blueprint

[wicked osprey]

Guys, I haven't worked with DA and would like to know the following. Let's say I have created a DA for all items in which there are variables:icon, class, stack quantity, name, description, and so on. Inherited from him, and created another DA, but in which there is already a variable of whether the item is stacked or not. Weapons must have the first DA, since they never stack, and ordinary items have the second DA, in which there is a stack variable. That is, when selecting an item, I will first need to find out if I picked up a weapon or an ordinary item, and if it is an item, then do casts on the second DA and get that stack variable?
In short, to get access to the child DA and its variables will have to do casts?

[wicked osprey]

It's just that I have a DA in which there is this variable, but for example in weapons it is not needed at all, since weapons are always not stacked and the variable in fact just hangs in DA without affecting anything

[stiff leaf]

Why not use stack quantity as you "bool"?

[wicked osprey]

The fact is that my weapons just never stack at all. They are immediately added to the array without checking the stack, regardless of whether I set true or false in the IsStack variable?

[wicked osprey]

🤯 🤯 🤯 🤯

Holy shit, why didn't I think of that

Thank you

[stiff leaf]

Np 🙂 we do that in our game

[primal smelt]

I'm adjusting variables on a control rig on tick within the blueprint of an actor (with animation blueprint as the middleman between the two). In the actor blueprint, if I cast to the anim blueprint every time a variable is changed, it works. If I cast at event begin play and store the animbp as a reference - and setting the variables from that reference - it doesn't work. If I print the name of the reference during runtime, it has the correct name of the animation blueprint.

Am I misunderstanding something here at a fundamental level?

I thought (and pretty I have implemented elsewhere in my code somewhere) you can just store the reference of another actor and then directly manipulate the variables within that actor by getting it from the stored reference?

(I should clarify I am storing the reference of the ANimbp Instance

In fact, even if I store the reference on tick and try to use the reference later in the code, it also does not work. Do you really have to pull out directly from the cast node every time to set a variable?

[mental swallow]

How do I find Assets that are referencing a plugin that I removed? Broken assets for example.

For example removing the Control Rig plugin and now I want to search for the assets that inherited from a Control Rig plugin class.

[lunar kiln]

So uh, I have a Niagara component on my player blueprint, making a topdown bullet hell game, the Niagara component is how I intend for you to fire projectiles which all works.

Though Im trying to implement mouse and stick aiming so you can aim this Niagara spawner, but I DONT want to rotate my entire character

All the tutorials I've found just rotates entire character, but it doesnt look like I can rotate one component of my character with like set actor rotation

Im p newbie, but if anyone has any ideas to point me in the right direction Im open

https://i.gyazo.com/cc4d798f31109686918142acae241c9f.png

Here is my player character, and the triangle is a particle from a Niagara spawner that can damage enemies

rn it only fires upwards

I just dont want the entire star/player to rotate, only where the projectile fires

[short pawn]

@lunar kiln You can set relative location of a component

[lunar kiln]

Huhh

Can that node alter the rotation of one component of a player BP and not anything else? @short pawn

Bc I was thinking I had to use SetActorRotation, but I cant plug in components into that

I'll try at least

[short pawn]

Try setrelativerotation node pulled out from a reference to your component

[lunar kiln]

https://i.gyazo.com/0f2ee14970de0e92c057e8137d8a9015.png

Im v newbie so im not sure, but this does not work at least

nothings happening

[icy dragon]

Niagara
Bullet hell

Hmmmmm 🤔
You're not thinking of using Niagara as the projectile spawners and drive the gameplay, aren't you?

[lunar kiln]

Im doing that yes

And its working

😄

Damage system is working, I can make cool patterns with Niagara to alter projectile patterns

All I need is to implement player aiming

[icy dragon]

Sorry to burst your bubbles but we already had several discussions on NOT to use Niagara to base gameplay out of.

#niagara message

[lunar kiln]

Thats okay I dont mind, this is for a student project, and I want to learn more about Niagara, so Im doing a two in one by finishing my assignment and learning Niagara

For my simple game prototype, its going to be fine

[short pawn]

Try just setting the rotation on z as a test to see if it is rotating

[glass stump]

Is it possible to make the cursor (invisible) a reference in a FPS game?

and, if so, how would I do this?
Or just mouse movement I mean.

[charred berry]

Is there a way to zoom in increments in BP window ?

[short pawn]

You can get mouse location https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/BlueprintAPI/Game/Player/GetMousePosition/

[charred berry]

as in smaller , not giant blocks ;:)

[glass stump]

Ah, thank you! :D I'll look into this. :)

[odd ember]

I don't think so, but it would be in the editor preferences if there would be a way

[charred berry]

ok ty ;))))

[dark crow]

Ctrl+Scroll

To zoom closer if that's what you mean

[charred berry]

yup trying

no go, its ok,,just trhing to zoon to specific area to see it all, no biggie not a big deal,,still zooms in too large of increments

[misty tulip]

Does anyone know if there is a blueprint to check if an object is intersecting an ai move to? I'm dealing with doors

So if its moving to a location and a door object is intersecting its current path

id just like to get a Boolean out of it

[odd ember]

there isn't

a door doesn't exist as an object to the AI

all the AI cares about is the navmesh being blocked or not

[misty tulip]

Right, currently the ai can pass through the door with a navlink proxy but only if the door its open.

I want the ai to open the door itself

[odd ember]

probably something you should ask about in #gameplay-ai

[blissful grail]

Line trace out - check if it's a door. If it is, open it.

[odd ember]

I doubt it's going to be that easy

[misty tulip]

But I keep running into the propblem of the ai wanting to open ever door it goes near.

[odd ember]

unless you're talking about the door just opening for the AI

[misty tulip]

I already have the door functional for the player

[odd ember]

not the AI opening the door

[blissful grail]

It'll be more involved, yes, but that is the idea.

[gentle urchin]

Nav link proxies cant provide any context ?

[short pawn]

Could you add a trigger box to the door or ai and use that to trigger the same functionality as the player

[misty tulip]

Thats what I'm thinking I just dont know how to have the ai trigger the door blocking their way rather than the other doors they overlap the collision. The level is tight hallways with many doors

[ashen snow]

Trying to spawn/ attach a spline via PostEditChangeProperty on a Tarray. It spawns but is invisible in the editor and I can only see it in the TArray not on the component I attach it to. What am I missing

Nm - figured it out

I think I wasn't using any attachment rules and so it didn't snap to where the object in scene was. But it still doens't update in the property window - the component the spline attaches to will move the spline but it is not listed under it. Only accessible in the TArray

[sly heath]

Does anyone know if it's possible to expose a Vector variable as 3D Widget, but constrain/limit specific axis of the widget?

[odd ember]

you'll have to explain what you're trying to do

[sly heath]

so, if I expose a 3D Widget in the viewport , but to limit the user input on the vector/3d widget only on x&y axis visually, in the editor.

limit the widget transforms in the viewport

I know there are range sliders, but those seem to be general (all axis), not specific

[small halo]

can someone help me. My grass doesnt render in standalone game but renders in when i player the game in selected viewport

[odd ember]

you're still not explaining what you want to have happen

just what you want to do

those are two different things

[wicked osprey]

Guys, is there a method to return a pointer to a variable from a function?

[sly heath]

I have: "to limit the user input on the vector/3d widget only on an axis visually, in the editor"

[sly heath]

You can choose the return type in the output node/return variable settings. Usually defaults to ref

[gentle urchin]

Constructionscript, override the desired axis

[sly heath]

yeah, that could be a way, to force a value into it. nice simple idea! I'll give that a try! thank you!

[gentle urchin]

If you ment for an actor, adjusting its location with the 3d pivot thingy 😄

[sly heath]

I meant specifically limiting the 3d widget. As an input for a vector variable

not necessarily the owner/actor

[empty latch]

Hi guys, I am trying to change my VR headset rotation speed : when i turn my head to the right of 30° i want the camera to move 60° instead. Any idea how to do that ? i've tried tutorials but nothing's workin 😦

[left echo]

Basic question - I setup an interface to send to multiple instances of the same BP. But it is only going to one of them. Any idea why?

[empty latch]

(i can't believe it is that complicated :/ but even the Tilt event did not work)

[odd ember]

yeah sorry I don't know what you mean. You've said this before and I still dont know what you want

[sly heath]

I have a Blueprint Class, which has a Vector 3 variable exposed in the editor as a 3DWidget. I know there is a Slider and Value Range setting in the Variable Details tab, but those seem to act on all 3Axis of the Vector3 variable. I'm wondering if it would be possible to limit the transforms of the said 3D widget only on a specific axis, in the editor viewport. But I think Squize suggestion might be worth a try.

[wicked osprey]

In Blueprint?

[sly heath]

yup!

[hollow gorge]

quick question:
What node do I use to change an element at a given index within an array through blueprints?

[sly heath]

@hollow gorge https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/BlueprintAPI/Utilities/Array/FindItem/ -> might be useful?

[dawn gazelle]

Set Array Elem

[wicked osprey]

Pass by reference only for Input node

[hollow gorge]

that was the one I was looking for, thanks both helpers

[sly heath]

@willow relic sorry! I misread your question :X

[hollow gorge]

np, that other node will be useful later 🙂

[sly heath]

there's also Get, - returns the item at the given index @hollow gorge

[wicked osprey]

No Object Reference. I need what function return Variable Reference

[odd ember]

pointer references don't exist in BP

and generics don't exist in BP

so no go

[trim matrix]

how can I find in which animation this anim notify is?

[odd ember]

depends on how you name your animation. generally you may want your animation names to be part of your animNotify

gotta ensure that those hips don't lie

[hexed glade]

A quick question. In a combat system I'm running, I have a single ability slot that can host a number of abilities, each one with their separate cooldown. Due to needing control of which abilities belong to which cooldown timer, I'm wondering is there a way to set an unique variable that only exists inside a single instance of a function (so if the same function is run again it will not overlap)?

[odd ember]

function variables do not exist outside of function scope, so not in that sense no

[limber hornet]

Hey everyone, I have a question about Enhanced input system,

Is there anyway to get the button that triggered the action?

[hexed ivy]

how do you detect collision on the perimeter of a sphere only and not inside ?

[odd ember]

how do you imagine those being different?

[hexed ivy]

visibility is blocked when inside I want to be able to trace visibility inside without being blocked but still detect the sphere when actually tracing towards it

[odd ember]

disable visibility for the sphere

just the channel

[hexed ivy]

yeah but then I can't detect it with a trace from outside for example

a vis trace

I just want the edge of the sphere to be vis traceable

[odd ember]

well

you can't really

the best thing you can do is either disable the collision while inside

or consider using two collisions

[hexed ivy]

I guess it could work with a mesh ?

[odd ember]

well you're doing the same thing

a mesh uses a collision component similarly to how its handled in blueprint

[hexed ivy]

but depending on the mesh it could detect only at the edge

[odd ember]

I think you misunderstand

for simplified collisions you can't do this. if you do complex collision you may be able to get away with it. but complex collisions are much more expensive than simple collisions

[hexed ivy]

so it could work

[odd ember]

you can try. I'm not sure how complex collision handle interior collisions

[hexed ivy]

yeah it works

[rain egret]

i have been trying stuff for a long time now but cant seem to find a solution to my problem. i have a pawn with floating pawn movement and i want to be able to push another instance of this pawn if i fly into it.

if anyone would know something about faking physics for that id be a thankful

[tame creek]

does anyone know the standard way to handle pausing gameplay object activity during a Level Sequence cutscene?

the catch is that I need to be able to run some logic on some objects to change map state during the cutscene so I can't just pause *everything *

[tawdry mural]

Custom time dilation

[viscid blaze]

I saw that this was shared a while back, but I found it so useful that I think it's worth sharing again. This is the thing that finally made me understand what Data Assets actually are, and how/why you should use them.

He convinced me to decide to implement this stuff, very early on, in any new Project I start up. Really makes it appear that if you are using Unreal, and not using Data Assets, you're actually "doing it wrong". 😐 At least that's what I keep coming back to as I think about how much of a factor multiplier they seem to be to in your projects development as you progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHHrDIRSr5A

[tame creek]

thanks 👍

[formal bronze]

How would you find the world axis vector between 2 actors? (I need it for the Axis in RotateVectorAroundAxis)

[jaunty summit]

The difference of two actor locations' vectors?

[paper karma]

Is there a way to set a bool to true for all objects in an array?

[icy dragon]

For Each

[paper karma]

could you elaborate a bit? sorry i'm kind of a newbie

[icy dragon]

For Each with the array of object, do casting if necessary, then set the bool from the array element

[paper karma]

awesome figured it out, thanks! 👍

[peak summit]

Is it possible to use BP splines and put a texture down for dirt roads that adhere to the terran or is that terrain spline only.. and if so, can terrain splines be used at runtime for pathfinding or what is the typical workflow to make that happen?

i dont want a mesh on the terrain, just dirt roads that blend into terrain but pathfinding on them

[gentle urchin]

you can use virtual texturing

"painting" along the spline

adding invisible meshes to trigger nav area differentiation, and suddenly it works with pathfinding aswell

to a reasonable degree anyways

[peak summit]

The traffic will be horses so they need to behave more like traffic following splines like roads

[gentle urchin]

you can add logic for that

[peak summit]

bruh lol

[gentle urchin]

splines, virtual texturing, ISM's for defining nav area , and some tracing / collision to detect the spline

[peak summit]

yea i dont even know where to start

[gentle urchin]

start with the spline 🙂

[peak summit]

tell me you've had this together for a while and didnt just slap this in in 2 minutes to show me

[gentle urchin]

look at the date lol

19.11.2021 😄

[peak summit]

hehe rgr

[gentle urchin]

Much happened since then

[foggy escarp]

hey, quick question. I have multiple print strings on tick and the editor crashes after viewing the output log.
Is this something to be expected? I get why it would happen, but I would still like to see the log to check the data.

[gentle urchin]

shouldnt crash from a few prints

you'll get the crash data tho?

[icy dragon]

You probably printing string way too much

If the crash log file reaches GB, then that could be the cause

[foggy escarp]

corrections, it freezes but doesnt crash

[gentle urchin]

^Important to be accurate when describing your problem

[foggy escarp]

yeah

sometimes i find it more helpful to debug with prints on tick because the watches don't seem to be as flexible.

[gentle urchin]

^i totally agree

[peak summit]

Can you use this for finding a path from a to b and storing that entire path or is it really just trying to find next nodes as it traverses?

[icy dragon]

If anything Print String is more preferred

[gentle urchin]

Perhaps not tick, but as often as i need to

[gentle urchin]

Im storing the entire path

[peak summit]

in unity i was using A* as a node graph, what is used here?

[gentle urchin]

im gonna implement a* at some point,

currently its using the regular nav system, not sure whats used there

then im doing some magic to it

[peak summit]

the built in nav system can be used to follow the spline points? yea.. lot to learn i guess 😄

[gentle urchin]

well not directly, but with some help yes

the original nav system already support different nav areas

so that's what im absuing really

[foggy escarp]

working in functions I lose the ability to put delays in front of print strings.
But if I could somehow do this with a macro I think that would be a solution.

[gentle urchin]

delay for a print ? sounds.. like an unexpected usecase

[foggy escarp]

well, some way to prevent spammed prints, i know i can always set the duration to zero, but that's not always going to fix the issue.

[gentle urchin]

So by adding different nav modifiers (or colliding meshes) along the spline i modify the travelcost for the spline area. Which makes the nav system pick that path. From there either tracing along the aquired path, or using some collision on the moving pawn, will help you detect and "latch" on to the spline

[icy dragon]

Have you tried disabling print to log?

I still suspect the output log got bombarded by it

[peak summit]

oh, is your movement not manually done via an array of points?

[foggy escarp]

My intention was to actually read the log of the prints.

[gentle urchin]

Im moving with interpolation through an array of locations yes

[peak summit]

but using the built in nav system or nav system is only calculating points for you?

[gentle urchin]

the initial points yes

[peak summit]

gotcha

[gentle urchin]

then since im interpolating i need better accuracy

So I ended up tracing the paths for curvature 😄

first I check for roads tho (the cheaper check),

then i trace the remaining segments

[icy dragon]

Well, if you have print string on every frame, that might cause issue with the output log

[peak summit]

so you arent using spline data at all for curves yet i take it?

just straight shots?

[gentle urchin]

I am, for sure

or was...

things have changed quite a bit 😄

since then

ignore that they're barrels, that was just for testing the ISM performance with different meshes

I noticed a lot of clipping and flying when using the original nav points , so finding the curvature was essential

[peak summit]

hehe

look at em go!

[gentle urchin]

It's moved from ground to air tho, so much of the earlier work goes down the drain ^^

"air", spline roads not on ground , i suppose is more accurate

so ill 100% follow splines,

set up in a graph

[peak summit]

just want to be sure i cant get terrain spline data at all somehow to be used.. seems silly if thats not possible

[gentle urchin]

It surely is

I just couldnt figure it out

[peak summit]

😄

[gentle urchin]

even tried extracting the heightmap from the landscape

reading the color value

but they were.. rough

[peak summit]

i dont want to "waste time" doing rendering research haha

[gentle urchin]

but surely there are methods to do this 🙂

the tracing route was quite straight forward once the math was correct , and seem to have acceptable results for a few hundred pawns ,

safely processed once per tick, but could probably be increased

[peak summit]

sucks trying to get to the "how to attack problem, what is at my disposal" piece

you have a frying pan, toothpick, unsharpened pencil, make a rocket.. there's gotta be more pieces im missing? 😄

[gentle urchin]

Hehe yeah that sounds about right

[peak summit]

unity at least had an A* project that you just slapped in

[icy dragon]

What's A*?

[solar sequoia]

And yet people will complain that Unreal Engine is "only made for big studios" because of some its systems are slightly esoteric

[odd ember]

back when I last tried unity there wasn't even a way to properly build a level. you had boxes you could scale and everyone was raving about it. never again

[onyx token]

can i change the "Generate overlap event" of this child actor without casting to it?

like the "WeaponR"

Can i change the overlap in my character blueprint without doing a cast?

[solemn bramble]

Have you tried Interfaces? Haven't used them on Child Actors myself, but I see no reason why they wouldn't work.

[onyx token]

hmm... that is a pretty good idea

Basically i'd be sending a signal from my animation notify to my animation owner via interface without cast-
And my character blueprint just sends it over.

[solemn bramble]

Should be doable. : )

[onyx token]

fair enough, thank you!

[solemn bramble]

np

[mild pine]

Hey guys, whats the best method of making the light emitted from a flashlight look like it lights up the air aswell? Contra the default spot light that just lights up the ground. I tried to do this using a Cone that I had shaped for the light's cone angle and attenuation, but that gives me flickers and doesn't look too great 😆

[icy dragon]

Volumetric fogs.
https://youtu.be/Xd7-rTzfmCo

[mild pine]

Hmmm, that's true, but my night scenes have a dynamic range of volumetric fog, its not constant

@icy dragon

[icy dragon]

wdym?

Are you using Sky Atmosphere?

[mild pine]

Ultra Dynamic Sky

It's volumetric density is diverse

[icy dragon]

I don't know if UDS use Sky Atmosphere, because Sky Atmosphere can have height fog respond to it.

(Personally I use my own sky system built from scratch)

[mild pine]

Oh yeah, its using Sky Atmosphere, but the height fog is yeah... varied in density

[small halo]

https://gyazo.com/27def2f01126c2c82324ec5053cb4a70

how can i find which ai is causing damage

attacking enemy or guard bp?

[mild pine]

I would use Event AnyDamage instead and there you can find the instigator/damage causer

@small halo

[small halo]

yeah was looking at that right now

[mild pine]

If you apply damage to the actor, Event AnyDamage will be triggered

[small halo]

how can i find at who is damaging me

or if that certain enemy damages me, then x happens

[thin panther]

check what the instigator is

if instigator is x, do y

[small halo]

yeah how do i check what the investigator is

[thin panther]

the handy dandy instigated by pin?

[small halo]

yh but what do i pull out of it

[thin panther]

that depends on your logic

you can do nothing with it, do some checks

you could check if its class is equal to another class

or smthn

or you could use that reference elsewhere

[small halo]

i have 2 ai and they both use different death screens but im struggling to assign the death screens to each that kills me

wait

https://gyazo.com/ece67b1b79dcde610f8034a5da873a16

that works right?

[thin panther]

depends if theyre both children of the same class

if they arent then no, and if they are it wont work for anythign else damaging you

[small halo]

they are 2 separate bps

[thin panther]

rhen no

it will work for one, not the other

[small halo]

okay i see

i can simply make a function for one and do the event anydamage for the other

right?

[thin panther]

i mean yes, but just use event anydamage for both

[trim matrix]

Why does this not do anything?>

[mild pine]

Is there a way to have a RandomFloatInRange go from 0-2400 (making a random daytime when spawning), but give it an increased probability to be between, for instance 900-1500?

[solar sequoia]

You would have to determine how much more likely it should be, and then you can probably just use multiple rng nodes that overlap

Say you want it to be 2x as likely, you could do something like generate a float from 0-2400, generate an int from 0-1, and if it's 1 you generate another float from 900-1500

[jovial dirge]

Why would my print string send two duplicate messages?

[mild pine]

Thank you! Like this? It makes a lot of sense 🤔 😅

[heady saffron]

does anyone know why my play montage node does not work in the middle of my code, but works perfectly off the inputaction? like the program just doesn't do the animation but it still recognizes it as being used

[solar sequoia]

Yeah, that's the best way I can imagine to do it

[mild pine]

Thanks!

[dawn gazelle]

Because you're looping through an array of session settings. Each time there is a session setting key that is != Password you're going through the false path. Check what the actual keys are that are coming out of the session settings to see what is coming through to figure out what is going on.

[jovial dirge]

@dawn gazelle I understand I am setting up password protected servers everything works great the only issue that the first server the gets displayed on the server list messes up the password

For example I have these 3 servers, all not password protected

They all work besides the first one, which asks for a password

if the "bobbyboy" server was to disconnect, and then the server that gets put on top now asks for a password

even though they all aren't password protected

[pale flare]

anyone know why this isnt working

it wont get past the for each loop it just immediately completes

it acts as iff no arrays are made

nvm

figured it out

[solar sequoia]

Yeah, unless you're running this on the server, you can't get player controllers, and if you are running it on the server, you're only going to reference the controller of player 0

Also, you can't create widgets for a client from the server, because widgets aren't replicated

Unless I'm missing what's supposed to be happening here, but you're referencing the controller in the wrong way

[thin panther]

what theyre saying is its treating the array in the foreach loop empty

nothing about the controller

if its a single player game thats a perfectly valid way of creating a widget

[trim matrix]

\

[thin panther]

?

whats the issue

[trim matrix]

ah

was just posting for someone to see

ive solved it

[jaunty summit]

https://dontasktoask.com/

You have to make sure the relevant classes implement the interface

There is nothing special about your problem, aside knowing how to use interfaces really well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_hLUkm7v44&ab_channel=MathewWadstein

[shut lynx]

when you interp between two different values, say two rotations is it typical to set the current to an updated rotation after every tick or to get the start rotation as a variable that doesnt change and use that for current?

[jaunty summit]

@topaz wigeon Don't delete your messages if you got your problem fixed, or for whatever reason. This would make those who have answered you look dumb, aside from the fact that this is a learning/helping channel, so others won't be to learn if they got the same issue

[topaz wigeon]

i didnt get it solved, just almost no one helped... i felt dumb thats why i removed it

but yes sorry wizard

[jaunty summit]

That's not a valid reason. By this logic, you wouldn't find any messages in this server. Questions here barely go unanswered, and your question was asked merely 15 mins ago

[topaz wigeon]

ok im sorry

[night scarab]

how do I reference or pass in an actors components (collision box spefically) in a a menu like this without being able to cast to the actor. This is for an anim notify with instance editable exposed variables

[trim matrix]

What your asking is not possible. You cannot pass a componet reference in a menu like that.

When editing variables in a menu like that, you are doing so while in editor.

While in editor, the actor componet you are trying to reference might not even exist yet.

[night scarab]

so is there a good workaround

could i pass in a string name of the component and then check the owning actor of the mesh for it or something

[trim matrix]

Who’s collision box are you trying to reference?

[night scarab]

the character in the animation

[trim matrix]

I believe there should be a node to get the skeletal mesh being animated within an anim notify.

I would imagine at least.

[night scarab]

yeah its an input in the begin function

perameter

[trim matrix]

Ok then get the owner of the Sketal mesh

Cast that owner to your CustomCharacterClass

Then get a reference to that componet

[night scarab]

word

[night scarab]

I just dont get how I could make it more streamlined and replicable like if I wanted to slap this onto an animation for a different character with a different collision box but still do the same thing

[trim matrix]

There are two ways i can think off of the top if my head

1st. make your characters inherit from the same base class. This base class could have the reference to the collision componet. So all you would have todo is cast the skeletal mesh owner to this CustomBaseCharacter class

[night scarab]

they do all inherit

[trim matrix]

that may only be possible in certian scenarios though

based on your needs

2nd. create a blueprint interface function that will return a reference to the collison box.

then make all characters who need to use this animation implement the interface

This way you could simply take the owner of the skeletal mesh and call the interface function on it.

and that interface funtion would return a collision box reference, as long as the character has that interface implemented

[night scarab]

I hate to burden you like this but what if the character has like multiple boxes but I would only want to reference one of them

wait I think I got somethin cooking

[native plover]

Im having trouble figuring this out. The game is a first person view perspective. I have a character mesh that is split into 2 parts, head and body. I want to hide head from the player camera view but i still want it to show up in reflections. I tried looking it up online and the only answer i got is to use "Owner No See" option, but it doesn't work. Im guessing it's because all the components are in the same blueprint. Can anyone please help me out here? Thank you.

[zealous moth]

@native plover didn't Ryan layley post a video on that

[native plover]

haven't seen it if he did 😮

[native plover]

do you have a link or know what it's called? i can't find it

[night scarab]

I figured it out I just have an instance editable tag, I get components by tag of the skeletal owning actor and cast to primitive component and then I have the collision box cheerio thank you

[zealous moth]

@native plover not at computer atm. Search for fps and shadow or footsteps

[native plover]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn5B2Yi5Y7E

that ?

[zealous moth]

Yeah that one

[native plover]

alright im trying right now

@zealous moth seems like it doesn't work with reflection since they are screen space reflections

[zealous moth]

Ah... yeah each use case has its own solution

I tried 😪

[trim matrix]

anyone have an idea on how to spawn an actor to a component but based on the item theyr in a different position?

Im grabbing small items and its fine. But bigger items obscure the viewport. So I wanna move them down abit

[solar sequoia]

I can only assume what you're actually saying here, but it sounds like you'd want to have a value stored on the item that's being held, and the character would just adjust the position based on that value

[trim matrix]

exactly, Its kind of hard to explain

attachActorToComponent has no transform options. I can only think of changing the parents position.

[long whale]

hi, does anyone know how to stop an infinitely looping Niagara particle emitter from blueprint? I tried to remove component, destroy actor, etc . Non can remove the particle system.
I can set spawn rate to 0, but this way the emitters are still alive right?

[solar sequoia]

you would just need to change the position of that bone in the anim BP. It's called a bone transform or something similar

@trim matrix you would need to use this to change the transform of the arm bone or something similar so the held item is in the desired position

[maiden wadi]

How is the emitter spawned?

[trim matrix]

@solar sequoiathank you! 😄

not using a bone atm but itll come in handy when I do

[solar sequoia]

well it would have to be a skeletal mesh, unless you mean you don't have a mesh at all

[trim matrix]

not atm. But will later

so ill just make a note of it 😄

[long whale]

tried several ways

spawn an actor with a niagara component

spawn niagara actor and set Niagara conponent asset

or just spawn system attached to character's skeletal mesh

can't find a way to kill the emitter

for now I can only set the loop to once and some fixed length, and dynamically control a spawn rate variable to 0. Hopefully when the loop length is reached the emitter will be gone. It doesn't look like an efficient solution.

[foggy escarp]

Does anyone know of a way to calculate the correct mass scale of a scaled mesh?
Changing the scale in runtime doesn't update its mass.

I think I could use the bounding box to measure its size and use that to get its volume, but this wouldn't work for irregular shapes.

[devout geyser]

anyone can help me figure out float precision?, I have a line trace which sometimes detects and doesn't detect a hit. After some research I figured out my float precision might be off, although I am launching the linetrace by lets assume 15k units till' it hits an object. But sometimes it doesn't display the HIT registration.

It becomes very random with the registration. Any help will be appreciated 🙂

[earnest tangle]

Use the draw debug bits to see where it traces

15 000 units should not matter, unless your trace target is very small since it might be harder for you to hit that at a longer range

[plain helm]

Retargeted Gideon to ALS. But weapons are in a wrong location. Where can I fix it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Y28wO7ef4

Tutorial that I followed

[wicked osprey]

Guys, I would like to know from you what are the main functions that are best stored in the Blueprint Function Library?

[brazen pike]

Whats the BP for pulling out the bow

[devout geyser]

My target is a huge wall as shown in this image

[earnest tangle]

well that should not be a problem lol

[devout geyser]

no kidding ^_^

[fair magnet]

Hey guys :o I would like to able to draw a line with my mouse (let's say left click) and after I release it an actors is spawned that follows that line. Any Ideas how to realize that?

[earnest tangle]

I would check that the wall mesh has correct collision primitives, or try to find out what specific circumstance the trace fails in... it definitely should work and float inaccuracy should not matter unless your wall is exactly 15 000 units away and your trace length is 15 000 units

[devout geyser]

I mean, to try and see in which circumstances the line trace fails it might be problematic because I tried it on like around 5-7 different static \ skeletal meshes each. It just feels like I am relying on a randomizer

[earnest tangle]

Try increasing trace length and see if that makes any difference

if you're tracing exactly to the distance of whatever, that could in theory suffer from the accuracy issue

[mild crystal]

how can i check if im close to a target

[jaunty summit]

Distance To?

[mild crystal]

yes

and how do i get the distance that a animations do

like with root motion

where do animation go

[sleek grove]

Any ideas?

[slow pewter]

anyone Know a good Way, to Sort an Array of Date and Time, in Bp?

[white elbow]

does it cost much to Cast To something?

like every tick for example

[odd ember]

#umg ?

[sleek grove]

yes, sorry

[fair magnet]

How would I calculate the position of a vector from mouse location at a certain Z level?

[odd ember]

mouse location is projected to the deepest visibility layer collision in world, but otherwise only exists in XY space

[fair magnet]

yea and I can convert Mouse Location to World space :o but I don't know how to go go to a certain Z.
I basically want the X and Y Location for the mouse at Z = 0

[odd ember]

just zero out the z value

break vector > make vector

[fair magnet]

that doesn't work because it gets offset

[odd ember]

not sure what you mean?

[fair magnet]

that's what you meant

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/624971122190057482/959432936665526352/Desktop_2022.04.01_-_14.42.38.02_Trim.mp4

get's offset

[odd ember]

that looks more like an issue with the direction. I just said break and make a vector to zero out the z value. the world direction stuff is on you

[fair magnet]

?

[mild crystal]

Any ideas how can i play smooth animations?? like to not be weird

[fair magnet]

what kind of

[mild crystal]

if i have a punch left and a right

how can i

[odd ember]

you've added the value of a world direction. I don't know how that affects your end vector. it doesn't change what I said

[mild crystal]

play them in sequence and be smoother

[fair magnet]

No I didn't ?

[odd ember]

well yes you did. it's right here in this screenshot

[fair magnet]

so making the cursor go straight down isn't exactly what I need o.o I want it to be at the mouse location at Z=0

[odd ember]

that's why you zero out the z value. then it will always be at 0. but you're adding world direction to it, so your XY offset will be based on that world direction

if you don't want the offset, don't add the world direction

[fair magnet]

using world location alone works less because the X and Y values don't match up with the Z

Then it's BARELY changing

[odd ember]

I don't know what you mean by that. you wanted to have it at z = 0. that's what that code does. if you want something different, you need to explain it

[fair magnet]

You know the code for when you want to do a line trace with your mouse right?
You do ConvertMouse Location to world space.
Then you multiply your world direction by how far you want the trace to go from your screen. and add that to your location

[odd ember]

yeah but then you also say say you want to have z = 0

[fair magnet]

Yea now I want this length to be whatever it needs to be so the output Z is 0

[odd ember]

you'd need to find out where the trace starts

[fair magnet]

I figured I had to add something based on how far off the center I am... but don't know how much exactly

[fallen glade]

There is something fundamental I don't understand. Let's say I want to put this into a function, I can't because you cannot put events in there. So what do I do?

[odd ember]

Z is down. mouse position does not have a z value

[fallen glade]

it's just a timer to check if a variable is = true/false

[fair magnet]

The mouse position in World space

[round mantle]

Use a delay and loop it back to its own branch

Delay is a timer you can't cancel

But can be used inline

[odd ember]

the mouse position in world space has an artificial z injected. you'd need to look inside the node to find out this exact value

[round mantle]

But can't add latent events in a function actually

[fallen glade]

you cannot put delays in functions, right?

[odd ember]

it's likely equivalent to MAX_Z but who knows how much this is

[round mantle]

Yeah just make it call it on the event graph

But then you have new issues like can't call function twice and get two delayd

[odd ember]

you can use the timer with a CreateEvent node, which can then call functions

[fallen glade]

mmm, I'm struggling to understand how this is done

I mean, I know how

just not to make it usable

[fair magnet]

I'm really not sure if you understand what I'm trying to say o.o

[fallen glade]

Let's say a do this, it's still not reusable, really isn't it? The created function has no idea where the first input is coming from

[fair magnet]

However I also do not know how to explain it further

[odd ember]

try to explain what you are intending to do instead of trying to force your technical solution (that may not be valid for what you are trying to do)

[fallen glade]

I mean it's not usable like this

[maiden wadi]

Sounds like you're trying to trace against an invisible plane at Zheight 0. Which doesn't require an actual trace.

[odd ember]

there is no relation between functions like that, no. you are calling the same function on repeat. functions can't know things outside of their own scope

[fair magnet]

I want to spawn an actor at the location I'm clicking at Z=0 (Top Down) X = Up, Y= Right

[fallen glade]

So how can I setup a check like this in a way that can be reused? Or do I have to do it manually each time?

[maiden wadi]

Basically you need to use LinePlaneIntersection(Origin&Normal) along with the mouse world location/direction

[odd ember]

then zero out z

z=0 doesn't change

z=0 is always z=0

[fair magnet]

Z does change

[maiden wadi]

You can't just zero the z

[fair magnet]

SEE

o-o

[maiden wadi]

Zeroing Z will change the direction of the trace.

[odd ember]

you're getting an output

not an input

[fair magnet]

So is that a node? :o

[odd ember]

project screen to world

gives you a world coordinate

taking the XY value of that changes nothing in regards to the z

this is already after any trace has happened

[maiden wadi]

You're looking for the intersection off of this.

[fair magnet]

That looks like something I can use yea :o

let me try that

[fair magnet]

Works perfectly ^-^ Thanks

[fallen glade]

I'm still confuzeld. Can someone help me with the my broken logic?

[odd ember]

I'm not really sure what you're trying to do here

you want a reusable function, ok

all functions are technically reusable

but it seems like you want some value to stay consistent while this happens?

[fair magnet]

Couldn't you use an event disptacher to clear that timer? :o or make a function that clears that timer that is being called by whatever BPCombat is?

[fallen glade]

This is what I'm trying to do:

I want a reusable bit of blueprint that will only continue on it's path when another variable is = somthing

[fair magnet]

sounds async to me

[odd ember]

that's a bit too generic. a branch would be a solution to that problem, but I'm sure that's not what you mean

[fallen glade]

no I don't mean an instant check.

I want it to go like this in a single unit

Step 1 - Check if variable is = true
Step 2 - Variable checked, if it's false go to step 3, if it's true go to step 4
Step 3 -Ok, wait a bit, then go back to step 1

Step 4 - continue

[fair magnet]

Event Dispatchers yea :o

[odd ember]

polling would be a solution, but a delegate is probably the closest

you don't want to check every frame if something is done

you can have something else say "hey I'm done" and have a reaction based on that

delegate = event dispatcher

[fair magnet]

May I ask what's polling? :o

[odd ember]

continuous checks for something. e.g. every frame, do a check for something. stop when conditions have been fulfilled. it's sort of the opposite of an event dispatcher

[fallen glade]

ok, let's say I set up delegates. is there a way to make a function to use them instead of doing the same thing, bind, unbind by hand?

[odd ember]

for instance you could poll for players in a multiplayer lobby until you reach the threshold for players to start a match

[fair magnet]

I've made a similar system with my transition handler...
I constructs a bunch of components and each of them call an dispatcher... the dispatcher then counts the amount of calls and once the last one has called it's finish event it proceeds

[odd ember]

you'll struggle with this because functions can't be variables in blueprint

you can "kind of" make them into parameters by a hack

but you'll still need a finite list of functions that you want to use

[fallen glade]

like using an enum?

[odd ember]

and they all need to share the same signature

[odd ember]

yes

[fallen glade]

mmmm, could use an integer

[odd ember]

but again

it's hacky

really you're looking at generics here, and BP doesn't support that

[fallen glade]

Yeah I think i've reached the time where I should just learn to code but with work and family I have no time :/ (cope cope cope) haha. Thank you for your time guys!

[odd ember]

the hack solution is using a bind node with a Select node. the select input is generic, so you can hook up a CreateEvent node

that way you can have it run on a bool, int or enum

[fallen glade]

Thank you CE

[mild crystal]

How can i transform a vector to float?

[hexed ivy]

Anyone know why another actor's widget component doesn't show for a new player ?

[potent laurel]

Have you "added to viewport"whilst that new player is present

[hexed ivy]

I tried doing that but then the widget is fixed on the screen

[potent laurel]

Oh sorry, your trying to get it to not do that. Read it wrong my bad. you need to pass just the correct playercontroller through to the add to viewport function then

[hexed ivy]

in bp ?

[odd ember]

should be AddToPlayerScreen not AddToViewport

[maiden wadi]

You cannot use one widget component for two players. They don't work like that. They project to screen once.

Quite frankly, widget components are nice for 3d widget, but they break down really fast. They're scene components and cost movement time, and they're badly implemented. Actual manager per player with the ability to have actors that needs UI register themselves is a lot better, specially for coop.

[mild pine]

Is there a cleaner way to do this? I wanna ensure that my foot traces make louder noises if its a specific physical material - the branches seem kinda unnecessary, should I use an enum list or something?

[maiden wadi]

Switch

[mild pine]

Ahh, thank you! Thats what I was looking for 😄

[odd ember]

even cleaner if you're setting variables would be to use a Select node

[mild pine]

Oh Im not setting variables, but this work very well 🙂

Btw, the Override Attenuation input for playing sounds, that does indeed override the asset's attenuation settings, even if that has one of its own attenuation settings applied?

If this works like I've made it now it should sound pretty awesome, with people making louder noise if they walk on hard surfaces like metal vs soft surfaces like grass

[manic knot]

Question! I have a spline-based volume actor. How could I spawn particles inside the volume only?

[sterile garnet]

can anyone explain why my animation blueprints get a "_c" added to the end of them by the editor?

[grand valve]

Google says this.

[small halo]

when i get prompted with this screen, theres a 50% chance the buttons dont work for some reason. it doesnt even show me hovering over them and when i click them, they dont work either

https://gyazo.com/f6071d7059d7781b1a9234546af91e9a

https://gyazo.com/4c37a49dc86897c33fb16ccffde299cb

thats the code im using. its on an event tick

[sterile garnet]

i've seen that, but it seems to be causing problems when i go to build my project the editor crashes and tells me "the class is not mapped" so I'm trying to avoid the _C variant if possible

[sterile garnet]

unless there is a way to force it to map properly

[grand valve]

hmm, do you have redirectors in the project maybe?

[sterile garnet]

not that i'm aware of, how would i check? the issue seems to stem from actors that are children of other blueprints

[grand valve]

in your content browser > Filters > Other > Show Redirectors

is your anim BP a child of something or your character?

Hmm also are you using BP nativization?

[tulip mural]

ayo, i have a question about Event BPs, i have four actor BPs and i would like to disable three with one being able to be interacted and after being interacted, it will become disabled and another one will being enabled etc. . i'm unsure if i have to try with branches or not 🤔

[plain helm]

How to call Parent BeginPlay?

[thin panther]

right click the begin play node and there should be an option to call to parent

[dark crow]

Make it event driven, not on tick

[small halo]

whats an event driven?

[odd ember]

driven by events

instead of driven by tick

[small halo]

i tried timer on event

it didnt work

[keen hedge]

Is there a way to shoehorn wildcards/generics into BP functions and/or events?

[small halo]

it makes my other widgets no work too like i cant press ''E'' to pick up and object

im just so confused

[fast cosmos]

unfortunately not in blueprint, only in macros

[odd ember]

BP doesn't support generics

[dark crow]

You may want to instead work with a overlap or linetrace, depending on how it works

Even both

[stoic heath]

Not blueprint related but does anyone know how to prevent the struct tree from hiding itself whenever I perform an action (inserting, deleting etc) as shown in the video?

[coral lance]

I am getting this error and I am confused as to what it means

here is the code connected to error

[dark crow]

Did you create the Camera variable or using the Component?

[golden frigate]

ive got a super simple blueprint running on a custom player controller. it is calling the custom player state which contains points info, however the cast always fails. after searching online it seems like it may be a bug, any workarounds?

[coral lance]

I am using the component and my origninal camera

[dark crow]

Well, It's complaining about Camera not having a valid pointer

[plain helm]

Guys how to do rotation to pitch?

There is only yaw implemented

[maiden wadi]

If the cast fails, you likely aren't using that playerstate class.

[golden frigate]

i am according to the gamemode

[sterile garnet]

I only see one redirector when I turn on that filter, and it doesn't seem to be related to my issue.

the anim BP is not a child (other than of the default anim class)

and i haven't tried anything to do with nativization so i don't think so

[golden frigate]

there is also no gamemode override set for the world

[grand valve]

@sterile garnet ah, sorry man that was all my google-fu found out. You might want to see if there is a project wide nativization setting turned on, and maybe excluding some of these BPs from that if possible..

[maiden wadi]

And that game mode is set in the project defaults?

[sterile garnet]

no worries. i was hoping someone had a magic bullet. i'll poke around with the nativization settings and see if they help anyway?

[golden frigate]

yes im using the third person template

[grand valve]

The error definitely points to that particular animbp class right? you tried compiling with a fresh one?

[sterile garnet]

the error originally pointed to a different animbp class for an actor that WAS a child BP, so i deleted the child and merged it into the parent, which resolved that original error, but shifted it over to this new actor

[maiden wadi]

What if you set the level's game mode override, does that work?

[golden frigate]

nope it just fails

notably it does fail 2 times (as i have 1 client open)

but that made no difference

[sterile garnet]

and the error only seems to kick in when i change something and then try to build to my VR headset. if i just build after loading the game without making any changes, it all goes fine

not the biiiiiggggest issue, it just slows down my iteration process

[grand valve]

damn, sorry, gl 😦 seems a lot of people having the issue with VR specifically

[sterile garnet]

VR is fun but it always brings out the weirdest edge case issues

[random plaza]

since nobody's replying in the graphics channel and it's blueprint related, my particle material isnt showing up

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/221799195806400512/959489748236369950/unknown.png

[coral lance]

How would I fix that

[daring rapids]

Hey everyone, I've been meaning to create a trigger box that spawns a short descriptive text, but I honestly got stuck.

It works in the sense that when I enter the trigger box, it does recognise that the player is overlapping with it, and so it prints the dev text for testing purposes, but it doesn't display the text render I set up. I don't know what I'm doing wrong :/

[teal nexus]

When making a game with future DLC expansion in mind, what are the DOs and DONTs in BP for the base project ?

[golden frigate]

ive validated that the custom player state is being used. (printed on begin play event), its probably a UE5 bug

and change in intended use

there has to be a bug with the player array in blueprint mode or something

even this (no cast to a special state) yields id printouts of 0 and 0

(when each player should have a unique id)

[maiden wadi]

What is the length of the array? If it's zero, they might have messed with the playerstate registering itself in gamestate.

[golden frigate]

the length is equal to the number of players

[maiden wadi]

Odd. What does GetClass's printing the name say?

[golden frigate]

trying to print player id gives this error

get class is blank

(for each player in the player array)

[maiden wadi]

So the array has entries, they're just null. Does this do this on the server machine too?

[golden frigate]

although the blueprint editor does recognize it is a playerstate object reference

its doing that specifically on the server

[golden frigate]

https://www.reddit.com/r/unrealengine/comments/o36isl/ue5_gamestate_playerarray_contains_null/

seems like it is a bug but they have not fixed it

fixed it @maiden wadi

plugin adds this pure function which fixes the issue

[maiden wadi]

Pure node returning arrays.. Ugh.

[solar sequoia]

You're probably going to want a functional game before you even consider adding dlc to it

[prime stump]

Hi, does anyone know what these errors are? i cant find shit on them

[teal nexus]

how so? better plan such thing from start than later redo things to make it work

it's like "I'll add multiplayer later" thing 😅

[maiden wadi]

Only important thing BP specific that comes to mind is correct use of soft pointers.

[coral lance]

I am still having a problem with some code I tried attaching the camera that is part of the Master Character BP but It still had the same error

[teal nexus]

I don't think I've ever used those 😅

[odd ember]

you need to check if your target is valid before teleporting

[coral lance]

Could you explain how I would do that. I am still a noob

[odd ember]

it's literally a node

[coral lance]

what is the node called?

[odd ember]

have you tried opening the context menu and typing in "is valid"?

[fluid rover]

Anyone had issues using SpiralBlur-SceneTexture node in VR projects?

[coral lance]

I am not sure where to put the is valid I know about that node but I am not sure where to use it

[odd ember]

anywhere before you use the function that gives you the error

[odd ember]

materials are in the #graphics domain

[fluid rover]

@odd ember Works for me, I just figured this one straddled the line a bit. Trying to discover whether it is doing something blueprint-wise that VR engines/plugins won't jive with.

[odd ember]

even if the graphs look the same, they aren't. blueprint refers strictly to the code running on the blueprint VM. material nodes translate to HLSL

[fluid rover]

Good to know

[paper karma]

Hi, I have a start button on my main menu that uses the "Open Level By Name" node to load the starting level. This works fine when testing but after packaging, the button just reloads the main menu. Any Ideas?

[shrewd phoenix]

Did you include the map in the build settings?

[paper karma]

how so?

[coral lance]

It gives me the error before it starts any function so there is nothing to verify

[paper karma]

okay, i'll give that a go thanks 👍

[cobalt gulch]

Hi guys, is there a way to check a string for a certain word, im trying to make it so i can set a string to the value of a characters name so i can determine which one the character is playing

[paper karma]

string contains node

[cobalt gulch]

Thanks 🙂

[paper karma]

👉 😎 👉

[odd ember]

well if you click the error you can put the node right before the error

[coral lance]

its before a camera variable though with nothing before it

[undone surge]

I made a custom crouch function which includes setting crouched and uncrouched walk speeds but i also have a sprint function. the sprint function doesnt work after ive crouch uncrouched

how do i get the sprint function to override the crouch set max walk speed

[odd ember]

well it has to start somewhere

[odd ember]

if you're doing this on the character movement component you'll probably have to set it by hand

[undone surge]

set what by hand the walk speeds ?

[manic knot]

Any way to get a Random Point Inside a Spline?

[cobalt gulch]

Sorry im new to this.. is there a way I could link this up to a piece of text that only goes visible when a specific piece of text is shown?

[odd ember]

yes

[thorn egret]

@odd ember Gotchya, thank you.

[paper karma]

i'm not entirely sure what you're asking but if you can some how hook that up to a branch you should be good to go

[odd ember]

get time along spline with a random value perhaps?

[cobalt gulch]

I think i've got it just i dont know how to link it up lol

[coral lance]

it is still not working

[paper karma]

this is a ui binding right?

or a construction script thingy?

[odd ember]

well you need to put the object where it says "accessed none" and link it up to the node

right now it's not checking anything

[cobalt gulch]

this is a ui binding and im referencing a character

[paper karma]

you might need to get a reference to the text block in the ui object?

not an expert on ui though 😅

[coral lance]

now im not getting the error but it is still not working in my game

[cobalt gulch]

Idk it seems correct in my mind lol.. it's just checking whether the variable on the character has a certain word

[paper karma]

yea i'm not sure what the error actually is, seems fine to me lol

[odd ember]

well then you've located the source of the issue

you're using something before it is set

[cobalt gulch]

WTF I made the variable replicated and it fixed the issue?

[coral lance]

I am now even more confused sorry im really new to this so debugging is still hard

[odd ember]

right but if I do it for you you're not going to learn how it works

you're using the variable before it is set

[paper karma]

👏 if it work it works i guess lol

[onyx token]

if i make a new character blueprint-
Do i need a new animation blueprint aswell?

Or can i just reuse my old one?
And if i do, how do i make it so i still have the variables that i need for it without casting to it?

like if i have code that goes into the third person character right now-
How can i get rid of that cast?

and just make it "owner" or something?

[maiden wadi]

I recommend it. Learning how to manage an object's memory footprint is pretty huge as far as laying framework for your project. Keeping classes unloaded from memory that aren't being used. This is one of the things that the casting misconception is about and why derps use interfaces for everything. Learning to read the Sizemap, and choose what is okay to always be referenced is a great tool for growing projects. Which is why I make a point about it for DLCs. Also very good for general core game framework.

[maiden wadi]

You make two new characters. Put the variables in one and reparent your third person character to this parent class. Then create a new child of the parent class. Then cast to the parent class and it won't matter which character you're using.

[onyx token]

big brain

how do i reparent in editor?

[maiden wadi]

I think it's in file. Sec

Editor not open.

[fast cosmos]

yeah, file > reparent blueprint

[onyx token]

[maiden wadi]

Will break your current variables if you name them the same in the parent. Requires minor restructuring by replacing the variables in the current third person character. Just needs simple replacing mostly.

[onyx token]

But i only need the ones that are in my animationBP right?

Since my second character will have a vastly different blueprint

[maiden wadi]

For now. Til you need others elsewhere. 😄

[onyx token]

(it's an NPC, and the first one is my player character)

[astral epoch]

So I figured the sizemap would be important, it kind of falls under the same optimization rule as "don't avoid tick, just make sure you know when its necessary to use". But are interfaces really that bad?

[blissful grail]

Going to be honest - never even knew that was there. I always use the Class Defaults section of BP to reparent 😅

[onyx token]

thank you for helping me

[odd ember]

don't cast in the update, cast once on begin play

[astral epoch]

This. Its a good idea to cast once and cache the output rather than constantly casting.

[odd ember]

how was it buggy?

[onyx token]

well- beginplay was a little buggy for some reason

[odd ember]

I don't think the animBP ever spawns in before the character 🤔

[onyx token]

so i did it like this

[astral epoch]

(you uploaded that 5 times now)

[odd ember]

it's the same image 😂

[onyx token]

oh now it updated

internet

apparently my upload worked for a few seconds, but my download didn't

[maiden wadi]

There's not much wrong with interfacing I guess. My personal issues with it are:

1. In blueprint it is 6-20% slower at runtime for getter functions than a simple cast and get.
2. Interfaces require extra work. You have to create the function in the interface, implement it on every single class that uses it.
3. Interface communication is indirect. And it makes project architecture complicated to read through, which as a UI programmer I would want to murder you if I had to work on your project.

[odd ember]

@onyx token

[onyx token]

tbh- i can't even remember

[odd ember]

interfaces in BP are often used as faux event dispatchers

which is just not what they are made for

also interfaces aren't technically real

it's all virtual

[astral epoch]

Isn't that kind of the point?

[fast cosmos]

i do like them for broadcasting common events over many disparate classes but that's about it. i've only really found a use for them a couple of times.

[astral epoch]

Virtual functions/events that can be called but have its logic defined elsewhere?

[odd ember]

ordinarily interfaces would be part of the core language. but interfaces don't exist in cpp. so epic "hacked" them into existence

[odd ember]

right but you may as well use event dispatchers for this. they were designed for it

what's more is that it forces you to keep your code tidy and tech debt low

[maiden wadi]

One of the classic fuckups of Interfaces that irk me to no end are people that use them to avoid casting, and then literally return an object of the type. Any hard pointer in a class connects it in the memory sizemap, not just casting. This includes Variables, ReturnValues from functions, as well as Cast nodes.

[odd ember]

here's the icing on the cake: implicit in the interface is a cast

so you avoid casting only to... implicitly cast anyway

[fast cosmos]

yeah i usually do and much prefer event dispatchers. which is why in 10 years i've only found 2 use cases for interfaces 😂

[blissful grail]

I always chuckle when I see this 🙄

[odd ember]

interfaces exist to bridge OOP hierarchies

[astral epoch]

So essentially any connection between two classes would make attempts to limit cast calls kind of pointless?

[odd ember]

that's literally all they are for

[odd ember]

the point is that you shouldn't be overly worried about casting costs

unless you're doing millions of them on tick

[astral epoch]

Fair.

[odd ember]

same goes for interface calls

[astral epoch]

That's pretty much what I've always heard, just avoid cast calls on tick but more due to the fact its on tick than anything.

[odd ember]

your time is better spent finding out how you can limit casts than trying to hack your way around casting

so cast, but e.g. only cast when needed

but that goes for any expensive code

[maiden wadi]

Actually casting technically costs nothing. It's validity check in the macro that costs, and it's the same amount as an IsValid node. So if casting is costing your performance, stop validating pointers too. 😄

[odd ember]

for my AI I do 3 cheap checks before I even fire a linetrace

if it fails any of the 3, back to square one

and expensive code does not execute

= I win

[astral epoch]

I still feel the use of an interface is cleaner than the use of a dozen different casts, at least when it comes to something like outputting damage. Weapon fires a linetrace, I don't want to have my graph covered in casts trying to figure what I hit when the Interface can pretty much just scream into the void for me.

Though I'm not sure if that's better or worse under the hood.

[odd ember]

health could be an OK thing because you could spread that logic across several classes, and I've seen it mentioned professionally as one of the few cases. but even then, for UE, I'd prefer using components. but then FindComponent is also expensive

[azure night]

How do I change the line trace to go towards the crosshair, rather than straight in front?

[astral epoch]

Starting to feel like everything is expensive at this point

Then again with the cost of every type of bill, tax, and general cost of living all going up...

[onyx token]

shoot a line with the camera, figure out where the hit point is, and use that as the end location for your original linetrace?

[dawn gazelle]

Camera > Get World Location > Start
Camera > Get World Location + Camera > Get Forward Vector * Line Trace Desired Trace Distance > End

[onyx token]

this is better than my idea, do that

[oak vine]

Hey, I’m getting an error trying to “get components with tag” inside an Actor Blueprint’s Event Graph. I’m trying to find Scene Components with a tag, but the error says I can’t search for scene components. Any idea what’s going wrong?

[azure night]

Like this? It doesn't seem to work, it fires the line trace out in the same direction regardless of where the camera is facing, how I get it to fire in the direction of the crosshair

[dawn gazelle]

Nope. You multiply the forward vector first, and you need to multiply all (X Y and Z), then add that to the world location. If you only multiply X and set the others to 0, they aren't taken into account at all.

[onyx token]

maan
my reparent didn't work

i can't access my variables now

[blissful grail]

You aren't casting to the right class. Character is a base class.

[manic knot]

I tried similar, and can only get the location of the points (the outer rim of volume), I am hoping to get a location inside the spline

[onyx token]

but "character" does have that variable tho

[dawn gazelle]

Either that or your character is a lady.

[onyx token]

i'll keep that variable name

i'll find some use for it.

[odd ember]

sus

[onyx token]

but why can't i access any of the variables in the "character" blueprint? I've reparented my player character bp

[blissful grail]

I literally told you why. You are casting to the wrong class.

[dawn gazelle]

Because "Character" is the base class. You need to cast to the class that has that variable.

[onyx token]

am confused

[odd ember]

let me first ask you.... why are you trying to access variables in your character blueprint?

[onyx token]

because the character blueprint is the parent class to my player blueprint

and i have an npc blueprint, and a player bluepritn

both are characters

so i made a character class, reparented both to the character class
that way i can change shit, and in my animation blueprint i only have to cast once to the character class

[dawn gazelle]

Don't name it character.

Name it something else.

Character is already the name of a class.

[onyx token]

oh

uhh..

oh you're right! Neat now it works

[dawn gazelle]

Now you can get all the penis you want.

[onyx token]

and i will set every one of them to "true"

[trim matrix]

What are you making 💀

[onyx token]

test variables

[trim matrix]

Ah

[onyx token]

which i give stupid names

[trim matrix]

Looks to be a pornographic game.

[onyx token]

it is. Look at that sexmonster.

[trim matrix]

😩

An arrow hardly suffices for a penis. Shapes can help achieve this instead.

[onyx token]

wow mean

[azure night]

Like this? Get forward vector just seems to point in the x direction rather than where the camera is facing? (I fired the line trace then took a couple steps back)

[trim matrix]

Just trying to help.

[onyx token]

what's the point of that arrow anyway?

[trim matrix]

Penis

[onyx token]

[dawn gazelle]

Your multiplication should be the same for all 3 X Y and Z.

You're getting a forward vector which is a direction whose value goes between -1 to 1. In this case, you're getting the forward vector of the camera, ie. the forward vector is the direction that the camera is facing. If you want it to go straight from the camera, you need to multiply all 3 values X, Y and Z, by the same amount as this then gives you a "straight forward" trace based on the forward vector of the camera. You're then adding the Camera Location so the end is based upon where the camera is located.

[azure night]

Its working, thank you for your explanation 🙂

[rare hemlock]

Hey guys. I've made a custom anim notify for footsteps, and I want to ensure only the notifies for the highest weighted animation trigger. Since I'm not using a blendspace, I can't use the blendspace's "Highest Weighted Animation" option to fix this. Instead, what I've been doing is messing around with the anim notify's Trigger Weight Threshold. I get better results, but still not perfect.

I was wondering if you guys knew a better way to handle this without using a blendspace.

[ancient siren]

i want to make it stop having the outline when i am far away enough

but idk how

[onyx token]

get the distance of your linetrace hit?

[ancient siren]

im new, i just followed a tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fxnv2ccklg

[small halo]

can someone help me with displaying an enemy tracker on multiple enemies of the same blueprint. Currently it is only working for one of the enemies.

widget code:

https://gyazo.com/f6edcde9c61e5756182873ab0c5f937a

https://gyazo.com/45102fd30ae505d4e3f095bca13b9a8f

enemy bp code

https://gyazo.com/97e767aef6388226c218587aaa89e341

[onyx token]

see the "location" node?

you can get the distance between that location and your start location

and then just add a branch, and if the distance is > 1000 or something - stop showing the line

[ancient siren]

wait where is this?

[onyx token]

i'm screenshotting from the video

[ancient siren]

ty

siorry

i was looking at the wrong part of the bp 🤦

[onyx token]

hm why can't i access my parent character blueprint?

[ancient siren]

its a bit of a wreck, but

i did this

and its not working

🥲 👍

do you see anything wrong?

[onyx token]

ye, you set it to "false"

wait nvm

get an event tick node and print this

[ancient siren]

wait what

[ancient siren]

wdym

[onyx token]

you should do the beginner tutorials epic has provided on youtube

[ancient siren]

i just realized what you meant btw

oh shoot

its only calculating it while my mouse is on it

wait i see the issue

[ancient siren]

this is the stuff before this

it traces it before it removes it or smt

ahh this is too confusing for my tiny gml brain

i somehow need to do this before i am too far away (range i think)

when i changed range to 5000 and the gun got far away enough this happened

[brazen pike]

click on the one at the end of the error, see what comes up

[icy dragon]

Do you set the reference to null when the object is far away?

[ancient siren]

the tutorial by the way

[ancient siren]

no?

i dont think so

im new

[icy dragon]

Since your BP mention custom depth, maybe in the material you can have the outline disappears if the depth value is less than certain distance

[ancient siren]

not sure how to make the outline dissapear

;-;

[astral epoch]

You figured this one out yet?

From first glance it looks like you're just not setting the character to be anything.

[onyx token]

not yet, i'm trying out making a new child from scratch and just copying all the nodes over

but do i have to set it tho? Like the variable points directly to it...

[astral epoch]

Yes. Because its referencing another object, its default value will be null.

Which is why its telling you its reading none.

What is this class in and how are you trying to set that value?

[onyx token]

and when i do this, and make the exact same code - it works

Even though i reparented my blueprints

[astral epoch]

Strange.

Its interesting that making a child worked.

[onyx token]

yea

for some reason the reparent didn't really do much

[astral epoch]

What is the variable and how are you intending it to be set?

[onyx token]

well in my child blueprint that i just created i don't even have to get the variable or cast to anything... works like a normal child.
I can just-

take shit from my parent blueprint no problem

[astral epoch]

Uh

Okay...

[feral ice]

can i choose what meshes that gets affected by the post process?

[astral epoch]

So in this case that TestString variable is just part of the child class, which is why it works.

[icy dragon]

Yes, by using custom depth (and custom stencils)

[astral epoch]

And in the other example you were trying to set it in a completely different object.

[onyx token]

wait-
nvm.

I'm dumb.

[astral epoch]

The reason it wasn't working was because Character Parent isn't set to aynthing.

[onyx token]

i was able to just take it all this time in my player character too

i'm just stupid

smol brain here

[astral epoch]

Nah its fine, we all start somewhere.

[feral ice]

so i cant enable or disable some checkbox easily?

[onyx token]

thank you @astral epoch

[azure night]

Whats the keybind to line nodes up straight?

[astral epoch]

Not sure about binding but you can right click the pin and straighten connection that way.

[onyx token]

no keybind per default, i set it to Q

[ancient siren]

OJH

I GOT IT

TO WORK

im happy

:DDD

[onyx token]

good job

[brazen pike]

You still get this error?

[ancient siren]

nope

i fixed it

[brazen pike]

nice

[icy dragon]

Uhh it's a checkbox

Of course that goes without saying your post FX material have to make use of it to begin with

[ancient siren]

i may have celebrated a bit too early
yet another issue,
when i am far enough away from the gun, it stops having an outline, but when i go back closer to it it doesnt draw it again... heres the bp

heres a video

[brazen pike]

do you have the new and old actor as the same?

in start trace

[ancient siren]

this is the start trace

[brazen pike]

are you not putting them both into the same line?

Or have you just made it look that way

[ancient siren]

i made it look that way

[onyx token]

i'm triggered

[onyx token]

the noodles are not clean

[ancient siren]

LMAO

ok i cleaned the noodles

[manic knot]

nice Makhno pfp @brazen pike

[ancient siren]

i hope you can read this

sorry i use snipping tool

[brazen pike]

If they do equal the same, is interactable being set out the linetrace output?

[ancient siren]

wdym

sorry

im really not smart

[brazen pike]

what's this being set as

[ancient siren]

interactable is stopping the tracing once

[ancient siren]

if that is what you mean

[brazen pike]

No I mean the interactable variable is being set there. I am wondering where the input is coming from

I drew a red line over the input

where does that go

[ancient siren]

oh right

[brazen pike]

Try adding in print strings in multiple locations

to see what is actually getting fired off and what isn't

For instance if the "start trace" is working but maybe it isn't detecting the gun

[ancient siren]

but what would the string actually be then?

[brazen pike]

Print the name of whatever actor it is finding

[ancient siren]

ill put it right here and see what happens

it is getting the object name

[brazen pike]

And you know it is suceeding in the start trace?

[ancient siren]

in the function?

[brazen pike]

yes

[ancient siren]

ill test it

its not printing it

this is the full thing

[brazen pike]

Yeah that's because it has no old actor to turn it off for. Put the print lower down, just after the start

[ancient siren]

wtf-

also its no longer drawing the outline... at all

so thats a huge step backwards

also all of the errors-

WAIT

@brazen pike

by the way

it turns out that these two