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Player colours, nameplates and pings

Every player gets a colour from the server. That colour tints their robot, writes their name above their head for teammates, and paints the pings they place. This page shows where to change the palette, the nameplate and the pings, and how to use the colour on your own actors.

  • The colour: Blueprints/ActorComponents/BP_PlayerColorComponent, on BP_FriendslopPlayerState
  • The tint: Blueprints/ActorComponents/BP_PlayerColorTintComponent, on BP_FriendslopCharacter
  • The nameplate: Blueprints/ActorComponents/BP_NameplateComponent, on BP_FriendslopCharacter
  • The ping: Blueprints/ActorComponents/BP_PingComponent, on BP_FriendslopCharacter, and Blueprints/Effects/BP_PingMarker

Change the palette

When a player's PlayerState starts on the server, it takes a random colour from the palette that no other player has. Players do not choose their colour. If there are more players than colours, a colour is used twice.

  1. Open BP_FriendslopPlayerState.
  2. Select BP_PlayerColorComponent in the Components panel.
  3. Edit the Colors array: add, remove or change entries.
  4. Save.
Field Category What it does Default
Colors Settings|Colors The palette 8 colours: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet, pink
Unassigned Color Settings|Colors What the colour reads before the server has assigned one dark grey

The body tint is set on the character's BP_PlayerColorTintComponent:

Field Category What it does Default
Tinted Slot Names Settings|Tint The material slots that take the colour, by slot name. Missing slots are skipped M_Robot_Shell
Color Parameter Name Settings|Tint The vector parameter written on those slots BaseColor
Tint Strength Settings|Tint 0 keeps the material colour, 1 is the full player colour. It is always mixed from the colour the material slot had before any tint, so a rebuild of the body (a cosmetic change) never makes it stronger 0.55
Tint From Player Color Settings|Tint Off keeps the material colour and only applies patterns on
Color Source Settings|Tint The actor to read the colour from. Empty reads the owner's PlayerState empty

Use the colour on your own actor

Everything that shows a player colour asks the PlayerState through BPI_PlayerColor, never through a cast. Do the same:

  1. Get the player's PlayerState and call Get Player Color (BPI_PlayerColor) once, when your actor or widget is created.
  2. Then bind OnPlayerColorChanged on its BP_PlayerColorComponent to follow later changes.

Read first, bind second. On a player's machine the colour can arrive before your widget exists, and a widget that only binds never sees it.

On your own PlayerState, add BP_PlayerColorComponent and implement BPI_PlayerColor. Get Player Color returns the component's Get Color. Get Player Color Index returns its index.

The nameplate

Teammates see your name above your head, in your colour, with a health line. You never see your own. Past Far Distance, or behind a wall, the plate fades and shows the distance in metres. It also shows a closed hand while the player carries something, and turns the name red with no health line when the player is down.

The name is the player name of the PlayerState. With the default subsystem, that is the computer name.

Select BP_NameplateComponent on BP_FriendslopCharacter:

Field Category What it does Default
Show Nameplate Settings|Nameplate Turns the nameplate on or off on
Far Distance Settings|Nameplate Distance in cm past which the faded version is used 2500
Update Interval Settings|Nameplate Seconds between two refreshes of distance, occlusion and health 0.1
Occlusion Channel Settings|Nameplate The trace channel from the camera to the plate. Blocked means faded Visibility

The component is a Widget Component: its Widget Class is WBP_Nameplate, drawn in screen space at 240 x 56. Move the component in the Components panel to change the height. The colours are Health Color, Danger Color and Distant Color on WBP_Nameplate.

For a voice plugin, call Set Speaking on BP_NameplateComponent with true while the player talks. The plate then shows a microphone. Nothing in MPFriendslopV2 calls it.

Pings

Middle Mouse places a marker where you look (IA_Ping). A second press within 0.3 s turns the same marker into a red danger marker (IA_PingDanger). The two types are the Point and Danger entries of E_PingType. Markers show through walls with their distance. When they are off screen, they stick to the edge of the screen with an arrow. They follow the object they hit and disappear after 8 seconds. A marker takes the colour of the player who placed it. Danger is red for everyone.

Select BP_PingComponent on BP_FriendslopCharacter:

Field Category What it does Default
Ping Range Settings|Ping Length of the trace, in cm 5000
Ping Cooldown Settings|Ping Minimum seconds between two pings 0.5
Server Distance Tolerance Settings|Ping The server accepts a ping up to Ping Range times this value 1.25
Ping Marker Class Settings|Ping The marker that is spawned BP_PingMarker

To restyle the marker, make a child of BP_PingMarker and set it in Ping Marker Class. WBP_PingLayer is the HUD layer that draws the off-screen arrows. It looks for every actor of its own Ping Marker Class (BP_PingMarker), so it finds your child as it is. Change that field only if your marker does not derive from BP_PingMarker. The danger red is Danger Color on WBP_Ping and on WBP_PingOffscreen.

Pings make no sound. Bind OnPingPlaced or OnPingPromoted to add one.

Dispatcher When it fires Fires on
OnPlayerColorChanged on BP_PlayerColorComponent The player's colour was assigned. Gives the Color every player
OnPingPlaced on BP_PingComponent The player pressed ping on something. Gives Ping Location owning player
OnPingPromoted on BP_PingComponent The player turned their last ping into a danger ping owning player

Next: How the menus work, and adding a page.

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