multiplayer

[thin stratus]

btw, whoever reads this who I usually talk about CMC stuff with.
That's the project I redid the whole CMC from scratch for, to add all that 360° motion, hover movement and driving on any surface like a spider. That was not fun.

[visual sail]

I'll try to get minimalist with that hud stuff now

make the player decide if they want to see everything at the same time

[thin stratus]

That's probably a good idea

There is also the concept of "show UI only if it matters"

E.g. hiding Health when the player is at full health.

Optional of course

[visual sail]

yeah I really liked that option when I was on Elden Ring

If i recall there's an option there that just display the hp/stamina bars if your character goes in action

[thin stratus]

fwiw there is also Bears Can't Drift as an example. That's from @red skiff iirc.
Also shows how minimalistic the UI can be for Splitscreen stuff.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/338040/Bears_Cant_Drift/
Of course a racing game, so totally different requirements, but UE. Just remembered that cause I think we did something on that project. Can't recall what anymore. Think some bug fix for console profile stuff.

General idea I guess is: Big and Readable + Not too much info

[lost inlet]

flashbacks to when we were experimenting with splitscreen like 7 years ago

the only evidence it exists in the final product was there were two HUDs, a full screen one, and a per-player one

[thin stratus]

Yeah, that further proofs that, depending on the game, you gotta at least adjust the layout for the different splitscreen versions, if not even the whole UI.

We somewhat learned that the hard way too hehe

Somewhat logical though

[lost inlet]

the things that were full screen were an objective dock and the round timer

pretty much everything else was on the per-player "layer"

[thin stratus]

Right. I didn't write that earlier I think, only somewhat implied it.
Information that is the same between all players can totally go into one Widget that is added to the GameViewport. Such as a RoundTimer that sits in the middle of 4 Players.

You can also get creative with these, like instead of a timer, it's a burning down fuse or so.
Depends on the game of course. Definitely a work of art to make proper UI for different splitscreen layouts. Glad I only have to code stuff and not design it.

[dark edge]

diagetic UI in the world, looks cool, it's easy

[honest rain]

hello Everyone ! 😀 I am trying to learn a specific thing I never tried before : replicating an event only to one specific client ( damage numbers in this case ) and I am having trouble 😅 damage is being applied correctly from the player controller to the actor enemy on server and clients, but no damage number is being displayed :

[lost inlet]

well isn't this on the victim? so... yeah

I imagine damage numbers are supposed to be seen by the attacker

[honest rain]

yes indeed, and yes it is spawned on the actual enemies ( the numbers )

[thin stratus]

Just make a text adventure

@honest rain

• Don't change the Owner of the AI to the PlayerController
• Don't place the RPC into the AI
• Place the RPC into the PlayerController
• Call the RPC on the InstigatedBy (after casting) PlayerController (if that's what you pass in there)
• Success

[sinful tree]

"Run on Owning Client" means "Run on client that owns this actor". If it's not a client owned actor, which it usually wouldn't be if it's a computer-controlled actor, then no one receives this kind of RPC.

[thin stratus]

I'm not sure what InstigatedBy actually is

[lament flax]

its been half a day and i still cant find out why my component isnt destroyed
the SM is still visible

[thin stratus]

depends on what is passed in, but either way from whatever that is, you want to get the PlayerController

[dark edge]

ooh don't do that

don't make the damager the owner of everything they damage

Encode it as a message

Dear Client,
please show a damage popup at the location of this actor, for this amount of damage.
Thanks,
The Server

Put a run on client event with that signature on the player pawn or playercontroller

whatever is being passed as Instigator most likely

[pine cedar]

I'm making a small multiplayer mobile/pc game. when I minimise and close the game on android the game doesn't disconnect even though the app is closed anyone got anything which might help?

[honest rain]

thank you !! 🙂

[honest rain]

Thanks ! 😄

[red skiff]

The minimalism was driven mostly by laziness and incompetence. And it was connecting profiles to controllers for the xbox release. Very much saved my bacon 🥓

[glad robin]

Too impatient to wait for upload/download to finish. I'm testing steam online subsystem and just have the default SpaceWar stuff setup. Now when running on a separate PC and different steam account, does this other account also need to be signed up for Steamworks?

[dark parcel]

No

Just pass the game via hard drive. Have steam open. Then just run the exe

[vagrant grail]

Hey general question :
I'm watching a stream of someone playing the game "We Were Here Forever" and there's a puzzle where players needs to move "pawns" around to match them with their corresponding icon. 1 is controlling "Round shaped pawns" and the other player is controlling "Square shaped pawns".

There's a bug occuring when both players move their pawn together in the same place and it's not supposed to happen and was wondering what kind of solution would make that never happen as both players are pressing at the same time so sending a sigal through the network to not allow the other player not doing that would take too much time I guess?

Here's the clip https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxEX-fFZqoUBd4NsCAEiH3KRnUNkHFWjgK?si=FFhdPgEDSWJ9GpnL

[vagrant grail]

Why does the print "HELLOOOOO" in my GM_Werewolf in my OnSwapPlayerControllers event (override) not print ? When I go from my lobby level (having the GM_Lobby gamemode inherited from GM_Core) to the Mansion level (having the GM_Werewolf gamemode inherited from GM_Core) using "seamless travel".

The GM_Werewolf : BeginPlay print is being called without any issue and GM_Core : BeginPlay is being called as I use Parent:BeginPlay node so that's all good but somehow the OnSwapPlayerControllers causes an issue because it's not being called for some weird reason.

[icy jetty]

Well, are you actually swapping player controllers?

[vagrant grail]

Yes, the lobby has a player controller called "PC_Lobby" and the mansion level has a controller called "PC_Werewolf"

[icy jetty]

Did you print string in PC_Werewolf beginplay?

[vagrant grail]

nope let me try

[vagrant grail]

it does print

[oak flower]

Is it possible for a weak computer to not be able to replicate some variable simply because it is weak?

When I test my multiplayer game with my best PC being the HOST/SERVER, and my notebook(low budget pc) being the CLIENT, everything works perfectly for both sides. But when I set my notebook to be the HOST/SERVER, my client machine (which is now my best PC) has a lot of bugs, a variable is not being replicated back.

[fossil spoke]

Yes, the hardware of the Host will affect the overall experience for all Clients.

If it has very bad hardware then it is unlikely to be able to handle hosting sessions with other Clients.

[oak flower]

Is there a way to "Minimize" this? Increase NetUpdateFrequency or something, I don't know...

[fossil spoke]

Minimize what? The more efficient and performant your game is, the better it will run.

Increasing NetUpdateFrequency will likely cause even more problems

[oak flower]

For example in my game, when the HOST is a low budget PC, an important variable is not replicated correctly

[fossil spoke]

Its probably being deprioritized because your hardware is struggling and its ability to process network updates is limited

You have 2 options

Make your game and network code more optimized

Stop allowing that level of hardware the ability to host sessions.

[oak flower]

How?

[fossil spoke]

Disable that players ability to host a session?

[oak flower]

Detect the computer's "hardware level" and prevent it from being a host

[fossil spoke]

There are functions for accessing hardware information

How you prevent it from hosting is on you

I dont know how your game is setup

Disable the “Host session” button??? 🤷

[oak flower]

Can you send me a link with this information so I can study better?

[fossil spoke]

Google is your friend? I am on my phone so its not easy

[oak flower]

hmm no problem

anyways, thank u!!

[vagrant grail]

anyone please ? ☝️

[hoary spear]

I think swapcontroller is invoked as part of possession and owner shifting...

You gotta dig a little

@vagrant grail

The sooner you get used to that the better experience you'll have

[vagrant grail]

In the parent I have a function to spawn the character and possess it but still the OnSwapController isn't called even after changing my code to this 🤔

[hoary spear]

/** 
 * used to swap a viewport/connection's PlayerControllers when seamless traveling and the new GameMode's
 * controller class is different than the previous
 * includes network handling
 *  @param OldPC - the old PC that should be discarded
 *  @param NewPC - the new PC that should be used for the player
 */

[woven basin]

This could be a sign of a different issue; that your game is not actually multiplayer coded correctly to handle lag. There’s lots of articles around about how lag and timing changes things that you don’t see in a PIE session. So when your low hardware device is server, the lag is higher, and it’s just unmasking issues that are already there.

I.e. your calling RPCs on things not yet ready etc

[vagrant grail]

I think I found the issue, it doesn't work in "Editor New (PIE)", the test must be done in "Standalone Game" ... These kind of informations should be mentionned when hovering over that node 😤

[hoary spear]

Always test outside editor to verify

[thin stratus]

It's not directly the node that is at fault

[hoary spear]

Its a common thing with network stuff really

[thin stratus]

PIE by default doesn't allow SeamlessTravel

There is a console variable to enable it but it might just crash

[hoary spear]

Ouch ^ 😅

[vagrant grail]

How am I supposed to know that information ? 🤔 To me they should definitly mention that when you hover over that node as I'm pretty sure alot of people have the same issue and will look for hours to find out (if they do) it's related to "New Editor (PIE)" 🥲

[thin stratus]

They are not going to write that into every description of every node or function or variable that remotely has to do with seamless travel

[vagrant grail]

how many are they ?

[thin stratus]

This limitation exists since the engine got released afaik. Relatively sure I mention it somewhere in my compendium too

[thin stratus]

If you count c++, enough to not duplicate it that much

[hoary spear]

And earlier in this convo

[thin stratus]

You get a log warning when trying to seamless travel in editor

Also New Editor Window isn't at fault. Play in Viewport has the same

You can try the console variable fwiw

[vagrant grail]

yeah but it's hidden with the 5000 other logs, that's why I didn't see it. It would be better if it was printed on the screen

[hoary spear]

🤷‍♂️

[thin stratus]

You are free to report it to epic or go into c++, fix it/add it and make a PR

[hoary spear]

Always wrong i guess

[thin stratus]

Logs in our games aren't littered with tons of other logs. It's a good idea to limit logs to warnings+ or disable logs that aren't useful to you by default.

Also keeping your logs almost without warnings in general should help.

As in fixing the warnings

And of course errors

[vagrant grail]

That's what I did by keeping only my logs, but it looks like it's not enough 😄

[thin stratus]

In BPs you don't really have the option to properly log I guess

In C++ it's way more common to make custom log categories for systems

[flat night]

hey guys, I have an AI that has an Enum with a OnRep function that I use for it's states like attacking, walking, etc
I am making a child class of that AI that I want to handle only one of the states differently. In that case when the OnRep function is being called, do I have to copy paste the entire code and just change the one State I want differently, or is there a more elegant solution to this?

[thin stratus]

And to set stuff that logs often to verbose or very verbose

So they don't print by default

[thin stratus]

You just have to change the code that you want changed.

If that code is inside a lot of other code, put that part into its own function

Und override that function

Or get your state stuff generally out of the AI into their own objects or so. But that's of course more involved

[flat night]

Okay, so it is how I assumed. It's not a huge issue, but I was just wondering

[sweet sage]

Why using Iris on PlayerCharacter BeginPlay the controller is null?

[thin stratus]

Controller being null on PlayerCharacter BeginPlay on Clients is not Iris fault

[sweet sage]

It only happens when i enable iris

[thin stratus]

Then you were lucky. You aren't supposed to use the controller on BeginPlay

The act of possessing the Pawn replicates after it was spawned usually

Use ReceiveControllerChanged instead

Call for Server and a local Client

[simple oak]

How do you replicate properly from a BP a player variable that gets updated every tick client side, without sending too much network messages ?

[frosty crag]

Hi guys I was wondering what is the best approach to code a swipe attack, half of circle in front of you ? I was thinkking maybe have a 3D I could use to trigger overlap collision ?

[woven basin]

what type of variable? if it is input, that is heavily optimised to be sent to the server

if it is anything else, you can just start the 'logic' on both client/server, you dont need to replicate it each frame if it is deterministic

[woven basin]

basically do a line or sphere overlap trace at the point of the attack, and loop all actors hit

[simple oak]

it's related to player input as it's where each player is looking at

but i don't think it's something handled by the CMC

[woven basin]

For this - because the callbacks are not the same as "on_rep" - does the logic of client only getting the callback still apply the same way only clients get on_rep in c++?

So if I have listen servers, I need to manually call the same callback the fastarray would call on a client on the listen server to ensure listen server UI also updates?

[vital barn]

Are there any examples of PCG being done at runtime for multiplayer? I want the game to randomly generate and place foliage when the level is loaded.

[woven basin]

@fathom aspen - all your links are down? Github pages is throwing 404 for all of them saying nothing exists anymore. Did you mean to take your site offline?

[thin stratus]

That I actually don't know. It is true that OnRep needs to be manually called, or at least the stuff in it that the ListenServer needs.

[woven basin]

No probs - I'm building out the system now with FastArraySerializer etc - I'll just test the callbacks and see what happens when I get there. Thanks

[sinful tree]

Send it every frame if necessary (ie. the value is extremely important to gameplay in some way), otherwise, send it only periodically and let everyone else other than the owning client interpolate from the previous value to the new one. Not sure if you'll be able to do this in BP alone.

[simple oak]

That's the part i'd like to know how to do properly, the "periodic replication"

I was going for a manual RPC every 0.x seconds but it felt dirty

[sinful tree]

Set a timer, send the RPC on the timer's event.
Server sets the value via OnRep variable.
OnRep triggers on other clients, use the current value from wherever it is being used, and use some kind of interp node on tick to blend from the current value to the newly received value.

[simple oak]

so there is no var replication update rate or something, manual rpc calls is the proper way ?

[sinful tree]

If you're sending an RPC from the client there is no update rate you'd do other than how often you manually send it.

[simple oak]

yes i meant an update rate to set on a replicated variable

to avoid the boilerplate of timed RPCs

[sinful tree]

That wasn't your question though.

[simple oak]

"so there is no var replication update rate or something"

[sinful tree]

You originally asked "How do you replicate properly from a BP a player variable that gets updated every tick client side"

That sounds like you're updating a value on the client and want to send it to the server and if that is the case, how often you send it is something you will manually need to manage.

[simple oak]

thank you for your help

[brazen anvil]

If movement speed is something that changes during gameplay, it would need to be included in the savedmove of the CMC correct?

[hoary spear]

Still wondering why sprinting isnt implemented in base cmc

Sounds like such a common thing

Or a bit more generic with SetMovespeedMultiplier

[oak flower]

I thought that only the internet connection influences the lag

[dark parcel]

well I mean, if you are doing listen server and the host can only handle 20 fps

[woven basin]

Yes. But if the more powerful PC does this faster than the less power server, it might do “begin play” earlier than the other device. So the problems only appear because of failed RPCs due to things not actually been setup correctly.

[dark parcel]

that do be an issue, I guess

[woven basin]

You can test this using network emulation on your computer with fake pings and see if you can replicate.

[oak flower]

I already tested emulating with 500 ms, and this problem doesn't happen

Since in PIE, only the "fake connection" will count, but all instances will be running on the same computer (the best one)

Maybe it's really the fact that my notebook can't reach 20fps in my game, much less being a host

[upbeat basin]

If we consider the basic multicast PlayMontage(Montage) RPC to play the montage on all clients, it feels like async loading might cause synchronization issues between clients. Would it be a common sense to send server start time for that animation, so if a client already have the animation on the memory but the other takes 2 seconds (trying to exaggerate) to load it, they can adjust the time according to server time?

[oak flower]

client side prediction/server reconciliation

[upbeat basin]

Is the sending server start time to clients, clients playing the animation from the remaining time according to server start time and current server time an example of it? Or are there better ways to do it?

I'd love to see if there is any posts about this with explanation and examples, without just the concept or just the code

[boreal wadi]

Have you guys done any multiplayer tests with packaged builds on multiple devices? I'm using EOS and Listen Servers and I swear in the editor with network emulation turned on and set a bit below what is considered bad my game plays fine with minimal desyncs. Testing in a packaged build is another story. Just moving the client with no abilities or sprinting, just walking is lagging and rubberbanding. I want to know if its just me or is this something others are experiencing as well.
(I haven't tried dedicated servers yet but I feel like that could potentially be a solution.. although expensive)

[hoary spear]

Havnt had any issues with packaged builds yet, tested from europe to canada

Unsure of the actual ping

Was pc to pc tho. No EOS, just direct ip connection

[tiny pier]

My players are connecting to separate instances of "Lobby" & aren't connected when opening levels. i've tried calling from server only & calling from multicast. The function is in a game state base class and called from the player blueprint

[hoary spear]

Uou'd want seamlesstravel i guess

And use servertravel

[tiny pier]

where is server travel

[boreal wadi]

Yea that’s a low latency set up similar to conncting to a dedicated server

[chrome bay]

Games usually run at much higher framerates outside of the editor, which can put more strain on the network if you aren't careful. Character Movement will start overrunning it's saved move buffer for example.

[boreal wadi]

That’s where the game network manager class comes into play correct, By throttling send and receive rates for the client and server?

[chrome bay]

Sometimes

But if you have RPC's sending on tick etc, might not have been a problem in editor, might be a problem now.

Only way to find out is to start profiling and see what's going on

[fathom aspen]

Expiry date season... my Github Pro plan has expired beneath my radar, and I can't go with the Free plan since my repo is private.

Thanks for letting me know... should be fixed soon, sorry for the inconvenience 😉

[boreal wadi]

No rpcs on tick. lol that’s what everyone keeps saying too it’s like the only tips you get. I’m using pushed based replication all event driven for actions in game.

[hoary spear]

The host (me) was on wireless so a tad sub optimal was it

[half iris]

For anyone that has done voice chat, there is an issue I am facing in regards to voice data transmission:

When push to talk on server: Stat Net shows me that voice data is being sent. The client does not receive any voice data.

When push to talk on client: Stat Net shows the client that they are receiving voice data, but not sending any. This is the opposite of what should be happening.

Anyone any clues as to what might be going on here?

[half iris]

Ah, this is fixed by setting up seamless travel for the connection process.

---

If I launch the game in 2 standalone clients, and focus on controlling one of those 2. Would I still be able to hear sounds (like voice data) being received on the other un-focused standalone client? (They are connected to eachother and exist in the same world.)

Because, at the moment, even though I am both sending and receiving voice data, I am unable to hear myself from the other un-focused standalone window.

[unique ferry]

hi. this works in singleplayer but there is no montage playing in multiplayer, anyone know what I am doing wrong?

[quasi tide]

BTTasks don't replicate

You'd have to route stuff through the actual pawn

[unique ferry]

Thanks, does that mean behaviour trees might not be the best option for mp? :/

I have a few other BTTasks that rotate the enemy which works

[quasi tide]

BT are perfectly fine for MP

Just do what I said

#multiplayer message

[unique ferry]

Do you know why the rotation task works in mp tho?

This one works fine for some reason

[quasi tide]

Because you're rotating - and the transform of the pawn is replicated

[unique ferry]

Okay, thank you for clarifying, I will try to move my tasks within the actual enemy bp

[pseudo schooner]

General question about replication:

I have a replicated object that I set in say the GameMode. I then create an actor that replicates, and I reference the GameMode object. Are the clients guaranteed to get the replicated GameMode object before processing the Actor or do I have a potential race condition here

[hollow eagle]

none of the above if it is a subobject of the gamemode, gamemodes don't replicate and therefore neither will their subobjects.

in general terms, the order of object replication is almost never guaranteed.

[pseudo schooner]

I meant GameState, sorry. Second part answers my question, thank you. I have another way of dealing with this that ensures the replicated data is present but its quite a few more hoops to jump through

[worn raven]

Hi, im just trying to make the third person template of unrel 5.3 into multiplayer, i just build a dedicated server and im connecting the clients to the server via console comando open 127.0.0.1 when i do that for the first client all works well but when i try to connect the second client it became wierd, the character seens like it is falling and the world is black

anyone know wtf is happening here?

[ruby lodge]

Now I know rpc's and I know repNotify but both have big disadvantages imo. RPC's won't get called if not relevant or if the player joins later on. RepNotify needs the variable to be changed. How can I set up a replicated function that get's called for everyone like RepNotify does but without having to set a variable?

[hollow eagle]

you don't, the question doesn't really make sense

if something needs to happen the moment an actor comes into relevancy then you use BeginPlay.
if something needs to happen at a specific moment and not any other moment you use an RPC.
if something needs to happen as the result of a state change you set a variable and use a RepNotify.

there isn't really room for another option there.

[dusk fable]

---

hey did anyone impliment a voice chat feature in their game and tested it for multiplayer and it worked ? (hopefuly a free one)

[kindred widget]

Not sure about on PC, but we implemented it on consoles. Steam or EOS may have it's own default that you could use similar to what Sony and Microsoft offer on consoles.

[dusk fable]

i see , the thing is i found few about steam ones , but each tuto is different , and apparently alot face problems with those for multiplayer

and was just wondering about the "good enough" way of doing it for multiplayer

[kindred widget]

Hard to say without just implementing it. If you have problems, you fix them. 🤷‍♂️

[rocky kestrel]

Hello, do you have idea what could cause delay on dedicated server for example when shoot -> apply damage? I have profiled that it is not cpu and it is not bandwidth.

[kindred widget]

Really depends on what is delayed. Your test setup matters a lot. And you can't really get around latency, you're always going to have a minor lag even at great 30ms conditions.

[rocky kestrel]

Okay thank you! I will do more profiling

[ruby lodge]

what? Is everything you do in beginplay replicated completely?

[hollow eagle]

no

BeginPlay is fired when an actor becomes relevant on a client.

The properties that are available depend on which ones are sent in the initial bunch, but that shouldn't matter - if there are any properties that can change then you also have to think about the situation where the server changes a property a moment after the actor becomes relevant to a client.

[ruby lodge]

I need something to happen but not when a state or variable are changed. So like an onrep but without changing a variable. I want to apply the selected clothes to the character bp when he spawns and for everyone to see as well

oh wait, the array of the players in the lobbys changes

[hollow eagle]

But how do you know what the right clothes are

[ruby lodge]

I could use that

[hollow eagle]

err, why aren't you just doing this on BeginPlay

"when he spawns" -> on begin play

[ruby lodge]

how am I supposed to do that on beginplay?

[hollow eagle]

what do you mean how

[ruby lodge]

you spawn on the game mode

the game mode runs only on the server

[hollow eagle]

again, begin play is called on clients when the actor becomes relevant

begin play is not server-only

[ruby lodge]

begin play of any blueprint?

[hollow eagle]

of any actor, period

how are actors supposed to run initialization logic if there's no function that runs when they are initialized

BeginPlay is that

[ruby lodge]

Okay I will try that later on, thank you

[ruby lodge]

@hollow eagle I either did it wrong, it doesn't work how you explained it or we have a misunderstanding xD

I called the function now on begin play inside the bp of the player controller

so after it spawns on the game mode, it should load the correct clothes in begin play on the player controller

[hollow eagle]

if the character is what needs clothes why are you doing this in the player controller

[ruby lodge]

it works for the servers view but not for the clients one. He can't see his own selection nor the ones of others

[ruby lodge]

Because I am handling spawning in the player controller due to possession and everything. It calls an event which calls the spawning on the game mode

[hollow eagle]

But why aren't characters doing this themselves

player controllers replicate only to their owning player

not to anyone else

this design is inherently flawed

[ruby lodge]

Okay, I will put the loading on the pawn then

will be back in a sec

Oh alright

[ruby lodge]

Now everyone can see their own clothes but not the ones of the others

so it was not replicated

[hollow eagle]

What wasn't replicated though

[ruby lodge]

the blueprint library function i am calling which takes the selection from the saved game and applies them to the pawn

[hollow eagle]

BeginPlay isn't "replicated" - it runs when an actor pops into existence in the world. Regardless of whether that's client, server, animal, mineral, or vegetable.
It is much more likely that the data you need to know what to put on each pawn is incorrect for everyone but the owning client.

You just said save game

how are other clients supposed to access your saved game

Unless you have done the work to replicate data in the save game from the server, no one has access to that data except you.

so I'll go back to this: #multiplayer message
How do you know what the right clothes are

[ruby lodge]

Well if there was any replication whatsoever the newly joining players would have gotten the same clothes like I chose for myself

i.e. the ones in my own saved game, don't they?

Now it's just spawning the basic naked look

[hollow eagle]

I don't know how you wrote the function. And again: BeginPlay is not replicated. It runs everywhere. Period.

Debug your function. Place a breakpoint. See where it fails.

[ruby lodge]

I know where it fails

it fails at the point that there is no replication. THe reason I came here is that i wanted to know a OnRep kinda solution but without having to change a variable

[hollow eagle]

what has no replication

if the actors exist on a client then BeginPlay has been called on those actors for those clients. BeginPlay is called everywhere, this is a core tenant of actors.
The specific properties you care about - if marked for replication - might not have replicated by the time BeginPlay has been called. Which is why you'd use an OnRep for those properties to know when they have been set.

[hoary spear]

Sounds "a bit" strange with client driven savegame loading , per client

Each client would need to RPC their data to the server, for it to replicate it to everyone

[hollow eagle]

And that data would need to be replicated in... a property. Probably with OnReps so that other clients know when the data is set or has changed.

[hoary spear]

Which ofcourse is unorthodox at best

[hollow eagle]

Eh, depends on what it's used for.

[ruby lodge]

Okay, look. I have a blueprint library function that I call to load the meshes and assign them to a provided pawn. Now, I want this to function to run when a player joins so that everyone sees that. In BeginPlay it only runs for the own character, not the others. That's why a player can only see the own clothes right now. The only only thing I want to know is, how can I run this without having to setup a onRep variable that I need to set and change it's value each time a new player spawns just for the OnRep function to be called?

[hollow eagle]

BeginPlay

I've said this so many times

If the function is not doing what it is supposed to then that is not because BeginPlay isn't what I'm saying it is, it's because your function isn't doing the right thing on other clients or you've left out information.

[hoary spear]

I suppose there's usecases where it could be a valid approach

[hollow eagle]

So again: place a breakpoint on your function. You will see it called not just on the server but everywhere that your actor spawns.

[hoary spear]

Never given it much consideration as it instictively goes again one of the core phrases.. "dont trust the client"

[ruby lodge]

You mean to not call the function from begin play but instead call an event that runs on the server from the begin play?

[hollow eagle]

No.

I mean to call the function from BeginPlay.

BeginPlay runs on the server and all clients that know of the actor.

Which is what I've been saying this whole time.

[ruby lodge]

No it does not. I just put a print string at the start of the begin play of my pawn and just the client printed it

although they can see and play with each other

so apparently they know of each other

[hollow eagle]

That would be your error then.

I can't see your graph

or your pawn

I can only tell you that BeginPlay runs everywhere.

You might have a subclass that doesn't call its parent's BeginPlay as far as I know

Or you might have a HasAuthorty switch somewhere

Your denial of it does not change a core tenant of how the engine works.

[ruby lodge]

anything wrong with the replication settings of the pawn class?

[hollow eagle]

Given that you said the print only happens on the client, it sounds more like whatever actor you placed the print into is being spawned by the client rather than the server. Which means it is not replicating at all.

[ruby lodge]

I do not. It's structured the same way the third person blueprint is

[hollow eagle]

Because again: beginplay runs everywhere. Which would include the server.

[ruby lodge]

The actor is being spawned on the server, specifically on the game mode

[hollow eagle]

Is it, though? Because if that were the case you would see a print on the server too.

Assuming you don't have a branch somewhere taking execution away from the print string.

[ruby lodge]

It is and the reason it wasn't printing was because for everyone besides the owning client this here is not valid

I really had to put it right at the start

Anyways, Apparently now I need to replicate the saved game stuff

[hollow eagle]

So exactly what I said.

I did mention that player controllers only replicate to the owning client.

Anyway, you now have to replicate the saved game stuff to everyone so congrats, you have values you can OnRep with.

[ruby lodge]

Yes like you said 👏

[dark parcel]

I don't have any other way. No data base, no dedicated server. So I'm keeping save files locally on each machine.
Ppl can cheat and modify it sure, but not sure how else I can handle it.

When the player join someone game, it will send server rpc to load cosmetic etc 😅

[ruby lodge]

What would be a better way to have it done for this purpose? I need it stored in a save game anyways so that the players selection is kept for the next time when he wants to play. I was thinking of instead of running it through a property maybe get the meshes from the save game to the player state on begin play and then output them from the player state to the function? I don't know if this would lead to a better way but I doubt so.

I don't even know if big games store a selected character or cosmetics on dedicated servers. I think that would be a waste of resources as this is generally unimportant

The most important thing is that I make sure it's not none, otherwise the player would be invisible which obviously would lead to chaos 😛

[dark parcel]

Save the data locally. When client join, send a server rpc containing any info you need to pass. The server update and replicate the change to all clients

[worthy oak]

Or use a database. Save the information there usuallly item IDs, load them in a class like player state and replicate when needed

[dark parcel]

That would be more ideal

For me tho , thats out of my scope for my first mp game

[ruby lodge]

So the on rep is on the server?

[cursive steeple]

Might be overkill for hobby projects, but for commercial products operating with dedicated servers this is the best way.

[dark parcel]

Wdym

On rep on client

Only way for client to talk to server is via server rpc

[worthy oak]

Maybe database are not too bad to pay for but I can understand the not wanting to pay a monthly sum to keep your game running

Lot of database give you a generous amount of storage for free

[ruby lodge]

So you mean the client runs a on rep inside a run on server event node?

[dark parcel]

In a world where cheating don't matter and a project for people who haven't publish mp, I think it's worth it to skip database

[ruby lodge]

Why would you cheat your cosmetics

[dark parcel]

Client join, get the save file, pass it via server rpc

[dark parcel]

It's not just cosmetic

[worthy oak]

If you aren’t concerned about cheating, sure. Don’t really need server authority

[dark parcel]

I will be doing the same for everything

After all how u gonna pull the data?

U don't have cloud or data base for the server to retrieve your data

[worthy oak]

To gain cosmetics you don’t actually own

[ruby lodge]

What data do you mean

I only need to share cosmetic infos

[dark parcel]

The save file

What about level? Attributes, items

Where do u store them?

[worthy oak]

Or damage done 😂

[cursive steeple]

so that you dont need to buy it from the shop to use, even better if everyone gets to see it too 😉

[worthy oak]

“Never trust the client” 😂

[ruby lodge]

I don't have these in my game. Only level, yea, but I will save this on steam.

[ruby lodge]

I will check for if the character owns the cosmetics he is sending over

[dark parcel]

Have u looked into this feature? I would like to know if we can store and retrieve data from steam

[ruby lodge]

I know steam offers an inventory database, yea

You can see who has what items in what amount and stuff

Everything

[dark parcel]

Cool

[ruby lodge]

The cosmetics will need to be unlocked of course so you won't have all from the beginning but I will try to store them on steam and check if the player actually owns what he sent over

And most importantly, if it's none

Cause If I was to cheat, I would send over none to be invisible

[worthy oak]

You will want some kind of server authority for that most likely

Probably a dedicated server, API, or database

[dark parcel]

Well he said steam provide some sort of data base

[ruby lodge]

About that again, this wouldn't work though if a player joins later. He won't see the other players cosmetics

[worthy oak]

Yes but steam isn’t an authority

[dark parcel]

Ofc it will

I've successfully sync my cosmetic

[ruby lodge]

Do you store that in an array or so that runs over everything that was given over?

[dark parcel]

A struct with on rep

[ruby lodge]

So you get all save game slots and put them into the array. Then when another one gets added the on rep fires and runs it for all?

[dark parcel]

Get all save game slot?

Let's talk about the flow

U join

As client and u have your save file in your local machine

[ruby lodge]

Yes

[dark parcel]

Onacknolwedgepossession (this run on client) you send a server rpc, passing your save data

Server receive your save data and set variables appropriately

Then it get replicated on client and set via on rep

[ruby lodge]

So the on rep is on the server

[dark parcel]

Wdym by that

On rep only get called by client in cpp btw

It shouldn't even run on server, make no sense

[worthy oak]

On rep is a form of an RPC that fires when a variable is set or changed

So yes the server fires it, but the client can “request” it

[ruby lodge]

I work with blueprint mainly, struct would probably be better within cpp

[dark parcel]

Only in bp

[worthy oak]

Uhhh no?

[dark parcel]

On rep is not called on server in cpp

[worthy oak]

Or what do you mean

[dark parcel]

Which is how it is supposed to be

[worthy oak]

The network authority is the one making the call no?

[dark parcel]

For sure

[ruby lodge]

Do you do all that in the pawn bp for cosmetics?

[dark parcel]

I'm not following

[cursive steeple]

Is there a call tho? I thought when the client receives the updated data it's just called locally (with certain conditions)

[worthy oak]

Right yes

[dark parcel]

On rep in bp behaves like , call this function when variable changes

When in cpp, it's like . Call it when I receive update from server

[worthy oak]

Network authority sets variable>tells everyone variable is set>clients update to what the server has

[cursive steeple]

Yeah in BP it's just a listener for changes

[dark parcel]

This 100%

[cursive steeple]

Technically not even a change is required just setting the var value again.

going off topic tho soz

[dark parcel]

Not at all, it's totally mp related

[ruby lodge]

Could you maybe show that visually? I am a bit confused I must say 😂

[dark parcel]

That's why I don't like bp on rep anyway

[ruby lodge]

Nope, it needs to change

That's what I hate about onrep

[cursive steeple]

I'm pretty sure for arrays and structs you dont actually need to change the content in BP

[ruby lodge]

Idk but for bools it was at least I can remember

[dark parcel]

7% battery and gtg but it's like this.

You are host, I am client.

I join your game. I possessed a pawn, then I send data to you , the server about my cloth.
You receive the cosmetic data, u set the mesh using that data.
That mesh will be replicated to all client

[cursive steeple]

Yeah for basic types youre surely right, consistency all the way 💯

[dark parcel]

I mean if u can't do this, try to change a color of a ball and have it synch with all machine, including late joiners

Then work your way forward

[ruby lodge]

Yea so the server rpc event receives the info and calls the on rep variable

Cause only the server should change replicated variables

[dark parcel]

Depend on what context

But for cosmetic, you do want the server to set the variable

Setting on client will just change the value for that client machine

[ruby lodge]

Yes, alright, this was what was confusing me in this entire discussion haha

I need to call the on rep in the run on server event

Fine

[dark parcel]

Server on rep with your client data

[ruby lodge]

Thank you all for the cooperation in making me a tiny bit smarter today

[dark parcel]

Hey server , I have this data. Set this in your machine and replicate the change to all clients

[ruby lodge]

Yup

[dark parcel]

Opens up way for cheating

But if u don't want to get your feet wet yet with data base, this will suffice for me personally

If they cheat is their lost. It's not a competitive game

[ruby lodge]

Well, it does not really if you check for if they actually own it + if it's not none

[dark parcel]

Yea but how can I know if what u actually own is valid?

[worthy oak]

If you are running a dedicated server or you trust the host you can also just do checks in your server functions for some basic checking to make sure client has his ducks in a row XD

[dark parcel]

Unless I can cross check it with some data on the internet

[ruby lodge]

Yea exactly

[worthy oak]

All depends how you treat validation

In peer to peer only it’s likely fine to trust the host 🤷‍♂️ if your running an online competitive game you probably want something controlled by you doing the checking

[cursive steeple]

I'd say skip the validation for now, make sure the data gets replicated to everyone properly, then you can add all the complexity for checking later on

one step at a time

[worthy oak]

Indeed

[ruby lodge]

I mean, actually my game is supposed to be competitive. But unless I print some cash I will not be able to get servers running so I will stick to some trust and running it as an alpha Version so people don't take the competitiveness too serious

[worthy oak]

make it work first then break it again 😂

[ruby lodge]

Also not rewarding too much in the alpha version

[ruby lodge]

True

[dark parcel]

Don't try competitive game for your first mp game imo

Better to lower the bar

[cursive steeple]

lower it to making an mmo

[dark parcel]

Competitive and blueprint doesn't go hand to hand

[cursive steeple]

c:

[dark parcel]

U can't even do validation on rpc with bp right?

[cursive steeple]

nop 😄

[dark parcel]

Pretty sure that's cpp only

[gloomy tiger]

Not even with C++

[dark parcel]

Oh I thought we have _validate, or something

But again I know nothing about mp

[gloomy tiger]

Ah, you meant that kind of validation; yeah, alright.

[dark parcel]

Ahh yeah that's what I mean

There is even a handy helper to kick the cheating *ss afaik

[cursive steeple]

doesnt it auto kick if you fail a validation?

[ruby lodge]

Now, no matter what, without a lot of money you won't be able to run dedicated servers. If people like the game concept on a listen server basis and want it to become an actual competitive game, they can fund.

[worthy oak]

There are ways to do it cheap but yeah running dedicated servers involves money haha

[gloomy tiger]

You don't need a lot of money. You need lots of money to scale it if you go big, but you can start on a budget.

[worthy oak]

Yep you don’t need to start the support with a lot of players. If you blow up you can suffer from success as you scale XD

[cursive steeple]

technically you can even host one at home

[worthy oak]

or get a free one in oracles

If they still doing that

[ruby lodge]

Well, it's hard to start with servers in the main locations at the same time like USA West and East, Europe and Asia. This only talking about one each, so 4

Even if it's on a low scale

[gloomy tiger]

Nah

Back in 2018 we were paying like $60/mo for GameLift

[ruby lodge]

Isn't it like 1k a month that way?

[gloomy tiger]

And we were able to run servers for like 50 people simultaneously

Nah

https://aws.amazon.com/gamelift/

Put some Playfab into the mix and be happy

Back in the day we were using GameSparks

Although I fully anticipate

It's tempting, but ultracomplex

[ruby lodge]

Is gsmelift easy to set up?

[gloomy tiger]

No

I mean

[ruby lodge]

I looked into game lift before but maybe I set the wrong parameters. What would it cost for let's say 500 At a time globally?

Approximately of course

[gloomy tiger]

Have no idea

But the thing about GameLift is that you pay as you scale

If you have the need for 500 players simultaneously

You have the money to afford it

[ruby lodge]

Does it scale fluently

[gloomy tiger]

You put your credit card

Set the maximum amount you are willing to pay

And it's going to give you servers up to that amount 😛

[worthy oak]

Short answer is yes

It’s pretty magical when you go through the setup

[ruby lodge]

Will it cost more than 1k per month for 500 simultaneously

Approximately

[gloomy tiger]

It can

The thing is

It's going to give you servers as you need. The amount of players one server can host depends on how well you optimize your game.

That's why I said 'i have no idea'

If your optimization is sh-t, your bill can be 1k per 100 players

If you do a good job, you can go 1k per 1000 players

[ruby lodge]

I see okay

[cursive steeple]

for optimization for 500players you'll need quite some skills to write custom code btw

[gloomy tiger]

Yeah, forget Blueprints, forget building for Windows and embrace Linux builds etc etc

It's a long ride

[ruby lodge]

It's not 500 in one lobby it's 500 in many different lobbies

[gloomy tiger]

Not lobbies, servers

And this is an important distinction

But, yes

And another thing about GameLift

It shutdowns servers when you don't need them

And turns them on as you need them so you only pay for what you need

[ruby lodge]

Whhy wouldn't it work with windoes

[gloomy tiger]

But GameLift is like, top notch infrastructure and is much more expensive than having a standard ec2 etc but you don't have to worry about your fleet of servers

[gloomy tiger]

Hahaha

Have you ever seen licensing for Windows? I mean, the cost of it

[worthy oak]

It will work it’s just hilariously unoptimized and expensive XD

[gloomy tiger]

IIRC it's like tirple the price

[ruby lodge]

One server would run all the lobbies where each there are maybe 20 players

Right?

[gloomy tiger]

Optmization is the same pretty mich; Windows Server is good

[worthy oak]

I’ll agree to disagree XD

[gloomy tiger]

Lobbies don't require dedicated servers

I mean

Wait

You can host your lobbies on Steam, PlayFab, whatever

[ruby lodge]

Yea i am hosting on steam

[gloomy tiger]

So yeah your lobbies don't go on GameLift - all it does is running a headless server for ya

[gloomy tiger]

Prove me wrong

Show data pls

[worthy oak]

This is why the distinction is important. That would mean 500 players on a single server

[worthy oak]

The overhead of GUI? The increased pricing?

[gloomy tiger]

wut

what gui

also

pricing yes

but less optimized?

[worthy oak]

I don’t think I’d run a windows server unless I had too

[ruby lodge]

Isn't that what it's supposed to do?

[gloomy tiger]

Lobbies and servers are different things

[ruby lodge]

I know

[gloomy tiger]

GameLift only rents you a machine to keep the game running, it acts pretty much like the host of a listen server

[ruby lodge]

A server is the dedicated server or so. A lobby is a match basically

[ruby lodge]

So it can run only one game at a time?

[gloomy tiger]

It can run as many games and you can fit into a single machine

[ruby lodge]

Cause a host of a listen server only runs one at a time

[gloomy tiger]

It gives you a machine

[ruby lodge]

Aaaaahhhh I see. That's why you say optimize

[gloomy tiger]

You do whatever you like with it

[ruby lodge]

If the game is optimized, the machine runs more games

[gloomy tiger]

Yes

But all the backend goes beyond GameLift's scope

So you use PlayFab, Steam, whatever

[ruby lodge]

So is there a problem if I use steam with that?

[gloomy tiger]

(I mean, I'm talking about 2018 GameLift; don't know if Amazon is offering a backend solution whatever)

[gloomy tiger]

0

[worthy oak]

It’s going to come down to how your game operates

[gloomy tiger]

Think of GameLift as a fleet of machines hehe

[worthy oak]

If your going with peer to peer you likely don’t even need gamelift just steam

[gloomy tiger]

Just like the machine you have in your house - it does not replace steam etc

[ruby lodge]

It's a competitive shooter

[cursive steeple]

I'll be the party pooper, but if you havent released a game yet, I'd say a steam-only listen server based game is easier to ship than dealing with dedi servers and hosting

[gloomy tiger]

No matter, it can be p2p

[worthy oak]

Right so break that down

Are you just having players join players

Or are they joining a server

[ruby lodge]

Oh I have already shipped a listen server game. But wasn't too complex

[worthy oak]

cause steam gives you p2p listen servers out of the box…mostly lol

[gloomy tiger]

I am with Grimstrike. Don't go the competitive shooter route if you don't know how variables replication work, hehe...

[ruby lodge]

Basically call of duty just with a different style and some other things to distinguish and give it an own character

[gloomy tiger]

Oh boy

[worthy oak]

Like old call of duty

[quasi tide]

🫡

[ruby lodge]

What do you mean by old?

[worthy oak]

Older call of duty generally used peer to peer with support for dedicated

So when you joined a match you were joining someone else running the game

[ruby lodge]

Nah I mean the modern ones. Basically you search for a game and join

[quasi tide]

As a note - UE does not support peer to peer. You would need to do custom networking for that.

[gloomy tiger]

asfasf

[worthy oak]

Modern would be dedicated servers and matchmaking

[ruby lodge]

Right now it's listen server based and works as intended

[worthy oak]

With steam it does or EOS

[gloomy tiger]

Nah

[dark parcel]

I know a solo dev that use AWS

[gloomy tiger]

It's him being picky w words

[cursive steeple]

yeah I think peer to peer is getting mixed up with listen servers abit

[quasi tide]

No it doesn't. UE's default networking is only listen-server or dedicated server

[quasi tide]

It is. Very very common to do.

[worthy oak]

Alright terms change fine fine

[ruby lodge]

Yes basically

[worthy oak]

Yeah my bad listen server not peer to peer

[ruby lodge]

Now is matchmaking such a BIG thing to do?

[worthy oak]

yes

[gloomy tiger]

the least of your problems

[ruby lodge]

With dedicated servers

[dark parcel]

It's using Server to client model

[quasi tide]

At its core - no. Doing it fairly? Yes.

[dark parcel]

won't P2P is a huge pain anyway? not that I know

[ruby lodge]

No, I mean at it's core. Not intending to do it fairly anytime soon

[gloomy tiger]

no

[ruby lodge]

Would probably just look for levels

[gloomy tiger]

you don't have to do anything

playfab gives you done, you just tweak some variables nd boom

[worthy oak]

if ya mean find 20 players and throw them in a lobby then nah that’s easy

[gloomy tiger]

5 minutse you have matchmaking

[ruby lodge]

What is the biggest then

[gloomy tiger]

making a multiplayer game

[quasi tide]

Having a playerbase

[ruby lodge]

It does already work for listen server

A shooter

[dark parcel]

A shooter in bp >_>

and u were thingking about competetive

I think that can go out of the window

[quasi tide]

PVP indie games are a huge risk. It's pretty much expected to have dedicated servers.

[dark parcel]

the competetive part at least

[gloomy tiger]

this is harder

[cursive steeple]

and do we have network prediction and rollback? and all the other stuff thats required for competitive mp games

[gloomy tiger]

you need players to have players
and you need players to have players

good luck

[ruby lodge]

Is that really so bad?

[gloomy tiger]

yes

[dark parcel]

yes

the lack of feature make it next to impossible to have a nice experience in a fast paced game with bp

i want to say impossible but I might be wrong

so trying to be diplomatic

[ruby lodge]

Due to lower fps in bp?

[dark parcel]

no

[gloomy tiger]

the reason why you don't see a call of duty releasing on steam every day is not just a coincidence =p

[cursive steeple]

lack of control and access

[dark parcel]

lower fps is a factor, performance is a factor but that's not the biggest reason

[worthy oak]

C++ is faster slightly than BP

[dark parcel]

the lack of feature is what gated Multiplayer

[ruby lodge]

Well the fps are good in my case

[dark parcel]

not slightly, depend

[ruby lodge]

Features in what sense

[worthy oak]

You can do a lot with BP but when you start getting custom…like matchmaking BP won’t help

[dark parcel]

can be many many times faster, depending on the context

[ruby lodge]

The shooter works as intended

[gloomy tiger]

tbf, the lack of features required to build a performant multiplayer

so in a nutshell, it's all performance

and even so

[dark parcel]

True

[worthy oak]

Sure depending on type of game

[dark parcel]

yea but I wouldn't do FPS in bp

no rollback, no server rewind

[worthy oak]

Eh if it’s a small scale why not

[dark parcel]

Just what I would do personally

it's not worth it

[ruby lodge]

Well but you can get the blueprint parts that are better made in cpp and make them in cpp

[dark parcel]

if I can't have rollback and proper prediction

FPS can go to the bin

[worthy oak]

Certainly yeah

[ruby lodge]

Its not like that would take a year

[gloomy tiger]

any shooter you sell with fire rate <= 0.2 with bps is likely a scam, this is why not I guess?

[cursive steeple]

Competitive players will notice the difference and lack of polish when it's made by BP. It's fine to make shooters in BP, but "competitive" shouldnt be the selling point then

[gloomy tiger]

when it comes to shooters

[ruby lodge]

If it works already in bp, it's easier to transfer it to cpp

[dark parcel]

Sprinting in bp is also a scam

[gloomy tiger]

bp sucks

but doing a card game, dunno slay the spire, its alright?

[gloomy tiger]

never tried 👀

[worthy oak]

Hence why I said depends on the game. My point is C++ isn’t required for everything

[gloomy tiger]

but if we spyral into relativity, nothing makes sense

we are all atoms

we can say it depends for absolutely 100% of the things

[dark parcel]

The youtube tutorials sprint in bp are all scam because they didn't use the CMC framework which is only possible in cpp

[worthy oak]

Welcome to the industry lol

[gloomy tiger]

which leads us to non-answers

[ruby lodge]

Alright, I will keep all that in mind and dive into this realm a bit deeper to find my path haha. Thank yall

[dark parcel]

so they show this "working" video but they test it with 0 lag

the moment there is 1 ms, the jitters make it unplayable

[worthy oak]

Ouch

[gloomy tiger]

ah

[cursive steeple]

peacing out before it's too late heh xd

[gloomy tiger]

youtube tutorialists

[dark parcel]

idm using bp only for turn based game

[gloomy tiger]

i lold

[dark parcel]

or anything that doesn't depend on lag

[gloomy tiger]

poor person

full of dreams

then the gang striked

[cursive steeple]

all you need to start a civil war is to drop the bp vs c++ topic

[dark parcel]

@ruby lodge imo, if you are doing mp anyway, just learn enough cpp to do what you can't do in bp

the rest can be in bp still

even tiny bit of it, makes a lot of difference

[gloomy tiger]

how it started vs. how it ended

[cursive steeple]

😂

and I'm pretty sure he's not even closer to figuring out what he wants 🫠

[gloomy tiger]

we went full downhill, poor poor FutureCake

[cursive steeple]

we'll retry tomorrow

[gloomy tiger]

we shall

[ruby lodge]

That's very helpful. Thank you. I made some cpp already with gpt 4 and it worked just fine. Also learning my way through that, so not letting it do everything. Do you maybe have some resources that show what is actually much better done in cpp?

I am thinking of dropping the shooter modes atm and just transfer the zombie mode over to cpp for the alpha version first. That is a lot less complex

Then I transfer the shooter to cpp and launch it for the beta version

One step at a time I guess

[ruby lodge]

Honestly just fell into a tiny depressive hole 😂. Anyways, so I know I can't meet the standards of any aaa or aa studio or studio probably whatsoever but I would like to try it anyways. My game got stuff that makes it absolutely unique as well, so why wouldn't I give all my best to make the rest work?

[dark parcel]

if you are using CMC, sprinting for example require cpp

in network environment

Keep moving forward, if you really like game dev. I am still sturggling too everyday

so not to shut it down but chat GPT is not helpful

most common advice by #cpp guys is to learn the first 26 chapters in learncpp.com

[ruby lodge]

Yea i do use the character movement component.

[dark parcel]

i am still in that stage >_>

[ruby lodge]

Oh okay

[dark parcel]

@ruby lodge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17D4SzewYZ0&ab_channel=delgoodie

[ruby lodge]

Tbh it is if you give it the entire idea what it shall do

It knows syntax and functions, libraries and everything

[dark parcel]

that's what I tell my self too. I can only speak from first hand experience

[ruby lodge]

It's just not updated and pretty stupid in finding own solutions

[dark parcel]

I used chat GPT too

well used to

until it keep spouting non existance function

A.I will get better for sure

[ruby lodge]

Oh yea i hate that

[dark parcel]

but chat GPT isn't trained to code for unreal, it's a language model

it's job is to whisper you sweet words that make sense

[ruby lodge]

That's true as well. It does good python though I must say

Anyways, I will look into it. But from what I have understood it's that if the game works well in cpp, I get Linux through de dual boot or so (don't want a second PC 😭) and then setup gamelift

[dark parcel]

I don't know about Linux

not gonna do anything crazy

[ruby lodge]

Anime style, nice

[dark parcel]

as in like I know nothing, so I better start small

like smollll

[ruby lodge]

I usually jump into cold cold water

And try to learn it all. So far it worked in life

But can be very challenging at times, mentally at least

[dark parcel]

Well at least I know I don't struggle alone 🐱

[ruby lodge]

Oh no worries, you definitely don't

Sometimes I look back and think how stupid I must have been to not understand certain things. Guess, experience does help, huh!

Anyways, gtg now. Nice talk we had here haha, good night

[hoary spear]

As siliex said, its probably more reasonable than I thought innsole cases. I've litteraly not considered itnor given it any thought. If this was purely some cosmetic things or 'coop' game where cheating isnt a big factor then I guess theres little reason to care^^

Plenty of multiplayer games using local save files with all sorts of info in them

[dark parcel]

I wonder how easy it is to modify the .sav file

Yeah, baldur;'s gate is one of them

[hoary spear]

Pure ascii if used in bp 😆

https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-secure-is-the-default-savegame-feature/66005/2

[dark parcel]

OOOF Lmao

i would probably consider data base if I care then

from what I read, even if we encrypt it. If people want to, they can decrypt it anyway

[hoary spear]

Yepp 😆

Any half serious / competitive mp game with actual cheating prevention would prob do full dedicated servers and DB hosting for savefiles

We're likely ending on local saves aswell, just so thats said

Not sure if we're gonna bother with any tricks to make it harder

[dark parcel]

Those who want to cheat will cheat, remember your game must decrypt whatever format you put your saved game in, and if your game can do it a player can do it with some grim determination and a debugger. Spend your time on good gameplay instead, and maybe bundle some modding tools, do the opposite and encourage people to mess with the game.

This make perfect sense 😛

[hoary spear]

Not sure what d2 did but for a while those modded weapons were incredibly fun 😆

Was somethingnwith a hex editor and stuff i guess.

Not sure if there was public modding tools by blizzard, or if some modders just made it

[worthy oak]

Baldurs gate to be fair is a game where you are playing with people you know and yeah in some cases online. Cheating/modding isn’t a concern there as it’s “your game” so yeah certainly depends on the style of game and how much you care of a player changing the rules

I wouldn’t want the same leniency in something like destiny, an online mmo, or say a shooter like call of duty though 😂

[amber vale]

I'm making an online game with some other people. In the future, we'll be using some OSS for connections. But for now, is there any way to connect directly to each other on different networks? My router makes port forwarding really difficult, so I'm wondering if there's any alternative.

[crude kelp]

Hey did anyone ran dedicated unreal dedicated server on cell phone?

Nooo rendering

[quaint roost]

is it possible to set an Actor property in it's constructor only if its being compiled for server?

more specifically Client, Server or Editor

or if anyone knows how to set VisibilityBasedAnimTickOption dynamically depending on runtime environment that would also help a lot

GetNetMode() does not work in constructor due to a lack of world object

and I don't want to put it in BeginPlay(). afraid of startup races

I want my dedicated server, local editor server and standalone mode to use AlwaysTickPoseAndRefreshBones but client use OnlyTickPoseWhenRendered

[amber vale]

wrap the initialization in a #if WITH_SERVER_CODE macro.

[thin stratus]

While I assume this might be possible, I doubt the phone would be strong enough to properly run the server for longer times.
Even with no rendering it still has to handle the GameThread.

[thin stratus]

Without an OSS that has a MasterServer, you are locked to LAN, LAN via stuff like Hamachi (if that still exists) or Direct IP connection (which would require open port 7777)

It's a lot more sane to just setup e.g. Steam as OSS, even if you just use the 480 test AppID

Although if you plan to release on it anyway I would suggest just setting it up properly and paying the $100 for the custom AppID

[quaint roost]

is there an equivalent for editor?

sorry i mean PIE

whatever that runs

[amber vale]

Not that I know of, sorry. Since it uses the build configuration to determine whether WITH_SERVER_CODE is true.

[thin stratus]

PIE or not can only be checked via GetWorld(). Not really something for Constructor.

[shrewd tinsel]

how do i do NON-seamless travel? https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/travelling-in-multiplayer-in-unreal-engine

(blueprints)

[dark parcel]

open Level

if u are hosting as listen server, make sure to add ?listen in the arg

[shrewd tinsel]

great! that will change the level for everyone (clients will disconnect and reconnect) ?

[worthy oak]

I believe non seamless is the default. But there is a checkbox you can hit that turns it on and off in game mode

[shrewd tinsel]

im crashing with seamless, wanna try non

thanks!

[worthy oak]

Then perhaps it’s not the default 😂

[shrewd tinsel]

just one checkbox away

[dark parcel]

Well, hard travel (non seamless) is unavoidbable as your article mention when a player load map for the first time. (When hosting or when joining a server)

but once the server load the map, you should use seamless travel

[worthy oak]

Seamless vs. non seamless is determine whether data is passed through or “reset” on travel

IE starting a new match you might want non seamless so the game starts over

But for an MMO seamless would make more sense to Persist data/connection to the next level

[dark parcel]

Unreal Engine doesn't even support Multi world

all MMO made in Unreal Engine have their own implementation

everyone basically running their own instance and just communicate directly to the custom back end made by the dev

Out of the box, you can only have one map open at a time

U can't have player 1 in Jungle map and player 2 in the dessert map

[worthy oak]

Yes that’s right?

[dark parcel]

Seamless travel is called by the server to move every player to certain map

i don't think they use this for MMO

[worthy oak]

I don’t think we are talking about the same thing

Was merely discussing why you might choose one or the other

Assuming your online subsystem gives you such luxuries XD

MMO also usually have dedicated servers in between the backend controlling flow, logic, and rules. It isn’t exclusively backend

[shrewd tinsel]

what about level streaming?

[dark parcel]

no comment, no idea

[shrewd tinsel]

you can kinda have different people in different maps with level streaming

[dark parcel]

for mmo, from what I heard, they have a series of dedicated servers. Each server will host a map. If you are going to different map, you will go to different server

I think it's the sane solution

anyway I know nothing about mmo or how they work

not really for plebs like me to tap

[shrewd tinsel]

you know i bet there are million different ways

but mmo would be a good example to check out for networking

with world partition and double precision large worlds in ue5 i bet you dont even need no streaming stuff or multiple servers

[dark parcel]

I don't think it's worth to think about it, unless you work with software engineers

or get paid to do it

Im a hobbyist, doing mmo is impossible

[shrewd tinsel]

its good to know various techniques, they come in handy often

you hear something someday and two years later an opportunity presents to dig that info up

houdini discord has good channel "#today_i_learned"

bunch of bite sized useful info

sorry for offtopic

waiting for packaging 😄

[dark parcel]

All good, but I still don't think it's worth to look at mmo stuff for me. Learning Unreal networking gonna take sometime already by it self

I would be happy if I can complete this mini project at all

[shrewd tinsel]

oh yeah

[visual mountain]

would using the "is valid Index" at -1 be a valid check for if an array is empty?

[lost inlet]

no? -1 will always be invalid, and what is this to do with MP?

IsValidIndex(0) or Num() > 0 would tell you that,

[tardy fossil]

or just if(array.Num())

[maiden flame]

There's an "Is Empty" Blueprint node also, if you're using that.

[visual mountain]

thanks for the help and suggestions. greatly appreciated.

[torpid lantern]

On which object / event can I use to trigger logic when the player disconnects from the dedicated server?

Would that be an end play, of the player controller? Or is there something better?

[lost inlet]

::Logout on game mode is an appropriate place

[shrewd tinsel]

hey guys. how do i know when a variable has been replicated to current state? i want to know when is the gamestate (on client joining the listen server) fully synced with server

[hoary spear]

Onrep ?

Guess it depends

[shrewd tinsel]

i dont know

maybe

will that work for a struct?

does onrep fires only on clients?

[maiden flame]

Are you using C++ or BPs?

[hoary spear]

I mean, i know onrep works, but if you got replicated instance pointers in there they might cause hickups for complete replication

[dark edge]

You don't know

Or do you mean when it's at least valid and it's subobjects are valid?

[hoary spear]

Ohhh, when the actual Gamestate is fully synced. Gotcha. Yeah no

[peak trench]

hey guys
I have a server RPC that is called when pressing a button. On the server side, is there any way to know which server triggered the RPC?

[solar stirrup]

If you mean client, only the client that owns the actor can call a Server RPC

so you can grab the owner of the actor

[peak trench]

yeah client, sorry about being a bit vague
hmm yeah forgot about this
I have kinda of a specific use case, I have a component that I attach to a player controller and also to some objects inside the map
the client can "interact" with his own component and also to the component of those objects through some UI
what I did is pretty much sending a server RPC when the client clicked on that UI
but I kinda need to know which player triggered the event

did not yet tested what happens when I trigger this event on the other actors, but I would assume it does not work right?

[solar stirrup]

Yeah Server RPCs don't work if you don't own the actor you're calling it on

[peak trench]

got it
are you aware of some solution for this kind of behavior?

[kindred widget]

You already have your component on the player controller. It should handle your RPCs and determine what it's interacting with. EG if you interact with a door, you RPC through that component and interact with the door on the server. It's up to the door to relay it's new state back through replication and such.

[peak trench]

thanks for the help guys, really helpful
I got it, anyways needs to redesign the stuff a bit

[peak trench]

yeah the use case is for some inventory : I have the inventory on myself and on some other objects in the game
so I have 2 separate flows : if I open my inventory and click on an item, I want to use it, but when I open a chest and click on that item, I want to add that item on my inventory - also, multiple players can open the chest at the same time

[kindred widget]

I do this by just always using an inventory associated with the player. Either it's on their PlayerState, or their Pawn. I call the initial RPC through their inventory and pass along pointers and intentions to move items via that RPC. It arrives on their server version of the inventory, and then can affect whatever inventory was passed through the RPC data.

[peak trench]

yeah, I was thinking about something similar when Erlite remembered me that you need to own the actor to call the server RPC
thanks again for the fast help, now I do not have to waste a lot of time on debugging this :))

[kindred widget]

It's largely this. AttemptItemTransfer is called on the local player's component. FInventoryTransferRequest is just a struct of what the player's transfer intentions were. To which inventory, or which slot, for which item and it's count.

void UInventoryComponent::AttemptItemTransfer(FInventoryTransferRequest TransferRequestData)
{
    if (!TransferRequestData.IsValidRequest() || !TransferRequestData.ToInventory->bCanAcceptNewItems)
    {
        return;
    }

    ServerAttemptItemTransfer(TransferRequestData);
}

void UInventoryComponent::ServerAttemptItemTransfer_Implementation(const FInventoryTransferRequest& TransferRequestData)
{
    if (!TransferRequestData.IsValidRequest())
    {
        UKismetSystemLibrary::PrintString(this, "UInventoryComponent::ServerAttemptItemTransfer - Client validation succeeded, but server validation failed. Check component and item replication.");
        return;
    }

    if (!TransferRequestData.ToInventory->bCanAcceptNewItems)
    {
        return;
    }

    ItemTransferInternal(TransferRequestData);
}```

Then ItemTransferInternal does the actual item altering, which just gets replicated back.

[peak trench]

amazing
got it, thanks

[proven robin]

Why can't i find the multiplayer compendium, when i am on my phone? Could someone please be kind and dropna link?

[peak trench]

https://cedric-neukirchen.net/docs/category/multiplayer-network-compendium/

[keen condor]

Hello , I have a gameplay ability , in it i'm spawning a replicated fireball server side. In my fireball i handle collision , but what am i suppose to do with the collision event. Let's say i wan't my fireball to stop when colliding with something(stop moveement niagara and collision) , after that i wan't it to play a NiagaraSystem (the onhit one ), and destroy it 0.5 seconds after stoping my fireball. I know how to do that but i don't know which part should be played on the server and which part on the client , what is the proper way to do that ? here is my code rightnow

void ANiagaraProjectile::BeginPlay()
{

    Super::BeginPlay();

    if (NiagaraEffectComponent)
    {
        if (UNiagaraSystem* niagaraEffect = NiagaraEffectComponent->GetAsset())
        {
            NiagaraEffectComponent->SetAsset(niagaraEffect);
            NiagaraEffectComponent->SetActive(true);
        }
    }

    ProjectileMovementComponent->Velocity = ProjectileMovementComponent->Velocity.GetSafeNormal() * Speed;

    float Lifetime = MaxRange / Speed;

    FTimerHandle LifetimeHandle;
    GetWorldTimerManager().SetTimer(LifetimeHandle, this, &ANiagaraProjectile::MaxRangeHandle, Lifetime, false);


}



void ANiagaraProjectile::CustomDisable()
{

    if (NiagaraEffectComponent)
    {
        if (HasAuthority())
        {
            NiagaraEffectComponent->SetActive(false);
            ProjectileMovementComponent->Velocity = FVector(0.f, 0.f, 0.f);
            SphereCollisionComponent->SetCollisionEnabled(ECollisionEnabled::NoCollision);
        }
    }

    FTimerHandle handle;
    GetWorldTimerManager().SetTimer(handle, this, &ANiagaraProjectile::AfterDelay, timerToDestroy, false);
}
void ANiagaraProjectile::MaxRangeHandle()
{
    CustomDisable();
}
void ANiagaraProjectile::HitHandle()

{
    CustomDisable();
    UNiagaraComponent* SpawnedSystem = UNiagaraFunctionLibrary::SpawnSystemAtLocation(
        GetWorld(),
        MyNiagaraSystem,
        this->GetActorLocation(),
        this->GetActorRotation(),
        FVector(1.0f),
        true, // Whether the system should auto-destroy when its playback is completed
        true, // Whether to auto-activate the system upon spawning
        ENCPoolMethod::None, // Pooling method, None means no pooling
        true // Whether the system should be placed in the world or be a component
    );

}
void ANiagaraProjectile::AfterDelay()
{

    Destroy();
}

[ripe lotus]

is there a simple way to make all the clients go to a map, but let the server stay in its own map? (then make the players go to another map)?

[fossil spoke]

No, out of the box Unreal does not support multiple worlds on a single instance.

[frigid fox]

void ASeniorProjectCharacter::Move(const FInputActionValue& Value)
{
// input is a Vector2D
FVector2D MovementVector = Value.Get<FVector2D>();

if(Controller != nullptr && GetCharacterMovement() != nullptr)
{
    // find out which way is forward
    const FRotator Rotation = Controller->GetControlRotation();
    const FRotator YawRotation(0, Rotation.Yaw, 0);

    // get forward vector
    const FVector ForwardDirection = FRotationMatrix(YawRotation).GetUnitAxis(EAxis::X);

    // get right vector 
    const FVector RightDirection = FRotationMatrix(YawRotation).GetUnitAxis(EAxis::Y);

    if(!bIsSprinting)
    {
        GetCharacterMovement()->MaxWalkSpeed = DefaultWalkSpeed;
    }
    else
    {
        GetCharacterMovement()->MaxWalkSpeed = SprintSpeed;;
    }
    // add movement 
    AddMovementInput(ForwardDirection, MovementVector.Y);
    AddMovementInput(RightDirection, MovementVector.X);
}

}

I have this default move function for my player. I try to change movement speed of player while it's running or not but on the client side it is jittering and doesn't work properly. Can anyone help?

[sinful tree]

If this is using the Character Movement Component, replicating sprint is a bit more complicated than just changing the movement speed. You'd need to insert a sprint flag into the CMC move list so that the server knows exactly when to modify the speed so the client can predictively sprint and the server accepts the movement. There's several tutorials about how to properly replicate a sprint using C++ while using the CMC.

[glad robin]

So I have Steam multiplayer set up and it functions, but in the editor plugins menu I don't have the OnlineSubsystemSteam enabled. Would enabling this just give me access to BP stuff? I handled everything in C++ so I'm curious.

[ripe lotus]

never used the steam one. but you can access session stuff on cpp. so not sure in your case.

just wanna be sure. if the server is on a map with a specific gamemode, then i do ServelTravel to another level which on the editor has another game mode. the new gamemode replaces the old one right?

[mint dove]

I wanna record a "replay" file of inputs from the player. Then after the player finishes a level to submit a high score, I would send that replay to the server to verify if those inputs really would finish the level. Is there anything like that built-in the engine? Or would I have to build that myself? I looked at the built in "demo" thing, but it seems to be about recording the position of actors instead of inputs, which wouldn't help me. How do I spin a dedicated server without a client just to verify a replay and ensure server starts at the exact same state the player was before the server starts trying to replay the inputs?

[fossil spoke]

That sort of thing is going to be all on you.

Its a very out of the box usage. Not something you would typically do with Unreal.

[fossil veldt]

Bit late now but this might be helpful
https://github.com/daftsoftware/GameStateSubsystem

[rancid wren]

I am encountering a bug maybe, in the editor and using play as listen server. it always doubles the NumPlayers from AGamemode regardless the Number of players

[flat night]

hey everyone, my game is still in very early stages, but when I test with friends, it seems to be quite heavy. We tested on Steam deck and one of my friend's PC also got overworked. Is this due to Framerate settings? I currently have default on, I am wondering if I should use Fixed Frame Rate or if it's some graphics thing that needs to be toned down.

[fossil spoke]

Profile your game.

Make optimizations where bottlenecks are occurring.

You dont just magically give your game more frames.

The higher your performance overhead, the better hardware you need in order to run it at respectable frame rates.

Reducing your performance overhead (by making optimizations) enables lower grade hardware to be able to run the game.

[flat night]

But I just wonder what optimizations there are in such an early stage? I literally have a character and a few enemies spawning on a single level that has a static camera.

[fossil spoke]

Thats on you to determine, only you know your game. Only you can Profile your game.

[kindred widget]

The issue is that the amount of info missing in that question is staggering though and you could spend an hour writing relevant into here before anything stands out. For starts FPS issues can be both CPU or GPU.

If they're GPU, there can be a ton of things going on. Too many thing casting high poly dynamic shadows, really heavy shaders, bad lod settings, etc.

If it's CPU, you could be accidentally checking each the meaning of life for 12 AI each tick.

There really is no easy answer to "Low FPS" regardless of project stage. Unreal is already complex from the moment you start a new project. You need stats and profiles.

[flat night]

Okay, thank you for the answer, I will look into it!

[reef bison]

I am reading the RPC doc page and this is written at the start:

The primary use case for these features are to do unreliable gameplay events that are transient or cosmetic in nature. These could include events that do things such as play sounds, spawn particles, or do other temporary effects that are not crucial to the Actor functioning. Previously these types of events would often be replicated via Actor properties.

By "previously", does it mean that unreal didn't have RPCs before or does it mean that as an alternative of RPCs? if it didn't have RPCs in the past how could you trigger a function in the server e.g. by pression a button if you can't replicate a property from the client to the server?

[vagrant grail]

why both players (client and host) spawn but I'm not controlling them for some reason 🤔 ? In that level I use GM_Werewolf and PC_Werewolf.

[worthy oak]

It looks like you might possibly not be possessing them? Where are you telling the player controller to attach to your character?

[vagrant grail]

And here are the prints

[worthy oak]

ok from that screenshot at least it does not look like its calling your function? not seeing the print screen for that

[vagrant grail]

which function ?

[worthy oak]

spawn player

[vagrant grail]

it does but it's not shown in the screenshot above

[worthy oak]

got it my mistake

Im not sure if this matters but what netmode are you using? and how many players?

ie is this local multiplayer, listen, play as client ext

sounds like you were using listen since you said server/client?

[vagrant grail]

listen, standalone game, 2 players

[worthy oak]

Ok, ill ask the dumb question you already likely thought of. You are focusing the window right?

[vagrant grail]

Nope

[worthy oak]

If thats the case you wanna click the window you are trying to control when it pops up the two windows

or alt+tab since it acts a little funny sometimes

[vagrant grail]

oh if you mean that, then yeah definitly

[worthy oak]

oh oh gotcha ok

figured you were 😄

[vagrant grail]

but you can see that the issue is something else as the camera are way off behind, the hearts are all black while they're supposed to be full and can't move the characters. Here's how it looks line in the Lobby

Just by adding this "SetFocusToGameViewport" node, somehow now I have the hearts on the client but the camera is now somehow in his pelvis, and on the host side it's still not working and in both cases I can't move them

[worthy oak]

oh dont worry about that I might have misspoke on that

looking at your log you posted, whats the "move disable" "look disabled"?

looks like that happens around the time you spawn in?

[vagrant grail]

Nope I don't call it anymore

[worthy oak]

hmm ok. Im sorry I am not sure. Might have to wait for someone smarter than me. The logic looks correct to me.

you could, in your actor for a sanity check add an "on possess" function to make sure its getting the player controller

that would not really solve it most likely

The only thing I can maybe think of, is when you spawn the actor in setting the owner to the player that will eventually possess it

[worthy oak]

yeah its def doing the thing

[spice skiff]

What starting function calls this function? Also does your character have “placed in world and spawned” ticked?

[grave widget]

If I uncheck this box , can I make Characters controlled by players not replicate location info from CMC and make players stay at different location in each clients?

[chrome bay]

No, Server will still correct your pawn

Why on earth would you want that anyway

[hoary spear]

Could be useful for client only events

In-game cinematic event ?

[nocturne quail]

Why other clients don't see i am moving forward?

void ARMAPlayerController::MoveForward(float Value)
{
    if (GetLocalRole() < ROLE_Authority)
    {
        ServerMoveForward(Value);
    }
    if (Value != 0.0f)
    {
        APawn* ControlledPawn = GetPawn();
        if (ControlledPawn)
        {
            FVector Direction = FVector(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
            ControlledPawn->AddMovementInput(Direction, Value);
        }
    }
}

void ARMAPlayerController::ServerMoveForward_Implementation(float Value)
{
    MoveForward(Value);
}

bool ARMAPlayerController::ServerMoveForward_Validate(float Value)
{
    return true;
}

[woven basin]

in this case you would just spawn a local actor on the client without CMC or anything - because you would just be applying some premade moves to it

it wouldnt even be a pawn - the user is not possessing it etc

[hoary spear]

Thats a fair point !

Havnt yet tried such a scenario but wssnt sure you could just spawn stuff locally without interference . Makes sense that one can tho

[grave widget]

I want to use character possesed pawn as lobby display character ,and the player's own character is always in the middle in his client. (Just do not want to write a new display pawn with a lot of cosmetic and animation layer stuff)

[quiet pulsar]

Greetings all!
i want to play this level sequence inside an actor on beginplay. i tried replicating it but its not playing. i have extremely limited knowledge on multiplayer so what am i doing wrong here
Thanks in advance ❤️

[mystic estuary]

Sequences support replication out of the box. Check the properties you can find under the sequence actor, and it should contain it. I don't have UE open, so I can't tell you exactly the name

[quiet pulsar]

thank you, i will check it

[frigid fox]

Sorry for late answer. I did what you told to me. Tutorial helped me to fix it, thanks!

[dark parcel]

can I see the tutorial?

[lament flax]

is it excpected behavior that, when i set a variable value on server from one BTT, and try to get it on another BTT, the value is none ?
the variable isnt replication

i thought that setting a variable not replicated on server side would make it set on server side only

[proven robin]

Hey ppl -

So i wanted to test something out and bumped my head into a pickle here

I am trying to interact with an actor and only make logic run on server (in this case print a hellp but only from the server to all clients)

So i have this Interact function implementation on my Character, which comes from an interact interface.
I have another implementation of that on my dropship (the actor i want to interact with)

If i use a standard On Component Begin Overlap event, and Switch has authority, and let only the server print a Hello, it works as inteded. Whenever a Client walks throught that collision box, the server prints a message, and all Clients can see that message.

HOWEVER! - If i instead sends a message to the interact function on the dropship, the interact function and then switches on authority and expected to print from the server, but all clients sees it. It ONLY prints on the server and not the CLient.

I can not figure it out, besides that it has to do with the behaviour of the Standard On Component Begin overlap event, that works in a way that need to be setup in a custom function?

[frigid fox]

sure here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG_ggXUiB_Q&t=334s

but it's only blueprint

you can adjust as how you like it

[kindred widget]

The issue is that the dropship's version prints on client machines as well?

[nocturne quail]

don't replicate it using multicast, do it on-rep-sprinting

[frigid fox]

can I ask why could you explain?

[nocturne quail]

for packet saving reason

[lost inlet]

lol that's really not the reason

[nocturne quail]

there could be other reasons sure, but perfect choice is on-rep for sprinting

[lost inlet]

well the main reason is sprinting is state

[frigid fox]

yeah make sense

thanks

[nocturne quail]

tutorials on inet don't think about best/good practices, they just focus if things are working everything is good 😄

[lost inlet]

rich coming from you lol

[proven robin]

SO my expected result would be that the server prints to both clients, regardless of who triggers the event (server or client) which is also the case when doing the Switch on authrity withj the On Comp. Begin Overlap event. But i want the interaction to happen with a key pressed, thus my implementation on the character. But when i do this, and sends a message to the dopship Bp interact method, it only works on the server and not the client

[frigid fox]

you're right 😅

[proven robin]

Testing on Listen Server

[kindred widget]

That's what throws me. I don't understand what you mean by "prints to both clients." You're just printing a string, not actually sending an RPC with a message.

[lost inlet]

it's probably just the misleading nature of PIE

since they show on all PIE windows

though I'm trying to wrap my head around that interact interface

[proven robin]

Let me try and rewrite my question 😛 - I think i am confusing myself as i am writing it.

I want a door to open for all players:

When i do a On Component Begin Overlap event -> Switch has Authority - > Print String " Hello"

The String gets printed on all players as this "Server: Hello"
Regardless of whom is walking into the collision box, Client or server

When i on the other hand implements a custom event fired by Key "E" Input on my character that checks if i am overlapping with an Actor containing a interact interface. And then fires the interact function on the targeted actor (in this case my BP_DropShip)
IF i fire the event when playing as the Server window, it prints "Server: Hello" on both the clients. BUT if i fire the same event from the Client window, nothing happens.

So to sum it up, why does it behave differently when using the On Comp. Begin overlap event?

Both ways uses the Switch has authority, and only authority calls the Print String function.

[kindred widget]

Because with the overlap, it happens on the server regardless of what machine you're playing on. Even if you're a client, there's still a thing for the client that overlaps on the server.

The interact event on the other hand only happens on one machine, and because of the switch does not work when used on a client but does on a server.

[lost inlet]

it says "Server"

so it's only happening on the server

if it was a client it would show "Client 0", "Client 1", etc

[kindred widget]

He's confused by why it always prints a server message with the overlaps though but doesn't with the interact interface.

[proven robin]

So i should use some kind of Repnotify event or the classic Server calls a Multicast event?

[kindred widget]

It's just because even as a client you're still causing something to happen on the server by moving because you still move on the server as a client. So the overlap still triggers even if you didn't RPC it.

[lost inlet]

???

[proven robin]

Think i miss taged sswires in my previous message, sorry for that 😛

AAAAAAAAH!

[proven robin]

MY BRAIN GETS IT

[lost inlet]

well I guess we never saw what called BPI Interact's Interact function

weird that the character implements the same interface

[proven robin]

It was just a quick test ^^

So with the custom interact function, fired by key doiwn

I should use a multicast event, on the server or maybe Repnotify?

[kindred widget]

Not quite.

[proven robin]

hmmm. Then i don't quite get how to make the door open/close toggle a server authorative event

[dark edge]

PawnClient:
Input -> RunOnServerEvent

PawnServer:
RunOnServerEvent -> InteractMessage to Thing

ThingOnServer:
InteractMessage -> logic -> change a repnotify variable

ThingEverywhere:
OnRep -> do stuff to reflect the state

[kindred widget]

The issue is that you need to get the intention from the client to the server where the real state exists. And clients can only RPC through things that they own. By default that is your Controller and things it owns, which is the PlayerState and any possessed Pawn.

This means the RPC needs to generally come from an actor that your PlayerController owns, or a component inside of one of them. In this case it's usually the pawn or a component in the pawn.

This pawn or component does a serverRPC with the intentions of the interact, the actor or component, or whatever and sends that to it's server counterpart, which then tries to interact on the server.

That interaction sets state and replication happens to let clients know what happened.

[dark edge]

I'm assuming interact is an interface, if it's meant to be specific to some single class of thing then it'd be different but that's the general form

[proven robin]

Yeah.... I need to finish the Compendium by eXi....

But basically from my understanding, i forgot to make my interact event on the character Run on Server (how else would server know duuuuuuuuuh)

And THEN the interact event on the dropship, can switch on authority, and if it has authority, run some logic, and as @dark edge Wrote make a repnotify. and reflect the state of the game.

[kindred widget]

Also do be careful with SwitchHasAuthority. You can confuse yourself if you run it on a non replicated actor/component on accident. As a client can have authority on it.

You can always know it's on server behind a ServerRPC, it will never run on a client.

[proven robin]

So instead of Switch on A, just make it "Run on server" to not confuse myself later

Instead just make Toggle Hatch run on server?*

[hoary spear]

Cant do that from a client if its not owning the hatch

And if the interact already is ran on server then you wont need an rpc for the hatch

[storm grove]

How would I go about client side prediction for something like spawning an actor, lets say I had some kind of item that I wanted the player to possess and that item needed to be replicated and kept in sync, if I do thing and wait for the server to spawn it and do its thing then it would have felt delayed and laggy

[kindred widget]

There would be a ServerRPC before the interact. After that nothing needs to be RunOnServer

[quasi tide]

Oh, this one is a PITA imo. Spawn on both, but then the client side needs to have the same net addressable name and something else. I just can't remember the other one. Zlo has explained how to do it in the past. I typically avoid client spawn prediction to be honest.

[proven robin]

aaaaah cuz i ofc. already knows that it is ofc. only running on server cuz its a ServerRPC

[storm grove]

Alright thats something to look into thanks

[quasi tide]

@chrome bay May also be able to help clarify 🙏

[proven robin]

Thanks @kindred widget and @dark edge

I really appreciate you guys taking the time to lecture my potato brain ^^

[quasi tide]

Pretty much, spawn them and then look up how to link a client spawned actor to the server spawned actor. It has something to do with the NetAdressableName

[kindred widget]

It just needs to have the same name as the server has and the same outer. If it's client predicted, you probably dont' need to do the extra step of making sure it doesn't replicate too early, since it'll already exist on the client before the RPC even reaches the server.

[chrome bay]

Yeah the FName's have to match so that IsNameStableForNetworking returns true

[storm grove]

How would I do that? Rename()?

[chrome bay]

You pass in the stable name to NewObject

Rename() and replicated objects usually never ends well tbh

[storm grove]

Its an actor though

[chrome bay]

SpawnActor takes a Name param too

[storm grove]

Ahh okay SpawnParams struct takes a name

Thanks 🙏

[storm grove]

Hmm, I am spawning it locally with a name and then calling a server RPC with the FName and on the server side spawning the same actor, when I do it I am emulating pklag in order to produce latency and the client is getting a second copy a second later when the lagged packets get sent through

They both have the same being printed from the console

void AMyFoo::ServerSideSpawnCube_Implementation(FName n)
{
    if(HasAuthority())
    {
        FActorSpawnParameters p;
        p.Name = n;
        p.Owner = this;
        auto* a = GetWorld()->SpawnActor(cubeClass, &GetActorTransform(), p);
        CLOG_ARGS("- Server Name {0} : Actual Name {1}", p.Name, GetNameSafe(a));
    }
}

void AMyFoo::ClientSideSpawnCube()
{
    if(!HasAuthority())
    {
        FActorSpawnParameters p;
        p.Name = FName( FString{"FooBoo" + GetName() + FString::FromInt(FMath::RandRange(0, 1000))} );
        p.Owner = this;
        auto* a = GetWorld()->SpawnActor(cubeClass, &GetActorTransform(), p);
        CLOG_ARGS("- Client Name {0}: Actual Name {1}", p.Name, GetNameSafe(a));
        ServerSideSpawnCube(p.Name);
    }
}

After running it twice in a session I get this

LogTemp: Error: - Client Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_0835: Actual Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_0835
LogTemp: Error: - Server Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_0835 : Actual Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_0835
LogTemp: Error: - Client Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_060: Actual Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_060
LogTemp: Error: - Server Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_060 : Actual Name FooBooBP_PlayerCharacter_C_060

but the client has its original cube and the server spawned one a half a second later

[chrome bay]

You'd also need to mark the actor as being a map startup actor, essentially you have to trick the engine into think he client already has that actor

[storm grove]

Is that a flag?

[chrome bay]

Or you can call SetNetAddressable() to force it

You need this to return true, ultimately:

bool AActor::IsNameStableForNetworking() const
{
    return IsNetStartupActor() || HasAnyFlags( RF_ClassDefaultObject | RF_ArchetypeObject ) || bForceNetAddressable != 0;
}```