multiplayer

[winged badger]

the OSS will fire HandleSessionInviteAccepted

even if accepting invite makes steam start the game up

[crystal crag]

Oh nice

[spark ivy]

hey guys small problem, im new to this but you guys might know the answer pretty quick... in multiplayer mode Player one spins on a chair and player 1 can see the chair spinning.
But player 2 if watching ... only sees player one spinning and not the chair.

[crystal crag]

Ok, so that's a pretty solid solution then. That's great. I'll have to research that. I'm building my own UI to show friends and invite / join them.

I appreciate you steering me in the correct direction Zlo! That was really helpful.

[spark ivy]

Also same with the webbrowser... if player1 changes the website only player1 sees the webbrowser change. Player2 doesnt see any change

[winged badger]

        OnSessionUserInviteAcceptedDelegate = FOnSessionUserInviteAcceptedDelegate::CreateUObject(this, &USolsticeOnlineSubsystem::HandleSessionUserInviteAccepted);
    IOnlineSubsystem* OnlineSub = IOnlineSubsystem::Get();
    
    if (OnlineSub)
    {
        const IOnlineSessionPtr Sessions = OnlineSub->GetSessionInterface();
        if (Sessions.IsValid())
        {
            OnSessionUserInviteAcceptedHandle = Sessions->AddOnSessionUserInviteAcceptedDelegate_Handle(OnSessionUserInviteAcceptedDelegate);

[crystal crag]

Ok cool

I'll take a look at that signature and see what all I can get out of it

[dark edge]

Steam and EOS are both implmentations of OnlineSubsystems. That's what I was asking you, if you were trying to get a party working on the OnlineSubystem level or INSIDE a specific server.

[dark edge]

Listen server right? With Player 1 being host?

Your replication setup isn't set up right. Show how you're spinning the chair.

[lean surge]

Hey all, so I use a setup in PIE that is a listen server and a client. For some reason, though, when I hit play and the server and client pawns are instantiated (this happens through the game mode) the client instantiated pawn does not have its owning connection set. Output log is as follows (when trying to send an RPC to the server from a client pawn):

LogNet: Warning: UNetDriver::ProcessRemoteFunction: No owning connection for actor BP_ThirdPersonCharacter_C_1. Function RPC_Server_UpdatePing will not be processed.

I've overriden some functions in my game mode class such as OnPostLogin, so am I supposed to be doing something there? Nothing internal (engine code or unet code) has been modified in the slightest, so does anyone have any knowledge of issues that could cause this?

[spark ivy]

ok is that the same for the webbrowser TV?

[dark edge]

idk probably

[sick acorn]

how to sync server and client ticks???

[bitter oriole]

You can't

[sick acorn]

Yeah got it. Look, I have a train in the game and it moves on the client and on the server, but I don’t understand how to synchronize them, since the client is faster than the server by 1 tick, I wrote the math correctly

[bitter oriole]

You'd normally use some shared game time and play it based on that

[sick acorn]

I don't really understand why?

[sick acorn]

Can you give me where I can read about it?

[bitter oriole]

Synchronising objects between client and server is like, the entire multiplayer support. It's the problem. There's a different solution for every situation. For a train, since you likely have an idea of when it's going to start, or what its position should be, you'd simply define it based on the server time, and have your clients use that too. GameState has a basic version of a shared time

[sick acorn]

Yes, but why do I need time??

how will this help me

[bitter oriole]

Because you'll do train location = FVector(Speed * (CurrentSharedTime - TrainStartTime))

There, completely synchronised train

[cyan drift]

Hello, I'm attaching the characters to a moving platform, but to the clients the character keeps jittering a lot even with the platform not moving(it works fine if i don't emulate lag, but it is impossible not having lag). It starts jittering on the moment I attach the player. It don't happen if I uncheck the replicate movement. There's some way for it to work with replicate movement?

[spark ivy]

ok thanks ill check it out

[leaden atlas]

that's not working for me

[graceful flame]

Finally solved it. It had to do with "Use Controller Desired Rotation" vs "Use Controller Rotation Pitch/Yaw". So much time wasted on this ughhhh....

[leaden atlas]

unpossess isn't called on client

[dark edge]

That doesn't sound right.

2 clients = 2 controllers

Client 2 should never be getting input meant for Client 1 unless there's something routing it to both, either on the OS level or the Unreal Editor level or something

Did it replicate with 2 launched instances or only in PIE?

[graceful flame]

Still having issues working on resolving other things to get 2 launched instances connected in a session, but so far fixed on PIE.

Can't find the session with a standalone launched instance, but can find and connect to it with standalone mode PIE.

For some reason both launched standalone instances have to recompile all shaders. So it basically stalls. I'll have to do a fully packaged build overnight and test it in the AM.

[dark edge]

Have you tried just right clicking the uproject file and hitting launch game?

[graceful flame]

ill give it a shot

I'm also on 5.1 direct from ue5-main so that might have something to do with it lol

yeah it still has to recompile all shaders when I right click the uproject file and go launch game.

[loud steeple]

i put this function of print just to see if it s working or not
and the print worked perfectly
Hello show up after 3 second when the all the players join
the exact problem it s when i try to Travel from a level to an other
and i think the problem came from the difference of the Unreal version
i m using Unreal Engine 5

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/687204008783249433/987120227387068426/unknown.png

[winged badger]

try increasing your DDC size in BaseEngine.ini

[graceful flame]

Hmm the logs indicate that there is no DDC.ddp file being generated anywhere.

[regal geyser]

Can I run event in PlayerController that is going to trigger only on the owning client? If I understand it correctly every client gets its own PlayerController, but does he also own it? I'm trying to call event from Server RPC to Owning Client RPC, but it's only triggered on Server (all from inside of PlayerController)

[regal geyser]

When I print get owner from inside character it prints his player controller, but when from inside of that player controller I call Owning Client RPC it isn't triggered..

[loud steeple]

are you making a transition ??

[fathom aspen]

Yes PC is client owned. And yes you can run client and server RPCs in the PC. I'm not sure what you mean by "from...to...". You would need to show us some code

[latent heart]

Unreliable you'd use for something like look direction which is updated constantly so it doesn't matter if it misses a few.

[wicked brook]

Does anyone know how to visualize the server position to see the difference in the server and proxy positions? I thought there was like a debug command or something but I cant remember and google not coming up with anything for me.

[latent heart]

Well, the server and client don't know each other's positions.

How would you visualise it?

Only thing you could do is visualise the on rep for the position on the client.

[sharp pagoda]

Hello everyone!

I'm having a bit of trouble with multicast RPC at the moment (UE5). The multicast function is getting called in server and the chain of ownership is correct too, as far as I can tell. However, that multicast function is only getting called at the server and is not being broadcasted to all the connected clients. What could I be doing wrong and where should I start looking?

For some context, what I'm trying to do is really basic. The function only sets variables in an ActorComponent.

[shell forum]

What kind of actor is it on?

I had a similar problem and it was an ownership issue

[sharp pagoda]

From the GameMode itself

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Got it. Thanks! I think I'll review the networking compendium. 🙂

[winged badger]

there is p.ShowNetCorrections i think

you won't be able to see position on the other side, but you'll see debug capsules when server corrects the client position

[lean surge]

Hey all! I just implemented a lag compensation system for attacking in my project, and it's pretty normal, it saves the transforms of each pawn on the server in the last x seconds and then when someone wants to attack instead of just doing the attack logic it gets the location of each pawn not at the current time, but at the current time - the pawn's current ping and uses those locations in the attack logic instead of every pawn's current one.

This is all very standard, except I'm wondering; Is it sensible, when getting the locations of each pawn to account for ping, to not get the location that was current ping seconds ago, and to instead get the location that was (current ping * 2) seconds ago? This reasoning comes from how the server also takes time to replicate the pawns' positions to each client. Can anyone advise me for or against this idea?

P.S.: I tried to explain this as best as I can, except I still feel it isn't very clear so if anyone needs more info to help me with this, feel free to ask.

[shell forum]

I think it’s better for the receiving clients to have a slight delay than to introduce any additional latency to the attacking client, essentially causing his attack to lag on his end.

This is obviously without knowing how your attack works or the mechanics of your game.

[lean surge]

I completely forgot to mention; when a player "attacks" their attack request is sent and attack logic is handled on the server. This is to restrict cheating heavily and is the entire reason why I need this system in place.

[regal geyser]

Well its rather straighforward, in PlayerController on Begin Play I call Server RPC InitializePlayer, from within this event I also call Assign Quests, this event calls another event from GameMode that sets players quests on server. Now what I want is after the quests are set, client should spawn all of them as actors (Quests is array of classes from which client spawns objects)

I tried to call Owner RPC Assign Quests right after Server RPC Assign Quests but it's only being triggered on server, or rather host because I use listen server

[shell forum]

Understood, well in that case I wouldn’t multiply ping x2 since other players have different pings.

So if someone with 100ms attacks

And someone else has 10 ms

Then it will be glitchy if it’s blindly multiplied by 2

[lean surge]

I see your point and agree, thanks for the help

[chrome bay]

Sorry thought you meant pawn - yeah Unpossess is not called client-side for controllers.

[dreamy terrace]

Is there a weird thing with UE5's physics thresholds? I've been making the UE5 VR template into a multiplayer template but I've noticed that editor placed physics actors will not start simulating on the client unless they are a certain distance away from other actors. eg the yellow boxes in the template will just hover if they are within about 10cm of another surface.

[torpid girder]

Hi, i was wondering, with UE5 would there be any processing offloaded to a GPU for a dedicated server?

[winged badger]

it won't

you can't really count on most dedicated servers to have a GPU worth offloading stuff to

so even if you could do it, there would be little point to it

[wicked brook]

That’s what I was looking for. Thanks

[hybrid zodiac]

Hi all, I had a question earlier which wasn't picked up. When I run stat net in the console, does anyone know what the in/out rate (bytes) actually refers to. Is this the amount of data in bytes being sent/received per tick, or per second? I'm trying to arrive at a basic figure of how much data the server is having to upload, and how much the clients are having to download per second. If each client is receiving 4kb per second, that's fine, if they're receiving 4kb per tick, that's an issue potentially...

[winged badger]

its per second

[fresh chasm]

Hello, I was wondering if replicating 10 arrays of length 1 has approximately the same network usage as replicating 1 array of length 10?

[chrome bay]

no

1 array would be preferable

[fresh chasm]

Alright thank you, I'll stay with one array

btw I saw your article on your website for creating an inventory with UObjects, and that was very helpful !

[hybrid zodiac]

@winged badgerAwesome, thanks!

[glossy plover]

How can I allow clients to trigger a "Run on server" custom event on an actor in the scene? In my case i have a balloon; if a character hit the balloon actor it calls an event on the balloon which adds a force impulse to itself...(i think) the problem is that event is not run because the character does not own the balloon. I know I could stick the event in the gamestate instead (and Run on Server from there instead)...but this is seems messy seeing as the force is specific to this balloon actor

[latent heart]

Route it through the player controller

"InteractedWithActor(BalloonActor)"

[glossy plover]

Thanks....ive routed it through the player controller, and works ok that way....but i notice that the replication on clients looks stuttering (the force added to the balloon create a lot of quick spinning and stuff)....so currently the server is adding the impulse force and then the clients are replicating the balloon movement. Would it be better to turn off movement replication and instead multicast the event, so that all client adds the force locally?

Note that increasing the network update frequency on the balloon to, for example, 1000 seems to smooth it out, but i'm assuming that is a bad idea to rely on crazy fast network updates? (also it's not an issue with a bunch of network corrections)

oh wait having all clients add the force locally is not an option anyways due to my first point 😐

[dark edge]

No. Do not multicast.

[winged badger]

and you can't send a server RPC from GameState

[dark edge]

Replicating physics movement is a whole topic unto itself. There's a ton of tuning settings in the project settings and you also want to experiment with applying forces and impulses on server only or everywhere. It's not just a fire and forget setup

[dark edge]

If you were to multicast event and not replicate movement, the balloon would move on all machines, but it wouldn't be the same. I might see it go left, and you might see you go right. Who's correct?

[glossy plover]

I'm assuming force is deterministic, so all results should be fairly similar, then resync at the end of the force, so: 1) Pause replication on movement 2) Apply force locally 3) Unpause replication

[dark edge]

Now if it's not important to game play at all, you can just simulate physics locally everywhere.

Is this for gameplay or is it just cosmetics?

[glossy plover]

It's important to gameplay

Everyone is trying to hit the balloon

[dark edge]

Then yeah, don't try to outsmart yourself. You are going to want to get the server authoritative replication working. Do you need prediction or no?

If you do need prediction, good f****** luck. It's going to be hard

[glossy plover]

prediction?

[dark edge]

When you hit the balloon, does it need to move immediately or is ping delay okay

[glossy plover]

It needs to move right away, like soccer or something

[winged badger]

physics in unreal is not deterministic

[dark edge]

Yeah you're going to have a bad time. It's doable but you will really really need to know your stuff to make it smooth and not janky with latency

[winged badger]

combined with network its a geniune nightmare

[glossy plover]

What would you suggest instead of using forces?

[dark edge]

I'm working on a multiplayer physics-based game I have one thing that makes it a lot easier. I do not need to locally predict anything. All I do is send the inputs to the server and watch things happen

[dark edge]

Read up on network prediction and lag compensation. Stuff like this is super hard because everybody is in the future on their own machine versus the server. So when you have interactions between multiple clients, like two people trying to kick the ball at the same time, things get really weird really fast.

[glossy plover]

Just move the balloon to a specific location type of thing (so kind of fake physics?) Would work better?

[dark edge]

Cuz on my screen, I kicked the ball. On your screen, you kicked the ball. Who kicked the ball?

[twilit radish]

The Rocket League video actually had a decent explanation on how they did that stuff. It's pinned in this channel 🙂

Assuming that's similar-ish

[dark edge]

Yeah this is fundamentally the same problem as rocket league and yes, I would never in a million years want to have to actually do that as a one-man show. Not going to happen.

[glossy plover]

Yeah it's pretty similar to rocket league

[dark edge]

Now, if your players are physics driven as well and you are okay with not doing local prediction, it's fairly simple. But the higher you're peeing, the longer it will take for something to happen on the screen from when you send your input

[twilit radish]

What Rocket League does is predict the ball (and even vehicles they said? But I'm still completely unsure how on earth they did that).

[dark edge]

Their approach is very complicated and it involves like rewinding and resimulating physics etc. I'm doing multiplayer physics vehicles but they are big and slow, so waiting 30 milliseconds for the throttle to increase is fine.

[twilit radish]

If you don't have to do that I would totally not yup. Their rewinding is rather crazy work. Also to be fair they swapped out their physics engine too.

[dark edge]

So if you were like making gang beasts soccer, and a little bit of slop in your controls is fine, it'd be easy.

If you try to make Unreal tournament soccer, with real snappy movement, good luck

[quasi tide]

Reject real-time. Make everything turn-based.

[winged badger]

everything is turn based, just when turns are ticks they are lying to you 😄

[pallid mesa]

funnier ticks = Always Tick Pose And Refresh Bones

[halcyon totem]

when setting up HUDs for players should the setting up of the HUD be in the player controller or the actual character?

[winged badger]

no

it should be in a class derived from HUD

and set as HUD Class in the GameMode

[dark edge]

I wish I had a good turn-based idea.

[halcyon totem]

@winged badger what if I have multiple different huds for different players?

[winged badger]

it still provides safety of being local only and 1:1 relationship with the PC

which means it will prevent you for slapping the client widget on server's screen, at minimum

if it needs to show different widgets based on player setup, if can do that just as well as character or PC could

[short arrow]

So is there a way to make a multiplayer game where players rotate towards their mouse location without it being super costly?

I've done this before in the past using event tick where the server would update and multicast everyone's new rotation, which had to be reliable to avoid lots of snapping. Safe to say I'm sure it was the cause of most of my traffic problems

[grand spire]

Hi! I'm using chaos vehicle and it works fine in single player. But in multiplayer my vehicle wheels sometimes start to fall through the floor and it occurs more frequent with more clients. At 4 clients wheels fall through the ground almost instantly and with 1 client they fall when I drift at high speeds. Any ideas on how to fix this?

[quasi tide]

I have like 2. But they're not going to be worked on until like early next year most likely 😭

[bitter oriole]

It doesn't have to be reliable, of course

It simply needs inteprolation

(And yeah, it should in fact never be reliable)

[short arrow]

ah yes I don't think i even knew about interpolation the last time I did this, thanks this should do fine!

[static garnet]

question, so im running this setup in a replicated actor, to scale the fx in it client-side with time. this works on server but not on client. however, i checked with a print node that the value that is supposed to be written to radius is indeed calculated correctly on client. it just doesnt seem to write to the niagara system properly. howeverever, if i set it to a static value instead of this dynamic one, that works correctly on client. can someone tell me whats going on here? im kinda out of ideas

[shell forum]

I think you should only run that on the client. Just send an event from the server and run that on clients. You don’t want to replicate event tick whenever possible.

[static garnet]

but i am running this on the client. but this is no dedicated server setup so server is also a client so it needs to run this as well, for its own player. but they're running this separately

[shell forum]

Of course, but it shouldn’t replicate to other players every tick

The server should call the event

[static garnet]

how does it replicate tick here?

this is just normal, local tick, no? there is no network event here

[shell forum]

Yeah, but you still need to replicate the start event

Or it won’t run

[static garnet]

the start is the creation of the actor

which is replicated

[shell forum]

But the particle system shouldn’t be replicated

You simply use multicast to run that logic on clients

[static garnet]

its not replicated

its just part of the actor

its spawned independently on client

when the actor replicates

[shell forum]

It’s not unless the component is replicated

Which you shouldn’t do

You need to spawn the actor on the client

Not on the server

Otherwise the client can’t change the variables as it doesn’t have ownership

[static garnet]

then why can it change the variable if i just set it to a specific value and not this calculated one?

[shell forum]

Changing a variable is not the same as changing the Niagara particle system.

[static garnet]

no i meant the niagara parameter

[shell forum]

Yea

You don’t have ownership

That’s why it works on the server

[static garnet]

then why does this work?

and also, why does it not work when i spawn a new system client-side?

cause i tried that too

[shell forum]

That’s good then

See if time created or something else is returning a different value on clients

[static garnet]

i already said i checked that

it gives the same value on client

[shell forum]

Or height

[static garnet]

the values are all calculated properly, i checked all of them with print nodes on client

[shell forum]

Have you tried just incrementing the value on tick?

If you can’t change the scalar parameter on the client, then it’s an ownership issue

[static garnet]

then i wouldnt be able to change it at all

but if i set it to a static value, it changes on client just fine

which is why this is so confusing

[shell forum]

If it’s static it’s not changing…

It’s the same size as the server

So not replication is needed

[static garnet]

no replication is needed in any of the possible setups with this, because they're calculating the value independently

[outer drum]

Anybody know why my "Locomotion" State wont transition to "Jumping" State on Server but will on client?

Transition rule is a bool checking if the jump key was pushed. Yes it is replicated. It works properly if simulated in the preview. On Standalone it works. But once its a multiplayer setting it breaks. Everything else about my locomotion system works great except the Jump Animation.

Just to clarify the Jump itself is working and replicating but the animation is not.

[shell forum]

You’re running it in a multicast

When it’s a replicated variable

You only need to run it on the server

And jump is already replicated iirc

[outer drum]

So remove the variables fro mthe Client comment

[shell forum]

You just need to set the variable for all clients to see

Try calling Jump on the action button and remove everything else and see if it’s still replicated

It should be assuming you’re using character movement

And movement is replicating

[outer drum]

nvm i found my issue

im suprised u didnt spot it lol

Take a closer look at the green commented section xD

[shell forum]

It still isn’t the correct way to do it

What’s the point of a replicated variable

If you’re using multicast

Also jump is already replicated in character movement

[outer drum]

Im confused and still learning. Are you syaying I wouldnt need the variable at aall?

Im aware of that but some things I wanna do will end up breaking that default replication

[outer drum]

So how would you do it

[shell forum]

Just set the jumping variable on server only

isJumpkeyDown

[outer drum]

Ohhh yha, i was trying to figure out what was wrong i did that during my wtf phase lol

this is how i do thjat stuff

my walking example

Correct?

[shell forum]

No

You don’t need to multicast movement

Only do it on the server

And it will replicate

[outer drum]

So dont replicate on CL?

Im very confused lol

[shell forum]

Only replicate it on server

Movement will be automatically replicated to clients

If the actor is set to replicate movement

So do it on the owning client and server

And that’s it

[outer drum]

Oh Yha I dont have character movment auto replified

[dark edge]

Jump key doesn't exist on server

Does printing Is Jump Key Down on server result in a true when you jump on client?

[outer drum]

I figured it out. Was more trying to figure out why he doesnt think my method is "correct"

[dark edge]

So what was it?

[outer drum]

Didnt hook up an exec

[dark edge]

Jumping should be handled by the CMC, you shouldn't have to do any of that stuff

Now you'll get a lag when you jump

[shell forum]

it's not subjective

[fresh chasm]

Hello, in cpp, is there a way to automatically call the OnRep function on the server when a ReplicatedUsing variable is changed? I see that in blueprint RepNotify variables automatically calls the OnRep function on both server and clients

[shell forum]

you're setting a replicated variable in multicast

which defeats the purpose of using a replicated variable

and calling the jump method on each client

[outer drum]

I stopped replicating the variable

[outer drum]

is that what u were trying to say?

[shell forum]

why not replicate it on server?

that way you dont need multicast

[hardy seal]

Hello! Anyone can explain me how unreal handles UTexture2D assets in the server? Does the texture gets created in the server and replicated?

[fresh chasm]

Multicast are designed for one time event (example an explosion), if the variable should be known by every player even if they was not close from the actor that has this variable, it should be replicated. I don't know what you are trying to achieve but keep that in mind

[outer drum]

A player Jump

[crystal crag]

If you a grabbing your list of friends through the friends OSS, wouldn't you be able to get a valid FUniqueNetId from the response?

[outer drum]

@fresh chasm Hes saying this isnt correct

[crystal crag]

I can get the list of friends and their display name, but calling GetUserId() is returning an empty object

Do they have to be connected to the same server / world in order for that call to work?

[fresh chasm]

I think you can remove all server stuff and just keep Input Pressed > Jump | Input Released > Stop Jumping

Jump is replicated by default

If you want to keep the variable "IsJumpKeyDown" you can make it replicated and set it like you did after the input you have to make a server event that set the replicated variable, or use a multicast without replication like you did

But do you really need all players to know the "IsJumpKeyDown"? If it's for replicating the animation, there is a variable in character movement that is set to "Falling" (I don't remember the name) when your character is in air (ie jumping)

[shell forum]

Yep, he said the exact same thing I've been saying

but you don't want to listen to me for some reason

[outer drum]

Yha but he said it in a way I understood lol@shell forum

@fresh chasm@shell forum So is that just bc its integrated in? What about for something like sprint would this method be correct?

[shell forum]

No, you would only set the variable on the owning client and server for movement speed

[fresh chasm]

iirc MaxWalkSpeed has to be set on all (server and clients) so a RepNotify would be perfect. So when the player press the sprint key, you execute a Server event, that set "IsSprinting", then in "OnRep_IsSprinting" you change the MaxWalkSpeed

[outer drum]

Youtube tutorials suck -.- Is there any vids of this you can link me too. All the ones i have found are of how I did it

[shell forum]

Just set the max walk speed on the client and do the same on the server

you dont need a tutorial

[fresh chasm]

Check the docs there are always good infos https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/Resources/ContentExamples/Networking/1_4/

Also you can download the Content example from epic, there are a lot of examples

[regal geyser]

How can I setup references to players controller and his HUD? First I spawn pawns as NPCs and then server lets some clients possess this pawns and after client gets control of his pawn I need to setup references on this pawns BP for its controller and HUD.

I have this BP created but it always fails at assigning players HUD

[crystal crag]

Wow, that hurt my brain to try to read >< but one thing to check as a general thing is dedicated servers don't load widgets. If you are running a dedicated server I would check to see if the load UMG flag for dedicated servers is on

const IOnlinePresencePtr Presence = ServiceContext->OnlineSubsystem->GetPresenceInterface();
    if (Presence.IsValid())
    {
        const FUniqueNetIdRepl ReplId = GetLocalUserNetId(0);
        const FUniqueNetIdPtr NetId = ReplId.GetUniqueNetId();
        Presence->QueryPresence(*NetId.Get(), InQueryUserIdArray, IOnlinePresence::FOnPresenceTaskCompleteDelegate::CreateLambda([Presence, InQueryUserIdArray](const class FUniqueNetId& UserId, const bool bWasSuccessful)
        {
            for(const FUniqueNetIdRef& UserIdRet : InQueryUserIdArray)
            {
                TSharedPtr<FOnlineUserPresence> PresenceInfo;
                if (Presence->GetCachedPresence(UserIdRet.Get(), PresenceInfo))
                {
                    UE_LOG(LogCommonUser, Warning, TEXT("Found user precense - current status: %s Is Online: %s Is Playing This Game: %s"), *PresenceInfo->Status.StatusStr, PresenceInfo->bIsOnline ? *FString("True") : *FString("False"), PresenceInfo->bIsPlayingThisGame ? *FString("True") : *FString("False"));
                }
            }
        }));
    }

So upon inspection of the PresenceInfo, it looks like the data there is correct (IsOnline is true), but the GetCachedPresence call is returning false...

So I can see the data with a breakpoint, but the GetCachedPresence method always returns false

Ah, nvm

I thought it returned a type of bool

it's returning a type of enum

problem solved

[fresh chasm]

What does it say if you print the "GetHUD" ?

[regal geyser]

empty string, I tried triggering owner client RPC from Event On Possess inside PlayerController and it seems to work so far

[fresh chasm]

That might be because HUD only exists on client

[regal geyser]

Yeaa I got confused because in Character BP if you want to use On Possess event it says that it only triggers on server but when I use this event in PlayerController it doesn't say that, so I though it triggers on client but little did I know

But another issue which this solution brings is that when I call Owner RPC from Event On Possess which is called on Server, this Owner RPC still may not have the possessed pawn reference. How could I avoid this?

[crystal crag]

Isn't there like an OnRep_Pawn or something?

That would get called on the client once they possessed it

Then couldn't you just call the server to do its thing?

I don't see how you get out of making another full round trip with the way you are designing this

[regal geyser]

Well basically Server sets up bunch of quests for Client, and after Client receives a pawn, I need to setup Clients HUD with all these quests.

[crystal crag]

Probably better off to just use an OnRep for your quest array and have your HUD just fill out after getting the rep

[regal geyser]

Yea thats one way to do it for sure

[crystal crag]

Are you doing this in blueprints?

[regal geyser]

Yes

[crystal crag]

It's been a while since I've looked at it, so I can't recall if it is multiplayer-supported, but there is a free mission component project on the marketplace you could always take a look at

That might give you some ideas

or it might not support multiplayer and be a complete waste of time, so I would confirm that first

[shell forum]

Just call a run on owning client event during event possessed.

[regal geyser]

Found "Easy Quests" but it says: "Network Replicated: No"

[regal geyser]

You mean something like this?

[gleaming kite]

Does anyone have tips on replicating chaos? Simulating with 500 ping provides a pretty jumpy result. Didn’t know if there’s some kind of client side prediction somewhere in the engine

[crystal crag]

Quick shout out to @signal lance for being awesome and helpful

[signal lance]

But I haven't done anything now 😅

[crystal crag]

lol you helped me yesterday

It just entered my mind out of nowhere

Most people just complain; gotta take time to give postive vibes too.

[signal lance]

Ah the shared ptr stuff, I remember

Most people just complain; gotta take time to give postive vibes too.
True true

[crystal crag]

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

[signal lance]

Thank you, you too

[grizzled stirrup]

I've been debugging this for an embarassingly long time. Would there be any reason that Character->GetActorRotation().Yaw seems to return a yaw of 0.0f when querying other clients? I had thought that yaw was replicated (clearly is somewhere as they rotate)

Where can I get the current replicated yaw of a character?

[shell forum]

Rotation isn't automatically replicated unless you're using control rotation

you can simply replicate the yaw on the server on turn input event.

[fathom aspen]

InitializePlayer is a server RPC and it's being called from server so it's like a calling a normal function on server. Same thing goes for AsMindHuntMode::AssignQuests server RPC(it's being called like a normal function on server) that is being called from a server RPC.

It's not called Owner RPC but Client RPC. Calling a Client RPC should execute fine on owning client.

[fathom aspen]

Good luck modifying the engine source code

[fervent leaf]

Hey, I'm creating a small multiplayer fishing game demo. When i start fishing, the player should only be able to control the fishing rod with mouse. When the bait hits water, camera goes underwater and you can see fishes swimming around it (other players cant see these things and you dont need to see their baits either when camera is under water ). You can press another button to switch back to thirdperson view and there you can see if other players run around you. Does anyone have idea how this kind of functionality works or even small hint to get me started. Surely you cannot just switch gamemode when you start fishing. Should the thirdperson view be on the main level where all the characters move and when bait hits the water, it switches the level on the players computer, other players then sees the character standing on rod in his hand? How would u even make that happen? Even small tips are gladly appreciated, thanks 🙂

[shell forum]

Add a camera to the bait

And then set the view target of the player to be that camera

You can’t change gamemodes mid game

[sharp pagoda]

Is it normal that I have to create a multiplayer logic first in BP before converting it to C++? Or should I start practicing creating it using C++ from the ground up?

[rocky night]

HI, can i set a boolean just to rep notify and dont put the fuction code in the rep notify? or does a rep notify only works when code is in the repnotify function?

[shell forum]

I found it easier to make in blueprints first

Then switch over to C++ once the actor is complex enough to warrant using code

[sharp pagoda]

I see

[shell forum]

What do you mean? If you want it to just replicate without a notify function you can just set the variable to replicated.

[rocky night]

i have a door with is locke dand unlocked with a particle system active when closed and inactive when open.. SO if a player disconects and joins back.. i need that he see the actual state of the door

[shell forum]

You will need a rep notify for that

[rocky night]

can i set the bollean closed and open just to rep notify? or do inned to put the activate and deacctivate particle system in the repnotify function?

[shell forum]

I believe you would put the activate/deactivate in the repnotify function. I can’t recall whether particle system components handle replication for you.

I don’t believe they do though

[rocky night]

i see ok i gona try that... not sure at all... rep notify is pretty new to me

[rocky night]

aother question th enetupdate rate is set to 100 on most actoris where and when i shoudl reduce this? On all meshes? or only moving ones or ai ?

[fathom aspen]

You shouldn't need to tweak that: #multiplayer message

[rocky night]

so reducing them to 50 wouldnt make any change at all?

[fathom aspen]

Seemingly it would make your actors be considered less frequently for replication and it would save some performance. Though a better case would be to use the Push Model which works without using the NetUpdateFrequency(you consider a property for replication only when changed) however it has been tested quite too many times and little that helps

[errant sonnet]

Hey, do someone knows the method to get the subnet mask of the current local network ?

[rocky night]

ok thanks i play around with that

[grizzled stirrup]

But yaw clearly is replicated somewhere as clients visibly rotate in yaw, just not in pitch by default

I could separately replicate another float for yaw as I'm doing for pitch but it seems that the info is already there on the client somewhere

[errant sonnet]

Wrong question finally : I'm trying to broadcast a given port, but using the SetBroadcastAddress() doesn't seem to change the local address to the broadcast one (it's still the same). How should I use it to broascast?

[fresh chasm]

That's the only way ? :/

[fathom aspen]

Well technically you can wrap your OnRep function with a server RPC and call that inside your OnRep. Would I do that? Hell nah

[fresh chasm]

That mean one server call per client right?

[fathom aspen]

Correct

[fresh chasm]

Well I would not do that too ^^ I thought there was a easier way since the blueprint onrep do that by default

[fathom aspen]

Well BP OnRep work much differently than how cpp OnReps work

In BP they are called when the property changes, so even when client changes the property the OnRep is triggered which is a dumb way of doing OnReps

[fresh chasm]

Oh ok I didn't know that ^^

[thorny saddle]

how can replicate AI anim bp var for clients ?

[winged badger]

usually inside the AI Pawn

the animation blueprint is not replicated

and most common/recommended way to run it is to fetch the data from the TryGetPawn inside the (Blueprint)UpdateAnimation and get everything prepared in advance for the animation graph so it can run on a separate thread

[thorny saddle]

if i use multicast every body in any location of map receive this?

[winged badger]

if you multicast from anim BP, nobody will receive that, except the machine that called the multicast

[thorny saddle]

no in pawn

if i replicate it replicate on Net Cull Distance

but if i multicast

[winged badger]

you can MC there, but its generally better to run replicated variables here

[thorny saddle]

it run for all of client

right?

[winged badger]

all relevant clients

[thorny saddle]

🤔

let me make my question simple

multicast check Net Cull Distance ?

[winged badger]

it checks relevancy, which might check NetCullDistance

if something doesn't make it relevant or note relevant by default

[restive gull]

Hi all, i am new to game development. I have a basic question that, how we can share other player locations realtime with another players?. I searched internet and i found out about websockets but idk if we can make http call from unreal engine or not. Also what are best practices are followed to perform this operation. Please share some reference blog or source for it.

[winged badger]

like bAlwaysRelevant, bOnlyReleventToOwner and such

in that case it will never check the cull distance

[winged badger]

with unreal we generally don't use sockets, but in engine replication system

[crystal crag]

Hey Zlo, if you are still here, I have a quick follow up question about that session invite stuff

I've been looking at the signatures of the delegates and the methods / etc.

But I am not seeing where to get who is the target person to join

am I missing something? I mean there is the session invite accepted, but its signature only contains the person being invited from the looks of it

there is nowhere in there that holds the invitee

so how would I know internally to join the invitee and the invited in some internal data structure based off of that?

Especially if they are joining from the overlay, which means I have even less visibility into that

[ruby ruin]

How does one keep track of which functions are only being called on the server or client?
I'm not talking about RPCs, but functions that are called from gamemode or from RPCs or from an if(hasauthority) for example, hope that makes sense.

[twin juniper]

I have a question

If I want to set a player score do I have to set it in the playerstate?

How do I avoid so that a player can't mess around with this score?

[quasi tide]

Gamemode is only on the server, so that's easy. I always preface my RPCs with Server_, Client_, or Multi_. So when I do end up using them I know.

[quasi tide]

Only change it on the server.

[twin juniper]

Yeah but we're having trouble understanding the logic flow here

I want it so that my client when it overlaps with something else gets a score increase

Where is the actual score variable located? In the player pawn class? the player state?

[ruby ruin]

I know, I am asking if for example you call a function on a random actor from the gamemode. You wouldn't have that function as an RPC, but it would only be called on the server, how do you remember that this function is only called on the server?

[quasi tide]

So on the server, when it overlaps, increase the score. Or send an RPC to the server saying, "hey I overlapped the thing". Then have the server verify that it was possible and then increase the score. Score can be kept wherever you want. Player State is a good place, sure.

[twin juniper]

Each player state can have multiple player controllers right?

If there are multiple coop players in the same client

[quasi tide]

Because it's from the GameMode, and that only exists on the server. Leave comments about the why for things. If you're asking how people remember where every function is - that's kind of a difficult question to answer. "How do you remember?"...."I just do?"

It's up to you to architect the game. Having some kind of standardized flow would help give you a general idea where a call should be.

[twin juniper]

If I set my score in the player state then I need multiple variables for each player controller right?

[quasi tide]

Honestly not sure when it comes to local co-op on the network. But I do believe it's 1 player state per PC.

[ruby ruin]

Ahh, I was wondering if there's a best practice/standard other than just remembering, for example you have a 100 functions on an actor, it becomes impossible to remember which ones are called on client and which ones on server

[quasi tide]

Prefix them

As I said earlier

[twin juniper]

So I check the overlap on my pawn but I have to make sure it's on the server right?

[quasi tide]

You just do the important calculations on the server.

[twin juniper]

yeah but what I don't get is how to talk to the server and set his score

my pawn overlaps, I check if it has authority then what? My pawn doesn't hold any score variables

Ideally I would want to talk to my own player state?

[near bison]

https://github.com/getnamo/SocketIOClient-Unreal

Would anyone vouch for this?

[quasi tide]

In BP - the function node itself would say something like "Runs on Server", "Runs on Client", "Runs on Multi", so it isn't as big of a deal, but it's still a good habit to get into. Especially if you are in C++ land. So just remain consistent.

[ruby ruin]

That's good to know, I think maybe postfix might be better than prefix so as to not confuse them with RPCs

[quasi tide]

When the overlap happens on the server, have the server increase the score. You would then update the playerstate's score.

[quasi tide]

Oh - you're talkin' about just in general, like general functions and not RPCs?

[ruby ruin]

yup

[quasi tide]

Oh, that's completely personal preference. I don't think anyone actually does stuff like that. At least, I haven't seen or heard people do it.

[twin juniper]

Again, where is this score variable located?

I'm trying to understand using the most simple example. Let's have it so that my player when it presses a button it increases its own score

[quasi tide]

Gamemode, gamestate, playerstate, w/e the heck you want.

[twin juniper]

So my pawn presses a button -> what?

Sends a rpc to the server?

[quasi tide]

Yes.

[twin juniper]

And then the server adds it to my player score by accessing the variable in the gamestate/playerstate?

I assume I have to pass in my playerstate/playercontroller or something in that rpc function

[quasi tide]

Yes.

[ruby ruin]

I haven't seen anyone do it either, but sometimes when I'm looking at a function that I've created a long time ago, or created by someone else, it takes me a while to figure out if it's called from client or server by following its call heirarchy, so I was wondering if there's a better way

[quasi tide]

To me, if you have functions that are only supposed to be called when on the client or on the server, those should be RPC calls. Which would have the prefix.

[quasi tide]

Could just call GetController() when on the server.

Or if you're RPCing from the controller itself, just get the player state. UE knows which actor is doing the RPC call.

[twin juniper]

Right now I press a key, it calls the server function, in the server function I do get controller and cast to my custom player state and set the score variable

in the player state does the score have to be an onrep notify?

or is it replicated by default?

[quasi tide]

Did you tell it to replicate?

[ruby ruin]

Good idea, even if I don't plan on having them as RPCs, it might be best to just explicitly define them as RPCs. IIRC if you call server RPCs from a server, it becomes a regular function call, and the same happens with clients and client RPCs, so there shouldn't be an issue with sending these over the network

[twin juniper]

I did

[quasi tide]

Then it is replicating.

[twin juniper]

Blueprint Runtime Error: "Accessed None trying to read property CallFunc_GetController_ReturnValue_1". Node: Cast To PlayerStateKeivn Graph: EventGraph Function: Execute Ubergraph BP Third Person Character Blueprint: BP_ThirdPersonCharacter

This is a nullpointer right? I'm not sure why I keep getting it

Shouldn't I be able to cast my playerstate as a custom type from my own pawn?

I do get controller -> get player state -> cast player state

[ruby ruin]

PlayerControllers only exist on the server and on clients that own that player controller, so if you are trying to access another players playercontroller, it will be null

[twin juniper]

The error was that I wasn't checking before hand if the pawn had a controller

doing a check for a controller fixed the issue

[halcyon totem]

I keep getting errors and lagging on my server logs

Warning: ServerMove: TimeStamp expired: 85.747459, CurrentTimeStamp: 86.849335, Character: Marine_Fixed_C_2147482366
does this mean I am having replication issues?

I am tyring to do a pung style auto run

[undone plinth]

If I call SetOwner on an actor that controller should be able to call annotated Server functions right?

[normal quartz]

I've tried it about 20 different times at this point, without exaggeration. the anim reference is correct because a different function for switching weapons with the exact same event setup works fine. it's a simple run animation blendspace and only the local screen can see it, client or server. any ideas? missing something simple? doing it all wrong?

[sinful tree]

I don't think Animation blueprints can be replicated. On your multicast get rid of the "Anim Instance" variable, and instead get the anim instance from the mesh.

Also, you can't take the float value from a different execution path over to the multicast. It'll likely always result in you multiplying by 0.

[normal quartz]

awesome, that was it, thanks a bunch for the quick response

[fathom aspen]

If you make the actor controller owned then yes

[royal isle]

Hey guys, when someone is the server in a listen server scenario, post processing on the world works just fine but if a client connects to it it has no post-processing. Any ideas?

[regal geyser]

I have a simple Light BP, if actor overlaps its trigger he can turn it on and off, and I would like it to be replicated. Can I do it somehow inside of this BP? Because calling Server RPC to change RepNotify light visibility isn't working because client isn't the owner of this BP Light.

[winged badger]

net load on client off on pp volume, or you did something unspeakable to it

[static sable]

hi all ue4.27, one question. I have a client/server game. On the client I use SpawnDefaultController() for a pawn. When I play as client and try to do GetController() for that pawn on server, I get nullptr. How to spawn/access pawn's AI controller on server? thanks

[fathom aspen]

GetController returns the controller possessing the pawn. Make sure the pawn is possessed

[fathom aspen]

#multiplayer message

[static sable]

@fathom aspen thanks. Where to spawn the pawn's controller on the server then?

[fathom aspen]

You should spawn it on the server if you want the server to know about it

[royal isle]

There is a custom viewport involved but it's probably a silly thing like that, thanks sometimes we miss the simplest things 😄

[fathom aspen]

Spawning it on client would just do nothing:

[winged badger]

and player pawns should never spawn default controllers

that is more of an AI pawn thing

[fathom aspen]

Exactly. AI = Server

[static sable]

I did this:
FUNCTION(Server, Reliable)
void SpawnController();
void SpawnController_Implementation();

and on the server in SpawnController_Implementation I call SpawnDefaultController(), but it doesn't create it

from the client I call SpawnController()

[winged badger]

yes, no

goto pinned messages on this channel

find Cedric's network compendium

and read it a few times

you currently lack even the most basic understanding how the unreal network architecture works

because what you did there is shockingly wrong

[static sable]

well blame UE official documentation : )

[fathom aspen]

And away from mp stuff, you shouldn't need to declare _Implementation in the header file

[winged badger]

i do that only in rare cases where its virtual

[fathom aspen]

At least not if you're overriding it 😄

[crisp sable]

What the best way to spawn replicated props, such as

-Pickupable props ( ammo / health )
-Destructible Glass

On a large level.. For example, PUBG has thousands of these props on the level.

1. Are ALL of the props spawned on the server at the start of the level?

2. Or are the props dynamically spawned when a player enters a zone on the map.

[winged badger]

pubg has 100 players at the start

so tracking all 100 of them to spawn stuff when they are near would be somewhat of a pain in the arse

[fathom aspen]

PUBG prolly has a replication graph

[winged badger]

maybe they upgraded, but its way older then rep graph

[fathom aspen]

Yeah considering it came way before fortnite

[winged badger]

pickups are relatively simple

you put them dormant and you just spawn them

[crisp sable]

i see

[winged badger]

they will be interacted with just once, then they are gone

so you don't want to keep them as active replicated actor

just flush net dormancy, force net update post interaction, if you need to do some effects, and destroy them

[crisp sable]

gotcha , thanks

makes sense

[winged badger]

dormancy will still spawn them on clients as they become relevant

so they should see the pickups just fine

[crisp sable]

👍

cool, so in terms of the spawning logic.. The server will just spawn everything at the start of the level

[winged badger]

rest of the stuff, simple interactibles that persist on the level, i find network manager approach works perfectly

[crisp sable]

and the dormancy will handle what gets spawned on the client when they get close to the pickups

[winged badger]

you might want to stagger it alittle

[crisp sable]

right, so there's no huge hiccup

[winged badger]

as not to cause server hiccup at start

[crisp sable]

gotcha

[winged badger]

vorixo did the network manager explanation https://vorixo.github.io/devtricks/network-managers/

they work well for non moving actors

[crisp sable]

ah nice article. thanks

this is only for UE5 though?

[winged badger]

no

[crisp sable]

sadly, I'm still on UE 4.26

[winged badger]

i've been using them in 4.18

[crisp sable]

ahh cool

[static sable]

@winged badger did you refer to this? "If you check out the table again, you will notice that, for example, a Server RPC will be dropped if a Client calls it on an Actor
that he does NOT own." ?

I am reading UE4_Network_Compendium_by_Cedric_eXi_Neukirchen.pdf

[winged badger]

read the entire thing, then ask questions please 😄

but that was one part of it, yes

you created a chicken or the egg

[shell forum]

What does isStandalone return? Does it return true if you’re in a single player game with no session created or only if the game uses no replicated events at all? I can’t find any documentation for it.

[shell forum]

Still kind of confusing as to when it returns true/false.

So a game running with create session would always return false, even with 1 player.

And a game that was simply opened with OpenLevel would return true, even if using replicated events and such?

[fathom aspen]

local session from my understanding is a session running over the LAN

Has nothing to do with replicated events

OR single player games

[static sable]

that's weird though, in _Implementation I get GetNetMode() == NM_Client ; so that's why SpawnDefaultController() returns, _Implementation is called on the client's side

[shell forum]

Hmm

[shell forum]

It seems to return true when I run as standalone in the editor, and false if it's a listen server regardless of the amount of players.

not sure how it will function in a packaged game

[fathom aspen]

Depends on how you run your packaged game.

A packaged game can be listen/dc/standalone

[lavish charm]

Hi, i've been playing with anim layer linking in a multiplayer project and have some issue with relevancy.
The anim layer comes from an equipped item, when the player loose relevancy and come back, he's now in T pose since the anim layer is no longer linked.
Who can i make it works ?
I tried setting the variable of the weapon as OnRep and include the anim linking in the OnRep function but that dosent trigger when relevancy is back

[shell forum]

So if you open a level with ?listen, it would be false. And normal OpenLevel would be true? Seems to make sense.

[vague spruce]

sup. i've got an issue that's driving me absolutely mad right now. i've got a CapsuleComponent that isn't moving on the server. i've drawn a bunch of debug points on tick to demonstrate what's happening.

you'll notice the red looks like a perfect circle. that's the radius of where my character is initially swinging (the CapsuleComponent just isn't moving). the blue is the simulated proxy of my weapon actually moving the collider. the server stays completely still but the simulated proxy moves everywhere.

what do i need to do to get the collider to move on the server as well? does this have to do with ChildActorComponent? basically, my character's weapon is added at runtime as a ChildActorComponent to my ACharacter. the weapon itself has the collider. the actor, AWeapon, is set to Replicates, and my Collider is set to Component Replicates as well.

anyhow, sorry for the sudden word vomit. this is just driving me mad

looks like it's common for ChildActorComponents to not properly replicate 😦 it looks like the simulated proxies themselves create child actors. i'm reading that i'd need to create just a regular actor and then attach one to the other

[fathom aspen]

#cpp message

[vague spruce]

that's hilarious. i was talking around that time too. thanks @fathom aspen

[fathom aspen]

Haha yeah I noticed that, thought he was talking to you, but he wasn't 😄

[vague spruce]

so i'm still having the same issue though. :\ the collision capsule doesn't move on the server

[dark edge]

How is the calsule moved?

[vague spruce]

the capsule is attached to the weapon

the weapon is replicated

the capsule is moved by an animation

the weapon is attached to a mesh

maybe the mesh isn't moving on the server?

unlikely, because other clients see the mesh moving

[dark edge]

The capsule itself is moved or the weapon is?

Is the capsule just riding the weapon which is riding the skeleton which is driven by the animation?

[vague spruce]

@dark edge

blue = simulated proxy. red = authoritative

i'm just printing out the location of the collider during the ticks in which the ability is active

[dark edge]

Do you have animations turned off on server?

[vague spruce]

how do i check that

[dark edge]

Dig around in settings, there's some setting about animations on dedicated server

[vague spruce]

omfg

dude

i am so frustrated right now

[dark edge]

Does it work?

[vague spruce]

i've spent 4+ hours debugging this

yes

[dark edge]

lmao

[vague spruce]

it was set to Always Tick Pose

[dark edge]

when in doubt, think of the stupidest reason it could not work. The skelmesh's on server were literally not animating

[vague spruce]

i cannot fuckin believe it lol

but the clients were seeing the animations!!!!!

[dark edge]

Yes because what was being replicated is "Play AnimationX", not the actual movement of the bones

that'd be WAY too much data

[vague spruce]

so is this way too much data now then?

[dark edge]

No the same data is going across the network. Just now your server is playing animations when before it wasn't

[vague spruce]

lmfao

oh

my god

i want to destroy something

[dark edge]

But most games probably just do clientside hit detection then on the server you do a sanity check. It sucks to have your sword hit a guy on your screen but not on the server.

[vague spruce]

i feel you, but i have no idea how to even go about doing that

[dark edge]

It'd be like
Client "Mr. Server, I hit these guys"
Server "uh they're halfway across the map, no you didn't"

[vague spruce]

hmm i see

so i RPC to the server and ask if they're in range

essentially

this is so much more complicated because of GAS

the ability is technically happening both on the client and the server. so i guess i could do the hit detection on the client, RPC to the server, client and server continue in sync

anyhow, i'm now further than i was before. ty

[marsh gate]

I see that video helped

You did the debug thing too, nice animations btw

[vague spruce]

appreciate that. not mine tho 😦 one is a marketplace asset and the other a contractor made but we're no longer chatting. oh well.

so everything was working fine with bones on the server. but because i'm a freak, i just implemented this: #multiplayer message

it's jank.

1. ability is triggered locally and on the server.
2. on the server, ability just hangs.
3. on the client, collision is set up. animation plays. the two capsules collide.
4. the client sends an RPC using AbilitySystemComponent to a custom function i made that all it does is call a static function on the ability.
5. the ability runs some server-side code applying effects to the hit character.

i have not yet written any validation for this, and i'll probably just end up going with the other, less optimal solution that turns on bones for the server. but at least now i understand what's happening.

is there any way to add fake lag into the networking code during runtime?

wow, yeah. feels horrible on GAS as-is.

with 250ms it looks terrible

[light iron]

Nice stuff dex. I've been looking into the validation part, still not 100% sure how to confirm client data on server.

[vague spruce]

good call. i ended up noticing this and this is now how i'm doing it with GAS. i'm starting to understand what prediction keys are for.

[twin juniper]

okay so at first the clients can't decide who to be so they rapidly interchange between autonomous proxy and authority, and then they collapse their superpositions but don't get entangled as they both choose authority

[steep flame]

On which actor are you checking the role?

[twin juniper]

oof, tough question

basically the one possessed by each client

ah yes, the cars don't appear in the same level

[fathom aspen]

That's because they are prolly spawned client-side, so that's self explanatory

The client has authority over them(each client has authority over the car he spawned)

[twin juniper]

my head needs a break and a reset, how do I get them to yield authority?

[fathom aspen]

They already do?

[twin juniper]

okay so my requirements are that I need the cars to appear in the same level and respond to the lag params I've set up

[fathom aspen]

You need to spawn them server side and make the car actor replicated(set bReplicates to true in ClassDefaults)

[twin juniper]

one gets ROLE_Authority and the other shows up as ROLE_AutonomousProxy

give me an hour, please, I need to digest this age old code and get back in form or I'll lose my job

[steep flame]

For the clients one car should be ROLE_AutonomousProxy and the other one ROLE_SimulatedProxy.
Both cars should be ROLE_Authority on the server.

[fathom aspen]

Take it easy

[twin juniper]

Okay, so this isn't happening

for reference

[fathom aspen]

Well we still don't know how you output that text widget on the car. But I can clearly tell that you don't have a SwitchHasAuthority before printing, that's why it's rapidly interchanging between the two

[steep flame]

Btw. if you didn't read it already, I would recommend you to read through this documentation: https://cedric-neukirchen.net/Downloads/Compendium/UE4_Network_Compendium_by_Cedric_eXi_Neukirchen.pdf @twin juniper

[fathom aspen]

But before you care about that, you should care about having the cars see each other...

[fathom aspen]

Which is done by reading this

Don't worry about the job, you'll get a better one once you get the knowledge 🧠

[twin juniper]

checking the Actor BP

[graceful flame]

1000 incoming and outgoing with 20% packet loss is quite a lot of lag

I usually test with min 72 and max 150 with around 2% packet loss

[fathom aspen]

Oh yeah. That's not a realistic amount of lag at all 😄

[graceful flame]

Unless you really think some players are gonna stick around playing on a server with 1000ms ping?

[fathom aspen]

Honestly I would quit rage at that point

[graceful flame]

For sure

[twin juniper]

I'm trying to see if the interp logic works

[graceful flame]

Even half those amounts is a lot of lag, that would be like your ISP is doing maintenance while the server is being ddosed at the same time.

[twin juniper]

I need this very specific job because it's really easy and incorporates surmounting three steps.

1. Getting the toy project to work
2. Getting the sample project to work
3. Mix and match

[twin juniper]

my friend here in India good ping is about 140ms

and it can go up to 300-400ms for connections across continents

[graceful flame]

okay so maybe something like min 100 and max 450 with around 5% packet loss then

[fathom aspen]

Go for it. Though I wouldn't rush things if I ain't got the basic knowledge in place

[twin juniper]

close enough!

[twin juniper]

I do have the basic knowledge but it's misplaced 😦

I hate memory in this instance

[steep flame]

@twin juniper don't try to solve so many problems at the same time. This will definitely melt your brain. Try to fix your game first and then test latency.

[twin juniper]

check and check
let's go through this ducky senpais!

Okay so I know how the text gets printed:
TickComponent

    DrawDebugString(GetWorld(), FVector{0.F, 0.F, 100.F}, RoleString, GetOwner(), FColor::White, DeltaTime);

BeginPlay

    RoleString = UEnum::GetValueAsString(TEXT("Engine.ENetRole"), GetOwnerRole());

[vague spruce]

hey! i was just looking for this!!

#multiplayer message

LOL

[twin juniper]

GAS is a doozy

[twin juniper]

I'm sorry but while the document is really clear and concise in terms of what I can expect on the server and client, I'm still in the dark about why my pawns aren't showing up.

@fathom aspen@steep flame
I'll try to sleep over it but I'm feeling abysmally dismal after trying to grok the text

[atomic barn]

Hi, I have a particle system attached to my player, how do i make it replicate? (I have set component replicates to true however it still doesnt replicate to the client)

[twin juniper]

I believe the answer is to have the server spawn the actor

otherwise the actor is local to the client and won't appear anywhere else

[atomic barn]

how do u do that?

[chrome quest]

Call the spawning function from a server only event/function

[winged badger]

replicate a state that causes the particle system to show

it can be pretty much whatever you like, a boolean, enum, integer, it doesn't matter, choose whatever makes your code most readable

then set that variable to replicate, with RepNotify

and from OnRep_MyState spawn the particle system locally

in blueprints, OnRep will also execute server side

[atomic barn]

I am just setting it to visible/ not visible i am not spawning it

its a component of my player

[winged badger]

same difference

technique to show it on clients is exactly the same either way

[atomic barn]

Ok thanks I’ll try that out in a bit

[spring dawn]

any book recommendation for UE4 multiplayer ?

[winged badger]

pinned messages, Cedric's network compendium

[spring dawn]

plz how can i go that message ?

ok have dowloaded a pdf

[fallow shadow]

i have a weird issue where i have a projectile which is supposed to stick to whatever it hits and then explode (Destroy itself) after some time has passed
and on the server it works as intended
on the clients not so much
the client sees the projectile bouncing off whatever it hits
and exploding after the time is up

[twin juniper]

I'm at the exact same question myself.

[twin juniper]

Physics replication issue?

[fallow shadow]

i dunno

[twin juniper]

still 100% in the dark about this

[twin juniper]

I believe a little bit of faking may be required here. Spawn a proxy sticking mesh on the client once the "attach" event (RPC) is triggered. Recycle the actual projectile.

I say with 0% knowledge of networking and 100% knowledge of setting up the stage props inside a game level.

[upbeat basin]

This is not directly a programming related question so please direct me to the correct channel if this isn't. Is there any suggestion/encouragement/recommendation regarding to connecting to databases from dedicated game servers? Would it affect anything performance or security wise? As to my knowledge there isn't anything coming from the engine to establish a connection with a database, are we bound to the plugins/external code for this? Other option is I guess having an external server where I communicate with my game server to do database related operations. For my case both seems like fine, what other criteria I can consider to make my decision regarding to this?

[fallow shadow]

ok so update

this is really odd

if i fire the same projectile from the client it sees it sticking to whatever but the server doesnt see the projectile at all

[winged badger]

so your sticking part is probably gated behind an authority check

[winged badger]

and this was expected from how the original problem presented itself

[fallow shadow]

which is weird because i call a multicast to fire the projectile which is NetMulticast, Reliable, WithValidatation and the _Validate method just returns true (for now)

so shouldnt the server allow all RPCs from the client?

[winged badger]

you can't multicast from client

its just a normal function if you do

[fallow shadow]

Oh that makes sense

[cinder quartz]

Anyone who has modified networked slide to the character movement component? Do you think it's better to:

1. Make custom movement mode and custom Phys function for it (like PhysWalking has) or
2. Keep movement mode as walking but override stuff like CalcVelocity etc? Slide is pretty close to walking anyway, just with different acceleration and velocity and turning. Currently trying to go this route but CMC is a beast lol.

[winged badger]

generally, you'd need to subclass FSavedMove so it carries the Sliding movement flag

and use it, which would require subclassing the CMC as well

[cinder quartz]

I already do that

[winged badger]

did you get it working single player yet?

[cinder quartz]

no, I'm trying to understand how CMC calculates velocity when walking. Even when I override it with static value, something is projecting it on slopes etc, so it seems like CalcVelocity isn't the only place that affects velocity for example, so I don't have full control whats happening

thats why I'm thinking maybe custom movement mode would be better

[winged badger]

probably, since without it you can't really configure it from editor

unless you hardcode the values relative to an existing movement mode

and that is not pretty

and you're likely going to have few days worth of tweaking it until it feels just right after its working

[fallow shadow]

i think that i should do stuff like animations and sounds client side and then call a server RPC for actually spawning a projectile?

[winged badger]

depends on the game

[twin juniper]

Classic case of something needing role reversal imo

[winged badger]

FPS will never feel right if you don't let client calculate its own shots

[fallow shadow]

first person shooter

oh yeah shit

[cinder quartz]

the reason why I'm trying to modify PhysWalk to support slide instead of custom movement mode, is that it already handles stuff like collision well. I will keep trying and switch to custom mode if I can't get it to work right with walking + overriding the functions

[fallow shadow]

i have absolutely 0 idea what that is

[twin juniper]

People, I am not able to figure out how to make this example work.

[twin juniper]

Basically the projectile is being spawned only by the client (listen-server included). You need it to actually replicate by having the server do the spawning/tracking?

[fallow shadow]

oooooh that yeah that's definitely it

[twin juniper]

Glad I could be of help but I have 0 idea how that works lmao

and in fact, I do need to know how to do that?

[winged badger]

most people will opt for using a particle system to look like a projectile then spawning actual projectiles, if they can get away with it

[twin juniper]

After all it's a matter of hurtling a mesh across space and having it stick, so it could very well be instanced.

[winged badger]

problem here is prediction

for it to feel right, client needs to see the projectile before it gets a round trip later information from server

[twin juniper]

If it's a Simulated Proxy one could use some interp/extrap to get it right, right?

[winged badger]

spawning an actor separately on server and client and having it replicate is doable, but the timing is a bitch for a rapid firing weapon

having each machine spawn its own projectile is probably better if you're going with an actor projectile

[twin juniper]

That makes sense for bullets or rapid fire as you said, even hitscan benefits from this

but how will this work for a sticky rocket, like say the Redeemer missile?

Okay maybe this example is too contrived as the missile can be treated as a fully replicated pawn

[winged badger]

hitscan has no reason to spawn full actors for bullets

[twin juniper]

Sure, basically any projectile can be spawned locally, we just need to know when it was fired and when the shot connected, and maybe derivatives (start and end velocity)

Speaking of prediction, my entire prediction logic is not working and looks useless from the listen-server's side.

[atomic barn]

so do i use the value of MyState to set the visibility in OnRep_MyState

[twin juniper]

https://gitlab.com/Vivraan/krazykarts
Any help is appreciated.

[atomic barn]

@twin juniper i did that, it doesnt work

[twin juniper]

how have you set the code up?

show both the .h and .cpp file contents if you may

[atomic barn]

I have used blueprints

one sec

Here @twin juniper

[winged badger]

that is not the OnRep for that variable, hate blueprints

delete that OnRep function, swap your varaible to non replicated then back to repnotify now after it was renamed

and don't do this set on Tick,

you can just use NitroActovated as RepNotify here

[twin juniper]

The pdf by Cedric really does a good job explaining these basics!

[blissful saffron]

Does anyone have an example unreal project utilizing steam for matchmaking and lobbies?

[fallow shadow]

ok so

i set it up this way for now

i spawn the projectile on the server

and right after that a client rpc is called to play all the animations and sounds and stuff

but the projectile just doesnt spawn

[blissful saffron]

is it spawning for the server?

if it is, ensure bReplicates = true. If it's not, you need to figure out how to spawn the actor

[dense egret]

What's the recommended method of binding a widget to a delegate, when the delegate is broadcast on the server?
I'm unable to bind to delegates to events in UMG widgets, because I assume the widgets don't exist on the server.

[pallid mesa]

well... there are many ways to do this but I personally like to handle this using a messaging system ie: the engine's ULocalMessage system

which allows you to broadcast and send events from the server to your clients

BroadcastLocalized and such

so yeah... if the event is server side, just get the controller you are interested in

and send a client RPC

[dense egret]

I see. So send a client RPC using ULocalMessage? Does it allow me to broadcast once and listen for it anywhere?
I'm having trouble to find a guide on how event-driven UI updates are usually done in UE and the documentation is spotty.

[twin juniper]

Well I'd wager you treat your UX as purely views. In this case, separate all data and use this messaging system to transmit whatever you need.

[dense egret]

I've tried replicating this. But instead of using an event dispatched, I want to use a multicast delegate from my actor component in CPP
https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/InteractiveExperiences/UMG/HowTo/EventBasedUI/

[dense egret]

Correct. However, I assumed that the delegate system would be the correct and preferred way of notifying the UI

[twin juniper]

It appears to be a good way in a non-networked case.

[dense egret]

Would you mind elaborating why it wouldn't be in a networked case? I feel like I'm missing something obvious 😄

[twin juniper]

I believe it's because delegates aren't really designed for the networking case (afaik). Looks like it's meant to handle cases only on the client-side (so you can use RPCs and then dispatch via delegates?)

[dense egret]

Ah okay, then I was misinformed about their use case. Thanks for the clarification

[twin juniper]

Again you must best look at the source and figure out how they work tbh

[vague spruce]

sup. i have my enemies all to replicate movement. this works great in settings with no lag. however, as soon as i introduce lag, applying any kind of impulse locally doesn't do anything until the server registers that the impulse happened. is there a way i can the movement component to respect local impulses and eventually correct server-side if necessary?

[dense egret]

I'll look at some examples in Lyria I think. Thanks for the advice

[vague spruce]

i think it's this:

[dense egret]

I think the network model is server authoritative and thus it won't execute on the client until the server has done so first. For certain things at least.
I worked on a 100p FPS game, as a Producer mind you, but issues like these were ever present, especially on laggy servers.

[vague spruce]

yeah i feel you. i just want to disable that for the simulated proxy while the impulse is happening as these are not actual players. once the impulse is done i'd turn it back on

[blissful saffron]

Not sure how you'd do it. The AI are owned by the server, not clients, so the engine won't let you do much with them. I think it's just a shortcoming inherent to network play you'll have to deal with unless you have the team to do some major engine overhauling. Take it for what you paid for it as I haven't done this before.

[twin juniper]

Okay so the years-old example demonstrating smooth movement interpolation using Cubic Hermite Interpolation without physics is working... smoothly. However the issues there are that the position, rotation, and velocities map roughly. The end state is 99% of the time what's present on the server, but delta movements can get exaggerated or outlandish. This is all fun and games, but the game I'll be working on:

1. Requires Chaos Physics
2. Will use EOS for matchmaking (dealing with in the next week)
3. Requires precise replication of the transform at any given point (airplane dogfighting, ships and naval warfare)

How will I tackle these specific challenges? Are there any resources I can grok before descending into this task?

For reference, here is KrazyKarts: https://gitlab.com/Vivraan/krazykarts

[twin juniper]

I don't believe there's any shortcomings here, since networked FPS was the primary function UnrealNetwork was designed to deal with (Unreal Tournament et al). I guess we're looking at a situation where we replicate physics in a buffered fashion -- record moves and play the impacts in a sensible fashion. Granted, no two clients will see the same thing, but this may ensure a smooth experience on all clients.

[vague spruce]

i figured it out. actually pretty simple. you have to apply root motion instead. root motion takes precedence over replicated motion.

[twin juniper]

With max ping at 500ms and packet loss at 10%, the game always disconnects, causing the clients to load into their own levels as ROLE_Authority.

LogNetSerialization: Error: FBitWriter overflowed! (WriteLen: -1, Remaining: 7625, Max: 7625)
LogNet: Warning: Closing connection. Can't send function 'ServerSendMove' on 'GoKartMovementReplicator /Game/VehicleCPP/Maps/UEDPIE_2_VehicleExampleMap.VehicleExampleMap:PersistentLevel.BP_GoKart_C_0.MovementReplicator': Reliable buffer overflow. FieldCache->FieldNetIndex: 3 Max 4. Ch MaxPacket: 1024.
LogNet: UNetConnection::Close: [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 127.0.0.1:17777, Name: IpConnection_61, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_47, IsServer: NO, PC: PlayerController_1, Owner: PlayerController_1, UniqueId: NULL:NARVRUL-F734C23F4F553B96089526802AC1D373, Channels: 11, Time: 2022.06.19-18.26.31
LogNet: UChannel::Close: Sending CloseBunch. ChIndex == 0. Name: [UChannel] ChIndex: 0, Closing: 0 [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 127.0.0.1:17777, Name: IpConnection_61, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_47, IsServer: NO, PC: PlayerController_1, Owner: PlayerController_1, UniqueId: NULL:NARVRUL-F734C23F4F553B96089526802AC1D373
LogNet: Error: UEngine::BroadcastNetworkFailure: FailureType = ConnectionLost, ErrorString = Your connection to the host has been lost., Driver = GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_47
LogNet: Warning: Network Failure: GameNetDriver[ConnectionLost]: Your connection to the host has been lost.
LogNet: NetworkFailure: ConnectionLost, Error: 'Your connection to the host has been lost.'
LogNet: Browse: /Game/VehicleCPP/Maps/VehicleExampleMap?closed

Is there any way to prevent this from happening? I'm just testing extreme cases.

[hollow eagle]

500 ping is more than extreme, it's entirely unplayable so I'm not sure why you'd even care.

10% packet loss is also kind of crazy

[vivid seal]

Little late response, but you can absolutely use delegates, you just need a way to fire them on clients. Usually I fire delegates in OnReps of variables if the UI needs those variables, and on the server wherever I set the variables I just manually call the OnRep (just make sure you either guard stuff in the OnRep that shouldn't run on the server, or just manually fire the delegate on the server instead of calling the OnRep)

[dense egret]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. I'll look into OnReps a bit more. Thanks!

[vivid seal]

some other keywords would be RepNotify (thats the blueprint version) and the uproperty specifier for it is ReplicatedUsing

[marsh gate]

Any tips for having two pawns for a player? I'm using Lyra and at first attempt it feels like there's no support for quickly switching between two pawns.

At least, the mapped inputs don't carry over. Its like Lyra binds inputs in the pawn.

Any pointers, cuz I'm pretty confused where to start. Atm when I switch the 2nd pawn none of my Gameplay Abilities can activate anymore

[winged badger]

it should run SetupPlayerInputComponent after possessing i think

you comfortable with c++ debugging @marsh gate ?

[marsh gate]

Novice

That makes sense, I'll look into SetupPlayerInputComponent

[winged badger]

can you locate the code where it binds gameplay ability inputs?

[marsh gate]

Yes

[winged badger]

also, i assume first pawn is not destroyed, so does it activate its abilities after possessing 2nd one?

[marsh gate]

I don't know yet as I am having a hard time even repossessing the first pawn, because it can only be done server side, and I'd like to do it via GA and not a RPC

[winged badger]

dedicated server setup?

[marsh gate]

PIE runs as client, so yes. I haven't build a dedicated server yet. But plan to

[winged badger]

your PIE option

[marsh gate]

Yes I checked dedicated server

[winged badger]

net mode when you drop down next to play button

well, for start you can switch to listen server

its a host and a client in one

figure out what you want to do without having to fight the network

then swap back to dedicated and implement it

[marsh gate]

interesting workflow

[young spoke]

Where would be the best place for a client to connect to dedicated server? Currently I have it in MyPlayerController::Begin() , but seems like that causes the map to be recursively opened over and over

[winged badger]

you should really go to pinned messages and read cedric's network compendium you'll find a link to there a couple of times

since this demonstrates that you don't know the very basics yet @young spoke

[young spoke]

i read it...

[winged badger]

your problem here is that your controller at the start

opens a map, which spawns new instance of that same controller class which calls BeginPlay, which opens the same map...

etc

[young spoke]

yeah, so how do you tell a client to connect to a server?

[winged badger]

you should really have some UI involved, so you need to click to connect

some automatic connecting can be done

[young spoke]

i'm just going through the basics, I don't need a UI. i'm just trying to understand the overall workflow of where this should take place

[winged badger]

but not if your MainMenu of whatever it is has the same class as your controller on the server map

and it is generally a good idea to have separate PlayerController classes for MainMenu, Lobby and Game

makes things... less convoluted in the long run

a very hacky fix would be to put that travel command inside if (GetNetMode() == NM_Standalone) block

then it would not trigger after the first connection, as your NetMode would be NM_Client then

[young spoke]

MainMenu, Lobby and Game would be different maps in this case? with their own PlayerController, i.e. MainMenuPlayerController ?

[winged badger]

yes, and GameMode GameState,, HUD, PlayerState and whatever else makes sense

[young spoke]

so MainMenu PC would open Lobby PC, Lobby PC would open Game PC and then no recursion

[winged badger]

no MainMenu PC would open Lobby Map, which has a LobbyGameMode, that says PC class is LobbyPC, which would not have the code to connect in BeginPlay

[young spoke]

Ok, i see

in the interim it seems like i need another check if(getNetMode() == ENetMode::NM_Client and is not already connected to server) to get my single PC example working

[winged badger]

when you start you will be NM_Standalone

if you're either server or client, that won't be the case

[young spoke]

cool, ill try that

[random verge]

are there any example repos out there to help get familiar with push model replication?

[winged badger]

the FDoRepLifetimeParams and MARK_PROPERTY_DIRTY_FROM_REPLICATION ?

push model

[random verge]

yessir. I see notes about checking out APlayerState for a real-world example but wondering if there's any repos out there really making full use of it throughout

[winged badger]

there is very little to it

you create FDoRepLifetimeParams

you do something like

void APowerConsumer::GetLifetimeReplicatedProps(TArray<FLifetimeProperty>& OutLifetimeProps) const
{
    Super::GetLifetimeReplicatedProps(OutLifetimeProps);

    FDoRepLifetimeParams Params;
    Params.bIsPushBased = true;
    
    DOREPLIFETIME_WITH_PARAMS_FAST(APowerConsumer, bPermaDisabled, Params);
    DOREPLIFETIME_WITH_PARAMS_FAST(APowerConsumer, bHasSectorPower, Params);
    DOREPLIFETIME_WITH_PARAMS_FAST(APowerConsumer, bOverriddenNetworkManager, Params);
    DOREPLIFETIME_WITH_PARAMS_FAST(APowerConsumer, bLinkedObjectDestroyed, Params);
    DOREPLIFETIME_WITH_PARAMS_FAST(APowerConsumer, bIsActivated, Params);
}```

then mark property dirty when its changed

and thats pretty much it

[random verge]

no advanced scenarios that aren't documents in the comments?

[winged badger]

it can take replication conditions as well

and you can change the params then DOREPLIFETIME other properties

note that gains are fairly minimal

don't expect more then 10% shaved off of NetBroadcastTick

[random verge]

Appreciate the insight 🙂

[vague spruce]

should a projectile be replicated? i'm currently replicating a projectile because it's easier to get it to appear on everyone's screen but it feels laggy af

[winged badger]

hitscan never, physical projectile probably better to spawn it on each machine locally

[vivid seal]

there's a couple approaches, you can replicate a projectile with projectile movement component but it will have a delay for the person firing it. You can set up a system for predicting a fake projectile on the shooting client and then replace it (or not) with a server-spawned replicated projectile, and do some compensation to catch the server projectile up to where the firing client's projectile would be, or you can just straight up spawn local projectiles on each machine

[winged badger]

hitscan projectiles shouldn't be actors at all

[vivid seal]

also what zlo said, usually by projectile you are talking about "not hitscan"

[vague spruce]

yeah it's not hitscan. it's a fireball

takes some time to hit target

however, what you mean by hitscan? like, i determine the target ahead of time?

do a trace beforehand?

[winged badger]

you can replicate a starting point and the trajectory

instead of replicating an entire actor

[vivid seal]

hitscan just means instant hit, there's no actual travel time, you just line trace and instantly generate a hit

[winged badger]

then spawn them locally

[vague spruce]

yeah right but i'm wondering how that would be applicable to a projectile

[vague spruce]

this is very interesting

[winged badger]

or, you can increase the actors net priority, recommend around 2,7

[vivid seal]

shooting client RPCs origin and direction to the server, server multicasts that to all other clients, who spawn a fireball projectile at the origin facing that direction, then u let each machine handle its own fireball

obviously only the server's can actually deal damage or whatever

the others are just visual

[vague spruce]

now that i'm here and there's some ppl around, i'm applying root motion to an actor and dude it's stuttering like crazy for the predicted one (but all of the other clients are fine)

[winged badger]

i think best network performance, especially if there are many of those flying around is single high priority, high frequency actor replicating (class, start point, trajectory)

[vague spruce]

like, the player that initiates the root motion on the simulated proxy sees a bunch of stutters but the other clients don't

[winged badger]

and spawning the projectiles locally when it get a new entry

[vague spruce]

i'll make a note of this in the tracking system and tackle it in the future

[winged badger]

fastarray is better then tarray for this

as it has cleaner callbacks

[vivid seal]

i love that every conversation i've ever seen with Zlo in it ends up at fastarrays 🙂

they are pretty cool tho

[winged badger]

it is better, you don't need to diff the tarray which is annoying

especially since those projectiles don't live long and get destroyed as well

[vivid seal]

oh i agree, i just remember asking a really similar question a few months ago and you giving a similar answer

[winged badger]

it is the single best network tool in unreal engine 😄

[vague spruce]

@winged badger do you have experience with root motion and replication? i'm doing some network emulation and it looks horrrrrrrible

not sure how it would look in real world but i can't imagine it'd look any better

[winged badger]

use gameplay tasks

very little experience, as i didn't code that part myself, but i know they work well

[vague spruce]

so there's a gameplay task for this but it only applies to the current mesh, not another mesh

i have experience with gameplay tasks, i'll take a shot at it

[winged badger]

we have predicted abilities like jetpack jump that uses a root motion animation and a float curve for z offset

and its smooth

[vague spruce]

when my character lands a hit, i want the enemies to move back slightly. they do, but it's laggy

i'll try a gameplay task

[winged badger]

you using GAS?

[vivid seal]

can you use them outside of GAS? i vaguely remember trying to set root motion tasks up with my own ability system and it was kind of a pain

[winged badger]

you can we don't use GAS but we use GameplayTasks

[vague spruce]

yea i'm using GAS

[winged badger]

as far as i understand it best way is to give the enemies KnockedBackAbility

[vague spruce]

ah, right

i see

that's wild

ok

[safe marsh]

hey, is it possible for a client to send a request to a dedicated to change map?

before they connect in, basically the standalone has a map selection, and a server selection, it then sends a command to the dedicated to switch to the map they selected and connect to it

[fathom aspen]

You can talk to a server you haven't connected to yet using OnlineBeacons

https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/InteractiveExperiences/Networking/OnlineBeacons/

[safe marsh]

thanks, So I am guessing I need to call the beacon while the server is running to run code to switch levels?

each level needs its own beacon actor, so I should spawn them via gamemode?

[fathom aspen]

I haven't played with them just yet so I can't clearly tell. Though my inner inclination says the GameMode class would be a good candidate

Or prolly whatever does the action of switching the levels, should at some point spawn the beacon actor

[safe marsh]

ok, Ill look into it thanks

[civic seal]

Hey guys, got a question for ya - what's the difference between SetClientTravel and OpenLevel when connecting to a server? I know either one is meant to work when passing in an IP, but the latter has an options parameter. That parameter is what I need for authentication with the third party thing we're using, to get the session key over to the server when the connection occurs.

Is there a way to pass in options with SetClientTravel? Anyway, I just don't know much about this so info would be great.

[fathom aspen]

You can tell what's the difference if you look at the source code:

void UGameplayStatics::OpenLevel(const UObject* WorldContextObject, FName LevelName, bool bAbsolute, FString Options)
{
    UWorld* World = GEngine->GetWorldFromContextObject(WorldContextObject, EGetWorldErrorMode::LogAndReturnNull);
    if (World == nullptr)
    {
        return;
    }

    const ETravelType TravelType = (bAbsolute ? TRAVEL_Absolute : TRAVEL_Relative);
    FWorldContext &WorldContext = GEngine->GetWorldContextFromWorldChecked(World);
    FString Cmd = LevelName.ToString();
    if (Options.Len() > 0)
    {
        Cmd += FString(TEXT("?")) + Options;
    }
    FURL TestURL(&WorldContext.LastURL, *Cmd, TravelType);
    if (TestURL.IsLocalInternal())
    {
        // make sure the file exists if we are opening a local file
        if (!GEngine->MakeSureMapNameIsValid(TestURL.Map))
        {
            UE_LOG(LogLevel, Warning, TEXT("WARNING: The map '%s' does not exist."), *TestURL.Map);
        }
    }

    GEngine->SetClientTravel( World, *Cmd, TravelType );
}

As you see OpenLevel calls SetClientTravel and appends the Options string param to Cmd param in SetClientTravel.

OpenLevel is BP oriented with that Options param and the sanity checks, but essentially you can make your own CustomOpenLevel and do whatever you find suitable before calling SetClientTravel

[civic seal]

Massive thanks, I really ought to make a habit out of checking source before asking.

[twin juniper]

I'm having trouble possessing my pawns in the network mode of the editor. How can I possess my pawns?

[twin juniper]

any help with this will be appreciated dearly!

[stoic summit]

Except EOS what are other options for voice chat on dedicated server?

Especially for multiplayer

[twin juniper]

Guess there's Steam

[bitter oriole]

https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/assets?count=20&keywords=voice chat

There are a number of options, though I usually advice to stay away from voice

[stoic summit]

I've been facing lot of issues with voice chat lately

[bitter oriole]

No shit

So here's my 2 cents: a lot of players never want any voice chat with strangers if they can avoid it, and a lot of those who want voice what will rather arrange it with their friends on Discord

Having public server-wide voice chat is a great way to get everyone's game wasted by one 13y old edgelord

So you have technical options here that may work, but consider the impact on players

[twin juniper]

Alright so I've finally opened the sample I need to work on.

Here, these two airplanes can fly as usual, and they get replicated as one would expect, quite normally. It's just that there's a lot of rubber-banding and nonsense physical interactions that are going through.

I have a sample for replicating smoothly without using any physics, which utilises cubic interpolation. What are the steps in which I'll need to solve these current replication issues? The path seems to be to write a bunch of components which help replicate and commit movement (separately). There must be a buffer of movements that has to pass from the autonomous proxy to the server, but I don't know how to access that for Chaos Physics (writing one for vanilla Newtonian movement is fairly easy). Any light on this will be crucial for my sanity and continued efforts!

[twin juniper]

That said, Discord Rich Presence (if it still exists?) looks cool.

[twin juniper]

any help will be appreciated!

[fallow shadow]

how do i check if code is being executed on server in c++?

[bitter oriole]

HasAuthority(), usually, though that also means "client on unreplicated actor"

[fallow shadow]

so i have a server RPC that runs

and is on server

i checked

but the RPC is supposed to create a line trace and execute a function on hit

and it just

doesnt

[bitter oriole]

Probably that object isn't player owned and thus cannot run server rpc

[fallow shadow]

nah it is

i mean my weapon is not an UCLASS

so idk really

[bitter oriole]

Not an UCLASS obviously means it has no network support of any kind

Also that it's not UObject so I doubt it really isn't

What's the parent class?

[fallow shadow]

FGCObject

[bitter oriole]

Zero network support then

[fallow shadow]

shit

[bitter oriole]

Just use an actor component

[solar stirrup]

Hey! Any idea why an actor replicated from the server would sometimes fail to spawn on clients? Reconnecting solves it.

[2022.06.20-11.57.33:500][979]LogNetPackageMap: Warning: InternalLoadObject: Unable to resolve object. FullNetGUIDPath: [421]NOT_IN_CACHE
[2022.06.20-11.57.33:500][979]LogNetPackageMap: Error: UPackageMapClient::SerializeNewActor. Unresolved Archetype GUID. Guid not registered! NetGUID: 421.
[2022.06.20-11.57.33:500][979]LogNetPackageMap: Error: UPackageMapClient::SerializeNewActor Unable to read Archetype for NetGUID 2474 / 421

It feels like if you connect too fast, it just doesn't spawn

[worn wagon]

So say you have a fire weapon function, and at the end of it you spawn a bullet decal or blood particles/whatever. Currently I am calling this on the owning-client to get the instant effect, and then doing a multicast to make it appear on the other clients. The issue is, this makes it run twice on the owning client. One solution is not to run it on the client, but then you get lag on the decal/effects, another obvious one would be only to send it to all other clients, but I don't believe there is a way to "skip" a specific client on the multicast. Is there a better way to approach this?

[solar stirrup]

Just check if the weapon is locally controlled in the multicast

[worn wagon]

The weapon is an actor not a pawn

Do you mean just check the owner?

[solar stirrup]

Oh right, yeah check the owner I suppose ^-^

[worn wagon]

Okay so casting the owner to a pawn/character, checking if locally controlled, and also checking the role that it isn't the server seems to work 😄

Thanks for the suggestion

[solar stirrup]

Np!

[fallow shadow]

Oh so actor component and then i just add it to the characters

that makes sense

in more ways than one actually how havent i thought of that

[bitter oriole]

Good question

[fallow shadow]

quick question: i have a nonuclass class that's just a line trace for hitscan bullets, do i need that to be a UCLASS too or?

[bitter oriole]

No idea what a nonuclass is

Generally speaking, you want to use UObject for long-term objects that need GC support, networking, config, editor or Blueprint support

You can use structs, USTRUCT or not for simple data objects

For objects that have zero multiplayer or UObject stuff you can use raw C++ classes

[fallow shadow]

sorry meant a class that's not UCLASS

anyways i have this Multicast

it notifies every client that someone got hit with a bullet

i call it from the server

and then im told

if the multicast function is static, "static functions cant be replicated" but if its not static it finds an "illegal call of non-static member function"

so im kinda stuck now

[fallow shadow]

nvm

[glossy pelican]

hi, im new to unreal and im trying with a multiplayer fps, until now i have fixed every issue i was having unless one wich is that when the server shots the client sees the projectile but when the client shots the server cant see the projectail, im using a simple unreal engine 5 first eprson template and i have searched for a lot of tutorials but all of them are for ue4

[marsh gate]

@glossy pelican Most tutorials for UE4 are applicable to UE5.

Read the compendium:
https://cedric-neukirchen.net/

If you don't want to read it watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOJP0CvpB8w

[twin juniper]

still need help!

[worn wagon]

Is there any way I can access a replicated by default player pitch variable without the control rotation using the player's pitch? I don't want the whole player to rotate so I need that off, but outside of that I can't find a way to get the player's pitch on other clients. Will I need to manually replicate this?

I've been told this is expensive on the network

I have tried GetActorEyesViewpoint, and GetControlRotation

One value that works is GetPlayerViewPoint but this is part of the player controller and thus only exists on the owning client and the server

[dark edge]

@worn wagonGetBaseAimRotation?

The whole ControlRotation GetBaseAimRotation Aim yaw garbage BS is a clusterfuck.

Must be old cruft from back in the early days.

[chrome bay]

defo

UT/Gears stuff

[worn wagon]

You bad motherfucker, thank you so much

Must have missed this function

[dark edge]

The question mark is because I wasn't even sure it was what you're looking for, I just know it's a thing that exists.

My game only has yaw aim lol

[worn wagon]

Worked like a charm 😄

[dark edge]

Do most people try to use it or just replicate some rotator in pawns on their own?

[chrome bay]

I think most people use it for characters tbh

It's pretty ingrained into them

[fallow shadow]

OOOOOOOk back with this issue again

User presses lmb -> The game does a server RPC that spawns* a hitscan bullet and it checks for hits, when it gets a hit it executes the OnHit function -> The server then executes a client RPC back making all the client stuff happen like playing an animation and sound

now following breakpoints this is what's supposed to happen

and if im testing with a listen server, the server user can fire and this is exactly what will happen

everything will work like a charm

but if its a client the issue is with *

it doesnt spawn the bullet

at all

the code runs

it just doesnt happen

the bullet class is an AActor that spawns in the world and does a line trace, then deletes itself

[dark edge]

@fallow shadowShow your code

Also why not just have the gun do the trace, why spawn an actor at all

[dark edge]

What actor are these RPCs going through?

[fallow shadow]

The character you are playing as

[dark edge]

Show your code

[fallow shadow]

Because i want to reuse the bullet in different weapons so its easier to have a class to just spawn than to copy paste the line trace to every weapon

also I will later, i cant right now, but what part of the code do you need?

[dark edge]

I'd just have a gun/hitscan component but it's whatever.

Assuming everything is set up correct, want to make sure the bullet being destroyed isn't your problem.

[quasi tide]

I just use a Gun actor and then do firing logic there.

Subclass from it if you want different guns, or use data assets

[dark edge]

This, or a GunComponent that you can slap on anything to do the firing.

[fallow shadow]

good point

i just want to make sure this works now, ill polish and optimize later

[dark edge]

So does the shot actor tell the gun or character to call the RPC?

So it's
Input -> RPC -> Spawn shot actor -> shot actor tells character -> rpc -> effects?

[fallow shadow]

Its more like
Input -> RPC (server) -> Shoot bullet and if hit registered do something -> RPC (client) -> effects

the client RPC is also called from the character

in the code the method that calls the client rpc is literally physically right after the line that shoots the gun

so it has to shoot the gun first before doing the client RPC

[dark edge]

How does the hit get from the shot actor that you're spawning temporarily to the character?

If you're doing ANY rpcs within the shot actor you've painted yourself into a corner.

[safe marsh]

[2022.06.20-16.30.18:749][145]LogNet: NotifyAcceptingConnection accepted from: 86.20.33.198:51087
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:749][145]LogHandshake: SendConnectChallenge. Timestamp: 1483.425649, Cookie: 202199119232093004111184148088164050088252049082247037007247
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:814][147]LogNet: NotifyAcceptingConnection accepted from: 86.20.33.198:51087
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:815][147]LogHandshake: SendChallengeAck. InCookie: 202199119232093004111184148088164050088252049082247037007247
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:819][147]LogNet: Server accepting post-challenge connection from: 86.20.33.198:51087
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:820][147]PacketHandlerLog: Loaded PacketHandler component: Engine.EngineHandlerComponentFactory (StatelessConnectHandlerComponent)
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:820][147]LogNet: NotifyAcceptedConnection: Name: 0_AA_EntryMap, TimeStamp: 06/20/22 16:30:18, [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 86.20.33.198:51087, Name: IpConnection_2147482510, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_2147482550, IsServer: YES, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:821][147]LogNet: AddClientConnection: Added client connection: [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 86.20.33.198:51087, Name: IpConnection_2147482510, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_2147482550, IsServer: YES, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:880][149]LogNet: NotifyAcceptingChannel Control 0 server World /Game/Maps/0_AA_EntryMap.0_AA_EntryMap: Accepted
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:880][149]LogNet: Remote platform little endian=1
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:884][149]LogNet: This platform little endian=1
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:946][151]LogNet: UChannel::ReceivedSequencedBunch: Bunch.bClose == true. ChIndex == 0. Calling ConditionalCleanUp.
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:946][151]LogNet: UChannel::CleanUp: ChIndex == 0. Closing connection. [UChannel] ChIndex: 0, Closing: 0 [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 86.20.33.198:51087, Name: IpConnection_2147482510, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_2147482550, IsServer: YES, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:950][151]LogNet: UNetConnection::Close: [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 86.20.33.198:51087, Name: IpConnection_2147482510, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_2147482550, IsServer: YES, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID, Channels: 2, Time: 2022.06.20-16.30.18
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:951][151]LogNet: UChannel::Close: Sending CloseBunch. ChIndex == 0. Name: [UChannel] ChIndex: 0, Closing: 0 [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 86.20.33.198:51087, Name: IpConnection_2147482510, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_2147482550, IsServer: YES, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID
[2022.06.20-16.30.18:979][152]LogNet: UNetConnection::PendingConnectionLost. [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: 86.20.33.198:51087, Name: IpConnection_2147482510, Driver: GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_2147482550, IsServer: YES, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID bPendingDestroy=0

trying to connect to a beacon on a dedicated server (works on local)

any idea why it automatically closes?

[fallow shadow]

No no the RPC is always called by the character

[dark edge]

Holler when we can see some code, gotta see this to really be able to reason about it.