that they are both set up as 1 under the post process array?

[brazen merlin]

i dont know

you are not trying to change the ppm you are trying to change the stencil bit

[glass magnet]

yeah the stencil depth

[icy dragon]

Do you just want it to be red, irrespective to the stencil index?

[glass magnet]

yes i want the outline to show up as red instead of black if thats what you meant

is there a different way to go about doing that

[brazen merlin]

there is, is that all your trying to do?

[glass magnet]

yeah

[brazen merlin]

so its just an outline on certain objects right?

[gentle urchin]

black to red, wouldnt that be in the material?

[brazen merlin]

i jw if it needs to be stencil

[glass magnet]

i just assumed you couldnt change it through mouse contact in the material

[brazen merlin]

seems like it if you want to have player with an outline and a box with an outline that can change colors

[glass magnet]

jw?

[brazen merlin]

just wondeirng

[glass magnet]

ah

[glass magnet]

unless you can have 2 set things in a material that you are able to call to? or somethin

[brazen merlin]

again, if the player has an outline that doesnt change, but another object does, pretty sure you need stencils

[glass magnet]

so im on the right trackkkkk?

[brazen merlin]

appears so

ive not read about changing stencils at runtime, but clearly there is the node for it

[glass magnet]

hmmmm

im assuming

that my blueprint is wrong

wait

got it

im dumb

i was calling to the wrong asset

i was calling to the box collider not the actual mesh

[brazen merlin]

ah

[glass magnet]

now to do it to other players

the box was just a

yk a

[brazen merlin]

cube

[glass magnet]

a test

[woven ermine]

hey guys

[glass magnet]

hihi

whats before the set

[woven ermine]

1. it doesnt change the material and 2. im getting an error :

[woven ermine]

i dont know if you can see

[gentle urchin]

This doesnt do anything

at all

well, wastes some performance but nothing else

[woven ermine]

i promoted that array to a variablew

variable*

[gentle urchin]

You should show a screenshot of that then

Why post an outdated screenshot/snippet..

[woven ermine]

no, the thing is, when trying to connect the array to the "set material" it just does this:

cant directly connect the array to the set material

[glass magnet]

well you need a target out of tha t

if you mean the error

im assuming you dont

[brazen merlin]

array > forLoop > do your stuff

[glass magnet]

im just curious as to what youre building titana

[gentle urchin]

you also need to connect it

[woven ermine]

THATS IT

it worked

[glass magnet]

[woven ermine]

some sort of unreal version of skiFree :))

if anyone here remembers that game

[glass magnet]

no cluew googling it rn

[gentle urchin]

yes

that game

was insane

[woven ermine]

i have quite a lot of it done so far

[glass magnet]

the yeti's lookin kinda cute

[brazen merlin]

look forward to that Yeti AI

[woven ermine]

dont 😄

[gentle urchin]

tehe

[glass magnet]

Hey so I have another question about the thing I was working on

[gentle urchin]

not much to it

lerp to player location -> win

[glass magnet]

Before I put it into practice and actually try something out

[brazen merlin]

the yeti pretty much bounces across screen, i dont think actual ai is needed

it sort of acts like a projectile

[gentle urchin]

yepp xD

projectile movement would work well

[glass magnet]

Why so much room x.x

[woven ermine]

yeah but i`m trying to make it a bit better than the old one

[brazen merlin]

then add a modified sine for up down, or timeline it

[woven ermine]

atm i just leave it at that so it follows the player but i`d like to add more stuff to it, maybe use it to practice blackboard etc

[glass magnet]

I have a curious inquiry, what exactly does sine apply in the sense of unreal blueprints/code

[brazen merlin]

depends on application

[glass magnet]

What about a general sense of what sine is going to do

[brazen merlin]

sine wont do anything until you put it to use

[gentle urchin]

i never knew this....

all those hours... wasted 😄

[glass magnet]

X.x

[woven ermine]

its common knowledge 😄

[gentle urchin]

whats up with the delay 😮

tsh, it was not common when i played it xD

[woven ermine]

the movement part of the sky is not complete, still work in progress

[brazen merlin]

lol noob

[gentle urchin]

good old times of gaming tho

[brazen merlin]

that it was

[gentle urchin]

there was this other game aswell

some magic and a castle

[brazen merlin]

go on......

[gentle urchin]

googling...

[wet grotto]

Hello

This is my reference

But in mine I cannot connect game state to spawn actor

[glass magnet]

Reference may be outdated?

I should stop trying to help sorry I'm still new to all this, just an idea

[wet grotto]

No I already open the project and using it as a reference in my current UE4 version.

[glass magnet]

fair

does it have to do with the class?

conrad help

[frank rover]

No it's right. It depends on the class reference. If the class reference doesn't have those variables, you ofc can't access it. Spawn Actor from Class.. if you select the right class, you can access to the "expose on spawn" variables.

[glass magnet]

[frank rover]

So either those "expose on spawn" are not set right, or the class reference is not concrete and could be any class. It reads a little weird tbh ^^

[gentle urchin]

Hocus Pocus xD

[glass magnet]

was that the game?

[frank rover]

Technically if the class reference is really a general class reference there should be no way to expose and variables because it could be ANY class ...

[glass magnet]

anyone else miss the old ds cartridge games of random movies and tv shows

sorry off topic x.x

[frank rover]

If you are using an ATile class reference it might work tho.

[wet grotto]

You were right, I fix the settings and still can't see them but I will figure it out

Thanks

[glass magnet]

you got this

[frank rover]

Hover over the class pin and see if there is a different type used ;)

[brazen merlin]

ah, apogee

[brazen merlin]

i miss coconut monkey and pc gamer demo discs

[glossy drum]

I have an array of static mesh. How do I set visibility off in all elements of the array?

[wet grotto]

This is mine

This is the reference

[glass magnet]

so i tried to just input my box event into my character in an attempt to replicate the same thing but it does not work

i assumed it wouldnt but

[frank rover]

Use a ForEachLoop :)

[stray moat]

I'm having an issue in my turn base game anim notify refuses to trigger my hit react anim montage , I do have slot default on both enemies,but in the other project I made it works works well , any help would be appreciated

[glossy drum]

I got stuck there

[gentle urchin]

Array Elem -> Set visibility

connect to loop body

Completed fires after all elements in the array is executed

[frank rover]

Yes. ForEach actually goes through all array elements and exposes them one after the other.

[glossy drum]

Array Elem -> Set visibility is not an option

[frank rover]

It depends if the array contains actors or components... I think for actors you use "set hidden in game"

Could be wrong on that, but it's sometimes a little weird ^_^

[wet grotto]

If anyone have trouble about my issue in future here is the solution 😄

I need to change the inputs

[rough warren]

How can I get a variable from another blueprint?

I'm trying to cast but, I don't know what to put in object feild

[frank rover]

There you put in the reference to the other object

[odd ember]

if you read the pinned posts there's a live stream on blueprint communication

[rough warren]

How can I reference it?

[rough warren]

Sweet, I'll take a look

[odd ember]

I recommend just going through that. it'll help you understand what a cast is and how it is used

[glossy drum]

None of them are visible at the moment - maybe I should start there 😉

I have an actor with an arrary of static mesh

[odd ember]

set hidden in game != visible

you can have things visible in editor that are hidden in game

and vice versa

[frank rover]

Why are you naming it "Hair Actors" then if they are technically not Actors? Stuff like that can cause confusion :)

[glossy drum]

The Script is called hair

[rough warren]

So, I'm looking at the video and I'm still a bit confused. I'm trying to get a variable from my Grid_spawner BP and I don't know how to refernece it

[glossy drum]

It is a collection of static hair mesh

[frank rover]

"Get Actor Of Class" could be an easy ugly way to get this Grid_spawner. It will return the first actor of that class if only one grid spawner exists it works pretty okay

[rough warren]

ok

What's messy about it besides if u have more than one

[frank rover]

Yeah, since it's not an actor that doesn't work. Drag out the blue Array Element pin and search for visible or something like that :)

[frank rover]

Yes that's why you need to come up with a good way to keep references between your stuff. :)

[frank rover]

A spawner could for example give it's reference to all things it spawns.

[frank rover]

That is a static mesh reference and not a static mesh component reference. If you think about it, it's a reference to the assets and ofc you cannot hide them in game becausethey are not components. You need to "add static mesh component" first and store those in an array.

[glossy drum]

Why are blueprints like splitting an atom for me

[glossy drum]

alright

[frank rover]

Okay, so the easiest way to have exchangeable hair is to add a static mesh component "Hair" to your blueprint. Then on begin play you use "Set Mesh" on that component and use one index from your array of static meshes as input.

[glossy drum]

St has no options

*Set

[gilded pasture]

is it possible to acces vertex color from bp ?

[glossy drum]

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

@frank rover 🍺

[glass magnet]

Damn it I hate this, I'm in bed but I realized the solution to my problem

[hexed glade]

Got "Accessed None while trying to read property CallFunc_array_Get_Item_8" on the SetText node of this macro. The macro itself seems to run fine as it does what its supposed to. If I should guess it seems its trying to find array 8 even though it doesnt exist. Should I leave it as is as there seems to be no in game problems?

[gentle urchin]

i'd suggest validating before accessing

[earnest tangle]

"Should I leave it" No no no no no....

If you have an error or a warning do not leave it :P

[frank rover]

Yes, almost right. This will create a hair with index 0 on begin play,tho. I think if you call the change hair event at the start you don't need to connect it to begin play : 🍻

[hexed glade]

Thanks. Worked perfectly.

[earnest tangle]

Almost always if you have a seemingly innocent/random error or warning it's hiding something that could be a bug, or it could become a problem later.... or by the time you have 50 of them that you ignored it makes debugging any actual errors difficult lol

[frank rover]

GetArrayIndex_8 of an array that is only 0-7 is the problem. So your arrays are not the same size

Your struct array might be larger than the makearray array?

[hexed glade]

When running the length of each arrays into a print string I get 8 on both

[earnest tangle]

If you use a for loop, note that the indexes for it are inclusive

So if you loop from 0 to array length, it will loop index 8 as well which would be invalid since the last valid index is 7

[soft peak]

"Event ActorBeginOverlap"
can i get the "normal" of the box collider on which the actor began overlapping?

like collider is a wall (collider), now i need to get the normal of that wall/collider

oh i am agenius xD
i added a "arrow", i then "ask" "get arrow" -> "Get forward vector" tadaaaa

[gentle urchin]

x)

[soft peak]

uhmmm what does "Set PLane Constraint Normal" do?

(trying to "force" the player mesh into a specific rotation, so he cant rotate anymore)

[jolly island]

Hello, why am I getting an infinite loop error here from While Loop?

[gentle urchin]

in melee range never changes

while loops are thread blocking

[odd ember]

consider also not doing a delay on a timer. it's not going to give you the results you want

timers exist for this reason

[jolly island]

Alright, thank you 🙂

[trim matrix]

Hello, before I ask you my question I want to apologize for my bad English.

I'm trying to follow a tutorial on how to make a third person character swim and change the animation.

I have created a water plane and put the water material on it, with a collision that detects if you are touching the water or not.

I put the collision in "OverlapAll" and the plane in "No collision".

To see if it worked I put a "Print String" in it and it detected it and could go through it.

Problem: When I get to the blueprints section, the tutorial puts the "water volume" node and from then on I collide with the water all the time and walk on it, if I remove that node I go through it (in short, if I deactivate that node I do overlap and if I activate it it blocks me)

I have reviewed the Colliders and I have not found the problem, I do not understand what makes the "overlapp" not work if that node is active.
Thank you very much in advance 😄

[gentle urchin]

<@&213101288538374145>

[limber copper]

Hello, I'm trying to work out if I can create Blueprints programmatically using Python. I have managed to create a Blueprint asset and saved it, but can't seem to access the node structure.

I have been able to create Materials etc using Python, but the Blueprint part is difficult, and the Python API docs are, well, challenging...

[tawdry surge]

Probably not..
Python's only legitimate application in unreal is implementing ML models anyway.
Using to code a BP is just wasting performance for no reason

[limber copper]

Appreciate the reply. I ask because we use Python for much of our production 'pipeline', and being able to create procedural landscapes / blueprints using it would be very helpful.

[tawdry surge]

Using it for the landscape I can see, kinda
For BP just make the BP. You can read data from files and anything else just as easy as python

[odd ember]

okay but why not just use cpp then?

[limber copper]

I'm pretty experienced with Python - but not C++. I'm working on it though.

[odd ember]

I think you'll find it easier to consider making BP nodes in cpp than python

instead of trying to squeeze blood from a stone

[limber copper]

That's my current feeling tbh. It's very early days for me and C++, just need to get stuck in.

[odd ember]

yeah I mean if you know OOP it's the same thing

UE4's version of cpp takes care of a lot of things for you

so as long as you follow convention you'll be fine

[fierce stump]

Reworked the functions to pull up the pause menu in the character blueprint. Don't think I've done it right, though, since the player still has to press the pause key again to properly unpause the game, which isn't ideal since I want the player to pause and unpause the game using the same key/button.

I'm assuming I haven't set things up correctly for the resume button's functionality in the UMG widget. How should I set it up?

[twilit gull]

how to setup constant character forward moving?

event tick seems like not the best way to do that 😄

[tawdry surge]

All axis inputs run on tick. They have to

[twilit gull]

so i make infinite loop?

[native willow]

do it on tick, why not, at the end of the day it just assigns a value

[native willow]

Tick() { AddMovementInput(); }

[twilit gull]

so kinda this

[native willow]

or assign a value to velocity directly

[twilit gull]

for some reason floating pawn movement does nothing

i've tried to preset velocity

[native willow]

do it on tick

[native willow]

never used it tbh, check the ScaleValue

[odd ember]

that looks strange. movement input is intended to work with inputs, not on tick

[twilit gull]

yeah, thats why i'm asking 😄

and without character movement i also need to sync tranform after input as its not replicated

[soft peak]

i try to rotate (Z axis) an actor from "A" to "B"
currently i use "SetActorRotation"
but this of course sets the rotation to "B"....
but i need some kind of "animating from A to B"
is there a useful node for that?

[brazen pike]

Could use a timeline using a float track from 0 to 1 over however long period you want. Then you use a lerp node from the float output to get it to smoothly transition between A and B

Connect the "set actor rotation" float input to the output of the lerp and connect the pins to the "update" pin on the timeline

[wintry bay]

I have made a very simple blueprint creating a procedural mesh with four Vertices. Is it possible to define the positions of Vertices in world pace instead of local?

[gentle urchin]

World loc is just local + actors loc

So ... just add "GetActorLocation" to them

[wintry bay]

Thanks!

[flat scarab]

Hi. I am trying to display how many frames have been rendered since going into Runtime/Play Mode.

It is like a score/benchmark of sorts. How can I best set this up in blueprint?

I see. Can you give me an example of how to increment this variable? Sorry I am still learning blueprints.

[tawdry surge]

Make an int variable-> get it-> add 1-> set it on tick

[flat scarab]

Thank you!

[hoary ore]

Does anyone have a good tutorial (text or video) that discusses how to store character stats in a way that is pretty modular (can be reused by player character, NPCs/enemies)?

I'm looking to store dynamic values of things like strength, blacksmithing, etc. as well as statuses like poisoned, cursed, sleeping, etc.

I found videos that touch some aspects but they all seem to use different methods that aren't very modular.

Oh and they need to be persistent across saves.

Alright, I think I just included that part out of ignorance and to cover my bases.

[hoary ore]

Really? Interesting, I thought that was something separate since so many guide seem to avoid it

[runic urchin]

I'm looking to clamp the float value that I have in the default spot in the details panel to 0 to 1. Currently I can plugin a negative value or a value above 1 is there a way to clamp this?

I do have a map range clamped that I am using

just can't figure out how to clamp the visible variable which is the Door Front Right to only be between 0 and 1

[orchid star]

this is not clamp

use clamp(float)

This transforms a value(0.5) of 0-1(In Range) to 50-100(Out Range) value(75)

so swap between in and out I think\

in = input value gap

output is transformed output

[runic urchin]

Okay, thanks

I actually figured it out it's the value range that I needed

On the Door Front Right variable

[open sedge]

anyone else having their pc hang when trying to change scalability settings in 4.27

made me have to switch my whole game back to 4.26

and lost my levels 😠

[devout bane]

I am moving a character with movement component. I am trying to stand on raft using Unreal 4.26 Water system and Buoyancy. When I stand on boat it raft. A fix would be to set character mass movement but than that screws up movement. Another possible solution is to increase mass on raft which works but than it sinks. Is there a way to set how much mass effects Buoyancy? I been looking for variable or something but can't find anything.

[earnest tangle]

Unity 4.26
What now

[devout bane]

I mean Unreal

Sorry

[pine trellis]

does unreal engine have to be installed on the same drive that your working on? I installed 4.27 on another hard drive thats not on my OS, but when I move the project over to my OS drive it says it cant find the plugins but its all there

[maiden wadi]

@open sedge4.27.2 fixed that crash

[maiden wadi]

No. Engine and project can be in separate places.

[blissful grail]

No. My engine install is on my D drive and my projects are on my C drive.

[maiden wadi]

Strongly recommend faster drive for project, usually. Often more requirements from project than engine.

[remote loom]

how do I set a variable in an animation bp that's for an actor and not a pawn? 'try get pawn owner' obviously does not work here but I can't figure out what else I would use

oh I guess I could cast the anim instance from the actor itself

[eternal furnace]

Hi

how Can I Fix attached actor collision not working ?

When My Character Wants to Push Objects I Attaching Object to my Character but attached actor Collision Is Not Working ...

[runic eagle]

Hey Slackers, I try to implement a basic camera movement based on the cursor location of the viewport. The problem i face is that the maximum cursor x-axis and maximum y-axis (via Get Mouse Position on Viewport) I am able to reach with cursor are not the stated boundaries of the ViewPort (via Get Viewport Size) is this to be considered a bug or do i miss smth here? Cam movement left and up are working because i can reach close to X and Y being 0 //Thanks in advance

Thats the attempt to move the view camera when cursor is above 95% viewport x-axis, but the max i can reach with cursor is at about 70% of viewport stated size...

@plain helm I guess thats what "Vector 2DInterp to" is made for, feed current location and new cursor location

[flat coral]

So basically it feels like it's affected by framerate even though you think you controlled for that?

Let's see the code!

Actually that reminds me of a question I had. I'll ask in #ue4-general it's not blueprint specific

[glass stump]

Okay so the problem I have is that I've made a level sequence that moves the camera, but it's free roam game and the bluprint activating the sequence just transfers the playercamera to the sequencer's cinecamera but it's not relative to where the player is currently, it goes back to the original starting point. I keep trying different things but it always just resets to the centre.

[flat coral]

Question I asked was fruitful. Before you do anything else, use this command to test that the framerate IS the problem

[runic eagle]

The cam sequence is not relative to the current player position correct?

[brazen merlin]

yo! dat soldat!

[glass stump]

Yeah, I don't know how to get it relative.

Or more specifically relative to an enemy I suppose. When an enemy collides with the player, I want it to show a closeup of the enemy as a death sequence. (and the enemy will do an animation.)

[winter garnet]

Hey - how would you accomplish a simple turret (visual) upgrade system?

Our scenario: we're building a Tower Defense game, where the player has 4-5 different turrets and each of them has some upgrades to increase damage, range, etc etc. (This part is done). What we want to do, however, is to attach new meshes to sockets in the turrets to represent the upgrades these turrets have.

That said:

1. Would you create an Actor for the Upgrade with a Mesh and attach this actor to the designated socket?
2. Would you create a Static Mesh Component that represents the upgrade and attach it to the designated socket?
3. Would you, in your turret, create static mesh components for each and every possible upgrade, attach them into the right sockets and change its visibility depending whether said upgrade is available or not?

[brazen merlin]

btw, looks like that camera works by averaging the positions of player and cursor, there might possibly be some bias to one or the other (like barrett vs mp5)

[brazen merlin]

sounds more like a #graphics questions - i would make meshes for each upgrade and swap them

[maiden wadi]

@winter garnet Main mesh just needs sockets. Class can attach new static mesh components or even just unhide already added components to the sockets. OnLevelChanged, GetLevel, determine which meshes should be shown however you like. Can Tag each mesh or, make a map/array of sockets to levels, etc.

[gilded venture]

yo! So I'm upgrading from 4.22 to 4.26 and I'm running into a slight hiccup

in 4.22 I used a console command, ShowFlag.Tonemapper 0 to disable some color shenanigans that were occurring as I'm making a game using paper2d. in 4.26 there's some weird post processing occurring that I can't quite figure out what the hell it is, nor how to disable it

a blank post processing volume hasn't solved the issue, nor has modifying camera settings

top being 4.26, bottom 4.22

[bitter hull]

how do i make a branch always check

[eternal furnace]

guys you don't have any experience?

[runic eagle]

Someone can have a look at my above issue? I've tried dedicated fullscreen too (with alt+enter true fullscreen) but still the viewport reports greater as my max x-axis mouse position...

[midnight kiln]

@gilded venture Is this in Paper2d? It almost looks like your texture settings got lost. Maybe check your TileMap or Texture and see if sRGB is checked or if your compression settings got changed.

[gilded venture]

fwiw hitting F2 makes it render properly

but I will check

lmbo yeah srgb makes it go bananas

SRGB is checked and compression is set to RGBA

[bitter hull]

then i wont get false

btw

i fixed it with a sequence

[midnight kiln]

Damn, I was sure that was gunna be it.

[gilded venture]

quick googling says it's because I'm viewing the game "unlit," but none of my materials are lit

so I'm confused on that one too

[midnight kiln]

So no lights in your scene?

[gilded venture]

nope

and you'll see the colors and material there on the tilemap

[midnight kiln]

well that answers my next question

@gilded venture Could it be from bloom or auto exposure?

[midnight kiln]

@gilded venture Well I'm out of ideas. You can try Right Clicking your tile texture > Sprite Actions > Apply Paper2d Texture Settings, but I don't think that's gunna work.

[gilded venture]

Yeah I'm thinking I'm just gonna force unlit viewmode

I won't ever have it lit so y'know WHATEVAH

[odd ember]

have you tried #graphics ? not sure why this is asked here

[gilded venture]

Ooh, fair point

Thanks for the redirect, brother

[alpine igloo]

Is there a straight-forward way to slice a mesh with a grid? My aim is to have an actor(s) which can be attached to a skeletal mesh socket and chunks be destroyed, but I've been through a lot of experiments and everything seems to either involve a really arduous asset pipeline, or working lower level with procedural meshes where using the Slice function multiple times does not seem to produce desirable results. Apex Destruction also doesn't work well here because it's based on bones, and the whole attachment falls off under damage and animates with the skeleton.

[teal talon]

When I'm in a delay and something happens I need to break out of the delay, how do I do that? Say my deer in resting, a looped animation for rest is playing and I have delay while it rebuilds energy. But it gets shot while in this delay. How do I stop the delay so I can play the run logic. Right now the run logic runs so the deer moves on the ground while in rest animation until delay stops.

I'm sure it's not, just too new to know better or what options I have. Thank you, I'll see if I can learn how a gate works.

[spark steppe]

or you would use a timer which you can cancel from it's timer handle, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc5WpNq7RFg @teal talon

[silent rivet]

Would it be bad practice to have both an inputaxis and inputaction for the same thing? A key that moves the character forward for instance.

[cyan surge]

Simplest way to drag around a widget?

[spark steppe]

#umg

[gaunt ferry]

hello fellow eu4 enjoyers i am in need of assistance, so im developing a mod for a game and what i need to do is spawn a new player with spawn actor which i did but i have a issue, see when i spawn the player they player is not visible until its been possessed but the thing is i cant possess it bc i will already be controlling another pawn, so my question is..... is there any way to make it so the player is visible when i spawn it

[cyan surge]

Yes, that would be bad practice completely unnecessary

Just my opinion but that's what you're asking for when you ask that kind of question 😋

[eternal saffron]

Idk why these Melee Attacks don't work I think everything is good there. When I'm trying to hit enemy - nothing happens. Can someone tell me what did I wrong? It's ready character with animations Aurora from Marketplace. I just tried to add Melee AA to her.

[cyan surge]

CustomEvent isn't linked to an on overlap?

also name your events 🤣

[eternal saffron]

But I did it earlier same because I wanted to try another Melee AA. Now I've just paste and copy it to my character and it dont work 😦

[cyan surge]

There just isn't enough information yet @eternal saffron if that's all that is in the actor seems like you need to replace "CustomEvent" with the correct collision overlap delegate, "CustomEvent_1" with the correct damage taken delegate

Click Melee Box and scroll down the details until you find this,

Might look a bit dif in UE5

Click this one and replace the links on "CustomEvent"

After that find Functions,

Add the one that along the same lines of "AnyDamage" and replace "Custom_Event_1"

You can't just expect to have no issues if you just copy and paste blindly @eternal saffron

[rough warren]

How can I make it so my new SpawnActor is put into my folder "Buildings"?

[odd ember]

a spawned actor isn't the same as a blueprint asset actor

it isn't placed anywhere

it only exists in memory

[trim matrix]

cant you make folders in world outliner

to group actors

maybe that what he means

[icy dragon]

No, you can't put actors spawned in runtime into world outliner folder.

[trim matrix]

even if that what he means, I dont know of a way to put a spawned actor in that kind of folder. There wouldnt be a reason to anyways

[icy dragon]

The folders are mainly for management purposes when making levels in editor.

[runic eagle]

Can one of you help me with my issue? Maybe track down if this is the same for you? I have cursor enabled but the most right cursor position is not viewport max right...

[odd ember]

actors at runtime disappear when returning to editor time

[old wadi]

Is there any way for an actor (in-editor) to get the current active sequence level?

[mild edge]

So i've found myself into a problem and basically i need multiple "cameras" that each do a post process and display it on that cameras screen.( IR camera, Thermal Camera) when i use the capture component 2D i get a huge drop in fps. I was thinking of maybe capturing my main camera or some how sending a post process component to a render texture. im not sure how to do it.

[still delta]

Hey guys, looking for some assistance. I've created a main menu for my first project, but upon loading the alpha level the main menu doesn't destroy/remove itself. I've checked reference viewer, checked for redirectors, nothing. The menu seems to create itself again in the main game despite having no code there explicitly telling it to

[valid lintel]

Hey everyone, I have this simple drag and drop working with the on mouse button down event. I now want to implement a double click event to consume an item within the same widget. The double click seems to be not running at all. Wondering if I was doing this incorrectly, a simple google search makes it seem like it should just work.

Drag and drop single click event

Double click event

[zealous fog]

I thibk you have to manually remove it but im not 100% sure

Upon opening a level I just remove all widgets from viewport

[still delta]

I figured as well. In my BP for it, I have the usual "Remove from parent" node attached to the end of the load level node at the end of the "click enter" button sequence

but it doesn't seem to work

[zealous fog]

Try removing all widgets from viewport when you open the alpha level

[still delta]

would it be the same thing? a node that explicitly states "remove all widgets" or something? never used it

[zealous fog]

Yes

Its called

Remove all widgets from viewport

Lol

[still delta]

lol tyvm, i'll see what i get x)

[zealous fog]

Or just remove all widgets

One of the 2

[fierce stump]

Hey, quick question.
I'm trying to put together some menu inputs for opening and closing the current widgets, and going back to the previous one if applicable? What'd be the best, or at least the most convenient, way to go about doing that?

[still delta]

nothing, still there. i'm honestly stumped xS. I don't see any references to my main menu UI from the main game/game mode/UI stuff, and I've checked for redirectors (i often rename things), but nothing seems to be calling it

[zealous fog]

Dont know about the method you are using but how I did a double click method, On the click event it have a branch on bClicked, if false I set bClicked to true and start a timer of .25 seconds that will set bClicked to not true. If bClicked is true it will run the double click code instead of the single click code

[zealous fog]

Have you searched all blueprints? Ctrl shift f

[valid lintel]

Thanks, I had a macro set up to do something similar but opted to see how the double click event would do

[zealous fog]

It could work

I just dont know about the method so I can't help you with it

They should add a double click input event

Altho I suppose its quite easy to make yourself but its a hassle still

Relatively easy*

[valid lintel]

Oo I see what you're saying. I'm doing this in a widget using the overridden on mouse button down function

They have another one for OnMouseButtonDoubleClick, this was the one that wasn't working in the way that I thought it should work

[zealous fog]

Save ant widget you open as a variable LastWidget (in something like game instance or gamemode maybe), then you know which one to open

Then you can open that widget when you click the going back button

[still delta]

I mean I've looked everywhere I could think of. Game Mode for main menu and alpha level are different, with there being no overrides for the main menu Game Mode (essentially a blank slate game mode). I've checked the level blueprint as well and only the main menu lvl has code to open the widget

[fierce stump]

are there any visual examples I could check?

[zealous fog]

You dont have to look evetywhere if you search for it

The ctrl shift f shortcut looks through all blueprints

[valid lintel]

^ make sure you have a blueprint open first.

[zealous fog]

^

[zealous fog]

Not that I know of

Thats just how i woulddo it

[still delta]

shows that it only appears where it's meant to, as far as I can see

[zealous fog]

I would probably make a function in my function library called "OpenWidgetAndSave" that takes an widget as an input and send it to the game instance where it is saved as LastOpenWidget

Then I could use that function when I want to open a widget

So I don't have to manually save the widgets when I use them

And I csnt forget to

[zealous fog]

I dont know maybe try remaking the adding and main menu level seems like a bug you usually dont have to remove it manually I see now

I checked my own blueprints

[rough warren]

it is though?

[zealous fog]

Not in the editor

It is spawned, not placed