multiplayer

[thin stratus]

But I doubt that

[past bear]

it's too reliable an issue for it to be a network data corruption issue

so it's got to be a bug

at this point, I'm leaning heavily towards 'Epic's bug'

because this should be impossible in blueprints

[thin stratus]

Do you have a callstack?

[ripe raptor]

Ok, stupid suggestion

[thin stratus]

Probably also not

[past bear]

no, no call stack because it doesn't crash or anything, just boots the client

I do have the entire log

[thin stratus]

Yeah okay, so for debugging, please hook the process of the game up to VS next time

And break point the if

Only thing you can do

That should give you a callstack

and show the flags

Given you used the right symbols

[ripe raptor]

There was a critical navmesh bug some weeks ago that was caused by the VS compiler fucking up a single bit operation or some such. Maybe it's a similar thing?

[pallid mesa]

is there any stat command equivalent for network profiling in real time?

[thin stratus]

netprofile?

[past bear]

Ergh, I'll need to talk to QA and see if they even have anyone who can debug that

[ripe raptor]

is QA in the same building as you?

[past bear]

nope 😄

[thin stratus]

QA should have someone

Otherwise don't call them QA :D

[ripe raptor]

can you go and hook up a second PC next to your PC and debug like that? 😄

[thin stratus]

Can't you just debug with a friend?

Or NDA?

Or is that still the project with that weird backend?

[past bear]

I've got a whole office full of people, but I'll need a copy of the server build

and yeah, we have a horrifying server backend

[thin stratus]

Hmpf, you COULD start a listen server :D

[past bear]

fortunately that has gotten simpler due to budget constraints

nothing like trying to locally debug a game that runs on sharded network infrastructure 😄

[pallid mesa]

mh I see the network profiler but I cannot see the widget with green numbers I could output on screen

I cannot remember the dang command ay :(

[thin stratus]

Ahh

Sorry, you mean the graphs and shit

Eeehm

[pallid mesa]

yesh

[thin stratus]

You could print the commands

There is that button somewhere in the tab menu

[pallid mesa]

true!

it doesn't show up in this contextual menu

even threading is there, nothing about net

[thin stratus]

http://www.kosmokleaner.de/ownsoft/UE4CVarBrowser.html

[pallid mesa]

ay this web is wonderful!

thanks!

[thin stratus]

Can't guarantee it's complete

[pallid mesa]

what I saw aswell is that the net profile docu on the epic's side is a bit obsolete

this web doesn't show up composed commands

like "stat fps"

or "stat unit" even "stat unitgraph"

[thin stratus]

Well did you find the button?

[pallid mesa]

yes I did but nothing about network shows up here 🤷

[thin stratus]

dumpconsolecommands maybe?

Idk if that's already doing that anyway

Maybe there is no network realtime graph :x

[pallid mesa]

but there was, I mean, I used it x_o

with a friend of mine in front of me

I'll ask my friend maybe he remembers the command

I'll post it here afterwards If i find it out

as easy as stat net

xD

[rain coral]

when using a Replicated variable for replicating movement to other clients, it really only updates fast enough if the client keeps moving all the time. if they stand still for a bit or the game is just starting, it becomes super choppy and no interpolation can save it.
is there something that can be done or are we not supposed to use replicated variables for constantly updating things like movement?

[past bear]

you need to look into client-side simulation with server-side correction, I suspect

[rain coral]

oh I should specify, this is for updating the other clients, not yourself

[past bear]

same deal

[rain coral]

are you suggesting that the server multicasts their inputs to all clients, and let them simulate them?

[past bear]

not necessarily inputs, but you'll want something along those lines

[rain coral]

any recommended reading/videos for this? it feels like everyone suggests different approaches.

[past bear]

unfortunately I don't know enough about the topic to recommend any particular material

@sterile pebble , @thin stratus , @ripe raptor - digging into the new logs I have from last night's failed tests, I think the client has the bIsServer flag

this would explain a lot.

[thin stratus]

lol

That's retrieved in the function from the conenction

How does that work

[past bear]

fuck knows

may need to go and bang some people's heads together

[thin stratus]

const bool bIsServer = Connection->Driver->IsServer();

gg

[pallid mesa]

@rain coral check this answer my Zak M, It's all you need to know https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/479211/what-is-the-best-way-to-smooth-player-movement-for.html

[rain coral]

thanks!

[pallid mesa]

Also I have a BP version of client side movement smoothing

So if you have any question about a BP approach just ask. I didnt need to do it on C++ but would be a bit different as the post tells

[rain coral]

that's alright, using C++, just gonna read through and see if it clears some things up

I see, that makes sense, that the gameplay related volume is updated instantly while the mesh is offsetting and moving towards its root. sounds like something I might try. out of curiosity, since this is using the 'Replicate movement' flag, is that a reliable multicast under the hood, do you think?
in which case, is there a performance implication of updating it that often?

[past bear]

I suspect it's not reliable for performance reasons

I could be wrong, however

[manic pine]

you can raise MinNetUpdateRate

dynamic update rate will turn down the rate if no updates have been necessary for a little while

its probably not-reliable because old movement updates are pointless

[rain coral]

I see.
hmm, seems this won't work for me, as 'Replicate movement' only works on the root, and I'm moving only a sub object of the root for technical reasons

[manic pine]

the subobject is replicated and has replicated movement too?

[rain coral]

it's a BoxComponent. it doesn't ahve the Replicate Movement flag, only the Pawn itself does

seems like raising MinNetUpdateRate from 2 to something like 20 works well when doing my own smoothing though. not sure what that means for performance. at the very least the movement itself can't throttle down so low every time there is no movement for a bit

[manic pine]

it makes no change for actors which were moving/being replicated normally, but it increases cpu and bandwidth requirements for idle actors

[ripe raptor]

@past bear - Don't you have a way to definitely ensure that the code path is only activated on the server? I mean other than the IsServer check. Does the "HasAuthority" macro also use the IsServer check?

[past bear]

I believe it does, under the hood

[ripe raptor]

I suppose

You could do it the hacky way and do GetGameMode -> Is Valid

Now if your clients have game modes then you have bigger problems 😄

[pallid mesa]

IsServer && IsLocallyControlled ensures that only the server client will execute the piece of code

[ripe raptor]

A bit unrelated but has anyone here used the new-ish AssetManager to load stuff?

primary assets and stuff

[past bear]

I changed the chain of execution, so we'll see what happens

so it's now GameState(server) -> GameState(client) -> PC(client)

[ripe raptor]

If that fails too I strongly suggest just doing that hacky server check (See if the game mode exists)

That can't fail theoretically

[past bear]

yeah, I can give it a go

I wouldn't be surprised if that also fails xD

it's a mystery to me how this game even runs at all

[ripe raptor]

Held together by prayer

[twin juniper]

@thin stratus morning

[pallid mesa]

heh' i feel dumbie now, how much of a big deal is that this is called on tick? The RPC only updates position on the server and refreshes an on rep notify variable that does the smoothing

that only happens if the object is flying btw

but a reliable RPC called on the tick... 😓 😅 💦

I could create something like: C if(GetTime() >= LastNetUpdate + DeltaTimeBetweenNetUpdates){ DoThings(); LastNetUpdate = GetTime(); } If someone could input something on this would be so sweet

[ripe raptor]

If it's calledevery tick there is no reason for it to be reliable.

You can do a reliable one every ~0.5 seconds or whatever to ensure nothing goes wrong

just to validate the position

[pallid mesa]

An additional one?

@ripe raptor

[ripe raptor]

ServerSetLocation and a separate ServerSetLocationReliable. Fire the former one whenever you need it and the latter on a timer every 0.X seconds if you want to be 100% sure that it goes through.

[pallid mesa]

if(GetTime() >= LastNetUpdate + DeltaTimeBetweenNetUpdates){
    DoThingsReliable();
    LastNetUpdate = GetTime(); 
} else {
    DoThings();
}``` Like this

[ripe raptor]

Yeah

[pallid mesa]

👌

pretty easy then, yeah makes sense :P thanks!

[ripe raptor]

That being said, don't quote me on any of that, there might be better methods to approach that. Your best bet is to wait on someone with more MP experience.

[pallid mesa]

no, but your approach makes sense, but if anything, if someone has something in mind I'm open to suggestions, I don't ask for implementations but for ideas

[manic pine]

reliable shouldnt be necessary at all.. keep in mind what reliable actually does; if it doesnt receive confirmation for the RPC, it will send it again

but are you really interested in receiving an old position update?

by the time the reliable has been re-sent, you'll already have sent multiple more unreliable ones with newer positions

[bitter oriole]

Reliable is only useful if you want to be absolutely sure that the message is received, even late

[manic pine]

yeah, great for references and more permanent stuff, but not stuff that changes constantly

[pallid mesa]

thing is that when the vehicle doesn't move

it doesnt tick

It's a vehicle so could happen

[manic pine]

well if there's a temporary connection/packet loss then neither reliable nor unreliable RPCs will get through

[pallid mesa]

wouldn't that induce a little offset

if a player is constantly forcing and stopping movement?

and for whatever reason the rpc gets missed

[bitter oriole]

The thing is, your game should keep working after heavy connection issues, and solving that (with movement replay, interpolation etc) pretty much solves every movement discrepancy you could have

[manic pine]

that, and i still dont see how a 'reliable' RPC would fix anything

[bitter oriole]

If some movement inputs arrive out of order and delayed, or never, the next updates should fix that, no matter how wrong the previous ones 😃

[pallid mesa]

so for axis inputs/gravity

something that is net frequent doing an rpc is pointless

[bitter oriole]

"reliable" only means "make sure the message is received one day"

[pallid mesa]

yeah yeah thats why I stopped thinking about the stop situation

because my vehicle doesnt replicate anything when its not moving

only updates things when player does input or whenever gravity acts in place

faked gravity btw 😅

[manic pine]

all the movement components use fake gravity ^__^

[pallid mesa]

more complex that the one I implemented by myself for sure

[bitter oriole]

For what it's worth, the UE4 multiplayer course on udemy covers a mostly complete simulated vehicle movement component

[pallid mesa]

non wheeled? pawn driven?

[bitter oriole]

It's a "car" pawn that's really just a block turning and moving, with no engine physics. Would be trivial to add gravity to that

[pallid mesa]

I mean, I have smooth net interpolation on clients based on MaxSmoothNetUpdateDistance, I know the ABC and further, just looking forward good practices

I don't use physics at all here, I only use the PHYSx for collisions without simulation turned off

[bitter oriole]

I do exactly what you're doing - vehicle movement component with simulated physics

One thing I did that was super helpful was setting every value in the packet lag simulation to extreme ones

Like 200 ping (400rtt), 10% loss, etc

When the game is smooth in these conditions, chances are you're on to something

[pallid mesa]

thing is that I'm doing it on BP's so I rely on rep notifies to do the smoothing

So I cannot use net update to do it

[bitter oriole]

BP is fine

I only use RPCs and repnotify

[pallid mesa]

as me, basically

which leads me to ask, tick rpcing, I've been scared to use it, because I mean everyone says "hey don't"

but in this case...

[bitter oriole]

I'm doing it myself, though I'm confident I could easily move RPCs out of the tick.

[pallid mesa]

I have ticked RPC's for gravity that acts only when the vehicle is floating

the other ones are on the axis inputs directly plugged in

[manic pine]

even regular movement comp does rpc on tick

though it sometimes stores up to two different moves before sending them

[pallid mesa]

how could you "easily" move out of the tick something that needs constant updating?

[bitter oriole]

Very easily

[pallid mesa]

like, doing a looping timer is... the same (with a thresold)

[bitter oriole]

Basically, I have a listen server + another client, and I have two implementations of smoothing. one for remote pawns, one for server pawns controlled by a remote player

The remote pawn smoothing is just cubic interp between server keyframes, so that can work with one update per frame or 50

The server-side smoothing of a remote-controlled pawn is more complicated

Basically, I de-queue moves that were sent from a RPC, but with a time regulation. If my tick is 16ms and the move was sent for 30ms, I will keep it in the queue, reduce its timing by 16ms, and process movement for 16ms. next frame, iif I also have 16ms tick, I will dequeue the move, and since i'll have 2ms left, i'll start processing the next one

The cool thing with that is, I could fire up movement RPC at any framerate, provided I know the time since the last one

[pallid mesa]

that requieres tick, doesnt it?

[undone girder]

Which db is the best for multiplayer games?

[thin stratus]

The one that works best for your game

[undone girder]

Hmm... What's depends on?

[thin stratus]

Well we have 0 idea what you game is about

How it should work

What data needs to be saved

Also you could technically just google "Database", which will bring you to things like MySQL etc

[torn gust]

Hey there, I want to show a message containing the player name with UMG when he joins a game ( BP code) . I am stuck at the the game mode modes On Post Login. Whatever i tried, i can´t get it right. Do you know a good tutorial on this one ? All i get is lobby systems or simliar but no direkt tutorial on this one ( might search for the wrong stuff).

[undone girder]

@thin stratus it's role-play multiplayer for 200/300 person maximum.

[thin stratus]

UE4s default Server can't even handle that I guess

They got recently reworked a bit for Fornite and that has maximum of 100 Players

But yeah, despite that, just check the general database stuff on google.
There is nothing UE4 specific

[undone girder]

Oh shiet. So even I can use MongoDB?

[thin stratus]

If MongoDB is proper for such game, yes

It's a C++ Engine

So get the C++ Libs for MongoDB and you should be fine

[undone girder]

Okey, thanks for help.

[twin juniper]

@thin stratus i finally figured out how to get linux working with dedi's

lolol

[jolly siren]

Has anyone gotten NumOpenPublicConnections to work with steam and dedicated servers? It always shows 0 for me. I thought it was an issue with app id 480, but I'm not on that anymore and it's still always reporting 0.

https://issues.unrealengine.com/issue/UE-45381

This says "won't fix" but also has a target fix of 4.19, so not really sure what to make of that

[valid python]

I'm trying to override SeamlessTravelTo so that I can copy over things from the previous player state. For some reason my overriden method isn't getting called, it's only calling the base method.

[grand kestrel]

@thin stratus there isn't an actual cap fyi, gotta optimize better

But yeah >100 is pretty intense

[thin stratus]

There is a limit of optimization

[grand kestrel]

Yep

[thin stratus]

Which can only be extended by rewriting epics classes

[grand kestrel]

Btw did you hear something about epic acquiring the crackdown developer and bringing in the large world work they did

I saw someone mention it but haven't looked myself

At least if that happened it could be helpful

[bitter oriole]

So many people planning for 300 online players, and Lawbreakers currently has 17 online

Maybe aim a bit lower than that

[grand kestrel]

Dead game is dead 😛

[grand kestrel]

Has anyone used Spatial OS for UE4? I have one major question, they do their own replication/networking layer instead of using UE4's , so if I use Spatial OS to handle physics, is it only the physics code that I have to do with their networking or does the whole project need to be converted?

[twin juniper]

https://i.imgur.com/zJxHyJ3.png

anyone know how to resolve this

i found some info saying it has to do with changing a replicated variable on tick

but i dont believe im doing this..

[torn gust]

Hey again. So i have found some solutions and broke them right afterwards. I ask again, is there a dokumentation on how to announce a Player when joining to all other clients ? I tried to save new Players to the Game Instance and then send the Player names to the UMG but i can´t find the best way its verry buggy and just not right

As if nobody is doing it. I tried to search every term that coul match this question and used site:forums.unrealengine.com + question and still found no thread about it. Why is that ?

[grand kestrel]

@torn gust OnPostLogin in GameMode, just keep in mind clients can't see the game mode so you'll have to send the notification elsewhere

[charred tulip]

So hidden and collision disabled characters get destroyed on the client's side but stick around on the server's side. anyway to stop that behavior?

[twin juniper]

Is there a max number of variables

you can replicate?

[torn gust]

@grand kestrel i tried that at first, it never replicated well. So the game instance worked once - hm. Gamemode -> OnPostLogin -> Send new player controller to game instance and game instance replicates to all ?

[grand kestrel]

@torn gust Create an RPC in the player controller set as 'run on owning client' and reliable, have the game mode call it from OnPostLogin

Or better yet

Have the game state with the RPC

The game state is accessible to players

Which means all of them can be notified of a player joining

[charred tulip]

yeah that's what I was about to say

I use the game state alot to replicate stuff all in one central place

[torn gust]

Ah nice. I´ll try that ! Thanks i will check that

[grand kestrel]

Yeah and its easily accessible from anywhere

[charred tulip]

yeah just get game state -> Cast to your game state

isnt the game instance used to travel across levels?

yeah just looked it up. that's what I thought

[torn gust]

The thing is, i kinda unlearn every step that worked because new things break the learning progress. Sometimes i think, yeah it should work like that. But then it just stopped working. Gets worse with every try that fails. Well i never heard or used the game state. But that is worth a try.

Do i need to set vars on replicated inside this game state or not ? I am so uncertain when to do that. I do understand OnRep Notify though that was kinda easy.

[fossil spoke]

You set an Variable to be Replicated if you want its value to be updated to all Clients if the Server changes its value.

[torn gust]

And this is also true for the game state ? ( If true, i can see a pattern and understand)

[fossil spoke]

Its true across all Actors

[torn gust]

Thanks @fossil spoke 😃

[torn gust]

Hm seems to work now. Big thanks to you @grand kestrel @charred tulip and @fossil spoke

[charred tulip]

yay!

[fossil spoke]

Awesome

[torn gust]

But i have to delay it a tiny amount. IF two Player join to close to another in time, it can´t do it right. So you Spawn, Gamestate register the player controller and after a small delay the controller announces to the world its name to all controller that have the announce widget

Hm. It got the feeling it could be done better but i have no comparision. The Widget also loops through an array, so that it displays one announced player name at a time ( client based but the name var comes from server)

Looks smooth. Don´t know if its stable enough.

[fossil spoke]

Why dont you just call an Multicast RPC in the GameState from OnPostLogin and pass the PlayersName?

The Multicast could call an function that handles displaying an new UI element with that Players name.

[torn gust]

Hm i tried that before. Would be great. But how do i sort these Ui elements ? The older ones need to sort further down and fade out and newer ones need to slide in from above

[fossil spoke]

Well thats something for you to work out. You will need to Queue them

[torn gust]

I guess grid panel could be used. It has rows and colums and i could switch them right ?

[fossil spoke]

Pretty simple really. Its just adding an element to an list and removing the older ones after a period of time

[torn gust]

Or reorder to be specific

[grand kestrel]

How often do you guys rebuild the server binaries

After every change that you deploy to your server? Or major changes?

[fossil spoke]

My build server runs an full rebuild every night. I usually wait to the next day.

[torn gust]

@fossil spoke so i should clear them all and then rebuild them ? There is not insert at index option so i guess it has to be rebuild to reorder

[fossil spoke]

Yes

[torn gust]

Its working. I add childs ( max 4 ) for each feed update and if there is an update to the feed it just reorders the text. After a while they fade out if they aren´t updated

It looks ok but i guess i have to polish it . Thanks again.

[fossil spoke]

No worries.

[twin juniper]

Hey, anyone here who's gone through Amazon Gamelift integration? Or familiar with cmake?

[thin stratus]

Doesn't GameLift provide a ready Plugin?

[past bear]

heh, so my RPC issue has come back to me again

GameState(server) is tripping calling a function on GameState(client)

shit's fucked, yo.

if I can't do that, what the heck can I do?

[bitter oriole]

That's messed

[thin stratus]

@past bear You mean Multicast?

[past bear]

it's not multicast

[thin stratus]

A ClientRPC on the GameState makes no sense

At least that's what "Server calling function on Client" tells me :x

[past bear]

it is a client RPC and I don't see why it makes no sense

[thin stratus]

Because the GameState is not owned by any client

[severe widget]

GameState is owned by the server

so like

what client does it call

[thin stratus]

You are reaching the Server again basically

ClientRPCs only work if a Client owns the actor, otherwise the Server has no idea what client it should call that rpc on

[past bear]

it works locally when testing with multiple clients

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[ripe raptor]

Anyone here know if there are any issues with replicating nested structs?

or rather, nested arrays of structs

I have something not replicating properly on the initial join. Meaning the client joins the server and gets the wrong info until the server updates it again

[pallid mesa]

btw @bitter oriole I took your advice and tested on lag situations up to 300 ms, smooth as butter and I'm happy lol

thanks to that I noticed my Blueprint resetted its defaults because I had a replication turned on I didn't need

[bitter oriole]

Cool !

[twin juniper]

@thin stratus GameLift SDK needs to be compiled using CMake which I have no experience with and I honestly can't find online how to set it up properly running those commands. Really need some help as I can't even start testing it :/

[zenith yarrow]

Any idea why I can connect to a lan session using STEAM onlinesubsystem, but cannot switch to the correct map in the server listen url on connection ? instead the client transfers to the default map ?

[past bear]

okay, so after a fair bit of rummaging in the depths of the Internet, I have concluded that our multiplayer problem is an issue specific to 4.18.1

[ripe raptor]

So upgrade / downgrade the engine and it's gone? 😛

[past bear]

hopefully

pushing for an upgrade to 4.18.2

from what I could gather from the AH posts to do with recent replication errors, there's a problem with something like a pointer mismatch

[thin stratus]

@twin juniper But only if you use the client sdk in UE4

The serversdk is given as a plugin

[past bear]

so server and client are pointing at different things - and as a result the returned error message is a bit of a red herring

[twin juniper]

@thin stratus It is, but I need to compile the C++ SDK file to get .dll and .lib files generated and this CMake thing is making everything so complicated for me 😦

[thin stratus]

I can send you the server sdk if you want

Thought it was precompiled

[twin juniper]

the one that is uploaded on git?

[thin stratus]

As said, there is a Server and a Client SDK

[twin juniper]

I already tried the unoficcial plugin with the .dll and .lib files generated but UE4 editor won't open after I import it saying the version is not compatible, etc

Yeah, I'm setting up the Server SDK for now

[thin stratus]

And you need the Libs of the SDK

Not the ones for UE4, right?

These

Because the UE4 ones don't need cmake

[twin juniper]

Yeah, these should be generated if you can compile to files with CMake. But I already have those from the unofficial plugin from here https://github.com/davevill/UE4-GameLift

And then I try to put the supposedly compiled plugin into my Plugin's folder, then generate Virtual Studio files and update the build.cs and .uproject files but when I try to compile it, it cannot locate the Gamelift SDK

I don't know, I'm sitting on this for the third day straight, maybe I should give up and cry for a bit 😄

[thin stratus]

The error would be nice

That you get when compiling

Also did you regenerate project files after adding the plugin?

[twin juniper]

Yeah, I did everything as said in the tutorial. So you would confirm that the unofficial plugin should allow me to use it even without cmake shenanigans?

Give me a sec, I'll try to to reproduce the errors

[zenith yarrow]

I have tried adding ?bIsLanMatch to the serverURL, also tried chaning the source and destination to maps to use bUseSeamlessTravel = true, the connecting client still does not switch to the correct server url and loads the default map seamlessly , I am having trouble understanding why this happens with steam onlinesubsystem for lan matches ?

[ripe raptor]

So

no matter what I do, I can't get my array of structs to replicate

or rather, it replicates if I change it after the client connects

but when the client connets they get an empty array initially

[twin juniper]

@thin stratus I'm getting
"requires the 'GameLiftServerSDK' plugin. Install it and try again, or remove it from the required plugin list.1"

[thin stratus]

And you have that plugin added?

And you also recompiled your project (c++)?

[twin juniper]

All source files in module "Project" must include the same precompiled header first. Currently "C:\Users\PC\Desktop\Project\Source\Project\Project.h" is included by most of the source files. The following source files are not including "

This as well

I get different errors if I use "GameLift" instead of "GameLiftServerSDK" as described in some blogs

[thin stratus]

The "Must include same header" is easy to solve

Your cpp files

need #include "Project.h" at the top

All of them

Which engine version are you using?

@twin juniper

[twin juniper]

4.17, I'll repeat everything again just to be sure

another thing in the tutorial it has this line:

using UnrealBuildTool;

public class MyAwesomeGame : ModuleRules
{
public MyAwesomeGame(TargetInfo Target)

and by default, I have:

public MyAwesomeGame(ReadOnlyRules Target) Base: Target

So I was wondering whether this is causing problems in my build.cs

[zenith yarrow]

Has anyone here used steam onlinesubsystem successfully for lan matches ?

[twin juniper]

i got a ton of these little warnings

https://i.imgur.com/zJxHyJ3.png

anyone know what they mean/what i should do to f ix this issue

[past bear]

it means bad things are happening

I can only tell you what the error message is saying though, I don't have your project

whatever you're doing, it's trying to resynch whole actors every tick it seems

[twin juniper]

@past bear im not doing any tick tho

on those actors!

[past bear]

you're doing something

[twin juniper]

is there any way i can dig deeper

and find where it could be occuring?

o3o

[past bear]

you'd be better off looking up reasons why it would replicate an entire actor history

[twin juniper]

it also doesnt seem to be doing it

all the time

lol

@past bear have u had this before

[past bear]

no

my guess is you're updating too many variables too frequently

[ripe raptor]

Is there an easy way to distinguish whether or not I'm currently hosting a session?

IsAuthority will return true even if it's a single player game so...

[thin stratus]

IsServer?

[ripe raptor]

THat doesn't return true when offline?

[thin stratus]

Idk, try it :D

Usually you are kinda aware if you are online or not

Cause it's your game after all

[agile crane]

Hey guys, I'm sorry for asking this once again but can anyone here help me setup a server for my multiplayer game being able to find server online? A lot of stuff are done and working in my game but I'm searching and searching how to setup a server and all I see is dedicated server and its c++ and Idk how to c++...

Can anyone here setup a server and a hosting site for me? I mean, I will buy the hosting site myself but Idk how to setup and I don't know which hosting site I should use. If anyone can setup and make a working server for me I will PAY YOU. I'm excited asf to release my multiplayer game and c++ for me is not possible.

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP. IM ABOUT TO GIVE UP FOR MY MULTIPLAYER GAME. I have no experience in c++ and I need someone else help please thanks 😄

[ripe raptor]

Well yeah but I thought I'd avoid adding flags for that if there are built in ones already

[bitter oriole]

@ripe raptor GetNetMode()

[agile crane]

If anyone can help me setup a server I could pay you.

[ripe raptor]

@bitter oriole - Yea the IsServer BP node uses GetNetMode, neat

@agile crane - A few things... first of all, you are way over your head if you don't know C++ and want to set up dedicated servers. If you want to do listen servers, that's a different thing but also not quite for beginners. "Setting up a site" won't cut it if you can't maintain it, no matter how much you pay. You'd have to have someone on payroll to maintain it for you.

[agile crane]

Yeah but... is it at least possible for me to buy a hosting site and works in blueprint and or at least a hosting site tutorial how to setup it for any UE4 multiplayer game? Cause if there is a tutorial how to setup it even in c++ I could try doing it since it will be a tutorial, ot myself doing the c++ thing.

[thin stratus]

Idk what you want with the hosting site

[agile crane]

Like

I don't really know about multiplayer server thing

Idk how to play online with other

everything works lan for me.

[thin stratus]

Two things

• Direct IP connection
• MasterServer

Master Server would give you a ServerList

Either you code that thing yourself (which I doubt you can without C++ experience), or you use a Subsystem that gives you one

Steam would be one

(takes a cut of your earnings of course)

So if you want online Multiplayer with Listen or Dedicated Servers appearing in a ServerList, implement Steam OnlineSubsystem

There are tutorials about that

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane You need a private server, meaning a computer hosted on the Internet, for your dedicated esrver software

Not just a website hosting

A full Linux / Windows machine, even if a virtual one

[thin stratus]

After you've done that, it doesn'T matter if you host the Server executable on your PC, a Friends PC, your calculator with wifi or some server on the web

[agile crane]

Thanks for the info. But Idk how to setup all of these things myself sadly.

[thin stratus]

Then you should stop right here and learn it

No one of us can magically give you all of that

[agile crane]

If anyone can link me a tutorial or help me please

[thin stratus]

There is no overall tutorial

There are tutorials to create Dedicated Servers

Well enough written to blindly follow

And there are tutorials for Steam Subsystem too

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Online server cost money, too - something like $20 a month for something that can host UE4 games, I'd guess.

[agile crane]

I tried adding Steam subsystem and such but I cannot join online or find server

[ripe raptor]

I think the first thing you need to really decide is whether you really need a dedicated server, or will a master server + listen servers suffice.

[thin stratus]

@bitter oriole Wouldn't throw prices in

[agile crane]

I have money

so I can't worry.

[bitter oriole]

Just saying it's also a consideration

[agile crane]

What about master server? Can someone explain to me more in detail?

[bitter oriole]

Might be double that, or half

[thin stratus]

GameLift for example host you with a free tier server around 10 instances i would say

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane For Steam you need your game to be sold on Steam

[thin stratus]

And costs 170€ /month

Instance count can change per game

[agile crane]

My game is a fan game. I cannot sold it on Steam.

[bitter oriole]

Then you can't use Steam for online stuff

[agile crane]

Yeah rip

[thin stratus]

You can't sell your game at all then

[agile crane]

I will not

[thin stratus]

But I think even free stuff with copyright isn't allowed on Steam

[agile crane]

yeah, but I don't really want to do it on steam anyway

[thin stratus]

Well getting a MasterServer to work requires knowledge about programming, databases etc.

[agile crane]

So for setup a server I need to make a dedicated server first, and which site I should get for host the game forever?

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Basically, online multiplayer game are extremely hard to pull off successfully, especially if you're new to game development. It's very hard to do, you need to master many different fields, it costs money, etc.

(you don't host a game on a site)

[agile crane]

I have 2 years of UE4 experience

[bitter oriole]

(you host games on a private server)

[thin stratus]

Yeah and you rent these private servers

Monthly/Yearly

[agile crane]

yeah but, which site I should get?

[thin stratus]

Have no recommendations for that

Amazon maybe

[agile crane]

Amazon...?

Aws?

[thin stratus]

Yeah Amazon has cloud computing for example

Yeah

Expensive though

[bitter oriole]

You rent them, based on what hardware you need for your game, install your server remotely, and then create another server software that people connect to to find the IP address of an available game server (that's called a master server)

[thin stratus]

So might want to compare prizes

[bitter oriole]

This is pretty fucking hard, having done all of that myself once

[agile crane]

Yeah but, how do I setup the master server?

By c++? or a hosting site?

[thin stratus]

You code your software in your wanted language

c++, c#, node etc

Which is connected to a local database

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Completely indepent project you'll take a few months to create

[thin stratus]

That database holds information about the serveres

And should sit on a static ip that never changes

well that static ip belongs to the server you host it on

[bitter oriole]

I wrote my master server in Python, and I wrote another one in C++

[thin stratus]

e.g. aws server instance

[agile crane]

But I'm confused since Idk how to c++ nor setup any site nor c++ unless a dedicated server since its on youtube.

[thin stratus]

Then you perform HTTP calls from GameServer to MasterServer for adding, updating and removing entries

And use HTTP calls from client to retrieve a list of servers

Yeah well, it's too much for you atm

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Master server development isn't Youtube tutorial level

It's actually fairly easy, but no one has a tutorial for that

People use Steam for that, most of the time

[agile crane]

And its c++ I guess?

[thin stratus]

It's hard to suggest anything at this point

You need to learn a programming language if you want to do that

[bitter oriole]

C++, Python, PHP...

[ripe raptor]

You can code it any programming language.

[agile crane]

not blueprint tho?

[bitter oriole]

Not UE4

[ripe raptor]

It's not even connected to UE4

It's just a stand-alone application that will handle HTTP requests

[bitter oriole]

Your master server would be a 100% independent program that doesn't have any UE4 in it

You need to learn sockets, databases and wrap that together

[agile crane]

alright

Is gamesparks can work too?

I heard gamesparks is for multiplayer but matchmaking only

[ripe raptor]

Your master server is for matchmaking.

And yes, gamesparks can do that.

[agile crane]

I don't want to do matchmaking.

[ripe raptor]

Although I only used it with Unity.

[agile crane]

Only server browser

[bitter oriole]

That's what a master server does

[ripe raptor]

Server browser is manual matchmaking.

[bitter oriole]

Your master server is the software that gives players a list of games in the server browser

[ripe raptor]

The underlying principle is the same. Get a bunch of users together and create a game instance for them.

[agile crane]

alright, I don't know where I should learn for setup a master server tho, that's the problem for me.

Master server sounds like the thing I really need

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Learn Python, learn sockets

Then learn MySQL

Then you can create a master server

Easiest way

[agile crane]

Sooo hard.... I'm not a c++ dev..

:c

[bitter oriole]

Welcome to doing a multiplayer game

Also known as "pretty fucking hard"

[agile crane]

For indie game dev its pretty much

i really need someone to make it for me

If someone can do that I will pay.

[bitter oriole]

No one's going to make it for you

[agile crane]

yeah rip

[bitter oriole]

FWIW I've been in a lot of indie projects

The number 1 rule is do it yourself

No one's going to do it for you

[agile crane]

Yea pretty much

[bitter oriole]

Even when you get a team of 15 like I did once

Or 30 like another time

The guy who's driving everyone is the one who's doing half of everything alone

[agile crane]

alright

Also, can gamesparks do server browser?

[bitter oriole]

Sure, but it will take just as much work compared to doing it yourself in Python or something

And money

[agile crane]

Yeah

[thin stratus]

GameSparks has "Collections" that could be used to save a JSON of ServerData

But yeah, also not directly straight forward to implement.

[bitter oriole]

Get a Python tutorial, it's easy, it's beginner-friendly, and as someone who did create a Python master server once, it's a great tool for the job

[agile crane]

Sounds hard.

[ripe raptor]

MP is hard

[bitter oriole]

Hell, PHP on a website hosting service would also work

[agile crane]

Also, is there anything on the marketplace that can be useful?

[bitter oriole]

You're not going to find a Youtube tutorial, marketplace asset for everything

You need patience and time

Just learn

[agile crane]

Learn but Idk where that's the problem and it must take like multiple years for learn c++ and know what I'm doing for create a master server.

[bitter oriole]

Any multiplayer game takes multiple years

And again, C++ isn't what I suggested 😉

Though you'll need C++ on the UE4 side, but that's another concern

[agile crane]

python or smth but I'm not a coder

[thin stratus]

Well the problem is that you are looking at learning how to do a MasterServer

While you need to look at "How to learn XY programming language" first

You need to start with small steps

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane The only thing that can prevent you from doing what you want is not wanting to learn what you need

You've been told what you need

I wish I had people to tell me that a decade ago

[thin stratus]

You know by know that you need a MasterServer and a Database

So choose a language

[agile crane]

Why can the game works lan and not online tho? Its what I don't understand, why can't the game find server anywhere?

[thin stratus]

go to google/youtube

and learn the language

Because there is no MasterServer

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Because the Internet doesn't work that way

You can't look up every computer to ask if there's a server

[thin stratus]

LAN just spams the "HERE IS MY SERVER" to all people in your LAN

[ripe raptor]

You have a wooden stick at best and you're asking for instant instructions on how to move a mountain. Unfortunately as hard as this sounds this is way out of your league at this point, find some Python 101 tutorials, learn the basics of code, once you got the basics down focus on ports, SQL and databases. THEN you will not only have the knowledge for the master server but also good fundamentals to actually develop your multiplayer game.

[thin stratus]

For Internet, you need the MasterServer that saves the Server information of each server of your game that is up and running

And the client can ask that

[agile crane]

It might take a few years right?

[ripe raptor]

Yes

It WILL take a few years

[thin stratus]

It took me 3-4 :P

[agile crane]

yeah I give up

I will cancel my game.

All my effort will be gone.

[thin stratus]

Yeah I would start smaller and learn programming in general first (written not BPs)

You can always continue it

Once you learned more

[ripe raptor]

I once heard an awesome saying

Success is like pregnancy.

[agile crane]

like not really, my game is a fan game and soon the fan base of the game will die and it will be too late

[ripe raptor]

Everyone congratulates you but no one knows how many times you got fucked before you got there.

[thin stratus]

@agile crane Well that's sad, but the truth is that "just" creating your multiplayer fan game is not easiyl possible without knowledge and training

[ripe raptor]

You need to do your time in the trenches like everyone else.

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane You can also give up, sure. Or you can take a few years of hard work to do it. But there isn't a third way.

[thin stratus]

Even if UE4 makes it easy for beginners

[agile crane]

But thanks for the info

[thin stratus]

Well it's less few years, it's probably weeks/months to learn that

It depends on how fast you learn

[agile crane]

Also

If I make a dedicated server right now, could it work?

Like, if I open the server on my pc

and hosting the server myself

in certain time, since I'm using my pc everyday

[thin stratus]

If you make a Dedicated Server now, and you would start that on your PC without any subsystem (SubsystemNULL), and you would properly create and search sessions, yes

[agile crane]

cool

[thin stratus]

But only in your LAN

You COULD use LAN only and use Hamachi/Tunngle

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[ripe raptor]

Oh shit Hamachi... how long has it been since I've used that hah

[agile crane]

Can't I just create a dedicated server and host the server on my pc when its opened and people online can find my server?

[thin stratus]

Last time you pirate cracked a MP game! @ripe raptor

*jk

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Sure

[ripe raptor]

Actually you hit the nail on the head, just not sure when and which game it was 😄

[bitter oriole]

You'll just need to tell people your IP address

[ripe raptor]

At least 15 years ago, probably more

[bitter oriole]

So that they can connect

[thin stratus]

@agile crane "Find" no. But they can connect via IP directly

[agile crane]

wait

How? I need to send them my IP?

[ripe raptor]

Mind you, you'd need to make sure you have a static IP

[thin stratus]

@agile crane You need to send them the IP of the Person who hosts the Server

[ripe raptor]

You can just hard-code it directly into your game

[thin stratus]

http://www.whatismyip.com

• the :7777 port

[ripe raptor]

but again, it'd have to be a static IP

[thin stratus]

Which needs to be opened on the router and firewall

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane The core purpose of a master server is to tell everyone what's the IP to connect to for a given server

[agile crane]

Can't they just download my game and find my server without needing to send them the Ip or smth?

[ripe raptor]

if your IP changes every time you reset your modem, no dice.

[thin stratus]

@ripe raptor Only if he doesn'T want to upade the up daily :D

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane Yes, with a master server

There just isn't anything magical about it

[thin stratus]

A MasterServer is basically saving the IP of each server that is up

And sends these infos to the client on demand

[ripe raptor]

@thin stratus - I think it was probably AvP2, but that had LAN support, right?

[agile crane]

I throught if I make a dedicated server when its on on my pc people could join my game online without me giving them my private info or IP

[thin stratus]

@ripe raptor Buh, idk. I can't recall when I last used Hamachi

[ripe raptor]

Your IP isn't private info.

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane You thought wrong

And your IP will always be public, if you're using it to host game servers.

Whether you have a master server or not

People need to know your IP to connect to it

[ripe raptor]

Anyhow, gotta run, take care guys.

[bitter oriole]

That's how Internet works

That's why people use private servers (that and many other reasons like network speed, uptime, electricity cost)

[agile crane]

yeah, so rip my game

[thin stratus]

@agile crane

Two types of connection:

• Direct IP
• ServerList (MasterServer that tells the Client the IPs)

LAN supports both, as LAN doesn't need a MasterServer. It just asks all PCs if they are hosting.
INTERNET only supports Direct IP by default. ServerList needs the MasterServer.

Doesn't matter if DedicatedServer or ListenServer

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane For what it's worth, I did exactly all that years ago, before UE4. It's not impossibly hard. You just need time, patience, learning.

[agile crane]

Yeah but as I said I don't code nor I will. Or at least I need an exact tutorial on learning the basic coding for setup a server.

But thanks guys for the info, I learned something. And my game is now canceled.

[bitter oriole]

You're never doing any real game without coding. Even with UE4 and Blueprints, you're always going to need some features that use C++

Code is a core game development skill

[agile crane]

What about non mp game?

I can make them without c++

[bitter oriole]

A production-quality game with a full settings menu, display settings, audio settings, key bindings... ?

I mean, it's not impossible, but C++ is pretty handy for that kind of stuff.

[agile crane]

Yeah, I'm sure in the future we won't need to do any of these thing for a mp game, we could just find server anywhere, which would be the future.

[bitter oriole]

Well, you can

With Steam

Because Steam provided the master server

[thin stratus]

Multiplayer in UE4 requires C++ at some point

[agile crane]

that make me sad, its a fan game I cannot sell the game, nor make it free

[thin stratus]

Blueprints only allow you to do as much as Epic exposes by default

[agile crane]

My game are uploaded on a indie game site

[thin stratus]

So yeah, Multiplayer will force you to use C++ or a Plugin at some point

[agile crane]

but if I upload the game in steam the server could work fine auto?

[bitter oriole]

You could implement a server browser without creating a master server, yes

[agile crane]

yeah, that make me depressed sooo much

cause its a fan game, I cannot add it on steam

like for real

that's sad

[bitter oriole]

Fan games are just a bad idea anyway

Best case scenario, no one plays it ; worst case, you end up fined to death

[agile crane]

What if steam allows me to upload the game? For free.

I need to ask the original game creator first

[bitter oriole]

Steam charges $100 for your game

• lots of work to set it up

[agile crane]

Yeah ikr

[pallid mesa]

didn't it... increase?

[bitter oriole]

It didn't

(it decreased, for all purposes)

[pallid mesa]

mh 🤔 i might read something wrong

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane My advice would be to do a singleplayer game

[agile crane]

I did multiple game

If you want to see them I can link it

[pallid mesa]

multiple or multiplayer?

[bitter oriole]

I mean a great singleplayer game that peopke talk about, that a few thousand people play

[agile crane]

I did multiple free games

some are complete and playable

since 2 years I'm making games

And ik alot in UE4 blueprint

So I think the only way for make my multiplayer game is to probably ask Steam or the original creator if they allow it for free on steam

Or make a matchmaking with gamesparks

[pallid mesa]

there are always things to learn mean, don't be so "I know everything" xD

[bitter oriole]

Steam won't allow it for free ot not

[agile crane]

yeah

[bitter oriole]

Anyway, if you want to get into multiplayer, Steam is a pretty good idea because no one will know about your game if it's not there. You'll need money, you'll need your game to not be a fan game

If you really want to do a fan game then sure

Just learn how to create a master server

If you're all "I give up it's too hard" then okay, but whining about it won't help

[agile crane]

Yeah that's the truth.

I wonder if this can really make a working matchmaking.. https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/fps-battle-royale-template

If it can works I could try at least adding a matchmaking

could be one step

I just bought it, never tried it anyway

I will try if the matchmaking works.

[bitter oriole]

It won't

Online matchmaking requires a master server

There is just no going around this simple fact

[agile crane]

Read the marketplace object description please

Idk if he's lying

[bitter oriole]

He's not, he's telling you that you'll need a Gamespark plugin, which will require a Gamesparks server, that you used to create a master server

Or he's using Steam

[agile crane]

But can it works if I package the project and send it to someone and we could find each other in the matchmaking?

oh yeah that could be true..

[bitter oriole]

Matchmaking simply does not happen in UE4, so no UE4 plugin can do it

It does not happen on the server

It does not happen on the client

[worn nymph]

yes gamesparks can do that using the realtime api but its limited to 50 players

[bitter oriole]

It happens on a master server, somewhere, either a Steam one, or a PlayStation Network one

Or yours

[agile crane]

I already created my gamesparks account and code and matchmaking node thing and I already downloaded the plugin

Idk if it could work anyway

I will try it now

[bitter oriole]

Don't know anything about Gamesparks, so I dunno, maybe they provide master server features out of the box

Good luck

[agile crane]

Thanks so much, and thanks everyone for your info. I will try the best I can.

Even inside the game project it doesn't seems to want to make the matchmaking working, I cannot create one nor find one, well rip. I guess I need a master server

Thanks for the info.

[bitter oriole]

@agile crane For what it's worth, with the right pointers, you can get a master server running in a week

PHP server with MySQL on any website hosting service, and basic HTTP requests from UE4

[agile crane]

Alright, do you have anywhere I could learn how to setup that or learn the good code? Cause I don't want to learn every code for few years just for make that.

[bitter oriole]

Start with a PHP tutorial that tells you how to create a website with databases

Once you've got that, you'll just need to tell UE4 to "go to http://mymasterserver.com/register-game.php" or "go to http://mymasterserver.com/get-server-list.php"

Probably need C++ for that last part 😃

[agile crane]

Wait...

I cannot open the site

it sais it does not exist or something

[bitter oriole]

sigh

It's just an example

When you rent website hosting, you either get a domain name, or at least a static IP address

[pallid mesa]

the mmorpg kit contains good examples for php communication with a masterserver iirc

so you need to talk with your website and then handle things with your back-end

For example, Player Pepito buys a gun with an in game in-come, you will make then a call to your API to refresh Pepito's purchased items

[bitter oriole]

Perks of using PHP for your master server :

• easiest, most documented language there is
• you can do a real website on the side (that shows the server list too)
• super high-level approach without technical details
• no private server needed for that, regular web hosting works

[pallid mesa]

yeah php is nice, but is not the only approach, you could build your own API with node, golang, js... up to you actually, but php is easy for the facts stranger posted

[bitter oriole]

I've actually had a C++ matchmaking server as a side project, didn't keep working on it since Steam is closer to what I really want (play with friends)

[manic pine]

so many bad memories from matchmaking call of duty

[bitter oriole]

Was pretty much a C++11 exercise, no database on disk, everything in memory

[next falcon]

Hey Guys can i make a function only executed by server ?
if a widget calls a function in playerstate it will only for the player not for the server how can i call the function as server from a widget without a custom event i need that end values of the function in the widget

[worn nymph]

@next falcon only ways to do it are Function call Event or Event call a Function both can be passed parameters. maybe explain in more detail what it is youre trying to do and people can assist you further

[next falcon]

I have a Inventory Array in my playerstate which is displayed as a widget if i dragdrop a item from my hotbar to my inventory which is in playerstate too. in my playerstate i have a function to add that item and returns a bool which displays if it worked and a "Rest" int what can't be added. if the bool is true it was added and with a branch i execute another function which removes a item from the hotbar if it is false it doesn't remove the item

[twin juniper]

NetServerMaxTickRate=30

is there anything wrong

with changing this

to something higher?

by default dedi servers are set to 30

[pallid mesa]

you can do it, but under the expense that the server tick rate will be higher meaning thatif you do server side simulated physics or something similar that relies on tick, it will be updated more often which means more bandwidth usage

@twin juniper

I didn't explain myself very good but I think you'll get it

in UT that's set to 60

[twin juniper]

@pallid mesa is it really?

so would 60 be a fair value to use?

or is that too high lol

[pallid mesa]

yes, it was at 30 before

[twin juniper]

like im just wondering

[pallid mesa]

for an MMO like in your case I would default it to 30

[twin juniper]

hm

I'm trying to figure out how to get it to be at 30 fps stably

But It seems to be lagging down to 20~ from NPCs

and AI stuff

character movement component mostly

[pallid mesa]

server tick rate is more related to networking, not refresh rate

client side simulations will run with the local delta

for cmc what you do is basically update positions on the server and interpolate on the clients those lil offsets between updates

so 30 or 60, is kinda noticeable for a game that requieres precission

[twin juniper]

@pallid mesa my issue is that fps goes down to as low as 6

but i profile it

and its all char move comp

[pallid mesa]

you sure

it's pretty strange for you to have 6 fps coming from nowhere

[twin juniper]

@pallid mesa yeah its from char move comp

[pallid mesa]

are you doing custom?

[twin juniper]

@pallid mesa yeah but im only overriding GetMaxSpeed()

So this happens every 15 seconds btw

https://i.imgur.com/hWGNP6o.png

I have it print stringing the server fps to log

u see how it goes down to 9??

its ridiculous

[pallid mesa]

yeah I see, but I can't tell what it could be without more information, try to up it to 60' server side ~ dunno if that would help btw

[twin juniper]

yea

but what would be the side affects

of boosting to 60 fps

is there any harm to it

is my worry

[pallid mesa]

yes

i already explained them to you if you scroll up @twin juniper

[twin juniper]

oh

more bandwidth

[manic pine]

and cpu

its just more frequent tick functions

with no limit, the server will run as fast as the cpu allows

you usually limit it to save on server costs, or to run multiple servers on one machine, or whatever

but it doesnt 'boost' your fps... if you already have < 30 fps, removing the cap wont do anything

[twin juniper]

ok

[pallid mesa]

yes thats why I said that shouldn't be the main root of your problem

and for a game like yours 30 should be more than enough

[twin juniper]

ok

i need to figure this out tho coz

its on a VM lol

its running on a ubuntu machine

so i wont be able to profile it from there

[pallid mesa]

oh. That explains a lot. The server uses CPU and RAM

check out your ram usage server side

[twin juniper]

the server has

16 gb of ram lol

i checked

sec

[pallid mesa]

not sure how good would be employ virtualisation for a server environment, never did it before

only on native systems

[twin juniper]

https://i.imgur.com/Yu1LUoh.png

see

it never really went too high lol

this vps has a ton of memory

[pallid mesa]

yeah looks reasonable to me

[twin juniper]

its pretty expensive too

lol

so like i would hope that isnt the problem

[pallid mesa]

I would need to research about VM's on the topic and how common that is.

[twin juniper]

weird thing is

on average when the server is idle

its at about 20-30 fps

and i had 3 players on yestrerday

and it was still stable

but it would sometimes dip

to 6 fps

but then 15 seconds later it would be fine

[pallid mesa]

no reason?, something triggered it?

[twin juniper]

i mean none that i know of lol

when i do profiling

all i see is

"CharacterMovementComponent"

Lol

[pallid mesa]

yeah the cmc takes a good chunk of it, but shouldn't cause you those hiccups with 3 clients

3 clients is like nothing

[twin juniper]

honestly tho

i never noticed any lag

in game lol

[pallid mesa]

I runned 40 clients on a windows server no problems at all in a blueprint only project

[twin juniper]

lol

[pallid mesa]

so there should be something else

keep posting your problem and maybe tomorrow or tonight someone could hop in and help you a little bit more, there is nothing I can say right now with the current data I have =/

[twin juniper]

:p

i really cant wait until 4.19

because evidently they added features

to profile on cloud platforms

[pallid mesa]

yes, 4.19 is already a sweet version on its preview

I wouldn't recommend you to update to the preview

because of stability and things like that

[twin juniper]

yea

im hoping to move to digital ocean

[pallid mesa]

so yeah... good luck with it, keep profiling and instead looking at cmc as the main problem take an overall look on any ticking code you could be doing

[twin juniper]

once i got the performance working lol

[pallid mesa]

mh... take a look at the pricing

[twin juniper]

its not too bad

but this current server

i think i could run three servers on it

maybe 4?

because one is only taking a small amount of RAM

[versed socket]

Am struggling with how to implement an interaction system. My first impression was to create a TriggerBox volume component on the Character that allows the player to call an OnInteract interface function whenever an actor that implements the interface overlaps with the trigger box. However, the problem with doing it this way is that it only works for one interaction per interactable object (i.e. turning a light on and off). What if I want an actor to have more than one interaction?

I'm thinking that I would need to create some kind of interaction enum so that I can switch off of it to decide how to react and then make this into a "CanInteract" actor component that somehow binds itself to the player's input... but then binding it to a player input directly would only work for single player...

[manic pine]

probably better to do a raycast than a triggerbox

[thin stratus]

Well the interface idea is correct

Line trace or overlap doesnt matter

[manic pine]

interface or component?

[thin stratus]

That's up to him how he wants to interact (linetrace or overlap)

[manic pine]

well with line trace you can have it when youre looking at it, instead of standing close to it but looking away

but yeah

maybe have interface return a list of possible interactions

[thin stratus]

@versed socket variable number of interactions can be done by passing a simple integer

But maybe i didn't understand what you exactly want

[versed socket]

I agree that LineTrace makes a lot of sense for this, but it'd have to be OnTick or on a timer... and the first thing I ever learned about Unreal was "never use Tick"

[manic pine]

everything uses tick

[thin stratus]

You can linetrace on tick

[versed socket]

Well obviously, yeah

[thin stratus]

That's not what never use tick is about

[manic pine]

its just to prevent newbies from using tick for everything

including stuff that only needs to be done once per minute

[versed socket]

I don't know, I've gotten pretty far using events and timers everywhere and avoiding tick at all costs based on the advice I've always heard on the official UE4 live streams

[manic pine]

timers run on tick too

^____^

[versed socket]

I know

[manic pine]

well youre free to use a timer for your linetrace as well

[thin stratus]

You are free to use tick, timer, overlap, input event

[manic pine]

and overlap volume runs every tick

[thin stratus]

Whatever suits your needs for your game

Question is what you mean with multiple interactions

[manic pine]

i assumed multiple things like you can pick up the tv or turn it on/off

[versed socket]

Yeah of course

[thin stratus]

Hm

You can make an interface function that returns an array of possible operations

[versed socket]

If an interactable actor overlaps with my trigger volume, I will figure out what kind of interactions are available from that actor and display it on the UI. Question is, how to actually implement that.

[thin stratus]

For example strings

[versed socket]

That's a good idea!

[thin stratus]

And then pass the string via the onInteract

[versed socket]

That's a very good idea, @thin stratus

[thin stratus]

And switch on string in the actor to then react to it

Array can be used to populate a widget, like a list or so

[versed socket]

So I would do, OnBeginOverlap, a call to an interface function like fn_GetInteractions(), which gives me an enum array. I pass that enum array to the HUD, which will make my UI update with the possible interactions. OnEndOverlap, I will simply tell the HUD to remove the child components or to just itself from parent altogether.

This is great! Thanks so much @thin stratus

[thin stratus]

Would not use an enum though

Just strings

[versed socket]

Is the reason because we would use the string as what we actually display on the UI as the interaction option itself?

[thin stratus]

Thaz enum would otherwise constantly need to be extended and would contain all different options even if only the tv can change channels

[versed socket]

That's a good point

And if we switch on a string, it can be more specific

[thin stratus]

Yop

Anyway bed time. Good luck!

[opaque tinsel]

has anyone work with execute console command server travel? because im having problems where i would load into a black screen which isnt the map that i chose

[versed socket]

@opaque tinsel I've had that issue in the past as well. I think that it only has to do with the PIE thing. Try seeing if it still happens when you run it in Standalone!

[opaque tinsel]

i've package the game however im still having issues

it seems like the server travel isnt being called because im not loading to the next map

[vivid fjord]

hello, does anyone know of a good database integration tutorial?

[grand kestrel]

Has anyone worked with SpatialOS? Looking for some feedback and results and thoughts on it

[hasty orchid]

Hi, I have a player start object that spawn a player, but in a multiplayer game, when a player move, the other player don't see him move. The replicate box is check on the player, do I need something else ?

[fossil spoke]

You should also check Replicate Movement @hasty orchid

[hasty orchid]

@fossil spoke It's already check

[fossil spoke]

How are you moving the Player?

[hasty orchid]

With a controller, I'm adding forces to it and rotate it

My object is like that

I'm moving the sphere

I tried to check the Component Replication of the Sphere but it's doing weird things and it's not working anyway

[fossil spoke]

Physics replication is difficult.

The amount of information required for it to be accurate is difficult to condense in order to send it across the network.

[hasty orchid]

Erf :/ What do you think is the best thing to do ?

[grand kestrel]

Would it seem reasonable for rubber banding to occur when outgoing bandwidth is averaging 460KB/s

[fossil spoke]

Send location information more periodically instead of on tick and constantly adjust clients position as the new location arrives. Not really put much thought towards Physics replication. Ive got no need for it.

[hasty orchid]

Well, my location isn't even replicate

And it's my main problem

[fossil spoke]

@grand kestrel Are you sure packets arent being dropped?

[grand kestrel]

How can I tell in the network profiler

[fossil spoke]

Make sure you dont accidentally have the NetPkt family of debug commands enabled.

[grand kestrel]

Definitely don't lol

So here's what I'm really trying to ask

We have players running with -nullrhi and our custom parameter -bot which means they pick an arbitrary direction to move in and hold down the fire button, they fire network replicated projectiles (not hitscan), they have 600RPM assault rifles and infinite ammo/clip size

So it's basically a bunch of terminals connecting to our google cloud server and running around shooting

At a player count of 40 it's fine

Around 70 they start to rubber band

Perhaps around 50/60 projectiles don't consistently spawn

[fossil spoke]

Sounds like an bottleneck

[grand kestrel]

Yeah very likely, but this is just my lack of understanding here, what causes a bottleneck with UE4's networking? When averaging 560KB/s that's nowhere near the limit for any of our connections upload or download

What is it that needs to be increased to let the data get where its going

I can't see dropped packets on this network profiler as far as I can see 😦

Server's CPU usage sits around 13%

[fossil spoke]

What version of the engine are you on?

[grand kestrel]

4.18

[fossil spoke]

Have you tried changing the rate at which projectiles are considered for replication? Little bit intoxicated atm so having trouble coming up with possible issues

[grand kestrel]

Ahh I'm not trying to resolve the bottleneck, I want to identify it

I'd like to know how to see how many players were connected at any point in the profiler and how many packets were dropped

But I'm not seeing the info

I also want to understand why a bottleneck occurs on a server not using much CPU or it's connection capacity

[fossil spoke]

Divide and Conquer? Do they rubber band at that capacity without firing any shots? Does an connected client with an RHI also feel the effects?

[grand kestrel]

Mm yeah will have to

[ripe raptor]

Did anyone here have th e pleasure of having the editor crash during multiplayer with some BP replicated variables?

[fossil spoke]

Id say alot of people have. That question is pretty broad haha.

[ripe raptor]

Well this is actually quite a specific error that's been around a while

A variable made in BP crashes the editor when it tries to replicate

it's an engine issue and I wonder if there are workarounds

[manic agate]

Did anyone try using VR in multiplayer in version 4.18?

I've got 2 PCs. One acts like the server, and opens alright. When the client tries to connect it always crashes for something related to the HMD. Here's the relevant part of the log:

Assertion failed: Component != nullptr [File:D:\Build++UE4+Release-4.18+Compile\Sync\Engine\Source\Runtime\HeadMountedDisplay\Private\LateUpdateManager.cpp] [Line: 75]

UE4Editor_Core!FDebug::AssertFailed() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.18+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\core\private\misc\assertionmacros.cpp:414]
UE4Editor_HeadMountedDisplay!FLateUpdateManager::GatherLateUpdatePrimitives() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.18+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\headmounteddisplay\private\lateupdatemanager.cpp:76]
UE4Editor_HeadMountedDisplay!FLateUpdateManager::Setup() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.18+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\headmounteddisplay\private\lateupdatemanager.cpp:20]
UE4Editor_Engine!UCameraComponent::GetCameraView() [d:\build++ue4+release-4.18+compile\sync\engine\source\runtime\engine\private\camera\cameracomponent.cpp:252]

Googling I've found another with the same error: https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/732550/assertion-failed-component-nullptr-filedbuildue4re.html

Apparently it's an engine related issue, which (it was said) will be fixxed in later releases. In the hotfixes that came out it didn't happen, but still, it's a big issue that clients can't connect in VR, so I'm guessing that others might have found a workaround... do you guys know any?

[elfin solstice]

Hello guys! I need to create an engagement screen in which I can recieve input from any controller connected to my device. The controller that press "A" (for example), will become the controller that actually controls the pawn and the game. Does anyone know how to achieve this? PM me if you want!
Any help will be useful, thank you!

[pallid mesa]

@twin juniper found out something?

[thin stratus]

@manic agate Had a VR project in 4.18 with two pcs, packaged. That works

Starting it with 2 players in VR on the same pc (which works but has the obvious camera problem) crashes similar to yours

So try to package?

[ripe raptor]

am I right to assume that you can't have RPCs in the game instance?

I answered my own question... oh well

[winged badger]

I have a problem with actor placed in level that is supposed to do an EQS query and draw a procedural mesh around my player pawns. Its NetLoadOnClient is true, and its not set to replicate, as i want it to happen locally on each machine, it affects only visibility. It works fine in 2 window PIE, but when i run two standalones it doesn't work at all.

By doesn't work at all i mean it doesn't work on clients.

[twin juniper]

@vorixo#7101 no

lol

[thin stratus]

@winged badger Code needed. Otherwise hard to debug

@ripe raptor Correct, you can't. Only exists once per game and is not replicated

[ripe raptor]

I assume the most convenient path is through the game state if I need "global" RPCs

[thin stratus]

GameState only allows Multicast

[ripe raptor]

Oh? Didn't know that

But that's fine, that's what I needed anyway

[thin stratus]

For Server or Client rpc inside the gamestate it woulf need to be owned by a client

But it's owned by the server

[manic pine]

should there be anything inherently wrong with using RestartMap on a PIE dedicated server instance(1 client) ?

[manic agate]

@thin stratus Regarding the problem with the app crashing in VR, I've actually seen that it happens even if I play without VR (with 2 players in the same PC, in PIE). Did that also happen to you?

[thin stratus]

No

When i use non vr pawns it works

Might be the motioncontroller component

[worn nymph]

@grand kestrel may sound silly but you are destroying the projectiles otherwise they will just disapear from soght but still actually exist ? also for fast fireing weapons you can object pool which might help

[manic agate]

You're probably right cedric, I'll look into that, thanks!

[cursive shard]

Hello, Can I ask if we can pass a parameter to the ReplicatedUsing function?

[twin juniper]

u shouldnt need to

[bitter oriole]

Don't believe you can

No idea what you would want to pass

[grand kestrel]

Created a program for launching bots lol
https://i.imgur.com/sc82xNV.png

Surprising how easy C# makes async tasks

[manic agate]

I've got another problem. In version 4.14 I replicated pawn's movements "manually", with a replicated variable that whenever is modified from the server updates the position of the pawn on the client:

// In my Pawn.h 
UPROPERTY(ReplicatedUsing = OnRep_UpdateActorLocation)
FVector R_ActorLocation; 

UFUNCTION()
void OnRep_UpdateActorLocation();


// In my Pawn.cpp
void AUserPawn::Tick(float DeltaSeconds)
{
    if(IsLocallyControlled())
        {
                if(Role == ROLE_Authority)
                {
                   R_ActorLocation =  GetActorLocation();
                }
                else
                {
                       // I'll omit the client case
             }
    }
}

void AUserPawn::OnRep_UpdateActorLocation()
{
    if(!IsLocallyControlled())
        SetActorLocation(R_ActorLocation);
}

This worked well. Now in 4.18 it's super laggy, or at least the it is from the client perspective: the server pawn's movements are laggy on the client, but the opposite is not true (the server sees the client move smoothly).
What changed?

Even on the same pc every multiplayer action is extremely laggy... I don't get it, it worked fine before

[manic agate]

I'm trying the network profiler, but I don't understand a thing! If I post here the comparison between what happens in 4.14 and what happens in 4.18 would anyone here be able to understand anything? I can't see any meaningful difference myself...

[bitter oriole]

@manic agate You'll need much more work than this to cleanly replicate location

Even locally, and especially over a network

It might have worked before, but without any prediction, it's going to break down in every non-trivial setup

[manic agate]

I get that, but why isn't working anymore like it used too?

Also, how would you suggest doing it?

[bitter oriole]

The problem with replicated movement is that it can't be interrupted, if you draw a frame with no update to a character or vehicle, it will show up as laggy and irregular

And on any real network, you're looking at frames with no data pretty much half the time, because packets tend to arrive in groups

You're also looking at framerate issues, because the server might run at 30fps, but you want the client to run at any speed it can

On the client side, you'll need to interpolate the transform between server updates (which might be 20 times a second, or just once) ; on the server side you'll also need some kind of smoothing

For characters, UE4 does all of this automatically, but for non-character pawns you'll need your own movement setup.

The Udemy course on UE4 multiplayer touches on all of this

[manic agate]

Thanks for the tips, I'll check that out then 😃

About the big difference between 4.14 and 4.18 do you have any ideas?

[next falcon]

Hey Guys can i make a function only executed by server ?
if a widget calls a function in playerstate it will only for the player not for the server how can i call the function as server from a widget without a custom event i need that end values of the function in the widget
Example: I have a Inventory Array in my playerstate which is displayed as a widget if i dragdrop a item from my hotbar to my inventory which is in playerstate too. in my playerstate i have a function to add that item and returns a bool which displays if it worked and a "Rest" int what can't be added. if the bool is true it was added and with a branch i execute another function which removes a item from the hotbar if it is false it doesn't remove the item

[bitter oriole]

Not at all, except I think 4.18 optimized lots of networking stuff after BR

[manic agate]

@bitter oriole I assumed that too. That's actually the main reason I switched to 4.18. This is very weird...

[bitter oriole]

An important good practice is to setup your editor to simulate lag

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/finding-network-based-exploits

[manic agate]

Oh nice link. I wanted to look into that in the next days but you beat me to it

Thanks!

[bitter oriole]

Good luck

[grand kestrel]

@bitter oriole Clumsy is the better way (imo)