multiplayer

[hollow eagle]

There's one per <type of thing>. Therefore there isn't just one.

For a game instance subsystem there's one per game instance.

[woven basin]

Sorry - just so I'm 100% on this;

so does that means one per PIE client? i.e. its safe to use in a single process for multiplayer?

or not safe?

[hollow eagle]

yes, it is safe

every PIE client (and server) has its own game instance that isn't shared.

[woven basin]

and that applies to all subsystems? a subsystem is a singleton only in the sense of per client, not per process?

[hollow eagle]

no, it applies relative to the thing that owns the subsystem

[woven basin]

arh right - yep - gotcha - makes sense

[bright summit]

I noticed that testing WHATEVER in single process is a pain in the ass, you will code something, then run two seperate processes and boom, most of things will not work

[hollow eagle]

an engine subsystem is one per engine (which might as well be a true singleton). An editor subsystem is the same - you can't have multiple editors in a single process.
But a world subsystem is per-world (well, persistent level). A local player subsystem you can have multiple of in a single PIE instance since you can have multiple players in one PIE (for splitscreen or couch coop or whatever).

[hollow eagle]

It's really not that much of a pain.

Avoid static variables and globals unless you're fine with sharing them across instances. That's the main thing to avoid.

Almost everything else acts normally unless you're digging into low level parts of the engine's handling of PIE.

[bright summit]

whole initialization process acts differently

[hollow eagle]

Which... is not that different for most purposes and is trivial to handle in most other circumstances.

If you're avoiding fixing PIE bugs you probably have bugs elsewhere, and are shooting yourself in the foot by having to launch a separate process just to test changes.

[bright summit]

no, I am not avoiding but, I am testing ALSO with separate process now, nobody told me, and none of the tutorial with multiplayer told that you should test mp also in seperate processes to be sure your netcode, initialzation code or somthing works properly

[hollow eagle]

I mean... you should be testing packaged builds regularly anyway.

PIE does not substitute for real network scenarios.

[bright summit]

this is the lesson I learned

[woven basin]

yeah - i've setup a nightly build script that always packages my game for shipping, so I can test a "real" game via Steam just for piece of mind

[nocturne quail]

i have no idea what are you talking about, this is my own !virtual method and i have not deprecated it yet

[hollow eagle]

Nothing substitutes for actual playtesting. Not to mention differences in build configuration between the editor, non-editor builds, and even between debuggame/development/test/shipping.

[bright summit]

yeah, packaging the game is lottery, one time it will be successful, one time it will crash, another time editor just shutdown without any reason xD

[woven basin]

https://github.com/botman99/ue4-unreal-automation-tool#Packaging-Your-Game

that teaches you how to run it via a command line

it is very simple

I have mine in a batch file, and it runs at 3am each morning, sending the build to my NAS

so I have a nightly build to refer to, and logs if it fails etc

[winged badger]

that looks like clients unloaded some classes during seamless travel that server kept loaded, leaving their NetGUIDs on its Acknowledged list

so server thinks client can translate NetGUID into class, client can't and that happens

static FAutoConsoleVariableRef CVarNetResetAckStatePostSeamlessTravel(
    TEXT("net.ResetAckStatePostSeamlessTravel"),
    GNetResetAckStatePostSeamlessTravel,
    TEXT("If 1, the server will reset the ack state of the package map after seamless travel. Increases bandwidth usage, but may resolve some issues with GUIDs not being available on clients after seamlessly traveling."),
    ECVF_Default);```

set that to 1, UE5.0 +

[bright summit]

woo thank you, I will take a look

[woven basin]

I'm guessing GEngine is just as bad?

Inside UPlayer of the default ConsoleCommand in UE5.4 - this is how Epic is getting the console :

UConsole* ViewportConsole = (GEngine->GameViewport != nullptr) ? GEngine->GameViewport->ViewportConsole : nullptr;

So that reference to GEngine is probably the issue?

[hollow eagle]

GEngine isn't bad. There's only one engine in a process, period.
GWorld is bad because there are multiple worlds in a process.

Assuming GEngine->GameViewport is the only/primary/expected viewport is bad, but GEngine itself isn't the problem here.

[winged badger]

bonus points if you start juggling worlds during PIE session

[woven basin]

if (PlayerController && PlayerController->GetWorld() && PlayerController->GetWorld()->GetGameViewport() && PlayerController->GetWorld()->GetGameViewport()->ViewportConsole)
    {
        ViewportConsole = PlayerController->GetWorld()->GetGameViewport()->ViewportConsole;
    }
    else
    {
        ViewportConsole = (GEngine->GameViewport != nullptr) ? GEngine->GameViewport->ViewportConsole : nullptr;
    }

I just modified the engine source to this, and its resolved the problem.

i.e. if the UPlayer already has a reference to PlayerController, then just use that to get the correct viewport.

otherwise fallback to GEngine.

Just tested - problem solved

[winged badger]

that feels wrong

[woven basin]

I appreciate you (and Epic) are probably correct over my lower knowledge. I'm 100% open to an alternative or another approach

[winged badger]

still trying to find what your original problem was

[woven basin]

@winged badger

console commands from one client show as output on another client when running under one process.

that is the problem I was trying to solve

[winged badger]

ah, i always just ignored that

PIE testing single process has more then 1 caveat

especially if you expect anything static to have its own value on each client

[woven basin]

yep - which silex and Snaps etc were helpful to point out earlier

[winged badger]

it is good for the first round of tests

[woven basin]

I'm not trying to do anything 'static' - its more how Epic had the console using that static that was tripping me up

I've modified my source so I can include Console in my shipping build, and it whitelists the commands I want, rather than allowing all the engine content stuff. So hence trying to test some thing in console.

[winged badger]

including late join tests

i would assume there is a way to do that without modifying the engine

which is always a last resort - pain in the arse to maintain

[woven basin]

Yep - just overriding one funciton

I'm using a source for something else, so splitting the function made it easier

but otherwise trying to keep it as close as possible to prevent issues later - yep

[bright summit]

when I was beginning with MP on UE5 I was wondering why the heck AddOnScreenDebugMessage displays on every client, so debug printing was also the problem while testing in single process

[feral narwhal]

anyone know why the data variable isn't being replicated to client actor?

[winged badger]

you didnt set the Data property to replicate?

[feral narwhal]

no I already have it set to replicate in the actor

I even tested in the actor's begin play, on the server the data is recieved there fine but on the client its empty

[winged badger]

did you rename the property after you set it to replicate?

[feral narwhal]

no

its weird because, on the server it works okay but when the client spawns the item the data is also not recieved

so no matter what the client never gets the data

[winged badger]

try setting the data after actor is spawned

this is blueprint networking, and it has its weird caveats, c++ code doing the same would orderly replciate

[feral narwhal]

so just updating the data with rpcs in the character who spawned it?

[bright summit]

hmmm

void ABasePlayerController::Local_ChangeSpectateCamera()
{
    if (!GetSpectatorPawn())
        return;

    bIsSpectatingFreeRoam = !bIsSpectatingFreeRoam;

    if (bIsSpectatingFreeRoam)
    {
        GetBaseSpectator()->bIsFreeRoam = bIsSpectatingFreeRoam;

        if (GetMainHUD())
        {
            GetMainHUD()->GetSpectatorHUDInstance()->DisplaySpectatingPlayerInfo(false);
            GetBaseSpectator()->EnableChaseCamera(false);
        }
        
        GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 15, FColor::Red, TEXT("ChangeSpectateCamera to FreeRoam"));
    }
    else
    {
        GetBaseSpectator()->bIsFreeRoam = bIsSpectatingFreeRoam;
        GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 15, FColor::Red, TEXT("ChangeSpectateCamera to ChaseCamera"));

        if (GetMainHUD())
        {
            GetMainHUD()->GetSpectatorHUDInstance()->DisplaySpectatingPlayerInfo(true);
            GetBaseSpectator()->EnableChaseCamera(true);
        }


        // TODO: Make it nicer to switching to a player to spectate
        Server_SpectateNext();
        if (!CurrentSpectatedPlayer)
            Server_SpectatePrevious();
    }
}```

My camera is not switching for "chase camera" (just simply thirdperson view for spectating players). It's executed locally via PlayerController

```cpp

void ABasePlayerController::Local_ChangeSpectateCamera()
{
    if (!GetSpectatorPawn())
        return;

    bIsSpectatingFreeRoam = !bIsSpectatingFreeRoam;

    if (bIsSpectatingFreeRoam)
    {
        GetBaseSpectator()->bIsFreeRoam = bIsSpectatingFreeRoam;

        if (GetMainHUD())
        {
            GetMainHUD()->GetSpectatorHUDInstance()->DisplaySpectatingPlayerInfo(false);
            GetBaseSpectator()->EnableChaseCamera(false);
        }
        
        GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 15, FColor::Red, TEXT("ChangeSpectateCamera to FreeRoam"));
    }
    else
    {
        GetBaseSpectator()->bIsFreeRoam = bIsSpectatingFreeRoam;
        GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 15, FColor::Red, TEXT("ChangeSpectateCamera to ChaseCamera"));

        if (GetMainHUD())
        {
            GetMainHUD()->GetSpectatorHUDInstance()->DisplaySpectatingPlayerInfo(true);
            GetBaseSpectator()->EnableChaseCamera(true);
        }


        // TODO: Make it nicer to switching to a player to spectate
        Server_SpectateNext();
        if (!CurrentSpectatedPlayer)
            Server_SpectatePrevious();
    }
}

Ignore pls that mess in code. it is executing on local clients because debug prints are printing correctly but camera is not switching to that active one. Ofc course on server it works xD what am I missing?

[hybrid pecan]

When creating a lobby from the main menu, should it be done in the same level or a whole new level?

[feral narwhal]

I just realized the issue might be completely different, I am trying to replicate a 2d texture which I believe cant be replicated?

[sinful tree]

They cannot.

[dark parcel]

You can if you write the code your self

Infact someone already done it in market place

Not even that expensive and save you time if it's that important to replicate textures

[winged badger]

an asset pointer can

[feral narwhal]

yeah, im taking a picture on one device then sending that over to all clients. But now im wondering if it would be less expensive to just send a notify everyone to take a screenshot from the same position in game

[dark parcel]

They are probably not guaranteed to see the same thing

[winged badger]

that assumes that they would see the same thing

[dark parcel]

Pros and cons

[feral narwhal]

yeah

is it that expensive to send textures every once in a while?

[sinful tree]

Depends on how big the texture is.

[feral narwhal]

just 128x128

[winged badger]

single channel?

[feral narwhal]

i would guess not, its a normal color png converted to a texture

[winged badger]

you can send an array of bytes and rebuild

on clients

[feral narwhal]

on c++ of course?

[winged badger]

blueprint should be able to do that too

you should be able to create a render target from that data

[feral narwhal]

im looking into it, but seems like a hassle to convert the texture to bytes without a plugin no?

[winged badger]

it would just be pulling data from the mip, converting it to uint8 and populating the array... in c++

i would imagine a function to get data would exist exposed to blueprints, but i've never had a use for it

[silent valley]

FImageUtils::ExportRenderTarget2DAsPNG() looks like it would do the job, and compress it too

[winged badger]

not from blueprint

[twin juniper]

If I want to move character (Set World Transform), and need to do it on server, can I do it ONLY on server, and not do it on the client? Seems to work but wondering if there are any drawbacks to this

And as a general question too, can I do certain actions on client owned actors ONLY on server, if I don't care about the action's latency?

Like usually for example when sprinting, you call the sprint function both on the client, and on the server, so that there is no latency. But if the action is important, one-time, and so I don't care about latency, what are the drawbacks of calling only on server

[sinful tree]

If you move something on the server that is replicated and the movement is marked to replicate, then it'll move that actor to that location on all clients automatically.

You can do whatever you want on the server without doing it on the client, however, not everything is replicated automatically to the clients.

[twin juniper]

Got it, thanks

[sinful tree]

A drawback of having the server always be the authority of everything is that you're then introducing a poor experience for players - If I press my trigger button on my gun, I'd rather it feel that it actually triggered immediately when I clicked rather than wait for the server to tell me that I fired a moment later because I had to wait for the server to say it was ok to do so and that I'm seeing what the server saw.

[sour dragon]

Hello, how does a Event Node know who the Owning Client is by default? If i run a Event with (Execute on Owning Client) in my FirstPersonCharacterBP, is the owning client the client that this FirstPersonCharacterBP request came from?

[sour dragon]

So for example, how is it determined here who the owner is ?

[timid galleon]

Hello, please help me, I use Steam multiplayer in my game, I need to organize a system for getting the current sequence time from the server (I create a server in my game, start the sequence, then after starting the server, the player joins, and I need to make a system that will automatically access my game (server), receive information about whether the sequence is running, if so, the client's game automatically receives the current sequence time on the server) if someone knows how to do this, please describe in detail

[short arrow]

are you trying to have like an ingame time or something?

[timid galleon]

i tried this

[short arrow]

the simplest way is to have the client request the time from the server, then the server will send back the time, from there you play at that time

I'll show you an example

[timid galleon]

Well, it's obvious how to do it, it's actually what I did, right?

[short arrow]

oh didn't see the other photo's, it looks okay? What result are you getting

is the level sequence player playing anything at all?

[timid galleon]

sequence playing on server and client only when i start sequence when client is already connected to server, when i start sequence and client connect after server played sequence, sequence doesn’t start on client

[short arrow]

you might be trying to do it too quickly

client might not be finished setting up before you've sent the information

add a delay to the onpost login to test and see if that's the case

[lost inlet]

hey it's this blueprint again

which has RPCs on the gamemode for some reason

[ashen plume]

question about function replication internals, bear with me here...
an abstract actor class has an event set to replicate, a child actor class then adds a call to the parent, does the resulting child call then cause two replications? or does blueprint know to handle this as one replication?

[short arrow]

totally didn't see that

[timid galleon]

Do you mean that there is a long delay and when I start it, it does not have time to exchange information?

[short arrow]

No, but first you need to fix your current issue that sswires pointed out. You are doing an RPC inside of the gamemode. The gamemode is not capable of replication. You need move all of that code somewhere else.

The simplest place would be your third person character

[lament flax]

check this
https://cedric-neukirchen.net/docs/multiplayer-compendium/ownership

[twin juniper]

50 % of the time if I try to test a multiplayer game with a listen server and a few clients, as soon as I press f8 (to eject from one window and start controlling another), unreal crashes with this:
Assertion Failed: !GIsPlayInEditorWorld

Any ideas?

[hardy turtle]

hey guys, what would be the best practice to get two players to connect to the same session that the host finds?

[bright summit]

when on client playerstate is available ? want to assign variable in playercontroller but on beginplay it is still null. PostInitializeComponents also

[dark parcel]

OnRep Player State

[bright summit]

fiuuuuck I forgot about it, thx

[bright summit]

its called also on server or not?

[dark parcel]

OnRep only get called on Client in cpp

[bright summit]

I know but manually you can call it on server

but I don't know if UE does it

[dark parcel]

wdym

[bright summit]

if you want to OnRep function be executed on serer you must call OnRep manually but I don't know if built in OnRep_PlayerState is called on server by engine on the server or not

[dark parcel]

You don't want to call OnRep on Server

which is why the blueprint one is eww

[bright summit]

ok

[dark parcel]

also not sure what you mean by call on rep manually

[bright summit]

for ex

[dark parcel]

it's executed on client when something is replicated from server

[bright summit]

void ABasePlayerController::Server_SpectateNext_Implementation()
{
    CurrentSpectatedPlayerState = GetNextViewablePlayer(+1);

OnRep_CurrentSpectatedPlayerState()```

somebody told me here you can do it in that way if you want OnRep be called also on server

but if it is bad practice, ok

good to know then

[dark parcel]

I'm beginner in multiplayer but I don't see the point of calling OnRep on server

it's already the server

[bright summit]

I think it is just code organization to not repeat something twice

[dark parcel]

@bright summit nvm, I get what the code is doing

but be mindful of context, there are things you want to run on server and things that run on client

[bright summit]

I know

[twin juniper]

ohh I thought it was the ApplyDamage built in unreal, which is deprecated

[nocturne quail]

https://tenor.com/view/confused-confused-face-confused-look-im-confused-im-so-confused-gif-15238349812417673237

[twin juniper]

💯

What things should I make in unreal to know if I understand multiplayer

[magic vessel]

I'm really stuck on how to implement this feature. Basically I want an ability where a player can see the recent footsteps of other players
My current plan is to have an AnimNotify (Basically an event you can set to trigger on a specific frame in a animation) and from that event, spawn in a new actor (game object which can be placed in the level) that has a decal to print a footstep onto the ground.

The part I'm concerned with is how to do it so that it limits the network vulnerabilities. I could do it so that the anim notify runs locally, limiting the bandwidth required with sending a lot of duplicate data, and have it so that the decals only spawn in if the player has a certain gameplay effect active, but that would technically mean the ability is client side authoratitive, which is bad. Server side means that I'm using a lot more bandwidth, but there is some authentication taking place

Maybe if I keep track of the anim notify data on the Game Mode so that only the Server has the data at any given point. Then when the gameplay effect is active, it simply subscribes to the event to receive this data as it is populated. When it is received, it adds it to a component on the Player Controller which replicates down to the client to spawn in the decal locally

[magic vessel]

Maybe try making an inventory system? It is a requirement for a lot of games, will teach how you handle things like server side authentication of items, replicating data to clients, how to send Client->Server RPCs, and there are already a few examples on YouTube on how to make it for singleplayer so you don't really have to come up with a lot of the logic. Although you will need to learn where to place each piece of logic

[twin juniper]

When I launch multiple windows for sessions (1 listen server, 3 clients for example), how do I switch between windows?

Other than f8

wasn't there some other shortcut?

[magic vessel]

Alt+Tab

[neon summit]

or shift + F1

[twin juniper]

I have my player character set to replicate but we don't see it when multiple clients are playing... It just seems that the character is invisible

[twin juniper]

that's what I was looking fo

r

[neon summit]

Can anyone give me on advice for best way to make the chaos wheeled vehicle pawn's mesh to explode? Currently I'm doing it like this which works but would like someones perspective the best way to do this. Specifically handling hiding the pawn mesh and spawning the collection for explosion

[ember jasper]

@whole iron
Hey !
No problem ! I managed to make it working yeah and it wasn't an easy deal until I put my hands on a MarketPlace Plugin.
I don't know if I'm allowed to promote a plugin on this channel but we can continue this conversation in private 🙂

[calm barn]

Hey guys! Can someone tell me where the event for timeout is? I can't find it!

I want a player to join via IP, but if there's no server I want it to fail after 10 seconds and have an event for that.

I've tried the Event NetworkError from the GameInstance, but nothing

Thanks in advance for the answers 🙏

[worthy oak]

I believe you would be looking for “event TravelError” and/or “event NetworkError”

[calm barn]

Well, both of these never trigger it seems

And the log is showing to me this message every 10 seconds : LogNet: Initial Connect Diagnostics: Sent '9' packets in last '10.215907' seconds, no packets received yet. (but with slightly different values each time)

Are you doing it in your project @worthy oak?

[worthy oak]

hmm interesting ok. It looks like it hasnt timed out yet though?

[calm barn]

It's been running for >5 minutes now, still no timeout

[calm barn]

I want to have a very short timeout, but I can't find how to do it

[worthy oak]

That I am not sure on TBH. Would have to look into it more

[calm barn]

Okay, thank you for your time.

[calm barn]

Anyone else?

[shadow aurora]

Got sort of a weird issue here if I put my camera into free-movement mode where it can rotate all the way around the pawn. If I then rotate my camera to face the front of the pawn and hit D, the client and server are disagreeing on what direction the pawn is moving which is causing jitter. I imagine it's something to do with the server not knowing about the camera rotation or something, but I'm not sure exactly what the issue is.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[nocturne quail]

how are you spawning them?

[sour dragon]

Can someone tell me why the print string does not fire when i use a "Run on Server" node when the previous code is a Interface Call?

[shadow aurora]

Is it possible a version of the object doesn't exist on the server?

[sour dragon]

Yeah, i just figured that out, had to run the previous code on the server, but im still not sure as WHY the server can't call at least the print string

[shadow aurora]

I'm not 100% sure cause I haven't tried to send a server RPC from the server recently, but could just be that it will only execute if it's being sent from an object that exists on a Client, not from an object on the server?

[sour dragon]

That actually makes a lot of sense

[shadow aurora]

You could try changing it to a NetMulticast instead for a quick test

[mystic estuary]

Hello, I've got PS5 build running, but it fails to connect to my dedicated server (it works fine for PC). After I do OpenMap, it says

[2024.05.24-17.12.34:395][576]LogNet: UIpConnection::HandleSocketSendResult: Socket->SendTo failed with error 21 (SE_EADDRNOTAVAIL). [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: *our public IP address*, Name: IpConnection_2147482369, Driver: PendingNetDriver SonyNetDriver_2147482370, IsServer: NO, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID Connection beginning close timeout (Timeout = 5.000000).
[2024.05.24-17.12.39:400][876]LogNet: Error: UEngine::BroadcastNetworkFailure: FailureType = ConnectionLost, ErrorString = UIpNetConnection::HandleSocketSendResult: Socket->SendTo failed with error 21 (SE_EADDRNOTAVAIL). [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: *our public IP address*, Name: IpConnection_2147482369, Driver: PendingNetDriver SonyNetDriver_2147482370, IsServer: NO, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID Connection will be closed during next Tick()!, Driver = PendingNetDriver SonyNetDriver_2147482370
[2024.05.24-17.12.39:400][876]LogNet: Warning: Network Failure: PendingNetDriver[ConnectionLost]: UIpNetConnection::HandleSocketSendResult: Socket->SendTo failed with error 21 (SE_EADDRNOTAVAIL). [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: *our public IP address*, Name: IpConnection_2147482369, Driver: PendingNetDriver SonyNetDriver_2147482370, IsServer: NO, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID Connection will be closed during next Tick()!
[2024.05.24-17.12.39:400][876]LogNet: NetworkFailure: ConnectionLost, Error: 'UIpNetConnection::HandleSocketSendResult: Socket->SendTo failed with error 21 (SE_EADDRNOTAVAIL). [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: *our public IP address*, Name: IpConnection_2147482369, Driver: PendingNetDriver SonyNetDriver_2147482370, IsServer: NO, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID Connection will be closed during next Tick()!'
[2024.05.24-17.12.39:416][877]LogNet: Browse: /Game/login?closed

Does anyone know why it might fail?

[shadow aurora]

I've seen someone before say that their call to ServerTravel was missing ?listen at the end. But aside from that not terribly sure

[mystic estuary]

I'm connecting to a dedicated server, the client doesn't have to be a listen server

[thin stratus]

ServerTravel is not for connecting and neither does it need ?listen

[mystic estuary]

Either way, I'm using OpenMap

[shadow aurora]

Was referencing this post (just FYI) #multiplayer message

[thin stratus]

@mystic estuary Keep in mind that your PS5 license is under NDA, so be careful of what you share

[shadow aurora]

Mentioned the same Socket->SendTo failed with error 21 (SE_EADDRNOTAVAIL)

[thin stratus]

When you test with PC, do you use any kind of Subsystem?

And if you test with PS5, do you use a Subsystem for your PS5 build?

[mystic estuary]

I'm not sure about that part. Should it be under ProjectSettings config?

[thin stratus]

No, you set that up via your Ini file

Similar to the NetDriver

The main point is that there is a good chance that you can't connect to an IpNetDriver and SubsystemNULL Server from a SonyNetDriver and Playstation Subsystem

[sour dragon]

Works, thanks, now i can have deers with rpgs in multiplayer

[shadow aurora]

Found this as a suggestion. Someone mentioned PS5 being unable to connect to their dedicated server:

[/Script/OnlineSubsystemUtils.OnlineEngineInterfaceImpl]

+CompatibleUniqueNetIdTypes=PS5```

[mystic estuary]

In DefaultEngine.ini we have DefaultPlatformService=null

[thin stratus]

I think the UniqueNetId part only hits after connecting. This fails earlier already.

Especially if both builds use Subsystem NULL, then it shouldn't matter.

Given you have a PS license, shouldn't you have access to UDN?

At least to the PS part?

The Server here can't really help with Console due to the NDA. You should have other contact points to ask for this.

Sicerath is in theory not even allowed to share UDN answers.

[mystic estuary]

We don't have any unique config for platforms, so both of them should be using null subsystem

[mystic estuary]

Yeah, I can try that as well

[thin stratus]

Well it's clearly a Playstation issue then though, so you gotta go to the point of contact for PS and ask them what this is about and how to solve it.

[hybrid pecan]

How does one go about running a locally hosted server on a seperate process from the client? Dedicated server?

[timid fox]

Hello, I'm quite new to multiplayer and a little confused. I have a replicated actor in my game, one tile of a hex map, that contains a widget component. When any player clicks something in the widget, I want to update the tile by calling a method with a parameter on the actor. Since the tile actor is not owned by the player, a server RPC will just be dismissed. I know I should basically route this through the player controller, but that would be I always have to route all necessary payloads through the player controller to the targeted actor. That's sounds not very good, but how would I do this otherwise?

[thin stratus]

Yeah, Server-only Process is a Dedicated Server.

[hybrid pecan]

welp, that sounds fun to set up

[thin stratus]

Going from UI to Server doesn't really leave you any other option.

You can route it through some Component on the PlayerController to keep it cleaner.

Or in other examples, if possible, simply tell the Server that you press the key to do X and the Server can then do X on its own.

[thin stratus]

You can test it in Editor via PlayAsClient, or via .bat files (command line arguments) as Standalone (still using Editor Data, but other process).

But ultimately to make a Server to distribute you need the Source Engine and build with that.

[timid fox]

Ok, so I'm not completely wrong here, it's just how it is. I'll probably make a generic way to route any of my UI actions to the server. Thanks Cedric!

[thin stratus]

It's ALWAYS a very good idea to review if such a Server is needed, or if the Client can't just host on its own.

[hybrid pecan]

I suppose, It just seems to be a absolute pain in the rear to differentiate between the client and server when its on the same process

[sour dragon]

The logic i do on the server does replicate, so setting transform, spawning actors, changing rotation etc. but when i spawn a particle system it does not replicate. Now my question, does it not replicate because visual effects are not meant to be replicated by the server so its turned off, or am i missing something? Because i cant understand how the clients can see that a item gets added, can rotate etc. but then again a particle system is not visible without a multicast

[thin stratus]

It's actually pretty straight forward

[thin stratus]

Transform of a Replicated Actor is replicated if you tick ReplicateMovement.
But that doesn't mean that UE rpelicates everything. Most stuff is actually not replicated

[sour dragon]

Thought so, is there a document or video where i can see what is actually replicated

[thin stratus]

Not really.

[sour dragon]

Great

[thin stratus]

it's very specific so either you get it by context, docs, or source code

[sour dragon]

Still thank you for your anwser 🙂

[crimson ore]

bUseOnlineServicesV2 is not ready for prime time is it?

It is incompatible with Steam

[lament flax]

if i want to store for each player its location history, should i use a tmap ?

each key of the TMap would a player Actor and the value an array of FVector

[crimson ore]

depeding on how old history you want to keep you'd be investing heaps of memory for this

[lament flax]

last 1s

[thin stratus]

So something between 30 and 120+ entries per player, depending on FrameRate.

[lament flax]

without using TMap i wonder how i could allocate new array for each player and get them back.
the other way would be storing 1 array for each player actor

[thin stratus]

PlayerState?

[lament flax]

i wont store on tick, ill have 1 array element each xms

[crimson ore]

you could be smart about it and store only the differences with timestamps

[lament flax]

so when i have packet latency i would calculate how much should i go far in hisotry

[crimson ore]

like if player is running in straight line with constant speed you don't need to store all of it

[lament flax]

thats some extra optimising that i dont need rn 😅

[thin stratus]

Either way, put it on the PlayerState then

[crimson ore]

ye

[lament flax]

so each playerstate stores its hisotry ?

on server

[thin stratus]

Well yeah

[lament flax]

okay ill try that

[crimson ore]

or player character if you don't care of loseing the info when character dies

[thin stratus]

You wouldn't store the PlayerState's Location, but the PlayerState could be the place where you store it.

Or just on the Character directly, yeah

[lament flax]

to track this, is it better to use tick and add the delta time to CurrentTime to know if CurrentTime > X
or should i use a timer

[crimson ore]

tick with time substeps

[lament flax]

okay

now to call OnHit on server to tp all players to old location, i need to get all playerstates.
should i have the actor component that lives on the hited actor get the gamestate to do that, or should i redirect it to the gamstate and have the GS handle this

[queen escarp]

hm A replicated Static mesh

changing material on server

it dosent replicate :/?

materials isent replicated ?

cant*

[thin stratus]

No

[queen escarp]

?

oh ok, so has to rpc then

[thin stratus]

No

[queen escarp]

huh?

[thin stratus]

What is the Material of a StaticMesh? A one time event or State?

[queen escarp]

one time event

[thin stratus]

What if I join your game after the RPC

[queen escarp]

then it will be "default"

as before the rpc

[thin stratus]

Yeah, if that's what you want, then go RPC.

Otherwise, RepNotify

[queen escarp]

yeah gotcha, well my game u cant join once it started so it wont be a iussue for me

[thin stratus]

It's not only for late joiners

Relevancy also is important

[queen escarp]

hmm

[thin stratus]

The Material is part of the State of the StaticMesh

In most cases this should be a RepNotify

[queen escarp]

yeah i get what your saying

thansk

[winged badger]

Unreal despawns non relevant Actors that are not loaded from the package. If you were to use RPCs any non relevant Actors, as wel as Actors that became non-relevant then relevant again would be in the wrong state.

[twin juniper]

by default

it spawns when I press play

[daring wharf]

guys hi. ı have a problem all client name the same. Why? How can ı change the name

[twin juniper]

how does the player character model replicate? it doesn't for me

[soft peak]

While I don't think anyone is following this or had ideas (or if anyone is, I missed it among the other conversation), I discovered that I was running into an engine bug that has been confirmed and will be fixed in UE 5.4.3. On dedicated servers, because the server runs single-threaded, the physics event queue is getting cleared before the events are posted to game code. PIE, multiplayer clients, and any other multithreaded contexts are unaffected and will see events.

[dark parcel]

bug in 5.3, 5.4. You have to edit the source code to fix the bug. From memory they changed the type from int to struct so you have to do a static cast when printing.

info is available on the internet

[languid gale]

I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction here, I'm slowly learning how multiplayer works, been reading up on EOS, etc. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a company for my first game server? Also, if I were to just have something small for testing, say 5-10 friends while I'm learning, what might costs be for something like that?

If anybody has any general tips or know of any vital tutorials as well, then please let me know

[dark parcel]

I personally go for the free option since I never released any multiplayer game and still learning.

which is just to host as listen server

[sinful tree]

or if you want to test a dedicated server, just host the dedicated server build on your own machine.

[languid gale]

that's a good point

[twin juniper]

why does my player doesn't replicate, It's invisible

[woven basin]

Honestly, just self host the dedicated server. Or spin up a $10m/month VM with a cloud provider and host it there. You don’t need much. Focus on doing listen server local testing for the bulk. If your new to MP don’t complicate it straight away. Keep it simple.

[twin juniper]

ex for the meaning of HasAuthority means that it's the server, see this video at 7:05 --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmJzuRO4Qjs&list=RDCMUCpsN2TfWGmun4peN2IPgcKg&index=21&ab_channel=reubs

[sinful tree]

HasAuthority does not mean it's the server.

Authority deals more with who is responsible for the actor. If you spawn an actor locally on a client, then that client would have Authority of that actor.

For a replicated actor that is spawned by the server, then the server would be the authority.

[twin juniper]

understood but then, I got another problem, my player character's arm are not replicating even if they should

[sinful tree]

How are you replicating the arm?

[twin juniper]

as it should replicated

[sinful tree]

Just clicking "Replicates" doesn't mean everything you do with an object is replicated.

[twin juniper]

when the player takes a gun, the gun is located correctly on all clients and server but not the arms

they are just not showing

[sinful tree]

Well that's usually because the arms are "Owner Only See".

[twin juniper]

(only visible for itself, seems to not be replicated somehow)

[twin juniper]

BRO

thx

it's dumb but it's the default settings

❤️

[sinful tree]

It's a visibility setting of scene components

[twin juniper]

of rendering

[twin juniper]

How do I replicate the transform of a camera component?

The "replicates" on the component is checked, but the transform of it doesn't replicate to other players

Do I have to manually pass in transform data via events?

[dark parcel]

Server Rpc is the only way for Client to communicate to Server

[twin juniper]

I know that, that wasn't the question.

[dark parcel]

well if you have to ask this, then....

If it doesn't click yet, I will try to explain. What ever you do on client machine will only apply to the client machine.
If you want to send data to others, as a client your way of communicating is via Server RPC. The server can then replicate the values to other clients.

[twin juniper]

The camera component in questions is on the server...

Which is my question

Does Server automatically replicate transform, or do I have to pass it to clients via RPCs

[dark parcel]

the camera would exist in every machine

you gotta ask first, whos sending what data and what data to follow

marking object as replicate doesn't magically replicate their properties

[thin stratus]

Are you using ControlRotation?

And are you moving the Location of the Camera ?

[normal viper]

I created map and I assigned Game Mode to it and Game State, if I enter the map straight when I have this level in the editor, I can see the quest widgets get updated. The info about widgets I care about is in the Game State as Actor Component, and if I enter it by Creating Session, then these widgets are not beeing shown.

[rough scarab]

skgframeworks vs lpsp for fps multiplayer game cons and pros ?

[timid galleon]

i do this but nothing changed

[quick musk]

is that ur post cause i just replied to it with smth that helped me

[normal viper]

If I create widget in the actor component, it doesn't replicate or what i'm doing wrong?
I have BP Resource with Actor Component Gatherable.
I create widget for the Resource inside the Component, because there I have all needed info.

When player clicks on actor (Event Select Resource in Bp Resource), then I sent interface Show Selected Resource to the Player Controller.

Turns out this only works for the server client?
The 2nd client doesn't see the widget when it clicks it. I think I tried all combinations and it only somehow started to work when I put the Create Widget logic in the BP Resource and not in the component, but I really wish I could have it in the component.

[woven basin]

widgets dont replicate

[normal viper]

So I have to create widget inside Player Controller?

so every player has their own?

[woven basin]

correct

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

[normal viper]

wow, even if there is like 1 shared thing in the level?

[thin stratus]

Doesn't need to be in the PlayerController, but you generally have to handle replicating the creation yourself.

[normal viper]

Just trying to understand. Since I have Resource in the level right. Wouldn't it make sense for the Resource to create widget of itself, and players just access it?

Or this is the problem that it doesn't work like that?

[thin stratus]

If it should only show for the local Client then you need to target the LocalClient via ClientRPC

I mean sure, but if the event that shows it is on the Server, you gotta get to the Client first

You are using a ServerRPC to create the Widget

So it's pretty normal that this only shows on the Server

On top of that the RPC is in AC_Gatherable, which is probably not owned by any Client

So Server and ClientRPCs don't really do anything anyway

[normal viper]

Okay, but even if I set it the event to not replicate, it still doesn't work. Which means that this Create Resource Widget doesn't exists anywhere? It's triggered on Event Begin Play

[thin stratus]

What calls the Create Widget stuff?

Ah

[thin stratus]

so On BeginPlay of the AC_Gatherable you create the Widget?

[normal viper]

Yeah

[thin stratus]

Then the Widget should also exist for everyone

You should possibly not mark the Variable as Replicated

[normal viper]

I thought so, but well this doesn't work and I tried to debug it in every possible way

I replicated all components, blue prints that are connected here..

[thin stratus]

The Widget Variable shouldn't be replicated

And Variables inside of the Widget neither

Widgets can't even replicate themselves or inner properties.

[normal viper]

Oh wow, it works now

i can't...

[thin stratus]

Yeah cause the variable tried to replicate the Server Version of the Widget

But the Widget has no Client version mapped to it

So the variable locally just becomes null

[normal viper]

Wow, good to learn on what should I look next time

[thin stratus]

And the variables you have inside the Widget should also not be replicated

[normal viper]

Thank you so much

[thin stratus]

They can't replicate anyway

[normal viper]

but now you are talking about the Widget Blueprint and not the Actor Component that creates widget?

[thin stratus]

Yeah, you have a GatherableReference variable in the Widget

That is marked as Replicated

That's redundant

[normal viper]

Okaay

[thin stratus]

Widgets are local only. There is no replication ever going to happen. Widgets are meant to mostly display replidated data that is located in other classes

[normal viper]

so only the data that the widgets are taking in should be replicated

and widget is created on local, so doesn't make sense because everyone has their own basically

[thin stratus]

Yeah, you can take e.g. a Replicated Health Variable that is located in your Character and display that value. But you can't make a Replicated Health Variable inside the Widget.

[normal viper]

Got it. I was even more confused why it's not working because I have very similiary setup Health Bars and they were working. Probably too much panic mode and trying to click too many things that I had no idea what it ''really'' does. Thank you for claryfing it for me. I have lot's of widgets to setup and this will help me a lot.

[daring wharf]

ı m sorry. ı can't find bug fix on the internet. Can you help me how can ı make ? I'm beginner for multiplayer.

[dark parcel]

https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/multiplayer-all-clients-are-client-0/1689143

[daring wharf]

thenks for help bro.

[quick musk]

have u tried the fix

[shrewd ginkgo]

I want person x to have a phone call feature and everyone else's phones to ring. like the dokaebi character in rainbow six siege

how can I do it

[gaunt cypress]

anyone know how do i import a float variable from BP_Weapon_Component to UI Widget?

because i cant get all actors from class

[normal viper]

create widget on the weapon, while creating widget you set reference of the weapon (where you have all variables), and then in the widget you can take that variable and get all info from the weapon

[gaunt cypress]

i dont get it

i got this, and the In text must be the variable from BP_Weapon_Component, but i dont know how to get the variable from the BP_Weapon_Component to the UI

[dark parcel]

look for documentation/videos on variables and references

[gaunt cypress]

oh wait

oh bruh i get it now

@dark parcel u mean like this?

[shrewd ginkgo]

how do i replicate changing the mesh of my character. when i log in to the map i want to give random appearance to all players but i couldn't replicate the set skeletal mesh. and where and how should i do the random selection part. i want to distribute 8 costumes to 8 people so that everyone will be different

[dark parcel]

you still have to set the reference

[gaunt cypress]

i did?

wait u mean like code?

[dark parcel]

u didn't

[gaunt cypress]

i need to make a code? for the reference

in the blueprints?

[normal viper]

Randomly choosing can be done on the character, but then you have to either Multicast that skeletal mesh was changed (will work if all the players are already in the game, multicast will make everyone around see the change), but if anyone joins AFTER the changing event, they will not see the change, in that case yo uwould have to use Repnotify

[dark parcel]

deffinitly don't use multicast if it's something that needs to be in sync

Just RepNotify your skeltal mesh

server set the random mesh, done

If Client -> ServerRpc -> GetRandomMeshFrom Array and Set Skeletal mesh

If Server -> GetRandomMeshFrom Array and Set Skeletal mesh

[normal viper]

Can someone explain me why the first client that I host with, isn't also the client itself? And it doesn't get event from Game State about quests, but then every other client that joins works normally? Also, looks like the event Quest is firing (foor loop for 2 items), but it's not shown? Any keywords what to look for?
Quest Manager is actor component of game state.

[dark parcel]

if you are in Listen Server mode, the 1st Window is Server

if you dump your logic in OnRep, just remember that's only get Client in cpp

[normal viper]

Can I somehow make first window to be both server and client?

It says here that listen server is both server and client, but why the UI doesn't get updated then also on it?

[dark parcel]

wdym by that?

Listen Server is the Server

if you want every player to play as client you will need to play Stand Alone (Dedicated Server)

[normal viper]

like what is the reason that this UI is not working on the first window

[dark parcel]

can't tell from that picture alone

[normal viper]

what i'm missing that the first hosting window isn't also client ?

do I have to also add some logic here for the host to become player ?

this is Game Instance

[dark parcel]

Are you going to use Listen Server or Dedicated Server?

Dedicated Server = Headless, no Render on it's part

Listen Server = Player and render but as a Server

[normal viper]

I will use Listen Server I think, like players can host game themselves

if the game will be succesfull I will probably want to upgrade to dedicated servers

but so far I choose to go with listen server

[worthy oak]

If that’s the case your first window will always be the server and client

If you want to test what the game is like on a dedicated server you would set your netmode to client (not standalone)

[normal viper]

so what do I have to look into so this hosting client will also get widgets shown ?

[dark parcel]

Create widget for him?

widget is local to each machine

[worthy oak]

By creating the widget in the client. How are you making the widget?

[normal viper]

this is Quest Manager in the Game State

and this is Player COntroller

and when I host with the first client:

[worthy oak]

And how do you call that?

[normal viper]

and if I join with any other :

[gaunt cypress]

anyone knows what to add in the object for cast to bp_weapon_Component

[worthy oak]

The object your trying to cast

[gaunt cypress]

im trying to get from bp_weapon_component the float variable

but it wont work

[worthy oak]

If it’s a component in your character don’t cast just drag the component out

[gaunt cypress]

its not

the variable is in the bp_weapon_component

so i need to get that variable from the compoennt to the widget

[worthy oak]

Ok so something to keep in mind here. Begin play will fire server side and client side and currently your code isn’t distinguishing a difference.

I would suspect that if you played with 2 clients in netmode client it would work as it’s being forced to be a client at that point. However in a listen server where one of you is the server, you need to ensure your calling the create widget nodes on the client.

Even if client and server in this case would be the same machine

[worthy oak]

So where is this component

[gaunt cypress]

huh

[worthy oak]

You keep saying component

[gaunt cypress]

i got an widget

and im tryint to get the float variable from bp_weapon_component

to the widget

so i can use the variable in the coding for the widget

[worthy oak]

Right but what is bp_weapon_component and where is it

[normal viper]

THANK YOU

this makes sense

I moved the logic to the player controler to call to that component to create widget for itself

[worthy oak]

There ya go yeah thats a way to handle it 😄

[gaunt cypress]

nevermind fixed it

[normal viper]

this is what I was missing

oh god, there is so many small things to consider! 😄

thank you thank you thank you!

[worthy oak]

there are indeed haha now you will wanna understand why it works, player controllers do not replicate which is why its working

so keep that in mind before you go running server code in there

but that is also why its currently working for you 😄

[worthy oak]

of course! glad its working

[dark parcel]

you can call server rpc on your controller

it exist on server

[worthy oak]

Sorry let me clarify

[latent heart]

I thought PCs do replicate to their owning clients...

[normal viper]

My player controller is kinda whole brain of my player so I put a lot of logic here. Other thing I could consider is probably Pawn that player posseses or Player State (but this I'm like 5%)

[latent heart]

Because the server certainly has a copy of all of them.

[worthy oak]

Yes sorry this is what I meant

bad phrasing lol

[normal viper]

each player has their own playercontroller and players don't know about any other playercontrollers basically?

[latent heart]

Does your player brain need to run on every client for every client?

[worthy oak]

Right you cant get another players player controller

I misspoke ignore my first comment 😂

[normal viper]

yes, I guess? not sure -for every client part

[latent heart]

Figure that bit out.

[dark parcel]

The server have everyone's controller

[latent heart]

Everything that needs to run on each client for every other client can't be on the PC.

[normal viper]

ohh, you are trying to make me think if should I put some things on Player State?

because Player State is avaliable for other players not like PC

[latent heart]

Yes

Or their pawns.

Depends who "owns" the logic, the player or the thing they are comtrolling.

[normal viper]

okay, I will consider, but so far I try to put info only that is needed for the local player, like I don't have things here that other players would access

[worthy oak]

Yeah if its UI thats a decent argument to be made

since UI really only applys to the local player

[normal viper]

In this case of quests, these will be global quests, so each player has their own widget? but they all take info from 1 place (Game State)

[worthy oak]

Right but that first part is the key part, each player has there own widget

How each client gets the info for the widget yes that needs some replication consideration

[normal viper]

Yeah, got it ❤️ thank you guys for help

[gaunt cypress]

how do i add multiplayer to my game? Cuz all the tutorials arent working

[neon summit]

That's a very vague question

[gaunt cypress]

ikr

[neon summit]

you have to understand it first

[woven basin]

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

[neon summit]

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

beat me to it lol

[gaunt cypress]

So its better to make dedicated server, and then add the code into the game so u can join the server?

[dark parcel]

it's better if you learn how to make single player first before you dip your toes to multiplayer

[worthy oak]

depends on the game and if you need control over server side

[dark parcel]

you can't even reference, how you gonna reference and keep track of multiple game instance?

[gaunt cypress]

Im working on a singeplayer game, but i cant finish it

Im just gonna follow a tutorial...

[dark parcel]

multiplayer is way harder than single player

[worthy oak]

It can be fun though if you wanna get your feet wet

[dark parcel]

I'm a firm believer that one should know how to add before doing multiplication

[worthy oak]

Meh

thats what school said

[worthy oak]

If you start with listen server, you will not need to rework much logic if you decided to move to a dedicated

and tbh at least in my opinion. Getting something like a shooter or or even a basic lobby setup is achievable and you can learn alot. There will be considerations you will want to take, and testing/expanding to ensure its a smooth experience before release

but you can learn the concepts doing that

[gaunt cypress]

nah, im alr ig, its too much for me to make multiplayer game, make dedicated server.... make join and quit.... make replicating things..

and blah blah

[worthy oak]

its a ton of work yes haha

[gaunt cypress]

but

[worthy oak]

but anything worthwhile is

[gaunt cypress]

i made a small game, i was making it for the first time

i was 2 days learning and 2 days working

so 4 days and i made this

[dark parcel]

starting small is a great idea

[worthy oak]

Yeah thats great congrats!

[worthy oak]

nice 🙂

[gaunt cypress]

the ai is kinda broken tho

[worthy oak]

if its any consolation AAA games are hardly bug free xD

and tbh lately are even more buggy LOL

[gaunt cypress]

i just cant get the doors to work so the ai dont sees me

and i also cannot make jumpscares cuz idk how...

someone give me ideas for new game

[twin juniper]

fortnite 2.0

[gaunt cypress]

my best game rn...

[twin juniper]

oh

[gaunt cypress]

does anyone here know how to animate jumpscare?

[twin juniper]

Error: I spawned an actor on the server but it doesn't replicate

what is wrong?
I used a Server RPC to make the call from the client to the server to then spawn it

[thin stratus]

Where is the ServerRPC located

[twin juniper]

it was in a component

[thin stratus]

And the Component is on what Actor? And is the Component marked as Replicated?

[twin juniper]

the component was made by the engine, it was the WeapongPick Component from the default 1person shooter

[thin stratus]

That doesn't really answer my questions

[twin juniper]

I dont think it was

it must be?

[thin stratus]

It must be and it must be on an actor owned by the client fwiw

[twin juniper]

the player is owner by the client

so it's fine

[warm sparrow]

i was wondering why the begin play in my playerstate component wasn't firing. Then I found out begin play is not even firing on the playerstate itself. Why is that? There are two players in the game so shouldn't the server also print 'begin play' twice for each player?

im creating a listen server where one of the players is a server and a player btw

[ancient adder]

It could be you forgot to set the playerstate in gamemode

[warm sparrow]

two player states do spawn and a lot of other replication logic is already working for both players. they can exchange information etc. Its just begin play for some reason

i guess ill just call begin play type of event from the gamestate or something like that

[gaunt cypress]

why is my AI's pawnsensing not working? I copied the code for my ai from other game, and on PawnSense, it doesnt do anything, even if put it so if the ai sees you the it prints a string

[surreal fox]

I used default touch joystick but no matter who's joystick I move, only the client character moves

someone have any idea why's that?

I saw a reddit post having the exact same problem as mine
https://www.reddit.com/r/unrealengine/comments/jofcxz/replication_problem_with_touch_joystick/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[feral narwhal]

anyone know what would be the best practice for updating a variable on an actor located on all clients? Is there a better way than to just have the actor call an RPC which is on the character BP?

[brazen anvil]

In my project I am trying to update the character pose based on the weapon that is equipped. When I equip a weapon, I sent a FGamePlayTag to the inventory container of the weapon I am equipping. Then I get the data asset of the weapon in this slot which stores the pose to use for holding this particular weapon. Then I set CurrentPose to the pose on my character. Inside my animation blueprint I get this pose and feed it into Blend Poses node.

Right now I have the tag replicated and was hoping that because the tag gets set (on the server), it would replicate and update the pose, however that is not the case. It works correctly if I replicate the CurrentPose however I don't see why I need to if I can determine the pose based on the tag. Anyone see anything wrong here?

[nocturne quail]

Cat what are you trying to do?

[nocturne quail]

rep_notify

[feral narwhal]

on the actor itself? when i do that it doesnt replicate all the time because the object is server owned I believe

[nocturne quail]

if the object is server owned this is a good news, you can call replicate the changes to all client by updating the value of some variable using onrep

[hollow eagle]

Just a normal replicated property would do. OnRep/ReplicatedUsing is for if you also need a function to be called when the property is changed as a result of replication.

[feral narwhal]

what if the call is being made from the client's object?

[nocturne quail]

clients don't have the ability to replicate things

only server can do

[feral narwhal]

I understand but what would be a good way around that, if I want the client to update something

[sinful tree]

Clients can only communicate to the server VIA RPC.

[nocturne quail]

clients call an rpc

[normal viper]

I just realized that I need something other than Player Controller to store resources (gold, wood etc) of my players. I basically have variable Player Number on everything that exists in the game, so everyone knows on which ''team/side'' they are, if that makes sense. Now, when the unit is gathering resource, the logic to increase resource amount, is on the Player Controller, but if I started to understand correctly, I don't really have a way to tell unit that this is his Player Controller, because they are not really possesed? I put photo so you can picture it my tries with that. It was somehow working sometimes, but I don't think it's gonna work perfectly on the cooked game. Or is there something that can help me actually differentiate which Player Controller the ''unit/worker" is aiming at, basically? Btw this is done with Task on behavior tree. The last photo I think it won't actually work if it will be hosted and not LAN, right?

[feral narwhal]

so I would have to call an rpc on the character bp right? since rpcs cant be on the object itself

[nocturne quail]

good idea it should be on character

if your other object is weapon, you should do that rpc in character since character will own that weapon

[feral narwhal]

its a simple bed and when the player interacts I want to update a bool saying that this bed is occupied

but it just seems kinda hacky to store so many RPCs all on the character BP i thought there would be a better way

[nocturne quail]

split your character in many parts

[sinful tree]

You'd make a generic RPC for interaction.

Like.... Press E > Determines whats actor is in front of the player > RPC to server the actor
Server > Verifies player can interact with that actor > calls an interface or utilizes an interaction component on the actor > actor does its thing

[feral narwhal]

so Id be replicating the interaction rather than the actual bool directly in a way

[sinful tree]

Clients don't replicate.

Only the server does.

Clients can only RPC to the server. The server has to do the replication.

[normal viper]

I came up with something like that, I'm not tripping? Will I be able to actually get all players controllers if I have listen server with 1 host?

[sinful tree]

You don't want to use the GetPlayerController X or GetPlayerCharacter X getters in multiplayer, they're not a reliable way to know which player/character is which.

[nocturne quail]

also check this, you will get started with it quickly
https://github.com/eyupalemdar/InteractionSystem

[worthy oak]

For this you might consider using player state instead of player controller to hold this information.

[brazen anvil]

I have a question. I have a variable (bool) that is replicated. I call a server RPC that sets it to true. In the OnRep, I print the value and I can see it changed to true. It prints on both clients and the server and it is correct. However, when I get the variable in the animation blueprint it is still showing as false.

[normal viper]

Is there any other way to differentiate which Player Controller I'm aiming frm the unit, that isn't really possesing anything at or should I just move my logic to other place, and if yes, then which place is better to just have simple variable which tells what team I have. So like in short I can Loop trough all of these (if I have 3 players I have 3, if I have 5, I have 5 so the number is ==), and then ''aim'' at exactly this.

[normal viper]

Needed to make sure I'm not tripping, I got it from one tutorial and it was fishy from the start

[worthy oak]

General rule of thumb, if it’s a value pertaining to a player (kills, gold, wood held) and you want potentially other players to see that value I’d use player state

[normal viper]

Why does this work though? It's a bug when it's on the editor and it's not gonna work in the cooked build?

I read somewhere that this can only be used on LAN? because there you have Indexes of each player ++, but on listen server everyone is 0?

[sinful tree]

If you're getting the OnRep to fire, then it is definitely replicating. You're more than likely not retrieving the value correctly.

[latent heart]

...no

[normal viper]

So this would be ok way to differentiate which Player Controller I'm aiming at from the server?

I guess I can only do it because it's from the AI behavior tree task which is server

[sinful tree]

It's still not a great way to handle it. What happens if a player disconnects?

[normal viper]

Haha right, controller dissapears and everything resets?

[brazen anvil]

I set up a function to get the bool and I am calling it on the animation update

[normal viper]

So I could use the same logic from this to check which Team Number Player State has, but I don't have to care about if I can call to there from the place I'm?

Just need to make sure before I dive into another hole xD

like this will make more sense than Player Controller to differentiate to which play I want to ''aim''.

[sinful tree]

Anything that you may need to use to determine player ownership is generally best handled by assigning it a playerstate variable.
You don't want to use GetPlayerState X either.

If this is in an AI, the AI itself can be assigned a PlayerState that owns it.

[warm sparrow]

how does your blueprint ui look more modern? is that unreal 5.4?

[normal viper]

Flat Nodes and electronic nodes plugins

[normal viper]

Do you mean to just put Player Number variable in the Player State and this would be ok way to differentiate?

and this would be like base for everything the player owns

[sinful tree]

No. You don't use the numbers at all.

[jovial inlet]

Dude! What is your plugin to have such beautiful nodes?

[sinful tree]

You use the reference to the playerstate directly. Your team ID can be a number, that's fine, but the playerstate is the thing that indicates who owns it.

Electronic Nodes + Flat Nodes

[normal viper]

Like I can assign Player State to the unit in the blueprint ? Or I have to manually come up with something like Team ID on the Player State, put interface to get Team ID, and use it as a reference who is who?

My problem, how to tell Actor that isn't possesed or anything so he will know which Player State is his?

Like if he deposits resource he needs to know to which Player State right?

so I was thinking about checking if the Team ID on worker, is the same as on Player State

if yes, then ++ resource

[signal lance]

@pallid mesa Pinned your blog post here^

[sinful tree]

You can assign the Pawn that is AI Controlled a variable of PlayerState.
When you spawn that AI, you can assign that variable the PlayerState of the player who is going to be "in control" of that AI. You now have a means to determine the Player that is control of that AI.
If you want to go a step further and have teams, then yes, you would implement a team variable on the PlayerState.

So then if you want to know in your tasks which player is in control, you'd get the pawn of the Ai Controller and read the PlayerState.

[normal viper]

Okay, so to make 100% sure, we are just talking about some kind of consistent variable like Player Number on everything that the player owns?

This one I'm not sure about. you'd get the pawn of the Ai Controller and read the PlayerState.

How do I read PlayerState from the Pawn? Or are we talking about that variable and checking all Player States and matching the variable from the Pawn with the one from Playe State? Or i'm missing something?

Because now I have basically all that logic in the Player Controller, but as I said I'm not sure about using this method with calling number index to the player controller and if it's consistent in multiplayer.

[sinful tree]

NO. No numbers.

Team ID, that can be a number.

Who is in control of a pawn, should be a reference to the PlayerState itself.

You create a variable in your pawn class called "Controlling Player PlayerState"

Set its type to PlayerState. Assign it when you spawn it.

[sweet sage]

Is there a way to fix this net corrections?

Fortnite don`t has it

[normal viper]

Target currently is Player Controller, and the only one pawn that player owns is Camera Pawn... since this is top down game with 1 camera pawn and lot's of units to be controlled. Should I asign that Controlling Player PlayerState to every unit I'm spawning?

[pallid mesa]

its duplicated, already pinned

here.

[winter pollen]

Whats the difference if i run a function off of multicast or run on server when it comest to replication?
For example i was following a tutorial and the guy put stuff after run on server but it didnt work for me because my stuff was already after a multicast event if that makes sense
but it started working when i used multicast
on both client and server

so i pretty much solved it by running the function on the multicast event instead, can this cause problems later?

[sinful tree]

Yes

[signal lance]

oh nvm then, somehow missed it
Yeah it's further down the list, oops

[drifting quail]

Run on server means it goes from owning client to the server, or just stays on server if already there. Multicast runs on everyone but only if called from the server

[pallid mesa]

thanks for the intentions bm ur a sweetheart <3

[winter pollen]

It was working in 1 person mode aswell

[drifting quail]

Generally in solo you're still the server iirc

[sinful tree]

Run On Server is a means of having a client to call to the server on a replicated actor, but it only works in a few conditions:

1. It's an actor that is replicated, the client is calling it and owns the actor they are calling it on.
2. It's an actor that is replicated and the server is calling it - ownership doesn't matter.
3. It's an actor that was spawned on the client which wouldn't be replicated - it would execute only on that client.
4. It's an that is not replicated and the server is calling it - it would execute only on the server.

Multicasts are a means of sending an event to all players, but will only be received by clients if called on by the server.
The same logic applies. If it's an actor spawned on the client, it can still execute but only on that client. For replicated actors, it'll be sent to all clients that have the actor relevant when executed on the server, but non-replicated it'll only trigger on the server.

[drifting quail]

Does anyone know why the emitter location of my tracer particles doesn't update on the client when off the host's screen? Probably a simple setting I bet

[normal viper]

Hmm, I'm doing logic for Spawning Units from the Player Controller to the Building, should I start with getting Player State from the Pawn I spawned and assign it to the Player Controller, so then from Player Controller I can send it further to everything (building,units etc.) and then I can just get PlayerState from anything and this will basically work?

[drifting quail]

nvm fixed it

[sinful tree]

Use the playerstate as it's something everyone can reference.
An example: Let's say you wanted to color your pawns based on the color chosen by a player.
You wouldn't want to have to replicate the color seperately on all the pawns if all you had to do is know the PlayerState so that you can read the color they picked - then you only have to replicate that color choice once rather than for each pawn.
If you made it so it references the PlayerController, then you can't do that as other clients can't read the PlayerController, and thus they can't know the PlayerState.
If you ever need to get the PlayerController, let's say on the server, you can read the PlayerController from the PlayerState itself.

[drifting quail]

or not...I alt tabbed then my camera went crazy and crashed the editor :L

[rustic sable]

since I have items spawned in the world I don't set the owner until player interaction. Is there a reason to set this back to null, say inventory is full?

like 'if' someone else comes along then they take ownership so it shouldn't be an issue generally

[brazen anvil]

Do replicated variables go to owner only by default? Or whatever "None" is for the condition in blueprints.

[sinful tree]

Setting ownership still allows RPCs to be called on owned actors. If you have Run On Server calls on your items, the client could potentially still call it on those items even if they're not in their inventory if they have ownership of it.

[rustic sable]

ok, I'll clear it in the edge cases then

[normal viper]

This is game changing. This makes me want to throw a lot of logic to the pawn from the controller and then player info on playerstate, but the starting point would be probably after spawning Pawn I would Get Player State and send it to the the playercontroller, so I can distribute it further if I'm handling ''controlling'' spawning logic here. I guess it won't kill it to have 1 more variable with Player State that I can use, right? So then I create Player State variable on everything(building, units) and connect it from the source (in case of Producing Unit which happens from Player Controller, to Unit on Spawn Actor).

Wait do I already have Get Player State in the Player Controller that I can send as reference to everything I'm spawning from player controller?

[sinful tree]

Yep

Player Controller has reference to its PlayerState and Controlled Pawn.
Pawn has reference its its possessed controller and PlayerState.
PlayerState has reference to its Controller and Pawn.

[normal viper]

Can you just help me with 1 example. This is my starting point for the spawning Building and Units for every player.

Should I set Owner as player state?

[sinful tree]

You can, sure.

[normal viper]

or should I create variable Player State inside building and unit and expose it on spawn

[sinful tree]

The problem in doing that is that it's only an "Actor" reference, so then you have to cast it to PlayerState when you want to use it anyway.

[normal viper]

ok, then it's not good

so it's better to create new variable and expose it? since I see that actually every actor has PlayerState inside self?

[sinful tree]

Setting ownership also exposes it to be available for RPCs from clients not sure if you want that or not.

Up to you. Casting isn't that expensive, but setting the owner has additional things associated to it, like what I mentioned with the RPCs.

It may be wise to use the PlayerState in owner, as then if you have variables that only need to be replicated to the owner or everyone but the owner you can do that.

If you want to call client RPCs to the owning client then you can do that too.

[normal viper]

Ok, this is a little complicated so I think safer way would be just to create Player State as variable everyhere and set it on spawn

so in case of building as it's only actor I can create PlayerState and expose it on spawn, but in case of Character which is Pawn already, it has PlayerState built in, but I cannot expose it on spawn

so I just have so create universal variable like PlayerState Something

right?

So first set Player State from Player Controller in the building

and then I can send it further from building to the unit for example? Sorry for stupid questions but I want to make sure now I get it on this one example

[grim prism]

Hey, i've got a power up that when picked up should be hidden with collision disabled for one client, not all so that they can still pick it up, how can i do this?

[brazen anvil]

Is it common or bad to replicate an entire actor component? I am looking at a project that does that.

UPROPERTY(ReplicatedUsing = OnRep_CurrentMyComponent)
TObjectPtr<UMyComponent> CurrentMyComponent;

UFUNCTION()
void CurrentMyComponent();

[sinful tree]

It wouldn't make much sense if it's already attached to the actor, but if it is attached at runtime, then it can make sense to replicate the reference, though there are other ways of getting its reference without replicating it.

[brazen anvil]

What would be a different way

[sinful tree]

GetComponentByClass

[brazen anvil]

hmm ok.

Do you know of any good documentation on how simulated proxies and server code work together? I am interested in reading more about how replicated variables, OnRep, RPCs, etc all work in relation to the different roles.

[neon summit]

#multiplayer message

[wraith pebble]

How you would do this is:
-each client has to have knowledge of which player(s) are and are not allowed to see/interact with the pickup. Typically the go to way is to use the unique net id from the playerstate to refer to specific players that can or cannot pick up/see the item
-the item could consider itself disabled when it arrives on scene until it has a vetted list of who can/cannot interact with/see it. If you imprinted that player info onto the item on the server, then let it replicate down to the client's version of the item, the item can know what to do once that info arrives: Either stay deactivated, or activate itself - based on who the local client's player is and whether they are on the 'cannot interact/see' list that arrived. Does that make sense?

This follows common networking practive of initiating the critical info of who can/can't interact/see the item on the server so they have full authority over the situation. I'm assuming you already know the basics of replication and OnRep - but if not, let me know. 🙂

[grim prism]

wow, thanks

[wraith pebble]

There's a lot of resources for this online - epics documentation on this is pretty decent.

But here are some high level points of interest:

-replication:
-a passive form of networking
-can be slower to network than RPCs
-more friendly on net performance than RPCs
-more resistant to player-joined-in-progress-match bugs
-great for networking states
-always flows from server to clients
-RPCs:
-an active form of networking
-typically faster to arrive than replication
-can be 'reliable' or 'unreliable' (whether it is guaranteed to eventually arrive or not) which also can affect timing and perf cost
-great for networking events (replication can networking 'events' too but it's not as intuitive to do so)
-can flow from server to clients, server to one specific client, or from one specific client to server (this gets into 'autonomous proxies')

[wraith pebble]

Cont'd

OnRep:
-refers to a special function that is called when a specific item replicates
-generally named as 'OnRep_MyVariableName'
-only needed if you need to run specific code when your item has actually replicated to client
-this fn is automatically called by the engine when the item replicates
-it is common to call this fn yourself on the behalf of the server right after you change something about the replicated variable so that the server and client are running the same code (since the engine will not call the OnRep_ fn on server for you).
-requires you to use the meta word ReplicatedUsing instead of Replicated on the UPROPERTY that is replicating.
-you can actually add a param to the OnRep function that matches the type of the replicated var, and the engine will fill it out for you with the previous value before it was replicated - this can be super handy! Typically, we name that param, when we are using that pattern like so: PreviousMyReplicatedVariable for clarity.

Caveats:
-if you change a replicated variable more than once in a single frame, only the most recent change will replicate over in terms of receiving your OnRep call. In fact, since replication can actually be postponed for a frame or more depending on what's going on with your net-load, it can even miss changes that were the only change in the given frame if it decided not to send that frame - assuming you made a change after that change (which is replicated instead). Basically, when the engine decides to replicate one of your items marked for replication, it will either send the latest version of that thing, or will wait to send it (for some reason I won't get into here). If it does not send it this frame, it may decide to send it next frame - the most recent version of it - which may now be different.

[wraith pebble]

No prob! I've done this approach on a multiplayer game before and it worked rather well. If you mark the player info on the item right as it spawns, you should be able to just make that info use the replicated initial only condition so it doesnt keep looking to see if it needs to replicate that info. In that case, the replicated info should arrive on client right when it gets its BeginPlay call

[grim prism]

cool, this is my first multiplayer game so i'll try my best to get it done 👍

[wraith pebble]

Cont'd

Simulated Proxy:

• a proxy that is simulated on a client connection to represent what some other player or what the server is doing. i.e. the actions you see it making were originally performed on a machine that is not yours.

Proxy:
-just means 'a thing that is only a representation of the original' <- this is important to understand what Epic means here by the word 'Proxy' because it's never really explained clearly and it can be confusing otherwise.

Autonomous Proxy:
-a proxy that is being controlled by a local player, not on a hosting server, but on a client.

Server (as a net role):
-a thing that is the original. May be controlled by the server (in which case, the roles of any replicated versions of this thing would be considered simulated proxies), or the server may lend control of the thing to a single player (in which case, the role of the replicated version of the thing on that player's client would be Autonomous Proxy and the role of that thing on all other client's machines would be 'Simulated Proxy')

Local Net Role:
-this is also just referred to as Net Role or Role since this is what we are usually talking about when we talk about net roles
-refers to 'what my net role is, on this machine'

Remote Net Role:
-refers to 'what my net role is, on the other machine' where 'other' is a client machine if you are the server, and the server if you are a client.
-if you are on the server, the remote role of anything replicated should either be Simulated Proxy if none of the client's the thing is replicated to is a player that is controlling that thing, or Autonomous Proxy if one of the clients the thing is replicated it is a player controlling that thing.
-if you are on the client, the remote role of anything that has replicated down from the server will be Server.

[twin juniper]

idk lmao, it was the bullet class from the engine default first person character

[nocturne quail]

you are trying to doing replicating of bullet class in your first per shooter game or what?

[worthy knot]

is it better to use RPCs server -> Multicast or directly a rep notify function in terms of broadcasting changes to all clients in a dedicated server session ?

[latent heart]

Depends what that thing is.

Generally a normal replicated variable.

[neon summit]

Should be index 0 in the array

[thin stratus]

What does "My Copy" here mean?

You usally work with relative references in that case. And it depends on what part of your game wants to know about the Controller on the Server.

E.g. a possessed Pawn can just do GetController on the Server.
Or a the PlayerState can do GetOwner->CastToController.

If other Actors that you coded need a concept of "my controller", then you might want to set a Controller Variable on it when Spawning or it similar and use that.

I don't think you can just say "my copy of the controller" on the Server at any given time, cause the Server wouldn't know who "my" is.

[jovial inlet]

Can someone good on EAC tell me pls?
#epic-online-services message

[chilly haven]

Hi,
Is it possible to run a dedicated server and client on same PC using steam?
I got his error:
Warning: STEAM: Failed to initialize Steam, this could be due to a Steam server and client running on the same machine. Try running with -NOSTEAM on the cmdline to disable.

which seems to imply not. But that would be lame.

[woven basin]

I don’t believe so. The only way I know around it is run one of them inside a VM

[chilly haven]

ah ok thx. That sure makes dev painful.

Must I run the steam client for running a dedicated server?

Would I need 2 different accounts?

[woven basin]

Only for testing “steam”. You can test multiplayer locally as dedicated and client.

[chilly haven]

yeah I've been using the null online system until now and happily running a dedi and many clients on a PC. But now I want to get steam working.

[maiden flame]

It is possible.

I don't know why you get that warning, but I am able to.

Like Afrayedknot suggested, you could run the server in a VM as a workaround.
I can try to help with the setup, but I have no idea why you got the warning.

I guess the warning implies there could be a different reason that it fails to initialize Steam.

[chilly haven]

If I turn off the client then the dedi does manage to init Steam.
Are you using multiple steam accounts?

[worthy knot]

Is it a good idea to rep notify results from hit events ? Because the server and client side always return different values

[dark parcel]

What is this used for?

If not shooting then just decide who's hit result do you wanna take. The client side or the server one.

[worthy knot]

I have a procedural mesh which changes shape upon hit, and many times it shows slightly different results on both clients , and when logging into the server session with clients no changes are shown on the mesh. Plus if you ask me I would want to take the server results

[woven basin]

the thing is - even if you could kinda get it working - are you going to trust it? i.e. you start having issues - is that because you are running together? Or is it a "real" problem?

What if it works 'together' but not when seperated.

Why not just pay $10 to host it on a cloud VM for a few weeks.

Otherwise I feel you might as well just be testing the null connection and just doing MP testing

[dark parcel]

It sounds like you are doing trace on multiple machines and hoping they will give the same result?

U won't get same result because of latency

What I see in my world is not gonna be the same as your world

[worthy knot]

im testing on the same machine

[dark parcel]

So are u doing traces in multiple machine hoping for the same hit result?

Because that's not gonna work

[worthy knot]

so whats your solution, should I fire first on server authority then multicast everything?

[maiden flame]

Just one.

[dark parcel]

Depends on which data u want to take

[chilly haven]

Well I may want to use all manner of steam functionality. If I can test multiplayer with a single click like I do now, that makes a huge difference to developing and testing functionality.

[dark parcel]

I would probably just listen to client hit data and replicate the change according to the client data

[gaunt cypress]

why does the on component begin overlap activate when im not even overlaping

[worthy knot]

why client ?

[maiden flame]

I've never had any issues when testing separate accounts/machines from a single one. The processes are separated after all, just low latency.

[chilly haven]

Separate dedi and client running on same PC through steam and connecting with sessions?

[maiden flame]

Yes

I'm using Advanced Sessions plugin

[dark parcel]

If u want to interact with a door, and you actually hit the door in your world. Don't you want the door to open?

What if in server which is behind when the trace happens, the hit trace doesn't hit the door?

You will end up not opening the door despite interacting with it

Really up to your design how you want it to play out

[chilly haven]

Ah that could be it. I am using standard plugins.

Thanks, will investigate that.

[maiden flame]

Ah

[dark parcel]

If u only care what the server sees then go ahead, but the cons is there.

[maiden flame]

Cool

[dark parcel]

Print string the hit comp and the hit actor

U will find out what it overlaps with

[gaunt cypress]

what?

no

listen

i got a capsule on the ai

and i got on component begin overlap, print string

and it prints when im not even in the capsule

[worthy knot]

and what about clients who log in who dont see the result, i would need to rep notify everything?

[dark parcel]

What result

[worthy knot]

change of the procedural mesh which was caused by the hit

[dark parcel]

I am not familiar with procedural mesh

How you actually do the change? If it can be translated to a replicated variable then do that

All clients need to do is update the change from the server

[dark parcel]

Print string the hit actor and the hit comp to find out what triggers it..

[gaunt cypress]

bro what are you yapping about

[dark parcel]

Again print string the hit comp and the hit actor so u know what activate your begin overlap. But you are being very combative and rude, I'm not gonna help anymore

[gaunt cypress]

bro i dont get it

[worthy knot]

pretty sure something wont be right here

[dark parcel]

Idc anymore

[gaunt cypress]

ur saying print string the hit comp

thats not english

[worthy knot]

probably that means hook the hit component to the print string?

[dark parcel]

If you want to follow server, have you make sure to just trace on the server?

It probably won't show up as where you hit as client tho imo

[worthy knot]

There’s no particular trace being done like a line or sphere trace, all that is happening is that it gets the info of the hit location from the hit component event

[dark parcel]

Because there is delay. Imagine shooting a trace from your character forward for your location.

If your latency is 100 ms, 1 second later, the server machine will shoot a ray from the character instance in the server forward. It won't yield the same result

Are you trying to deform your vehicle?

[worthy knot]

Yes correct

It takes the hit location results, inverses the direction of hit then loops through all vertices in the procedural mesh

So there’s no line or sphere trace being done

[dark parcel]

What I would probably do is deform the vehicle locally. Then notify the server about where to deform using server rpc.
Then server can notify clients to deform the copy of the vehicle that get damaged in their world and apply the deform effect

So if it were me, I will just check if the on hit in my own machine, and if it's locally controlled

[worthy knot]

So basically on the component hit event use client authority first to gather all info of the hit, then pass that to a server rpc then multicast ? Or rep notify ?

[dark parcel]

Anything that needs to be in sync shouldn't go to multicast

You either use repnotify, or replicated. If you need a function to run when something changes, use repnotify.

But assuming your car can get deformed multiple times

[worthy knot]

Yeah multiple times

[dark parcel]

On its sided etc. I don't think a single hit on rep will cut it

Late joiners will just deform the latest value

[worthy knot]

And for that rep notify will need to be used

[dark parcel]

Sure but that's not gonna help with your multiple deformation problem

[worthy knot]

Because that’s the job of rep notify am I right ? It notifies incoming clients

[dark parcel]

You will need an array that contain the list of deformed data

[chilly haven]

Hmmm I don't see the Advanced Sessions plugin in the list. I'm using 5.4.1

[worthy knot]

I have all that function of storing array of vertices etc

[dark parcel]

On client -> vehicle collide-> add deformed data to array -> apply deformation to vehicle.

Send server rpc that updates the array.

Server replicate the array to clients.

Client on rep the array, make the deformation based on the incoming data

That's my 2 cent but I'm beginner in mp.

Probably make sure to mark the array to skip owner

[worthy knot]

Why do we need to skip owner ? It means the owning client ?

[dark parcel]

U wouldn't need to apply any collision to your own vehicle from the server.

All of this goes without validation btw, I am not in a stage where I care about cheating

[worthy knot]

Neither do I , it’s not a shooting projectile it’s just visuals

[dark parcel]

Are you using cpp? You can get the old values in OnRep function if you do

OnRep, I would just check the length of the array from the old array with the new incoming array.

For loop, apply the deformation starting from the index (new array num - old array num)

[worthy knot]

no cpp at all, infact i need to learn some of it so i can create a for each loop for the deformation since in blueprints it kills the framerate for a sec

[worthy knot]

this is where the loop takes place

do you say I should replicate the vertices array variables?

as in set them to rpelicate

[dark parcel]

No comment on your system, I have no clue. I only give opinions of how I would send data as the player that collide and send the info I have to apply deformation in my machine and also in the server, which the server ultimately send to all clients and make deformation based on the incoming data

[worthy knot]

yeah I got you

I never understood the difference in using - is locally controlled vs using client side authority form the switch has authority

[dark parcel]

Switch has authority is checking if the machine have authority over the actor or not.

Normally authority is server unless, you spawn an actor locally, then even if you are the client. You still have authority over that actor.

Locally controlled is to check if you locally controlled the actor or not.

For example, there are 4 players. And there is a function that print hello string if that actor is locally controlled.

Only the actor that you own (eg. Your player character) will print string. The rest 3 characters which are controlled by other players (simulated proxies) are nor going to print string because you don't locally control those characters

[worthy knot]

ok understanding this slowly..

[worthy knot]

so like you had mentioned deforming the vehicle after the is locally controlled check will only deform the vehicle on my side and the result will only be visible to me?

[dark parcel]

When I think about it, it's kinda a bit more complicated. Was thingking that for deformation to be responsive, you might want to deform locally without caring about network.

Is your game gonna have late joiners?

[worthy knot]

I also wanted to let you know I am doing the replication tests on 2 clients directly where the dedicated server instance is running in the background, not the traditional 1 window is the server and the other client

[worthy knot]

yes

late joiners is more of a problem lol

because the server instance is like that of rust or dayz

[dark parcel]

Well that's gonna be harder to solve then 😕, I am also newbie in mp.

#multiplayer message

Prob got nothing else to suggest other than above. And even then, you might encounter problem where deformation is not responsive (the deformation doesn't happend right away at the time of collusion for vehicles you don't own)

Hard to say when I'm not doing the same thing as what you are trying to do.

[worthy knot]

you dont sound like a newbie though lol but yeah understandable

[dark parcel]

I am newbie, but there are multiple wise people in this channel. Not the liveliest channel but hopefully someone else can give an insight

[lament geyser]

Hi all, I'm making my first multiplayer game, I got it all set up so that when I launch it's detected by Steam, however when I get a friend to launch it Steam doesn't detect their version and we can't find each other's servers in game

not sure if I'm missing something very obvious but any help would be greatly appreciated

[timid fox]

Does someone have an idea what I'm missing here? The GameMode should contain the rules of the game, but I have a widget on an client that should display some buttons depending on those game rules. The client can't access the GameMode, so how would the widget know what to do? The rules are in form of a DataTable and don't change during gameplay, so moving them to the GameState doesn't seem right.

[winter pollen]

I noticed some things dont work as intented when playing as "Client". Is that normal?

it works perfectly on standalone or if i check play as listen server

[kindred widget]

Try to consider the GameMode more as a place you do logic that is only on the server. GameState is what you're looking for here.

Consider something like a deathmatch setup. You have two teams, multiple players on each time, and a score for each side.

GameMode would bind events to something like a player's death, to update the correct team's score in the GameState. GameMode manages the functionality of doing the updates. GameState holds the values for that so that both server and client can access them.

[dark parcel]

Multiplayer is all about "Trying" to replicate similar experience across different game instances.
How you send data across the network and how you receive them is for you to design.

Things don't magically be in-sync. It is your job to make the experience seamless by sending data from one machine to another
So by design, you will need to determine, what code runs in the server, what code runs in the client.

[winter pollen]

that didnt help at all

lol

[timid fox]

Ok, so despite it being called state, it can also contain important information for all clients. Of course the GameMode then still needs to make sure the clients actually follow those. I guess then I'll just do it like that, thanks!

[winter pollen]

do i need to test playing "as the client" or "as a listen server" ?

for me to determine if it works in mulitplayer or nah?

[dark parcel]

depends, do you want to play as a client (meaning you will connect to dedicated server) or do you want to play as a listen server

unreal use Server - Client model

your game should work wether you are playing as listen server or as client

if it doesn't then, well you need to check your code

[winter pollen]

but if you select "play as listen server" it tells you that the editor will act as both the client and a server

so whats the differnece between that and play as client?

[dark parcel]

yes because listen server also playing the game

Play as Client = you are connected to dedicated server and that will be the server

Play as Listen server = There is no dedicated server, you are the server but you are also a client because you are playing the game

Think of listen server as a player that host the game

[winter pollen]

how does stuff work on listen server but not on client then?

[dark parcel]

#multiplayer message

things don't magically work

everyone have their own intance of the game

[winter pollen]

it does work if i play on listen server tho?

[lament geyser]

This is the series I followed to set up multiplayer, explains the extra steps you need to take to set up things in multiplayer
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNb7FZ2Nw2HTBgWggHGaMtHAOygKcXIyW&si=br_E55YwS7tlXYMt

[dark parcel]

because the code probably run on server

and u don't have it run on the client machine

and no one can tell if you don't even describe what is wrong

can't just say stuff

[winter pollen]

looking up and down doesnt work on client

weirdly

[dark parcel]

Have you checked if you added your input mapping context?

becareful with begin play in multiplayer btw

[winter pollen]

what to check here?

[dark parcel]

share your code?

im gonna sleep in 2 mins

[kindred widget]

Well. One might also say that important information is state.

[dark parcel]

and what call this?

as in show another picture that calls it

[winter pollen]

beginplay -> sequence -> this

[winter pollen]

I dont understand

[dark parcel]

BeginPlay can be too early in multiplayer context

[kindred widget]

Shouldn't add input mappings in the pawn, honestly.

[winter pollen]

so what should i do?

i dont even know what ya'll are talking about tbh

[dark parcel]

You need to make sure that the character is possesed before doing this

[dark parcel]

welcome to multiplayer, read the compedium before going further.

[kindred widget]

Adding input mappings in the pawn is just not a good idea in a lot of cases.

An InputMapping is a frame that says "This game style needs these inputs."

So you have a game that allows you to run around as a character, drive a car, fly a plane and drive a boat. Four very distinct sets of controls that might need to be remapped differently based on player.

There is no point to adding and removing these based on what pawn you are using atm. Cause you can just add all four of these at the player controller's beginplay, and still only the possessed pawn gets the inputs.

Input Mapping Contexts simply say that you "can" use these inputs if they're on an input enabled actor at the moment. Input enabled actors by default are level blueprints, player controller, possessed pawn.

TLDR, move this to your player controller's beginplay and it'll run fine.

[dark parcel]

I see, that make sense

had mine on OnAcknowledgePossession, wasn't thingking about other actors that I can play as, but to make it scaleable I will do that too

[winter pollen]

wheres my player controllers's beignplay?

[kindred widget]

Do you have a player controller?

[winter pollen]

I dont know

how to tell?

i play as a character yes

[kindred widget]

Do you have a GameMode?

[winter pollen]

yes "ThirdPersonGameMode"

[kindred widget]

Open it and look at the class specified as Player Controller.

[dark parcel]

and look for Player Controller in the same World Settings

Make a new blueprint derived from player controller. Then set that newly created Player controller in World settings.

[winter pollen]

found my player controller

but i get this error

[fierce egret]

Is allowing Client Side Navigation safe for movement stabilization and maybe cheating? Without checking this, my character cannot move in Top Down Template

[dark parcel]

You are already the controller, you can just pull the node self

multiplayer is too early for you btw

[kindred widget]

I just started doing most of mine on PlayerController beginplay because it's the same as Lyra's experience stuff mostly. Each "Mode" has a set of controls to apply. And they just apply them early on and leave them.

I do have some specialized ones like for building where I push a context mapping temporarily with an activated widget, also removes itself when the widget is removed etc. So that the building controls can override the pawn's controls temporarily. But for most things you can just plaster them up early and never touch them.

[dark parcel]

this is your first week in Unreal level

[winter pollen]

self wont appear

btw i just realized it was already casting to player controller why would i need to do all this?

isnt it essentially the same?

[dark parcel]

you don't need to cast

you are inside player controller

the logic u copied is from the pawn/character

hence the need to cast and get a ref to the controller

[winter pollen]

this is what was originally inside the player controller

so whats the point of "moving this to my player controller's beginplay" as @kindred widget suggested

[kindred widget]

Some initialization of pawn happens before gamestate is ready to call beginplay. So this works sometimes at very start of game.

Other times. The following happens.
You Spawn Pawn
Beginplay Runs at the end of spawning.
Possess is called.

You had no controller at beginplay.

[winter pollen]

Ok, so what should i do if i want looking up and down being replicated on client?

[kindred widget]

For animations?

[winter pollen]

No, just looking

[dark parcel]

Input got nothing to do with replication

[winter pollen]

then why are we talking about this

[kindred widget]

Look input isn't replicated. It's local authority.

[dark parcel]

no one is talking about replication

you are the one bringing it up

[kindred widget]

The topic before will save you from input issues later.

[dark parcel]

yeah, nothing to do with replication

[kindred widget]

The look input might be different. What is your look settings? Camera on a spring arm, or?

[winter pollen]

yep camera is on spring arm

hold up

[kindred widget]

What are your inputs in the pawn for looking? AddControllerPitch/YawInput?

[kindred widget]

Oh. Yeah this is animation stuff.

There is a thing called a 1D Aim Offset. You can also use the 2D AimOffsets. Same thing largely. But the 1D is easiest for simple shooters. You give the pitch of it via GetBaseAimRotation in the animgraph.

[twin juniper]

basically I'm spawning a bullet from a server RPC and it should spawn for all clients and server but it doesn't

[brisk swift]

I have a multicast rpc that sets item meshes for armor on clients and servers, when this is called mid game is works perfectly fine and clients are able to see the server equip the armor. The problem is when clients join they can't see armor the server is already wearing

[kindred widget]

You shouldn't be using RPCs for stateful things. The armor was equipped. This is state. A set of data that was set to replicate. OnRep that equipment and fix up the visuals whenever equipment replicates.

[brisk swift]

not sure what i'd put in an OnRep function

[kindred widget]

What did you put in the multicast?

[brisk swift]

ArmorMesh->SetSkeketalMesh(Mesh);

[lament geyser]

#multiplayer message
I switched the ID to the dev ID (480) and that got my friends game to show up on steam, still can't find each others servers though. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[fierce egret]

Is there any reason why this doesnt work? I couldnt get it

I cant rotate the character while playing as client, no matter what i do

Character and movement is replicated

[ruby lodge]

I have the following setup to get the rotation and forward vector of the camera of the player that spawned this weapon BP to check the bullet path. Now the issue I am having is, I can't seem to find a way how to get the player camera manager in a way that it works with replication and not with this index 0 node. If I cast to the player controller in beginplay after checking if it's local then the others wouldn't have access to that nevertheless. Maybe I have a wrong idea in mind but I need the rotation of the player camera manager for it to include camera shakes as well

[fierce egret]

If your character has a camera, you can use the camera's world rotation instead of using the Get Player Camera Manager

Which blueprint is this, character?

[ruby lodge]

like this?

no, it's the weapon BP

[ruby lodge]

this didn't work btw. Doesn't include camera shakes

[fierce egret]

Yes, you can use Get Owner(dont forget to set Owner first) and access camera like this

[fierce egret]

Oh

[ruby lodge]

maybe I shake wrongly? xD

This event runs in the event tick of the character bp

[fierce egret]

You're right, shakes don't affect camera rotation

[ruby lodge]

owning pc is the player controller that owns this character

[fierce egret]

Try Get Owner > Get Owner > Cast To Player Controller > Get Camera Manager

[ruby lodge]

I guess thee Get owner twice was a typo?

[fierce egret]

No. First one is owner of weapon( character ), second one is owner of character ( controller )

[fierce egret]

You should call get owner two times if its weapon blueprint

[ruby lodge]

ah yea my bad

[fierce egret]

👍

And you can right click and make this cast pure

[ruby lodge]

I assume I should do this once in begin play of the weapon BP and not for each bullet being shot xD

[fierce egret]

Try this

[ruby lodge]

I tried this and it works locally but when the ai bots shoot It shows me "accessed none trying to read property Player Camera Manager"

maybe because it's bots they prob return false for the cast to playercontroller on their side?

[fierce egret]

Yes because AIs dont have player camera manager

They dont have player controller, therefore no camera manager

[ruby lodge]

would that work for other players though. As far as I know every player can only access their own player controller and thus player camera manager

[twin juniper]

what BP are you in?

[fierce egret]

Do you ask for my question or my answer?

For my rotation problem, it's in my character blueprint.

[twin juniper]

okk thx

[worthy knot]

In rep notifies, setting “skip owner” skips all changes to only the owning client ?

[nocturne quail]

also try this:

void AMasterActor::SpawnBulletServer_Implementation()
{
    auto SpawnBulletLambda = [this]() {
        FActorSpawnParameters SpawnParams;
        SpawnParams.SpawnCollisionHandlingOverride = ESpawnActorCollisionHandlingMethod::AlwaysSpawn;
        SpawnParams.bNoCollisionFail = true;
        SpawnParams.bDeferConstruction = false;
        SpawnParams.Owner = this;
        AYourBullet* Bullet = GetWorld()->SpawnActor<AYourBullet>(BulletClass, SpawnLocation, SpawnRotation, SpawnParams);
        Bullet->SetReplicates(true);
        Bullet->SetRemoteRole(ROLE_SimulatedProxy);
    };
    for (FConstPlayerControllerIterator Iterator = GetWorld()->GetPlayerControllerIterator(); Iterator; ++Iterator)
    {
        APlayerController* PlayerController = Iterator->Get();
        PlayerController->ClientSpawnBulletRPC.BindLambda(SpawnBulletLambda);
        PlayerController->ClientSpawnBulletRPC();
    }
}