multiplayer

[winged raft]

Hey Cedric, I'm not sure which bps to show, there's quite a few

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZlv_N0_O1gYqSlbGQVKsRg6fpxWndZqZ I've been following this playlist, I'll grab a screenshot from the lobby bps quickly

http://puu.sh/su6HQ/659442612a.png

this is from the lobby game manager

http://puu.sh/su6MR/bb01165553.png

Connected player widget, the text in the widget is bound to the required vars mentioned in the video

[thin stratus]

This is all from the tutorial?

Why the hell is a PlayerController array in the GameMode set to replicate

Ok so, one step after another.
What do you mean "as soon as the game starts"?

@winged raft

I never done this tutorial and I don't really have time going through it

And what do you mean with PlayerNames to appear

You get it in the widget from the PlayerInfo

Where are you actually setting that variable?

[winged raft]

Sorry, I'm back now, there is more but I'm not sure how much to show in here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzgCKLdAZL8

this shows the problem, the widget which has "host and not ready" are also meant to show the players name, character selection image and avatar

[thin stratus]

Well, the Lobby showing in the MainMenu is probably cause you call to show it somewhere

Is the MainMenu an extra level?=

[winged raft]

it is a level in itself, same with the lobby

[thin stratus]

Then you are, for what ever reason, adding the lobby in the mainmenu too

I can't tell you where, cause it's your code after all

So search for Create Widget nodes in the blueprints that the MainMenu uses

and check that you don't add the Lobby there

For the PlayerName, my question persists: Where do you set the PlayerInfo that you query in the Contruct method of the Widget?=

[winged raft]

As far as I know, the players names and avatars are set from the connectedplayer widget http://puu.sh/su8h6/0d923ddb93.png

http://puu.sh/su8kf/e7ee9c5048.png

[thin stratus]

Yes

Again, where is that Data set

[winged raft]

when a player joins, it is displaying the not ready message which makes me think it's in the widget itelf but it could be throwing me off

[thin stratus]

You show me where the struct PlayerInfo is used

I want to see where it's filled

[winged raft]

The bottom row for this has the struct array which collects the player settings such as name, avatars and then passes the information on to the player controllers connected players array

https://puu.sh/su6HQ/659442612a.png

it then calls update player info which is then used to call update player window called creating the connected player widget and that adds the child

http://puu.sh/su8Ew/05f5f5f36b.png

[thin stratus]

Ok, If I'm not mistaken

the top picutre is in the GameMode, right?

[winged raft]

yes

[thin stratus]

Weird that hey have RPCs and Replicated Variables there

Only the Server has this Class anyway, but ok

Sooo

What does "initializeSelf" do?

[winged raft]

The line beginning with Event onPostLogin?

[thin stratus]

The function being called inside of the PlayerController

[winged raft]

That calls the check save game function and then calls the callupdate event

check save game checks whether the game has a save in slot 0, if not create a new save if it does, it saves over the old one and loads from it

[thin stratus]

The thing is

I still can't see where that PlayerName is actually set

OnPostLogin gets called

The PlayerController gets added to an PlayerController array (why ever his is replicated)

Then we get the GameIntsance, which is the one of the Server, and fill in the Replicated Variables

Where I also don't get why that happens

It's always on the Server, it's always the same GameIntance

And the replicated Variables can't be queried by the Clients, as the GameMode doesn't exist there

Further on, you cast the PlayerController to the LobbyPC, which is ok

then call Initialize Self, where you do some savegame stuff, what ever that is

Then setup Lobby Name does probably give the Client the ServerName ,so he knows it

cause, remember, GameMode doesn't exist on clients...

Then UpdateLobby Settings is also on the Client, which passes image, mapname and maptime, that's also fine

Then it respawns the player

Which is replicated to Server (makes no sense, we are on the server) and destroyed any possesed pawn (ok) and creates a new one

Then again a Server RPC (not needed to be an RPC) which goes through all PlayerControllers and tells them the new number of Players (is ok, but not the best way)

The we have another loop that passes all PlayerInfo to the all Players

That's ok, but at this point, the PlayerInfo already needs to be filled

It adds the PlayerInfo of the PlayerController to that array and passes it

So before that happens, you need to have filled this information somewhere

[winged raft]

I see what you mean, I'm not really sure what to say

[thin stratus]

Is that 100% Epics tutorial?

And the things are really set to replicate etc?

[winged raft]

it is one of their playlists on their youtube channel

[thin stratus]

-.-

[winged raft]

yeah, I've been going through the videos a couple of times double checking

[thin stratus]

Guess I need to talk with who ever made that tutorial

Anyway, where do you fill that "PlayerSettings" Struct of the PlayerController

it needs to happen before EveryoneUpdate is called

This should also be stored in the PlayerState and not PlayerController

That's what the PlayerState is for

@winged raft As far as I saw, you have a Function in the PlayerController (LobbyPC) which is called "Initial Setup"

This is called on the Client

THis is passing the Server the PlayerSettings

[winged raft]

yeah, I'm just taking a look through it all, see if i can follow the chain

[thin stratus]

WHY is he doing RPCs in the Lobby widget

WTF

[winged raft]

I have no idea, I've been following this to learn how to set up networking and create a lobby system

[thin stratus]

Uff

Ok so, an RPC shifts the call over to the Server/Client or everyone

That implies that there is a Server Version /Client Version or everyone has it

A Widget only exists on the Client

Of course everyone sees the Lobby

but each Lobby instance is local on the client

There is nothing to call an RPC on

[winged raft]

welp

[thin stratus]

I will ask around a bit to get some info about who and why this was done

But in the meantime (it doesn'T hurt, it's just not doing anything and is kinda useless)

let's find where the playername is set

Ok, so the PlayerInfo stuff gets loaded

In the load game function

in the LobbyPC

There is no custom info in episode 16 yet

The reason why you don't see anything is, that there is nothing

You don't have any savegames that actually have data

that's probably coming in a later video

[winged raft]

ah, I might have been a bit confused then because in the video when they tested it all out it showed the same name for both players along with the avatars

[thin stratus]

Yeah, he's setting up some random stuff in the variable at some point

I'm searching that

So on the first launch

it will check if there is a savegame

if not

it will save the game

So I assume, there it saves the data wrong

[winged raft]

I've just taken a look in the options where you can set your name and avatar and the info appears to save

[thin stratus]

Ok so the Info gets passed when the widget gets created

so it's not default set in the widget

that means the PlayerInfo Variable in the PlayerController needs to have values

Default values

And you need to make sure, after you entered them, that you go into your project folders

and delete the savegame file

so it's freshly created

Means, ProjectFolder/Saved/SaveGames

[winged raft]

yep, just deleted them, about to check now

Alright, appears to show the names I put into the default values along with the images

[thin stratus]

Cheers

[winged raft]

http://puu.sh/suaw8/5cdb7525b3.png

[thin stratus]

YO so

I put up this

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?129778-quot-Blueprint-Multiplayer-quot-Video-Series-is-teaching-a-lot-of-wrong-things&p=628745#post628745

[stiff wasp]

Aye @thin stratus ^^ Those are some of the very reasons I tell people to be careful when following those tutorials.

[opal sentinel]

well written, im excited now for my upcoming need to learn how to do multiplayer... yay.....

[thin stratus]

Thanks!

[thin stratus]

@twin juniper would currently not suggest taking that series

It teaches too much crap that you would need to unlearn again

Rather read my compendium first

[twin juniper]

ah thanks for that info! I was going to do it the other way around, assuming that the youtube series just did some bare minimum

so knowing that now, I'll do your compendium first and their youtube series later or not at all depending on how things look at that point

[thin stratus]

You'll find tons of things in the series where you will be like:"Why the fuck do they do that, it makes no sense. "

Like stated on my forum post

Just skip it for now

If you have network questions, just ping me

@twin juniper

[civic vessel]

Hey guys I have some questions

I am trying to setup a time attack mode but I dont know how to handle timers for each player ( like TrackMania for exemple )

For now; the gamemode is updating all playuer's timers

But I cant let the gamemode replicate a variable every ms

And on the other hand if i let each client update their timer themselves they can cheat right ?

[normal ingot]

I'm not the best when it comes to multiplayer but would it not be better to start the timer on each client rather than monitor it all at once?

[thin stratus]

@civic vessel Put the timer into the PlayerState

Each client has one and it is replicated

Game mode is not made to track game data

It's really just for rules and setting up the game

[civic vessel]

The timer is in the playerState, i'm incrementing it form the Gamemode @thin stratus

[thin stratus]

Why from the GameMode?

Let the PlayerState handle it

[civic vessel]

Because I dont from where should I update them

[thin stratus]

Or for a global timer use the GameState

What does your timer look like

An actual timer

[civic vessel]

It's just a float that i'm incrementing every tick

[thin stratus]

Or a float variable you increment

Yeah so, each player had his own?

[civic vessel]

Yes

[thin stratus]

Why not using the playerstate tick then

And limit it to authority

[civic vessel]

If i do it this way, the timer wont update smoothly on client no ?

[thin stratus]

Why not?

[civic vessel]

I dont know, I'll try

[thin stratus]

I mean

You can let it run on server and client

So the client doesn't have a feeling of lag

But let the variable be replicated so that he still has authority about it

He = server

[civic vessel]

Okay

[thin stratus]

Should other players see the time?

[civic vessel]

Yes

[thin stratus]

Yeah okay then this should be the way

[civic vessel]

Thanks I'll try ! 😃

[civic vessel]

Awesome ! It seems to work as expected !

[thin stratus]

Cheers

[native axle]

Where should the GUI be spawned / stored for a multiplayer game?

[native axle]

Gonna put spawn it in level blueprint + store it in the game instance, looking at the multiplayer sample.

[rare cloud]

@native axle, depend of what kind of informations you want to show

[eternal anchor]

does replication work with int64 ?

[rare cloud]

@eternal anchor, Yes I use it for experience and gold on my game

Oh I use uint64 but int64 will work too

[cloud ledge]

ha

so someone can overflow gold and experience in your game

I wonder how many thousands of years they'd need with an int64

[rare cloud]

@cloud ledge, with an int32 you can only store around 2 million (2^31) 😛

[golden granite]

I wish with updates it was something to look forward to but it seems like every UE release I spend most of my time fixing bugs.

[rare cloud]

@golden granite, update when you need it and stay when the version seem to be stable for your project

[golden granite]

I needed the features in the update, but it also broke several things.

[rare cloud]

like ?

[golden granite]

The set input mode bug. Some reason I have to set input any time I exit window focus. Also, box collision component simply doesn't register touches on mobile anymore. Not sure if overlaps still work.

Touch works in PIE, but not once compiled.

[eternal anchor]

@rare cloud thanks 😃

[native axle]

@rare cloud oh i probably shouldn't have said GUI, I was talking about the main menu.

[native axle]

this is in the server screen widget

this in the game instance (called from the server row widget)

can anyone see what I'm doing wrong with the advanced sessions plugin? Using the create / find session normally works but the plugin nodes don't.

This is just to show a server list, not testing the joining part yet.

[rare cloud]

@native axle, to make a Main menu simply create a Level, and override the GameMode with your MainMenuGameMode

create an HUD and create your widget object and add it to the player viewport

set the class to your game mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78XJYBfWXAA&index=3&list=PLZlv_N0_O1gYqSlbGQVKsRg6fpxWndZqZ

I guess this tutorial can help you 😃

[native axle]

@rare cloud Thanks for the help, I know how to create a menu but I had a problem where playing multiplayer spawned 3 menus on top of each other when you had 3 players. Luckily I figured it out that I just had to turn off auto-connect to server.

[thin stratus]

@native axle if you have this, then you probably added the menu on begin play

In an actor that was replicated to everyone

So the begin play for that actor got called once for each player on every other player

Aka 3 menus for 3 players

Makes it 9 in total

[rare cloud]

Pawn seem to be a good place to replicate with other players

[native axle]

@thin stratus yea that's what I had setup, put it in the begin play in the player controller. I looked at the network compendium thingy and it seems like the only things which aren't replicated are the hud and widgets? So following the unreal samples I put it in BeginPlay of the menu level.

@rare cloud The problem is I don't want it to be replicated

[thin stratus]

Auto connect to server should be turned off in mainmenu, yes

PlayerController would only make the Server go spawn multiple menus

Clients only have their own anyway

In general, you wouldn't use a game mode or any other special class for the mainmenu

You can though, but spawning the main menu in the level blueprint begin play and letting the GameInstance handle the creation and reference

Is good enough for most cases

@native axle

[native axle]

@thin stratus Thanks for the clarification. I think I need to follow the samples more carefully instead of guessing how things work 😃

oh you're the guy who made the network compendium, really helpful so far 👌

[thin stratus]

Cheers

[civic vessel]

What is the best way to update a value in the player state from the client ?

If I update the player state from a server rpc, it takes ~1sec to update

[thin stratus]

Client wants to push a value to other clients?

Well yeah, ServerRPC and then set Replicated variable

Calling client should set variable himself too, so he doesn't need to wait for server to push it back to him

[civic vessel]

I tried something like this, but the client puts himself wrong values, the server does not overwrite it

[thin stratus]

Then your logic seems wrong

If you use the same value for the RPC and the local set node, it cannot be different

First set, then RPX

RPC*

[civic vessel]

Yes but for exemple, if client's PlayerState has some wrong values, and then the value of on the server's PlayerState updates, it should overwrite client's values no ?

[rare cloud]

yes, Server is authoritative

[civic vessel]

I managed to get it working 😃

Someone can help about enable Steam on dedicated server on Linux ?

It crashes on launch

[thin stratus]

You'll have trouble finding people knowing about steam ded server on windows

So good luck on the linux part :/

[orchid cairn]

hi slackers! i have a weird bug, i have network replication code that works perfectly in PIE (and was working in an earlier build), but no longer works at all when i package my project... has anyone come across anything like this before?

[snow cliff]

does it work when unchecking use single process?

[compact gulch]

am having a bit of confusion over network replication ....
why is client's controller Has Authority getting false

isn't client the owner the controller. hence the ability to run RPCs?

[snow cliff]

@orchid cairn

has authority simply returns true on the server and false on the clients

I think what you want is "is locally controlled" but I am not sure

[compact gulch]

@snow cliff so it's not a refelction of Network Owner?

from what I know only owner can run RPC

[snow cliff]

clients can run functions on the server on objects they own

the server can run any function on any client

[compact gulch]

yeah is there a way to return the ownership?

thanks for the idea of using locally controled it seems to work. but this only works for pawn

[snow cliff]

return the ownership?

[compact gulch]

yeah

i use get owner.. it gets me Null

[snow cliff]

so clients can modify other clients?

[compact gulch]

Pawn --> GetOwner in blueprint gives null..

no

client can modify itself right

can run RPC..

[orchid cairn]

@snow cliff problem is still there when i select dedicated server

[snow cliff]

get owner gives you the controller IIRC

[orchid cairn]

sorry what do you mean uncheck "use single process"?

[snow cliff]

press the little triangle between play and launch, go to advance settings, the option is at the bottom

what do you even want to do @compact gulch

maybe its easier that way around

[orchid cairn]

unchecked that option, still works in PIE

[compact gulch]

@snow cliff there's no particular issue i'm encountering. manage to solve it with locally controlled. but just a bit perplexed that an Owning Client can have Authoriy = False

just checking if my assumptions are right

[orchid cairn]

is locally controlled will return true for both client and listen server wont it?

[snow cliff]

has authority is a bad name, I got confused by that aswell

but it simply returns whether you are on the server or not

[robust kite]

@compact gulch You got Copys of the Controllers across Clients/Server. Has Authority is just to see if its a Server

[snow cliff]

I think there are some exceptions when you change the base structure of the multiplayer in C++, but for most cases, its as simple as that

[robust kite]

Is Localy Controlled only true if its your Controller

[orchid cairn]

the only thing i can think of, is i was playing around with nativising blueprint assets (but didn't work as one of the plugins i use doesn't compile correctly)... could there still be some blueprints which are compiled? whats the UE4 version of clean and rebuild solution in blueprints?

[snow cliff]

copy your network code into a blank project, and see if it works there

[compact gulch]

right . thanks for your feedback.. this is really really a 'my life is a lie' moment.

btw is there a way to do GetNetMode() in blueprint?

[robust kite]

Write a C++ Function that is exposed to BP

Nothing Stops you from doing that =)

[civic vessel]

Is the spectator pawn only supposed to fly around or we can actually see trough player's camera ?

[spark igloo]

Hi, OnPostLogin is called when i hit play button not when the player joins the game. How to change so that it works whenever new player is connected to the game

[rare cloud]

@spark igloo look at advanced settings there is an auto connect option to uncheck

[spark igloo]

@rare cloud This doesn't solved the issue. OnPostLogin Event is called When play button is Hit

[rare cloud]

hmm strange, you use new GameModeBase (4.14) or GameMode class ?

@spark igloo

[spark igloo]

I amusing GameMode class n currently i am developing in Version (4.11)

[rare cloud]

@spark igloo, Ok I haven't got the 4.11 but I can create a 4.14 blank project with a GameMode and try if I can reproduce your issue

are you using C++ or blueprint ?

[spark igloo]

I am Using Blueprint for this [ multiplayer ]. But the project have few C++ Files to fetch data from server

[rare cloud]

Ok well your GameMode is only used by Server not client

client has an another GameMode

[spark igloo]

Ha But in my code i used OnPostLogin Event in GameMode n it inturns check if the playerisconnected event which is in the game state. So that I can check if all the player are connected so that the game will begin. How do i make it work so that when the client is connected to the session only when the client joins not when the play button is hit

[rare cloud]

@spark igloo, you have the same gamemode client and server side ?

[spark igloo]

Ha i used same GameMode

[rare cloud]

and PostLogin is called on client side

To try something like this I guess you need to launch as standalone game

because Global Default Server Game Mode doesn't work with PIE, or maybe I'm wrong

The idea is to create ServerGameMode and ClientGameMode if you use a dedicated server

[spark igloo]

Ha i used Switch has authority node too n run in the standalone mode but this issue still raises. I am using it as a ListenServer

[dawn summit]

iirc someone was interested in SpatialOS here, Improbable sent me an email about game that using it, Devs giving away Steam keys for betatesters: http://www.playlazarus.com/

[sly kernel]

are there any docs on how to use winsock in UE4 ?

some one is asking about "websocket client library"

[turbid stratus]

dayamn.. seems that a level has to be "visible" on a server for a client to be able to walk on it 😦

trying to do a multi-room co-op game, and only have each player's current room visible to them (so turning them on and off as they go through doors), but if I toggle "should be visible" for the level on the client only.. they fall through the floor.

Works if I also toggle visibility on the server, but then a listen server will have multiple rooms visible. Suppose I could just not support a true listen server and always run dedicated

[turbid stratus]

https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/530038/level-must-be-visible-on-server-for-client-to-walk.html

[rancid orchid]

anyone know if in RPC, _Validate functions are run on server (for example if u call from client)
so would it be comparing local client value with server to validate ?

[brittle sinew]

No, you'll usually use that to compare the parameter or something like that, it is run on the server

[rancid orchid]

wait so no as it doesnt run on server when you call on client ?

no , as in*

[brittle sinew]

The validate function runs on the server when the RPC is called

[rancid orchid]

ah cool, so calling it on client, will then validate it on server

[brittle sinew]

Sorry, shouldn't have said no 😄

[rancid orchid]

cool thanks xD

[charred crane]

Does anyone know of a site or group that offers mentoring for unreal?

[wide hamlet]

@brittle sinew Are you saying that when a server runs a Client, WithValidation RPC the validation runs on the server?

From reading the generated header files for a UCLASS with validation, it is my understanding that the RPC validation always runs wherever the RPC runs. (The code is pretty much if (!this->Func_Validate(Params)) { RPC_ValidateFailed(...); return; } this->Func_Implementation(Params);)

So for a Server RPC it runs on the server, for a Client RPC is it runs on the client (it is also my understanding that the server is always the originator of a client RPC that runs remotely -- clients cannot invoke client RPCs on other clients' actors)

[brittle sinew]

I couldn't tell you for sure either way, I just saw he was asking about a server RPC

Plus, not really sure what the outcome of a client validation function would be, it's not like you'll be disconnecting the server 😛 , and the server is meant to be authoritative over clients, so I'm not sure you would want to let clients decide if a value is correct or not.

[wide hamlet]

@brittle sinew Actually, that's exactly what the docs say it could do: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Gameplay/Networking/Actors/RPCs/#validation "it could notify the system to disconnect the client/server who initiated the RPC call"

[brittle sinew]

I mean...I guess?

[wide hamlet]

(and I believe that's what actually happens)

[brittle sinew]

Then at that point you have a client-side way to tell the server to disconnect itself, that just doesn't seem like a great idea to me, not sure

[wide hamlet]

Oh, no

The client disconnects from the server if the server sends an RPC that fails validation

The other clients remain connected

[brittle sinew]

Well reading from what you linked... it disconnects the server who initiated the call, no?

[wide hamlet]

Right

[brittle sinew]

I haven't really messed with that, I couldn't tell you. I wasn't looking to say anything 😛

Yeah and I guess you're right there, I was just misunderstanding

[wide hamlet]

I welcome conversations about this topic, because I find the networking docs a little bit lacking / unclear overall.

So I've spent some time digging in the engine source and doing trial & error to figure things out, but there's definitely room for error in my understanding. 😃

But yeah, I think FObjectReplicator::ReceivedBunch returns false on the client after a WithValidation validate call fails, which causes UActorChannel::ProcessBunch to drop the connection -- which would mean the server disconnecting the client or the client disconnecting the server, depending on which way the RPC went. The RPC validation code seems to be invoked from the UHT generated header for your UCLASS, where it creates an execMyMethod function that is responsible for calling the MyMethod_Validate, and if it fails, RPC_ValidateFailed followed by an early out, and if it succeeds it calls MyMethod_Implementation, which seems to imply to me that it's running validation on whatever endpoint is receiving the RPC.

[unique canyon]

Ok so I'm probably doing like 1000 things wrong but I do have just one question at the moment, how do I define the server separate from the client? For instance for a dedicated server do I package a specific build that has the server specific stuff? Or do I just package everything normally and have some setting I check to tell it that it's a server and has authority?

I ask because I'm using Switch Has Authority nodes but I'm not sure where to actually set who has authority

[fossil spoke]

@unique canyon You dont manage network roles yourself, in a dedicated environment the Server (dedicated server running on a box somewhere) is Authority, any Clients (the actual players) are the Remote machines.

[unique canyon]

So unreal just defines it on it's own?

I don't necessarily need to specify what is and isn't a dedicated server or a client?

[fossil spoke]

The Networking architecture that UE4 uses which is called Server Authoritative dictates what is the Authority (always the Server) and who is Remote (always a player)

[unique canyon]

Right I'm asking if I need to do something specific to setup the server. I'm following the documentation and that PDF about multiplayer networking and I don't know what I need to do to keep the server-specific stuff on the server only like they suggest

[fossil spoke]

Using SwitchHasAuthority ensures that you manage your code either on the Authority (Server) or Remote (Client) side

[unique canyon]

So the code exists on both but only executes on the one that's specified as authority? So my question then is how do I specify who has authority, do I build a specific dedicated server build?

Or just have some option in game?

[fossil spoke]

In a Dedicated Environment, you need a Source Build to create an Dedicated Server executable, you cant have a Dedi Server with Blueprint only projects.

If your running a Local Environment then the Host is considered the Server (or Authority)

[unique canyon]

Hmm, so I guess I'd be limited to listen server setups until I do some dedicated server executable?

I'm also trying to figure out a method to get players to 'log in' (rather just for testing I just want them to enter a name and connect to a designated IP)

However there isn't a login node so I guess I have to figure out how to make that function myself

[fossil spoke]

The Online Sub System collection of nodes should help you there.

Unless you are running on a C++ build?

[unique canyon]

I read that was only for stuff like steam/xbox/etc.? I just want to connect to an IP, I dunno if there's something for simple testing using the subsystem

And I'm not sure, so far I've only used blueprints so I guess not

I should specify I'm more art oriented haha so coding is still pretty nebulous to me, I'm trying to learn though

[fossil spoke]

You can use OpenLevel to connect to remote machines

Passing an IP address as the levelname will assume that connection

[unique canyon]

Ok I'll look into that. That sounds perfect, one last thing, when I first start the game, would I give the player a playercontroller right away, or would I wait until they connect to a server?

Like does the main menu/login screen need a playercontroller to function?

[fossil spoke]

A PlayerController is ALWAYS assigned to the player as soon as the GameMode is created (for a Server Environment)

Or PostLogin has been called

[unique canyon]

Gotcha, so I'll need a gamemode with a playercontroller for the main menu/login screen as well?

[fossil spoke]

Login Screen you could stick with the default, its up to you how you handle it.

[unique canyon]

Oh there's a default login screen?

[fossil spoke]

No i meant the default PlayerController

[unique canyon]

Oh, gotcha

And then give them the specific controller I want them to have when they connect to my server?

That sounds perfect

Thanks for your help! I'm struggling with this but hopefully I'll have something half functional today haha

[fossil spoke]

You assign a "specific" controller via the GameMode, the Server assigns the PlayerControllers to players as they connect

[unique canyon]

Yeah

[fossil spoke]

Generally i have a dedicated GameMode and PlayerController for the out of game Menus

[unique canyon]

Gotcha

That's a good idea since I can do fancy stuff like having a little environment that moves and stuff to give it a bit of interest

Oh, and actually, I'm not exactly sure how to send variables to the client, or have the client read it, or something. I have them set to replicate but I'm not sure how to actually read them

I specifically want the players health to show up, as well as progress of capturing the point

[wide hamlet]

Where does the variable live? Did you put it on the player controller or on the character?

[unique canyon]

The player controller

For health

[fossil spoke]

@junko i recommend you take a look at this document.

http://cedric.bnslv.de/Downloads/UE4_Network_Compendium_by_Cedric_eXi_Neukirchen.pdf

[wide hamlet]

You might want a custom player state for that, then.

[unique canyon]

Yeah I was following that

[wide hamlet]

The player controller only exists on the server and the client that owns it, not on other clients (IIRC)

The player state exists on all clients

[fossil spoke]

You shouldnt replicate on the PlayerController

[unique canyon]

Right... So it's the player State that needs the health variable and stuff?

I see, Ok! That explains that haha

How about an object in the map, like a capture point, how would I have the player hud reflect the progress of capturing?

[wide hamlet]

Replicated variables are only replicated when they change on the server. If a client changes a replicated variable, it is not updated on the server.

So you would typically use a server RPC to update the variable

[unique canyon]

Right I don't want to change it I just want a bar on the players screen to change fill progress based on the control point on the server

What's the node for the RPC? I can't seem to find it with the search function

[fossil spoke]

Custom Events are used as RPCs

[unique canyon]

Oh, ok

So I'd specific a custom event that sends the progress to the players?

[fossil spoke]

You can set their role on the details of the Custom Event node you create.

[unique canyon]

Alright, that's about all the confusion I had, thanks a ton guys

You're a great help

[fossil spoke]

Good luck

[wide hamlet]

@fossil spoke Thanks for the assist, I haven't done any RPC stuff in BP 😃

[fossil spoke]

No worries, if you have further issues just ask.

[unique canyon]

Where is player state exactly? Googling says each player controller has it, that it's defined by the game mode, but I can't find the actual player state file

Should I just make a new one that inherits?

[fossil spoke]

You need to make a new one yourself

[unique canyon]

Oh, ok, that solves that, thanks haha

[unique canyon]

Ok I think I've hit another roadblock. Trying to have the gamemode assign a character pawn to the players once play begins, but the node I get from click-dragging the character blueprint into the gamemode blueprint isn't connectable to the pawn possess node

[fossil spoke]

A Character is an spawnable Actor, you need to Spawn it in the world and have a reference to that Character before a Player can Possess it

[unique canyon]

Oh, so, do I need to spawn all characters that a player would be able to select and have them in some far away spot?

I can't refer to a saved prefab or anything?

[fossil spoke]

Not particularily, if your allowing the player to select a particular character like in an RPG for example, once the Player makes their choice, then you would spawn that Character

[unique canyon]

I see so I'd have a selection screen that spawns the character and once they confirm their pick then it would have them possess it

Ok that makes more sense

[fossil spoke]

A selection screen could probably only just display the "characters" mesh, since the Player is only making a choice at this point you only need to show a graphical representation of the Characters that they can choose from, once they make their choice you can spawn the actual Character they chose

[unique canyon]

Hmm I was following a guide to set up the pawn possession but the option to create a reference to the character doesn't seem to be showing when I right click on the blueprint

Yeah

Oh, right, that guide has you right click on the level blueprint... hm

[unique canyon]

Ah, that should work

thanks

[fossil spoke]

Spawn the Character, assign it to a variable so you cana ccess it later, possess the character for that Player

Unless you have specifically multiplayer questions i recommend you ask your BP questions in #blueprint

Just keeps the channels on topic is all 😃

[unique canyon]

Oops, good point, sorry about that.

Thanks though!

[fossil spoke]

No worries

[unique canyon]

Er, one last thing before I switch over since you're here, is there a method to just tell it to use the playerstart spawn?

[fossil spoke]

It will always spawn at a playerstart

If you have one in the level

Or are you talking about Spawning the Character Actor?

[unique canyon]

The spawning node, yeah, it's giving me an error saying it needs a transform

[fossil spoke]

When using the SpawnActor node you need to supply the Transform for it to spawn the actor, the Transform defines where in the world to spawn the actor, you would need to get the Transform of the PlayerStart and feed that into the SpawnActor node for it to spawn the Character at that position.

[unique canyon]

Gotcha

[fossil spoke]

@unique canyon See how that goes.

[unique canyon]

I was able to just plug in origin (0,0,0) and it compiled however curiously once I click play it doesn't give me a pawn and I'm just floating around

Not sure exactly why

[fossil spoke]

You probably spawned it inside some geometry which exists at 000

[unique canyon]

Ah, I see, lemme try your technique then

[uncut pivot]

when i first started learning networking in blueprints

i got angry a lot

[fossil spoke]

It can be frustrating.

[thin stratus]

We all go through that. And it's even worse if you haven't learned the framework of UE4 yet or at least got most of the stuff learned to create a decent Singleplayer game

[golden granite]

networking isn't as bad as it seems.

at first its challenging but once you get the concept things go fairly well

[modern fable]

just do a whole night nolife and you'll get thru

[vernal wave]

What are the best resources for learning networking? We've only done offline games but are looking to do a multiplayer one now. 1vs1 duels, like how online CCGs work

I've got exi's network compendium

[regal hazel]

Your best bet @vernal wave would be to check out the pinned messages for this channel 😃

[high lotus]

I'm lurking on this channel to learn network stuff, and I'm starting to go through tutorials

it's great that people are so helpful on here!

[fossil spoke]

Its why the community was created 😃

[wary willow]

Who's want to be my private MP tutor?

😉

I have about a month off of school, I think I am going to divide my time between Tech Art (Materials/Particles) and Multiplayer

[fossil spoke]

Do you pay with pats on the back? I enjoy those the most.

I would help but the time zone difference is crazy 😉

[wary willow]

@fossil spoke Ha, since I don't have an actual time schedule on breaks...I can be awake at anytime 😃

[high lotus]

@wary willow wanna join my "let's learn multiplay" crew?

[spark igloo]

Hey guys, Pls help me with this issue
I'm trying to create a mutiplayer. When i keep 2 players, the server is picking the default pawn but the client is showing at (0,0,0) in the viewport. \

[brittle sinew]

That might mean that it had some sort of error either spawning or possessing the pawn, I would check GetPawn() when this happens to see if it's valid

[balmy plaza]

Hey all, quick question. If I'm trying to set up P4, what's the best way to do it? I followed their 5minute tutorial, and I tried port forwarding my router, but no dice. 😦

It reads it internally but not externally.

[vernal wave]

Thanks @regal hazel

[thin stratus]

@wary willow Personal multiplayer teacher? Payed? :P

@Jackietkfrost P4 is not really multiplayer related or don't you mean perforce?

You might have more luck in the more general channels

[balmy plaza]

Yes, perforce.

And alright.

[thorn merlin]

is anyone here running multiple dedicated servers in one windows instance? if so, could you share your launch script that ensures each instance is running individually? i can get singular ones going ok (like how ARK does it) but the second you have multi instances things get complicated (or at least in this corner ive painted my self in it is)

[thin stratus]

What exactly fails?

Afaik, you should be able to host with different ports

and that seals the deal, depending on the subsystems though

[thorn merlin]

since 4.12 I've had random crashes, epic has made changes but it still happens

and I am running multiple ports right now

[thin stratus]

What do the crashes gives you?

Any useful logs?

[thorn merlin]

nothing in the logs no, it does give me a crash dump which ive provided to epic

there were changes in 4.14 related to the issue i reported but they didnt work

so anyway, if you check arks dedicated server, they use a technique that brings a instance back up if it fails

cd %~dp0
start ShooterGame.exe
procdump.exe -ma -e -64 -w ShooterGame.exe
exit

no wait, im confused, i got that first technique somewhere else

fyi crash issue - https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/498793/4131-dedicated-server-crash-w-android-clients-curl.html

[thin stratus]

Well, you could simpyl google on how to keep a process alive

And apply that to your servers

[thorn merlin]

yep thnx

[thin stratus]

Hm, runnable thread crashs

not cool

[thorn merlin]

so the fix made that log entry not show up anymore.. but the crash still happens

and on newer server OS's it wouldnt actually crash out the server so i started experimenting with taskill but really the fix was changing windows policy

thats where i got confused i should go back to my first solution now that i've fixed the policy issue

[thin stratus]

Hmm

So you run that stuff on windows

[thorn merlin]

yea.. id really love to learn how to do it on linux to save on hosting fees

[subtle quartz]

Is there a relatively easy way to recreate Souls style peer to peer multiplayer?

[thorn merlin]

passive peer connections? like the old test drive unlimited?

[subtle quartz]

I think so, that one has a similar system

[thorn merlin]

basically you'd need a master server to figure out when peers should connect

[subtle quartz]

if I wasn't concerned with maintaining connection between levels, would having the host player act as a listen server work?

[thorn merlin]

yea.. you thinking of doing this on steam?

[subtle quartz]

possibly, I'm keeping my port options open until a limitation says otherwise

[thorn merlin]

well a limitation steam will remove for you is nat punchthrough

but im not a steam expert.. just trying to do it "the other way"

[subtle quartz]

but if what I'm trying to accomplish is made simpler through a single platform, I'm not against exclusivity

[thorn merlin]

I don't think I can help you from here on in, probably time to start playing with the tech

[spiral junco]

Hello, I found this discord channel from Reddit, and I was wondering if I could get some help with a question regarding multiplayer for a game I'm working on. Is this the right place for some questions?

[brittle sinew]

Yep, go for it 😄

[spiral junco]

Awesome. So I have at the moment a multiplayer couch game I'm working on, and I wanted to get started on implementing online networking. However, I was thinking that I'd also want to keep local multiplayer as an option (e.g. two+ controllers on one machine). I was wondering how I would go about doing this?

A little more background, I have gotten started with networking, and have managed to correctly create a dedicated server and client builds, but the problem I'm coming across with keeping local multiplayer is that my client-built versions can't run server events needed for game initialization. I'm wondering what's the best option to work around this.

[brittle sinew]

If you want to go the dedicated server route for online play, you'd have to have a way that your client can additionally act as a listen server to facilitate local gameplay

[spiral junco]

Is there a setting possible to do this?

[brittle sinew]

I don't think it's something as simple as a setting—though I haven't used a dedicated server system. I don't know exactly where the divide comes in what makes the server, and if a client can open a level and simply act as a server

[spiral junco]

So I myself haven't particularly decided whether or not a dedicated server or a listen server is the most ideal for an online game, so I'm kinda unsure if I should be using a dedicated server in the first place.

The biggest issue I seem to be coming across with listen servers is that port forwarding seems to be a problem. Would you happen to know if there's a way to make a listen server game in which port forwarding isn't needed for players to play online?

[brittle sinew]

Personally, I would think that a "couch" type game would lend itself towards P2P, since there's no major need for great connections, and it would allow friends to play always 😄

You can use the Steam subsystem to allow sessions to be used. Though if you're not planning on going through Steam, it's unfortunately up to you to handle networking and matchmaking

[spiral junco]

I do plan on going through Steam. I haven't gotten started however with integrating Steam, but for sure, you're saying that Steam will handle port forwarding for me?

[brittle sinew]

Yep, they do everything from matchmaking to the actual NAT punchthrough, which handles the connection itself

[spiral junco]

I haven't found much information online that I can understand regarding much of this, so this has been an AMAZING GREAT help for me. Thank you so much by the way.

[brittle sinew]

No problem, I'm sure there are others here who could help you a bit more with the dedicated server side if that's something you still want to look at 😃

[spiral junco]

I think you have convinced me to go with the listen server. So far the only thing keeping me from doing so was the port forwarding issue, and I wasn't sure if it was going to continue being a problem once the game is packaged and sent to people. But now that I know Steam's subsystems handle all that for us, I'm likely going with the listen server.

Once more, thank you soooooo much for the help!

[thorn merlin]

@spiral junco if you design your game right, you can have a client also able to host a game as well as render out a dedicated server

@spiral junco its easiest to do it only thinking of one way, but you can handle both scenarios if you do your research - the shooter sample is a good example, mind you its a tad complicated, I'm pretty sure generic shooter operates this way

[brittle sinew]

The biggest thing is if you design it around a listen server from the start, you really don't have to make any modifications for offline. You just need a way to get the second player in, and it's basically the same system

[thorn merlin]

just when you develop, set it to 2 players and uncheck dedicated, test all 3 scenarios - single player, dedicated and peer

takes a while to get a feel for it, but its possible and easy to manage

[wary willow]

Someone earn themselves some karma!

https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/531301/destroy-actor-not-getting-called-on-client.html

@thin stratus Networking Boss^

[thin stratus]

@wary willow Who spawns and owns that actor?

The one you want to destroy

Why does it need to be always relevant?

What amount of damage are you passing in the Apply Damage node of the projectile?

Why do you call a reliable server RPC if you are already on the server(authority)

Does the RPC get called at all? (print string right before you call destroy actor)

Destroying a replicated actor as the server will destroy it for the clients too. Of course with a small delay

So you may want to destroy it on the local client too (the one that shot) so he doesn't have a delay until the actor gets removed

[thorn merlin]

@wary willow I am currently having this issue as well, you are right this started in 4.13, they said in the 4.14 notes they've attempted to fix this but looking at github I think they are still working on it

@wary willow I can't find exactly the information that makes me think that, I'm pretty sure its related to this 4.14.0 note "Bugfix: Fixed various issues with remapping objects that lose/gain relevancy."

[wise depot]

anyone about who's good with smoothment? I've got a minor issue going on with my player's visuals after i recreate their inputs after PostNetPhysicsUpdate

i say minor, its pretty awful

[thin stratus]

@wary willow @thorn merlin I will try to recreate this later and check what's happening.
Currently learning about PBR rendering, so no time

Also @thorn merlin Do you ahve a second account here as I can tag you twice? If yes, I may remove the other one

[thorn merlin]

@thin stratus sorry i had isues authenticating the first time i started using discord, ill try and delete the other account

@thin stratus my issue is with child actor components getting messed up with replication / relevancy

[thin stratus]

I kicked your second account for now

Hm, ok. Idk about that. Was talking about Victors problem

[thorn merlin]

i think its related because of the sub component issue, sorry if im misleading that issue with my own but i think its related

sometimes my hitboxes or other things linger after being destroyed on the server too when the server is under load

[thin stratus]

Might be, but Victors code is not really good neither does it make sense

I first want to refactor it, as soon as he's online

and check if we can fix this

Because this is not normal at all

[thorn merlin]

good call, thx for your help

[thin stratus]

After that we can look into your problem, but it seems like you already found out that's actually an engine problem

So no idea if I can help at all

[wary willow]

I will redo the snippet in a bit, that was just a first attempt and I know it wasn't probably the right way, but I tried all the methods I could think of with all the combinations that made sense. I just didn't feel like taking 20 different pics

It is wierd because it isnt like DestroyActor doesnt work, it is just somehow bugged on client

[past bear]

networking talk!

Consider the following scenario:
You have two players (A and B) in one room (Room 1), and two players (C and D) in another (Room 2). The two rooms are never visible to one another, so Players A&B are not relevant to C&D and vice versa, but it is possible events in Room 1 can have an effect on the state of Room 2 and vice versa - for the sake of example, let's say there's a switch in either that turns a light on and off in the other room.

How does one approach that from a UE networking perspective?

I mean, you could replicate everything as per normal, but that's massively inefficient

A&B don't need to know what C&D are doing in their respective room after all, so they do not need events occuring in Room 2 to be replicated - with the exception of the light switch

is there a means of filtering relevancy like that?

could it be as simple as simply not spawning the relevant actors on clients that don't need to know?

(or do replicated events for networked actors still get broadcast to everyone anyway?)

hmm, this as a bad example, as normal relevancy rules probably apply

I guess I need to see how one can write custom relevancy conditions

[thin stratus]

@past bear Hm ,so I never played around with that

But remembering the tutorial of epic, you can adjust the cull distnace

[past bear]

I did it a bit in the past, but forget the example

[thin stratus]

Or with some C++, add your own rule

[past bear]

imagine it isn't based on distance, and you need to control on a per-actor basis what is relevant to whom

[thin stratus]

The main thing is, the Server will change the State of what ever is in room 1 or 2

So if Player A and B, in Room 2, change something and tell the Server to do stuff, he will update the replicated State of an Actor in Room 1

Since Player C and D, in Room 1, are in range of the Actor, they will get the update

So ok, let's take away the distance

Then you have, currently, nothing that you can use to make them relevant, or not

afaik

So you would need to add a layer/check to the IsRelevantFor function

And check something that you want to have for the condition

[past bear]

yeah, I think this is what I need to look into

[thin stratus]

The function is called IsNetRelevantFor

[past bear]

a custom relevancy check sounds about right

[thin stratus]

I don't think that's exposed to BPs though

https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Gameplay/Networking/Actors/Relevancy/

Here you can read how the native implementation works

So what it checks to determine if the actor is relevant

It would still be easy to just use the distance though

[past bear]

like I said, ignore the example, because that would work with normal relevancy :p

[thin stratus]

:D ALRIGHT

Then gimme examples of stuff you actually wanna do!

Tz tz tz

[twin juniper]

Hi guys, please how does the world composition exactly work in multiplayer?

[native axle]

I have an enemy which is spawned on server side. When I hit it I call launch character.
I want to call launch character on the client's side before calling launch character on the server.
From what I've read, character functions such as launch character or add movement input can only be called on the client that owns the character.
Anyone know a way to do this?

[modern fable]

sorted it out? @native axle

[thin stratus]

Hit event is called on Server and Clients. So you can call that directly after the hit and the client will call it earlier anyway

No idea about the owning client only though

But if it is limited to that, then set the velocity of the movement component directly by hand

[lapis forum]

bit of an odd question here, but when are onrepnotifies called within a tick?

[thin stratus]

OnRepNotifies are called on the client when the variable got replicated and has the new value

[uncut pivot]

On rep is nice

[thin stratus]

OnRep on tick is a bit weird though

[uncut pivot]

Yeahhh but

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Better than multicast

[thin stratus]

The whole idea about onrep is to notify you when the replication is done, so you can react to it

Spamming it will probably even override calls

[uncut pivot]

Yes

[thin stratus]

Also if you always set and replicate, there is no need to notify anymore

[uncut pivot]

I just use on rep for join during play stuff

[lapis forum]

I've been using it to store snapshots of locations to an array

as described here: http://gafferongames.com/networked-physics/snapshots-and-interpolation/

the problem is, when I interpolate between the snapshots, I occasionally get frames that stay the same over 2 frames

so I'm just wondering if the onrepnotify is being called after I've done my interpolation

(in the tick)

[thin stratus]

Well the onrep takes time

Replicating is not instant

So if you don't wait for ut

Iz

Goooood

It*

Then you will probably call it too early

My goodness. Bus + cold fingers +phone just doesn't work

But idk how to do that properly. Could be that you need to interpolate based on the last velocity as long as the new data isn't there

In a long ping environment, this should not really have an impact or?

[lapis forum]

yeah I'll definitely have to do replicate the velocity

I wonder if it would cause the same issue though, where the velocity/location will be the same between two frames causing a visual stutter

hmmm

[thin stratus]

Well you use the velocity to change the location for the second frame

You only need to sort out when it's actually missing data or when the actor stood still :D

Although if replicated data has same location, the velocity should be 0

So that's fine i guess

[lapis forum]

oh I see

yeah that makes sense

I'll try that, thanks for your help!

[hybrid igloo]

Question: if I do a multicasted function call, it's not guaranteed that some replicated variables set to a new value just before invoking said call will be correctly synced on the server, is it?

[brittle sinew]

No, if you really need those values you might have to ship them through as a parameter

[thin stratus]

@hybrid igloo @brittle sinew Correct. You can only guarantee that a variable is replicated if you set it to repnotify and pack your logic into the bound function. Or you use the multicast with a parameter

Though the multicast, if not set to reliable, might be dropped under network load

[hybrid igloo]

Yeah I set it to reliable and made the variable be passed as parameter to it

[wide hamlet]

@twin juniper Are you asking for a general tutorial of world composition?

(I can't really give one, I don't know which parts of our streaming logic is custom in our build)

https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/LevelStreaming/WorldBrowser/index.html

[wary willow]

Question: How come Steam segregates NA vs EU or any other region when we are doing OSS Steam in UE4? What I mean is when let's say an American hosts, Europeans typically can't see that hosted server. Is that a UE4 limitation or Steam limitation?

I am thinking it's more of a Steam limitation due to the "Download Region" trick we've been using in Gamejams.

But, I feel like I've never had to do that when playing other Online MP games on Steam, like I've actually played with others around the world, but perhaps that's me thinking about other games not on Steam.

I wonder if this is due to dedicated servers being used and maybe getting proxied across the world?

[fierce birch]

there are ton of steam games that are still bound to the download region

[wary willow]

Right, so my question I guess is, how are the games that AREN'T, doing it?'

What backend services are there for this type of stuff, and are there any recommendations, things people have used themselves, etc.

[thin stratus]

@wary willow Presence

[wary willow]

what? @thin stratus

[thin stratus]

That's why they are sorted in regions

[wary willow]

http://projects.kmi.open.ac.uk/presence/

?

[thin stratus]

The hosting uses presence

Presence is a thing that checks for Servers based on your friends and your region

[wary willow]

Oh, you're talking about Steam

[thin stratus]

Yes

And if you deactivate that, you register to the master server

like good old counter strike

[wary willow]

And we can do that in engine?

[thin stratus]

(Which is broken for dedicated servers)

brb ranked game

[fierce birch]

isn't that what the dedicated server PR is about?

which epic refuses to accept

[wary willow]

Sooo

hm

[fierce birch]

https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/pull/2135

oh, update 2 days ago

I just wanted to let everyone know that this pull request has been assigned to one of our engineers, and is currently waiting to be reviewed. Unfortunately we do not have any expected time frame for when that will take place.

wonder why it took so long for them to even take a look at that

after all, PR was made almost one year ago

@thin stratus does that work without dedicated servers? like with listen?

(bypassing region setting)

[thin stratus]

Ok so

Dedicated Servers can't have presence

It makes no sense to have it if you think about it

[fierce birch]

but you have to find them

do note that I know nothing 😄

[thin stratus]

Steam added presence to their server things so that people get matched with others out of their region and friendlists

For example for matchmaking in Counter Strike GO

(afaik)

[wary willow]

Right

[thin stratus]

If you deactivate it (it's a boolean in c++, not exposed to BP)

[wary willow]

Damn newbs

[thin stratus]

you get the normal, old, Server Browser

with IP

[wary willow]

But that's an easy thing

[thin stratus]

Even as a Listen Server

[fierce birch]

I don't get why is region and friendlists connected?

your friends could be anywhere in the globe

[wary willow]

that's the reason

So you can play with your friends

[thin stratus]

It's not connected

It takes both into account

afaik

[fierce birch]

I mean the feature

[thin stratus]

But it's broken shit

So many games have problems with finding games

[fierce birch]

you'd think they would be two different options

[wary willow]

Oh

[thin stratus]

Like Dead By Daylight

[wary willow]

I agree

[thin stratus]

Rocket League uses their own Server browsing

that's why it's working so well

[wary willow]

Hmm, so what's the "easiest" way to accomplish a world server

Obviously with a dedicated server setup

[thin stratus]

Pull the PR that Olento linked

[high lotus]

(lan on mars)

[thin stratus]

And then you can host them

Otherwise the Dedicated Server doesn't register correctly

and will not get listed

[wary willow]

So, they don't use Steam's server system at all @thin stratus ?

[fierce birch]

is this related? https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?73739-Master-Server-with-Unreal-Engine-4-Plugin

[thin stratus]

On the MasterSErver

Ranked brbr

[fierce birch]

RL has crossplatform play too

you'd think they need custom solution to be able to connect different networks (steam, ps4)

I'm still curious about the listen server approach with steam

[wary willow]

?

[fierce birch]

I really should look into ue4 networking more

[wary willow]

Listen Server is UE4 implementation

Not Steam'

[fierce birch]

yes

[wary willow]

s

I think it's fun

[fierce birch]

but I mean if you want to host a game that can be found globally

[wary willow]

It's a lot to learn though

But once you get the basics down, it's manageable I suppose

[fierce birch]

without doing dedicated server

[wary willow]

Ah

Yeah, that's probably not going to happen

And I think for good reason tbh

Latency

[fierce birch]

I'd want to know the limitations though

latency is one thing

[wary willow]

Latency would be the major factor

Other than that?

Listen server can cheat

[fierce birch]

but steam cuts regions still even there would be acceptable connection

cheating sure

[wary willow]

But, that's just overall thing, nothing to relate to global

Define "acceptable"

Because battle.net never was able to do it

[fierce birch]

for example, in RL, we get great pings to middle east servers

[wary willow]

You might...

[fierce birch]

from finland

[wary willow]

Right

TBH, even in the states

[thin stratus]

Boys

[fierce birch]

I can even get to UK players by default settings I think

[thin stratus]

Host as ListenServer

[wary willow]

We suffer a lot

[fierce birch]

and that's close

[thin stratus]

With Presence off

And you have a global listen Server

[wary willow]

oh?

Sweet

[fierce birch]

so that's possible out of the box?

[wary willow]

just not dedicated

?

that's not bad

[fierce birch]

that's all I wanted to know 😃

[wary willow]

but I still have to go into C++ to toggle that off

need to find where that is exactly

[fierce birch]

I know cheating will be a problem, but would love to still keep listen servers as primary option to guarantee there's always maximum amount of games you can attend

having gamers split by regions will be a death sentence to small indie games MP

you can still allow players to run dedicated servers too if that kind of thing gains traction

about the cheating

I just played Grid 2 online yesterday.. I haven't played that game for ages

one player hosts automatically the game there

but yeah, that was the first time I've seen people cheating on that game

[wary willow]

haha

[fierce birch]

host bypassed all timers on time trials

[wary willow]

wow

[fierce birch]

and also warped into finish on a long race with his friend

I didn't stick on there for long, makes no sense trying to race against people like those

same thing happened to other online racer (blur)

when that kind of games get older, they seem to start get infested with cheaters only

but then again, we don't live in a world where we can always host dedicated servers infinite amount of time around the globe either, especially if the game isn't a huge hit

so, compromizes have to be made

[wary willow]

Yeah, but for game jams

(which is why I was curious about it in the first place)

this could be a good solution

[fierce birch]

yeah, listen would be good

[wary willow]

so we don't have to do the stupid steam region trick thing

[thin stratus]

Sorry for not reading your posts so fast

ranked games are long and puases are short

Ehm the boolean is passed when you create the session in c++

so that's not that easy to just turn off

you can use the plugin though

[fierce birch]

I just saw it on your blog post

http://cedric.bnslv.de/sessions-in-cpp/

(the related bool)

[thin stratus]

Yep

And it can totally be

that the PR for dedicated Servers

is needed for that too

idk if listen servers register correctly to the master server

[fierce birch]

I guess it's fast to test though

just set two steam clients to different download regions

or, different enough regions

[thin stratus]

Well, it's more like checking if you can find the Server in the Server List by searching its ip

[golden granite]

@thin stratus Do you know if it's possible for a client to host the dedi and act as a client without being server?

[thin stratus]

Hm

[golden granite]

eg: dedi + client + client, not client server + client

[thin stratus]

So there is only

Dedi

Which is no client

And listen

with is client + server

anything else not really a thing

[golden granite]

Yes, but I was wondering if it were possible to run dedi on same machine as client

so if you say don't have a server to host dedi on

but you want to write the code as though there will never be a client server, but only dedi

[thin stratus]

Well yeah that should be possible

despite steam

[golden granite]

yeah, that's what I was thinking. steam might be a problem

but you could still theoretically release a dedi package. steam does that for CSGO and such

[thin stratus]

Yes

That might work

Otherwise Idk how steam works

[golden granite]

Was thinking it would be great if you could bundle them though, so player could click 'launch server' and good to go

[thin stratus]

Well it tells you it can't run both

if you try

but that might be just a steam restriction if you use the same account

and not a tool

[golden granite]

ah

well off to fun-time aka work aka sarcastic-land

[thin stratus]

Have fun (:

[native axle]

@sharp sequoia Haven't fixed it yet

@thin stratus Tried setting velocity manually but that also didn't work

I forgot to mention that it's only with replicate movement off

Seems like the character movement component doesn't work on the client side

So you can't use velocity or pretty much any character stuff to move besides addactorlocation / setactorlocation

[thin stratus]

Hm, well you can if you actually replicate it

So set it everywhere via multicast

If that still doesn't work, then no idea

[slender cloud]

has anyone tried using the blueprint multiplayer tutorial for an actual project? Does it work okay?

[wary willow]

@slender cloud why wouldn't it?

It works as intended EXCEPT for the LAN

LAN is broke

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Can't do everything right ;0

[slender cloud]

Ahhh, ok. I saw on the foriums that was broken, but the only complaints were on LAN

[wary willow]

Right, LAN is broke, which I'd like to look at soonish

Because it can't be that hard to fix

[thin stratus]

Hm?

[wary willow]

Too much on menu/front end side of things though

I wish he had actually covered what the tutorial series was named

@thin stratus the bp mp series, LAN is broken with it

Either he didn't set it up right or just something was off

I never looked into it myself because I just followed along and just got back into looking into MP

[slender cloud]

I just want it for a VR multiplayer project. Just need a friend with vive to test with and figure out how to put only hands showing on the player and full body for everyone else. Already went through the tuturial making the system though

[wary willow]

ahhh

Well, you have to do something else for VR

Maybe it's fixed by now

[thin stratus]

Are you talking about that Lobby thing

on Youtube?

[wary willow]

@thin stratus yes

[thin stratus]

Because that's probably broken af

[wary willow]

It was

[slender cloud]

In the latest tut it was updated for one VR user

[wary willow]

I didn't like the series myself

Basically, UMG x 10000000000000

[thin stratus]

The series is just not good

period

[wary willow]

You should make one!

Or, I might, if I ever get good

[fierce birch]

but they only took like almost year to make that

[slender cloud]

Thats the other issue I am having. I cant ever get 3D widgets to work, even with the new widget interaction componant

[wary willow]

I know the basics now

But, there a lot of new stuff in 4.14

like Replication Conditions

that came from C++

[fierce birch]

epic should definitely hire cedric to make one 😄

[thin stratus]

I would be stupid to make a proper Lobby tutorial

I'm selling one after all

[wary willow]

lol

Well

You could Make Yours even better?

[thin stratus]

Mine is pretty good

[wary willow]

And just make a barebones version tutorial?

[slender cloud]

whats it called?

[wary willow]

Probably Muliplayer Lobby

[thin stratus]

Multiplayer Systems

On the Marketplace

[wary willow]

damn close

[thin stratus]

Should rename it at some point

[fierce birch]

https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/lobby-chat-group-and-more

[thin stratus]

But there is also a small chat and party system in it

so /shrug

And no, there is no "barebones"

Either you make a working lobby or not

[wary willow]

That's my point, you don't need chat

[slender cloud]

haha right on. I would rather buy an out of the box then beat my head trying to make one. I do mostly art

[wary willow]

@thin stratus Could you implement voice?

[thin stratus]

In BP only?

How? :D

[wary willow]

That's what I am wondering

Maybe plugin then?

[fierce birch]

there was that plugin I just linked a while ago

[wary willow]

$$$$

[thin stratus]

If I ever make a plugin, then my Audio viz

[fierce birch]

or was it another?

[slender cloud]

I think steam has that built in doesn't it?

[fierce birch]

I think there was one to get voice working though

[thin stratus]

Steam, yes. The Subystem, i don't know

But yeah, about the tutorial on youtube:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?129778-quot-Blueprint-Multiplayer-quot-Video-Series-is-teaching-a-lot-of-wrong-things

[fierce birch]

I personally hate voice chat on every online game I play with random people

text chats are bad enough already

voice is 10x worse

people just can't behave

[thin stratus]

True

[slender cloud]

Its a must for games like siege though or Onward

[thin stratus]

Kinda. In the higher overwatch elo it's actually ok

[fierce birch]

yeah, I get the need for more serious games

but casual gameplay and people are idiots

😄

[wary willow]

"more serious games"

wtf

Unless it's like Arma

[fierce birch]

more serious gameplay I mean

[wary willow]

Even then...

[thin stratus]

Competetive

[fierce birch]

you can play games at many skill levels

yeah

[wary willow]

Competitive gaming is not more serious and can't be more fun with voice...

[cloud ledge]

I need to make a complex voice chat in my game

[wary willow]

Imagine playing League with a PUG

And it had Voice enabled..

oh god, the horror

[thin stratus]

League is the worst example

[wary willow]

But that's my point

[thin stratus]

it's the most toxic community you can ever have

[wary willow]

95% of competitive gaming is?

[thin stratus]

Take overwatch, the Voice chat i nthe higher elo is ok

[slender cloud]

@thin stratus that system looks awesome man! Does it have teams built in or would I just implem,ent myself?

[cloud ledge]

I didn't notice if you talked about voice chat stuff for UE4 above?

[fierce birch]

I can see how voice is nice for co-op games though

[thin stratus]

@slender cloud Build in

[wary willow]

You haven't experienced ANY toxicity in Overwatch?!

[cloud ledge]

Is there anything I can use for voice in UE4?

[thin stratus]

@wary willow Not in the voice chat

[wary willow]

Nice

I haven't played

[cloud ledge]

Ideally, we need a multi-channel solution, not just one voice channel but two channels (or more)

[thin stratus]

Written, yes

[wary willow]

And I won't, I would never get anything done

[thin stratus]

Lower elo voice chat might have frustrated people

[wary willow]

League scarred me for life

[thin stratus]

but most people don't even join that on lower elo

league is just bad

the community is dead

Brain dead*

[wary willow]

😉

[thin stratus]

I mean, if the company needs a tribunal for players

then you already know how fucked up the community is

[wary willow]

Well tribunal sucked anyway

it had so many false positives

and spam reporters

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[cloud ledge]

Our game is supposed to have one really bad voice chat channel

And one good one

The former being highly distorted

[thin stratus]

I got banned for a week because I told the top laner to build armor instead of mr against 3 AD/1AP/1Sup where one AD was already starting to snowball

ggwp riot

Haven't played the game for a few months

[wary willow]

I can't remember when I quit, sometime back in March I think

I always want to go back and troll as teemo

[thin stratus]

I think I stopped before the kled guy came out

or something like that

anyway, time for bed

[golden granite]

@thin stratus LoL ranked is byfar the worst part of LoL

I usually play normals and ARAM, thought it would be fun to play ranked. What a freaking mistake that was! It felt like I was playing with people well below average IQ in almost every game.

[vivid siren]

I posted this in #mobile but I'll throw it here too just in case:

"Hey guys, I'm trying to make a multiplayer app on android but there's hardly any useful docs on it. I've seen that Google Play Services is often used with UE4 to keep track of achievements and leaderboards, but no realtime multiplayer. However, google gave this tutorial: https://developers.google.com/games/services/cpp/realtimeMultiplayer
Any ideas on how I could do this stuff?
I have a week to develop a working prototype for a multiplayer android app made in UE4, so this is starting to get stressful"

[thin stratus]

@vivid siren I'm not directly sure, but I think GooglePlay is not exposed to the Subsystem

I mean

for Session stuff

How it normally works is, that UE4 has wrappers for the Subsystems

Such as Steam

So if you call "Create Session" or "Find Sessions" etc, it grabs the current Subsystem implementation and uses that.
Means, if you use Steam, it uses Steam, if you use Playstation4, it uses PS4

You might want to check if the googlePlay stuff is also wrapped

If not, you need to manually include the googleplay library and implement it yourself via the docs of google

As Epic is not really responsible for google stuff

[thorn merlin]

@thin stratus I replied to @vivid siren in mobile - basically right now I use HTTP and my own webservice, but I really think if someone made a plugin that used firebase to provide these services to unreal engine, they'd earn some decent money

(from android devs)

[thin stratus]

Isn't there already one?

[thorn merlin]

if there is im going to kick myself really hard lol

[thin stratus]

I think I saw stuff like that on the forums

Lemme check

[thorn merlin]

I linked a java solution thats on the marketplace over there

a firebase solution would be awesome tho

[thin stratus]

Ok can't find it through the search

don't have the time to scan the subforums

Wouldn't firebase mean you need to implement callbacks to their database and setup your own master server etc?