Make an enemy variant or your own enemy¶

There are three levels of change. A variant is a new Data Asset: a faster, deadlier or more patient Warden, with no graph opened. A new body is a child of BP_Warden with your own mesh, running the same brain. A new attack needs a controller of your own.

If you have not read How the enemy AI works, start there.

Warden Blueprints: Content/MPFriendslop/Blueprints/AI/Warden/
Enemy base class: Blueprints/AI/Base/BP_EnemyBase
Enemy Data Assets: Blueprints/DataAssets/Enemy/Childs/

A variant, from a Data Asset¶

In Blueprints/DataAssets/Enemy/Childs/, duplicate DA_Enemy_Warden. Name it, for example DA_Enemy_WardenHunter.
Change the numbers you want.
Right click BP_Warden and create a child Blueprint, for example BP_WardenHunter.
In its Class Defaults, set Enemy Data to your Data Asset.

For a single Warden that differs from the others, you can skip steps 3 and 4: select the placed Warden and set Enemy Data on it.

Field	What it does	`DA_Enemy_Warden`
`Detection Seconds`	Time the enemy must keep a player in sight before it chases. The arc above its head fills over this time	`0.75`
`Crouched Sight Radius`	Distance, in cm, beyond which a crouching player is not seen at all	`1100`
`Crouched Detection Seconds`	The same as `Detection Seconds`, for a crouching player. Keep it above `0`	`1.5`
`Sight Loss Grace Seconds`	Time out of sight before it gives up and starts searching	`1`
`Search Seconds`	How long it searches before going back to its patrol. A new noise extends it	`10`
`Search Radius`	Radius, in cm, around the last known position where it picks search points	`500`
`Patrol Speed`	Walk speed while patrolling and investigating a noise, in cm/s	`90`
`Chase Speed`	Walk speed while chasing and attacking, in cm/s	`90`
`Patrol Wait Seconds`	Pause at each patrol point	`2.5`
`Attack Range`	Distance at which it starts firing. It is also the length of the laser, in cm	`1100`
`Preferred Combat Distance`	Distance it tries to keep while firing, in cm. Capped at 80 % of `Attack Range`	`600`
`Combat Distance Tolerance`	How far it lets the distance drift before it moves, in cm	`75`
`Laser Damage`	Health removed at each damage tick	`10`
`Damage Interval`	Seconds of unbroken contact with the beam per damage tick. The count starts again if the beam leaves the target	`0.3`
`Aim Interp Speed`	How fast the aim follows the target. Lower is easier to dodge	`2`
`Aim Sway Degrees`	Wobble added to the aim	`1`

The Warden only walks, which is why both speeds are 90. A higher Chase Speed gives you a hunter that closes in. The walk animation is authored for the walk speed, so check how the feet look at your new speed.

What it sees and hears¶

Sight and hearing ranges are not on the Data Asset. They are on the AIPerception component of BP_WardenController.

Right click BP_WardenController and create a child Blueprint, for example BP_WardenHunterController.
Select its AIPerception component and open Senses Config.
Change the values below.
In your enemy's Class Defaults, set AI Controller Class to your new controller.

Field	What it does	`BP_WardenController`
`Sight Radius`	How far it sees, in cm	`2200`
`Lose Sight Radius`	How far a seen player must go to be lost, in cm	`2400`
`Peripheral Vision Half Angle Degrees`	Half of its field of view	`65`
`Hearing Range`	How far it hears, in cm	`2500`

The controller also has Arrival Radius (130, how close counts as "arrived" at a patrol point or a noise) and Laser Activation Delay (0.5, seconds of line of sight before each burst), in its Class Defaults.

A new body¶

Keep the brain, change the look. Start from BP_Warden, not from BP_EnemyBase: BP_Warden is the one that draws the laser, plays its loop and its shakes.

Create a child Blueprint of BP_Warden.
Select Mesh. Set Skeletal Mesh Asset to your mesh and Anim Class to your animation Blueprint.
Check that your mesh has a socket named LaserMuzzle. The beam starts there and fires along the socket's X axis. On SKM_Robot_Warden it sits on lowerarm_r.
Keep AI Controller Class on BP_WardenController, or on your child of it, and Auto Possess AI on Placed in World or Spawned. Both are already set when you start from BP_Warden.

SKM_Robot_Warden uses SKEL_Mannequin. A mesh on the same skeleton can keep ABP_Warden as it is. For another skeleton, build an animation Blueprint that reads these from the pawn:

the velocity, for walking
Aim Rotation, where the laser points, for an aim offset
Laser Active, true while it fires, to blend the aim pose in

These values are replicated, so an animation Blueprint that only reads them looks the same on every player's screen.

The laser look and sound are fields on the child, under Settings|Laser and Settings|Audio:

Field	What it does	`BP_Warden`
`Laser Transition Duration`	Time for the beam to extend and retract. Also the fade of the laser loop	`0.25`
`Laser Endpoint Interp Speed`	Smoothing of the beam's end point	`25`
`Laser Impact Shake Class`	Camera shake near where the beam lands	`CS_WardenLaserImpact`
`Footstep Sound`	Played at each step	`CUE_Warden_Footstep`

The effect itself is NS_Warden_Laser on the LaserVFX component, and the loop is CUE_Warden_Laser_Loop on LaserAudio.

Warning

If your child overrides Event BeginPlay, keep the Parent: BeginPlay call. That call is what connects the suspicion arc to the enemy. Without it the arc never shows, and nothing tells you why.

Its footsteps, as an example of a hookup¶

BP_Warden shows how to react to something on the body without touching the brain. Its BP_FootstepComponent fires OnFootstep at each foot contact. The Warden answers by moving its FootstepShake component to the foot, starting the CS_WardenFootstep camera shake and playing Footstep Sound there.

Steps come from BP_FootstepNotify on the walk animations. Your own walk cycle needs those notifies for the stomp to play. See Sounds, footsteps and surfaces.

Health and death¶

The enemy's health is the BP_VitalsSystem component it inherits from BP_EnemyBase. It takes Unreal's own damage, so the shotgun and melee weapons already hurt it. Its Vitals row uses DA_Health_Vital_Enemy, in Blueprints/DataAssets/Vitals/Childs/: 200 health, separate from the players' DA_Health_Vital.

To give your enemy its own health:

Duplicate DA_Health_Vital_Enemy and set Vital Max Amount on the copy. The original is shared by every enemy.
In your enemy, select BP_VitalsSystem. In the Vitals row, set the Vital Asset to your copy and Current Amount to the same value.

At zero health the component calls OnDeath from BPI_VitalManagerInterface on the enemy. BP_EnemyBase answers by destroying the enemy, on the server. There is no death animation and no ragdoll. To add one, or to drop loot, override OnDeath in your child Blueprint and do it there. If you do not call the parent, the enemy is no longer destroyed, and removing it becomes your job.

Warning

A Warden already placed in a level can keep its own component values. After you change BP_VitalsSystem on the class, select each placed enemy and check its Vitals row too. A placed enemy with an empty Vitals takes its hits on zero health. There is no error.

A different attack¶

The template ships one attack: the laser. It is written into BP_WardenController, and the values it replicates (Laser Active, the beam's start and end) live on BP_EnemyBase. There is no switch that turns it into a melee attack or a projectile.

For another attack, make a child of BP_EnemyBase with your own AI controller, and reuse the same pattern. The controller decides on the server. It writes the enemy's state into replicated variables on the pawn. The pawn draws the result on every screen. Enemy Data, Patrol Points, the health component and the suspicion arc all come with BP_EnemyBase.

To follow the state from outside, for music or a HUD warning, bind OnEnemyStateChanged on the enemy and read its Enemy State (E_EnemyState).

Dispatcher	When	Fires on
`OnEnemyStateChanged`	The enemy moves to Patrol, Investigate, Chase, Attack or Search	every player

To put your enemy in a level with a route to walk, see Place a Warden and its patrol.

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